Camilo's Journey

Chapter 12:

There was a commotion down stairs, roughly an hour later. Noah and Camilo had returned to their now usual spot, their foreheads together and hands joined through the bars.

"It's happening." Noah whispered. A dark curl hung between them, slightly darker than Camilo's own.
"Spencer first, then us. I hope he is okay." Camilo said and Noah squeezed his hands.
"If he's not, which he will be, I'll light them all on fire for you."
If it weren't for the smirk on Noah's face Camilo would have thought he was serious.
Noah made a noise between a scoff and a laugh. And then he said seriously,
"After everything, I owe you that much."
Camilo shook his head against Noah's.

"You don't owe me a thing." Camilo said firmly.
Noah smiled.
"Seriously though, even if I wanted to, I don't have full control over the whole phoenix thing." He sighed. "Thankfully though I've never hurt anyone beyond singed eyebrows."
He sighed again.

There was a large crash and some inaudible shouting going on downstairs. They both focused hard, but they couldn't make out words. Only tell that it was the bald men and suits yelling.

"They've been caught off guard, they sound shocked.. unprepared." Noah said and Camilo must have pulled a ridiculous face at him because then Noah laughed. "I didn't know just your face could shift." Camilo shook his head to fix his face, immediately knowing what had happened. He's shifted too fast and ended up distorting his face, that happened.

"when you've spent your life relying on your ears, you learn another way to read people, through there tone." Noah said. "Sometimes for protection, other times because it's the only thing you had to do." He frowned deeply.

That didn't leave much room for Camilo's imagination to create a life in his head for Noah that didn't include neglect and abuse.
He took a few breaths to try to stop himself from crying. Why did the universe decide to give the biggest hearts so much pain to carry with them? Did the universe think they could handle it? Because that wasn't fair.

Camilo felt so lucky in that moment that he'd have a loving family around him growing up. But when he thought about it he'd somehow still grew up guarding himself, not letting himself feel things. He wondered maybe, if that was because everyone around him had had such big emotions that Camilo's weren't heard through the noise? He didn't know.

"Are you alright?" Noah asked.
"I don't know." Camilo said honestly.
Noah reached for his face but then stopped, like he was asking for permission.
"Go ahead." Camilo said. And Noah proceeded to touch Camilo's face, he wasn't sure what was happening at first but then he thought it might be Noah's way of trying to "see." him.

"I'm memorising your face, Camilo." He said. "You're handsome and have a kind smile." He said as his lightly calloused fingers traced the creases beside Camilo's mouth on either side as he smiled.
"Spencer is a lucky guy." Noah gave him a smirk as he ran his fingers over Camilo's forehead. "But you should stop worrying about whether you are good enough. You are Camilo, and even though you are enough you still try to be better." Noah said with a smile and dropped his hands.
"Are you a mind reader as well as a Phoenix?" Camilo laughed. Noah smiled.

"Not exactly. Fortune telling was a hobby of mine." He laughed.
"Well you are good." Camilo said. "And I like seeing this side to you Noah."
"You mean when I'm not going insane, crying or otherwise." Noah said carefully like he wasn't sure if Camilo was mocking him. "I know Eric and the other's are coming for us now, that's all there is to it." He added.

"You're just stronger than you think you are Noah, Eric is a lucky guy too." Camilo said. He caught Noah's smile right before his Tio Bruno burst in with a huge knife in his hand and his hood covering his face. The other's followed him in a similar fashion of hoods and knives.
Without more than a few quick movements Eric had taken out the guard and snatched the keys.
Camilo's eyes caught immediately on Claudia who had Spencer in her arms. His heart tried to leap out of his chest as he saw how limp and fragile he looked.

Eric unlocked Noah's cell beside him and pulled him into a tight hug. They both cried as Tio Bruno unlocked Camilo's cell. Camilo leaped forward and hugged his Tio, Delores and even Alex who startled but hugged him tightly.
When he reached Claudia he burst into tears as he look Spencer in his arms. Claudia have his back a pat and then Tio Bruno hurried them along and they were outside the building.

"We need to get Noah and Spencer to the nurse." Eric seemed to read Camilo's mind when they had gotten back to the school. He still held onto Noah like he was scared he'd slip away from him. Noah rested his head on Eric's shoulder.
"We'll all meet back in the common room in an hour?" Delores suggested. Camilo nodded and followed Eric to the nurses station.

"How do we even explain any of this?" Eric mumbled. Camilo shrugged. "Noah isn't even a student here." Eric added. He was scared and Camilo didn't like that.

"They can't turn him away, don't worry." Camilo said. "We just tell the truth and hope for the best, I'm tired of pretending and lying." Camilo said, his exhaustion taking its toll but he held on tightly onto Spencer. He pushed his red curls off his face. Beautiful Spencer.

Eric and Camilo told the nurses the truth and were met with wide eyes but they acted quickly, opening up the back rooms to two beds for Spencer and Noah.
Camilo laid Spencer down on one of the beds and covered him with a blanket. He barely had seconds before one of the nurses started tending to him. He managed to kiss Spencer's forehead before got ushered out of the way.

Noah was a completely different story. As soon as Eric tried to lay him down he started to freak out. It was so hard to watch. They ended up having to sedate poor Noah and Eric cried, something Camilo could have never pictured. But Noah had his heart, like Spencer had his. He got it entirely.

Eric and Camilo sat together in a break room and Camilo found himself leaping to make tea for Eric. Eric let a smile fall over his tear stained face.
"You don't have to do that, Camilo. I've been awful to you since we met. You don't have to.."
Eric started but Camilo cut him off.
"No, none of that matters now Eric, you saved Spencer and you stood up for me, face it, you are stuck with me now." Camilo said with a smirk. Eric gave him a smile as he took the tea.

"I can't believe it, you found Noah?" Eric said.
"I didn't really find him as much as, he was in the cell next to mine and Spencer's.."
Eric raised his hand to stop Camilo.
"But you helped him, both of you did. And you didn't have to." He sniffed and sipped the tea. "Noah has never been shown that kind of kindness before, and for you two to take him under your wing.. you're both stuck with me now too." Eric wiped his eyes and Camilo huddled into his side. He wanted to shift the credit onto Spencer for all of it but..

"Thank you for everything you did for Noah, you held him together when I couldn't. His parents were ashamed of him. He only went out for school otherwise he was locked away in his room. Noah's kind heart reached out for love for acceptance from them but they abused him in return. But when Noah came into my life he filled a hole I didn't know I had. Then my parents got involved and moved me around and around.." Eric froze up and Camilo hugged another new friend he was thankful for.

"I know Eric, Noah talked to me. He's truly special." Camilo sniffed. Eric smiled at him.
"So is Spencer, he fought hard against those awful people, he kept saying he had to get back to you." Eric sniffed.

"I love him, so much." Camilo felt the words slip out of him before he even thought them but they filled him with warmth, Camilo had fallen in love and he it didn't scare him anymore.