To Put On An Act [bxb]

Chapter 35 - i'm coming with you

"What the fuck is wrong with you-"

Alex.

"For fucks sake, Demian, what the fuck is your problem, Jesus fucking Christ-"

Alex.

"I didn't do anything, Leia, he punched-"

Alex stared at him.

"You didn't do anything? Come on, stop fucking around, Jesus, I'm going to beat your goddamn ass when we're out of here."

Alex didn't move. His eyes laid on Youngbin, on him alone, and he didn't move.

"I'm just trying to-"

"I don't give a shit. You're an absolute fucking creep, you know that? Following someone into the woods, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Leia, listen to me-"

Alex opened his mouth, inhaled, held his breath, hesitated.

"Bin-" His voice was clear and loud and the only thing Youngbin could hear. "Let's go?"

Youngbin nodded, and started walking, into the direction he at least believed to have come from. Alex followed, then Demian, then:

"You're not running after them now, you fucker, you stay here and wait with me, I am not letting you run behind them like a lost dog, you absolute fucking creep, you-"

Leia's voice faded, drowned out by the rain, a deafening sound filling Youngbin's ears. The world around him had become isolated and alone, never ending, a dark, cold void of trees and rain and branches and only a cone of light of Alex' flash to guide him. Every bit of heat had left his body at once, now leaving nothing but a freezing shell.

Alex stayed silent. Perhaps he'd been too focused on finding the way back, perhaps he didn't have much to say. Maybe his drunken words of not giving a shit had been true after all, though the pain in his eyes said differently.

Youngbin had joined in Alex' silence, though it wasn't much of an active decision. Even if he had wanted to say something, he couldn't have. His mouth was shut, and felt as though it never could open again, his voice had been taken, and frankly, there would've been nothing to say. Youngbin didn't have the energy to talk. To think, even.

For the first time in weeks, it was silent. Empty. Not a thought raging in his head, no pain, no ache, no pressure, no anxiety, no numbness. Not fear, not guilt, not love. There was just Youngbin's cold body, and the rain, the forest, and Alex, as if he'd never been gone.

Barely aware, awake, his legs shaking and weak, carried him through the woods, and soon enough, trees were beginning to clear.

The party was still going, naturally, and the large fire was fighting for its life in the middle of the clearing, some people still surrounding it, though many had either fled underneath the tents or already left. Music had become quieter, so had the chatter and the singing and the yelling.

The two approached the fire, and only when Youngbin began feeling its heat, he realised how cold he really was.

"Found him?" someone called out, and Alex turned to face Margo and Lani, both huddled together underneath one umbrella. Margo scanned the pair, frowning. "Jesus. Get the poor guy home. Where'd you leave Leia?"

"She's-" Alex cleared his throat. "Dealing with Demian."

Both Margo's and Lani's faces dropped in an instant as they heard the name, and so must have Youngbin's. Lani's hand disappeared in the pockets of her coat, then fished out her car keys that she held underneath Alex' nose.