Archive of Our Own

“You don’t have to stay out here with me,” Cyrus said softly as Harlan set up the air mattress.

“I’m not leaving you alone out here,” Harlan argued, standing up to his full height. “I know you saw what I saw out there, and…” Harlan trailed off, looking at the floor of the barn.

“You’re worried about me?” Cyrus asked. “Think I can’t handle myself?”

“I don’t know if anyone can handle themselves with that thing,” Harlan said truthfully. “But I know that there is safety in numbers, so.” He gestured at the made up air mattress. “I’m staying out here with you tonight.” He couldn’t tell Cyrus what he was, and he didn’t even know if that would help him, but he felt their chances were better if they were together.

“Okay.” Cyrus didn’t argue. He toed off his sneakers and climbed into the air mattress, pulling the blanket over himself as he settled in. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but he knew that he couldn’t go home, and it was a far cry better than the cold, hard barn floor.

Harlan got in next to him, both of them facing towards the middle, looking at each other.

“I didn’t start those fires,” Cyrus said softly, green eyes gazing into Harlan’s hazel ones.

“I know.”

“But before? You thought I did?”

“I didn’t know.”

“But you do now?”

“Yes.” Harlan nodded.

“What changed?”

Harlan didn’t answer right away. He lay there, eyes locked on Cyrus as he tried to figure out how to answer that question without giving away things that weren’t safe to give away - things that weren’t just his to tell.

“I could just…tell,” Harlan said. “I could see it in your eyes.”

“But not the first two times you asked?”

“I had to be sure.”

“Before you hid me from the cops,” Cyrus said.

“Before I-” Harlan cut himself off.

“What?” Cyrus pressed.

“Nothing.”

“Okay.” Cyrus knew better than to press Harlan. There was something so mysterious about the other boy, something intriguing, and Cyrus had been curious for a long time.

Harlan had made the lines clear, though - he didn’t date, he just wanted to hook up, and Cyrus had told himself that was fine, he’d make it work, even though he was beginning to want more. Previously, even with his flirting, he hadn’t let himself believe that Harlan might want more, too.

Now, lying in bed next to him, he was beginning to feel otherwise.

“That’s it? You’re not gonna push?” Harlan asked.

“Do you want me to?”

“I don’t know,” Harlan admitted. “I guess I’m…still figuring that out.”

“Then I’m not gonna push you. What would be the use? I don’t want to scare you away, Harlan.”

“You’re not scaring me away,” Harlan said with a slight smile. “You’re about the least frightening thing I’ve encountered tonight.”

“You know what I mean.” Cyrus rolled his eyes, but allowed a small smile to creep at the corners of his own mouth.

“Yeah.” Harlan nodded. “I do.”

Silence fell between the two young men. Cyrus took Harlan in. He was gorgeous, and he clearly knew it. He walked around like he owned the place, like everyone either wanted him, or wanted to be him, and Cyrus wasn’t sure that he could fault them for that. He had been noticing Harlan Briggs for a long time - longer than he had been able to admit to himself, but once he had come to terms with the fact that he was bisexual, he had let himself notice Harlan more.

He had thought about being with Harlan many times, lying beside him, kissing him, touching him, holding him. Now, they were in the same bed, finally face to face, and Cyrus didn’t know what to do.

Harlan could hear Cyrus’ pounding heart. It had been slow, steady, honest when Harlan had asked Cyrus if he was the arsonist, but now it was picking up. Harlan knew that it was him, that he made Cyrus’ heart race, but he was pretty sure that, at least tonight, it wasn’t just him.

“Breathe.” Harlan reached out, putting his hand on Cyrus’ chest, over the black tank top. “I can practically hear your heart pounding from here.”

Cyrus closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath, taking in the feeling of Harlan’s hand on his chest. They had made out more than once, but this, somehow, felt more intimate than any kiss they had shared - than any kiss Cyrus had ever shared with anyone.

“I’m scared,” Cyrus admitted as he opened his eyes.

“Of…what we saw in the woods?” Harlan asked.

“I guess,” Cyrus said. “But also of the police, what they want from me. I didn’t do it-”

“I believe you,” Harlan said quickly.

“No one else does.”

“But they will,” Harlan assured him. “We’ll find proof, and we’ll show them that you couldn’t possibly have done it.”

“But I could have,” Cyrus said softly. “I didn’t , but I could have. My mom is almost never home anymore, I’m alone pretty much anytime I’m not at school or with friends. There are gaps in any alibi I could possibly give because of that. They’ll take my fixation with my lighter, and run with that. Maybe they can’t prove that I did it, but I can’t prove that I didn’t .”

“Of course you’re fixated on your lighter,” Harlan said softly. “It’s all you have left of your father.”

Cyrus’ heart skipped a beat at that. His friends made jokes, calling him a pyro, a freak, for always making sure he had it on him, but Harlan had hit the nail right on the head. Cyrus didn’t like showing vulnerability, but with Harlan, he couldn’t seem to help himself.

He had wanted a date that might lead to more, but this? This was intimacy he hadn’t ever expected to share with anyone , let alone fuck boy Harlan Briggs.

“Exactly,” Cyrus said softly. “I would never do something like that, I wouldn’t try to hurt anybody. I know I can seem kind of brash, or-or cocky, but I would never hurt people.”

“I know. We’ll figure it out, but not tonight. It’s late, there isn’t anything we can do.”

Cyrus nodded, offering Harlan the slightest of smiles before he shifted. Harlan thought that Cyrus was leaning in for a kiss, but instead, Cyrus rolled over onto his side, facing away from the werewolf. Even before Cyrus reached for Harlan’s arm, Harlan was lifting it, bringing it around Cyrus to hold the other boy.

As Cyrus settled in against him, Harlan moved closer, pressing his chest to Cyrus’ back and dropping the softest of kisses to his neck. He closed his eyes, taking in Cyrus’ scent, the sound of his heartbeat, the way his fingers laced between Cyrus’, the feel of the other boy’s body against his own.

It felt good. It felt right .

“I’ll protect you,” Harlan whispered, unaware of what he was saying until it was too late.

Harlan didn’t know how, or even if he really could, but he was going to do everything in his power to keep Cyrus safe. Hiding him from the police was one thing, but there were monsters out there, and Harlan couldn’t let them get to Cyrus.

He had already been through enough.

“You like me,” Cyrus said softly. It was a statement, not a question.

“I do.” Admitting it out loud was new to Harlan, but he wasn’t committing to anything. If he told Cyrus now that he didn’t like him, it would be a lie, and they would both know it.

Cyrus didn’t say anything else, and Harlan pulled him closer, wanting Cyrus to feel safe in his strong arms. Maybe he didn’t know everything, but he knew more than Cyrus did, and he would use what knowledge he did have to make sure that nothing happened to Cyrus.

Cyrus drifted off first, his heart rate dropping off to something more calm, relaxed.

Harlan listened, thinking about how different this was to every other time he had been in bed with a guy. Hookups were a frequent occasion in his life, often in beds, but he always got up right after, making one of several excuses for why he couldn’t stay the night. This was the first time that he had just lay with another guy, the first time that he had held someone.

Maybe he didn’t really know Cyrus - not well - but he could tell that he was hurting, that he was scared, and Harlan knew that he didn’t deserve that.

As Harlan drifted off to sleep, exhausted from the day’s events, he couldn’t deny that he felt something for Cyrus Nix. What to do about it, though, he hadn’t quite figured out.