A/N: You can see a schedule for my updates on my tumblr account. For those who are interested, I'll give a link in the comments.

*****

Nathaniel's POV

"Yes."

A door slammed to our right and we turned our heads to where the sound was coming from. Vallery was running towards us, turning twice to look behind her shoulder at our house. She jumped over the fence with ease and crouched besides us.

"Okay, brief me in, but quick 'cause mom went up, probably to your room, bro, and when she doesn't find you there, she'll go searching for you. I would've come sooner, but dad kept me busy." She shot out and only then did she inhale deeply to catch her breath.

"Hunter was at my room, we got into a fight, he left through the window, slipped and fell to the ground, I tried to climb down the tree to see how he was, but also slipped and fell into the bushes," I filled her in, my eyes going to our front door just in time to see our mother coming out.

"Nathaniel?" She wrapped her long, knitted vest tightly around her body while walking towards us. My heart sped up as I didn't know how to explain the situation. Would Hunter force me to admit to her what just happened right here and now?

"Oh, boy," Vallery straightened up, her eyebrows knitted.

"Nathaniel, sweetie, what's going on?" Our parent was just a few steps away from us.

"Falling... blood..." My sister was muttering. Her mouth formed briefly into a grin before she got back to her worried expression - on purpose, I was sure - and turned around to face our mother who now stood at the other side of the fence.

"Raph's gone missing." Vallery announced in an urgent tone.

"Raph? Who is..." My mom gasped and pointed at me. "What happened to your cheek?"

I reached up towards the spot that was still burning and covered it with my palm. When I retrieved my hand, I looked at it with surprise: it was tinted with a small blotch of red, the result of scraping my face against the leaf-less rose bushes when I fell.

"He cut himself shaving," my twin dismissed the topic with a wave of her hand. "Mom, we have to find Raph."

"Shaving?" My mother repeated in confusion. "But why are you all outside? And Nathaniel, sweetie, why didn't you put a band-aid on it? And why isn't there shaving cream on your face?"

"He wiped it off, obviously," Val replied.

"It was cold," I added on instinct.

"I still don't get..."

"Long story short," Vallery cut off our mother who huffed in response, "Hunter - who is fine is fine, by the way, thanks for asking..." Our parent's frown only deepened at my sister's sassy tone, but the latter had a point - Hunt had torn clothing and was bleeding from his elbow and knee, yet mom had only inquired after my minor injury. My sister went on:

"So Hunter let his pet turtle Raph on the sill so he - the turtle, I mean - could look outside, but the window was ajar, Raph pushed it open and got onto the tree; Hunt went out after him, lost his footing and screamed; Nat, who was shaving in the bathroom, startled and cut himself, after which he got out of the bathroom, looked out the window of his room and saw Hunt on the ground so he ran outside..."

"Ran?" Our mother's eyes narrowed and I gulped. "I didn't see him run out."

"That was because you were too busy glaring at me while delivering the final lines of your 'how you shouldn't behave' speech," Val explained with an annoyed inflection; I couldn't tell whether it was real or if she was faking it to make the story more believable.

"Vallery Reed!" Mother's tone was dangerously low, but my sister went on unperturbed; she'd had that tone aimed at her one too many times not to have gotten used to it.

"As I was saying, Nat ran out to see how Hunt was, then I went out too, to see what the commotion was all about, they told me what happened and then you got out as well and now here we all are, chatting, instead of searching for the poor little turtle who might freeze to death."

"Honestly, Vallery, is the turtle what you would be thinking about?" Mom crossed her arms over her chest, her head going left and right. "When your own brother is wounded?"

"And Hunter," Val reminded.

"And Hunter," mom added, as if she cared. "You boys each get home and mend your wounds," she was now looking at Hunt and me. "Nathaniel, sweetie, I'll clean yours and help you with the band-aid."

My face turned red; I did not appreciate being treated as a helpless child, especially not in front of Hunter Harris. To my surprise, he didn't tease me about it or even smirk; his mouth was set in a tight line and I had the feeling he was trying hard not to glare at my parent.

"Vallery will put on a coat - a proper one for this weather..." My sister rolled her eyes at the supplement, "... and then search for your turtle, Hunter. Well?" Mom asked when none of us moved. "Come on, before we all freeze out here!"

*****

"I can't believe your mother bought that," Hunt commented once again. It's been three days since the day I'd admitted I wanted to be with him; three days in which we'd gotten surprisingly close given my shyness.

I'd spent a lot of time at his place and I had to restrain myself from spending even more. I had yet to tell my parents that I was seeing - I wouldn't call it dating as we weren't in the open - Hunter Harris. The only people who knew about us so far were Vallery, Raiden, Betty, Hunter's friend Blake and Blake's girlfriend Sam. That suited me just fine as I wasn't ready to face other people's reactions; thankfully, Hunt wasn't pushing me to come out.

"Val gets into such weird situations that her explanation sounded like a rational, everyday event," I told him and reached into the bowl between us to get some more popcorn. It was empty so I twisted and put it on his bedside table. "Besides," I went on, getting to my previous position in Hunter's bed, "mom is distracted with the Christmas preparations."

"Still?" He asked, sliding closer to me; I could feel the heat radiating from body now that it was in the spot that the bowl had occupied. "Christmas Eve is today."

"About that," I began and looked down. Big mistake. Hunter's t-shirt was tight and showing off his abdominal muscles; it was difficult not to think about me taking off his clothes, especially when we were alone in his room and on his bed.

"About that," I repeated after clearing my throat and aimed my gaze back at his face. My cheeks heated when I was met with his signature cocky smirk; he knew exactly what was going in my head.

"What about that?" His voice was low and playful.

"I haven't..." I watched as he leaned towards me, kissing my elbow. "I haven't bought you a Christmas present."

He moved up my arm, kissing every few inches.

"I meant to," I went on, my voice obtaining a breathy inflection, "but I couldn't pick anything."

"Well," he'd stopped with his kisses at my neck and hoisted himself up, leaning his body into mine. "If you feel..." He planted a kiss on my jaw and I closed my eyes, tilting my head back. "That badly about..." This kiss was closer to my mouth and I parted my lips. "Not getting me anything..." Warm. His lips on mine were warm and soft. "Then come up with some way to make it up to me." His right hand - up until now resting on my chest - plunged down to cover my privates through my jeans. I jolted up, eyes wide open, throat suddenly going dry.

"I'm not ready for this," I shot out, the fear clear in my voice. He sighed and rolled away from me, lying with his back on the bed.

"I'm sorry..." I began, but he cut me off:

"Yes, yes, this is all new to you." He wasn't referring just to me being with a guy; I'd shared with him I had never been with a girl either. "We'll wait," he added, this time without sounding irritated and he snorted. "Now that is new for me."

He lifted himself up and pecked me on the lips. Hunt kept his body away from mine this time and I was grateful. It was better for both of us this way: for me, because whenever he was near, I wanted to do things with him that I wasn't ready for and would later regret for giving into my hormones, and for him, because he got less frustrated that even though we were together - in whatever you would categorize our relationship as - he still didn't have me in that aspect.

"I haven't gotten you anything either, to be honest," he admitted. "Just about a dozen of your favorite lollypops that I stashed in case the store ran out of them."

My first reaction was to smile, but the happiness of his long-term plan to treat me was short-lived as I remembered the numbers I'd seen on the weighing machine this morning.

"Hunter," I licked my dry lips, "do you think I'm getting fat?"

"Well, I haven't seen all of you yet," he teased after looking me up and down. "Something we could change at any time," he added, his voice obtaining that low, purring inflection once more. "Plus, I know of a great way to burn some calories... And since you don't feel like doing that for now, we can always go jogging."

"I'm afraid what mom might suspect something if she sees us together too often," I sighed. Hunter's eyelids lowered, but not in a seductive way; his mouth formed a tight line and he looked away from me. "I will tell them," I placed my hand on his arm, above his elbow. "Hunter, I really mean to tell them..."

"I know you mean it." His eyes were back on me."I know because you are planning it and you wouln't be making plans unless you intended to do it."

He got off the bed; I figured it was because he was angry, or disappointed, or getting impatient. His next words were said without a trace of any of those feelings:

"Want to help be bathe Raph?" He asked and leaned down to pick up his pet; the turtle moved its legs back and forward as if he was trying to swim through the air.

"Now?" I asked.

"Unless you want to make out," he tossed in; he didn't seem hopeful that I'd agree.

I got off the bed and followed him into the bathroom. Hunt pushed the plug in the drain and turned on the tap. When a third of the sink was under water, he dipped a finger in to check the temperature; he switched between cold and warm water and repeated the checkup. He did that a couple of more times before he was satisfied and turned the tap off.

I watched as he placed Raph in the sink - the turtle attempted to climb out but the smooth walls prevented him from doing so - before Hunt took a brand new brush out of its plastic package. He held his pet in his left arm and began to scrub the top shell.

A smile was back on my face. I loved watching Hunter take care of Raphael; he was so gentle and caring. I hoped he would be just as attentive to me now that we were together.

"Do you want to try it?" He asked, twisting his neck so he could see me.

"Sure." I took a couple of steps towards them and Hunt moved to the side to make room for me.

"Don't get startled if he moves too much; he won't bite you," he began to instruct, handing me the turtle and the brush. "Just go over the shell gently; he can feel your touch. Dip the brush in the water every now and then to clean it."

Hunter got behind me and I began the brushing, at first hesitant that I might harm the small creature that was in my grasp. Once I realized that would not happen, I applied a bit more pressure, but I was being careful not to push too much.

"There you go," Hunt murmured into my ear and his arms snaked around my waist. My body tightened as I anticipate his hands going lower like before. When a minute later he hadn't moved, I relaxed and leaned into his embrace. It was a relief to know he could be physically close to me without blatant sexual advances.

"I know what I want for Christmas from you." He said, his voice lacking a flirtatious hint. "I want you to read me something you wrote. Not your diary, obviously - I'm sort of sorry I read that, I didn't know what it was..."

"Sort of?"

"We wouldn't have gotten into a fight and you wouldn't be with me now if I hadn't," he explained. "So yes, sort of." He made a pause, giving him a chance to contradict him, but I didn't. "So, how about it? Will you read me some of your creations?"

"Sure," I replied, halting the brushing. I wasn't as certain as I hoped I sounded, but I'd suddenly realized what I wanted from him; if I was going to ask him about that, I had no right to refuse him a simple sample of my writing. "And I know what I want for Christmas."

"What's that?" He nibbled on my ear, but even that sensitive spot couldn't distract me.

"I want you to tell me why you were in jail," I shot out, before my courage left me.

"Oh..." His arms moved away from my body. "That."

*****

A/N: Do you think Hunter is going to answer Nat?

Maybe the next chapter will be the one we find out more about his past; what would YOU want to know?

Also, do you like their relationship so far?

Any comments on the story Val made up?

Vote if you enjoyed the chapter and have a great time wattpading, you funky monkeys!:)