#i debated doing something today then decided yeah we need more egg dad appreciation

[esprei]

happy father's day to the best egg dad out there

[supernatural-fangirl1967]

Missing Pieces - Part 5

Pairing: Nurse!Dean x Reader

Warnings: Head Injury, Angst, Mentions of Miscarriage, Fluff

Word Count: 2,849

A/N: This is Part 5 of Missing Pieces. Please let me know what you think!

Series Masterlist

“Crap!” you yell out as you drop yet another egg to the floor. Sighing, you grab a towel to clean it up.

“Sweetheart,” Dean says as he looks down at you. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I don’t know why I can’t hold onto anything tonight,” you tell Dean as tears well up in your eyes.

“Hey,” Dean says as he kneels down in front of you. He takes your hands in his and frowns. “You’re shaking, sweetheart.”

“I’ve been like this all day and I don’t know why. My body is just so weak feeling and I…”

“What’d you do when I took you home yesterday?”

“Uh, I looked through some old family photos trying to remember something.”

“That’s why you’re like this,” Dean tells you softly. “You pushed yourself too much.” He helps you up off of the floor and over to a kitchen chair. You take a seat and Dean pulls another chair up to sit in front of you. “(Y/N), you can’t keep stressing your body out like this, sweetheart.”

“I’m trying to remember,” you cry out as you let the tears freely fall.

“I know,” Dean frowns as he reaches over to gently wipe your tears away with his thumbs. “But this isn’t how that’s going to happen. You can’t force yourself.”

“I’m sorry,” you sniff as you pull away a bit to wipe your cheeks off. “I promise that I’ll clean all of that up.”

“(Y/N), it happens. I’ll take care of it,” Dean tells you softly. “You’re doing a pretty good job at this.”

“Except for dropping everything,” you laugh a bit.

“That’s alright,” Dean smiles softly at you as he stands up. “Don’t think that that’s the first egg that’s been dropped on this floor. You okay now?”

“Yeah,” you breathe out as Dean gently pulls you up from your chair. “Sorry. I’m trying to calm down but I’m so…”

“Stop apologizing,” Dean chuckles. You look up at Dean and your eyes meet. He stares down at you as he reaches out to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear, fingers gently brushing up against your skin. You lean into his touch and you let your eyes slide shut.

“It’s going to take us all night to cook if we keep standing here like this,” you whisper.

“Yeah,” Dean clears his throat as he slowly pulls away from you. He turns to face the stove so you walk over to the fridge to grab another egg.

“Let’s hope that I can hold onto this one.”

Dean chuckles as he glances over at you and his smile falls when he sees you holding your head with your free hand. “(Y/N)?”

“I’m alright,” you breathe out. “Only a headache.” Dean nods but he keeps his eyes on you as you both cook, and he doesn’t take them off of you during dinner either.

“You weren’t wrong when you said that you could cook,” you tell Dean as you look over across the table at him.

He smiles softly. “And now you know that you can too.”

“Yeah, even if I have to break a dozen eggs.”

Dean chuckles as he nods his head at you. “(Y/N)?”

“Yeah?” you ask and you look over the table at him.

“I have a pretty busy schedule this week but I’m supposed to go to my parent’s house Saturday and I was wondering if you’d like to go with me.”

You take a deep breath. “Dean, I… I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know if I should be meeting a lot of new people until I can remember the ones who were already in my life.”

“I know,” Dean tells you. “I understand that.”

“And I also don’t know where me and you are at.”

Dean gives you a look. “What do you mean?”

“Are we only friends or do you keep doing all of this for me, being nice to me and asking me out, because you like me in that way?”

“What way?” Dean smirks.

“You know what way I’m talking about, Dean,” you giggle. He takes a deep breath.

“Look, I know that this isn’t a good situation with you right now, so I hope that it doesn’t scare you away when I say yeah, I do like you in that way.”

“Oh,” you breathe out as your heart starts pounding. “I… I don’t know if I should be trying to start a new relationship like that or not.”

“I understand that,” Dean tells you softly. “Sweetheart, I completely understand that. That’s why I haven’t exactly said much about it. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable here.”

You take a deep breath before looking across the table at Dean. “I want to say that I feel the same way, Dean,” you tell him truthfully. “But I’m afraid to. You have to understand that I can’t even remember if I was ever with somebody like that. I mean, I could have a boyfriend out there somewhere and I wouldn’t know it.”

“Wouldn’t your parents know that?”

“Well, yeah, but they won’t tell me much unless it’s confirming something that I’ve remembered,” you tell him. “They keep saying that it’ll help me more if I remember it on my own.”

“Don’t you think that they would have told you that though? Especially since you’ve been hanging out with me?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” you breathe out. “I… I don’t know, Dean.”

“Hey, I’m not asking you to make a commitment or anything here,” Dean tells you softly as he reaches across the table to place a hand over yours. Your eyes meet Dean’s and he gives you a soft smile. “I’m only asking you to go with me this Saturday so that my parents and my brother can meet my new friend.”

You take a deep breath and swallow hard, nodding your head a bit at Dean. “Okay,” you tell him softly.

“Good,” Dean smiles at you. “If you feel uncomfortable or like I’m taking this too far you have got to tell me, (Y/N),” Dean says softly as he rubs his thumb over your knuckles. “I don’t want to push you away from me, alright?”

“Alright,” you smile. You look down at Dean’s hand that’s laying over yours and laugh a bit when you see the beaded bracelet that’s hanging around his wrist. “You have a nice sense of jewelry there, Dean,” you tease him.

Dean chuckles as he pulls his hand away from yours. “They needed help on the pediatrics floor today so I volunteered. One of the little girls made me that and I forgot to take it off.”

“That’s cute,” you smile. “Can I ask something that might be a not okay question or might drag up some of those bad memories?”

“Yeah,” Dean nods. “If it’s too big of a question then I’ll tell you.”

“Okay,” you smile sadly. “Does being around kids like that bother you after what happened?”

Dean takes a deep breath. “It did at first,” he tells you. “Especially after… Losing two people you love the most in just a couple months, it’s a pain that I literally cannot describe. But I love kids and what happened is not their fault. They need help and I’m there to do just that so I suck it up and eventually their smiles make it all a little bit more manageable.”

“I’m sorry that I’m so nosy like that.”

“No, it’s alright,” Dean tells you softly.

“If it makes you feel any better, something tells me that you’d be an amazing dad.”

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Dean chokes out as his eyes get a little misty. “I’m sure that you’d be a great mom.”

“Thanks,” you smile. “Who knows. I could be already and just don’t remember it.”

Dean laughs loudly at you and you smile. “Tell you what,” he says, “since we’re both done eating, why don’t you go into the living room and pick out a movie, and I will clean up in here.”

“No, Dean, let me help you first.”

“(Y/N), you’ve done too much today and it won’t take me five minutes,” Dean tells you softly.

“But I want to…”

Dean places a finger over your lips, causing you to stop talking as you look up at him. “I know that you want to help, and I appreciate that,” Dean tells you softly. “But I promise you that I want you to go sit down now. No offense, but you’re looking a bit tired and I don’t want you to wear yourself out. It will only make it all that much more difficult on you. So, please, go sit down.”

“Alright,” you sigh.

“Good,” Dean smiles. You turn to walk off into the living room and Dean hollers at you. “(Y/N)?”

“Yeah,” you ask and you turn a bit to look over your shoulder at Dean.

He smiles widely at you. “I won that one.”

“Yeah, I let you win,” you laugh. Dean playfully rolls his eyes at you and you giggle before turning to walk off into the living room. When Dean gets the kitchen all cleaned up, he joins you, taking a seat on the couch beside of you. An hour into the movie, you can’t help but to take note of the fact that Dean’s hand is laying right beside of yours on the couch. You take a deep breath and you try to ignore it, but something in you is screaming out for his touch.

You glance over at Dean but he is looking towards the T.V. Little do you know he can see you out of the corner of his eye and it’s taking everything in him to not reach over and to just take what he wants. Instead, he sees that you keep looking down at his hand, so he flips it over so that his palm is facing up. After a while, Dean can feel the feather-light touches of your fingers against his hand, and it takes everything in him to keep a straight face and to not grin like an idiot. Your heart is racing as your fingertips explore Dean’s skin. You finally decide to quit playing around so you lay your hand completely in Dean’s. All you can hear is your own heartbeat pounding in your ears as his fingers slowly curl around yours.

Sure, he might have held your hand yesterday, but that was to lead you through the house. It was nothing like this. That didn’t feel nowhere near this intimate.

Dean finally looks over at you, giving you a soft smile as he gently squeezes your hand a bit. You try and smile at him too but this feeling is so overwhelming that you can’t help the tears that well up in your eyes.

“Hey, sweetheart, you alright?” Dean asks you softly, his thumb slowly stroking over your knuckles as he speaks.

“Yeah,” you tell Dean and you nod your head a bit at him. “I… I’m fine.”

“What’s wrong, pretty girl?” he asks you.

“Nothing,” you tell him truthfully. “This just feels right.”

Dean chuckles as he nods his head a bit at you. “I agree with you there,” he tells you. “But why are there tears in your eyes?”

“Because I can’t,” you tell Dean as you debate pulling your hand away.

“And why not?” he asks you softly.

“The real reason that I can’t dive into this with you is because I can’t risk it all being taken away from me,” you tell him. “I’m sure that I’ve been in at least one relationship before, and I can’t even remember it now. So what is the point if it can just be taken away from me?”

Dean takes a deep breath. “(Y/N), the point is that whether you remember it or not, it happened. It was a part of your life, of who you are, and nothing can erase that. Even if you can’t remember it right now.”

“I want this,” you whisper. “But I’m too scared.”

“I get that,” Dean tells you softly. “I am too and yes I know that our situations are different, but I don’t want to lose it all either.”

You swallow hard before scooting over towards Dean. He lets go of your hand just to wrap both of his arms tightly around your body. You hide your face in Dean’s shoulder as he talks softly into your ear.

“It is alright to be scared especially after what all’s happened to you but you can’t hold it all in,” Dean whispers. “You have to let go and live your life or you’ll never find yourself. And I’m not saying this for my benefit or anything here, (Y/N). I truly do want you to be happy.”

“I know,” you cry and cling tightly onto Dean.

“Shh,” Dean whispers as he softly presses a kiss to your temple. “You’re alright. Everything’s alright.”

“I feel so confused, Dean,” you tell him. “I want to move on but I had to have plans and goals that I was trying to accomplish and I don’t want to waste that, but what am I supposed to do if I can’t remember? What am I supposed to do when the people who do know won’t tell me anything?”

“Sweetheart, your parents will probably tell you more if this seems like it isn’t helping you at all,” Dean says. “But so far you’ve remembered so much on your own that they’re probably afraid to mess it all up.”

“I get that,” you tell him truthfully. “But they have to keep in mind that I’m just afraid. How are you supposed to live when you don’t even know who you are? How are you supposed to trust anybody if you don’t even know that you’re able to trust yourself?”

“Hey, you’ve gotta calm down,” Dean whispers as he rubs a hand up and down your arm. “I know that you’re upset, sweetheart, and I wish that there was some magic button that I could press to make it all better for you but there’s no such thing. All I can do is ask what you need, but I doubt that you even know the answer to that yourself.”

You laugh softly as you pull away a bit to wipe your eyes. When you look at Dean to see that he has tears in his eyes too, that’s when you realize that this man actually cares about you. He hates seeing you like this so much that it’s upsetting him also. Who better to lean on than someone who’s also got a rough story?

Before you realize what you’re about to do, you reach over to take Dean’s face between both of your hands and press your lips firmly to his. Dean’s eyebrows shoot up before he relaxes a bit. He wraps both of his arms tightly around you before pulling you over onto his lap and pulling away to get a breath.

“(Y/N),” Dean breathes out as he presses his forehead to yours.

“Hm?” you ask him as your eyes slide shut.

“Does this mean that you’ll go with me Saturday?”

“Yeah,” you giggle. “I would like to meet your parents.”

“I think they’ll like you.”

“Well, you already know that my parents like you.”

Dean chuckles and he nods his head at you. “I think it’s only because I took such good care of you in the hospital.”

“I think that you might be right,” you tease him.

“Either that or the fact that I take their troublemaker off of their hands for a while.”

You giggle as you lean in once more. Dean brings a hand up to your head to hold you in place, and you wrap your arms tightly around his neck.

“You’ll have to be patient with me,” you mutter against Dean’s lips. “I get overwhelmed easily and I get confused.”

“It’s alright, sweetheart,” Dean tells you softly as he reaches his free hand up to rub a thumb over your cheek. “I’ll be right here for whatever it is that you need. You hear me? You might have to tell me what you need and you’ll have to be patient with me too.”

“I can live with that,” you smile at him. “Could we agree on something?”

“What’s that, sweetheart?”

“That this isn’t serious,” you tell Dean. “I don’t want to put a label on this yet. Let’s just see where this goes for right now.”

“Alright,” Dean smiles softly up at you as he nods his head a bit. “I can live with that. But you’ve gotta agree with something for me too.”

“What’s that?” you ask him.

“Tell me when I cross a line,” Dean tells you. “I’ll try not to, but it is going to be very difficult to restrain myself with you.” Blushing, you lean forward to hide your face in Dean’s neck and he chuckles as he presses a kiss to your temple. “Deal?”

You nod but you keep your face hidden. “Yeah,” you softly breathe out into Dean’s skin. “It’s a deal.”

Tags: @adoptdontshoppets @imaginationisgrowth @deanwanddamons @squirrelnotsam @hobby27 @cookiechipdough @campingmonkey @akshi8278 @muchamusedaboutnothing @vicmc624 @nothinbuttrouble2 @idksupernatural @flamencodiva @ladyofmaidensandwine @sunflowers-n-rocknroll @prettysourabbie @chaldei @mlovesstories @torn-and-frayed @my-proof-is-you​ @that-one-gay-girl​ @myopiamystical​ @starryeyeseunbyul​

[ubernoxa]

THE DARE

A Guns N’ Roses FanFic

Chapter 5: The Avice I Wish I Was Given

Chapter 5?

“What’s up Mags? I thought you and Del went shopping,” Steven stared at his younger sister who leaned against the doorframe. Something was up.

“We gotta talk.” Her face was stern. It had been a while since his sister was like this.

“About what..” He dragged the words out as his sister sat down on the floor next to his bed. He adjusted himself on the mattress he bought off of the neighbor downstairs and waited for his sister to talk. He knew she was mad, but beyond that he couldn’t tell what was on her mind. Mags was always and will always be hard to read.

“Del isn’t a groupie for YOUR band to fuck around with for a couple weeks and then toss aside like yesterday’s trash,” Mag’s harsh whispers filled the room as she spoke. She reminded herself to keep her voice low. The loft was small with paper thin walls.

“WHOAH WHOAH,” Steven placed his hands on Mag’s shoulders trying to calm her down.

“Sorry its just...” Mags began to tear up as she jumped on her brother to hug him. For the second time today, he had no idea how to react.

“It’s okay Mags, just breathe,” He whispered into her ear as he patter her back.

“I just really like her okay? I know that sounds crazy because I barely know her, but I really like her. We had breakfast this morning at a cafe and it just felt so easy to talk to her. For the first time since Tif, I felt like I had a real friend. I felt like I could tell her anything!” Steven watched a smile grow across Mag’s face as she spoke about Del. To say that Tiff and Mags left on not so good terms was an understatement.

“That’s sounds amazing Mags,” He whispered back.

“I guess what I am trying to say is that I worry about her. She is new to the strip and I don’t want her to get hurt,” Mags smiled at her older brother who appeared to be hanging onto every word that came out of her mouth. The tears were still in her eyes, but she wiped them away to the best of her ability.

“I will try my best. When we go out drinking tonight, I can watch her too. I will cock block Duff and keep Axl away from her,” Mags stood up from her brother’s lap and sat back down on the floor. She shook her head and leaned back against the wall.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

Silence filled the air for a couple seconds until Mags let out a small laugh.

“What?” Steven asked intrigued as to what his sister was laughing at.

“You were right, I am such a MOM,” Mags erupted in laughter as the words left her mouth.

“In all seriousness though, that’s a good thing. How about this, you be the Mom and I’ll be the Dad?” Steven joked leaning back into the wall, mimicking his sister’s posture.

“I can see you as like one of those hip cool dads who buys their kids rock music and teaches them how to play guitar.”

“Hell yeah! I can picture it now!” Steven cheered as he threw his arms in the air.

“Just don’t get any chicks pregnant yet. You already have four kids in the other room,” Mags shook her head and bid farewell to her brother as she walked back to the couch room. Mags silently prayed that her brother wouldn’t get a chick pregnant. Steven could barely care for itself, let alone a kid.

Steven sighed once his sister left his room. He couldn’t believed that he just agreed to cock blocking Duff all night long. Duff and Del looked cute together, and he had noticed a certain bassist have a little more hop in his step since Del came around. Ever since Mags was a little girl, she wasn’t a huge fan of sharing, but Del wasn’t a toy or booze. Del was Del.

Music filled the loft as Duff was teaching her what culture, as he called it, truly was. The entire band rolled their eyes as Duff continued to talk on and on about rock music. They were only interrupted by Axl, Slash and Izzy letting out muffled laughs as they escaped to the kitchen.

“God they should get a damn room,” Izzy groaned as he grabbed another beer. It was obvious that Duff was flirting with her, but he was horribly failing. The three of them almost, ALMOST, felt bad for their bassist as his pickup lines were either ignored or met with a confused look.

“Do you think she knows that he is flirting with her? I haven’t seen something this bad since the time Steven tried to pick up that stripper with the pink/yellow bra,” Slash replied sitting on the table earning a couple of laughs.

“She’s a church girl, she probably doesn’t understand that he keeps hinting at sexual shit,” Axl quickly added joining Slash at the table.

“She’s gotta be a virgin right?” Slash’s comment was met with Izzy and Axl nodding in agreement.

“Probably never been kissed,” Izzy added taking another swig of his beer. He nearly spat out his beer at the expression that flashed across Axl’s face.

“When and how the fuck did you kiss her last night without Mags noticing?” Izzy asked in a hush tone. If Mags had found out that Axl had made out with Del, then there would have been both a bitch fest and a lack of egg pie for breakfast.

“Wasn’t me,” Axl’s cocky grinned grew as he tried to muffle his laugh.

“That sly bastard, I knew Duff wasn’t showing her the stage or whatever bull shit excuse he came up with,” Slash knew something was up when the two of them left the room last night.

“Do you think Popcorn and Mags believe his bullshit lie?” Izzy knew Steven could be a tad of an optimist at time and chose to be naive about certain things, but he saw how he looked at Del.

“The better question is if Mags has cornered Popcorn and told him to cock block Duff,” Slash added.

“Weird how a couple of minutes ago the couch room had five people in it instead of seven. Interesting how Mags and Steven weren’t there for what was it five songs of Duff flirting with Del,” Axl added taking another swig from his beer as Izzy and Slash joined him in smirking.

The moment Duff entered the kitchen to grab another beer for him and Del, Axl opened his mouth.

“Can you fuck her already?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Axl rolled his eyes at Duff’s defensive tone.

“Dude, I’m going to be honest with you. It is painful to watch you crash and burn out there,” Izzy said just loud enough for Duff and the other guys to hear.

“Shut up”

“Just get a room already,” Slash added receiving a glare from Duff.

“Thanks to you guys I actually had one for a couple of minutes before Mags showed up just now,” Duff almost let out a groan earlier when Mags came walking into the room. He hated the lack of privacy of the apartment more than he hated Mags.

“Just a heads up, Mags cornered Popcorn in his room earlier when we were all in the couch room. They probably just finished talking. I give Steven like two hours before he gives all of us a talk on how Del is off limits or some bullshit like that,” Axl warned his bandmate and watched as a frown form on his face.

“He probably got the talk too,” Izzy added earning a laugh from the guys. They all saw the way he was watching Del.

“Last person to get the talk chooses where we go drinking tomorrow night?” Slash asked deciding to make a game out of the situation.

“Deal,” the all responded in unison.

Steven walked by the kitchen as he headed back to his closet. He debated on confronting all of the guys at once, but he didn’t like the odds of four versus one.

Mags sat on the couch listening to whatever record Duff had put on before he left the room.

“Are you enjoying the music?” Mag’s question was immediately met with a smiling and nodding Del. This was definitely better than the day she originally had planned.

“Do you got a sec to talk about something?” Delilah was thrown off by Mag’s concerned tone. Was everything alright?

“Yeah is everything okay?” Delilah leaned forward and held Mag’s hands as she joined her on the couch.

“Yeah, of course!” Delilah pretended to believe Mag’s lie. It was obvious that whatever caused the tears was no concern of hers.

“Can you promise me something?” Mags sheepishly asked the girl in front of her. Delilah’s eyes never left Mag’s as she spoke.

“Oh yes, of course. Anything,” Delilah eagerly replied as she squeezed Mag’s hands.

Mags took a deep breath and sighed as she adverted her gaze from Delilah’s. Delilah wasn’t going to like what she was about to say. She hoped that Delilah wasn’t going to hate her for what she was about to say. She convinced herself that Delilah needed to hear what she was about to tell her.

“I don’t know how to say this, but please let me finish my entire thought before you interrupt me or say anything,” Mags whispered as she spoke earning a slow, cautious nod from Delilah.

“Don’t get me wrong, the Strip is an amazing place. The strip has given me some of the best memories I will ever have, but...ahh how do I say this..you are a beautiful girl and some people will take advantage of that,” Mags paused and looked at the very confused expression on Delilah’s face, but like Delilah promised she remained silent and waited for Mags to finish her thought.

“Okay let me start over,” Mags said earning a giggle from Delilah. God why was this so hard?

“I guess what I am trying to say is wait until you know who you are before you get into a relationship or do anything you will regret. It’s a different world here. I promise you that I am not saying this, poorly saying if I may add, out of spite or hatred or jealousy. I wish someone told me to wait to define myself before someone else decided to define me,” Mags looked up to see a confused look still on Delilah’s face.

After a few moment’s of silence Delilah replied, “Thank you for the advice.”

[whimzea-blog]

Better than Sex 7/?

Title: Better than Sex

Author: whimzea

Pairing: Zane/Heath

Summary: Heath attempts to quit smoking cold turkey on a five-day camping trip with Zane in Sequoia National Park.

Also up on AO3 here. (ugh this chapter took forever to write...if it seems disjointed it is because i worked on it 30 different times.)

Zane cringed as he handed over a $20 bill. A small bottle of Advil and a new toothbrush (he had dropped his in the mud outside the shower area) would cost him almost the whole thing. Stupid supply store in the middle of nowhere.

Back at camp, he stopped by the office and spent an hour screwing around, charging their phones. There was no WiFi in the office, and he didn't have any service, so he read the brochures out on the ratty folding table (mostly about avoiding bears), looked at the maps on the walls, thought about breakfast.

When he got back to camp, Olivia and her family were finishing up breakfast. She waved him over.

"Hi!" she said brightly. Her eyes flicked to the truck. "Where did you go?"

"Oh, just to pick up some things for the camp," Zane replied with a smile. He handed the bottle of Advil to Olivia's dad. "Your dad gave us some medicine, so we had to replace it."

"This must have cost a fortune," the man said, shaking his head. "You didn't need to do that."

"Well, I still have both arms and legs, so it wasn't too bad," Zane grinned, waving him off.

"Are you sick?" Olivia asked, crinkling up her nose.

"No, but my friend Heath isn't feeling too great right now," Zane answered, nodding towards the tent. "He probably won't do too much today."

"Oh," Olivia said, nodding. "That stinks. I got sick on a camping trip once. I threw up in the tent. We had to wash everything."

Olivia's mom shook her head. "We really have to have a talk about over-sharing."

Zane's stomach grumbled. "I better get some breakfast," he said.

Olivia's dad motioned towards the small table set up by the fire. "We have left-overs. Have at it. Otherwise we'll have to throw it out. There's coffee, too."

Zane thought about declining, but there were eggs, bacon, and toast. All he had were Pop-Tarts.

While he ate, Olivia sat with him and chatted about her trip so far. Her mom and dad (who he finally remembered were called Tom and Marissa) started packing the Range Rover. Her brother, Dylan, who hadn't spoken two words to Zane the past two days, attempted to help his parents pack, but ultimately ended up with them by the fire.

"We saw the huge trees," Olivia gushed. "It was so awesome. They were about a billion feet tall."

"They weren't a billion feet tall," Dylan said, rolling his eyes. The kid appeared to be about nine or ten, and was in that phase where his little sister was nothing more than a splinter in his ass.

"Okay, well, they were really tall. I think it would be cool to go to the top of one and see everything!"

"I hope Heath and I make it to see the sequoias before we leave," Zane said, his eyes flicking to the tent. He probably should go check on him.

"Is he your best friend?" Olivia asked. "My best friend was going to come with us, but her grandma died so she couldn't come."

"Over-share," Dylan said blandly.

"That's too bad. Yeah...he's my best friend," Zane said. Not that Zane was acting like one right now. Eating eggs and bacon while Heath was dying in the tent.

Zane picked up his empty plates. "Got any hot water going? I'll wash the dishes for you," Zane offered.

Marissa shook her head. "No need. We'll pack 'em dirty, wash 'em at home." Zane looked around and realized the fire was out, and their whole camp was basically packed up.

"Well, thanks for breakfast. I really appreciate it."

"Our pleasure," Tom answered. Zane's eyes flicked to his tent for the millionth time.

"Why don't you go check on Heath?" Tom suggested with a small smile. "If he's still out for the count, you should come on a hike with us. We always go on one last one before we head home."

"I don't want to go home," Olivia pouted.

"I do," Dylan piped up, and Marissa rolled her eyes.

"I don't want to intrude on your family time," Zane said, although hiking with Olivia sounded kind of hilarious. This kid was a trip.

"We've been here a week...we've had plenty of family time," Marissa assured him wryly.

Zane crawled into their tent. Heath was snoring, spread eagle on his stomach on top of the sleeping bag. He looked adorable.

He still had water, and Advil, so Zane figured there wasn't much else he could do. Heath could crawl out for a Pop-Tart later if he wanted.

He sighed. He had wanted to go camping with Heath, not...near Heath. Fuck.

***********

Heath did, in fact, crawl out for a Pop Tart later.

Or ten, by the looks of it.

It was lunch time, and Zane had finally returned to camp after his hike with Olivia and her family. After some small talk had led to Zane revealing what he did for a living, Olivia was insistent that she be in the next vlog. Zane figured he'd humor her by getting some footage.

Little did he know that she would be fucking hilarious. He couldn't wait to show Heath.

After seeing off Olivia and her family (Olivia's teary face waved to him out of the back of the Range Rover), he unzipped their tent.

This time Heath was on his back. He was stripped down to his underwear on top of the sleeping bag, one arm thrown over his eyes, and one testicle hanging out of his Hanes. Discarded Pop-Tart wrappers were strewn on either side of him, and he had crumbs on his belly.

Zane did the only thing he could do.

He took a picture. The desire to text it to their entire friend group was enormous. Maybe even post it to Twitter. But he was a good friend. Sort of.

He crawled closer, grabbing the wrappers and stuffing them in their tent trash bag. He knelt next to Heath, who was still snoring. He leaned over so his face was inches away from the sleeping man's. Heath was starting to smell a little, and there were pieces of Pop-Tart frosting in his beard. He didn't care.

What happened next was one of those rare moments in life where it seems you have been temporarily transported to the set of a sitcom.

Zane pressed forward, his lips brushing Heath's. He was thrumming with energy after his hike, and he wanted Heath to wake the fuck up.

Then, a truck horn blared.

Heath's eyes shot open and he jerked upwards, his forehead smacking into Zane's.

"Fuck!" Zane fell backwards, his hand pressed to his forehead. Heath looked around in a daze.

"Wha the fuck jus happen?"

Car doors slammed. People were laughing and barking orders at each other. It sounded a like a big group of guys and girls, probably about their age.

"Sounds like we have new neighbors," Zane groaned, sitting up.

Heath rubbed his face. "Where were you?"

"On a hike with Olivia and her family," Zane replied. "Olivia's a natural vlogger. I have to show you this footage."

Heath fell backwards. "I'm tired."

"Too fuckin bad. I didn't come here to do shit by myself."

Heath turned so his ass was facing Zane and harrumphed.

Zane sighed. He sat for a few moments, debating what to do. He could sit here and stare at the lovely curve of Heath's ass all afternoon, or he could play bad cop.

"Hey Brittany, grab my cigarettes out of the truck!" a male voice called out from the camp next to them.

Fuck.

A few seconds passed. Heath casually rolled over. "Maybe you're right... I should get up," Heath said innocently. "Make me a sandwich."

Zane raised an eyebrow. "Fine. But stay in here. You stink."

"Fuck you bitch," Heath shot back, feeling around for his shorts and t-shirt.

Ten minutes later Heath was sitting in a camp chair with a coffee, his eyes glued to the camp next to them. It looked like there were about eight people, four guys and four girls.

Some of the group had waved at them as they walked past on their way to unload something from their truck, but they hadn't come over. Zane hoped they wouldn't. Heath's eyes flicked from one good-looking, rugged outdoorsy person to the next, fixated on their hands and pockets.

"Stop staring at them, you fucking weirdo," Zane chastised, coming over and blocking Heath's line of sight. He handed Heath a sandwich. "Eat. Then shower. Then we're going to see the sequoias."

"There are sequoias everywhere around here," Heath replied snottily. "I want to stay here."

"We're fucking going, Heath. I drove here, so I am entitled to get my basic bitch Instagram pic in the place where everyone else gets theirs. Start eating."

Heath flipped him off but took a bite.

Besides actually wanting that Instagram pic, Zane wanted to get Heath as far away from their neighbors as possible. And not just because he knew one of them had cigarettes.

When Heath was attracted to someone, he'd give them this look. And right now, he was giving a tall, busty redhead the look.

Sure, Zane had noticed the tall busty redhead. Who wouldn't have? But he didn't give her a fucking look. A cursory glance at her tits, then back to his sandwich.

Not Heath.

Zane was getting aggravated. Salty, even. He understood the guy was detoxing, but Jesus. Zane had spent so much time planning and driving and caring for this asshole. Zane hadn't expected anything in return. Except, maybe, you know, companionship and a general show of goodwill. He didn't think that was unreasonable.

They had made it through lunch and their showers, and were sitting in their truck about to leave. Heath was deciding what music to play. Zane couldn't believe they had made it this long without having to encounter the people next to them. He started the truck.

And then the redhead came over.

"Hey! Wait a second," she called, jogging over to the driver's side window. Cue Zane's internal screaming.

He opened the window. "Hey," he said carefully. Heath leaned over so he was pressed against Zane's side. Zane could almost feel the drool starting to pour out of Heath's mouth.

"I'm Brittany," she said brightly, extending her hand.

"Zane."

"And I'm Heath!" He leaned over Zane's lap and shook Brittany's hand before Zane had a chance to move.

"So, we're gonna have a little celebration tonight to kick off our camping trip. Beer, hot dogs and burgers, s'mores...and more beer," she said giggling. "You guys should come over. Like, 7 or 8 maybe?" Brittany smiled, focusing all of her attention on Heath. Zane didn't know if she was in to him, or if she could somehow sense Zane's animosity, like it was cologne or something.

Heath opened his mouth to respond, but Zane cut him off. "We're going out for a bit now, but maybe we'll stop by if we're back in time. Thanks for inviting us."

"Okay, great," Brittany said, her smile faltering. "Well, see you later I guess."

"See ya."

Zane closed his window. He was almost out of the campsite before Heath spoke.

"Was it really necessary for you to be such a raging asshole?"

"I was polite," Zane shot back.

"Yeah, right. You got a thing against hot girls now?"

Zane gripped the steering wheel tighter. Obviously he didn't. They had hot girls around them all the time- it was a perk of being friends with famous people, like David, and insanely attractive people, like Todd. And Heath flirted with those hot girls all the time, and usually, it didn't bother Zane.

Heath hadn't slept around after they had started...whatever this was, and neither had Zane. They hadn't talked about it, but Zane had taken their mutual abstinence to be a sort of unspoken agreement between them that whatever this was, it was exclusive. A little harmless flirting wouldn't change that.

But this was different. Heath was not in his right mind, and Brittany, honestly, was the embodiment of Heath's definition of a dream girl. Throw in some beer, and probably weed, by the looks of the group, and whatever agreement Zane thought they had would vanish into thin air.

"Right now I have a thing against hot girls who have friends who smoke," Zane replied, gritting his teeth. "That's a lot of temptation, Heath."

The word hung in the air between them.

It was telling that Heath didn't try to defend himself.

Zane knew that Heath had snuck out last night. He had woken up needing to piss, and the spot next to him was empty. Zane hadn't confronted him about it. But now, he wondered how much Heath actually wanted to quit. Wanted to have...whatever they had.

It hadn't been hard for Zane to stop seeing girls. He had been done after Heath kissed him the first time. On the Zane love life scale, the one side that had been harboring feelings for Heath and the other side being...everyone else, that kiss had tipped it. The last few months had tipped it even more. It would hurt like hell for things to end now, before they even really began.

They drove the rest of the way in silence.