"I-it's me?!" the blonde boy stuttered wanting a confirmation, while his eyes got wide open.

Darryl felt his heart racing, his palms getting sweaty, and his face heating up. He never felt so lost in somebody's words and eyes.

The two didn't move an inch, both unable to look away from each other.

"It is." Zak confirmed, giving him the most sweet and heartwarming smile the blonde boy ever saw.

Butterflies started to agitate in his stomach. He hugged him softly.

"Thank you." he whispered, feeling Zak's arms wrapping around his torso.

"For what?" asked, his voice muffled by the taller boy's hoodie.

"I don't know exactly, but still, thank you..." murmured, softly tightening the hug.

"You're welcome, I guess." sweetly replied, closing his eyes, enjoying the hug.

Zak always been touch deprived by his own choice. Being touched was a nightmare for him. He would get anxious and sick, for some reason.
Somehow, Darryl was the only one able to touch him without causing him problems. His careful and soft, casual touching made him feel good.

After a bunch of conformable seconds, Darryl broke the hug and smiled at the short boy.

"Let's go take your stuff so you can get some rest, okay?"

The taxi was completely silent, the muffled car engine was the only audible background noise.
Darryl was lost in his thoughts while watching out of the window, and Zak was anxiously fidgeting with the string of the blonde boy's hoodie and jacket he was still wearing.
Without stopping, he said something in a incomprehensible murmur, catching Darryl's attention.

"Mh? What was that?" asked the older boy after turning his head in his direction.

"Uh?" Zak hummed in reply, imitating his movement.

"You said something but I didn't quite catch it." explained, smiling softly in a desperate attempt to cover up his concern.

Zak seemed to panic for some second, probably realizing only then he said one of his thoughts out loud.

"Uh, it's nothing, don't worry about it." murmured, uncomfortably looking back at the string.

"Zak, please... Is it about school? Or the baseball team?" questioned concerned, arching his eyebrows.

"It's... stupid, really. Forget it." replied, aggressively fidgeting with the string.

Darryl leaned one hand on his shoulder, and tilted his head to the side as soon as the short boy glanced at him.

"Ugh, it's just... I feel like our relationship is going way too flawless, y'know?" explained looking away from him, furrowing his eyebrows. "I always end up messing everything up, and... I really don't want to this time."

The blonde boy stared at Zak, caught off guard by his words.

"It won't happen-" tried to reassure, getting immediately cutted off by the short boy.

"It will, Darryl. It's a fact. I know myself." blurted out, letting his hands fall on his legs with an exhausted sigh.

"Zak, please." the black haired boy looked back at him. "Nothing bad will happen, I promise." reassured Darryl, smiling softly at him.

With another long and deep sigh, he nodded, giving in with a small forced smile.
The car stopped right after, dangerously increasing Zak's anxiety.

"Oh, here we are." exclaimed the blonde boy, opening the door on his side and hopping off, carefully slamming it close.

Zak's door got opened by Darryl a few second after he got off, and lowering at the car height, he looked inside.

"Are you okay, lil' muffin?" asked, looking at him with a reassuring small smile.

Nodding anxiously, he got out of the car murmuring a 'thank you' along Darryl's voice, then closed the door and watched the taxi drive away.

Zak's gut started aching more and more, but he still forced himself to turn toward his now old home, letting his anxiety slowly swallow him.

"Come on, let's go. I want you to get some rest as soon as possible!" Darryl exclaimed, starting to walk in the front door direction.

The short boy silently followed him right behind, while the air got way too thicker for his lungs, making him struggle at every breath.

'Fuck...'

He stopped right outside the entrance of the house and Darryl, not noticing, opened the door with the keys Callahan gave him.

The short boy's mind got invaded by memories of what happened just a few hours before, each one of them kept flashing before is eyes, making him flinch.

"Darryl..." murmured bringing a hand on his mouth, feeling sicker at every second passing.

The taller boy looked behind him as soon as he spoke up, and walked back to Zak with the usual worried expression.

"Are you okay?" asked anxiously checking on him, leaning one hand on his shoulder.

The back haired boy shook his head, watching terrified the entrance of the house just a few feet from him.

"Do you want me to take the stuff for you?" Darryl asked, caressing his shoulder.

Another shake of head came in response, making the older boy even more anxious.

'Oh my goodness, what should I do? I'm such a mess with th-' a hand reached his, cutting off Darryl's bad thoughts.

"Now, I can do it." quietly stated the short boy, softly tightening the grab.

"Are you sure, little muffin?" questioned concerned about his conditions, caressing his hand with his thumb.

Zak nodded, letting himself lead into the house by Darryl, who didn't let go his hand, slowly retaking control over his breathing. Still, his mind got through that morning events again, causing him to shiver.

The two boys entered the bedroom who was a complete mess. Shards of glass were everywhere on the ground with some blood stains, and some of Zak's books feel off the shelf.

"Oh my goodness." Darryl murmured to himself, glancing at the short boy.

He looked oddly calm.
Could it be the calm before the storm?
The blonde boy hoped with all himself it wasn't, his heart couldn't bear another breakdown from him.
Everytime he saw Zak like that, something inside of him slowly cracked up.

The raven haired boy let go his hand and approached the dresser, opening it and throwing a sports bag on the bed. He silently stuffed it with a few clothes and underwear, then looked up at Darryl.

"Uhm, if you don't mind... I'd like to change mt clothes since, y'know..." murmured, watching down at his hoodie while indicating the dry blood stains.

"Oh, right. Sure! Sorry about that." replied, getting out of the room with a flustered smile.

Right after he closed the door, Zak dashed towards the small desk, and pushing away the chair, he got under it.

"Finally." murmured, detaching a small box from in the between of the wall and the table.

Carefully opening it, he took out a familiar transparent orange cylindrical container and opened it.
Shaking it, he slid on the palm of his and some of the content, and without really caring about how many of them were on his hand, he brought it against is mouth, swallowing.

"Zak? Is everything okay?" asked a muffled voice from the other side of the door.

"Yes! Just a minute!" anxiously replied, getting out from the bottom of the desk and hiding the box inside the bag.

Hurrying up, he changed 'his' hoodie and jeans with new ones, throwing the dirty ones on the bed.
About to go open the door, his eyes landed on Darryl's jacket on the bed with the other clothes, yielding to temptation, he grabbed it and wore it again.

"Sorry for the wait." murmured Zak after opening the door, a little flustered.

The embarrassment got even worse as Darryl's eyes lowered on Zak torso, realizing what he was wearing.
The blonde boy face almost went red, but somehow managed to hide it.

"Uhm, so, what's missing?" Darryl asked, stumbling on his own words.

"Nothing much. Just my computer and my bat." he replied, approaching the desk again, and pulling out from behind it a small laptop.

Noticing the confusion on Darryl's face while putting it in the bag, Zak sighed.

"He used to break everything I owned, so I had to hide it. That's why I dont have much to take." he patiently explained, shrugging. "Oh, right! I almost forgot..." murmured, carefully laying on the ground and reaching something under the bed.

"Zak, be careful." Darryl warned, leaning towards him.

"Don't worry," reassured the short boy, getting back up and cleaning the phone full of dust he was holding on the hoodie. "just had to take thi- holy shit." swore after seeing all the notifications on the block screen.

"Language, you muffin. What's up?"

"Dave is gonna kill me." replied, looking at the taller boy. "Thirteen missed calls and twenty four unread messages. Oh, let me quote his last message: «If you don't answer right fucking now, fourteen are the kicks in the ass you're going to get as soon I'll catch you around.» Nice." sarcastically exclaimed, sighing.

'It'd be nice if one of these were from Vincent, actually...'

"Oh, poor muffin. I'm sure he'll understand."

"Yeah, I hope so." murmured, tucking his phone away in his jeans pocket, grabbing the sports bag and exiting the room. "Let's go, I wanna get out from here and never come back."

Half an hour later, after stopping by a Chick-fil-A to eat something, the two boys entered school.
Luckily, everyone had lesson, so no one was around.

"I don't even want to see her, what makes you think I want to talk to her!" blurted out the short boy while going upstairs sided by Darryl, furrowing his eyebrows into a angry expression.

"I know you don't, but if you want to stay here, you have to." pointed out the blonde boy, looking at him.

"Ugh, whatever, there's nothing I can do about it anyway..." murmured stopping in front of the Principal office's door.

"I'll wait here, okay?" Darryl reassured, smiling at him.

Zak nodded and leaned his hand on the knob, opening the door as it wasn't a big deal, but inside he was already panicking.

Showing his emotions and anxieties to Darryl was getting way too much for him, he felt exposed. So, restarting to pretend as he did with everyone, was the best solution.

He closed the door without looking behind, and glanced at the middle-aged woman sitting on his chair as usual.

"Good afternoon." forced himself to kindly say, approaching her.

"Carder, sit down please." she harshly request, giving him an annoyed glance.

'I'd rather be buried alive.' Zak thought, sitting down against his will.

"I talked with your lawyer about your situation, so..." the red haired woman leaned forward, joining her hands together. "You're staying, aren't you?"

"Yes." replied in a questioning tone, with a pinch of panic in his voice.

"Perfect." a grin formed on is lips. "Here's your keys."

The principal hold out her hand toward Zak, with the key in the between of her thumb and index finger.
The movement made the key tingle at the impact with the small plate where the dorm number was written on.

'What's with that stupid ass grin?' suspiciously asked himself, frowning.

As soon as the Junior reached for the clef, the woman purposely snatched it back into the palm of her hand, widening her grin at Zak reaction, who looked at her almost snapping despite the desperate attempt to repress the increasing anger.

"Eighty percent as average by the end of the first semester or you're out of your beloved baseball team, Carder. Remember." reminded, spinning the key on his index finger.

"What?! It was seventy!" Zak snapped, abruptly getting up from his seat.

"Now that one of the main problem is gone, it should be way easier for you." teased, tilting her head to the side while laying the key on the desk and then sliding it towards him.

The short boy opened his mouth about to talk back, but somehow managed to hold himself back.
He simply grabbed the key, leaving the office with a muttered goodbye.

"Have a nice evening, Carder."

Slamming the door behind him, Zak was welcomed with a soft smile from Darryl, that quickly faded away in the worried expression he started to hate.

"What happened?" asked the tall boy, confused.

The black haired boy stayed silent for a moment, taking a deep breath trying to decrease his anger before answering.
He didn't want to snap against Darryl when he had nothing to do with what the principal said.

"Nothing, she's just the same heartless bitch as before." murmured, leaning against the wall.

"Language," reminded once again the taller boy, sighing right after. "what did she say exactly?" insisted, laying his shoulder against the wall beside Zak.

"The grades average thingy is back, and guess what? She doesn't want a seventy anymore, but a fucking eighty! The maximum I ever reached is fifty-nine, how am I supposed to get a eighty?!" ranted the short boy swinging his arms as he explained.

"Aw, poor muffin. I'll help you out, okay? You're going to reach that percentage," said, moving away from the wall and standing in front of him. "I promise."

Zak lifted his head up so he could meet his emerald eyes, and just by looking at them and then at his smile, he already calmed down.

"Thank you so much." murmured, giving him a small smile.

"Now let's go to your dorm, you absolutely need some rest!" exclaimed, pointing his index finger in the air. "What's the number on the key?" asked, trying to see it in the between of the short boy's fingers.

"Oh, right, it's..." he opened his hand, widening his eyes. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" shouted, watching the key in disbelief. "I'm gonna kill that stupid bi-"

"Zak, language!" the blonde boy cutted him off, confused by his reaction. "What's the problem?"

"She gave me the dorm number fourteen! Fourteen!" spelled, indicating the hand where the key was in.

"I- I don't understand?" Darryl admitted, even more confused than before.

"It's my squad number! She really wants me to suffer." murmured tight-lipped, sighing exhausted.

"Oh, poor little muffin."

Darryl's tone got sadder as well as his expression, for some reason.

"Uh? What's up?" asked the short boy, noticing the change in his voice.

"Oh, nothing." tried to reassure, stumbling on the only word pronounced.

"Wow. You really are the worst liar in the world." Zak murmured, crossing this arms. "C'mon, spit it out."

"Agh, I... well, your dorm is in the opposite side of the building compared to where mine is." explained embarrassed, fidgeting with his hands.

"Oh, don't worry, it's not that big of a deal. What's the problem?" shrugged, starting to walk away. "C'mon, let's go."

The blonde stared at him walking away for some seconds before silently catching up with him.

'I wish you were right. I wish it isn't that big of deal, Zak.'

Darryl understood all those indecipherable feelings he felt when he was around Zak that morning.
He wish he didn't.
It was too soon.

So close, yet so far.

He could touch his soft and small hands,

but not his heart.

[unedited, 2530 words.]