Bound Shadows

Chapter 11. Beautiful Crimson.

Light filters in through the curtains on my window, waking me up. I reach over to the nightstand next to my bed and grab my glasses off of it and put them on. I get out of bed and go downstairs.

Neiro is sitting on the couch, listening to music, "Good mornin' Neiro."

"Oh, hey," Hey says.

"Uh, Neiro?" I say.

"Yeah, what?" He asks.

"Hey, uh, what happened last night? You seemed pretty freaked out," I ask.

"Oh, I, uh, I-I j-just, sorta, had a nightmare," He answered.

"Heh, if something scared you then it must have been pretty bad," I say jokingly.

"Heh, yeah," He replies, "You know, you didn't have to help me."

"I know," I say.

"Then why did you?" He asks.

"Because ... because I l- ... because you're my friend and friends should help each other," I answer nervously.

"Well ... thanks ... no one's ever cared about me like that before," He replied quietly.

"What about Nova?" I ask.

"No, she never really cared, she only wanted someone to be her pawn, to do whatever she asks, and I was the poor sap that she picked," He explained.

"Really?" I ask, shifting uncomfortably.

"Yeah, she saw how helpless and quiet I was around others and took advantage of that, she pretended to be my friend. After a while to say I liked her was an understatement, but that didn't matter to her. Anyway, I didn't catch on to her little 'game' until two years ago when she ordered me to do something too horrible," He explains.

"What?" I ask.

"She ... she asked me to kill," He says, hanging his head low.

"That's horrible!" I exclaim.

"Yeah, she even tried to convince me that it was the right thing to do, but in the end it didn't matter because the person that mattered the most died and Nova it was going to happen all along yet she still wanted me to kill to try and prevent it," He says bitterly, "She honestly expected me to kill just because she asked and that's when I realized that I was just her pawn."

"That must have been horrible," I say to him.

"Nah,it's fine, I'm way better off than I would be if that hadn't happened, and besides, if it hadn't I wouldn't be here with an actual friend that cares about me ..." He says, trailing off in whispers too quiet for me to hear.

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you," I ask.

"You're the ..." He mumbles the last part so that I can't understand it.

"What?" I ask.

He sighs in defeat, "You're the best friend I've ever had,"

"Aw, thanks, that's sweet," I say as I pull him into a hug.

He flinches at first but then hugs back, as I look at him all that I think about is how cute he looks.

'No, stop that' I think to myself, 'Ii shouldn't be thinking that, we're only friends.'

'But you like him and you know that,' A voice in the back of my head says.

'Yeah, but he doesn't like me like tha-' My thoughts are interrupted by Neiro's voice

"Hey Vinyl, what color are your eyes?" He asks.

"W-Why does it matter? I ask him.

"Well it's just that you always hide them behind your glasses and I've never seen them," He answers.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea," I say.

"Vinyl, it'll be fine, trust me," He says.

"Fine," I say as I pull off my glasses, revealing my crimson eyes.

"They're beautiful Vinyl. Why do you hide them?" He asks.

"I used to get bullied a lot as a kid because of them so I got those glasses to cover them up," I explain.

"Well I think they're amazing," He says.

"Thanks," I say as I look at him, staring into his blood-red eyes.

After a few moments of us looking at each other I lean towards him, my face blushing. After a second Neiro leans towards me his face also blushing. We both close our eyes once our lips meet in a kiss that lasts for a few seconds. After we pull away we look at each other for a moment and then kiss again.

In the middle of the second kiss I hear a gasp and footsteps but I don't care that someone saw what happened.

"I can't believe I have someone as amazing as you in my life," Neiro says after we pull away from the second kiss.

"Well believe it 'cause I'm not going anywhere anytime soon," I tell him.