Arranged

The dream was amazing. Rhone had never had such a nice dream. Well, that wasn't exactly true. He remembered this one dream with a blonde, brunette and redhead that involved a lot of exercise and little talking.
This dream was way better than that. And there was no sex, which was shocking. This was just him and Nessa. They were just talking, lounging on his bed like it was the most natural thing in the world. And she was smiling at him.
That was the best part. She wasn't smiling at Shade or Joshua. She was smiling, laughing with him. It made him feel warm inside, peaceful. Safe.
A hand - her hand touched his forehead, soft and cool and he opened his eyes blearily. There she was. His wife. And she was giving him the softest smile.
Another dream, he thought, reaching up to touch her face. In this one, though, he wanted to touch her. Just once more.
He moved his hand to the back of her head and pulled her towards him. He pressed his lips to hers and relished in how real they felt. At how soft and pliable they were. . How sweet they tasted.
It was a gentle kiss, full of feeling and desire and love. But it was short. Way too short. But even dreams had to end. But he had to tell her. Even if it was only a dream, he had to tell her at least once.
So as his head dropped back to his pillow, he whispered, "I love you, you stupid girl."



Sade pouted in the front seat of Joshua's car as he drove. And drove. . And continued to drive.
What in hell was going on with him? Sade had no idea why, but Joshua was driving like a madman and it was obvious he had no particular destination in mind except. . well, whatever it was he had in mind.
So Sade waited in silence as Joshua sped down the highway and away from town. Sade watched the trees thin out and the sky stretch before them and wondered how long they would continue on the road.
It would be an hour and thirteen minutes to be precise, before Joshua pulled in to the city and whipped into a restaurant parking lot. He got out of the car, came around the front, and yanked open Sade's door.
Grabbing his wrist, he pulled him out of the car. "Come on," he said with a strained smile. "You must be hungry. I'm buying."
"Joshua-" Sade tried as Joshua tugged him into the building.
Joshua frowned. "What happened to 'Joshy'?" He flashed a charming smile at the waitress. "Tale for two. A private one, if you can manage."
The waitress blushed and nodded, leading them back into the dimness and to a very secluded table way in the back and away from customers.
"The waiter will be here to take your drink order in a minute," she said, handing them menus.
Joshua flashed another smile. "Thank you."
Sade waited, but when it became obvious that Joshua wasn't going to say anything, he opened the menu.
After they'd ordered, Joshua waited for the waiter to go away, slightly pissed that he seemed to be flirting with Sade. Not that that mattered, but Joshua didn't like the interest he saw in the bo- uh, Sade's eyes.
He sighed. Maybe Nessa was right. He really didn't look at Sade as anything more than a kid. Obviously, that was a problem . . But if he looked at Sade differently he had a feeling that something would change between them. Something huge. Something irreversible.
That scared him.
But they had to get past the weird awkwardness that had crept over them.
So Joshua folded his hands on the table and let his smile disappear. He had to approach the subject cautiously. Ease into the conversation. It'd be easier on Sade that way.
"This is about what happened yesterday, isn't it?" Sade asked suddenly.
Joshua jerked in surprise. So much for easing into the situation. But this was just like Sade.
"Yes," Joshua answered. "I want to know what made you so upset. It wasn't that big of a deal."
Sade looked away. "No."
Joshua felt the first traces of anger trickle in to his system. Ruthlessly, he shoved it aside. "Why not? Just tell me."
Sade's eyes snapped to his, discomfort and humiliation shining in them. "Why?" he snapped.
Joshua's anger boiled over. "Because I don't like you keeping things from me!" he yelled, slamming his fists on the table.
Sade jumped, startled, but the waiter chose that time to bring the food. Sade kept his eyes down, mumbling a "thank you" as the waiter left. Joshua merely stared in angry silence.
"Now," Joshua said, a little calmer. "Are you going to tell me what went wrong?"
Sade felt close to tears. Why was he pushing this so hard? He didn't want to ruin everything. He didn't want to tell. He didn't want to have to say goodbye, because there was no way that Joshua could ever accept this.
"I can't," he said miserably.
"Hey," Joshua cajoled. "You can tell me, Sade. I won't get mad. Promise."
Sade's eyes snapped up. "I'm not a child," he said angrily. "Promises don't work on me anymore. You can say you won't get mad, but the fact of the matter is, I'm just not going to tell you."
Joshua clenched his fist. "Why in hell not? I think I deserve to know since it was me you ran away from."
Sade gritted his teeth. "Why can't you just let it go?"
"Because I-" He stopped. He what? Why exactly did he want to know so badly? "Because I'm tired of seeing you sad," he settled. At least that much was true. That much was safe.
What the hell? Safe? What did he mean by that?
"That's all well and good," Sade said. "But it doesn't make a difference."
Joshua sighed. "Jeez. You're so difficult. Why can't you just put aside your damn fragile sensibilities so we can fix this?"
Sade bristled, hurt and angry. He stood, insulted. "Well, excuse me for being who I am."
Oops. Joshua knew he'd stepped on a land mine. He held up his hands in surrender as Sade rounded the table on him. "Now, wait just a-"
"Not this time, Joshy," Sade interrupted. "You want to know 'why' so bad, fine. I'll tell you why. Because for the past month or so I've fancied myself to be in love with you. Not that that's helped me at all. Especially waking up with you." His eyes filled as Joshua stared at him, stunned. "Do you have any idea what that was like for me? What it did to me?"
"Y-You mean, you. .?"
"Yeah," Sade snapped, more angry than he could say. "Every boy would have the same problem in that situation, but of course you don't think about that, do you? You're too busy trying to be the nice guy." Sade ran a hand across his eyes, forcing back his tears and shame and focussing on his anger. "Well, I've got news for you. Being nice can hurt."
Joshua sat back in shock. "But I. . I don't believe it."
Sade wanted to scream, throw something. He didn't believe him? What the fuck was that? God, he wanted to punch him.
Instead, he grabbed Joshua's face and planted a sloppy kiss on him, with tongue and everything. When he pulled away, he glared into Joshua's wide eyes.
"Believe that, you fucking jerk," Sade gritted, pushing away from him. He turned to leave, then looked back at the man he was going to have to start to get over. The man that was breaking his heart. "Why couldn't you just leave it alone?" he whispered, then rushed out of the restaurant, leaving the food, the cute waiter, and Joshua behind.



"I'm interrupting," Shade said stiffly, turning on his heel. "I'll come back when you're finished."
"Shade, wait!" Nessa shouted, scurrying out of her chair and hurrying down the hall.
What in hell had just happened? Did Rhone just tell her what she think he told her? But he was feverish. Delusional. But, dammit, that didn't matter since Shade had just witnessed their little scene.
She chased him down the hall, grabbing his arm. "Wait! Shade, it's not what you think! He's sick. He just grabbed me and-"
He pulled out of her grip, angry. Jealous. "That doesn't stop the fact that you let him kiss you. You didn't even resist."
"I didn't have time to," Nessa said, angry. "It's not like I saw it coming, okay?"
"But you didn't even stop him!"
Nessa flinched. On some level, Nessa knew Shade was right, but she had just been too shocked to even move. Not to mention the fact that his hand at the back of her head had kept her pretty immobile.
She must have been silent for too long because Shade stormed the rest of his way down the hall and started making his way down the staircase.
"Hey! Shade!" Nessa called, rushing after him, a little desperate."I'm sorry. Please! Wait a second, would you and let me explain?"
Shade needed to calm down. He was so fucking jealous he could kill Rhone, but that's not what Nessa needed right now. So he would try to understand.
He had made it to the entry way and turned to face Nessa, just about to tell her to get on with it when the doorbell rang.



Rhone stumbled out his door, wondering what all the shouting was about. He'd just had the worst nightmare ever. He'd dreamt he'd actually told Nessa he loved her. What a mess that would make everything.
But Nessa was yelling about something. With someone. And now someone was ringing his doorbell. It sounded like it was ringing in his head, it was so loud. But he stumbled down the stairs anyway, his head pounding and dizzy as fuck.
Jesus, Nessa better appreciate him a little after this. He was coming to her rescue. Slowly. He was coming to her rescue slowly. 'Cause there was no way he was walking any faster with the way the world was tilting.
He was just wondering if the stairs had always rolled like that when he saw Nessa walked to the door.
"Nessa. . ?" Rhone said weakly.
Shade looked his way sharply, glaring daggers for some reason or another. Rhone wasn't exactly happy to see him, either, but there wasn't much he could do about it. And he kind of forgave him for dating his wife when he rushed over to catch him when he tripped on one of the steps.
"Thanks," Rhone mumbled grudgingly.
"Yeah," Shade answered gruffly. "Guess Nessa wasn't kidding. You're pretty sick."
"You think?"
Shade rolled his eyes. "Just shut up and let me help."
Rhone shut up, but not because Shade had told him to, but because the more he talked, the more he wanted to throw up. So he stayed quiet and let Shade lower him to the steps as they watched Nessa tug open the mansion's door.
"Can I help yo-" She stopped, her whole body gong rigid, freezing on the spot as if someone had flipped her off-switch.
"Nessa?" Rhone asked.
"What's wrong?" Shade followed up, straightening.
"J-Jay. . " was all she whispered before her knees buckled and she fell to the floor in a heap.
Both Shade and Rhone rushed over, scared out of their minds for her, but Shade reached her first, bending down to try and wake her, but she was out cold.
"She just fainted," Shade said, relieving them both.
That left Rhone to deal with whatever had freaked her out.
Now that he is fear was somewhat gone, anger was left. But when Rhone took in the brown-haired, green-eyed and slightly-on-the-skinny-side, short boy, his hackles rose. This was not going to turn out well, whoever he was. And Rhone wanted him gone.
"Who the fuck are you?" Rhone growled.
The boy raised sad eyes from where he had been staring at Nessa with a longing Rhone did not appreciate, and offered them a thin and equally sad smile. His eyes went right back to Nessa. "I'm here to find Nessa."
"That's not what I asked, dickhead," Rhone snapped, crossing his arms. "Who the hell are you?"
The boy opened his mouth, but it was Shade who answered. "His name is Jay," he said, picking Nessa up and cradling her in his arms. "He's Nessa's ex-boyfriend."
Rhone pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to ignore the pounding in his head and the way his world crashed around his ears again.
"Fuck," he cursed. "Can this situation get any worse?"
Shade gave him a look. "For you or for me?"
As Rhone stared at Shade with the first feelings of understanding and camaraderie for the guy, he wasn't sure how to answer. Because, at that moment, they were on the same sinking boat.