Comfort

Because I care about you!

It was raining. It was cold. There were clouds. Gray repeated obvious things about the weather in his head as he placed a bandage over Stephen's face. It kept him calm. It prevented him from losing it because once again, he had come over late and covered in bruises and cuts with a strained smile over his handsome face. He hadn't said much, neither had Gray, as the shorter led him to the couch and began to cover his injuries with gentle hands.

As Gray finished stretching a bandaid over the bridge of his nose, he sighed. This had been happening so often, far to often for it to be a small, insignificant scuffle. He had an idea of who it was, but he couldn't be sure. Stephen had made sure he would stay ignorant on this topic. Gray stood.

"You okay?"

"Of course!"

"Stephen," Gray sighed again, "you know I study a lot, right?"

Stephen paused, he looked up at Gray, who was still standing over him straddling his knees. He wasn't sure where his friend was going with this, but the fire in his eyes told him it wasn't going to be good.

"I've studied plenty of subjects. Mathematics, sciences of all sorts, Languages of many, and so much more." Gray out both of his hands on the sides of Stephen's face, gently holding his head to continue to look up at him. "My personal favorite, though, is psychology. Learning to pick people apart just by the look in their faces was rather enjoyable." Gray paused, taking a deep breath before his eyebrows drew down and a frown took over his usually pouted lips. "Don't lie to me Stephen Ahn. You won't like how that ends for you."

Stephen was silent for a moment. He stared at Gray, almost as if he was debating if he was serious. As Stephen opened his mouth to speak, to reassure Gray that he was alright, a blatant lie, his breath caught in his throat as Gray's eyes filled with tears.

Stephen had always thought that Gray's eyes were nothing short of mesmerizing, whether he was laughing at Stephen, rubbing the sleep from them, reading a new textbook, or sporting a competitive glint, but this wasn't how it was supposed to be. Gray's eyes were still stunning, knocking the breath from his lungs, but this time they were full of tears he refused to let fall. His eyebrows furrowed in anger, his tear grit together in fury, but his eyes filled with sadness, with fear, with pain.

"God fucking dammit, Stephen!" Gray wiped at his eyes, wiping away evidence of his pain. "I don't want a bullshit lie to feel better!"

Stephen was quiet once again. Gray didn't swear, he was a good, smart kid who had a future in something great, but he didn't swear. He giggled, glared, and worked his way through rage, but his didn't swear.

"Say something!" Gray grabbed his shoulders, still gentle, and shook him a bit. "Don't just stare at me, snap back!"

"W-what?"

Gray looked at him, desperately searching for the spark that had drawn him to the boy. It wasn't there and finally Gray let his tears fall. "Where did you go?"

Stephen could only repeat himself. "What?"

"The light, the spark, the reason i-" Gray took a shuddering breath, "where did it go?"

"I... thought it was still there."

Gray wiped his eyes again, this time no tears followed. Instead, his voice was empty, his face showed no emotion, but his eyes said it all. He stood tall, his hands falling from Stephen's shoulders. "Well, it's not. You can stay here for the night. I'm going to bed."

"Wait, Gray!" His hand went out, as if trying to reach him, as if he was too far gone.

"What?!"

Stephen paused. Gray sounded, for the first time in a long time, tired. He sounded scared, worried, nervous, angry, and most of all tired all at once. He had never sounded like that with him before. Before Bryce turned and the bullying started. Before Stephen realized his obvious feelings toward Gray were doing anything but hurting him. Before everything changed.

"You, uh, shouldn't go to bed angry." Stephen fidgeted where he now stood, legs against the couch, "It doesn't seem like a good idea."

"I've been going to bed angry a lot as of late," Gray glanced at the taller boy just long enough that he caught his lower lip trembling. "Good night."

He stalked to his room, back ridged and straight, and didn't look back once. He didn't look back as Stephen continued to call for him nor when he shut the door in his face, leaving it unlocked, almost hoping he would come in after him.

The door stayed shut.

Gray sighed, anger welling up in his chest. Why was this happening? What did Stephen do? Gray paused, stopping his quick walk to the bathroom connected to his room, and his eyes grew dark. That's exactly it. Stephen hadn't done a single damn thing, yet he was getting beaten, bullied, and treated like trash. He wanted to scream. What had either of them done? Stephen was getting kicked around, he was getting laughed at like he was a clown, and the both of them had been kicked to the curb.

The both of them...

Gray sobbed. This was his fault. He never should have accepted Stephen's friendship, never should have fallen in love with the stupid spark in his eyes, and he never should have let himself feed into it. Was it because of them? Because of the unspoken "us?" Gray sunk to his knees.

He should have stayed numb.

A knock sounded at his door. Gray scrubbed his face before standing and walking to the door. He stood on the other side, unmoving. He had no interest in opening the door, he didn't want to hear another lie, another excuse. He had heard them far too many times and he had shoved the hurt down for the last time.

"Gray, please." Stephen sounded desperate. He was desperate. He didn't want to loose Gray because of Oswald and his gang beating him. He couldn't loose Gray. "Just talk to me."

Gray's eye twitched, but the door stayed closed.

"I know I haven't been 100% honest with you, but we can talk it through."

Gray's eyes welled with tears. He couldn't tell what they were from, what emotion, but they were oh so present.

"Why won't you talk to me?" Stephen's voice cracked, along with Gray's will power.

He flung open the door only to be met with Stephen's eyes also filled with tears. Gray wanted to scream at him. Incoherent statements and claims that made no sense were drowned out as the taller wrapped him into his arms. His screaming didn't stop, neither did his bodies natural reaction to thrash, but Stephen held tightly.

As Gray quieted, stephen hugged him tighter. How had he been so blind to what he was doing to the boy he cared about so much? How had he not seen how much hurt he was causing by pulling away, but shutting him out?

"It's gonna be okay."

"No, it's not."

Stephen nuzzled into Gray's neck. "Why?"

"Because I care about you! I care and it's going to kill me when Oswald takes it too far."

"Gray, he's not-"

Gray pulled away to look Stephen in the eye. "He will take it too far. That's what people like him, who have no one telling him he's wrong, do. They go too far. I don't want to be the one to tell you that I told you so when the time comes."

Stephen hugged Gray again, pushing his face into his neck once again. "I'll put a stop to this."

"You better. This isn't going to ruin my victory dinner after the Olympiad."

Stephen laughed. "I won't let it."