Sean's hand twitched. A strange sensation shot through it. A groan rose from his throat as he shifted, and felt it again—a vibration...almost like something...buzzing? Rays of sunlight filtering past the treetops assaulted his eyes as he blinked, pulling himself up into a seated position. His phone was buzzing on a bed of leaves, grass, and dirt beside him.

"Oh shit." He coughed and cleared his dry throat as the realization hit him. "No, no, no, no." The list of missed calls and text messages only fueled his panic. He was in so much trouble. He pressed his free hand against his forehead beneath his bangs. It wasn't that his parents didn't allow him out, but the agreement was that he was home by 2 am... and it was well past that.

Like... alarmingly well past that.

Swallowing the massive lump lodged in his throat, he did the only thing he could think to do as his gaze drifted over the other boy's sleeping form. He texted his cousin.

Sean honestly expected to not find the guy as attractive, now that there weren't heavy shadows and excitement to blanket any imperfections, but Nate...that was his name, wasn't it? Nate was way more handsome than anyone else Sean had ever met in person. His phone startled him out of his ogling.

Annalise was FaceTiming him.

What fear and anxiety might have been lessened by the awe he was experiencing over Nate, was promptly tripled again as he answered.

"Sean? What the fu-?!"

"I'm sorry!" he sputtered, standing up.

"Are you okay!? Oh my gods, where are you?" Annalise was near hysterics. "Reg and I couldn't find you, and a few people said they saw you with some guy, and no one knew who he was, and then you weren't at home, and everyone is out looking for you!" Anna had hardly breathed in between her ranting. "Dad hasn't even left yet. He was supposed to be gone four hours ago, Sean!"

"I'm so sorry," he whimpered.

"Have you talked to your parents?!"

"No, not yet," Sean mumbled quickly, trying to get a bearing on where he was. They'd apparently walked pretty far before they'd...

"Sean?!"

"I'm coming home right now. Tell my mom and dad, please?"

Annalise rubbed her face. She looked exhausted...and it was his fault...and Sean hated it. "But you're okay?" she questioned again and received a nod.

"Yeah," Sean swallowed.

"Just get home quick," Annalise sounded a little calmer—more angry than scared now.

Sean knew she wasn't the only one. His parents were probably sick with worry, and as soon as they realized he was safe, they'd be furious. Part of him was disgusted by the sense of excitement he still felt over what had happened last night, though. He was honestly probably lucky that Nate didn't kill him or something...or wasn't a psycho. He didn't want to think of what could have happened had he not been interested in Nate's advances.

"I'll see you soon," he promised before he hung up the call.

Nate's eyes had opened by now, but he'd not moved. Instead, he waited, quietly grinning to himself as he listened to the trouble he no doubt had a hand in. When Sean had quieted, he sat up and yawned dramatically for effect, startling the teen.

"Ah, damn...I feel like I slept on rocks," he frowned rubbing his back. That was how humans reacted to sleeping outside, right? He got to his feet, feigning stiffness and mild discomfort.

"Well, thanks, it was fun." He nodded at Sean before heading back towards his grandparent's house. If he was lucky, he'd meet up with Kaid on the way so he didn't have to walk.

Sean blinked, his heart plummeting to meet his already upset stomach as embarrassment gripped him. What else had he been expecting, though? Clearly, a guy like that wasn't looking to chill with a mountain potato from Podunk, U.S.A. For all he knew, Nate could have been pretty wasted before Sean had even approached him.

"Um... Yeah ...thanks," he managed, though the disappointment was clear in his tone as he turned to follow the downward slant of the earth beneath his sneakers. Downhill should lead him to the main road, towards home.

He didn't want to admit it, but his pride hurt as he couldn't help but wonder what Nate thought of him as he trudged along alone, the dense aspens eventually thinning the closer he got to the tree line. Sean supposed he should just consider himself lucky that he'd had a fun night with an exciting, hot stranger, and that nothing bad had happened... but even that felt like it had been spoiled.

As soon as Sean got to the main street, he bit the bullet and called his dad. He could hear his mom in the background, her frantic voice was demanding his dad ask this and that so loudly that he could barely even hear his father over her at points. ...Which was exactly why'd called him rather than her in the first place.

His mom was a worrier, and when upset, rarely could even process anything outside of her own racing jumble of thoughts. His dad was calmer, a lot more analytical, and collected.

They'd met him on the front porch, where his mom had clung to him like it was the last time she'd ever get to see her only child. What followed next could only be described by Sean as a tirade of 'Do you know how worried I was?-isms,' and 'what if's'. His dad seemed to feel that listening to her go on for nearly ten minutes was enough for one morning though, and took pity on him, keeping his scolding to a much shorter, "Text or call us next time."

Finally allowed to retreat to his room, Sean pulled off his shirt, only then taking notice of why his pants had felt as loose as they had when he'd woken up. He'd originally chalked it up to the fact that he'd slept in them, but staring down at his fly, he could clearly see that a button was gone.

"Ah, what...?" he mumbled, bewildered. Had they really been that riled up last night? The thought prompted him to turn and confront his reflection in the long mirror hanging on the back of his bedroom door as his cheeks flushed.

In the reflection behind Sean, a lump on his bed shifted beneath the sheets. "Dude, where were you!?" Trevor voiced as his head peeked out from Sean's comforter.

Sean had jumped slightly, making eye contact with Trevor through the mirror before kicking his pants all the way off to examine the back of his thighs. "A party..." he mumbled, spotting the faintest indication of bruising.

Trevor slunk out and over to the edge of Sean's bed watching him curiously. "Damn... I was gonna let you have it for leaving me behind, but it looks like someone already did," he commented.

Sean couldn't help the excitement that coiled his lips into a grin as he turned, quickly making his way to his dresser to collect a pair of sleep pants and a shirt.

"It's kinda stupid because I felt like crap about it almost the whole way home, but...." he paused pulling the shirt over his head, "He was so hot, Trev, like... no one around here looks like that," Sean tried to explain, stepping into his pants. "I know I'm never gonna hook up with someone that hot again, but like..." he sighed, glancing up at the ceiling for a second before looking back down to Trevor. "I dunno." Sean mused his bangs with an almost prideful smile. "If it hadn't been for those stupid nightmares, I never even would have even gone out, ya know? Kinda glad now, I guess..."

Trevor rolled his eyes, stretching out on the bed while listening to his friend gush. "Hey, yeah, that's really cool Sean, maybe next time you'll take your best friend...you know, me?" Trevor barely tried to hide his jealousy behind humor, but who could blame him? Just because he'd adapted to looking, and for the most part acting, like a cat, didn't mean he wasn't still human.

The smile rapidly faded from Sean's face. It was easy enough to tell Trevor was upset with him. "Oh, come on, Trev," Sean breathed exasperatedly, plopping next to him on the bed. "It wasn't like there was really anything to do. It just would have been really loud and crowded to you, and it's not like you can drink or smoke."

"I'm just saying...if people had their dogs, there's no reason you couldn't have taken me..." Trevor replied while his tail flicked, telegraphing his mild irritation despite his otherwise calm and apathetic tone.

"No one had their pets there, Trev," Sean groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"Really, Sean?" The yellow eyes narrowed a bit into a bored expression. "This nose doesn't lie, dude, you reek of dog."

"Now you're just being ridiculous," the teen replied with a brow raised. "I mean you could call him a dog for bagging me and not even offering to hang out, I guess, but seriously... No one had their pets there. It was just a bunch of people who were high and drunk. You wouldn't have had any fun, okay?"

"Yeah, sure... Anyway, next time you ditch me, can you at least leave a window cracked or something? I nearly lost my voice waking up your folks to let me in."

Of course, it would have been Trevor to wake everyone up before he even had the chance to get back. "Where were you anyway?" Sean questioned with a frown.

"Oh you know, just running for my life... You know, the usual," Trevor replied sarcastically.

Sean's frown turned into concern. "Running away from what?"

"Dude...seriously? You never look back. That's how you die. All I heard was growling, saw some sharp teeth, and I was out of there."

For some reason the mention of growling made Sean's chest tighten. "Was probably a raccoon or a possum or something..." he said as he heard his father's car pull out of the drive. Sean glanced across his room as the impulse to do a protection spell hit him.

"That's a big deal, bro! What if I got rabies? I'd be a goner!" One of Trevor's soft paws thwatted across Sean's cheek for him not taking this seriously.

Sean's eyes met Trevor's large feline ones. "I'm sorry..." he stated sincerely, his eyes taking on just a hint more shine to them. He was tired of saying those words today...