Lonely Souls

-Sfortuna

...Epilogue...

Kable woke up bleary eyed and confused. Not confused because he didn't know where he was; he recognized the blankets and room and the person sprawled across him. Confused because he had no idea how he came to be in this room. The last thing he remembered was being at a bar and then...

"Shit."

Carefully maneuvering Simon off his body and making sure the covers were over him, Kable slowly sat up to keep from aggravating the thumping in his head. He eased out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. Not bothering to turn the lights on he took one of the longest pisses in his life and tried to piece last night together.

First: the bar. He had decided to go out and drink while Simon ate dinner with his parents; apparently they came together once a month or so to catch up in person and let Simon know they had deposited more money into his account. So Kable decided to drink. Second: a guy. Someone incredibly drunk had recognized him and thought that they could take him on. Kable had actually tried to get the guy to calm down, but the other man was inebriated and incredibly stupid. Third: Simon. Kable had let Simon know where he would be in case Simon got home before him. Simon decided to drop by the bar and see if Kable was there so they could ride back together. Fourth: the punch. The drunk guy saw Simon trying to get close to Kable and pull him out of the fight and decided that he would stop the young man by punching him in the face. Of course Simon dropped like a rock. And of course Kable saw red. Fifth: the police. The bartender had seen things going south fast and had called the cops, who managed to pull Kable off the dumb shit that had punched Simon and gotten Kable incredibly pissed off.

Thankfully, everyone there had been on Kable's side. Whether it was because of who he was and not because he was in the right was a different story.

He stared at himself in the mirror. The damage to his body was minimal: a cut on his forehead, a few body bruises, and then the cut up knuckles. Kable sighed and washed his hands, cleaning the cuts on his knuckles from whatever might have gotten into them while he was busy taking care of Simon.

Kable darted out of the bathroom and back to the bedroom. He stood in the doorway, staring at Simon still asleep in the bed. All he could see were his bare shoulders, arms, and the back of his head. He looked like he was due for a haircut as well, the length having grown to where his bangs got in his eyes and the longest part at the back covered his neck.

Kable walked over to the bed and got in as carefully as possible so he wouldn't disturb Simon. Usually the young man slept like the dead but there were some times he slept very lightly.

Bending over the slim form, Kable examined Simon's face. He remembered cradling Simon on sticky bar floor, bringing him out of his dazed state, and watching the black eye blossom. He had pulled him up and taken the ice pack from the bartender and placed it over Simon's cheekbone and eye socket.

Gently, Kable brushed the long hair off of Simon's face and studied the black eye. As ugly as it looked, Simon would live, though it would be painful. When he woke up Kable would have to make up another ice pack and make sure Simon iced it every couple of hours.

"I'm sorry Simon." Kable whispered, tenderly pulling Simon into his arms and spooning up against his back. Simon shifted into Kable's body heat and grumbled but stayed asleep. Kable tucked his face into the nape of Simon's neck where the long hair tickled his nose. He drifted back to sleep like that.

-Gamer-

Simon lay on the floor of his computer room with an ice pack balanced on his face. He was somewhat lackadaisically searching through colleges. He didn't know what he wanted to do with his life so he thought it was rather pointless to look for the place that would be the beginning of his future. He and Kable had argued about it numerous times; in the end, as much as he didn't want to admit it, Kable was right. He couldn't live off his parents' money forever, as cool as that would be. So they agreed that he would research colleges and discuss his options with Kable since he didn't talk to anyone else about his life besides Mason, and he certainly wouldn't give the best life advice.

A burst of shouting made him jerk upright and look towards his insubstantial jellyfish door. Not knowing what was going on Simon ran to the living room, where the shouting seemed to be emanating from. As he got closer, he recognized the voices and his stomach dropped out.

Facing off across the coffee table were Kable and Simon's dad, Justin Silverton. At Simon's abrupt entrance the yelling stopped and the two men looked at him.

"Simon! Who in God's name is this?"

Justin Silverton was a very average looking man with graying sandy hair and a body with padding. He wasn't ugly, but he wasn't handsome either, having bland features that blended in with a crowd. Yet when angered, Justin had a voice that cut through crowds.

"That's Kable, Dad." Simon nodded toward his lover and uneasily shuffled to his side.

"That tells me a lot! And what happened to your face?" Justin frowned and squinted shrewdly at his only son.

"I got hit last night. It's no big deal, I'm fine."

All Kable wanted to do was protect Simon from whatever Justin Silverton planned to do. He had failed last night, but he wouldn't fail again today.

"Well Mr. Kable, since my son is no help, who are you?" Justin asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm a close friend," Kable replied, standing tall with his shoulders straight and eyes staring at the intruder. "And I also used to be Simon's I-con."

"What?"

"Dad-"

"Be quiet Simon. This is between your visitor and I."

Simon's mouth automatically snapped shut; it was just like being a kid again and getting punished for eating a cookie before dinner, or for messing with his father's computer and accidentally destroying important files. Kable caught the look on Simon's face in the corner of his eye and it made him grind his teeth in frustration.

"Now, Mr. Kable, are you saying that you are a convicted criminal?"

"No, I'm saying that I used to be until I was given a full pardon. I was innocent of the crimes charged against me."

"Oh? And how exactly did that come about?" Simon recognized that condescending tone and it made him cringe on the inside.

"When Ken Castle showed his true colors to the whole world, the Supreme Court reviewed my case and all extenuating circumstances. They found that I had been under the control of the Nanex at the time and reversed all charges."

One of Justin's eyebrows rose. "Oh, so you're that Kable are you? And my son was your player?"

Kable nodded and inched closer to Simon so that their arms brushed together.

"I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that you lasted that long. Even though Simon is somewhat lax in his school work he at least does one thing well." Justin sat down on the couch, setting his left arm on the rest and crossing his legs at the knee. "Now, let us get down to why exactly you are here."

Turning to Simon, Kable nudged him towards the couch and went into the kitchen where he grabbed a rarely used chair and planted it across from the couch. With the coffee table in between Kable and the Silverton males, he answered Justin's question.

"It's quite simple; I have nowhere else to go. Simon has been a good friend to me since Slayers, and offered to let me stay here"

Justin stared at Kable for a minute, not saying anything, just sizing him up. Simon stared at Kable as well, but with support. Kable ignored Justin and returned Simon's look with a smile.

"How long do you plan on staying here Mr. Kable?"

"Until Simon asks me to leave." Kable replied, eyes still only for the young man.

-Gamer-

"Did you mean what you said?"

Kable opened his eyes and stared at the back of Simon's head. They had gotten into bed not ten minutes ago; it was nearly two in the morning.

"I mean everything I say. But what exactly did you want me to confirm?" Kable propped himself up on his elbow, chin resting in his palm so he could look down at Simon.

Simon turned so he lay on his back, allowing him to watch Kable in return. He put his hands behind his head on the pillow, frowning thoughtfully and biting his bottom lip.

"About staying here until I tell you to leave."

Smiling, Kable moved over Simon's supine body, balancing himself on his forearms so that while he rested on the smaller man he wouldn't squash him with his greater mass. He leaned in and gently touched noses with Simon and playfully licked at the bottom lip that Simon punished.

"I think even if you told me to leave, you'd have a hard time getting rid of me. I'm gonna be with you for a very long time Simon. We promised each other."

Simon smiled and pecked Kable on the lips. Then he laughed as Kable growled and rolled them over on the bed, Simon ending up balanced atop Kable's waist.

"For real?"

Kable held onto Simon's protruding hip bones, thumbs caressing the taught and pale skin just above the ball shorts he wore to bed. He regretted not being able to prevent the bruise that had spread some more across the delicate cheek bone but was grateful that it was only a black eye and not something much worse. In the future he would be much more careful; he wouldn't gamble with Simon's life like Simon had his own. They were both very different people, yet not at all different from each other anymore.

"Yes Simon, for real."

The End. For Real.

-Gamer-

And this lovely tale now ends. At four chapters. I think that's a record for me... oh wait, nope, five chapters is. Ah well, maybe next time haha.

A warm and very heartfelt THANK YOU to my reviewers: gilgameshforeternity, Missy Padalecki, Horror Cakes, SuperSonicLoveMuffin, snrf, Live4StarWars, 30sec2kiba, , and FoxxFlame. All of your words gave me huge warm fuzzies! Also thanks to the gorgeous actors in Gamer that inspired this insanity. Of which I own none of them *sigh*