Description: No longer able to stand how his family treats him Faelan runs away from home. After a few weeks of travel he finds an abandoned cabin in the woods and decides to make it his temporary home. One day in early winter he finds another boy lying in the snow. Not wanting anything to happen to him Faelan decides to take him home.

Taurean a young prince runs away from home to prove to his brother that he can take care of himself. He ends up getting into a bit of trouble and is rescued by another boy named Faelan. After spending months with the other boy Taurean finds himself falling in love with him and realizes what it feels like to truly worry about someone especially when that someone's life ends up in danger.

Faelan decided to leave his home. Well he hadn't considered it his home since his father had died over ten years ago. His mother had died shortly after he was born so the first five years of his life it had just been him and his father. With his mother having died when he was just little his father did everything. All of the work inside and outside of their home. When he got old enough to realize how tired his father was every night Faelan only thought it fair that he start to help. So Faelan took it upon himself to do the chores inside the home.

There lives were simply but they were happy. Then his uncle from his mother's side died. Leaving behind a wife and a young daughter. So his aunt and her daughter came to live with them. This had been the first time that Faelan had met either of them as his mother's family wasn't happy of her decision to marry his father but despite this his father willingly took the two of them into their home.

Little Faelan wasn't sure what to make of either of them. His aunt was always telling him things like that he didn't act as a little boy should and that he shouldn't work inside the home and it was even worse that he enjoyed it. Then there was her little girl, Christine, who cried a lot. She would always break something and then blame in on Faelan and his aunt always took her daughter's side. Then she would tell him to go outside and wouldn't let him in until near dinner.

Faelan never mentioned this to his father as for some reason he seemed to believe that Faelan needed to have a 'motherly' influence. They lived like this for a year when one day while traveling his father was attacked and killed by a group of bandits.

That's when his aunt went from a sort of caring woman to completely cruel. The day that they had buried his father they came back to the house and she moved him into the stable. He was just six years old at the time and asked her why. He got a slap across the face for an answer. He learned very quickly not to question his aunt.

Things steadily grew worse from there. His aunt treated him no better than the dirt under her feet except she expected him to do things to earn his keep. He had a long list of chores that he had to do everyday. Not the chores inside the house as he wasn't good enough to live in there and he needed to learn to be a 'boy'. The inside of the house was now taken care of by a young maid.

To teach him how to be a man his aunt decided to make him do all of the outside work his father once did and more. This included mucking out the stables, taking care of the garden, the basic up keep of the house, and anything else his aunt decided that needed to be done. He worked from sun up till sun down and if he was really lucky he would get the leftovers from dinner for his meal usually though he was left to fend for himself.

When Faelan had just turned ten his life got even more complicated when his aunt married a big beefy, Brendon, man who had a son had a soon name Brandon that didn't look much different than his father just younger. They even treated him worse than she did. As her new husband also agreed that Faelan wasn't manly enough and Brandon his new step-cousin was only too happy to teach him how a man should act.

He was planning on leaving when he became of age but the one night he had done something that angered his aunt; he wasn't even sure what it was. His uncle ended up whipping him for it. That had been the finally straw.

No longer able to stand it he waited for his perfect opportunity to leave. One day his entire family including the lone maid left for the oldest prince's coronation. They would be gone for three days. The dust had barely cleared from the road and he was walking towards the stables so he could pack the few belongings he had.

"I can't stay here anymore. I've just turned sixteen and that means another five years before I come of age and can legally leave," he told Aed. Aed was a horse that was brownish-red in color. He was the last present that his father had given him. The horse turned his head to look at him.

"Not only do they say I'm not manly enough…" he said as he looked in the small broken mirror that he found in the trash. He still didn't, after all these years, understand what they meant when they said that he wasn't manly enough.

Sure he wasn't tall as he was the same height as his cousin Christine; the maid being taller than both of them. He was also slim but that didn't mean that he wasn't strong. Sure he wasn't as strong as his step-cousin but he was faster. He had out run the slightly older boy many times. He thought that maybe it was because of his looks.

His hair was such a dark black color that it looked blue. So it wouldn't get in his way he kept cut short with a knife and it came shaggily to his ears. He didn't think that made him look like a girl. He had large amber colored eyes and he guessed that they looked a little girly. Faelan studied himself further in the mirror. He had high cheek and his nose was rather small. His skin on the other hand was the color of the dirt from spending so much time outdoors and no lady would ever want a tan as it would show that she had to work for a living. Not only that but his hands were covered in calluses from all of his years of hard labor.

"That's not even the worst of it. I can't take anymore beatings," Faelan said with a half sob. He couldn't understand why his family treated him the way they did. Aed gently butted his shoulder as if trying to comfort him.

"Thank you Aed. At least I know somebody cares about me," Faelan said as he wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt. He then went back to his packing. He was only taking what he thought he might needed and things he was sure the others wouldn't notice if they had gone missing.

In the end he took the knife his father had given him, his mother's sapphire necklace, a blanket, an extra set of clothes, two loaves of bread, a hunk of cheese, a water flask, the broken mirror and some seeds for planting vegetables. Faelan figured he could sell these or if he was actually able to find a home he figured he could plant them.

"I guess that's everything," Faelan said as he stood up and swung the pack on his back. He winced as it hit his still sensitive skin. It wasn't the first whipping he had but it had been the worst.

"I wish I could take you with me," Faelan said as he wrapped his arms around the horse's neck, "but if I do they'll send the watch after me for being a horse thief." Aed neighed as if saying he understood.

Not wanting to get caught walking on the main road Faelan decided that he would walk through the woods. He traveled for a little over two weeks when he met a sight that made him smile. There was an old run down cabin with a small shed next to it. Even from this distance he could tell that it had seen better days. There was a hole in the roof of the cabin and the door was hanging off its hinges. The shed was basically a pile of lumber that looked as if it would topple over with a strong gust of wind.

Wondering how bad the inside of the cabin looked compared to the outside Faelan cautiously walked inside. The interior of the cabin was only slightly better. It was only one room and not that big. He decided that whoever had lived here previously must have left in a hurry as they left everything behind.

Not that the person had a lot to leave behind. There was bed in one corner and a small table with a broken chair but it did have a fire place. Everything was covered in dust and leaves covered the floor so he figured who had ever lived here before wouldn't be coming back.

Next Faelan decided that he would see if the shed held anything of value. He cautiously peaked inside and smiled at what he saw. There was a shovel, a hoe, a lantern, fishing pole, an axe, and many other useful things.

"I think this place might do," Faelan said as he set his pack down inside the cabin. He decided though that he had better explore the area. If the place didn't have a water source near by it really wouldn't do him any good.

Sure enough not even a ten minute walk away from the cabin was a small lake. The young boy walked back to the cabin with a smile on his face. He could make a go of it here. He knew that he wasn't very far from his family but they never went into the woods for anything. They were above that or so they believed. Everything they needed they bought from town. They didn't even bake their own bread.

Faelan figured that he would stay here at least through the winter. It was still several months off but that gave him plenty of time to fix the place up and plant a garden. Hopefully by next summer his family will have forgotten about him and the he could decide what to do.

The boy spent the next month fixing the place up and planting his garden. He was also happy to discovery other usefully things in the cabin. There was a small cupboard that held useful household things likes a cooking pot, eating utensils, and even some cloth.

By the time that autumn had come around Faelan was living quite happily in his little cabin. His garden had grown nicely, he wasn't half bad at fishing, and he was even able to catch small game by setting traps. It was a little lonely at times though as he hadn't seen a single person since he had run away from his home but it was far better than still being there. There was no one screaming at him and if he messed up he didn't have to worry about getting a beating.

Faelan's life stayed the same until shortly after the first snowfall. He was coming back from checking some of his traps disappointed. He hadn't caught a rabbit in over two weeks and he didn't have the tools he needed to catch anything bigger. He was just about back when he saw someone laying face down in the snow.

He stopped in his tracks. The person hadn't been there when he had left. Cautiously Faelan made his way over to the fallen stranger and knelt down next to them. On closer exception he saw that it is another boy around his age. The boy really wasn't dressed for the winter weather and under his hat Faelan could see a trickle of red. He looked at the ground and saw that it was covered in hoof prints. He figured that something must have spooked the horse and in doing so thrown its rider.

Not wanting anything to happen to the other boy Faelan, gently as he could, picked the other boy up and threw him over his shoulder. It is a little difficult as the other boy was several inches taller but from a lifetime of hard labor Faelan was strong.

Once inside his cabin Faelan dumped the other boy on his bed and set to work. Not wanting whoever it was to get sick Faelan began to taking off the other boy's sopping wet clothes. Faelan felt himself began to blush after he finished his task.

The other boy was all muscle but his skin was so much paler than his own. His hair was also a light brown color and came down to past his shoulder blades. Much like himself the other boy's facial features were delicate. High cheek bones, smaller nose, small pink lips.

Again Faelan felt himself blush. This was the first time that he ever felt himself attracted to anyone. Christine was always falling in and out of love at least five times a month. And Brandon always had a flock of girls surrounding him. Faelan would be worried that he was attracted to another boy instead of girls but one of his step-cousins friends liked boys instead and his friends didn't seem to care in the least. In fact they had even set him up a few times. He had gotten an interesting education living in the stables.

With a sigh Faelan covered the other boy up with a blanket so he wouldn't get a chill and then began to clean the small cut on his forehead. The whole time he kept wondering what color eyes the other boy had.

AN: I know another story from me and it isn't one from my poll but it came to me and I couldn't stop writing it. The chapter is kind of short (think of it more as a teaser) but I would like to hear what you all think. Depending on the reviews I get I might update more than once a week. Also I plan on making this a series as there are lots of other couples or potential couples I could write about. Again please tell me what you think. And cookies for the person that guess the meaning of the title. Thanks for reading!