The State of Love (Solev x Doormatt)

Chapter 1 - First Encounter

All Doormatt could hear was his own heavy breathing as he ran through the dark woods. He kept checking over his shoulder, waiting for someone from the Jungle to appear. His eyes searched ahead of him for any sign of life, someone to notice him but he couldn't tell if the night was getting darker or if his vision had begun to fade.

Doormatt could feel his body slowing down. His movements became sloppy and his foot twisted underneath him, sending his body to the floor. He was surprised by the coldness of his hands and turned them over to see snow. Where was he? Had he really traveled so far?

He heard someone call out to him but wasn't able to make out the words. He raised his head to see a tall figure approaching, but his eyes had grown too heavy. The figure's face came into view and it was the last thing he saw before the darkness took over.

***

"-how do we know he isn't a spy?"

"They'd have to be idiots to send a spy to us-"

"But they are idiots-"

"Shut up, he's awake."

Doormatt blinked, letting his eyes adjust to his new environment. The first thing he saw were the three heads standing over him with curious and cautious eyes.

Doormatt's eyes widened in panic and he made an attempt to push himself from the bed, but a few pairs of hands pressed him back down.

One of the boys used more force than necessary to press him back down into the bed. "Yo calm the fuck down dude."

"Stop moving." One of the other boys told Doormatt sternly before turning to the other. "Let go of him, BombTest."

The first boy released Doormatt from his tight grip and rolled his eyes. "He's so dramatic for no reason-"

"He's scared. You would be too if you were him." The same guy retorted. BombTest sent him a look, but didn't challenge him again.

There was something about this dude that made Doormatt think he was important. It was more than the way he spoke, but the way he could get the person named BombTest to listen to him without argument. He was pretty good looking, too. Kind of like Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

"My name is Elanuelo." He said finally. "You're in the Sanctuary." 

Doormatt took a moment to look around. He was in a small room of a wooden house. Natural light poured into the room through the windows, revealing the greenery outside

"What's the Sanctuary?" Doormatt asked and snuck another look outside. "Where am I?"

"You're safe here." The third guy explained. "We're in Plains."

"Plains?" Doormatt's eyes widened as he tried to retrace his steps from last night. "I was running from the Jungle though, how did I get to Plains?"

"You were running from the Jungle?" The same guy asked curiously. "Was there someone chasing-"

"Seth." Elanuelo addressed the boy in warning who silenced himself immediately. Elanuelo paused for a moment before answering Doormatt's question. "You weren't in good shape last night, you still aren't. We found you on the border between Plains and Snow so we brought you here to recover."

"Well, Solev found you." Seth added.

"Was anyone following me?" Doormatt asked quickly.

"Why would someone be following you?" BombTest asked, but Elanuelo waved away his comment.

"No," their leader answered slowly. "No one followed you."

The room went quiet for a moment before Doormatt decided to speak.

"Can I get up?" 

"Of course." Elanuelo nodded and moved out of the way to make space for Doormatt. "Seth will show you around if you want, right Seth?"

Seth pursed his lips but nodded in agreement, not wanting to argue. Doormatt finally found himself out of bed after what felt like the best sleep of his life and followed after Seth through the new town. 

Despite feeling well rested, his body was strangely sore and his memories from the night before were so foggy that he wasn't even sure what the reason could have been. He didn't want to ruminate on why he was running... 

The small town was made up of wood houses, but the different flowers and building styles made the area feel very lively. He watched as different members passed by them, occupying themselves with mining and farming duties.

"So this is the Sanctuary." Seth broke the silence and gestured to an open area in front of them.

It looked peaceful, flowerbeds lining the houses and small benches and chairs placed around the centre podiums. Doormatt suddenly understood why it was called the Sanctuary.

"You guys built all this?" He asked. "That was fast..."

"Yeah," Seth shrugged as he continued to lead them along the edge of the houses, "after the plane crash everyone was really coordinated. The famine helped bring a lot of us together, too."

Silence fell again, but Doormatt couldn't stop himself from asking. "Who's Solev?" The thoughts of the mysterious figure he saw last night lingered at the back of his mind, and he was curious to learn more.

"Solev?" Seth repeated. "Oh, yeah he's pretty popular around here. A lot of people look up to him, but he usually keeps to himself."

Kept to himself, Doormatt thought. He wondered if that meant he would never see Solev again. He should at least thank him for his help yesterday, right? 

They came to a stop at the edge of the town and stared off towards the ocean. Doormatt noticed a stone slab on the other edge of the clearing. It looked out of place compared to everything else.

"What's that?" Doormatt asked.

Seth followed his gaze. "Oh, that's Saps' grave. He was the first of us to die."

"Oh," Doormatt felt stupid for asking, "sorry."

"Hey Seth!"

The strong voice caught Doormatt's attention immediately and he whipped his head around to see a familiar set piercing eyes, the same ones from the night before. 

"And you," Solev continued, smiling at Doormatt, "nice to see you're up and walking today."

Doormatt had no idea how to respond. He wasn't expecting to see this Solev guy so soon, yet here he was. 

"Hey Solev," Seth greeted casually. "As you can see our visitor is awake this time."

Solev nodded and smiled. Doormatt realized Solev was a lot taller than he initially remembered, he was built bigger too. Doormatt blushed as he realized he was looking Solev up and down. 

"Awesome work with the farming, by the way." Solev told Seth. "You're single-handedly feeding the whole sanctuary. Do you think you could get me two more stacks of bread for tomorrow?"

"For sure, man." Seth answered, totally not dying inside. "I'll get on that."

"Thanks, Seth." Solev smiled and turned to Doormatt and winked. "Hopefully I'll see you around."

Seth seemed unfazed by this interaction as they watched Solev's retreating form. Doormatt felt his cheeks turning bright red as he realized Solev just winked at him.

"Not even gonna lie, bro," Seth mumbled once Solev was further away, "I literally stole all the food from the farms. I've got no idea what he's talking about."

They continued on to the next part of the Sanctuary, but Doormatt's mind remained occupied by their interaction. All he could think about was one thing. One person.