First Life ~Chapter 9 Heart of a Lion~
Devon sat in the passenger seat of James' old car, wishing the heater worked. There was snow all over on the ground, and due to James' poor quality of car, there was some inside too. It had been months since Devon had ended up in the hospital. Nothing of importance had happened since then, everyone using every spare second they had visiting Devon. James had spent most of his time there. The nurses usually had to shoo James away when visiting hours were over, sometimes they'd not even try and just let him sleep in Devon's room. James hadn't gone to work the entirety of Devon's hospital stay. Devon had asked James what he did, where he worked, and James never gave a straight answer. Devon had assumed James was a pencil pusher, or an accountant, since James had a degree in accounting but James assured him that was because he could find better ways to save money. Devon wondered why James worked at all, if he wanted he could live off his family's estate, his father and grandfather before him had invested well in the stock market, and James was the only child, the only heir to the entire estate. This was just one new thing Devon had learned about James over his stay in the hospital.
Devon turned to face James.
"What's today?" Devon asked James, realizing he didn't know the date after the mundane stay at the hospital.
"Friday, February 22, why?" James replied after glancing at the tiny date on his digital watch.
"Oh, just wondering, being in the hospital threw my internal calendar off." Devon replied, peering out the window.
February 22...James' birthday is the 25th, only 3 days away, 4 including today.
Devon knew James wasn't expecting anything, what with Devon being in the hospital for so long, but Devon knew that he had to get him a good gift, especially after all James had done for him. Devon thought about how much money he had, probably no more than $10, not working tends to thin out your wallet. Devon thought he could make something, but he wasn't very artisitic and whatever he made would end up looking like it belonged on a fridge.
$10, what am I going to do? I could ask Danny for some money...but he probably doesn't have any to spare. Andrew is probably broke planning for the wedding. Really, the only person I could ask would be James, and using his money for his own gift...? Devon was in a pickle.
"What are you thinking about?" James asked suddenly.
"Nothing. How did you know I was thinking?" Devon asked.
"You were playing with your mane, you do that whenever you're stressed." James replied. "So what's got you stressed already, nothing's happened yet, you just got out of the hospital." James half-joked. Devon decided he needed to change the subject fast.
"Why won't you tell me what you do? I mean what your job is." Devon asked. James heaved a sigh.
"You really want to know don't you." James stated more than asked. "Well, fine I'll tell you, but not until we're home and you've had some lunch." James replied.
Devon was relieved that James had bought that. Devon turned his head towards the window and started thinking about his predicament again, trying very hard not to touch his mane at all.
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Danny walked in the door, admiring his small apartment, and how clean it was. Dusk, as promised, had stopped by Danny's parents place a week after he dropped he had dropped Danny off. Danny brought Tyler with him, Dusk didn't ask any questions, but they didn't talk the whole way back to Danny's place either. Danny was no longer reluctant to live where he was, he had Tyler to care for. As Danny admired the state of his apartment, he tried to remember when was the last time it had looked so good.
"Hello Danny." Tyler greeted him.
"Hey Tyler," Danny lifted the grocery bag in his left paw, "I bought frozen pizza." Tyler smiled.
Danny had been working hard to keep Tyler away from drugs and alcohol, and Tyler's body was trying to break the addiction, still. Most of the time Tyler was quiet and calm like now, but sometimes he'd just get really violent; he'd smash stuff and throw stuff and then he'd start to cry. Danny knew the only reason Tyler was doing it was because breaking the addiction hurt, and sometimes he couldn't contain the pain. Danny had nearly given up on Tyler several times. Once, he had thrown Tyler out, only to chase him down after five minutes. It took him twenty minutes to find Tyler in an alley, all alone sobbing. Tyler wasn't completely dependent on Danny though.
A couple weeks back, Tyler had started having regular conversations with Danny, ones not including swears or insults directed at Danny. For the most part Tyler wasn't violent anymore, he spoke clearly and understandably, and the seizures had stopped. Tyler's mind seemed to have turned back on and started moving at full speed. In a week, Tyler started cleaning up after himself, cooking for himself, changing his own clothes, things Danny had done in the past, not out of necessity but because Tyler refused to. He only started that week, because Tyler had realized that Danny was helping him, not causing the pain from the withdrawal but trying to lessen it. Now, Tyler's addiction was completely broken, and was more or less Danny's roommate.
In any case, Tyler was in much better shape than he had been before. The color had returned to Tyler's once black eyes, they were now light blue like luminescent pools in the light of a full moon. His nails were short and well kept, his teeth were white and healthy. Even some of Tyler's muscle tone had returned, although he was still weaker than Danny, which helped when Tyler started to get violent.
"Hey Tyler, what do you think about visiting a friend of our's later?" Danny asked.
"Who?"
"James, he helped me bring you here." Danny replied.
"Sure sounds like fun. I can thank him." Tyler replied. Danny grabbed his phone and dialed James' number.
"Hello?"
"Hey James, I will be stopping by later after all." Danny announced.
"Oh, great! When?"
"How does about half an hour sound?" Danny asked as Tyler pulled the pizza out of the oven.
"Sounds great, see you in a bit then."
"See ya." Danny replied.
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James hung up.
"Danny is coming over in a bit. About thirty minutes." James replied to Devon's confused look.
"Oh great! I haven't seen him for a couple weeks." Devon replied with a smile.
Devon was sitting at James' dinner table. James walked over and stood in front of the table.
"You want to know what I do right?" James asked. Devon had nearly forgotten.
"Yes! Very much so."
"Well...how about I show you something first." James replied. "And then you can guess what I do."
"Okay! Sounds like fun. So what are you-?" Devon began asking when he noticed James was pulling of his sweater.
Under James' shirt, he was wearing an undershirt, which he left on. Devon was amazed. He had only ever seen James wearing a longsleeved baggy shirt and long legged baggy pants, he would have never guessed James had muscles. And indeed James did. James wasn't what one might consider buff, he didn't have huge muscles like Oscar had. What James did have though, were defined and toned muscles, they were very proportioned to his body suggesting more speed, agility, dexterity and flexibility than raw power, but they were also very strong. James then pulled down his pants, which underneath he had been wearing gym shorts. James' legs told the story of long-distance sprinting, and hurdling back in high school, but appeared to have lost no tone or definition as if James was still sprinting and hurdling.
Devon was baffled as to what James did, why he needed such a powerful and agile body. Having nothing else to guess, Devon decided on a fun answer.
"Are you..." Devon began searching for the right words. "a professional Ninja Warrior contestant?" Devon hardly kept a straight face suggesting it. Both James and Devon cracked up laughing.
"You really have no idea what I do do you?" James asked.
"Not a clue." Devon replied.
"This body I have now, is the result of an older job, and training keeps it this way. What I do now is pretty similar to what I used to do, but I get a lot less work through the year." James began. "I'm a bodyguard."
"Really!?!" Devon replied, nearly yelling with astonishment.
"Yeah. I get paid a lot, but I only have short-term engagements, and I don't get a lot of jobs a year." James explained as he pulled his clothes back on. "Generally I get hired for a single event, since I'm so expensive. I'm the best in the business, and the only body guard in the tri-county area, so I don't have much competition. Last year I got hired for 24/7 body guard duty for one week. I'm still only halfway through that money." James explained. "What I used to do I got paid a lot less, but still made more money per year, because I got a lot of jobs. But I decided it was too dangerous and used up too much of my time." James finished.
"What did you used to do?" Devon asked.
"Oh, that's a story for another time." James replied mysteriously. Just as Devon was going to beg for the story, someone knocked on James' door. "That must be Danny, I'll get it."
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Danny turned to face Tyler.
"James is one of Devon's friends." Danny instructed him. Tyler nodded. Tyler wanted to somehow apologize to Devon for what he had done, he was hoping he could do that through James. "James is nice, he'll probably help you. He's helped me and Andrew and Devon a lot, anyway." Just then James' door swung open.
"Hey Danny!" James greeted Danny with a hug. James turned and looked at Tyler. "Danny, you didn't say he was coming." James' voice lost all cheer, sounding as if Tyler meant nothing but bad news.
"James, I never thought I'd have to say this but, be nice." Danny replied defensively.
"I'm sorry, but..." James turned out of the way as he realized Devon was right behind him. As James turned, Devon saw what James was upset about.
"Ty..." Devon began, unable to bring himself to finish the name. Devon's eyes began welling up, and he ran off into the spare room, and closed the door. Danny and Tyler came in and James shut his door.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that..." Danny began apologizing.
"I know I should have told you." James interrupted him.
Tyler appeared to be in shock from seeing Devon so unexpectedly. He was sitting in one of James' chairs, staring at Devon's bedroom door. James and Danny seemed to notice this and looked down at Tyler. Danny, afraid Tyler might get upset, walked over to him and put his hands on his shoulders. Tyler shrugged them off. Tyler turned to look at James. James noticed that Devon's eyes weren't the only teary ones.
"James? Can I talk to Devon?" Tyler asked. James was surprised, he hadn't spoken to Tyler since the night they took him from his apartment.
"If he'll let you, I won't stop you." James replied. Tyler stood up and walked to Devon's room.
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Tyler knocked on Devon's door.
"Devon? It's me Tyler." Tyler cursed himself for saying that, Devon knew who it was. "I...I wan-...I nee...we need to talk." Tyler stumbled over the words, unsure what to say. Devon didn't reply. "For what it's worth...I'm sorry. I...there's no explaining what I did. I don't even understand why I did it. But...I'm sorry." Tears rolled down Tyler's face as he said this. He had been waiting for weeks, ever since his mind was able of conscious thought again he had been waiting to say that to Devon. Devon's door opened. Devon stood in the doorway, his face wet, dark lines of fur heading from his eyes to his mane. Devon didn't say anything, he just hugged Tyler.
"Do you hate me?" Tyler whispered in Devon's ear.
"No." Devon replied. "But I don't love you either." Tyler wasn't surprised by Devon's words, he had known them as truth long before he spoke them. They just stood there hugging and crying for a long time. Finally Devon pulled off. He turned to Danny.
"Thanks Danny, for taking care of him. Thanks even more for bringing him here."
"It's the least I could do." Danny replied, sounding more like James than himself. Devon was happy. He didn't love Tyler anymore, he didn't want a reason for what Tyler did, he just wanted to see him again, to have his friend back, and now he did.
After several hours of conversation, Danny and Tyler decided it was time to leave. As soon as they left James' apartment, Tyler turned to face Danny. Tyler had a big grin on his face and his eyes were sparkling.
"What?" Danny asked, now facing Tyler in the narrow hallway. Tyler leaned over and kissed Danny. Danny, caught off guard just stood there, finally Tyler pulled off. "W-what was that for?" Danny asked.
"I messed up with Devon. I'm not gonna mess up with you." Tyler replied. Danny realized what Tyler meant, Tyler had fallen in love with Danny.