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Jacob fell onto his bed in the boys' cabin holding back sobs. As shitty of a counsellor as he felt for leaving the kids out on the field, he wasn't going to let a bunch of 8th graders see him cry - they were dickheads enough already.
He sat up, legs pulled up to his chest, and tears began to fall, he wiped his eyes and punched his leg with his free hand. "Jesus FUCKING Christ." he threw himself back onto the mattress, sobs now wracking his body.
As the sobs reduced to sniffles he figured there was no harm in trying to sleep it off, the kids would just leave to their next scheduled activity when the time came. He curled up on his side, reaching to take his cap off to place it on the table near the bed.
Just as Jacob was about to drop off the door to the shared bedroom swung open. In the doorway stood Nick; to avoid an awkward situation Jacob sat up, wiping the remaining tears from his eyes. "Hey- hey Nick, what's up, man?" "I was gonna ask you the same thing. One of the kids said you ran off mid-session." Oh. There goes playing it cool.
Jacob huffed, his shoulders sagging as he did so, "It's nothing. Just got a bit overwhelmed, is all." Nick frowned and walked over to the bed where his friend was sitting. "What happened?" he asked, concern lacing his features. "One of the kids noticed my trans pin. He asked why I was wearing it and asked if I was a girl and I didn't know how to explain it, and I - I got scared. I forgot it was on this shirt, didn't even realise it was here until the bastard pointed it out." his voice cracked as he spoke and he gestured at nothing with his hands.
Nick sighed and put his arm around Jacob's shoulder and the other man fell into the touch. They sat quietly for a while, Nick's hand idly reaching up to run through Jacob's hair. "So, what did you do?" "I walked away. Didn't say a fucking thing. I know it was irresponsible, I left a bunch of eighth graders to deal with themselves," he paused to suck in a breath, "but I've had god-awful shitty experiences with being trans. I don't want to have to go through it again, 'specially when we're all stuck here for another month." Nick hummed, "The kids are all fine, I sent them to the mess hall to chill out for a bit. You did it for your own good, it's not irresponsible to look after yourself, Jake."
Jacob said nothing, instead, opting to put his arms around Nick's torso to hug him tightly. Nick held him, hands wandering back up to run through Jacob's hair again, "I've got you, man, take as long as you need." at the words Jacob broke down all over again, burying his head in Nick's shoulder and wrapping his arms tightly around him. Nick stroked the back of Jacob's neck, soothing his friend as he cried.
He wasn't used to much comfort in his life; he was used to saving any sort of strong emotions for when he was by himself in his bedroom, with the door locked behind him. Until that moment, he hadn't even particularly realised that he was missing out. Being in Nick's arms felt so natural and right and- before he had the time to dwell on it any further Nick spoke up, "I'm gonna go let Mr H know where we've gone, see if I can snag us a couple hours off." his voice was soft and hushed as he spoke to Jacob, who nodded his head weakly, not quite trusting his voice to speak up. He could feel tears stinging in his eyes and he swiped them away before he pulled back.
Nick stood up and walked to the door, shooting Jacob a soft smile before leaving the room, leaving Jacob alone with his thoughts again. His head was foggy with questions and thoughts, 99% of those said thoughts being NIck. Sure, they were jokingly touchy with each other all the time, but never as tender as that. He shook his head and blew out a long sigh of frustration, a sexuality crisis was not what he needed in the middle of his summer job. Especially when said crisis was brought on by sobbing in his best friend's arms.
After a while, Nick came back, a grin plastered on his face, "Good news: we've got until I need to go down and get food sorted; which gives us," he paused to check the clock on the wall, "three hours!" he sauntered back over the bed and sat back down next to Jacob.
Unlike the room only a few minutes prior, an awkward tension hung in the air, Nick had noticed and placed a hand on Jacob's knee, "You alright?" "Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine." Jacob forced a grin, shrugging his shoulders. Nick hummed, not entirely convinced, but not wanting to press further, "Alright, fancy a nap? I think I interrupted you trying to get one earlier." "Sounds good. You- uh- you don't mind staying do you?" Jacob mumbled, suddenly more nervous. "Course not, I'm gonna go change in the bathroom, these jeans are not comfortable for napping in." Nick chuckled, plucking at his jeans for emphasis.
Jacob laid down on the bed, staring at the ceiling when Nick came back, his original clothes screwed up in his arms, he dropped them on the floor before laying down next to Jacob.
They laid there for a while in silence before Jacob felt fingers interlock with his, he jolted slightly, looking down to now find Nick's hand holding his. He hesitated before looking back up to meet Nick's gaze. They laid there for a while in silence - staring at each other - neither quite sure whether it was appropriate to make the next move.
Nick moved first, unclasping his hand from Jacob's to place it on Jacob's cheek, "I'm not misreading this, am I?" "No- no not at all." Jacob smiled, his hand moving to rest on Nick's hip. Nick leant forward, Jacob moved as well, meeting Nick in the middle. The kiss was soft, almost nervous, but tender, Nick's thumb rubbed small circles onto Jacob's cheek as they kissed. They pulled back and rested their foreheads together, "You're a better kisser than you look." Nick laughed, "Hey! I look like a great kisser, asshole." Jacob laughed back. "Kidding, I'm kidding." Nick leant forward again, pecking Jacob's lips.