Caged

Immediately as he opened the door, Brian bolted into the room. His mind was all-a-whirl as he came within a few feet of the younger man, his eyes drinking the scene in:

A crumpled form. Pools of red gathered on either side of that form. And finally, a set of bound hands. Immediately, Brian dropped to his knees beside the man he loved, half
expecting to find a lifeless corpse.

However, as he reached out and laid a hand on the angel’s bare shoulder, he found that to be false.

His weakened body flinched suddenly, violently, and a muffled cry escaped his lips.
Only then did Brian realize that his candy-pink lips were sealed away by a piece of cloth—something that looked more like a leather-and-rope gag—as well.

“Zacky…” the brown-eyed man murmured gently, very carefully laying that hand on his love’s clammy shoulder, now, and gently stroking the inked skin there.

Another muffled cry came from the curled-over boy, but this time, it was one of relief. He shuffled about, struggling to free his rope-bound hands as his darkened eyes fluttered in the most frantic of ways.

“Oh, Zacky…” Brian half whimpered, reaching now to wind his arms around the angel’s hunched over body and gently rock it backward, so that he was sitting straight in his kneeling position.

Gently, the older boy moved his fingers toward Zack’s wrists, careful not to startle him again as a he worked a moment before managing to unbind the rope from around his lover’s poor, raw skin.

As soon as this was accomplished, the younger man’s arms were bound around his boyfriend’s neck, helping his body to cling to him—very literally—for dear life.

Moving back just slightly, only enough to reach around and maneuver the second set of ropes, the ones that held the piece of leather tight over his companion’s lips to silence him, free, Brian allowed the fearful tears lingering in his frightened, russet eyes to escape their cells.

“Z, Z…” he murmured, pulling the bewildered, horrified angel against him securely.

“O-Oh, Bri… Oh Brian…” Zacky murmured, speaking his lover’s name repeatedly until
his breaths began falling from his lips in pants, and then soft sobs.

“Zacky, Zacky, baby…” Brian whispered, holding the younger close. “Please tell me you’re alright; please tell me that they didn’t hurt you…”

All that escaped Zacky’s lips next, though, were gentle whimpers, as he clung to Brian, his head moving back and forth slowly, sorrowfully.

Brian’s heart sank as he watched the anguished tears dip over his boyfriend’s cheeks. Perhaps, he thought, he’d tried to tell himself that the pools of crimson he was kneeling in were figments of his imagination. One certainly would’ve hoped so, considering the state that the smaller boy seemed to be in.

“B-But… But they did…” the younger man murmured, his voice shaken with the quieted sobs escaping his lungs. “S-So badly… and I don’t—I don’t know why…”

Kissing the top of Zacky’s head mournfully before gently bringing the petite angel’s quivering lips to meet his own, Brian sighed. “What did they do..?” he half whispered, his own voice containing an obvious tinge of uneasy fear.

“M-My wings… The cu-cut—they cut them…” Zack whimpered, carefully taking one of his large wings into his arms and bringing it around so that Brian could see the very tips—the tips, where the feathers had been shortened, and the exposed skin there massacred.

It wasn’t a pretty sight, not at all. The wounds had long since stopped bleeding and crusted over, but it looked as though they—whoever they thought they were—had attempted to sever parts of Zacky’s wings, and then had bandaged them up scarcely one they had failed in doing so. It made the larger boy’s stomach turn in a horrid way, as though he were about to be sick.

“Oh, Z…” Brian murmured, looking his partner in the eyes deeply, letting him know that he didn’t mean to hurt him in any way, before moving his hand to stroke a few of the unstained, unwounded portions of feathers before him. Zacky didn’t flinch away this time, but the older boy could tell by the way that his body was tremoring that the angel didn’t want those large, wounded blankets of his to be touched.

“At first I thought they were just going to shorten the feathers… that hurt too, I mean, but… but after that, they started snipping away parts of my—my skin…” the smaller of the two explained, his tone becoming more and more frantic with each word.

Brian could tell that Zacky was still in pain, too—it was obvious in both his tensed facial features, and his color-mixed eyes.

“I’m going to get you out of here, love…” Brian spoke softly, withdrawing his hand from the younger man’s wing, and instead slipping his arms beneath Zack’s body and lifting it into his lap.

“Please… P-Please…” the angel whimpered, his arms locking around his boyfriend’s neck and left shoulder as his normally billowing wings hung limp, dangling sadly from his body.

“I will, I swear. They can’t keep you here for nothing.” the taller of the pair murmured reassuringly, keeping Zacky’s fragile body from touching the cold, cement floor.

“They said that they’d come back, the one that was here… to—to ask me some questions, bring me some food…” the shorter boy half-whispered, burying his face in the fabric of his partner’s plain white shirt. He was clearly frightened of this detail.

Brian stood slowly, careful not to hurt his boyfriend in doing so, and walked toward the small bench that attached to the wall in the corner, a few feet away. After seating himself, holding Zack in his lap, the coffee-eyed man sighed.

“Z, you don’t have to answer to them… Just let me handle that, okay? I won’t let them hurt you anymore, I swear to you.” he reassured the young angel once again, who nodded cautiously.

Could Brian really protect him from those monsters? The one in the white coat who
had virtually cut away parts of his body? Despite his sinking fears, Zacky trusted the boy
whom he’d lived with for a month and some days of his life—he trusted Brian with his life and more. He loved Brian.

“O-Okay…” he whispered, allowing himself to relax into the older man’s arms. Brian would protect him. He always did.

Carefully, the taller of the two began petting his younger companion’s hair down against his head, doing the very best he could to keep Zacky relaxed.

Soon, the quieted sobs and the tears finally stopped, leaving the injured boy to lie helplessly in his lover’s arms, to revel in the embrace while he could. Right now—as it had always been—there was nothing for Zacky but the man sitting with him, holding him.

Past the pain, as the smaller, should’ve-been-jade-eyed man gazed up at his partner, there was love embedded into the angel’s stare. It seemed that Brian had always come to Zack’s rescue when no one else would. He didn’t know where Jimmy and Matt had gone, but he doubted very seriously that they would have gone so far as to have gotten themselves locked up in a dead cell to see to it that the youngest member of their would-be group was alive and well.

After a few seconds, the older man’s gaze traveled downward unknowingly, and he soon found it resting on his love’s. He blushed at the fact that the young angel had been peering at him so intently, allowing a gentle smile to ensue his soft, thin lips as he moved a few strands of Zack’s now-matted hair from his eyes.

Glad to see that his boyfriend’s guise had lightened quite a bit, Brian pressed his lips gently to the smaller boy’s forehead, leading him to close his eyes.

Even as the situation was so tense, the older boy could still bring a smile to Zacky’s face, and as the shorter man’s eyes fluttered open again, Brian came to realize that they
had returned to their stunning, bottle green-gemstone hue.

Brian was glad for this, and at seeing the change, immediately felt an electrifying, magnetic pull extending from Zack’s lips to his own.

Giving a soft laugh, Brian smirked. “There’s got to be cameras in here… why don’t we give those security stiffs something to watch?” he grinned, simply trying to keep the air around them light, despite the situation. The younger man needed that much.

At his lover’s words, Zack smiled, a soft, crimson flush settling into his cheeks.
“Let’s…” he murmured, reaching to cup the older’s face gently within his palms.

The two boys shifted closer in their positions, Brian scooting backward, against the
wall, while Zacky sat up straighter, gently attaching his warm lips to his boyfriend’s.

Within the gentle embrace, the both of them found comfort, as always, but there were obviously a few bits of the normal routine missing.

The taller man’s arms wound around Zacky’s waist, but the angel’s wings didn’t wind gracefully upward to should the couple like they might’ve beforehand.

Zacky stayed in position on his partner’s lap instead of shifting around, straddling his hips as earlier.

But still, these small differences set aside, the kiss was electrifying, just as loving as it had always been.

Brian’s hands smoothed carefully up and down Zacky’s back, every now and then stroking the spots on the crests of Zacky’s wings that he knew would make the younger man melt.

As Zack’s wings flitted and arched slightly beneath his chocolate-eyed love’s touch, the petite man allowed his lips to part just slightly, stealing shaky breaths from within his lover’s warm, inviting mouth.

The shorter of the pair earned a soft shiver from Brian as his nimble fingers wound upward, lacing themselves within the strands of the larger man’s soft, dark locks.

That shiver gave way to a whispered moan as those same gentle fingers bound up
and gave a light tug at the locks that they had trapped in their grip.

Now, positions did shift, as Brian scooted so that he sat, flat-backed against the wall with his legs stretched out across the bench, and Zacky swung his legs upward, shifting around and setting them around the taller man’s waist.

While the contact didn’t become nearly as sexual as it had back at the house, it did contain quite the sensual element; Brian’s back arched so that his clothed chest was pressed flush against Zacky’s bare one, and Zacky bent forward to leave a trail of moist, zealous kisses along the older man’s neck, leading toward his collar bone.

The two men’s bodies fit perfectly together, almost as though they were two matching puzzle pieces rather than two living, breathing beings.

Now, Brian’s fingers found their way into the dark violet strands of the shorter man’s hair, knotting themselves into the dyed locks while Zacky moved to nip gently at the area of skin between his lover’s neck and shoulder.

Yet another quieted moan escaped the older boy’s lips as they parted gradually, leading his partner to pull up and gaze at him playfully.

Removing just one of the hands that had found its their way to Brian’s hips. Zacky pressed his index finger against his plump, warm lips.

“Shh…” he murmured, leaning in once more to suck gently at the same area of skin as he now used the hand he’d rose to carefully tilt his boyfriend’s head to the right.

Brian allowed his eyes to flutter closed, drinking in the smaller man’s gentle touch.

As the angel lifted his companion’s chin slightly, he allowed his tongue to slip out from between his mischievous lips, teasing the taller man’s tender skin further.

“Z…” Brian whispered, eyelids fluttering once again as his candy coated gaze drew toward the dingy ceiling.

“Shh…” the younger man whispered once more before moving his lips upward, leaving
a gentle trail along his love’s skin using his tongue; marking him. This trail led straight toward Brian’s sweet spot, and earned several gasps, which were accompanied by soft, muddled whimpers.

The tremors built to an intensive, quickly swelling feeling of butterflies within the larger man’s abdomen, and soon, as Zacky nipped and sucked at that sweet spot he had earlier discovered, Brian’s breathing began coming in pants.

Swiftly, the older of the two took his love’s opposite hand, the one that still rested on his hip, and guided it upward, beneath the fabric of his tee.

The both of them knew that this was no appropriate time, nor place to engage in such intimate activities as making love, but as always, the couple’s affection and outward love toward each other couldn’t have been contained.

As Zacky began trailing his fingertips along Brian’s abdomen and onto his toned chest, though, the pair were startled out of their loving embrace by the sound of a door being flung open—a loud thud against the wall.

It seemed that everything the two had built up to in the last few moments was stolen from under them, as Zacky jumped slightly, pulling back a moment to gaze at the intruder before cowering against Brian’s chest.

Stunned by Zacky’s reaction, Brian readjusted himself so that he held the younger man protectively against him, but so that he himself was still facing the trespasser.

It wasn’t the hardened officer, like the older man had expected, but a different figure, one who wore a knee length white coat and a black button-up shirt with dress pants. He carried gauze, a pair of scissors, and what looked to be some sort of pillow.

He raised an eyebrow, the deep-set wrinkles in his forehead creasing as he gazed at the two boys seated on the bench, and then down at the rope that Brian had removed from his boyfriend’s hands as well as the leather gag that had been removed from the angel’s mouth.

“Hmm, now who let you in?” the man mused, shaking his head just slightly as he closed the large, metal door behind himself.

Zacky turned his head slightly to peer at the man once again before he let a soft whimper escape into the silence and hid his face in Brian’s chest once again. The throb that had been temporarily silenced by his lover’s presence, by the older man’s kiss, made itself know once again in the tips—or what once might’ve been the tips—of Zacky’s wings.

“The officer who brought my friends and I here let me in.” Brian spoke firmly, tightening his arms around the smaller man instinctively as his body tensed up.

“Oh. Suppose you gave him enough trouble, hmm? The boys that must be your friends are out there and doing the very same at this moment…” the lighter-haired man spoke, his tone almost cheerful. This disgusted the 18-year-old. “Well, I’m here to take
care of your friend there. Clean up the damage my colleague did.”

Brian shook his head sharply, glad, at least, for the fact that the man realized that his colleague, whoever that might have been, had seriously injured Zacky.

“Damage..? Whoever the guy was, he virtually tried to maim him permanently for no reason.” the older of the two young men spoke coldly, shaking his head as he began hearing soft, muffled whining noises radiating from the angel he held in his arms.

The professional-looking man smiled a friendly smile that might have been considered reassuring by most anyone else, and shook his head. “No one meant for that to happen. Dr. Brooke didn’t know how to handle the situation.” he clarified, shifting the shoulder-slung black bag he held around to his right hip. Brian hadn’t noticed it there before.

“Situation? What situation? He’s a person. He may not be the same as everyone else, but that’s no –“ Brian began to argue once again, becoming easily disgusted with this new man.

“But we can’t have this getting out to the public.” the man sighed. “We can’t have the questions, the confusion it would cause.”

To this, Brian immediately raised an eyebrow, shaking his head from side to side slowly. “Questions? Confusion? So people would ask where he came from, what his world was like. What’s the matter with that?” the spike haired boy retorted, holding Zacky tighter against his chest. He knew that the way the uniformed man was speaking of him—as a situation, an issue that needed to be handled and contained—was sure to be
eating at the shaken boy; making him feel as though he were some sort of freak.

As he immediately felt Zack’s form quiver, melting into his own, the larger boy knew his predictions to be true. The younger man had always been so wary of what other humans’ opinions of him would be in the first place.

“We need this all over the news when there are more important things to be worried about. He would attract far too much attention, and we simply cannot have that.” white-coat spoke firmly. “Now if you don’t mind, I would like to get his injuries healthily fixed up so that I can return to the discussion with the others on how we are to go about handling this conflict you seem to be so dead-set on increasing.”

Approaching the two younger men as he spoke, the man reached toward his sling-bag, unzipping one of the front pockets and reaching into it. What he extracted, however, led Brian’s distrust in this “doctor” further.

A small , lengthy box, and then another shorter one; the dark-eyed boy hadn’t a clue what the first might’ve contained, that was, until the older man extracted the second box.
This one came accompanied by an etched picture on its surface: An image that so clearly depicted a vile, along with a medication that he didn’t recognize the name of. A syringe and
a vile of medication.

Nothing about his situation seemed right by any means, and swiftly, Brian stood from the bench, cradling the angel protectively as he kept his legs secured around the taller man’s waist. The guitarist was absolutely determined by this point not to let the doctor advance any further.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What’s that?” he exclaimed, eyes widening slightly as Zack clung to him desperately, obviously frightened by what he saw as much as Brian was.

White-coat gave a heavy, exasperated sigh before stepping back from the defensive young man before him once again. “Benzyl Novocaine.” he clarified once again. “It’s only a slightly stronger version of Novocaine.”

Still wary, the older of the two shook his head once again, eyes incredulous of the figure before him. “How exactly do you plan to help Z..?” he questioned, rubbing the smaller man’s back reassuringly as he held him close, in the position of a frightened toddler. Zacky sniffled quietly.

“The Benzyl Novocaine will numb the area, so that I can clean out and stitch up his… wings, without him being in all of the pain he’s in now and worse.” the middle-aged man explained, his tone slightly aggravated. Brian sighed heavily. He knew that Zack’s wounds needed to be closed up and cleansed so that his wings would heal correctly. After a moment, he moved back toward the bench, seating himself once again as he placed a cautious hand on his boyfriend’s flushed cheek.

“Zacky, love…” he murmured, drawing the angel’s frightened gaze to his own. “Would you be alright with that..?”

Pondering this for a moment, considering his own health and all of the risks, Zack sighed. As Brian lovingly traced beneath his mixed jade-and-deep-gold eyes using the pads of his thumbs, the small man nodded.

The older of the pair knew then that Zacky had realized the same things about his body that Brian had, and that he understood those things.

“Okay…” Brian whispered gently, wiping away his partner’s lingering tears before leaning forward, gingerly pressing his lips to the younger man’s.

As Zacky nodded in turn and began working his lips against his love’s, allowing a shaky breath to pass from his mouth onto Brian’s lips, the doctor stepped back just slightly more, raising an eyebrow at the two before him. “So that’s why you’re so protective of this young being…” he murmured. “Well, I hadn’t expected that…”

Pulling back from his boyfriend, Brian shook his head. “I’ve been trying to tell you all this, but no one is listening. This boy is my… my everything. I can’t just sit back and watch you all hurt him and scar him.” the darker-skinned boy clarified, just before standing once again, urging Zacky downward and allowing him to stand on his own two feet again.

The man standing before them nodded gently, his eyes softening in the slightest of ways. “I suppose I can understand that, but… it’s not as simple as it seems, boys, I’m sorry
to say…”

At the official’s words, Zacky felt a sharp pang of hurt bolt through his heart, striking him all at once. He had always known that nothing would have ever been simple were Brian’s people to have found out about him, but somehow, actually coming to face that reality was really much harder than it had come across in the past.

Brian felt the same sort of ache, however, given the situation; he couldn’t understand why It was that no one else could see what he saw in Zacky. Not necessarily the romantic part of the attraction, but the fact that he was no different than any of them, and that he was much more beautiful than any human in many ways.

As the older of the two gazed downward, at his lover, sorrowful tears lingering in his gentle, russet eyes, the pair’s realizations and sick grief seemed to come together as one, to connect in the middle, and immediately, they each virtually turned and collapsed into one another’s arms. For once, they allowed the sorrow to take hold of the both of them; one didn’t attempt to be strong, to hold the other strong as well, although that would surely come later.

Zacky knew that Brian felt horrid, both for not being able to protect the both of them from this pain, and because he’d always told the shorter man that everything would be alright, when now, it was certainly clear that nothing was alright. And the angel himself, well… the reasons behind his anguish couldn’t have been more obvious.

While Brian wound his arms tightly around his companion’s waist, Zacky made the best attempt he could, willing his weakened, aching wings upward and encompassing his boyfriend’s shoulders as best he could. Carefully, the angel locked his arms around the other man’s neck.

A muddled whimper accompanied by a gentle gasp escaped the taller boy’s lips at the embrace; it seemed that it had been so long since he’d felt this sensation, and even as Zack’s wings were battered, far from the way they had been before, Brian loved every moment of it.

Every shortened, awkward little moment meant everything to both the left and right-handed men, and as they stood, enveloped in each others’ embrace, all either of them wanted was to travel back in time. Perhaps to the night that they had met.

Perhaps, if they knew what was going to happen later in their relationship within those very moments instead of a month later, they would be able to prevent any of it from occurring at all.