bambi eyes || tradley

14. the sky is everywhere

The curly-haired boy smiled widely, clinging onto Tristan as he took in the sunset above him, sky painted with colours of a fading purple, blue, and pink. Wind brushed across his cheeks, running through a headful of curls. He closed his eyes, deeply inhaling the fresh air engulfing him before a wide smile broke out on his face. "So, this is the sky?" he questioned, amazed.

"Yes," Tristan replied. "Well, a piece of it."

"There's more?" Excitement swimmed in his teary brown eyes.

The blond nodded, beaming back at him. "The sky is everywhere."

"Wow," the fifteen-year-old whispered. He snuggled into the taller boy's side, burying his face into Tristan's sleeve. They just stood there together, underneath the vanishing sun as they held each other close. The blond could hear soft sniffs from his sleeve as the moon hung brightly in the sky, stars twinkling against the darkness.

"Don't cry, love." He pressed a gentle kiss to the top of his curls. "Everything is going to be okay."

"I'm not sad, Tris." The smaller boy looked up, tears streaming down his smiling face. "I'm just so happy."

. . .

"Bambi?" the twenty-one-year-old shouted throughout the dark hotel room. He darted his widened eyes around the darkness with no sight of the small boy. The place where he once lied beside him was still warm, indicating he hadn't left too long ago. "Bambi, where are you?"

A whimper sounded from the toilet, indicating the curly-haired boy's location. Tristan automatically jumped up onto his barefeet and scrambled over to the door, fumbling with the doorknob before it flew open. The blond's eyes widened at the small boy sitting on the edge of the bathtub, a crimson knife held in a shaky hand as he looked down at his bleeding wrist.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tristan shouted at him, snatching the sharp object away from his small hand. His heart involuntarily pounded behind his ribcage at the sight of so much blood - coated on Bambi's hands, spilling onto his lap, covering the knife, covering his wrist. He could hardly breathe.

"My v-veins," he stammered, "t-they are g-glowing, Tris."

"What?" He glued his eyes to the fluid flowing from his tan skin, eyes widening at a green light flashing from somewhere within the red. It was quick, like a brightly coloured flash of lightning. "Oh, fuck no."

"Get it out!" Bambi pleaded. "Please, Tris! Take it out of me!"

"I - uh, I'm not a doctor. I can't -"

"Please!" he cried, wrapping a hand around his wrist and smearing blood all over his pale arm.

Tristan stumbled backwards before slowly dropping to his knees. "Okay," he breathed, gripping the smaller boy's wrist in his hand as the light flashed again, "I'm taking it out, okay? No worries."

He nodded enthusiastically, watching intently as the blond's two fingers hesitantly dug into his wrist, his face scrunched up in disgust. It hurt a little, but the brown-eyed boy barely flinched at the pain. He'd had way worse than this. "Do you feel it?" he frantically asked as Tristan paused, gagging.

"I think I'm going to throw up," Tristan murmured. He blinked rapidly before sucking in a deep breath. "Okay, let's hope that this is it."