Derek Venturi sat ridgidly in the livingroom chair, waiting for Casey to get home. She was supposed to be home from her date with Sam two hours ago! Normaly, he wouldn't care one bit if his step-sister was out longer than she said she'd be, in fact he'd be happy, but she was out with Sam ! His Sam! His best friend and secret crush. No, it was more than a crush. He was so completely in love with his friend, and had been for so long, that he couldn't remember what life was like before him. And no matter how cheesey it sounded, he couldn't imagine life without him. He looked at the clock, it read a quarter to midnight.

'What could they be doing this late?' he thought feircely, then shuddered. He knew what they could be doing at midnight, but he desperately hoped that was not the case. The very thought made him sick inside. Then he heard a key in the lock and a moment later the door opened. "You're late," he said.

"Derek?" Casey said confusedly. "I thought you'd be in bed."

"I was waiting for you, I was hoping Sam would spend the night," he told her.

"Oh, he said he'd come by tomorrow. We need to work on a school project for a little while, but after an hour he's all yours."

Derek's eyes flashed with desire at her words. How he wished that Sam would be all his. But no, he was with Casey. Derek closed his eyes, fighting to hold back the tears that had sprang to them unbidden.

"Are you ok?" Casey asked, concerned. Derek opened his eyes but they were strangely bright. Casey's concern grew, she'd never seen her brother this upset. "Is it about Sam?" she asked at his silence. Derek looked at her questioningly and she sighed before revealing the truth. "Sam and I aren't dating Der, we haven't been for over a month."

"What? Why?" he asked, confused.

"Because you're in love with him, and I would never hurt you that way," she said firmly.

Derek just gaped at her, lost for words. "How did you know?" he finally managed.

Casey sat on the end of the couch closest to the chair. "Your eyes. I've suspected it for a while, almost three months, but I wasn't sure. So I started bringing him up in conversations more and looking to see your reaction. Whenever I said his name your eyes would sparkle for a moment, then they would dim as you realized that I was talking about one of our dates. Whenever we broke up, you were happier, and nicer to me. Then when we would get back together, you'd get depressed and start fights with me for no reason. It wasn't that hard, it's acctually kind of obvious."

Derek's eyes flew wide. "You don't think Sam knows, do you!?" he cried fearfully.

Casey smiled. "I'm absolutly positive that he doesn't know, don't worry," she said with a smile.

"How can you be so sure?" he asked.

"Because I talked to him tonight," she said.

"What!!" Derek exclaimed wide-eyed. "Why would you do that! Now he'll never talk to me again!"

Derek continued to ramble as Casey tried to reassure him, neither teen noticed as Sam walked through the door, having obviously decided he did want to spend the night.

"Derek!" Casey exclaimed, and Derek looked up, noticing Sam standing behind her. Before he could alert her to the other teen's presence it was too late to stop her frome saying, "Sam's in love with you! He told me himself."

"Casey, you promised," Sam said in a hurt voice, and Casey whipped around to look at him.

"Sam I-" she started, but he didn't stay to listen. Before she finished her sentence he was already out the door.

"Sam!" Derek called running after him. Casey worried her lip between her teeth. 'What if I just completely ruined their friendship!' she thought frantically. 'No, Derek will tell Sam he loves him too and everything will be fine.' With that thought she headed up to bed, thanking God that the rest of the family was spending the weekend at her gramdmother's house.

"Sam, wait up!" Derek called, running after his best friend. "Sam, please !"

Finally, after about four blocks, Sam slowed down and Derek was able to catch up with him. The two of them walked in silence until the reached the park. there they sat down on a bench and Derek broke the silence. "Was what Casey said true?" he asked.

"No," Sam said, not making eye contact.

"Sam, look at me," Derek said, and Sam looked up, his eyes full of unshed tears.

"Was what Casey said true?" he asked again, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"No," Sam said again, but after knowing him for seventeen years, he knew Derek knew he was lying. The tears in his eyes overflowed as he stood up from the bench in anger. "She promised she wouldn't say anything! I should've known better! But it's not like I acctually told her, she figured it out on her own! Everything would've been perfectly fine, but no, she had to go and tell you! Now nothing will ever be the same between us!"

"You're right," Derek said, ending his friends tirade. "Nothing will ever be the same between us."

Sam collapsed back onto the bench, physically and emotionally exausted.

"Come on," Derek said, taking his hand and pulling him off the bench. He pulled Sam's arm over his shoulder and the two of then walked back to Derek's house. The went up stairs to his room and Derek shut and locked the door, then he lay the half asleep Sam down on his bed. He removed his friends clothes, stripping him down to his boxers and pulling the covers over him. Then removed his own clothing before slipping under the blankets and wrapping his arms around his friend. "Good night Sam, I love you," he whispered into the blonde's ear. In a few minutes he was asleep.

Sam woke up warm and contented. For a moment, he completely forgot the events of the night before.

"Morning sleepy-head," came Derek's voice from behind him. It was then that he realized that he was in Derek's house, in his room, and in his bed. He bolted upright.

"Derek?" he exclaimed. "What? How did I get here?"

"You practically passed out on the park bench. So I brought you home with me." As Derek spoke, Sam remembered what had happened the night before.

He slowly climbed out of his friend's bed, he flushed brightly when he realized that he was in nothing but his boxers.

"What are you doing?" Derek asked, laughing slightly.

"Looking for my clothes," Sam said as he looked around the room hopelessly.

"I put them in the laundry, now come back to bed, it's freezing," Derek said, pulling Sam back under the covers. He put his arm around the blonde's stomach and pulled him close. Sam's body tensed for a moment at the contact, but then he relaxed. "So, about what Casey said last night," Derek said softly, and Sam's body tensed again. "I know you well enough to know the answer, but I would really like to hear it from you. Are you in love with me?"

Sam was quiet for a moment. Then he took a shaky breath and said, "Yes, I am."

Derek let out the breath he was holding and smiled, pulling Sam even closer and nuzzling his face into the back of his neck. "Thanks for not lying to me again," he said.

Sam turned around to face him, "Why aren't you yelling at me, or hitting me or something?" he asked.

"Because I'm in love with you too," Derek said with a soft smile.

"How long?" Sam asked.

"Three years, seven months, and ten days," he said.

Sam looked shocked. "You've known that long? I've only known for two years. I'm sure I've loved you for a long time before that, but it took dating your sister to realize it."

"Huh? Why would dating Casey make you realize you loved me?" Derek asked.

"Because, besides the fact that you're a womanizer and she's a grade-grubber, you're almost the same person. You like the same music, movies, resturaunts, even books. After dating her for a couple months I realized that I only liked her because she was a girl version of you. When I realized that, I was able to admit to myself that I was in love with you. I only stayed with Casey after that because I figured that she was the closest to you that I'd ever get. But of course, being Casey, she figured it out. So that's where we've stood the last month. We go out, I lament about how I'll never be with you, and she asks for advice on guys."

"Casey only figured out that you were in love with me 'cause she was looking for signs. She figured out my secret a couple of months ago and wanted to know if you felt the same. She really is a cool girl to have for a sister." Derek said.

"Yeah, she's a great friend, should really apologise for the way I acted last night. I just, I trusted her to keep my secret and she told you. Why did she do that?" Sam asked.

"She told me because it was the only way she could think to calm me down. I was in a full-blown panic because she'd told me that she had talked to you about me. I was sure that you'd figured out my secret and that you were never gonna talk to me again," Derek explained.

Sam smiled. "Well, at least I wasn't the only one who thought that our friendship was ruined last night. But wait, last night you sadi that our friendship would never be the same, why would you say that if you love me too?"

"Because, if we're both in love with eachother, wouldn't you rather our friendship turned into a relationship?" Derek said, his breath ghosting over Sam's lips.

Sam shivered, instead of answering he pressed his lips firmly against Derek's. They kissed deeply, neither noticicng the time as it passed. What seemed like mere moments later, which in reality was a couple of hours, they heard an insistent knocking at the door.

"Derek? Why is the door locked? Are you okay? Did you find Sam? I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to butt in, I was trying to help! Please let me in! I could go to Sam's house and try to talk to him for you if you want..." Casey called through the door.

Sam laughed softly. "Go away!" he called back. "We're trying to sleep!"

"Yeah! Do I wake you up early when your boyfriend sleeps over?" Derek yelled, a smirk playing on his lips.

At the word boyfriend Sam's eyes darkened with lust and he pulled Derek roughlyto him, kissing him thoroughly.

Derek made a startled sound but eagerly participated in the frantic kisses.

Outside the door Casey smiled brightly. It seemed as if her brother was finally gonna get some from the guy he loved. Speaking of that, she had her real boyfriend to call. She didn't think that he'd object to a booty call either...

She picked up the phone, "Hello, Max, hey I was wondering, my parents are out for the weekend, did you wanna gome over?"

THE END