It had taken more than twenty minutes for the young detective to calm his shaking self and collect his wildly running mind as he tried his best to regulate his breathing and bring himself back from the unannounced anxiety attack. DJ sat there in the water, soaking his clothes and boots, while he gathered his wits from the earlier outburst of emotions.  

It had always been tiresome for the boy to cater his mind while he trembled in panic. But, once he successfully achieves the stage, it becomes more than draining when the peak of the attacks starts to shrivel and seep out of his system leaving the boy all sweaty and exhausted to the eyes of his witness.

In his current case, Lord Yael.

The lord, who had been sitting on a higher rock a little away from the old Alberto, watched every single movement of the disguised man like a hawk. Maintaining a reasonable distance, he fixated his curious yet cautious eyes on the small man and devoted his undivided attention for anything that was to harm his rescuer in any way.

The subtle rise and fall of the breathing pattern of the small being, who was hunched over his knees and was throwing incoherent words that were un-understandable, was the only surety that Alberto was okay or was going to be okay.

But that was also enough for Yael to wonder if the man, who had rescued him from an underground cell that belonged to the most dangerous man known in Malia, had some kind of problems.

Psychological problems perhaps…..

Earlier scenes of panic that arouse out of nowhere in the smaller man, had Yael thinking about Alberto more and more. He was still sceptical about the true identity of the man he was unknowingly caring for but at the same time, Yael found himself thinking of Alberto as a young innocent lad that has been stuck in a situation he could never get out of without help.

Little did he know what innocence was actually hidden behind the disguise.

In the swarm of his thoughts revolving around those dark and innocent pleading eyes, lord noticed the soaked man sat in the water stirring a little in his spot. The man straightened his back, expecting so much and not expecting anything at the same time, and was back on full alert as soon as he saw the innocent old man raising his head from his knees.

On the other hand, was DJ, the boy who had reached the level of some comfort after finishing his counting to one thousand instead of a hundred and had finally decided to look up from his distressed state. Slow and hesitant, he raised his head from his knees, with nose sniffling softly, dark orbs lost and dewy and face flushed with a pinkish hue dusted around the half-uncovered cheeks, Jerry looked around like a wounded pup.

While taking in his surroundings, the boy also swept his gaze around the gorgeous scenery. The real purpose of that unconscious search was the older man aka The Lord, the man he had rescued from a notorious gang leader and the man who had decided to part ways after what DJ had gone through for him.

Selfish Bastard

Rage and sadness fought for the upfront thoughts of his racing mind and the young detective felt suffocation rising in his system. While looking for the apparently absent man, DJ collected every curse word he had in his dictionary that he planned to throw out once his suspicion was confirmed.

Because Yael deserved that…

But to his bad luck or was it good luck? once he turned his head to his right, the sight of his was filled with the daunting Lord who sat on the oddly shaped rock in a sexy man spread, with his lower half thankfully covered and upper half bare, making Jerry’s breath hitch in his throat and his lips to leave a tiny squeal of surprise.

They locked eyes and DJ felt himself blushing under the hard glare of the lord Yael while the other stared at the old man with uncertainty in his eyes.

For a moment or two, both of the men didn’t utter a word as they kept on looking at each other. It was so silent in between them, only the backdrop of the waterfall as the sole music that it produced and the chirping birds that might have passed through the thick trees were the source of sounds.

Until…..

Jerry was the first to drop his nervous gaze when he heard the older man clearing his throat. The boy looked down in his lap and twisted his fingers painfully as his hyperactive brain acknowledged the swift movement in Lord’s direction.

“Are you alright Alberto?” came the question after, which made the boy jump slightly. The voice was gruff and loud for DJ’s liking but he was able to keep his composure as he nodded his head quickly and kept his gaze on his lap. The older of the two had asked the question while observing the damp man closely. Taking in the attire of the man, his slipping no longer sticky beard and his dishevelled disguise, Yael made a mental note to confront his rescuer about that mystery later.

Besides, the secret of that innocent voice he had heard before was yet to be found.

“do you think you can explain what was all that about earlier?” he asked again, but this time Yael tried to keep his commanding and authoritative aura at bay considering the other's sensitive condition.

Jerry nodded again silently, he looked down at his fidgety hands as he finally discerned the uncomfortable situation he was in regarding his clothes. The heavy disguise around his petite body had soaked quite a lot of water, it had crossed the tightly secured waistband around his body and had seeped into his underwear making it all wet and irritating

Aware of his not-so-happy state, the detective sighed dejectedly and slumped his shoulders.

While he looked and scolded himself in his mind, lord Yael reduced the distance between them slow and steady. He neared the one, who still sat in the water despite knowing his state, while he made small pitter-patter noise to not to startle the old man and let him be aware of his close presence.

Just as his large frame shadowed the smaller one, DJ stilled in his spot. It seemed that the old man was pretty distracted from their one-way conversation a few minutes ago but once he was back, he was back to being nervous once again.

Lifting his head slightly, he travelled his large doe eyes upwards and upwards until they were locked with the lord’s dangerous ones. The latter gazed back, with his similar uninterested look that he had supported all the way to the waterfall, as he motioned with his hands for the old man to start.

The start of everything he lacked knowledge about.

…………

“so what I get from this ordeal is that…..we have to reach some gravel path that runs somewhere in this thick forest before tomorrow and meet up with this caravan you mentioned……” Yael pointed after the whole fifteen minutes he had patiently listened to the stammering man who suffered more difficulty in talking than breathing. DJ had covered almost every aspect of his adventurous journey along with the details of the killers, who were searching for him with a knife as big as his arm, while he picked at the small water plants around him. From his arrival in Malia to the day he met, the boy had also delivered each conversation with the unknown caller.

“A-and we have t-to stay tog-together” DJ nodded his head in affirmation as he also reminded the lord how important it was for them to stick together……..or how important it was for him that lord Yael sticks with him and protects him.

The older ignored the whispered added detail as he began to scratch at his beard with his long tan finger.

Jerry threw a glance at the older but kept his quiet  

“and then we have to pretend to be some sort of businessmen and ask help from that unknown caravan to reach Malia?” he asked again, trying to piece the information and form a plan in his mind. Yael didn’t know what to expect from that caravan or if the caller or that old man in front of him were even reliable enough to follow what they guided him through. But other than believing and following their lead, he had no other option.

Without food and water, life was already difficult. If ever he decided to ditch the old man and run for his own life selfishly, he might not even make it out of the jungle before he gets starved to death.

It was clearly a no-no but Yael still had reservations.

DJ nodded his head again and confirmed the details Yael was repeating.

“And then according to my well-wisher and that caller,…….other things will managed from there” The lord ended what he understood as he fixated his dark eyes on the old man that sat where he was all this time.

“A-and we have-have t-to stay to-together—….”

“yes Alberto, I get that….we have to stay together” the older spat as he cut off the old man roughly, the old demeanour of his returned with his eyebrows forming a frown and a scowl coming on to rest on his face. Call it rude but letting that burden of an old man with him was something that Yael didn’t want in his journey of rescue.

He didn’t have much choice after learning how many people were after both of them and that was the reason enough for him to surrender against his fate.

Hearing that harsh tone, the boy flinched and lowered his gaze in his lap. He fidgeted with his fingers, twisting and turning them painfully so, that his eyes once again filled with tears of helplessness and pity making the older feel shivers of guilt all over his Greek-like body.

‘I will never talk to him again’ the younger decided in his head innocently while Lord Yael sighed at the same time. Yael rubbed at his temple in agitation considering, the sight of the other so fragile and soft was once again bothersome for the man.

A foreign feeling of something bad that he had done coursed through his system and he sighed again but this time loud.

“Look Alberto…..I…..—..”

“DJ…” the older tried, voice going low and according to him less harsh but he was cut off by the softest whisper-like sound that emitted from the old Alberto, who had just promised himself not to talk to the other anymore.

But here he was now.

“What?” the lord asked perplexed at the combo of two alphabets that made no sense to him.

“M-my….name is-is DJ not Al-Alberto. A-and I-I am a detec-detective. D-Detective Je-Jerry……” there was it again, the sound Yael had heard before. The sound which had him with a boggled mind at how soft and insecure it sounded and the sound that was the root of all of Yael’s breaking resolutions.

For a few minutes, Lord didn’t answer in any sort of way. Instead, he stared at the other with his lips sealed and eye fixated on the newly discovered detective with nothing but nonchalance dancing over his features.

When more minutes ticked away in that mortifying silence and an eye battle, DJ felt his face heating up at an alarming speed. The younger boy felt a rush of embarrassment in his system as he wiggled in his place slightly not sure what to expect anymore.

In his turmoil, the detective tried to get away and out of Yael’s daring sight as swiftly as possible. Scrambling backwards, Jerry shuffled to his feet so he could finally stand out of the water and leave a few feet away but luck wasn’t on his side as usual.

The next moment only added to his misery and brought him back on that water and even closer to the lord when he tripped over his damp clothes that were tangled under his boots and were heavy to carry by his small form.

A meek squeal left his lips and he froze where he was when he felt two large arms around his heavily covered body and a soft breathing that blew on his side face.

Yes, he fell and that too…..over the lord of the Pyro.  

It was now DJ’s turn to seal his lips tight and waver his panicking gaze anywhere except Yael. The older found it intriguing and kind of amusing but those two emotions didn’t reach his eyes whatsoever while he watched the reddening face of the man in his arms.

It was until …..

“How are we going to go about that disguise and merchant thing?......do you have anything in your mind?” DJ was hyperactive when he felt those words hitting his blushing face with every breath Yael took. Neither of them dared to change the position nor did they care to move, one going crazy in his mind with the close proximity and the other simply amused after so long.

Cute?

“I-I have so-somethings…….p-pretty things in-in my b-bag. We-we can use t-them…..a-and…..” DJ stammered as he delivered while keeping his eyes away from the lord. The lord, on the other hand, perked at the words ‘pretty things’ and wondered who would be the one among them to disguise as pretty.

Those words didn’t suit his dominating personality in any way and he had no idea if they would suit the one in his arms as well.

Well…..why not check if that’s the case? Besides, the suspense of who was behind those beards and moustaches had played long enough to be put an end to.

The young detective was still stammer-telling his supply stash, explaining what they could possibly do with what they had when he stopped mid-sentence. Out of the corner of his eyes, he watched a hand raising in his direction making him move his head and accidently locking eyes with the lord.

All the courage that he had mustered up vanished in thin air as the boy felt each and every movement of the older ten times its effect. A side glance at the man in his arms was the only signal before Yael reached out and grasped the hanging piece of artificial facial hair between his finger and thumb.

 The next moments remained quiet and steady, almost on edge for the boy. He felt his heart beating out of his ribcage when long fingers roamed his face and grazed at his skin softly. Piece by piece, the disguise of the old man started to shed only to transform into the most innocent child-like face of a young boy in front of the Lord.

The said Lord took in a sharp breath as he lowered his hand and joined it with the other resting around the thick waist of his rescuer.

Now, Yael had seen hundreds upon hundreds of beautiful faces in his life before he was abducted…….. but in all reality and honesty……the boy in his embrace is the one rare beauty he has ever laid his eyes on.

Damn Damn…..

Those beautiful dark eyes that held dreams and relief and confusion and horrors of life all together in them peeked at Yael from under the thick curtain of lashes, …… that bright pink button nose that was pointy yet so soft and small that one would want to bite it off just for fun,…… the cheeks of the detective that were like a round dough of flour, chubby and squishy…….and finally those thick petal lips, so deep in colour and the softest pillows ever.

Yael was mesmerized, to say the least…..he was gone for a long while as he watched the beautiful, almost scared human turning into a ripe tomato and all he did was stare in a state of trance.

The moments had stopped, even the world had stopped for them as they gazed into each other’s eyes with nothing but a strange spell binding them together……..

The pull was so strong that by the time Lord Yael came out of it, unwounded and sane, the reservation he had earlier about ditching the old truck left him through the back door.

 And Yael didn’t even notice it….