The Dark Haired Boy/10k [Z Nation]

Part 7- The morning after

I awoke to the sound of birds chirping and the quiet hum of the rushing stream below us, the sun was beating down on my face and my eyes burned from the intensity of the light. I'm laying on my side and scan the area of the clearing in my immediate vision and panic inside when I realize I don't see 10k. I swear to God if anything happened to him I will rain down a fiery fucking fury on whoever did it. Just as I was about to sit up I hear a light snort from behind me, it was 10k. I could tell because his arm was draped on my waist.

Immediately I blushed and a tidal wave of thought ran through my mind.. What happened last night? Did we kiss? When did we fall asleep? What if something happened and he doesn't remember? Then we'll never know! Oh shit he's waking up!

He grumbled in pain and turned onto his back, pulling his arm off of my waist and my giddiness slowly disappeared as the sensation of being held was no longer there. It had been years since I experienced intimate physical contact and anytime I get the slightest embrace from someone it feels like an electric current is running through me. It was nice. As he regained consciousness he placed both hands over his eyes and groaned, "I hate the sun"

I sat up and crawled over to my bag on the other side of the fire and pulled out a bottle of water. I took a few drinks and then held it down to him "drink. You'll feel better" he peaked out from his hands and eagerly grabbed the bottle and slammed about half in a few giant gulps. He sat up and hunched forwars, face in hand and let out another agonizing groan "my head is killing me" I dig through my bag again and toss him the bottle of ibu and he takes about four. I guess I should have warned him how fun the morning after is.. Whoops.

"How ya doin' buddy" I say as I bend down and place a hand on his shoulder

"Fuck you" he chuckles before taking another big swig of water

"Hey, happiness comes at a price" I throw my hands up in a defensive stance and laugh at his current state.

I stood up and assessed the damage done to myself. I was a little groggy and had a slight headache but I was fine, nothing seemed awkward so that was a good sign... I wanted to wait until we were on the move to ask about last night. He gathers himself and we manage to pack up everything up and start heading in the direction we think we came from town so we can get back to the truck. I was leading and glancing back very few minutes to make sure he was still doing okay. Finally I worked up some courage to ask. "So... What do you remember from last night?" I didn't look back because I didn't want to see his reaction, God forbid it be bad.

"After we laid down facing each other, not much" He said, exhaustion still in his voice.
Damn.. Now we'll never know.

After about an hour of walking, stopping, and back tracking we finally broke the tree line and found my truck, sitting about 20 feet to the left. I guess Sam and the rest of them had decided to let us go, after all, we were just two scronny teenagers trying to stay alive.

"My baby!" I yelled before breaking into a Sprint towards my prized vehicle

"Oh c'mon! Don't make me run!" 10k slouched forward and groaned in protest

I reached the drivers door and pulled out the keys and unlocked the door. I hoisted myself up into the seat and let the smell of leather, old blood, and dirt fill my nose once again. This truck had been the only consistent thing in my life since this god damn apocalypse started. 10k finally reaches the passenger side and practically crawled up onto the seat. He sprawled himself out and with a final burst of energy scooted his head up to rest on my lap. I'd started to notice that every time we touched I got the same rush of feelings. Comfort, compassion, and something else I couldn't quite put my finger on.