The rest of the night, earn remained close to Pete. Just in case anything bad happens is how he rationionalised his behaviour. As stalkerish as it seemed, Earn was right. The moment came after 5 rounds of shots. Already unsteady on his feet, Pete miss placed his foot at the edge of the elevated dance floor. Moving as fast as he could, earn swooped in and caught the limp body. Looking down at him, Pete looked like he passed out. Worried, Earn tapped his face and shouted his name over the booming electronic music. Pete opened his eyes and smiled a drunken but content smile. He whispered "your here". Pete placed his arms around Earn's neck and whispered "lets go home".

Earn took that as a cue to get Pete out of the overcrowded club. "Ok, I'll take you home"

"no, our home"

"yeah yeah, sure." God how drunk are you? Putting am arm around his waist and holding on to Pete's arm, earn carried Pete towards the exit. The taxis were abundant outside of the club, Earn easily hailed down a taxi and carefully pushed Pete in to the back seats. However, as Pete was incoherent and couldn't find his keys. They ended up outside of Earn's house instead. Climbing up the stairs towards Earn's bedroom was not easy. Occasionally slipping here and there. Earn was basically dragging Pete's body around.

Placing Pete carefully on to his bed. Earn sits on the edge of the bed next to Pete, who was dead to the world. Earn wipes a sheen of sweat off his forehead. Obviously Earn's lung was a bi*ch, because he huffed and puffed for at least 10 minuets. Or maybe i am just that out of touch. Calming down, Earn looks towards Pete. His face was peaceful and serene. As always. Without much thought, Earn leans towards Pete and swipes a lost strand of hair away from his face. What am I doing? His hand remained there for a long time as he watched Pete sleep. Lost in bewilderment about how Pete has not changed one bit. There may be one or more wrinkles where it used to be smooth and there might be a darker grey under his eyes. But Pete's lips, has not changed a bit. Still plump and red. What am i thinking?

Enticing is a good word for it. Vison blurring and skin tingling, Earn can feel the affects of the mixture of his medication and the very little beer he drank. Funny how getting drunk faster is a side effect of antidepressant medication. They should put that in capital letters. Naturally leaning closer, as his head becomes heavier and heavier. Earn continued to stare at Pete's lips with stupidly intense concentration, he is inches away from his target.

10 cm away

5 cm

4 cm

3 c.....

"burrhh" Pete gaged. Instinctively ducking away from possible projectile vomit, Earn backed away. "Burrr, errrr" Pete gaged over both himself, Earn and the formally clean floor. Huffing from the exertion, Pete laid back on to the bed, chest moving rapidly up and down.

"yep, thanks Pete" suddenly dead sober, Earn scanned his vomit stained t-shirt. "thank god i didn't make an effort tonight". Stripping himself of his t-shirt and his partially tainted jeans, leaving him only one embarrassingly childish piece of clothing, his boxer shorts. Throwing them in the sink, he grabs a mop and start working at the mess. Once finished, he quickly moves on to Pete.

Wrapping his large hand behind Pete's head and shoulders, he pulls Pete in to a siting position. Being careful not to let Pete's shirt touch him, Earn gingerly peeled the shirt up and over Pete's head. Pete moans to show his discomfort, "stay still Pete, try to stay siting up ok?" Pete didn't reply but held himself still. Earn pulled his arms out of the shirt one by one, checks out the brand of the shirt and his eyebrows naturally arch. He is going to regret this tomorrow.

With the shirt finally off, earn gets to work with cleaning Pete up. Using a warm towel and holding Pete's chin, Earn wipes Pete's face first. Pete's face shines in the moonlight and Earn once again is reminded of his short-lived yet confusing infatuation with Pete's lips just 10 minuets ago. Staying there for a little longer than necessary, Earn breaks the spell he casted on himself and wrings the towel in the bowl of water. Moving on to Pete's torso, Earn pushes the towel against Pete's body, creating a motion that was too much for Pete to cope with. Pete's head goes first, rolling back and collapses towards the wooden bed frame. 

Catching this in the corner of his eyes, Earn cups Pete's head and shoulder and pulls him straight in to his chest. Pete rests his head softly against Earn's pecs, as if he always belonged there.

"mmmmm" Pete groaned.

Feeling the warmth of Pete's flushed cheeks and the warm breath blown against his chest, tickling his hardening s, his heart skips a beat. From this angle, Earn has a clear view of Pete's toned muscles on his back, smooth skin and a straight spin leading to his pert @ss. The loose fitting of Pete's jeans around the waist allowed Earn to stare intensely in to it.

Feeling his body tense, heating up and certain areas hardening, Earn takes in shallow breaths as his mind reels with how familiar this seems. Confused and aroused, he lowers Pete's head gently on to the pillow. I need to stand up. I need to do more than just stand up....

Earn paces the room for a good 5 minuets, asking himself countless questions that all had the same theme. Turning towards Pete, as if it will give him the answers he is seeking, Earn watched a exposed and vulnerable Pete splayed on his bed. The moon light accentuating bulges that Earn shouldn't be noticing. Yep, I need a shower. A cold one.

"mnnnnnnn" moaned Earn. Sun beams sneakily seeped through the curtains and land right on Earn's face. Earn turned towards his right to find Pete sat up on the edge of the bed watching him. Last night, after a extremely cold and somewhat painful shower, Earn made sure to leave plenty of space between himself and Pete before failing asleep.

"morning."

"morning. How you feeling?" rubbing his eyes, siting up and facing Pete. Earn tried to blink through the burn of the sun. With the sun behind Pete's back, his face blurred and stayed hidden under the bright light.

"fine. My head feels a little heavy but you know......"

"yeah, you drank a lot." Finally able to withstand the brightness, Earn observes that Pete watches him with trepidation and ...... Hope? Earn was never able to read Pete, even though they were best friends and really close, Earn would always be surprised with some of the choices Pete made. And with them being apart for such a long time, Earn struggles even more reading his best friend.

"yeah I did" Pete replies. "I haven't drank like this for a long time"

"don't you get drunk in England?

"not really"

Earn is glad he is finally having a conversation with Pete. He missed him, even though he was now in the country. "when are you going back to England?"

"next week, Monday."

"next week! That quick? Can't you stay longer?"

Pete opens his mouth to reply, but closes them again as wrinkles appear on his forehead. Since the moment Earn woke up, Pete has not taken his eyes off him. The intensity of the stare makes Earn think that Pete is expecting him to do something. They stayed silent for a long time before Earn asked " You ok? Your making me ..." just at this moment, Earn's phone rings and Nam's name flashes in capitals across his phone. With out thinking, Earn grabs the phone.

"Nam?" Earn holds the phone tightly in his grasp, showing how nervous he is.

"Hi. Are you free now?"

"yeah, I'm free. I'm always free. " reassured Earn.

"can we meet up? We should talk"

that is never good. Is this the end? Again.... Against his better judgement, Earn replied "sure. I'll get ready now. I missed you Nam"

Silence.

"I've missed you too" Nam repeated meekly.

Feeling optimistic now, Earn smiles and hangs up the phone. This might be not be a bad talk. There are good talks right? i need to get dressed. Standing up and running towards the bathroom. Earn tried to make himself look as good as possible. A really quick shower and a frantic tooth brushing that borderlines self abuse, coupled with careful use of hair gel resulted in a clean and optimistic Earn he hasn't seen in a long time. Feeling like he forgot something, Earn borrows his brows as he tries to think. Pete!

Rushing to get ready made Earn completely forget that Pete was still in his bedroom. Opening the bathroom door a little too aggressively, he finds a empty bedroom. It looks like Pete grabbed his stuff and left. No note, no goodbye. Earn's heart sinks. Then suddenly, like a heart attack, Earn grabs his chest, exactly where Pete's head laid last night, as he bares through the pain that is radiating though his veins. Its like someone is squeezing his heart and not letting go. Confused about why this is happening, Earn assumes its just another panic attack and quickly pushes beta blockers down his throat.