Just a short little piece I wrote on a sudden inspiration, most of it done during a particularly boring media studies class. This is a section out of Val and Ozul's relationship set before they fell in love.

Val, as always, belongs to my good friend Nami (VietNami on FictionPress).

Warning: Hints of male/male romance. Don't like? Please avoid.

Val did not take kindly to his reading being interrupted, so when his dorm room door was slammed open in the middle of an otherwise quiet afternoon, he was understandably irritated. He looked up to snap out a comment about knocking and the merits thereof, only to have it die on his tongue when he spotted Ozul. Not that he considered the half-gargoyle immune to a tongue lashing--on the contrary--but because this wasn't just him being his usual noisy self; something was wrong. Val was on his feet instantly.

The first thing that struck him was that the usually overly cheerful and energetic Ozul was crying. Thick tears were streaking down his face, speckling his shirt with water. The second thing was a wave of emotion so strong that Val almost gagged, forcing him to quickly throw up barriers against its intensity.

The third thing that struck him was Ozul--literally. As soon as the half-gargoyle's unfocused gaze settled on him, he gave a helpless cry and stumbled right into him, curling his arms up against Val's chest and burying his face in his collar. Val's arms automatically wrapped around his shoulders as he tried to sort through just what Ozul was feeling.

There was pain, undeniably the strongest and most prominent; Val did his best to stay away from it because the taste of it was making him sick. Laced through it were confusion, fear, and something else that he couldn't entirely place, though he could tell that it didn't quite fit with the others. The boy's mind was in chaos, throwing out disjointed words and phrases: everyone dead and finished this already and this isn't now and past and gone and then a steady stream of stay with Val, stay with Val, Val can make it better. And then with a sudden clarity Val understood just what emotion it was that he'd been missing.

It was love.

Flowing through all the anguish and the turmoil of the half-gargoyle's mind was a deep undercurrent of caring. The incubus was staggered by the strength of it. How could one mind feel so much pain and still hold on to that much love without shattering?

Or maybe his mind has already shattered...

He felt so fragile...

Ozul being fragile just wasn't supposed to happen.

Val tightened his grip on the boy. "Ozul, what's wrong? This isn't like you... you're scaring me, dude."

Whatever control had been holding Ozul together disintegrated at the sound of his voice. He shuddered painfully as sobs wracked his body, babbling incoherently into Val's collar. Val cursed inwardly and threw up another emotional barrier. Why did the boy have to feel everything so intensely?

"I'm trapped, Val, I'm trapped," Ozul whimpered, "I'm trapped in the wrong time, surrounded by--surrounded--the can't be real, they're all dead, I know they're dead, they died hundreds of years ago, but they're walking around the school, the school I left hundreds of years ago, I'm trapped in the past and this can't be real!"

"Shh, it's okay, Ozul, it's okay--"

"No!" Ozul cried, the scream tearing at his throat. His sobs slowed, but he began trembling violently, as if from cold. "No, it's not, it's not okay, it can't be okay, because they're all dead and I know that and it hurts! But they don't know it, they can't, because this is the past and to them they haven't died yet, but to me they have and how can I act like everything's okay when everything I see is painful?!"

"What about me? Ozul, look at me," Val ordered, gently tilting his head back. Ozul's eyes met his blearily; they were shimmering with tears, glowing and slit-pupiled, which only happened when he was on the verge of losing control. Val would have to tread carefully. It wasn't every day you had to pull someone back from the bring of insanity, but something was telling him this would work; that steady stream of stay with Val hadn't quite left Ozul's mind yet.

"No," Ozul breathed, shuddering, "No... you're still here... you're always here..." At last, he calmed, still clinging to him tightly but no longer sobbing or shaking. Val could sense in his mind the powerful need to be comforted by familiarity--to have something to hold on to in the midst of his confusion. He wasn't sure yet what was going on, but he could still provide that.

"I'll still be here, Ozul," he soothed, hands settling comfortingly on his shoulders. Ozul let out a soft sigh, nodding faintly.

"I know... Val," he whispered, "Thank you... I love you..."

Val couldn't stop himself from biting his lip as he reflexively tightened his grip on Ozul. He wasn't in his right mind... he just needed someone to take care of him until he returned to his senses.

Still, standing in the middle of the room holding the boy who had come closest to entering his heart, he couldn't stop the words from echoing in his mind.

I love you...

If only they could be trusted.