It was now the middle of the night and Brody was once again asleep next to Adrian in his bed. Adrian was glad that Brody seemed to be able to get a lot of needed rest to recover, the sooner the better.

Adrian's throat felt dry knowing that the man in bed beside him was so openly vulnerable to him, he had never seen Brody like he has been today and now Adrian was overwhelmingly concerned for his wellbeing.

For someone who had to hold things back when he was in care, Brody was still doing it to preserve his relationships with others. He did it so there wasn't a need for dependency and to rely on other people. Brody had always been an independent person so this was all new territory for Brody, to actively seek help and comfort in others.

Adrian gently caressed the side of Brody's face, emotions welling up inside him as he looked deeply at Brody.

Adrian quietly left the bed to grab a glass of water, trying his best to not disturb Brody as he needed to hydrate himself.

Tiptoeing towards the kitchen, Adrian swallowed down a glass of water before aiming to go back to Brody. On his way back, a door opened with Ashley standing on the other side.

"Adrian?" Ashley groggily asked. "I didn't even know you were still here, what are you doing?"

Adrian was like a deer caught in headlights. "I, umm, thought it was a good idea to stick around and make sure Brody was alright for the night." Adrian had technically told the truth, just not the specific reason that neither of the pair wanted to Brody to sleep alone tonight.

Ashley peered over to the living room and saw how the couch was uninhabited, no spare pillows or blankets or anything that suggested he was staying on the couch.

Trying his best to reason with everything as he watched Ashley's gaze drift to the couch. "Brody said the couch would be too uncomfortable, considering I was doing him a favour and all."

Ashley noticed Adrian's attire. "And that's why you're walking around the hallway in just your underwear?"

Adrian's eyes popped out of his head as he looked down and saw that all of his skin was on show, in front of Ashley. Doing his best attempt to cover himself up, Adrian tried to laugh it off.

"I'm just going to ignore all of this." Ashley gestured at the lack of clothes, which at the same time Adrian quietly rushed to grab a random t-shirt from Brody's room before going back to Ashley.

"You decided to stay the night for Brody?"

Adrian scratched the back of his neck as he didn't expect the night to turn into an interrogation. "Yeah I thought it would be better for me to stay the night, you know how Brody always puts on a brave front and everything. I thought I should stay with him, just in case he needs anything."

Surely enough Ashley seemed to accept that. "Well I think it's so nice for someone to care for Brody so much like that, like you do." Adrian was humble to accept that as he agreed, he did care for Brody so much like that. "Brody is really lucky to have someone like you in his life."

"I'm just doing what any good friend of Brody's should do." Adrian politely told her.

Ashley was quick to quip back with a counter argument. "Brody has lots of friends, but not all of them are staying with him in the middle of the night to check if he needs anything or not, especially after everything that has happened to him in the last 24 hours."

Adrian felt that he was caught out on that, he was sure that he didn't want to leave Brody alone just yet, the earlier panic event highlighted that.

So he tested the water to see if the idea of Adrian staying around for the night was what Brody wanted.

"And not every friend is quick to drop everything to just check up on him - especially if they've only known each other for less than a month."

Ashley continued to build the bigger picture as she was connecting everything together. Adrian at the same time didn't know what to do.

"I know it's the middle of the night and I have no right to intrude in your personal life, but I really do want to know. Is this just some sort of modern day kind of friendship that I don't understand? Or is there something... more?"

And there it was, Ashley hit the head on the nail and Adrian was exposed. He knew he could have denied everything, he could have pretended that everything she said was fake.

But he chose not to.

"Brody's my boyfriend..."

Ashley appeared to process the information in her mind after hearing about their relationship.

"He's having a rougher time with it all than we all thought, and I wanted to stick around and support him the best way I can. I want Brody to feel like he can come to me for help whenever he needs me, even if he is stubborn in his own kind of way."

After Adrian's feelings were hung out in the air for a while, Ashley went in to quickly hug Adrian. Mildly surprised at the action, he returned the hug as Ashley spoke softly into his ear. "I meant what I said earlier, I'm glad he has someone like you."

The conversation seemed to just end like that, probably saved for another day as it was getting late. Ashley went back into her room, so Adrian settled back into Brody's bed after closing the door.

Brody seemed to become conscious as his hands was reaching out beside him. Adrian grabbed the hand and kissed it. "It's just me, go back to sleep."

Brody silently accepted that as his eyes remained closed, his body settling back into sleep mode as his breathing remained stable.

Adrian stayed close to Brody so that their bodies were touching. He soon fell asleep with his boyfriend next to him, holding his hand and making sure he was safe and secure for the night.

~~~~~~~~~~

It was the morning after and Brody rolled over to see had woken up alone in his bed. He wasn't covered in sweat, or exhausted from being woken up by any nightmares. In fact, Brody would say he had a good nights sleep, no eventful dreams disturbing his slumber.

Adrian was still definitely in the apartment as his clothes in Brody's room indicated he hadn't left yet. Brody wanted to go look for him when Adrian himself came through the door, holding a breakfast tray.

"Morning." Adrian peacefully whispered.

In only his underwear and one of Brody's shirts, Adrian settled himself back onto the bed and placed the tray besides Brody.

Greeting him with a soothing kiss, "Morning, what's all of this?" Brody indicated to the tray of food now on his lap.

"This is my specialty, pancakes. My first time cooking for you had to be somewhat memorable and this is the best I can do." Adrian explained.

Brody grinned like it was the Fourth of July. "You finally made them for me!"

"This is kind of the first time we woke up in the morning together, where I had access to the kitchen at least." Adrian acted like all of this wasn't a big deal, but it meant a lot to Brody.

"Thanks for staying last night, it really meant a lot, with you sleeping over despite my irrational thoughts and whatever." Brody spoke earnestly as he looked at Adrian. "So yeah... thanks, for staying by my side Adrian, and for everything really."

Adrian listened intently to Brody. "I have your back, and you have mine." Adrian indicated between the two of them. "It's how, this, works."

Brody pulled Adrian into a kiss, his one functioning hand cradling his face as he deepened the kiss. Showing his gratitude and sincerity behind his actions, Brody used his actions to further describe how much he cared for the other person in his bed.

Adrian's eyelids were still heavy when Brody pulled back. When he looked at Brody his cheeks turned pink as he was slightly embarrassed.

"Our food is getting cold, don't want them turning into a waste." Brody whispered as Adrian could still feel Brody's lips next to his own.

"They're really good!"

The boys turned to the door which was already open and saw Ashley grinning at them as she helped herself to the extra pancakes Adrian had made for everyone. Leaning against the doorframe, she took another mouthful before giving Adrian a thumbs up as she left the hallway.

"Did you forget to close the door?"

Brody just watched how his separate worlds merged into one, and there was no reaction from either of them. He had expected a bigger reaction from at least one of them, with their relationship coming out like this.

"Ashley saw me here late last night, and she just kind of put a lot of things together. So I just kind of told her that we were dating." Adrian went to close the door so they had their privacy back. "Not to mention the fact that she saw me in my underwear last night as I was staying in your room, that was also probably a big giveaway too."

"And how are you taking all of this in? To have someone know you're in a gay relationship for the first time." Brody asked Adrian for an honest opinion.

Adrian shrugged his shoulders as he didn't see it as much of a big deal anymore, compared to when he first had developing feelings for Brody anyways. "What's done is done. People are going to find out eventually, might as well get it over and done with since I'm going to be around a lot more now."

Brody liked this idea, Adrian wanting to be with Brody a lot more was definitely a good sign in their relationship. As selfish as it feels, he's kind of glad their relationship is outed to Ashley. No more hiding how he feels about the boy next to him, he can happily embrace the first healthy relationship he has with another person and not be scared about the any comeuppances.

"You're not mad are you? You're just, really silent at the moment and I feel this is something you should have a stance on." Adrian was nervous that he outed their relationship to Ashley when they had never talked about coming out to people before. And now he did it without considering how Brody would react, Adrian was pensive.

"Of course I'm not mad, I just wanted to go with whatever pace you are comfortable with. If you're happy, then I'm ecstatic. Because it just means that we're both in this for the long haul."

Adrian dropped any shadows of doubts once he heard that. "I'm definitely in this for the long haul."

Smiling back at his boyfriend, "Me too."

Hearts fluttered and their skin tingled with a marvellous sensation as Adrian gave Brody one last passionate kiss.

Deciding that he didn't want their pancakes to get any more colder, Adrian fed Brody the pancakes because they were sitting on his plate for far too long.

~~~~~~~~~~

Adrian had just finished cleaning up the mess he made in the kitchen when he came back to Brody. Brody was still in bed, now with one of his shirts on and holding a book in his hand.

Adrian grabbed his jeans and belt as he put them on. "Now that Ashley knows, I want to tell Adam, about us."

Brody looked up from his book to see Adrian was sorting his hair out in the mirror. "Do you want me to come with you? For like moral support or something?"

Adrian finished putting his jacket on when he sat on the foot of the bed. "You, should just stay home and rest. Once I'm done talking with Adam I've got to run some errands for my mom, and then I have a long shift working afterwards. I doubt you would want me to drag you around all day anyway."

"Are you sure you're ready to do all of this?" Brody questioned.

"It's only some errands, not a marathon or anything like that." Adrian joked, knowing that he was talking about coming out to Adam. Adrian looked at Brody who seemed more serious now. "I'm ready. Slowly but surely, I want everyone to know how I'm dating this certain pretty boy that I like so much."

"I'm proud of you, you know that? Coming out is big step to take."

Adrian agreed and even though he felt nauseous over the idea of being rejected by Adam, he was going to go through with it regardless. Taking his words to heart, Adrian felt the warmness from Brody. "How about a kiss, for Dutch courage?"

"Come here then."

==========