Fireflies - English

Chapter 4 - Confundus Charm

"You have some nerve!" Jose exclaimed indignantly. "Why am I awake? Why are you on top of me? Pervert!"

Stephen gawked, frozen at the ridiculous accusation.

"W-what...?" he gasped, stunned.

"Let go of me," he snarled, pushing firmly against Stephen's broad, bare chest. "Is this what I get for trusting you!?!"

But the dumbfounded blond was too shocked by the abrupt turn of events and merely blinked at the flushed, distressed boy in his arms.

"Abusador!" Jose exclaimed in Spanish, genuine fright entering his voice.

Jose squirmed, and to Stephen's surprise, tears sprang in his eyes. The blond was so surprised that he barely felt the smaller's fists pounding into his chest. His expression of utter fear had Stephen's chest squeezing and his very being softening. Slipping his arms tightly around him by instinct, he tried to comfort him.

"Hey," he murmured softly, carding his fingers through those inky black locks. "It's alright; I'm not gonna hurt you...!"

"Stephen!" Jose panted, breathless from effort and frustrated by the immobile titan's refusal to release him. "I said: let me go!"

"Right! Of course," Stephen began, pulling away carefully and putting his hands up in surrender. "I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to scare you!"

"What did think would happen when you got into your naked roommate's bed?" Jose hissed, cheeks crimson with rage. "Equally naked!"

Thinking fast, Stephen replied, just barely remembering Veruska's warnings not to let Jose know about Alair.

"It was an accident!" He blurted out.

"What?" Jose gawked.

"Yeah," the blond lied, cursing his lack of talent as an actor. "I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night a couple times with a stomach ache, probably from the pepper. I must have gotten into your bed by mistake; I did take a bunch of pain-killers."

Guilt contorted Jose's face for a brief moment, and Stephen mentally resigned himself to going to hell for lying to someone so innocent. But something in his expression must have given him away, because Jose's face contorted with a snarl.

"I knew it!" He hissed, eyes burning with fury at what he perceived as a betrayal of the highest order.

And from his perspective, it really would be.

Stephen flailed, trying to come up with another lie, but all he got for his efforts were, "Save it, gringo!"

And so, he could only watch remorsefully as Jose stood, grabbed some random clothes from his suitcase, and marched off to the bathroom.

.

Standing stiffly under the ice-cold spray of the shower, Jose was torn.

He usually went through his bathing routine automatically, but, frozen at the thought of what might have happened last night, he was extra cautious. He didn't feel any odd aches and there were no physical marks, or...substances present. He investigated himself haltingly, embarrassed by what he was doing but needing to be sure. Still, there was nothing.

He breathed a sigh of relief at that, deciding it was worth the pain that came with him interacting with God, and mentally sent out his gratitude to his maker. As always, a sharp pain through his skull was his reply, and he could help the sarcastic thought he so loved by the Big Man Upstairs.

Rolling his eyes, he slipped out of the shower and patted himself dry. He pointly didn't want to think about the feeling of uncleanliness that clung to him, and just dressed himself as fast as he could. He had to get out of here. He had to get away from Stephen, get away from this dorm-