Chapter 16

" I 'm just so happy you're okay!"

"Me too, Mom."

"You are so lucky they found you out there when they did." Julia squeezed her son's hand. "How did you even get lost in the forest!?"

"I don't know, Mom. I just … got separated from everyone." Cory sighed. "I'm sorry."

Julia said nothing but bent over to kiss her son's forehead again before her attention was pulled to a nurse who had just walked in the room. She quickly stepped over and began to pepper the nurse with questions as they attempted to write something on the room's whiteboard.

"Believe it or not, she's actually calmer than she was when I was on the phone with her last night," Stephanie commented from her side of Cory's bed. "She was pretty much ready to have the army called in to go look for you."

"The forest would probably be blanketed with search parties if I hadn't called her this morning," Cory noted.

"Yeah." Stephanie slapped Cory on the arm. "Don't be such a fucking idiot next time."

"Oww." Cory rubbed his arm. "It's not like I did it on purpose."

"I know. I'm glad you're okay." She squeezed his hand. "So, other than being in the hospital, you look good. Happy, even. Something happen?" Stephanie pointedly looked between Derek and Nic sitting in opposite corners of the far side of the room.

"We talked. Worked through a few things." Cory smiled as he watched the two boys, each dealing with his own parents, one in person and one on the phone. "But we still have a ways to go before…" Cory trailed off as his mother walked back over to rejoin them, bringing the nurse with her. He gave Stephanie a look—they'd talk later, too.

As Julia oversaw the nurse examining her son, Nic was attempting to do damage control with his own very upset parents. His sisters stood off to the side together, eagerly awaiting the verbal tongue-lashing their elder brother was about to receive.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Raphael interrogated his son.

"Driving during the middle of a storm in the dark ?" Luciana added. " ?Eres estúpido?"

"Cory needed help!" Nic defended. "I couldn't just leave him out there."

"You could have been killed!" Raphael fought the urge to raise his voice in the hospital room.

"Dad, if you knew one of your best friends was in trouble, would you just sit around doing nothing?" Nic wasn't going to feel bad about what he did.

"I would… I would…" Raphael sighed. "I'm just glad you're safe, mijo."

"Don't you ever do something like that again." Luciana pulled her son in for another hug.

"I won't, Mom." Nic smiled and hugged his mom before feeling his father join in from the side. "I promise."

" What!? " Daniela squawked, incredulous at the group hug taking place before her. "That's it ? He's not even going to get yelled or anything!?"

"Daniela, can't you just be happy that your brother is okay?" Raphael sighed as he turned to his eldest daughter.

"We would have been grounded for a month if we did something like this!" Gabriella joined her sister in voicing her feelings about her brother getting away with what seemed like murder.

"Then I guess you better never do something like this, eh, chica?" Luciana joined her husband as the Herrera family began to argue in their corner of the room.

Nic sighed. He loved his family. Right? He looked over to see Cory's mom fussing over him and then turned to see what Derek was doing without his own parents in the room to suffocate him.

Derek wished he could say he was that lucky, but no, he was also dealing with his parents—just via phone call.

"How did you get lost in the woods?" Derek's mother's voice came across the line. Linda sounded far from pleased.

"No, Mom, I wasn't lost. Cory was," Derek tried explaining. "I went out to find him."

"Well, how did Cory end up lost in the woods?" Robert, Derek's father, had questions of his own. "How'd you get separated?"

"I wasn't out there with him, Dad." Derek sighed.

"Why was he alone?" Robert was used to the three boys being together.

"He wasn't alone. There was a party." Derek tried to disguise the frustration in his voice. What little information his parents gathered had all came secondhand. "I just decided not to go. Then the storm came in, and it was canceled, but Cory was still out there."

"And you took off on your own like that?" Linda chimed in. "Derek, that's so dangerous! You could have been hurt."

"I was fine, Mom," Derek half-lied. "I had Nic with me. Once we found Cory, we rode out the rest of the storm out in the cabin."

"Is the cabin okay? What about your car?" Dad questioned.

"I didn't use my own car, and the cabin's fine, Dad." Derek was starting to get whiplash being bounced between his two parents.

"I'm just glad you boys are all okay." Linda steered the conversation back to what mattered. "I don't ever want you running off like that again without telling me first."

"How was I supposed to tell you, Mom?" Derek was done hiding his annoyance. "You haven't been home in months."

"I…" Linda didn't have a response to that. "I'm sorry, Derek. Actually … your father and I are coming home a little early now, next week."

"You are?" Derek was dumbfounded. He hadn't even bothered keeping track of when they were supposed to be home.

"Yes. We've been gone longer than usual, son." Robert confirmed their plans. "Hopefully when we get home, we can talk and catch up on everything."

Derek was silent for a moment, completely caught off guard. "Yeah, Dad. Sure."

"We love you, sweetie," Linda told her son.

"Love you, too." Derek looked around the room as he spoke, watching his other two friends engrossed with their own families. Last night had led to a lot of things changing. Hopefully for the better.

It was a few hours before Cory would be released, and Julia insisted that Derek come over and spend the night at their place, not wanting him alone after everything. Derek accepted, hiding his reluctance due to not knowing how Cory felt about it, though Cory himself made no objection.

Nic went home with his parents, and Derek, after getting Jackson's number from Stephanie, texted him to let him know he was driving his Jeep back to the diner. He left the doors unlocked, tossing the keys in the glovebox when he swapped over to his own car, smirking as he imagined Jackson's stress over his car's security. He then drove to his house, changed, packed for the night, and headed to Cory's.

Things felt much weirder than it had any other time Derek had been over. After eating an oversized lunch Julia had prepared for them, the two boys went up to Cory's room alone. After a few minutes of awkward silence, both boys attempted to break the ice at the same time.

"So do you want to—"

"I think we should—"

After both stopped, Derek motioned for Cory to continue, letting him take the lead on things here.

"I know we still have a lot of things to talk about," Cory started to explain his plan for the evening. "But we need Nic here for that. He probably won't be able to come over here until tomorrow, so for tonight do you think we could … press pause on all of that stuff and just hang out? Like we used to?"

"Yeah." Derek smiled at Cory. He could do that. "Smash Bros.?"

The two spent the rest of the evening together, playing video games and watching TV, any thoughts of sex or romance buried under the mountain of pizza the two eventually ordered. Things didn't get weird again until it was time for bed. The boys had shared a bed hundreds of times in the past—hell, they cuddled in one last night—but for some reason, Derek felt like he should be sleeping on the floor. Cory had to physically pull him onto the bed, assuring him that it was fine. Before the two slept, a few texts back and forth with Nic confirmed that he'd be coming over the following day to talk.

The two boys woke late in the morning, eventually plied out of bed with the promise of breakfast, once again far larger than it needed to be. Cory and Derek then headed back to his room to kill time until Nic got there.

Just before noon, a knock on the front door signaled his arrival.

"Hey, Ms. Davis," Nic greeted Cory's mother when she opened the door.

"Nic! Good to see you, sweetie." Julia gave him a hug after letting him in. "The boys should be in Cory's room. I'm actually about to run out to the grocery store, so I'll see you when I get back."

"Thanks!" Nic headed down the hall to Cory's room, finding the door open and Cory and Derek sitting on the bed waiting for him. "Hey, guys."

"Hey." Derek smiled.

"Hey. Mind closing the door?" Cory asked. "In case Mom comes back."

Nic closed the door before sitting in Cory's empty desk chair. Once again, an awkward silence filled the room, no one quite sure how to proceed, but all of them knowing they needed to.

"So, we need to talk about stuff, right?" Nic had had enough of these difficult conversations lately and decided to bite the bullet.

"Yeah," Cory concurred. "I need… I think I need to say some stuff. Just get it out of me." He took a deep breath. "Sometimes it feels like I have all this anger and frustration that just keeps building up right—" Cory raised his hand to his chest. "Here. So let me just say everything I need to say first."

Derek turned his body to fully face Cory as both he and Nic waited for him to continue.

"A few months ago, when we all…" Cory started a thought but changed his mind. "No, when you both made things end the way they did. That… That fucking sucked . Both of you sucked.

"Derek." Cory turned toward Derek on the bed to his left. "When I tried talking to you in the car about things that we needed to talk about, you blew up on me. You didn't just yell at me. You kicked me out of your car." Cory hugged his knees. "I still remember what it felt like being left on that curb.

"It wasn't even you blowing up that was the problem. That wasn't great, but we've yelled at each other before. But you were mad at me for just trying to talk to you . It was like I had the sudden realization that I couldn't talk to you anymore at all. Not like my best friend, not like we used to. I felt so … alone. Abandoned.

"Then came Nic." Cory turned to his right toward Nic's chair. "That night, the night you… The night before everything happened, when you came over. I know you were drunk, so I don't know how much you actually remember, but that night was…" Cory searched for the right word. "I don't know. Special? It felt different. What you were doing. I mean, fuck, you—" Cory cut himself off for a second to glance at Derek, caring for only a moment if any of this was new info for him before continuing. "You kissed me. A lot. We spent almost the entire night together fucking and making out and cuddling. It felt like a lot more than just sex.

"And then you were just … gone. No message, no note… The bed was cold. And when I saw you at school, you pretended like you forgot the whole thing. You looked me in the eye and told me that everything from the night before was a blank." Cory paused and sniffled, starting to lose the fight to keep his emotions in check. "You were still wearing the bandage I put on your hand. Your excuse didn't even make sense. How did you even get home?" Cory gave a sad chuckle. "Even after all the kinky shit we've done together, I don't think I've ever felt so used. It wasn't just sex. You took advantage of how I f-felt about you." Cory sniffled again, a tear escaping.

"Cor, I'm sor—" Nic wanted to comfort the boy but was stopped when Cory put his hand up, composing himself before continuing.

"You guys were my best friends. You were more than that. You were practically my entire world at that point. It was like you both spent all that time making sure I'd feel close to you and then did everything you could to push me as far away as possible. I didn't know what to do with myself."

Cory took a deep breath before raising his gaze to Nic's, letting him know it was okay to talk.

"Cory, I'm sorry," Nic finished his earlier apology. "For … using you the way I did. For lying about it the next day. For pretending like I didn't care about any of it. It did mean something to me, but I—" Nic was struggling to say the words. "I was really, really angry that day, and I used that as an excuse to get really, really drunk, and I think, maybe … I used that as an excuse to do things I really wanted to do. That I was too afraid to have done otherwise.

"That's not an excuse. Everything I did still sucks, but there's something…" Nic stared at his lap, sounding lost. "Everything in my life used to make sense. Then after that night at the cabin… No, after that night with your laptop, it all changed. And ever since, things keep happening, and it… It feels like I don't know who I am anymore.

"But like I said, that's not an excuse." Nic looked up, his own eyes watering slightly. "I-I'm sorry, Cor. I'm so sorry."

"Thank you." Cory stood and hugged him. "No matter what happens, you're still Nic."

"And if we have to, we'll figure out who you are now together," Derek offered from the bed, not wanting to intrude on their moment. But now it was his turn.

"I'm sorry too, Cory," Derek began as Cory returned to his spot on the bed.

"I never meant to make you feel the way you did. I knew I was hurting you. I could see it in your eyes when I kicked you out of the car… I scared you. I never want to make you feel like that. I want you to always be able to talk to me, especially if we're…" Derek still wasn't sure what to label any of this and didn't want to push for anything now either. "I used to look out for you, protect you, even before any of this.

"I'm realizing I might have more flaws than I can admit. That maybe I'm a little cockier than I deserve to be, that I can act like a know-it-all, that I jump into things without thinking them all the way through. And then when those things go badly, I avoid taking responsibility. And because of all of that, I screwed things up with us. With all three of us. Bad. I'm sorry to you too, Nic. You wouldn't even be in this situation if it wasn't for me."

"It's okay, D." Nic was surprised that he was receiving an apology at all. "I think even if this hadn't happened now, these things would have come out for me eventually."

"I fucked up. And I know I can't take back what happened, and I'm not asking you to do anything about it now, but I hope you can forgive me and trust me again one day, Cor. I'm sorry for everything," Derek finished his apology.

"We'll get there." Cory scooted over a little and squeezed Derek's hand for a second. "But that does lead to the next thing I need to talk about.

"Throughout this whole… Throughout everything that's happened, there's always been this … weird feeling hanging over things. This anxiety. A weight that I can't shake off. It's like this nagging feeling that I still needed to keep my guard up, that I still wasn't sure what might come next. Ever since that first night when you guys…

"When you guys got me drunk so you could fuck me." Cory laid everything out on the table. However ugly it may sound, he needed to say it. "You found out I was gay and then made a plan so you could use me to get your dicks sucked. You basically date-raped me. I never… I never let myself think about it too much. There was enough going on to distract me. But fuck, guys. You completely violated my trust and used me. I'm your best friend . You risked our entire relationship. You took advantage of me in the worst way because you were horny.

"And it didn't stop there. Things kept happening. You started doing things to me in public. You ‘loaned' me out to guys I had never met before—someone you hadn't even met before—without even talking to me. You guys never talked to me about any of it. I didn't know what we were. I didn't know how or even if I could say no. Just like that first night, I never let myself think about it too much.

"But I… I liked it. I still like it when I think about it. Even though there's some part of me that feels anger, or shame, there's another part of me that wanted all of it. Those other feelings made sense, but part of me… Part of me loved it." Cory took a deep breath. "I loved that you never gave me a choice, that you were taking advantage of me, using me. Even how you planned for the first night in the cabin. And it's confusing and feels like there's something wrong with me because why would I want more of that kind of treatment? It's not normal. Right?"

Derek moved closer and put his arm around Cory's back, and Nic squeezed himself onto the bed on Cory's other side.

"I understand how you feel. The … shame, mixed with liking it," Nic said softly. "I know it's not exactly the same but I don't think any of us expected half of this stuff."

"I don't think there's anything wrong with you." Derek squeezed Cory's side. "I mean… I liked all of the same things. I got off seeing Taylor fuck you. Using you in the school bathrooms. Even seeing you tipsy that first night." Derek went quiet. "Actually, maybe there is something wrong with me."

"I guess that's all three of us, then." Nic started running through things in his head. "Making you blow me in the woods. Fuck, I got off showing off to Taylor and Julian in the garage. Even when D was the one who sent you back to Carl when we visited the sex shop, I got like a half-chub."

"When you made me wear the vibrating plug at the football party. Or that time you guys put me in a cock cage for over a week," Cory added in a few memories, subconsciously switching from accusing to reminiscing.

Now that the tears had been shed and difficult words spoken, the air in the room was starting to shift. Without thinking, Cory reached down to adjust his growing erection. His movement did not go unnoticed, and Nic reached down to grab his own half-hard cock, making sure his movements were obvious to the other two.

"It would… It would probably be pretty messed up to get off on all of this right now, wouldn't it?" Derek posed the frivolous query, the visible tent of his own erection answering an entirely different question.

"Yes, but counterpoint," Cory offered. "We are three teenagers who are pretty much constantly horny."

"I just don't want to—" Derek was cut off by Cory's lips, which were currently on his own. Near death experiences could do wonders for self-confidence, apparently.

"I just want to take a break from talking. For now," Cory explained as he pulled back. Everything was starting to feel overwhelming, and he needed a distraction. "Please?"

Derek looked to Nic, who gave a nod.

"Okay."

The three boys moved on the bed, mimicking their positions from two nights ago with Cory lying between Derek and Nic. In the light of day, after the last night they all spent together, after everything they had just talked about, this felt so different now. New.

On his side, Nic leaned over Cory on his back, tentatively planting a kiss on his lips. Cory returned the kiss, opening his mouth once he felt Nic's tongue. He moaned softly into Nic's mouth as he felt the tongue gently swiping over his own. Cory moved his mouth in tandem with Nic, following his lead as Nic walked him through what was essentially only his third lesson in kissing.

When the two came up for air for a second, Derek moved in for his turn, putting a hand on Cory's cheek to shift his head to face him. Cory moaned again as he was kissed for the second time today, reveling in the attention being paid to him. He opened his mouth instinctively for Derek's tongue, and happily made out with his other … boyfriend? They'd figure that out later.

Cory laughed into Derek's mouth when he felt Nic's hand tapping on his chest, impatiently waiting for his turn. He released Derek's mouth and swapped back over, Nic sparing no time in deepening the kiss. The two boys traded Cory's mouth back and forth, each kiss hungrier and more urgent than the last. Laying between them, Cory basked in the attention as he was manhandled.

After a few minutes and a half dozen kisses, a horny Nic gripped Cory by the chin, nearly tearing him away from Derek's mouth as he dove in for his turn. He unconsciously growled into Cory's mouth, his hand moving from Cory's chin to his neck before he realized what he was doing. Cory felt the hand gently grabbing his neck, not tight enough to do anything, and moaned again into Nic's mouth. This caused Nic to grasp what he was … grasping.

He pulled back but did not move his hand, searching Cory's face to see how he felt. Cory, realizing that neither of these two would feel very comfortable taking the lead right now, reached his hand up and grasped Nic's wrist, squeezing and pulling it toward his neck. He wanted this.

That was all the go-ahead Nic needed, who tightened his hand slightly around Cory's throat and bent down to resume kissing. After that, both doms grew bolder in their actions, holding Cory by the hair or biting and sucking at his neck, shoulder, and ears while the other was kissing him. Cory could only groan and shudder as the boys discovered all of the sensitive spots on his body they would now be certain to capitalize on.

All the kissing was doing was getting everyone even more worked up. Derek was the first to ditch his clothing, tearing his shirt off and tossing it to the floor, feeling too warm. Nic and Cory soon followed suit, followed by all three of them losing their shorts. They were just getting in the way.

Cory reached down and took a hold of both boys' hard cocks, each already starting to leak precum. His own erection went untouched, but Cory was alright with that. He briefly thought about the cock cage and gave each cock in his hand a gentle squeeze before releasing them. As Derek and Nic continued to kiss him, he could feel each of their shafts grinding against his thighs and leaving a sticky trail in their wake.

Not used to being the one to initiate, but knowing someone had to move things along, Cory very reluctantly tore himself away from both of their hungry mouths, moving down the bed and flipping onto his stomach. Settling between Derek's legs first, he nuzzled his face against the base of Derek's cock and breathed deeply. Fuck, he missed that scent. Once Cory had had his fill, Cory left a trail of wet, sloppy kisses up the shaft of Derek's dick, enveloping the leaking head between his lips once he reached the tip.

Derek moaned as his cock was swallowed for the first time in three weeks. He moved his hand to Cory's hair, gently gripping it as he felt Cory sink down his shaft. Cory slowly bobbed up and down, reaching over with his free hand to stroke Nic's now no-longer-ignored erection. Cory used his free hand to slowly stroke Derek's heavy sack, feeling the weight of his full nuts between his fingers.

As Cory worked his shaft, Derek looked over to Nic, who looked back. This was nice. He'd missed this. Smiling, Derek threw his arm over Nic's shoulder, pulling him closer, enjoying having the chance to bond with his bro like this again. Nic chuckled and watched as Derek got his dick swallowed, patiently waiting his turn.

After Derek's meat was sufficiently moist, Cory switched over to Nic, settling between his thick, hairy thighs. Cory wasted no time in repeating what he'd done with Derek, nuzzling into the crook of Nic's thigh and nutsack, savoring the intoxicating musk he had missed so much. Unwilling to leave the source of this scent, Cory took his time working each of Nic's balls with his lips, sucking each one into his mouth and bathing them with his tongue.

And so Cory was once again swapped back and forth between Derek and Nic, each of them taking turns plundering his very willing mouth. Just as with the kissing, the boys became bolder as time went on, gripping his hair like a handle, controlling the movements of his mouth, or just outright fucking his face. Cory happily gave up his mouth, grinding his own cock into the bed beneath him.

"Are you okay to get fucked?" Nic posed the question as Cory began to work Derek's length with his mouth once more.

Pausing, Cory thought about it for a moment before nodding his agreement. Nic smiled and rolled off the bed, reaching into Cory's nightstand for his lube. Cory shifted onto his knees with Derek following suit so that Nic had enough room to move in behind Cory.

On his knees and elbows, Cory worked Derek's cock as he felt Nic's weight shift the bed behind him. He felt Nic's hand squeeze his ass before spanking it lightly. Cory moaned and arched his back, spreading his thighs wider and showing off his hole. He deep throated Derek's cock as he heard the snap of the lube cap being opened and moaned again when he felt Nic's slick fingers moving across his hole.

Nic slowly pumped his finger in and out of Cory's hole, watching the way the rim clung to it. He felt Cory shudder as he moved across his prostate, and he repeated the action steadily, feeling the tight hole twitch each time. As Nic added a second finger, Cory tried to focus on the task before him instead of behind him, but soon he was pressing back onto Nic's hand as he worked his hole open. Derek picked up the slack, holding Cory's head in place as he fucked his cock in and out of Cory's mouth.

Cory eyes were closed as he was being penetrated at both ends. He felt each pass of Nic's fingers, the way Derek's dick was stretching his lips and throat, the smell and taste of Derek's cock, the sounds of Nic's fingers pumping in and out of his ass. Cory was in heaven. But he needed more and whined around Derek's cock.

Feeling that his hole was open enough, Nic ran his slippery hand over the thick slab of his meat, smacking it against Cory's ass a few times before running the head up and down his crack. He could feel Cory pushing back, feel the fluttering of his hole as he pushed to get the head of Nic's cock inside of him.

Nic grinned and kept up his teasing a little longer before taking pity on poor, worked-up Cory and pushing forward.

Cory whimpered as his hole was breached. It had been some time since he'd taken someone of Nic's girth. Nic went slowly, letting each inch of his cock be slowly swallowed by Cory's ass, pausing occasionally when he felt Cory tighten up. Soon enough, Cory felt the scratch of Nic's hairy lower half against his ass and thighs and knew he had taken it all. Arching his back farther, Cory settled into his position, letting Derek and Nic have at it.

Nic wasted no time in starting to pump his length in and out of Cory's hole. Looking down, he was once again mesmerized by the tight hole as it was stretched and pulled along his cock. He settled into a steady rhythm, firmly driving about half his length in and out of Cory. Cory continued to whimper and moan as the thick cock scraped over his prostate over and over, making him see stars.

Derek also looked down, watching the euphoric, almost bewildered gaze on Cory's face as he was fucked silly. Holding Cory by the back of his head, Derek fed his own dick in and out of Cory's oral cavity, eventually matching with Nic's rhythm so there was never less than a foot of dick in Cory at any given moment. Both boys, upon realizing they were in sync, met each other's gaze.

Both boys were sweating as they plunged their pricks in and out of the boy between them, something they had almost become experts at over the past year or so. Derek smiled. He was happy. Nic was too. The air in the room started to thicken as they locked eyes, slowly being drawn closer together, bending over Cory's prone form. This… This was something that was missing, and they hadn't even realized it.

If asked, either boy would probably say they kissed the other first, but it didn't really matter. As soon as their mouths met, it was like this was something they had been doing for years. There was no slowness, no sweet pecks between them, no gentle guidance like they gave Cory. Just two hungry mouths fighting for dominance. And fight they did, growling into each other and biting at lips and tongues.

Cory's eyes shot open as he heard the sound of lips smacking above him. The only thing he could see, however, was Derek's hairy crotch as it drove his dick in and out of Cory's mouth. Fuck! Are they kissing?! Cory wanted to watch, dammit! Not wanting to risk killing the moment, Cory could only close his eyes and try to imagine the scene above him. They were gonna have to do a repeat show for him later or something.

The three boys moved their bodies in tandem as if this were a dance they had practiced countless times. And they had, in some ways. As Derek and Nic kissed, they each held the other steady with an arm on the other's shoulders. Their other hands were each on Cory, one behind his head and one on his hip, holding him in place as they continued to pillage his orifices. Cory's own cock was half-hard, smacking up onto his stomach as his hips were pumped forward by Nic's thrusts. He could feel the familiar signs of an orgasm building behind his balls as his hole was continuously plundered.

Cory came suddenly, his hole spasming and pushing against Nic's cock as it wracked his body. As he felt Cory lose control around his dick, Nic pounded his hips forward furiously, the knowledge that he fucked Cory until he came on his dick driving him to his own. He sank his dick to the hilt as he felt the first blast of cum shoot from his cock, pulling back and driving forward again for the second shot. And watching Nic fuck Cory through his orgasm, prolonging it and drawing out an almost continuous moan from Cory was enough to send Derek over the edge as well, forcing his cock to the back of Cory's throat for the first volley of his load, pulling back and shooting the rest into his mouth.

Carefully extracting themselves and then collapsing together in the center of the bed, the three lay together in the warmth of the room. They were each covered in a thin sheen of sweat, panting as they caught their breaths. The air in the room was still heavy. Cory would need to crack the window before his mom got home.

"That was…" Derek exhaled. "That was awesome."

"Yeah," Nic responded, Cory humming his agreement.

"So, what now?" Derek sat up, looking at Cory for guidance.

"I can't promise I won't want to talk about this stuff again. And there's still stuff that confuses all three of us," Cory explained. "But we talked about a lot, and at least right now, I'm feeling pretty good about things?"

Hearing Cory say this, Derek and Nic turned and smiled at each other.

"But I think I need to talk to Jackson now."

" What ?"

"What!" Both boys nearly shouted in unison.

"Why do you need to talk to that asshole?" Nic let the disdain he felt bleed into his voice.

"I dunno. Closure?" Cory reasoned. "It just feels weird leaving things how they are. I want to know why … why he did any of this."

The room was silent for a moment.

"Okay." Nic sputtered a protest, but Derek held his hand up. "In a public place. Where Nic and I can watch you both."

Cory thought for a moment about protesting those conditions—he had just gotten done standing up for himself. But it didn't seem like too much to ask. Jackson had hurt the two of them too, and if he was being honest, he liked the feeling of protectiveness that hearing Derek talk like that brought out.

"Okay."

Cory texted Jackson after that. When he didn't get a response, Nic sent one of his own that was a lot less … polite than Cory's. That got a response pretty quickly. Cory set up the plans—in about half an hour, they would meet up at Joe's to talk. Cory was pretty much ready to go right then, but Derek took his time because in his words, "That asshole can sit there and wait on us for a minute." Cory rolled his eyes at the obvious power play but said nothing, happy to have a ride and their support anyways.

Derek pulled into the parking lot at Joe's forty minutes later, and the boys walked in. Jackson was sitting at a booth, looking nervous as hell with a lone glass of water sitting in front of him. Cory led the group over toward his table, sliding into a seat when he was close enough. Jackson's head shot up, but he said nothing as he looked between the three boys.

"Alright, we'll be right over there, Cory." Derek pointed toward the diner's bar and started to walk over before noticing that Nic wasn't behind him, too busy giving Jackson a death stare. With a tug on his shoulder, Nic followed Derek and grabbed a stool.

"So… Hi," Cory started.

"Hi." Jackson didn't—maybe couldn't—look up from his glass on the table in front of him.

After waiting a minute to see if Jackson was going to volunteer anything, Cory said fuck it and barreled forward with what he needed to say. "So that was pretty fucked up."

"Cory… I'm so sorry. I seriously didn't expect to leave you out there like that last night. I thou—"

"I'm not just talking about last night," Cory cut him off. "I'm talking about the way you played Derek, Nic, and I against each other. Did you…" Cory tried to hide the hurt in his voice. "Did you ever even really like me at all?"

"I… Yes, Cory. I did. Do." Jackson finally met Cory's gaze. "I know you probably won't believe me, but I've actually liked you for a while."

Cory was confused but said nothing, letting Jackson continue.

"I think it was at a football game last year. Saw you hanging out with Derek. Thought you were cute." Jackson was back to staring at his still-untouched glass of water. "Didn't think much else of it until this year when I saw the three of you together again. Something seemed different. It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on."

"So, what? You were … jealous?" Cory hoped Jackson didn't expect him to feel flattered.

"No, not jealous but… I dunno. I was horny, and when I pieced together the kind of stuff you guys were doing, I wanted some too." Jackson paused then looked up at Cory. "I didn't think it would actually work, the things I was saying to cause friction."

"Well, it did." Cory turned to look at Derek and Nic, who were watching them intently. Nic was still glaring at Jackson like an over protective guard dog. "Pretty spectacularly. You basically outed me and Nic."

"I'm sorry," Jackson said softly.

"Been hearing that a lot lately." Cory sighed. "What's really fucked up is, I think if you had just talked to us? We probably would have ended up hooking up anyways, and I probably would have remembered it fondly instead of…" Cory gestured vaguely between the two of them.

"I… I'm just really sorry, Cory." Jackson didn't know what else to say. "I get if you don't wanna talk to me anymore after this."

"Not like I have to worry about seeing you in school much longer." Cory had gotten the answers he needed. They were done here. He slid out of the booth. "See you at the reunion or whatever."

"Yeah, see ya," Jackson said a sad goodbye to Cory's back as he made his way toward the bar and his two … men.

"Everything alright?" Derek asked as Cory approached.

"I think I got all I'm going to get out of that." Cory nodded his head.

"Ready to go home?" Nic slid off his stool.

"Yeah." Cory smiled. "Let's go home."