By All Means, Fear [AJR]

Prologue

The warm air blew against him, and his best friend turned to him. "This is ridiculous," Steve announced from inside the cabin. "Oh, what, you're the master of fun now?" Tom asked. "How lovely. We all want that." Steve turned to protest, but Shawn covered his mouth. "We don't need to hear you."

Jack rolled his eyes, and he went back into the cabin. "Hey, what if we locked Dan out?" Steve snickered. "NO," Tom snapped. "We're not leaving him out there." Steve crossed his arms and scoffed.

"Why did we even agree to this trip?" Jack muttered. Shawn shrugged. "No idea," he admitted. "But you-know-who could have been left out." Steve pinched Shawn's arm, and Shawn winced. "I know you mean me, asshole," he remarked.

"Okay, okay, sorry, geez," Shawn replied, putting his hands up. "Hey, what's going on?" Dan asked, walking back in. "Steve's being an asshole again," Jack told him. "Oh, so normal things," Dan said.

Steve slapped Dan's shoulder. "What was that for!?" Dan cried. "Jack's the one who called you an asshole!" Steve shrugged. "Not to mention Steve called Shawn an asshole and no one did anything about it," Tom broke in.

The cruise stopped, and they all looked outside. "We're back!" Jack exclaimed. "Oh, i've missed Adam and Ryan!" He shoved everyone out of the way, grabbed his suitcase, and ran out onto the port. The others looked at each other with the same idea.

Tom and Shawn ran out to the balcony and into their room. "I hate the connected balcony," Steve muttered. He turned to the empty spot where he thought Dan was. He looked at the door, and Dan saluted him before running out to greet Lex.

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"It's weird," Dan remarked. "It was fun, but it felt normal." Lex rolled his eyes at his twin brother and pulled Dan by the wrist. "Let's just go home," he muttered.

"Shawn, please tell me you got me a souvenir!" Cal said. "Of course i did!" Shawn said, handing them a mini snowglobe. "It's amazing!" Cal exclaimed. "You have to share the deets! Every. Single. Detail." Shawn chuckled. "Bet."

"You'd be in so much trouble!" Amity hissed. "How so?" Steve deadpanned. "You sneaked out!" Franchesca shouted. "Don't you ask us why! You're lucky Mom and Dad come back tomorrow. Otherwise you'd be in a lot more trouble."

"It's been too long," Mikaela announced. "We should get donuts!" Tom clapped his hands in delight. "Ooh, yes!" he agreed. "We should go to Doughlicious!" Mikaela took him by the hand, and they walked away, catching up.

"You're sure nothing happened?" Ryan asked for the billionth time. "Yes," Jack deadpanned. "No gay things happened?" Adam asked. "Geez, Adam, you swear," Jack commented. "You'd have thought Tom's gayness rubbed off on me or something."