Don’t Fear The Reaper

Hey guys
This is your humble fic host Alex
I wrote something meaningful here at first and the my computer said FUCK YOU and Word was terminated (it does that offten. Could someone help me out? I hope its not corrupt because I dont have the program disk anymore D:)

anyway so instead of writing all that shit over again
here is the fourth chapter
enjoy!

(btw hit me up guys, Im fucking bored lick_my_magnum@msn.com)

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“What are you doing?” Adrian asked, almost panicking when his aunt pulled up to his school. It was almost twelve and he just came out off the fucking hospital and she intended to put him in school?!
“You’re going to school.”
“B-but, I just—“
“I don’t need you lying around the house and have to keep an eye on you for longer than I need to. Now, come on.”
“Hey, you can’t do that,” he said, his voice raising with anger, and returned his aunt’s glare as she said, “Yes, I can, now get out of the car, I need to sign you in.”
Adrian shook his head furiously, crossing his arms over his chest. Growing fury fueled his words, the emotion strong enough to make him abandon his typically passive nature as he growled, “N-no way in hell. I feel like shi-shit and just lost a lot of damn blood, and I-I got a d-damn migraine, I coul-couldn’t function in school even i-if you forced me to go! Come on, you do-don’t have to keep a-an eye on me, all I want t-to do is sleep!”
“Get out of the car,” Isabelle said in a dangerous voice. Normally Adrian would have been scared into obeying as soon as his aunt used that tone, but he just wasn’t having any of her bull shit right now. He sat back in his seat and looked out the windshield at the parking lot. “Adrian…”
Nothing she could say would make him get out. He was tired of her and her idiocy and selfishness. He’d almost died, for Christ’s sake!
“Listen, you ungrateful prat, get out or I’ll make you get out!”
He didn’t respond. He could tell she was getting more and more angry, be he really didn’t care.
“Get out of the—“
“No, you know what?” Adrian snapped, turning a deadly glare onto his aunt. “Sh-shut the fuck up. You wanna kn-know why I did that bull shit la-last night? It’s c-cause of you. You’re a fucking bitch and you rui-ruined my life wi-with your shit. You fucked everything up, y-you fucked me up, and if you wa-want me gone so b-bad then why didn’t you just le-let me die? If I’m s-such a selfish, undisciplined little ass hole, y-you sh-should have just let me bleed to death! You’re a-a waste of o-oxygen, y-you’re a lazy fucking whore, an-and you don’t give a sh-shit about anyone but yourself. I-in fact, I wish you had ju-just let me die instead o-of having to deal with your bitch ass! I’m so tir-tired of you, tired of you thi-thinking you’re so much better than me j-just ‘cause, in your eyes, I’m just an i-insane liability who came in-into your life and fu-fucked it up!”
His heart beat was racing as he let it all pour out of him, adrenaline pumping through his veins with his aunt just sitting there and staring at him as he continued, “Y-you never did me any favors, you never di-did anything but b-beat the shit out of me for something I cou-couldn’t help because it wasn’t normal, b-because to you I’m some sort of little fuckin’ de-demon child, an unholy p-piece of shit, pure evil, isn’t th-that what you said? Well, y-you know what, fuck you. From ev-everything you put me through I-I’d say that you’re the evil one, beating a li-little kid like y-you did just ‘cause I wa-wasn’t normal! A little kid! Everything wrong wi-with me is your fault, and I h-hope you fucking burn in hell, you cunt!”
Unbuckling himself, he didn’t break eye contact with his aunt and hoped that he was conveying every ounce of hatred he felt for the woman. She stared back at him with a shocked expression, her rage so strong he could almost feel, and revel, in it. “Fuck it, fuck it all, I’m gone, y-you don’t have to deal w-with me any more, I’ll just leave. You happy? You’ll ne-never have to deal with my demonic ass any more, h-how’s that? I fu-fucking hate you, I hate you so much, just be glad I took out all my bull sh-shit angst out on myself instead of o-on you, or you-you’d be a dead bitch by now. I’ll see you in hell.”
Isabelle looked absolutely furious, but before she could say a word Adrian had opened the car door and started walking. She got out of the car soon after and ran up to him but he ignored her and her angry remarks, pulled his arm away when she tried to grab him, and just kept walking in the direction of downtown. He would have run from her, but he couldn’t, he was too weak.
Her screams and yanking hands were lost to him. He was inside his head entirely then, thinking over everything he’d said. They were already off of school grounds so he didn’t really have to worry about any teachers or school cops hearing them and trying to stop him. He would never go back with her.
Finally a violent tug on his hair made him stop walking and reel around to face his aunt, the woman red-faced from shouting, her eyes smoldering with rage. She stopped pulling at him and the stance she assumed then was almost like she was preparing to fight him.
“What?” he snapped, spreading his arms wide. “You wa-wanna hit me? You wanna take all your disappointm-ments from your p-pathetic life out on me, ‘cause you ju-just know that it’s all my fault th-that you didn’t am-amount to shit? That y-you’re just another spec of worthless dust on the earth, a-a little parasite? Well, he-here’s your chance to change all that! Just shut the fuck up, g-go back to your car, and drive off, and a-all your is-issues will be solved! What the fuck do you ca-care if I’m gone, if I live or die, huh? I th-think I’m perfectly capable of living on my own, at least I’m be-better off than living with so-some crazy a-abusive bitch! Go AWAY!”
He turned and took off running. It was hard, but the adrenaline rushing through him gave him the strength he needed. He was a fast runner, even in the state he was in, and his aunt could never beat him. She would have to go back to her car to catch him, but by then he would already be long gone.
Not looking back, he heard her screams grow farther and farther away until he ran across the nearby freeway, almost getting hit twice before he made it to the other side and charging into the woods. He ran until he came to the creek a quarter mile into the woods and stopped, falling to his hands and knees, vomiting water and bile violently onto the ground before him. He threw up until his stomach was completely empty and then simply dry-retched painfully for a good minute or so, saliva frothing and dripping from his lips as he trembled and convulsed. His entire body left in throbbing pain once the convulsions finally stopped, Adrian was left panting, drained and feeling like his head was about to explode. He sat back on his heels, tears streaming down his face, occasional spasms still shaking his body even five minutes after he’d spilled his guts, the occasional spout of foaming spit being forced from his dried mouth and esophagus.
He felt so weak, all the adrenaline gone from his body, leaving him trembling and nauseous. Vaguely Adrian registered that the bandages around his lower left arm were damp, but he didn’t care enough to look. If he had broken the stitching, he didn’t want to know, so he simply ignored the sensation and continued to sit where he was until he finally calmed down long enough for the spasms to leave his body. Then, slowly, he crawled over to the clear, gently rippling water of the creek and plunged his face into the cool liquid, closing his eyes and letting the creek’s soft lapping at his face soothe him. He took a few gulps of the brisk water and then sat back, pushing his damp hair back from his face.
Opening his eyes slowly, Adrian looked down at the surface of the creek and stared at his tired reflection. What was he going to do… He guessed he was officially a runaway; after all, there was no way in hell he intended to go back to Isabelle after all that shit had gone down.
Laughing softly, humorlessly, he thought to himself, Well, at least it was kinda funny to see her reactions…
Every thought of the previous events shattered, however, when goose bumps formed on Adrian’s arms as the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees. His eyes widened as a face joined his in the reflection off the water. Atia was looking down at the creek over Adrian’s shoulder, an emotionless smile on his face.
“Atia…” Adrian mumbled, not looking up, but instead studying the other man’s reflection. “That was you talking to me, last night?”
When he didn’t get an answer Adrian turned and looked up at his haunt, their gazes locking, icy blue to green, and Atia smiled slightly. Anger rushed through Adrian then, fueling the reintroduction of adrenaline into his veins, allowing him the strength to stand and face Atia with rage burning in his eyes. “You fucking ass hole… What the hell did you do that for?! Taste death ? What kind of bull shit is that!” He pushed Atia then, but his eyes widened when his arms went right through him. It was like moving his arms through ice, it was so cold, and he backed away, retrieving his arms quickly. What the fuck?
Atia reached out and Adrian’s rage turned to fear when the other man’s hands wrapped solidly around his arms. Adrian felt like he couldn’t move, like he was paralyzed, as Atia stepped up closer to him to where their noses almost touched. Even though he didn’t move his lips, Adrian still heard that soft, almost sultry voice in his head that he’d heard before as it said, Don’t be mad. It’s just the first step…
A little too stunned to talk for a moment, Adrian stared at Atia, his jaw slightly slack. He got his voice back in just a few seconds, though, and said, “First step? What the hell’s that supposed to mean? First step to what? What are you gonna do to me?”
Atia’s smile grew wider, but it never reached his cold, emotionless eyes. You’ll see.
Adrian was about to say something, but before he could the other man leaned in closer, pushing their lips together, taking Adrian so off-guard that he could only stand there. Atia pulled away, and with one last smile vanished, warmth and sound returning with him gone.
Able to only stand there for several minutes, Adrian continued to stare at where Atia’s face had been moments ago, his mind racing. First step? To what? Was Atia planning to fuck him up even more? He was getting angry again at all the unanswered questions, but at the same time felt an aching in his chest that he wanted to deny being there. His lips still tingled slightly and he closed his eyes, trying to calm himself once again. He needed to go…
But to where?
He had been heading in the direction of downtown. Why? Had he been…
Isaiah.
Without even thinking about it, his feet had been trying to take him to Isaiah’s office. He guessed that would be the best place to go… He didn’t have any friends to run to, after all, and he really needed a place to rest. His legs were aching after running so much in the weak state he was in. And he still didn’t want to take a damage report on his leaking arm.
But, would Isaiah just send him back home?
Maybe he would just have to talk the man out of that option. He couldn’t go home, that was out of the question. And if Isaiah did try to send him back to that bitch he would just run from him too… Mind made up, Adrian stayed by the creek as he started walking again. The little stream went right by downtown, and pretty close to the place Isaiah had been talking about, so he didn’t bother risking walking the freeway in plain view.
An hour of walking later, his legs throbbing with strain and his thoughts hazy with exhaustion, Adrian finally turned right from the creek and hiked up a steep hill until he made it to the sidewalk of Main Street. He was a few more minutes from Isaiah’s office and kept close to the stores lining the street until he reached the little locally-owned coffee shop. He stopped, turned, and looked slowly over at the building across from him. It was a little brick house with a nice green lawn in front, thick gardens of varying flowers close to the house. Closer to the street, next to the private sidewalk of the place, stood a little sign that said Brenton’s Therapist Center, one of the numbers that had been on the card Isaiah had given him beneath the bold lettering.
He sighed with relief. He knew Isaiah probably wouldn’t be there, since he’d seen the man just an hour or so ago, so he turned back to the coffee shop and went inside to wait. He ordered a cup of tea (pressing his bloodied arm to his side to avoid notice) and sat a little ways from the windows, sitting so he could watch the house intently.

***

He woke up when someone shook him gently. Sitting up, startled, he looked around frantically, not knowing where he was for a moment. He didn’t even remember falling asleep. His racing thoughts stopped dead, however, as soon as he looked up into a pair of warm blue eyes.
“Hey, kid, why are you all alone? Aren’t you supposed to be home, getting some rest there? A coffee shop isn’t exactly the best place to pass out…”
Adrian blinked a few times, so caught up in the tranquil oceans of the older man’s irises that he didn’t register what had been said to him for several moments. Snapping out of his dazed fascination after a few seconds of simply staring at the other man, Adrian looked away from Isaiah, shrugging. “I ran away,” he mumbled after a second. He looked up again when Isaiah slid into the seat beside him. Adrian started internally screaming at his heart to slow down as it jumped in excitement when the shrink’s thigh brushed lightly against his. “S-she tried to make me go to school. I-I just… couldn’t take it any-anymore, y-you know?”
“She tried to make you go to school?” Isaiah said, frowning. “Why would she do that?”
“Because… sh-she doesn’t want t-to have to keep a-an eye on me… ‘Cause I’m j-just that much of a lia-liabilty…”
Sighing, Adrian slumped forward, letting his forehead rest against the table and closing his eyes. His heart jumped straight to his throat when he felt a hand on his back and turned his head to look up at Isaiah through the corners of his eyes. The other man looked down at him with a worried expression, his tone just as concerned as he said, “You’re not a liability, Adrian… She’s just a bitch. Don’t concern yourself with anything negative she says about you… She doesn’t know what she had.”
What she had? Did Isaiah… really think… he was worth something?
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I ca-can’t go back, not a-after the things I said, she would beat me sen-senseless… And I cou-couldn’t fight back, it w-would be an insult to m-my mother to hit a woman, even if she’s a-an evil whore…”
Isaiah smiled slightly at that, saying, “You’re a good kid, you know that? Do you have any other relatives to go to?”
“Mum’s dead, dad’s dead, the only fa-family I have is Isabelle and a f-few distant relati-tives… But none of them c-care about me, none of th-them want to be burdened by me. Pl-plus, I don’t know how to contact them… But, Isaiah…” Adrian’s tone turned to a pleading one as he sat up and turned fully to face the other man. “Do-don’t make me go b-back to her, please… You-you don’t know what she’s like, you don’t kn-know what sh-she’ll do to me, but I-I don’t want t-to go to ch-child protective services a-and deal wi-with all that shit…”
Blue eyes softening, Isaiah just looked at Adrian for a little longer before he said, “So, you came here, because you want to stay with me, is that it?”
Adrian stared at the older man for a few moments before, hesitantly, nodding. Fear took hold of him as he waited for Isaiah to respond. The other man just sat back against the fake maroon leather of the booth they sat at and looked like he was thinking it over as he studied Adrian. His piercing stare alone was enough to make Adrian’s palms start to sweat, his nervousness peaking as the shrink’s gaze seemed to see right through him.
“Would you like some coffee?”
No rejection?
Not a yes, but not a no, right?
Relief swept over the younger boy, and the built-up stress deflated, allowing him to relax and let out a soft sigh, his eyelids half-closing. His gaze never left Isaiah, and the man’s reactions had been interesting. Not that Adrian had meant to provoke anything with his actions, but he saw Isaiah’s eyes glance at his lips when he sighed and had barely, almost unnoticeably, leaned in closer to Adrian; something close to fascination had flickered across his expression, but it was gone in less than a quarter of a second, and if Adrian hadn’t been good at observing things (and hadn’t, once again, been staring at the man with abandon) he never would have caught any of that.
Now he was really curious if the man might actually want him, too. The thought made the overactive pumping organ in his chest practically do summersaults against his rib cage. He decided it would be best to not dwell on it at the moment, though, so, giving his empty plastic cup a sideways glance, Adrian nodded and watched Isaiah as the man stood from his seat. The shrink turned to look down at him and said, “You wanna come order it or want me to order it for you?” Without responding, Adrian slid down the booth seat until he could stand as well and walk with Isaiah to the cashier. She looked up at them, her impressive variety of piercings glimmering from the light directly over her and she smiled at them, asking the usual, “How may I help you?”
“I want some French vanilla coffee with whipped cream on top… Lots of whipped cream. What about you, Adrian?”
“Uh, s-same thing, I guess…”
“C’mon, you can be more original than that,” Isaiah said, looking over at the shorter boy with a smile. Adrian looked up at him and couldn’t help but be dumb-struck again by that gorgeous smile. “Um, no, r-really, that sounds good t-to me…” He glanced over at the cashier just in time to catch her looking at the two of them strangely, and his heart jumped for the hundredth time that day as soon as he saw her expression before it was replaced with her smile again. She thought they were together! Like, together! He blushed at the thought and looked away from her before she said, “Coming right up.”
He swore he was going to get a heart attack if that little organ didn’t calm the fuck down.
The two of them made their way back to their seat as they waited for their coffee, Isaiah once again sitting right next to Adrian rather than across from him. Adrian knew that the older man did it only to be comforting, but he wished it was for another reason… And he didn’t even want to dare that the little things he caught Isaiah doing were actually out of desire. That was a loooooong ass stretch, a guy like Isaiah going for him.
“What time is it?” Adrian asked then, looking outside to see the sun hanging low in the west, almost directly above Isaiah’s office. He must have been asleep for a while… He was surprised no one had bothered to wake him up much earlier.
“Almost seven… Been asleep for a while, huh?”
Damn, the man could read his mind! He glanced over at the shrink with a quirked eyebrow and nodded. Just then the girl they’d ordered from called out that their coffee was ready. Isaiah told him to stay there and went and got their drinks, handing Adrian’s to him as soon as he sat back down at the booth.
“Well,” Isaiah said, sipping on his coffee, “I guess… I don’t know. It’s a bad idea, but…”
Adrian looked over at him, surprised, and he felt elated with the hope that filled him then. Was the man… saying he would let him stay with him?! Isaiah looked at him and Adrian grinned slightly, not really thinking about it as he lifted his hand to brush a bit of whipped cream from the other man’s nose with his thumb, licking the sweet stuff from his fingertip. The shrink blinked a few times and Adrian could have sworn that beneath that dark complexion a blush rose to his cheeks. Whether Isaiah had blushed from embarrassment or something else, Adrian’s face instantly felt hot and he looked away, coughing slightly and trying to shove down his wild thoughts.
“Uh, thanks,” Isaiah laughed after a moment. “Um, what was I saying? Oh, yeah, well, you’d have to earn your keep, you know? Man, I must be going insane, just taking you in like this, but there’s something about you… that I feel I can trust. Like I wouldn’t have to worry about you stabbing me in the middle of the night and robbing me.”
“We’re all a little insane, I think,” Adrian said, smiling as he looked up at the older man. “But, you’re r-right, I coul-couldn’t hurt a fly… I-in fact, I actually catch flies and re-release them outside whenever th-they get into my house…”
“Seriously?”
“No lie.”
“Damn,” Isaiah whistled, Adrian laughing at his expression. “You’re just a hard-core tree hugger, huh?”
“Minus the p-pot smoking, yeah, p-pretty much…”
Isaiah shrugged slightly, sticking a finger in his whipped cream. Adrian couldn’t help but stare as the other man stuck his finger in his mouth and licked the whipped cream off. He must have had an odd look on his face because Isaiah glanced over at him and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before saying, “You okay?”
Working hard to fight down another blush and keep his expression straight, Adrian nodded and said, “Yeah, why?”
“You just looked… Uh, never mind, but anyway… My opinion, pot really isn’t all that bad…” Isaiah grinned at Adrian’s shocked expression when he said that and continued, “What? It’s not. Yeah, yeah, I know I’m a therapist and I’m not supposed to say shit like that, but we’re roomies now, right? We can be open with each other. I mean, I don’t smoke any more, naturally, but honestly it’s not that bad… Better than alcohol, that’s for damn sure. And way better, and better for you, than any other drug. Hell, at least weed does something to help people…”
Adrian stared at him for a good moment, his mouth slightly open. Out of all the things he would expect the man to say, it certainly wasn’t all that! Isaiah started laughing then and said, “What? Oh, come on, it’s not that shocking…”
“Yeah, it is, actually…”
The older man just laughed harder and Adrian grinned a little. He realized then that he’d never felt more content or happier in his life than he did with Isaiah, just sitting next to and talking to this man he barely knew like they were long-time friends… He felt… good. Something about the shrink could always make him feel good.
“Don’t get me wrong,” the shrink said, smiling. “Don’t think you can turn my place into a drug house just ‘cause I have nothing against it… You better go up to the attic if you wanna do that shit; don’t want my house reeking… I get company pretty often and I wouldn’t want to have to explain myself.”
“Oh, d-don’t worry,” Adrian replied, shaking his head. “I’ve ne-never even smoked a ci-cigarette… Granted, I-I’m sure I would be a huge dr-drugee by now if I had friends t-to do it with. But, uh, u-unfortunately, I d-don’t.”
“I still don’t get that, you know,” Isaiah said, frowning slightly. “Really, no friends at all? But you’re pretty cool, I would think you’d have plenty of friends…”
Shrugging, Adrian took a gulp of his coffee, licking away some of the whipped cream that got onto his upper lip. “Dunno. Got p-plenty of acqu-quaintances… Just, n-no real friends… I’ve tr-tried to figure i-it out m-myself… Maybe it’s ‘cause o-of the st-stutter…”
“Nah, it’s not that bad, trust me. I’ve heard far worse… Oh well. Screw those guys, you got a friend now, right?”
Looking up at the other man, Adrian looked at him for a moment before saying, “Yeah, I do…”

~!~

Suijin
D: Save some story for the others!
...
you can munch away as much as you want on OTHER stories though (if you persuade me to post em up XP)

anyway I am glad you enjoy my stuffs so far
heres a napkin

Cherry Starburst
I noes. I hate bitches. They screw up my groove.
And you know what happens to people when they mess up the emporors groove. D:(

Marajohuiki
Honesty is always nice. That's cool, though, I'm glad I got you hooked. ; )

Mm… Sexy ghosts… things… Whatever the fuck he is, right? ><

And yes
I think stutters are so cute. XD

btw YES much much more to the nurse
he's fun. *nod*

monkeyshines
Dude I'm telling you, Atia's got one fucked-up way to try to romance a guy. @-@
But maybe Adrian's into that kind of thing. ; D
And NO
No descriptions for you!
You guess EVERYTHING
for all you know Isaiah could be a FAT ASS
a hot fat ass
but still a FAT ASS