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“don’t go in that cave,” tyler’s mother had always warned him, “you’ll get hurt.”
young, innocent, naïve tyler asked no questions whenever she told him. he wanted to be good, so he always did as he was told first time to the very, very best of his ability (even if he needed some help beforehand).
∆ ∆ ∆
“mommy?” asked an inquisitive eight-year-old tyler, poking his tongue through the gap his tooth left behind. “what’s in the cave?”
“danger.” she answered sternly.
frustrated with her vagueness, the boy had stormed off and away to his room, pushing a thumb into the bruise on his thigh.
∆ ∆ ∆
when tyler turned twelve, he asked, “mom, what danger is in the cave?”
she glared at him, placing a hand on her hip. “why?” she huffed, placing down the glass of chocolate milk before her son. “you’re not planning on going there, are you? see, tyler, i told you these new friends were up to no g—”
“no,” he interrupted, sighing and rubbing gis temples, “i saw dad go in there with some other men i don't know. i wanted to know if he'd be okay and whatnot, but it doesn't matter now.”
his mother only sighed, as if tyler had betrayed her, and it was her turn to storm off like a child.
∆ ∆ ∆
when tyler was twenty-six, he didn't ask his mother anything.
he'd stopped talking to her as frequently because he moved out at eighteen, but that didn't stop her nagging about that damned cave.
“don’t go in there, tyler, a big scary monster will eat you alive,” he mimicked her voice to nobody but himself, kicking a pebble on the gravel path which crunched beneath his feet, “yeah fuckin’ right.”
∆ ∆ ∆
“if you want to know what's in there so much, just grab it by the horns and go.” mark sighed as he shoved another forkful of overcooked, mushy spaghetti into his mouth. “i don't care what you do. just don't die, okay?”
tyler smiled. “i’ll try not to.”
∆ ∆ ∆
the mouth of the cave was much smaller than he remembered. his skinny frame barely fit through the opening.
his hiking bag scuffed against the stone wall, and tyler cringed at the noise of the metal pins scraping the rough surface.
with his torch now flicked on, he stepped further, carefully and one-foot-before-the-other, into the cave. his boots still crunched pebbles underfoot, though, alerting whatever danger lurking there of his presence.
∆ ∆ ∆
he paced for hours before he saw any movement.
it could have been his imagination.
a shadow darting past.
quick, quiet, and queer.
the shape of the shadow was odd. the head looked too misshapen, and the back too hunched.
but then again, it was just a figment of his imagination, right?
he whipped around and pointed the torch right in front of him at arms length, and was stunned into complete and utter silence at what he saw.
not from fear, though.
“who hurt you?” he asked with a shaking voice, eyeing the bruises adorning the creature’s cheek and the arrows, the wounds and the scars littering its whole body. “you poor little thing.”
the beast was confused. it tilted its head and stood a little straighter, but immediately hunched back over with a twisted, agonised grimace.
“you’re hurt,” tyler repeated, taking a slow step forward. right into the open jaws of a bear trap.
“let me help you.”
“help?” it croaked, furrowing the thin, dark eyebrows above its milky white eyes. cataracts, tyler thought, but decided against it when he saw how he was being examined by those eyes.
“help.” he whispered, smiling gently. “you speak english?”
“yes.”
“good. my name is tyler.”
“josh.”
the beast’s dry, cracked lips curled upward at the corners, forcing awkwardly jutted-out teeth to push down into them.
tyler found it charming.
∆ ∆ ∆
“ow!” josh hissed when the sterilising wipes were rubbed against his dirty, scarred and wounded skin.
“this cleans it, josh.” tyler reminded him, trying to soothe him. “i’m helping. making you better.”
“hurting.” josh pouted.
“it might hurt now,” huffed the doe-eyed boy, “but trust me, you’ll feel like a new man once i’m done with you.”
he only nodded in response, grimacing and allowing tyler to do his job. the worst (pulling arrows out) was already over. now, it was simply cleanup time.
every inch of josh's body was wiped down until the natural, pale colour of his skin was revealed.
beautiful, soft, pale skin, broken up by cuts, bruises, scars, jutted-out teeth and pokey-out curly-in horns.
like a ram.
they're pretty, tyler thought with a grin on his face. so pretty. josh was so pretty. how could anyone want to hurt him?
tyler didn't want to hurt him. he'd probably kill himself if he ever hurt him.
the only kind of attack he was willing to make on the boy was to his lips.
tyler shook his head, finishing up with the bandages. “you’re done.” he smiled, gently patting between his shoulder blades.
josh smiled his awkward, pokey little smile again and looked up at tyler with his milky eyes. they full of wordless thanks and admiration.
it wasn't just charming anymore, it was downright breathtaking.
∆ ∆ ∆
“josh?” tyler called out in the cave. “i brought something for you. come see.”
a couple of seconds of silence, then crunching gravel and a tall, hunching figure right in front of him again. he tilted his head as he eyed the baskets in tyler's hands.
“this one's full of fruit, ‘cause i wanna make sure you're eating.” he mumbled, handing the first basket to josh. “the next one's where the actual thing i wanted to give you is.”
“give.” josh rasped, holding out his free hand (which was decked out with sharp, chipped claws).
“ah-ah, josh. what do you say?”
he rolled his eyes and let out a groan.
“josh. what do you say?”
“give.”
“give what?”
“…please.”
tyler smiled. “see, that’s the josh i know. he giggled, handing him the basket of flowers.
“...pretty.” josh murmured with a pokey-out smile that made tyler’s heart swell and burst into a million tiny pieces.
“i was going to put them in your hair.”
the beast said nothing, but placed the basket down and lowered his head.
tyler tied the short stems into soft, fluffy pink curls, and josh leaned into his heavenly hands.
pokey-out curly-in horns weighed his head to his shoulders so that it wouldn’t float away, and tyler’s smooth hands worked expertly around the soft hair and delicate flowers.
“you look beautiful.” tyler murmured, gently cupping his beast’s cheek and holding the weight of his head in his heavenly palms.
“beautiful?” he echoed softly, cheeks burning a deep raspberry red.
“beautiful!”
“tyler.” the beast whispered, swallowing the dry lump in his throat. “tyler beautiful too.”
now it was ty’s turn to blush that deep shade of raspberry red, hiding his face and grinning so wide that his flushed cheeks burned. it burned, but it was a good burn.
he took a deep breath and stared deeply into those ethereal, milky white almost-cataract-looking eyes.
he huffed a deep sigh and wrapped his hands around the heavy, pokey-out, curly-in ram horns, tugging josh close to him and closing the gap between their lips.
the kiss was toothy and pokey and jutted-out and dry and cracked and beastly , but it was so much more than tyler could ever have wanted.
∆ ∆ ∆
“if you want to know what's in there so much, just grab it by the horns and go.” mark had sighed as he shoved another forkful of overcooked, mushy spaghetti into his mouth.
tyler gasped breathlessly as he pulled away from josh.
“you’re beautiful.” he chuckled.
“likewise.”