"This is such a fuckin' terrible idea." Jonathan groaned, clutching his stomach.

"D'you wanna swap seats? It's easier for you to get to the lavatory then." Luke offered. "How're you so damn sick anyway?"

"I don't know, probably because I didn't sleep well or something like that. That does shit to my head sometimes…" Jonathan murmured as he dry-heaved once more.

"Man," Luke began, patting Jonathan's back gently. "How much have you been overreacting the past week? I mean, obviously you were overreacting the whole of last night."

Jonathan groaned. "You know exactly why."

"Damn, Jonathan. Look, if you're so freaked out, I can just introduce you as Johnny to him. He wouldn't suspect a thing."

Jonathan winced slightly, uncomfortable. "Not Johnny. Something else."

Luke stole a hasty glance at him, and quickly continued, "Okay, then how about the second half of your name? Nathan. Or Nate, for short. That's much better, isn't it? I'll call you Nate. Just don't go laughing out loud or anythin' like that, because you're gonna rumble yourself."

"Yeah, I guess…" Jonathan replied, barely finishing as he started to dry-heave again.

"Jesus, dude, just get some sleep or somethin'. We're not due there until like another hour or so."

Jonathan let out a long, deep sigh and shut his eyes tightly, mentally distancing himself from the plane that he was in. Slowly, images began to seep into his mind – dreams that he barely wanted to dream.

"Jonathan," Liselle breathed softly, her green eyes fixated upon his. "Your eyes are so pretty."

"They're not," Jonathan bit back, pouting ever so slightly. "Yours are."

She smiled, dimples forming on her cheeks. Gently, she traced his lips with a finger. "Your lips are so pretty, too. I'm so jealous," she continued, and leaned in, pressing her lips softly against his.

"Liselle…" He murmured against her skin. "I love you so much…"

The kiss slowly grew harsh, their lips mashing against each other's with growing force. "Jonathan…" She whimpered, lifting her head up high, allowing Jonathan to attack at her neck. He kissed her jawline once, and proceeded to nibble away at the soft pale skin of her neck. He felt her squirm, and he ground himself against her, their skins both a thousand degrees.

"Liselle… I…"

She shushed him gently and cupped his face with her hands. "My pretty man."

"My pretty boy," Nick whispered, and two strong arms slithered from behind him and wrapped themselves around his waist. As Jonathan looked back up to where Liselle once was, there was but nothingness and an empty space.

"Nick?" Jonathan called out, gently holding the arms around his waist. "Nick, I –"

"Quiet, honey, or we'll get into trouble." The arms loosened and tore away from Jonathan's body. Eagerly, Jonathan flipped around, only to see Evan behind him, flashing his set of perfect white teeth at him.

"Evan?"

"My pretty boy," Nick's voice echoed, as Evan approached Jonathan, mouthing the very same words. "Where did these beautiful blues come from?"

"Nick… Evan…I…" Jonathan stammered, uncertain.

Evan drew himself even closer to Jonathan, and began to gently caress the corners of his eyes. "Your eyes are so blue, I could drown in these oceans."

Evan pressed his lips against Jonathan's cheek and murmured softly, as his hands began to wander up Jonathan's thighs, groping and squeezing.

"Evan…no… Nick…" Jonathan whispered, a forbidden desire beginning to manifest itself between his legs –

SMACK.

"OW!" A couple of heads turned to look at Jonathan as his eyes shot open.

"Oh, good, you're awake," Luke grumbled. "Thank god nobody else was listenin'."

"What the hell was that for?!"

"God damn, it was getting uncomfortable." Luke grimaced.

"What do you mean?" Jonathan approached, still fuming.

"We're landing in a few, anyway. Keep your head up."

The cab ride towards their rented apartment was silent, with the atmosphere between Luke and Jonathan teeming with awkwardness. Luke was remaining tight-lipped about what had happened on the plane, and Jonathan had a nagging feeling about what exactly happened. Simply thinking about the idea that Luke might have heard him make the noises that he made in his dreams sent color flooding furiously into his face.

The silence dragged on even as the cab dropped the duo off at their vacation rental. Even the exquisite furnishing of the small apartment and the upbeat feeling that the apartment had could not defuse the tension between the two.

Finally, however, the silence was broken, as Luke simply murmured, "Go take the room."

"There's only one bedroom, isn't there?" Jonathan asked dryly. "You should take it, then, I'll do fine on the couch."

"The couch isn't gonna make you sleep any better. The bed is, and you need it more than I do."

Jonathan sighed. The stubborn streak in Luke was making itself known, something that he knew he had little strength to resist against. He picked up his luggage and began to head towards a wooden sliding door.

"The apartment's pretty small, so don't do anythin' funny. Especially tonight." Luke mumbled quickly, and began to shuffle about closely behind Jonathan as he hastily busied himself with unpacking. Jonathan felt the color rise back into his cheeks, and hurriedly pulled open the sliding door and headed into the room.

The room was impeccably decorated, with sunlight floating in from windows on every wall. The light color of the room – from the clean white walls to the cool white sheets on the bed – made Jonathan feel as though he was on the beach, with the white sands tickling his skin as the sun bore down on him. For the first time in a long time, he felt fresh and alive.

Throwing down his luggage in a suitable spot on the ground, Jonathan began to unpack. His mind wandered, every now and then – he wondered what exactly Luke had heard him say, and he wondered how Luke was going to tolerate the idea of being within a few steps of his sleeping form every night for the next month or so. He stole a quick glance at the couch, and an uneasiness grew from the idea that Luke might hear his every breath from the couch that was positioned mere footsteps away from the room.

I have to talk to him, he thought, and dragged his feet as he proceeded to the doorway that barely separated the two.

"Uh, Luke?" Jonathan began.

Luke responded with a grunt as he pulled a laptop out from the depths of his luggage.

"It's gonna be awkward, but…It's best we deal with this now than have you live through over a month like this… uh..." Jonathan drew a deep breath. "What exactly did I say in my sleep?"

Luke froze, his stance that of a perfect statue. When he finally began, his voice was mechanical.

"You didn't…say… anything. Just a whole bunch of…" He seemed to cringe for a moment. "Moans. Ugh. Like… the real kind."

Jonathan felt the blood rush into his cheeks, and was half-tempted to turn away from Luke. "Sorry about that, dude."

"And… it wasn't just any kind of…ugh… ya know… but… you were doing it like..." Luke paused, swallowing. "Like a girl would with a guy."

Oh, God.

"I'm so sorry, Luke. Really sorry you had to hear that."

Luke turned, his face a mask of annoyance. Soon, however, he cracked into a smile.

"You look fuckin' stupid, bro."

Jonathan reached for a pillow on the couch and threw it hard at Luke. "Now you look fuckin' stupid!"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey – "Luke dodged another pillow that was sent flying in his direction. "Hurry up and finish unpacking, you dumb shit, we've got dinner with Evan and his girl and you don't wanna miss that."

"You're not mad at me anymore, though?" Jonathan queried carefully.

"I'll try not to think about it. Try. Just don't go pullin' any funny shit and remind me of that bullshit again." Luke grinned, and chucked a pillow at him. "NOW HURRY UP AND UNPACK!"

The restaurant was quieter than usual that night. Probably because it isn't paycheck time yet, Evan mused, as he gestured to the hostess for a place for four. Luke and Delirious were nowhere in sight.

"Shall we just take a seat first, then?" Sarah asked. "We'll wait for them inside."

Evan complied, and the couple seated themselves in a cosy, almost unpopulated area of the restaurant. He unlocked his phone and sent a short text to Luke: "We're already in the restaurant, just come right in and find us."

The wait thus began for his friends, and it was only a short while before he spotted two figures in the distance outside of the windows of the restaurant.

He tensed for a moment as the two figures began to approach – one of them evidently Luke, with his casual stride and poise. The other figure was slender, with a more awkward stance, his steps lacking the enthusiasm that Luke's had. The two men strode through the glass door, gesturing to the hostess that they had company.

Evan drew a sharp breath as he took a good look at the man that he believed was Delirious. He looked like a small, skinny pole beside Luke, his dark hair wild and ever so slightly unkempt against his pale skin. His eyes were wide, uncertain little globes of astounding blues, set deeply into his face. His nose was slightly round, like an adorable nub upon the rest of his features, and his lips were moderately thin, soft mounds of pink.

"Hey, what's up Evan?" Luke greeted, and gestured towards Delirious. "Evan, this is Nathan, Nathan, this is Evan."

Evan held out his hand tentatively, frowning slightly at the name. "Nice to… meet you."

Delirious flashed a small smile and took his hand, shaking it ever so gently. Something in Evan's mind clicked as he felt the long, bony fingers entwine themselves around his hands, sending him into a daze –

"Call me Nate," he said in a small voice, in a voice and tone ever so familiar, yet so distant from Evan's memory of him. His frown deepened momentarily.

"Sarah." Sarah grabbed both Luke's and Delirious's hands, shaking them ever so amicably. "Nice to meet you both."

Dinner was quiet, save for conversations continually started by Sarah. Evan was barely listening as Sarah inquired about life in North Carolina, nor when Sarah probed about their relationships. Evan simply stared blankly at his food, stealing glimpses every now and then of Delirious, as he smiled meekly at Sarah's every other joke.

"Nathan's rather soft-spoken, isn't he?" Sarah noted, nodding at Luke.

"Nah, he's just shy. He's much noisier when you know him better."

"Really!" Sarah whispered in awe. "How was he like when you two first met?"

"Quiet. And then I think I pressed the right buttons and he became a chaotic little punk."

"Hmmh," Sarah hummed. "Speaking of punk, I always called Evan a little bit of a punk, what with all that guitar playing. He doesn't like that much," She giggled.

Evan tried to smile, only to barely pull his lips into a grimace.

"Oh, come on, you grouch," Sarah said, smiling whilst sneaking a kick at his shins from underneath the table. She turned back to the duo and whispered, "He's not always like this, I swear. He's usually a lot nicer."

"Yeah, he usually is," Luke echoed, a small scowl forming upon his face as he glanced at Evan. "He's about to scare Nate away at this rate."

Evan was quickly engulfed in a blaze of anger and shame. Ashamed that he was being ungracious to his friends, and angry at everyone – himself for acting like a douchebag, and especially Luke and Jonathan for keeping up with a lie. Before he could stop himself, he retorted, "I don't really care."

Sarah drew a small, sharp breath, and hastily broke into damage control mode. "Uh, about the bill! We'll settle it, so you two don't have to worry about it! Come on, Evan!"

Sarah tugged at Evan's arm and pushed him towards the cashier's counter.

Luke quickly stood up after them, and thanked them for the dinner. "Thanks for the dinner, guys. We'll uh- get goin' now, it's been a long flight and me and Nate are pretty tired so, yeah… We'll give Evan a call for another day out soon!" He quickly pulled a dazed and suspiciously quiet Delirious out from his seat and put his arm around him, dragging him along as he walked out of the restaurant.

As soon as the duo were out of earshot, Sarah smacked Evan hard on his shoulder, causing him to wince slightly.

"That was mean of you." She chided, pouting. "I know you're meeting Nate for the first time, but you're usually way nicer than that!"

Evan stared at her sharply. "No, I'm not."

"You are. All the time. You're especially nice to strangers. Remember Halloween? You just straight up turned into a sickeningly sweet yes-man at the party."

"I didn't!"

"Really? I don't remember my darling being an alcohol-crazy freak. But you just couldn't say no to all those drinks they offered you, at all. You were perfectly nice, and overly open to all those people."

Evan glared at her, and turned away finally in a sulk. Sarah grinned triumphantly at him, and as the cashier handed the receipt to him, she half-snatched it out of his hands and began to drag him out of the restaurant.

"You've got to apologize, sweetie. I don't know what got into you today, but whatever it was, you weren't playing nice today. So be nice and apologize soon, okay?"

Evan nodded sourly, his mind still hazy and his heart still heavy. Apologize. And learn the truth.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I've already started work on the next chapter, and I've got quite a bit planned out, so forgive me for a little bit of a wait. Again, I hope you enjoyed!