Candy Rings

Every Rose has its Thorns

It was summer after their first year of college. Many insects were running amok in the field Karl and Sapnap had spent many nights gazing through a telescope looking at the white balls of fire that shaped into images people were easily entranced by. It felt like forever ago watching Karl stare in awe at the sky when now he was staring in awe at the many flowers spread all around them, each flower displayed perfectly as they were waiting for someone to see their true beauty.

Karl and Sapnap had gone on a midday drive back to the field to get some peace and quiet.

Sapnap's parents were in the middle of another one of their arguments which had started at the beginning of their break and Karl happened to be there at the time, so Sapnap took him to the field he had been escaping to by himself all summer.

This summer had many ups and downs but the downs of it all were overshadowing the good ones.

Sapnap was taken away from his thoughts at a sound of distress coming from Karl. He looked to see Karl had gone to pick up a rose and pricked his finger on one of the thorns.

"Hey, you okay?" Sapnap asked worriedly as he saw blood drip from Karl's finger. The finger was his left ring finger and the blood had dripped down in the band of the glowstone ring wrapped around it.

The blood mixed in well with the black and orange exterior, though the beauty of it all didn't matter as much to Sapnap when the boy the beauty came from had tears in his eyes.

"I forgot roses have thorns." Karl whispered, flush appearing on his cheeks.

"It's okay, I have a first aid kit in my car." Sapnap said, taking Karl's uninjured hand and leading him to his car where he wrapped his finger in a bandaid.

The intimacy of it all left that same flush on Karl's cheeks, but for a different reason.

He was embarrassed earlier for forgetting such a simple fact, but now he felt some sort of child-like peace having a bandaid placed around his finger by a caring figure in his life. It was something he missed.

"Do you ever miss your parents helping you take care of your boo boo's?" Karl asked. He knew the question was silly, especially with the use of the word 'boo boo', but he didn't care, he just wanted to know if Sapnap felt the same.

"Yeah, sometimes. But now I can do that for someone else." Sapnap replied. He then took Karl's bandaged finger and kissed it lightly.

That flush on Karl's cheeks burned brighter and he couldn't quite hide the smile that was creeping up on his face.

That day in the field was one of the only good days Sapnap could remember having after he started college almost a month later.

Things with his parents had gotten worse and they were in the process of getting a divorce which wasn't helping Sapnap stay focused on his studies and football practices.

Karl noticed Sapnap wasn't himself and tried his best to be there for him during this tough time. Karl didn't fully understand what was going on as his parents were still happily together, but he understood pain and he didn't want his best friend to feel any pain. It hurt him to see the people he cared about in any sort of pain.

Karl made sure they had nightly cuddle sessions, cause what could go wrong with cuddles?

Sapnap eagerly cuddled up to the boy every night, the only time he felt relief.

He still felt that same peace at night as he did as a teenager, that child-like feeling still present like it was in Karl.

He slept peacefully for the first few nights, until Karl decided he wanted to start hanging out with his friends at night.