Falling in love with his best friend’s brother had never been part of Wesley Adams’ plan.

Having the crush on his best friend’s brother—well, he was used to that. He’d had a crush on Sam Carlisle for nearly a decade. It wasn’t all that surprising that when the handsome, aloof Navy SEAL came home for leave, he spent their alone time hopelessly thinking about how nice their faces would be pushed together.

But here they were, the night before Sam shipped off again, and Wes could feel his heart hammer beneath his chest in a way that it never had before.

In a way that demanded attention. Demanded a response.

The sky above them twinkled from the stars brightly shining. The Kansas sky had never looked half as good as it did that night. Wes thought every little ache inside his chest was etched into the atmosphere; every glimmering star was a reminder that things were going to dim so thoroughly, so soon.

Sam Carlisle was leaving again and Wes couldn’t even muster the goddamn courage to kiss him.

Wes swallowed around the lump in his throat and asked, “When do you leave?”

Sam looked down from the patch of sky he, too, had been staring at. He watched Wes for just a moment before answering. “The morning.”

The air crackled around them. For the first time, Wes told Sam exactly what he felt.

“Don’t go.”

“I have to.”

“No, you don’t. Don’t go, don’t leave.”

“I have to,” Sam argued. “I have to leave because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Fuck the right thing to do. Do what you want.”

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair because Wes barely knew Sam, but he wanted to. He knew him well enough that the possibility that Sam’s presence offered him felt full of hope for something more. He wanted to find out what it’d feel like to make Sam laugh in that loud, happy way or what their palms would feel like touching or what he’d look like in the mornings.

He wanted the life that Sam’s presence teased him with.

“I want—” Wes hoped hard that he would say you. “I want to do the right thing. I want to be there for the people I’ve said I would be.”

“Sam, listen. You’re brave and you care so much—that’s probably your worst quality and the idea that anyone’s worst quality is to care is stupid and dumb and true, for you. And, look, I know you barely know me and, hell, I barely know you. But I’ve been thinking about you for ten years and I—I don’t care that it’s dumb. I don’t care if it’s too soon or too much. Don’t think that you’re not worth it. You’re worth everything.”

Sam looked a thousand feet tall and like two inches all at once. Wes watched the way he swallowed hard and asked, “Why?”

“Why?” Wes laughed; it was a little too hard and cruel. “Because I fucking care about you, you idiot.”

The world, all at once, threatened to collapse.

It wasn’t a declaration of love; but it was something so full of maybes and potentials and truth that Wes felt dizzy.

Sam looked at him.

He looked and he looked and Wes thought maybe he was seeing something that no one else had. He thought maybe when he looked back at Sam, Wes was seeing something else that no one else saw, too. When Sam’s face cracked from the hard stillness he’d been wearing, Wes thought they saw each other in such a full way, it had to have been the only thing that mattered.

Sam surged forward, hands gripping Wesley’s t-shirt in tight fists and yanked him in towards him. Wes let out a small grunt of surprise that Sam cut off by slamming their mouths together.

It was a little too rough and a little too awkward, Wes's lips parted in surprise instead of pleasure as Sam desperately clung to him.

Then, after one immeasurable moment, Wes began to kiss him back.

He moved his lips in tandem with Sam’s, matching the speed and intensity with ease. Their teeth clashed and the kiss was bruising.

It was perfect; it was right.

One of Sam’s hands rose to Wes’ hair, tugging on the long strands. Wes gasped at the sensation and Sam quickly took advantage of the new position, deepening the kiss.

Wes pulled back, laughing. His chest ached in the best way.

“I usually breathe,” he said, the small space between their bodies barely enough to let the words sit. He couldn’t keep his gaze still, flickering back and forth between the long lines of Sam's neck, his swollen lips, and the dark look in his eyes. Every bit of Sam was as appealing as the next and Wes felt nearly dizzy with the desire to experience it all at once.

Sam’s face softened, just a little, and his eyes became framed in deep, smile-induced wrinkles. Wes thought maybe this mattered just as much as talking—maybe even more.

Wes ran his thumb up and down Sam’s arm, soft and slow. It sent shivers down his spine and Sam wanted to curl into the touch.

The next kiss built more slowly. It was soft, tentative kisses that started with Wes closing in on Sam’s mouth before pulling away just as slowly. Sam followed the movement in the same pace. Wes fought to clear his head despite the lips pressed against his.

When they did finally separate, Sam rested his head against Wes’s forehead.

“Don’t go,” Wes repeated.

Sam closed his eyes.

“I have to.”

They pulled away a little, staring at each other. Wes laughed a little too low for it to be happy. “Told you that we didn’t have the same values.”

Sam held himself a little straighter. “I have a duty to my country,” Sam explained. His voice quivered.

“Your family, too.”

The implication that Wes could be his family, that Sam could have a duty to him, too, if he wanted, sat between them.

“I’ll be back,” Sam said.

Wes looked away.

“Will you?”

Sam nodded. “I promise.”

He closed his eyes. Then he nodded, once, sharply. “I’ll be here then.”

Between them, potential sat like a planted seed.

Sam seemed to see it, too. His smile curled onto his face, lighting up like the sunlight the plant would need. “Waiting for me?” Sam cocked his head. His gaze was sharp, questioning.

“Waiting,” he confirmed.

Wes held his breath, reaching out for Sam’s hand. He closed his fingers around Sam’s and the weight felt just as right as he’d hoped it would.

Sam would leave, as Wes knew he was going to have to, and Sam would do his duty for his country. But Wes wouldn’t forget.

Because Sam would do what he needed to but then he’d come back. He’d find out if all this potential was going to turn into his happily ever after.

He supposed, after having a crush on Sam for years, it wouldn’t be that hard to wait a little bit longer.

He could do that. He’d wait until it was time for Sam to come home.