"You did what?" Aaron steamed, raising his voice at Nick.

"He went into a gay sex club, what did you want me to do?" he asked, toeing his way out of his shoes and flinging his dress shirt towards his luggage.

"Get him out, not fuck him against a wall!" he screeched.

"It was a table. And he wanted me to!" Nick yelled back.

"Yeah and he wanted me to fuck him last night and I said no. He's dating someone, Nick! What if someone randomly approached me and I agreed to have sex with him. What would you do?"

"I'd flip the fuck out and throw Zak out of your bedroom or do you not remember from a few days ago?" he answered, sitting down on the bed, crossing his arms over his chest.

Aaron sighed. The man had a point. "Okay fine, but that's my point. You could have just fucked up that relationship for him."

Nick stood up, motioning widely with his arms. "Aaron, what relationship? The dude is a fucking bartender at a gay joint in Vegas. How many other guys is he screwing from the bar? He's probably going to steal whatever he can from Zak. I just saved him."

Aaron shook his head. "You can't make those decisions for him. Zak was interested in this guy-"

"This guy was no one. He was just someone that Zak was using that wasn't us."

"Still, that's up to Zak to figure out. It's his life we're screwing with. You can't just take him because you want to!"

Nick tore his hands through his hair, beginning to pace around the room as Aaron watched him from the corner, arms crossed defiantly over his chest. "He wanted me to, Aaron."

"Zak doesn't know what he wants. He's learning; he's experimenting. He doesn't know what's going on in himself right now. You and I have both been through this. It's not something you can learn from someone else's experience, you have to do it yourself. Isn't that what you told me a long time ago?"

"But it's Zak! How could he…" Nick stopped. He had no idea what he was going to say. The arguments formed in his mind but died on his tongue. He sighed, defeated.

Aaron came up behind him, wrapping his arms around his bare chest. "You can't protect him from this."

Leaning back into the embrace, Nick closed his eyes. "I'm not trying to protect him," he said quietly.

"You totally are, bro. Listen to yourself. You don't trust Derrick."

"No, he's a sleezy bartender!" he huffed.

"But you don't know that. He could be exactly what Zak needs right now. He knows us. He's comfortable with us but he has to see us all the time for work. How awkward do you think it makes him feel to know that you and I consider him attractive and would like to see him in our bed?"

Nick growled, but didn't disagree.

"So he's looking for someone to experiment with that isn't any of that. He found it in Derrick, who actually seems to be a nice guy. Bartender or not."

"Derrick shouldn't even have happened, Aaron."

Aaron shrugged, "We can't control that."

Nick turned in the embrace, resting his forehead against Aaron's. "Don't tell me you haven't developed at least some kind of feelings or sexual interest in him these past few weeks."

Aaron rolled his eyes, brushing his lips against Nicks. "I'm not saying that, but if he comes back to us, I want it to be because he wants to. Not because he's hurt or scared or trying to figure out if he likes this or not."

Nick sighed. "Ok fine."

"And you should bring him Vaseline. You know his ass is burning right now."

Nick snorted but changed into workout pants before toeing on some flip flops and grabbing a tank top. "Yeah, I guess I should. He probably would regret the whole thing and hate me if I didn't."

Zak snorted as a knock came on his door. Getting up from the bed, he padded over in his bare feet to answer the door. Nick grinned widely, handing him a small jar of Vaseline. An eyebrow raised, he allowed the younger man into the room, taking the Vaseline from him and closing the door. "Dude, I'm sore… no more tonight, ok?"

Nick shook his head, discarding his shoes before sitting on the foot of the bed. "Not for lube. I would have brought actual lube for that. It's for the soreness. It will make the burn go away. Do you want me to help put it on you?"

Reading the back of the jar, what Nick said made sense. Wrinkling his nose, he said, "This will get all in my underwear."

"Not if you do it right. Here, hand me the jar and drop your pants."

Zak laughed. "No way man. I already dropped my pants once for you tonight."

Nick rolled his eyes, taking the jar from his hands and knocking the older man face first on the bed in one fell swoop. "I'm not screwing you, I'm helping you," he grumbled as he tried to wrestle Zak's workout pants down his hips.

Zak sighed, lifting his lower body up enough and helping slide his pants down his hips slightly. "This is so fucked up."

"And getting bent over a table without lube in a gay sex club by one of your best friends isn't?" Nick asked as he opened the jar, taking a little of the substance on his fingers. "This might be a little cold… but it will feel good soon. I promise." A single nimble finger worked its way around and slightly into Zak's pucker, rubbing just enough Vaseline in the area that he thought would help.

Zak grunted as he felt Nick get up to go wash his hands. Pulling up his pants he rolled over onto his back, scooting up the bed.

Nick returned from the bathroom and laid down next to him on his side. "Feel better?" he asked.

"Yeah actually. Thanks for thinking of that."

Nick shrugged slightly. "The least I could do. I tried not to hurt you too bad."

"Nah… I'm ok."

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Five minutes later, Zak's cell phone buzzed next to them. Picking it up, he saw that it was from Derrick. Looking down at the phone, he closed his eyes and sighed.

"Derrick?"

Zak nodded.

"You can tell him or you can not tell him. If you want what we did tonight to just be on your list of experiences and continue dating him, then that's fine. Otherwise, I think we need to talk."

"You already told Aaron."

"Of course I told him. It's Aaron."

Opening up the message, he couldn't help but laugh. How was your dinner with Nick? Still out?

Rough , he answered. We argued a bit. He figured he could at least be honest about that. He wasn't sure if he was ready to come clean about the club. He was still ashamed of himself for even ending up there. "Hey wait," he said, turning to Nick. "How do you know about those types of clubs?"

Nick blushed and rolled over onto his back. "I was where you are now about 12 years ago. I started looking for something but not really knowing what I was looking for. I met a guy, and he told me about this club so I went there. The whole thing was just… It was overwhelming. The first time I went, I only stayed ten minutes." There was a long pause as Nick's thoughts seemed to take him far away. Zak watched as Nick's cheeks colored slightly, his eyes staring off a little.

"But the second time…," Zak prodded.

Nick smiled, still not looking at Zak. "All the other times I went, I was looking for an experience that no one would talk about afterwards. I had kept it hidden; never really dated a guy; always really felt kinda ashamed that I felt this way when I had such a wonderful wife."

Zak closed his eyes to his words as his cell phone vibrated in his hand. Ashamed. Yeah, he knew that feeling well. "And then you and Aaron…"

"Oh Aaron was long after I stopped going to those clubs. I told myself that I just couldn't do that. I was just going to lock that part of me away, but then…" Nick sighed deeply next to him. "I dunno, I kinda started seeing Aaron in a different light and I just kissed him. I had no idea how he was going to react but I did it. And he kissed me back and that was the greatest feeling ever."

"You said you love me…," Zak whispered, slowly trying to put the pieces together.

Nick smiled sadly, "Zak you've always…" He sighed and started over. "I had to lock that part inside me away so I didn't just do what we did tonight. I've always… ever since… forever. There's never been a time."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"You thought you were straight."

Zak snorted. "I don't know what I am now."

Nick sighed. "Well, I didn't want to force you into anything and I hope… I hope that what happened tonight won't change anything between us."

Zak smiled slightly. "Nah. I guess you actually kinda saved me from that place. And, you know, it was kind of hot, but I do prefer lube."

"Yeah, well, I prefer lube too. I should have just got you to come back here. Aaron yelled at me for that."

"I wouldn't have come back with you," he said softly. "I would have fought you, I was so pissed."

Nick nodded. "I figured as much."

"So you love me?" Zak asked, rolling over on his side to look at the younger man.

The color rose again in his cheeks as Nick grinned at the ceiling, his arms folded beneath his head. "Are you still on that? Can we just not talk about that?"

Zak snorted, scooting closer and laying his head on Nick's chest. "You looovveee me."

Nick sighed, wrapping his arms around the strong body nestling into him, resting his cheek against the soft hair. "You always smell so good after you get out of the shower."

"Well that is the general idea of a shower." Nick chuckled softly. Zak sank more into his body, his head growing heavy on the strong shoulder. "Stay here tonight? Just like this?"

Nick was silent for a moment, thinking that Aaron knew exactly where he was but he wasn't sure if he was expecting him back. He would probably understand that Zak wanted him to stay and that would be a good thing, repairing their relationship from what happened tonight. "Yeah, ok. I can do that."

Zak smiled, sitting up only momentarily to turn out the light as Nick pulled the covers up around them. Settling back into his position, Zak threw an arm over Nick's chest as an arm came up around his back, cheek resting against his forehead.

The next day, Aaron watched Zak wearily, pulling him aside in between interviews to question him on his health and soreness. Zak just brushed him off, telling him that he was perfectly fine and everything between him and Nick were fine. The real question was what was going to happen between him and Derrick and he didn't have an answer for that yet. He wasn't sure if he was going to be completely honest with him yet or not. He hated the idea of lying to him, but he wasn't sure if he had a choice in the matter.

Zak laughed at himself. Of course he had a choice in it. It was just whether he wanted to lose the man or not.

That night was lockdown night. Zak's body thrummed with energy. He bounced around directing where everyone was going, setting up cameras with a renewed vigor that he hadn't felt for a long time. The energy was not just from the location, he knew. It was from the closeness of Nick and Aaron to him. He wanted to touch, but Billy was there and that would be awkward, but spending the night in Nick's arms… Zak couldn't describe the feeling waking up with him, still feeling the warmth of his body even after they had gotten up and got moving. Tonight, he had a plan and couldn't wait to put it into action.

Just past midnight, he saw his chance. "Nick, why don't you go investigate the second floor. Billy, go to the third. Aaron and I will be down here on the first floor. Don't worry about base. I want to get this thing covered all at once and then we'll start manning back at base camp."

Aaron looked at him slightly confused, but nodded. Billy grumbled about missing the footage on the cameras and taking extra time to review everything, but dutifully grabbed a camera and climbed the stairs. Nick looked at Zak suspiciously before turning to Aaron. With Billy gone, he felt safe enough to grab a quick kiss before disappearing up the stairs. "So where do you want to start, G?" Aaron asked him, watching Nick disappear up the staircase before turning to their lead investigator.

Taking the camera from his hands and setting it down, Zak said, "Right here." Surprise was on his side as he grabbed Aaron, pushing him against the wall before pressing his body against him. Aaron tried to push him back gently as their mouths connected.

"Dude," he tried, as Zak's tongue ran across his lips, begging for entrance. His hands pushed against his shoulders as the strong body held him in place. "We can't."

Zak growled in his ear as he nipped down his neck instead, his hands going down and rubbing him roughly through his jeans. "Please, Aaron."

Aaron grabbed his hands, pulling them away from his body. "No, Zak," he said forcefully.

Zak sighed as he relented, resting his forehead against the shoulder in front of him. "Why?" he pouted.

"Derrick."

Zak growled again. "What does that matter?"

"Bro, listen to yourself. You chose to date this man. You sought him out. I'm not going to be that guy."

"Why are you such a nice person?" he grumbled as he stepped away from the older man, handing him his camera back.

Aaron grinned at him in the darkness as he shouldered his equipment. "My momma raised me right."

Zak snorted as he grabbed the digi and followed him into the next room. "Yeah, I guess so." Inwardly, he grumbled at his failed plan. Dating Derrick was presenting a problem with Aaron that he could not avoid. He understood that Aaron wanted to respect his relationship, but that sucked.

When they got back to Vegas, he was going to have to figure some things out, and that was not a decision he was looking forward to making. Did he really want Nick and Aaron or were they just here and warm at the moment? He had barely talked to Derrick the entire time that they were here with the exception of the fight and the short make up. Other than a few text messages that was the extent of their communication for the past three days. He had been ok with that… or so he thought. Maybe the relationship was just too new…

Zak sighed as he watched Aaron move around the room, still frustrated at the hardness in his jeans. With Derrick he'd be able to go out and enjoy himself. They'd be able to have real dates and be in a real relationship. He knew with Nick and Aaron everything would have to be hidden, even from their closest friends. Aaron turned toward him, raising his camera. "Ready, G."

Zak clicked on his digi, resuming his work, his mind still contemplating his life back in Vegas.