• Alystir now knew what it was like to stand on the other side of the glass as a zombie was being trained. Quentin was shocked again and again as he lunged for Liam and with each lunge, Alystir cringed. He didn't want Liam to be eaten, but at the same time, the screams that came from the poor child were heart-wrenching. Nathan stood next to Alystir with an ashtray in one hand, a cigarette in the other. The ashtray was overflowing with butts. He'd been there every day for the past two weeks that it had been going on, quiet and sentient. Alystir was beginning to miss the Cockney b*****d that tried to molest him and fed him conspiracy theories.

    "Enough. Let's end this for today." Liam looked up at his father who was still shocking the boy into submission and the man nodded, turning off the cattle prod. As they stepped out of the room, Liam had a hand to his forehead and Alystir thought he could see a faint tremor in it. "Alystir, will you accompany me?" Alystir's heart leapt (figuratively speaking) at the invite from Liam and he nodded, taking the hand he then knew to be trembling as Liam led him away.

    They ended up going to Liam's room, which Alystir had never seen before, yet he wasn't surprised to note that it was entirely unimpressive. There was nothing personal about the room, no photos or posters, the only thing that one might be able to distinguish it was Liam's room was his virtual pharmacy of pills sitting on the night stand near his hospital-cornered bed. Alystir sat on the edge of the bed as he watched Liam take one of each of those pills, downing the glass of water that he had sitting next to them. Liam kicked off his shoes and laid on his side then, carefully removing his glasses and setting them on the nightstand with his pills. Alystir loved the way his eyes looked without the glasses. Liam mostly wore them when he had to read things or work in the lab.

    The blonde looked tired as he folded his arms under his pillow, hugging it to his head while looking down at Alystir, a small smile beginning to form. "I think the training is beginning to work.. If you hadn't noticed, Quentin had shown reluctance a few times to attack."

    "Good, Nathan looks rather worried all of the time. I bet he's afraid the training won't take." Alystir resisted the urge to brush a strand of hair from Liam's cheek as it lay rebelliously there, daring him to touch.

    "Lay with me, Alystir? I know you don't sleep, but.. Could you just lay with me until I sleep?" Liam's request came as a shock to Alystir, but he didn't hesitate to take off his boots and crawl into bed next to him. Face-to-face with Liam, he was hesitant then but gently placed an arm around his waist. He was rewarded with a smile. "Thank you."

    "Any time, Liam." Alystir returned the smile and touched foreheads with him. He was ensconced in Liam's smell again, the strawberry of his shampoo, the sweet perfume of his skin. He was certain no other smell would ever bring him to such peace as Liam's scent.

    "Liam, I.." Alystir realized before he could finish his sentence that Liam had fallen asleep. He was brave enough then to remove the stray strand of hair from his cheek, leaning in afterward to brush a gentle kiss against his lips. In his sleep Liam wound his arm tightly around Alystir, cuddling him close. Alystir smiled and wondered if he thought him a giant teddy bear, but he had no-where else he'd rather have been in the whole world than right there, so he stayed with Liam as he slept, closing his eyes, glad for every moment they shared together.