Oh my god, over the past month or so I have gotten so many people to dedicate my chapters to, and to mention and give them special thanks :0 It's really amazing and you guys seriously make my day when I see your votes or your comments :3

So let's start then shall we?

This chapter is dedicated to chica123forever for commenting and giving me feedback when I edited the chapters :3 And for voting for all of my chapters too! I seriously melt whenever I see one of my fans vote or comment on all of my chapters, I find the gesture really sweet and thoughtful, so yeah this is my way of saying thanks ^^

For all those who read the original chapters and have read the edited ones, I would love to hear what you think about the changes I have made, so please don't hesitate to tell me what you think, no matter if it's good or bad!

Shoutouts! :D

Of course to all the people that were reading this story before it went on hold and who are still reading it! Don't worry, just because I don't make specific mentions it doesn't mean I don't know who you are. I know who you are, I know your username, I know you voted or added this story to your reading lists and I'm pretty sure I thanked you personally xD

There is also a shoutout for LUXURY123 because she made sure that I knew what she thought of the every chapter she read and I loved that :3 I wanted to tell you that just because I don't answer all your comments it doesn't mean that I didn't read them, or that I don't care. And to answer your doubts as well as anyone who's wondering the same thing, this story will be told from Danny's, Nate's, and Kyle's POVs and you'll discover for yourself what the story is about xD Oh and the scene in the prologue will come, I promise it will, but you will have to wait for it! I'm not telling you anything about it xD You know they say that good thing's come for those who wait ;3

So after all the due mentions and thanks, 

I hope you enjoy the chapter ^^

-> Desyre

Daniel

                I woke up and stretched in my bed. I yawned and burrowed under the covers again, keeping my eyes closed while I mentally prepared myself to perform the very hard task of getting up. That’s when I sniffed the air. I groaned and sat up in my bed. I ruffled my hair and got up, making my way to the door. I grabbed a shirt on my way out and put it on before I went down the stairs. Claire was sitting on the living room reading some book and I went right past her making my way to the kitchen. From the corner of her eye I saw her look up from her book and then look back down before she looked up again with wide eyes.  She hurried to get off the couch and stood in front of me to stop me from going into the kitchen. She looked guilty as she stood there blocking my path.

“He put you up to this?” I asked.

                She doubted for a second before nodding and looking even guiltier.

“You know he shouldn’t be up.” I said firmly.

                Claire stared at me for a few moments before she moved out of the way and nodded, hanging her head. I grabbed her chin and made her look at me.

“It’s for his own good.” I said.

                Claire still looked guilty but she nodded. I went right past her and walked into the kitchen. I entered and saw him standing there in a pair of shorts and a shirt, too busy cooking to realize that he’d been caught red handed.

“Didn’t I tell you that I didn’t want you in the kitchen?” I said leaning against the counter.

                Nate froze where he was and turned slowly to look at me. He saw me standing there and then looked to something behind me and glared. Oh no he wasn’t blaming this on her.

“Don’t you dare blame her!” I said pushing off the counter and going over to him.

“Traitor.” He mumbled.

“She’s no traitor, she did try to stop me.” I said standing in front of him.

“Well she didn’t try hard enough since you’re here and I’m in trouble.” Nate mumbled.

“Nate. It’s not the fact that you’re in trouble or that you pulled her into this, it’s the fact that you don’t give a shit about your well-being!” I said.

“I do care about my well-being!” Nate replied.

“Oh yeah? Then why are you here cooking when the doctor told you to rest for another week?” I said and Nate looked away. “You have reopened the wound one time already! Do you want to make another trip to the hospital?”

                Nate shook his head without meeting my eyes.              I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

“We’re just worried about you Nate. I know it’s not easy to stop doing so stuff you normally do, but you gotta try. It’s like you’re not even trying! You don’t walk with your crutches, you don’t rest like you’re told to, and you exert yourself. What’s left is that you turn!” I said getting angry.

                Nate still wouldn’t meet my eyes but I knew he was listening. I took his chin and made him look at me, I wanted to know that he understood what I was telling him.

“I’m not telling you to lay in a bed all day long, I’m just telling you to take it easy at least while you’re at home. You already push yourself enough in school, with the swimming team and all that. But just here, just in the house, don’t work yourself so hard. Claire knows how to cook, tell her what you want and how you want it and I’m sure she’ll be able to do it. If you need anything but don’t have your crutches around, call me. I’ll be glad to help you if you need anything, no matter what it is.” I said looking into his blue eyes. “Do you understand?”

                Nate stared at me for a few moments. We were standing so close together, and having him looking up at me with his gorgeous blue eyes, like he was asking for a kiss, I felt a pull. I felt so tempted to lean down and kiss him. I actually felt myself start to lean down before I realized what I was doing and pulled away, letting go of his chin. Nate stood there looking a little taken aback by my sudden movement before he frowned and nodded.

“Yeah, I understand.” Nate said turning back around to face the kitchen. “But I already started cooking this so it doesn’t count. After I cook this I promise I’ll go to the living room to rest and leave you to wash the dishes since you said you would help with anything I want.”

                I chuckled. There was really no way to win with Nate. I shook my head and leaned against the counter again.

“Sure, I’ll wash the dishes, don’t worry.”

“And then you’ll do the laundry. I was going to offer to do it but since you don’t want me exerting myself then I guess you won’t mind doing it yourself.” Nate said.

“Yeah, I don’t mind I’ll do the laundry too.” I said.

“Oh and also…” Nate started saying but I cut him off.

“I’ll do whatever you ask me to do Nate, no matter what it is.” I said pushing off the counter and going into the living room.

                I heard Claire chuckle and Nate told her to shut up, which just made her laugh harder. I smiled and went up the stairs. Those two were really something else. I went into my room and closed the door behind me, undressing as I made my way to the bathroom. I went into the bathroom and turned the handles to get the water coming out. I stepped into the shower and washed myself slowly taking my time to work the remnants of sleep out of my system. I stepped out and dried myself quickly before washing my teeth. I stepped out of the bathroom and went towards my closet. I opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of boxer briefs, which I put on. I went on looking for a clean pair of sweatpants realizing that I certainly did need to do the laundry because all my sweatpants had seemed to disappear. The door opened suddenly and I whipped around in surprise.

“You know if you don’t fucking want me to exert myself then why do you make me climb up…” Nate started to say before he realized why I hadn’t heard him calling me.

                His face turned beat red and he could only stand there, staring at me. He blinked a few times before he looked away.

“Uh, food’s ready.” He mumbled.

“I’m not hungry.” I said automatically.

                He turned to look at me again this time with a frown.

“But you barely touched dinner yesterday.” He said.

                I gulped nervously. Food was a touchy subject with me. I knew what I was doing wasn’t right but there was nothing I could do, short of forcing myself to eat only to have it come back in a few minutes.

“I’m just not hungry. Maybe later.” I said.

                Nate’s frown deepened.

“Why don’t you eat? I mean, is it because of Kyle? You shouldn’t do this to yourself just because of him.” Nate said in a bitter tone.

                I bristled even though I knew he was just worried about me. But I couldn’t help it, it pissed me off. It wasn’t like I wanted to be like this! It wasn’t like I could even do something about it! It was just that food made me sick, I had no say in that! I was already trying my hardest to forget Kyle and return to my normal way of living. I wasn’t doing any of this because I wanted to, it was just my stupid body that betrayed me.

“That’s none of your business. If I say I’m not hungry then I’m not hungry.” I spat.

                Nate narrowed his eyes at me and stared at me for a moment.

“Fine.” He said banging the door as he left my room.

                I sank into my bed and ran a hand through my wet hair. Well, I handled that well, I thought bitterly. I got back up and went to my closet. I grabbed a pair of basketball shorts and a shirt and pulled them on. I stared at myself in the mirror for a little. What did he think when he saw me? Did he think I was hot? I slowly pulled my shirt up and watched my reflection do the same. Slowly little by little my too-prominent ribs started to come into view. I pulled the shorts down a little watching the way my too-prominent hip bones came into view as well. I sighed and arranged my clothes. He probably saw someone who was planning to kill himself from hunger because of a stupid break up. I needed to get over Kyle. I needed to move on with my life. I needed to get my normal life back. I knew all that. But it was easier said than done. Forgetting five years of love and memories and having to learn to live your life by yourself again wasn’t easy. Changing the way you think about one person from one day to the next wasn’t easy. I was trying dammit. I was trying! He didn’t have to be an ass about it!

                I felt my frustration grow inside of me and I grabbed the nearest thing and flung it against the wall in front of me. I got up and started throwing things around my room, breaking frames and glasses and whatever I found on my way. Finally I stood in the midst of my room, looking around at what I’d done. It was a total chaos. Everything I had once deemed precious and important enough to keep in my room lay in the floor in various states of broken. And yet it still wasn’t enough. Still I felt anger and frustration bubbling up inside me. I felt a growl want to make its way out of my body but I contained it. I needed to run, I needed to go somewhere. I stepped over the broken things that lay in the floor and out of my room. I quickly went down the stairs and made my way to the front door that I almost never used. I saw my house keys and thought it would be best to just take the clothes I had on with me. I was about to leave the apartment when I felt him behind me.

“Where are you going?” I heard him ask and my anger bubbled up inside my

“Out.” I growled.

“Without your keys?” He asked.

“Best to leave them to you in case of emergency.” I said trying to calm myself down.

“You just don’t want to take anything that could get lost or stolen with you.” He deadpanned.

“Your point being?” I asked wanting nothing more than to step out of the house and leave before I hurt him even more.

                Couldn’t he see that I needed to get the fuck out of here? I pressed my eyes closed and willed myself to calm down. I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to treat him like this. I didn’t want to hurt him. Couldn’t he see that? I heard him sigh.

“Wait a minute.” He said and I heard his crutches creak as he made his way back down the hall.

                I willed my body not to wait, to get the fuck out of here now that I could but it was useless. I had already hurt him a lot today, and I couldn’t will myself to ignore him when he asked me something. I heard him creak back towards me and then heard the jingle of keys. He went past me and opened the door stepping out of the apartment. I frowned and stared at him, just what did he think he was doing?

“Well, what are you waiting for?” He said looking at me expectantly. “Weren’t you rearing to go just a few seconds ago? Well let’s go then!” He said motioning to the stairs.

“Where are you going?” I asked as I stepped out and closed the door behind me.

“How should I know? You’re the one that knows where we’re going.” He said starting to go down the stairs.

“Where we are going?” I asked confused.

“Yeah.” He said.

“We?” I asked again.

“Yeah, we, you know, first person plural, subject pronoun. W-E.” He said.

“Ha, ha, you’re so funny.” I said dryly.

“Thanks, I do try.” He answered.

“When did I say I wanted company?” I asked.

                He stayed silent for a little.

“I don’t think you ever said that.” He answered after a while.

“Exactly, so why is it that you’re coming with me?”

“Why not?” He answered.

“Because I never said I wanted company!”

“Your point being…?” He said.

“That I don’t need you to come with me.” I said firmly.

“Alright.”

                I frowned.

“Alright?” I asked.

“Yeah, alright.” He said.

“So you’re not going to come with me?”

“No, I am going to go with you.”

“But you just said it was alright.”

                This was so confusing.

“I did.”

“So what did you agree to?”

“To you not needing me to come with you.”

“So why are you still coming with me then?”

“You said that you don’t need me to come with you and you’re right you don’t. But there’s a difference between you needing me to come and me wanting to come with you out of my own free will. And I don’t know about you, but last time I heard you couldn’t mess with people’s free will.”

                I sighed. You can never win with Nate.

“Fine.” I said.

“Fine.” He answered and I could hear the smile in his voice.

                I rolled my eyes. We got to the lobby and made our way out into the streets. I felt like my body was a drum that had been tied a little too tight and that the smallest of movements would tear me apart. I walked in a pace that allowed Nate to not push himself too much but that wasn’t slow enough to frustrate me. We got to the park that was about five blocks away from my building and I continued walking to the secluded place that I had found years ago. It was the one place where I always went when I felt troubled. It was a place that Kyle respected since he knew that whenever I went there it was because I was seriously pissed or hurt. It was a place no one except for Kyle knew about, till now. I walked leading Nate to the far off part of the park that was full of trees that would hide me while I turned and ran around burning off my anger. Once we got near the edge of the trees I broke into a run and once I was sure I was hidden from prying eyes took off my clothes and turned before I started running again. I ran and ran for a long time, just hearing the sounds of the animals that lived in the park, smelling the people that had ventured near this part and feeling the air move along my fur and my whiskers. I stopped when I felt like I was about to pass out. But I still felt frustrated, like somehow just running wasn’t enough. Why wasn’t it enough? It normally was. Why couldn’t I calm myself down today? I felt frustration bubble up and a loud roar make its way out of my body and I let it. My throat felt sore when it finally ended but I succeeded in what I had been wanting. There was no anger, no frustration, no sadness, no nothing, just emptiness. I slowly made my way back to where I had left my clothes hours ago. As I got closer, through the trees I saw that Nate was still there, laying on the grass and idly playing with a small pile of grass he had in his stomach. When he heard my steps he sat up suddenly looking around until I pushed through the trees and bushes coming into view. His eyes went wide when he saw me and his jaw went slack.

“Wow.” He said as he continued to look at me.

                I stared at him as he continued to examine me.

“Danny, you… I mean… you’re huge.” He said.

                I frowned. I wasn’t particularly big, I was just a normal sized tiger. Then it dawned on me that he was a cheetah, so yeah, a tiger was pretty big in comparison.

“Can I…? I mean, I’d get if you don’t want to, but you’re just so… Can I…?” He asked again looking at me.

                Instead of answering I got close to him and lay down on my stomach in the soft grass. I felt the warmness of his hand get tentatively closer to my fur and I felt him doubt for a second before touching me. He pressed his hand into my fur and then started moving it up and down my back, running his fingers through the strands.

“It’s so soft.” He said under his breath.

                I snorted. What did he expect it to be like? Wiry?

“Yeah, I know it was a stupid remark but it’s just the first time I’ve ever felt a fur so soft.” He said still running his hands through my fur.

                I laid my head on my paws and closed my eyes letting him feel my fur as much as he wanted. I had to admit that it felt good to have him caress my fur like I was some sort of domestic animal. I felt myself starting to purr and Nate immediately pulled his hands off of my fur. I let out a discontented noise and opened my eyes to look at him. He looked a little scared and I frowned.

“What is it? What did I do? Did I hurt you or something?” He asked.

                My frown deepened even more. What was he talking about?

“That noise, the one you just made. It sounded like a growl. What happened?” He asked.

                I felt my features soften and I snorted.

“That was a purr.” I said in a voice that was a few octaves lower than my own normal voice.

                My larynx lengthened and expanded when I became a tiger and so my vocal chords did the same, making my voice sound much, much lower than normal. Kyle’s actually sounded a little higher when he turned and so he hated talking when he turned. He only did with me because we were best friends after all, and he trusted me. I chuckled at the memory of his little high pitched voice.

“Wow. So that’s what a tiger sounds like when it’s purring?” He asked putting his hand on my fur again.

                I nodded slowly and closed my eyes again. He continued running his hand through my fur without saying anything for the longest time and I let him, relaxed and happy where I lay on my patch of grass.

“I’m sorry.” He said suddenly.

                I opened my eyes and looked at him.

“For what I said. I shouldn’t have said that.” He said not looking at me directly but at the patch for fur he was running his hand through. “It just makes me so frustrated to watch you slowly become more and more… boney. Like your ribs and hips protruding like that and your wrists becoming more slender. And I get frustrated because I feel like you’re doing this to yourself because of him but you’re obviously not. I mean, you can’t be enjoying watching yourself become skinnier, you can’t be enjoying not eating at all and knowing it’s not right yet not being able to do something about it. And I know that, logically I know that. But my heart doesn’t seem to get it and every time I see your wrists, and today when I walked in when you were changing and I saw your ribs and hips, I felt a tug on my stomach. I wished so hard for you to just get over that guy already so you could go back to your normal life. But then I realized that in the end it didn’t matter how much I wished for you to get better because things wouldn’t change. Because life isn’t that easy.” He finished in a bitter tone.

                I tilted my head a little to the side, thinking about what he said. He was right life wasn’t that easy, and wishes didn’t come true just like that, but that didn’t mean it didn’t matter. In fact, listening to him telling me that he cared and worried about me, made me feel a bit better. Because I knew that someone had my back, that someone wanted me to be happy. It did matter, at least to me it did. I got up and off the grass startling Nate. I went to my clothes and grabbed them gently with my mouth, not wanting to tear them. I then made my way to the edge of trees and bushes around the small clearing, and pushed through. Once I was sure he couldn’t see me I turned back to my human form and put on my clothes before heading back to where Nate was.

“Why did you change?” He asked looking confused.

“So I could do this.” I said plopping right in front of him and hugging him.

                He stiffened for a moment before he tentatively wrapped his arms around me and hugged me back. I felt tears prick my eyes and my throat close up and I fought it. I didn’t want to cry. At least not yet. I had something to tell him before that. I pulled back and sat on the grass beside him.

“It does matter.” I said simply.

“What?” Nate asked sounding confused.

“What you wish, it does matter. At least it matters to me.”

                Nate didn’t say anything for a few moments.

“It does?” He asked.

“Yeah, it does because it means that you care and that you worry about me. It means that you want me to be happy. It means that I’m not alone, you know?” I said turning to look at him before looking away, at the trees. “It’s a complicated thing to explain, but I’ve always felt kind of lonely because it’s always been just Kyle and me. I’ve never had anyone else. Not even the kids in school. Kyle’s always been kind of grumpy and so nobody really talks to him, and since I was always with him, consequently, nobody ever talked to me either. But now that, you know, we’re not together anymore, and we don’t have to be joined at the hip, I felt even lonelier, because I suddenly realized that I had no one else. That it was just me. But now, I know that you care and I feel like I’m not alone anymore. Did that make any sense?” I asked chuckling weakly as my body betrayed me and my tears began to spill down my cheeks.

“It made all the sense in the world.” Nate said gently and I felt him wipe my tears tenderly. “I know right now it must feel horrible, like you’re alone with your sadness and nothing’s right, and that it’s just you against the world, but things will change. You’ll begin to notice that you’re actually not alone with everything that you’re feeling, that you can trust people, that not everything is wrong, and that it’s not just you against the world because other people are willing to stand beside you. You just need to give it time, and you’ll start noticing that you’re not as alone as you thought you were. For now, you know that you have me and Claire to count on.”

                I turned and stared at Nate’s profile for a few seconds. How did he get so wise? How could he know exactly what I was feeling? It seemed to me that he was talking from experience and I wondered silently what had happened to him that had made him learn all that. Nate turned to look at me and I just kind of got lost in his beautiful blue eyes. They were a tone of blue around the pupil and then as it reached the edge of the iris they were a paler tone of blue, and they had deep blue high lights. I swear I had never seen a pair of eyes like Nate’s. I saw he was staring at me too, his mouth hanging a little open, like he had been about to say something. I swallowed and looked up into his eyes again, I wouldn’t let myself look at his mouth or who knows what would happen.

“Thank you.” I whispered, not wanting to disrupt the little bubble in which we were.

“You’re welcome.” He whispered back.

                I didn’t notice that I had started to lean closer until right then. I felt his words against my skin and shivered. I pulled back and got up in one fluid movement. I ran my hand through my hair and took a deep breath, then turned towards Nate who looked taken aback by the sudden movement.

“It’s getting late.” I said offering him my hand.

“Yeah, I guess.” He said taking my hand and getting up.

                We dusted ourselves off and started to head back to the apartment. It had been about a week or so since Kyle had gone back to his house and I still hadn’t been able to go pay him a proper visit. It wasn’t like I hadn’t tried to visit him, I had call him almost every day to ask if I could come over and help him or something, but every single time I had called he had told me that he was busy studying with Paul. I got a little bad feeling about Kyle spending so much time with Paul. That guy was just a mystery and I rather liked to steer clear from him. Not that I hated him or something like that, I just avoided him as much as I could. Nate on the other hand hated the guy with all his might. I wondered about that for what had to be like the millionth time.

“Penny for your thoughts.” Nate said suddenly pulling me out of my thoughts.

“I was just wondering why you hated Paul. I mean there’s obviously some history there and I was just wondering what could’ve happened to make a normally happy guy like you hate someone.” I said.

                Nate didn’t say anything for the longest time and I thought that maybe I had crossed a line or something.

“It’s a complicated story.” He said finally.

“Alright.” I said not wanting to pry.

“No, it’s not alright.” Nate said sighing. “It’s just so complicated and it’s so confusing even for me, that just imagining telling it to someone tires me out. I will tell you one day, I promise, but for now, please bear with me, I’m really not in the mood to talk about that.”

“No, when I said it was alright I really did mean it. I know all about complicated stories that you’re just not in the mood to either tell or remember.” I said giving him a rueful smile.

“Thank you.” Nate said giving me a gentle smile. “For understanding, I mean.”

                We went into the building and made our way to the elevator. Once in Nate sighed again and I turned to give him a look. What was he sighing about?

“I know it’s hard to believe that things will get better, but I promise they will. I mean we’ve already hit bottom, there’s nothing lower than this, which means things can only get better.” Nate said.

“Once you’re this low, there’s no other way but up.” I said chuckling.

“Exactly.” Nate said turning to smile at me.

                Right then the elevator doors opened and I opened the door, letting Nate go in first. I smiled again as I closed the door to the elevator. He was right. Things could only get better.