They had been traveling until it was sunset, then they found a tree to climb into to rest for the night. Allie spread his wings out to cover the space in between the trees where they could fall off. Marucho, who had been sleeping in Allie's arms for most of the walk, was on the lookout first. They settled into the spot where they were, Allie gaining a few splinters from scooting back with his hands.
"I hope this isn't one of those trees with ants in it," Marucho said.
"This tree doesn't have any ants in it," Allie replied.
"What about beetles? Do you think there are beetles?"
"No, Marucho." Allie said.
"Oooh, what about spiders? Spiders go in trees, right?" Marucho asked.
"Marucho I'm trying to go to sleep." Allie said, facing away from him and closing his eyes.
"Am I making you paranoid? I'm sorry." Marucho said.
"It's fine, just no more talking about bugs." Allie said. Marucho nodded and laid back against one of the tree branches. He soon heard the gentle snoring of Allie and turned to face him. The fact that he could go to sleep so easily was amusing to him.
His eyes trailed over to his wing. He grazed his fingers over the diamond that was there. They tingled as they touched. He pulled them away and looked at them. Nothing looked wrong. He wondered why that happened before, why it had stung him. He concluded that that was just how it worked.
He wanted to curl back into Allie's arms, but he figured that that would make him just fall straight through the tree's branches. Marucho didn't know why he wanted to be so close to Allie all the time. He didn't know why he wanted to lay with him like how lovers do. Maybe it was because he loved him. But that was just a forward possibility. He's only known Allie for a few months. Wouldn't that be insanely fast-paced?
He didn't love Allie yet, he knew that. But maybe, he liked him. Liked him like he would if they were in a relationship together. He leaned over to reach for Allie's hand that was laying on his stomach. He intertwined their fingers, not putting too much force, but just enough to feel Allie's warmth in the night. Now that he thought about it, it was kind of cold. He still didn't have his jacket.
He really should have grabbed it before he got out. But it was a lost cause now. He leaned back onto the branch and looked down to the forest floor below. He really hoped that Jane didn't find an extra map that Jake had. That would be the only way that she could find them now. She couldn't have possibly followed the flight that Allie took. The thought of being found is what kept Marucho up. He had to be a good lookout.
Soon it was morning again. Marucho shook Allie's shoulders, "get up, let's go!" Allie woke up panicked.
"What is it Marucho?" Allie said, sitting straight up.
"Let's watch the sunrise together!" Marucho said.
Allie wiped his eyes, "you want to watch the sunrise?" Allie asked. Marucho nodded.
"Okay, Geppy." Allie said as he yawned. Marucho carefully stood up on the tree and started to find sturdy branches to step on. Allie went to the opposite side of the tree to climb and then they both were on the highest parts of the tree, looking in the direction of the sun.
"Look Marucho, it's coming up!" Allie said, pointing at it.
"Yep Allie, it is." Marucho said. The two of them stood in comforting silence, just watching the sunrise. Well, one of them was watching the sunrise. Marucho was too focused on Allie's excited face. The sun shown on his face as the oranges and yellows started to rise and seemingly disappear into the sky as the sun rose higher. Then Marucho saw something slide down Allie's face. Not rain.
"Allie, are you okay?" Marucho asked.
Allie sniffled, "yeah, I'm fine, Geppy. I'm just happy." Marucho smiled and looked at the sun. "I'm happy too, Allie." Marucho said.
Allie wiped his tears and looked to Marucho. His wide smile is now fully shown in the sunlight. It looked even better than it did before.
"Hey Marucho, what are we going to do about your diamonds?" Allie asked. Marucho turned to face him. At first, he was confused but then he remembered and sighed.
"I don't know, Allie." Marucho said.
"Isn't there some way to stop them from growing?" Allie asked.
"I've never really tried to stop them from growing." Marucho replied.
"How about we try a bunch of things once we get to the house? Then you won't have to deal with them anymore!" Allie said. Marucho smiled again.
"Yeah, then I won't have to worry about them anymore." He felt over the one growing on his top lip. Allie looked at the tops of the trees. There was probably still a long way to go. But it would be fine.
"Let's start going, Marucho." Allie said, climbing back down the tree.
"Aw, okay." Marucho whined. The next few days were filled with the same events. Allie and Marucho would walk together until noon, where Allie would carry Marucho while he slept. Then, when the sun fell, they would go into a tree and Allie would sleep while Marucho was on the lookout for anyone who might be looking for either of them. And of course, both of them having to deal with the question while the other was asleep. Did they love the other?
Soon, they were in a clearing of the forest. They still had a ways to go, but they wanted to relax for a day. Being on the run was very tiring. Having to always worry about someone coming for them just made the trip longer. Not to mention the lack of food that they had. They were given a pretty big-sized bag by Sam, but it wasn't going to last the entire trip. The trip actually took longer since sometimes they spent hours looking for something edible.
They were surviving, but it was barely surviving right now. They both sat in the middle of the clearing and sighed. Marucho leaned his head on Allie's shoulder.
"How much longer until we get there?" Marucho asked.
"Well, based on this clearing, only about three more days if we go the same pace." Allie said. Marucho groaned, turning to put his forehead on Allie's shoulder. Allie turned his head to look at him.
"It's not that Allie, Marucho. We're almost there!" Allie said.
Marucho looked up, "and then we get to live together?" Marucho's face held a pout.
"Yes, Marucho. Then we get to live together. Then we can make our own farm! We'll even have a well!" Allie said. Marucho put his chin on Allie's shoulder, bringing his face closer. Allie could feel himself heat up from the closeness, turning away from Marucho.
Marucho laughed, "you're cute when you're flustered." Allie turned back to Marucho, making his eyes go wide.
"I'm not flustered, you're flustered!" Allie said.
Marucho laughed more, "no you're flustered."
"No, you're flustered."
"You're flustered."
"Marucho, I'm not flustered!" Allie yelled. Marucho kissed him on the cheek again, the backed up to admire the other boy. His face was beyond red, Marucho bet that he could feel the heat if he was close enough. So, he tested that theory and got close again, leaning his head back onto Allie's shoulder. He thought that he could feel it.
"Wha- Geppy!" Allie yelled. Late reaction much?
"Yes Allie?" Marucho asked.
"Y-you can't just do that!" Allie said. Marucho back off of him.
"Why not?" Marucho asked.
Allie looked down, "well, because that's something that people do when they love each other."
"But I do love you, Allie." Marucho said.
"No, Marucho. It's not that kind of love. It's like the love two people who are married would have." Allie said. Marucho knew exactly what Allie was saying. But that didn't stop him.
"But I want to kiss you." Marucho said.
"I already told you, that's something that only people in a romantic relationship do. When they love each other." Allie said, getting more flustered. Marucho tilted his head to the side, feigning innocence.
"But I told you that I do love you." Marucho said. He didn't mean to confess, but it wasn't really a confession if Allie didn't think it was. That's what made Marucho feel secure. Because if Allie didn't feel the same, he could just go back to saying that he thought of love in a platonic way. But if he wasn't rejected, Marucho didn't know what would happen.
Allie wanted to believe that Marucho meant the words that he was saying. But something told him that Marucho didn't understand. He probably did understand, but what would Allie do then? He's never been in a relationship, he wouldn't even know what to do. He sighed, not knowing what to do.
"Come on, Marucho. Let's just go to the house. We can talk more about it there." Allie said. This way, he would have time to think about it.
"Okay!" Marucho said, standing up. And they were back on their way, it was noon, so it was Marucho's turn to sleep. He got into Allie's arms and snuggled into him. Allie smiled at the action. It was really cute, but the interaction didn't mean that Marucho loved him. It could just be his way of showing friendly affection.
Allie didn't want the thoughts to get into his head, after all, Marucho was laying directly on his chest. And he would surely point out any change in heartbeat that he had. He took a deep breath and kept trudging on. He wanted to get to the house as fast as possible now. Because once they were there, they could talk about it. And then, who knows?
The night came and Allie and Marucho found yet another tree. Allie got settled back in and closed his eyes. His thoughts were roaming through his mind aimlessly. He was tired but he couldn't get himself to stop the flow of thoughts. His eyes twitched as he forced them to stay closed. If he didn't rest, he wouldn't get very far in the morning.
Then, he felt a weight next to him. His body immediately calmed down as it recognized the weight to be Marucho. He was cuddling with Allie, and Allie didn't know if it was to comfort him or not, but it sure was comforting. His tense body relaxed and he fell asleep like it was waiting for this to happen. Allie wondered why now his body decided it needed comforting.
The next three days went by relatively the same. They would walk and talk for hours until noon about whatever stupid thing came to their mind, sometimes arguing about it. Then at night, Allie would be kept up until Marucho cuddled with him. It was only slightly different than the days prior to the 'confession.' And now Allie could see another clearing of the forest. Or what he thought was a clearing. He ran out of the trees to see a house. Allie and Marucho's house. He smiled as he turned back to Marucho, only to see him run past him to the house. Allie followed him and they were at the front porch. Marucho sat down on one of the rocking chairs and Allie sat at the other one.
"We made it Marucho!" Allie yelled.
"And now we get to live together and grow a farm and find two dogs and everything else!" Marucho said.
Allie stood up, "let's go take a look inside!" Marucho stood up with him and they entered the house using the key that they found in the bag. It looked to be cleaned only a couple weeks ago, which was nice, but they probably had to clean it again tomorrow. It wasn't a big house, it had a living room, a dining room, and two bedrooms and a bathroom.
"Does this house have running water?" Allie asked. Marucho shrugged and turned the faucet. Surprisingly, there was indeed running water.
"How is there running water all the way out here?" Allie asked.
"I don't know." Marucho turned off the water.
"Well, what do you want to do now?" Allie asked.
Marucho thought for a second, "do you want to talk about that one thing?"
"Let's go to the living room." Allie said.
They sat down on the couch and Allie sighed. He didn't know where to even start with a conversation like this. He had no way of knowing how Marucho felt, or knowing what Marucho was thinking. How was he going to be able to tell if he liked him or not? How was even going to tell if he had romantic feelings for boys? Or-
"Allie, do you love me?" Marucho asked. Allie's thoughts froze.
"Well, of course I do, Marucho." Allie said.
"Do you want to kiss me?" Marucho asked. It was a little bit forward, but Allie really didn't expect anything different from the boy. He got impatient easily.
"Allie?" Marucho asked. Allie remembered that he had to answer.
"Um, do I want to kiss you?" Allie asked again, stalling for time.
"Ugh yes. Do you want to kiss me?" Marucho asked. Allie put a hand on his cheek. He looked up only to look back down, avoiding Marucho's stare. He heard Marucho get up from the couch and head his way. Then he saw Marucho's feet, and suddenly, Marucho was sitting on the floor, looking up to force Allie to keep eye contact with him. Allie closed his eyes.
"UUUUGHHHH, you said you wanted to talk about it!" Marucho whined.
"I do want to talk about it!" Allie replied.
"Then why don't you just spit it out? Do you want to kiss me or not?"
"YES, I WANT TO KISS YOU!" Allie yelled. There was a silence and Allie peeked one of his eyes open to see Marucho's reaction. But it was more of a reaction that he could feel.
All of the blood rushing to his cheeks, eyes widening, pulse-quickening. His whole body felt like it was on fire. But Allie felt like he was in heaven. Marucho's lips disconnected from his as his eyes fluttered open. Then he started to panic at the sight of Allie's shocked face.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what got over me. You probably weren't expecting me to just kiss you right now and I should have given you time to think and-"
He was cut off by Allie pulling him back in. Marucho lifted himself off of the floor and onto Allie's lap for a better angle. He tangled his fingers in Allie's hair in an attempt to pull him impossibly closer. Allie was the first to pull away for breath while Marucho was unfazed.
"How are you able to hold your breath for so long?" Allie asked, huffing.
"I run away a lot." Marucho said, shrugging his shoulders.
"I guess that would make it a lot easier." Allie said, breaths already back to normal.
"Are you okay?" Marucho asked. Allie nodded.
"Then can I get one more kiss?" Marucho asked.
Allie rolled his eyes, "of course, you muffin head." Marucho leaned in again only to cut himself off with giggles.
"Muffin head?" He asked.
"Yeah, a muffin head. I love muffins." Allie said.
"And you love me." Marucho said.
"Aw, yeah. I do love you, Marucho." Allie said. Marucho gave him one last peck on the nose.
"I love you too."