Midnight. ☆ [boyxboy]

Splinters.

"Take a deep breath.." Oliver said in a strained voice and I readied myself, biting down hard into the inside of my cheek as he pulled out another large splinter. I screamed for the second time and Oliver gave me a sympathetic look.

"You didn't take a breath that time, damnit!"

I winced in pain and bit my tongue to try and ride out the aftershock of painful throbs after the splinters had been pulled. "Please..Can you..--"

"No, Zane. I explained this to you. The smell of your blood is powerful and I can't exactly control myself. I don't want to hurt you" he said, purposefully not making any eye contact with me.

I had been begging him to just heal me with his "Vampire magic" (as I called it) but he refused. "Oliver.."

He stopped his movement and looked at me. "Zane, I won't"

"I'll stop you if it gets to be too much" I said urgently, willing to say anything just to get him to do what I wanted. He could do it, but he was choosing not to.

He sighed and shook his head. "You don't listen very well, so if you die, I'm not going to be fucking responsible for it!"

"I won't die. Just.." I quieted myself, watching him, pyshically seeing him fighting with himself on rather or not he should heal me.

He glanced at me and he let out a sigh and I felt his fingers encircling my wrists. He raised my hands up towards his mouth and I extended my bleeding fingers towards his tongue. A slight warming sensation took over the feeling in my hand and like a switch had been flipped, the warming feeling was quickly replaced by a searing hot one. I couldn't help but try and jerk my hand away but he held my wrist firm in place and continued to trace his tongue along the wounds.

The expression on his face was unreadable. His head moved in a slow rhythm as his tongue worked against my flesh and on the last finger, my pinky is when I noticed that my hands were healed. The skin was just as smooth as it was before, no redness or abrasions.

He sat perfectly still for a few moments and when he glanced up, I caught a glimpse of his eyes which had turned a bright gold. I was slightly startled but I knew I had no reason to be, he wasn't a threat...so I hoped.

Oliver had turned his face away from my direct line of view, the way his hair fell, it covered part of his face, his lips being the only thing visible to me. "Tell me how you're feeling.." he muttered to me.

"I think I should be asking you the same thing.." I said abit concerned. I curled my fingers inwards and outwards and to my surprise they seemed to be fine. But I didn't have time to freak out about my painless fingers, I had to make sure Oliver was alright. I extended my hand out towards his face and like a snake striking out at me, he caught my wrist in a firm grip.

"Tell me, are you experiencing any pain, right now?" his voice was eerily calm, but his grip wasn't.

I tried pulling my wrist from his tight grip. "Thank you" I said and he turned his head and looked at me, his eyes were still glowing golden. "Oliver..?"

"Hmm?"

"What happens to you when you heal m--"

"I know you're curious. But, there are some things that are going to take time to explain to you."

I shifted around to get comfortable and nodded in agreement "Right, well how about now, we have ample time"

Oliver sighed, he was clearly annoyed with my persistence "It's late, you need rest. There will be plenty of opportunities for me to explain. But for now the less you know, the better.." his words trailed off and he pushed himself up, obviously avoiding eye contact on purpose.

"That's bullshit. The more I know, the better. It fucking stresses me out, my brain is like a bowl of question soup. Besides, I deserve to know.. To be relieved of the tedious feeling of being endlessly confused" I stood there, my back facing him as I stared around the room.

"I'll explain things to you..Zane. I agree that you deserve to know. I understand you feeling a little, 'left in the dark' on things', but you'll understand soon enough"

"Okay" I said, not really believing what he was saying.

"You'll be sleeping here tonight.." He had spoken so softly that I turned to look at him seeing that the expression on his face matched that of his tone.

For some reason, I felt sorry for him. He seemed to be troubled over something. I walked the short space over to him, my arms open, I wrapped them around his waist and hugged him. I didn't feel his arms hug me back, but I was determined so I didn't release him.

"What are you doing.." Oliver murmured.

I held onto him tighter, my cheek pressing to his shoulder. "Healing you. This is my form of healing you."

I felt his chest shake with laughter and a few moments later, his arms went around my lower waist and he held onto me.

We stood there, embracing each other. I was thankful that Oliver couldn't see my smile, his arms around me felt ..good. So when he let go, I was a bit disappointed and I tried hard to keep it hidden.

"Let's get you in bed.." Oliver said as he stepped away from me, going over to the bed to peel the covers back. "I'll bring you water throughout the night"

I climbed into the comfortable bed and leaned back into the pillows. "Thanks, Mr. Salvatore"

His eyebrows went up, "How many times do I have to tell you? Call me Oliver.."

I watched as he made his way over to the door. "Leave the door cracked will you..?"

He chuckled and turned the light off. "You're afraid of the dark? Cute." He teased as he pulled the door up, leaving it cracked just a bit.

I had been laying still in bed for ten minutes and that's when I realized how tired I was. Worn out. My feet and ankles throbbed in pain and my back felt strained, but my hands felt fine. My eyes felt heavier by the second and so I closed them. But my brain didn't stop whirring with questions. What made his eyes glow golden?

..Had Hunter made it home alright? I sighed and turned over in bed. I hadn't thought about Hunter once when I was with Oliver and of course he had to cross my mind when I was alone.