riley hummed as if they would really go back on what they said . " maybe after a drink or two . " they offered a smile , eventually taking a sip of the drink in their hand . " i'm a shelby . we're stubborn . "

" so kiss me, " he grinned, resting his head on his hand. he knew riley wasn't going to take him up on it but he couldn't quite seem to help himself, maybe he'd wear them down.

his lips twitched at the question but he wasn't surprised by it . dakota wasn't sure about much but he had always known that he had always been sure about joshua . that much made sense to him . dakota nodded his head , " yeah , i'm sure . "

joshua licked his lower lip, " are you sure? " he questioned, although he figured they both were. denying one another wasn't exactly something they were good at, they shared many longing looks and everything else, it was only a matter of time.

dakota offered a smile then as he looked back at gabriel . " why didn't you lead with that earlier ? " he breathed , " why would i want to miss that ? "

" cool, " he grinned, " kinda nice havin' you here, to be honest. " gabe certainly enjoyed taking care of people, and maybe he missed his siblings. he chuckled, " mm, not got much goin' on tonight, waiting for a cow to give birth. "

riley looked back at poet , tilting their head . " i'm not rejecting you , " they pointed out . " i want to kiss you . " riley was hoping that was obvious by now but maybe it wasn't .

poet sighed softly, " okay, some other time then, maybe, " he mumbled, " although I've never been rejected before, can't imagine I will risk that again. "

a small smile touched dakota's lips when the kiss broke but he stayed close to the other . " probably not , " he spoke honestly . it would only hurt in the end . " but i think that's okay . "

joshua shifted, pulling dakota closer to him. despite his concern, he knew he couldn't ignore his desire for the other. their lips parted after a moment and josh couldn't help but smile as he bowed their heads together, " is this a good idea? "

dakota hummed at the question , " i mean , i don't have any plans . " he looked back at gabriel , " i could stick around unless you're busy . " he didn't want to intrude . gabe was kind but dakota also didn't want to crowd him .

gabriel cleared away their plates and returned to take a sip from his drink, " are you sticking around? or d'you have somewhere to be? " he asked, dakota didn't usually stay long.

riley chuckled , " more like i'm a shelby and we have the tendency to take consent rather seriously . " they looked back at poet , " i trust you and i think you're sincere , poet . i still don't want to gamble it though . "

poet smirked, " couldn't just take a little advantage of my drunken state? or are you really that worried I'm not being sincere? 'cause you could just ask felix, you know? he knows me better than anybody. "

kieran hummed in mild thought , " i would argue that's not true , " she pointed out . josh was probably bias but kieran was well aware that there were probably plenty of people that didn't like her and maybe it even borderlined on hate . " you're just bias . "

he smiled, biting his tongue despite wanting to poke fun at her words, a mere deflection from the fact that it was an entirely mutual feeling. josh scoffed at her admission, " I didn't think it was possible for people to hate you. "

he wanted more . he always wanted more when it came to joshua and how could dakota not ? he was his best friend . his first love but dakota was hesitant . hesitant in how far he could take this . hesitant in knowing if joshua would let him .

joshua hummed softly against dakota's mouth, pushing a hand into his hair as he eagerly accepted the others move to deepen their kiss. he knew he shouldn't have, it would only cause further pain but josh didn't have it in him to deny dakota anymore.

he did appreciate it . it wasn't as if an escape plan came easy around here . most knew but didn't do anything about . dakota offered a smile and a nod of his head , " yeah , thank you . "

he gave a faint smile and nodded, " it's no pressure, just want you to know that there's a way out if ya want it. " gabe reached out and patted dakota's shoulder, " finished? " he added, gesturing to the plate.

dakota couldn't remember a time where he didn't want this . where he didn't want to be close to joshua in some way and even though it was happening , it still felt surreal . his hands lifted to cup josh's jaw as he made the daring move to deepen the kiss .

josh couldn't believe how long he'd waited to do this, finally kissing dakota felt right. he let his hands slip to the back of the other's neck, melting into their kiss without daring to deepen it any.

he tried not to cringe at what gabriel said . what he knew about the family most came kieran . his expression softened as he nodded , " i appreciate it , " he murmured , " and i'll ... definitely keep it in mind . "

gabe itched his jaw, resting an elbow on the table, " 'cause my dad's in jail, and my mom is an insane person who tries to stop me from spending time with my brother and sister. " he sighed, " I know what it's like to have shitty parents, dakota. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. "

dakota was a little taken back by gabriel's offer . it wasn't something that he was expecting , not by a long shot . " why would you do that ? " he understood that gabriel got something from it : help on the farm but it still didn't make sense to him .

he hummed, nodding his head slowly. gabriel shrugged after a moment, " well, I've got a room, if you help out on the farm, it's yours. " gabe itched at his jaw, " if ya need it, kid. " he didn't totally expect dakota to take him up on the offer, but he never could get his head around shitty parents.

dakota knew this probably wouldn't lead to anywhere good in the end . it would probably hurt them both but did that mean they couldn't at least have something ? when joshua smiled , dakota seemed to do the same until he brought their lips together . he couldn't help but lean into the kiss , fingers curling against joshua's shirt .

he couldn't help himself, it was only going to hurt them both in the long run, but if they really were doomed, he wanted to have this, at least. josh brought his hands up, cupping dakota's jaw and managing a small smile as he held his gaze for a moment, before finally coaxing their mouths together.

dakota looked back at gabriel before blowing out a sigh , " uh , because i'm poor ? " he thought it was obvious but maybe it wasn't all that clear . " among other things but ... " he waved a hand . it wasn't something he wanted to get into.

gabe licked his teeth as he leaned back in his seat, " so-- why'd you still live with him? " he asked, " I mean, you're like twenty-one, ish, right? " he figured it was a money thing, but he asked anyway.

the two seemed to fall into a silence for a moment . dakota picked at his nails before he raised his gaze , watching as joshua moved closer before getting back on the bed . he was sure the question made his heart jump . " please . "

josh hated that comment, he hated hearing it from anybody else. he swore to himself he only existed to make sure riley survived their father, but he never imagined the same relief for himself. he was doomed to be buried by luke, or buried as him. he moved towards dakota and climbed back onto the bed, kneeling in front of him, " if we're never gonna survive, can I just kiss you? "

" thank you , " dakota hummed before putting his focus on his food . at gabriel's question , he couldn't help but chuckle . " my dad's always an asshole , " he pointed out as he glanced at the other . " but yeah , i guess you could say that . "

gabriel grabbed him a soda and made his way over to the table, taking the seat opposite dakota and tucking into his own sandwich, " twice in one week, huh? your dad bein' an asshole again? "