TAMED

Hired

Together, Ares and Vince sat on a few large boulders which overlooked the rest of the property. They weren't technically allowed to be up there, and had been told not to due to the stones being so large, but it's not like they were afraid. Ares sat criss cross the way a child would and munched on a granola bar which Vince had snatched for him.

"Do you think...Do you think I will be allowed to stay?" Vince wondered out loud as his friend continued on with his snack. The clouds were blowing by and gave the idea that it was going to rain at some point. The ex-waiter pulled out his phone, surprised he'd been allowed to hold onto it, likely because Levi had been the one to inspect it. Something about that man made him feel both intimated and comfortably safe at the same time. He quietly thought about his friend beside him, he was the first person he had connected with in a long time. For whatever reason, he just felt like an alien to most people. He'd had one close friend growing up, Alex, but he had moved away with his girlfriend and gotten married after finding out she was pregnant with their child. Honestly he wasn't surprised, the dude couldn't keep it in his pants if given a million dollars. Thankfully though, he was truly in love this time. He wished the best for them. Still...when it came to Ares, he just felt like they were meant to meet.

As he thought of everything that was going on, of the roller coaster that his life had been for the last handful of days, he noticed little plips of water begin to drop onto his hands which rested in his lap. Confused, he looked up to the sky, searching for the rain cloud that was responsible. In that moment, however, he realized that the water wasn't from the sky, but from his own eyes.

"Wh-what..?" He questioned himself as he brought his sleeve up and wiped his face. What on earth had gotten into him lately? Any normal person would have been begging to get back home...yet here he was, emotional. "Tch..." He muttered as he sniffled and hoped Ares hadn't noticed. He didn't want to seem weak or pathetic in front of him.

The sudden weight against his shoulder caught him off guard. He brought his gaze down to his right, and was met with the dark brown head of hair that belonged to Ares. The soldier was leaning against him, and if Vince didn't know any better, he'd have said that he was trying to comfort him.

"Heh...you probably think I'm a baby huh..."The man laughed lightly, a bit embarrassed at the closeness, but thankful nonetheless. "I guess theres probably a million or more reasons for you to forget me, but I'm probably not gonna forget you."

The wind blew and on its course brought a coldness that Vince inwardly cursed.

"I won't forget you." A warm voice spoke, the reverberations from his chest flowing into Vince's shoulder. Blue eyes widened in bewilderment as he savored the voice that spoke from beside him. He looked down as his eyes began to sting even more, sniffling and staying as silent as he could while he cried.

...

"-ver here..." A faint voice called. Ares slowly opened his eyes and brought a weary hand up to rub the sleep away.

Suddenly the thumping sounds of boots came storming up the hill they had fallen asleep on. Ares, instantly sent into attack mode, jumped to his feet and took an offensive stance. Vince groaned as he slowly sat up, rubbing his sore shoulders which had been apparently pressed against a rock as he slept. They'd climbed down from the great boulders and taken a rest on a bed of wildflowers that blanketed the forest floor.

"They're over here!" Another voice called. Suddenly the group was surrounded by armed men.

"Jesu-...ug...not this again...." Vince complained as he glared and stayed seated on the ground, too tired to give a shit. "Now what...huh?" He asked in a rather pissed off tone.

"Holy hell...would you men settle down?" A rather annoyed voice began, this one belonged to Levi. The Italian sighed and roughly shoved passed a couple of guards. "Damn it I put one little note in...all I said was to browse the perimiter to see if you could find them...not that they had run off!"