Nicknames (SkepHalo)

Chapter six

Darryl continued to rub soothing circles against Zak's back, carefully feeling each narrowing divot as nimble fingers trailed along the teen's spine. "You think your ready to talk about it?" Zak looked up at the man, frowning as he pulled away from the soothing warmth.

"There's nothing to talk about" Darryl smiled sadly, "Okay" the defeat in his voice, it was different from what he'd usually heard on their countless team speak or discord calls, this was honest.

"How about I fix us some breakfast?"

'What?!" Zak screeched softly the call instantly reminding himself of the burning sensation running along his throat.

"Yea...?" It was now Darryl's turn to be confused, "Zak, its 9 something in the morning" the confusion slowly faded away, surprised he'd been asleep that he'd slept so long -- Had Darryl stayed up the entire time?

Darryl seemed to notice the way the teen fidgeted, placing a gentle hand on the other youtuber's shoulder,

"It's okay Zak you were tired" he smiled, Zak looked at Darryl, seeing the faint creases of sleep under his eyes feeling the guilt slowly pool in his stomach. "Now how about breakfast!" Zak felt himself smile at the cheerful tone return in Darryl's voice wishing he hadn't been the reason for it to disappear, now unable to say no to such an offer. Now to pray the man wouldn't burn down his kitchen.

--

It was a feast; Zak amazed that the man was actually able to make food, to even bake from the limited stock he had in his fridge and pantry. The small kitchen island had a small batch of pancakes steam clear in the air, another separate plate with some small blueberry muffins, feeling himself giggle as he looked at them only making Darryl smile. There was a bowl with freshly cut fruit along side it all as well. Zak looked stunned at the quantity it was enough to feed himself for months... well in his current state.

Looking at the food, there was no hunger even with the strong smell of freshly baked muffins something he would have adored with a watering mouth. There was no growl in his stomach before taking a seat across from Darryl, the man having already filled his plate patiently waiting for Zak to put something on his.

'Would it be rude if I only took fruit?' Darryl looked at Zak never losing his smile, never missing a beat, "Eat as much as you can" a simple sentence, but it made the teen's chest feel warm as he reached across the island to grab the large bowl with a variety of berries.

Placing a small handful on his plate before placing the bowl back down to pour a tall glass of water trying to ignore the 'subtle' stare he was receiving. Darryl wanted to ask him to grab something more, something more then just a handful of berries and a glass of water but he knew trying to force Zak to eat wouldn't accomplish anything.

"Is that all your eating?" Darryl asked calming, bringing the glass of orange juice to his lips, Zak chewed at his lip a sudden feeling of anxiousness washing over him, "Uh..." what was he supposed to say?

Darryl only hummed softly, swallowing before speaking once again. "Zak, it's okay. Eat what you can, okay?" it was soothing to hear, but there was a quite undertone to those words, remember kids always read the subtext.

Zak smiled, "Thanks man".

--

Once breakfast was finished, Darryl had offered to clean the island making sure to save any left overs- which there was much of- in the few containers the teen owned only praying Zak would find it in himself to eat at least some of it.

Zak was now seated on the couch once again, swiping through his phone reading the constant messages he had received from fans asking why he hadn't posted a video in awhile, trying to think of a valid excuse his following would believe.

Grabbing a dishcloth, drying his hands walking over to the teen, ruffling Zak's hair causing the teen to whine, "Dude no" Zak groaned causing Darryl to chuckle gently whipping Zak with the lightly damped towel.

"Oh hush" Zak glared at the man, crossing his arms looking absolutely adorable, Darryl swallowing the lump in his throat trying to ignore the warming sensation he felt knowing he had been staring at the teen a moment to long.

"So, all the left offers are all packed for you if you get hungry later" Zak smiled again, mumbling a soft thanks, Darryl looking pleased by this.

A heavy silence filled the room, a subtle tension beginning to rise neither man knowing what to say.

"Thank you, Darryl," the older grinned, "Anything for you muffin" there was no context to those words, Zak knowing Darryl only meant those words as a friend, wanting oh how he wanted to believe there was something more in empty words. There where nothing more then friends, right?

"When do you think your going to get back to recording?" Zak sat up on the couch, allowing space for Darryl to sit down. "I really don't know" the older hummed in response, "A6D is worried about you too, you know?" Zak raised a brow at this, "Vincent?" Darryl nodded, "Yes you muffin, Vincent" Zak looked down at this lap, the guilt slowly returning knowing he now caused two of his closest friends to worry about him, knowing he wasn't worth the trouble.

"We were both concerned about you when you stopped uploading, you just stopped acting like yourself" Had he really acted that differently? The thoughts began flooding through the teen's head wondering how he'd let himself get this far, wishing he'd only had told Darryl to stop calling him fat in the first place.

"Well, I should get heading?" it sounded more as a question as Darryl stood up from the couch, Zak's hand quickly reaching out to grab the man's wrist almost intensively. Darryl looked at Zak the teen's grip loose enough to pull away, but he didn't, only looking at Zak to see the quite plea in his eyes.

"Please don't go" Zak wanted to blame what he just did was an accident grabbing the man's wrist, he didn't want to be alone—he couldn't be alone. Darryl gently placed his hand on top of Zak's,

"I won't Zak, I promise"

Zak felt the now familiar sensation of tears brimming at the corner of this eyes,

"Thank you" 

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Sorry for the delay in posting, with the final week of school approaching to its end I should have a more consistent uploading schedule in place.

But anyhow, I hope all you darlings are having a lovely day and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, I swear some more juicer stuff will be coming soon!

Please leave a vote and a comment if you got a moment to spare and I hope you all have a lovely rest of your day!