Was when the small bakery boy first fell in Love.
_______________________
He was sixteen—
When a sort of Magic, unseen
Lit fires;
And sparked desires.
Waves—
It made;
Songs—
It played.
Rules—
It broke;
Love—
It spoke.
He was sixteen,
When he first believed in a miracle—
A magic,
Called Love.
And he was sixteen,
When his miracle expired;
Much like a robot...
Unwired.
_____________________
A/N: Thank you MeltingForExo, for your passionate response to Jett. And worry not-I would love to read every single one of your essays *laughs* if you ever do feel like writing any for me. And of course, I am still in shock of how you wonderful Bakers can turn whisks and rolling pins into chainsaws and machetes. Always-always in amazement. Thank you for your magic :)
Similarly, # appears when you should play the music! ^^
Brave Love Chapter Sixteen: Sweet Sixteen
[Chip]
Giselle was breathing heavy, a genuine scowl on her features—something I've never seen before.
Jett appeared to be in shock.
Well, of course he'd be;
Giselle's hit almost knocked the wind out of him.
Well, he wasn't the only one because Xander himself was pretty surprised by his sister's actions. He recovered quickly with a frown, proceeding to step between Giselle and Jett.
"...that wasn't supposed to happen—"
"Yeah, it totally wasn't," Jett agreed, using the back of his hand to wipe away the ongoing trickle of blood that the other man caused.
"But—I'll take it anyway. It was a good hit," Xander had to admit, shrugging with a smirk.
Jett's eyes narrowed and I assumed he saw red.
He steadied his ground and drew his hand back-fast.
"No! Wait, wait—stop, please—" Th-this is getting out of hand. Giselle's right there! If Xander dodges that—
Thankfully (or not), Xander did not dodge the incoming impact. Instead, he used Jett's momentum to his advantage; grabbing onto the fist directed at his face in a swift motion and pulling Jett's entire body towards the ground with a hard slam.
"U-Um, guys, is...is anyone listening?" Oh Lord if only I had half of either's strength to punch some sense into both of them.
"Go kick his ass Chocolate Chip!!" Giselle cheered all-too-happily, seeming to have adopted her brother's way of speech.
W-Wait, what?
"Uwaa, no Giselle, no-no violence okay? Let's all go into the house o-okay?"
"No! Violence! Violence!" The teenager nodded vigorously, chanting the word as if to cheer her brother on whilst a flurry of vulgarities and fists exchanged between the two.
Bringing Giselle further away from the obvious crime scene, I took a deep breath and ran into dangerous grounds-between Xander and Jett.
"Everyone, f-f-freeze!" Was all I managed to muster, but miraculously—as if both were controlled by an unknown force-they stopped moving all at once to turn to me; Xander's grip still holding fast onto Jett's shirt collar.
"A-And, um...um...release his shirt."
Xander obliged all-too-happily, dropping Jett onto the ground without a care.
"Please stop this. I-It isn't going anywhere. Let us not resort to, um...um, violent measures to solve problems—"
Before I could finish my peace speech, Jett was already on his feet. He was limping towards an opposite direction, leaving Xander and I completely confused—
Giselle!
I made a move to grab Jett's arm to stop him but he lunged forward, closing the distance between he and Giselle and knocking her off her feet.
Giselle screamed, and Jett raised his arm—to punch or to slap, I didn't want to know.
I could hear Xander just a few steps behind as he raced after Jett, shouting threats that didn't seem all too nice.
Just in time to grab onto my co-worker's shirt, I was able to pull him away from Xander's sister—
But what happened next proved my efforts unnecessary;
As Giselle's handy walking stick came in contact with Jett's face.
She let out a fearsome growl resembling a wolf cub.
"You're in my way, peasant!" She snarled in triumph.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I don't say that," Xander laid out in an amused manner as I tended to a bruise on his right arm. "But I gotta say—I've taught you well, Giselle."
"Hmph," His sister nodded in response, sitting by their couch with her head held high. "But you always say that Xandie."
I turned to Xander with a stern look, accidentally placing more pressure onto his arm.
"Ow—"
"Uwa I-I'm sorry—"
"Just kidding Angel," Xander laughed, lowering his gaze to meet mine. I felt my cheeks grow hot, quickly looking away in response. "Anyway, I don't say peasant, Giselle. I go with asshole most of the times."
"Mmkay," His sister shrugged. "Still."
"S-Still!" I continued, clearing my throat, "You don't...you don't tell people that they are in your way, Xander!"
The conversation started as soon as one of our neighbors offered to call the police upon Giselle's scream-popping her head out of her front door to check the situation.
Upon the word 'police', Jett seemed to have snapped to his senses—as he stood up quickly and began walking towards the direction of the lift lobby.
W-Well, not before a middle finger.
Which...Xander returned.
Gladly.
We found our way into the Jaxons' apartment, deciding that it would be easier for Giselle to navigate her way around. Unfortunately, Xander (of course) doesn't bother to remember where the first aid kit was, saying that he didn't need it anyway.
After making a trip over to my apartment to get the first aid kit, I found the siblings in an adorable banter about language. U-Um, inappropriate language, rather.
I mean-the foulest language my siblings ever used was when we ran out of milk.
"You gotta admit, Giselle was justified in that sense. He was in her way," Xander shrugged, a subtle smirk at the corner of his lips as he downed a glass of water.
"Y-Yes but-it was because of you that she had to say a very unrefined version of butt and um, telling people that they were in the way."
"Ehe," Giselle giggled, not seeming to care.
Xander seemed to be enjoying the moment, perhaps trying to see whether I was capable of punishing either of them.
"While you're at it," He indicated the ointment I was rubbing on his bruise, "I think there's one on my chest too."
Without warning, Xander lifted up the bottom of his shirt.
"O-Okay hold on," I practically squeaked, almost choking on my words as I felt the heated blush at the tips of my ears.
Switching from his arm to his mid-section, I tried to search for the bruise Xander was referring to.
...? It's not here...
"Um, Xander I can't find it..." I said, confused—but slightly distracted by the abs. Uwa...
"Hm? It's right here," Xander points at his chest. "Maybe I'll just take my whole shirt off then—"
I raised my hand instantly to stop him. "N-No!"
"Um, I mean, I'm sure I can find it...you don't need to um, take off your shirt."
Xander seemed slightly disappointed, but laughed all the same. "Fine. You have to come closer so that you can see it then."
I bit my lip, trying hard to find the spot; poked and prodded and the muscle; but couldn't find anything.
It was to the point whereby I was already close to straddling Xander in the effort to try and figure out where the bruise was when I realized—
That he could have done it by himself.
"W-Wait, why don't you just do it yourself?" I huffed, pouting. This must be another one of his evil tricks again.
"No," He said simply, gaze strong and perfectly serious.
I blinked. "Why not?"
All of a sudden, Xander's arm slid around my waist to pull me in—as if for a hug; his other arm reaching up to my neck.
"X-Xander? Wha—" I fell forward, head buried in Xander's chest in the next second. "Oh good heavens," I managed with very, very hot cheeks before I could even realize what was going on.
The tall figure laughed, and I could hear the low sound from his chest.
I-I could smell his cologne.
This isn't good for the heart.
"Um, Xander—don't you think we're a little...too close?" I laughed sheepishly, unable to pronounce my words clearly when my face was in his chest. "A-And...what are you doing?"
He didn't respond.
I felt his fingers move from the back of my neck to my hair.
Don't do that.
Please...
Not after all my efforts to keep
My heart locked in an ocean deep-
"Xander...if you don't let go of me now, I-I'll leave you to tend to your own wounds—"
"That's because you can't see them," Xander lowered his head to say the words into my ear.
"They're inside."
In effort to forget;
The shipwreck that I met.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Out of nowhere, there was a hiccup to my left.
We turned; just in time to see Giselle covering her mouth.
"Should I—" Hiccup. "Go to room?"
There was a pause before Xander and I realized that of course, Giselle had heard every single word we said.
Whether she knew what we meant, or even tried to understand—neither of us knew.
All I knew was that my cheeks heated up instantly and I was so, so embarrassed.
"Yes." "N-No, it's okay Giselle."
Xander turned to me with a look. And I blinked back, confused.
"Giselle, you can go to your room." "You can stay Giselle, we're not—"
...
Xander, stop.
"Just let me talk to Chip for a while, okay?" Xander explained, ruffling his sister's hair and ignoring the looks I was giving him.
W-Wait what? Talk?
Oh dear...
"Wait! W-What do you mean?" I stared, wide-eyed at Xander. He knows I've been trying to avoid this, but—
Why can't we just...
"Go on Giselle. I'll call you out later."
His sister complied, taking her white cane and making her way slowly towards the room.
"Wait Giselle, don't go!"
. #
Why can't we just go separate ways?
WHY are you back in my life—
Just when I planned to cast you away?
I heard the click of the door closing, and I knew we were left to ourselves.
There was a tortured silence;
One where I wished I knew what to say—
Whether to get hurt and stay;
Or protect and turn away.
I wondered
How many times I have sent
A meaningless text such as
I miss you;
Only to realize
After five years—
That he had changed his number?
Or how many times
I've wasted the candles on my cake,
Wishing;
An empty wish
That for once—
He'd be by my side?
It was strange indeed;
How humans seem to
Cling
Onto non-existent things.
Such as Hope—
And
Love.
.
"Hey," He lowered his gaze and brought grey skies into mine. And that was when I realized, that we were worlds apart—even in our eyes.
His sky; a stormy, dangerous grey.
My sky; a baby blue.
I didn't respond to his greeting, strange as it was.
For what did he expect me to say?
Hello—as if I was seeing him for the first time?
And that it wasn't affecting me, like it was burning my heart—
Reducing it to ashes apart?
"I've been meaning to say this," He leaned closer, smiling sadly; looking into my eyes as if he wasn't raining inside.
"But what I am not going to say, is that I'm sorry."
"Because I know it isn't enough. Fuck, it isn't even close," He laughed, bitter. His hands came to caress the sides of my face, as if he was holding the world.
"I'm in no place to say anything, or even explain why I...did what I did—and that's because I don't even know why I did it."
"I won't come up with any excuses, I won't try to...force you to love me back. Hell, I won't even expect that."
"But all I wanted to say is that I thought—thought—that by carrying a burden like myself away from you, you could be happy."
"I hope I was wrong."
You...you idiot...
You're always wrong.
"And I've been meaning to say this since the moment we met again, after these...years—" Xander laughs, trying to lighten the mood as he begins to unlock the chest of my heart.
"Did you miss me?" He jokes, smiling with no care in the world like his past self—
And of course, what could I say?
"Of-Of course I did! You...you rotten pie..." Was all I could really manage through my quiet sobs and sniffles.
Xander laughed, pulling me closer and burying my head in his chest.
"Really?"
"Un."
"Really...?" He whispers again, soft and deep-into my ear.
"N-Nn..."
I nodded in his chest;
Feeling slightly lost,
And slightly found.
.
There was a moment of soft comfort, and all I heard was the strong beat of Xander's heart—and the rapid flutter of mine.
"You know...y-you could have called."
His fingers ran gently in my hair, caressing; soothing.
"I wanted to. But hearing your voice would make it worse," Xander transfers my body from the seat beside him to his lap. "And as days; weeks; months passed, it just got harder, and harder to pick up the phone."
I blinked, confused at the sudden change in position-and very much embarrassed indeed.
"W-Why am I on your lap?" I asked, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks and ears.
Uwa, I must be blushing like a tomato.
"Figured you'd be more comfortable," Xander smirked, bringing the side of my head to his chest once again. "Stay here, and rest for a bit. You're tired—I can see it in your eyes."
"E-Eh? Sleep? Here? Now? I-In this position?" I stumbled over my words, perfectly shocked and flustered.
It didn't help that I could hear his heartbeat so clearly.
"Just close your eyes; breathe slowly, rid your mind of your troubles," He advised, adjusting to ensure that I was in a comfortable position.
How do I do that when you're one of them?
"Hm? Am I trouble?" Oops. D-Did I just say that out loud?
I frantically searched his face for any sign of disappointment. Fortunately, Xander wasn't quick to jump to conclusions.
His brow was raised in an amused manner, waiting for me to explain.
"U-Um...I knew you were trouble when you walked in...?" I tried to sing, failing miserably.
The taller figure laughed, and again—I felt it in his chest. It was a pleasant vibration. "Alright. Now close your eyes okay? Go to sleep."
I obliged.
It wasn't long before my shoulders felt heavy, and my body being drowned in a different state of darkened peace.
Sleep and exhaustion covered me in a warm blanket, pulling me deeper, and deeper—
The last thing I heard;
Were soft words from above.
The last thing I thought;
Was how I wished I had the courage to give Love a second chance.
The last thing I felt;
Were gentle fingers caressing the side of my head.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
[Xander]
His breathing slowed, even; chest rising small, then falling.
It was a subtle movement, but as subtle as it was—
It had been five years since I saw a sleeping angel.
It was a distant memory;
How his ridiculously long lashes would come into perfect view, brushing the skin below his eyes.
How he would let out an occasional soft and adorable sigh-just like he was doing now.
His breath would tickle the arm I would have around him, every single time.
His lips, though not parted, were a gentle temptation indeed.
I realized that perhaps—
With a certain doubt,
That people didn't change after all.
What was intended to be a mere revelation of their many personalities and a show of another side of themselves, have been mistaken as change.
The bottom line, was that humans liked to jump to conclusions of other humans, without knowing whether understood the other entirely, or not.
Was it so strange as to have more to another human being?
Were others bent on thinking that humans only had one side to them?
No.
Not really.
Everyone has more to them.
But that doesn't mean that they have changed;
Because deep down—
They haven't.
.
And right now, as I hold my sun in my arms, I feel as if he had not changed at all.
And you know what?
Neither have I.
Because just like I would have a couple of years ago, I would have been happy with something as simple as this.
My hand on the small of his back, feeling the warmth of his body through his shirt;
The other running through his soft honey-blonde hair;
His tiny breaths tickling my collarbone—
Oh, and his shirt was kind of loose.
Chip shifted slightly with a soft sigh, hid head burying deeper into my chest.
Hell, he smells like strawberries and whipped cream.
Wait.
I can see inside his shirt—
Shit.
Hell, no.
What the—why now?
The fuck—
I'm hard.
Well of course you'd be hard you dirty shit;
It's been five years!
And the angel you want is right there in your arms—
Who wouldn't get hard??
Not...that you weren't checking him out in the first place.
I rubbed my hand over my face, assessing the situation in distress.
One;
I get up, go to the bathroom, take care of this shit.
Consequence: I would wake Chip up in the process and he's get a little freaked out. Okay, not a little—a lot.
Nope. Guess that'd be out.
Two;
I do it here.
Fuck, that's not even legit—his cute ass is on my lap for God's sake.
Three;
I wait it out.
Okay...now that sounds like a solution. My hard-on definitely has to go away quickly though—Chip would wake up if he feels some weird thing poking his behind.
'Kay, think about people who disgust you—
Right now, it's Jett.
Jett Jett Jett Jett oh fuck he deserves hell.
Who would be in the right mind to take advantage of someone as harmless as Chip?
He probably knew Chip couldn't say no.
And while Chip would be thinking along the lines of: I don't want to hurt his feelings; Jett wouldn't even care.
He pisses the hell out of me.
He even made my angel look so hurt and lost—oh but...but it was kinda cute. His brows would droop and his bottom lip would tremble a little.
He looked like a lost bunny...and fine, I liked it.
...
Fuck I'm such a sadist.
You need to stop, Xander.
That was when I realized that instead of calming my boner the hell down, it was getting harder—and obviously, bigger.
The last thing I expected, was Chip shifting in my lap again, the side of his hip brushing the front of my pants.
Well, that helped.
What's worse (or better, I didn't know what the hell I should be feeling) was that my angel was a light sleeper—and his eyelids fluttered open.
I saw his sky blue orbs first, and he raised his gaze as if confused.
"O-Oh, did I sleep?"
"Yeah. Like a kitten."
The small frame blushed to the tips of his ears, and he tried to get up from his position—
Unfortunately (fortunately) his hand came in contact with the tent in my jeans, and we both froze.
He looked confused at first, and was about to apologize for touching that part of my pants when he realized what it meant.
My angel's eyes widened first, and he began to stammer.
"U-Uwaa, I'm...I'm sorry, I-I, um...oh no, are you...um...is that...?"
I sighed, trying to keep a straight face.
"Never seen an erection before?"
Oh wait.
He has.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: YAAAAAAYYYYYYYY awkward situations for the win!! :D Possible occurrence of white stuff in the next chapter! Hooray! (Not hooray for me because Cuppie thinks she's rusty /.\)
Oh well. Yay!
-Cuppieeeeeeee
Is excited.