Cory walked up to the house and knocked on the door. He didn't want to ring the doorbell, it was really early in the morning; and waking Sean up at this time of the day was definite suicide.

Terri opened the door, and the moment she saw who was there she got a huge grin on her face. "Oh my, well isn't this a pleasant surprise. Come on in Cory, can I get you something to drink?"

He walked into the foyer and closed the door. "Hi Teri, yes, I could use a glass of water, thanks. Is Sean up yet?" He sat down on the bench which Terri had beside the door, and started to undo his shoes.

"No, he's still sleeping. He should be up in about an hour. You can go wake him up if you want; but I don't really think you want to do that. Not if you like your head where it is anyways." Terri laughed at the comment, and then went to the kitchen to get a glass of water for Cory.

"Oh maybe I'll just wait for him to get up. Would it be all right if I take a shower though? I stink somethin' fierce."

Terri laughed, "Sure you can, sweetie. While you're having your drink, I'll get you a clean towel and some clean clothes. I don't think Sean will mind if you wear his clothes today." Terri placed the glass on the kitchen table, and then went to get what was needed.

Cory went into the kitchen where Terri had left his water. After he finished the glass of water, he went into the bathroom. He turned on the water to let it warm up first, and then started to undress for his shower. The warm water felt soothing on his skin. He stood there, just letting the water wash away all the sweat from his run, and the dirt in his mind.

The clouds that had blurred Cory's mind were, for a short while, cleared and forgotten. His mind was vacant of all thoughts as the steaming hot water coursed down his body. He was lost in nothing, but searching through everything.

Reality struck as the water turned suddenly cold. Cory finished up as quickly as possible, and started to towel himself off. He took his time getting dressed; making sure that he looked as nice as possible.

Terri had extremely good taste in clothes and had picked out something that she thought he would look good in, baggy 501 red tag blue Levis and an olive colored t-shirt. Cory fixed his hair up so it looked the best he could get it; it never seems to go exactly how he wants it. After one last look in the mirror, he headed back to the living room to watch some cartoons while waiting for Sean to wake up.

After a while, Teri joined him in the room. "Cory, will you be a dear and go wake Sean up. He must have had a late night last night, and if he doesn't get up soon, he'll have another late night tonight," she asked.

"Sure thing Terri, will do."

Cory walked up the stairs and opened Sean's door. There he was, lying in bed, asleep. Cory thought to himself "He looks so beautiful sleeping. He kinda looks like an angel dropped down from heaven."

Cory stood there watching Sean sleep, gazing down on him as he dreamt about who knows what. He looked so peaceful, and relaxed, as if he had no cares in the world.

Suddenly an enormous rush of warmth ran through Cory's body. Images, or more exactly feelings of images, flashed through his mind.

It was the most intense feeling he had ever felt. His vision clouded, and his arms and legs tingled.

Cory intuitively knew this was a good feeling, and that there was no reason to be worried or scared. He followed Mark's advice, and let the feelings run their course. They flowed like the hot lava from a volcano, but didn't burn. It was an intense moment to say the least!

When Cory opened his eyes, he finally realized that the figure sleeping in front of him was someone special. Not only special as a brother; but also as someone whom he loved more than anyone, or anything, in this world. Though it was slightly confusing, the thought relaxed him.

Just then, Cory remembered why he was there. He walked over to Sean's bed and sat beside him. So many possibilities went through Cory's mind on different ways to wake him up. He considered them carefully, and decided that the best way for him to wake up would be laughing.

Cory reached under the blanket and felt around for his feet. He found one and began tickling it. A flash in his mind brought the feeling he had done this very thing before. Suddenly, Cory Jr. decided to "pop up" and say hello!

Cory let go of Sean's foot as fast as he could. "What the hell is going on here? Why is Cory Jr. up and about?" he thought. He looked down at Sean, who hadn't moved a muscle, and knew right then and there. All of the feelings he had felt towards Sean were now so clear. Images were coming back faster than he could comprehend. The one that stood out and imbedded itself in his mind was the look on Sean's face. It was the look of love, happiness, and pure joy, time and time again reappearing through the mess of images.

Just the thought of touching Sean like this with Cory Jr. looking around was uncomfortable, but the image of that look on Sean's face was calming and relaxing. The realization that he was gay was scary, but Cory somehow knew he had told Sean; and that Sean had accepted him, and still loved him in spite of it.

After finally calming Cory Jr. down, Cory resumed tickling Sean's foot. Immediately Cory Jr. re-rose to the occasion and this time refused to be calmed down. Cory did his best to hide it from view. It took a little work to find the spot; but when he did, the results were instantaneous.

Sean awoke with a start -- to find Cory tickling his feet. "Uhhhh - watch it bro -- you're about to end up in a puddle" Sean ran to the bathroom and proceeded to empty what felt like 2 gallons out of his bladder. He looked over to the doorway as he was finishing up, and to his surprise Cory was standing there watching him with a small smile on his face.

"Hey there bro, you like what you are seeing?" Sean said with a smile. "Don't worry -- I don't mind."

Cory's grin got a little bigger, so Sean finished closing up and went to the doorway and gave him a big hug. "Come on bro -- I'm cooking breakfast -- Lucky Charms sound good?" That brought a big grin to Cory's face, so Sean put an arm over Cory's shoulder and they headed downstairs. The two boys were in the process of finishing off the box of cereal when Cory looked at Sean with a puzzled look on his face. "Sean -- after breakfast could we talk a bit?" he asked. "Something real weird is happening -- and I need to talk about it -- I feel like I'm going nuts here."

The two boys went off to the rec room, and Sean was surprised to see Cory close the door behind them. Sean sat in the beanbag chair, and Cory come over and sat with him -- which placed him as close as possible without actually sitting on Sean's lap. Sean put his hand on Cory's shoulder, "What's wrong bud?" he asked.

"You gotta promise not to laugh at me first," replied Cory.

"Bro, I couldn't hurt you like that -- I promise not to laugh"

Cory looked at Sean seriously "You got to pinky swear that you won't laugh"

Cory held up his right hand with his pinky extended, then hooked it into Sean's pinky when he lifted his hand up with it "I pinky swear not to laugh or make fun of anything that you are about to say" Sean said.

Cory then cuddled up to Sean with his head on Sean's shoulder -- Sean was unable to tell if it was for security or to ensure that nobody could hear them outside the room, or maybe a combination of both. Even tho Cory was older, Sean wrapped his arms around him and held him like a protective big brother. He knew that he was about to hear something that he had been waiting to hear for months, but was also enjoying the first chance to hold his friend like this in a long time. Sean reached over with his left hand and slowly ran it thru Cory's blond hair -- amazingly still baby-fine and soft. He massaged the back of his head, feeling Cory's stress and trying to relax him. After 10 minutes or so, Sean noticed Cory's warm breath on his neck getting more even and softer, so he knew that Cory was finally relaxing. He turned his head and kissed Cory on the cheek, then said, "OK bro -- whenever you are ready I'm listening."

Cory looked up at him with a tear running down his cheek. "I think I'm going crazy -- I am afraid to tell the shrink back at the home what's been happening, he would probably make me stop coming over here, and I couldn't handle that right now." He snuggled in closer "It feels like I belong here with you -- not at the home ... and over the last week some weird things have been happening." Cory looked up at Sean, and saw a tear running down Sean's face -- but what surprised him more was the slight smile that accompanied it.

Sean looked over at Cory, and looked deep into his eyes." Cory, if you are about to say what I think you're about to say, don't worry -- you are not going nuts. I noticed a couple of things yesterday and this morning, but I was afraid to ask you about them. I love you, bro; please go on -- if it's what I think it is I'll try to help explain it to you as much as I can." With that Sean pulled Cory over and embraced him in a loving hug, at which point Cory broke into tears and tightly wrapped his arms around Sean.

Just then Teri opened the door quietly to see what the boys were doing -- at the sight of Cory crying in Sean's arms she started to come into the room to see what was wrong, but then she saw the look in Sean's eyes that told her it was best to leave them alone. She quickly closed the door, and went into her bedroom to get the diary the doctor had told her to keep. She thought back to the last time she had seen that look in Sean's eyes -- and wondered yet again if things would have been different if she had paid attention to it instead of ignoring it and barging in on the two boys. As she sat down to write the latest entry, she prayed that it would be the last one she would ever have to make -- and that her family might return to as close to normal as it could after the loss of Mike.

After the door closed, Cory hesitantly started talking "For the last week or so it seems ... umm... it's like... well... I feel like there's something I'm missing, kinda like I'm here but not really all here. It's like this morning, when I saw you taking a leak -- I felt like I've done that before, yet this is the first time I really remember doing that. Then yesterday when we were playing on the emulator, I had this weird feeling that it had been set up for US!" just then a pained expression crossed Cory's face: "Mikey set it up for US..." he exclaimed, breaking into tears.

Sean caressed Cory and held him, whispering to him things that he hoped would calm him down. As the tears settled down into sobs Cory finally was able to speak: "Why ... why ... why did it have to be him ... why was it Mikey ... why did Mikey have to die?" Cory pulled back with a start, a look of pain in his eyes "Why do I have to live at the home -- don't you want me anymore? I thought you loved me?"

It was Sean's turn to break into tears -- but he managed to get a few words out between sobs. "I DO love you bro -- I don't know how to prove it, but I still do -- Mom can explain better why you had to go to the home, but maybe now you can come back here. I would like to show you something I found on a site I've been visiting tho -- maybe it will help you see what I'm feeling -- then we can talk some more."

Cory looked at Sean, and it seemed like a dam breaking in his mind -- all the things that had happened suddenly burst from behind the doors they had been locked behind for the last year. He leaned forward as if to kiss Sean on the cheek -- then at the last second diverted to his lips -- the two boys suddenly were locked into as passionate of a kiss as possible without using tongues

As they separated, .Sean looked at Cory "I Love you -- always have and always will. When you were not around I found a site with some really cool stories on it called The Shack -- you GOTTA read 'Gone From Daylight' sometime, but I want to show you something that slash posted in the Library -- it's a poem that fits how I've been feeling this last year." The boys headed over to the computer and logged on the internet, and then Sean pulled up The Shack off of the Favorites menu. It took a couple minutes to find the poem, and Sean giggled. "Looks like acfan is up to his tricks again -- he's flooding the library with chapters from his new story -- one of these days I'm gonna read it!" Sean pulled up the link "Here ya go bro -- see what you think"

Cory looked at Sean "I'm sorry, you really DO still love me. I really don't know how I could ever make this up to you."

Sean looked deep into his eyes and replied, "You are doing it right now -- having you back is the one thing I've been wanting for a year now." Sean closed the internet connection then looked to Cory "I really think we need to talk to mom here, I've listened in while she's been talking to your shrink on the phone, but she can answer a lot more of your questions than I can." When he saw the questioning look in Cory's eyes he added "She really wants you back as much as I do -- don't worry, all mom wants is to help you, but neither one of us was able to say anything to you about what happened until you were able to bring it up yourself."

Cory relented, and as they both got up, he reached over and pulled Sean into a hug. "I love you Sean -- please don't ever let us be separated ever again -- pretty please?"

"Never again" replied Sean. "The thought of losing you hurts too much to even think about." "Let's go straighten up a bit before we find Mom -- you are a mess!"

Cory giggled, "You ain't exactly straight yourself -- did you get the number off the train that hit you?"

By the time they were done -- both boys looked fairly presentable, the bathroom on the other hand resembled a war zone. They walked down the hall with their arms over each others shoulders; Cory was the first one to spot Teri at the kitchen table.

"Mom ...? ..." Cory started.

Teri looked up in joy and shock -- it had been a year since she had heard that voice utter that word -- a long and trying year.