What Lies Ahead, Chapter 1: And the Story Continues...

Disclaimer: One Tree Hill doesn't belong to me. If you think it does...you need help.

AN: Normally, I decided that I wasn't going to do anymore with the "Boys R' Us" story, but, recently, I've been bombarded with ideas that came to me and I figured I wanted to do a sequel. "What Lies Ahead" takes place immediately following the end of "Boys R' Us". Enjoy.

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Lucas woke up covered in sweat. He had a nightmare about worst case scenarios about him and Nathan's relationship. Just yesterday they proposed to each other on the top of his mom's cafe'. His mom may have been accepting when it came to having a relationship with his half-brother. Hell, they both took helped take down the one man who was capable of ruining everything. But how she will react to them getting married, was a different matter. They may have the support of his mom, Keith, to some extent Brooke, and of course, the two who were responsible for everything concerning him and Nathan, Haley and Peyton. But that still didn't mean things were gonna' be easy. Although they devised a way to hide their relationship from everyone, and the both of them could pass off their engagement rings as anything but, doesn't mean something could go wrong. All it took was one slip-up, then they would be fucked.

Looking for comfort in the arms of his future husband, he instead found an empty spot beside him. Lucas looked towards the alarm clock which read 3:23 a.m. Even Nathan doesn't get up this early, not even to go running. It usually means something is bothering his baby brother. You don't exactly live with each other for an entire year without learning each others quirks.

Lucas got up and proceeded to look around the apartment for Nathan, but discovered Nathan was nowhere to be seen. Luckily, Lucas knew enough about Nathan to know where he is at the moment. So he got dressed, and left for his destination, the Rivercourt.

Along the way, Lucas silently contimplated what would possess Nathan to leave. Considering not twelve hours ago, Nathan suggested they both stay in the apartment, trying to have sex as much as possible before their three day weekend was over, and they would return to the superficial hell that was Tree Hill High.

When Lucas finally arrived at the rivercourt, his suspitions were correct in assuming Nathan would be there. What he didn't expect however, was the fact that Nathan wasn't alone. Tim Smith was with him. Tim had been away for seven months. Apparently, Tim thought it would be a good idea to help his brother distribute drugs. The same drugs he gave Nathan to improve his performance in basketball. Well because of his reckless stupidity, he was caught. His parents were fed up with him to begin with, and this whole drug ordeal was the final straw, so they sent him away. No one knew where exactly, but they really didn't care. Now it appears he's back, and Lucas is certain that anything involving Tim, is never a good thing.

Lucas wasn't sure what Nathan saw in him as a friend, Tim wasn't known for his intellect, since it was non-existant to begin with. Whether he denies it, chooses to ignore it, or just plain isn't aware, Tim is the biggest loser in high school, and everyone knows it. Both Lucas and Nathan know he's just mooching off Nathan's popularity, but Lucas has a feeling that Nathan is only friends with the dimwit out of pity.

Lucas approached cautiously, and managed to hide behind the closest tree to the courts two occupants

"Okay I'm here, what is so important that you have to call me at 3 in the fuckin' morning and meet you here, Tim. Couldn't it wait until Tuesday?" Nathan asked, clearly frustrated.

Lucas realized that he got here just in time.

"Why, you got someplace more important to be at?" Tim question stupidly, a fact which didn't go unnoticed by both brothers.

Absolutely no intellect at all.

"Yeah, it's called bed. In fact, I'll be going back right now if you don't tell me what I'm doing here at 3:30 in the fucking morning." Lucas could tell Nathan was trying his hardest to remain calm, but Tim always had a way to severely diminish your patience with him.

"Chill out, dude. Look, my parents won't let me back into the house. I need a place to stay."

"For how long?" Nathan wasn't sure he wanted to know. After all, he had Lucas to consider, and if it ever came down to choosing between Lucas and Tim, well...sucks to be Tim.

"Just until the end of junior year."

"That's a couple of months away!" Nathan was appauled.

"Dude I know, it'll be cool with that Heather chick right?"

Nathan gave Tim a questioning look, until he realized, "You mean Haley?"

"Yeah, that tutor chick you're always hanging around with. She's you bitch right? She wouldn't mind me crashing for a while?" Tim asked.

Nathan wanted to smack Tim upside his head for the bitch comment. But then he realized that he has been gone for quite some time. Things are definetly different.

"No, Haley and I broke up."

"Sweet! So it'll be just us guys!" Tim was clearly excited.

"Tim."

"Man, we'll have sooo many parties..."

"Tim." Nathan tried again.

"...and all the booze we'll have..."

"TIM!" Nathan yelled.

"What?"

"No." Nathan said simply.

"No, what?"

"No, you're not staying at my place. I already have a roomate, and he wouldn't like it."

'Damn straight!' Lucas said mentally.

"I can sleep on the couch then..."

"No, Tim!" Nathan interupted.

'God, the neanderthal just doesn't get it.' Lucas thought.

"What? You're roomate might have a problem with it? Because we can get the guys and knock some sense into this guy."

Lucas could tell from his vantage point that Nathan was seething. He had a look on his face that Lucas knew all too well. As much as he disliked the guy, Lucas had to do something before his baby brother did something he would regret.

"Nathan!" Lucas called out from his hiding place, pretending to have just arrived.

Nathan's facial expression changed from one of pure rage to relief at the sight of his lover. "Hey Luke!"

"What are you doing here at this hour?" Lucas asked.

"Tim called." Nathan responded while pointing to a confused Tim. "What about you?"

"I couldn't sleep." Lucas said, but Nathan quickly caught on to the underlying answer 'I woke up and you weren't their'.

"Insomnia?" 'I'm sorry'.

"Yeah." 'It's okay'. Because really, it was okay. He knew Tim would have eventually come unannounced if Nathan didn't respond, and could have possibly walked in on something they wouldn't want him to see. Nathan probably knew this and decided to humor the idiot.

Tim on the other hand, was confused. For all he knew, the Scott brothers weren't exactly friends. Even he wasn't dumb enough to see that wasn't the case now.

"What the hell happened? You always hated your bastard brother, now you're friends?" Tim spat out.

Lucas originally revealed himself to try and calm Nathan from assaulting Tim, but what was he suppose to do now, when both he and Nathan wanted to pound this asshole into the ground.

"You've been gone for a while Tim, things change." Nathan tried to remain calm.

"Apparently. So, can I stay over? The other guys won't let me."

'Huh, I wonder why' Lucas almost said out loud.

"For the last time no! It's just me and my roomate, and we'd like to keep it that way."

"My roomate and I." Lucas corrected him. Nathan didn't even bother to respond, he was trying to speed up the meeting so he can go back to bed with his lover.

"Come on Nate, who are you gonna' choose, me or your loser roomate."

"My roomate." Nathan simply said.

"I thought we were friends."

"Tim, my roomate has a job, which means he helps pay for rent, bills, food, and gas. We both make enough to accomidate two people comfortably. You don't have a job. If I kick my roomate to the curb for you, or allow you to stay for a couple months, which knowing you, would turn into a lot longer, my expences would be strained. Sorry Tim, but this is one lesson you need to learn the hard way."

"But getting a job is for losers." Tim whined.

"Having a job and supporting myself doesn't make me or my roomate a loser. It's called maturity. You should try it some time."

"But..."

"No, Tim." Nathan interupted, "Even if you found a job, you're still not staying with me." With that said, he motioned for Lucas to follow him.

"Night, Tim." Lucas said.

- - - ooo - - -

"God, he has some nerve." Nathan said as he and Lucas finally reached their apartment.

"You know he's not gonna' give up until he gets what he wants right?" Lucas asked as they made their way to their bedroom stripping off all their clothes

"Yeah." Nathan sighed as he climbed into bed and cuddled into Lucas.

"So what are we gonna' do about him?"

"I don't know. Personally, he shouldn't even be my concern. He got himself into this, he has to get himself out. Besides, if he stayed here with us, all of our alone time would be ruined."

"Yeah." Lucas laughed.

"I'm serious, he would constantly want to throw parties every single night, he would seriously destroy our sex life. I don't know about you but I like the idea of spontaneous sex." Nathan said.

"I know," Lucas giggled, "we have it almost twice a day. Like three days ago, when I bent down searching for something to eat in the fridge, and all the sudden your tongue was in my ass."

"Good thing we don't usually wear any clothes when we're home. Ahh, good times." Nathan chuckled.

"Or how about the time when you said we should shower together to conserve water."

"What? We were conserving water." Nathan defended.

"Nathan, it's not actually conserving water when you're in there for two fucking hours!"

"And I'm saying that with Tim here, our sex life would be as good as dead." Nathan smiled impishly, "And I love our sex life."

"I know you do, babe. So do I." Lucas said as he kissed Nathan'as forehead, "So what are we gonna' do about the Tim situation?"

"We do what we normally do when we have a serious problem."

"Haley and Peyton?"

"Yep."

"Nice."

"Besides, it'll give us a chance to tell them about our proposals."

"Do you think that's wise? I mean, they'll be hounding us constantly about wedding plans."

Nathan could sense there was another reason, "What's really wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Lucas."

"It's nothing."

Nathan was silent for a moment, "Does it have something to do with the fact that you came looking for me?"

This time Lucas was the silent one.

"Tell me what's wrong?"

Lucas was hesitant, "I had a nightmare."

"About?" Nathan ventured.

"About everything going wrong between us, people hating us."

"Like I said before, I won't let anyone stop us from being together."

"What about Tim?" Lucas asked quietly.

Nathan didn't have to ask to what Lucas was implying. He knew very well Tim could be a huge problem. Sure, he was no Dan Scott, but that didn't mean he couldn't cause trouble for them. In a way, he was worse than Dan. At least Dan would want to keep the fact that both his sons are in a relationship a secret from the general public, his image was at stake. But Tim found out, the asshole would shoot his mouth off.

"If I recall, it was Haley and Peyton who helped us get rid of Dan, they would probably assist us in dealing with Tim as well."

"Yeah. We'll give them a call first thing when we wake up."

"We have to anyway. Peyton knows I was going to propose to you, and she'll want an answer."

"Peyton knows?"

"She helped me pick out your ring."

"Speaking of which," Lucas said while examining the ring on his left hand, "don't you find it an odd coincidence that we got each other the same type of ring?"

"Not really. We know one another inside and out. We have similar tastes, well, except when it comes to music." Nathan giggled.

"Hey! There is nothing wrong with my taste in music. Yours however..." Lucas trailed off.

"I'll have you know, that I have a great taste in music."

"It's rap Nate. Rap is crap."

"Emo sucks."

"Let's just agree to disagree. I don't think we'll ever settle the music issue. Besides," Lucas yawned, "we need to get some sleep. I know we had a whole weekend of constant sex planned, but I suspect that's not gonna' happen." he sighed.

"I agree. So first thing in the morning, after our morning shower sex, we'll call the girls, and establish a game plan. Sound good?"

"Very good."