Chapter 7- A Confession To Share
The storm died down early morning.
The sun was out and the birds were chirping… it almost felt like the world went back to normal for a short time…
Cuddled up close, Luke and Nick lay on top the plush bed, hair a tasselled mess and skin warm and soft; besides the tightly wrapped bandages that covered up the cringe worthy scars upon both men's arms.
Luke awoke first, opening his heavy eyelids slowly, to be blinded by the sunrays that directly shined upon him and the black haired man beside him. The curtains were open, allowing the sun's light to come through… Someone must of came in…
Ignoring whoever may of came in sometime in the morning, Luke turned his head to look down to see Nick's face pressed slightly against his chest, his breathing shallow and gentle.
Luke smiled.
Nick was a still fast asleep, both arms wrapped tightly around his torso, but partially crushed due to Luke lying on top of them…
Instead of waking up a sleepy Nick, Luke just lied there, enjoying the warmth of his friend, or partner as he snuggled close. With his free arm, Luke pushed the blankets down to both men's waist, or rather his waist, as Nick was a lot taller, allowing a little air to reach their skin as it started to get a little too warm…
A few more minutes later, Nick started to move, adjusting his position, meaning he was partially awake now… He let out a sigh before burying his face back into Luke's vest making the brunette chuckle.
Upon hearing the familiar sound of Luke's chuckle, Nick opened his eyes steadily and looked up at the other man, not realising how much he slid down the bed during the night…
"Hey." Nick said, voice slightly cracked.
"Hey." Luke replied with a warm smile.
"You look like shit." The brunette continued, smile turning into a smirk.
Nick looked up, sliding further up the bed to be level with Luke.
"Why thank you, Luke." Nick answered sarcastically, smiling back at his friend before letting out a yawn.
"You're very much welcome…"Luke replied, now sitting up, his brown hair was a mess and his vest was slightly drawn up, revealing the tan skin just beside his stomach.
Nick copied, sitting up so that both his and Luke's backs were pressed against the headboard.
"So… you really want to move in here?" Luke asked the black haired man, who relaxed within the sun's warm rays.
Nick turned his head so that he was looking towards the brunette.
"If that's okay with you, then yeah." Nick replied, a small smile on his face.
"Yeah, be my guest!" Luke continued, grinning slightly.
"Can I be more than just a guest?" Nick said suggestively with a smirk.
Luke playfully nudged Nick on the shoulder before chuckling once again.
"Yeah… yeah, something like that…" Luke replied while Nick chuckled along with him.
Not too long after, a quiet knock came from the door. Before Luke or Nick could answer, in came Pete, already dressed and ready for the day.
"Ah, finally you're awake…" Pete said happily, not taking much notice that both men slept with each other last night.
"Yep!" Luke replied, keeping with the positive mood instead of making things awkward again.
Nick stayed silent and just let Luke do the talking instead.
"Well… it's gotta be around eight in the morning so you two better get up sooner or later…" Pete explained, turning to leave the room.
"On it!" Luke quickly replied, already pulling himself away from the bed.
"Okay then." Pete smiled and said back before actually taking a step out of Luke's bedroom and leaving, shutting the door behind him.
"You planning to get up anytime soon?" Luke asked Nick from across the room. He was already fully changed but Nick was still lazily sitting against the headboard, first watching Luke, then letting his eyes wander somewhere else to just stare at…
"Yeah, give me a few seconds…" Nick replied simply.
"Okay…" Luke chuckled before heading out the room to presumably go to the bathroom to brush his hair.
While Luke was absent, Nick pulled himself out of bed and stumbled out the door to get to his room. As Nick trudged his way towards his room he heard the occasional laughter and chatter downstairs, meaning that everyone was present and awake in the main room.
Eventually, Nick made it to his bedroom, stumbling through the door to reach his wooden drawers. The black haired man pulled open the first draw to bring out his clothes… the same clothes he'd been wearing for a few days now, the camouflage trousers and the blue top…
Letting out a small sigh, Nick slowly started to strip out of his nightclothes, replacing them with his filthy day attire. He then walked over to his bed where his red hat sat, and ran his fingers through his jet-black hair before placing his much-treasured hat upon his head.
Not too long after, Luke walked in carefully, his brown wavy hair neatly brushed back, compared to Nick's knotty and tangled hair…
"You okay?" Luke asked, only slightly concerned, as his friend had seemed to have gone quiet all of a sudden.
Nick turned around and flashed a reassuring smile.
"Yeah, I'm good…" he replied before walking up to Luke's side.
"You sure?" Luke questioned.
"Yeah…" Nick replied.
Before Luke knew it, Nick had leant down slightly, his face only a few inches away from his. Ever so slowly, Nick leaned forward, placing a small kiss upon Luke's soft lips…
Luke blushed as Nick pulled away, causing the slightly taller man to look away in embarrassment.
"Shit, I'm sorry…" Nick stammered, instantly regretting making the sudden move.
"Hey it's fine, don't worry about it…" Luke replied with a small smile on his face.
Nick let out a small smile and nodded, but still looked away in embarrassment.
"C'mon, let's go downstairs…" Luke smiled, patting Nick's back before the black haired man smiled back, more confidently and led the way downstairs, Luke following behind.
Once downstairs and into the main room, the rest of the group who were casually chatting amongst themselves turned each of their heads to hear the approaching footsteps of both Luke and Nick. Since the two left last night, no one but Pete knew about what the two had been doing during the night…
Both men could see in each cabin member's but Pete's eyes that they were all burning with questions… not about their relationship, depending whether Pete spilled the beans or not… but their well-being…
Nick coughed nervously but Luke confidently walked over to one of the free couches, sitting down comfortably with Nick following behind soon after.
"So… how you two been?" Carlos asked, sitting up in his seat, eyeing the bandages that were still tightly wrapped around the two males arms.
"Um, great actually…" Luke replied, almost forgetting about what happened only yesterday…
In one day, Luke had been punched in the face, had a few arguments, discovered Nick had been self harming, self harmed himself in order to get Nick to stop, confessed his love for Nick, passionately made out with him, got caught by Pete and that was only… yesterday?
"What about you Nick?" Carlos asked, turning his head towards the black haired man, more concern trailing in his voice.
Nick slowly looked upwards at the Spanish man, he felt nervous but didn't know why…
"Um, good… better actually." Nick explained while the rest of the group watched him. Even Sarah had stopped and looked away from her book to focus on the current conversation.
Rebecca and Alvin were also listening intently while Pete was lounging casually in his seat beside the married couple.
He knew why the two men seemed quite nervous…
Maybe he should have told the rest of the group while Luke and his nephew were asleep…
Luke coughed awkwardly before speaking up again, trying to get things back to normal…
"Um… Sarah, Nick has something to tell you…" Luke said, a slight mocking tone in his voice as Nick looked at Luke fully understanding what he was trying to get him to say…
"What is this about?" Carlos questioned before Sarah could speak up.
"Go on Nick…" Luke smiled, nudging the other man playfully.
Nick cleared his throat before explaining. He spoke to Sarah instead of her father.
"Um… Sarah, you are… you can have my room all to yourself now…" Nick awkwardly stuttered in which Sarah looked at him through her red glasses confused.
"What are you going on about?" Carlos spoke up. His tone of voice almost made him sound angered… for God knows what reason.
"Hey, Carlos… don't get angry, it's not bad…" Luke said from beside Nick, trying not to aggravate Carlos anymore than he should...
"Then what is it then?" The Spanish man kept questioning, slightly calmer than a few seconds ago.
"Sarah can have my room because I don't want to sleep in there anymore…" Nick explained quite stupidly.
"Are… are there bugs in there? Because I don't want to sleep in your room if there's bugs…" Sarah explained nervously, not too excited just yet.
"What? No, no, no… I just thought you would like your own bedroom… I will move all my stuff out." Nick smiled towards the teenage girl.
"All your junk…" Luke mocked.
"Hey!" Nick replied, smiling slightly as Luke and Sarah chuckled.
"Daddy, can I?" Sarah asked hopefully, looking up at her dad who sat beside her… She knew she would always have to ask of her father's permission first, for anything...
"Where would you go?" Rebecca spoke up, surprisingly before Carlos could. Her hands were still placed protectively on her stomach like they have been for a while now… protecting the precious baby boy or girl inside.
Now, for Nick, this question was the tricky part to explain…
"Um… Luke's room…" Nick replied shakily, also causing Luke to blush slightly.
The rest of the group raised an eyebrow but Pete just chuckled quietly to himself, earning a glare from Nick.
"He's only got one bed you know?" Carlos said back, not really sure if Nick was that 'dumb' to realise.
"Oh, I know…" Nick replied awkwardly.
The group glanced suspicious looks at each other, which slightly bothered both Luke and Nick, as they knew they would have to come out sooner or later. Not that it was something to be ashamed of… but it was just… weird for them.
"Are you sure I can have your room?" Sarah broke the silence and asked Nick, a hint of happiness twinkling within her dark brown eyes.
"Of course you can." Nick smiled at the younger girl, in which she giggled happily before opening her book and covering her face shyly.
"Carlos?" Nick asked the Spanish man who looked lost in thought.
"Yeah she can… but is that okay with you? Do you like… share a bed with Luke?" Carlos answered and asked Nick, putting the black haired man on the spot.
"Um…I…" Nick quivered slightly.
"Yeah, he does…" Luke answered confidently, earning a small smile of gratitude from Nick beside him.
"Well… okay then, Sarah you can have Nick's room…" Carlos says simply to his daughter who looks up with a huge grin forming on her face.
"Really? I mean YAY! No offence daddy… I mean you snore really loud…" Sarah waffles on, causing the rest of the group, including Carlos to chuckle.
Immediately Sarah stands up with her book and dashes towards the stairs to presumably get all her stuff ready to move in Nick's room.
"Be careful!" Sarah's protective father calls out towards the staircase.
"I will!" Sarah calls back happily before the sound of her bedroom door indicates that the raven-haired girl is gone.
"Well, somebody's excited…" Alvin remarks with a smile.
"Yeah, she obviously hates me." Carlos says with a small chuckle, glad to see his daughter happy in such difficult times.
"She hates your snoring, not you…" Luke replies with a small grin in his face causing Carlos to actually look away slightly embarrassed.
"She'll realise when she's got a husband that she'll have to put up with it again…" Rebecca remarks, nudging Alvin slightly as he put on a fake offended expression, causing the group to laugh more.
...
"So… are you two boys… together?" Pete questions after the group went silent again.
The question left Luke and Nick's cheeks to burn up a crimson colour… They exchanged glances before both taking turns into saying: "Yes".
The confession initially shocked the other group members, even Luke and Nick themselves… They hadn't called each other 'boyfriend' just yet… this was now official.
After a few moments of thinking everything through, the group came to accept Luke and Nick's decisions and shared a warm smile between them.
"Well I'm happy for you both…" Rebecca said, smiling.
"I have to agree." Alvin said afterwards.
Carlos also nodded in approval with a small smile still on his face.
Pete remained silent. He had a small smile still on his face however…
"Uncle Pete?" Nick asked after the few seconds of silence coming from his Uncle.
"I'm happy for you son. Luke's a good man and Luke… my nephew is also a good man… you both are good men…" Pete explained proudly. He started to shed a few tears before standing up and walking over to the two men.
Luke and Nick stood up with a small appreciative smile on their faces as they watched Pete slowly walk over to them.
"I love you both so much…" Pete spoke.
"Nick, your mother will be proud too…" he finished.
Before Pete could even expect it, Luke and Nick both practically threw themselves onto Pete who was crying happy tears. The three embraced in a warm hug and just stood there while Rebecca now started crying in happiness and Alvin and Carlos also exchanged smiles of cheerfulness.
Once the three men finally let go of each other, they stood almost awkwardly, not really knowing what to say next. Fortunately Pete spoke up yet again, breaking the silence.
"You two should probably get something to eat as we have already eaten…" Pete mentioned.
"Yeah... yeah, we were going to…" Luke smiled.
"I can get you oatmeal or something?" Alvin offers, standing up.
"Yeah, thanks Al." Luke replied. Nick also smiled to the big man in appreciation.
"No problem." Alvin responded, now walking out the main room and into the kitchen.
Luke sat down once again on the comfortable couch, but before Nick could, Pete stopped him.
"Hey, um Nick… could I talk to you for a minute? Outside…" Pete asked, almost anxiously.
"Um… yeah, sure." Nick replied, glancing at Luke before following his Uncle to the front door.
Pete opened the front door, allowing Nick to slide through first.
"I just need to tell you some things I've been meaning to say…"
