“I’ve shown you where you can get books in your stupid language,” Zack hummed back, standing up and smiling a little at the Human’s playful tone. He matched the tone, too, in a good mood.
“I can give you something to do. Come on, I wanna show you the lake.”
Bryn smiled, strolling over to where Zack was standing and humming softly in confusion when he realized the paints weren't out here. Weird. He hummed, mock thoughtfully, and finally nodded. "Only if you pinky promise to get some new books with me, though. It's weird to go without you."
“I won’t,” He just hummed, trotting forward to the stream directly across from his favorite spot. It rushed softly downhill and into some bushes. He sighed happily and started walking with the stream, humming happily. “Just follow me you dummy. It’s really pretty. A lot of mates come down this way.”
"Oh?" Bryn smirked up at Zack, batting his eyelashes playfully as he picked his way down to the stream, strolling a few feet behind him. "A real lover's lane, huh? Are you finally going to admit your feelings for me?"
Zack rolled his eyes, not reddening at Bryn’s tease. “You wish. Maybe now’s your time, eh?” He glanced at the other once with a slight smirk crossing his face as he walked nonchalantly. “You said you wanted to see it.”
Bryn snickered and nodded, looping one of his arms through Zack's carefully as they walked. He missed having a person to hold and Zack always made him feel better, not that Bryn'd ever admit to being lonely. "Yeah, yeah. I'm surprised you're even offering to show it to me, I thought we were still annoyed with each other over last week."
Zack actually flushed when their arms looped together, and he kept his hand crammed in his pocket. They didn’t sleep together (yet) but he was expecting Bryn to pop the question soon. He had been really lonely lately.
“Meh, whatever. I just went out and got more food. But I’m still pissed a little about the paint thing. But it was a mistake.”
Bryn leaned against him, not enough to ruin Zack's balance but enough to feel close to him. He grinned at Zack's blush, leaning up to peck him on the cheek. "I really am sorry about that. I know it sounded really sarcastic the first time, but I feel awful. I wish you'd taken me up on my offer to pay you back."
Zack probably would’ve been able to support him even if he was holding fifty pound weights. He tilted his head away a bit at the peck on his cheek, flushing more. It was just teasing, that’s it. Right?
“You seem to forget you don’t have to pay for anything down here. Don’t worry.”
"Oh yeah, I forgot you left behind capitalism a hundred years ago," Bryn snarked lightly, covering up the pang he felt in his heart when Zack pulled away. They'd been building towards… something for months but Zack still couldn't seem less interested. It hurt a little each time Zack gave him a quiet but unsuble sign to fuck off. He let go of Zack's arm. "I still want to make it up to you though, are you sure there's nothing I could do for you?"
Zack’s hand quickly closed around the other’s hand as like some sort of instinct. He was quite enjoying the warm weight, the kiss just flustered him. He was sending all sorts of wrong signs to the Human and he felt bad. Maybe he should try and open up a little, too.
“We did. You don’t have to do anything, either,” He murmured quietly, as if he just grabbing the Human’s hand didn’t happen.
Bryn froze for a split second when Zack took his hand again, a soft blush warming his cheeks. He looked up at Zack in disbelief, opening his mouth to ask what this meant, before he very quickly closed it again and forced himself to start walking. This was nice, he thought, squeezing Zack's hand happily. He wasn't going to mess it up and scare Zack away for good. "C'mon, if you won't do it for yourself, do it for me." He gave Zack his best puppydog eyes. "Don't you want to help me ease my aching conscience?"
Zack glanced at the Human again past his own reddish cheeks, shrugging just the smallest bit. “There’s nothing much you can do, is there? What favor are you going to do for me that I can’t do for myself?” He had no idea what Bryn was thinking. There wasn’t really anything a Human could do for him now, except things he wouldn’t want the other doing just for him. Well, if he really wanted to… What am I thinking? He shook those thoughts out of his head, which didn’t help with his blush.
Bryn really wanted to let his eyes go all dark and seductive and press himself up against Zack's side and murmur something low about exactly what he'd let Zack do to him, but he knew that would be pushing the already fragile boundaries of their relationship. "I could help you pick out clothes, for one thing. You always look like a mess, I mean, who wears this much flannel all the time!?"
It definitely would’ve pushed it, but Zack probably wouldn’t have reacted negatively. He liked Bryn more than Bryn himself thought.
“Nah, I’m okay with clothes. Flannel’s comfy, okay?” He asked with a slight grin. He could go for just some other physical stuff, but he wasn’t going to make the Human do that. Though just a couple kisses… He tried to convince himself, and shook it out of his head.
Bryn laughed and rolled his eyes, shoving Zack playfully. "Dork. Flannel's cozy but it's also ugly as all hell. Can't you wear a sweater or something? You're always so cold anyways, it may be an improvement. Plus, if you started wearing sweaters I could steal them and that'd definitely be great."
“Flannel’s not ugly,” Zack protested faintly, frowning a little as he looked down at the Human as he talked. “I dunno. Sweaters kinda get dirty a lot. But you’d have to pay me for the sweaters. In kisses.” He was joking around, telling by the smile that appeared on his face. If he started wearing sweaters and Bryn took them, he knew he’d never get them back.
"Flannel's incredibly ugly- you're just one of the few people cute enough to pull it off." Bryn's heart fluttered at the offer and then sank slightly at the teasing smile on Zack's face. Still, he offered up a smile that would've seemed real if Zack hadn't been living with him for a month. "Well, now we definitely have to get you some sweaters. I'm always a slut for hot guys making me offers I just can't refuse."
Zack flushed more into a blush and resisted the temptation to cover his face. He mumbled something along the lines of ‘I’m not cute’ but just walked in a content silence. He had a few sweaters but just didn’t wear them. He suddenly found himself wishing he would.
The pair soon emerged from the green forest to be met with a shiny, bright blue lake. It seemed to be inhabited and no one was around. It was a very private place, that was for sure.
"Whatever you say, honey bunny," Bryn said with a soft smirk, pausing when the lake came into view. It really was beautiful, shining like a diamond in the early afternoon light. Bryn leaned against Zack again, not even realizing what he was doing as he took everything in. "This place is amazing!!"
“Yeah it is. And it’s private.” The latter statement was useless, since he had already said it before, and he blushed deeper and shut his mouth. He tried to distract himself by looking down at the stream trickling by them to make it into the lake, watching it gurgle and merge. It was a pretty area, that was for sure.
“Wanna go sit?”
"Can we swim instead?" Bryn asked hopefully, looking up at Zack for approval. Hell was surprisingly nice, but it wasn't home. He missed summers and swimming and the way he used to be able to fill up all his time so easily. He had a lot of time to be alone here, and he hated it. That was why he liked being with Zack so much, Zack made the emptiness leave for a little. Zack tamed the monsters crawling through him with his smile and his teasing and his constant presence. "We lived out on the beach for a long ass time when I was a kid, I kind of miss it sometimes."
“Oh, sure. We’d get our clothes all wet, though,” He mumbled to himself as he started walking down to the shore with the Human. The lake shore and the lake itself was almost like the realm Bryn used to live on, except it was much cleaner. Zack slipped off his shoes but that’s the only move of stripping he went to. He wasn’t entirely sure how far he should go.
Bryn, always the more shameless of the two, wasted no time stripping down to his underwear. "So don't wear any," he said like it was obvious, leavinga trail of clothing in the grass behind him and he hurried down to the water's edge. He hesitated when he was there, waiting for Zack. "Now hurry up, I wanna get into the water!"
Zack turned a faint pink color and his face distorted like he just bit into a very ripe lemon. “Ah— no, I’ll stay here.” He would rather not show his almost naked self. Unlike Bryn he was marked in many scars and blemishes of the skin, and they weren’t very pretty. “You can have fun.”
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