Ethan's eyes fluttered open, and he was met with a wall of wall of white hair. Two round ears poked up out of the tussled patch of hair. Ethan smiled and kissed the back of Carey's head, making his ears twitch. He laughed, waking the smaller man. Carey turned around and stretched, yawning.
"Morning," Ethan mumbled.
"Good morning," Carey replied, voice laced with sleep. His tail was twisted between them, and they were both lying on it. He winced as he pulled it out from under Ethan's thighs and threw it behind him carelessly.
"What's it feel like having a tail?" Ethan asked.
"I don't know. It's not that weird. You get used to it." Carey shrugged. Ethan chuckled, and reached a hand up to stroke Carey's round ears. He smiled. "That feels good," he murmured. Ethan smiled and leaned forward, kissing Carey's soft lips. Carey blinked and smiled, before kissing Ethan back. "That felt good, too," he blushed. Ethan smiled.
"Our first kiss, huh? I kind of like it," he kissed him again. Carey smiled and playfully pushed him away.
"All this before breakfast?" Carey laughed.
"Speaking of which, what do you want for breakfast?" Ethan asked, continuing to rub his ears.
"Mmmm? Food?" he said, incoherently.
"Yes. Food. Sustenance. Things you need to fuel your body." Ethan laughed, stretching his hands above his head.
"Sorry, I don't think well when my ears are touched," Carey laughed. He sighed and looked at the clock. "It's early, we have time to go out if you want?" Carey asked, nervously.
"That could be fun," Ethan said, before frowning. "Except for this whole deal." He pulled out his pockets, showing the very obvious lack of money. Carey reached over to the bedside table and grabbed his wallet. He opened the leather object and sighed.
"I got a five. Breakfast at McDonalds?" he laughed. Ethan smiled.
"Why don't we see what I can whip up here?" he said, reaching a hand out to touch Carey under the warm blankets.
"Sounds good." He smiled, and reached a hand up to stroke Ethan's cheek. Ethan blinked, and roughly slapped Carey's hand away. Carey frowned and put his ears back sadly.
"Sounds good," Ethan mumbled and crawled out of the bed. Carey followed him slowly, frowning at the sudden, but brief, burst of anger.
"You promised to talk to me," Carey said. Ethan paused as he looked through the fridge, sighing.
"Yeah. I did, and I will. Just... can we talk about this after breakfast?" He held up a half empty carton of eggs. Carey sat down silently. Ethan began making omelets, cutting up mushrooms, bell peppers, grating cheese, all in silence. Carey fumbled with the silverware in front of him.
"Where did you learn to cook?" Carey asked, nonchalantly.
"I was on my own a lot when I was growing up. And unlike most teenage boys, I'm a picky eater. So I learned how to make good food," Ethan laughed.
"Alone a lot? Where were your parents?" Carey asked, trying to seem innocent. Ethan obviously saw through him and rolled his eyes with a sigh.
"They were around. They had me when they were young and I think they always considered me a mistake. I never really cared for them either. I spent most of my time with my best friend," Ethan admitted, starting the fire for the hash browns he was making from a few potatoes he found.
"Who was that?" Carey asked.
"This guy named Mike. We were friends for a long time," he said, stirring the potatoes in the large pan.
"Were?" Carey frowned.
"Yeah... 'were'," Ethan mumbled, bitterly. "When we were in our last year of high school, this infected guy moved into town," Ethan started. "Alex." He got lost in space for a moment before he was brought back to reality when Carey cleared his throat. "I hated him. A lot. Mike fell in love with the guy," Ethan explained. "They were serious and he dropped me as a friend when I couldn't deal."
"That must have been hard," Carey said, sadly.
"I don't blame him for it. I was a jerk. I was so mean to Alex." Ethan looked sad. "This dickwad Randal was just a stupid bigot. I hated Alex, I won't lie about that. But Randal... he..." Ethan scowled down at the food. "He was just evil."
"What happened?" Carey asked, trying to keep Ethan talking.
"We kicked his ass. I'm not proud about it. But I was part of his torture. He left school, moved in with Mike. I just wanted to leave it alone. I was depressed and didn't have a friend anymore. Things were shit at home and I just wanted to forget about all of that crap. But Randal wasn't finished. He wanted more blood. He shot him," Ethan said the last part in a whisper. Carey looked shocked. "He died and Mike was just ruined. I felt so bad. He blamed me and he had every right to. I've never felt so bad about anything in my life," Ethan said.
"Maybe that's it. You feel so guilty you just lash out at any infected in sight," Carey guessed.
"The story doesn't end there. I apologized to Mike and he rejected me, again and again. But not long after that I really tried to figure out who I was. I experimented a little and realized I was gay. I chalked up all my horrible violence toward Alex as jealousy. I just charged back into Mike's life. He had found a new lover, Anthony. Really nice guy, another infected," Ethan said. "I fell in love with a friend of his, Chris. He had a thing for Mike but never acted on it because they were such good friends. I was doing so well, I didn't like Anthony by any means, but I dealt with him. Then, I just snapped one night and kicked the crap out of him. Chris left me, kicked me out of our place. I was wandering around, so angry at him and Anthony and Mike. I lashed out at the first infected I saw. This little ram hybrid. He was so small, he couldn't even put up a fight," Ethan finshed. He set the plates of hot food down and sat across from Carey.
"Have you ever thought about finding the people you hurt? Apologizing? It might help," Carey suggested.
"Alex is dead," Ethan reminded him.
"But Anthony and the guy after that aren't. Right? Where is Anthony?" Carey asked.
"I don't know. Probably still with Mike at the school," Ethan shrugged.
"Okay, and the Ram?" he asked.
"I don't know. Last I heard he was in bad shape, still in the hospital. But that was like three weeks ago."
"Here," Carey said. Ethan had been so lost in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed Carey grab the small laptop from the living room. "This is from last week. It says he's still in the hospital and doctors think he'll be there for a few more weeks. Lets go," Carey stood up.
"What? I just made breakfast."
"We'll take it to go," Carey piled the omelets and potatoes on to two paper plates, and headed for the door.
"Jeez, since when were you so eager to go outside," Ethan asked, pulling on his shoes as fast as he could.
"Since it would help you," Carey winked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
