familiar? (𝕟𝕚𝕔𝕜 𝕤𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕠𝕝𝕠)

45

nick stood there in shock for what felt like hours. the little air he had left in his lungs was for sure gone now. there's no way. his eyes must be tricking him. there's no way.

he heard matt and chris run down the stairs, not knowing that nick had stopped. they run up right behind him, asking him all sorts of questions.

"nick, where are you going?"

"are you okay? nick talk to us."

when they realised that he wasn't listening to a thing they were saying, they followed his line of sight. sure enough, they saw what he was seeing too.

max was standing at the end of their driveway, a small suitcase by his side and a backpack on his back. there was atleast 10 ft between the two of them. he stared back at the brothers, not saying a word.

his heart was racing, he was expecting a few seconds preparation, some time to hype himself up. max made eye contact with nick and smiled. nick smiled back, but he still didn't move.

"umm, hey guys." max called out awkwardly. nick let out a small chuckle before running towards max.

max immediately dropped his backpack and started running as well.

they met each other with a huge, warm hug. their arms were wrapped around the other so tight, their faces deep in the others shoulder. they swayed slightly to make sure they didn't fall over. they both laughed happily into the hug.

"what are you doing here?" nick asked into maxs shoulder.

"i made a promise." max replied, he pulled his head off nicks shoulder but kept his arms around nicks torso.

"what? what promise?" nick asked looking at him confused.

"i promised that i wasn't going to lose you again. i promised that i'd never let you go. i couldn't let you go all the way back to boston. so as soon as you guys left, i booked a flight and flew out 3 hours after you guys did. and here i am." max was smiling so wide it was hard to speak.

a small tear ran down nicks cheeks as he stared in awe. how did he get so lucky?

nick pulled max closer to him and kissed his passionately. max gladly kissed back. they smiled into the kiss. it was needy, and happy. both of them so happy to see the other. even if they'd only been apart for 12 hours, it felt like so much longer.

"i love you so much." nick said pulling away from the kiss.

"oh nick, i love you so much." max replied before pulling him back into a kiss.

when they finally separated, max smiled at nick before going back to get his bags. he grabbed nicks hand as they walked up to the front door to see chris and matt.

"max, what the fuck are you doing here?" chris said excited as he pulled him into a brotherly hug.

"my life sucks back in LA and i couldn't handle saying goodbye just yet." max said as he gave matt a hug.

"how'd you even know where we live?" nick laughed from beside him.

"i just asked art." max replied casually.

"of course. so i'm assuming all the others know you're here?" matt asked as the group started to walk inside.

"yep. i told them to keep it a secret from you guys. sorry." max said through gritted teeth.

matt and chris started to walk towards the kitchen, max was following close behind. but nick grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the stairs, taking him upstairs.

"hey, where are you-"

"we're going upstairs to my room." nick called out through laughs, max laughing as he followed closely behind. matt and chris simply rolled their eyes at the sound of the couple stomping up the stairs.

nick pulled max into his room and shut the door behind him. max sat on nicks bed, watching as nick put things away and cleaned his room a bit.

nick then sat down next to him, smiling at him as he did.

"i still can't believe you're here." nick said, running his fingers gently over maxs cheek.

"neither can i." max said.

"you had me so worried." nick said chuckling slightly.

"what- why?" max asked confused.

"you were saying you couldn't talk and being super dry. i thought you were already over me." nick laughed slightly.

"oh nick, no that's why at all. i was trying to get through security and stuff. id literally just landed as soon as you called me." max said placing a hand on nicks leg.

"i was literally having a panic attack when i ran outside, and then obviously you were there and, well you know the rest." nick smiled.

"oh honey, i'm so sorry that i made you have a panic attack. i was just so excited to see you again, i didn't even think about how it might've looked." max kissed nicks nose gently before lying down against the head of nicks bed. nick crawled up and lay on top of him, max running his hands through nicks hair.

"wanna watch some youtube?" max asked pulling out his phone.

"fuck yes."

the two sat there watching youtube for a little while, enjoying each others company.

but all max could think about that he's with nick. he's with his nick. the nick he knew when they were kids. the nick that he'd cry about. the nick that would keep him awake at night, wondering where he was and what he was doing.

he watched as nick took in small breaths as he slept peacefully on maxs chest.

max was so grateful that the world had brought them back together.

and as he started to drift off to sleep, a feeling warmed his heart. a feeling that he only felt around nick, and will only ever feel around nick.

a feeling that made him feel at home again.

a feeling that was

familiar.

AND JUST LIKE THAT- ITS ALL OVER.

thank you all so so soooo much for the love and support that this book has received, it blows my mind at many reads this has and how many of you are EXCITED when i upload new chapters.

i have loved writing this story, i loved getting to unpack the characters and who they are. i loved that you guys all love them as much as i do.

now for some house keeping-
i will be posting a epilogue
however i don't know when that will be uploaded, it could be 2 days, it could be a week and a half. so i'm sorry about that. but keep you're eyes pealed for that.

cheeky self promo- go check out my edit account ekgsturniolo. i just hit 1k followers on there which is crazy so if you wouldn't mind checking it out that'd be greatly appreciated :)))

i love you all so so sooooo much and thank you for all of your support, it means the world to me <33