The last time Archer had his entire world packed away in a few boxes was thirteen years ago, when he was three years old and his biological dad, who he now knew as his uncle, had returned from his long stay in India. He didnt remember much about leaving his adoptive parents, other than, for a brief time, he had lived in the house of another family, until his daddy had come back to get him. Now, it was happening all over again, except that he was traveling beside of his parents, not without them. For the past two weeks, his daddy had swarmed himself in paperwork, signing over documents that he wanted to maintain the house in France, all while they stayed in Ohio for the time being. Because his grandparents old house hadnt been claimed yet, his daddy had purchased it back into the family, while hed loaned their home in France to a caretaker who was scheduled to come in once a day to care for the gardens. As soon as his daddy had finished that phone call, Archer had realized that it was really happening. He was leaving the place hed gotten used to, after thirteen years of living in it, and putting his future career aside on his list of priorities. He could only hope that what he would find in Ohio was worth letting go of a part of himself.

After a shaky plane ride through strong winds, his family had been left more uneasy than when they had walked out of the door of their home in Paris, and his daddy had locked the door behind them. Throughout the whole flight, his père had clung to his daddys arm, which was tight around his waist, every so often making a sound of discomfort from his pursed lips, which were a thin line in his green face, as if he would soon be ill. The conversation theyd had prior, when they had first begun discussing the move, had been vague to Archer, who knew very little of who was apparently Hunters real dad, Karofsky. But, if he was as bad as they had made him out to be, Archer felt horrible with himself for putting his parents through this. But his père had been right, that it had been fourteen years since Hunters death. And no one could hate for that long. At least, he thought so. He watched his parents as he walked through the airport with them, studying the way they clasped their fingers together, knuckles white and fingers quivering. He knew that, even besides Hunters death, something must have really gone wrong with this Karofsky.

While he followed his parents, he became a little distracted by the large signs that hung from the ceiling, depicting pictures of luggage and airplanes, beside of words he couldnt read. Even though his parents first language was English, only his daddy could really speak it well, and had even given up on it for a time so he could study French, in order to communicate with ease with any passing person on the street. Archer hadnt heard much English as he grew up, so the conversations he picked up of people standing around him were just blurbs, simple words that he could understand without much thought. Others, however, confused him to the point that he openly gaped at the person flinging them out at a rapid pace, until his uncle quietly came along beside of him and nudged him back to his parents sides.

As he pressed himself against his père, who had busied himself with unzipping his purse, which two small heads popped out of so the birds could get a look at their new home, his daddy took a few steps forward, a wide grin pulling the corners of his mouth up. "Burt." He said, opening his arms for an older man who Archer recognized as his grandpa, a loving but stern man who had raised his père with an open heart. In the past thirteen years, his grandpa had aged slowly, still holding himself up with a strong gait, and a wide form, but with a face lined with twenty more wrinkles, and a head that was dotted with dark spots, but no hair.

At the sound of his dads name, his père perked up, stroking his birds one last time before he put his purse back at his side, his arms flying apart. "Dad!" He cried, skipping over to the elderly man and burrowing himself into his thick chest as his huge arms wrapped him up. "Ive missed you so much! You look so well."

His grandpa hugged his son much tighter, while his grandma, a kind woman who he remembered always had a cookie baked for him when he came to visit her, approached the two of them, laying her hand on his back. His père whirled around at the gentle touch, and he hugged his stepmom warmly, already gossiping about how the other looked, and how their respective houses had been kept up. Archer smiled at the sight of how happy his parents were.

After his daddy and grandpa got their back slapping and brief mutters out of the way, his grandpa turned to him and opened his arms, a gesture that Archer gladly acted upon. "Hi, Grandpa." He said softly, pressing his face to the mans warm chest.

"Theres my favorite boy." His grandpa said gruffly, making his daddy chuckle as he laid a hand on Archers back and rubbed. "You look just like your dad did when he was about your age."

Archer had gotten so used to these comments that he simply giggled, pleased that he was at all like one of his parents, who had done nothing but amazed him for the past thirteen years. "Im so happy to be home." He chirped, feeling his grandma place a soft arm around the small of his back. "Im excited to finish my schooling here. I dont know what Ill do after that... I have so many dance schools to choose from. Im just glad to be meeting people before I go off to college."

Spinning around on his heel, his père held both of his hands out for his husband, who let go of Archer so he could hold onto him. "That flight took everything out of me... so Id like to get a hot meal and rest my feet for a while before we start unpacking."

His grandma nodded her head, "Of course, dear. Ill heat up some soup for the three of you. Blaine, you must tell us how your work with the Warblers has been."

His daddy went to begin to tell her about the recording contracts hed recently signed onto the company, and Archer tried to listen attentively, despite the fact that he already knew most of everything, but he was too pestered by his nerves to do anything but stare at the ground, which looked the same as some of the ground that he saw in France. He wondered if this would all be a waste of time, in case he didnt make any friends, or his cousins didnt like him as much as they seemed to over phone calls. Now that he was here, the only thing he really wanted was for no one to get hurt.

"Hunter!" The sound of someone shouting his name was the last thing Hunter wanted to wake up to, so he squinted up at the source of where the loud voice was coming from, his ability to trace the outline of him blurred by the harsh rays of sun that turned his vision white. "Hunter! Wake up! You cant sleep all day!" He felt something slap him across his back, so he halfheartedly felt around for the annoying pest, grabbing the wrist of the thing that was trying to roll him over. "Get up! My cousins here!"

For some reason, the words didnt register in his mind, which was still convinced that it was peacefully sleeping. "What?" As soon as Dillon jumped to his feet, Hunter figured that he was off the hook and would be left alone, so he dropped his head to the pillow, only to lift it as he groaned when something was thrown on top of him. "Dillon... youre so loud. What time is it?"

"Its the middle of the day!" Dillon cried, returning to his side and anxiously yanking on the back of his shirt. "Come on, Hunter! They just landed at the airport! Theyll be at my grandparents house any minute now."

Suddenly, a knock on the door made Hunter raise half of his body, his narrowed eyes peering at the door. "Dil," who sounded like his dad, Finn, mumbled, "come on, kiddo. We have to head out now."

"Were coming, Dad!" Dillon shouted through the door, making Hunter wince at the loud noises that he didnt know his friend could make. Turning his attention back to Hunter, he wiped at his lip, scoffing at the grunt that Hunter let out. "I was just wiping the drool off your lip. You cant function right now so someone else has to be your hands and feet." He put his hands at Hunters sides, boosting him off of the mattress as if he was the size of an elephant. Huffing, he leaned him back against the wall, then grabbed the hem of his shirt. "Youre so heavy, Hunter! How can you be so heavy when youre as skinny as a stick?"

Hunter smirked at that, taking his shirt from Dillon after he inched it up to his stomach and yanking it the rest of the way off. "Maybe Im not heavy and youre just weak." He joked, holding his hand out for the fresh shirt that hed packed in his bag. "Hand me my sunglasses?"

Once he had his shirt pulled over his head, he scrubbed his hands through his spiky hair, then waited for Dillon to deposit his glasses into his palms. Pushing them over the bridge of his nose, he blinked at how dark his vision became, making it much easier to see Dillons form when he didnt have the sun glaring through his already whitish eyes. "Tell me again, whats so special about this cousin of yours that you had to wake me from one of the best sleeps Ive ever had?"

"I couldnt tell if you were actually enjoying it or not." Dillon said lowly, "You made a lot of funny sounds and slobbered all over my pillow." Placing his hand on Hunters, he yanked him up from the bed, which Hunter left unwillingly. "Ive told you a thousand times this week... youre going to love my cousin. Now hurry up. My dads are really impatient... and I want to see Archer."

Hunter grinned at how excited his best friend was to see a person he hadnt seen in years, letting him lead him out the door and down to the living room, where both of his dads were idly standing around as they waited for the boys to get ready, their hands shuffling through their credit cards, or going over paperwork for upcoming projects at either of their jobs. Dillons grandparents didnt live very far away, so once they were finally loaded into the car, it luckily didnt take more than five minutes to drive a few streets down, since, with only two seats in the back and three people sitting in them, Hunter practically had to hold Dillon on his lap.

As soon as they pulled up in the short driveway, Hunter opened the door and shoved Dillon off of him, making him laugh as he stumbled to catch his balance. He instantly turned around and whacked Hunters chest, a nervous sound breaking out of him when Hunter caught his hand with ease. Stepping after his friend, Hunter stayed by his side, hearing a noise from several feet away. What sounded like a door slammed, followed by thumping footsteps across the hard pavement. "Archer!" Dillon screeched, jerking out of Hunters grip so he could chase down his cousin. Hunter made out the sounds of them practically tackling each other, and then laughter, the breathier from his best friend, and the high pitched one from who must have been Archer. It was a startling laugh, something wonderful that was only let out when this boy must have been completely happy. "Im so happy to see you!"

"Hi!" Archer laughed, the word breaking off as Dillon snatched him up again, knocking the breath from his lungs. "Ive missed you, Dillon. Its been too long."

Dillon took a step back, bringing the new boy closer to Hunter, who shuffled from one foot to the other. "Hey... youre here now, huh? At least for the year. We can spend time together at school... Well walk to our classes together. We can sit at the same table for lunch. And well see each other after school!" Letting go of Archers hands, he obviously pushed him closer to Hunter, who suddenly felt a small body bump his as Archer caught his footing, reeling backwards from the man he didnt know. "Archer, I want you to meet my best friend, Hunter. Weve known each other for years. He knows all about you."

"Oh." Archer sounded uncertain about this, which made Hunter chuckle. He instantly knew that this boy wasnt one to pass out friendship the way he did handshakes. "Its nice to meet you... Hunter."

Hunter smirked at the wavering image of the boy, who appeared to be even shorter than Dillon, since Hunter had to tilt his chin down in order to make out the top of his head. "You can decide that when you get to know me better. Ive never been one for polite nothingness."

Archer seemed shocked because he didnt say another word, so Dillon spoke up, "Um... its okay. Thats just him. He speaks that way to me all the time."

"Archer!" Someone called from across the yard, "Archer, come inside, darling. You must spend some time catching up with your uncles."

"Oh-" Archer said once more, "Oh... um... Ill be in!" He must have whipped away from the two others remaining outside because Hunter immediately felt a kick to his shin, and he turned his smirking face to his best friend, who he knew must have been glowering at him.

"Really?" Dillon huffed, grabbing onto his arm with a grip that would have hurt him had he not had such tough skin. "You couldnt have not been an ass for ten seconds? All you had to do was say that it was nice to meet him, too, and asked how his flight went!"

Hunter nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders, "I thought you didnt want me to change." Giving his friend a lopsided smirk at the disgusted noise he let out, he started walking when he heard Dillons loud footsteps clomping across the ground. He knew that he was stomping only to make a point of how annoyed he was, when Hunter knew that all that would get him was a pair of sore feet later. "Besides... you told me you wanted me to love him. You never said when I should. And you know I show that I love you by bothering you until youre in fits. If he wants to be romanced and flirted with, hell have to find some lovelorn prince, not a frog with all of his flies in order."

Dillon scoffed at him, slugging him across the shoulder once more, "What a practical, typical man you are. No matter what were talking about, it always comes back to food with you."

"At least Im not starved for love." Hunter retorted, laughing at his best friend, who instantly stopped walking and raised his hands to Hunters neck, as if he meant to strangle him. He pushed his friend off of him, taking his arm in his hand and guiding him up to the door of the house. Turning his head from side to side, he quickly picked out Archer, who was plopped between his two uncles as he gave an obviously rehearsed speech of how well he was doing in his dance lessons. Hunter wickedly grinned, wondering if he could make a graceful person graceless.