rosemary

⸻ Joining the group on a road trip for a new video couldn't be that bad, could it?

It was Nick's idea. You'd already gone to TwitchCon and didn't have any other particular plans for the next few days. Grunk was originally supposed to be in the video, but unfortunately had to cancel and fly back home because of college. With the vacancy came a last minute call from your cousin.

"Are you sure it's okay if I tag along?" You ask down the phone.

"Yeah, totally! I've already spoken with the guys and they all agreed with me." Nick answers, the line choppy from wind and traffic.

You hum, mulling it over in your head. You do get along well with the rest of the group, sharing a similar sense of humour. A road trip with them sounded concerningly chaotic, but undoubtedly hilarious.

"Alright." You agree, "Sure, sounds like fun."

"Awesome. Hey—" His voice then trails off into an inaudible jumble of words you can’t quite make out, most likely letting the others know.

You drag your belongings along behind you, suitcase wheels threatening to dislodge themselves with each bump and dip alike in the pavement. After your call with Nick you had to quickly pack up your things from your hotel room and be ready within two hours, which you (fortunately) managed without any hiccups along the way.

Your eyes landed on the familiar sight of Nick, waving you over beside his car a little further down the street.

"You all set?" He asks, the two of you sharing a short hug.

"Yep, this should be everything." You nod, mentally thanking your past self for packing light.

"Great." He smiles, helping you load your belongings into the trunk of the car. "You'll be in the back with Larry, if that's alright?"

"'Course." You answer, turning to the other four males a few feet away.

Larry was the first to greet you, perking up at the sound of his name. Tanner followed shortly after, making some dumb joke that you pretended wasn't funny.

Grant and Isaac came up behind them, their tall frames spooking Larry who wasn't paying attention, earning a chorus of laughs from the group.

"Long time no see." Isaac says.

"I saw you like... a few days ago?" You reply, brows furrowing.

"Exactly." He grinned — you guessed he did, anyway, it was hard to tell when he was wearing his mask. 

You've known Isaac the longest out of the other group members, being Nick's best friend and all.

A smile broke across your lips, "Idiot."

"Hey— What did I do?"

"Is everyone ready to go?" Nick interjects, hands on his hips.

A series of yes's sounded from each person, almost feeling like a school trip with Nick as the teacher — now that would be disastrous.

Everyone soon piled into the car with Nick driving, Isaac in the passenger seat, Grant behind him fiddling with different settings on the camera, and Tanner looking back to show Larry some tiktok that had the two of them in hysterics.

You were sitting next to Larry in the back, observing the somewhat controlled chaos that the group always seemed to carry with them. 

You had a feeling you were going to enjoy this road trip.

"Okay, recording." Grant announced, turning the camera to Larry.

"Um, so we're doing a road trip now. Uh, this is like the second half." He pauses, glancing over to you and back, brows furrowing. "We're sort of late, I guess. There's no real plan either, I guess. And I guess, uh, we're going, I guess."

You fought to contain your smile at the bit he was doing, rolling your eyes.

"Um, so here's the thing." He continues, raising his hand to point at the camera. "We're gonna first go to La Hoya Cove 'cuz at least it's a beach, which I wanted to hit and—"

"Hey!" Tanner shouts, tires screeching as Nick attempts to not crash the car.

"Holy crap!" Larry says at the same time, "Um, damn." pulling a face and pointing his thumb behind him to the car they almost hit.

"The hell?" You glance back, watching the vehicle stop.

"He got too close."

"Um, yeah. I guess we almost died there. That was cool." Larry shrugged.

"Yeah, super cool." You add.

"No! Get in the left hand lane, you dumb-dumb." Isaac cuts in.

"Me?" Nick asks after a moment.

"Yes!"

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

Grant turns the camera to the two arguing in the front.

"You— Okay, listen. What— This is the m— There ain't no text and shit, no exit ramps for everyone—” Isaac begins to explain, to which Grant instead pans the camera to Tanner.

"We almost just died really bad." He laughs, "We just started."

"You gotta get in the left hand lane—"

"Dude."

"So that shit ain't—" Isaac smacks his hands together and makes a noise to imitate a collision.

"Dude. I couldn't move—" Nick starts, getting interrupted by Isaac's dramatics, "There's a car— There was a car behind me to the left. There was literally a car."

"L.A short for Los Angeles." Tanner interjects, a lopsided grin on his face as he looks back to you and Larry.

"No way." You glance over to Larry, eyes squinting. 

"Where did all the cheetos go?" You cautiously ask.

There's a long pause before he answers, “I ate them.”

"Oh, that's my jet flying in. That's my huzz I flew in— My huzz I flewn in." Isaac says, pointing out the window.

"Aye, airdrop huzz."

The camera turns to Tanner, sticking his tongue in and out of his mouth. "Sorry, I—"

"Shut the hell up, Big T." Larry interrupts.

"I'm sorry." He laughs.

"Shuut up."

"Don't make me touch yo—" Tanner reaches back around the seat, trying to grab Larry.

"You can't do shit. You can't do shit."

Tanner gives up and instead brings his arm up and pretends to break Larry's leg with his elbow, who has some kind of seizure.

"What the fuck?" You mutter, looking to the camera.

"I do wanna say one thing guys. I think we all agree, too." Larry starts.

"We miss Grunk." Nick and Larry both say.

"Yeah, Grunk—"

"We miss the fuck outta that kid."

"We miss Grunk. He had to go back home, uh, for college.”

"Yup. He had an exam at like 1 pm today."

"One of them things, man. It's one of them things. He would've loved this trip."

"Which is why we replaced him." Tanner says, earning a series of laughs.

"Yeah— Yeah, we did." Isaac nods.

"Sorry Grunk, you're being kicked out of the group." You say.

"It was a collective decision."

"For those of you who don't know—" Nick starts.

"I'm Nick's cousin." You interrupt with a sigh, crossing your arms in faux annoyance.

"Wow, no need to sound so happy about it."

"Who's feet stink?" Nick asks after Tanner removes his foot from the side of his seat.

"They don't stink!" Tanner argues, "They're new socks."

"Ohh, shit."

"Oh, he doesn't like that."

"We can literally smell them back here." You say.

"They're new socks. They came out of the dryer."

"Your feet stink, dude." Larry goads.

Tanner looks back and reaches his arm around the seat again, "I wanna just—" he gives up, leaning back against his seat and screeches.

"Okay." He sighs, bringing his hands to his face.

"A hundred more miles of trolling Tanner, a hundred more miles of troll. I'm gonna troll them the whole way home, another ninety nine miles to go." Larry sings, gesturing animatedly with his hands and making you laugh.

"Whoa." Larry points out the window, the view of the ocean from atop of the cliffs clearer now.

"Looks like we're on a boat." Tanner says, "You know how awesome it would be to be on the water right now?"

"Oh, here's somewhere you could park or something."

"What if I just kept backing up?" Nick asks, making everyone laugh.

"Off the fucking cliff?" Isaac asks.

"And we scare the huzz away."

"We did— We would scare the huzz." Tanner agrees, nodding.

"I'm right here, you know." You shoot an unimpressed look their way, unable to control the smile that tugged at your lips.

"Let's go, let's go!" Larry demands, a bright grin on his face — which quickly fell when Tanner tried to open the door and it wouldn't budge.

"Nick. Let us out."

"Help! He's kidnapping us!"

"Hey— Look. It's open, okay? Relax, dude.” Nick laughs, turning off the engine.

Everyone eventually got out of the car, stretching after being sat down for so long. The sun bore down, it's sweltering heat leaving you far too warm in your clothes and the air all stuffy. It was almost setting, casting everything in an orange hue and making the view that much more mesmerising — despite the heat.

"I've been in these parts before." Isaac says, adjusting his mask.

"Oh, you own Lagona, bro?" Tanner asks.

"Yeah, I'm La Hoya— They call me Isaac La Hoya."

"You're Mr. La Hoya."

"And this is where— Okay, guys. We really— This is where we die really bad." Larry says, leaning over the railing.

"Now that is how you end up dead." You point to Larry, shaking your head.

"What did you say?" He turns around.

"Nothing, dude. Nothing." You smile, following after Isaac and Tanner who'd already started walking.

You all slowly make your way down the cliff, following the dirt path as you grow closer to the beach, looking down over the edge.

"Oh shit."

"That's like— That's peak right there." Tanner says.

Isaac walks over to the edge where a part of the terrain juts out, on either side was a drop leading straight to the ocean. He carefully crosses it, looking back to the camera and crouching at the end.

"Isaac stop." Nick says, watching as he slowly rises.

"Isaac, that's fucked up." Tanner laughs, "That was— I'd never do that."

"You're a sicko." You say as he waddles his way back, keeping his muscular arms forward to stay balanced.

It was almost frustrating; how good he managed to look even whilst doing the stupidest shit ever. Not that you were into him or anything — No. That would be weird. Isaac is Nick's best friend. He's just an objectively attractive man, that's all.

"Let's just be stupid—"

"Let's be stupid as hell."

"Alright, we're good." Isaac says when he makes it back safely.

"Dude. Isaac would fall off and die and then haunt anyone else who came over here." Nick says, crossing his arms.

"He actually would." You agree, standing beside him.

"I would what?" Isaac asks, appearing behind you and placing his big hand atop your head.

You turn to look up at him, his tall frame looming over you almost menacingly — you decide against moving his hand.

Instead of answering, you look back to watch Tanner walk over to a similar ledge, looking down at the rocks and ocean below.

"Tanner, it looks like you're about to kill yourself, dude." Larry shouts, laughing as he lifts both his arms.

You weren't entirely sure where you were when the car next stopped at a gas station, because Larry not-so-surprisingly wanted more cheetos. Somewhere in Houston, by the beach. The sun had set and the sky was already growing dark by the time everyone had made it to the sand.

"Why is my phone doing this?" Nick asks no one in particular — he'd been taking pictures for Isaac before his screen messed up.

"I don't know."

"Oh, I put it in the water when you weren't looking." Tanner says blankly.

"You asshole." Larry replied between laughs.

"Sorry."

"Wait, guys. Come here." You say, standing in front of the pair, waiting for the waves to come back.

"I'm gonna stand still— I'm not gonna move. I'm gonna guess where the water ends."

"Alright, bet." Larry places his hands on his hips, "Here it comes. Wait— No. It's like drawing back."

"I think that means a tsunami's coming."

"Oh, wait."

You took a few steps back as the waves started coming. Isaac moved out of the way before the water could soak his shoes whilst Tanner and Larry shouted simultaneously, jumping out of the way almost a second too late.

"Oh, shit— No, yeah. God damn, that's crazy!"

"Guys— guys! Come look at Nick." Isaac laughed, pointing at the weird face he was making with his arms behind his head.

"Oh my god, what the hell." You brought your hand up to cover your mouth in mock horror, laughing and pulling out your phone to take a picture.

"Take a photo right now, take a photo right now!"

Nick then turned to the side, sticking his head all the way forwards like a chicken.

"There we go."

"Eww."

Time seems to have flown right by, because you were already looking for a hotel to sleep in for the night, your eyes threatening to close from a long day of possibly too much laughing.

Somehow Nick had managed to find a hotel to stay at last minute, all of you currently stood huddled around the front desk deciding on rooms.

"I'll go into 603." Nick says, holding the key.

"Let's all fit in the same room."

"You guys can all go in one room and I can try going to the other room." Larry shrugs.

"Yeah." Isaac laughs.

"Yeah— I like that."

"I like that."

"Yeah, Larry. Yeah dude." Tanner says, dapping him up.

"Hey, nice to meet you." Larry pauses, "Larry."

"Tanner, nice to meet ya."

You shake your head, laughing as he goes around shaking everyone’s hand, including your own.

"Do you want your own room or?" Nick interrupts, looking over to you.

"No, no. It's okay, I don't mind sharing." You answer, it'll save wasting any more money than necessary.

"Okay, cool. You can share with me and Larry."

"Is it 604?" Nick asks the receptionist.

"No, 607." They reply.

"607?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, dude. That's a good one, can I have 607?" Nick grins, turning to Isaac.

"Yeah, dude. You can have it. Awesome."

"No. Don't let him have that." Larry groans.

"You get that?" Nick turns to the receptionist and back again, "It's a funny joke, right?"

You sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose and grimacing as you watch the interaction from afar. There is no way you are related to this guy.

"You think that's funny or not really anymore?"

"You know what? It depends on the situation. Just like— It being 607, I don't think it really counts." The receptionist answers.

"It doesn’t count." Larry repeats to the camera.

Nick makes a face as he gets given the 607 key, "Oh my god."

"No, no, no."

"I get 607, ‘cuz I've been making 67 jokes this entire trip."

By some miracle, Nick is allowed to have room 607, even after fighting in the elevator — which also means you’re staying in room 607, too.

"Nick. If you tell one more 67 joke tonight, I'm kicking you out." You say, waiting in the hallway as he unlocks the door.

"Dude. Why? That's so mean."

Larry nods in agreement, following behind Nick as they enter the room, "Fucking move outta here." trying to push him out of the way.

"Let's exchange keys so we each have one to each other's room." Isaac suggests, standing in front of the doorway without his mask or glasses on.

"What?" Nick asks, moving to the side to let you in.

"Let's exchange keys."

You shift your hold on your belongings to get a better grip, manoeuvring past Isaac's broad frame, arms brushing in the process. You turn your head to make sure that your suitcase wasn't going to get stuck and briefly meet his eyes — that were already on you — in the process. You quickly look away.

"Dare I say, worst idea ever." Nick looks at the camera, "Oh— oh. Is this gonna be the fucking bugs nation 2.0, but just weed now?"

"No." Isaac laughs.

"That's how it started—" Tanner says.

"Do you wanna hear something crazy? Bug nation was weed."

"It was all weed."

Nick pauses, "Hey, you know what you guys are gonna do?" straight-faced.

"What?"

"You're gonna go downstairs and you're gonna smoke— in the fucking street."

"You're wrong."

"One, two, eat my fucking poo."

"One, two, don't—" Isaac cuts himself off with a laugh, the others joining in.

You dump all of your stuff on the floor beside the bed in the corner, furthest from the window as the other's voices eventually fade away. 

Nick shuts the door and walks over to the bed he'd already claimed, flopping down onto it with a sigh.

"You okay?" You ask, plugging your phone in to charge.

"Yeah," He answers, voice muffled, "just tired from driving."

"Dude. We said you didn't have to drive the whole time." Larry cuts in, getting himself comfortable in bed.

"I know, I know."

It was still dark when you woke up, sitting up as your eyes adjusted to the minimal light. You turned to see Nick and Larry both still awake on their phones and talking quietly about something you couldn't hear.

You were about to say something when the sound of frantic knocking registered in your sleepy haze.

"What the hell?" Nick mutters, getting out of bed.

"Oh, real funny." Larry follows, hiding behind Nick as he opens the door.

"Who's there?" You ask, eventually getting up.

"Um— No one." Nick answers, looking both ways.

"What?"

All three of you end up outside the room, waiting to see someone peek around a corner or something along those lines.

"Okay. Go inside, I'll stay out here." Larry whispers.

You nod, shutting the door behind you and Nick, waiting. It was silent for a long time before Larry knocked on the door.

"You see anyone?"

"Nah, nothing."

"What the hell?" You laugh.

The group met up properly again at around 2 pm, checking out of the hotel and loading everyone's belongings back into Nick's car. 

"What about that place?" Grant suggests, pointing across the street to a restaurant looking like a knock-off Arby's.

"Okay, well— If we die it's all your fault, Grant." Larry says, raising his brows.

The place itself had a nice atmosphere with a retro sort of vibe to it, and only a handful of customers sat around eating in their respective spots. There was an old radio placed on the counter, playing a song that you couldn't quite remember the name of, and a man sitting on one of the bar stools was humming along to himself.

This was definitely not the right place for the group's chaos to ensue. And yet, you were being ushered along into one of the booths anyway.

You were pressed into the corner against the window as everyone squeezed in to sit down. In front of you was Nick with Tanner beside him, and Grant on the end. You were sitting next to Isaac with Larry on the other side of him.

You had a feeling that these booths were not made to fit three people. 

A waitress soon made her way over, "Good afternoon, here's the menu for you." handing out three different sheets with a polite smile on her face.

"Thank you."

"Alright, let's see." Nick hums, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"You look like an old dad." Larry laughs, pointing at him.

"Dude, you actually do!" Tanner chimes in.

After debating for way too long, everyone had finally ordered what they wanted. The table had already earned themselves a few pointed stares from other customers, and you'd only been here like, what? Ten minutes?

"Oh my god, Larry." You groaned, dropping your head into your hands as he started a whole new tangent about which cheetos flavour is the best.

"I'm serious!" He defended, "Tanner, come on. You agree, right?"

"I dunno. The last time I tried them, it gave me like— really bad diarrhea." Tanner replied, laughing as Nick made a disgusted sound.

"Dude! We're about to eat." He complained.

Isaac rounded the corner, coming back from the bathroom and tapped Larry on the shoulder, "Scoot."

Larry only paused his rant to stand up, letting Isaac slide back into the booth before continuing once more. You opened your mouth to complain again, but the words instantly died on your tongue.

Isaac’s hand was on your thigh. The heat from his palm burned straight through the fabric of your pants.

Your eyes darted to his, already staring at you wide-eyed. He was awkwardly hovering above the seat, a nervous kind-of exhale leaving his lips — which was probably meant to be a laugh, but didn’t come out quite right. 

He must’ve been trying to place his hand onto the padding of the booth and greatly misjudged the distance.

Neither of you moved, frozen in place for two seconds longer than necessary. Your eyes caught on his Adam's apple, watching it bob as he swallowed. 

You looked away at the same time he pulled his hand back like it had stung, sitting down properly beside you.

Isaac cleared his throat, saying something to Larry that you didn’t hear. 

You were staring down at your lap, more specifically, where his hand had just been. You could almost still feel it.

"—and here’s your drinks." The voice of the waitress snapped you out of your thoughts, lifting your head to see her placing them down one by one.

"Thank you."

"Your food will be with you shortly."

You reached over to pick up your drink, the condensation on the glass wetting your fingers as you took a sip. It was a welcome distraction.

The rest of your time in the restaurant was spent trying to block out the memory of the awkward interaction between you and Isaac, focusing all of your attention on the dumb conversations happening around you.

Neither of you had spoken to each other since.

You were back in the car again, having driven around for several hours now that the sun had set and the sky was dark, hung with stars.

"Yo, where— Where is we?” Isaac asks.

"We are on the way to Vegas." Larry answers, turning to the camera and gesturing wildly with his hands. "We're gonna go to Las Vegas and see what's up. Shoot the dice, deal with the devil!"

"Smoke with the devil in Vegas, yeah."

"Yeah— I wanted to talk about yesterday. Uh, yesterday night. Tanner." Isaac interjects.

"You wanna talk about it?" Tanner laughs.

"Oh, great." You sigh, already assuming that they'd gotten up to some heinous shit.

"Tanner, can you explain what— It was, uh— What time was it when you went to do something?"

"It was... 2 in the morning after a long day of driving. We got— we—" Tanner says, trying not to laugh again. "We smoked a little something."

"We did."

"We're a little hungry, but I don't wanna get out of bed. So Isaac says, 'Tanner take the group card.'"

"No way. No way, are you serious?"

"Is that— Is that really—"

"This is exactly what's— Everything I'm saying is the truth." Tanner reaffirms, "'Take the group card and a key or just charge the— the order to the room, and get us some snacks. You're the soldier.'"

"No fucking way." You mentally facepalm.

"I'm high. I'll say it, I'm high." He laughs, "Go down to the lobby—"

"Were we asleep?" Nick asks.

"Yeah, you guys were sleeping. So, I'm like 'alright, there's three of us in our room. I'm gonna grab one bag of chips for each of us', and then I got 3 rice krispies. I got 2 diet mountain dews. Then I'm like, 'alright, sweet. Yeah I'm ready to check out.' and so he's writing out all of the stuff I bought on a piece of paper. He's like, 'yeah, yeah you're good, you can go.' and I'm like okay—"

"He also got two— three sandwiches." Grant adds.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. 3 Italian sandwiches, but they were like small kinda."

"What?" Larry gapes dramatically.

Isaac laughs, repeating the order and listing off all the items Tanner had bought for just the three of them.

"How did you carry that all up?" Nick asks, incredulous.

"They— He gave me a bag. It was like I went to 7-Eleven and got a bag of goodies."

"This is 1:52 in the morning. Nick texts me, he says 'Isaac, can you drop waters off for us?' and I'm like nonverbal, like lowkey peaking so I couldn't even— I couldn't text back right, but at least I tried. This is— I'm just gonna read this out loud."

"'Yo sorry I'm just reading this, dot dot dot. What a fucking trooper. If you give me, get me a core power and literally anything to eat and variety sandwiches. Can you get Italian sandwich food and, like, sandwich question mark.'"

You laugh, imagining Isaac trying to type that out while high out of his mind.

"Um, anyways. Those snacks were— After we got back, we finished it and I get a notification on my phone and, uh, all that food combined was 150 dollars."

Tanner bursts out laughing, Isaac joining in as Nick looks over in disbelief.

"And that was by far the craziest 150 dollars I've ever spent."

"Oh my god." You and Larry groan simultaneously.

"You're actually idiots." You laugh, shaking your head.

"We were high!" Isaac defends.

"Last night. It had to have been Tanner— Tanner, did you press the elevator, wait for it to open and then knock on our door and then run in the elevator?" Nick accuses.

"Oh, yeah—"

"Was it you?" Larry asks, laughing.

"It was all three of us." Tanner explains, pointing at Isaac and Grant who both end up laughing.

"No, you fucks!"

"Bro. We stood out there—"

"We stood out there for a hot minute. I said 'okay, go inside and I'll stay out here.' I was looking around to see if, like, a head popped out. Nothing. I was like—"

"We knocked on the door and immediately went to the elevator."

"No way." You laugh.

"How long were you looking?" Isaac asks.

"Like 2 minutes!" Nick huffs, setting everyone off laughing again.

"Wait, who did— What were your guys' sleeping arrangements?" Nick asks.

"I slept next to Isaac." Tanner answers.

"Yeah."

"Can— Can I say something?"

"Of course."

"I woke up to him spooning me."

"Ooohh," Larry starts.

Your brain unhelpfully supplied the image of being spooned by Isaac, completely unbidden, and lingering far longer than you wanted it to.

"No don't— You—"

"You are a spoon!" Larry grins.

"No— No it's all good." Nick says.

"There's a reason you don't share beds.” Isaac retorts, leaning his arm across the back of Nick's seat.

Your eyes landed upon the big, bulging muscles of his bicep, blinking once and then twice before averting your gaze.

"Larry and I shared the same bed, too. It's all good."

"That's the update. We're on our way to Vegas, we'll update more when we're in Vegas. Road trip." Isaac says, turning his head to face the camera.

"Road trip." Tanner says.

"Road trip." You repeat.

"Road trip!" Larry also repeats, holding up gang signs and cheering.

The Casino you find yourself in is decently busy with bright lights flashing overhead and a plethora of machines and stations dotted around the spacious interior, designed entirely to draw you in. You were sure to get a headache after this. Maybe you should’ve gone with Larry who decided not to come, but alas, you’re already here now.

“So, who’s going to lose all their money first?” You ask, nudging Nick with your elbow.

“Not me, that’s for sure.” He grins, turning to say something to Tanner, who laughs in turn.

You aren’t much of a gambler, honestly, opting to instead watch the rest of the group have their wins and even greater losses whilst only betting once or twice yourself —  not particularly getting anywhere with it. It was all quite amusing, really; watching Nick get progressively grumpier as the night went on, predictably losing more money with his non-existent voucher.

It was getting late, and you’d hardly spoken to Isaac at all since the restaurant incident. Whether he was avoiding you, or you were subconsciously avoiding him, you weren’t sure. It was beginning to get on your nerves, whatever the reason. You’re both adults. It was an accident, that’s all. You can have a normal, not awkward at all conversation about it, right?

That’s how you ended up awkwardly hovering behind him whilst he was using one of the machines, Tanner on the one to his left. 

What would you even say? Hey, by the way I just wanted to say that I’m not mad at you, and I didn’t mind your hand being on my thigh earlier, but totally not in a weird way because that would be… well, super weird. Also, are you avoiding me?

You promptly turn on your heel and head in the complete opposite direction. Nope. No way. You can’t do it.

The women’s bathroom becomes your safe haven. A heavy sigh slides from your lips and you pull out your phone, the time reading 11:23 pm. Perhaps it was time for you to make your exit and retreat to the hotel that Nick had booked earlier. You could meet up with Larry then, too.

After a much needed breather, you double check your appearance in the mirror and take your leave, pushing open the doors leading back into the bustling Casino — It had gotten busier as the night progressed.

Unfortunately, you find yourself face-to-face with the very man you’d sought to escape from. Isaac was standing right outside the bathroom, his head perking up at the sight of you. Had he been waiting for you? How did he even know you were in there?

“Oh, hey.” He says, interrupting your thoughts, a strained sort of smile on his lips.

“Hi.” You reply, fidgeting with the sleeves of your jacket.

Silence settles over the pair of you, bar from the sounds of indistinct chatter and overexaggerated sound effects from multiple machines working at a time, the only noise between the pair of you was Isaac’s slow intake of breath.

“Uh, about earlier…” He starts, a muscle ticking in his cheek from the clenching of his jaw.

You turn your head to face him, having to crane your neck slightly to meet his eyes — that would be the case, anyhow, if he wasn’t currently avoiding eye contact.

“Sorry. I didn’t— It was an accident.”

You nod, “Yeah, that’s— that’s okay, I know.” the words coming out quieter than you’d intended.

“Okay. Okay, good.” He hums, finally meeting your gaze.

Your cheeks suddenly feel far too warm than they should, and you wish he’d kept avoiding looking at you because now you have the full weight of his eyes on you, and it’s making you feel weird and—

“Yo, I’m back.” Tanner interjects, coming out of the men’s bathroom.

Oh. Isaac had been waiting for Tanner. Well, of course he had, why wouldn’t he be?

Now it’s your turn to avoid looking at Isaac. 

You take your leave shortly after, finding Nick beforehand and letting him know you were going to meet up with Larry at the hotel, saying your goodbye’s for the night.

It was just your luck that the booking Nick had planned prior fell through because apparently there were no rooms. You and Larry instead decide to wait around for the others to be done at the Casino, eventually all meeting up again and going from hotel to hotel — all claiming to be ‘full’ — until you finally get rooms at the Rio.

You were out cold within 10 minutes of getting settled into your room shared with Nick and Larry again.

The next morning goes by just the same as the last, spent scrolling through your phone and snacking on the random food that Nick had gotten while you were asleep last night, nursing a headache that was stubbornly deciding to stick around.

It was just past lunch when the group met up outside the other’s room, heading down to the lobby together and checking out, before piling back into Nick's car for the umpteenth time this trip.

“Did we even— I don’t even know if we explained it, but basically last night we were stuck for like a hot minute. Trying to look for a place to stay, okay. Now…” Larry pauses, fighting back a grin. “Softwilly fake flexed on us—” He quickly gets out, making the entire car erupt in laughter.

“Listen, Nick had a voucher. I’m pretty sure he had a sponsor. I don’t know why— He said that we were going to get free rooms.”

“I won a raffle for free—” Nick starts.

“They felt really bad for him ‘cuz he lost, um, all of his money gambling. So, they were going to offer him like four nights, uh, free rooms. We went to the, uh, head chef or whatever the fuck, and they were like, ‘no rooms’. Okay, fine. We go to the next one. No rooms. Okay, fine. Go to the next one. No rooms. Okay! We look online. No rooms, okay. Apparently there’s an event that no one’s talking about, but it’s like the most popular thing in the world. Everything’s booked out.”

“And so, then we went to this place called the Rio, and we told the guy that everywhere else was booked out. He looked at us like this,” Larry pulls a confused face, “‘They said that? They’re booked out? That’s weird.’ That’s weird. Okay.” shrugging his shoulders.

“So, either they’re fucking lying to us or they’re fucking lying to us! That’s what I believe.”

“Larry— Larry. Here’s my belief, alright. Trying to say ‘oh, we’re booked’ so it makes it feel like ‘oh, I want to try and go back there next time.’” Tanner explains.

“But, dude— that’s the dumbest way to, like, get more popular. ‘Oh, we’re booked’. Okay, so then we didn’t get a booking.” Larry retorts, making Tanner laugh.

“We were walking around for fucking ever.” You add, laughing.

“Yeah, and you guys were just, like, gambling all of your money away.” Larry nods.

Grant pans the camera to Tanner again, who in turn, sticks his tongue out and roars, the sound breaking off into a laugh. “Sorry.”

“The fuck was that?” Isaac laughs.

“I’m definitely going to push him off. I’m gonna push him off the fucking Grand Canyon. I don’t care.” Larry says.

The drive goes about as chaotic as you’d expect with the group, stopping off at the weirdest gas station ever and leaving with the largest jug of lemonade in the world, making several food stops along the way — Nick withholding the McDonald’s from everyone until Isaac finally snatches it from his grasp.

By the time you finally make it to the Grand Canyon, the sun had already set and the sky was slipping into the darkness of night.

“Holy.” Isaac marvels, looking down at the unfathomable view of the canyon. “Oh my god.”

“I could totally go down there.” Tanner laughs.

“It’s a little surreal. I’m not gonna lie.”

“That’s like— It doesn’t even feel like what I’m looking at is real.” Isaac says.

“No, literally. This is— Woah.” You nod, standing a few feet away from him.

“Guess who dug all this? You’re looking at him. You’re looking at him right here.” Nick announces, to which everyone purposefully ignores him, Isaac clearing his throat.

“We were mining for a couple days and we’re like, ‘Hey, we dug. This is such a big hole, we can profit off of it.” Tanner adds.

“Oh, is that so? Is that—” Larry starts, interrupted by Nick.

“Yup. So, through a couple days—”

“Yeah?”

“You might— guys, you might see—” Grant says, following Isaac with the camera who had his phone out recording, slowly panning around to the group.

“How much did you pay to get in?” Nick asks.

“None.” Larry answers.

The group falls into silence, Isaac pointing his phone at Larry with Nick and Tanner readying their canes that they’d bought at the gas station earlier.

“No, no. I— I did pay a few— a few hundred.” Larry defends, backing away.

“A few hundred?” Isaac laughs.

Tanner pretends to grab Larry and throw him over the cliff, setting everyone off laughing again.

You all make your way further down the trail where several other groups of people, also sightseeing, are standing at the railings.

“Dude. It doesn’t even look real.” Nick says, “It doesn’t even look like I’m looking at something.”

“Like, it’s so far away, it starts blurring out.” Grant adds, slowly panning the camera across the view.

“Woah. Someone definitely drove off over there.” Larry points out with Tanner agreeing.

After taking pictures of one another and editing them to look weird as hell, the group all lined up to take a photo together for their new youtube channel banner with their matching canes.

“Well, that was the video. Thanks guys so much.” Nick says.

“We made it to our only goal.” Tanner nods.

“That was Grant’s Canyon everyone.” Nick announces, side-eyeing the camera.

“Yeah, Grant’s Canyon.” You laugh.

It’s dark out when everyone piles back into Nick’s car, listening to the shared playlist created for the road trip, and mindlessly chatting away.

“We’re— Alright, we’re in Arizona. Wait, where are we?” Tanner says, rubbing his eyes. “Alright. So, we’re 193 miles away from Albuquerque, New Mexico. We’ve been driving for 2 hours.” He coughs, “Nick’s got to pee again. So, we’re going to pull over one more time.”

“So, listen. We’re— We’re in New Mexico. We’re going to Albuquerque. We’re going to stay the night in Albuquerque.” Isaac turns to face the camera, “But today, dude, that Grand Canyon was—”

“That was beautiful.” Larry interrupts.

“It made me realise— It made me realise there was more to life than just my PC.” Nick says.

“Oh, here we go.” You say, jokingly rolling your eyes.

“That was God’s creation.” Tanner adds.

“Now I’m going to go on Minecraft and rebuild the Grand Canyon.”

“Tomorrow. We’re going from Albuquerque to— to Austin. Austin, Texas.” Isaac says, “That’s going to be a really long drive.”

“We’re not going to stop a single time. Cannonball.” Tanner grins, “We’ve travelled 2 states in 4 days.” making Isaac and Nick laugh.

Half an hour later you finally come across a service station and park up, everyone getting out of the car and stretching their aching limbs.

“It’s— It’s kind of cold. We’re in Albuquerque. We’re in Albuquerque at a gas station.” Tanner says, overexaggerating his shivering.

“It is kind of cold, actually.” You agree, waiting by the car as Nick, Larry and Isaac head inside to get some snacks and pay for fuel.

“What if they come back and we just fucking froze to death?” Tanner asks, making both you and Grant laugh.

They come back a few minutes later, plastic bag in hand, and your eyes seem to naturally stray to Isaac with his tall frame clad in a black, tight-fitting wife beater and sweatpants, settled low on his hips, revealing just a sliver of bare skin that you force yourself to tear your eyes away from.

Nick slides open the door to the car, leaving the bag of snacks in the backseat whilst he quickly departs to go to the bathroom.

“Be right back, guys. Don’t start without me!” He calls behind him.

“Don’t worry, we will!” You retort.

“Alright. Well, my mask is off ‘cuz we’re about to try some fucking foods.” Isaac explains to the camera, rubbing his hands together.

“We’re about to try some— Okay. So, uh, I got him to get some goodies. Uh, little Mexican— Mexican delights.” Larry says, pointing to Isaac currently sorting through the bag of snacks, pulling out a packet of some kind of spicy sticks.

“Listen, Havalina— No idea. Yo no say what the fuck?” Isaac laughs, failing at reading the packaging before Larry takes it from him and reads it out.

Nick then comes back and peers over Larry’s shoulder, who pulls out the five sticks.

“Havalina, these are pencils, and we’re gonna bite them off ‘cuz— Okay. They look really, really spicy but they’re not that bad.” Larry explains, handing one out to everyone.

You take one of the pencils and scoot into frame besides Isaac, holding it up to the camera.

“Love you boys, and girl.” Everyone says at the same time before taking a bite.

“Wow— Oh, there’s a stick in the middle. I forgot.” Larry says, struggling to eat it.

“We can’t eat the stick?” Tanner laughs, waving his around whilst chewing, “No, I kind of like it.”

Grant zooms in on Nick’s face as he scrunches up his nose, chewing very slowly.

“I don’t think Nick likes it.”

“Really?” Larry asks, him and Isaac laughing.

“It’s alright.” You say, laughing at Nick’s exaggerated coughing.

“Wow. Look at that freak.” Tanner says, pointing at Isaac, who’d already eaten the entire thing.

“I’m a fucking slut for some shit bro.” Isaac replies.

“We can tell.” You laugh.

After trying a variety of other snacks and messing about for the next 15 minutes — Isaac recreating a tiktok, and Nick getting skittles everywhere — everyone is back inside the car again.

“Attention everyone. We’re driving into a storm.” Nick announces.

“Yes, we’re driving into Albuquerque storm.”

“A stor— Woah, did you see that?” Larry points out, lightning crackling through the clouds.

“All in front of us is open. We’re going to see some hella lighting.”

“I want to see some lightning, son.” Tanner says.

“Chat, we’re an hour— Oh, shit.” Isaac cuts himself off as lightning strikes again, making everyone cheer.

“We’re gonna fucking die!” Larry shouts, shaking Tanner by the shoulders, who screams in turn. “We’re gonna fucking die, bro.”

“Yeah, and you’re dying first.” You add, making Larry sideeye you.

“What the fuck, dude.”

The drive to Albuquerque is full of talking about skinwalkers and valhalla, two subjects you really hadn’t ever imagined crossing over. Finally, you make it to the hotel you’re all staying at for the night, checking in and dumping your belongings into your respective rooms — with you sharing with Nick, per usual.

After everyone drops off their things, you all meet up again after ordering Subway and ending up with the world’s longest receipt.

“Oh my lord.” Tanner says.

“The dude spent like freaking 400 dollars. Have a good night, you guys.” The delivery guy says and departs soon after.

Nick stands in front of the camera holding up the receipt with a deadpan expression, “This is all for me.”

“You fuck, no it isn’t.” Larry says, snatching the bag from him and taking out what he ordered, whilst Tanner and Grant very suspiciously go around the corner — handing you the camera in the meantime.

“Come back over.” Isaac says.

“Grant has his hoodie up and shit. Dude, he looks so suspect.”

“I know. He looks like a fucking drug dealer.”

Eventually they both came back over, smoking joints, with Isaac pulling out his own and taking it out of the tube — Grant lights it for him and he takes a hit.

“What? What? You don’t fucking smoke? What?” Nick says, gesturing with his hand despite not smoking one himself. He turns to the camera, “What? What? Yeah. What? You. You don’t fucking smoke?” pretending to smoke and aggressively blowing at the lens.

“Can you do that? Thank you.” He asks Isaac, laughing.

“Dude.” Isaac replies, relenting anyway and walking up to the camera. “Bro, what? Bro, you don’t fucking smoke weed? It’s weed. It’s all— It’s just herb. It’s mother nature.” He says, taking another hit, “What’s your problem, man? I feel bad doing that, man. Yeah, stop. Why’d you make me do that?” breaking character before Tanner continues the bit instead, making you laugh behind the camera.

“Who the fuck do you think you are? Listen to me. You’re a little shit, do you know that? You don’t even know what weed is.” He says, blowing smoke at the camera, just like Nick had.

“Larry’s like clenching his teeth and his butt.” Isaac laughs, to which you pan the camera over to him, heading back towards the hotel entrance.

“You going to bed?” Nick asks.

“Yeah.” Larry answers from over his shoulder.

“Goodnight, Larry.”

“Alright, man.”

Larry waves behind him before heading inside, understandably going to bed. It was late, after all, and you were getting tired yourself.

“Are you smoking weed?” Nick asks, taking the camera from you and zooming in on Isaac.

“Yeah.” Isaac answers.

Nick pans the camera to Tanner, taking another hit, “Are you lighting a— Are you lighting weed?”

“Yeah!” Tanner grins, showing it off.

“You wanna?” Isaac holds it out to you, a lopsided smile on his lips.

“Sure.” You answer, fingers brushing his as you grab it and take a hit, passing it back afterwards and coughing a little — making him laugh.

It’s been a while since the last time you smoked any weed, and even then you aren’t exactly well-versed in the world of recreational drugs, so your head was feeling a little weird shortly after.

Tanner makes an annoyed sort-of sound as he drops his on the ground, picking it back up and sliding it into the tube again. “I dropped it on accident.” He says.

“So, you’re putting it back in the fucking vial?” Nick asks.

“Yeah. No, I’m done ‘cuz I know my limit and I’m safe with recreational drugs.” Tanner says, getting up close and personal with the camera.

“Very responsible. Good job, Tanner.” You add.

“Thank you, thank you.”

Nick pans over to Isaac again, “Holy doobie. Holy fucking doobie. Ya’ll are fucking smoking some fat doinks in Arizona.” He says, making everyone laugh. “Fat fucking doinks.”

Isaac passes it back to you and you take another hit.

“Ya’ll are fucking smoking in Arizona, New Mexico.” Tanner says.

“Oh, wait. We’re in Arizona or New Mexico?”

“Smoking some fat—” Isaac starts, getting interrupted by Nick.

“Smoking some fat doinks in Albuquerque.”

“Albuquerque—” Tanner laughs, setting everyone else off again.

“What’d you do today? Drove to the Grand Canyon. Smoked some doobies in Albuquerque.” Nick gets out between laughs.

“Albuquerque, New Mexico in the same—” Tanner trails off into a wheeze.

“We need jobs.”

“Dude, yeah.” Isaac says, taking another hit.

“What are you doing?” Nick asks, him and Tanner uncontrollably laughing, infecting everyone else.

“Could you imagine if this was like an itinerary?” Isaac asks, holding the joint between 2 fingers, “5 pm. See the most breathtaking view of the Grand Canyon. 11.30 pm—”

“Arrive in Albuquerque.” You interject, laughing.

“—And smoke a doobie in the Days Inn parking lot. I would look at that shit and not go.” Isaac continues, shaking his head, “I would not sign up for—” and trailing off into a laugh.

“Good luck with that one, bro.” Nick adds.

“Maybe next time.” Tanner laughs.

“Oh, uh, I don’t know if I can make this one, but next one. You got me.” Isaac says, trying to stop laughing.

“Yeah, fucking right.”

After sharing the rest of the joint with Isaac, and laughing at the least funny things on the planet — for an extremely embarrassing amount of time — you all decide to head back inside for the night.

“Let’s go say hi to Larry.” Isaac says, taking a sip of water.

“Let’s go eat a sandwich in front of Larry.”

You take a quick stop at the vending machines in the fortunately barren hallway, as Tanner and Isaac proceed to try and shake out any loose snacks to no avail.

“Dude, stop.”

It’s incredibly hard for you to keep a straight face as Grant and Isaac bicker inside the elevator about breaking the rules, with Tanner patting Isaac down for his forgotten wallet. Soon enough, you’re all heading down the corridor to your rooms, half-heartedly pretending to be on some kind of top secret mission.

“Let me just make sure it’s mine. That is mine. Yep.” Nick says, unpackaging his Subway sandwich once you make it into Larry and Tanner’s room.

“That’s yours?” Isaac asks.

“Yep.”

“Wow. He just— He fucking knew straight away.”

You find your own sandwich, laughing at Isaac and Grant’s disbelief, before crossing the distance over to Larry already tucked into bed.

“Oh, my grandpa.” Isaac grins, bringing the camera over to him, “Hey grandpa.”

“I have a secret to tell you.” Larry says, making his voice deeper.

“What’s up, grandpa?”

“Do you remember when I always joked about pushing Tanner into the Grand Canyon?”

“Of course. Of course, grandad.” Isaac answers, the pair holding hands.

“I really did push him off. That man—” Larry points at Tanner, “I don’t know who that is.” rolling his eyes back and heaving.

“Grandad? Grandad?” Isaac asks, tapping on Larry’s apple watch to check his heartrate. “Grandad?”

Larry rips his arm away and quickly takes off his watch, hiding it under the sheets all whilst still pretending to be dead.

“Oh, shit.”

“Is grandpa dead?” You ask.

“Grandpa’s dead.”

Everyone says their goodbye’s to Larry and Tanner, whilst the rest of you head back to the vending machines because Nick was thirsty and wanted some water.

“It… It only takes cash.” Nick realises, looking to Isaac who sighs and leaves to get some money from his wallet that he’d left in his room with Grant.

He comes back a few minutes later, cash in hand, and gives some to Nick for his water. Isaac attempted to buy some snacks of his own, but the machine spat his money back out instead, “Alright, cool. Whatever.”

Nick also seemed to be struggling, pressing random buttons to try and figure out how it works before eventually getting there.

“That was a 5 dollar water.” Isaac says, pointing the camera at a smiley Nick with his water bottle on the ground.

“Wow. That— That water better be fucking insane.” You add, laughing.

Isaac turns to get his own drink, momentarily deciding to finger the machine, before pressing the button.

“Dude.” You look away, if only to save yourself from thinking about it too much.

“Yo, you deadass?” He asks, watching as the bottle ever-so-slowly manoeuvers its way up and out of the machine. “Yo.”

The three of you watch, quietly laughing, before it finally makes it and spits out the change all over the floor. 

“Oh. God damn it.”

You all go up to Isaac and Grant’s room, only to find Tanner perched on the edge of one bed with a half-eaten Subway sandwich in front of him.

“Hello, boys.”

“There’s a situation.” Tanner says very seriously.

“What’s wrong, bro?” Isaac asks.

“What sandwich did you order?”

“Oh, shit.” You laugh, turning to Nick who was on his phone.

“I don’t fucking remember, why? Steak.”

Tanner shows the sandwich off to the camera, “This is steak.”

“Bro, you totally downed half a fucking steak sandwich and didn’t even know.”

“Do you wanna switch? ‘Cuz you have my chicken teriyaki, man.”

“I just can’t believe it, dude.” Isaac sighs.

Tanner eventually heads back to his room after eating, everyone saying their goodbye's again, whilst you and Nick stick around a little longer to watch TV and talk about whatever comes to mind with Isaac and Grant — AKA rambling nonsense.

At some point you decide to check the time, only to find out that it was already almost 2 am.

“We should probably head off now.” You say, lazily nudging Nick.

Nothing. You turn your head to face him at the lack of reply, now facing a completely passed out Nick. He must be exhausted from all the driving he’s been doing the past couple of days. You don’t blame him, hell, you would’ve fallen asleep hours ago if you were in his position.

“Hey, Isaac.” You whisper-shout, turning to meet his gaze across the distance of the two beds where he was squeezed beside Grant on the other one. “Nick’s asleep.”

“Oh. You wanna get him up or?” He asks, trailing off.

You look back at his sleeping form and then to Isaac again, “He needs sleep.” You pause, “Maybe one of you could share with me instead? If— If you don’t mind.” looking from Isaac to Grant so it didn’t seem as weird.

“I don’t mind.” Isaac answers before Grant could even say anything, sitting up a little straighter.

It was difficult not thinking too hard about the speed of his reply, wordlessly nodding as you carefully slipped away from Nick’s side, trying not to wake him.

“Okay, cool.” You say, stupidly.

Isaac also gets up, collecting some of his things whilst you double check that your room key is still in your pocket — luckily, it is. Once he’s done, he daps up Grant and says goodbye, with you following suit.

And then you were alone with Isaac again; walking side-by-side down the corridor, arms brushing in the process. Neither of you acknowledge it. The walk to your room is relatively quiet, and you can’t quite put your finger on the reasoning behind the weird atmosphere between the two of you, but you’re not entirely sure that you want to know, either.

You make it to your room, pulling out the key and sliding it into the lock, only, the thing doesn’t unlock no matter which way you turn or wiggle it. 

It’s beginning to get embarrassing and you’re about to say something, but Isaac’s hand finds your own before you can. The size difference between them is glaringly evident as he takes the key from your grasp, and you can feel your heart beating faster against your ribcage from the brief yet warm contact.

“Let me try.” He says, miraculously unlocking the door with his first attempt.

“Show off.” You huff in response, earning a hearty laugh from him. You like the sound.

You both make your way inside, the room practically identical to the others, and lock the door behind you. Now completely alone with him.

He dumps his stuff beside the bed that would’ve been Nick’s, rooting around in one of his bags for a moment before he pulls out a toothbrush and toothpaste, holding them up to show you with a grin.

His smile is pretty, you think, and you’re suddenly feeling very grateful for the fact that he trusts you enough to freely have his entire face on view, unlike when he’s on camera. His whole face is pretty, actually. You wonder what it’d be like to run your fingers along the short hairs of his chin, sliding across his sculptured jaw and slipping into his curls.

The sound of him calling your name snaps you out of your thoughts.

“You okay? You—”

“Yes! Sorry, I mean— I just spaced out.” You interrupt, averting your eyes and searching through your own bag until you find your toiletries.

He doesn’t say anything in response, although you can feel his eyes on you the entire time as you get up and head into the bathroom.

What were you thinking? Jesus. You should’ve just woken Nick up, if only to save yourself from any further embarrassment. Actually, maybe you shouldn’t have smoked that weed earlier either, because it is certainly not doing you any favours right now.

Isaac appears beside you a moment later, just as you start brushing your teeth, and he does the same. You both have to squeeze together to fit in front of the mirror — Isaac’s broad frame wasn’t helping — brushing your teeth in synchronisation. Your eyes meet in the mirror and he pulls a weird face, to make you smile, you think. It works, and a smile tugs at his own lips again.

You wonder if he’s still high; the effects of the weed settling into his bones and making him feel looser, hyper aware of everything, like you currently do. It’s always hard to tell with him, because he acts the same as he usually does, having built up a certain tolerance from his frequent blazing.

After washing out your mouths, you leave your toothbrushes by the sink and retreat back into the main room. You feel weirdly nervous, lagging behind him and reading far too much into this entire ordeal.

“I’m just gonna get changed.” You say, though, you aren’t exactly sure why you had to tell him.

“Alright. I’ll… be here.” He replies, pulling a short laugh from you.

You find your pyjamas — a random graphic tee and sleep shorts — heading into the bathroom and changing. Briefly, you wash your face, lacking the effort to do your entire night time routine, before leaving again. You find Isaac sat on the edge of his bed in his boxers with a different shirt on, looking at something on his phone.

He glances up when he notices your presence across the room, and you can feel the weight of his gaze taking you in, feeling far too exposed in just your pyjamas. You don’t mind it exactly, in fact, you quite like it when his eyes are on you, but right now… It feels different.

You look away, walking over to your bed and plugging your phone in to charge — after a moment's struggle getting it into the socket. Ignorance is bliss, right?

The silence is loud as you slip under the covers and settle into bed. You can see Isaac in your peripheral vision scrolling on his phone, lying back on the bed but not yet getting beneath the covers. You don’t mean to stare, really, it was just something you found yourself doing more often than not around Isaac.

He shuts off his phone, placing it on the bedside table before turning to momentarily look over at you. You quickly shut your eyes, acting as if they’d been shut this entire time and not very obviously staring at him.

“You still awake?” He asks, totally catching you red-handed.

You think about ignoring him and pretending to be asleep for three long seconds. “No.” You decide upon.

He laughs at that, albeit half-heartedly, but the sound was nice all the same. 

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, really.”

Silence settles between you again, and you realise with the kind of certainty one only has about the permanence of death, that you don’t want to stop talking to him, nor go to sleep right now. You could easily blame it all on the weed, but you’d only be lying to yourself.

“Isaac?” You blurt out.

“Yeah?”

You open your eyes again, only to find him already looking at you. Your cheeks feel slightly warmer than usual and you have to force yourself to keep eye contact with him, “I can’t sleep.”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment, and for one terrifying second, you think he might’ve accidentally fallen asleep right then and there.

“Yeah, me neither.” He answers, turning on his side to face you, propping his head up with his hand.

You do the same, eyes briefly landing on his bicep that strains against the sleeve of his shirt before glancing back up to his face. If he notices, he doesn’t say anything about it. You aren’t sure if that’s any better than the alternative.

Now that you have his attention, you aren’t entirely sure what to do with it. You think back to yesterday when his big hand was on your thigh. It was so warm and real, fingers twitching against the fabric of your pants like— like he was… No. Of course not. No way. Just the idea alone of Isaac reciprocating this weird feeling he somehow wrings out of you is almost laughable.

“We should hang out more.” Isaac randomly suggests.

“You think so?”

“Yeah. You know, like, just us.” He continues.

There is a noticeable pause where you forget how to speak.

“Just— Just us?” You ask, chest constricting uncomfortably.

He nods, just a lazy tilt of his head, as his eyes dart around your face before settling on your own once more. There was an almost conflicted expression on his face, like he was debating whether to say something that could possibly come out entirely wrong and make things even weirder between the two of you. You know the feeling all too well.

“Okay.” You nod back, slumping further into the pillow beneath your elbow.

“Okay?” He asks.

“Yeah. We should.” You elaborate, biting the inside of your cheek, “I missed you.”

You don’t even remember the last time that the two of you hung out together without Nick or the rest of the Group constantly being around.

A beat. He blinks several times, wordlessly staring back at you with slightly parted lips. Shit. You said too much, you think.

“I missed you too.” He replies, a lopsided smile making its way across his lips.

Oh. Your body feels far too hot to be normal, a shy smile of your own creeping onto your face. You hadn’t expected that. Though, it isn’t like it actually means anything beyond friendship, because that’s what you are; friends. That’s it. And you’re totally okay with that! Why wouldn't you be? It’s not like you’re actually into him.

“D’you wanna watch something?” He asks after another extended period of silence.

You glance from Isaac to the TV across the room and the remote beside it — much too far away. You’re currently lacking the effort to do anything that involves getting up from this bed, which was surprisingly comfortable for a hotel that you’d found extremely last minute.

“I’m not getting up.” You huff, making a show of sinking further into the mattress.

He shakes his head, laughing, “S’fine, got my phone.” He says, picking it up from the bedside table and waving it around to show you.

You grin, scooting over to one side of the bed and patting the space besides you. A rather bold move in retrospect. Although Isaac didn’t seem to question it, getting up and sliding into the space as the mattress dipped with his added weight.

He shuffles around getting comfortable before settling, squeezed next to you on a single bed and sharing body heat because for some reason he’s built like a god damn furnace.

You're making a point of ignoring the simmering heat that’s coiling low in your gut. It’s impossible to ignore every point of contact between you, however, practically attached at the hip with a muscular arm stretched just behind your head and ultimately drawing you closer until your face is almost smushed against his broad chest.

He unlocks his phone, clicking onto Youtube and briefly glancing down at you, holding it out for you in silent question. You take it from him readily enough, fingers grazing, scrolling for a while before mutually deciding on a video to watch.

It does little to distract you. Isaac doesn’t seem bothered in the slightest, though. It’s grating on your nerves, because how is that fair? You’re overheating and you swear it’s making you go a little loopy. Or it’s the weed. Both? Whatever.

“You okay?” He asks, breaking your train of thought yet again.

You glance up to meet his eyes — a mistake — finding him far closer than you had originally thought he was.

“Yeah, I’m— I’m fine. You’re just really hot.”

“Huh. Thanks.” He grins, stupid and smug.

…Wait, what?

“That’s— That’s not what I meant!” You quickly backtrack, “I mean, like, you’re just really warm… Like, seriously.” eyes widened in mortification with burning cheeks.

“So, you don’t think I’m hot?” He asks, pouting exaggeratingly.

“What? I didn’t— Shut up.” You retort, averting your gaze.

Isaac laughs in response, his chest shaking with the effort to stifle it, consequently pulling you impossibly closer. His laugh is one of your favourite sounds, you think. Incredibly contagious, too, because now you’re laughing as well.

“Sorry. Do you— Do you want me to move?” He asks after calming down.

“No.” You answer, maybe too quickly, because now he’s giving you a different kind of look.

Neither of you are really paying attention to the video anymore, staring back at one another with your faces far too close for comfort. It would look incredibly incriminating if anyone were to walk in on the two of you right now, even if you aren’t actually doing anything — and perhaps a small large part of you wants to be doing something.

You don’t even notice him shutting off his phone and discarding it until he’s shifting just slightly onto his side to properly face you, too distracted by his incredibly kissable lips within a completely reasonable kissing distance.

His lips are moving and you realise he’s saying your name, your eyes darting up to meet his own. His gaze is sharp and intense, focused entirely on you, and sending a shiver down your spine. You can feel each heavy rise and fall of his chest, being pressed against him and all, your eyes following the bob of his Adam's apple as he swallows before a hand gently cups your jaw.

Your breath catches, glancing between his pretty, hypnotising eyes, down to his lips and then back again. He does the same. You’re sure that he must be able to hear your heartbeat with how fast it’s currently racing, so loud in your ears. This isn’t real, is it? There’s no way he’s leaning in right now. It’s not…

Isaac’s lips are on your own — softer than you expected — tentative at first, until you’re kissing him back, lips slotting together slow and tender. His thumb slides across your cheek, the gesture leaving your skin tingling and aflame. You lean into his touch, palm warm against your jaw as your lips part for air.

You stare up at him as he stares down at you, breaths coming out short and laboured. His eyes are dark pools of unmistakable want, a look you’d never seen on him before, let alone directed towards you. It has your heart stuttering because of the very real realisation you’d just come to; that the funny feeling in your gut whenever he’s around may not be as onesided as you initially believed.

And then you’re kissing again, you aren’t quite sure who initiated it but you were chasing his mouth all the same, his hand slipping into your hair and grasping at the strands to carefully tug you closer. Your own hand finds its way to his bicep, experimentally squeezing the firm muscle as it tenses beneath your fingertips. You can feel him smirk against your lips in turn, pressing closer and giving your hair the slightest of tugs.

A quiet, involuntary gasp escapes your throat, the sound swallowed up by the kiss and his ever so eager mouth. You like it far too much.

It isn’t long before the kiss descends into a haze of needy want, lips parting with the intention of deepening the kiss as his tongue licks into your mouth. He tilts your head as he pleases, earning zero complaints from you, mouths moving together, lips-to-lips, like neither of you could bear parting for even a second.

Your free hand slides up his chest to fist the fabric of his shirt, if only to have something to cling onto, whilst Isaac shifts onto his knees, manoeuvring his broad frame above you and effectively caging you in. His other hand finds purchase on your waist, delicate, like he wasn’t quite sure he was allowed to hold you like this.

“Is this okay?” He gets out between kisses, voice just above a whisper and sending another shiver down your spine.

“Uh-huh,” You readily answer, heart thumping impossibly fast.

His hand reaffirms its grip at that, fingers pressing into your waist and holding you securely in place. His kisses are like heaven, so entirely consuming that one would think he was trying to devour you whole. You wouldn’t mind.

Your mind is an incomprehensible blur of IsaacIsaacIsaac, your lips meeting his own over and over in a dance of searing heat, sharing saliva and gasped, heavy breaths as your tongues slide together. It felt far too perfect for you to even begin to think about any consequences that may stem from your needy actions. Instead, you were thinking about how good his lips felt trailing along your jaw and down the column of your throat, pressing hot, open-mouthed kisses into your skin.

“Isaac,” You mumble, tilting your head to give him better access.

His teeth graze across your neck before he’s nipping at the flesh and then soothing it over with his tongue, drawing out a quiet, involuntary sound from your throat. You can feel him smirk against your neck in turn — infuriating and so incredibly hot at the same time.

Your hand releases its grip on his shirt to instead slide up and tangle itself in his curls, nails carefully dragging over his scalp before you’re tugging him back up to meet your lips. He obliges easily, huffing out a heavy breath and kissing you again, less controlled, and more so acting on instinct; dripping with pure, wanton need.

“Fuck,” He rasps out, hands running down your sides absentmindedly like he isn’t quite literally frazzling your brain.

His knee slots itself between your thighs after an attempt of you squeezing them together in seek of friction, automatically enclosing around it as he shifts himself to press right up against your clothed heat. You’re grinding down to meet the pressure before you even realise it, humming at the feeling and the spark it sends up your spine.

“Isaac— We shouldn’t,” You mumble halfheartedly, pulling back from the kiss, and yet not actually doing anything to deter him — if anything, you were clinging onto him tighter.

“We shouldn’t,” He repeats, nodding, eyes darting between your own despite leaning in again to continue your prior kiss.

You don’t attempt to stop him, instead, you’re meeting him halfway and grinding against his thigh once more to chase that sweet, addictive friction.

“That’s it,” He says, inching back to rest his forehead against your own, “C’mon, you can use my thigh.”

Heat spreads throughout your entire body, blinking up at him as a brief wave of shyness makes itself known, sucking in a sharp breath. He answers your hesitance by sliding his hands down to grip your hips and tugging you toward him, dragging your throbbing core over his muscular thigh as you naturally grind down against it — seeking out the maddening contact.

“Mmh, Isaac—” You gasp, fingers grasping tighter in his hair and nails digging into the skin of his bicep.

“Yeah? Feels good, huh?” He grins, doing it again until your hips are moving of their own accord.

You’re quickly nodding in response, bottom lip catching between your teeth as you slowly slide your hips back and forth over his thigh, all sorts of needy sounds just on the tip of your tongue. The pressure is more insistent now with the added help of his big, strong hands on your hips, rubbing against your clit through the damp fabric of your underwear and sleep shorts.

There’s a dull buzz growing somewhere deep in your gut, coiling with heat and encouraging you to pick up the pace. That was until Isaac pulled his knee back, wringing out an annoyed whine from your throat which he found all too endearing.

“Isaac—” You huff, the beginnings of a protest getting caught in your throat as he shuts you up with another heated kiss.

His mouth is hot and desperate against your own, all-encompassing as you happily drown beneath his touch — grasping and tugging him impossibly closer like your life depended on it. He seems to enjoy it, groaning into the kiss and nipping at your bottom lip before kissing it better.

Your heart is beating so inexplicably fast, pulse jumping at the warm contact of his fingers tracing over your bare thighs, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. His wandering hands inch higher and higher, pausing just before he reaches your aching core, teasing along the skin of your inner thighs.

“Hah, Isaac. Stop— Stop teasing.” You stammer out, slightly breathless from his intense kisses.

“Ask nicely.” He replies with a shit-eating grin on his lips.

God. He was enjoying this, the damn bastard. And, fuck, if it wasn’t so annoyingly attractive. How could you ever deny him? It appears that Isaac is your kryptonite after all.

“Please,” You relent, mustering up your best pleading expression.

“Attagirl.” He hums.

If you weren’t already lying down then your knees surely would’ve buckled at that, his voice low and sultry. And then his hands are trailing up to grip the hem of your shorts, thumbs hooked beneath the waistband as he glances between your eyes for some kind of confirmation.

You give him a nod and he’s already tugging them down, fabric sliding over your thighs and ending up discarded elsewhere. Your breath catches, following his eyeline as he stares down at your exposed and embarrassingly damp underwear. You snap your legs closed, cheeks feeling far too hot under his scrutinising gaze.

“Hey, no—” He tuts, “None of that.” hands running over bare skin appreciatively before he’s prying open your thighs with ease.

“Isaac, c’mon…” You sigh, eyes shyly darting away to stare blankly at the adjacent wall — anything to avoid that devastatingly sweet look in his eyes.

“Look at me.”

One of his hands grip your chin — not hard enough to actually hurt but firm enough that you couldn’t exactly ignore it — turning your head and forcing you to look at him in the eyes once more. It was hardly your own fault that you folded instantaneously, Isaac is impossible to resist. You aren’t quite sure how you ever did before.

“Wanna see your face while I touch you.” He says almost casually.

“You can’t just say things like that,” You mumble back, pointedly ignoring the way it had your insides fluttering.

“Can’t I?” He asks, grin already back on his lips.

He doesn’t give you a chance to answer, fingers skimming over your dampness through fabric, excruciatingly slow, and causing your hips to stutter.

“Fuck, so wet already.” He marvels, “This just for me?”

“Oh— Mmhm,” You answer with a weak nod, sighing at the sensation.

“Thought so.”

He pulls his hand away only to hook his thumbs beneath the waistband of your underwear, wasting no time in tugging the offending piece of fabric off and sliding a finger through your slick folds with a satisfied hum.

“Isaac!” You gasp.

His thumb finds your clit, slow and punishing as he circles it, taking in the sight of you squirming beneath him with what could only be described as reverence.

“So, so pretty.” He says, holding your hips down with his other hand splayed wide across your abdomen.

The praise paired with his diligent fingers teasing at your entrance was more than enough to have you letting slip a whimper. Far too focused on chasing the feeling to even really notice it. Isaac all but drinks in the sound, slipping his middle finger inside as a reward of sorts, your gummy walls greedily clenching around it.

“Shit,” You curse, breaths coming out shaky and uneven.

His finger curls inside you, slowly sliding out and then in again and repeating, his palm instead pressing down against your clit — which you spare no time in grinding against.

“There we go,” He murmurs, placing lingering kisses along your jawline, keeping a steady pace.

“Isaac— please,” You whine, desperately pressing back against his touch.

“You want more?” He goads, breath hot against your skin. “S’that it, angel?”

The pet name did little to satiate the burning need in your gut, nodding dumbly in response. He slides a second finger into your tight, wet heat, the momentary stretch leaving you gasping for breath.

“Oh, I-Isaac—” You stutter out, basking in the pleasure he was drawing out of you.

His thick fingers slide in and out of you in time with his palm circling against your clit, gradually picking up the pace and curling his fingers knuckle-deep inside, nudging that specific spongey spot that has you jerking into his touch, a moan tumbling from your throat that you quickly try to stifle.

“S’okay, don’t be shy.” He says, licking his lips, “Wanna hear you.”

He’s kissing down your throat again, effectively fucking you with his fingers as you gasp, twitch and whine in response, grinding helplessly against his palm and chasing the addictive feeling tightening low in your abdomen.

“Isaac— Isaac, m’close,” You get out, nails digging into his bicep hard enough to leave behind little crescent-shaped indents.

“Yeah? Fuck— Sorry, m’sorry sweetheart,” He starts, abruptly pulling his fingers out of you and effectively leaving you high and dry for a second time.

“No, no— Isaac,” You protest, hips chasing his hand but having no such luck, huffing in annoyance.

“I know, I know.” He coos, pressing a delicate kiss to your lips, “Needa taste you, s’that okay pretty?” warm hands running soothingly over your thighs.

Oh. Okay, wow. Is that even a question?

“Mmhm, yeah— please.” You answer, glancing between his darkened eyes.

Pleased with your reply, he presses one more kiss onto your lips before his mouth is trailing down, wasting no time in descending your body. His hands slide up your hips to slip beneath your shirt, riding up the fabric and exposing more of your bare skin to him — his hands quick to trace over every inch he can, soon replaced by his trail of eager kisses.

Your eyes follow him the entire way, chest rising and falling in anticipation as he skirts around your core to lather your inner thighs with attention, licking and sucking what was sure to be numerous marks into your skin come morning, the light stubble of his chin simultaneously scratching at your flesh. His hands slide beneath your thighs to wrap around them, hitching them up onto his broad shoulders and dragging you closer until his hot breath is fanning over your aching wetness.

His eyes find your own and, god, the sight of him between your thighs is one you are never going to forget. His tongue is already sliding through your folds before you have a chance to process it, hips stuttering forwards unbidden as he groans against you — the vibrations shooting upwards in pleasurable sparks.

“H-Holy fuck, Isaac—” You gasp, having to force your eyes to stay open just so you can watch him.

He doesn’t waste a second longer, licking, sucking and mouthing at your core, hands firm in their grip to keep you from squirming as his tongue dips into your entrance before he’s moving onto your clit and lavishing it with his entire attention.

Your fingers card through his curls, every so often giving them a needy tug as you shamelessly moan out his name, back arching as a result of all the pleasurable sensations he’s providing you with.

“Hah, Isaac— s’good,” You whine, practically grinding against his mouth as he all but devours you.

He’s panting and groaning himself as he switches between torturing your clit and hole, his mouth expertly working you with his nose nudging your clit as his tongue teases at your entrance. Then he’s gathering your wetness and focusing on your clit again, doubling down on his ministrations, entirely determined to have you coming undone on his tongue.

It wasn’t long before that familiar knot was tightening in your gut again, hot and incessant as you struggle to keep some level of decorum, thighs squeezing against his head and hips bucking into his mouth.

“Fuckfuck— Don’t stop, Isaac—” You’re gasping and mewling helplessly, fisting at his locks before you’re finally crashing over the edge.

Your orgasm rips through you, head falling against the pillows and back arching off of the mattress. The only thing you feel is pure ecstasy as Isaac works you through the high with his insistent mouth, drawing it out until you’re quivering in his grasp and shying away from his touch.

Only then does he pull away, kissing along your inner thighs before gently sliding them off of his shoulders and crawling back up to you face-to-face. Your eyes are quick to zero in on the sight of the lower half of his face glistening with your essence, his tongue darting out to lick his lips and wiping his chin with the back of his hand — looking far too pleased with himself.

“God,” You choke out, looking back to his eyes as a lopsided grin crosses his lips.

“Sweet girl,” He mumbles, a hand cupping your cheek, swiping his thumb across skin.

You lean into the touch, biting back a grin of your own before you’re pulling him down for a kiss. It's messy and desperate but neither of you seem to care as he hums against your lips. You can taste yourself on his tongue as he licks into your mouth, hands running down your sides and slipping beneath your shirt again.

Your own hands loosely hook around his neck, toying with the curls at his nape and sighing at the feel of his big, warm hands tracing over every square inch of flesh he can reach.

His hands are gripping the edge of your graphic tee and tugging it up, up, up. Only briefly pausing to part from the kiss, sliding it over your head and leaving you entirely bare beneath him. His gaze drinks you in, hands running over skin with something akin to worship as you squirm beneath his touch.

“Isaac,” You huff, drawing his attention as you clutch at his shirt. “Take this off.”

He doesn’t have to be told twice, pulling back to tug the fabric up and over his own head, carelessly discarding it elsewhere.

Your eyes are greedy as they savour the glorious view of a shirtless Isaac, wearing nothing but his boxers that have grown unmistakably tight. It’s your turn now to run your hands over his bare skin, tracing each dip and curve alike of defined muscle with equal parts attention and feeling the muscles tense beneath your fingertips. He’s certainly a sight for sore eyes.

His chest rises and falls with uneven breaths, having grown sharper in the moments since you first ran your fingers across his abdomen, dick twitching almost painfully as he lets you do as you please. Your eyes meet his again and a knowing smile tugs at the corners of your lips.

“What?” He asks, a grin of his own plastered across his pretty face.

“Nothing,” You hum, biting back the smile and sliding your hands around his back to pull him down into a kiss once more.

His hands continue their exploratory path up your body as your lips slot together, over and over, thumbs brushing along the undersides of your breasts before experimentally flicking over your peaked nipples — wringing out a quiet sound of acknowledgment from your throat. He does it again, smirking into the kiss, before his big hands are carefully cupping both breasts, groping and kneading them.

“Isaac,” You breathe out between kisses, nails digging into his lower back.

He hums back in response, parting from the kiss for air and glancing between your eyes. Your hands slide back to his front, momentarily tracing his abdominal muscles again before running down his v-line, halting where it disappears beneath his boxers. Your fingers hook under the waistband, almost teasingly as you stare right back at him; your intentions glaringly obvious.

Isaac’s breath stills for two seconds longer than necessary, exhaling shakily as the tent in his boxers borders on painful from how hard he currently is. He gives a weak nod, hands reluctantly removing themselves from your breasts as you tug at his boxers, manoeuvring himself to discard them completely.

And now you’re both naked, staring at one another with a strange feeling that neither of you are willing to address, chests constricting abnormally.

Your eyes dart down to his newly exposed, hardened dick, tip flushed and beading with precum — practically begging for attention. God, he's big. Not entirely surprising, however, what with the rest of him already being so deliciously big.

You’re already swiping a thumb over his tip before you can think twice about it, spreading the wetness down his length and loosely wrapping a hand around the sensitive skin.

“Fuck,” He pants, hips twitching up into your touch as his forehead rests against yours, eyes briefly squeezing shut.

He balances his weight on his elbows, planted conveniently either side of your head and giving you the perfect view of his bulging biceps caging you in. It's like a dream come true.

Your hand slowly slides up and down the length of his dick, drawing out a ragged groan from somewhere deep in his chest, unable to resist bucking into your hand. His breaths come out short and laboured, brows pulling taut before he’s capturing your lips in another messy kiss and shifting his weight onto one arm to grasp your wrist with the other — effectively halting your torturously slow pace.

You're smiling into the kiss now, pulling some kind of huff from him as he gently removes your hand, instead placing it right over his rapidly thumping heart. His hand trails down to your thigh, dancing across skin before slipping beneath it and hiking it up over his hip. You’re quick to comply, parting your thighs as he nudges them open with the broadness of his own and situates himself snuggly between your legs, his dick just inches away from your throbbing core.

“Shit,” He curses, parting from the kiss, “I don’t— I don’t have any condoms.”

“S’okay, wanna feel you,” You answer, slightly breathless.

You could practically see his pupils dilating, fingers squeezing your thigh tighter as he inhaled sharply.

“Jesus, you sure?”

“Uh-huh,” You nod, “Please.”

His eyes fleet down to the remaining space between you, “Fuck, okay— okay.” and lines himself up.

You hold your breath in anticipation, your own eyes watching as his tip meets your wetness, briefly running through your folds before he’s pushing inside and stretching you open.

“Gonna— Fuck— Gonna go slow, angel, ‘kay?” He says, glancing back up to analyse your every micro expression.

Your mouth opens and closes but no words come out, nodding dumbly instead as your hands snake around to his back, feeling every contraction of defined muscle when he moves. He’s hardly even inside you and yet you're already feeling dazed, choking on a whimper as he slides marginally deeper.

“C’mon. Talk to me, sweet girl.” He mumbles, brushing some of your hair out of your face.

“Mmh, fuck. Keep— Keep going.” You manage, bringing a satisfied smile to his lips.

“Attagirl, that’s it.” He hums, “Taking me so well.” the praise settling somewhere deep in your gut.

The slight burning sensation of being so impossibly stretched out by his dick only subsides after he's bottoming out and soothingly running his hand back and forth over your skin.

“Isaac—” You gasp, nails digging into his shoulder blades.

“Fuuuck,” He pants, eyes zeroed in on the sight of your cunt greedily squeezing around him, his dick twitching in turn.

Your breaths are equally as ragged and uneven, lips clumsily meeting in a frantic kiss as his hips buck up into your heat unbidden. A muffled whine slides from your throat, quickly swallowed up by Isaac’s eager mouth before it descends down the column of your neck.

“So tight,” He rasps, kissing along your shoulder and then your collarbone, sucking a mark into the skin and licking over it.

“Isaac,” You huff, “Move, please.” squirming beneath him.

“Mmm, just— Hold on,” His mouth continues its assault on your skin, using it as a canvas to leave behind lasting evidence of him.

“Isaac,” You repeat, all needy and desperate.

If he weren’t currently keeping you pinned beneath him then you would’ve fucked yourself on his dick already, instead you’re left sighing impatiently and squeezing helplessly around him.

“So fucking needy, huh?” He hums against your skin, hips drawing back before slowly sinking in again and then repeating.

“Your fault,” You retort, gasping at the abrupt feeling.

“Yeah? Is that right?” He muses, pulling back only to slam right back into you.

A moan cuts off any words you might’ve said in response. Your nails are digging into his shoulder blades, hips meeting each tantalising press of his own as he slowly fucks into you, his dick dragging against your gummy walls and gradually picking up the pace.

“Shut you up real good, angel.” He says, inching back from your neck to properly take in your expression twisting in pleasure.

“Isaac,” You mewl, “Mmh, s’good.”

You fall into a steady rhythm, his dick sliding almost all the way out before ramming right back inside and then repeating, over and over, growing faster and harsher with each relentless thrust.

“Fuck, sweetheart,” He groans, his mouth finding your skin again and descending to one of your breasts, lavishing it with attention and making your back arch before switching to the other.

“Oh— I-Isaac, please—” You whine, not entirely sure what you’re pleading for.

Isaac seems to go with it, hiking your thigh up higher from where it’d slipped and sinking impossibly deeper, slamming into you harder. He lifts his head only to steal another kiss, messy and entirely uncoordinated because you're both just panting and cursing into each other's mouths, sharing ragged breaths.

“So fucking good, baby, s’good.” He manages, the praise slipping out with ease.

“God— Isaac,” You choke out, head falling back, “I can’t—”

“Shh, I’ve got you,” He murmurs, shifting the angle of his hips and prodding against that particular spongey spot that has you crying out.

“Isaac!”

“You like that? C’mon, angel.” He pants, “Look at me, please.” his hand squeezing your thigh.

The plea falling from his lips was so very intoxicating, you couldn’t not listen to him, finding his eyes again as he drives into you, bottom lip catching between your teeth — It wasn’t like you could’ve formed a coherent sentence anyway.

“That’s it,” He grins, readjusting his weight, “You already fucked dumb on my dick? Is that it?”

Christ. That was hardly helping the rapidly tightening knot in your gut. You’re nodding hastily in response, eyes darting to his big bicep tensing just beside your head. You couldn’t help it, really, as you turned your head and bit at the firm muscle — revelling in the way his rhythm faltered.

“Fuck,” He curses, liking it far too much, his movements growing excessively more frantic. “Can't even speak, sweet girl.”

Satisfied with the bite mark you’d left behind, you turn back to stare up at him, eyes half-lidded and nails dragging down his back — mumbling incoherent nonsense about how good he was making you feel.

“Isaac, Isaac— m’so close—”

“Uh-huh, me too—” He groans, removing his arm from beside your head to instead trail his hand down between your bodies, deft fingers circling your clit. “C’mon, angel. You gonna come f’me?”

In no time at all, you were crashing into your second orgasm, squeezing around him and shamelessly moaning out his name as he fucks you through it, his thrusts growing sloppy and desperate.

“Fuck, so pretty— There we go, attagirl.” He murmurs, drinking in the sight of you falling apart beneath him. He wasn’t any better off.

“Holy shit—” He curses, eyes squeezing shut as you clench so tightly around him, he’d already been teetering on the edge but this was the final straw, “Fuckfuckfuck— m’gonna—”

His hips are drawing back in an attempt to pull out, but you’re only clutching onto him tighter and chasing his hips, dragging him right back where he was.

“Jesus—” He groans, forehead dropping to your own before he’s promptly coming undone.

His dick twitches once and then twice, coating your insides with his sticky release and fucking it into you, drawing out the high. He falters, gradually slowing to a halt whilst buried deep inside your cunt and catching his breath.

You’re both spent and struggling to regulate your breathing, with Isaac finally slumping against you — careful not to completely crush you, his head falling to your shoulder — dazed and basking in the afterglow of mind-blowing sex.

Isaac presses gentle kisses into your skin, his hands sliding up to trace nonsensical patterns along your hips.

“You okay?” He asks, lifting his head as you reluctantly open your eyes.

A lazy smile etches itself across your lips, “More than okay.”

He grins at that, slowly pulling out of you and glancing down to witness his cum dripping from your hole.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” He says, tearing his eyes away and pointedly ignoring the way his dick had stirred at the sight.

“M’too tired,” You sigh exaggeratedly, eyes squeezing shut as you nestle further into the pillows.

“C’mon, sweetheart.” He urges, “Do I have to carry you?”

“Yes.”

He huffs out a laugh, “‘Course.”

By the time the two of you had gotten cleaned up and settled back down, you’d ended up finding Isaac’s shirt from wherever it had been discarded and slipping it on, as well as a fresh pair of underwear. Isaac opted to just change his boxers, a lopsided grin tugging at his lips when he found you wearing his shirt, it being oversized on your smaller frame. Naturally, you found yourself cozying up to one another with your head resting against his bare chest and one of his arms loosely wrapped around you, keeping you pressed to his side. You were out within minutes.

Come morning, you didn’t have time to savour the reality that was being spooned by Isaac, his suffocating warmth almost lulling you back to sleep if not for the relentless knocking registering in your ears. You have half a mind to ignore it, before realising exactly why you’re sharing a hotel bed with Isaac. The muffled sound of Nick’s voice on the other side of the door is reason enough. Fuck.

“Isaac—” You whisper-shout, attempting to pry yourself out of his tight hold.

He does not relent, only stirring with an annoyed huff before ultimately remaining fast asleep.

“Jesus Christ.” You sigh, turning in his grasp after a moment’s struggle so that you’re face-to-face instead.

“Isaac, get up.” You try again, shaking him by the shoulder.

Nick starts up again, growing increasingly more annoyed. “Guys, wake up. I need my stuff!”

You’re getting impatient yourself now because if Nick gives up and decides to ask reception for a new room key? You’ll both be screwed! Nick cannot catch you like this, especially not with Isaac of all people.

You don’t realise until it’s too late that Isaac is literally falling off the bed. It is only a single after all. The thud that follows has Nick pausing for a moment, with Isaac finally waking up and looking very confused. You’re fighting for your life not to burst out laughing right then and there, slapping a hand over your mouth.

“Hello?” Nick calls again, making Isaac freeze from his spot on the floor. “Are you guys okay?”

Removing your hand from your mouth, you quickly get up and pick out the first clothes you find in your bag, slipping off Isaac’s shirt and replacing it with one of your own, tugging on the pants you’d grabbed afterwards. You turn back around only to find Isaac still half naked on the floor, silently watching you. You don’t have time to feel embarrassed.

“Isaac! Get dressed, now.” You chide, throwing his shirt at him.

An amused grin crosses his lips, raising his brows before he’s slipping it on without any kind of urgency whatsoever. You could’ve throttled him.

“Sorry, Nick! I’m coming now!” You call out, hiding any evidence of what transpired last night before practically running to the door and unlocking it.

Nick is standing in the doorway with his hands on his hips looking entirely pissed off. “Dude. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting out here?”

“I know, sorry— We were both asleep, and I just woke up.” You explain, standing to the side to let him in.

When you look back into the room, you half expect Isaac to be holding a massive sign saying ‘I slept with your cousin’ in big, bold letters and confetti. Fortunately, that was not the case. He looked entirely normal, in fact. No longer looking like a lost puppy on the floor, he was sitting up on the bed and scrolling through his phone. You can practically feel the tension draining from your shoulders as relief washes over you.

“Fine, fine. We missed complimentary breakfast, by the way.” Nick says, finding his bags that he’d left behind.

“No!” Isaac deflates, “Fuck, I was even dreaming about it.” causing Nick to laugh.

“Oh, yeah? I think your dream was telling you to wake your ass up.” He retorts, pulling a laugh from both of you.

“Sorry again, Nick.” You interject.

“Nah, it’s all good. We all woke up pretty late anyway.” Nick dismisses, “I’m gonna take my stuff and head downstairs, I think Larry might be down there too.” slinging a bag over his shoulder and picking up the other.

“Sounds good. See you in a few.” Isaac responds, shutting off his phone.

Nick is gone shortly after, shutting the door behind him and sealing the two of you alone once more. Considering what happened the last time you were alone together… you aren’t entirely sure remaining in his presence is a good idea — your self control is clearly lacking in the Isaac department.

“You feeling okay?” He asks, startling you out of your thoughts.

“Oh, yeah. A little sore, I guess.” You answer.

He grins once more, raising his eyebrows knowingly but otherwise saying nothing, looking far too smug. You roll your eyes at him, a smile tugging at your lips despite yourself, whilst trying incredibly hard to ignore your elevated heartrate.

“Shut up.” You huff, turning away from him to sift through your bag and hide the growing warmth of your cheeks.

“I didn’t even say anything?” He defends.

“You didn’t have to.”

He laughs then, the sound loud and contagious. You like it a lot.

After packing up the small amount of things you’d gotten out and getting properly ready for the day ahead, you and Isaac head down to the main lobby to meet up with the others — not before you were forcing him to tell somebody about the, ahem, sheets. Afterwards, you all meet up and chat for a little while, heading outside into the parking lot as Grant sets up the camera.

“Hello.” Larry says, “Okay. So, we got done with the hotel. Um, we are now cannonballing to Austin.” clasping his hands together and turning to Isaac.

“Yeah, we’re going for a 13 hour drive. We don’t know if we’re going to be able to do that. Uh, if we are, that’d be crazy. If not, I would not be surprised.” He continues for Larry, his hands shielding his eyes from the blinding sunlight. “Uh, we were supposed to leave mad early this morning. Didn’t work out. We missed complimental breakfast. Massive plunder. That is what it is.”

“Do not remind me.” You sigh exaggeratedly.

Tanner comes over, still looking half asleep.

“Yeah. We’re going to be trying to make this drive. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.” Isaac says, turning to grab Tanner by the lapels of his jacket.

“Albuquerque—” Tanner interjects.

“Dude. Why is this out?” Isaac asks, referring to the low cut of Tanner’s shirt.

“You like that?”

“What the fuck?”

After everyone was back in the car again, you all fell back into idle chatter, finding ways to joke about literally anything you drive past. Tanner briefly drove for a while to give Nick a break as he ate his lunch before they were switching back again, just as it started storming. You’d gone through just about every single genre of music imaginable throughout this road trip and you could’ve sworn it's making you all go a little crazy. 

At some point you make a stop at another gas station, with everyone filing out to either get some snacks or go to the bathroom. You’re lagging a little behind Isaac and Tanner as you all cross the parking lot, Nick and Larry in tow.

“Dude. Where did you get this?” Tanner asks very loudly.

Your head perks up at that, watching the scene unfold in slow motion as Isaac glances down to his entirely exposed bicep — damn him and his stupid wife-beaters — showing off what was very clearly a bite mark. Your bite mark.

“Oh, it—” He starts, getting interrupted by Nick and Larry as they burst out laughing at the sight.

“No way!”

“Yo, chill on me, yo. I did it last night, like, very high.” Isaac defends, raising his hands in mock surrender.

“Oh, actually, that— that makes sense.” Tanner replies, laughing.

And then everyone moved on. Okay, wow. You’d expected them to become master detectives and somehow find out that it was, in fact, from you and promptly hunt you down with pitchforks. But, hey, you aren’t complaining.

Isaac later sidles up to you whilst you’re trying to decide on what snacks to get, his arm brushing against your own and making your pulse jump.

“You couldn’t have made it any more obvious?” He muses, picking up a bag of sweets for himself.

“It was an accident. I wasn’t exactly… thinking clearly, you know.” You answer, cheeks already feeling hot just from thinking about it.

“Uh-huh, and why’s that?”

Your turn to look up at him, only to find him already staring down at you, far far too close with that dumb grin plastered across his lips. Speaking of, you can practically feel them pressed against your own and kissing you breathless. Isaac, of course, notices your lingering gaze, his smile only widening before he’s opening his mouth to speak.

“Guys! Can you pass me a bag of cheetos?” Larry suddenly calls out from the next aisle over, effectively snapping the two of you out of whatever bubble you had found yourself in.

You tactically remove yourself from his presence after that, failing miserably at trying to think about anything but him. It was going to be a long journey home.

The final stretch was when things really started to die down, with both you and Larry falling asleep at some point — giving Tanner the perfect opportunity to edit a picture of the two of you with a ridiculous filter. You stop numerous more times along the way to get drive-in food, and randomly find yourself very grateful to be on this road trip — not caring about anything besides having fun. The Group often has that effect, you suppose.

Finally, after over half a day’s worth of driving, you’d made it back to the Group house. Everyone dumps their stuff off in the hallway for now before heading into the kitchen. Nick went straight to raid the fridge while the other three stood around the life-sized skeleton with its middle fingers up, dressed in a full outfit.

“You really thought 10:30, man.” Isaac deadpans.

“I just farted.” Larry announces.

“It’s like for all those minutes, like, was it worth it?”

“I just farted again.”

“10:30 could never happen.” Tanner sighs.

“I don’t know. I just feel like there was a few laws that were broken.”

“I would not be surprised at all.” You say, laughing at Nick spilling m&m’s everywhere.

“You know, this cannonball’s for you, Nick.”

Tanner wiggles the head of the skeleton, making the hat slip off of his skull.

“There you go.”

“Woo! Holy shit. It was great seeing you folks. Um, thank god we fucking made it and lived. Sweet meeting everyone. Friends alike as well and seeing more of San Diego. I know we didn’t get to see, like, all of San Diego.” Larry starts, gesturing with his hands.

Nick walks right in front of the camera holding an Isaacwhy plushie on top of his head.

“We saw the zoo.” Tanner says.

“There was a lot— We saw the zoo! We did the haunted trail at Baloa Park. Um, we did Little Italy. Little Italy with Grunk. And, uh, that was fun. That was an awesome trip, and, uh—” Larry continues.

“Make sure you guys use code Group.”

“Code Group 10% off. Get your lean double cups!” Nick chimes in.

“Also, another fun fact. We recorded Isaac’s video one day before we—”

“All the shits still here.” Isaac interrupts from his spot laid out on the couch.

Larry walks around the kitchen island to show the camera the mess that they’d left behind with a few disgusted complaints.

You slump down besides Isaac with a huff, earning yourself a questioning look from him before Nick comes up behind you to show you something on his phone.

“Thank ya’ll for supporting. Thank ya’ll for watching. Um, have a great rest of your night or day or morning. Bye bye.” Larry waves to the camera, outro–ing the video before Grant stops recording.

It’s late and you’re practically falling asleep just sitting here on the couch. So, you force yourself to get up and lazily stretch your limbs as the guys continue their chatter.

“Alright, I’m going to bed.” You announce.

“You still okay with sleeping in the spare room? It’s still got a few boxes in there but—” Nick asks, starting to ramble.

“It’s fine, really. Thank you.” You interrupt, reassuring him, “Now, if you’ll excuse me… Good night everyone.”

After exchanging good night's with everyone, you find your bags in the hallway and move them into the spare room, immediately collapsing onto the bed in the centre with a defeated sigh. Your peace is short lived, however, as three consecutive knocks at the door force you to sit up.

“Come in.” You reluctantly call.

The door opens to reveal Isaac’s tall, broad frame, because why wouldn’t it be him? Your breathing pauses for two seconds before starting again.

“Hey.” He says, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.

“Hi.” You sit up a little straighter.

He doesn’t say anything for a moment, glancing between you and the empty space besides you on the bed before ultimately crossing the distance and sitting next to you. He looks sheepish, almost.

“This isn’t— This isn’t weird, right?”

“What do you mean?” You ask, though you have a pretty good idea already.

“Us, I mean. Last night.” He reaffirms, brows furrowing.

You blank, staring back at him and the puzzled expression on his face. Does he regret it?

“Oh, no— No, of course not.” You answer, a nervous kind of smile on your lips. “I mean, we were, like, high. You know?” 

Who were you fooling? You could hardly have said you were still peaking by then.

“Right, yeah.” He nods, swallowing. You try not to look.

He looks as if he wanted to say something else but ultimately decides against it, swiftly standing up and bringing a smile to his lips. It was off somehow and you couldn’t decipher why.

“Well, anyway. I’m wiped, so I’m gonna head to bed too.” He says, already walking backwards.

You wanted to question his weird behaviour and figure out what the hell just happened, but he’s already gone before you can even say good night. Huh.

Now you’re overthinking everything. Did he ask if it was weird because he thought it was or because he, too, thought it was the complete opposite of weird and maybe it even felt a little too natural but— It was only a one time thing, right?

a/n: i literally started this the same day the og video came out... that was nearly 7 months ago. i mean, hey, at least its out now..

is it obvious that i've never been to a casino nor ever been high?? anyway. hopefully the off-camera/edited bits are characterised well, i was struggling quite a bit with inserting the reader as i didn't want to have them intrude TOO much and it be like a classic wattpad y/n ordeal but reading it back now i'm not sure, maybe i could've added a few more bits? lmk what you think! alsooo i've got a few ideas for a part 2 if anyone would be interested in that...