Darryl's Pov:

Today, I went to Zak's house a little bit earlier than usual. Hopefully, that didn't bother Zak too much. But it doesn't seem like it does. He immediately welcomed me warmly once I arrived at his house. It seemed a little off to me at first because Zak has always been very casual and sometimes quite monotone. But he always emits that smug and overconfident energy of his. I was stunned for a moment when I saw Zak seem more... fond? Bright? Warm? Towards me? I don't even know the right word to describe it. (Literally me.) But he quite quickly continued acting like his usual self. I guess he was just in a good mood to see me? Who knows.

We continued hanging out as normal at Zak's house. We ate a nice meal cooked by Zak, and then started watching some TV over regular chats. At first, I didn't notice anything, but as more time went on, I started noticing that Zak was acting a bit... odd today. There are moments where Zak has stayed way too quiet. Sometimes, his silence has made me think that he isn't paying attention. I didn't think much on it at first, but when I really started to acknowledge it is when he starred to stay so silent at times that he seems to be staring off into space, looking at nothing in particular. It always seemed like he was deep in thought at those times.

I started to get slightly concerned at that because it would get so bad that I sometimes needed to catch his attention by straight-up calling his name or snapping my fingers in near him. It may be my imagination, but I'm pretty sure that I have caught small moments where I glance at Zak and see a sad expression on his face that hurts my heart from the sight. But it seems like as soon as I blink or look away for even a second, his face goes back to normal. This whole situation in general feels... weird.

Currently, we are just quietly watching the movie, but I make sure to glance at Zak every now and then. I'm honestly barely paying attention to the movie playing since I keep thinking and worrying about Zak. The movie starts coming to an end, and I look over at Zak once it does. It doesn't seem like he had noticed that the movie ended based on how it looks like he is staring off into space. But what concerns me most is how empty his eyes look. It's as if he has been hurt so bad that his eyes have lost its sparkle, making them look dull. It's a look of hopelessness.

I wait a few moments for him to notice that the movie has ended, but he there's no movement or reaction out of him. It's as if he's permanently frozen into this state. I then reach for the remote and turn off the TV to see if that catches his attention. But once again, there's no response. Not even the slightest flinch in his expression or movement. I sigh and then snap my fingers near his face and say, "Zak? You there?"

Finally, he snaps back into reality. Like magic, he immediately goes back to normal and seems to completely process the situation. He turns to look at me and says nonchalantly as if nothing's wrong, "Ah, yes. Sorry. What did you think of the movie?"

I stare at him dumbfounded for a moment. Ignoring his question, I slowly say, "Zak... are you okay? You seem off today."

He blinks at me with confusion on his face for a moment. Though, I manage to see a hint of what seems like shock hidden in his expression. He then asks slowly, "...What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Zak. There's clearly something bothering you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Even though Zak has most likely lied to me before, this is the first time I've been able to catch his lie. "Yes, you do. You keep staring off into the distance, deep in thought, and with a sad or empty look in your eye. Sometimes, you get so disconnected that I have to get your attention by snapping my fingers at you and calling your name. Like right now, you didn't even notice when the movie ended and that I turned off the TV. Your eyes also looked very dull in the moment. It concerns me. So, what's wrong?"

He stares at me blankly for a few moments. He makes a thoughtful look and then sighs. He murmurs out, "It's stupid..."

"I don't care if it's stupid. It's still bothering you. So, what is it?"

"...I just heard some coworkers say some things at work that got me thinking."

I froze upon hearing that sentence. Some things... at work? At his agency? ...Is it something that I'm not supposed to know? Should I not ask him about it? I really don't want to break our promise. (If you don't know what promise he's talking about, check the chapter called 'Our Secret'.) I need to check to make sure that's not the case before continuing- I then ask, "Are those things that you heard not meant for me to hear?"

Zak gazes at me thoughtfully for a moment, reading my facial features before saying, "...No, it has nothing to do with any mission or important information at work."

I let out a small sigh of relief. Good, so we can continue. I ask, "Then, what did those coworkers say?"

He looks down at the floor for a few moments, thinking carefully about his next words. He then glances at me for a second before quickly looking back down and saying, "I just heard them mention behind my back how (bro- when I wrote the word 'how' for some reason it autocorrected to the word 'ho*'. I've never even written that word before- what the actual muffin is this!? 😭) I don't really have an important role in the agency. I haven't had much of an impact on the agency since I haven't done much to help them. If something happened to me, the agency would be completely unaffected by my absence. They basically just said how useless I am..."

He mumbled out the last part in such a small tone that I barely heard him. I was stunned by his words. I was shocked for multiple reasons. For one thing, why would Zak's coworkers say such things about him!? Are they stupid? Do they really not realize how Skeppy has become such a big part of TDA that so many agencies, including TDO, are so fed up with him that they want to either kill or torture him? Another thing I'm shocked about is the fact that this is actually getting into Zak's head. He's so confident. Why would it- wait...

I look over at Zak and try my best to examine his face. It's hard to do that discreetly since he is looking down at the floor. Skeppy... that thought had almost slipped my mind completely. It's just one word, one name, and yet it's very crucial to the whole equation. Could it be that...? ...I need to confirm that thought first. Some silence envelops us before I say, "You do know you're the only person who has come close to killing Badboyhalo, right? If I wasn't him, you would've actually managed to kill me on that mission. That fact alone says a lot about your capabilities."

Zak looks up at me, blinking. He stares at me for a moment before turning to look away from me and instead looks ahead of himself. He says, "Yeah, I know that very well. ...But that was just luck."

He says that last sentence in such a quiet mumble that I could barely catch it. Ah... so that's how it is. Even though I now know that he's Skeppy, the idea never actually crossed my mind that he could actually be... acting in front of me. I just genuinely thought without a second doubt that the Zak I was experiencing was his true self. But now I can see that that isn't the case. That confidence of his... it's just a constant cover to hide the real him, isn't it? That picture he has painted of himself having overconfidence and the vibe he gives that he thinks he's all that and better than others is just a facade to hide all his flaws and insecurities. Now it all makes sense...

Out of nowhere, Zak abruptly stands up and says, "But like I said- it's stupid. So just ignore what I said. Why should you care about it anyways..."

He mutters the last part below his breath, clearly not wanting me to hear it as he starts walking away from the couch. This guy- I immediately stand up and scurry over to reach him. I turn him around to face me and push him against the wall, pinning him. He makes a grunt of protest, but I ignore it. Before he could say anything, I exclaim, "Don't you dare think that way! Have you already forgotten? I love you. Of course I care if something is bothering you! Trust me when I say that it isn't stupid that such a thing is bothering you. Your feelings are always valid. Everyone gets bothered for different reasons, so don't worry about that. Also, everything that your coworkers said is absolutely wrong because you're amazing at your job, considering how much of a threat you are seen to other agencies. So don't listen to them, okay?"

Zak stares at my wide-eyed for a moment from my words. Soon, the shock leaves his face and is replaced with what seems like fondness. It is evident from the way that Zak's eyes seem to gently light up as he looks at me. I get slightly confused from the look, but there's a hint of amusement in me from the way Zak looks at me. Then my heart gets warm from the sight of seeing Zak start to blush slightly at me. Suddenly, Zak cups my face into his hands, pulls me closer to him, and kisses me.

I slightly freeze at the action. A wave of shock envelops me from the fact that Zak is kissing me. But that soon quickly registers in my mind, making my chest feel like it's about to explode from all the mix of feelings I'm getting at this moment. But the strongest feeling that is evident to me is excitement. Excitement that the one I love is finally kissing me. Without a second thought, I wrap my arms around Zak's waist to pull him closer to my body so that I can press my lips as hard as I can against him. He kisses me with such passion that I didn't know he had, and I kiss him back just the same, if not more.

As I kiss him now, I fully realize that this is all I've ever wanted from the moment that I realized that I probably have feelings towards Zak. I wanted us to kiss with such genuine love and passion, unlike the heated and lust-filled kisses we shared during our hookup. Those are the only kinds of kisses that I've ever shared with anyone. Nothing ever real came from those kisses. We just wanted to indulge in our lust and use the body of the person we hooked up with to our liking. Now that I'm here, kissing Zak like this. I realize how tired of those kinds of kisses, feelings. I want real intimacy from someone who I know won't basically abandon me by the time I wake up. I don't want to be alone anymore. And from how much passion and want Zak and I are sharing in our kiss... maybe he doesn't want to be alone either.

Every so often, we separate our lips to take a quick gasp of air before our lips quickly collide back together like magnets. After a bit, I decide that that alone isn't enough. While still kissing, I press Zak's back against the wall so that I can press my body against his as much as I want. I lay my hand on his hips as I press as much force as I can to his lips whilst we kiss. I hear Zak slightly moan from the impact, making my heart heat up from the sound. I need to hear more of that.

I bite down on his lower lip, making him wince from the pain. He slightly opens his mouth doing so. I take the opportunity and hurriedly fully part his lips with my tongue as it enters his mouth. I let myself explore his mouth with my tongue. He doesn't protest and just lets take full control. He makes the kiss even deeper by wrapping his arms around my neck, pulling me closer to him. He tangles his fingers into my hair. He lets out audible moans as we kiss, "Mhah- mm~"

He also keeps letting out exhausted whiny gasps that just sound like music to my ears. My chest feels like it's about to burst from everything happening all at once. I subconsciously start running my hands across Zak's body, feeling him up. I don't even realize what I'm doing before I get to stop myself. But I don't need to since Zak gives me the obvious sign to stop by pulling on my hair slightly hard in a hurried way, making us break the kiss. We gasp for air once our lips separate. We keep letting out hot breaths from the lack of oxygen while we stare at each other for a moment.

Zak has an intense amount of blush on his face, even more than the time that we hooked up. Probably because the kiss actually had real, passionate emotion in it. As I slowly started seeing the blush lessen on him face and how his arms unwrapped from my neck so that his hands could get placed on my chest, followed by the silence, started to make me feel nervous. I was starting to wonder if I did something wrong or if I even started taking it too far the moment I started to feel up Zak's body. But that feeling quickly vanished once I saw the look that Zak made.

He's looking at me in such a fervent manner. His eyes seem to glow brightly as they stare deeply into my eyes. But what actually makes my heart melt is the smile that he's giving me. A genuine, happy, loving smile is plastered on his face, and it's aimed towards me. I'm the reason why he's smiling this beautifully. This smile is so similar to the one that I saw back at the park when I showed him the scenery of the lake. The same smile that I told myself that I would aim to see more of. Oh, and I'm so glad that I'm getting to see it. Though, there is a difference from the smile before and now.

That day at the lake, his smile was made purely of joy from seeing the wonder of the scenery around him. Though right now, his smile also seems to be filled with genuine joy, this time Zak's smile is so loving. It makes it even better that the smile is aimed at me. After what feels like forever but is actually a few seconds, Zak says in the softest tone I've ever heard, "I love you."

The tone in his voice tells me how sincere that was. It feels like the air gets caught in my throat and that my heart is bursting with love. It takes me a second to register his words fully. Due to my shock, it feels like I can barely breathe, making me let out a breathy tone when I say, "You do?"

Zak's smile seems to get even wider as he says, "Yes, I mean every word."

I can't help but let a goofy, lovestruck smile grow on my face. But it slightly fades as my face gets deep in thought as a certain question pops into mind. Zak is able to easily read my mind as he quickly says, "I'll be your boyfriend."

Before I can say anything, he firmly presses his lips against mine and rewraps his arms around my neck, making the kiss deep and passionate. I immediately kiss back with no protest as I couldn't be any happier with the result of how the events played out today. Everything finally feels perfect, just right. I have everything I could ever want, and I'm going to ensure that it stays that way.