The City, Part Two, the apartment

CHAPTER 6

Climbing the fire escape to get in and out of our apartment may be tiring, but it's the only way to get to it. It's also the safest place in the city. each door, every elevator and staircase, from the ground to the 2nd highest floor, is blocked off. No zombies have ever gotten in. The penthouse, where we live, only has one, small room, but it's the only place in the city where we can truly be safe.

Once we reach the top, Puffball somehow staying on Blaze's shoulders, Blaze collapses on the floor, tired from the climb. I sit up, looking back out the window. The sun is setting, the sky giving the air a pink hue. 

"Wow.. look at this, Blaze.." Blaze loves it when the air looks all pink like this, as if a film of it is covering our eyes. his favourite colour is pink, though he almost never admits it. He sits up, staring at the city through the window. At times like this, its easy to forget about everything, the virus, the deaths, the end of humanity. It makes the knowledge that we're all that's left more empowering, as though we're enough, as long as we keep seeing sunsets. 

Blaze's hair shines rose gold, a pleasant addition to the palette of colours around us. Puffball sits on his lap, purring, though he sounds like a broken mower. Absent-minded, I chuckle.

"..Huh?" Blaze takes a second to process the sound, dragging his gaze away from the outside to look at me, confused.

"Listen to him purr, he sounds horrible, ha!" Blaze smirks, looking down at Puffball. 

"Probably because he's never heard himself, lol."

I scoot over, petting Puffball, and his purr grows louder. His fur is soft and long, engulfing my hand. Then, I realize I'm pressed up against Blaze. 

I pull back, embarrassed as hell. "Shit.. it's almost time for dinner.. I better go cook up something.."

Blaze turns to me, with something that could almost be disappointment spread across his face "Oh, yeah.. ok, Ill see if I can find something for Puffball here."

CHAPTER 7

We're eating ravioli. Again. For the fifth time this week. Unsurprisingly, we didn't produce many long-living foods before the apocalypse started. Maybe we would have if we had more time, but the virus jumped us, and most of humanity was gone before the first month. The zombies that came from the virus didn't help us either. 

We're sitting on my bed. Puffball is on the table in front of us, eating tuna. Blaze taps on the table, gaining his attention, and he waltzes over. "Puffy boyyy" Blaze calls his name in a sing-song voice, then stops, his face dropping. "Wait a minute.. he can't hear me.." He looks so downcast for a second, before popping back up again.

"Maybe he can't hear me sing to him, but he can still dance!" Gently, he grabs Puffball, holding him so that his back feet still touch the table, then bouncing him around, so he seems to be dancing. I can't help but smile and laugh a little. "Hey," he says, glaring at me, "don't laugh at him, he's trying his best to dance for us!" "Okay, okay, I'm sorry for laughing at you, Puff."

Surprisingly, Puffball doesn't try to fight him, and allows Blaze to help him dance. After a moment, he scoops Puffball into his arms, holding him like a baby. "Aww, look at him, lil guy." His grin as he stares down at Puff is larger than I thought possible, and is contagious too, because as he leans toward me, holding Puffball in his arms, I feel my mouth stretch into a smile, so big it hurts. 

He turns to look at me, but even though I'm not near as nice as Puff, his smile doesn't diminish. "Isn't he so cute?" I should be looking at Puff as I nod. I shouldn't be staring at blaze like this. We're friends, that's it. Maybe good friends, maybe even the best, but nothing more than that. Just friends.

"Pfft. sure." I pull away, rolling my eyes, trying to look uninterested. "What, you don't think so?" His grin is gone, and he looks confused. I feel bad for ruining his mood, but.. "I dunno.. I guess so but.. isn't that kinda.. gay?" His confusion turns to anger. 

"Dude, what? Who the hell told you that?"

"I dunno.. but I'm not gay." I'm not. I can't be. 

"I know but.. I am, and you acting like it's a bad thing doesn't feel very.. great." Did I upset him? His voice breaks on the last word, and he pulls Puff closer to his face. 

"I'm.. sorry, blaze." Mom always said that being gay was bad, a useless mutation in society, but.. Blaze isn't useless.

"It's.. fine." But it's not fine. He's still staring down at puff, curled up around him. 

"Hey.. I am sorry. You're right, there's nothing wrong with who you are." Slowly, I crawl toward him, wrapping him in my arms. He's a lot bigger than me, but I still manage. I expect him to pull away, I did just insult him after all, but he doesn't. Instead, he leans against me, letting out a stuttered sigh as if he's holding in tears. 

We stay like that for a long time, hours. Puff's purr diminishes as he falls asleep, his breathing even. I'm getting tired, it's late, maybe two A.M., but I don't move. Blaze hasn't moved either. "Rye? Where did you get that idea? That being different was bad? Who told you that?" 

"What do you mean? How do you know I didn't draw the conclusion by myself?"

"Because you aren't like that. You're not hateful, I know you aren't."

He really thinks that? He believes so much that I'm not a bad person.. "My mom. She told me that. And my dad backed her up."

"Well.. I know that you cared about them, and that they were usually smart, but they were wrong, ok? There's nothing wrong with being who you are." 

Maybe he's right. Maybe he's wrong. I'm too tired to debate him. I yawn, causing him to look up, and he yawns too. My bed is soft, and It's not hard to fall asleep on. "Rye.. do you want me to leave?" He's asking if I want him to get off my bed. If I want him to go to his so I can sleep. but all I can think of is what he says. 

"No." I don't want him to leave. I'm too tired to think of much, but I know that.