Caged

At first, Zacky and Brian were confused; but as their eldest friend reentered, the words
spoken just seconds ago made sense.

Jimmy came back through the door with a full bottle of Jack, and about ¾’s of a bottle of vodka.

At once, Brian’s eyes widened; he hadn’t had anything even remotely alcoholic since he and Zacky had met, and he did not want himself getting back into those things—he was afraid of it.

To add on to that, he had never mentioned to his boyfriend the fact that he had once been semi-alcoholic. “Oh—uhm…” the dark eyed man murmured as his palms began to sweat.

Immediately noticing something amiss with his partner, Zacky reached to grip Brian’s
hand tightly, peering up at him with eyes that sparkled, showing off bits of concern.

The older of the two looked back into the crystallized, sapphire orbs before him, biting his lip and working hard to swallow the lump in his throat.

Despite the soft smile that Brian gave, the smaller man could still see the nerves building in his companion’s eyes.

Sensing the tension built up in the atmosphere as well, Matt spoke up once again.

“Hey, everything okay..?” he asked gently, looking from one man to the next.

“I… I think so.” Zacky murmured when Brian didn’t speak. The feeling of worry he was experiencing had adjoined itself to a sense of awkwardness now, because for once, he wasn’t sure what his lover was thinking.

“Haner, you look sick. What the hell’s up?” Jimmy spoke now, setting the large, clear bottles of poison on the coffee table in the center of the living room. The older boy’s words sent shivers up and down Zacky’s spine, making his heart to pound nervously in his chest.

At his friend’s words, Brian did begin to feel sick, bringing a hand to his forehead to whisk away the light sheen of sweat that had just begun to build there. Seeing his boyfriend’s expression, Zacky bit his lip as his hands too, began shaking slightly.

“Hang on, guys. Be right back.” Zacky said quickly, tugging Brian backwards, toward the bathroom. By the look on the larger man’s face, he was either going to pass out or throw up.

Once they made it into the small, tiled room, the younger man gripped Brian’s shoulders and held him steady, looking into his eyes.

“Baby, what’s wrong? What happened, are you okay?” he asked frantically, scared, as
his companion’s eyes drew toward the ground, their expression completely blank.

The older boy felt foolish for worrying his friends and Zacky over something that should’ve been no big deal, but as he opened his mouth to apologize, that lump rose again in his throat, and the words seemed to dive back past his lips, wedging themselves into his airway to create a blockage.

Between the oxygen that now caught in his throat and the swelling residing within his airways, Brian began to feel suffocated; lightheaded.

Zacky noticed his boyfriend’s stance beginning to sway slightly, his normally soft, dark eyes urgent now. He reached forward as Brian’s form began to dip to the side, pulling him tightly against his chest. “Brian!” he cried, tears spilling over his cheeks as his lover’s body began to tremble in his arms.

“I’m sorry…” the older boy choked out, laying his cheek against his boyfriend’s chest as he tried to calm himself. The words brought a soft, sharp sob from the angel’s chest. He expected his partner’s next word to be “Goodbye”. However, the next words that Brian spoke bewildered him. “This is stupid, I’m so stupid…”

Sniffling, Zacky brought one hand to Brian’s spiked hair, running his fingers through the strands to bring the larger man’s lips to his own; he thought for sure that he had to take these moments to enjoy every part of Brian. “Wh-What’s wrong..?” the younger asked again sadly, his lower lip quivering.

“It’s… the alcohol…” Brian replied softly, shaking his head slightly as a deep crimson blanketed his cheeks.

“Wh-What’s that—what do you mean..? The whiskey and vodka..?” the smaller man wondered aloud, his eyes suddenly taking on a bewildered tinge to join the dark sorrow there.

Nodding slowly, the taller boy sighed, straightening himself up. “Yeah, I mean… I… I’m sorry. I’m so stupid.” he muttered, shaking his head.

Taking in a deep breath and wiping away his tears, Zacky shook his head, glad for the fact that this might not have been what he’d thought. “Hey, shh… You aren’t stupid. You have to have good reason; you aren’t a drama queen…” the shorter boy smiled slightly, shaking his head as he laid his soft hand over Brian’s clammy cheek. “I know that. What’s up?”

“I—well, I never said anything to you about it, because I—uhm…” the older boy stammered, shaking his head as he decided on an alternate approach. “Remember the night we met, when we left the alley..?”

“Of course I do…” Zacky murmured, now placing his other palm to his love’s opposite cheek, cupping his whole face gently.

“Well, when I offered Jimmy that bottle of whiskey, so he would leave us alone… be—I… before…” Brian coughed slightly, the lump in his throat swelling again as tears did in his eyes. “—before I found you, that’s where I was headed… I was going to drink myself stupid…”

At this, Zacky wiped the lingering tears from beneath the other man’s eyes, stretching to kiss him lovingly. “But what does that—“

“I was pretty much an alcoholic when we met—up until we met.” Brian sighed, looking toward the ground, ashamed.

He expected the angel to drop his hands, to back away from him, disgusted—but that didn’t happen. Again, Zacky drew his boyfriend’s lips toward his own, giving his sign of reassurance with the three soft, loving kisses he pressed into Brian’s lips. The younger
was simply relieved at the fact that what he’d assumed before wasn’t happening.

A soft shiver passed through the taller man’s body, and he placed his hands on the shorter boy’s shoulders as he pulled away.

“How bad..?” Zacky asked gently, that warm sparkle lingering in his deep blue eyes; that sparkle that told Brian that everything would be alright.

“B-Bad… I used to… I used to sit outside of bars, playing for money… then I’d try to get someone to buy me something, virtually anything that would…” the older of the pair trailed off, shaking his head. “And that’s not e-even the worst of it—I was even d-drugged a few times, a-and… and…”

Zacky noticed that as his partner went on, his voice grew airy, frantic; his forehead and cheeks had begun sweating lightly again.

“Bri, Bri…” the angel murmured, threading his fingers into the taller man’s hair and carefully guiding his head downward, so that he could rest his forehead against the soft fabric of the hoodie Zacky had borrowed. “Slow down… you’re getting pale again.”

Breathing heavy, Brian whimpered quietly, holding on tightly to Zacky.

“I understand… I understand why it scares you…” Zacky whispered. “But you don’t have to worry about that here…”

Shaking his head, the taller boy fought back tears and nausea. “I just don’t want to depend on it again. I don’t want to be one of those people who end up on some TV show because of an addiction, or… or dead because I couldn’t control myself…” he rambled, shaking his head.

As ridiculous as it seemed, Brian truly was horrified—although he had never paid attention to his mother’s situation, really, or been involved with drugs, he had virtually watched her die, because she’d depended on her heroin and cocaine so much. And he had become so reliant on those poisonous beverages in such a short amount of time, after taking a taste of the single bottle of whiskey his mom had stored in the fridge nearly a year before… barely realizing he had done so, at that.

“Baby, that is not going to happen to you; you’re over thinking things. I won’t let it happen to you.” Zacky said firmly, shaking his head as he rubbed soft circles into Brian’s tensed back.

“B-But… m-my mom…” the frightened boy mused, sniffling. “And wh-what… what if I h-hurt you… when you t-tried to stop me…”

“Bri, you aren’t your mom—you pulled yourself out of the habit once, and without even realizing you’d done it. You’re stronger than you think.” the shorter boy smiled, running his
fingers through Brian’s hair before pulling back and lifting his chin with a single finger; he wanted to peer into those deep brown eyes that he adored so much. “And as far as you hurting me..? As far as I’m concerned, [i/]if that ever happened, at least I’d have the fact that we’d be going down together to smile about.”

The tears and red rings made attempts to suppress the sparkling russet color, but still, it shone through as the older man gazed back at him in shock. Still, though, Zacky longed for more. Giving a gentle smile, the angel smeared away Brian’s tears. “Smile, please…” he murmured, placing one finger to his boyfriend’s lips.

When one corner of the other boy’s lips twitched slightly, but didn’t remain in place, Zacky pouted—as adorably as he possibly could, he might’ve added.

“Pwease..?” he sniffled, making his best attempt at forcing tears to form in his eyes. As soon as one finally leaked over, Brian’s eyes widened, and he took Zacky’s face in his hands.

“I’m smiling, baby, I’m smiling.” he mused, a real smile touching his lips as Zacky’s eyes glimmered and shone their bright jade color.

“Good…” the shorter man smiled, hugging himself close to Brian. It was clear that he preferred being the submissive one in their relationship. “I was really, really scared, baby… I thought you were sick…”

As he spoke the last words, tears formed in Zacky’s eyes, and this confused Brian.

“Love… why does that scare you so much..? It isn’t a big deal…” the older of the two murmured, and became even more bewildered as the angel’s posture tensed, his face frantic; it was clear that Zacky was extremely upset.

“B-Brian, wh-why would you s-s-say that..?” the now gray-eyed man sputtered, body trembling. “I-It is a big deal, it m-matters to m-me…”

While the younger’s explanation went on, tears flooded his cheeks and his face went beat red.

“Zacky!” Brian cried, alarmed as he pulled his lover against his chest. “Calm down, please…”

“B-Baby, it m-matters to m-me, I-I can’t live w-without y-y-you…” the trembling boy hiccupped, his breathing delving more and more into what seemed like sobbing.

Confused, Brian pulled back to look into Zacky’s eyes, his own skeptical. The color of the smaller boy’s iris had darkened to the point that Brian could barely see his pupils, and this scared the larger man.

“Love… I think we might be talking about two completely different things…” Brian murmured, ignoring the nervous churn in the pit of his stomach.

“B-Being sick..?” the younger questioned, tilting his head slightly as more tears fell. Sighing, the brown-eyed man nodded.

“Yes… But, Z, have you ever been sick?” Brian asked gently, taking Zacky’s hands in his own. The angel shook his head, wings wrapping around himself as tremors shook his body.

“N-No… or I wouldn’t be here…” he murmured, his eyes moving into the much lighter—to Brian’s relief—color of confusion.

Nodding, the older of the two smiled. “Zacky, I think you’ve been taught wrong—being sick, it doesn’t mean that you die.” Brian explained, gently pulling his boyfriend into him for a tight hug. From that point, Zacky wound his large, white blankets around Brian as well.

“Wait, it d-doesn’t?” he asked cautiously, his eyes now a light brown that seemed to be nearly identical to his partner’s.

Allowing a soft chuckle, Brian shook his head. “No. Not always—rarely, actually.” he explained, stroking the smaller boy’s wings lovingly. “You just don’t feel… right, for a few days.” Zacky mouthed a careful “oh”, burying his face in the light fabric of Brian’s shirt.

Now, he felt foolish for completely coming undone in front of Brian over something that, apparently, wasn’t anything to worry about. He now knew how his love must have felt moments ago.

As Zacky began to speak, though, he was cut off by a knock at the door, followed by a
gentle voice. “Hey guys..? Are you alright in there..?” Matt’s gruff bass tone called.

Smiling, Brian kissed his boyfriend’s lips softly before pulling away and taking a hold of
his hand. “Yeah…” he murmured, guiding the angel to the door and opening it up to see Matt standing before them, hands, again, shoved into his pants’ pockets. “Sorry… we just had to talk stuff out.”

“Oh.” the hazel eyed man smiled, nodding. “Everything okay now?”

As the tallest of the trio spoke, his eyes flitted to Zacky, whose face was still lined with tears, eyes red rimmed. The angel smiled, though, nodding at his new friend.

“Yeah… Brian was just… worried.” Zacky spoke cautiously, his eyes drawing to Brian’s as if asking permission to say why.

In any case, the taller of the two nodded, but cut Zacky off before he could speak.

“Yeah,” he murmured, stepping into the hall beside Matt with Zacky in tow. “I kind of have this past with drinking that I’m scared of…”

Brian had expected the muscular man before him to laugh or make fun of his fears—he couldn’t help the way that Matt’s appearance spoke to his mind. However, their new friend nodded immediately, eyes sympathetic.

“Oh, got it. No worries, man—we won’t let you get too smashed. Or you don’t have to drink at all, it’s completely up to you.” he smiled, raising his hands before him submissively. This made Brian smile.

“Thanks, man. You’re a good friend.” the dark eyed boy smiled, reaching to clap a hand
over the taller man’s shoulder. “It’s Sullivan that I’m worried about.”

At Brian’s words, Zacky laughed, and Matt’s grin grew. “I’ll control Jimmy. I can throw that kid’s weight around pretty well.” Matt reassured them, keeping his smile friendly as
Zacky rested his body against Brian’s back.

“Somehow, I don’t doubt that.” the youngest boy mused before kissing his boyfriend’s neck affectionately.

The contact sent chills up and down Brian’s spine, and he glanced back at Zacky, eyes narrowed as if saying “We both know where that’ll go. Cut it out.”

Giggling gently, the angel shook his head, moving his lips to linger at the center of the back of his lover’s neck. The cool of Zacky’s metal lip rings mixed with the warmth of his full lips caused more shivering; especially as they moved upward to press against the skin that lay just below his hairline. Brian jumped at this, nearly letting a moan loose—he would have, had Matt not still been standing there.

Parting his lips just slightly to allow his tongue teasing rights to this new hot spot he’d found on his love, Zacky grinned up at Matt, who winked subtly and turned, walking out into the living room to join Jimmy once again.

As soon as their bulky friend disappeared into the main area of the house, Zacky began sucking lightly at the sensory area of skin, moving about until he found the most effective area: About a centimeter below his love’s hairline, just to the left a bit.

Brian squeaked, his breathing becoming shaky as he gained a certain kind of throb in his jeans with his boyfriend’s teasing. Before he knew it, the blood had rushed downward,
and there was nothing he could do about it.

He soon came to realize that Zacky had come to the same problem, though, as the smaller man’s hips pressed into his own, and the tip of something that he knew well
pressed into the seat of his jeans. At once, he cursed the layers of denim separating Zacky’s skin from his own.

“Zacky…” the taller man whispered, leaning into the angel’s lips on his skin, now, and pressing his hips backward, more roughly into his young love’s.

The shorter boy whispered out a moan as Brian pressed against his arousal, gripping his boyfriend’s waist firmly.

As Zack nipped at his sweet spot, the brown eyed man’s body jerked and quivered, slowly melting further into his lover’s embrace.

Smirking, the jade eyed man lifted his foot and braced it against the wall so that his leg jutted out straight from his hips. As soon as he had himself positioned, he tugged at Brian’s hips, lifting slightly and lowering himself so that his knee slid up between his boyfriend’s thighs.

A sudden squeak escaped the older boy’s lips as he folded himself forward for a moment and scooted back into Zacky’s thigh so that his back once again rested against the angel’s chest.

Moving his leg into a steeper angle to create more friction against his lover’s arousal, Zacky smiled softly, innocently, almost. “I love you, Bri…” he murmured, just before lowering his leg.

Groaning at the loss of contact, the older boy bit his lip, turning so that the two of them were chest to chest instead. With that, Brian pushed Zacky roughly against the wall, gripping his shoulders tightly.

The mischief in his eyes was made clear as a small, twisted kind of smile crept onto his face.

Soon, though, those mischievous eyes were closed and instead, there was a pair of
just as troublesome lips on the angel’s skin.

First on his lips and then his jaw, his neck and his collar bone too, along the way, as Brian unzipped the stolen hoodie that hid Zack’s body away from him.

With the gentle embrace, Zacky’s eyes closed as well, and his massive wings arched upward before spreading out, reaching to crush his boyfriend against him. Gladly welcoming this, Brian’s smirk grew into a grin as he pressed his body—hips and all—firmly into the other man’s.

“Oh, Bri…” the smaller boy murmured, biting down on his lips rings, feeling the slight bend in the one on the left that Brian had left the last time they had made love.

Moments later, the older of the two pulled back from his lover, eyes gentler this time around. “I love you too, baby…” he whispered, leaning to place a passionate kiss on Zacky’s lips. “But we can’t do this now…”

As hard as it was for Brian to say the words—because oh, did he want the beautiful boy before him—he knew that they were true. He knew that Jimmy would give them endless amounts of trouble if they abandoned the other two boys to be together alone.

A gentle pout worked its way onto Zacky’s lips, but he smiled gently after a moment, understanding. “There I go getting carried away again, huh..?” he murmured, loosening all grips he had on Brian, except the gentle, inked arms that lie around his neck.

“Don’t worry about it, love. It’s not like I didn’t submit completely.” the taller man giggled gently, winding his arms around Zacky’s waist.

Shrugging, the younger blushed softly. It was obvious that he wasn’t always used to being the aggressor, despite just now and the previous nights. “I guess that’s true…”

Chuckling softly once again, Brian took Zacky by the hand and led him back toward the living room.

However, Zacky pulled against Brian’s grip, tugging him backwards before they reached the end of the hall.

“But Bri, what about—uhm…” the younger spoke softly as his eyes shifted into a deep shade of emerald, face flushing in the process. Knowing what it was that his love was referring to, Brian smiled.

“Oh, I think Matt will understand. He saw you, after all—Jimmy’s the only one who’ll complain, and he can deal with it.” the taller boy smiled, before biting his lip hesitantly and reaching forward, gripping the bulge in Zack’s jeans firmly for a few seconds before winking and continuing his lead down the hallway.

At this, the smaller boy jumped, biting back a moan and narrowing his eyes. Brian knew just what to do, already, to easily move Zacky to the point of sexual frustration.

However, he proceeded in following Brian into the living room

Okay, he thought, as a slight smirk grew on his face. If that was the kind of game Brian wanted to play, then that was the kind of game he was going to lose.