Disclaimer: I own nothing.

12. Woods

It felt like they had been walking, and talking, for hours.

Month's worth of pent up conversation had been building up inside of Noah since the only other people he'd seen since the event happened had left the city to try and meet up with friends in the countryside.

So there was barely a pause to be heard as he and his new companion Rex swapped life stories.

How Noah's dad was long dead and his mother killed right after the Event, leaving Noah to face the world alone.

How Rex had been on a school trip a thousand miles from home when the Event happened. Where half of his classmates turned and the other half had scattered to varying locations to find safety.

Only Rex and a few of his friends had dared tried to make the long trip home together.

Rex had stayed behind while the rest of his group had gone on a little farther in hopes of finding Noah after seeing signs of his foraging when they passed through the town.

Rex couldn't stand the thought of at least not checking to see if anyone was alive in that area that might need help.

Which to be fair, Noah did. His food supply was running low between what his friends had taken, the Evos had destroyed, and what he'd had to eat to survive. Plus savaging had gotten tougher as more and more Evo had started taking note of his presence and started thinking of him as fast food.

So it wasn't hard for Rex to convince his new friend to come with him on his journey towards the only possible salvation for the human race that Rex could think of.

His parents.

Between his genius mother Dr. Holiday and his father the world's greatest sword master Six, the two had the brains and the skills to survive the end of the world. At least according to Rex.

So he and his companions were set on reaching their last known location and seeing what could be done to not only save what remained of humanity, but to cure those that had become Evos themselves.

Noah listened with rapidly rising hope as Rex told him all this and led him towards the small encampment he'd created over the course of his last few days in the area.

It was a well hidden little cavern made of camouflage coverings mixed into the native foliage that allowed it to be set in middle of the woods and yet be indistinguishable from it. Noah would have walked passed it altogether if Rex hadn't grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.

Only a single large sleeping bag, a small fire pit and a large backpack decorated the tiny cavern, but there was room enough for both boys to stand without crouching and to sit without being on top of each other. (Not that Noah would have been totally against that. Rex was the hottest teen he'd ever seen, and that was including his time post Event when he still had internet access.)

Oblivious to the blonde's less than PG thoughts, Rex offered what food he had to share and Noah accepted it gratefully. He'd been down to his last few stale energy bars back at his home and they'd decided along the way to Rex's hideout it wasn't worth the risk of trying to go back for such a small stash of food when the Evo from earlier could still be lurking around.

So the pair ate and chatted for hours longer as night quickly descended upon them. Noah listened with wonder as Rex described his travels both before and after the Event and how much he'd done in such a short life. Especially when the things Noah had to brag about where so few and pointless now that society was never going to be the same.

What good was a 4.0 GPA during the apocalypse anyway?

His only noteworthy achievement had been survival over the last few months on his own and that seemed to pale in comparison to Rex's trials since he'd started out towards his home.

Still, their conversation never seemed to lag for an instant and Noah felt proud that his companion seemed just as enraptured with his stories as he had been with Rex's own. Especially since even before the Event he'd never been one to hold the attention of hot boys for long and Rex seemed to dead set on remembering every word that left Noah's mouth as if they were just as important as directions to a fully stocked supermarket.

It made Noah feel flattered and flustered and he would have been way more self-conscious if he wasn't so tired that it didn't seem to matter as much.

Eventually Rex reluctantly cut his own story short after his fourth yawn and opened the sleeping bag they'd both been sitting on for most for the evening.

"Mind sharing? I didn't think to hunt down an extra pack before I found out where you were and the nights get cold here."

Noah desperately hoped that the firelight would camouflage his blush as he nodded and that Rex wouldn't noticed just how nervous he was to be sharing such small sleeping space with a boy he'd met only hours before. (Not for the sensible caution of stranger danger, but for the fact that attraction dulled his normally cautious nature.)

It only stuck him after the pair were snug together within the warm confines of the bag that this was the closest he'd been to anyone in ages.

The sudden warmth and closeness of being near someone again, of the feeling of human connection, nearly brought tears to his eyes. He hadn't realized just how alone he'd been up till this moment. How much he'd missed the simple sound of another person's voice and the warm reassurance of another's touch.

It was all so overwhelming, that in that moment that he didn't even realize he was crying till glove covered hands started trailing down his back soothingly. He'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed Rex turning to bring them face to face and his reaching out to pull Noah into a loose hug.

"Shhh." The other teen whispered between them.

"I'm here. You're not alone anymore." He assured Noah as the blonde proceeded to drench his top in tears.

Months of stress and worry and longing drained out of him as he clung to Rex's jacket and sobbed against him.

Rex didn't even flinch away. He just kept trailing his hands up and down his back soothingly and offering soft reassurances that things were going to be okay and that he wouldn't leave Noah alone. Not ever he promised.

It was a silly thing to promise to someone he'd met only hours before, and Noah probably shouldn't have put as much weight on it as he did, but in that moment it was a greater comfort than anything he'd ever known and he believed it with every fiber of his being.

He believed that Rex would stay with him. Stay and remind Noah that there was still more to life than just foraging and surviving.

Because Rex just existing gave him hope in a way nothing had in a long time.

Hope that in the morning he'd wake up to something more than Evos and worries and fears.

Something like Rex smiling down at him through the light between the branches above them.

And much to his eternal gratitude to the universe, he did.

Noah had been more than a little embarrassed when he woke up the next morning with his face pressed against Rex's neck and his hands still grasping his top tightly.

(Rex's arms still wrapped around him hadn't helped much either)

But Rex had been kinder about it then he deserved.

"Hey, better you let it out when you're safe and not when we're running for our lives right?" He joked as they untangled themselves.

It was a comfort to the blonde that he looked just as flushed and embarrassed about the whole thing as Noah did though.

Thankfully it didn't make things awkward as they ate their meager breakfast and pack up camp.

Even if Noah still caught himself blushing at the remembered scent of Rex's skin and the feeling of being held so tightly.

I'm really loving this little mini AU verse I started, so don't be surprised if I keep it up for a while.

PS: The next couple of chapters will be set in the same universe as this one, but still keeping to their individual prompts.

Yours truly,

Lacy Fairgold