It's a Hard life | Hardzello♡

2. Why am I here?

With a lot of effort, Joe managed to carry the boy to his house. Luckily for him, his house is only 2 minutes away from the place where he found the boy.
Once they're inside, Joe puts the boy down on his bed. He tucks him under a blanket and turns up the heat a bit more. But seeing the boy is still looking quite blue from the cold, Joe goes looking for a hot water bottle for some extra warmth.
Joe sits down on the bed next to the boy, and takes a closer look at his face. The blond boy is actually... kinda pretty. The ginger gets a weird feeling in his stomach, but doesn't know exactly why. Maybe he is just hungry. After all, he hasn't eaten anything anymore since 8 o'clock this evening. And since it is now half past twelve in the morning, it is not surprising that he is hungry.
He gets up from the bed, and walks towards his fridge to see if he has something to eat. He groans when the only thing he founds in the fridge is a salad and some eggs. 
His search for some normal food is interrupted by a loud coughing. "That cough doesn't sound very good, blondie." A little worried, Joe walks over to the boy. He feels the boy's forehead, which is still icy to the touch. Joe smiles when the blond boy nuzzles his face into his hand
The ginger gets up, and grabs a mattress to put on the ground next to the bed. "You better be worth saving, you made me miss a party." Joe mumbles to the boy before closing his eyes. 

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When Ben wakes up the next morning, the first thing he feels is a huge headache. Which is why he decides to keep his eyes shut for a while. Only then he notices that he isn't outside anymore. He's laying on a mattress, covered under a thick blanket.
But, was it all a dream then? Didn't he really got kicked out of his parent's house?
His thought are interrupted by the noise of footsteps. Someone is entering the room. Ben slows his breathing, and pretends to be still asleep. But with every breath he takes, his lungs start to hurt more and more.
He hears a phone ring. Ben is slightly disappointed when he hears a voice that isn't from his mother nor father. Never before in his life has he been this disappointed about not hearing his parents' voices.
This voice sounds unknown.
Ben cracks one eye open, and sees a skinny red-haired boy walking back and forth across the room.
"Ugh for God's sake Gwil, I just need you! I'll explain it when you're here. Just move your ass and hurry!" He can hear in the boy's voice he's pretty upset. 
Breathing really hurts now, so Ben tries to sit up straight, hoping it will get less painful. He curses under his breath, feeling a stinging pain in his chest.
When the ginger sees Ben is awake, he immediately ends the call. "Ah you're awake. Good." He says.
Ben tries to speak, but but there is simply no sound coming from his throat, apart from a whisper that sounds like nothing.
"Take it easy mate. No don't need to speak, just eat something. And you might wanna have some painkillers." Joe hands Ben a small sandwich and a strip of painkillers.
Ben accepts them both gratefully and shoots the ginger some weak smile as a way to thank him.
Joe walks over to him and sits down next to him on the bed.
After a while of silence, Ben tries to speak again. "W-why am I here?" He asks softly.
Joe smiles. "Well, I found you last night sitting in some hangout, covered under a layer of snow. You were unconscious, and your heart rate was very slow. You almost froze to death, basically. So I took you here to warm you up a bit." He explains.
Ben feels his cheeks getting red. "I uhm- I'm so sorry." He almost whispers. He doesn't look at the boy next to him.
"Sorry for what?" Joe asks.
Ben shrugs. "For bothering you. I didn't mean to. I uhm- I should go." He gets up from the bed, and wants to walk away.
But Joe grabs his wrist and pulls him back onto the bed. "No way, you're staying. I wanna have you checked first, for starters. And I'm pretty curious about why I found you in the snow without any winter clothes on." He says.
"What do you mean you wanna have me checked?" Ben asks surprised.
Joe smiles at him and gets up. "Well my friend Gwilym knows all about medical stuff because his mother works in healthcare. I wanna make sure you'll be okay after last night. Now, tell me your name and the reason you were outside in the snow that late." He says while handing Ben a glass of water. 
Ben sighs. Is he really gonna tell this stranger boy about the reason his parents kicked him out? The boy did safe his life though.
"You don't have to tell me the details." Joe says when he sees the blond boy struggling to find the right words.
Ben smiles reassured and nods. "Well, my parents kicked me out of the house yesterday, so I'm kinda homeless now." He mumbles with a shrug.
Joe raises his eyebrow. "Wow. That sucks. But now I still don't have your name." He says with a small grin.
Ben chuckles softly. "It's Ben. Benjamin actually, but let's stick with Ben. And you?" Ben don't know why, but this skinny red-haired boy arouses his interest. This boy is different than all the other boys.
"It's Joe. Joseph actually, but let's stick with Joe." The ginger says with a big smirk.
Ben lets out a soft giggle.
Then the sound of a doorbell ringing is heard.

"There you'll have our doctor." Joe says with a wink before getting up to open the door.
Ben smiles at him until he disappeared from the room. He has to admit that the ginger boy is very sweet to him, and is actually looking pretty good.
Ben hears some voices coming out of the hall, but can't make out what they're saying.
"Ugh... just walk into the room. That's the reason why I wasn't at your damn party. Now stop whining Rami." Ben hears Joe almost yelling before the ginger enters the room again, as well as two other persons.
Ben puts on a smile, although he thinks the situation is awkward already.
"Who's this? One of your whores?" A boy with black hair says while rolling his eyes.
"Just shut your fucking mouth Rami. Sit down." Joe says annoyed.
The smile on Ben's face disappears. Thoughts start rushing through his mind immediately. One of his whores? Did something happen last night? Did Joe rape him, and is that why he brought Ben to his house? 
"I didn't even ask you to come over. The only one I need is Gwil." Joe's voice is the thing that makes Ben snap back to reality.
He is so shocked when he sees three gazes looking at him, that he starts coughing pretty loud.
"See, that's what I mean. That can't be good, right Gwil?" Joe says, his voice full of concern.
Ben feels a little calmer already when he notices that Joe might actually care about his well-being. "I'm f-fine." The blond boy stutters in between coughs.
The tall boy, apparently named Gwil, shakes his head. "I don't think you are mate. Your lungs had to endure a lot last night. Maybe you should see a doctor to make sure you don't have pneumonia?" Gwilym suggests. 
When Ben finally stops coughing, he has to gasp for breath for a moment. "No, I don't have to see a doctor, I'll be fine." He says when he regained his breath. "I should go, I've bothered you enough already." He says to Joe. Before the latter can respond, the blond gets up and grabs his backpack.
"And where you think you're going then? You said it yourself: You're kinda homeless. And if you're going to sleep in the snow again you'll die for sure. I don't want that. There's plenty of space for two people here. And I don't mind to have a temporary roommate. Nothing is mandatory of course, but I think you'd rather stay than die isn't it? Just stay until you figured things out." Joe says, folding his arms. He looks at Ben with a friendly, caring smile while waiting for the boy to answer.
A relieved smile appears on Ben's face. "Uhm... yeah, okay. Thanks." He says softly. He actually made a friend? In this village?
Joe gets this weird feeling inside his stomach again when he sees the smile on Ben's face. This cannot be from the hunger, he just ate something. But then what is this weird feeling in his stomach? He just shrugs it off, and smiles at Ben. "Well that's settled then. But we do need to get you a bed, because you don't wanna sleep on that damn couch, believe me." Joe shoots the blond boy a wink before walking into the kitchen.

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Well, this still isn't very good writing, but well, what can you do. Well, I can improve it, but I already tried that🙃

Today my week of school exams started, so I can't really promise when the next update will be.

Anyways,
Much love from me, aka Queenborhap_gifs❤