Replay {Skephalo}

26 | Fear

I manage a weak smile, thanking him quietly as he walks away. The cup is warm in my hands, soothing my nerves slightly. I take a sip, the warm sweetness of chocolate calming me as the tears stop flowing.

Darryl returns with his own cup, placing it on the coffee table behind us. There's a blue blanket in his other hand, which he hands to me. It's fluffy and soft, the sort of blanket you'd have on a cold winter night. It's comforting even now, when it's just turning to winter again in mid-October.

The older boy wraps an arm around my shoulders, and I lean into him. We sit in silence for a while, staring out of the window into the world beyond. It's a comfortable silence, a relaxing change to the screaming and fear over the past two days.

"I'm sick of crying" I mumble after a while, breaking the silence. A light sigh echoes from the boy beside me. "Yeah, me too" he whispers.

I'm still shaking a little from the panic attack earlier, but that soon subsides.

I set my now empty cup down on the table behind me, watching Darryl do the same. His eyes lock with mine accidentally, causing us both to blush a little.

My heartbeat quickens again, but this time for all the right reasons. It's a little annoying to be a nervous wreck, blushing over him the whole time, but I'll happily take the giddiness of love over the giddiness of fear.

He goes to turn his head away, but I don't give him the chance to. I grab his shirt, pulling him towards me. My hands rest on either side of his face as our lips connect, deepening the gesture. Almost instantly he's kissing me back.

It's a brief interaction, and I pull away to look him in the eyes. He's staring back at me, pouting in a childish manner like I do.

"What's the problem with you?" I laugh, lightly poking him in the cheek. The emerald eyes drift away a little. "That's all I get?" he pouts. I giggle, bringing my hands away from his face to annoy him a little more. His eyes rest back on mine, watching me intently. "Very funny" he mumbles.

I lean back in to kiss him again, but he dodges me. "Hah" he chuckles. "See how you like it." After he speaks, he sticks out his tongue, still laughing.

And he calls me the childish one...

I try again, and he dodges. All I get is two fingers against my lips, stopping me from reaching his. He giggles, smiling wide enough to show the gap between his two front teeth. An idea comes to me.

"Oh" I say sarcastically. Unwrapping the blanket from around me, I stand up, walking away. "Guess you don't want kisses, whatever." I hold in my laugh as I watch his face drop.

"Wait what?!" he yells. "No fair! Come back!" He reaches out a hand, interlocking our fingers tightly.

I pull my hand away from him, sitting on the couch and grabbing my phone off of  the coffee table. Pretend-scrolling through it, I watch Darryl quietly. It doesn't take long for him to come over, sitting on the couch beside me.

Setting my phone down on the table, I decide to annoy him more. I lean towards him, peppering his face with kisses. He shrieks, jumping backwards. "That tickles!" he laughs, pushing me away. Hearing him laugh is so refreshing after everything I've seen.

A vision from earlier appears in my head. It's of when I first arrived here to save Darryl. Zelk is stood in the centre of the room, with Darryl below him. He's unconscious, bleeding out onto the floor as Zelk towers over him, bloody knife in hand. I realise that vision is real, that is what I saw earlier.

"Zak?"

His gentle voice brings me out of those thoughts, dragging me back to reality. My eyes trace to the bandaids on his face: One covering the cut Zelk gave him, one from the cut I inflicted. Guilt rings through me again, guilt and fear.

Fear of myself.

I hurt him...

The room has gone silent, and I realise that Darryl is still watching me. I didn't answer his question. "Oh um, yeah?" I ask quietly. His gaze is full of sadness. I've ruined the moment.

Again.

"You alright?" he asks gently, reaching a hand out towards me. "Yeah I'm fine. Sorry for ruining the moment" I mutter, ignoring his hand. "You didn't ruin it at all silly. It was just me laughing ridiculously." As if on cue, he starts laughing again. His laugh is contagious, and soon I'm laughing along with him. "Yeah. Guess you're right."

Something inside of me still feels like I've ruined it. We're both laughing like it's all ok, but I know the hurt masked behind is still there. We're simply sugarcoating it.

I go to turn away, but it's my turn to be stopped. I'm pulled into a kiss, lips pressed together softly. After a few seconds in the moment I pull away, readjusting myself so that I sit in Darryl's lap. He watches me, smiling at the return of true happiness.

Our eyes lock for a couple of seconds, watching each other. The light from outside is bright enough that I can make out my boyfriend's face, but the rest of the room is shrouded in darkness. It's better that way, I'd hate to see the state of the room in even a little more light.

Shoving my fears aside, I kiss Darryl again. My hand cups his cheek, resting the other on his chest. The kiss is returned swiftly, and I feel a smile on Darryl's lips. A similar one appears on mine as he kisses me harder, hands drifting under my hoodie to rest on my hips.

I lose myself in that moment, shoving away the fears that threaten to invade my conscience. They don't matter right now. All that matters is him, us, as we drag out this moment.

Minutes feel like seconds there with him, like the rest of the world has disappeared into the blackness around us. Our lips move in sync. Together, apart, together, apart.

I normally hate getting lost in the world, but I'll get lost here with him forever.