I seriously haven't written for years, thanks for being patient :) You can also find this story at AO3 under the same handle (Catullus16).
This is a love story and just like everything else in his life, this too revolves around ghost stories.
The First Scare: Northern NJ Psychiatric Hospital
It starts with an asylum, as does any good story in Zak's opinion. They are a seasoned team at this point, having worked together for years. A well-oiled machine one might say. The team had even grown to include Billy and Jay, both tech guys who monitored the nerve center. Zak remembers the days when it was just him, Nick and Aaron fondly, but the two men make a nice addition to the team. He had to admit that having a nerve center that was manned through the whole investigation was a luxury. They run through all the prelim interviews for the Hospital and are expecting a normal low key investigation.
Zak had this sort of greatly horrible or horribly great idea percolating in the back of his mind from when they did the walk through in the daylight. He had been immediately drawn to the freezers in the morgue because they seemed much larger in real life than in the movies. It isn't until they haven't captured any evidence that his plan coalesces.
"So, Nick. How would you feel about doing a segment in one of the morgue drawers?" He asks in a voice pitched to sell his point. Nick looks skeptical but with both him and Aaron coaxing, he relents. Zak assures him that they have walkie-talkies and will be right outside if he needs anything.
He helps Nick climb in and closes the door saying "See you on the other side." He returns to the nerve center where the other three are already waiting. They watch as Nick gets his bearings inside the small space. Zak is reassured that the other man is doing okay in there because he is narrating in a calm voice.
Nick falls silent after a bit, waiting for any residual energy spirits to make noise. It starts off with creak and then moves into banging territory. Nick twists around as much as he can in the tiny area using his camera to shed light on what is happening inside.
"What was that? Is anyone in here?" He calls out and the banging intensifies. His breathing is increasing in pace and he jumps when another particularly loud bang echoes off the metal walls. The activity is still picking up and Nick looks far from calm, he doesn't reach full on panic until he realizes he can't get out.
"Oh my god, get me the fuck out of here. Right fucking NOW. Zak I need you to get me out." He shuffles around until he is crouched at the back of the shelf and starts trying to kick the door open. As soon as he starts banging on the door to get out Zak sprints down the hall to the morgue.
He reaches for the door handle and finds it locked. His heart jumps into his throat, but he thinks maybe this wasn't the door he used before, it's okay he'll just find another way in. He radios Nick but all he can hear is panicked yelling through the doors, Nick doesn't pick up. He then radios Aaron about the door situation; they both run around the hospital corridors to reach another entrance.
They try the door on the other side and find it locked too. He can feel his own panic bubbling up as Nick's yelling turns into hysterical screaming. He radios Nick again "Nick, can you hear me? You have to calm down. We're almost there." Aaron is looking equally panicked and he knows they have to get to Nick pronto. He takes a step back from the door and starts kicking.
It only takes a couple adrenaline fueled kicks to bust the door off its frame. Nick's banging and screaming is loud inside the morgue, a practical symphony of terror. He rushes to the freezer door and wrenches it open to find himself with an armful of shaking panicky Nick who can't seem to catch his breath.
Suddenly he's the calm one, needs to be strong right now for Nick even though a few seconds earlier he was well on the way to his own melt down. He's patting Nick on the back trying to soothe him and realizes that they are both clinging to each other reluctant to let go even though it has passed the appropriate bro length of hug.
He feels like they should let go of each other because Aaron is watching them but all Zak can really care about right now is the feel of Nick breathing in his arms, solid, alive and mostly unharmed. He sneaks a breath of Nick's scent, his nose pressed up against the other man's neck and then steps back trying to regain some semblance of their normal interactions.
"You okay man?" Aaron tosses out with a small chuckle and things snap back into focus.
"No, fuck. I can't believe I let you guys do that."
"It's for the show"
"Yeah but I was really losing my shit in there. Fuck!" It'll be a miracle if he isn't claustrophobic now. He holds his hands out in front of him under the eerie red light that doesn't interfere with the night vision cameras. They are shaking like crazy and he looks more like a lost kid than anything.
Zak wants to grab him again and that was a really odd thought right there. The warm tobacco musk scent of Nick is making him want to do crazy things like call off the ghost hunt right now and go back to the hotel so they can cuddle up on the small bed together and know that they are alive. And fuck him if that thought doesn't go straight to his cock.
He clears his throat and says "Come on guys let's get out of this fucking death trap of a room and get back to the main lobby." Nick absently nods still examining his hands and trails after them as they back track.
Zak glances over at Aaron and they share a look that conveys a million things. The forefront of which is the need to get Nick out of this building because he's probably going into shock and none of them are trained medical professionals.
"I don't feel so good" Nick says in a weird voice and Zak knows they really need to sit him down in some place that is safe and comfortable.
"Just a bit farther, Nick. We're almost to the lobby and then we'll find you a chair." Nick looks pale and scared under the artificial lights of their cameras and Zak notices him pitch to the side, his legs collapsing under him.
There is a cacophony of sound as Nick cries out, cameras fall, someone knocks over a stack of boxes, and Aaron grunts. Time is going wonky again as weird shapes play on the walls and everything slows down.
He flings a hand out to grab at Nick and catches an arm. "Whoa, did not see that coming" Nick exclaims. Half way to the dusty gross floor hanging on only by a bicep and Zak's hand. Zak scoops him up with hands under his shoulders and holds him by the rib cage to steady him.
"You gonna be okay?" Zak questions skepticism plain in his voice. He ignores how good it feels to have his arms around Nick again.
The Second Scare: Bar Moon River Brewing Co.
Bar Moon River Brewing Co., an eerie brew pub that had an instantly recognizable negative energy. They pulled the up to the front and park while Zak surveyed the crumbling facade. They had already conducted all the interviews with the staff during the daylight and all that was left was the lockin.
They joked and laughed as always; with this job you really had to keep the atmosphere light or they would all suffer premature heart attacks. They moved with a well-practiced ease, setting up a nerve center in the front foyer. Most of the activity was reported to take place in the basement so the front room was the perfect neutral ground for their extra equipment and Billy.
Nick, always prepared, had a pack of batteries under his arm. He set them down on the table they commandeered as home base.
"All right guys, you ready?" Zak asked the other two. They both nodded and picked up their hand held cameras equipped with night vision, they also each had a flashlight which shone red so as not to ruin their night vision. Geared up and ready to go Zak said "Lights out" and they proceeded to the breaker box in the basement to flip the lights.
Back when they first started they merely turned the switches off, but Zak found that when shit went down they were prone to blinding themselves and the cameras by immediately flicking the lights on. With the power turned off at the breaker box they had the best chance of capturing activity on their cameras. It also trained them to reach for the flashlights at their belts in times of crisis.
"Let's do this" Nick said.
"Where to first?" Aaron asked.
Zak assessed the situation and decided they should all start in the basement since that was the area of highest activity. "Okay guys lets head down to the basement. The bar tender that I talked to earlier reported seeing some sort of black mist."
With the game plan made and announced for the cameras, they head down the cramped stairs one at a time.
"Is anyone down here?" Aaron asks the basement and they all hold their breath waiting for an answer. There is silence and the creaking of an old building settling. Nick is breathing hard and they all strain their ears for a noise out of the ordinary.
"Yo ghost, we're in you space. How do you like us down here?" Zak starts taunting. That's the second tactic; after polite questions.
There is a bar down there that he can just make out in the gloom. Aaron is standing near the stairs behind him filming and Nick moves over to the bar. He couldn't quite say what startled him into looking up at Nick, but Zak sees it immediately when he goes still.
Nick's leaning against the bar not moving which shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, but it's like something else has stepped into Nick's skin. His posture has changed drastically and Zak knows something is wrong.
He tentatively reaches out to touch Nick's arm for reassurance; whether it's for him or Nick he can't tell. He needs Nick to be okay, but there is an unearthly stillness in him and the hand under his fingers is cold.
Nick's eyes swing down to the point of contact and there is no recognition, only an intense burning hatred. Zak feels a jolt of adrenalin shoot up his spine causing him to snatch his hand back. He turns to grab the only regular flashlight they have from Aaron who is still manning the camera in the corner.
"What's wrong with him?" he asks sharing a concerned look with the other man. "Nick, Nick, snap out of it. NICK!" He shoots the beam of light directly in Nick's eyes and he's sure that has to hurt but he doesn't care as long as Nick comes back.
The thing in Nick is slowly blinking his eyes almost like he's taking them for a test drive. This is not the reaction he was hoping for, but focus is slowly returning to familiar brown eyes. Suddenly Nick flinches and says "Hey, what's with the light, guys?" And just like that he's back.
Zak presses a hand to his own chest and feels his heart racing "Fuck me, Jesus fuck."
"Yo dude you were totally possessed just now" Aaron says by way of explanation.
"Can I just..." Zak trails off. Now he feels like the one possessed and grabs the side of Nick's neck with a hand using it to pull their heads close. He searches Nick's eyes for any sign of whatever was just there, reassuring himself that Nick is back and he can calm down. If his thumb happens to stroke the side of Nick's neck, well neither of them mention it later.
The Third Scare: Bobby Mackey's Music Lounge
So maybe he didn't tell this story right, but then he's never been great with words. Looking back it really started at Bobby Mackey's, so he should have started the story there. Of course you always have 20/20 hindsight so this particular incident didn't stick out until he was well into the narrative.
They were young and stupid, he is pre tattoos, and they are just skinny kids looking for ghosts and adventures. They were just gaining enough fame to allow them access to sites that previously thought they wanted to go in and vandalize or steal things. Their documentary had stirred up some controversy, but controversy was good in this business. It meant people knew who they were even if they weren't believers.
"This is going to be a rough one guys, the caretaker got possessed when he was living here." Aaron says, but of course this only makes them want to taunt the ghosts more, that's part of being young and cocky.
They hadn't really dealt with much demon activity before, you would be justified in saying they were green around the edges. This just makes them more amped up, ready to take on the world one abandoned building at a time.
When they pull up in the truck there is a collective steadying breath before the three of them pile out onto the gravel. The prelim told them there were two haunted buildings at Bobby Mackey's. The main club and then an outbuilding that led to the basement.
This wasn't something they had dealt with before, but that just made the hunt more exciting. Zak worked out that the owner would split their time during the night, that way the viewers would still see they were locked in.
"Ready for this?" Zak asked the guys.
"Let's do this!" Aaron said. Pumped up for a good investigation they started grabbing their gear from the car, meeting the owner at the front entrance.
He locks them in the main part of the club for the first half of the night with a sort of manic glee that can only come from personal knowledge of shitting his pants for the very same reason.
Things aren't too crazy for a long fucking time and really Zak is kind of bored. He takes his camera and wanders off to the catwalk where some woman ghost is supposed to haunt. All is the boring sort of calm that couldn't even be described as eerie until Nick is screaming and running from the bathroom like he's got a fire under his ass.
It's fucking dark in there and the catwalk is cramped and Zak doesn't like heights anyway so when Nick screams he uses that as an excuse to why his heart is in his throat and he's rushing to climb down the ladder to reach Nick.
"What the fuck is going on?" He shouts at both Aaron and Nick. Nick is pacing back and forth like a spooked colt with wide eyes and deep breaths. They walk back to the bathroom cause it's literally right down the hall and Zak wants to catch this on camera.
"Holy shit, oh my god man. I just wanted to take a piss. Seriously dude I just went to take a piss and something fucking bangs on the wall...like this" he pounds his fist into the bathroom wall trying to demonstrate the sound. "Not even that!" He's freaking out and if Zak is totally honest he's kinda hyped on adrenalin himself so when the bang comes again he jumps about three feet in the air. The silence afterwards finds Nick trying to squeeze past him on the way out the bathroom.
Nick is moving fast out the door and down the hall, slaloming between Aaron and the jukebox. Now he's running after Nick who somehow managed to slip past both him and Aaron plus their cameras which is still amazing Zak who is practically tripping over his own feet.
"Stop fucking running! You need to stop." He's yelling at Nick who is still panicking, he then yells to the spirits "See we're not fucking running from you, we're not scared of you!"
They all catch their breaths and regroup in the main room of the club. "Fuck" Nick exclaims, pressing a hand to his chest. The sheepish look that they all share sort of says it all. They are grown men running from the sound of old plumbing, granted in the dark, but still. It's pretty uneventful for the rest of the first investigation.
"Time to pack up guys, it's almost 2" Zak calls out to the other two. They go around and collect all their equipment, wrapping up wires, replacing memory cards in cameras and powering off everything except one handheld camera that Nick has.
The owner lets them out of the club and then walks with them and all their bags to the side building that houses an old well that is supposedly the gate to hell. That's when things start to really pick up. Things are still quiet; not the empty quiet, but the sinister sneak up behind you and strangle you with a guitar string quiet.
He starts to feel a cool wind ghost over the back of his neck and work its way behind his temple causing a steady throb. It settles in for the long haul and rather suddenly it's contrasted with a burning on his back. Not a hot burning, but like his skin has been freshly flayed. It's not pleasant and it's actually bad enough that he doesn't think it's just in his head.
"Hey guys, I'm not feeling good, I have a headache and my back burns." He announces to make sure they're all on the same page. He doesn't expect a reaction, the statement was more to document his feelings at the time of the investigation, but suddenly Aaron says "Let me see."
"What?" He asks, not putting together what Aaron wants from him.
"Let me see" he repeats slowly and Zak understands that Aaron wants a look at his back. He turns around and pulls up his shirt. At the most he expects them to say he got bit by one of the many spiders lurking in the place, but suddenly they're both exclaiming "Holy shit...holy shit man!" And now he's the one panicking, his mind jumping to all of the possibilities.
"What?!...guys, what the fuck?" He's grabbing at his back and Aaron has switched his camera off night mode and the room is flooded with light. Not that the camera actually provides that much light but after being in the virtual pitch black it's feels like a lot.
"Take a fucking picture so I can see" he says cause they are both being useless right now. They do it if only to document it and hand him the digital camera. He feels a jolt of adrenalin slither down his spine as he sees the picture of his back with 3 fucking claw marks. "Holy shit, oh my god...the fuck" he's not seeing this right now. No way did that just happen. He's sort of panicking and the only thing helping the situation is Nick's hand on his back, fingers stroking slightly as if to soothe a spooked animal.
The Fourth Scare: Tuolomne General Hospital
They set up their new 3D motion camera in one of the operating rooms. Zak is so excited to try out the equipment, it uses infrared lasers to trace movement, that he had been practically bouncing the whole drive to the lockin.
It has been a relatively quiet investigation thus far, but then they all start out that way. The three of them are wandering the corridors of the hospital with no real destination in mind. The screen for the new camera catches something causing Billy and Jay to start. They look closer and radio the guys back to the nerve center.
The camera is catching something with a vague sort of head, torso and arms. It seems to be operating on the dummy that is currently occupying one of the decrepit hospital beds.
"Holy shit, guys that is so cool" Aaron exclaims and Zak looks into the camera explaining how the 3D motion works and how this can't be a glitch. They later get this confirmed by a specialist, but Zak knows it's real and now is the perfect time to film their reactions.
"What is it doing?" Billy asks, because the thing was sporadically moving its 'arms' from the dummy to the equipment on the side.
"I think it's trying to help" Nick says.
"Yeah, looks like it's trying to save the dummy's life" Zak concurs. They review the footage a couple more times before trying to make contact with the spirit in that room again, this time using a SB7 spirit box. They get nothing, not a peep.
Nick decides that in order entice the spirit out again he should lay on the hospital bed where the dummy was. If his theory is correct the spirit should try to do the same thing it was doing to the dummy, they might catch some great action.
It takes a while, nothing is happening with Nick just lying on the bed so he begins talking, trying to provoke the spirit into responding. That's when it starts; Nick is saying that he's feeling a cold spot in the room. He's obviously agitated and reacting to the energy that the spirit is giving off. He is fidgeting on the bed and he looks uncomfortable in his own skin. Zak thinks he is about to bolt when he sees something manifest at the head of the bed.
He radios the other man saying "Hey Nick, I need you to move your arm down a bit." The arm he has propped up is blocking their view of whatever is manifesting on the camera. Zak thinks there might be something good which gets his blood pumping, the anticipation is palpable in the air.
Nick moves his arm and suddenly there are a million things happening. He makes an inarticulate 'gah' noise, springing from the bed clutching his stomach.
He's stumbling out of the room and Zak sprints into the hallway from the nerve center to meet Nick in the middle. "Nick, you okay?" He says when he finds the other just outside the door to the room. He's dry heaving and looks weirdly pale in the red light of the camera. He just shakes his head and Zak crowds him against the wall, stepping into his space.
"Calm down." He says, intimate and soft against Nick's neck. "It's just us here, you can calm down now." Nick's heaves have slowed and he doesn't look quite like he is going to throw up all over the hallway. He is leaning back against the wall, legs visibly shaking.
Zak has him pinned there for a good long while, creating a safe place in the middle of this dark scary abandoned building. Nick finally nods, trying to tell Zak that he is okay and they can rejoin the group. Zak willfully ignores him in favor of leaning even closer into Nick so that they are practically flush against the wall. He takes a deep breath as if bracing himself to face the others and brushes a hand against Nick's face before finally taking a step back. They don't say anything about that oddly intimate moment when the others ask what happened.
The Fifth Scare: Perryville Battlefield; John Dye and H.P. Bottom Houses
This is a big investigation; they have a lot of ground to cover, from two separate houses to the surrounding battlefield. Zak decides it would be fun to have the Civil War reenactors do a scene in the John Dye house. Both of the houses were used as field hospitals during the war so the reenactors can put on a show for them and the spirits.
They get everyone into position and Zak yells "Action!" The crew enters the house and it feels like they are stepping back in time; there are soldiers everywhere with bloodied limbs moaning and writhing on the floor. There is a solemn atmosphere in the air and Zak can't tell if it has been created by the actors or if it is the residual energy of the men who have died here. He thinks it might be a combination of both.
They proceed into a room that isn't occupied by the reenactors and conduct a session with the SB7 Spirit Box. It takes a while but then they get some amazing responses. It is especially exciting because this is an intelligent spirit that is answering questions in the same voice. Zak asks for his name and the spirit responds with a clear 'Daniel'. He then asks for the last name and it gets a little bit jumbled, but when they look it up later they find evidence of an actual soldier who died on the battle field named Daniel McILwaine. Which is awesome but also sort of scary with what happens after they split up.
Nick and Aaron stay in the John Dye House with Jay, who will monitor their X cameras. Billy and Zak get to investigate the H.P. Bottom house.
Billy decides to take the battle field outside while Zak ventures into the house itself. There is no significant activity until he hears footsteps upstairs. When ventures up to the bedroom he takes the time to point out the bullet holes that still remain enshrined in plaster. There doesn't seem to be anything particularly exciting about this house so he sits on the bed and waits for something to happen.
It's only after he's practically falling asleep, because let's face it these are some shitty hours to work, that he hears a bang downstairs. He radios Billy to see if the other man had come back inside. The noise was so loud that he doesn't immediately think spirit. Billy says he's still wandering outside in the field so Zak heads downstairs.
At first he can't find anything that would have been able to make the sound, but then notices something on the floor. What he finds is the Ovulis X which has been pulled apart and somehow flung on the ground. He sets it to rights and makes sure to document everything in the surrounding area so that when they review the footage they have plenty to work with.
This time when he returns to the bed upstairs it's because he feels a sort of compulsion. Nothing solid just a soft sort of tug on his unconscious that leads him towards the bullet riddled walls. At the landing in front of the bedroom he hears a faint popping sound that grows louder and louder until the crescendo registers in his mind as gunfire.
He hears the same voice that he recognizes as Daniel say something that sounds like "get down…" He whirls around, frantically searching for the source of the voice and takes the moment to tag that section of footage; "I definitely heard a voice just there."
A sudden wave of nausea hits and he's going to pass out because his vision is tunneling, but that feeling is surpassed by a burning pain in his stomach. He doesn't know how, but there is a firm knowledge in his mind that he just got shot. For once he is glad that he isn't wearing his respirator because he can't breathe, feels like all the oxygen is flowing out of him until all that is left is dry panic. He collapses against the wall and takes what feels like an eternity to slide down to floor.
Blood is spilling all over, his shirt is soaked and he can hear the strained rattling that is his breathing. He wants to gulp in oxygen like he hasn't wanted anything else in his entire life. The coughing starts then, blood and spittle coming up and the pain, oh the pain. It short circuits his brain, all modern technology is forgotten. Nothing exists in that moment except for his sticky life's blood and the pain. He knows he won't last that much longer with the way that the cold is creeping into his fingers and climbing towards his heart. He finally passes out with Nick's name on his lips trying to claw out of his throat.
Over at the Dye House Nick feels a prickling on the back of his neck that he has come to associate with something being not right. His first thought is that there is ghost activity in the Dye House.
Since there is no one live monitoring the X cameras where Zak is they don't realize that he has passed out. So Nick's first reaction is to radio Jay. He asks if there was anything on the cameras and then turns to question if Aaron heard anything.
"I really feel like something is wrong guys."
There is nothing on their cameras and both Aaron and Jay confirmed that they haven't heard anything for a while. Nick decides to radio Billy to see what's happening over there. The tech man says it's been pretty quiet where he was and mentions that only real activity was a deer on the FLIR thermal camera. As a last minute thought before he signs off the radio he says that he and Zak had split up. Zak had taken the house and he had volunteered to comb the battlefield.
They radio Zak, no answer. Suddenly Nick makes the connection and immediately says "It's Zak. Something is wrong. Billy find him, we are on the way over." Billy runs back to the house and ends up reaching the front door only a few seconds before Nick is sprinting in behind him.
"Zak" they both yell. "Zak, where are you?" both searching the first floor. "I'm going up, you check the basement" Nick instructs Billy. They head in separate directions and that's when Nick stumbles across Zak passed out on the floor.
"Zak?" he questions in a hushed voice, afraid that something really bad has happened because it doesn't look like Zak is breathing. He crouches down next to Zak and touches his shoulder.
"Zak, I really need you to be okay. Time to wake up" and the man suddenly lurches up grabbing at Nick. Nick tries to pull back thinking that he is trying to battle whatever had done this to him, but then he hears what Zak is saying; "Thank god, Nick, Nick, Nick" like Nick is some lifeline for Zak to cling to, and maybe he is.
He takes one sticky arm back from grasping Nick's shoulders and starts clutching at his stomach. In a small scared voice that sounds nothing like it should, he says "I died Nick, I was shot." They both look down and the image of his wet tacky hands covered in blood clutching at his stomach focuses into sharp relief. "Oh my god, Zak are you okay" Nick grabs at him, hands flying all over, trying to divine where he was injured.
"I don't think it's mine. At least not anymore" Zak says slowly, which he realizes is total nonsense but the pain is gone as if it had never existed. The only trace of his ordeal is his blood soaked torso and hands.
Somehow Nick brings himself to stop being selfish because he knows that Zak needs help, real help and not just him. "Billy" Nick bellows out. And Billy is running up the stairs to find them, he shines a flashlight on the two of them crouched together and it looks like something out of a horror movie. Nick has bloody hand prints on the back of his shirt and Zak, well Zak is covered. "Holy shit, what happened?" they both look ghoulish in the one light of the camera.
Billy radios Aaron who is god knows where. "Get over here now, Jay get the feed from over here queued up at the nerve center, we will be back soon." Nick is helping Zak get off the floor leaving a large pool of the red liquid seeping into the old floorboards. They seem to be supporting each other as Billy directs them downstairs and out the door. As shell shocked as they both look he knows they need to take pictures of this. Once that is done they can get Zak cleaned up so they don't have to stare at the gore.
Aaron runs into them coming out of the house and stops still. "What the fuck happened here?" Nick and Zak are still wrapped up in each other but due to the circumstances neither Billy nor Aaron question it.
They get Zak cleaned up as much as they can with a spare rag and some Windex after they had carefully documented all of the blood which doesn't appear to be his. They make their way over to the nerve center and Billy says "Tell us what happened in there and then Jay has the footage ready to watch."
Zak regales them with what happened from his point of view starting with the audible gunshots and then Daniel warning him to take cover and then how he got shot in the stomach. How he felt everything and could feel the bullet inside and the knowledge that he was going to die. It goes a little hazy after that and he doesn't remember much of anything only the intense desire to see Nick one last time before he died, but he's not willing to share that personal revelation with the rest of crew.
They play back the footage and the camera catches Zak going back upstairs after finding the Ovulis X on the floor. There is another bang and that's when you can visibly see Zak go into some sort of trance. His eyes glaze over and they see him tag when he thought he heard Daniel, but there is nothing on the camera or the recorder. The rest is horrific, watching Zak clutch at his stomach while blood pours out between his hands. He is making horrible noises and it's all they can do to keep watching the footage.
Zak turns away from the screen and Nick reaches out again to grip the back of his neck, anything to get them through this. Zak on the screen gurgles out 'Nick' and then all his limbs go limp as if the life supporting his body has left. There is silence all around and Jay quietly turns the footage off.
"How…how did you find me?" Zak asks in the reverent silence. Jay says that he saw Nick react to something around the time that Zak collapsed. "Pull it up" Aaron says and they rewind till they find when Nick's head whips up saying that he heard something. They look at the time stamp and realize that it is the same time that Zak cries out Nick's name. A collective shiver runs through them and they know that this is some of the best paranormal footage they have ever captured but that fact is sort of lost in the midst of the gravity of what Zak has gone through.
"I think we should call it a night" Nick says, and none of them find it odd that he still has his hand on Zak's neck. Zak looks kind of out of it still and Billy quietly says to Nick "We'll take care of the equipment, take him back to the hotel and get him cleaned up." Nick nods and steers Zak out of the nerve center by slipping his hand down from neck to the small of his back. Nick doesn't want to think about this, but it feels surprisingly right to be so tactile with Zak in front of the crew.
He brings Zak up to the suite that they are sharing with Aaron; Billy, Jay and the equipment have the other suite. He takes them through the back door of the hotel so that they don't have to run into anyone. When they finally make it to their room he bustles Zak into the bathroom and sits him down on the toilet. He turns around and feels for the shower knob, letting the water splash unhindered onto the white porcelain.
He can finally decompress since it's just the two of them and they are relatively safe in here so he looks Zak in the face. Zak is shaking and looks more than a little worse of the wear. Nick just says "It's going to be okay Zak, you're alive and I'm right here."
"I just…I need" Zak tries to articulate what he's feeling but it comes out jumbled and he starts reaching for Nick's arms. Nick realizes that he needs human contact to know that he is alive and this is real. He walks right up in between Zak's legs and grabs the back of his head pulling him into an embrace. Zak is clutching at his waist and burying his face in Nick's stomach.
They stay like that with only the noise of the shower to listen to for a good long while. Zak starts talking when the bathroom is filled with steam and they are both warm all the way to the core.
"I…I was dead, Nick, and the only thing I could think was that I didn't want to go without seeing you one last time." He untucks his head and looks up at Nick with raw emotion evident on his features. "It was horrible…it wasn't even the pain from the gunshot. I mean that hurt like hell, but it was the thought that I was going to die cold and alone and no one would ever find me. I was just going to rot up in that abandoned house without ever having the chance to do the things I was meant to do in life."
That's some deep shit right there and Nick lets it hang in the air because what can he really say to that. He just nods and realizes that at some point his hand had gotten tangled up in Zak's hair. His fingers are stroking through the soft strands, ruining the style but he doesn't think Zak really minds as he hasn't commented or pulled away from their embrace.
There is still an eerie red tint to Zak's arms because that shitty rag they found didn't do much to clean him up. He's got a smudge of blood on his cheek that Nick shouldn't find absurdly cute but he does.
"Let's get you cleaned up before all the hot water runs out" he says pulling Zak up, giving the side of his face one last stroke. He proceeds to pull Zak's ruined long sleeved shirt over his head and oh my god this is actually happening. He is undressing Zak, as if the rest of the night wasn't surreal enough now he is crammed in a tiny hotel bathroom with Zak getting ready to follow him into the shower.
He turns around to test the water with his hand and adjusts the knob so it's not scalding. When he is facing Zak again he uses the water on his hand to rub off the blood smear on the other man's cheek. The older man leans into his palm and starts pulling off Nick's shirt, which sort of surprises him because sure they had been hugging for a really long time (and Nick suspects that he might really like Zak; as in willing to have sex with a man liking) but this is actually happening. This isn't some adrenaline induced hallucination or a fear fueled hug.
Some unnamed giddy emotion is welling up into his chest and he has the feeling that in a very short while he won't be able to stop smiling. He allows Zak to start pulling at his pants before he takes over, ditching socks and shoes before stripping down to boxers. Zak is stepping into the shower when he looks up again, so there is no embarrassing moment where he debates whether or not to take off the last bit of clothing. He easily loses his boxers and slips into the shower behind Zak.
At first he just helps scrub Zak's arms and stomach, so occupied with his task that he doesn't see the soft look on Zak's face. The absurdity of the situation hits him suddenly and he can't stop laughing, it starts off hysterical but ends up somewhere near pure joy.
His best friend is smiling with him and it's the most natural thing in the world when Zak reaches out to slide them together from lips to toes.
Zak's lips are soft and warm against his and somehow nothing like all the women he's been with. Maybe it's the large hard body against his own or the knowledge that this is Zak (his best friend) that he's kissing.
He feels a jolt of arousal slide down his body originating from his lips. The kiss is actually quite chaste as they get a feel for each other, but boy does it pack a punch.
Nick breaks the connection for a second to soak in what just happened, "Wow, that was…" he trails off and then decides he really wants more. Zak reaches for his head just as he slides back into the other man's arms and now their kiss is all tongue and saliva and a bit of soap; it's perfect.
Plus One
Zak wakes up to the feeling of another body curled around his own. He looks down to see Nick's head on his chest with all their limbs tangled together, and smiles. Yeah, he could live with this. Granted this bed is tiny and they are in a hotel, but otherwise yeah.
With that thought comes the realization that this is Aaron's room as well, he lifts his head and looks over to the matching twin bed in the room. It's empty and looks untouched. At least Aaron didn't walk in to see them naked and curled around each other, but on second thought Aaron might have walked in on them and then decided to sleep on the couch that was supposed to be Nick's.
He groans, that's an embarrassing train of thought. But he supposes that if Aaron really did walk in on them then they won't have to dance around the subject, debating whether or not to tell the rest of the team. In fact the more he thinks about it the better it seems; to have the decision to tell out of their hands, nothing to cause arguments between Nick and himself.
Nick is moving around, well he seems to be burrowing farther into Zak to get away from the morning sunlight. When he finally braves it and glances up at Zak the expression on his face is priceless; well fucked and content with life. He can't resist swooping down and kissing Nick one last time before he starts making motions to get up.
"We should probably find Aaron and apologize for what he most likely walked in on last night." He says with a laugh in his voice. Nick groans but nods and says "You get the shower warm, I'll find us some clothes."
By the time they make it out of the shower again Zak is starting to think that he is never going to see a shower the same way again. Zak calls the rest of crew and tells them to meet in the lobby for check out.
When they get there the team is waiting with all the equipment. He is worried that it will be awkward or strained, but the air is clear and all Aaron says is "Next time you guys get your own room." They all share a laugh at that and Zak knows it's going to be okay; better then okay actually because he can't quite get over how lucky he is.