The Bars Between (MxM)

8

Adren rushed down the cold hallway, scared about how Ryion would feel about his absence yet needing to let him know that he didn't abandon him.

As soon as the light hit the bars, he could see two hands clutching at the cold metal. One was nearly black with dirt while the other was mostly absent of it, the color revealed to be many shades darker than Adren's own, near-white skin.

When the light finally hit Ryion's eyes, Adren could see they were wide, panicked. "You were gone for longer than normal."

Adren felt his heart sink. "I'm so sorry, my father got mad at me for staying away too long and kept me under constant watch and I couldn't get away to see you although I really wanted to and that's all I thought about all day and I felt so bad, I'm so sorry!" He quickly rambled, looking at the man nervously.

Ryion's eyes stayed trained on him, absorbing every word spoken. "It's okay, I'm just relieved that you came back."

After a quick second of relaxing, Adren so thankful for his quick forgiveness, he processed what was said. "I'll always come back. if I ever get held up, you should know it's not by my choice."

Ryion's lips curved slightly upwards. "You being here is the best gift I could've gotten."

Adren felt his cheeks grow warmer and lowered himself to Ryion's level, crossing his legs. "Oh, I brought you food and water." He quickly remembered, passing it over to Ryion who ate and drank quickly, like normal.

Adren watched him, his elbow resting on his knee as his hand propped up his chin. He felt so bad for leaving him. He would never do it again.

As soon as he was done, Ryion pushed the dishes a few inches towards Adren to show he was done and leaned his head against the bars. "Thank you."

Adren smiled brighter. "Of course."

They sat in silence, Ryion obviously tired from eating.

Until Adren's eyes suddenly caught view of Ryion's hand, resting on the bars. He reached out, taking it in his own. It was freezing. He held it tighter, pulling it closer to his chest, trying to give him some of his warmth.

Ryion's eyes met Adren's, hand curling and gripping one of his. A strange flutter erupted in Adren's chest when he saw Ryion's smile at him, but he quickly pushed down the warmth. "I never found out why you ended up here." He realized.

"I got caught." Adren glared at him playfully. "I was in trouble since I decided to ditch my old boss. He's pretty dangerous so I decided to hide here. And one day I was angry because I was tired and hungry, and this annoying man decided he wanted to cross me. He's not alive anymore and his property's destroyed."

Adren's eyes widened, he wasn't expecting that. "No wonder they have you down here."

Ryion chuckled, making Adren tilt his head. "Believe it or not, murder isn't that uncommon everywhere else." People in Secos were thought of as very nice and generally were, killing people was almost unheard of.

"But killing somebody with magic is incredibly taboo."

"I realize that now." Ryion said, he didn't know that when he did it.

"So who was your old boss?"

"Some guy named Karlio. Very powerful magic-user. I worked under him and basically ran all of his errands while he robbed and built himself a little empire, but you probably haven't heard of him here." Adren nodded, he hadn't.

"Where are you from?"

"Lokromli."

"Lokromli! That's so far away!" Ryion nodded. "Why did you come all the way here then?"

"I told you, I had to get away. And from this guy meant I had to get as far away as possible." Adren nodded, eyes still wide. "And besides, I heard the people were beautiful." Adren blushed, although it was a word used to describe his people, it felt different coming from him.

Actually, compared to the other people of Secos, Adren wasn't that pretty. His skin wasn't completely smooth, he wasn't as pale as most, and his hair had a slight curl to it while everyone else seemed to have straight hair. But he still looked like one of them to an outsider. Secoan people were known throughout the kingdoms as the most beautiful. They all had pale blue eyes, near-white smooth skin, and silvery-white hair. They looked like they belonged in the snow. Even the guys got called beautiful since both genders tended to look more feminine because of the thick eyelashes needed to shield the eyes from the intense white and protect them from falling snow and the absence of facial hair. This is what made Ryion so different looking and intriguing to Adren.

"So what was Lokromli like?"

Ryion's eyes finally tore themselves from Adren's, looking down at the ground. "When I was younger, it was wonderful and everything was put together and safe, but after Queen Kevedy died, King Irvold stopped caring. He only protected us from other kingdoms. Crime rose, small empires started popping up, until the only way to survive was to join one."

Adren looked at him with sympathy. "That sounds horrible."

Ryion shrugged. "I'm here now, the events leading up to it are useless to know now."

Adren took the silence as a good time to leave, muttering a small goodbye and promise to return the next day.