Make The Most Of Your life (While It Is Rife) {The Black Phone}

I'll Believe It All (I Won't Let Go Of Your Hand)

Summary:

I love you, and what comes with it.

Notes:

Trigger Warning: Implied child abuse and mentions of sexual assault. (It's only alluded to) and a direct mention to Finney's mothers suicide.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Finney Blake met Robin Arellano on a cold Thursday afternoon.

It was the eighth grade. He had heard whispers about the new kid, he had seen glimpses of him in the hallways and classes. He had also seen the blood by the front gates from the apparent fight that the new kid and Moose had gotten into. Anyone who could beat Moose in a fight had to be scary, and possibly quite mean so Finney figured he should keep his head down and try not to bother the new boy.

However the universe had other plans.

There was a far away corner out of sight from everyone in the playground. Finney would sit at this corner every lunch time, would quietly read a book and hope that he would be left alone. He had expected his usual spot to be empty, however this was not the case. In Finney's usual spot was a boy. A boy with long black hair and bloody knuckles.

The boy had not taken any notice of Finney, he was to busy trying to rub the blood off his knuckles with a tissue. He was grumbling under his breath as the tissue fell apart. Finney sat at the wall opposite and hoped that the boy was to absorbed with his bloody knuckles to taken notice of him.

He pulled his book out, flipped through the pages until he found the right one.

"When did you get here?"

Finney lifted his head up from the book, his gaze was immediately met by the other boys. He sat as still as he could, he feared if he made any sudden movements the boy would pummel him into the ground like Max had done earlier in the week. The boy was looking at him intently, his eyes darted up and down taking in the entirety of Finney Blake.

The boy scoffed slightly, he leaned back up against the wall his gaze landed back to his bleeding knuckles and the now unusable tissue. The boy was glaring intently at the blood staining his hands. Before Finney even knew what he was doing his hand, he had pulled out the small bag of bandages and disinfectant that he carried around.

He had it for when he and Gwen would stumble over, or for the days the man would get really mad. He shifted so he was sitting right in front of the boy.

"I can fix them for you." He gestured towards the boy's knuckles, which clenched slightly. Finney pulled the bandages and disinfectant out of the bag. The boy glanced towards him again, looked him up and down assessing if Finney was being genuine or not. The boy must of determined that he was being genuine, as he placed his bloody hands in front of him.

"Alright, fix'em up doc." Finney got straight to work on cleaning the boy's hands. He silently went about it, the boy's intense gaze remained on him. He gently ran the disinfectant over the others wounds, he noticed the boy flinch slightly.

"Sorry." He muttered out, the boy shook his head.

"No, don't be sorry." The boy shifted slightly so that he was closer to Finney.

"I'm Robin. Robin Arellano." The boy said, well Robin said.

"Robin, that's a nice name." Finney began wrapping bandages around the boy's hands.

"What about you?" Finney lifted his head, and was once again met with that intense gaze. "What's your name?"

"Finney. Finney Blake." Robin smiled.

"Well nice to meet you, Finney Blake." Finney smiled this time, he finished the last wrap on the bandaid.

"Alright, you're good to go Robin." Robin glanced down towards his now bandaged hands and flexed them slightly.

"Thanks, so do you sit here ever lunch time?" Finney took note that Robin turned his head to see that no one else was around, and that no one would be able to see them. Finney nodded.

"Is it just you?" Finney nodded once again. Robin looked surprised.

"Well that's not happening anymore." Finney felt fear going through him, was the boy about to kick him out of this spot? Was he going to claim it as his own personal area that was off limits to other people.

"Cause I'm going to be sitting with you from now on." Finney's fear was immediately gone, and was replaced with confusion.

"Really?" Finney could hear the shock in his own voice. Robin nodded it was a very firm nod, one that would usually leave no room for disagreements but Finney decided to press on.

"You probably don't want to do that." Although it would be nice to share his space with someone else, he knew that if Max and the other boys caught word of Robin hanging around Finney his building reputation would go down the drain. It wouldn't be fair of Finney to limit the new boy with his lack of a social status.

"Why not? I've been here for like three days and you're the only decent person in this place that I've come across." Robin explained as he sat up properly. Finney shook his head, he could feel his curls brushing against the side of his cheeks as he smiled softly.

"I'm not exactly the most popular guy and if you start hanging around me people are definitely going to bother you about it." Finney figured that would be the end of, that Robin would get up and walk away. Maybe he would look over at Finney every now and again, and maybe remember the boy that bandaged his bloody knuckles that one time. Maybe he'd occasionally smile at Finney, he wouldn't talk to him, but if Robin smiled at him that would be enough. Robin had a very nice smile. It was a warm smile, for some reason it made Finney think of the sun.

"Well it's a good thing I don't let other people bother me." Finney could feel a hand on his arm, his hair had fallen in front of his eye but he could still see Robin looking at him intently.

"You know what, I'm going to call you Finn."

No one had ever called him Finn before, but for some reason it felt nice. It felt right. It especially felt right when Robin said it.

"Alright, I'm going to call you Robin." Robin laughed, Finney himself let out an amused chuckle.

The bell rang, the sound of kids yelling came to a stop and was replaced by the sound of children running to make it back to the classroom on time. Finney stood up and offered a hand to Robin. Robin looked at Finney's hand as if he didn't know what to make of it, but he slipped his hand into Finney's and pulled himself up.

"You can sit next to me in class, if you want." Finney could not contain the smile that came across him at this words.

"I want to." He felt Robin's grip tighten around his hand, and the two boys made their way to class.

Even as they sat down at the desk, Robin did not let go of his hand.

Finney Blake met Robin Arellano on a cold Thursday afternoon.

Finney Blake fell in love with Robin Arellano on that cold Thursday afternoon.

He continued to fall in love with him every day after.

________________________________________________________

Vance rolled over and smacked Finney in the face with his hand. Finney flutters his eyes and turned his head when he heard giggling. Bruce was covering his mouth but Finney could still hear the muffled giggles.

"That looked ridiculous." Finney himself giggled, Vance rolled over further this time so that he was draped across both Bruce and Finney.

"Shut up." Vance sleepily mumbled but this just made Bruce laugh harder which in turn made Finney laugh even more. His laughing came to an end when a pillow collided with his face. He paused for a moment, his vision entirely consumed by the light blue pillowcase.

"Oh it is on." The pillow was snatched from his face, Bruce hit it over the top of Vance's head. Vance looked shocked for a moment before he snatched up a pillow from the other side of the bed. Less then a second later the pillow collided with Bruce's side.

The next few minutes were filled with laughter and blurs of different coloured pillows, blankets and Vance swearing he'd make them pay. In the end Bruce won by throwing himself on top of Vance, the two went flying towards the ground and ended up in a tangle of limbs and blankets on the floor.

Finney from where he sat on the bed watched amused as the two attempted to untangle themselves from the mess they had created on the ground. Bruce must have noticed his amusement at his and Vance's situation, because his hand shot up towards Finney. The boy attempted to dodge but Bruce proved to be an unbeatable adversary as he pulled Finney down towards the ground.

Finney managed to end up wedged underneath Vance. The boy cursing that Bruce was a cheat the whole time.

They all laid there on the ground , catching their breath. Vance rolled off of Finney, his curls dragged across Finney's face as he did, oddly enough the boy's hair smelled like coconut.

The sound of huffing and puffing was broken by Bruce.

"I won." He smiled triumphantly, and poked his tongue out at Vance. Vance attempted to reach for a pillow, but thankfully they were out of reach so the boy settled for an exaggerated huff and a few threats of how Bruce wouldn't get so lucky next time.

Finney just laid there on the ground for a few moments, absorbing the light atmosphere.

As he laid there on the ground with Bruce and Vance playfully arguing over him, he felt weightless. For a moment he felt weightless. However the crushing weight of reality came crashing back in when he caught sight of the time being displayed on the digital clock on Vance's bedside table.

It was nine thirty. School had started an hour ago. His panic must of been taken note of because Vance and Bruce stopped their petty argument and glanced towards the clock as well.

"Don't worry about that." Vance dismissively waved his hand. Bruce nodded along.

"We aren't going today."

"I can't just not go." Finney attempted to stand up, but Bruce grabbed his arm and held him in place.

"You can, by just not going." He noticed Vance moved a little closer to him.

"Won't the school call if I don't show up?" If the school called the man would answer the phone if he heard it ringing. If the man found out Finney had not been at school when he was supposed to. Finney did not want to know what the man would do, however his mind flashed through a series of things that could happen.

"They don't start calling parents till ten thirty, so we got an hour to call you out as sick." Vance explained as if it was the most simple thing in the world. Finney shook his head and attempted to stand up again, but was once again held in place by Bruce's grip.

"How are you going to do that?" Vance smirked.

"Bruce, toss me my phone." The boy reached across Finney to grab the device which was buried underneath one of the blankets. He tossed it to Vance and Finney feared it would his the other boy with how fast it flew across the air, but Vance just snatched it up with his free hand while he rested his face against his other one.

"Both of you stay quiet." He looked at Bruce, who already looked like he was about to lose it. He heard the sound of numbers being dialled and a few seconds later the phone was ringing. Vance sent one last glare in Bruce's direction along with a cutting throat gesture. The person on the other side of the line picked up and Vance pressed the phone against his ear.

The person on the other side of the line said something, Vance puffed out his chest.

"This is Mr Blake." In the deepest voice the boy could muster. Bruce had to smack his hand over Finney's mouth to prevent the shocked laughter that was threatening to spill out.

Vance continued to speak into the phone with a deep voice and Finney had to put his own hand over the top of Bruce's mouth in order for Vance to get through the phone call with no interruptions. By the time Vance was hanging up, Finney and Bruce's shoulders were shaking from the hardly contained laughter.

Vance shot a look in their direction, the laughter spilled out from both of them. Bruce was crying from how hard he was laughing and Finney could feel his own eye's watering.

"Are you done?" Bruce took a few heaving breaths, and wiped the tears from his face.

"Ok, I'm done now." Vance continued to glare at Bruce.

"What are we going to do now?" The two boys shifted their gaze towards Finney, then their gaze shifted back to each other. They both nodded and turned back to him

"Whatever we want."

_____________________________________

It turned out 'whatever we want' meant sitting around Vance's house and watching whatever was playing on the tv, while eating whatever snacks Vance kept shoving in their faces.

They were about halfway through some midday movie when Bruce shifted his head so that it was laying in Finney's lap.

"So what's the story with Robin?" Finney looked down at Bruce.

"There's no story." Vance scoffed from where he had leaned against Finney's side.

"Yeah there is, spill." Finney shrugged his shoulders and let out a sigh.

"I love him." He felt Bruce's fingers brush against his hand.

"Obviously." Vance scoffed again, but Finney felt fingers brush up against his other hand.

"What else?" Finney titled his head towards Vance, he felt his curls brushing against his cheeks.

"What else is there? I love him. That's it." He could see Vance shaking his head.

"Have you told him?" Finney's looked back down at Bruce, he but his lip slightly and let out another sigh.

"I want to." Bruce smiled at him, he could see him shoot Vance a look and the boy in turn rolled his eyes.

"When did you realise?" Finney didn't even have to think about the answer.

"The first time we met." Bruce looked delighted, Vance looked slightly annoyed.

"Bruce, this is not one of your stupid romcoms." Bruce just smiled even brighter at that, he shifted his he'd in Finney's lap slightly so that he was looking up towards Vance.

"Oh but it could be." Vance hit Bruce in the thigh, he unhappily grumbled at the action. Vance leaned back against the couch, but he still remained close to Finney, he looked towards the shorter boy.

"What made you realise?"

Finney had to think about his answer.

What made him realise?

Was it Robin as a whole? Was it's Robin's fiery personality. Was it the way that Robin never made him feel unwelcome? Was it how the boy was never afraid of anything? Was it the fact he never made Finney feel like he was wrong, that Finney should be apologising for every breath of air he took?

"He was safe." Both boys looked at him, Finney could feel the smile taking over his face.

"He makes me feel safe." Bruce's grip tightened on his hand. He could feel Vance shifting around beside him, the boy grumbled something unintelligible and he heard Bruce clear his throat. Vance stopped grumbling after that.

"I want to tell him, I'm going to tell him, it's just-" He trailed off, but Vance put him right back on track.

"Just?"

"Just that he won't feel the same."

Vance huffed angrily.

"That's bullshit."

"Vance." Bruce sounded like he was sending the other boy a warning, a warning that Vance clearly ignored.

"That boy is so in love with you, that it is sickening." Finney looked towards Vance, he could practically feel the frustration rolling off the boy in waves.

"He looks at you like you are the only person in the god dam world, he literally compliments you all the time, you should hear the things he says when you're not there." Bruce jumped in after that.

"Oh Finn looks so pretty today." The boy had sat up from Finney's lap and was now dramatically draping himself on Finney's shoulder, while doing what Finney assumed was an impression of Robin

"Finn smiled at me today, Finn is sooo smart." Bruce continued push his weight against Finney.

"Are you done?" He asked.

"Not even close." Vance spat out.

"Finn wore my jumper, Finn held my hand, Finn Finn Finn." Bruce dramatically flopped against him, he ended up with his legs draped across Finney's and his head landed on Vance's lap

"What's the thing he always says Vance?" The other boy pulled away slightly, shoving Bruce's head down.

"Prettiest boy in the universe." Bruce clicked his fingers together.

"That's the one, 'Prettiest boy in the universe.'" Bruce sang, Vance continued to try and shove Bruce off of him but Finney didn't think he was really trying at all. There was no way Finney would be able to hide the blush that had come across his face.

"May I quote just from last night." Vance looked way to smug for someone who had lost a pillow fight earlier that morning.

"You're my Finn." The air quotes were unnecessary, at least Finney thought so.

"He loves you." Vance stated clearly. It was said as if it was fact, as if it was common knowledge.

"He loves you Finney." Bruce sat up and put a hand on his shoulder, the air of ease was gone and the atmosphere was replaced with a more serious one. Finney fought with the urge to sink towards the ground. Bruce must have sensed his tension and attempted to lighten the mood.

"Which isn't surprising, given how easy you are to love." Finney shook his head, he could hear Vance snorting beside him.

"I'm not." He mumbled looking down, he could feel Bruce's grip tightening around his shoulder.

"I'm not easy to love." Bruce pulled him in and wrapped his arms around Finney. He felt hands brushing through his hair.

"You are, you are so easy to love." He attempted to shake his head but the hands holding his hair kept him in place.

"Finney Blake, you are loved and will continued to be loved by people for your entire life, anyone who says they don't love you is a liar or is someone who has no idea what love is."

Finney let his own arms wrap around Bruce, the boy leaned further into Finney.

"You are the most selfless, kind, caring person I have ever met and you deserve so much more love then the world has ever given to you." Finney could feel a hand beginning to rub circles in his back, he glanced and he saw Vance avoiding eye contact but the hand still continued to rub circles on his back. They stayed like that for a little while, Bruce with his arms wrapped around Finney, and Vance's hand rubbing soothing circles into his back.

Finney pulled away first, Bruce loosened his grip but one of his arms stayed wrapped around Finney's shoulder. Vance had stopped rubbing circles into him back, his hand however remained like a steadying presence.

"Thank you." He whispered, but they had clearly heard him.

"Thank you." He was a little louder this time. Vance's hand slapped down over the top of his mouth.

"Don't." Vance took a shuddering breath, Finney could feel his fingers shaking against his face.

"Don't thank people for that." Finney's eyes must have given away his confusion, as Bruce peeled Vance's hand away from his mouth. Finney turned his head towards the other boy searching for an explanation to Vance's words.

"Finney." Bruce sounded gentle.

"You don't have to thank people for caring." The words struck something inside of Finney.

He threw himself towards Bruce, his arms wrapped tightly around the other boy, he could feel Bruce's arms coming back up around him.

"I meant it last night." Bruce whispered to him.

"I meant it when I said we love you." Vance did not wrap his arms around them, but he did lean against Finney's back. Bruce continued to speak.

"I love you, Vance loves you." The mentioned boy let out a grunt, Bruce snorted but carried on.

"Billy loves you, Griffin loves you, I'm certain Gwen loves you as well." Finney smiled at the mention of his sister.

"And Robin loves you." The hands returned to his hair.

"So many people love you Finney, you just have to let yourself see it."

__________________________________________

Vance drove him to Robin's house in the late afternoon. Bruce had decided to hang back at Vance's house and continue talking to Veronica, who had just gotten back from her shift at the hairdressers across town.

Vance's grip on the steering wheel was slightly tense, but he wasn't holding down on it as hard as last time.

"About yesterday." The silence was broken, the radio was humming in the background and Vance was keeping his eyes on the road

"Yesterday?" Vance's fingers tensed slightly.

"The guy, the guy from yesterday." Vance explained, still keeping his eyes on the road. Finney nodded and Vance must have seen it from the corner of his eye.

"When people do things like that, you have every god dam right to scream and shout out." He titled his head towards Finney slightly.

"You don't worry about making a scene, you don't even think about 'making a big deal' out of nothing.'" He had removed one hand from the steering wheel and made quotation marks with it, his other hand tightened on the wheel.

"If someone ever tries to touch you, you do whatever you can to get away." They had come to a red light, Vance turned to face him.

"You can kick, bite, punch and scratch, you do whatever it takes." His eyes raked Finney up and down, searching for something but Finney didn't know what he was looking for.

"Make a big scene when things like that happen." He pointed at Finney.

"I don't want-" Vance paused at his own words, he chewed on his lip for a moment before he spoke again.

"No one wants anything to happen to you." He looked away from Finney, his hands were wrapped around the steering wheel again. He didn't look at Finney, when he said his next words.

"But if something did happen." Vance's knuckles were going white.

"If something happens, you can tell any one of us alright?" He glanced over at Finney who nodded once again.

Vance himself nodded, his eyes shot back towards the road the light turned green and he began to drive.

"I don't know if anyone ever told you, but you don't go anywhere with a stranger." Vance drummed his fingers against the steering wheel.

"If anyone comes up to you and says they need help or that you should come see something, and if they try to get you to go with them you run as fast as you can in the opposite direction, go somewhere where there's lots of people."

Vance sounded incredibly serious, Finney remained silent as the boy carried on.

"I mean it Finney." He looked pointedly at the boy in the passenger seat.

"Don't ever let someone take you to a second location." Finney figured that would be the end of it, but Vance kept going, he really must of wanted to get his point across.

"Another thing, don't go walking home while it's dark, if it's even starting to get dark you call someone to pick you up, doesn't matter what time it is you call someone." Vance turned and pulled into Robin's driveway.

"Who would I call?" He quietly asked. Vance put the car in park and slammed his hands down on the steering wheel. Finney jumped in his seat.

"Any one of us Finney!" Vance was seething.

"You can call any one of us!" He slammed his hands down on the steering wheel again, Finney flinched. Vance took note of this and slumped back in his seat.

He held a hand up in front Finney's face.

"You can call Bruce." He lifted a finger up. "You can call Griffin." Another finger went up. "You can Billy." Vance was going to run out of fingers. "You can call Robin." Vance took a shuddering breath before he said his last part.

"You can call me." Vance had run out of fingers, he shoved his hand in Finney's face.

"That is five people that you can call, so I don't want to hear 'who would I call?' come out of your mouth ever again." Finney was shaking, he opened his mouth to say something anything.

"Thank y-" Vance cut him off with a glare.

"What did Bruce say?" The older boy rhetorically asked, Finney shut his mouth. His hands reached to unbuckle the seatbelt, it unfastened with a click. He wrapped his fingers around the car door, but before he opened the door a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Call, I don't care what time it is, I don't care where you are but you call if you need someone." Finney swallowed the thank you threatening to spill out from his mouth, he instead put his hand on top of Vance's own.

"I'll call." He could feel Vance's fingers tugging on the fabric of his shirt. "I promise I'll call Vance." The boy looked him up and down one last time, he pulled his hand away.

"Good."

Finney got out of the car. He walked towards the door, Vance still hadn't pulled out of the drive way. He knocked three times. Finney didn't even get a chance to blink before the door was thrown open, Robin's body was pressed up against his.

Finney who hadn't expected the sudden weight went towards the ground.

"Finn!" Robin sounded overjoyed. He was still somehow standing and he grabbed Finney's arms to pull him up. Finney was pulled towards Robin, without even thinking he wrapped his arms around the boys shoulders.

"Hey Robin." He could hear Vance pulling out of the driveway.

"I missed you." Robin placed his hands firmly on Finney's back.

"You saw me last night though." He managed out through a giggle. Robin leaned further into him.

"But I missed you today." Robin seemed to pull him closer. Finney pulled away slightly, Robin looked confused but Finney smiled at him.

"Well, it's a good thing you've got me for the rest of the night then."

Robin looked surprised, but then he smirked.

"It is a good thing." Robin pulled him into his home after that.

___________________________________________

The boys spent the night just enjoying the others presence. They didn't even really talk but that was ok, just being together was enough for them. Finney kept looking over to Robin, who was fiddling with something. He couldn't help but admire the boy laying beside him.

Robin was beautiful.

He was the most beautiful person Finney had ever seen.

The day he met Robin Arellano, the day he feel in love with Robin Arellano was one of the best days in Finney's life. He let his mind wander to one of his favourite memories of Robin.

It was a few weeks after they had met, Robin continued to build up his reputation as the toughest kid in school however this left him with more damage to his hands. This meant that in their own little corner of the playground, Finney had to keep pitching him up.

"So then the Liam was a like-" Robin sounded way to excited for someone who's knuckles were bleeding out, thankfully Finney had a fully stocked kit for situations such as these now. Finney nodded along with whatever Robin was saying but he wasn't really paying attention, he was to focused on bandaging the damaged knuckles.

Once he was done with the right one, he moved on to the left. The boy was still talking, but in all honesty Finney wasn't really paying attention. That was until the boy pointed towards Finney's bag.

"What's that?" Finney turned his head and saw that his ballet shoes had fallen out, they must of come out when he pulled out his fix it kit. He immediately dropped Robin's hand, he reached for his bag and attempted to stuff the shoes in his bag hoping if he did Robin would move on from the topic.

Robin sensing Finney was panicking, grabbed Finney's hands to bring his actions to a halt.

"Finn, it's cool." Finney stopped he was bending over slightly so he had to look up to meet Robin's eyes, the shoes were hanging from his wrists, the ribbons had tangled themselves around Finney's wrists. Robin let go of one of his hands and held it up in a stopping gesture.

Finney remained still. Robin looked down at the shoes and the ribbons knotted around Finney's hands, he let go of Finney. Robin pulled his hands away for a moment, but then he felt fingers sliding against his wrists.

Robin was not meeting his eyes. His entire face was focused on the ribbons around Finney's wrists. He slowly began to undo the tangles, he was careful with his hands this time not like when he was in a fight but instead each move was delicate and thought out. He was being careful. Finney had only known Robin for a few weeks but careful and Robin were two things he thought would never go together.

The ribbons brushed against his skin the weight was gone.

"These belong to you." Robin held the shoes out for Finney, they were resting in Robin's palms, his fingers not daring to put even a small crease into them. Finney picked up the shoes from Robin's outstretched hands he protectively pulled them towards his chest.

Robin watched him, his eyes not leaving Finney at all.

"Ballet, right?" Robin questioned pointing towards the shoes that Finney was still clutching against his chest. Finney gave a hesitant nod.

"So you dance?" Finney gave another hesitant nod. Robin's face broke out into one of his massive smiles.

"That's really cool, let me tell you I can not dance to save my life." Robin must have noticed the small smile Finney gave him as he laughed.

"I'm serious Finn, I got two left feet over here." Finney himself let out a laugh after that, his grip on his shoes loosened. Robin continued to chuckle as he passed Finney his bag. Finney gratefully took the bag from Robin and carefully placed his shoes inside, he zipped the bag shut and placed it down beside him.

"I like to dance." Finney muttered looking towards the ground. "But other people don't like that I dance."

Robin shook his head.

"The other people don't matter Finn." Robin was looking at him intently. Finney nodded, happily instead of hesitantly this time.

"Can I see?"

"What?" Finney's eyes met Robin's own.

"Can I see you dance?" Robin had that spark in his eyes that Finney would soon come to learn, could burn anyone who spent to long looking at it. He didn't even think before he had spilled the words from his mouth.

"There's a show on Saturday, at the old theatre you don't need to buy a ticket or anything."

Robin swallowed the information down, he leaned back against the wall. The sunlight practically bathing him, he smiled up at Finney. It wasn't a smug smile, the one Robin would wear when he knew he had won something, it wasn't a dangerous smile one that meant Robin would let paint his features before jumping into a fight.

The smile was soft and Finney's heart wanted to skip a beat at Robin's next words.

"I'll be there, of course I'll be there."

Robin was there on the night. No one else had come to see Finney dance. The man refused to even acknowledge that Finney danced beside the insults he would hurl out. Gwen was to young to be out at this time of night and his mother had gone to that place where she couldn't be reached. The place that Finney soon feared that she would never come back from.

(Finney's fears would later be proven correct, as four days after his performance he would come home to find the house littered with bottles, not an uncommon sight, but what was, was his parents bedroom door was wide open, the man was nowhere to be heard or seen. He would quietly creep towards the open door and he would pause for a moment, something inside of him telling him that he should not look but he would push that feeling down as he stepped through the door. He had never known someone could bleed that much until he looked down on his mother on the bed, her eyes were shut, her chest was unmoving but her hands were stretched out. I'm free. His mother was finally free from the cage the man was keeping her in.)

But the Finney of Saturday night did not know any of this, so instead he danced on stage that night. A bright smile painting his face as he danced, and he could feel his smile grow wider as he caught sight of Robin in the front row. After the show, Robin ran up to him while he was walking out, Finney's feet were lifted from the floor as Robin snatched him up into a hug.

"That was amazing, you are incredible!" Robin was spinning him around, and he felt the laughter bubbling out of him.

"I was?" He got out through the giggles. His feet were back on the floor, and Robin held his shoulders, the boy looked at him with, the spark was there but Finney couldn't place want emotion was behind it.

"You were, you are incredible Finn."

If Finney hadn't already been in love with Robin, this would've been the moment he had fallen in love with the boy in front of him.

"Finn." Robin was in front of him, his hand waving in front of Finney's face.

"Finn, hello you with me?" Finney blinked a few times. His eyes shot up to the boy who was leaning above him. His eyes fluttered again.

"Finn, hey." Robin was clicking his fingers now. Finney hummed, his eyes fully focused on the boy in front of him.

"Hello Robin."

"Hey Finn, you good?" Robin hastily said a look of panic was making it's way across the boys face. Finney felt the need to soothe the other boy, he lifted his hand and pressed into the side of Robin's face.

"I'm good." His fingers twirled the hair that had fallen in front of Robin's face. "I'm good." The boy looked like he was going to say something, another question about Finney's wellbeing but Robin must have let it go. In stead, he leaned into Finney's chest and let the boy continue to fiddle absentmindedly with his hair.

"Griffin invited us to a fair next week." Robinks hands were resting on the sides of Finney's torso.

"What day?" Finney hummed out.

"Wednesday, December first." The light haze Finney was in broke. December first. December first, as in the day Robin was meant to be kidnapped. December first the day he had lost Robin.

"We'd have to go straight after school, since it's in the city but Billy said his mom would take us." Finney could barely hear the words through the millions of things going through his head. Robin lifted his head from Finney's chest. He had that look on his face again, the one that looked a little panicked but he was trying to keep it down.

"Are you ok?" Robin was leaning over his face, he was mere inches away from Finney's face. Hands pressed against his face pushing the hair draped across Finney's face so that Robin could get a better look at the boy's eyes.

"Finn."

"I'm ok." He looked straight at Robin.

"I'm ok."

Finney really meant it this time.

Robin however gave him a questioning look.

"Finn, you said you'd tell me if you weren't." Finney gave a slight nod but his movements were limited by the hands cupping his face.

"Of course, of course I would." Robin fingers tightened on his cheeks.

"I don't think you would."

"Robin." Finney did the best to hide the nerves in his own voice. Robin shook his head.

"Finn do you remember what you told me?" Finney scrambled his brain for what he could've told.

"I tell you a lot of things." The corners of Robin's mouth turned up slightly.

"Yeah, you do." The boy sighed out.

"But you told me I could tell you anything." Robin let go of his face and dropped back down onto his chest.

"That goes for you as well, you know." He place his hands in Robin's hair. The boy leaned into the touch.

"You can tell me anything Finn, good or bad, I'll always listen to what you have to say."

Finn smiled an began to run his hands through Robin's hair.

"Thanks Robin." Robin's arms pressed into his side, his leg crossed under Finney's own.

"You don't have to thank me Finn." Silence took over the room, he saw Robin's eyes dropping and his grip on Finn was slowly loosening. Finn himself was starting to drift off.

"Finn." Robin sleepily mumbled into his chest, Finn opened one of his eyes.

"A lot of people love you, I know that I-" Robin's next sentence was cut off with a yawn, but he carried on when he was done.

"Promise you'll remember that people love you." Robin didn't say anything else after that. Finney let his eye shut and even though Robin couldn't hear him he said.

"I promise."

_________________________________________________

The next morning he called Gwen. Robin had gotten in the shower so he was left alone in the other boy's room. The phone only rung once before his sister picked up.

"Finney!" Gwen exclaimed from the other end of the line. "I was just about to call you!" She sounded a little frantic, which put Finney on edge.

"What's wrong, are you hurt? What happened?" His questioning was cut off by Gwen's next words.

"I had another dream." He shut his mouth. "I had a dream about you." He heard Gwen taking a breath from the other side of the line.

"Finney, where are you?"

"At Robin's." He heard some shuffling and a sigh of relief.

"Good, that's good." Finney swallowed around the lump building in his throat.

"Gwen, what happened in the dream?" He could hear his sister take a steadying breath.

"There was a man in the house, watching you. You were sleeping." She was whispering the words as if she was afraid to put them out in the universe.

"He kept saying things like 'soon' and 'I was being to hasty'."

"Gwen, was it just a dream? Or do you think it was one of those dreams?" He heard the sound of swallowing on the other end of the phone, Gwen must of got a glass of water.

"I think it was just a dream." Gwen finally said, the tension that had grown in Finney's shoulders eased.

"Ok, it's ok." He reassured his sister, he could hear her breathing evening out.

"Alright yeah, it was probably not one of those ones." Finney could hear Gwen trying to reassure herself, and he decided to change the topic.

"I'm going to tell Robin." The squeal that came from the other end of the line made Finney pull his the device away from his ear. He held it out for a few more seconds, before placing it back against his ear.

"Oh my god, finally!" Gwen was definitely distracted. She started going on about how she had told Finney so, that she was always right, how dare he doubt her 'I'm a literal psychic' was thrown around a few times.

"I love you." He told her when the call was coming to an end. He doesn't know how but he knew Gwen was smiling.

"Love you to Finney."

The dream was almost entirely forgotten about as the two said their goodbyes to each other. Robin walked into the room as he hung up the phone.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

Robin grabbed his hand. "Let's go."

Robin did not let go of his hand for the entirety of the walk. Robin did not let go of Finney's hand until they had to separate for class.

But Finney noticed that he was the way who had to pull away from Robin, the boy was not holding Finney tight enough so that he couldn't pull his hand away but he was still holding it, but it was a gentle hold one that made Finney think.

I'm here.

Robin was going to stay here. He wasn't going anywhere.

Finney would make sure of it.

As he let go of Robin's hand, he felt Billy grab onto him.

It looked like he wasn't going anywhere either.

_______________________________________________

When he got out of school that day, Griffin grabbed his hand.

"I'm walking you home and then to work today." The boy sounded proud. Finney did not want to to bring the boy down so he allowed himself to be led back to his house. His work clothes were still in his bag, so he really didn't need to go back to his house. But Griffin began the track towards Finney's house.

Finney figured he might as well see what state it was in.

When he go to the house, he told Griffin that he had to wait outside. The boy looked like he wanted to argue, but swallowed down any disagreements.

"Call out if you need anything." Griffin told him, Finney nodded at the boy. The door was unlocked, but the man was most likely home at some point in time so it didn't set of any alarm bells to Finney.

There were bottles around the house, as usual. The man was nowhere in sight. Just to be safe Finney poked his head into the living room. But the only thing there were empty bottles. He let out a sigh of relief.

He shuffled towards the bathroom, he quickly changed into his work clothes. He gave himself a quick look over in the mirror. He straitened up his shirt. Now he was alright.

He made his way to the kitchen, he grabbed a glass off the shelf and filled it up to about half way, but he yanked it away from the sink when sound the heard of cluttering. He put the half full glass down on the counter and turned towards where the noise had come from.

The sound had come from the laundry room down the hallway. He poked his head around the corner, but he could see nothing. The laundry door was shut, but he was drawn towards it. Finney slowly made his way down that hallway, he took note that Gwen's door was ajar. But he shook it of and returned his focus to the laundry room door.

He gulped as he put his hand on the doorknob, he was tempted to shout out to Griffin, maybe just having the other boy beside him would ease some of the fear building up inside of him. But he decided to just bite the bullet, and he opened the door.

The broom was on the floor.

He stood there for a moment just staring at it. The broom must have fallen down, and that's what had made the sound. The fear completely disappeared as he picked up the broom. He put it back in its place.

Finney shut the laundry door behind him and made his way back down the hallway, he looked towards Gwen's room. The door was fully open now, but all he did was shrug it off and shut the door. He made his way back to the kitchen, where a full glass of water sat on the counter.

He went to take a sip from the cup but then.

"Finney!" Griffin shouted out, he glanced at the clock and the glass of water in his hands. He tipped it down the sink.

"Coming!" He shouted back, making his way down the hallway towards the front door. Griffin was holding the front door open, as he steeped out he shot one last look to what was supposedly an empty house.

The door shut and Griffin reached for his hand.

"You coming?" Finney locked the door, he slipped the key into his pocket, then he slipped his hand into Griffin's.

The two boys made made it to the cafe in one piece. When they walked through the door, their friends heads immediately turned towards them. Griffin lifted their linked hands into the air.

"I got him." Everyone looked relieved at the words, Finney wasn't sure why but eye put it aside, and went straight to work. The shift went by and before Finney knew it all the dishes were done and Bruce was locking up.

Finney went to walk down the street, but Vance sent him a look and pointed towards the darkening sky. Finney stopped in his place, he looked towards Vance then he looked towards the sky. He looked back at Vance.

"Vance can you please give me a lift?" The boy pulled his key out of his pockets and made a follow me gesture to Finney, well not just to Finney but to the other boys as well. Before they got in the car, Billy tugged on his arm.

"Finney, do you want to come stay the night? Griffin's staying as well." Billy looked slightly anxious. Finney thought it over for a moment, he didn't want to intrude, but at the same time Billy was offering. He saw Robin eyeing him up from the side.

"If it's ok." He said with a shrug. Billy's relief was instant.

"Of course it's ok."

They got in the car, and Vance's grip on the steering wheel was the most relaxed Finney had ever seen it be. Billy ended up sitting in Bruce's lap again. There was quiet chatter in the car, but it came to an end when Vance pulled into Billy's driveway.

"Have fun you three." Bruce shouted out, as the three of them were getting out of the car. Robin gave his hand a squeeze before he got out. Finney sent him one last look before he pulled his hand away.

"See you tomorrow Robin." The boy smiled at him.

"Of course you will."

Billy grabbed him and Griffin by the arm, pulled them up the driveway and through the front door where Sarah was waiting.

"Finney, it's good to see you again." Sarah smiled at him, Finney returned the gesture with a smile of his own. She turned towards her son.

"You guys can eat dinner in your room tonight, but bring the dishes out when you're done." Billy gave his mom a hug, and Finney felt an ache in his chest that he had to do everything in his power to ignore. Griffin grabbed his hand, and did not say anything when Finney tightened his grip.

Billy pulled away from his mom.

He turned back towards them, He gave Griffin a look. Finney's feet stumbled as Griffin dragged him down the hallway and into one of the rooms.

"I'll grab dinner!" Billy shouted at them, running past the door Griffin was pulling Finney into.

Griffin pulled Finney down onto a beanbag in the corner of the room. There legs ended up tangled together.

The two didn't say anything for a second, but then Griffin opened his mouth.

"You come here often?" Finney broke into startled laughter, which followed along with Griffin snorting.

Billy came in through the door, three plates in his hand.

"Dinner is served, Gentlemen." Billy attempted to pull off a French accent, but it was so horrible that Finney laughed even harder. Griffin had to grab him before he fell off the beanbag. This in turn made Billy laugh.

The room was full of laughter, but it eventually died down. Billy slipped a plate into his and Griffin's hands.

They quietly ate dinner, Billy had shoved himself onto the beanbag and by some miracle all three of them fit. When the food was done, Griffin pulled the plates from their hands and said he'd take them to the kitchen. Finney quietly thanked the boy as he walked out of the room. Billy yelled his thanks so loud enough the entire neighbourhood had probably heard.

Billy's arm wrapped around Finney's shoulders, Finney leaned into the other boys side, but Billy didn't seem to mind.

"Billy." The boy hummed.

"What made you invite me over?" Billy stiffened, his eyes shot up towards the ceiling. He could feel the fingers on his shoulder bundling up the fabric of the sleeve.

"I was always going to invite you over." Billy attempted to loosen his stiff posture. Finney looked at him, and when Billy's eyes met his the other boy kept talking.

"I mean I was, but I hadn't planned for it to be tonight." Billy pushed his hair out of his face with his free hand.

"But I saw that you were about to leave, and I just got this really bad feeling."

"What do you mean?" Finney asked, hoping the other boy had a further explanation. Billy seemed to ignore the question, but him carrying on led to an answer in the end.

"I though it would go away when you walked over to the car, but something inside of me went 'something bad is going to happen if you let him go home.'." Billy leaned back, bringing Finney down so that they were both lying on the beanbag.

"I don't know what made me think that, but I figured nothing bad could happen if I just brought you home with me." Billy seemed to be done now. Finney lifted his own arm and slid it behind Billy's back.

"I'm glad you invited me over Billy." He found himself saying.

"I'm glad I did as well."

The atmosphere was broken by Griffin bursting through the door and jumping on top of them. Billy groaned and Finney would've groaned as well if his face wasn't full of Griffin's shirt. The two boys on top of him were attempting to shove the other off the beanbag, but in the end they all ended up on the floor.

Griffin's foot was digging into his back, and he could feel Billy's arm pressing into his side somewhere. The two boys continued to argue even as they pulled themselves from the ground, they kept arguing even as they each grabbed one of Finney's arms to pull him up.

Billy dramatically threw himself on the bed.

"I can't believe my husband since the second grade would treat me like this."

"It doesn't count!" Griffin countered back, Billy let out an exaggerated gasp

"How dare you! Are you saying our marriage is invalid!"

Finney thinks the argument would've continued if it hadn't been for Sarah shouting out.

"Enough of that! You three need to be heading off to bed!" Billy and Griffin looked at each other one last time, Griffin gave a huff and Billy snorted. At least they were done now. Billy got off of the bed, opened up his closet doors. The boy ruffled through looking for something, he heard the sound of coat hangers banging against each other.

Billy appeared in front of Finney.

"You can wear these tonight, you can borrow something else in the morning." Finney thanked the boy, Billy waved him off and pointed to a door down the hallway.

"Bathrooms there." Finney was quick to get changed.

When he walked back into Billy's room, the lights were off and he could make out two figures under the blanket in the bed in the middle of the room. Finney looked around for a place for him to go, and figured he could just sleep on the beanbag. He went to go put his folded up clothes into his bag, which was right next to the bed.

He glanced towards the figures on the bed and he couldn't help the smile that came over his face. Billy and Griffin were here. Billy and Griffin get to grow up and live the lives that they want, they can be happy. The people in their lives weren't going to know what it's like to loose them way to soon.

He turned away from the boys, the smile was still on his face. A hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him onto the bed.

"Come on, time to go to sleep Finney." Griffin whispered, the blanket was lifted up and Finney felt it covering his entire body.

Billy rolled over and his head was resting against Finney's shoulder, Griffin's own head was resting on his other shoulder. He figured there would be no more talking after that.

"Griffin." Billy whispered through a giggle.

"What?" The other boy whispered back.

"Love you." He could see Griffin rolling his eyes.

"Shut up Billy." There was a pause.

"Love you to." Billy smiled, Griffin had a smile on his face as well.

"Finney." Griffin didn't whisper his name, he said it quite clearly.

"Love you." The words were very clear.

"I love you to." Billy joined in. Finney felt like he should say a million things, that he should thank him, he should tell them how much he cares, he should tell them how grateful he is that they are both here and alive. He should say those things. But what came out of his mouth instead was

"I love you, both of you." Finney reckons he got his point across, or at least some of the points he was trying to make. He hoped he did.

"You hear that Griffin, he loves us." Billy reached across Finney to ruffle Griffin's hair the boy shoved Billy's hand away.

"Shut up Billy." But Griffin's smile had grown wider.

"But I mean who wouldn't love us?" Griffin reached across him this time and smacked Billy's arm. The boy groaned and Griffin laid back down.

"Not to late to take it back Finney." Finney himself smiled a slight giggle escaped his mouth, he shook his head.

"No, I meant what I said." Billy shuffled slightly on his side.

"We meant it as well.' Griffin grabbed his hand. For a second the man's words echoed in his head.

'Who'd love you?'

But they were drowned out by Billy's next words.

"Who wouldn't love you."

________________________________________________

Billy managed to deliver the newspapers while Finney sat on the handlebars and Griffin stood on the back.

Sarah warned them to be extra careful, Billy's dog was sitting a her feet. He learned the dogs name was Pilot.

"Pilot stopped coming along in the mornings, because he figured out if he stays back with mom he gets to sleep longer." Billy explained as they went down the street. He passed the bag of newspapers to Finney, who threw them to each doorstep.

"The fair's going to be fun." Griffin said, leaning slightly forward his arms were still draped over the top of Billy's solders.

"I can't wait to go on the Ferris wheel." Billy chimed in as they turned down the next street.

"I want a toffee apple."

"Oh my god, I haven't had one of those in ages." Griffin tilted slightly and the bike started to fall, but Billy managed to straighten them up.

"Stand straight." He reminded Griffin. The boy adjusted his posture.

"What about you Finney? What do you want to do at the fair?" Griffin had to speak up in order for Finney to hear him. Finney threw the second last newspaper.

"I don't know, I've never been to one." Billy turned the last corner, Finney went to throw the last newspaper.

"Look out!" Griffin shouted, a man was standing on the path in front of them. Billy pulled on the breaks, but the sudden movement made the front wheel turn in, the man turned around to find all three of them sprawled out on the ground.

"Holy Moly!" Finney's face was pressed into the dirt and grass on the side of the path, he lifted his head and he saw that both Griffin and Billy were sprawled out on the path.

Billy sat up a look of shock on his face, he turned his head towards Griffin who had just sat up as well, Finney pushed himself up, but he felt a hand on his back.

"Jesus, are you kids alright?" Finney knew that voice.

He had heard this man before. He had heard him in the basement. This was the Grabber's brother.

"Do I need to call your parents?" Finney rolled over and came face to face with the man, concern was painting the mans features and Finney wondered how someone like this could be related to someone who was so cruel.

"No, I'm alright." The man nodded, he offered a hand to Finney who allowed himself to be pulled up. Billy and Griffin walked up to them.

"Are two alright?" He let go off Finney, and turned towards the other boy's.

"We're good." Griffin said, as he dusted off Billy's back, the boy returning the gesture to him.

They looked towards Finney.

"I'm alright." He said, his friends looked relieved at the words, the grabbers brother turned back towards him, hands brushed his shoulders clearing the jacket he was wearing of dirt.

"That's really good, glad you guys are alright." The grabbers brother nodded, seemingly to himself. He looked all the boys up and down and reached into his bag. He pulled out a pack of wipes, something else went fluttering towards the floor. He opened the pack and pulled one out, he gestured for Finney to take it.

"For your face." Finney raised a hand towards his face.

"You got some dirt on your cheek Finney." Billy explained.

"Oh, thank you." He took the wipe from his hand and wiped at the cheek Billy had gestured to.

"Are you sure you kids are alright, my brothers house is around here so if you need bandaids or something I'm sure he won't mind if you come in for a minute." Finney' own panic was overtaken by Griffin's hurried response.

"No, we're good." Billy grabbed onto Finney's arm and pulled him towards himself and Griffin.

"We're fine, thank you will just be on our way." Billy had pushed Finney to be partially behind him. The grabbers brother gave them one last look up and down.

"Alright then, you lot stay safe." He turned around, began walking down the street. Billy picked up his bike, and Finney looked towards what had come out of the bag when he had pulled the wipes out. Griffin was saying something to Billy.

"Something just seemed off."

Finney ignored what they were saying in order of picking up the fallen object. It was a ticket, a train ticket for today. The name read Max Shaw. He looked down the street and he could still make out Max's figure in the distance. Griffin and Billy were still quietly chatting.

"Be back in a second!" He shouted, and rand down the street he ignored the calls of his friend and only focused on the figure that was just turning he corner.

"Hey!" He yelled out, Max did not stop. "Hey!" Finney yelled again, Max turned another corner, which ended up in an side street that was out of sight from everything due to the unattended bush and trees that decorated the path. "Hey!" He stopped. Finney caught up to him and held the ticket out.

"You dropped this." Max looked at the ticket in his outstretched hand, his face lit up in recognition.

"Oh thank you." He pulled the ticket from Finney's hand.

"You know I might not need this today." Max was looking down at the ticket.

"Why?" Finney asked, he thought he heard a shout in the background but he ignored it. Max mindlessly responded.

"I might end up staying with my brother for a while." Finney saw a flash of an axe coming down on this mans head.

"Where are you going?" He pointed towards he ticket, Max looked slightly embarrassed but he kept talking.

"Somewhere I can get better." Finney had no idea what Max needed to get better from, but if he ended up staying with the grabber he wouldn't get a chance to get better, or maybe he would. Maybe the Grabber wouldn't even consider killing Max if there was nothing to find in the basement. But Finney didn't want to chance it right now.

"Wouldn't you like to get better first?" Max looked down towards him, he looked as if he was pondering the question quite intensely.

"You know what, you're right kid." Max looked back down at the ticket in his hands. Finney could hear shouting in the background but he blocked it out, focusing entirely on the man in front of him. Max adjusted the bag strap on his shoulders.

"I best be going if I don't want to miss the train, you stay safe now kid." Max waved him off, and Finney did the same, he watched the man disappear down the street, and turn in the direction of the train station. He took a calming breath.

"Finney!" He could hear the shouting he had blocked out now.

"Finney!" Billy was shouting his name.

"Finney!" Griffin was shouting as well. He looked in the direction Max had gone, and then he turned and walked out of the almost unseeable side street, and back out onto the main one. He immediately caught sight of Billy and Griffin as they rode right in front of him. Griffin caught sight of him, Billy must of as well as he pulled the brakes on. Griffin hopped off the bike, and was standing right in front of Finney.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" He looked Finney up and down, Billy got off his bike and was clearly out of breath.

"Where's the guy?" He was frantically looking around.

"He left." Finey explained and he heard Griffin taking a calming breath. "He dropped his train ticket." Finney said and Billy let out a sigh.

"Do not run off like that again." Griffin was leaning into him. Finney was confused.

"Why?" Billy looked up from the ground.

"We didn't know where you'd gone." Billy explained.

"The last we had seen you had turned a corner, where some weird guy had gone and then you were nowhere to be found." Griffin had grabbed onto his hand, almost as if he was afraid Finney was going to run off again.

"Oh." Was all Finney was managed to say. "Sorry." Managed to come out of his mouth.

"It's ok, just don't do it again." Billy adjusted his bike, and Griffin pulled him towards it.

"Come on, we've got to get to school." Griffin stayed on the ground till he was certain Finney was on the bike. He let go of Finney's hand and jumped onto the back. Billy pushed off the ground, and began heading in the direction of the school.

"We're not mad, if that's what you're thinking." Billy reassured a silent Finney, who was thinking exactly that.

"We were just worried." Griffin leaned forward slightly, but not enough that Billy had to remind him to stand up straight.

"People usually get really worried when they think somethings happened to someone they care about." Billy turned the corner they were going around very carefully.

"You know we care about you a whole lot Finney, like we said last night we love you, and we just don't want anything bad to happen to you." Griffin was explaining this very carefully, he really wanted Finney to understand what he was saying.

"I don't want anything to happen to you guys either." Finney hoped he didn't sound as choked up as he felt.

"We know, it's a two way street. So you can get worried about us all you want, but you've got to let us worry about you as well."

"I'll remember that." He responded, Billy hummed.

"You better."

"Is that a threat?" They were bouncing back to a playful vibe.

"It could be." Griffin clicked his tongue, Finney could hear the smile in his voice. Finney shook his head.

"Now we've gotten all our feelings out of the way." Finney did not like the tone Billy had taken.

"What about you're feelings for Robin?" Finney choked on the air he inhaled.

"Yeah, when are you going to tell him?" Griffin asked when he was done choking on air.

"Soon." He mumbled, though he couldn't see he knew Billy had rolled his eyes.

"And when is soon, Finney?" Griffin reached over the tp of Billy's head and smacked him in the side of the arm, the bike wobbled for a second but thankfully Billy balanced it out. Billy scolded Griffin and Finney thought of an answer.

"Next week." This time Griffin choked on the air he inhaled.

"Really?" Billy sounded way to excited. "Finney, you better be telling the truth or I will be shoving you off the top of the Ferris wheel."

"It's the truth." Finney reassured. "I think it's the right time."

"When next week?" Griffin also sounded way to excited.

"Probably when I'm at his house on Monday." Billy groaned.

"Finney, come on! Do it at the fair or something, make it romantic!" Griffin groaned this time.

"You have been watching way to many romcoms with Bruce." Billy turned the next corner very sharply and almost sent Griffin toppling of the bike.

"Do it when you're at the top of the Ferris wheel!" Finney sighed.

"This isn't a movie Billy." Griffin made a noise of agreement.

"It's not a movie, but you know it never killed anyone to be extra romantic." Billy turned down the street the school was on.

"What about Romeo? Didn't romance literally kill him?" Griffin snarked back.

"No the poison did you idiot." Billy bit back.

"The poison he took because of love."

The two continued their argument even as Billy locked his bike. They continued to argue even as Vance and Robin approached them. Robin wrapped an arm around his shoulder, and Vance had now joined in on the argument."

"What are they arguing about this time?" Robin looked mildly amused by the chaos unfolding beside them.

"Something silly." Finney leaned into Robin. The boy scoffed.

"It's them, of course it's silly." Finney smiled.

"Yeah, you're right." Robin smirked.

"I usually am." Finney shook his head, his hair falling in front of his face as he did. Robin took not of this and using his free hand tucked the free curls behind Finney's ear. Finney looked straight at Robin. Part of Robin's hair ad fallen out of the bandanna, without even thinking about it, lifted his hands and adjusted the bandana so the it would hold Robin's hair in place properly.

"There you go." He pulled his hands away. Robin had an unreadable expression on his face.

"Robin." Finney waved his hand in front of his face.

"Robin." He took a step closer, their faces were inches away.

"Robin." The third time he finally got a response.

"Yeah, Finn?" Finney took hold of Robin's hand and pulled him along.

"Come on, we've got to get to class." Robin followed along behind him without a word, but his grip did tighten on Finney's hand.

_________________________________________________

Somehow Finney did not end up at his own house for the entire week leading up to the fair. On Wednesday, after their study session in the park, where no one had let Finney leave their field of vision. Griffin took hold of his hand and pulled him into Monica's car.

"You're staying with me tonight." Finney did not argue and Monica did not seemed surprised to see him. So this must of been planned ahead.

That night he and Griffin laid in Griffn's bed.

"You know, even if you don't tell Robin next week it's ok."

Finney turned to face the boy, who was looking at him with a look that Finney was starting to associate with love and care.

"You've got all the time in the world, it's not like either of you are going anywhere."

"I know, but I just have to tell him, he needs to know." Griffin smiled at him from across the bed, he yawned.

"If you think so, but if he breaks your heart I'll beat him up for you." Finney snorted.

"I will, I could take him." Griffin defended, and Finney snickered.

The two slept very easy that night.

_______________________________________________

On Thursday, after a long shift of doing nothing but staring at Robin as there were no customers around. Vance made him sit in the passenger seat of the car, and after dropping off everybody but Bruce. He turned towards Finney.

"You're spending the night with me and Bruce." Finney did not dare argue with Vance, his grip on the steering wheel told Finney enough.

The three of them ended up at the Yamada household. Where Simon and Celia were almost overjoyed to see Finney. Even though they had seen him the previous Saturday. At dinner they excitedly asked him how school was going, and if he was excited for the fair.

Finney did his best to keep up with all the questions they were asking him. When dinner was done, Bruce shuffled him and Vance up the stairs into the living room. That night he was wedged between Bruce and Vance who spent majority of the time arguing over what the best romcom was all time.

"Jason didn't deserve Samantha!" Vance angrily exclaimed.

Vance would deny it until the end of time, but he and Bruce knew that as much as Vance teased Bruce about being obsessed with romcoms, Vance was just as if not more obsessed then Bruce was.

He feel asleep to the sounds of Vance and Bruce debating. It was an oddly soothing thing to hear.

___________________________________________

On Friday, after sitting in Robin's lap in Vance's car and adjusting the boy's bandana for him. Which seemed to get crocked every time Finney looked away from it. Billy pulled him out of the car.

"Let's go Finney." The boy had no protests.

After dinner and playing around with Pilot for a bit, the two went to bed.

They didn't say much other then goodnight.

However when Finney woke up it was to the sounds of giggling.

"What?" He mumbled out.

"Wait, hang on don't move." Billy told him, Finney opened his eyes but did not move, he heard the sound of a click. There was more giggling after that. Finney sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"What's so funny?" Billy turned his phone around to show the picture of Finney lying down.

"You look like the wife who dies at the beginning of every movie." Finney rolled his eyes, but he saw Billy sending it to the group chat.

He shoved the phone in his face to show him the images everyone were sending for a comparison. He rolled his eyes. But he couldn't help the smile that came across his face.

______________________________________________

Saturday night, like always was spent at the Yamanda household.

A few board games were played, but everyone seemed happy to just go to bed.

Finney laid down in the middle of the room, with Robin's head resting against his chest. He ran his hands through the boys hair, and he could hear Billy and Griffin snickering from across the room, but that didn't matter. Not to Finney right now anyway.

All that mattered was that they were all alive. They were all here and alive.

Finney was going to make sure it stayed that way.

_____________________________________________

After watching a movie at Griffin's, where Billy and Griffin had done their best to act out the scenes in the living room. Which had ended up with Bruce spilling his drink all over Vance from how hard he was laughing. Which in turn had ended up with Finnney laughing so hard he dropped the popcorn he was holding onto Robin's head, which was resting on his lap.

He was once again wedged between Bruce and Vance on Sunday night.

Vance grumbled about the spilt drink, but Bruce managed to laugh it off.

However as he was drifting off, he definitely felt Vance kicking Bruce from across the bed.

_____________________________________________

Monday night was spent at Robin's.

As he looked at Robin, who had fallen into a seemingly peaceful sleep. He couldn't help the feelings that were bubbling in his chest.

"Hey Robin." He whispered, the boy did not stir.

"I know you can't hear me right now, but I just need put this out there." Robin remained asleep.

"I'm going to tell you, on Wednesday. And I'm just so happy that you're here and that I get to tell you, I'm glad I've got this chance, and even if you don't feel the same I won't mind. But I just need you to know how much I love you, and how glad I am you sat with me that lunchtime. I want you to know that I'm grateful for everything you've done for me." Finney stopped talking when Robin let out a snore.

Finney shut his eyes, but as he did he felt an arm wrap around him.

___________________________________________________

Tuesday night. He spent the night somewhere wouldn't though he would. He was spending the night at Sussie's house.

Gwen had run up to him at school that morning, and begged for him to come spend one night at Susie's. Gwen had already gotten Sussie's mom to agree. And Finney could not say no to his sister. So he told her, he would be there after work.

Everyone in the car gave Vance a strange look when he pulled up in front of an unfamiliar house, and they looked even more confused when Finney started to get out of the car.

"I'm staying with my sister tonight." He explained, he saw relief on all of their faces when he said the words.

"Right, will see you in the morning, wear something nice for tomorrow." Billy gave him a wink. Finney rolled his eyes, but he said his goodbyes.

That night he laid on the couch in the houses living room, Gwen laid down on a sleeping bag on the floor.

"Finney." He turned towards Gwen.

"You're going to tell Robin tomorrow aren't you?" He smiled.

"How'd you know?" Gwen rolled her eyes and pointed at her head.

"Psychic, remember." Finney rolled his own eyes.

"Does he make you happy?"

"He does, you know he does." He said. He saw Gwen swallow.

"I know, but you know mom used to say dad made her happy." She whispered the words, Finney shook his head.

"I know, but it's not like that with him." He reassured, Gwen sat up properly this time.

"You promised you weren't going to end up like mom." Finney had no idea where his sister was going with this.

"That means you aren't going to do things that make you feel trapped." She had an intense look in her eyes.

"That means if someone makes you feel trapped, you've got to leave them, and I don't mean leave like mom did."

"Gwen." He let himself slide onto the floor so he could sit beside her.

"I'm not leaving. Not like her." Gwen's shoulders were shaking, so he placed his hands onto them.

"You promised right?" Gwen whispered. Finney let one of her shoulders go and held out his pinky. Gwen saw and wrapped her smaller finger around Finney's.

"I promise, I'm not going to leave." That was enough for Gwen.

"Love you, Finney."

"I Love you to."

The two went to bed that night, both thinking that Finney would be keeping that promise with no problems.

However little did either of them know, Finney would be breaking that promise.

He would be breaking it very soon.

_________________________________________

Wednesday afternoon came, after school came and they all excitedly clambered into Sarah's car.

The car ride there was anything but silent, and it got even louder when Bruce got in as well. Vance was sitting in the passengers seat, Bruce and Griffin were in the boot and he was sat in the middle of Billy and Robin.

Robin was resting his head against Finney's shoulder, his hand was lazily wrapped around Finney's. They didn't say anything, but they didn't need to.

Billy was switching between talking to everybody about the fair, Finney worried the poor boy was going to get whiplash if he kept turning his head so quick. Needless to say he was grateful when Sarah pulled into the parking lot. Sarah turned around in her seat.

"Right, these are the ground rules." They all stopped talking, and let her speak.

"Number one, no one goes anywhere alone, pick a buddy and stick with them." Robin's grip went from lazy to firm.

"Number two." She pointed at the clock that read five fifty. "We all meet back here at nine, not a minute later." She looked around the car, probably expecting protest, but she looked glad when she was met with none.

"Number three, have fun." She had a massive smile on her face. That smile remained as she waved them off and watched them walk into the fair.

"What do we do first?" He asked Billy, who in response clung onto his hand, the one not holding Robin's. His other hand grabbed onto Griffin.

"Whatever we want."

For the next two and a half the boys would try a bunch of foods, would attempt to win 'clearly rigged' games according to Vance, but Finney reckons he's just bitter that Griffin beat him at ring toss. Bruce had taken a million pictures of them and every single one of them you could see how much fun that they were all having.

It was at eight thirty Griffin pointed at the Ferris wheel.

"We should go on it." Everyone was happy to agree, well everyone except Robin who seemed to be hanging back a bit.

"Robin are you alright?" The boy attempted to shrug Finney off.

"I'm good, why wouldn't I be?" He was trying to laugh it off, but Finney could see the nerves in his eyes.

"You don't want to go on, do you?" Robin looked down at the ground.

"Billy." He shouted out and the boy immediately turned around.

"I'm going to hang back with Robin, you guys go ahead." Robin looked up from the ground he opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by Billy shouting back.

"Ok! Just stay together." Their friends all walked passed them, each of them shooting looks towards Finney who had laced his hands with Robins. Bruce gave him a thumbs up, Griffin and Billy made a heart with their hands when they walked past. He was glad Robin had looked back to the ground. Vance stood in front of him, his arms were crossed and he gave Finney a look. No words were needed, he got the message.

You better tell him.

Vance then turned around and stalked towards Bruce, who was waiting further ahead for them. Once their friends were out of sight he turned back to Robin.

"Let's go sit down somewhere." Robin nodded, and he let Finney pull him along. After about five minutes of walking the found a hill right beside the fair. It was just out of sight of everything, but not to far that hey wouldn't be able to see all the lights from the fair.

The night sky was littered with stars. They were so beautiful, but when he turned to look at Robin he had the thought.

There not as beautiful as him.

This was it. It was December first. Robin Arellano was sitting right beside him, his fingers laced through Finney's own. Robin Arellano had never been cut out of the world, he hadn't been ripped away before Finney got to tell him,and Finney wasn't going to lose his chance to tell him. He had to tell him right now.

"Robin I-"

"Finn." They looked at each other.

"You go." Finney said, but the boy shook his head

"No, I cut you off you can go." Alright no more waiting. Finney took a deep breath.

"Robin, I love you." He had said it.

Robin was looking at him almost expectantly.

"You are the most beautiful person."

"Finn." Finney shook his head.

"Robin the first day we met, was the day I fell in love with you." Robin didn't attempt to interrupt him this time.

"Robin, I was always going to fall in love with you, there was no way that I wasn't going to." He felt the grip on his hand go loose.

"You're just so good Robin. You're like the sun." Robin had let go of his hand, but Finney kept going.

"You are so bright even though people get burnt by you, they can't help but keep looking at you." There was nothing but silence.

"I can't help looking at you Robin, and you always say that 'I'm your Finn', but your my Robin and I would-" Whatever Finney was about to say was cut of by lips pressing against his own.

His eyes blew open. Robin was kissing him. Robin was kissing him.

Robin was kissing him.

Finney shut his eyes and pressed into Robin. He couldn't describe it, there were no words for all the feelings that went into this kiss. Robin pulled away, and he looked at Finney. He looked pleased for a moment, but then panicked look came across him.

"I'm sorry, oh god I'm sorry." Finney's heart sunk at the words.

"Oh." The hurt was clear in his voice. This somehow made Robin panic even more, he started to frantically wave his hands.

"Wait no! I'm not sorry for kissing you." Finney could feel his heart lift up a little bit.

"I mean I am! But not because of you!" Robin gestured towards Finney, who honestly didn't know what he should be feeling right now.

"I mean I'm sorry! For-"

"Robin, take a breath." He grabbed the frantic boys hands and pulled them down. Robin took a few breaths in and out.

"I was going to tell you, I had all these things I was planning to say." Finney let Robin play with his hands.

"You're the prettiest boy in the universe." Robin's grip on his hands were slipping again.

"I know we always joke that you're an angel." Robin's eyes glanced towards the necklace that he was wearing, but they shot right back up to Finney's face.

"But some days I think you really must of come from Heaven. You're so good Finn, you are just such a good person, you're so kind to everybody even people who don't deserve it. And-" Robin stopped what he was saying and he looked up towards the sky.

"You said I was like the sun." He looked back to Finney.

"But Finn." He felt a hand cupping his cheek.

"You're the stars." Finney couldn't do anything, the only thing he could do was look at Robin.

"You're the stars. People stop whatever their doing just to look at you, just happy that they were even able to catch a glimpse of you. They admire from afar in awe of something so beautiful. Some people look to you and their scared, their scared of something that's so beautiful, because it could kill them if they ever tried to get to close. Some people are to afraid to even try and understand you, they can't comprehend anything about you other then you're beautiful."

Both of Robin's hands were holding his face now.

"Finn, I love you. I love you, and I know-"

Finney cut Robin off by leaning forward and pressing their lips together. Robin tensed for a second and Finney considered pulling away, but then the boy slipped his hands into Finney's hair and pulled him closer.

For a moment there was nothing else in the universe beside him and Robin.

For a moment this was everything.

Eventually though one of them pulled away, it didn't matter who it was though. All that mattered was that both of them were here, they were alive and that they had shared the words that they had buried inside of their hearts for a long time. Robin smiled at him, and if Finney hadn't of already lost his breath it would've been taken away in an instant.

"We better be heading back." Robin pulled Finney up and the boy let himself be. The two of them walked in silence but neither of them let go of the others hand. Robin stopped just before they walked through the carpark entry, Finney pulled in front of him but their hands remained together. He looked Finney up and down, he had this look of disbelief on his face.

"What?" Robin shook his head.

"I kissed you." He sounded so amazed by it.

"I kissed you as well." Finney then began leading the way with Robin trailing slightly behind. But their hands never slipped away from each other. They were not letting the other go.

Their friends were waiting outside of Sarah's car when they got back. They all looked towards them, their eyes scanning them up and down.

They must of found whatever they were looking for because he heard grumbling and the sound of pockets being opened. Must of the money surprisingly went to Vance.

"Told you guys." Finney would've said they were grumbling unhappily, but the smiles they kept sending him and Robin made him scrap that description.

"You two can sit in the boot." Bruce gave him a wink as he opened up the car door. Billy and Griffin were snickering, but Finney didn't care. The two of them sat in the boot and remained in silence for the car ride home. Finney was actually going to his house tonight, he needed some time just to process everything that had just happened. The man wasn't supposed to be home tonight either, so he would be alright.

Sarah pulled into the driveway. Robin's grip tightened on his hand.

"Fi-" Finney pressed a kiss against Robin's cheek. When Finney pulled away Robin lifted his free hand up to his own face.

"I'll see you in the morning." Finney pulled his hand away from Robin's. In the background he could hear someone whistling.

"Of course, of course you will." Robin let his hand go. Finney climbed put of the car. Billy and Griffin clapped him on the back as he got out and Bruce was giving him a smile. Vance only turned his head for a second, but Finney saw that the corners of his mouth were turned up.

He waved to them as he walked up the driveway and to the front door.

Finney didn't even question why the door was unlocked. His head was filled with other things.

Finney walked down the hallway feeling like he was floating. There was nothing that could bring him down. That's what he thought, until he stepped into the kitchen.

A chair sat in the centre of the room.

On that chair sat a man. A man with a mask.

The very man Finney thought he had saved Robin from today.

"Hello, Finney." The voice was undeniable. This was The Grabber.

The Grabber was sitting in the middle of his kitchen. Finney couldn't move.

"I think we need to have a talk." He was smiling from under the mask.

He sounded happy. If The Grabber was happy, something absolutely horrific had happened or something absolutely horrific was about to happen.

The Grabber was still smiling. He was smiling at Finney.

Nothing good was going to come of this.