Breaking Point (Chest)

[Cameron Osiris]

Cameron had been back for a while now, and he was still trying to work up the courage to find and see Chester. He hadn’t been able to find Dec, and Tak had found him, as had Jared. It wouldn’t be physically finding Chest that would be the hard part, but actually doing so. They hadn’t spoken in so long, he wondered if they were even friends anymore. He wondered if Chester wanted anything to do with him. Cam would never forget the last time they saw each other about a year ago. He was reminded of Chester every day in same way or another, and he missed him. He was mad at Chest, but Cam missed him anyways.

Parking in the familiar spot, Cameron killed the engine and hesitated. He hadn’t even taken Chester for a spin, not really. He had thought about calling Chest first, or at least texting, but then Cam would lose his gusto. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to say, or how, but he really just wanted to see Chester again. There had to be something there still, Cam knew it deep down inside. Chest would always be the love he could never have. He knew it was stupid to talk to someone who had kissed him just for the sake of doing it, to see what would happen, and then walk away and never speak to him again.

But he was tired of waiting and doing nothing about it – he had run away for too long.

That last thought was enough to get him out of the truck and walking up the grand driveway, but he hesitated at the door. Running both hands through his hair and leaving them on the top of his head, Cam paced back and forth. Maybe too much had changed between them... Maybe Cam was only doing that thing called wishful thinking. He sighed, letting his hands fall and licking his lips, staring at the door. What did he have to lose? He knocked and waited, feeling more nervous than he ever had before.

[Chester Douglas]

Chester had to say, after all the shit he'd gone through, he was finally in a good place.

He was eating properly, he was sleeping through the night and he was back to being the jerk everyone expected him to be. Except with Calliope. There was no way he would ever be a jerk to his baby sister.

Thoughts of Cameron had been shoved to the back of his mind. It was painful but he knew it had to be done. It was for his sanity. He didn't want to deal with it until he was forced to. And with Cameron's disappearance to California, he thought he was safe in that it wouldn't happen for a very long time.

Which was why when he heard the knock on the door, he thought nothing of it and answered the door when he realised that Alex wasn't around. What he saw made his blood boil. The grip he had on his doorknob tightened and he swallowed the lump in his throat.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, frustrated that his voice actually broke a little.

[Cameron Osiris]

Cam had never stopped thinking about Chester, not really. Maybe less, but it had never stopped completely. There were days that Cam hadn’t thought about the redhead, and the next day would feel terrible for not doing so. He had been gone for so long, and everything was still there. If it was really going to be over, then it needed to be over. Chester was going to have to say just that.

Cam was ready to leave a piece of his heart behind, or get it back – something.

This was Cam forcing the inevitable, because he was in a good spot now. Yes there was still drama going on, but it wasn’t as bad as it once had been. Declyn had disappeared and Tak and he and had made amends. Even Jared was back. But Cam would probably find himself in new trouble, and he had already been punched in the face by Oriel. He still had a nice shiner to prove it.

Cam looked up, a small grin in place because he assumed that Alex would be answering. When he came face to face with Chest, Cam’s face fell. His heart fell, his stomach dropped to his feet. Chester had grown into his already good looks, and Cam felt everything he had bottled up inside suddenly explode. Yup, he definitely still loved Chest.

“What do you think?” Cam stated, hiding most of his emotions, except for the anger he felt. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you, so you tell me right now, should I stay or should I just leave?” Cameron wasn’t a naturally angry person, and even now as he relived the hurt of last year, his eyes were pleading with Chester. Had their friendship been for nothing?

[Chester Douglas]

Seeing the blond stirred up so many emotions in Chester that he was sure he could explode at a moment's notice. He tried to contain at least some of it but the moment Cameron responded, Chester's anger flared up as well.

"How are you angry with me?" Chester asked, his voice unnaturally calm. It was the biggest signal to the shitstorm that was bound to happen. He knew Cameron knew that.

"You leave after I try to communicate with you. And then you show up at my doorstep hoping for what exactly, Cameron?" He asked.

After everything that happened, Chester still refused to read Cameron's mind. Although at this point, he was pretty sure Cameron's thoughts were not the only thing he could be hearing.

[Cameron Osiris]

Cam’s nostrils flared. “Don’t act like you don’t know – were you just toying with me the whole time?” Like Cam didn’t know he was the biggest slut around. If Chester really wanted him, he could’ve had him a long time ago. So what was the problem?

“Well what’d you expect? For me to just sit there and listen to you? I’m not the one who can read mind’s Chest, you are,” Cam said, his hands gesturing all over the place as he spoke. He had no idea where to begin, only that he was here now.

Cam sighed and ran both hands through his hair, leaving them behind his head as most of the anger he felt dissipated. “I miss you okay? I can’t stop thinking about you.” Plain and simple. “I just had... I had way too much shit going on to really say what I needed to say to you and I’m not really good at explaining feelings and whatever.”

The blond let his hands drop and he took a step closer. He didn’t want to give up, never ever. “We’ve been friends forever idiot, I’m not letting that go.”

[Chester Douglas]

Genuinely unaware of what Cameron was talking about, Chester's frown deepened. His hand itched to just slam the door in the blond's face for even thinking he was capable of toying with his best friend's emotions.

Cameron's next statement jolted Chester's anger even further, resulting in his response. "Did it never occur to you that I never read your mind, Cameron?" He hissed. "All these years, out of respect for you, I have never tried once to read your mind. I wanted you to be able to tell me whatever it is you wanted to tell me on your own terms." Chester spat out.

"And this one stupid mistake I made, which I tried to rectify made you run away? How could you be so selfish?"

When Cameron's anger seemed to fade, Chester's heart squeezed in itself when he realised that he too missed Cameron. He wanted so badly to stop being mad at his best friend because he was right, they had been best friends for a long time.

"You should have thought of that before leaving me, Cameron." He finally said after a moment of silence.

[Cameron Osiris]

Chester’s response was like venom and Cam just looked surprised, like a deer in the headlights. “Oh…” Was that really all he could say? He groaned and ran his hands through his hair again, spinning around on the spot in frustration. “I’m an idiot!” He just assumed Chest knew… Had toyed with him, knowing that Cam cared for him as more than a friend, and more than anyone else he cared for.

“I don’t know…” His answers were lame and his face flushed in actual embarrassment. They were best friends, maybe he had been blind this entire time. But Chester was right, he had been selfish.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, one hand holding his elbow, wishing he could just disappear on the spot. He was the one who left without explanation and then shown up expecting the world to make sense when he had left it in shambles. He looked back up at Chester and sighed. He didn’t know what else to do except come back. He still cared. “Do you hate me?” His opinion was the only one that really mattered.

[Chester Douglas]

Cameron's reaction had Chester wishing he hadn't said anything. When all was said and done, he knew he had loved this boy for the longest time and had circumstances been different, this reunion would have been filled with more pleasant gestures.

As it were, Chester just wished the blond was not at his door.

He tried his best not to look at Cameron when the boy looked up at him with those damning blue eyes. He wanted not to fall for them, for him, all over again.

The kneejerk reaction to that question would have been a hard no. Looking at the light manipulator now, Chester found that he didn't know the answer to that.

He supposed hate was too strong a word. He couldn't hate someone he had been in love with since he hit puberty. He was still angry with Cameron. Angry he abandoned him, angry he thought Chester would betray their four year friendship for one moment of overwhelming lust, angry that he came back being angry at him.

But it dissipated slowly, the telepath's shoulder sagging as he rubbed at his face tiredly. "I don't know." He admitted, painful as it was. "I don't want to."

[Cameron Osiris]

Cam wasn't stupid, well, most of the time. It didn't really look like Chest wanted him here, but it didn't really look like he wanted him to leave either. "Hang on," Cam said, holding a finger up as he backed away.

What are you doing? He asked himself as he rounded the house, out of Chester's sight. He took a deep breath, spun around on his heel, and went back towards the door. He reached right up and rang the doorbell even though Chester was right there, and pushed it. Cam didn't even look at Chester, just took a couple steps back and pretended like he was waiting for someone to answer the door.

Maybe this looked stupid, but he wasn't going to give up. He was going to make Chester not hate him somehow. Cam looked up and smiled, like he had seen Chest for the first time today.

"Hi," he said, coming closer, and then just giving in to himself and hugging Chest. "I missed you. Can we try this again please?"

[Chester Douglas]

Staring as the blonde walked away, it didn't take Chester long to figure out what the light manipulator intended to do.

Had this been three months ago, Chester would have smiled and thought it was cute. He would have played along. Now, all he could do was wipe his face and sigh. He hated being 'that guy' but he could hardly be blamed.

The hug was not anticipated and for a while, all Chester did was let his arms hang by his side. He made no move to show any kind of reaction until the hug proved to be too much for him.

He pushed Cameron away gently, even though every fiber of his being told him not to. They all told him to cling on to the blonde and never let him go. But it still hurt. It hurt too much to just let things slide.

"Can we do this on my terms?" Chester asked after clearing his throat. Thankfully, his voice did not betray him this time. It held the usual deep rasp he was used to doling out. "I'm not saying I don't want this to happen because I do. I've missed you too." More than he could really admit. "But you hurt me, Cameron. As much as you want to think I fucked things up, you're not free of blame."

[Cameron Osiris]

Cam wasn’t expecting Chester to be all smiles after his little stunt, but maybe one smile wouldn’t have hurt. It stung to be pushed away and Cam’s inner light faded along with his hope.

But then Chester gave an alternative and Cam nodded his head vigorously. “Okay, what are your terms?” Whatever they were, he’d agreed. Cam smiled a little, glad he was missed too. He looked down and nodded a couple times. “Yeah, I know.”

It felt forced now, like their usual flow to the relationship had been overshadowed by Cam’s own stupid actions. He was sorry he hadn’t tried to stay despite everything going on around him. “I’m sorry I assumed things...” Like how he assumed Chester knew he loved him, but now all of that had changed. And to think he had been under the impression that his heart had been exposed this entire time when it hadn’t. Could things be the same?

[Chester Douglas]

He tried very hard to again, ignore the pressure of just reading Cameron's mind. Even in this state, he didn't want to violate his best friend's privacy.

"We gotta be honest with each other. No matter what. I don't want you to assume things about me just as much as I don't want to assume things about you." He stated before running his fingers through his hair. He was falling back into old patterns already. He needed a second opinion on this and he needed it quick. He can't lose himself in Cameron again. Not when there's still a possibility that Cameron could leave at any point in time. After graduation, Cameron had nothing tying him down here. Chester at least had Calliope. And there was talk about his father expanding his business to Pilot Ridge.

"And you can't leave m- you can't leave without so much as a word." Chester cursed himself for the almost slip-up.

[Cameron Osiris]

Again Cam nodded. It wasn’t that he was never not honest, more so that he didn’t know how to have heart to hearts with people. He didn’t want things to be complicated, and avoided in depth conversations. “Okay, I’ll try Chest.” And really, he would. But this was his heart of hearts they were talking about here.

Fun loving Cam didn’t know how to be serious, and usually got away with not having to be. Chester hadn’t let him off the hook so easily, he never had really. “I won’t leave without giving a formal goodbye,” he said simply. What more could he say? He was more stable now than before, and the only reason why he would leave at this point would be because of school. There wasn’t anything holding him back anymore.

“Soooo,” Cam said, trying to get back some kind of normalcy. “Are you going to let me in, or should I leave?” He asked, his thumb pointing behind him at his truck. The truck Chest had given him. Cam went to rub his face and flinched, forgetting that he had been punched not so long ago. Who knew making amends would be so hard?

[Chester Douglas]

Cameron's quick acceptance of the terms made Chester regret even putting it out there that he was ready to mend their ties. It wasn't that he didn't want to because he did. But that was the problem, wasn't it? He wanted it very badly.

Chester looked at Cameron, wondering if he really should let the boy in. Alex wasn't around, he couldn't be their buffer. But he didn't want to throw the boy out either. And that flinch had him curious. What happened to him?

Stepping aside and pushing the door open slightly, Chester let the blonde in, hoping he hadn't made the wrong choice.

[Cameron Osiris]

Walking calmly through the door, Cam noted that some things had changed while others remained the same.

"So," he said, slipping his shoes off as was customary, walking backwards as he stared at Chester, "whatcha wanna do?" Because now that he was inside, he wasn't sure how to behave. Things weren't the same between them, but he really didn't want things to be awkward.

Cam sighed, leaning up against the wall between the kitchen and the living room. Where had all the time gone? "You seein' anybody? Or ya still just sleepin' around?" He was teasing now, because he wasn't any different. The heart and body were kept separate, and right now Cam was trying to avoid the topic of how Chester had never read his mind. He never knew what Cam thought of him.