My eyes fluttered open as I looked confusingly around my bedroom. I don't remember falling asleep last night after that conversation with Vic but nonetheless we must have.

I looked up and was met with a sleeping Vic. His head was resting on the pillow I gave him last night, his legs stretched out on the mattress. My cheek however was resting on Vic's thigh, my head, practically in his lap. I pulled my arm back slowly so as to not wake him up, using my one hand to push my torso off of his body.

I inched backwards so I was leaning against the wall and noticed that my legs were wrapped up around his. Oh my god he was going to flip out if he woke up and saw this. Once I untangled my legs from his, I brought them tight up to my chest and held them close.

How did we even get into this position last night? All I remember was Vic finally apologizing to me which was a shock in itself, then talking about music and movies. We both must've just dozed off.

Vic was breathing peacefully, his chest rising and falling with each intake of breath. His mouth was pursed open a little, letting out a tiny snore. I felt myself starting to smile when I noticed that he was still wearing his hat. I reached over his handsome face and carefully pulled the hat off his head so he could sleep more comfortably.

I crawled down and off the bed as quietly as I could, heading towards the bathroom to take a shower when I tripped on Mike. I tried to catch myself but ended up crashing to the floor, banging my arm on the corner of my wooden desk.

"Shit!" I screamed uncontrollably, cradling my elbow.

"W-what happened?" A groggy Mike sat up from the air mattress on the floor and looked at me.

"I tripped and hit my arm, it's no big deal, I'm okay. I'm sorry I woke you up." I answered.

I turned towards my bed and saw that Vic was now sitting up rubbing his eyes. His fudge colored hair was a mess, long pieces flew in all different directions. I couldn't help but let out a small giggle, and silently cursed myself for thinking he looked adorable with bedhead.

"What're you giggling about over there?" Vic asked.

"Your hair is a wreck." I said playfully.

"Oh I'm sorry that I can't look like Sleeping Beauty with perfect freaking hair first thing in the morning, like some people." Vic rolled his eyes.

Sleeping Beauty? Did he just call me Sleeping Beauty? 

"Since when do you notice things like how "perfect" someone's hair is?" Mike teased putting air quotes up when he said the word "perfect."

All the color drained from Vic's face for a second, his mouth now pressed into a firm, thin line.

"I don't." He snapped, grabbing his hat from the side table where I had placed it and putting it back on his head.

"Geez Vic calm down with the 'tude, I was just joking around." Mike put his hands up.

"Yeah I know, I knew that." Vic answered, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and stretching his toned arms.

"So where did you sleep last night Kellin?" Mike asked me curiously.

I locked eyes with Vic who quickly looked at the floor.

"Uh I slept on the couch out in the living room." I answered quickly. I don't even know why I lied in the first place. It's not like it was weird that Vic and I fell asleep in the same bed, was it? We didn't choose to fall asleep together, it just happened.

"Ah, gotcha. Well I slept wonderfully! That air mattress is quality." Mike stood up and grabbed a change of clothes from his backpack.

"I'm going to go hit the showers. I'll be back." Mike nodded at myself and Vic before leaving the room.

I stood up from the ground, rubbing my elbow that was now throbbing.

"Oh my god Kellin! You're bleeding!" Vic exclaimed a little too loud and rushed over to me.

"What?" I looked down at my arm, removing my hand that I guess I had pressed tightly against my elbow. When I took it away I noticed that my hand was covered in bright, red blood.

I suddenly felt really dizzy, I had never liked blood and seeing that thick substance dripping down my fingers seriously freaked me out.

"Vic, I.." my voice trailed off as my knees started to feel wobbly.

I felt a strong arm wrap around my waist as I was being walked over to my bed. Vic guided me slowly until I sunk down into the soft mattress, keeping my eyes off of my hand and elbow. He kept one hand on my shoulder steadying me, as his other hand started rummaging around in his backpack, pulling out a black towel.

"Here, hold this towel and keep it pressed on your elbow. Look straight ahead and sing your favorite song." I heard Vic say softly.

"Why my favorite song?" I asked confused.

"Just do it. I'll be right back, okay?" Vic waited for me to answer.

"Yes, o-okay." I spoke weakly.

I watched Vic start to leave the room when he turned on his heels abruptly and looked into my eyes.

"I don't hear you singing!" Vic offered a small smile before disappearing from view.

My mind was telling me not to but my stupid curiosity got the better of me. I slowly peeled the towel back and peeked at my elbow. Dark, dry blood was crusted all down my arm while fresh, new blood started pouring from the huge gash across my elbow. I gasped and reapplied pressure to the open wound, feeling my heart starting to race as my breathing became faltered.

I couldn't think about anything else but the way the blood poured from my arm. I couldn't stop picturing how red it was. I had never seen a color so red. And that smell. Copper-like and heavy it filled the air of my bedroom. I felt myself stop breathing, my vision blurring into a panic. And then...

I remembered Vic's voice.

So I sang.

"And I'd give up forever to touch you...." I heard my voice creak.

"'Cause I know that you feel me somehow...." I felt my beating heart start to slow.

"You're the closest to heaven, that I'll ever be and I don't want to go home right now...." I continued softly, focusing intently on the words and how they sounded coming from my lips.

"And all I can taste is this moment, and all I can breathe is your life..." I sang, feeling the hum of my tongue as I belted out a little louder.

"And sooner or later it's over, I just don't want to miss you tonight...." I blinked and my vision slowly returned to normal, revealing a surprised Vic standing right in front of me.

I quickly snapped my mouth shut, embarrassed that he had walked in on me singing.

"Don't stop on my account. That... that was beautiful Kellin. You have an incredible voice." Vic muttered.

"No, no way!" I answered quickly, feeling my cheeks heat up.

Vic pushed a chunk of his hair behind his ear and leaned towards me, holding a bunch of paper towels, gauze, bandaids, and rubbing alcohol.

"You got the whole pharmacy there?" I tried to laugh to cover up my nerves when I saw the rubbing alcohol.

Vic rolled his eyes and smiled, "You don't want it to get infected do you?" He slowly lifted my hand from the towel, setting it gently on my lap.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing? Maybe we should go to the hospital." I grimaced as he removed the towel and quickly pressed the gauze in its place.

"You'll be back to your normal clumsy self in no time, you really don't trust me do you?" Vic raised an eyebrow, and met my gaze. His eyes held a small amount of sadness.

"It's not that I don't trust you...I just really don't like blood." I bit my lip and watched Vic's face harden.

"Yeah, well, you'll be alright. I just have to put some rubbing alcohol on it okay? It will probably sting but I need to clean the wound." Vic spoke carefully.

I nodded and squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to see anymore blood. I heard Vic pop the top of the alcohol and suddenly felt a cool, stinging sensation as he gently patted the soaked gauze all around my cut.

As quickly as the pain came, it stopped. I let my eyelids slide open a bit, watching Vic lay a piece of thick gauze on top of my cut before wrapping it up with a stretchy ace bandage.

He poured some more rubbing alcohol onto the corner of the black towel and started cleaning up the crusted blood on my arm. I noticed how carefully he was wiping at my skin, he was barely pressing down with pressure at all. It was as if I was a porcelain doll, vulnerable, and with the probability that I would break at any moment.

I watched Vic's eyes scan all along my arm, feeling his thumb gently gliding up and down my forearm, the alcohol soaked towel following behind. He sat back and inspected my arm before guiding it down onto a pillow that he had propped up next to me.

"There, as good as new." He smiled proudly.

I looked down at my arm which was now carefully bandaged up, no scary blood in sight.

"How did you know what to do?" I asked.

Vic shrugged, "Being the oldest in the neighborhood growing up, myself and the guys would also get hurt as kids. You know, scraped knees, bloody noses, banged up hands from falling out of trees.." His voice trailed off.

"We were, and still are I guess, a rowdy group of friends. My mom's a nurse so she taught me a lot of first aid stuff. It was easier to just clean up a cut ourselves and slap a bandaid on it, than tell our parents who would've just scolded us for being reckless in the first place, ya know?" Vic said with a small laugh.

The truth is, I didn't know. Growing up I only had two best friends, Justin and Gabe. That turned to one when I made the horrible decision to tell them I was gay during our Sophomore year of High School. They were the only two I had ever told and I kept it that way for the last three years. Until I had met Mike and his group of friends.

I always would envy big groups of friends like his and Vic's and now I was kind of a part of that?

"Um actually, I only had two friends growing up and then after I.. ya know.. "came out," I lost one of them. So I didn't have too much experience with being a rowdy kid." I answered quietly, rolling the sleeve of my shirt back down.

Vic's face softened and he looked down at his hands. His eyes were intensely focused on them, like he was trying to memorize his palm lines. He quickly glanced up at me and cleared his throat.

"How did you know you were gay?" Vic spoke so softly, his voice almost cracking like it physically caused him pain to say these words together in a sentence.

"Really? Uh how did you know you were straight?" I gave him a playful shove and smiled.

"Hey, it's a valid question. I'm sorry if it was insensitive, I just was curious." He shrugged and looked down, tapping on his knee.

"It was a little insensitive but it's okay, I'll answer. Uh so when I was young, like really young, I remember thinking that girls had cooties and I only wanted to hang out with my guy friends, you know like most straight guys do." I started.

I watched Vic nod as he sat back on my bed, his hands locked behind his head as he gave me his full attention.

"But then when I got older, around middle school, I realized that the girls still had cooties. I started thinking certain guys were attractive, cute if you want to simplify it. I remember all my friends were starting to want to kiss girls and take them out on dates, but I wanted to take the boys out." I said softly.

I had never gone fully into detail about this with anyone before. Even with Justin, I just kept it simple and he didn't need any more clarification. He still loved me just the same as his best friend. And now here I was confessing all of this to Vic! Why Kellin, why?

I peeked over at Vic and he was looking at me quizzically, like he was trying to figure me out. Or maybe like was trying to figure out what to say to me.

"I definitely tried to shove those urges down for a long time. I felt like an alien. No one else was admitting to liking guys over girls so I immediately thought something was wrong with me..." I trailed off and was about to continue when I heard Vic speak up.

"There is nothing wrong with you." He said, moving his gaze from me to the ceiling.

"Thank you." I smiled and brushed some of my hair out of my eyes before continuing.

"Anyways, I guess I didn't REALLY know I was gay until my sophomore year when I met Jack." I said the last part really quickly, not knowing why I was getting nervous now.

"Who's Jack?" Vic snapped, his attention now back on me.

"Uh, he was just this guy from another school near mine. He was also gay. We met at a party and kind of hooked up for a little while. He was my first kiss. There weren't any feelings involved but he helped me come to terms with who I was. He kept my secret for me until I was able to tell my friends." I answered.

"Oh." Vic nodded and bit his lip, I couldn't help but notice that his eyes seemed to narrow and darken. There was a heavy and quiet lull that filled my room as we both sat on my bed, glancing to and from each other.

"I forgot! I got you something." Vic said abruptly and shot off the bed.

"What? You bought me something?" I gave him a confused look.

Vic started rummaging around in his bag before pulling out a big white bottle with the words "Aloe" plastered across the front. I don't know why but my mouth turned into the biggest smile.

"It's aloe! You know, for your face!" Vic said excitedly, popping the top of the bottle.

"I can't believe you bought me aloe." I said.

"Yeah well your face still looks painful as hell." Vic shrugged and leaned towards me, motioning to the aloe he had just squeezed onto his hand.

"Uh.. can I?" He asked, a small blush creeped up his face for just a moment.

"Yes, o-of course." I stuttered out.

Vic leaned forward, gently gliding his hand across my face, spreading the cooling aloe gel over my sunburn. My breathing hitched as his face made its way close to mine. I noticed his little silver nose ring and the way he looked so concentrated. His calloused fingers slid down my cheek, over my chin and up my nose. His eyes met mine and my heart stopped.

"Hey boys, I am fresh and clean and ready to hit the town!" I heard Mike's voice as he barged into my room, a towel slung around his waist.

I don't know why, but I panicked quickly pushing Vic away from me at the same time that he jumped back from me, nearly creating a 20 foot space between us.

"Uh hey Mike, are you ready to get going soon?" Vic asked, flustered for some reason.

"Yeah sure, also DUDES! Jaime just texted me inviting us all out on his families boat tomorrow. Can you say jet skis?!" Mike exclaimed.

"That sounds like a lot of fun. I'll definitely be there." I answered.

"Sweet! Hey Vic, why do you have jizz on your pants? Ew!" Mike laughed, pointing towards Vic's, well my, sweatpants.

"That isn't jizz you creep, it's dried drool." I answered, rolling my eyes.

"Vic, how on Earth did you manage to get drool ON your pants?" Mike questioned, slinging his backpack on his shoulder and giving me a wave as he headed out of my room.

"See ya tomorrow, Kellin!" Mike called out.

Vic turned around at my door and looked me right in the eyes, a smile on his face, "Yeah... how did I manage to get drool on my pants, Kellin?" he grinned.

"Uh... uh.." I stammered out, searching for an excuse.

But before I could come up with a remotely believable one, Vic shot me a wink and slipped out my door leaving me even more speechless.

__________Author's Note__________

Ok Kellin singing Iris is my religion.

VIC KILLS ME IN THIS CHAPTER UGH HE ACTS SO CUTE TOWARDS KELLS.

Vic being all slick at the end there like damn he knew kells was sleeping on him and it's so adorable.

What're our thoughts?!?!