Stealing Cinder (No Not Cinderella!) (BOYXBOY)

Chapter 12: An Inconvenient Truth

Crispin POV

    My father’s face paled when he’d realized the confession he’d made. I didn’t want to believe it...so I ran. I didn’t go far, not wanting to leave Cin-Micah...in the unfamiliar house alone. I just ran to the downstairs bathroom, making sure to lock the door after slamming it. He couldn’t be Micah, anyone but him, he can’t be my brother...I like him too much. I slid down to the floor between the toilet and bath tub.
    “Crispin! Please unlock the door, we need to talk!” My father shouted from the hall. I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me.
    “I know what you’re thinking but you’re wrong! Let me talk to you!”
He hit the door hard after he said it which made me jump,
    “Leave me alone!” I yelped. “Just leave me the fuck alone!”
My father began smashing himself against the door, trying to bust it down and to my amazement he did. He rushed to me and wiped frantically at my face, which had tears spilling down it I presumed.
    “Go away,” I murmured. He didn’t but instead he hugged me and patted down my hair.
    “It’s not what you think Crispin, I promise it isn’t, just let me explain,” he whispered. I nodded into his chest,
    “That boy up there, he is Micah. I don’t think I’d mistake the appearance of my own son even if it’s been close to thirteen years. I know you love him as more than a brother and you’ll be surprised to hear that it’s okay to love him that much-”
    “How is it okay!? He’s my fucking brother!” I interrupted, pushing my father away from me.
    “I’m getting to that, and don’t swear you know how your mother feels about that. But, it’s okay to love him like you do because you two aren’t blood related. It’s not incest or anything like that for you to love Micah,”
    “You guys adopted him?” I asked. My father’s face twisted in anxiety. He stood up and brushed himself off before pulling me to my own feet.
    “Not exactly...we actually adopted you, Crispin,”
I felt tears well up in my eyes again,
    “Every time mom had her nightmares and would tell me I wasn’t her son...she was telling the truth...”
My knees felt weak as I spoke and I shakily made my way to the couch before collapsing.
    “You’re still our son...just not biologically. You know we love you Crispin,” My father muttered behind me. I looked at him and could see in his eyes all he wanted to do right now was go coddle his real son. Not sit down here and console the adopted child.
    “What happened?” I asked before he could actually leave.
    He sighed deeply before speaking,   
    “You boys were born on the same day, just hours apart really. The hospital enjoyed you both, every time I would go to see Micah I’d find him looking at you with an awkward baby smile and waving his hands to get your attention. Micah was a sickly baby and to see the effort of communication he made towards you made everyone smile. We never met your parents in the hospital because about three days before you were both supposed to go home they vanished. The state was called but I couldn’t let them take you, I mean while you developed the connection with my son I’d grown attatched to you both. I asked your mother what she thought about having two babies in the house. She wasn’t crazy about it at first but then we showed her how you guys acted with each other. It would’ve broken her heart to give you up after that. You both grew up happily together for about three years. Then your real parents showed up at our door and demanded you back. We refused, naturally, and they got angry. When we woke up that very next morning Micah was gone. They’d taken our son because we took theirs,”
    “The people he’s been living with are my parents?” I whispered. I received a nod in reply. “They hurt him so bad,” I sobbed.
    I could almost feel my fa-...Robert...freeze up behind me,
    “What do you mean?” he hissed. I sunk into the couch and held my head in my hands,
    “They hurt him...my parents hurt him so much. He doesn’t talk about it and won’t admit it, but I saw. They were hitting him and kicking him. They probably did worse too...” I cried. Robert stalked forward and placed his hands on my shoulder,
    “When did you see such a thing?” he growled. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
    “Last week...when I came home and m- Megan thought I was sick,” I muttered catching myself from saying mom, Robert noticed immediately.
    “Why did you call your mother by her first name?” he asked concern now dripping from each word.
    “She’s not my mom...right? You have your son back and I know the truth...you’re not my parents...my parents are psychotic child abusers,” I replied the tears beginning to come faster and more at a time.
    “We’re still your parents Crispin, just because Micah is back doesn’t mean we’ll forget you,” Robert whispered. I shook my head knowingly. Of course they’d forget about me. Robert grabbed my shoulders, somehow magically appearing in front of me.
    “Crispin, stop crying please. You can’t look like this when your mom shows up. It’ll crush her,” he said. I sighed, I knew that. She’d be home soon too. I composed myself gradually and stood up from the couch.
    “Should I go lure M-Micah out from under the bed?” I questioned; sheepishly using his name.
    Robert nodded encouragingly and hustled to the kitchen, for what reason who knows. I clunked back up the stairs  and opened my bedroom door slowly.
    “Hello?” I called. There was shuffling from under the bed signaling that he hadn’t moved at all.

Cinder (Micah) POV
        I cowered beneath the bed. He’d been too close. Way too close. Crispin was yelling which made me cower further. But, then it was silent. No yelling or anything, the door slammed shut and I poked my head out to see that both Crispin and his father had left the room. I wasn’t going to leave my hiding spot though.
    I waited for awhile and the door squeaked open.
    “Hello?” Crispin called. I shifted slightly to let him know where I was. I heard his footsteps come closer and soon spotted his bare feet in front of the bed.
    “Are you okay?” he whispered.
    “N-No,” I murmured. He dropped to his knees and peered at me.
    “Come out okay Micah? We really need to talk,” he said. I squinted my eyes curiously,
    “Who’s Micah?” I asked. He sighed and slid his hand under the bed to gently pull me out. He sat me down on the bed beside him and slung his arm cautiously around my shoulders.
    “Do you remember that day when I was stuck in the locker?” he asked
    “Y-yeah. That’s when y-y-you started h-hating me,” I stuttered.
    “I never hated you. Never.” he snapped. I flinched away from him and crawled to the head of the bed. I decided to burrow in his blankets seeing as it was still so cold. He chuckled lightly at my transition from fear to contentedness.
    “Continue,” I urged.
    “That day, I was scared, and upset because the space was so small and it...it reminded me of this closet. This closet that I used to take naps in with my brother. My brother went missing when we were really young and my parents were really upset. His name was Micah,”
    “What do you mean?” I whispered. “Why would you call me Micah?”
Crispin looked at me and I could see tears on his face,
    “Because you are Micah,” he whimpered. If I wasn’t so tired I’d have jumped up immediately.   
    “I’m your...brother?” I asked.
    “My adopted brother. That’s all. The people I live with are my adopted parents and they’re your real ones. The people you lived with. Those ones that fucking hurt you! They’re mine,” he hissed.
    I couldn’t wrap my head around that. Crispin was the real son of mommy and daddy? My Crispin? Who treats me so kindly, was the son of the people who abused me.
    “That man who came in? he’s my...”
    “He’s your dad,” Crispin growled. He was angry. Either because the people that loved him were my parents or the ones that hurt me were his, I couldn’t be sure, but he was scaring me.
    “I’m sorry,” I murmured into the blanket.
    “No need. It’s not your fault baby, not at all,”
    “What did you call me?” I asked. He turned his head and stared at me.
    “ I called you baby,”
He came closer to me. Crawling over my body, his face hovering just above mine.
    “Is that a problem?” he questioned. He said it teasingly, in a way that made me blush.
    “N-no no problem,” I stumbled. He leaned forward and I could feel his breath on my lips.
    “Is it okay to kiss you before the play?” he asked. I choked the whimper that was trying to approach the situation.
    “I th-ink so,” I said. He did too. He closed the short distance and pressed his lips gently to mine. He didn’t force my mouth open by yanking my hair, instead he ran his fingers gingerly through the black locks. He didn’t cram his tognue down my throat, but rather settled for running it slowly along my bottom lip. The best part was that I wanted this as much as he did.
    He did pull away eventually but I couldn’t tell you how long we’d been kissing.
    “You know, when your mom sees you, she’s going to freak out way more than your dad,” he chuckled. I groaned and rolled out from under him. His thumb wiped casually under my eye.
    “Why are you crying?” he asked. His tone filled with worry.
    I shrugged, not knowing exactly what was wrong. Crispin slipped under the covers beside me and slipped his arms around my waist, making me cringe.
    “ Stars shining bright above you, night breezes seem to whisper ‘I love you’. Birds singing in the sycamore tree, dream a little dream of me. Say nighty night and kiss me, just hold me tight and tell me you’ll miss me. When I’m alone and blue as can be dream a little of me...”
    Crispin’s deep voice soothing whispered the song in my ear. The notes from my memory were all wrong but the words so familiar. This was where I was supposed to be.

Oh the awkwardness...meeting mommy next chapter, should be fun. This ended on a sappy note and I kinda wish it could end here, nice and happy...but it can't :P