No Such Thing as Too Young

"I need you to feel again.
Don't mess around,
Just let me in,
And take me to your bed."
"Your Bed" – All Time Low

"R-really?" Vic said incredulously, lifting his head and wiping away his tears.

"You can't just take our son away from us!" yelled Vic's dad. "I will call the cops on you!"

"No, you won't. Vic, come on." Vic nodded and rushed upstairs. I jumped up and followed him.

"Oh my god," he said when we reached his bedroom. I immediately wrapped my arms around him in the tightest hug I could and just held him for a moment. I could feel him shaking against me.

"Are you okay?" I asked when I let go.

"I... I don't know. I'm so sorry about my parents."

"Hey, don't apologise. It's okay, it's not your fault."

We gathered up as much of Vic's stuff as we could fit in his suitcase, and we also grabbed his books and schoolbag. The yelling from downstairs had ceased by the time we'd finished, so we cautiously headed back down to find Vic's dad sitting alone on the sofa with his arms crossed.

"Your mother's outside, Kellin," he said without looking at us. We could hear Vic's mum crying from the kitchen. We grabbed our coats and left without saying a word.

My mum was already waiting in the car, so I helped Vic put his things in the trunk of the car and then sat in the backseat with him so I could hold his hand.

"You boys alright?" Mum asked as she started the car.

"Yeah, Mum, are you?"

"I'm fine. I'm so sorry about all of that, Vic. I didn't mean to cause so much trouble, and I didn't want to leave you there after all that."

"It's alright, Ms Bostwick. Thank you for letting me stay at your place. I didn't really want to be left there either."

"Oh, call me Lisa. And it's no trouble, sweetheart, you can stay as long as you like. I asked about your brother, too, but your parents said he wasn't home and wouldn't give me any information on him. Do you think he'll be alright?"

"Yeah, he should be. I'll call him tonight and tell him what's going on, make sure he's alright and stuff."

"Well, let him know that if he wants to stick with you that he can stay here with us as well, alright? And just let me know if there's anything you forgot to bring, I can bring you back to pick up more stuff whenever you like."

"Thanks, Lisa."

When we got home I helped Vic get his things out of the trunk of the car and carry them inside.

"Uh, Mum," I began cautiously once we were inside.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Can Vic stay in my room while he's here?"

There was a pause. "Alright," she said eventually. "But I'm trusting you boys to be sensible, you know."

I felt myself go red with embarrassment, but I couldn't stop a smile from spreading across my face. I glanced at Vic, who was red and smiling as well.

"Thanks, Mum. Okay, let's go."

Vic and I carried his things up to my room and dumped them on the floor. "I guess that means we can also share a bed, if you're okay with that," I said awkwardly. I wanted to, I just didn't want to make Vic uncomfortable.

"Oh, yeah, that's fine, uh, if you want to," Vic spluttered.

"Of course I want to, you idiot," I smiled, shaking my head at him.

"Okay, great," he said, taking a deep breath and smiling.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah. I'm just in a bit of shock. But yeah, I'm okay. Thank you so much for everything you've done, Kellin."

"Hey, you don't have to thank me. I love you, and I'll do anything to make sure you're okay."

"I love you too," he said, smiling shyly. "And... I'm kind of excited to stay here with you."

I grinned. "And I'm excited to have you here. It'll be like you're part of the family."

"That would be nice. It'd be good to feel like I've got a real family for once."

I just wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug, mostly so he couldn't see the tears in my eyes. My dad left my mum and I when I was little and so I sometimes feel like I don't have a proper family, because it's so small. But Vic just reminded me that it doesn't matter how small my family is, I've got a mum that loves me and cares about me and an amazing boyfriend that loves me too, and that's what matters. I just hope I can make him feel the same way.

We spent the rest of the afternoon lying on my bed, just talking. We spoke about serious things like what happened today and about Vic going to rehab, and Vic also told me a bit more about his drug habits. But we also chatted about lighter things. I told him some funny stories about things that have happened to me at school and dumb things my friends have done, and he told me funny stories about him and Mike and the dumb arguments they used to have.

After dinner that night, Vic headed upstairs by himself to call Mike, leaving me downstairs to help Mum clean up after dinner.

"So, is he alright?" Mum asked.

"Yeah, he's okay. He's in a bit of shock but he's really grateful that we brought him here."

"That's good, then. He's such a sweet boy; he doesn't deserve all he's been through."

Vic came back downstairs to where we were watching TV in the lounge room after having finished cleaning up. He told us that Mike was alright but his parents got pretty angry at him when he got home for not saying anything about Vic still doing drugs, so he's staying at a friend's house for a few nights just to let them cool down before going back home.

Afterwards we headed upstairs to get ready for bed. "Don't stay up too late, boys, remember you've got school tomorrow!" Mum called.

"We know!" I called back.

"This feels weird," said Vic once we'd settled into bed and turned out the lights.

"Why? We've shared a bed before."

"I know, but it's different this time. It's like we've moved in together."

"Is it a bad thing?"

"No, of course not," chuckled Vic, and I could see him smiling in the dark. "It means I get to give you goodnight kisses." He shifted towards me and kissed me softly on the lips.

I smiled and kissed him back. "Roll over," I said when he pulled away, and when he did so I wrapped my arm around him and curved my body around his so we were spooning. "I love you," I whispered. "Goodnight."

"I love you too. Goodnight."