Seeing Colors

Chapter 8

Ant arrived at the hospital an hour after Stephen and his family. He would have gotten their earlier, but his mother had to go to work, so he had to drop off his sister at their Nan's house first.

When he got to Dec's floor, he was greeted by Maureen and Christopher at the hospitality lounge.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Mulhern. Youse here early?"

"Yes well, Stephen literally rushed out the door this morning. Worried, that one was. In fact, he's in Dec's room right now. Why don't you join him? We'll be here if you need anything," Christopher said.

"Aye, thanks Mr. Mulhern," Ant said as he walked away.

Ant gently opened the door and found Stephen asleep. The 14 year old was reclined on the chair, body facing the doorway. The scene looked innocuous enough, until Ant noticed that they were holding hands. Well, Stephen was holding Dec's hand; his fingers were intertwined with Dec's. The smaller boy's hand laid limply on top of Stephen's.

It made Ant angry at how natural they looked together. He had to stop himself from walking over and pulling Stephen's hand away. Instead, he gently tapped Stephen on the shoulder.

The younger boy slowly emerged from his sleep. He quickly sat up straight when he saw Ant standing over him.

"Oh, hey Ant, how long have you been here?" Stephen yawned.

"Not long. Just got here, in fact." Ant's face was unreadable. He broke their eye contact to look at their entwined hands.

Stephen disentangled his hand from Dec's and place it on the arm rest. "So you want to sit here or something? I can move over to another chair."

"No. I'll just sit on the foot of the bed," Ant curtly replied.

Silence fell over the room. The boys avoided eye contact. Ant stared at Dec's unconscious figure, while Stephen twiddled his thumbs.

After minutes of unbearable silence, Stephen decided to speak up. "Hey, do you-"

"We don't have to talk. I'm here for Dec and so are youse. We can just sit here and look after 'im," Ant interrupted rudely.

Stephen frowned at Ant's hostility towards him. Just two days ago, Ant was all smiles and cordial with him, but now, he can't even look at him.

"Ant, is something wrong between you and me? Did I do something wrong?"

"Like I said, Stephen, we don't have say owt to each other."

"I'm not gonna take that, Ant! Tell me what's wrong and we'll talk about it."

"Fine, youse wanna talk about it," Ant hissed. "You're the reason Dec's here."

"What?! How is it my fault?"

"Youse the reason Dec and I fought, youse the reason I got mad at 'im, youse the reason I pushed him away. Now he's here 'cause of you comin' into our lives."

"Ant, you're not making sense...wait, did you just say you pushed him into the road?!"

"I didn't mean to push 'im into the road. I only meant to get 'im off me," Ant explained.

"I still don't see how any of this is my fault."

"He ditched us to hang out alone with youse. He dropped us just like that," Ant snapped his fingers. "He didn't think of us, he just thought of youse."

"Look Ant, I'm sorry Dec hurt you like that, but you can't blame me that Dec got hurt. Just like how I can't blame you. What happened to him was out of anyone's control," Stephen said.

Ant can't help but be impressed at the maturity the 14 year old is exhibiting. He suddenly feels embarrassed for his childish accusations.

"Sorry, Stephen. It's just, Dec's me..." Should I tell 'im Dec's me soulmate too? Nah, it just might complicate things. "best friend and I really care for him. It hurts us to see him in this state."

"I know, it hurts me too," Stephen replied. He stands up from his chair and approaches Ant. He pulls the older boy into tight hug and says, "So you wanna forget this happened?"

"Aye, let's pretend nowt happened. It's too embarrassing for me," Ant chuckled.

At that moment, Stephen's mother walked in. The boys immediately broke their hug.

"Oh, sorry. Was I interrupting something?" Maureen smiled.

Stephen quickly replied, "No, mom. We just had a talk about... about how we're there for each other, no matter what. That's why we were hugging."

"Aye, Mrs. Mulhern. That's true," Ant smiled.

"That's good that you're there for each other," Maureen said. "Anyway, I came over to see if you two wanted to take a break. And before you object, Dec is clearly fine. You go out and get some fresh air! There's a park across the street that you two can go to."

"That actually sounds nice. What do you think Ant?"

"I'd fancy a break."

"Good," Maureen said. "Here's some money. Go have lunch while you're out."

The boys thanked Maureen and proceeded to exit the room. They said goodbye to Christopher as they passed through the lounge.

Once the elevator doors closed, Ant turned to Stephen. "Oi Stephen, did you mean what you said in there?"

"What?"

"You know, how you'd be there for me if I needed someone?"

"Of course, Ant. Why would I kid about that?" Stephen said as he pulled Ant into a side hug.

"I don't know..."

The elevator reached the ground floor and the doors opened. "Come on, Ant. Let's relax a bit, huh?"

Stephen led them out of the hospital and to the park.

Ant followed Stephen around the park. He can't help but grow a little fond of him and his carefree attitude. He could do with less talking though, but he guesses it comes with the package.

As more time passed, the more Ant accepted that this boy is the one Dec loves. There's still something inside him that yearns to be the one for Dec; that feeling will never go away. But he knows that Stephen is the one that will make Dec truly happy and that's what matters to Ant.

As long as Dec is happy, I'm happy.