A few days pass by and the sun is high in the sky over looking a forest and a small lake. In one section of the forest, rests a small clearing where Craig is doing some routine training exercises. When he finishes, he lies down onto his back and takes in deep breaths to steady his breathing again. His tank and jacket were placed off to the side while he was training, so he could now feel as the light from the sun touched him. He closes his eyes after a few breaths and soaks up some rays from the sun on his skin.

"Are you done with your training today?" Kenny asks approaching him.

"Yeah," Craig replies placing his hands behind his head.

He and Kenny had traveled quite a ways by this point, and luckily hadn't seen anymore of those people in uniform running around anywhere. So for now, it seemed like they were in the clear. As he hears Kenny take a seat next to him, he can feel the tips of grass blades tickling at his skin as they danced in the faint cool breeze around him. It stays quiet between the two of them for a while until Craig feels something touching his chest. When he opens his eyes, he sees Kenny's fingers tracing along one of the small scars he has there.

"Your scars... they've healed well," Kenny says.

His fingers continue to move down Craig's chest and to his stomach, forming a thin line out of beaded sweat as they do so. They come to stop when they find another small scar resting just above the navel area. Craig looks back up at the sky and tries to keep his gaze focused at it while he feels Kenny continue to explore each of his faded scars. He feels Kenny's fingers eventually come to his pant's waistline, where he knew there was another small scar there, and feels them very lightly graze over top of it. He could swear that he feels the tip of one of Kenny's fingers almost teasingly slide under and along the top of his pants as they do so. And much as he tries not to, he can't help but shudder a bit because of it.

"Do you like it when I touch you like this?" Kenny asks glancing up at him.

"Huh?!" Craig exclaims, having been completely caught off guard by that question. He stares at him with wide eyes expecting him to say something else, but Kenny just stares at him with his usual expressionless face. "U-Um, you know what I just thought of? You should get a haircut," he says, trying to change this conversation to something other than what it was.

Kenny continues to stare at him for a few more seconds before replying,"Why?"

"Well, doesn't your hair get in the way?" Craig asks getting up and starts heading for his bag.

"Not really," Kenny says, also getting up and following after him.

"Oh, well I think you should still get one, because it feels like you're hidden behind it all. And if you get one, I can see you better," Craig smiles a bit.

The two reach a rock next to the lake, where Craig's backpack, tank and jacket had been left on top of. Craig pulls his tank top back on, and thinks briefly on stopping at a haircutters or something when they reach the next town, but decides against it. Instead he looks at his bag and goes through it, searching for something. When he finds it, he takes out a pair of scissors.

"Is it okay if I, um, cut your hair?" Craig asks holding them up and Kenny nods, "Alright then, take a sit," he motions at the rock, "and you might wanna take off your parka so that hair doesn't get stuck in it."

Kenny removes his parka and places it next to him on the rock, where Craig's still was. Craig then goes to stand behind him, getting ready to try this. He hadn't really cut anyone else's hair expect for his own while traveling. Although there were a few times that he had somehow ended up cutting Olivia's hair before, because she wanted him to for some reason or another. But still, it wasn't anything grand.

"If hair can get caught in my parka, wouldn't it get caught in my shirt too then?" Kenny asks.

"Yeah probably," Craig replies.

"Then shouldn't I take off my shirt too, so that it won't get caught?"

"Oh, uh if you want, you don't have..."

Before Craig can finish his sentence, Kenny is already taking off his shirt and placing it next to him on his other side. Craig then finds himself staring at Kenny's back. Noting how there wasn't a single scar or mark on it's pale surface. He's quickly pulled back to the current situation though, when the scissors in his hand glint some sunlight off of them and catch his eye.

"I'm going to start now," Craig announces.

"Okay."

Craig takes his free hand and runs it through Kenny's hair. It felt soft to touch. He then takes some strands and puts them between his index and middle fingers and begins to cut it. He goes at a moderate pace, taking his time as he works around Kenny's head. While snipping away, Kenny keeps his gaze downwards and something catches it. He notices something hanging out of Craig's jacket pocket and picks it up.

"This is..." Kenny says holding up a strip of old white cloth, causing Craig to look at it, "wasn't this what I used to wrap your finger with from back then?"

Craig's face flushes slightly, having been a bit embarrassed that he had seen it, "That.. it uh... I couldn't throw it away after my cut healed. Because it reminded me of you, so I held on to it..." he could feel his face flush more after realizing just how dumb he sounded, "that probably sounds really weird to you."

"No. It doesn't," Kenny responds and he places the old cloth back into the pocket, "it makes me glad to know that you had something to remind you of me."

Even though Kenny says that, it doesn't stop Craig from still feeling somewhat embarrassed about it. The two fall back in to a silence again as Craig continues cutting Kenny's hair, eventually making it around to his face.

"Alright, all that's left are the bangs," Craig says and leans forward slightly grabbing some hair between his fingers. Kenny looks up at him as he cuts each strand away and Craig finds it a bit hard to concentrate because of it. As he cuts the last bits away, he stands up straight, "There. Done. Now I can see you more clearly," he smiles.

Craig runs a hand through Kenny's now shortened hair. Waving it around and between his fingers. He then looks at Kenny as a whole, being able to see the full shape of his face now. Examining the curve of his nose, the shape of his jawline, his light eyebrows and long eye lashes. And it's then does Craig notice Kenny's eyes. It was the first time in a very long time that he was able to see them properly without one being shut, or having hair in front of them to obscure them. They were a brilliant baby blue, like how he had remembered them from long ago. More than that though, he also noticed how they were now staring right back in to his own stormy gray-blueish ones.

Craig moves his hand away, "Um, anyways, I'm done," he picks up his jacket and puts it on, Kenny doing the same by picking up his shirt. He's about to put it back on but Craig stops him, spotting a few hair strands on his back, "Wait a second," and he moves his hand across his back, wiping away the strands. As he does, he realizes just how pale Kenny's skin is. A part of him wondered if it had always been this pale, or if it had gotten more pale after all the years of being trapped inside of that place. In comparison, it made Craig's slightly tanned skin, seem even more tanner next to it.

Craig's thoughts couldn't help but keep on wandering about the other's skin as he moves his hand across it. Feeling how smooth, firm and warm it is to touch. He gilds his fingers to the center of Kenny's upper back and lightly spreads them, bringing his palm gently down onto the skin. He soon finds himself wondering what it might feel like if his skin where up on Kenny's, moving up and down against it in a heated friction between them. As his mind delve deeper in to those thoughts, his fingers started to move so that the tips of his nails were now very lightly pressing against Kenny's skin.

"It feels good," Kenny's voice suddenly says, interrupting Craig's thoughts.

Craig feels his heart stop and quickly withdraws his hand, "W-What?!"

"When you run your fingers through my hair. It feels good," Kenny adds.

"O-Oh," Craig murmurs, realizing what he had meant.

"Are you done now?" Kenny asks looking back at him.

"Uh, yeah. I was just wiping away some strands of hair that were on your back."

Kenny puts his shirt back on and then gets up and puts his parka on. He looks at Craig after, who quickly looks away and puts the scissors back into his bag. Craig had only just noticed it now, after cutting away several inches of Kenny's hair, how attractive he had grown up to be. He then sits down on the rock and takes out a candy bar from his bag as Kenny sits back down next to him and looks at it. Craig offers it to him but he shakes his head, and a look of concern can't help but make it's way on to Craig's face.

"You haven't eaten once since you've been out of that place," Craig says, and he takes a small bite out of the bar.

"I'm just not hungry."

"Why?"

"I think it's because of the nutriment serum that was injected in me."

"Oh, that stuff..." Craig says, recalling a clear liquid that had been injected in to them to sustain their lives during the experiments.

It was true that when they were injected with that stuff, they wouldn't get hungry. But when Craig got away from that place, he had started to feel hunger again after a few days, and he had that stuff in him for six months. However in Kenny's case, it had been much longer. He had that stuff injected in him for about six years. So he would most likely have much longer term effects than what Craig had.

Craig takes another bite from the bar and tries not to think on the matter anymore as the two of them stare out over the lake in silence, watching as the wind creates ripples in it.

…

Later on that day, Craig and Kenny come across another town. As they pass by a convenience store, Craig remembers that they are low on food supplies and decides that they should take a quick stop there in order to stock up again. But as they near the front doors of the building, Kenny stops.

"I'm going to wait out here," he says and Craig gives a confused look, "to keep a look out," he adds.

"Oh, okay," Craig says, it was probably a good idea now that he thought about it.

Craig enters the store and the door sets off a small ding signaling his presence there now. He takes a look around the small store and quickly gathers a few snacks and stuff before making his was up to the cash register. The two of them had been lucky so far as to not see anymore of those people after them, but Craig wondered just how long that would last. He knew they wouldn't give up so easily on wanting to get Kenny back, and he figured that it would only be a matter of time or something. Either way, he wasn't going to let them ever take Kenny back to that place. As he finishes getting ringed up and paying for the stuff, his eyes fall onto a small sign on the counter that reads.

'YOU'RE BEING WATCHED.'

Craig looks up to see a surveillance camera aimed down at where he's standing. A subtle looming feeling crawls it's way up in to him, but he tries not to dwell on it and only pulls the front of his hat down a bit as he grabs the bag of stuff he bought and leaves. He exits, and the door makes a small ding noise again. When he steps back outside he notices that the sun was now starting to set, and that he didn't see Kenny standing in the same spot where he last was. He walks over to the side of the building, and luckily before any panic sets in, he spots him sitting down and leaning his back against the wall.

"Kenny?" Craig says walking over to him.

As he reaches him, he notices that Kenny's eyes are closed and wonders if maybe he fell asleep. He crouches down in front of him and looks at him, and soon enough a small smile spreads across his face. He couldn't help but find himself doing that whenever he saw the other one's sleeping face, probably because of how peaceful Kenny looked while like this. Craig's eyes carefully wander over Kenny's features again and he finds them landing on his lips again. He stares at them for a couple seconds before raising his free hand up and lightly placing it on his cheek, he then runs his thumb gently over Kenny's lips. They felt so soft to him. So. Very. Soft. He traces his thumb over them once more, parting them slightly, before he finds himself slowly being drawn in closer to them. Inch by inch, his eyes gradually starting to shut as he draws in ever closer to Kenny. He's about to close them all the way when something catches his vision at the last second and he stops. A pair of baby blue eyes were now staring back at him. He quickly pulls both his hand and face away, and stares at Kenny surprised. His heart feeling like it was going to explode any moment in his chest, and his face suddenly also feeling as if it was on fire.

Craig quickly looks away from Kenny's gaze and gets to his feet fast, "Uh-um- w-we sh-should get a move on! It's getting dark out!"

Kenny looks at him, "Were you about to-"

"Come on!" Craig says cutting him off, and starts walking away.

Kenny watches him take a few more steps, before getting up and following after him. They walk until they come across a motel, which Craig suggests staying at because it had been a few days since staying at the last one, and the coast seemed to be in the clear. So they head into the lobby area and Craig walks up to the front desk, where a woman was managing it.

"One room," Craig says. His thoughts were still wandering to what had happened earlier, so he almost doesn't hear what the woman says next.

"One room with a double bed," the woman says and writes something down.

Craig's eyes widen, "Oh uh- no, two single beds," he says quickly as the scenes from before kept on replaying out in his mind. He didn't think that he would be able to sleep next to the Kenny that night without feeling very awkward or something.

"Oh..." the woman looks between the two of them, "you two aren't together?"

Craig's eyes go even wider as a faint flush appears on his cheeks, "N-No!" the word comes out of his mouth before he can stop it, and he tenses a bit when he's certain he can feel Kenny looking at him.

"I see, sorry then. Right, two singles it is," the woman says and writes something else down.

Craig gets the room key and they head over to their designated room number. The whole way there though, he could swear that Kenny was watching him, but he didn't say anything. So Craig silently prayed that he somehow, miraculously, didn't hear his unintended response before, but that was very unlikely. When they reach their room they head in and Craig sets his backpack and small plastic bag down on couch that was in it. He looks around it, noting that it was both bigger and nicer than the last motel they stayed at. Having two single beds with lamps placed on nightstands resting next to them, a small table, bathroom, T.V, carpet flooring, white walls and an AC that he was pretty sure they wouldn't be needing that night.

Craig turns to face Kenny, "I thought you might like to have a bed all to yourself this time, and not have to worry about sharing space or something like that with me tonight. And I think you'll be more comfortable taking up as much space as you want," he explains.

Truth be told though, he just didn't know how to keep on dealing with Kenny sleeping so close to him every night. For the most part he could deal with it, but as soon as he felt the other move or anything behind him, his heart rate would start to pick up and he wouldn't be able to sleep again for a long while. Which would most likely be the same results of that night as well, especially after all that had happened during that day's events. He knew there was no way he could sleep next to him and be alright. Too many things happened, and he felt like if anything else more did, he might internally combust or something. He just needed a bit of space, even if only for one night.

"I'm going to take a quick shower," Craig says before heading into the bathroom. When he closes the door behind himself, he let's out a sigh.

When Craig finishes in the bathroom some time later, he's holding his jacket and hat on one arm and using a towel to dry his hair with the other. He notices that Kenny seems to be sleeping on one of the beds now as he sets down his hat and jacket on the small table. He then goes over to the other bed, and sits down. When he finishes drying off his hair, he sets the towel down on the small nightstand next to the bed and flops down backwards onto the bed. He could feel tiredness starting to take over as he closes his eyes, but something causes his bed to dip down a bit and he opens them again. Kenny was now sitting beside him, looking down at him.

"Um..." Craig says, feeling a bit awkward, "why don't you go and take a shower now, to wash away any hair strands that might still be left on you?"

Kenny stares at him for a long moment, "Alright..." he says and stands up.

Kenny then unzips his parka, taking it off and setting it down. He then grabs at the bottom of his shirt and slowly lifts it up. As the bottom of it is pulled over his head, Craig's eyes can't help but wander down the stretched torso before them, examining how Kenny's skin stretches over every one of the muscles underneath it. As Kenny finishes removing his shirt, Craig looks back up at his face, seeing that he was now looking right at him. Kenny then sets down his shirt with one hand, while the other begins to unbutton his pants. It's only when Craig sees Kenny starting to unzip his pants, does his face redden and he sits up fast.

"Undress in the bathroom please!" Craig exclaims.

"Why?" Kenny asks.

"Just do it!" Craig tells him, his face getting a deeper red.

Kenny doesn't say anything, he just watches Craig for a few more seconds before he turns and heads into the bathroom. When the door to it shuts, Craig let's out a long sigh and lies back down. He didn't want to end up doing something, because he felt it was not right to Kenny after all that he'd been through. However if Kenny kept on doing strange things like that, it was going to drive him insane. He stares up at the ceiling with tired eyes, feeling them get heavy. He closes them when he hears the shower turn on a short while later, and soon enough was drifting off in to sleep.

…

Craig finds himself standing in another completely dark place. Any sense of direction he had, felt void in what ever this space was. He comes to the conclusion that he's trapped all alone here, after looking around and not seeing anyone or anything, but not too long after a voice calls out.

"Craig?"

He recognized the voice instantly, so when he turns around to face it he's not too surprised to see Kenny there. He's about to ask him something when a sharp, stabbing-pain in his head starts. He quickly brings his hands to his head wanting it to stop.

"Craig, what's wrong?" Kenny asks now walking towards him.

The pain felt like it grew more and more in Craig's head with each step that Kenny took towards him. It had started to become unbearable to the point where he felt like he might kneel over and die. It was almost as if, someone had taken a jackhammer and begun drilling it into his skull, chipping away from the inside piece by piece. When Kenny gets within a few feet away from him, sparks start to form in his eyes against his will to do so.

"Stay back!" Craig yells.

But Kenny keeps walking towards him, "What's-"

"Stop!" Craig screams.

It's then does he make the grave mistake of looking up at him. Because the second that he does, a quick rush of violent sparks shoot out of his eyes. There's a blinding bright light for a split second and when it disappears, fading into the nothingness, it leaves behind a hole.

Craig's eyes widen with horror, "No..." he whispers.

Kenny had stopped walking towards him now and instead brings up a shaky hand to the bloody hole that was now in the center of his chest. He moves his hand away slightly and looks down at it, watching as his blood dripped off his fingers and down his arm.

"Craig... why?" Kenny says then looks up at him, "Why did you do this to me?" blood had begun to spill from his mouth now, "Why did you..." his voice started to sound heavy with wetness, but the next set of words he said were as clear as day to Craig, "Murder me?"

"No!" Craig screams, "I-I didn't mean to-"

Kenny's hand falls to his side, "I thought that you..." before he can finish though, his eyes close and he falls to the ground. A pool of almost completely black crimson-red blood begins forming around his now lifeless body.

Craig watches as the orange of Kenny's parka starts to dye a deep red, and for a moment there's a good second of deafening silence before his mouth opens and he screams falling down onto his knees. Sharp, bitter, stinging tears fall from his eyes as he gasps for air trying to breathe. Each sob that escaped him, felt like it was making it harder and harder for him to breathe, until he no longer could anymore. As a suffocating, smothering feeling begins to fill his lungs, he finds himself falling into darkness once again.

…

Craig's eyes shoot wide open and he quickly looks around, only to see that he's now staring up at the same ceiling he saw before passing out. His breathing slowly starts to return to normal when he realizes that it was only a dream. As he gradually starts becoming more aware of his surroundings, he notices that he is now covered in a cold sweat. He also notices that a familiar mess of blond hair was lying next to him again.

All he can feel is relief though, seeing that Kenny was fine. However, Kenny's hair seemed to be wet, so Craig turns a bit and grabs the towel that was placed on the small nightstand. He begins to dry off Kenny's hair, thinking that he probably didn't dry it off again because he liked how the cool air felt on his skin or something. It's only then does Craig now notice that Kenny is also not wearing anything as he glances down. As soon as he sees that, he looks back up, trying hard not to let his eyes wander down again. As he moves the towel away, after finishing up drying his hair, he sees that Kenny is now awake.

"Did I wake you?" Craig asks softly, "Sorry, your hair was still wet," he looks away, "but, um, why are you sleeping in my bed?"

"...You seemed like you were having a bad dream," Kenny says, "so I came and laid down next to you," he looks at Craig for a few more seconds before bringing up a hand and running his thumb lightly across Craig's cheek, "there are tears in your eyes."

As soon as Craig is told that, he quickly sits up and turns his head, wiping them away, "Anyways, I'm okay now. So you don't need to sleep beside me," he tells him.

"I want to sleep beside you though."

Craig looks back at him surprised, "Huh?"

"I don't want to sleep alone. I like it when you're beside me. I like it when you're near me," Kenny states more clearly and he places a hand on top of Craig's.

"O-Oh..." Craig murmurs. He had figured that Kenny probably found comfort in lying next to him or something, like that of when they were younger. With a small sigh, he lies back down in bed, "I'll stay right here then," he decides in the end that if it helps out Kenny in someway, then he could deal with a bit of discomfort. Although he wasn't sure if he could deal with him being completely naked, "But, um, aren't you cold like that?"

"No," Kenny replies.

"Really? You're making me cold looking at you," Craig chuckles to himself.

Kenny looks at him, "Then keep me warm."

"W-What?!" Craig stammers out.

Kenny moves next to him and opens his arms, "Come."

To say that Craig's face was red, would be an understatement. Because not only was it his face, he was also pretty sure that his whole body had started all turning the same shade of red at Kenny's very bold words. Although he wasn't quite sure if Kenny even knew what he was saying even sounded like to him. Craig suddenly found it very hard to move properly as he somewhat stiffly moved into Kenny's arms.

"Um... I'm not sure if there will be enough room for both of us on here," Craig murmurs awkwardly.

"I'll keep you close then," Kenny tells him.

Kenny wraps an arm under and around Craig's head, so that he was lying on it, and wraps the other around his upper back. He then brings Craig's head in close to his chest, so that his forehead was now touching it. The two then stayed like that for a good while, as Kenny rested his chin on Craig's head. And as more time slowly passed by, Craig had started to calm down a bit, thinking that this was alright and that he could probably manage to fall asleep like this. So he slowly wrapped his free arm, that wasn't trapped between their two bodies, around Kenny's waist. He could feel Kenny's still damp skin brushing against his arm as he did so, but tried to ignore it. However that thought was quickly thrown out the window as he felt something move.

Kenny's hand slowly begun to move down Craig's back. It kept on moving further down until it came to his pants waistline. Craig could then feel as one by one, Kenny's fingers crept under his tank's hemline, and begun to move lightly across his skin. The sensation of them made Craig shiver a bit.

"Kenny...?" Craig mumbles out quietly.

"You're so warm," Kenny says back in a low hushed voice.

Kenny's hand then moves up along the side of Craig's stomach, then slowly back down it, his nails gently playing along his skin. With each movement across Craig's skin, it felt like it was being set aflame. And no matter how much Craig tried to push the feeling that was forming in him, he couldn't stop it. Kenny's hand moves up along the whole of his back, pressing his nails a bit harder into his skin, they keep on doing that until his fingers reach the top of Craig's pants again. Just when Craig thinks he might be done, he feels Kenny's fingers slip under his pants and underwear. He feels them gradually move down one side of his backside and come to a stop. He then feels Kenny's nails dig lightly into his skin again and move back up, causing a tingling sensation to run up his spine. They stop right before leaving his pants and move back down. This time though, going down the center. And he can feel as one of them lightly begins to push it's way up and along between him. Suddenly this all starts becoming too much for him and he feels like at any moment, he might completely spill over. And in the next moment he does, as a small, but very audibly moan escapes from between his lips, along with a quite noticeable shiver. The second he realizes the sound he's made, he bites down hard on his bottom lip as if that will somehow take it back. Kenny's hand stops then, and he moves his hand back to the outside of Craig's pants and up to rest on his back again.

"Goodnight," Kenny says quietly, shifting his head down and kissing Craig's forehead lightly, before moving it back up.

Craig having been completely confused by everything only says, "G-Goodnight," back.

And then it's quiet. Kenny was no longer moving around next to him and Craig was lying there wide awake and confused, wondering what the hell just happened. He didn't know why Kenny had done that and then suddenly stopped so abruptly. A part of him thought that he should be glad it stopped, but he wasn't, he was far from it actually. Because now he wasn't only confused, he was also very, very, frustrated. His heart was beating exceedingly loud in his eardrums, to the point where he thought they might burst, his whole body was hot and sweaty, his thoughts were racing all over the place and he had some other feelings going on in his body that he knew wouldn't be going away anytime soon. Part of him felt like he was being teased almost for some reason.

When morning the next day comes, it's no surprise that Craig had barely gotten any sleep from that night. He had ended up just lying there, unmoving from his position the whole night. As he finishes zipping up his bag, he let's out a small disgruntled sound. His thoughts still swarming with what had happened, all the touching and feeling and lips being pressed on his forehead. He still didn't know where the hell that all came from and, to top it all off, he had even made an embarrassing sound. Craig felt the heat start to rise in his face and he quickly shoved the memory down and away. He felt irritated and had only wanted to focus on the task at hand, which was to keep on moving.

When Craig looks up from his bag, he sees Kenny watching him and he quickly looks back down at it. Kenny was all dressed now and ready to go, he was just waiting on him. So Craig slings his bag on and starts heading for the door. As he opens it, he is greeted with a wall of cold air hitting his face. So cold in fact, that he could see his breath in the air. He steps outside and shivers a bit as a cold breeze passes by. When Kenny steps out next to him, he turns and shuts the door.

"I'm going to hand in the room key real quick and then we can head off," Craig says, and starts heading for the motel lobby, "Wait right here, I'll be back in a second."

So Kenny does, and about a minute or so later Craig joins back up with him and they set off once again.

A/N: Chapter updates will probably be a bit slow from this point onwards, as this year is turning out to be quite a busy one for me.