The Citizen Soldier (DNF)

15) Found

*Skeppy POV*

I was in complete silence until Bandanna Boy pulled up to a random spot in the middle of the road. There was a car parked on the side of the road, and the surrounding forest felt like somewhere that a murder in a horror movie would take place, and I wasn't certain that I liked it much. Bible Boy looked at the car and looked concerned, then he spoke.

"That's George's car, his home and his only form of transportation."

Bandanna Boy nodded, then quick as a flash parked, pulled out the key, unbuckled and got out of the car unbelievably fast. I blinked, registering that it took about five seconds for him to do all that when I couldn't even do the same thing in about three minutes sometimes. He sprinted up to the abandoned car and I followed him out, telling the other two to stay behind.

Bandanna Boy unlocked the door with a spare key and unlocked the car, then opened the trunk of it, pulling out a suitcase. He opened the suitcase to many many many many wired college ruled notebooks. I blinked at it. "What is that for?"

Bandanna Boy didn't even miss a beat. "Records."

I was helplessly confused, but I went along with it as he picked up a blue one and started to flip through it. What I saw on each of the pages shocked me. Name after name after name, and each had some other form of identification as well, references to other notebooks and addresses, the rare phone number, pronouns, and sexualities. There was so much information in these pages, all formally written and very organized.

Bandanna Boy seemed to find what he was looking for and tapped the page a couple of times before putting the book back down and picking up a different notebook with a purple cover, then looked on the inside of the cover and started to flip through the pages again.

These pages were covered in breathtaking portraits and profiles of people sketched out in graphite and eraser. They all looked like perfectly proportional human faces, all complete and beautiful. Some looked male, others female, and some looked interestingly androgynous. He stopped at yet another page, and there I found Clay, smiling brightly in graphite, a moment captured and perfected by an experienced artistic eye. He looked so happy that I almost wanted to cry, because I never saw his sadness and I never saw him at his best. With that smile that made his eyes wrinkle at the base and his single dimple showing.

I smiled bittersweetly to myself and let my fingers trace over the portrait. It was soft and just rough enough to feel real, almost the same texture as the corny jeans that he liked to wear all the time for some reason. Something about a gift from his neighbors? His hair was even perfect. A lump formed in my throat and a tear in my eye. I couldn't look at it anymore. Bandanna Boy snapped a picture of the perfect photo with his phone, then the info, and then he tapped my shoulder to get my attention.

"Let's go."

I nodded. I didn't want to be here anymore, and I certainly couldn't think of the topic at hand right now without crying again. I ran back to the car with him. He seemed to be carrying some sort of map as well. I wasn't sure what that was at all.

When I got back to the car, Bad was sitting there looking like he was holding back tears. I frowned and sat next to him, bumping shoulders with him.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He looked at me with tear filled eyes and wiped them with his palm. He took a deep breath before responding.

"It must be so much worse for you, I mean I didn't even know him or anything but..." he took another deep breath and fiddled with his hoodie strings. "It's so painful and hard to know that he felt that way and that this was what he came to instead of calling out for help." He looked at the roof of the car as it started up, eyes misted over and he swallowed.

His arms were open, however limply, and the tears sprang back to my eyes. Seeing his misery hurt me worse than knowing my own. I dug my face into his waist and hugged his hips tightly. He startled and then he felt me against him, but after a few seconds he grabbed my shoulders and manipulated the position to something more comfortable and convenient position for both of us. Soon my head was on his chest and I was sitting sideways in the seat as I rubbed the palm of his hand and he ran his free one through my hair.

I hummed and felt my eyes drifting shut, which was interesting because I normally couldn't sleep at this time. I yawned and he whispered down into my ear. "You can go to sleep little muffin, it's been a long day. Would you like me to wake you up when we get there?"

I shifted and looked him in the eyes, smiling at him. He looked perfect in the pale lighting of the moon and the quiet, quaint atmosphere of the car. "No, I think that I'm good here." He just nodded and looked back up through the windshield as I shifted back into my previous position and slowly fell into a deep sleep, gentle humming of a familiar song accompanying me.

~~~

*Clay POV*

I fell asleep in a bit of an awkward position with George. I woke up and looked down, then swallowed. Now how am I supposed to get out of this without waking him up?

The correct answer to that question was that I couldn't. Not at all. He must have moved in the night or something, because we were a tangled mess of limbs and sweat. He felt very warm as well, which I couldn't tell if was a good thing or not. My mom always broke our fevers by making sure we had too many blankets on and getting us nice and uncomfortably warm. But if I recalled correctly that was only good in controlled environments and under great care and supervision.

I was not a good candidate, and this was no controlled environment. I got worried and I just laid there and stared at him while he slept. There wasn't much else to do.

Looking at the sky only hurt my eyes, it hurt my neck to look around at the forest, and I was comfortable here with him. He was cute when he slept, his mouth turned upward in a smile as he dreamed away in whatever perfect world he made up in his head. It made my eyes sparkle with happiness at his happiness. His hand was lightly clasped in my own and I squeezed a little.

I rubbed at the back of his hand as I looked at his hair. It was all messed up and somewhat dirty, but that only made his looks better. He looked more natural and in his element. I couldn't even imagine him in a formal suit, hair all gelled down with a rose in his shirt pocket. It was impossible to me. I only saw my dad in that position. No. He was perfect like this, scuffed up and dirty, tired and blushing.

I shook my head to clear unwanted thoughts. I didn't even know if he was capable of returning my feelings for him yet. So I pushed them down, with all the bad memories. I breathed in through my nose and tightened my grip on his waist a little before just going back to admiring him. I couldn't help but to think that he was beautiful jus the way he was. The grin on my face just wouldn't go away.

After about half an hour, his weight shifted in my grip. He was waking. Once he saw that I was the one in this position with him he shot up and fell backwards, almost tumbling to the forest floor. I caught him by the sleeve of my hoodie.

"Woah there bud, wouldn't want to fall."

"If we keep doing that you're going to catch a cold. Then we'll both be out of commission." He glared at me but I could already tell he didn't mean it with his heart.

"Being sick is no fun. But onto a worse topic, you're running a fever." I let my frown into my voice. He rolled his eyes.

"Nothing that hasn't happened before mom." He raised an eyebrow at me.

I rolled my eyes in return and stood. "Well I'm getting you some water."

He nodded his appreciation and sat back on the boulder.

I went a bit further downstream to get some better drinking water and stopped when I heard an unfamiliar voice.

"HEY! CLAY!"

I whipped my head around and made eye contact with a boy in a white graphic tee with a flame decal, space buns and a black bandana. He had brown hair, and he was waving frantically at me with another person I didn't know. Was this a search party?

I would soon know.