All I Ever Wanted

Kain stepped out of the shower, drying off and dressing in the outfit Blaze had given him. Looking at his reflection, he studied himself. Besides the tumors and extra tongues, he still looked like himself. He still had his dark brown hair and a dust of freckles on his cheeks. His green eyes were darker and bloodshot but he looked better than most the infected he’d seen. The smoker coughed a couple times and walked out to find his smaller companion.
Searching the large mansion-like home was not easy. He checked Blaze’s room, his room, the living room, the kitchen and the massive pantry. Nothing. Kain scratched his head and wandered through the house looking for the small hunter. He was about to give up when he heard a soft sob. The smoker went still. His first thought was it was one of those crying girls. He slowly made his way down the hall to the sound. As he got closer the sound became less feminine. He slowly opened the door to the room at the end of a dusty hallway. He didn’t see anyone. It was a very fancy room; the curtains were silk, the king size bed frame was solid wood, the elegant bedspread brushed the floor lightly. Every piece of furniture looked expensive and European.
The sobs were coming from the closet on the other side of the bed. He passed a nightstand and something glinted in the sunlight, catching his eye. It was a picture. He picked it up. The frame was an elegant metal. He studied it. There were four people: a man with his arms wrapped around a woman’s shoulders from behind and two boys attacking each other with squirt guns, laughing. The man and woman were looking at the children, with smiles on their faces. They looked really happy. He looked again at the boys. The older looked about nine with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The younger boy looked to be 6 or 7 and had soft chestnut curls and bright brown eyes.
“That’s Blaze!” Kain thought. “He looks so happy.”
He smiled sadly and set the picture back down and slowly opened the closet. Blaze was curled in a ball, sobbing softly and clutching a tattered cloth. Feeling sorry for the boy, Kain scooped him up and held him lightly against his chest. The small boy tensed for a minute or so before relaxing and sobbing softly into Kain’s shirt. The teen smoker rubbed Blaze’s back, rocking him as though he was a small child rather than a 15 year old.
“Shhhhh….. “ Kain shushed the boy, rocking him and rubbing his back soothingly. Blaze sobbed and shifted closer to the smoker’s chest, his baby blanket that his mother had made clutched in his hands. He felt strangely safe in Kain’s arms. Safe and warm and…. Loved. It had been months since Blaze had felt loved. He wanted to cling to that feeling, to keep in close and never let go. So he clung to Kain as he calmed his sobs till he was only sniffling. Kain tilted Blaze’s head up to face him, wiping his remaining tears with his thumb, smiling softly at the boy. He felt so bad for him and found he felt compelled to protect and comfort the boy. He hugged the puffy-eyed hunter close. Blaze returned the hug before pulling back and staring into Kain’s dark green eyes.
“Kain’s eyes are so amazing…” Blaze thought, then blushed. Why was he thinking that?
“Blaze looks so sweet and innocent like this…” Kain said to himself “His cheeks flushed and his eyes all watery, his-“ warmth filled his own cheeks and he looked away.
He can’t be thinking like this. He wasn’t gay! He looked back at Blaze, who was now looking down at his hands, biting his lip as his face became even more pink.
“aww…” Kain thought. Shaking his head, he let go of Blaze and cleared his throat, standing.
“Uhm… you wanted to go out side right..?” he asked the confused boy sitting on the floor.
Blaze turned his head to the side watching Kain’s body language. His face was turned away but the back of his neck was a light red color. He followed Kain out of his parent’s room, down various hallways and towards the front doors. The small hunter grabbed his old messnager bag he used for school, slinging it over his head, across his body and led the way out of the neighborhood towards town.
He wondered why Kain was so nice but then pulled away, shutting him out. He glanced at the smoker, who refused to look at him, suddenly very interested in the smog filled sky.
The hunter sighed to himself and decided to take this quiet time to decide what that little moment in the bedroom meant….
END