Caged

“There are only a few things, really…” Dr. Reinhart spoke as his co-worker stood beside him, disbelief and exasperation filling his deep blue eyes to the brim. “The first is to stay out of public eye however possible.”

Brian narrowed his eyes just as Zack shook his head—it seemed as though the couple had tuned to each others’ thoughts immediately, as they glanced toward one another and back at the two older men. “Well, he was already managing that fairly well. No one ever saw the two of us, together, in public ‘cept for Jimmy, there.” the oldest of the pair spoke coolly as Jimmy nodded lightly, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. A smug smile lit up the lanky boy’s face.

Dr. Brooke shook his head, as though dismissing the words that Brian spoke. “Not only, quite obviously…” he muttered under his breath, half resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Reinhart shot him a clear warning glance, as Brian sighed and raised an eyebrow at the cocky official.

“Anyhow, next… the—the clippings, I suppose you could refer to them as, will have to be a regular thing.” the light haired man spoke cautiously as he locked eyes with one awe-stricken Brian, as well as the other boys, who had stepped forward and crowded in an odd half circle around the young angel.

Zacky raised his head to gaze at Dr. Reinhart, terror already swirling within his dusty golden irises. “What?!” he cried softly, his voice rising an octave or two. For just a second or two, the cork sealing that bottle he stored deep inside himself had been twisted away, allowing a miniscule of his true emotions to leak through.

Brian tightened his arms around the younger man, holding him as he very literally saw the younger man’s fragile heart melt down as the horror and helplessness struck it with the most intense of heat—the image scolded the edges of his mind.

Feeling rather embarrassed at his own small outburst, Zacky collapsed into the older’s embrace, while his entire form trembled and swayed; he felt as though he were about to faint.

“I’m sorry, the others… they’re insisting…” Reinhart muttered, witnessing Zack’s innocence in that moment. For a split second, even Dr. Brooke felt for the frightened boy.

“Insisting on what?” Brian spat as tears raced over his cheeks in gentle spurts, writing the fear for his lover all over his sun-kissed cheeks. “Injuring and putting him through horrible pain, over and over again?”

“No…” Dr. Brooke sighed, shaking his head in the slightest. “Anyhow, if you agree to let someone carry that out every two weeks or so, you can go home.”

As each of the two young men let go a sigh, Matt shook his head, stepping forward once again as he noted the weakness that had made itself known in Brian’s eyes, and on his face.

“Why is he here in the first place? Nobody seems to want to answer us that, and we have the right to know. “ he spoke, stalling, perhaps, to give Zacky and Brian time to think
over their decision.

Again, the white-coats appeared extremely hesitant to share any form of information—reasonably, since the four young men had been able to use every bit that they had shared so far against them—but Matt was correct; the boys that they had held captive for upwards of 3 hours, now, certainly had the right to know why they were being held in the first place.

Dr. Reinhart, seemingly prone to doing the right thing, piped up once again. “A man brought in something of your friend’s, making claims to have seen an angel in the streets. Farfetched at first impression, or so we thought.” he mused, tone professional.

At the words, Brian glanced up, disbelievingly narrowing his eyes as he drew back some confidence. “Something of mine?” he spoke haggardly, making effort, now, to gain back his voice as well.

“It only contained three distinct sets of fingerprints, so I was told. One, yours, one belonging to another person in this room, and the last belonging to someone whose file didn’t appear to be present in our system.” Brooke spoke firmly, his probing, oceanic eyes drawing toward the angel who was so protectively fixed behind the three older boys.

“I see.” the sable-eyed male spoke weakly, shaking his head. “What was this item, exactly?”

Brian had never before attempted to sound so professional, nor did he try now. The mood that the two men in the room set simply compensated for that portion of his rebuttal.

“A guitar. Sound familiar?” the younger-looking doctor spoke in an odd tone, observing as the spike-haired young man’s eyes widened, filling rapidly with terror.

“No… No way.” he spoke, recalling exactly the last time he’d seen his beloved Storm; with that recollection, came a sudden flood of realization: Who’d have turned the two of them in—the only person who’d accidentally, by some terms, seen Zack in the streets... How could Brian have been so naïve, so careless? “I left it there, oh my—this is all my fault.”

As Brian spoke, he pulled away from his boyfriend for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, at this point, feeling extremely undeserving. His flushed face buried itself in calloused hands as tears gushed, now, and he began pacing anxiously, distancing himself from his three friends.

Zacky, left standing behind Matt and Jimmy, instantly began feeling rather cold and very alone without his partner’s comforting embrace, and so wrapped his inked over arms around himself, trembling as he watched Brian’s constant pacing—back and forth, back and forth, never ceasing, at the opposite side of the room.

“Bri…” he whimpered gently, teeth beginning to chatter in time with the tremors shaking his petite frame. “Please, d-don’t…”

The smaller man didn’t know exactly what it was that he was asking Brian not to do—blame himself? Leave him standing there alone? Perhaps both.—perhaps everything that he was doing. Zacky didn’t have any specific way to tell.

However, as his boyfriend backed up against the opposite wall, his slender hands still covering his face, Zacky could see that Brian was the one who needed someone, now; just like the first time the older man had brought the angel to his house, and like the day after that, when he’d had to awake him from the nightmares haunting his slumber.

Hadn’t he promised to always be there for his human companion? He had, he decided, and so, even now, he would be.

While the others stood, looking and feeling extremely out of place once again as they watched the sable-eyed boy break down slowly, the young Aralaysian pushed past Matt and
Jimmy and stepped around the two doctors as he approached a trembling, on-edge Brian.

Even as he could feel all eyes on him, he stepped up to the older man, carefully wrapping his gentle fingers around his boyfriend’s wrists and drawing his hands away from his angular face.

Brian allowed this, though sinuously closed his eyes as his throat constricted around the ever-swelling mass that had been lingering there this entire time. He didn’t wasn’t anyone to see him this way—especially not Zacky.

Of course, in any case, the younger didn’t give a care about the way his lover appeared,
the way his eyeliner had finally began to streak about his cheeks, or the way that his brown eyes were swollen, bloodshot and horrid-looking. Zacky placed his tender hands on
Brian’s shoulders, and stretched onto his tip-toes, hugging the older man around the neck lovingly and allowing him to rest his now-aching head on the shoulder that it so desperately needed.

He then whispered the only three words that his boyfriend needed to hear, and now, the three words that he knew Brian wouldn’t believe.

“I love you.” Zacky whispered, gingerly pressing his lips to the russet-eyed’s temple.

To this, Brain gently nodded, allowing soft whimpers and cries to escape his lips as he stood, still as a statue, though gradually allowing himself to melt into his lover’s embrace.
“You too…” he mouthed silently, not feeling as though his lungs would be able to force an entire, and audible, at that, sentence.

Mirroring his companion’s actions, Zacky nodded his head, realizing at once that he needed to get Brian out of here. The older man needed the comfort of his home as much as the younger did, at this point.

While lithely trailing his fingertips though his partner’s drooping, wavy locks, Zacky
drew his gaze toward the doctors gazing at him.

“Look,” he murmured, expression stony, “I’ll do whatever it is that you want me to do, but please just let us go home. That’s all I care about right now.”

And what the youngest man spoke was absolutely honest. Now, it had come to the point where Brian was enduring as much pain—physical or not—as Zacky was, and the angel simply wouldn’t have that. Of course, the consequences still weighed on his mind, but his first priority was to get his partner out of this hellish place, and back into a normal mental state.

For a moment, Dr. Reinhart and Dr. Brooke stood in place, gazes steadily fixed on the young couple before them. They seemed… enticed. But as the Aralaysian’s darkening, reddish-orange orbs snapped back and fixed intently on the two of them, their gazes faltered just slightly.

“Please.” Zack spoke firmly, keeping his agitation-ridden eyes fixed on the doctors.

With that, Brooke and Reinhart turned away from the young couple before them, retreating out of the cell’s door and thus, leaving the four young men alone in the room once again.

As they went, Zack heard the two muttering something about how they were to inform the others of what was to happen, what they were to do.

Shaking his head, he softened his gaze and returned his already-lightening eyes to Brian’s quivering form. As he was about to speak, though, the other, shaken man cut him off.

“Please tell me that that was a completely selfish decision and that once we’re out of here you want nothing more to do with me.” he sputtered, voice wavering as he secured his strong arms around the younger man’s torso.

Although the words were spoken sarcastically, and Zacky had already realized this, the statement stung a bit. There was always going to be that split second where the more petite boy would let himself think that Brian meant those words.

“Of course not.” the smaller man spoke simply, watching as his boyfriend pulled back just slightly to gaze at him sorrowfully. “I want everything to do with you. I promised, remember?”

Brian shook his head. “But I’m not holding you to it.” he murmured, frame quivering slightly once again as tears continued to trickle over his cheeks. Giving a soft sniffle as he allowed his love’s words to process, Zacky’s brows knitted together as he forced back tears of his own.

“Brian… I’m holding myself to it.” he half whispered, cupping the taller boy’s face gently between his palms and guiding the thinner set of lips before him toward his own unhurriedly.

“This is all my fault.” the older mumbled just as their lips made contact, placing tender hands on Zack’s hips. Zack shook his head, passionately molding his lips into Brian’s and luring his lover’s into the action gradually.

“It’s not… and I wouldn’t care if it was.” the shorter man muttered into the kiss before pulling back to kiss Brian’s nose delicately. The young Californian leaned back to give Zack’s lips a warm peck before replacing his head on the angel’s shoulder and closing his eyes.

“Never leave me.” he whispered to the younger man, voice barely audible even in the odd quiet of the cell.

“Never, in a million years.” Zacky whispered in turn, once again stretching onto his tip-toes so that he could hug Brian’s neck and comb a gentle hand through his hair.

For once, the two weren’t interrupted, not for several moments. After just a few minutes
of standing in place where the doctors had left them, the pair migrated toward the bench
they had started at, Brian stopping for a moment to retrieve the clothes he’d brought for Zacky and then forgotten about, and offering them to the smaller man. Zacky had given a soft smile and had quickly obliged, tugging both the shirt and hoodie over his bare torso.

The situation on the bench wasn’t quite the same, given the circumstances—neither of the two men were up for doing anything extremely intimate. However, there were tender kisses, compassionate strokes of lips and particularly sensitive spots.

If there was any one thing that the both of them needed, it was a smile; a gentler touch.

Whilst Zacky and Brian sat, wrapped up in each others’ arms, Jimmy and Matt remained in their own corner, now seated and talking amongst themselves.

Allowing his velvet fingertips to trace the contours of his boyfriend’s face, along the gradual slop that the bridge of his nose created, Zacky smiled meekly.

“Y’know, you should get a piercing… like… a jewel or something.” he murmured, tracing over the hollow of Brian’s left nostril. “Here…”

The taller man closed his eyes a moment, allowing his boyfriend’s suggestion to lure his mind away from the situation at hand. His head still rested upon the angel’s shoulder—for once, he was the one in the submissive position. It was odd, yes, but comfortable.

“But it’d hurt…” he murmured, his rose-bitten, thin lips jutting into a subtle pout.

“Not badly.” Zacky retorted, leaning down to brush his plump lips over Brian’s tanned skin, where his index finger had traced moments ago. “Besides, I would kiss it better…”

“You’re my guardian angel. Even though I’m not 3 anymore.” the older whispered,
giving a playful smile as he tilted his head upward, surprising the younger man by connecting their lips suddenly. The shorter man gave a surprise giggle, as he cupped his companion’s jaw in his left hand.

“Mmm…” Brian murmured, cupping Zacky’s cheek in his hand as well. As the kiss deepened, the larger man smiled. “I believe I see a bit of Vengeance peeking…”

The words came in a whisper, a whisper that caused the petite man to blush warmly
and smirk. “Then allow me to bring the Syn out of you…” he whispered in turn, reattaching
his lips to his boyfriend’s and tracing the crease that Brian’s soft set created as subtly as he could, using the tip of his tongue.

The older man parted his lips slightly as his body gave a soft shiver, allowing his partner to snake his warm tongue past the flesh barrier created by his lips.

As Brian allowed his own tongue to delve into the sensual action, flickering gently against his lover’s, the two shifted closer together, once again enjoying this embrace.

And, once again, Zacky’s loving hands worked their way into his companion’s burnt cocoa hair, tenderly threading fingers through strands and massaging his scalp leisurely.

Ignoring as best he could the increasing amount of bats swarming his abdomen, Brian snaked his arms around the younger’s torso.

As soon as this happened, the embrace deepened further, just before breaking, a smile set on each of the boys’ faces.

As they peered into each others’ eyes silently, communicating purely through gaze, the other two men watched them carefully.

It seemed extremely odd to Matt and Jimmy, how quickly in leaving the young couple on their own, that each of their moods had raised such a significant amount.

After a moment, the friends’ eyes returned to each other, and they smiled.

“What a miracle match, huh?” Matt muttered, giving a meek smile as his eyes drew toward the opposite wall, just above where Brian and Zack sat.

“What, because Z’s an angel..? That’s not the only reason those two are together.” Jimmy retorted, his gaze fastening to the two men across the room once again.

“I know that, smart ass. It’s kind of obvious in the way they look at each other, if you haven’t noticed.” the stockier man grinned, smirking as he allowed his own hazel, tired-looking rounds to slide shut lazily. Earlier’s prison break-in had taken a lot out of Matt.

As Jimmy was about to respond, Zacky glanced toward the pair sitting in one corner of the room. “Hey, just because we’ve turned back into Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance for the moment doesn’t mean that Brian and Zack can’t still hear you.” he grinned, kiss the taller man’s temple gently.

Both Matt and Jimmy smiled toward their friends, shaking their heads in the slightest. “We know that.” Jimmy smirked. “But if you don’t shut up, I’ll go all Reverend on your ass.” At this, Matt raised an eyebrow.

“And if you don’t shut up, I’ll go all Shadows on your ass.” he laughed lightly, closing his eyes once again.

From this point on, the four talked as a whole, still working to keep the atmosphere light. Even as they kept Matt and Jimmy’s attention, Brian and Zacky would still steal soft kisses here and there or gentle, teasing touches every so often.

About an hour passed before anyone reentered the large cell, and when someone did, the group was rather relieved, this time around.

With a click of the lock, Dr. Brooke—much to Zacky’s dismay—entered the room, a few officers following.

“Okay, all, I’ve some news for you.” he spoke with a careful smile as the quartet gazed at him expectantly.

“Okay…” Zack spoke up, accustomed, now, to standing up for himself and his friends. “What is it?”

“Well, Zacky, you all will be released to go home in just a few moments—these officers will escort you by car to where they retrieved you from. We’ll just need to give you a few bits of information first.” Brooke explained, his sky blue eyes looking rather sincere, for the first time.

As the young Aralaysian nodded, the other three never saying a word, the young doctor continued, eyes lightening with each word.

“Well, the rules are quite simple—one: you’re not to leave your home. The back yard’s about the furthest you’ll be able to go.” he spoke firmly as each young man sat up attentively. “Two: By majority’s ruling, the clippings will need to continue—every week and a half, performed by yours truly.”

At these words, Zacky winced, his eyes drawing toward his and Brian’s fingers, which had entwined upon the doctor’s entrance. Without his consciousness, his hand’s grip tightened over his boyfriend’s.

It was bad enough that the youngest man had had to agree to the clippings at all, but now he had to endure having them performed by the man who had maimed and scarred him so severely? That was borderline cruel.

Brian lifted the hand that wasn’t intertwined with the smaller man’s and laid it over the back of his love’s, bracing Zack’s now-trembling palm in between the both of his.

Seeing the clear unease in the divine boy’s eyes, Dr. Brooke cleared his throat, proceeding nervously. “Lastly, you’re to tell no one—friends, family, not even innocent-looking strangers—of this young man here.”

This sentence was directed at the other three boys, clearly; Brian wasn’t sure if it was
because Brooke though that Zacky had stopped listening, or simply because, in context, directing it toward the human members of the group made more sense.

Once the three men had nodded, Dr. Brooke smiled politely. “I believe that’s all, if you would all like to be on your way out, now. I’ll be seeing you in a week and a half.” he spoke, smile widening just as he whirled around, making his way past the three officers posted behind him.

Brian gave a heavy sigh as his cocoa eyes became sad. If he hadn’t have become so weak, he thought, then Zacky wouldn’t have made this decision so quickly. They could have fought it.

After a moment, the officers began clearing their throats, impatiently shifting about as they waited on the young men to make some form of move.

Realizing, it seemed, that the time had finally come for them to return home, Brian shifted his weight off of Zacky, getting to his feet before turning, arms open wide to the young angel before him.

Quickly obliging, the smaller boy stood weakly, stepping into his boyfriend’s supportive arms and allowing himself to be lead from the room that he’d dreaded from the start of this ordeal.

Matt and Jimmy followed silently, not protesting or even daring to say a word. Brian sighed as he again noticed the slight limp in Zack’s step—it looked as though he were in pain. Contemplating why that might have been, the 18-year-old’s heart swelled with remorse.

With slight shake of the head, and yet another decision to address the situation at a later time, Brian, along with his friends, trudged from the room almost reluctantly, the bothersome fear of what might’ve lie ahead for their youngest friend branded into their hearts.