Hi everyone, and welcome to the sequel to You're Too Afraid To Admit It Might Be Love! I know it's been a while since I finished YTA, but I've been busy with uni, exams and NaNo. I'm also going to be busy with work over Christmas so updates won't come quick. However, I almost have the second chapter finished so hopefully it won't be too long :)

This story won't be exactly like YTA - sometimes I'll do a few chapters at a certain point, then skip ahead a while in time. I don't have a specific end in sight either, so we'll just have to see how things go.

For now, though enjoy this chapter!


Jeff stopped at the door to his shared room with Sebastian and smiled to himself. The shock of the previous night hadn't quite worn off yet, and neither had the giddy feeling that overcame him every time he thought of Nick. Still smiling, he pushed open the door and looked around. The room was considerably smaller than the one they'd had in Westerville, due to the fact that they now had half the normal income. There was barely room for the both of them and only one bed – in which Sebastian was sound asleep, arm dangling over the edge. Squashed in the corner was the mattress Jeff had salvaged for his own bed and he dropped down onto it. As he tugged off his boots he heard the groaning that indicated Sebastian was waking up and in his head, started counting down to the moment that he knew was coming.

Three, two, one…

"Hey," Sebastian mumbled, still half-asleep "I take it last night went well."

Jeff's smile widened. "Yeah."

He met the other's gaze. Sebastian, head propped up on one hand, looked at him with a half-smile and a raised eyebrow. "Well? Spill."

Jeff's thoughts were drawn to his parting kiss with Nick and ducked his head. "He let me stay the night with him."

Sebastian snorted. "He 'let' you? I bet he couldn't get your ass in bed fast enough."

The blonde couldn't help but laugh. He wasn't wrong. As his thoughts wandered over the events of the previous night, he remembered the conversation he'd had with Nick less than an hour ago, and the conversation he still needed to have with Sebastian.

"Nick asked me to move in with him."

Both of Sebastian's eyebrows shot up. "It went very well then." He paused for a second before asking, "What did you say?"

Jeff didn't miss the wary tone of his voice. He didn't understand how Sebastian could possibly think he'd just leave him – not after all they'd been through and all they'd done for each other. He smiled at the brunette and said, "I told him I wanted to, but I needed to talk to you."

"What about?" The wariness was replaced by indifference faster than Jeff had anticipated. "If you want to move in with him, then do it."

"Sebastian," Jeff said "I'm not going to leave. Not unless we've sorted something out. You're my friend."

The brunette shrugged. "And you're in love with Nick."

"That doesn't change the fact that you come first. You always come first."

That threw him. Sebastian blinked and his face dropped. Jeff nodded in response to the unasked question – Really? "I'm not going anywhere before we talk about it."

It took a few seconds, but soon enough Sebastian's air of apathy returned and he replied, "If that's how you want to do it. Any suggestions?"

Jeff nodded. "Nick offered to let you stay with him for a while, until you get something else sorted out. I'm not going to leave you here on your own."

"I can't imagine anything more fun than living with you two," Sebastian drawled and the blonde rolled his eyes. "It's something."

"What does he think I'm going to sort out? Does he think I'm going to get a job and a house and become a respectable citizen? Because it's not likely."

"I think you can," Jeff said quietly. "Sebastian, he's not just offering me a way out. He's giving you a way out too. You can get help. It's not too late." He held up a hand when Sebastian opened his mouth. "Not even for you."

The brunette huffed out a sigh. "There's nothing out there that's going to fix me, Jeff. I'm long past that."

"You can at least try. Maybe we can get you into rehab and you can get clean."

Sebastian scoffed at that and Jeff sighed. "I know you could do it. You might not believe it but I do. And if I'm getting out, if I get to have a second chance, then so do you. Me and you, remember?"

The other nodded, his expression dropping. "Yeah, I remember."

"Where you go, I go. And if you decide to stay, then so do I."

Sebastian frowned at the blonde. "That's blackmail."

"Are you surprised?"" Jeff said with a raised eyebrow. After a moment of silence, the reply came. "No."

"Well, it's up to you." He returned to pulling his boots off and getting changed out of his working clothes. "Is there anything to eat?"

"Nope." Sebastian settled back under the covers "You were supposed to go buy food with last night's pay, remember?"

"Shit, yeah." Jeff tugged his jeans over his hips before slumping back on the mattress. Work had been scarce recently and they'd only just made their rent the day before, which had left them broke. He'd forgotten about their food and money issues as soon as he'd laid eyes on Nick. "I'll see if I can borrow some cash from Cara. Or I'll have to make it up tonight."

"You're going to work tonight?" Sebastian asked curiously.

The thought made his stomach turn, but Jeff knew he had to. "It's not like I have a choice. I still have to look after us."

Sebastian was quiet after that and it wasn't long before Jeff started to doze off, though his hunger kept him from drifting off completely. Just as he reached a blissful haze where all he could think about was Nick, he was woken by something buzzing. He blinked his eyes open and blearily searched the mess of clothes around his mattress for his phone. He was smiling before he'd even picked up the call.

"Hey."

"Hey," came Nick's voice "Are you okay? You don't sound okay."

"I'm fine," Jeff smiled "Just tired. You made it home alright?"

"Yeah, just got back. It feels weird being here now. I miss you."

"I miss you too."

Nick chuckled. "It's only been half an hour. We shouldn't miss each other yet. I shouldn't feel like I don't know what to do with myself."

"One night isn't enough; not after two years," Jeff said. As soon as he spoke, a heaviness came over him and he felt the need to apologise. "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"It's my fault it's been two years."

"Don't apologise for that," Nick said quietly, comfortingly "It's the past. Everything's okay now. Right?"

"Yeah. Everything's okay now." Jeff rubbed his eyes. "I talked to Sebastian. He's deciding what he wants to do."

"Great." He could tell Nick was smiling "Tell me when he makes up his mind."

"Trust me, you'll be the first to know."

Nick laughed. "I'll let you sleep. Talk to you soon?"

"Yeah, talk to you soon," Jeff agreed.

Once they said goodbye and hung up, Jeff tossed his phone back onto the tangle of clothes and dropped back onto his mattress. He curled up and with a smile on his face, started to slip away into a half-asleep daze. He didn't notice Sebastian watching him from the bed, and he didn't notice the eye roll or the small smile the brunette gave him before rolling onto his back.


Sebastian woke to the soft light of morning and the smell of something delicious. He groaned and looked around for the source of the smell, grinning as he spotted the brown paper bag at the foot of his bed. He grabbed the bag as he sat up. Another groan escaped him, this time of anticipation and delight when he saw the fat blueberry muffin waiting for him. It was warm in his palm and he was halfway through devouring it before he even thought about where it had come from.

Immediately Sebastian looked down to the mattress on his left. Jeff was there, looking as if he'd passed out as soon as he'd gotten home. His boots were off but he hadn't removed his makeup, and his face was smudged with eyeliner and glitter. Sebastian shook his head, shoving the rest of the muffin in his mouth. Jeff did too much. He worked hard, taking any job offered to him, exhausting himself just to keep a roof over their heads. Sebastian felt guilty about not being able to contribute, but he couldn't do his usual work without fear and more guilt, and nowhere would hire him. If he could just find a way to help out, then Jeff wouldn't have to push himself so much.

Sebastian was startled from his thoughts by the sound of a phone ringing. He recognised the ringtone immediately – Jeff's. But the blonde was sound asleep and not giving any sign that he'd even heard it. He decided to check the caller ID and ferreted around until he found the phone at the bottom of one of Jeff's boots. As soon as he saw that is was Nick calling, Sebastian bit his lip. He wasn't sure whether to leave it and tell Jeff later or answer it and tell Nick to call back. Just as the last tones were sounding, he decided to pick up the call.

"Jeff's phone."

"Oh… uh…"

"It's Sebastian."

"Oh. Hi."

There was a short awkward pause as Sebastian glanced back at Jeff, still asleep. "Jeff's asleep right now."

"I, uh… I'll call him back later then. Sorry."

There was another awkward pause. Sebastian chewed on his lip, contemplating whether he should say anything. Then Nick said he was going to hang up, and he panicked.

"Wait, don't."

"Um, okay."

The brunette sighed. "Jeff told me you want him to move in with you."

"Yeah, I do,"
Nick replied "But he wanted to talk to you about it first."

"I don't know why. It's not like I'm going to stop him."

Nick was quiet on the other end for a few moments. "He cares a lot about you. He said he couldn't just leave you."

"It'd be better for him if he did. I'm not good for him. You've always known that." He couldn't hold back the bitterness in his voice. He'd taken it upon himself to protect Jeff from the moment they'd first met. The blonde had only been a teenager at the time, scared and alone and desperate for someone to care about him. Sebastian had accepted that duty; had looked after him and kept him safe. At least, that had always been the plan. But he'd ended up hurting Jeff more times than he cared to remember, and Nick had reminded him of that before.

"I know we've… had our differences in the past,"
Nick said "But we should put that behind us, for Jeff's sake. I'm sorry for what I've said to you. And you have done a lot for him. He wouldn't care so much about you if you hadn't."

Sebastian sighed and crossed his legs under him, the floorboards pressing hard against his ankles. "Whatever. We don't get on, and I don't see that we ever will. I just know that you're good for him. You make him happy and you can keep him safe. I can't do that. But I also know that he won't go with you unless I come too. So I have a proposal."

"I'm listening."

"That offer you made, about me staying with the two of you for a while. Is it still on the table?"

Nick confirmed it, and Sebastian took a deep breath before continuing. "Then I'll come with him. I'll stay with you for a couple of days, to make it look real, and then I'll leave. I'll tell him I've found some opportunity or something and I'll just let you two get on with your lives. He doesn't need me anymore, and there's no way I'm going to interfere in something that makes him happy. He deserves that. So I'll make some excuse and then you'll never have to see me again. Sound fair?"

Nick was quiet for a long time before he answered. "Sebastian, he's not an idiot. He'll know. And to be honest, I think he'll be a lot happier with you in his life."

"He'll be too loved-up to notice anything," Sebastian said dismissively "Anyway, he needs to move on. So?"

"If that's really the way you want it. But I can't promise I won't tell him any of this if he asks."

"As long as it's after I'm gone, then it doesn't matter. I'll tell Jeff the good news when he wakes up."

He hung up without a goodbye and left the phone in Jeff's small pile of clothes. He'd just hauled himself up to sit on the edge of the bed when Jeff started shifting around. A minute later and the blonde blinked his eyes open slowly.

"Morning," the brunette called, chuckling at the sight of the other's makeup-smudged face and messy hair. Jeff screwed up his face and muttered the same back. He took a few moments to pull himself to a sitting position and once he was settled, starting running his fingers through his hair to untangle it.

"You're unusually cheerful this morning," he said, raising an eyebrow.

I'm happy for you
, Sebastian thought as he gestured with his head to the phone nestled amongst the clothes. "Nick called. We talked."

Jeff's eyes widened. "What?"

Sebastian couldn't stop the smile that spread over his face at the eagerness and hope that flooded the blonde's voice. He waited for a few minutes to build suspense, finally giving in when Jeff asked impatiently, "Well?"

"You should probably call him back and sort out when you're going to move in."

Jeff's face lit up and he threw himself from the floor into Sebastian, wrapping his arms around him tightly. The brunette started in shock but relaxed into the hug quickly.

"Thank you," the blonde grinned.

"You're squeezing… the life out of me," Sebastian choked out dramatically, making Jeff pull back and punch him lightly in the shoulder. He dropped back down onto the mattress, still with a massive grin on his face.

"I need to call him back," he said as he scrambled for his phone.

As he watched his friend bounce up and down as he waited for the call to connect, Sebastian knew he'd made the right decision.


I'd really appreciate reviews. Hope you liked! :)