Fire on the Side

Chapter Two


Clive brought in a chair from the dining table and placed it next to the bed. Casey was deeply asleep. Clive checked on his pulse, steady but could be better. He was still so pale. He had brought in a few books (Margaret Thatcher’s Autobiography and the complete works of Jane Austin ought to keep him awake) and lots of strong coffee.

Trenton felt left out, not being able to help. But Clive was adamant that he remain on the sofa that night. Ms. Havasnark had knocked on their door when she heard the Chinese delivery boy. She explained she had been sleeping most of the afternoon, and was sorry she hadn’t provided them with dinner. She disappeared back into her apartment and brought out four sirloin steaks on a platter.
After a little thought she asked, “Have you seen any of the cats?”

“No, I was wondering about that myself….” Clive said as he felt something brush against his leg. He looked down, one was stalking outside the apartment. To his surprise, the cat did not make any attempts to enter. The cat did seem curious about something, looking all around and sniffing at the ground. “Hello, there little one.” Clive bent down and picked the cat up. Then the strangest thing happened. The cat seemed to panic. He yowled, hissed, and thrashed in Clive’s arm.

“Oh, my word!” Ms. Havasnark said, startled.

Clive dropped the offending beast and looked at it in wonder. The cat scampered away down the hall, disappearing into the shadows.

“That was…odd.” Clive said uncertainly.

“Must be the rain. I swear I’ve never taken such a long nap before. Must be getting to the cats as well.” Ms. H said wearily.

Clive glanced up from the book. To his surprise he saw Casey’s eyes were open, they reflected the dim lamp light.

“Where am I?” Casey asked softly.

Clive put the book down and sat on the bedside. “My apartment. Do you remember what happened?”

Casey looked hard at Clive. “No. It’s all a blur. I was one place and then I was in the rain… Voices. Was that you?”

“Yes. I’m Clive. We found you in the street. You’d been hurt. You refused to go to the hospital. Your leg is broken. You need a cast. You could have a—”

“No.” Casey’s eyes were strong, sure of his decision.

“Your leg could heal improperly. I only managed to set it.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Clive let out a sigh. “Alright. But please think about it.”

Casey didn’t reply to that. “Thank you. Most people would have ignored me. Thank you for being so kind. I won’t be a hassle. Tomorrow morning you can just drop me off at a bank….”

“I will do no such thing!” Clive said, getting rather angered by Casey’s constant refusal for help.

Casey instantly shut up. He looked so unsure, scared even, by Clive’s outbreak.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you, pet.”

Where do you think you are going, again, pet?” Casey shivered at the memory. “Please, don’t call me that.”

“Again, I apologize.” This isn’t good, Clive thought. One little pet name and he’s terrified of someone’s memory. He clenched his fist. Whoever he is, he ought to hanged. Please don’t let this be like Bryant.

“Who’s we?” Casey’s soft voice brought Clive out of his brooding.

“Trenton. My lover.”

Casey gave him small smile. “Sorry to deprive you both of your bed.”

“It’s nothing. You’re much more important.”

Casey gave a little huff. Before Clive could think of a rebuttal, Casey’s eyes had closed and he was sound asleep. It was then Clive realized that they hadn’t given him any pain meds. How the boy was dealing with the pain was beyond him. And he hated the thought that the boy was just used to this sort of treatment.

Casey remained asleep for the remainder of the night, or that’s what Clive assumed. He woke up to the sounds of the shower running. He cursed himself for falling asleep. His eyes darted to the bed only to find it empty.

Oh no. Clive bolted out of the bedroom, he looked to the sofa to see that Trenton was still sound asleep. Clive halted at the bathroom door. At least the kid hasn’t bolted. He knocked. “Casey?” How on earth did he mange to get out of bed and into the shower without any help?

With no reply Clive pushed open the door and went inside. Through the steam he saw the clothes they had given him laying on the floor, next to the makeshift splints and bandages. That wasn’t right. How could Casey move with a broken leg?

“Casey?” Clive said louder, worry staining his voice.

“Oh, shit. Clive. Hi. I didn’t think you’d be up so early.”

To hell with modesty, Clive walked to the shower and his eyes widened. Casey was standing under the shower heads, looking almost as fine as could be. Through the water and steam Clive could still see signs of his attack, bruises, cuts, but nothing as serious as it had been last night. And he was putting all of his weight on his left leg. Which looked perfectly fine now.

“I didn’t want to wake you. You needed your sleep.” Casey said, almost cheerily. He gave Clive a smile, uncaring that he was naked.

“How can you be standing? Last night you were in so much pain and all the blood….”

“Oh, it probably looked a lot worse then it was. See?” He moved his left leg with ease. “It was just sprained, is all. The rain made it look worse. I’m much better now.”

“No.” Clive refused to believe that Casey had miraculously healed overnight. It just wasn’t possible. End of story.

Casey’s face fell. “Look, it was dark and raining. Everything happened so fast. The rain made it look like I had lost a lot more blood then I had.”

“I set your leg. I know I did. I remember doing it.”

Shit, Casey thought. This was going to be a lot harder to explain. I can’t seem to change his mind. He’s resisting every time I try to sway him. He’s a resister. “Am…can we talk AFTER I finish my shower?”

“Yes, of course. I’ll be making breakfast. Anything you want to request?”

“No, I’ll eat just about anything.”

Clive nodded and strode out of the bathroom. He checked a clock to see what time it was—just a little past 8am. He went over to the sofa and shock Trenton gently by the shoulder, “Trenton, get up.”

Trenton moved a little in his sleep, but didn’t waken.

“Trenton, up!” Clive said louder.

“Mmmmm hhhhmmmm” Trenton mumbled and snuggled deeper into the sofa.

“Trenton!” Clive barked.

“Wah…what?!” Trenton shot awake and then groaned.

“What’s with you this morning? Are you alright, precious?”

“Yeah…ah, no. I don’t feel so good. Kinda…I dunno…ill. And tired.” He yawned. “What’s up?”

“Our guest is up. I was going to ask you to help make breakfast, but if you don’t feel well, you can sleep. Will you be alright on the sofa? Can I get you anything?”

“Oh, yeah! How is he? I’m fine. I just want to catch more Zs,” he said, yawing again. He paused in mid—yawn. “I have the oddest craving for a raw steak.”

“Then we shall have it for breakfast. Just, not raw. Stay here until it’s ready.”

“Naw, I’m ok. I’ll get up.” He reassured Clive’s questioning glances with his own and hopped off the sofa.

“I think we could all use some coffee.” Clive said and preceded to fill Trenton in on the morning events.

Trenton’s eyes got wide. “Wow. Maybe he’s related to Superman or something.”

Clive gave him a “be serious” look and turned back to the steaks. “If he was, which I very much doubt, who could have beaten him up? Something isn’t right here. I could almost swear he was trying to convince me nothing bad had happened.”

“Like mind control or something?”

Clive put the palm of his hand on Trenton’s forehead. “Are you sure you don’t have a fever?”

“Hey! I said I was tired, not delusional.” Trenton quipped.

“Ahem.” Casey cleared his throat. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, a little smile across his face as he watched them. As if he knew, or once knew, of a love past. And he was reminded of it now. “Morning.” They both quickly turned towards him. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

“No. Have a seat. I’ve got steaks cooking, but we can have eggs, toast…cereal?” He made a gesture and Trenton instantly went to get Casey a cup of coffee.

“Cream? Sugar?” Trenton asked as he placed the mug in front of him.

“No, black is good, thanks. I hope I’m not the reason for this special treatment.”

“Usually, no, but my boy here wanted them for breakfast. Who am I to deny him? Especially when he seems a bit off.”

“Clive…”

“I’m serious Trent. It’s not like you to feel so tired.”

“Probably from sleeping on the sofa all night long. Can’t have been comfortable.” Casey said. His Cs were soft, the lingering of a British accent.

Now that he wasn’t so wet or dirty, they could both get a good look at him. He had a slim build, trim, but not thin. He moved with a grace that didn’t completely seem to have anything to do with his muscles. A dancer maybe? His eyes were a dark, but sharp green. They took in everything, always aware of his surroundings. And then his hair, which Clive loved best. It was a deep, rich, red, coming just to his shoulders. Unnatural looking, but Clive knew it wasn’t, from the view he got in the shower this morning. Casey had managed to find a hair tie and pulled it up into a simple ponytail.
Casey reached out and took Trent by the wrist. Clive froze for a second, the Dom in him unsure what he was doing. “His pulse is fine. The iron will help, maybe he’s just a bit anemic.”

Trenton frowned slightly at the contact. His eyes were puzzled and then glanced up into Casey’s eyes. For a brief second he remembered the strange dream he had. But it was just momentary, and then forgotten. Still, the feeling of the memory could not be shaken from him.

Casey let go of Trenton’s wrist. The whole incident had taken only a few seconds. Clive did not miss the interaction. “Everything all right, Trent?” His voice was etched with concern.

“Huh? Yeah. Of course.” Trenton seemed unaware that anything was amiss.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to overstep some boundary.” Casey folded his arms on the table.

“No, that’s quite alright. I’m glad to see that you’ve expressed some concern for Trenton. But we should both be expressing concern for YOU.”

“If you keep paying me this much attention, you’ll burn the steaks.”

“That’s rather sly of you, but you are quite right, Trenton could you start making scrambled eggs and the toast?”

“I could—.” Casey began, getting up.

“No.” Clive ordered. “You’re our guest. Drink your coffee and tell us a little bit about yourself.”

Casey sat down immediately at Clive’s order and picked up his coffee. He thought for a bit, trying to find the best place to start. “Well, I’m 28, and yeah, I know I don’t look it. I dunno, I’ve lived a lot of places, New York, San Francisco, London, Vancouver…exactly where am I?”

“Oh, thought you knew. Metropolis.” Clive said absently.

Casey choked on his coffee. “Excuse me? Is that some kind of joke?”

“No.”

“But Metropolis doesn’t exist. I don’t know of any substantial city name it…’cept in comic books…. Oh dear god. You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Well, no. Metropolis is home to a good many superheroes. Superman, Batman and Robin alike.”

Casey let out a jittery laugh. “Unbelievable. Huh, shit. I don’t fucking believe this. You mean to tell me that I’ve somehow managed to jump dimensions and end up HERE?!”

“Looks like it. How do you you your eggs?” Trenton asked.

“Wait, wait, wait. Aren’t you surprised? Amazed? Confused that this happened?”

“It’s happened before. Bound to happen again.” Clive said, seriously.

“But—but HOW?! I was there and he was beat—” Casey abruptly cut off. “Mmmmhhh. No, uh—ah, not going there. Sorry.” He gave a short wave of a hand. He quickly finished the rest of his coffee.

Clive and Trenton exchanged looks. Clive decided now was not the best time to pry. He gave Trenton a little shake of his head to dissuade him from trying.

There was a awkward silence until Clive and Trenton finished with making breakfast. “Here, eat up. You’ll need your strength.” Clive said, putting a plate full of food in front of Casey.

“Thanks,” Casey said meekly.

“Casey, for what it’s worth, we won’t pry into your life unless you want us to. We’re very open individuals. We didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable Should you bestow upon us what took place before we found you, you have our word we won’t break confidentiality.”

“No, that’s ok. It’s a lot to deal with and I don’t want to dump all my woes onto your plate. So to speak. It’s a lot to take in. I don’t even know what to do after this. I’m relieved,” he said hesitantly, “to find myself here. But really confused. I can’t possibly thank you enough for what you have done, and for what you are doing. You care, I can see that. You don’t eveow mow me and yet, but you do. I do have the damnedest luck. So…where do I begin.”