Shattered

My feet ached two miles into the walk, but I wasn’t about to give up. I had spent a lot of time running this morning and now I was starting to feel the aftereffects, but nothing could stop me.

The dirt kicked up small plumes of dust as my feet dragged over the annoying pebbles in my path. The withered stalks of grass swayed in a small gust of numbing wind. Pulling my jacket tighter around me, I kept on going.

As I glanced up from my displaced thoughts on the ground, I saw the house off in the distance. No cars were parked outside. Either the boys were out and about, or they had parked their cars in the garage.

The well-kept garden was on its final days of full bloom and the tingling scents of roses drifted through the wind to tantalize my nose. Tucking the beanie over my ears against another gust of wind, I sped up my pace. The sun was starting to reach the other horizon in a sleepy goodbye.

I clutched the bag against my back and halted at the sound of soft humming. As I trudged off the dirt road and around some trees, I saw a man working in the garden. His head was down, clearly intent on uprooting choking weeds. He tossed them in a bucket as I approached. The familiar shade of the trees overhanging the front garden seemed to welcome me back.

As I walked up, Tino glanced at my form approaching. He had to do a double take before standing me up and engulfing me in a major hug. It seemed like whenever I came back to visit people, the first thing they did was hug me. Not like I was complaining, but this was just an observation…

“Hey!” He squealed in delight. I put a finger to my lips, seeing an outline pass by a window on the side of the house.

“Hey!” I whispered back. Tino took off his gardening gloves and tossed them next to the bucket of weeds.

“It’s been, like, forever! Have you talked to Austin yet?” He immediately jumped in. His dark hair swayed in the midst of excitement. I shook my head and started to explain before he could run off.

“I was going to surprise him and ring the doorbell.” I smiled. Tino held his hands up in a moment of brilliance.

“Hold on and stay close to the door but out of sight! I’ve got an idea!” He took off running towards the door. I stealthily trailed like a shadow and then stood out of view of the window as Tino entered.

“Austin!” Tino called. I smiled, but tapped my foot in anticipation. My finger itched to press the white bell!

“What’s up?” His sleepy voices answered. They seemed to be close enough to the door so I could listen in on their conversation.

“So, have you heard from Kynder recently?” Tino questioned casually. Austin sighed deeply from weariness and exhaustion. He sounded like there hadn’t been much sleep in the last week.

“Of course not. You’ve asked that about twice in the past week.” Austin replied, clearly irritated. Tino decided to push the subject.

“Oh. I didn’t know if she called to let you know she was okay. Maybe she died or something.” Tino added in. Austin huffed his lack of amusement.

“Please don’t remind me of my constant worry.” He grumbled. Austin seemed to walk away, but the gardener’s footsteps held him back.

“You never know. She might have died on the streets, or maybe Miles rose from the dead and stabbed her-“ Tino suggested. Austin growled in anger.

“Please stop.” The calm on his voice fractured, but Tino decided to shatter the glass. I might have to step in before this got bad.

“-or she found another man. Maybe she fell in love with an alley runner, or how about Ghost? He seemed like a nice boy-“ Tino suggested.

“Tino, you might want to stop.” Alan’s appeared out of nowhere.

“TINO!” Austin raged. Before this got even worse, I stepped forward, rang the doorbell, and stepped back a few feet.

The noise in the house fell silent. My hands hung loosely at my sides, all nerves frayed in anticipation for what would happen. A cloud passed over the sun, blocking the rays of light for a quick moment.

“Well, get it!” Tino encouraged from the other side. Someone grumbled as the door knob slowly turned.

HOW MUCH LONGER COULD THIS GO ON?!?!

The door was pulled open and Austin’s face turned to the floor in a desperate attempt to hold it together. The other four members were staring in disbelief, choked up at the sight so they couldn’t speak. I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for him to look up.

Nobody spoke.

As if the slow door knob turning wasn’t enough, now Austin wouldn’t look at me!

“Austin. Look up!” Alan commanded, elbowing the tall man, who just glared at the ginger, but still, somehow, didn’t notice my presence.

“I mean, if you want me to leave, I can go catch another train. I just thought I might as well checkup with you…” I suggested with a shrug. At the mere sound of my voice, Aus’s head snapped up at attention.

He took a few steps forwards, still not believing the sights. I raised an eyebrow with a smirk. Now it was my turn to try to keep it together. He was just glancing down at me, lips parted in a frozen expression.

“Austin Carlile! You should know that when I make a promise, I keep it.” I whispered to him, my voice already shaking. Tears were streaming down his eyes.

Before I could even blink, his arms were tightly wrapped around me. Both of us were so happy to be together again, we sobbed like crazy. No one cared. I reached up through his tight arms and linked my hands behind his neck, pulling him down to my height. Standing on my toes, I reached up and placed my mouth gently against his. As soon as we had to breathe, he kissed every part of my face that was available to him. He held me tightly against his chest so that I couldn’t move. As he pecked my jaw, I leaned over and kissed the hollow behind his ear since he didn’t allow me to turn and face him. He rumbled in pleasure as I buried my face into his neck.

I never wanted to go back to that city as long as I could stay with Aus.

“Hey, we want to say hello as well! Stop hogging Kynder!” Phil and Aaron laughed.

“No!” Austin whined. Managing to wiggle out of his grasp, I gave each boy a quick hug before Austin captured me again in a tight embrace. I leaped onto his chest, wrapping my arms around his neck and legs around his torso.

“I AM A SLOTH!” I claimed. Where had that comment come from? I must be in a really weird mood. Alan copied my move and jumped on Tino’s back. Tino tried to pull the ginger off, but he was like one of those annoying bumper sticker on a car-impossible to peel off without brute force.

“I love you, Kyn, but I have to go make dinner!” Austin laughed. I held him tighter and grumbled that I wouldn’t let go.

“I am not letting you go again.” I stated flatly. He held me against him as Alan held the door open. We slowly made our way inside.

“Okay, but you need to get off at some point.” He laughed and stroked my hair with one hand, all while standing in the kitchen. I yawned. It had been a tiring week.

“Aus, I just walked five miles to your house and this morning I had a rousing water balloon fight with Motionless in White. I don’t think I can take another step.” I complained to him. He snuck a kiss on my cheek as I buried my face in his shoulder. I could’ve fallen asleep like this.

“No wonder your back is still damp.” He inspected. I grumbled incoherent words and closed my eyes. Somewhere between Alan yelling at Tino to be more of a horse and Austin rubbing my back, I fell into a deep sleep. This was the household, this was normal. It was my safe place, it was my peace of mind. No matter what had happened here, as long as I was with Austin, it didn’t matter.

I was home. At last.

Notes

<3 <3 <3