Felix and Warren (boyxboy)

Twenty

"Crime in this area is bad," Felix said. He would know...

It wasn't as though he was a bad criminal, though. He wasn't hurting anyone, but he was aware that his habits weren't exactly legal.

Alright, so they weren't legal at all, but Felix had stopped caring after his parents had died. Rules had sort of gone out the window after that.

As much as he knew that Wynn didn't want him doing drugs, Felix just couldn't seem to stop.

He hated it. He was sure that Warren would hate him if he knew the truth.

After a brief pause, Felix spoke again, shaking those thoughts out of his mind as he did so.

"You tired?" he asked.

Warren turned to him and shook his head. "No," he said.

Felix's attempt to shake all those thoughts out of his mind hadn't worked out very well. He could recall the way that his dad had looked at him when he had found pot in his room. He had never looked so disappointed before he did in that moment.

"Are you?" Warren said, pulling Felix from his thoughts again.

"Am I what?" Felix asked.

A sheepish smile appeared on Warren's face, as he replied.

"Tired?" he asked.

Felix was tired, but not in a physical sense. He wasn't going to mention the way that he was feeling to Warren, though. He felt that it would be rude. He had only just been invited to stay over at Warren's place and he didn't want to appear ungrateful.

"No," Felix said, as he sat down on Warren's bed to stroke Bruno a few times.

Bruno purred as he slept. He was adorable.

Bengal cats were really cute, but also really expensive.

"Did you know that Bengal cats are hybrids?" Felix asked Warren. He couldn't listen in most of his classes, but there were a few random facts that simply hadn't left his brain over the years. "They sort of look like mini leopards, don't they?" he said, as his eyes remained fixed on Bruno.

"They do," Warren said, releasing a soft laugh.

"Do you prefer cats to dogs?" Felix asked.

"Yeah, I think so, but I haven't met many dogs in my life, to be honest," Warren replied.

Felix smirked.

"That makes it sound like you go out making friends with animals," Felix commented.

"Hey, maybe I do," Warren said, with a gentle glint of good-natured humour in his gaze. Warren then started to talk more about his childhood and Bruno and Felix listened intently, and as he listened Felix realised something- something that he knew he wouldn't be able to shake.

Felix really liked having Warren around. The future was so uncertain, and Felix didn't like that. He didn't like not knowing if there would ever be a time when he didn't have Warren around. He feared being left alone again, but he was trying to push those thoughts away. He wanted to enjoy his time with Warren. He didn't want for their time to be polluted and poisoned by horrible thoughts of loss.

His mother had often told him that if you worry about something before it happens then you have to go through it twice. Felix was trying to remember that, especially now, as he sat on Warren's bed and wondered if there would be a time where they wouldn't have each other anymore.

"What are you thinking about?" Warren asked Felix. He had noticed that he seemed distant.

Entirely too much, thought Felix.

"Nothing much," Felix lied.

Felix tried to think more positively about this situation, having a best friend was not a regular occurrence for Felix, but he was growing used to it.

He just reminded himself to not get too attached again. He needed to remember how dangerous that could be.

Loss led to heartache and Felix honestly wasn't sure that he could go through that again.

It was too soon.

"Let's go for a walk somewhere," Felix said. It was spontaneous, but he needed to clear his head.

"We could go and take a walk through the garden," Warren said, with a smile.

Felix nodded. He'd like that. It would allow him sometime to stand in the fresh air, perhaps then his own mind wouldn't feel quite so suffocating.

Warren ruffled Bruno's fur on the way out of his room and the two boys soon made their way out of the backdoor and out into a beautiful garden.

It was filled with flowers, trees and little statues and beautiful pathways and fountains.

Felix thought that it looked as though it had come right out of a movie.

"When I was little, I used to take Wynn on little adventures- little walks around the town and in nature," Felix said. "When we were kids, we would pretend that we were on the hunt for fairies and woodland pixies or trolls or something or other."

Warren's lips turned upwards, as he listened to Felix speak. He could imagine him as a kid adventurer and it was equal parts amusing and wholesome, in his mind.

"We should do that one day," Felix added, as he turned to look at Warren to find that he was looking at a blue butterfly passing by.

Felix didn't often see butterflies. He smiled, as he observed the butterfly land on an orange flower before fluttering off somewhere.

"I'd like that," Warren said.

Felix would have liked it too, more than he was willing to admit.

"I guess I've just always wanted to be free. I like being in nature. I like being able to exist far away from..." Felix trailed off.

"The rest of the busy world? I get that," Warren replied.

Felix felt truly understood when he was around Warren, for perhaps the first time in his life so far.