(Short Story) basically moody boyfriends

    My hands smarted terribly as I sat down at what looked to be the edge of the world. Cape dropped down beside me, swinging his legs over the steep cliff face. Below us, the sun melted into the horizon, sending tiny rivulets of orange careening down the barren stretch of land that we had become so accustomed to seeing.
    
    “Hey, kid, you okay?”

    I looked up from where I had been watching the last thin flickers of light dance around a rather inconveniently-placed boulder. “Hm? Oh, yeah.” I swiped my hair away from my eyes and half-frowned at Cape before I directed my attention back to the ground below. The sunlight set his dark hair eerily aglow as he pouted over his hands.

    Cape shook his head slightly and tugged at the collar of his jacket, straightening it for the fifth time within the last few minutes. He solemnly peered down at one of his fists. Dried blood crackled as he flexed his fingers.

    I chewed my lip, giving a nod in the direction of his gaze. “What’s up with that? You alright?”

    “Yeah.” Cape glanced up at me for a moment before his eyes were pulled back to his injured hand.

    I grunted in response, leaning my chin in my hand and my elbow on my knee. There were times when it could be quite difficult to live with, or simply be around, Cape. He was reserved to the point where he would rather be hospitalized instead of admit to someone that he was in need of help. It was not the very best trait to have.

    I wrinkled my nose, and made a decision. “Give it here.”

    Cape blinked. It was the most baffled response I could ever manage to fish from him. “What?”

    “I said ‘give it here’. Give me your hand so I can look at it.” Again, I nodded my head towards his ragged hand. His opposite hand clutched at it, seeming reluctant to give it up, but after a moment’s hesitation I found myself inspecting Cape’s bloodied fingers.

    He glared to his left, as if unable to meet my gaze. I rubbed between the joints in his fingers, hoping that nothing serious had happened. A grimace crinkled the edges of Cape’s eyes, tugging down onto a tight-lipped frown. I’d been gallivanting around with Cape long enough to know that he was really hurt.

    Attempting to spark up a far more light mood, I chirruped, “Well, you put up a marvelous fight, regardless! I’d’ve been done for, I guess, if it wasn’t for you. You’re quite skilled, you know.”

    Cape let out a sigh that sounded more fitting coming from a life-wearied old soul than a young man. However, life really hadn’t given Cape, or me, the best hand, and it was quite understandable. “Yeah, Liryn, but I don’t really want to fight. I don’t want to have to fight. It’s pointless, but it’s the only thing keeping us from being another stain on the road.”

    I cringed slightly to think of being “another stain on the road”. It sounded terribly unpleasant. I was silent for a moment. Hoping to procure yet another detour from the grim subject, I endeavored, “Remember that time we pretended to be brothers? But we couldn’t fool anyone if we tried-” I paused to chuckle, hoping unsuccessfully to get a hint of positivity from Cape. “Because we’re so different-looking?” I forced a laugh. I ran a hand through my sandy hair again and tried another, laugh, this time sounding a lot more hollow and lost. Nothing seemed to provoke any sort of reaction from Cape, and so I simply stopped trying and decided to tell him about his hand instead. “Uh, also, Cape, man, your finger’s broken.”

    Cape sucked in a sharp breath, looking rather ill. He snatched his hand back. “You’re over-reacting, kid.”

    I was taken aback by the sudden snarl in his voice. Several responses rushed through my head; most of them consisting of apologies and quiet asks of forgiveness.

    So, of course, I said the right thing before any part of my mind could scream in protest.

    “No, I’m not. Your finger’s broken, Cape. I’ve been fixing you up for long enough to figure out something as simple as that.” My face frowned before my brain began to register, in tiny sparks, what I had just done.

    Cape froze. Half of me wished to dash off in some direction in order to escape the tugging dread, whilst the other half, blood boiling, chose to stay sitting on the cliff edge.

    “Liryn, kid.” Cape’s eyes swivelled back and forth, as if uncertain of what, now very interesting, speck of dust to focus on.

    My confidence had plummeted seconds earlier, as I realized just how aggressively I had acted. It was frighteningly uncharacteristic. I could feel my fingertips begin to buzz with apprehension. “No, no!” I bubbled. “Look, Cape, I’m sorry. I was just trying… I didn’t mean-” My voice choked off. I had never yelled or snapped at Cape before. I felt sick, and turned away.

    Minutes stretched by as neither Cape or I could find a voice.

    I didn’t notice the silence swelling about my ears until is was shattered.

    “Can you fix it?”

    I dared to cast a glance back towards Cape. “What?”

    “I asked if you could fix my hand, Liryn.”

    I rubbed my hand across my face to clear my head. “Yeah.” I half-gasped. “Of course, man. I’ve done this tons of times before.”

    This time, Cape held his hand out to me without hesitation or regret. I glanced from it to him and back again, surprise twisting my gut. He frowned and gave a terse nod.

    Carefully, so as not to reignite another flare of anger, I took his hand and lowered it onto my knee. I worked in silence, for all of Cape’s attention was easily preoccupied in an attempt not to cringe or cry out while I set and bound his broken finger.

    “You know,” I finally put in, swallowing back my previous nervousness. “You don’t have to act like such a tough guy all the time.”

    Cape looked bewildered by this comment, but was then interrupted by a grimace as I nipped off the excess binding around his finger. I stored the leftover in my jacket pocket, and stood before the conversation could progress any further down the drain.

    “Liryn, stop.”

    It was my turn to be surprised. Cape glowered in my general direction until I sat back down.

    “Liryn, I wanted to thank you… I guess I wanted to thank you for all that you’ve done for me.” His mouth twitched for an instant before it broke out in a smile. In all the years that I’d been with him, Cape had never been very happy, and so a smile was rare.

    I raised my eyebrows. “Yeah, man, o-of course, I-”

    “No, kid, I really mean it.” Cape looked up, his eyes flitting to rest on me. “I really didn’t want to live with my finger broken. I kind of need someone to help out, n’ tell me what I need to do for myself, you know? And I… I understand I can be very ungrateful at the best of times- actually, God, I’m stubborn- but… it means a lot to me. I would be a big heap of nothing if it weren’t for you. And your persistence.”

    I paused to let Cape’s words sink in for a moment before a grin played out over my face. “Yeah, well, not to make this a big mushy movie scene, but you’ve saved my skin more than enough to make up for it. You’re the one getting broken fingers, after all.” I laughed.