Burning Desire

04

Tristan woke up to a familiar dread in his gut.

He sat up in bed, pleased today find that he was still on the other side of the bed and Winston hadn't tried to get closer to him. He didn't want to share with the demon, but Winston refused to let him sleep in another room, so Tristan compromised by grabbing some of the many pillows that Winston had and made a pillow wall between them.

Tristan forced himself to remember why he woke up, and he suddenly realized when lighting flashed outside his window. Even though he was an adult and had more or less moved on from his past, lighting and thunder always brought him back to that scared little kid who hid and cried during the storms.

He felt tears sting at his eyes, wishing he had someone to hold him and care for him while he cried.

"Daddy issues much?" he scolded himself, but his self-anger dissolved when thunder boomed overhead.

Tristan climbed out of the bed and rushed to the closet, pulling down some of the blankets inside of the walk in closet and setting them on the ground as a makeshift bed.

He snuck out to the bed and grabbed some of the pillows from the barrier he made and carried them inside of the closet to make his area more comfy.

Once he had his supplies, Tristan closed the closet door and stayed in the back corner where he felt safe and surrounded. Tears were still in his eyes as he held a pillow to his chest, letting his wet eyes dry on the comfort item.

Tristan longed to feel safe, but he wasn't about to go wake up his kidnapper and ask him for cuddles.

There was no way he was going to cry in front of the idiot that degraded and kidnapped him.

As the night went on, Tristan held the pillow to his chest and tried to fall asleep, but with every crash of thunder, he found himself feeling more and more afraid and unable to sleep. He was wrapped up in three blankets and kept shivering and wishing that the damn flashes and thunder crashing would stop.

It was just past three in the morning when Winston woke up and found the other side of the bed empty. He turned on the light and left the comfort and warmth of his blankets, looking around for where Tristan could be.

The human wasn't in the bathroom but the window was still locked tight.

Winston looked in the bathtub and shower as a crash of thunder boomed outside, followed by a small scream from the walk in closet. Confused, he went over the storage space and opened the door, turning on the light and finding Tristan glaring at him from the corner.

"Didn't you ever learn how to knock?" he asked, dark bags under his eyes from a lack of sleep.

"Didn't you learn how to leave a note?"

Tristan scoffed. "I didn't even leave your room, so I didn't have to leave a note." He pursed his lips before adding onto his statement. "And, if I was able to run away, I wouldn't leave a note. Why would I tell my kidnapper where I was going if I was trying to run away?"

"What're you doing in here?" Winston asked.

"Hiding from the metaphorical and literal demons that somehow made their way into my life."

Winston glared at him. "Do you always have to be like this?" he asked, and Tristan only offered a cocky grin and a nod. "Come on, get back into bed."

The idea of being exposed and vulnerable to the lightning and thunder, the loud noises, and the painful memories of his childhood made Tristan shake his head and scoot back into his corner.

"I'm fine here," he said, hoping Winston would just let it go and not be a pain in the ass. "I'm in the closet. My natural habitat."

Winston walked into the closet and grabbed his arm, making Tristan remember when he was thrown out into the rain as a child because he didn't behave.