In His Name

Chapter 77 - New territory

"Did you say you loved me?" Rosco checks again. This has to be a dream, what's-his-name must have hit him in the head when he'd talked back, knocking him out, and everything that happened since then is his head trauma. That feels like the only believable way these events could take place. Or maybe when Hayden said he loves him, he meant that he could love him despite his flaws, the way he loves everyone else. But Hayden had kissed him; that feels hard to misinterpret. Rosco's lips still tingle with the taste of his god, like fresh snow, the purest, whitest cold. As nice as Rosco had dreamed being kissed would be, that wasn't something he could make-up on his own. The very memory shoots heat through his core and straight up to his brain, drowning him back in the haze of the moment.

Hayden had picked him up and was carrying him- somewhere? Rosco isn't all that sure, and he really doesn't care. His arms and legs have wrapped around Hayden automatically, as if they know where they belong and don't feel the need to wait for his approval. His god's arms hold him tight against his chest, one hand smoothed over his low back. A tiny part of Rosco's muddled mind noting just how much of his back that one hand could hold. The other resting under his thigh, ensuring the boy keeps his legs in place, up around Hayden's waist.

Hayden laughs, a carefree easy sound. His eyes crinkling in his signature smile, the one on his lips matching the bright joy of his eyes. Hayden kisses him again and Rosco's already numb mind melts with the heat. It's nothing, barely a peck, but Rosco can swear he's flying.

"More than your words can express." Hayden mumbles against his lips, his low voice aching with greater need as he kicks the door to his room shut behind him. So that's where he was taking him. Rosco vaguely registers the world around him before he's dropped atop the previously unused bed. The world spins as he bounces against the soft bedding, but he never lost sight of his god. Hayden's eyes wander him slowly. Rosco's arms instinctively reach for him, toes curling in his shoes at the heated look on Hayden's face. Gasping as the pull wrenches against his chest, the invisible string tethering him to Hayden, snapping almost unbearably tight.

"Oh," Hayden blinks as the pull fall slack, "I suppose I was doing that after all."

"What is it?" Rosco asks, pushing up on his elbows.

Humming dismissively, "I will explain another time," Hayden deflects, reluctantly turning his eyes from the boy splayed across his sheets to the floor, "Open." He commands and Rosco shivers at the sound of it.

The barrier between the realms breaks, and the building rattles as the floor begins to fall through into an endless darkness. Rosco, immediately recognizes the doorway to the spirit realm. Pushing up the rest of the way, Rosco swings his legs underneath him to peer over the edge of the bed into the growing abyss.

"You're leaving?" Rosco asks, wincing at the pain and betrayal in his voice. He hadn't meant to sound pathetic and needy but, he feels so vulnerable and exposed, and Hayden's going to leave? What could he have possible already done to run him off in such a short time? Is he too clingy? It has only been a handful of minutes since Hayden had claimed to love him. Is this really all Rosco is worth? A handful of minutes?

"Do not worry," Hayden soothes, light-colored eyes sparkling as an arm slides around Rosco's body, gently tugging him off the bed to stand on the small square of wood flooring left beside him, "We will be back by morning."

"We?" his need for assurance making him cringe, but he's so anxious, he can't help but ask.

Hayden pauses, fixing his attention back on the boy in his arms. His hand rises, thumb trailing over Rosco's cheek, leaning in to press their foreheads together. Rosco's arms slide around his neck, once again boldly seeking contact Rosco wouldn't have consciously approved of.