Chapter 29

When Dean woke up the following morning, the first thing that he did was to roll over to see if Seth was still there. He was. Fast asleep with his face buried into the pillow. He guessed that sometime during the night he had come to accept his feelings for him. He still didn't understand how it happened but it did. Seth had a piece of him just like Roman did.

He carefully got out of bed so that he wouldn't disturb Seth and headed downstairs. In the kitchen he found his mother sitting at the breakfast bar drinking her morning coffee. However the expression on her face read that she wasn't pleased with him at the moment.

" Sit." She commanded before he had a chance to speak.

Dean did as he was told wondering what he had done this time.

" I know that I'm pretty lax about the rules around here but why is there another boy sleeping in your bed?" Dean opened his mouth to speak but she raised a finger to silence him. " And why is it the same Seth kid that got you suspended?"

Dean swallowed hard. He could admit that he had messed up. He should have given his mother a heads up last night after he had come home.

" I'm sorry. I should have checked with you." He gave her the most sincerest look that he could muster with usually worked but not this time. " You know that Seth and I have been hanging out a lot recently."

" Which I still don't understand." His mom interjected.

Dean gave a half hearted laugh. " I barely do myself." He shook his head and continued. " Anyway, last night at the bonfire these two guys that Seth used to date had him cornered and they were going to force him to do stuff." He saw his mother's expression completely changed to one of concern. " I got there in time to get him away from them. But he was crying and shit..." Dean paused when he realized that he had sworn in front of his mom. " Sorry." She just nodded to let him know that it was okay. " Nobody's home at his place and I didn't want him to spend the night alone so I brought him here."

" Wow." His mom tapped the side of her coffee mug with her fingernails. " Okay, this time I'll make an exception. But no more sleepovers." She warned him.

" Yes mam." Dean smiled and his mom ruffled his hair. He had learned over the years that as long as he was truthful with his mom that she would support him more often than not.

She went over to the cupboard and pulled out a frying pan and placed it on the stove. Then she went to the fridge and took out the carton of eggs. " I'm going to make some breakfast for you boys." She said as she got a mixing bowl.

Dean went around the bar and hugged his mom from behind. He was just grateful that she wasn't giving him a hard time about Seth." Thank you."

She patted his hand. " You must really like him."

Dean felt himself blushing. " I guess I do."

" So no more you and Roman?" She asked as she cracked the eggs into the mixing bowl.

" I wouldn't say that." He rested his chin on top of his mom's shoulder. " We're just in a weird place right now."

" Sounds complicated." She surmised.

" It is."

" Well go and wake up Seth so that he can get ready for breakfast."

" Thanks ma." He kissed her on the cheek and went back up to his room to check on Seth.

When he entered the room it seemed as if Seth had just woken up. He was sitting up in the bed looking a bit disoriented. Dean sat on the bed next to him, sliding his arm gently around Seth's waist. A faint trail of a new beard dotted his jawline and somehow it made him even more beautiful.

" Hi."

Seth stared at him all wide eyed and innocent in response. Dean leaned in and lightly pressed his lips against Seth's. He couldn't help it really.

" My mom is making us breakfast." He waited for Seth to say something but he just continued to stare. " The bathroom's at the bottom of the hall if you want to use it."

Still no response.

He gently stroked Seth's cheek with the back of his hand. " What's wrong Sethie?"

Seth just shook his head but his facial expression softened as his eyes dropped to Dean's lips before flickering back up to his face. Dean took the hint and softly kissed Seth again. This time getting soft little pecks in return.

Dean sighed as he broke away and kissed Seth's bare shoulder. " C'mon. Let's get ready and go down to breakfast."

Seth grabbed his t-shirt from off the floor as he followed Dean out of the bedroom. They stopped briefly in the bathroom for Seth to splash some water on his face. He pulled on his shirt and they headed downstairs.

They seemed to be just in time as his mom was now plating the scrambled eggs next to some bacon on two plates.

" Good morning Seth." She greeted him as Seth warily sat on the stool next to Dean.

" Good morning." Seth replied although he clearly seemed a bit nervous meeting Dean's mother for the first time like this.

" Had a good night's sleep?" She asked as she plucked a couple slices of toast out of the toaster.

" Yes I did."

She observed quietly how nervous and unsure of himself Seth seemed. He didn't seem the type to cause the sort of trouble that he had her son. From the corner of her eye she saw Dean giving Seth's hand a reassuring squeeze and Seth relaxing a bit. Dean was clearly smitten with him. The way how Seth's body leaned towards Dean suggested that he found being next to Dean comforting.

She placed the full plates in front of the boys and poured herself a new cup of coffee. " I'll take this in the living room. You boys eat. If you want any else Seth, Dean will get it for you."

" Thank you." Seth said as he picked up a piece of toast and loaded scrambled eggs on it.

" It isn't gluten free." She overheard Dean say to him.

" I don't care." Was the response.

She glanced back to see Dean looking extra concerned at Seth's response.


" Are you sure that need to go?"

They were outside by the curb next to Seth's car. Seth was leaning against the driver's side.

" Yeah. I got some stuff to do."

Dean didn't believe him. Seth just didn't seem his usual spunky self from last night. He swore that he would punch Randy's and John's lights out for scaring Seth like that.

He clasped both of Seth's hands in his and leaned against him. He pressed his lips softly into Seth's. " Call me later if you want to hang out or something."

Seth managed to give a slight smile. " Okay."

Dean ran his thumbs along the edge of Seth's hands before letting go. He took a couple of steps back as he watched Seth getting into the car.

As Seth drove off, Dean looked around, half expecting Xavier to be grinning at him over the wall. But he wasn't there. He had just kissed Seth in public but apparently no one was around to witness it on this sleepy Sunday morning.

However, he nearly crashed into his mother when he opened the front door.

" Mom! Were you spying on me?"

She just smirked as her blue eyes twinkled. " I was just watching you and your boyfriend. So adorable."

" He isn't my ..." Dean started. He stopped when his mother gave him an incredulous look. " Okay, he might be."

" Is he going to be okay? He seems a bit sad."

" I hope so." Dean started to feel a bit fidgety and shoved his hands into his pants pockets. " They really scared him."

" I'm sure you can make him feel better." She winked at him and patted him on the shoulder and walked away.

Dean was confused. " Mom, what do you mean by that? Mom!"


Lunch time on Monday Dean sat underneath his usual tree with his lunchbag in hand but he hadn't eaten yet. He was worried about Seth. He hadn't called him yesterday after went home and he hadn't heard from him today either. He wondered if he had even come to school today. He took his phone out of his pocket and contemplated if he should call him when he heard the familiar sound of sneakers crunching against dry dirt and saw Seth standing next to him. He dropped his bag on the ground and then sat next to Dean.

" Are you okay?" He didn't see a food container or at least a Starbucks drink.

Seth nodded. " I'm fine."

He certainly didn't look fine. But he wasn't sure how to go about asking Seth what was bothering when he had a good idea what it was. The problem that he was having was that he didn't know how to fix it.

He placed his arm around Seth's shoulders and Seth rested his head on his.

" You wanna watch some anime? I downloaded a couple of episodes of the one that you like."

Seth just shook his head against Dean's shoulder and remained quiet.

Dean was at his wits end. He didn't know what else to do but he knew that he had to do something about it.


He had five minutes to get to his last class of the day. It was down at the other end of the block but he was standing next to the doorway of another class waiting for what he hoped to be the solution to Seth's problem.

When he walked out their eyes immediately locked and Dean gestured with head for him to follow him a little way away from the crowd.

Dean leaned against a wall as the other guy waited on him to speak. " Ro, I need to ask you a favour."

Roman's forehead creased slightly as he furrowed his brows. " What do you need?"

" It isn't for me." He inhaled sharply. " It's for Seth."

Surprise quickly spread across Roman's face. " Seth?"

Dean nodded. " Yeah. I know that you guys aren't exactly friends anymore but you need to get over it. Seth needs you."

Roman was visibly taken back by Dean's words. " Get over it?"

Dean glanced at his cellphone. He had two minutes to get to class. " Yes. Look something happened to him at the bonfire. It involved Randy and Cena and it has him pretty shook. He's just not himself anymore."

" What did they do to him?" Dean could see some concern on Roman's face. He knew that Ro still cared about Seth even though he didn't want to show it.

Dean shook his head. " It's better if it came from him. I can't fix him. He needs you." Dean started backing away. " I have to get to class. Just talk to him. Please." Dean gave him one last pleading look before jogging down the hallway.


Roman observed Randy and Seth at practice later that evening. Seth was unusually quiet and kept to himself while Randy seemed to think that he was a one man show and was laughing obnoxiously and occassionally throwing a smirk in Seth's direction. Then during a play Randy needlessly tackled Seth to the ground and then he jumped up grinning while Seth seemed to be in a bit of a daze. However Road Dogg yelled at Seth and he got up and brushed his pants off. The Seth that Roman knew would have instantly called Randy out for the unfair play so this complicit, meek approach was throwing Roman for a loop. He wondered what Randy and John had done to Seth. Even though he didn't forgive him for what he did to him and Dean, he still couldn't completely cut him out of his life.

After practice, Roman kept a careful eye on the lockerroom door so that he could catch when Seth left. However he didn't see him as the lockerroom grew emptier and emptier until it was just him sitting on the bench. He picked his bag and went to the rows behind hoping that he would find him like he did a couple of months ago. Sure enough, Seth was still there dressed in his regular clothes. His forearm was resting against the locker and his head was rest on that.

He placed his bag down the bench and made his way over to him. His hand carefully resting on Seth's waist but the smaller man flinched as soon as he touched him. Seth's eyes were wide with fright as he turned around to confront him. Only relaxing a bit when he saw who it was.

" Oh it's you."

" Yeah it's me. Why are you so jumpy?"

Seth shook his head. " No just deep in thought, that's all."

" Are you okay?"

Seth instantly became wary again. " Since when do you care?"

He knew this Seth. He was about to go back into his shell and if he did he wouldn't be able to get him to open up. " I suppose I deserve that." He said slowly. " But I didn't destroy our friendship by myself."

Seth pursed his lips and moved from in front of him to reach for his bag. " Are you here to tell me what I terrible person I am and how much pain I've caused you? Because trust me, I got the message loud and clear." Seth picked up his gym bag and slung it over his shoulder.

" Seth." Roman reached out and placed his hand on Seth's shoulder to stop him from leaving. " I know that we can't just go back to being best friends but it doesn't mean that I hate you."

Seth kept his back to him. " Really? Because it seemed as if you did the last time that we talked."

" That isn't all on me." Roman stated.

A tense silence fell between them.

He heard a sharp inhale of breath from Seth as he glanced up to the ceiling before hanging his head in shame. " Yeah I was wrong for what I did to you and Dean. Is that what you wanted to hear? I admit it. I was wrong." He glanced over his shoulder. " I'm sorry."

Roman worried the inside of his bottom lip slightly with his teeth as he thought about Seth's apology. He really didn't want to hash all of this out now as his intention was to talk about Randy and John but he guessed that it was really inevitable any way.

" I'm sorry too."

Seth just glanced at him with an unreadable expression and then shrugged Roman's hand off his shoulder. " I have to go."

" Seth wait!" Roman grabbed his bag and jogged up to Seth before he left the lockerroom. " I wanted to talk to you about something."

Seth slowly turned and waited for him to speak.

" What happened at the beach with you and Randy and John?"

Seth's eyes opened wide in shock. " How do you know about that?" He demanded.

" I really don't know anything." Roman hoped that he wouldn't get Dean in trouble with what he had to say next. " Dean told me that something happened with you guys. He didn't say what but that you weren't being yourself. And it's true. Something was bugging you at practice today. I could tell."

" So you're only checking up on me because Dean asked you to? Not that you actually care." Seth sneered.

" Would you cut the attitue? You know damn well if I didn't care about you I would've told Dean not to bother me about it. But he's concerned about you and quite frankly so am I." Roman didn't raise his voice often but when he did people took notice. Even Seth.

The defiance in Seth's demeanour faded and he just brushed him off. " I'm fine."

" No you're not."

Seth's mouth twisted into a tight line. " It's my own problems okay? I'm going to deal with it."

" Seth, I can see that it's eating at you. C'mon you used to tell me everything. What did Randy and John do? Did they hurt you?"

Seth shook his head. " I don't want to talk about it." He took a couple of steps back. His voice waivering as he spoke. " Just stop pushing okay? Just let me deal with this on my own."

" Seth please..." Roman began.

" No Ro." Seth cut him off. " What happened at the beach was my fault and I just have to deal with it okay. So just leave it alone." Seth then quickly walked through the door before Roman could stop him again.


Dean had stopped at the basketball court on his way home from school. He didn't shoot any hoops but instead sat on a bench and did a lot of thinking. Mainly hoping that Roman could get through to Seth.

He had probably spent a couple of hours there before he headed home. As he reached his house, he saw that Xavier was sitting on the front steps, waiting on him. He wondered if he wanted to play a game or something although Xavier usually didn't come over this early.

" Hi." He said as he approached him.

Xavier had a rather somber expression on his face. " Hi."

" Is something the matter?" Dean asked as he pulled his house key out of his pocket.

Xavier got up and pulled his cellphone out of his backpocket. " I have something to show you."

He tapped the screen a couple of times and then held the phone up to Dean's face. When Dean saw the picture he felt his heart plummeting to his stomach and the blood being drained from his face. It was a picture obviously taken at lunch time of him and Seth from a distance. He had his arm around Seth and Seth's head was on his shoulder. There was no denying that they were a couple.

" Where did you get that?" His voice betraying him by stammering over the words.

Xavier gave him a pitying look. " It came from an anonymous number. It was sent to everyone about an hour ago."

Dean swallowed hard around the rising lump in his throat. He knew what Xavier was going to say next but it didn't make it any easier to hear.

" The entire school now knows about you and Seth."


A/N: Seth blames himself for the incident at the beach and now their relationship has been exposed …...