The Kidnap War

Nightmare

Adam walked through the forrest, looking for his best friend.
'There you are!' He exclaimed as he found James.
'Hey, buddy.' James smiled as he looked up.
'I couldn't find you and got worried.'
'Don't worry, Adam. Things are looking up.'
Adam inspected the blonde's smile.
'Why?' He asked.
'Because we're winning in this war! It'll soon be over and then we can go home!' James exclaimed.
'What do you mean?'
'I'll show you!'
James grabbed Adam's arm and dragged him along through the forrest.
'James, where are we going?'
No answer.
Suddenly they arrived at an open spot in the forrest. Adam's eyes widened. Dozens of people were there. They sat on their knees and had their hands tied behind their back.
'What is this?' Adam asked.
'Our enemies!' James chirped. He pulled out a gun and aimed.
'JAMES, NO!' Adam screamed as he pushed James's gun away. 'We're not murderers, James!'
The blonde rolled his eyes.
'They're enemies.' James said.
'I don't care!'
Ignoring Adam, James quickly raised his gun and shot one of the guys nearby.
'JAMES!' Adam called in disbelief.
The blonde ignored him and walked over to an other guy. He put his gun against the guy's forehead and smiled like a maniac before pulling the trigger.
Adam felt sick and had to keep himself up on a tree.
'What is it, Adam? You should join! This is fun!'
James giggled, bloodstains all over his face.

Adam woke up with a gasp. The room was dark. Everyone was asleep. Adam took a moment to calm his breathing. After James had shot a guy to save him yesterday, they hadn't talked. They'd returned to the bunker in silence and had to go sleep soon after. Adam's mind didn't seem to be able to comprehend what had happened. James had killed somebody... James had murdered someone. James was a murderer. His sweet, soft, little James was a murderer. Adam shook his head. The blonde had only done it to save him... right?
The dark haired boy closed his eyes to try and fall asleep again, but his mind kept racing.
Eventually he leaned over the side of the bed to see if James was asleep. The blonde's bed was empty.
That's when he heard it. A soft sob coming from somewhere else in the room. A soft whisper followed. Adam climbed out of bed and followed the sounds. They came from near the door. Two dark shadows were sitting against the wall. One of the shadows was shaking as he sobbed. The other held a hand on the sobbing shadows shoulder.
'You did what you had to do to protect him. It was him or the soldier. It's like the trolley problem. There is no easy answer.'
Was that... Jaiden?
'That doesn't take away the fact that I'm a murderer.' The other shadow sobbed.
'James?' Adam whispered. Both shadows looked up.
'Adam?' James whispered back, before another sob.
Adam walked closer to them, sitting down next to James.
'He's not taking the fact that he shot somebody very well.' Jaiden explained.
Adam was silent for a moment. James was just as destroyed about it as he was. No, his friend wasn't a murderer. He was only trying to save him.
Adam wrapped an arm around the blonde's shoulder and James immediately started crying against the other boy's chest.
'You saved me, James...' Adam whispered, tearing up a little.
'And that's all that matters.' Jaiden added.

As they were out in the trenches, James was very absentminded. Adam smiled a little seeing the look on James's face as the blonde's mind was in another world. It was cute.
'Come on, man, we gotta move.' Adam said as he gave the blonde a slight push to get him back to reality.
'Huh, what?' James asked, shaking his head a little.
'We gotta keep moving. You know, the battlefield isn't the best place to start daydreaming. Even though it looks cute, I suggest you do it in the bunker.' Adam chuckled as he led the way, James following.
'C-cute?' A blush fought its way up the blonde's cheeks.
Adam ignored him and kept going.
The comment didn't leave James's mind though.
Cute? Did Adam really just call him cute? It was probably in a jokey way, right? But why did he like it so much that Adam called him that. Why did it make his stomach flutter. It was almost as intoxicating as the dark haired boy's smile. There was something strange about Adam, but James couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was. He couldn't stay away from it either. He loved being around Adam. The boy made him feel so much happier.

'JAMES! DUCK!'
The call barely broke through James's train of thought.
'What?' He asked confused for a second, but then he felt it. A stinging pain worse than anything he'd ever felt before. It was like somebody stabbed his right shoulder with a knife. No, not a knife. Something smaller. Something much more painful. The pain blinded him and the shouting around him seemed muted as the pain in his shoulder took over. Suddenly a voice broke through the muted screams. It sounded clear as day and it sounded worried.
'James!? James, can you hear me?'
James opened his eyes. He hadn't even noticed he'd been clenching them shut. He saw Adam was sitting in the mud, right in front of him. Everything else was too far away and blurry.
'James!? Can you hear me?' Adam repeated, tears of worry glistening in his eyes. The blonde couldn't respond. He was clenching his jaw in pain. He nodded briefly, trying to focus on Adam instead of on the pain.
'I'm taking you to the hospital!' Adam called as he picked James up, bridal style. James suddenly felt very safe. Like nothing bad could ever happen as he was being carried to safety in Adam's arms. His pain started to feel more muted as the sounds of the battle and of Adam's voice grew quieter and his vision became darker.

When James woke up, he didn't move. He kept his eyes shut and tried to remember what happened. There was a distracting pain in his shoulder, but he had a feeling it used to be much worse. There were soft whispers around him. He tried to focus on them, but they were too far away. James finally opened his eyes. Dim light shone from a couple lamps in what he remembered was the hospital. He was laying in one of the many beds. Suddenly he heard a voice he recognized. His head turned to follow the sound, only to he met by the doors, being slightly open and having a nurse in the doorway. The voice came from outside.
'Please, I just want to see him.'
Was that Adam?
'He's still asleep. You should come back later.' The nurse replied.
'Please, ma'am. James is my closest friend. I could've lost him today. I just wanna see him and see that he's okay.' Adam begged. He sounded like he was on the verge of crying.
'I'm awake.' James said, trying to keep his voice down to not bother the other patients, but also trying to be loud enough for the nurse to hear him.
The nurse turned around and through the doors, James caught sight of Adam. They made eye contact and a relieved yet weak smile appeared on the dark haired boy's face.
'Fine, but not for too long. It's late and the patients need rest.' The nurse said before letting Adam in.
Adam rushed to James's bed and sat down on his knees next to it so he'd be on the same eye level as the blonde.
'How are you feeling?' Adam asked.
'Better. Thanks for carrying me out here.' James replied.
'Ofcourse! I care about you, man. I don't want you dying on me.'
Adam's hands rested on the bed and James slowly moved his hands towards them, before softly holding the other boy's hand.
'Really though, I wouldn't know what I'd do without you.' James smiled.
Adam chuckled before he looked deep into the blonde's eyes.
'I was so worried.' He whispered.
'I could've lost you. I could've lost you forever.'
'But you didn't.' James whispered back, his eyes never leaving Adam's.
'Still, it was so close. I... I don't know what to do if I would lose you.'
'You would just have to keep going.'
'I can't do that.'
'Why not?'
'I care too much about you... I... I... I love you.'
James felt his heart skip a beat.
'W-what?' He muttered.
'I...I... I l-love you... I, you know, I could've lost you today so I feel like I have to tell you now because like, I realized how close I was to losing you and if I lost you before I ever got the chance to tell you, like that would be terrible and I'd feel so...'
James interrupted Adam rambling by carefully placing a finger on the dark haired boy's lips. The blonde smiled a shy smile before leaning in closer to Adam and closing the gap between them, giving the other boy a soft kiss. Once the blonde pulled away, all Adam could do was stare at him, his mind trying to comprehend what just happened.
'I love you too.' James whispered.
That was it. That was all Adam had wanted to hear. That was all Adam ever needed to hear. He closed his eyes and pulled the blonde into another kiss, longer this time. More heated, but still calm and careful. The two boys finally able to show each other how they truly felt.

Author's note:
I'M SO SORRY!!!
It took forever to get this out. I've been so super busy with so many things. I have so many projects I'm working on and it's hard to really spend my time equally. Don't worry, I promise I will finish this book. I refuse to discontinue it because I'm so excited for what else I have planned for his story. I hope you liked the chapter and I hope I'll be able to post the next one sooner. Thank you all so much for your patience.