"Are you going to be ok?" Jason parked his car outside of Nate's house, but neither boy made any sort of motion to get out. Jason looked over at Nate, who was looking up ahead of him, breathing regularly, but looking a little shaken.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Nate nodded slightly. "I just…I just think that I need a little bit of time to myself, you know? I would invite you in, but I think that it might be a little…easier for me if I took a bit of time to just rest…Can I call you later?" Nate leaned over and put his head on Jason's chest lightly.

"Nate, baby…" Jason looked over at the boy resting on him and kissed the top of his curly haired head. "You can call me anytime you want, night, day…Sunday, Wednesday…you know that I love you; the only thing that matters to me is that you're happy and safe." Jason kissed Nate's forehead.

"I love you too." Nate reached around Jason's body and pulled him into an awkward, sideways hug. "I'm sorry that I can't just be normal again, I-"

"Nate, no one expects you to be the way that you were right away, especially not me…I know what happened, I can't expect you to just fall back in to place where you were, you were pretty riled up, and I completely respect that. I have absolutely no problem waiting for you."

"Jason, I love you so much…I just want to be able to give you absolutely everything that I have to offer, which includes my time, attention, and focus."

"Nate, Nate, Nate." Jason slipped his arm around the younger boy. "I don't need everything, I'm happy jus having your love, ok? Maybe later when things get better, I'll want…and get those other things, but I love you, and if you love me too than that's good enough for me." Jason smiled weakly at Nate as the younger boy lifted his head.

"I do love you, Jason, more than anything." Nate looked around, waited for a neighbor walking his dog to turn the corner before he placed his hands on Jason's cheeks and kissed him passionately. Jason smiled into the kiss, loving the way that Nate's lips felt against his.

"Will I be able to see you tonight?" Jason asked, pulling away from the kiss slowly, brushing his fingertips against Nate's lips as he did so.

"I think so." Nate nodded. "Like I said, I'm gonna take a little time to myself, but then later I don't think that I'll be able to stop myself from wanting to see you." Nate smiled at Jason. "So tonight you can come over, or I can come to your house…whatever works for me."

"As long as I get to see you." Jason smiled and kissed Nate again as the younger boy unbuckled his seatbelt. "Just call me when you're ready to get together."

"I will." Nate kissed Jason's cheek and slowly got out of the car. Jason watched Nate until he was safely inside before pulling away and heading back to his house. Nate walked up the stairs to his bedroom and flopped down on the bed. Something beneath him made a crackling noise, and he immediately sat up and reached under his pillow. He pulled out a large manila envelope and opened it, pulling out several sheets of paper. The first one was a typed note.

Nate – We know what you tried to do, and we would much prefer that you be a good boy, alright? Stay away from Mitchie, even over the computer…if we can get into your room while you're sleeping, what makes you think we don't know exactly what's going down on your computer? Oh, and while we're on that list of things we know that you seemed to think we've missed…you and Jason…what a cute couple you two are, eh? Kissing when you think no one's watching, fucking when you think no one can see? It's all very stealthy, but Nate, we know…so we know that he's your weak point, and because he's part of the band, it would be a shame to have anything happen to him…but Nate, unlike you and Shane, he doesn't sing…do you know what that means, Nathan? It means that he's replaceable; any good guitarist…or even halfway decent, as long as he's good looking, guitarist, could take your beloved Jason's place if he were to be in an accident…the point of this all, Nate, is that if you're not careful, this threat becomes a reality.

Nate shook as he read the note. He didn't like what it was implying…if anything happened to Jason, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. He loved Jason so much, and this threat against him was more than enough to make him cooperate – he just felt fortunate that he wasn't being asked to break Jason's heart with brutal lies. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second as he pulled the note away from the other papers, not sure that he wanted to see what was on them. The second that he opened his eyes, he knew that he didn't. The first picture was that of Jason…in his room, sitting at his desk, in a rifle sight. In the second shot, he was sitting in his kitchen, again with the rifle sight. There were five more pictures of Jason inside of a rifle sight, and some of them were in places other than his house, meaning that he was being followed. Nate dropped the pictures on his bed, ran down the stairs, grabbed the car keys to his mother's Toyota, and sped as fast as he could towards Jason's house. When he got to the older boy's, he rang the doorbell repeatedly as fast as he could until Jason answered. "Nate?" Jason looked at the boy, who threw his arms around Jason's middle the second the door was opened. "Nate, why are you crying?"

"You're not replaceable, you're not…you're not!" Jason shut the door and then quickly wrapped his arms around Nate, leading him slowly over to the couch. "I'm sorry! I really am, Jason please… please don't be mad at me, you're NOT replaceable, they don't know…the don't understand…"

"Nate, Nate…" Jason stroked Nate's curls. "Nathan, I love you, I couldn't be mad at you…but I have no idea what you're talking about…"

"They know, Jason…they know everything…they know that I emailed Mitchie, they know that we're together…and they know that you're my breaking point."