In the Beat of a Wing {boyxboy}

Chapter Fifteen

Saturday 9th February 2013~

Eden didn't often get drunk, and when he did, he didn't like to get too inebriated. The loss of control reminded him too much of his mother and, in turn, Archer. He had missed out on the addictive personality gene, never smoked or did drugs, nothing like that. Audrey had missed it too, which Eden was so thankful for. He wasn't sure how he would have coped if he had had to have dealt with a grieving teenager with some drug addiction. Now that might have broken him.

The previous night, however, Eden may have gone a little overboard. A lot of it was a blur, just indiscernible faces and voices that he couldn't quite find the sources for. He wasn't sure how much he drank, or what he drank for that matter. There were more than a few gaps in his mind, big black holes that he couldn't quite fit in between what little memories he managed to scavenge.

It was a little disconcerting, Eden didn't like to lose time. He didn't like the feeling of missing something as essential as a memory. He liked to be in control, liked to make his own decisions of his own free mind rather than being coerced by someone in a more stable state of coherence. He knew he had been safe with the guys last night, maybe that was the true reason that he let himself go, he knew Slate would keep him safe and that Malcolm would remain by his side.

At the thought of Malcolm, Eden bit the inside of his cheek, wondering if there was anything that had happened between them the night before that he couldn't quite remember. He racked his brain, searching through the broken memories for anything of interest. The last he remembered was being sat in a booth between Malcolm and Reivon. Slate and Leon were opposite but he wasn't sure where Arian was.

Someone's hand had been on his thigh, although Eden couldn't remember who's. It might have been Reivon's but he was sure Malcolm would have started some sort of commotion if so, therefore it must have been his. Eden tried to focus in on that memory, tried to watch it play out before his closed eyes, but it went no further than them all sat there. It was a still image, no movement, no dialogue, nothing.

"Fuck... my head..." Eden murmured when his eyes fluttered open, the light streaming in from the thin curtains burning into his corneas. He shifted his arm, freezing suddenly when he noticed that his head wasn't resting on a pillow, it was settled across something far warmer and more solid.

"Hush, it's OK," Slate's low toned voice resonated through Eden when the boy flinched abruptly. Slate's arm was around his waist, his fingers just under the shirt that Eden was wearing, tracing absent little patterns over his back.

"Where are we?" Eden whispered, trying not to tense or grimace every time another aching throb split through his skull.

"My house, Rei wanted to go back to his but mine was closer to the bar we were in and there was no way I was gonna try to drive with five drunks in the back of my car," Eden smiled lazily, shifting ever so slightly, a frown taking over his face.

"Who else is in bed with us?" Eden said in a near inaudible voice, feeling someone's back brushing against his with every breath.

"Rei, he's spooning Mal. He'll sleep for days," Slate smiled fondly, "barely sleeps regularly, did you know that about vampires? They can go weeks, even months, without any sleep, and still be able to function normally. Rei tries to get an hour or so every night to stop himself from looking so gaunt but when he gets drunk, he can sleep for nearly a week. It's amusing really."

"What happened last night?" Eden rubbed his neck, wincing when his fingertips brushed over two little puncture wounds. Vampire bite. Surely he hadn't... Not again...

"The only way Rei can get drunk is by drinking blood with a high alcohol content. He bit all of us last night, don't worry, Mal won't hold it against you or anything. That would be unfair of him."