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  Brian rested his own head on a pillow behind him, playing with Corey's hair and rubbing his back rhythmically to help him calm down. He hated it when people cried, most of all, he hated it when people cried because of him, but he was willing to hear Corey out. He always was.

  "I'm so—so sorry," Corey continued, his voice cracking. "It's just that, every time you go on one of those dates with her, it reminds me of how much shit you had to… have to go through because of me."

  "Corey, don't be stupid. Yeah, those dates suck pretty bad, but being with you is having to date a thousand of her."

  "Brian… you know I'm not talking about her. I'm so sorry, I can't say it enough. Sometimes I wish you'd never met me. I'm such a terrible person. The person I was, maybe the person I still am. Sex was my only outlet, my only reason for living. You… you were supposed to just be another conquest, a challenge. I never intended that we were even going to get close, I never wanted to. All I wanted was to fuck you and hang you out to dry on the next day." He had to stop, since his words were becoming more hysterical by the minute.

  "Corey… shh, stop talking like that, all that stuff is in the past."

  Corey either didn't hear him, or pretended not to. "I can't believe myself, even now. The only reason I didn't kick you out of my house the next morning was because of what I oversaw… overheard when you started to freak out about the dinner you missed. I felt so guilty for causing that. So I let you stay… and I got attached to you. Hooked."

  "You've never told me this…" Brian admitted, not sure how to take this new information. It didn't change anything he felt, but he never thought that it all started because of a guilt trip that he never knew he used. "All that stuff about 'just sex' then, you didn't mean any of it?"

  "I thought I did. I wanted you to believe it, at any rate. Mostly because I was afraid for you, and I was kind of afraid of you, in a way. The way you made me feel on the inside the first time you said you wanted me back… I was scared of how happy it made me. How much you affected me in such a short time." Corey thought for a moment, finding his next words. "Then you came over, in pieces, that afternoon, and we drank and talked… I can't let go of that guilt. I did that to you. Then you asked if you could stay with me. I'm so selfish. All I could think was, 'I could have him all the time. We would be the only thing each other's got left.'"

  "Corey… shh… no more," Brian said soothingly. "Have you ever considered that maybe that's what I wanted too? Why are you guilty? I've never been happier. I feel terrible about my decisions too. But they're in the past. Corey, I don't have any regrets. I love you."

  "I don't deserve your forgiveness…"

  "No, you don't deserve forgiveness, but only because you've got nothing to apologize for. Unless you're sorry for having me, too?"

  "Never. I just wish that you didn't have to lose so much."

  "Corey… don't take what I'm about to say lightly. I'd do it all over again a thousand, no, a million times over if I knew that it would mean that I wouldn't lose you. I love you so much that it hurts. The kind of pain that never goes away until you're there by my side to help me. To save me."

  "When did you get so poetic?"

  "You're a great muse."

  "That was beautiful. Now you're going me make me sound lame if I just say 'I love you too.'"

  "It's not a contest Corey… you don't have to win me-"

  "Because I already have," Corey said lackadaisically, finishing Brian statement. He nuzzled into Brian's chest, the ministrations to his hair and back causing his eyes to droop shut.

  Brian was about to agree with him, happy that that difficult conversation was over, when he heard Corey lightly snoring. He smiled, draping his arms around him before falling asleep himself.

  --

  --

  bSuper-Fun-Bonus-Coconut-Flavored-Extra-Semi-Hidden-Kinda-Secret-Mini-Chapter-The-First – The Great Cheesecake Hunt!/b

  AN: Since this is an Interlude, and not directly influential of the events of the actual plot, I was asked by one of my friends to include this fun mini-adventure, with no plot in it whatsoever. In fact, ignore any OOC or inconsistency in general. That's not what this is about, though. If you like it, then tell me, and maybe offer up some more ideas for next time. If you don't, then don't worry about it, because I wasn't intending to do something like this again, unless it got good reception.

  --

  "Come on Corey… I'm getting cold all by myself on this bed…" Brian's voice lamented distantly.

  "Damn it! Keep your pants off, I'll be right there. I'm… uh, putting something really special on for you!" Corey shouted, clicking through websites on his laptop, looking frantically for a bakery that was still open on Easter Sunday.

  "Fuck… none of them are," Corey huffed, exasperated, putting his phone down once again. 'I already threatened what felt like half the bakers in the entire state to make me a cake, but none of them are open. I'm such an idiot, why did I just start trying today? What the hell good is money if it can't buy me more time? It's too late to get a cake shipped here… I guess I have to try grocery stores '

  He quickly pulled up another search for all of the grocery stores in the area, dreading the task of having to call each of them. 'Why the fuck is this cake so hard to find?' He thought to himself, eventually reaching the very last number on the list, every other number failing him miserably.

  "Thanks for calling Zappy's Food Emporium, where the prices are electrifying! I'm Kathleen, how can I help you?"

  Corey tried his best to sound patient and accommodating, but what came out of his mouth sounded short of a murderous snarl. "Hello, Kathleen, would you happen to have a chocolate marble cheesecake in stock?"

  After a small pause, the overly chipper voice with a faint Minnesotan accent came back, "Oh ho ho, that's so funny. Two other people called asking for the same cake, can you believe that? Sorry, dearie, it's being held, and we've only got one in stock."

  He tried his best to compose himself and not scare her too much, but his tolerance was running thin. "I'll pay one hundred times the cost of the cake, cancel the reservation."

  "I'm sorry sir, we can't-"

  "It'll be just between you and me. Tell me where I can leave the money, and it'll be all yours. I swear. At the very worst, I may be lying about the money, and you'll only upset the other customer, but I'll have to pay for the cake anyway, so really no harm done. No, actually, at the very worst, you don't cancel that reservation. Then you'll have me as an enemy. Nothing good could possibly come from that," Corey whispered darkly, trying his best to not terrify her, but failing miserably.

  "O—Okay sir, I'll have the cake reserved under you. Don't worry about the money, I'll personally deal with the other customer. Would that… be all?"

  "Awesome!" Corey said, his voice full of mirth. "I knew you'd see things my way. My name's Corey Towers, by the way. I'm sorry for scaring you like that, it's just that, I know that it's my… friend's favorite. Now… can I ask for just one more thing? Could you put a message on the cake?"

  --

  Brian was asleep on the four poster bed by the time Corey made it upstairs. Corey coughed loudly, causing Brian to shoot awake, in eager anticipation. "Took you freakin' long enough, what did you wear… hey… you're just naked."

  "Just naked? I really don't think I could dress any more special than this."

  Brian rolled his eyes, scooting over and patting the spot beside him. "Just get over here, I've been waiting forever."

  "Alright, cheesecake," Corey said sarcastically, making his way for the bed.

  "What'd you just call me?"

  "Nothing."

  --

  "Christine!" Brian called, leaping for joy as he busted into her room. "I finally found one, a chocolate marble cheesecake! Apparently someone already reserved it, but I'm sure we can get there early tomorrow and beg. What's with the weird smile?"

  "Who do you think that other person was?" Christine asked, her smile broadening. "You know the dea
l. Whoever got one first gets to tell the Mannuses that it was their idea. And I won."

  Brian shook his head at her antics, which consisted of jumping around the room with her tongue out mockingly, chanting like a child, "I made the Mannuses' Easter! I got their favorite cake in the world!"

  "It's not over yet…" Brian said, leaving her room to make more phone calls.

  --

  "Brian, what are you doing here? And what are they doing here?" Christine asked the next morning outside of Zappy's Food Emporium, bewildered to see Brian, Andy, Lee, and Helga getting out of his car. "I said I would get the cake."

  "Well… I figure that I couldn't exactly stroll to the bakery and claim that I was Christine O'Hara, could I? So I called Helga, and she said that she'd love to help, she owes me one anyway. I brought Lee and Andy along to help delay you, and apparently Garret."

  "Delay me from what? Hey!" Christine shouted, seeing Helga bolt off towards the store entrance. "Garret, stop her!"

  "Why are we competing over a cake that's not even for us?" Garret asked lazily, but started running anyway when Christine glared at him.

  "No you don't, Andy, stop him!" Brian ordered, signaling Lee to block Christine off with him.

  "You two can't do shit against me," Christine boasted, trying to dodge around the pair.

  "Brian and I have years of Mortal Kombat LARPing in my house under our belts. You can't get past us."

  "Pfft." Without missing a beat, Christine clubbed both of the boys in the head with her purse and made a dash for the store, leaving them to chase after her, albeit dizzier for the effort.

  When they made it to the entrance, they halted when the thunderous noise of several rows of carts crashing graced their ears. Upon entering, they saw Christine's handiwork, a veritable obstacle course of carts in their path, with her racing off into the aisles, riding a cart of her own, laughing maniacally.

  Just when Helga was about to reach the end of the store where the bakery was, Garret rounded the corner and tackled her to the ground, though he found it impossible to easily restrain the Scandinavian giantess.

  "Quit… fighting," Garret yelled, doing his best to wrestle her down, but failing quickly.

  "Garret! Helga! What the hell are you doing!" Andy yelled, still running towards them. He stopped in front of them, glancing towards the bakery. "Is that Corey?! I think he's getting the cake! Come on!"

  The two on the floor looked up, and saw Corey's bemused face, his hand pointing to the chocolate marble cake that was currently being boxed for him. "You guys were the 'other customer' that reserved this cake? Looks like I beat you to it, then. Happy Easter!" He said, as he ran with the boxed cake, wrapped with decorative ribbons.

  Andy stood open-mouthed in Corey's direction, not noticing Christine speeding recklessly towards him. "Watch out, Andy!"

  "Huh—oof!" He grunted, knocked off of his feet by the momentum softly into the refrigerated cheeses on his other side, knocking several packages to the ground, but the cheese otherwise cushioning his fall.

  Brian and Lee came quickly on their own carts, speeding through the same aisle. Seeing their opportunity, they shot their carts like projectiles towards Christine, who dodged them with relative ease. The carts banged noisily into the end of the aisles, knocking down more products. They took advantage of the time she was distracted dodging to run up to her and pick her up, Brian restraining her upper body, and Lee stopping her from kicking.

  "Guys!" Andy yelled, trying to clean up the squished cheese packets everywhere in vain. "Stop killing each other. Corey's getting away with the cake!"

  "Corey?!" Christine and Brian asked in unison, both equally unbelieving that he could be playing a part in this.

  Garret helped Helga up, both of them dusting themselves off. "Yup, it's him alright. We'd better hurry if we want to catch him though."

  Andy, Brian, and Christine took the three carts, speeding off in three different directions to try and corner him, the other three taking off in three different lanes to have a better chance of heading him off.

  Corey heard all of the commotion, and waited impatiently in the shortest line to check out. He groaned when he saw the three teens riding shopping carts heading straight for him with three psychotic looking teens running out of the aisles, also headed right for him. 'If they can be theatrical, so can I.'

  With cake in tow, balanced in his hand, he leaped effortlessly onto the conveyer belt, kicking produce out of his way and using it's forward motion to facilitate an exaggerated long jump, a hundred dollar bill floating down into the cashier's reach as Corey landed gracefully in a crouched position, ready to spring out of the store, only to see the mess of carts that impeded his easy escape. He looked back, seeing the six of them racing towards him in equally disruptive fashions, causing quite a calamity amongst the customers waiting in line.

  Working his way through the carts, Corey finally found freedom, groaning when a solitary police car was waiting outside for him, its sirens flashing and an irritated looking policeman sauntering towards him; cuffs in hand.

  "I'm going to guess that you caused the damage and disruption in the store that was reported," the cop said, fully confident that he caught his perpetrator.

  Corey rolled his eyes, putting down the cake to pull out his wallet, and a weapon far mightier than the gun—the checkbook. He brandished his I.D. in front of the cop's face like a badge, proving his identity before making a final scene to escape from trouble.

  "I think you know who I am. Corey Towers, one of the heirs to Towers Pharmaceuticals. My family already practically owns this city." He paused to write a figure on a check, and handed it to the policeman. "More than enough to compensate for any damages and disruption I may have caused. My apologies. I think the store owner would find that sum to be more than reasonable. I do so hope that Zippy's Food Emporium wouldn't do anything to dissuade the Towers' future patronage of their…charming facility."

  The policeman handed the check to the owner, who had forced his way to the front of the watching crowd, and his eyes almost popped out of his head in glee. "Of course, of course, the Towers are friends here. No harm done, that'll be all, officer. So sorry for bothering you."

  Corey smirked. He hated to use his snooty, highfalutin voice, but it did serve its purposes. As the crowd broke up and the officer drove off, he returned his wallet to his pocket, and bent down to retrieve the cake, not seeing the fellow quarterback tackle him flat onto the pavement, knocking the wind out of his lungs.

  "Get the cake, go go go!" Andy shouted, getting up and helping Corey up before dashing off for Brian's car, the tires squealing as the car jettisoned out of the parking lot. Christine and Garret remained to restrain Corey and make sure that he was okay.

  "Shit, we lost the cake," Christine mumbled, more annoyed by that than the fact that she was standing less than a foot away from Corey.

  "Tell me about it, Brian's going to kill me when he finds out," Corey whined, still in a daze from getting tackled, not really noticing who he was speaking to.

  Christine let out a low snarl, slapping Corey clean across the face with all of her bottled up frustration, knocking him down onto the ground again. She looked around to the astonished customers leaving the store, and Garret, who had backed away several feet by then. "DO ANY OF YOU WANT A PIECE OF THIS?!"

  Garret carefully guided Christine away to her car, volunteering to drive. He helped her into the passenger seat, still steaming, teeth clenched in the combined anger of losing the cake and being that close to the bastard who stole Brian away from her.

  "What a fucking crazy bitch, that hurt like hell," Corey complained to himself, grimacing at the raging handprint on his cheek. "Can't blame her though, I don't even know what I'd do to someone who even tried to steal Brian away from me."

  "Oh well, he'll have to settle for regular ol' cheesecake. I'll make it up to him, somehow," he thought, grinning widely at the prospect.

  --

  As Brian drove, Andy opene
d the box to check on the cake they just fought so hard for.

  "Oh… shit," Andy said, reading aloud the gleaming yellow icing text that adorned the cake, surrounded by white and blue Easter egg decorations. "Happy Easter, Brian! You'd better goddamned enjoy every fucking piece of this cake, you have no fucking idea what I had to go through to get it."

  Brian couldn't help but glance, seeing the first three words written largely, with the rest written as small as icing would allow. He groaned, but seeing no surprise from Andy's face, he assumed that he somehow already generally understood the Brian and Corey fiasco. He didn't really care, as long as he didn't tell Christine. And considering how Corey was not currently in a coma, or dead, Christine probably didn't comprehend the extent of his involvement. Helga and Lee wouldn't understand at all, they were no danger to him.

  He reached into his glove compartment, pulling out a napkin, and opened it deftly with one hand before placing it over the cake and pressing gently around the top, while still paying attention to the road. With minimal damage to the actual cake, he managed to smear the yellow icing to a point where the original message was incomprehensible.

  "Damn it, Lee… why would you go and ruin the message that clearly used to say 'Happy Easter, Mr. and Mrs. Mannus' on their cake?"

  "What?"

  "That's all right, you don't have to get it, just nod and look sorry. They'll probably get suspicious if you could explain why you did it."

  "But I didn't… what?"

  "Just keep saying that, Lee."

  "Helga, do you get what's going on?" Lee asked his newfound girlfriend. Or at least his newfound supply of awesome video games.

  "I am not familiar with the extent of your American customs yet. Was what happened today what you call, 'Getting Punk'd'?"

  --

  --

  AN: That was fun to write. Remember to tell me what you think, especially of this section! If enough fun ideas pop up, I could write a small fun section like this for every chapter. It might only delay updates by a day or two, tops. Also remember that none of these events occur in the actual plot, and Corey wasn't actually slapped in the face, and of course, there's probably no way in hell that Corey would delay more sex with Brian to make phone calls to grocery stores. That's absurd :D.