A/N: Hello everyone! No, your eyes are not fooling you, a new story really is here. :P With Meant To Be ending soon, I figured I'd go ahead and post this first chapter since this will be taking that story's place when it's done.

Not much to say except that this first chapter is a bit of a prologue.

I hope you all enjoy! :)

It was as if Kendall Knight had just driven through a fucking time portal. He'd started out in the current day, but the moment he'd crossed the city line into Lakeview, he was sixteen years old again, spending his days hiking and fishing and sneaking away to make out with his best friend, Dak. The same friend he hadn't spoken to since his family dragged him out of town that same year they spent kissing.

Not a phone call. Not a letter. Not a damn text. Nothing.

"Fuck." He rubbed a hand over his face. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, yet it sure had felt like it originally.

He wouldn't turn back, though. There was a part of him needed this, needed to make peace with his past in a way he'd never let himself. Needed to remember who he was back then so he could try to find himself again. He'd lived a lot of life since leaving Lakeview-some of it pretty good, and some of it as low as you could get.

So far down that he was ashamed and hated the idea of anyone, much less his old friend, knowing the depths of his past. He was in a good place now. He had been for a while, but lately...he'd just felt the tug to go.

He needed a fresh start, a simple life, to figure out who the fuck he was and what he wanted. There was nowhere better to do that than Lakeview.

He hoped.

Kendall didn't have the windows down, but he could still smell the familiar scent of his hometown-pine and nature. Fresh air and the lake.

He'd missed it. He'd known that for a long time, but it wasn't easy going home again, especially when you felt like you were a completely different person from the one who'd been there before.

How would the old Kendall and the new Kendall merge? And would the person he was now even fit in Lakeview? If people knew where he'd been, would they accept him?

As he continued through the middle of town, past the small movie theatre and Golden Spoon-the diner where he'd spent most of his youth-he was both eager to start a new life here and sad about the one he lost. He'd be lying if he didn't admit there was some guilt thrown in there too.

A big part of that guilt circled around one person: Dak Zevon.

The first guy he'd ever kissed, the first guy he'd had an orgasm with, too. The first person who knew he was gay, and one of the people he respected most in the world. Kendall had missed him. God, he'd fucking missed his friend.

He made the drive straight to Dak's old place. Sure, he had shit to do, but none of it was as important as seeing Dak and creatively explaining where he'd been all these years. The thought of giving him the whole truth made nerves skitter down Kendall's spine.

He was proud of who he was, knew mistakes didn't make the man, but yeah...some things a guy just didn't want to tell anyone.

Hell, he hadn't even known if Dak still lived in Lakeview until he made a stop at the gas station and asked. He figured word couldn't get around to Dak that he was back before he could make the ten-minute drive to Dak's place.

He still lived on the same property he'd grown up on, in his own house, but with a second driveway, from what he'd been told. Kendall didn't know why that made him smile-the thought of Dak finding his own independence while still taking care of his mom, the person he loved most in the world.

She'd suffered from severe mental illness most of Dak's life. He'd been her caretaker; he would have done anything for her. Not many people were as good as Dak.

When he pulled up, there was both a truck and a car in front of the small house. It was exactly the kind of place he could see Dak living in-rustic and simple. Homey, with dark wood and a small porch. Nerves gnawed at his bones as he sat in his Charger, letting it idle. His hands shook slightly, but Kendall ignored it, turned off his vehicle, and got out.

He pulled his sunglasses off as he bounded the stairs leading to Dak's front door. There would likely be anger, and Kendall figured he had that coming. Or hell, maybe Dak didn't give a shit. Maybe Kendall was overreacting and Dak had forgotten him years ago, but he knew one thing-he'd never forgotten his old friend.

Kendall rapped on the door. It was only a moment later that he heard a guy call out, "Just a minute" in a voice that didn't sound like Dak's. But then, he hadn't heard Dak's voice since he was a teenager, so what the fuck did he know?

The door opened. Kendall's brow pulled together, and a knot twisted in his gut. "Jett?" What the fuck was Jett Stetson doing at Dak's place?

He thought back to all the times he'd heard Jett and his friends give Dak shit when they were kids. All the times he'd tried to get them to leave Dak alone, without Dak knowing of course, because he would have hated Kendall sticking up for him. He was independent that way. And Jett had been a dickhead. One of Dak's biggest bullies, yet now he was answering the door at his house?

"Holy shit." Jett replied. "You're who I think you are, right?"

Either his memory of their past was fucked, or a whole lot more had changed in Lakeview than he could have imagined...though he wasn't sure why. People changed. Most of them weren't who you thought they were. He knew he'd changed.

"I think so." Kendall replied, even though it was a stupid answer. "I'm sort of feeling like I might not know much right now."

"Who is it, babe?" A sleepy voice came from behind Jett. The second he heard it, he knew it was Dak...and babe? He'd called Jett babe?

Jett pushed the door open further, then turned to look behind him. Kendall somehow knew he had a supportive look on his face for Dak, and Jesus, what in the fuck had happened since he left? Maybe he wasn't the only one who would have a story to share-though it looked like Dak's was happier.

Kendall's eyes caught Dak's just as his old friend's feet rooted to the floor. There was a brief moment of shock-of denial-and then, "Kendall? Holy shit, man. I can't believe you're here." And then Dak was moving toward him.

He pulled Kendall into a hug, wrapping his strong arms-that were a whole hell of a lot bigger than they had been the last time Kendall had seen Dak-around him.

He should have known that in some ways it would be this easy. When you shared a part of yourself with someone that no one else knew, that bond was hard to sever. But in other ways? Yeah, this would be fucking brutal. They had a lot to talk about. Kendall had a lot to apologize for, but the way Dak squeezed him, he hoped it would be okay.

"It's so good to see you." Kendall said into Dak's neck. They parted, and he realized Dak had the same kind eyes he always had. There was a part of him that felt no time at all had passed. In the years since he'd left, he'd never had a friend who meant as much to him as Dak had.

"It's good to see you, too." Dak replied.

"I'll give you guys some time alone." Jett said, reminding Kendall he was there. He felt like rubbing his eyes to make sure he was seeing things correctly.

"Hey, no. It's okay. You don't need to go anywhere." Dak said as he put a hand on Jett's back.

"It's cool." Jett replied. "I'm sure you guys have a lot to discuss. Plus, you wore me out a little earlier. I'm going to take a shower. I'll be in our room if you need me." Jett patted Dak's ass, and Kendall smiled. He knew exactly what that was-Jett was staking his claim, and Kendall was damn happy Dak had that. No one deserved it more than him.

"You're so crazy." Dak looked at Jett, and Kendall could see how in love with the man he was. He couldn't believe it, even though it was right in front of his face.

"Crazy about you." He winked. Dak leaned in and kissed him briefly on the lips before Jett disappeared into the house. Their house, apparently.

"Jett Stetson?" Kendall cocked a brow.

"Lot's changed since you left."

"You can say that again."

"He's not the same person he was."

Kendall nodded. "Didn't think he was. Not if he snagged you."

Dak stepped onto the porch and closed the door behind him. "She's a beauty." He tilted his head towards the car.

Small talk. Kendall could do that.

"Thanks. I take it you still love cars?"

They walked towards Kendall's cherry-red Charger. "I do. I have my own shop in town." Dak said as he ran his hand over the hood of the vehicle. "You know how much I've always loved having my hands on a car engine."

"I do." Kendall replied. "I also always knew you'd find a way to make your dreams come true. You look happy, Dak, and I'm happy for you."

"I am happy." He stopped, turned to Kendall, and he knew exactly what was coming. "Where'd you go, man? Where have you been?"

He sighed, wishing all the years hadn't separated them. Wishing he'd contacted Dak sooner. Wishing some of his past wasn't as embarrassing as it was. That he didn't have things to be ashamed of. "How much do you know?"

"Next to nothing. I know we walked out of the woods that day. You got caught skipping, though I'm not sure how your parents knew about me. Then you were gone."

Kendall opened his mouth, but Dak cut him off. "Maybe we should sit down." He walked over, opened the bed of his truck, and they took a seat in it.

He looked at Dak-the way he'd changed over the years, the way he'd filled out-more muscles, his strong jawline. His dark hair was similar, but seeing Dak, seeing the changes, made him angry about the friendship they'd missed, even though most of it was his fault.

"I don't really know what came over me that day. I guess...I guess I was just tired of lying. Of hiding. Hell, we rarely even hung out with each other because we were so damn scared that someone would find out about us. So I admitted to my parents that I was gay. The angrier they got, the angrier I got. Basically, I was a stupid fucking kid."

He'd tried to provoke them at that point, telling them he'd been in the woods with a boy. "I didn't tell them it was you. I wouldn't out you that way. But they knew...somehow, they knew. I honestly thought it would just blow over, but the next thing I knew, we were driving across the country to stay at my aunt's farm."

He took a couple of deep breathes, not really wanting to go on but knowing he had to. Did he have to, though? Did he have to tell Dak all of it?

"It was weird, man. It was like something had come over them. They thought they were protecting me. From what, I don't know. My sinful ways, I guess. As if I wouldn't be gay anymore if I wasn't here. My aunt lived out in the middle of nowhere. They homeschooled me. We went to church, and that was the extent of my social interaction outside of the fuckig grocery store and things like that. I just...started to lose myself. It was killing me. They were killing me." He said the last line more softly. The guilt swam around in him again, a current trying to tug him under. It felt like a betrayal to talk about his parents that way now...since they were gone.

Dak caught his eye. "What do you mean by that, Kendall?"

He knew Dak understood what he was saying, but that he needed Kendall to say it.

"It was hard. I was ripped away from everything I knew. My parents were fighting over what to do with me. My dad was angry and my mom was scared. You know how she was, even with the church out here. I was alone, lost. Part of me wondered if there was something wrong with me. I hated myself for making my parents fight. They never fought until I told them about me. One day…" Fuck, he hated mentioning this part.

He wasn't ashamed of it, not really. But it was hard to look back on how he'd felt then. "One day it was too much, so I swallowed a bottle of pills."

"Jesus fucking Christ, Kendall." There was a panic to Dak's voice that he'd expected. Fear, sadness. How could there not be? Yes, there would be for anyone, but especially for Dak.

And that's not even the whole of where of I've been. How would you feel if you knew it all?

"I'm okay, obviously. I wasn't for a while-mentally, at least. They got me to the hospital, and I was fine. I did inpatient for a couple of months. My parents...they were devastated, and I was...angry. At them, at myself, at fucking everything." He'd rebelled, and he couldn't even say what he'd rebelled at. Life? All he'd known was, things went downhill from there, and it had landed him in prison.

He really didn't want to tell Dak that part.

"Why didn't you contact me?"

This was the hard part. How did he explain it to Dak without making him feel guilty? How did he tell him he didn't want Dak to worry about him the way he'd done with his mom? That he didn't know at first if he would ever get better, and he'd known Dak.

Dak would have blamed himself. If they hadn't gone into the woods that day… Or if he'd never kissed Kendall for the first time… If there was anything he wanted, it was for Dak to never have regrets about the two of them. Kendall didn't.

Once he'd gotten locked up, he sure as shit wasn't going to call Dak. He ignored that truth, telling himself it wasn't important. He didn't owe anyone that part of himself.

"I called you once. I was eighteen. I'd only been out of impatient for a couple of weeks. I called and you answered, but I couldn't speak. I just listened to your voice until you hung up." He'd been high at that time. He'd liked drugs after inpatient, and that had led him down the destructive path.

"You didn't want to burden me." Dak said softly, realization in his voice.

"I can only claim that excuse for a little while. Eventually, I got through it-the depression. I don't suffer from it anymore." He wanted to make that clear. Yes, he'd tried to protect Dak in the beginning, but later? Later it had just been his own weakness-his shame of who he was.

"After a while, I told myself it was in the past. Why dredge it up? We were grown. I made excuses. How did I know if you still lived here? Maybe I was a piece of your past you wanted to forget. They were excuses and I'm sorry. You were my best friend and I was wrong."

They were both quiet for a few moments. Kendall gave Dak the time he needed. And when Dak said, "I missed you, man. I'm glad you're home," Kendall exhaled a deep breath, even though Dak's words were slightly stilted.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Dak replied. "But for what it's worth, I'm sorry too."

Neither of them moved, and Kendall somehow knew Dak was waiting for him this time. "Seriously, Dak. Jett fucking Stetson?" He said again. "You gotta let me know how the hell that happened. And God, he's fucking hot."

Dak laughed. "No shit. Half the time, I can't believe he's mine."

They sat in the back of the truck for at least an hour and caught up. Dak told him how Jett had come back after his father's death, how they'd made amends and fallen in love. He talked about Jett's artwork, and going to LA, and even his own blown-glass art.

He could hear the love in Dak's voice, and it brought a smile to his face.

They talked about Dak's mom and the help she'd gotten. About inpatient not too long ago and the new meds. It wasn't perfect, but it was oftentimes better. And she didn't let herself depend on Dak the way she used to.

He told Dak about the loss of his own parents-the car accident-but didn't say he hadn't been there because he'd been in prison.

Then Dak stood up from the back of the truck bed and said, "Why don't you come inside? Eat dinner with me and Jett. I'd really like for the two of you to get to know each other."

Kendall nodded and stood as well. "I'd like that. Thank you."

As he followed Dak inside, he hoped he could carve out his own piece of happiness here, too. Hoped that he and Dak could gain some kind of friendship again, because even though they were talking, he could feel the difference. It wasn't the same.

Done! So, you got a bit of Kendall's background this chapter as well as his reunion with Dak, who will kind of play a big role in this.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter, as well as if you happened to have a favorite part/moment!

Again, I hope you all enjoyed! Like I said, this will take the place of Meant to Be when it's done so updates will be a little sparse until then, but the next chapter will be up sometime next week, where you all will be introduced to a certain someone! :P

Until next time!

-Epically Obsessed