Bucky's parents had gone to Addison's house for dinner. They came home close to midnight drunk off of wine. Bucky pretender to be asleep in his room so they could ignore him and they went right to bed.

It was hard to fall asleep with every muscle aching and his stomach rumbling, craving actual food versus what he was being fed. Bucky hadn't been sleeping properly since the night Zach had crawled out of his window.

Bucky stated out his locker window as the time droned on. Not only had his parents put a lock on it, they wired a camera to point at it to keep eyes on him. There was no escaping.

He was getting close to the point of no return, where he would rather be dead than face this torture.

Bucky wasn't sure how long it had been since his parents came home, but he tensed up at the sound of his door being opened. Oddly enough, it sounded like whoever was opening it was trying to keep quiet. It had to be his mother, considering his dad didn't care about being silent at all.

Bucky stayed facing the window, hoping she would leave without bothering him. He didn't hear any footsteps but felt a hand on his shoulder—it was small and soft and definitely didn't belong to either of his parents.

Bucky turned as quickly as he could and squinted in the dark. Addison's white hair was obvious in the moonlight coming through the window and Bucky relaxed.

"Get up," she whispered. "We're leaving. Do you need anything?"

Bucky shook his head. Addison backed up and Bucky carefully sat up. Addison went to his drawers and grabbed as much clothes as she could, stuffing them in a backpack then slinging it over her shoulder. Bucky managed to pull on some sneakers before following Addison out of his room.

His mind was racing with questions but he knew that there was probably no time. The front door was opened and they walked through it. Addison closed it and locked the door with Bucky's keys, then lead the way from the porch to the driveway.

They walked down the sidewalk a few steps until Missy's car could be spotted. They got closer and Bucky noticed a few people standing around the car. It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the darkness and Bucky froze when he saw him.

It felt like his heart stopped. His mind went blank and he couldn't move. He'd spent weeks fantasizing about seeing Zach again but he thought it was a lost cause, that he would never see him again. And there he was, a few feet away, watching him.

Bucky couldn't move, afraid that her go and reach out and it would all be fake or a fantasy. That Zach would fade away and he'd wake up in his nightmare all over again.

Addison said something but her voice sounded like it was trying to travel through water. Bucky noticed the shift at the car and saw Zach moving toward them.

Real or fake, he needed to find out for himself. His legs were already moving, first walking, then running. The two guys slammed into each other, Zach caging Bucky in and holding him tight.

Soon Bucky realized he was shaking, crying against Zach who still held him tight and cried with him. He held tightly onto Zach's shirt, needing to feel him to know he was real, to know he was there.

All too soon, Zed's voice broke through with him saying, "You guys can do all of this in the car, we gotta get out of here."

Bucky didn't want to let go and Zach just walked them to the car. He only pulled away to let Bucky get inside, then climbed in after him. He pulled Bucky back ageists him and closed the door.

Bucky almost didn't notice Eliza sitting on the other side of the back seat. He let himself melt into Zach, feeling more at home and cared for than he had felt in his entire life.

Soon they were back at Addison's house. Addison was the only on the get out of the car, though. "Your parents will come here first thing tomorrow," Addison said, despite Bucky never asking. "You get to stay with Zach all night."

"I'll see you soon, Addy," Zed said as he rolled up the window.

They drove off to Zombietown. Zed dropped Eliza off, then Zach and Bucky before heading back to Addison's house. Zach walked Bucky up the steps and unlocked the door. His parents were waiting in the kitchen but Zach walked the two of them to the stairs.

"We're gonna go to bed," Zach said a little tiredly.

His parents said something that Bucky didn't hear and they went upstairs and into Zach's room. Zach closed his door and walked Bucky to the bed, sitting down with him.

He gave him to most sincerely concerned look and asked, "A-are you okay? Do you need anything?"

It took a little for Bucky to find his voice before he said, "I don't know."

"You look tired," Zach pointed out. "But also like you haven't been eating. Have you been eating?"

Bucky gave a slight shake of his head. Before Zach could ask anything else, Bucky whispered, "I just want you to hold me right now."

Zach nodded and wrapped his arms around Bucky, who sighed and melted into him. Bucky couldn't find it in him to do anything but revel in the feeling of Zach all around him. He couldn't figure out how to feel and settled on sucking the feeling in while he could, afraid that he might wake up from the dream.

Zach had managed to coax Bucky into laying down. He kept one arm around Bucky and used the other to pull his blanket up over them. Bucky didn't want to fall asleep—he was afraid that he'd wake up and everything had been a dream. But he was physically and mentally exhausted and was sleeping before he knew it.

Some time later he woke up, still in Zach's arms, and sighed contently. He hadn't dreamt for the first time in weeks but knew Zach being there was a blessing.

It didn't take long to realize Zach was already awake, drawing figures and shapes on Bucky's covered back. Bucky made a noise to signal that he was up too, though he didn't really want to move.

"Breakfast?" Zach asked quietly. "When's the last time you ate?"

Bucky shrugged, mostly because he had no idea how long he'd been trapped in his house but also because he couldn't think back to the last time he had a proper meal.

"I also have to explain to my parents," Zach added. "Come on. Do you plan on going to school today."

Bucky made a face at that. "God, no," he murmured, his voice muffled by Zach's chest.

It took a few minutes, but they got it of bed. Bucky held onto Zach as they went down the stairs and into the kitchen. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought he was being too clingy. Zach didn't seem to mind and sat down on a bench at the kitchen table.

Zach's mom put plates full of food in front of them and got two more for herself and her husband. Zach's dad came from the stairs and sat down across from them. He looked around the same age as Bucky's dad and he shifted closer to Zach for protection.

Zach's mom sat down and looked between her son and his boyfriend. "So, you two are dating."

It wasn't necessarily a question but Zach treated it as such. "Yes Mom," he said. "It's cool if he stays here for a while, right?"

"Of course," Mrs. Fairmourn agreed easily.

"Are you going to school today?" Mr. Fairmourn asked.

Zach looked at Bucky, who's shrugged. "I-I haven't gone to school in…I don't know what day it is."

Zach's parents have each other a concerned look. "It's January twenty-ninth," Mrs. Fairmourn said.

"A little more than a week," Zach added.

"Oh."

"Eat something," Zach instructed him. "You don't have to go to school."

"Will you stay with me?"

Zach looked at his parents hopefully. They looked at each other, having a silent conversation before turning their attention back to Zach. "Yes, but just for today," his mom said.

"Okay," Zach said with a pleased smile.

A/N: So, What was Eliza's plan? It was never elaborated on and doesn't fit in with the chapters because we're almost at the end. So I'll just tell you the plan.

Eliza hacked the security system to loop a camera feed so Addison could go inside. It was pretty simple. Just not really relevant.