No-One But You

Chapter 5: Everyone Has Secrets

A few quiet weeks had passed since Zach and Chris became non-enemies and they started to meet periodically, slowly becoming friends. None of the villains had questioned the binder or the Zach Duplicates, which was good news. The Wild Kratts had restored their tech and all seemed well. Not for much longer.

"So, you're saying I should keep a journal?" asked Zach.
"Yeah... Not one of my best ideas, but you need to start eating again. You'll waste away at this rate," Fran replied. She had a point, but Zach Varmitech? Keeping a journal? Never ever.

WITH THE WILD KRATTS

Chris was getting ready for his next outing with Zach. They were getting more and more fun and luckily everything was calm on the villain side of things. He sighed happily. Martin came in and asked why his little brother was so happy. Chris froze. He couldn't tell a soul. But he wanted to sooooo bad.
"What are you talking about, bro? I'm just as happy as usual. Now, what's up?"
"Oh, we're going on an adventure tonight. Wanna come?"
Chris shook his head.
"No, sorry. I'm really tired." he faked a yawn. It must have convinced Martin, though because he left sadly.
Martin told Aviva, Koki and JZ about his brother's weird behaviour.
"I think he's hiding something. That's the only logical explanation," said Aviva.
"I would keep an eye on him tonight. Make sure he doesn't go anywhere. Let's install cameras."
The younger brother was standing at the doorway, unbeknownst to the others. He couldn't just cancel with Zach, but he couldn't leave, his friends were going to be watching him! Were they even friends anymore? The rest of the Kratts had to be watching him. Friends would let each other have secrets...
Later on in the day, Chris used his phone to contact Zach and tell him what he had heard.
"That's a problem, but I might have a, erm, gadget, that can help. Wait there," he said.

|ZACH POV|

I put Chris on hold as I ran to find my friends.
"Fran! Kit! How much do you want to stay with the Wild Kratts tonight?" I said, out of breath when I finally reached the living room.
"Why?" enquired Kit.
"Well...they have some new kit and I thought that you could find out about it. You would be assuming the role of Chris Kratt," I replied, choosing my words carefully. I can't afford to have anyone finding out about me and Chris.
"Oh, your boyfriend?" smirked Francesca, cheekily. What!? How...no, he's not my boyfriend, just a friend. I don't think I'm gay, anyway. Fran laughed as I'm sure I went a vivid scarlet.
  "He is not my boyfriend!"
"Yeah, sure."
   "I'm serious, he's not!" I protested.
"I'm not saying otherwise. We'll do it for free, relax. No payment is needed!"
I thanked them and went back on my call with Chris.
"Sorry if I took a while," I apologised.
"Don't worry about it. By the way, I thought I heard someone talking. Who was that? Kit?" Chris is such a sweet and understanding guy. I had to tell him the truth because he already knew about Kit. I let him know that Kit and Fran would be pretending that they were him. He asked about Francesca and how the plan was going to work. I told him that I would feed the camera loops and if any of the Wild Kratts found said loops, Kit and Fran would sort it out. Chris nodded and said goodbye. Tonight was gonna be amazing!

|READER POV| {TIME SKIP TO THAT NIGHT}

Chris watched as his friends left him alone in the Tortuga. He noticed that once outside, Aviva was firing up something on her computer. Must be the cams, he thought. He turned around when he felt someone tap on his shoulder.
"Martin?" he said.
"No, no Martin. Just Kit."
Chris sighed with relief.
"You had better get going. You're gonna be late. Let us take care of this," smiled the other person, who must have been Francesca. He smiled and escaped from the Tortuga.
He almost bumped into his friends as he ran away to find Zach's jet. As he was walking through the rainforest, he tripped over some roots and fell. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he stopped falling. He opened his eyes and was met with Zach's. They stared at each other for a moment as Zachary held Chris in a dance-like position[Idk what I'm talking about here just like you know when someone holds someone in a tango pos.?]
He blushed when he realised what was going on. He helped Chris up so that he was standing properly and greeted his friend.
"Hey...so, are we gonna go?" smiled Zach, turning off the camouflage on his jet. Chris nodded happily.
"Yeah! I can't wait."
On the Jet, Zach whispered to the zachbots the location they had to go and while he was doing that, Chris was taking a look around. He saw a plain black box, barely visible against the walls and the shelf it was sat on. Curious, he reached out to grab the box. At that moment, Zach came in and gasped.
"What's wrong?" asked the confused adventurer.
"Also, what's this?" Chris held up the box, then Zach hurriedly grabbed it from him and gave it to a zachbot.
"This? It's er... private. I don't exactly want anyone looking at it...sorry."

WITH THE WILD KRATTS

Aviva checked the cameras to see how Chris was doing. He seemed to be asleep, but Aviva thought she saw something. A jump in the footage? Was that normal? She was called by Koki though, so no time for contemplation.

WITH ZACH AND CHRIS

The meeting was awkward for a bit after, to say the least. They decided to watch a movie together after, but it got really late.
"I don't think I'll be able to get home without my friends noticing. Can you get one of your friends to keep...being me?"
Zach nodded.
"Although, they're not my friends...I doubt they like me much. Nobody does, " he laughed, bitterly.  Chris stared in disbelief. They were willing to be Chris for a whole night, just to make sure that he could stay with Zach, but they 'weren't his friends'!?
  "Ridiculous. I bet they are. They seem so devoted to you! Why would you ever think that they don't like you! And what about nobody liking you!?"
"Come on, Chris. Give me one example of a person who's NOT Kit or Fran, who could actually like me."
Chris was a bit annoyed at Zach. He'd seen him like this before, but what had brought on this behaviour now? He put his hand on Zach's shoulder in a comforting way.
"I like you."
"What?" he asked, now blushing.
Chris went red at this reaction.
"N-not like that! You know, as a friend!"
"I got it. Er, we should get to bed...you have to wake up before your friends..."
Zach sighed. Why did he love Chris so much?

Hi everyone! Imma do a whole chapter on Zach's dream(chapter 6) about his past so you can get more context for this. Have a good day!
Disclaimer: Any resemblance to real world ppl (names etc.) is purely coincidental!!!!