Hold Me

Hello! Newbie author to AFF.net here! I posted this story on a forum and got good reviews so I hope it's of good enough quality to post here ^^; It's M/M yaoi, don't like it don't read it. There is torture and sex involved, but both of those appear in later chapters. I apologize for the fact that the chapters are short, but I promise to update frequently!
Please enjoy! *bows*

Black rain pounded endlessly onto a street that would otherwise have been considered brightly lit. However, the vast quantity of rain had caused the brilliant lights to turn into dull glows. Everything else was painted black, and was devoid of most people. Only the occasional traveler dashing towards safety from the rain. One boy huddled in the protection of a doorway, shivering slightly and rubbing his bare arms to attempt to return feeling to them. He glanced out, but found that he couldn’t see anything past the curtain of rain. When he sighed, he could see his breath in the black air. It didn’t look like the rain would let up any time soon. A shiver ran through the boy’s slight frame again and he began coughing. When the fit subsided, he tucked himself into a ball, pulling his knees under his chin and trapping his arms between his legs and the rest of his body. It was warmer than his previous position, but more uncomfortable. He grit his teeth and forced himself to bear it, until his next fit of coughing shook him from it.

He gazed miserably at the door beside him. He was certain that the family within was warm and happy, completely oblivious to the person suffering right outside their door. The thought angered him unreasonably, and he prayed that the rain would let up soon so that he could just get away. However, it seemed that he had angered God somehow, for the rain continued to pour down from angry skies. After his third fit of coughing, he gave up trying to keep himself curled up. Perhaps it would be better to just let himself go this way. It would certainly be easier. With nowhere else to go, perhaps this truly was a sign that the best choice for him was death. Stretching out, spitefully wanting to inconvenience the occupants, the boy let his mind drift and slowly slipped into a world of black oblivion.

When he started to come back to consciousness, the first thing he noticed was the needle-like pain that ran through his body. At first, he wondered worriedly if he had frost-bite. It certainly was cold enough. Cold...? No, he was definitely no longer cold. He was quite warm, to the point that his body ached with the warmth. That was what was causing this pain. He supposed the rain must have stopped, because he couldn’t hear it anymore. There was only a light crackling sound. He frowned again, unsure of what was going on. Slowly, he forced his eyes open only to find himself staring out at a brightly lit room with a fire crackling in a fireplace. The room was nicely furnished, not overdone, but definitely did not belong to a poor person. The boy found himself tightly wrapped in warm blankets on top of the large couch in front of the fireplace. It had probably been moved closer than its usual position, simply because it seemed so out-of-place with its surroundings.

“You’re awake.” A simple statement, but it instantly put him on edge. Feverishly, he searched the room until his eyes settled on a man just inside the doorway to the room. In his hands was a tray from which wafted wonderful smells of food, something the boy hadn’t had in quite a while. However, the thing that drew his attention most was the man’s deep soulful violet eyes. He had never seen eyes of such a shade. They were beautiful. “Are you all right? Do you have a fever?” With a start, the boy realized that while he had been lost in his daydreams, the man had made it all of the way from the entranceway to the couch, and now knelt on the ground next to the boy. The silver cross around the man’s neck caught the light from the fire and broke it into many different yellow and orange shades that danced across its uneven surface. The man set the tray down and gently laid a tanned hand across the boy’s forehead, bringing his other hand up to his own forehead to compare the temperatures. “It seems that you have a bit of a fever,” the man decided at last. “However, first we need to get some food into you. If you can stomach it, I’ll get you some medicine,” he stated.

“Who...?” the boy asked in a weak and cracking voice. Vaguely, he wondered when was the last time he had spoken. The man looked surprised for a moment, and then smiled gently at the boy in a manner he had never seen before.

“My name’s Alexander Harvest, but I prefer Alex,” the man introduced himself. The boy opened his mouth, but Alexander laid a gentle finger on his lips to silence him. “Drink first,” he ordered, lifting a glass of water and placing the straw in it at the boy’s lips. The boy obediently turned towards it and greedily took in the water, only to be shaken by another fit of coughing. “Easy! Don’t drink it too fast, it’s not like it’s going anywhere,” Alex said gently, an amused quirk to his lips. The boy glared back at the man, but was too thirsty to complain. Alex put a hand behind his head to help lift him up a bit to ease the water going down, and this time the boy was certain to drink slower so that he didn’t embarrass himself again. “Are you feeling any better?” Alex asked gently. The boy scowled. Did this man honestly think that he’d recover that quickly? “Are you up to eating? Or would you rather sleep some more?”

The boy paused, pondering these options. “Food,” he managed to croak out at last. Alex smiled, and lifted a steaming bowl of soup. Spooning out some, he blew gently on it to cool it, and then held it out to the boy who blushed and opened his mouth to be fed. They managed to get through half of the bowl before the boy finally slipped back into sleep.

Alex sighed and brushed curled locks from the boy’s face, “I forgot to ask your name.”