Smothered (bxb)

Darkness

After it got too cold out to stay at the cove, Gus and I packed up our little picnic and he walked me home through the dark streets. When we got to my apartment building, he slumped his back against the wall and sighed.

"You going to be okay?" I asked him warily, noticing his sunken shoulders and the way his eyebrows swooped downwards into a small scowl.

"Heh." He huffed out in a sarcastic laugh. He tilted his head up towards the dark sky creating a shadow of his jawline on his neck. "You know the answer to that, Rain." He whispered in the dark. The streetlights that were illuminating the street were too far from the building entrance so the dim lighting made Gus look like a silhouette.

"I know, I just... I don't want you to go back. Are you sure you can't stay another night?" I pleaded with the thin boy in front of me. I dropped the bags that I had been holding and walked closer to him, bringing my arms up and wrapping them around Gus's mid-section. He hugged me back nuzzling his face in the crook of my neck.

"I don't want to back there Rain." His voice spoke cracking with emotion, making my heart tear apart with sadness. I knew that things would be a lot worse if he stayed here longer than he was supposed to. It would only end in a beating the moment Gus laid a foot in the door; I couldn't let that happen. I wanted to protect this boy from harm, but I was helpless. Anything that I thought might help, would eventually turn around and hurt Gus in the end.

"Would It help if I came with you?" I asked as I massaged my palm in circles comfortingly over his smooth back. I felt the bones along his spine as my hand moved back and forth along the Nirvana shirt that Gus had borrowed from me. His breath was warm against my skin as we stood in our embrace, engulfed in the dark of night.

"No. I don't want you there. I don't want you to get hurt too. No, you can't ever go there Rain, you can't..." He muttered into the skin of my neck. As I comforted him I felt warm trickles of salty tears fall onto my shoulder. It felt like my arms were the only thing keeping this boy from falling apart onto the cement floor.

"It's okay, It's okay Gus. Do you want me to walk you home? Then you won't be alone before you have to face Frank." I said quietly, pulling away from our embrace, bringing my hands up to Gus's face and wiping his tears away from his red, puffy eyes. "I can just walk you up to your street. I won't be in any danger, I just want you to feel a little better, okay?" I spoke softly, comforting his slightly shaking form.

"But then... you'll have to walk the streets back alone." He whimpered into my hands. I looked at him with sadness in my eyes, I didn't want him to be by himself right now, he was too fragile, too delicate to be left alone to face his fears.

"That's fine Gus, by now I should know my way home. If not I'll call a cab, I've got some money." I said with a small smile, running my thumbs over his cheekbones, soothing him. Gus closed his eyes and thanked me in a raspy voice as we broke away from our moment. We walked hand in hand down the shadow covered LA streets, Gus not letting go of the death grip on my hand the whole time.

The darkness of the night protected us, it consumed our bodies hiding us from the rest of the lit city. Parties and clubs sounded out into the air and streetlights paved a yellow glow throughout the black night. Gus and I stayed quiet the entire walk and held on to the other's hand tightly. We wound ourselves through the city, a good thirty minutes away from my apartment, and we finally stopped in front of a sunken rancher with tires, old trucks, long, overgrown grass and a broken iron fence in a poor neighborhood. Gus turned to face me as he let go of my sturdy hand. I could see him shaking slightly as we stood in front of the foster home. There was a light on in one of the windows but the curtain that covered it made sure you couldn't see inside. In the darkness everything was quiet. The only sound was the deep, raspy breaths Gus was trying to calm down and the leaves in the trees blowing in the slight wind.