A/N Y'all probably don't know this, but today is the one year anniversary of this book! You guys have been so supportive and wonderful and I probably would not be on my, what, seventeenth chapter? So I'd like to thank all of you so much for sticking with this book. I really appreciate everything you guys have done for me and I hope to publish more things in the future.

Tobi stood in his bathroom, fixing his hair in the mirror. He and Emilio had a date in an hour. Tobi was thankful that things between the two of them had smoothed over.

Emilio was excited to go to the church and the mood was slightly contagious. It would still take a little bit for Tobi to feel comfortable completely opening up, but assuming all went well with the visit, he would tell Emilio everything. He deserved to know.

The loud ringing of Tobi's phone startled him from his thoughts. Emilio was calling.

"Hello?"

"Tobi. So my parents decided to go out tonight and they're leaving Vanessa with me. I'm really sorry. You're welcome to still come over if you'd like."

Tobi smiled. "I'll be over. It will be nice to see Vanessa again. And otherwise I would have gotten ready for nothing. I'll see you soon."

"Okay," Emilio said cheerfully before hanging up.

Tobi stepped back from the mirror. I suppose I no longer need to worry about my outfit as much, he thought to himself.

As Tobi finished getting ready, a thought crossed his mind: did Vanessa know about the fight? What if she disliked him now? Would things be awkward?

Tobi had promised himself that he wouldn't get stressed over the fight anymore. He paced around the living room of his apartment as the date drew nearer, worrying about how the one small disagreement would affect things.

He considered texting Emilio and asking if Vanessa knew, but decided it was best not to bring it up for fear of starting things again.

A small voice in the back of his mind told him that relationships were high maintenance and this was exactly why he didn't do them. He tried his best to ignore it.

It's no good going and second guessing yourself right before a date.

He would find out if Vanessa knew eventually. She was a kid. Kids mentioned things like that.

After calming down, he wasted a bit of time on his phone before driving to Emilio's.

"Tobi's coming over, right?" Vanessa asked.

"For the fourth time, yes, he'll be here," Emilio replied, an amused smile on his face.

"Are we going to watch a movie or are you guys just going to kiss and be gross the whole time?"

Emilio blushed lightly and Vanessa giggled.

"We should go somewhere fun again," she continued after a moment. "A haunted house."

Emilio raised an eyebrow. "A haunted house? You won't have nightmares?"

"Nuh-uh," Vanessa said confidently. "But you can hold Tobi's hand if you get scared."

"Vanessa, there are no haunted houses in the middle of March."

"A ghost tour, then."

"I don't know..."

"Come on, Emilio! I thought you were supposed to be the fun brother!"

Emilio frowned. "I'm your only brother." He tried his best to ignore Vanessa's puppy dog eyes, but eventually he sighed and said, "I'll talk to Tobi about it."

Vanessa cheered and sat herself in front of the entryway, awaiting Tobi's arrival.

When Tobi got there, Emilio barely had time to greet his boyfriend when Vanessa barreled into Tobi, shouting about ghost tours.

"Good to see you too," Tobi chuckled.

"In case you failed to catch any of that, she really wants to do one of those tours of haunted sites."

"That sounds fun," Tobi said.

Vanessa's eyes lit up and she bounced excitedly. "So we're going?"

"Yes, just let me find somewhere nearby and we'll go."

Emilio pulled out his phone and began searching, while Vanessa dragged Tobi inside.

"You should probably hold my brother's hand the whole time so he doesn't get scared," Vanessa said seriously.

Tobi nodded, doing his best to stifle a grin. "What made you want to do a ghost tour?"

"Ghosts are cool."

"You're not scared of them?" Tobi asked, amused.

"Nope. I watch scary movies all the time and I never get nightmares."

Wouldn't that be nice? Tobi thought.

"I found a place about an hour from here," Emilio said, following after Vanessa and Tobi. "We would get back late, but Vanessa doesn't have school tomorrow."

"Let's go!" Vanessa exclaimed.

Vanessa told scary stories the whole drive there to get them "warmed up for the really scary stuff."

The tour was of an old house where someone had murdered their whole family, then hanged themselves in the attic. It was presumed to be haunted.

Before they walked through the front door, Emilio grabbed Tobi's hand and pulled him aside. "You don't have any PTSD from the fire or anything that might get triggered by this?" he asked.

"Not that I know of, but thank you for asking."

"Of course. And just in case, if you ever need to leave at any point, tell me."

Tobi nodded, but doubted that would be necessary. This kind of thing had always been right up his alley. He kept his hand in Emilio's as they began the tour, though, to humor Vanessa.

The house was dark and special effects were strewn about to make it seem as though there were ghosts, but it was pretty much the tourist trap that Tobi and Emilio had expected. It was much creepier than Vanessa had anticipated, however, and she shoved her way between Tobi and Emilio, clinging to Emilio's side and holding Tobi's hand.

"I thought you said you weren't going to get scared," Emilio teased.

She mumbled something in response that neither adult caught.

"Are you going to have nightmares tonight?" Emilio asked, peeling himself from his sister's death grip as they walked back to the car.

"Judging by the fact that I lost feeling in my hand ten minutes ago, I would assume so," Tobi said in good humor.

"Do you want me to tell stories so you don't go to bed scared?" Emilio asked.

"Tell stories from when you were little!" Vanessa said enthusiastically, letting go of Tobi's hand. Tobi took this opportunity to shake feeling back into it.

"Get in the car and I'll tell them on the drive back."

Vanessa had completely forgotten about being scared as she listened intently to stories of when Emilio was younger. Tobi was quite interested as well. As Emilio finished a story about when he was in school, Vanessa turned to Tobi. "What about you, Tobi?"

Emilio glanced over at him, intrigued.

Tobi thought for a moment, then said, "I don't really have any interesting stories to tell. My siblings and I were never allowed off church grounds. A few of my siblings snuck out once or twice, but I stayed home with Mattias. He's narcoleptic so it wouldn't have been safe for him to go out and I was afraid of getting caught and in trouble."

It was a simple story. Nothing said explicitly suggested abuse. Yet Emilio couldn't shake the feeling that there was quite a bit to the story that Tobi had left out.

He pushed the feeling away. Tobi was taking him to the church, so he'd figure more out then.

"Speaking of," Emilio said, "is there any update on going to the church?"

"Not yet. My siblings are still coming to a consensus about a date. Soon, though."

Tobi gave a soft smile and placed his hand on Emilio's thigh, ignoring the anxiety of introducing him.

Things would go well. They had to.

A/N Happy Wednesday! Chapter title from "Young and Menace" by Fall Out Boy. Not much to say here. Comment and vote!