FRIEND

Raya frantically knocked on his friend's door, the cold late night air nipping at their exposed skin. He heard shuffling behind it and eventually, after a few seconds, the door creaked open. His friend, Malis, peeked through the crack and frowned once seeing the two bloodied boys.

"Raya, what in the— You look horrible." She gasped, opening up the door wider once she recognised him.

"I-I need your help, he b-blacked out and I'm not sure if he's still breathing." He sobbed, the unconscious demon hanging off his shoulders. "Please, I'll do anything. Please just help him."

A few hours earlier...

"Are you ok?" Raya asked for the hundredth time in concern, glancing at the demon leaning on his body.

"I'm just tired, it's ok." Lixian breathed, sweat covering his body like he just swam a marathon and his eyelids heavy like he hadn't slept in days. He felt horrible.

"Stop lying." Raya gritted out, stumbling slightly in the dark forest as he almost didn't see anything. "It's not the time to act like you can handle anything, I can feel you drooping onto me little by little."

"Just—" Lixian blinked as dots began invading his vision, his legs suddenly feeling like jelly. "I don't... feel so good—"

"Lixian!" Raya yelped as his heavy body slumped down, taking his own with him. "Lixian! Wake up!" He yelled in a panic, but let out a stressed sob once he didn't respond.

He groaned softly before hoisting the demon onto his back with difficulty, his legs shaking and his body trembling. Just a little longer, he thought through the tears, hold on just a little bit longer.

Back to the present...

Malis nodded, a deep frown plastered on her face once she looked over the boy on top of his back. "Of course, but what happened?" She gushed, helping the two inside. "You look like you went to war!"

"People—" Raya tried to catch his breath once they placed the unconscious demon onto the dinner table. "People tried to m-murder him." He whispered, watching Malis with his eyes as she walked around the house gathering stuff. "And-and my house is gone, it's all gone."

"He's lost a lot of blood." She mumbled, quickly grabbing some medicine and other stuff Raya didn't recognise. "He has two shot wounds and a deep cut on his thigh."

"Is he going to be ok?" He questioned softly, hands in his hair in pure angst.

"I'll try my best." Malis mumbled, eying the older male shortly from the corner of her eyes only to scoff angrily. "You shit, you need help too! Why didn't you say something?" She rambled, running off to somewhere only to come back with a bucket of water. "Splash some water on your burn wounds, no touching them though."

She quickly began helping Lixian, the room falling into a silence as she was concentrated on doing her job. Raya kept an close eye on what she was doing, his concerned frown never leaving his face.

•

"So." Malis mumbled after an hour of stitching, her focus still on cleaning the other wounds. "When were you going to mention that this boy is a demon? And why he was at your house?"

Raya sighed, not really sure if he wanted to share their relationship status. "He lives with me." He answered eventually. "But he's different then the stories they told us, he's no threat, I promise!"

Malis hummed, removing the bullet from the demon's leg. "How do you know for sure, though?"

"I just know." Raya said with irritation, looking away. "He would never hurt me... or anyone else."

Malis just kept quiet, but her eyes kept flickering to him a few times in thought. She knew this boy ment more to her older friend then he let on, but she didn't want to pry to much. He went through a lot tonight and even before that, you could see it just by the look in his eyes, and she felt for him. That didn't mean she wasn't curious though. Besides, it wasn't every day you would stumble upon a demon.

"Alright, he should be good now." She sighed tiredly. "He lost a lot of blood though, so he needs a lot of rest. What we could do now is just hoping his body is strong enough to heal itself."

"Thank you, Malis." Raya breathed out and was quick to his feet to wobble over and stand besides the table. He pursed his lips at seeing the unconscious face of Lixian, his fingers carefully wiping away some dirt as his eyes took in the work of his friend. "I can't thank you enough."

"Some beer would be lovely." She grinned, walking over to his side of the table to hold his arm, inspecting the burn wound. "But let me help you first before you tell me exactly what happened over a beer, yeah?"

"Ok." Raya sighed out, a cracked smile pushing its way forward. He was exhausted, his whole body felt like it had been run over by horses as his head pounded heavily. All he wanted to do was curl up next to Lixian in a bed and sleep in his warm arms till morning. But he couldn't.

He just had to stay awake for a little longer, keep his mind at bay while trying not to freak out about the situation more.

"Thank you." Raya whispered softly, tears silently escaping his eyes as everything came crashing down. Not being able to hold it in anymore. The dam broke fully the moment he felt gentle arms around his body, carefully pulling him into a hug as he sobbed into her shoulder.

"Of course." Malis whispered back.