The Waltz of Love and Fear

.:Chapter Four:.

Brian sat down on the edge of the bed and pressed his hand to Zacky's forehead, careful not to wake the sleeping angel that lay in front of him, his face peaceful and distant. Brian had a key to Zacky's house, and vice versa, so he could let himself in whenever he wanted to or felt the need.

He most definitely felt the need today.

Brian had almost witnessed Zacky get killed for the second time in a matter of weeks. Zacky didn't seem to really mind, though. It was almost as though he liked being saved from dangerous situations.. A faint smile crept across his lips while he slept, causing Brian's gaze to turn from nurturing to unfiltered love. He couldn't help it. Zacky was just too beautiful, too pure..

"Brian..?" Zacky's sweet, sleepy voice sounded next to the daydreaming man. Brian raised his eyebrows and shifted his gaze down to Zacky's face, finding that his eyes were open and his cheeks were slightly flushed. "What are you doing here..?" He asked softly. There wasn't any venom in his voice, he wasn't angry at Brian for being there, he was just genuinely curious.

"Just checking on you.. You didn't reply to any of my texts last night, and.. I dunno," Brian removed his hand from Zacky's forehead and scratched the back of his own neck nervously. "I just kinda had a bad feeling.. I wanted to check on you." Brian quickly wondered if the look Zacky had been giving him last night when he was in his wolf form was fear or curiosity, or maybe even a little bit of both. He had saved the raven-haired man's life, but there was no way he could tell him. Zacky would know the instant the words came out.

"Well.. Something weird happened last night, honestly," Zacky sat up, resting his back against the headboard of his bed. Brian raised an eyebrow, urging Zacky to go on with a silent nod of his head. "Y'know that path behind my house?" Brian nodded again. "I was walking on it, and.. I guess I got really distracted, because when I finally looked up, I was really deep in the woods and.." His voice caught in his throat. Zacky was more traumatized from the situation than Brian had first realized.

"Zee.. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But I just want to let you know that I am here for when you're ready to talk about it." Brian whispered.

"No, no," Zacky shook his head and then drew in a deep breath. As he looked down at his own lap, he continued, "I saw these.. Eyes. They were like gold, and there were four pairs of them.. And then there was a pair of red ones that were bigger than the gold eyes.." As Zacky continued to describe the attack, making sure to let Brian know about the brown-eyed wolf that had saved him, Brian could see tears trailing down his cheeks. "You think I'm crazy, don't you?" He finally whispered after a long minute of silence.

"No, Zacky, I don't," He whispered as he took the round face of Zacky into his hands and lifted his face upwards. He searched Zacky's beautiful eyes as his thumbs stroked away the tears, his own eyes holding all the love in the world. "I think that there are strange things out there, and I think you need to be a lot more careful now that something has happened to you.." Brian spoke softly, as if he were speaking to a small child. Zacky looked up at him once more, his aquamarine eyes sparkling with gratefulness.

"Thanks, Bri.." Zacky murmured with a stretch and a wide yawn. Brian couldn't help but eye his bare chest when he wasn't paying attention; as soon as he was looking, though, Brian turned away and stared at his shoes. "So.. What do you wanna do today?" He asked quietly, his brow raised in suspicion, almost as if he didn't understand why Brian had looked away so quickly.

"Hm.. I dunno. We could go over to my place and I could fire up the grill. I know how much you love my steaks." Brian grinned, his eyes sparkling as Zacky's own eyes brightened at the mention of Brian's cooking; the brown eyed man rarely cooked, but when he did, it was the greatest food that he'd ever tasted.