Joey ran down the list of all the expenses he, Craig, had cost him. And of course he wouldn't ask Angie to pay rent or help pay for food or hydro or anything because Angie was his daughter, his real daughter, not just some step-kid.

Craig was mad because he'd thought it wasn't that way, that Joey thought of him as a part of the family even if he didn't always feel like it. So he left, and called Sean on his cell.

"Hey, man, what's up?" Craig said when Sean finally answered after the fourth ring.

"Nothing," Sean said, and heard a tone in Craig's voice he had heard before. He remembered when Craig had called him that time in ninth grade, his father ready to beat him, and Craig was talking to him and throwing his stuff in a bag while his father beat on his door with a golf club or something. He sounded the same now, just less panicked.

"Listen, uh, can I come over?" Craig said, that note of desperation in his voice that made Sean's stomach twist.

"Sure, of course you can,"

Sean had an apartment now, a nice haven for those friends of his who needed a place to go. But since that day when Craig called him all upset in ninth grade, he hadn't needed him like that again. Craig had Joey, and Ashley sometimes or Manny, Jimmy and Spinner and Marco. And that was fine with him. He was glad, really. But all these years he felt like if Craig was ever desperate, really desperate again, he wouldn't go to them.

He talked to him, unable or unwilling to find out what was wrong. But it was enough just to be on the phone, to hear the almost panic starting to leave Craig's voice. A knock on the door, and when he opened it it was Craig, still on the phone with him, the tiny silver cell phone against his ear, and Craig smiled. Sean opened the door wide and let him in.

He had a bag packed again, the same one he had with him that day when they were at the train track, the sun shining off those metal tracks, hurting his eyes if he looked at it too long. And the same leather jacket, black and cracking, only it fit him better now, his shoulders were wider and he was taller. Sean shook his head, funny he hadn't really noticed how much Craig had changed since then, taller and older looking, something in his eyes and his expressions.

Craig tossed his bag into the corner, snapped the phone shut and slipped it into his pocket. Sean eyed him, wondering if he had any bruises this time, but he knew Joey wouldn't beat him. Besides, in a fight Joey might lose. He wanted to badger Craig and find out what was wrong, why he'd packed a bag and left again, but he knew it didn't work like that with him. He'd tell him if and when he wanted to.

"Hungry?" Sean said, stirring some macaroni and cheese he'd been cooking. Craig shook his head. Sean shrugged and dumped some of it in a bowl for himself, sat on the couch and started eating. Craig sat next to him, still in his jacket. His hair and the jacket were wet, it was raining. It made his hair look darker, and curlier.

Sean put the empty bowl onto the old coffee table and put his feet up next to it. The T.V. was on, providing a comfortable babble of some sit-com. Craig stared at it, looking on the verge of crying.

"You can take your jacket off, you know," Sean said, and Craig looked at him, the shine of tears in his eyes making his eyes look almost green.

"Yeah, okay," He took it off and tossed it into the corner with his bag. The sit-com gave way to some entertainment news show that made little sense to Sean. He sighed, looked at the way the overhead light shined on Craig's hair. Sean stood up and snapped the light off. Sat back down but a little closer to Craig, and he could feel the heat from Craig's body, felt his arm against his. He looked at him in the dim light, lit now only by the flickery blue glow of the television screen. Silence. He wouldn't tell him what it was and Sean couldn't take it anymore.

"What is it? What happened?"

Craig looked at him, the pain in his eyes making Sean feel angry at whoever had hurt him.

"Nothin',"

"C'mon, you don't pack a bag and come all the way out here when it's nothing. What is it?"

Craig didn't say anything but he looked like he was thinking of saying something.

"Did Joey hit you?"

"No. Joey doesn't do that… but he might as well have. I'm just a burden to him. I mean, who can blame the guy? My dad dies and he's basically stuck with me-"

"It isn't like that," Sean said.

"How would you know? It is like that. Joey listed off to me all the money he has to spend because of me, and it's just obvious…" Craig trailed off, tears in his eyes but not falling, shining just like that night in the cemetery when he finally admitted that his dad had been hitting him.

Sean put his arm around him and Craig sank against him, starting to cry for real now, his shoulders shaking. Sean held him and let him cry, and he felt the silky feeling of Craig's still damp hair against his cheek.

"Shhhh," Sean said softly, and kissed Craig's cheek, feeling the slight roughness of it where he shaves. Craig's eyes were closed, and he turned toward Sean and kissed him on the lips. Sean closed his eyes and kissed him back, flicking his tongue slightly with his own, trailing his hands down Craig's arms and to his back, feeling the clothes rub against the skin, the muscles tensing as he touched him.

The T.V. babbled on and Sean kissed him again, feeling his soft lips and the kiss was stronger, different than kissing girls. Ran his hands through the dark damp curls, felt Craig's breathing start to speed up. He realized he'd wanted to do this ever since that day in ninth grade when they sat on the railroad tracks and Craig fanned the money his father had given him, asked Sean to come with him.