"You don't understand! You don't fucking understand! He was kissing him! He was fucking kissing him like he was his lover or something like he needed him WHY DID HE HIDE WHY DID HE NOT TELL US!? Tell me Aaron! WHY?" Zach shook the smaller boy, who looked scared, he has never seen Zach this angry.

"Fuck him! THEY CAN FUCK THEMSELVES!" He yelled, pushing down the books on his table.

"Did you see them kiss?" Aaron asked, still confused. Because he didn't take a closer look, and hence he didn't quite catch the little interaction between the two and neither Zach's sudden outburst. Yes, he understood Zach was mad, but he didn't know it was for them possibly kissing.

"I saw them. And that's why I left. Fuck!" Zach yelled again.

" We-well, why....are you so angry? They're might be in love and I think, as their friends, aren't we supposed to give them love too?" Aaron uttered tentatively. "Are you angry that he likes a boy?"

"I don't fucking care which gender he likes." He said.

"'Then because he likes Travis?"

"That shit can like anyone I don't give a flying fuck."

"Then why!? Why the hell are you so fucking angry when you're not against them?" Aaron was getting more confused than ever. Zach wasn't against their relationship. He wasn't again their sexual orientation. Then why did he looked as if he'd kill anyone right now? Zach did an annoyed tsk, and turned away from his eyes.

Oh.

"Or is it.....that you're jealous of them? Of what they have? What they—"

"Shut up! SHUT THE FUCK UP! I don't wanna hear your bullshit SHUT UP BEFORE I MAKE YOU."

Bull's eye.

"Hit me kill me do whatever the fuck you want but I know you're jealous of them. Jealous that Scar has someone to love, jealous that he has someone who'd love him back. Aren't you? Tell me Za—"

Faster than a lightening, Zach moved in agile steps and slammed Aaron's lithe body against the wall. His eyes were dilated into narrow slits, and hell, he looked malicious, staring down at his scared friend.

"You got a lot of nerve. I said shut up; do you not fucking understand? Huh? I was alone my whole life. Mom left me, dad left me, I fucking made my way up here through all this shit and I never had anyone! Then why the fuck are you so concerned about him? Huh? You even think he deserves it, why fuck, isn't he the one who rammed into Travis in the first place?! I DESERVE LOVE TOO! IT'S ALWAYS SCAR FOR YOU! I'VE BEEN THROUGH MORE SHIT THAN HIM. And no one ever asked me, if I was okay. NEVER. No one ever told me they loved me fuck, no one even came near me! THEN TELL ME WHY DO YOU NOT CARE FOR ME?" Tears flooded down Zach's face and the boy who everyone knew to be so cold, so strong, broke down in front of him. He looked so vulnerable, so fragile, as he cried on his chest, his tears soaking his cotton shirt.

"Why do you not look at me?" His hair turned messy, and his eyes were a hazy blue as he gazed at Aaron through his long eyelashes.

Aaron's hands were trembling when he moved them up to hold the much taller boy in his arms. But when Zach, his best friend was begging for him to care for him, he'd never deny him even if it's the end of the world.

"Hey." He managed out a squeak, and soothingly rubbed circles over his broad back. Hell, if he knew how to calm a crying person down, but he hoped  it would calm Zach.

"I have always been alone. I have known loneliness and yet no one came. Don't I deserve love? You said once, no matter what or who, everyone is worthy of love. Then what about me?" Zach cried harder and almost buried himself in Aaron's small of a body. The earlier anger faded, and affliction took its place—yet, both as strong as ever.

Aaron smiled in the darkness. So that was what his beloved friend wanted. Love, care, compassion-things which people thought he was devoid of. Yet he was afraid of them. It was complicated.

"You never walk alone, you know? You just walk in darkness. All you have to do is reach out, and you'll be saved. Have you ever tried reaching out, tried seeking help?"

"I don't need anyone's pity. I can help myse-"

"No." Aaron didn't understand his sudden burst of courage, but he'll definitely show him. "Try reaching out. Come on."

"No."

"Yes. Even if once."

"I said no."

"That's what I heard. But do I look like I'm going to listen?No, precisely, because I'm not going to. Now, do what I told you." He wasn't taking no for an answer.

With a vexed sigh,  Zach detached himself from Aaron and lifted up his large hands. Aaron noticed, they were trembling. He knew, Zach wasn't as cold as he seemed on the surface, because he feared rejection, neglect. And that kept him from reaching out to anyone. But Aaron wasn't just anyone, no.

Aaron mirrored his actions and lifted his own hands up, and waited for Zach to take the lead. The taller boy hesitantly, moved his hands towards his smaller ones and with the greatest difficulty, placed them over his. His fingers squiggled over his smaller ones for a minute, then probably contented with the position, stopped moving, and became still.

"See?" Aaron smiled as their fingers grazed over each other, their heat seeping through their fingertips. Zach's palms were a bit rougher than Aaron's because of frequent baseball practices, and his fingers too, were much larger than Aaron's rather small and tender ones. Like every right puzzle pieces compliment each other perfectly, it was no different here. They fit, quite nicely so, and there was no inbetween.

"Now look!" Aaron chirped.

Before Zach could utter a word of protest Aaron pulled him towards him, and let his taller and much heavier body weigh down on him. Zach seemed surprised at first, yes, sure, he did hug Aaron several times before, but none felt as warm, loving and closer than this one. And moreover, there weren't butterflies having a kitty party in his stomach in the previous times.

Happy would be less of a word to describe the feeling that they felt, because it wasn't even close to it. They felt weird, in a good way of course, unable to describe the feeling. But they didn't need to. Their hearts spoke for them.

***

Oh wow.