Disclaimer: If sex between two males offends you(why r u in the gay section of nifty in the first place) then please leave. If you're under the legal age( you've probably skipped this part anyway) please leave as well. All this material is mine and mine only. It is not to be copied or anything like that without my consent.
Chapter 8
~xxThese are the times that try men's souls xx~
"Aiden, oh god Aiden!" Tristan screamed breaking into a run.
All Tristan could see was Aiden lying there on the ground covered in blood. He didn't see the shocked crowed forming to gawk or the boy kneeling next to Aiden looking guilty and horrified. All he saw was Aiden, his Aiden. Tristan finally made it to Aiden's side after what seemed like forever.
His hands hovered over Aiden's body; not sure if touching him could make his injuries worse. Finally deciding that he couldn't NOT hold Aiden at that moment he gently lifted Aiden's head and laid it in his lap. He brushed the hair out of Aiden's eyes. How the hell could he have let Aiden get hurt like this? Tristan still wasn't sure who or what had hurt Aiden, but he couldn't help feeling like it was his fault.
"I uh, I called an ambulance." A trembling voice said, breaking Tristan out of his thoughts.
"Thanks." Tristan said shortly, not bothering to look up. He had surprised himself at how calm his voice sounded.
His eyes were locked on Aiden's face, and Tristan couldn't help but notice how pale Aiden was.
"Hang on Aiden please, just hang on." Tristan pleaded bending down to give Aiden a kiss on the forehead, not caring who saw him. He heard a wheezing sound and to his horror he realized it was coming from Aiden.
An audible gasp sounded behind him and Tristan snapped his head up to see that it came from the kid that had called the ambulance. He gave the guy a glare, silently challenging him to say something. He briefly wondered who the hell the guy was and why he was still around, but brushed the thought aside. He didn't have time to worry about that, not while Aiden was still lying on his lap, bleeding. He couldn't lose Aiden now, not when he'd only just found him.
Beneath him Aiden groaned and his eyelids fluttered slightly causing Tristan's heart to speed up.
"Aiden?" Tristan said softly as if speaking to loud could cause Aiden to lose consciousness once more.
"T-t-t-tristan?" Aiden choked out, the pain making speech nearly impossible.
"Yeah, yeah it's me." Tristan said, stroking Aiden's hair.
"I-i-i-t h-h-hurts." Aiden moaned.
"I know, but just hang on and I'll get you some help, ok hang on Aiden please."
Aiden nodded and closed his eyes again.
"Aiden wait! Stay awake!" There was no response. Tristan clutched Aiden to his chest, feeling slightly relieved to feel Aiden's breath against his neck. It was barely there, but it was something.
He just hoped the ambulance would get there soon. He held Aiden clutched to his chest until he heard the ambulance's sirens.
"You're gonna be ok Aiden, I promise." Tristan whispered in Aiden's ear.
He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer, surprising himself. Tristan never prayed, but then again he had never had anything in his life as important as Aiden before. Tristan felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see the guy who had called the ambulance.
"What?" He snapped, causing the guy to visibly flinch.
"Um, the uh, ambulance guys they need to um, get to Aiden.
Tristan looked around and indeed there was several uniformed people hurrying towards Aiden. They guy who got to him first asked Tristan politely, but urgently to let go of Aiden. Tristan sighed and reluctantly did just that, not taking his eyes off of Aiden's face the entire time. He panicked slightly when he lost sight of Aiden's face while they crowded around Aiden calling out things he didn't recognize and loading Aiden onto a gurney. He immediately went to jump in the back of the ambulance, but was stopped.
"Family only in the back."
"I'm his cousin." Tristan lied quickly. He could see the guy didn't believe him, but he was allowed in anyway.
All Tristan could remember on the way to the hospital was the sounds of the hospital and Aiden's faint wheezing. When the ambulance stopped he jumped out in a daze. He wasn't really seeing anything, just doing. He was surprised when he found himself inside the hospital. Tristan was snapped out of his daze by a loud yell,
"We're losing him!"
Everything seemed to speed up then. He saw and heard everything at once. The little girl crying in the corner, the blaring of the cheap TV, the nauseating smell that all hospitals seem to have, and the commotion surrounding Aiden.
"What's happening?" Tristan whispered to no one in particular, "What's happening to him?!" He screamed, lunging towards Aiden only to find himself snatched up by a pair of very familiar arms.
"Tristan calm down!" A voice commanded.
"No! What's happening to him?!" Tristan demanded.
"He's going to be fine Tristan, just fine." His mother reassured him.
Tristan collapsed then. His legs just didn't seem to want to support him at that moment. He landed butt first on the cold hospital floor with a dumbstruck look on his face, almost like a small child and their first attempt at walking. Tristan buried his face between his legs, now that Aiden had been taken care and he knew there was nothing else to do he just...let go. It was as if he was full of hot air and someone had pulled the plug. Tristan jerked his head off his knees when he felt something wet his leg and it was only then that he realized he had tears running down his cheeks. His mother knelt down beside him and tried to get him to stand, but his legs just wouldn't cooperate. Somehow she seemed to understand and sat down on the floor as well wrapping her arms around him.
They stayed like that for while with Tristan crying quietly into his mother's shoulder. Eventually Tristan managed to make it to his feet and stumble over to a chair. He put his head between his knees once more and tried to stop the tears, but they had a mind of their own and continued to flow. Tristan raised his head to look at his mother who had taken the seat beside him, and through blurry eyes said simply,
"I can't lose him."
His mother looked at him oddly and responded quietly, " He's going to be fine."
"But what if he's not?" Tristan insisted the thought alone like a shot through the heart.
"He will be, I will personally make sure of that." His mother said trying to put Tristan at ease, thought she couldn't fathom how attached to her son had become to Aiden in such a short time.
Tristan had finally stopped crying and was now staring blankly at his hands folded in his lap.
"I'm going to go see what I can do to help ok honey? I'll be back soon." Tristan's mother said standing, " You might want to clean up, you know where the bathroom is." She said as she walked away.
Tristan looked, really looked at his hands. They were covered in Aiden's blood and his shirt was soaked as well. He held his hands out in front of him, looking at them in wonder as if he'd never seen them before. Blood. So much fucking blood. Aiden's blood. He could only imagine how much blood Aiden had lost.
Tristan suddenly snapped his hands down on either side of him making sure they were out of his line of vision and forgot all about cleaning up. He zoned out again and when he looked up after who knows how many minutes he saw the kid who had called the ambulance.
"Um, how, uh is Aiden?" He asked
"Who are you?" Tristan finally asked.
At this question the boy seemed to panic, "Um, I'm, uh, damn..."
Tristan just waited confused as to how such an innocent question could cause such a negative reaction.
"Well, I'm David. A uh, friend of Chad's..." David stopped then as if waiting for an imaginary blow to come.
Tristan was confused. A friend of Chad's? What the hell did-
"Oh my god." Tristan whispered as realization struck him, "You did this to him!" He exclaimed jumping to his feet.
"No!" David immediately countered, stepping back, " Well... sort of I mean I-"
David was cut off by the punch Tristan delivered to his stomach.
"Wait! Please!" He pleaded clutching his stomach.
Tristan made a move to punch him again, but stopped midway, "I'm waiting."
"Just let me explain!" David begged, now on the verge of tears.
Tristan sighed and against his better judgment backed off. David stood there for a moment trembling, then finally spoke,
"I'm David and uh...I am er was a friend of Chad's, but he just went crazy man, I don't know what happened."
"Chad did this to Aiden?" Tristan question
"Yeah he just freaked; he only said we were supposed to beat him up, he never said anything about a knife!" David said in one breath.
Tristan had to use everything in his power not to punch David once more and then go hunt Chad down.
"So what the hell are you here for?"
"I just wanted to make sure he was okay. I, god, I feel like shit. Chad has NOT always been like this. He's just been so angry lately. I don't know."
"Well you know what, I DON'T KNOW if Aiden's going to be ok. I have NO fucking idea and it's your goddamn fault!" Tristan snapped advancing once again on David.
"No! Please!" David pleaded tears spilling down his cheeks; "please you have to understand I never knew things were going to go this far. I wish I could take it all back!"
"Well they did and you can't!" Tristan shrieked in David's face.
"Please! At least let me stay and see if he's ok. I'll leave right after that, I promise!"
Tristan sighed, "Fine, but stay out of my sight!" He barked turning around and walking briskly back to his seat.
David walked with his head hung low to the other side of the room and sat down in the farthest corner, making sure to give Tristan his space. He felt like dying at that moment. He honestly hadn't meant for things to go this far. Chad had been his best friend since forever and hadn't always been so angry. This past year he had changed completely though. He started spending less and less time with David and more and more time in the gym. He was easily agitated and once he even punched Chad, but apologized profusely for it later.
When Chad started picking on Aiden, David simply went along with it thinking Chad would get bored with Aiden and move and but he never did. And now this. David couldn't believe he'd allowed himself to get so caught up. At that moment he wished he'd never met Chad.
Minutes turned into hours and Tristan was feeling like if he waited any longer he would spontaneously combust right there in his chair. What the hell was taking so long? His mind began to wonder and he found himself thinking about David. He SEEMED like a good guy. As good as a guy who went around beating up innocent people like his Aiden could get. He was completely torn. Aiden was lying in a hospital bed and the guy who helped put him there was only feet away. He didn't have much time to dwell on it as he saw his mother walking towards him, a grim look on her face.
Tristan jumped to his feet and met her halfway, "What happened? Is he ok?"
"Slow down honey, breathe." His mother directed.
Tristan did as he was told and took deep breath, still anxious to hear the news.
"OK, surprisingly Aiden being stabbed was not our biggest obstacle. The knife missed anything vital and the only damaging thing was the amount of blood lost. The beating he received on the other hand, was a different story. Aiden broke a few ribs and one punctured his lung. We had to perform surgery to repair the lung and also to stop the bleeding, but so far everything has gone as it should. Do you understand sweetie?" His mother said, seemingly detached, a habit she had picked up when speaking with the loved ones of patients, it just happened to kick in when she was speaking with Tristan.
Tristan nodded, his mouth hanging open in shock.
"If he makes it through tonight he'll be out of the woods, we'll just have to wait and see. I already called his mother and she should be here in the morning." She said and paused a moment, slipping back into `mother mode' "Meanwhile you need to go home, take a shower, and get some rest."
"No!" Tristan said immediately, "No way in hell am I leaving!"
"Tristan, you're covered in blood, you're clearly tired, go home!" His mother insisted.
"I am not leaving him!" Tristan said, his voice rising an octave.
"Yes you are, God dammit Tristan do NOT challenge me on this." His mother said, her face growing red.
"I am not going anywhere." Tristan said slowly, making it clear this wasn't something he would change his mind about.
"Fine," his mother sighed, "At least let me find you and extra room where you can shower and get to bed."
"I want to see Aiden." Tristan said, the determination clear in his voice.
"I'm sorry Tristan but not tonight." His mother said with a hint of sympathy.
"Why not?"
"Just, not tonight, now I'm gonna go find you a room, you might want to tell your friend over there what's going on." His mother said jerking her head slightly towards David.
Tristan was about to tell her that David wasn't his friend, but she was already walking away. He looked warily over at David for a moment, wondering what he should do. He couldn't just forgive someone who had helped hurt Aiden, but in a way he understood what David was going through. Even if he did forgive David, how would Aiden feel about it? Finally, after a few moments of internal debate Tristan walked over to David, who raised his head to look at him, with a scared look on his face, as if waiting for Tristan to lash out again.
"Um, we have to wait and see if Aiden, um, makes it through the night," Tristan said choking up for a moment, the gravity of the situation was just setting in, "So...." Tristan trailed off.
"Oh..." David said, clearly troubled at having the idea of Aiden not making it through the night.
"You can come back in the morning if you want." Tristan said, trying to make David read between the lines.
He did, and a grateful smile lit up his whole face, making him look like a completely different person.
"Ok," David said, getting to his feet and stretching a bit, " I will."
"Ok" Tristan replied with a yawn realizing that his mother was right. He was drained.
"Bye." David said with a small grin and a wave, heading towards the exit.
Tristan lay in the incredibly uncomfortable hospital bed, tossing and turning, a million thoughts running through his head. After a freezing cold shower, his mother had brought him some stuff from home. He felt fine up until the point where he laid down and actually had time to process the day's events.
Aiden. His Aiden. Was lying in a hospital bed, fighting to hold onto his life and it was, in Tristan's mind, all his fault. He had made the promise to himself immediately after Aiden revealed his brutal history, that no one would ever hurt him again. Ever. Now he had failed him. Completely and utterly failed him. If Tristan hadn't of taken so long getting back Aiden wouldn't have gotten hurt. He was the one to blame.
He wouldn't be surprised if Aiden blamed him as well. God knows, he deserved it. Especially after making friends with David. He had NO idea how Aiden would react to that. Tristan desperately hoped he wouldn't be upset. His thoughts went like this for awhile and by the time Tristan had finally rolled into a comfortable spot and was drifting off to sleep he was convinced that the whole situation was all his fault and Aiden would probably never speak to him again. In the back of his mind Tristan knew he was dramatizing things a bit, but the stress from the day seemed to deprive Tristan of his ability to think rationally.
Tristan woke slowly and squinted in the sunlight pouring from the windows and had a brief moment of panic as to where he was.
Then he remembered.
Tears stung at his eyes and he got up and made his way to the bathroom. What if Aiden hadn't made it through the night? God, he couldn't even stand to think about it. Tristan hurriedly slipped on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and went in search of his mother.
He found her huddled over some paperwork at her desk, in her office. She looked up and seemed surprised to see him, Tristan spotted the clock on her desk and realized why. It was only 5:30 in the morning. He very rarely got up before noon, when he didn't have to be at school. Tristan asked the question with his eyes, he couldn't bear to ask with his mouth and luckily his mother read it.
"He made it through the night." She said with a small, tired smile. Tristan guessed she hadn't been to sleep yet.
Tristan broke out in a huge grin and did a little dance, laughing as he went. His mother laughed at her son's antics and then spoke,
"Would you like to see him?"
"Hell yes!" Tristan said still smiling broadly. Aiden was going to make it. He hadn't failed Aiden that badly after all.
Tristan followed his mother down the hall, skipping a bit every so often until they reached Aiden's room. His mother paused, just short of opening the door, and turned around while Tristan looked on in confusion.
"I have to warn you Tristan, he looks worse then he is." Tristan's mother said.
"Oook" Tristan said slowly, wondering how bad Aiden could possibly look.
His mother turned back to the door and opened it, stepping aside so Tristan could walk in. Tristan eagerly stepped past her into the room and let a loud gasp...
Authors note: this is my first try at erotic writing so feedback is ALWAYS welcome! Please send any comments or suggestions to BLNCH@MSN.COM. I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has continually sent me feedback, it's really helped me get off my butt and get to writing =). This chapter has only been LIGHTLY edited, i tried to catch any obvious mistakes, if there's anything I've missed I apologize.