Warning: RWB spoilers ahead.
Some say the best love stories often take time.
Emery Chernychevsky has had a crush on Cameron Brooks since he can remember. Watching him date different girls all throughout high school was nothing if not pure torture...
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"I'm gonna catch you!"
Emery knew he shouldn't trust those words the moment they leave anybody's mouth, much less when he's standing above high ground, wet and half-naked, next to a squirrel's nest on a tree branch that probably bore half his weight.
"No, you're not! You're not Batman," he yelled back, grinning from ear to ear as he wiggled his toes nervously, holding onto the other branches nearby for support.
The tree shook as he moved, and the leaves fell with it. Emery looked down to follow where the wind took them. Most landed on the surface of the lake, while those that didn't, got caught in blonde hair, right on top of his boyfriend's face.
"What does Batman have to do with this?" Cameron asked, shaking his head to be rid of them. Suddenly, his shoulders jerked and his arms rose out of instinct when he saw Emery struggling to sit on the branch, making it unstable with every movement. "Careful, Emery! Jesus."
Emery liked it when his name rolled on Cameron's tongue like that, a concerned tone laced with a little bit of anger, with just enough of both to make anyone weak in the knees.
There was no telling how many times Emery purposely walked too close to a busy highway or faked tripping next to a cliff just to hear it again, and maybe see how quickly Cameron would go from holding his hand to gripping his tiny wrist. Cameron proved himself every single time, and every single time, Emery questioned whether he was mature enough to be in a relationship.
That question persisted this morning when he woke Cameron up and demanded that he be taken to some lake so he could climb a tree. Half-asleep and too high on melatonin to think straight, not to mention Emery making a point of wearing the shirt Cameron bought for him and the floral-scented lip balm he wore the first time they slept together, Cameron agreed. He was enthusiastic and didn't even question how the hell they were going to find a lake on their own, too amped and determined to shut Emery up and get some lip balm on him as well.
His hormone-driven decision was now starting to come back and bite him in the ass, but Cameron's not big on complaining when he gets to watch his boyfriend regret his own stupidity too.
"I am careful. Shut up." Still, Emery managed to be catty. It was obvious that the height was starting to scare him the moment he got a full view of what he was getting into, but he didn't want to give Cameron the satisfaction of being right after he was criticized for his 'pretty dumb ideas.'
Cameron laughed out loud, white teeth glistening against daylight as he flicked his wet hair to the side. Emery didn't want his decision to be swayed by either of those things, so he looked away, hiding his grin behind false pretenses.
"Okay, baby whatever you say," Cameron replied, grinning playfully, like Emery was a five-year-old that can't be reasoned with.
"Don't call me that, I hate that," Emery told him.
