Blaine stares at his bedroom ceiling listening to an ongoing battle between his parents in the living room.

He’s 10 years old, he’s heard plenty of fights in the past, but somehow this one, this argument, there’s such venom behind their words and he’s scared.

He really doesn’t want them to notice he’s awake but he’s worried that Sarah is awake and scared too. The idea of passing by the stairs and them looking up and seeing him there is enough to keep him in bed. He’s seen masks of anger on his parents faces before and wants to avoid having them turned towards him.

But again, he thinks of Sarah.

He sits up, making no noise. He swings his feet to the floor and makes sure to skip the squeaky board at the end of his bed. He slips through the crack in his bedroom door and in a moment of silliness he drops to the ground and army crawls across the hallway carpet. It sounds like his parents have moved towards the kitchen.

He reaches Sarah’s doorknob and slowly opens it. He finds her curled into a tiny ball at the top of her bed, her eyes wide and scared. But the second she sees Blaine, they soften.

He tip toes across the room and slides under her covers. Within minutes they’re asleep and that’s how their parents find them in the morning, curled together in a mess of Dora the Explorer sheets.