A/N: Hello again everyone! So, I meant to have this up earlier, but life has been a little hectic lately. But it's here now! :D

Before we get to it, I would like to thank you to everyone that read last chapter. I would also like to give a huge thank you to winterschild11, Guest, annabellex2, RainbowDiamonds, Side1ways, and XxxAnimaniacxxX for reviewing!

I hope you all enjoy!

I mumbled in my sleep and nuzzled farther into the back of Kendall's neck. His normal Kendall scent filled my nose, but I could smell myself on him, too. It was kind of intoxicating. I was still half asleep and spooning him, so I pulled him even closer to me and kissed his shoulder, not really aware of anything yet. He scooted back toward me and muttered something, very obviously still asleep.

God, it felt good to wake up with him in my arms.

I kissed his shoulder a few more times before I noticed him waking up. "Good morning, Jalapeno."

"Morning, Cupcake." His voice sounded a little rough, sleepy, and sexy.

I hugged him to me and he held onto my forearms, wiggling back into me a little. Abruptly, he let go and turned in my arms,, burying his face in my chest. I gently nudged him. "Give me a kiss."

He shook his head and tried to burrow into my neck. "No. Morning breath."

"I don't care."

"Well, I do. I don't wanna scare you away." He kissed my chest, so I kissed the top of his hair and held him close. "Now go back to sleep, it's too early on my day off."

I hummed, but realized I had no idea what time it was, so I peeked over to the nightstand at the clock. "Holy shit! I'm late. Fuck." I let go of Kendall and started getting out of bed. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

Kendall rubbed his eyes and looked over his shoulder at the clock. "Shit. Do you have any client meetings this morning?"

"No, thank god." I thought about everything I had going on today for work, and after contemplating for a few seconds I shook my head. "Actually, now that I think about it, I don't have anything urgent. Maybe I should call in sick." I looked at Kendall, who was sleepily sitting up in bed.

"Do you have any sick days left after…?" He waved his hand over his shoulder, and I knew he meant after I'd skipped out on work for almost an entire week when we weren't talking.

"Yeah, I didn't go on vacation this year, so I still have time left." I looked at him and chewed on the inside of my cheek. "Would you… want me to stay?"

Kendall looked up at me with an adorable smile. "I thought I made myself clear. I love spending time with you. I always want to spend time with you. And I would love to have you with me for an entire day." He patted the bed. "Come back to bed, Cupcake."

He looked and sounded sincere, so after contemplating for another minute, I decided that I never really called out to do anything-wallowing didn't count-and since I was already late, I may as well take advantage. I picked up my phone and dialed the office. After telling my boss I was sick, I sent Logan and Carlos a text to tell them I was staying home. Then I climbed back into bed, and Kendall immediately cuddled back into my chest and kissed my neck. I was pretty sure he fell asleep after only ten seconds.

I kissed his forehead and smiled before closing my eyes and settling back in.

XxX

We spent the whole day cuddled up on the couch, sometimes sucking face, sometimes sucking each other off, sometimes just sitting there watching something together wrapped in one another's arms. All day, we'd either been naked or half naked like we were right now, both only wearing sweatpants. It was pretty much the perfect day, and I never wanted it to end.

When my phone rang while we were discussing dinner options, I grabbed it and was surprised to see Logan's name pop up. "Hello?" I answered.

"You're not at home." He said in lieu of a greeting.

I glanced at Kendall, who had his legs on my lap but was sitting close enough that he'd wrapped his arms around mine. "Um, no?"

"I thought you were sick." He sighed.

I cringed. "Um, no, I just used a sick day."

Logan sighed again. "Let me guess, you're at Kendall's?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, well, my husband decided you needed chicken noodle soup, so I stopped by to give it to you. Shane answered the door, so I'm pretty sure there won't be any left by the time you get home."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Loges. But thank you. You guys didn't have to do that."

"It's fine." Luckily, it sounded like he was smiling. "So, you having a good time over there?"

"Uh, yeah." I wiggled around a little. I hated talking to him about this kind of stuff.

"Alright, I guess I can let you go. I'm really glad you're not sick. Have fun, okay?"

"Thanks, Loges."

We hung up and I told Kendall what happened. Somehow, I found myself saying, "My mom used to make the best chicken noodle soup whenever me or Shane was sick."

Kendall tightened his hold on my arm and kissed my bare shoulder. "Maybe we can find a good recipe, and I'll make it for you or Shane the next time one of you are sick."

I leaned over to kiss him, but a question had been burning in my mind for a while now, so I sat back up. "What happened to your parents?"

He glanced at me, took a deep breath, then released it as he scooted even closer to me to me to lean his cheek on my arm. "I was only ten when it happened. They went out on a date, and I was with our neighbor. I guess they were mugged on the way back to their car from the restaurant they'd eaten at. They, um, were both shot and robbed, like their jewelry and wallets were stolen."

He cleared his throat "My mom died before the police and ambulance got there, and my dad bled out before they could even get him into the ambulance. Since my neighbor wasn't family, they took me into state custody. I never had any other family. Both my parents were only children, and all of my grandparents passed away before them." He blew out a shaky breath. "So I was shuffled around from foster home to foster home until I ended up in the same home as Ethan when I was fifteen. I stayed there until my eighteenth birthday."

I stuck my hand under his lower pant leg and ran my fingertips over his skin, offering silent comfort. "You went straight to college after that?"

"Yeah, I was really lucky because my parents set up a trust before they died. It wasn't a ton of money or anything, but it helped with college. When I turned eighteen, I was allowed access to the trust as long as I was in college, otherwise I would've had to wait till I was twenty-five or something. But I had that and some scholarships."

He absently ran his fingers up and down my arm. "I had an art teacher take notice of me when I was a freshman in high school. If it wasn't for her, I never would've known what I wanted to do with my life. She helped me apply for scholarships and stuff, too. She pushed me to keep my grades up in high school, and that sorta carried over into college which was good for maintaining my scholarships. That art teacher is the sole reason I was able to get a great degree in photography. She even talked to some professors at school, and they pointed me in the direction of Dak. He was a junior when I was a freshman, but he was pretty awesome and kind of took me under his wing. After he graduated and opened the studio, he asked me to come and work for him. I started out part-time until I finished school. I was really, really lucky."

"I don't think it was all luck." I said. He looked up at me with a furrowed brow and I smiled a little. "You worked hard to get to where you are today. Sure, maybe you had a little help, but you're the only person that could've passed your classes and learned to be a photographer, no one did that for you. You did it yourself. That's on you, not anyone else, babe."

He smiled and I could see the appreciation and amusement in his eyes.

"What?"

"You called me 'babe.''

"I did?"

He nodded. "You've been doing it for the past couple days."

I blinked a few times. "Have I? I'm sorry."

He nudged me. "No, I like it. It's a lot better than Jalapeno, at least."

I huffed out a laugh. "Hey, I like Little Jalapeno, thank you very much."

He smiled and leaned in to kiss my lips. "I like it too...babe."

I chuckled and quickly moved to pin him to the couch. He screeched then started laughing as I peppered kisses all over his face, neck, and chest. He wiggled around and tried to push me off him, then suddenly wrapped his legs and arms around me and yanked me down so I fell flat on top of him with a loud "Omph" that made us both laugh harder. His arms and legs were vices around me when I tried to lift up, so I stayed where I was.

"You're trapped here forever now." Kendall whispered into my ear.

I smiled at that and made myself more comfortable and wished it could be true. I'd love to be trapped anywhere with Kendall. I didn't even care where as long as he was with me. He kissed the top of my head and started running his fingers through my hair, making me hum in contentment. "I wouldn't mind being trapped here forever." I muttered.

"Me either." I could hear the smile in his voice. He ran his fingers over my cheek, scratching my stubble, then he nudged me until I lifted my head and kissed him. Against my lips, he whispered, "Fuck me, Jay."

I leaned back in surprise. We hadn't fucked yet, even though we'd done a million other things.

Kendall looked at me. "Please, I want to feel you inside of me." He kissed my lips. "What're you afraid of, Cupcake?"

I closed my eyes and blew out a breath before looking at him again. "I guess I'm afraid that after we… it… we'll be...real." Shit, that's not what I meant. I could see the hurt on his face, and I knew he was about to push me away, and that was the last thing I wanted. "That's not what I meant. Just-"

"You don't think this, us, is real?" He waved his hand between us, and his eyes looked suspiciously glossy. He pushed my shoulder and released his legs from my waist. "Get off me."

"No, Kendall, I-" I sat up because he kept pushing me and I rushed to say, "Please don't run away." We were at his house, but that didn't mean anything. He could still run or kick me out.

"I'm not...Jesus, James. I promised you I wouldn't. I just needed a little space." He sat in the corner of the couch with his knees up and his arms wrapped around them, completely closed off. He looked at me and was silent for a while before speaking. "This real for me, James Diamond. More real than any… relationship I've ever had."

I cringed at the word relationship, even though I logically knew I shouldn't, and I knew that was exactly what this was. That word just… didn't bring up good feelings, but I needed to get over that hang-up. For Kendall. I had to at least try for him.

If I was being honest, we'd been in a relationship for a while now. I just hadn't wanted to admit. I hadn't wanted to get hurt. When he remained where he was, I realized he wasn't about to bolt, so I drew in a deep breath and decided it was time to tell him the truth.

"That came out wrong. I don't know how to explain it. I just… I'm afraid that you'll realize what you're doing with me and… you'll run again."

Kendall closed his eyes, but he didn't look pissed. If anything, he looked sad and maybe even heartbroken. He opened his eyes, then crawled back over to me on the couch and knelt beside me, grabbing my face in his hands and rubbing my cheeks with his thumbs.

"I'm not going to run from you, James. I promise you that I'm here to stay, okay? I'm not going anywhere unless you force me to. I… I… I care about you."

The way he said 'care' made me think he was about to say a different word, one I didn't deserve, one he couldn't possibly mean, one he could never feel, not for me. No matter how much I wished he could. No matter how much I wished I could give him that back. It wasn't something I was made for. That had been made clear since I was a teenager. But that fact didn't stop me from wishing I could be different. For him. It didn't stop me from wishing that he could really love me.

I shook my head at him, but no words came out.

He scooted even closer to me, pressing into my side and moving so his lips were only a hairsbreadth away from mine as he said, "I. Care. About. You."

I swallowed hard, my emotions getting stuck in my throat.

Kendall gently, just barely brushed his lips over mine before repeating, "I care about you, James." He kissed the corner of my mouth and my chest tightened. "I care about you." He kissed the other corner, and I had to squeeze my eyes shut. "I care about you, James. So fucking much."

He brushed his fingers under my eyes, and I realized that my stupid, ugly, horrible emotions were spilling out. I kept my eyes closed, totally embarrassed, but Kendall kissed my cheek and in that sweet, soft voice, said again, "I care about you." He kissed my other cheek and crawled onto my lap before wiping my cheeks with his thumbs. "It's okay. It's okay, Cupcake." He whispered as the dam broke and my emotions started spilling out full force. He ran his hands through my hair and pressed his bare chest against mine, straddling my lap and looking down at me. He gently kissed my lips. "It's okay." He kissed me again, then leaned back to look me in the eyes. "I care about you, James. I. Care. More than you could ever know."

I took a shaky breath, then wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into a tight embrace. He hugged me back, one arm around my shoulders, the other hand buried in my hair, and his face against my neck. He held me. I held him. We held each other. And Kendall kissed my neck every now and again, whispering that he cared about me and that it was okay.

I didn't want to let him go, so I carried him into his bedroom and laid us down. He stayed where he was, hugging me close, holding me tight.

I tilted his chin up and searched his eyes, slowly moving in for a kiss. He melted into me and closed his eyes, and I found myself doing the same. I wanted him closer to me. I wanted to feel him everywhere. So I ran my hands all over his body as he clung to me, pulling me closer and closer until there was no air left between us.

We were like two magnets, drawn together, kissing and drinking each other in. I took his pants off so he was naked, and he took off mine. His skin was so soft and smooth against my own. We were pressed to each other, but I wanted, needed more. Without pulling my mouth away from his, I reached into his nightstand. We'd fooled around enough that I knew where his lube was and I'd seen the condoms before. When I covered my fingers in lube and made my way down to Kendall's hole, he whimpered into my mouth and gripped my back and hair and pulled me a little closer, like he was afraid I'd try to move away.

We rutted against each other, skin on skin, as I opened him up with one finger, then two, then three. He was pressing his ass back onto my fingers at this point, but he never broke our kiss. Then suddenly, he was pushing me until I was sitting against the headboard, and he was on my lap again.

He reached behind himself and put the condom on my shaft, then lubed me up, but still, he didn't stop kissing me. And he didn't stop kissing me as he lowered himself onto my cock. He whimpered into my mouth again-such a sweet, sexy sound-and I moaned into his as his tight heat engulfed me.

He moved slowly, taking me inside him agonizingly slow until I was fully seated inside him.

I shivered and ran my hands over his back and thighs. When he finally moved again, I thought I was going to explode from the pleasure of it. He felt so good, like nothing I'd ever felt before. Kendall started a slow, excruciating pace that I was sure would make me come embarrassingly soon. When he sped up a tiny bit, he breathlessly broke out kiss.

"James." He breathed out. I opened my eyes and looked into his sweet green ones that were filled with so much emotion. Lust, for sure, but also happiness, contentment, enjoyment, and… and the thing I knew couldn't be true, even if it was right in front of my face. "James." He breathed out again and I melted a little. Hearing my name on his lips, sounding like a plea, made something in my chest explode with warmth at the same time that blissful fire ignited all over my body.

"Kendall, I'm gonna…" I grabbed the back of his head with one hand to pull him back into a kiss and with the other, I reached between us to jerk his leaking cock. It only took a few strokes before he erupted between us, spilling his cum all over both of our chests. He moaned loudly, calling out my name, and that was it, I exploded right along with him. His body quivered and tightened around me, milking me for every last drop I had. The fire, pleasure, and bliss shooting through me made me see stars behind my eyelids.

We trembled and panted together, rested our foreheads together as we both came down from our amazing highs.

When we'd calmed, Kendall reached over and grabbed his sweatpants, then wiped both our chests before slowly lifting up so my cock slid out of him. He pulled off and tied the condom, then threw it away. He pulled me down until we were lying side by side, holding one another tight. He kissed my lips gently, slowly, as he ran his fingertips over my hair, neck, and back, leaving chills in their wake. I pulled the comforter from the foot of the bed over top of us and kissed him back, tracing shapes on his back with my fingers.

Right before I fell asleep, I heard Kendall quietly say, "I care about you, James Diamond. More than you'll ever know. And I'll keep saying it if I have to until you believe me."

He thought I was asleep, but I'd heard him, so kissed his surprised lips and said, "I care about you too, Kendall Knight."

I heard him sigh as he snuggled into me and held me tighter in his arms.

He fell asleep a long time before me because I lay there thinking about how perfect it felt to have him in my arms, how perfect it had felt to be inside of him, how perfect it felt to have him stay. I didn't want any of this to go away. But that broken part of me knew that it would eventually.

And I'd never be the same.

I'd be unfixable, and worse than ever before.

When James left for work this morning, I couldn't believe how much I'd missed him only ten seconds after he was out the door. He's slept over again last night, but we both had to work today, and we weren't sure if we'd see each other later or not since he had to catch up with work after our impromptu staycation day.

On my way through the door of the studio, I called my brother and left yet another voicemail. The little jerk hadn't responded back since he sent those two stupid texts. There wasn't anything I could do about it, either.

Since I was such an ass when James and I first started hanging out, I decided to get right to it and headed into Dak's office as soon as I walked into the studio. Dak was already there, sitting at his desk and he looked up when I walked in. "What's up?"

"James and I are dating." I blurted before I even said hello.

Dak lifted one, perfectly sculpted brow. "Um, thanks for the announcement?" He said it like a question.

I took a deep breath. "I wanted to tell you so you'd know, and it was out of the way. Are you gonna be weird about it?"

His eyebrow stayed up. "I'm not the one that came in here screaming about my relationship status."

I sighed and shrugged. "I thought you'd be weirded out."

Dak leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair as he let out a deep breath. "Okay, I won't lie and tell you that it's not a little weird to see you with him." I frowned, but he held up his hand to stop me from commenting. "But it's not because I still have feelings for him. Yes, I'll always love and care about him, just not in the way you're thinking. I love Jett, he's the love of my life. James is someone I cared about for a long time, and will continue to, and I hope he finds happiness. If that means he's with you, then good. I want you to be happy, too." He shrugged. "That's what matters. We'll all get used to it after a while, anyway, right?"

I puffed out my cheeks and let everything he said sink in before I opened my mouth. "Okay, I get it. Just… if you ever feel weird or something when we're out or whatever, will you tell me so we can figure it out?"

"Ken, it's going to be fine, I promise."

"But you'll tell me, though, right?"

"Sure."

I nodded.

Dak suddenly smirked at me. "So, you and James, huh? Did you actually get him to agree to go on a date?"

"Yeah, we went out on Saturday. And, um, he came over Sunday night after I got home… and he didn't leave until this morning."

Dak's eyebrows shot up, but he was smiling. "Wow. That's…" He trailed off, then shrugged with a small smile. "You look happy."

"I am." I said honestly. I was happier than I'd been in a long time. Even after Ethan left, James made me feel like I mattered to someone, like he cared about me, even if my own brother didn't.

"You know that you can talk to me, right? Even if it's James stuff."

"I know, Dak. Thanks."

He reached across the desk and patted my hand before I got up and headed to the break room where I ran into Jett. Jett crossed his arms over his chest and eyed me before he said, "I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but I walked past the office and overheard."

"Uh, okay?"

"If he hurts you, I'll kick his ass."

I eyed him. He was about the same height as me and was lean, but pretty muscular from working out every morning. I didn't think he could kick James' ass, but I really didn't know, and if the two of them did get into a fight, I had no doubt they'd both end up hurt. Not that either of them would really do that, but still. I frowed. "I don't need you to, but, uh, thanks." I knew he meant well, and honestly, it was kinda sweet that he wanted to protect me.

He nodded and walked past me, patting my shoulder on his way and making me smile.

As I threw my jacket, wallet, and keys in my little locker, I pulled out my phone and typed out a text.

Me: I told Dak about us and you officially have a threat from Jett. You better watch yourself!

I sent an emoji with its tongue sticking out. James replied right away.

Cupcake: I can take him.

I snorted and typed back.

Me: Sure you can. Have a good day, BABE!

I stuffed my phone in my back pocket and went to the front desk to look at our appointment book, checking out the rest of the week. When I saw what was on my schedule for Thursday, I groaned.

Dak must've heard me from his office, because he yelled, "It's your turn!"

"I hate you!" I yelled back.

"Love you too!" He called out.

I groaned again. I hated having to go to schools and do the portraits. We didn't do them very often since most public schools used the same big-named place. But there were a couple private schools that hired us. It looked like I was going on location on Thursday with Beau.

My phone beeped with an incoming text, so I checked it.

Cupcake: Thanks, babe. You too.

I smiled at that and put my phone away as a customer walked in the front door.

Done! There you have it! More Kames-ness. :P We also got Kendall telling Dak about his relationship with James.

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

The next chapter of this story will be up either Saturday or Sunday, so you won't have to wait too long for that. :)

Until then!

-Epically Obsessed