Aubrey's POV:

The next morning, I woke up beside Dean, much like I always did. He was still sound asleep, soft sighs leaving his lips and a tranquility spreading itself over his calm features. Yet it was all a lie that kept itself precariously in the balance thanks to him being asleep. The bags under his eyes and the redness around them betrayed his real state, and when I remembered how hard he'd cried last night, I felt like I was drowning.

He yawned, startling me, but went straight back to sleep, leaning forward and nuzzling into my neck. Without noticing what I was doing, I started running my hands through his hair, blinking tears out of my eyes. I shouldn't be crying about something as silly as this, but I cared for him so much, and he couldn't be mine. Everything hurt.

I felt his eyes slowly opening, his eyelashes tickling my neck. Whilst I waited for him to gather his bearings, I glanced out the window, seeing a bright, sunny day, which contrasted so much with yesterday that it hurt. It was as though the dreary day had never happened, the universe covering up all our pain so the world would never find it. And some day, years into the future, someone would take a hike through those woods, and stumble across that meadow - our meadow - and they'd feel a semblance of the emotions we'd felt whilst there. Because something like that doesn't get forgotten easily, and hurt has a way of sticking to places, creating scars that are hard to mend. But it wouldn't matter, they'd shrug off the pain and the adoration they'd suddenly feel, and it'd once more be forgotten. Dean and I were the only ones who'd understand.

"Morning." He whispered, voice husky, and I had to will my pitiful tears away once more.

"Hey." My shaky tone made him pull away, eyes hazy with sleep. They were too blue, too beautiful, piercing me with one single glance. I was drowning in them, getting lost in the bewitching nature of the deep blue. The worst part was, I didn't care. I was swimming, down down down, and I never wanted to breach the surface if it meant having to look away from him.

"You ok?" His brows furrowed with concern, as he traced patterns into my hip, where my shirt had ridden up. I swallowed thickly. How was I going to survive this?

"Yeah, never better." Somehow, a part of me meant that. My words made his eyes crinkle, a slow, sleepy smile forming on his lips. I reciprocated it before I'd even realised I was. Our whole relationship was on shaky feet, trying to find purchase on a slippery sheet of ice, so thin that it wasn't about whether it would break, but rather when. And I found myself thinking that maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, if it meant being here and now, with Dean by my side.

"You sure?" He asked, his hand coming up to touch my cheek carefully, a featherlight touch that left me desperate for more.

"Yeah." To hell with it, I decided, bringing my face as close to his as I could. Our noses bumped together as he hummed contentedly, making my heart beat loudly.

"You smell nice." It was so out of the blue that a surprised laugh left my lips, making his lips quirk up in response. His eyes were half-lidded, staring at me with something akin to adoration, but I couldn't let myself hope.

"Really."

"Mhm." He, once again, burrowed himself into the crook of my neck, placing a small kiss there. My entire being shook, as my heart fell to pieces. My head was swarmed with want for someone I could never have. "Like flowers and everything sweet and nice."

"You're such a sap."

"Yup." He lifted his head then, grinning big and bright, as though he could fix all the problems in this broken world. In that instant, I knew I could fall in love with that smile. That I could fall in love with him. Maybe I already had.

I didn't know what the hell we were doing - we hadn't even given this a name. He didn't even know we were soulfinders.

The thought settled heavily in my chest, making me pull away once and for all. I sat on the edge of the bed, pulled my hands through my hair, and I still had no idea what the hell I was going to do. I remembered my faltering words from the night before, when I'd almost told him, but ended up chickening out. He'd told me he cared for me, but to hell with that, it didn't mean anything if he couldn't see how truly rotten I was inside.

"Aubrey?" His voice was shaky, like he could see every single thing that troubled me. Like he'd seen how my shoulders were hunched forward and how my hands were shaking, and had looked straight through all of that, seeing how everything inside me was breaking.

"You… You know how I ran yesterday?" He came to sit beside me, his arm automatically wrapping itself around my waist. I struggled not to, but ended up leaning against him, unable to resist.I shouldn't, I should get up now and go, never looking back so that his eyes couldn't lure me back. But I was weak - and Dean felt like home.

"Hard to forget." I took a deep, steadying breath. It was now or never.

"It- It's because- I-" My chest felt like it was caving in on itself, so I stood up, pacing around the room in short strides. I pressed my hands to my chest, trying to resist the urge to scratch my arms, but it was inevitable. The panic inside me was too large, and without Dean by my side it was the best I could do. So I began tracing patterns onto my skin, which soon turned into viscous scratching that made my scars throb in pain.

"Aubrey, if this is making you so stressed out, you don't have to tell me." Whilst I'd been pacing, I'd failed to notice he'd also stood up. Suddenly he was there, eyes clouded with concern, and I felt like I was going down down down. I wouldn't be able to let him go. I wouldn't.

"I do have to. This is really important." I squeezed my eyes shut, not knowing whether this was to get the image of him out or to will my tears away. Either way, it didn't work. My crying was quiet, whimpering sobs leaving my mouth when it was impossible to hold them back, and all I could see was Dean. His smile and his dimple and the way he'd helped me so much, whilst I'd only broken him down further.

"What is it? You're worrying me."

I couldn't do this. I couldn't make the final step towards our demise.

Sprinting towards the door, I didn't let myself look back, didn't let myself- But for a split second, I did. Just as I opened the door, I chanced a small look backward, finding him looking at me. His eyes were swarmed with guilt and pain, which I could feel in my heart. I loved him so much my chest ached, and all I could get out were choked mumbles. Everything hurt, but I owed him at least this much.

I love you. I was afraid I'd see disgust or aversion, or even him reciprocating my feelings, so I slammed the door shut, taking off towards the back of the cabin. He'd surely not think to search for me here. At least, I hoped not.

My heart pounded at what I'd done, a knot forming itself in my throat. Completely unrequited, memories formed behind my closed eyes. Of Dean giving me a bandaid with grinning suns on it, of Dean smiling big and broad and real, for the first time. Of us hugging and us crying and us laughing together until our stomachs hurt. And… of him writhing on the floor, yelling for me to make it stop 'please Aubrey please' whilst I stood by unable to do anything. Of me being rotten and horrible and hurting the person I loved the most, because I was so shattered inside that it was the only thing I could do.

"Aubrey!" Dean's shout broke through me, it being accompanied with a slam as he shut the door in his haste. I trembled, hoping he would simply plough forward and forget all about me. The grass in this side of the building was unkempt, and I was pretty sure my foot was stuck in a thorn, but it didn't matter. I pulled my knees to my chest, nausea overtaking me.

Aubrey please! I shook my head, despite him not being able to see me, tears cascading down my cheeks. My chest felt irreparably tight, and the thorns in my heart sunk so deep they made me quiver. I loved him, I loved him so much that my brain was full of buzzing feelings and my soul felt heavy. I loved him so much I couldn't stop crying. I loved him so much it hurt.

Josh's POV:

Stretching tiredly, I adjusted myself next to Grace, trying to regain feeling in my limbs. We'd fallen asleep next to the river side, two empty bottles of beer beside us. Normally I drank more, but I hadn't wanted to forget the brightness in her eyes, nor the way she moved closer to me as though by gravity. We'd counted stars last night, and, in my head, I counted her laughs, her smiles, her little gasps when she pretended to be offended only to break down into giggles. That felt a thousand times more precious than a pinprick of light in the distance.

Her eyes slowly opened, as she blinked at me in confusion. I gave her a tired smile, my back aching and damp with morning dew, but feeling happier than I'd done in quite some time. She returned it, the only sound for miles being some birds and grass bristling in the breeze.

"Aubrey!" And, just like that, it was broken.

"Son of a-" I started, sitting up with a groan.

"Josh, language." Grace cut me off, still lying down, a delirious smile on her face. I'd never seen her look so happy. I wanted, more than anything, to think it was because of me. Maybe that was selfish, I certainly didn't care.

"They always have to ruin everything with their stupid bitchy problems." She simply shrugged, finally sitting up. Her hair was disheveled, and the mascara under her eyes was smudge beyond relief, but I'd never seen anyone more beautiful. She must've seen the way I was looking at her, because she leaned in close, so close I could smell her strawberry shampoo. The air around us crackled with electricity, and it felt as though you could drop a match and the whole world would go up in flames.

"Aubrey!"

"God fucking damn it." The moment shattered, as she blinked once, twice, and then looked away. She was confused by her actions, that much was obvious, so, with one last sigh, I pulled myself to my feet. "Come on, we should help them before Dean breaks something." She nodded silently, still looking a bit dazed.

It didn't take long to find him, as he was stood in the middle of camp, red-faced and with tears running down his face. When he saw us, he immediately ran over, his actions frantic as his eyes darted around our forms.

"Have you guys seen Aubrey? Is she with you? Where is she? I need to- I need to-" Dean looked ready to take off running god knows where, so Grace took over straight away, going over to wrap an arm around him.

"Hey, it's ok, don't worry. We'll find her. But I think you need to calm down a bit first, ok?" He shook his head rapidly at her words, trying to pull away from her. She held fast, motioning for me to go to his other side. I felt a bit foolish, but did as she asked, taking Dean's arm.

"I can't calm down, what if she's hurt? Or- or worse? What if she-"

"Let's go back to the cabin, and then we can talk about what happened." I spoke up this time, getting an appreciative look from Grace. That was enough for me to ignore Dean's struggling and all but drag him to the cabin.

Once there, she was quick to string him into a conversation about what had occurred to make him such a mess. I couldn't really help out, so made myself useful by going around camp asking if anyone had seen her. No one had, so she must've gone into the forest, but I would've thought she'd have learnt her lesson from yesterday. From what Dean had told us, she'd been pretty shaken up. Still thinking through the events, I walked back, finding Dean on his third re-telling about how she'd told him something really important and had then run off.

"And all I wanted to do was- You know?" Neither of us did, but we both nodded solemnly. This was such a disaster. How could two teenagers be so fucking dramatic? 'Something really important' my ass. This was just them needing to make a mountain out of a molehill. "What if she's lost? What if we never find her? What if we do but she wants nothing to do with me? What if she hates me?" From what I'd seen of Aubrey, I could tell her feelings towards Dean were much the opposite of hate, but whatever floated his boat.

I leaned against the wall, opening Aubrey's jar of peanut butter, and grabbed a spoon for Grace and I. It was going to be a long day.

Hi :)

Please don't hate me! Tbh I didn't really know what I wanted to do with this chapter, I kept swinging between giving them an early happily ever after and screwing them up even more. Guess I went for the latter? But dw, things will get resolved pretty soon, cos I have bigger plans for these two. I'll give you guys a hint: camp's coming to an end. Maybe i revealed too much? I dunno haha, I have an oversharing problem xD

Also, I think my new story's gonna go up at some point during next week (wednesday most likely?) so watch out for that :)

Guest review thanks!

+ Llamacorn, thanks! Yeah I know it was depressing haha, but I'm glad you thought it was good :D And ikr, society has such a stigma about boys crying, but the poor guys have feelings too. I thought of not writing it in, but I knew if Dean was a girl character I would've definitely had him crying, so I was like fuck it haha. Thanks for your review!

+ Mystery, thanks so much!

+ Centa, you defo make my day haha. And I'm glad you like the chapters where the characters think a lot, cause they're my favourite to write tbh. I mean I love writing fluff, but being able to explore a character's feeling is so therapeutic. I know, it's why I changed the ending, I just couldn't do it xD Idk if you can call this chapter progress, I guess that's up to you to decide ;) I mean they found out they're soulfinder's so... I guess that's something? Thanks for your review (and for saying you think they're beautiful, that's like the highest of praises, thanks so much!)

Alrighty, that's it for today, tell me what you thought! Have a nice week :)

Bye bye xx