BRADEN'S LAIR. [Alex Gaskarth?]

It was about three in the afternoon on a Saturday. Braden was sleeping. Rarely did he have the time of day where it was appropriate for him to sleep for more than six hours, and this was heaven.

The boy was curled up under about seven blankets because it was SUBZERO outside. He breathed in deeply. His comforter smelled like bleach. It was a familiar smell that Braden loved. He flipped over on his mattress, pulling the covers tighter around him and burying his head in his pillow.

His curtains and shades were pulled, so it was almost as dark as night in his room.

Suddenly, there was a low rumble in his room. Braden moaned, and darkly wished his mother wouldn't vaccuum when he was asleep. So he rolled over again and fell back to sleep.

About an hour later, Braden slowly opened his eyes. It was so warm in his bed. He wriggled his body and snuggled up against... His eyes shot open. He sat up in a flash and turned to look at...this person.

He was curled up against Braden, thumb in his mouth, his brown hair, streaked blonde covering closed eyes. The boy was sleeping deeply, snuggled under the covers just as Braden had been before he had so rudely been awoken.

Braden lept out of bed, staring at the intruder.

"Who are you?!" He shrieked, pulling on pants. "Who the fuck are you?"

The boy turned over, squeezing his eyes closed. He sleepily tugged on Braden's shirt. "Five more minutes, Lior..."

Braden yanked the covers off the intruder. "Who. The fuck. Are you?"

Aven had come through the Rift. He had no idea. He landed smack in Braden's bed, and with the warmth, and the dryness, and everything that the snowy coldness of the Ruins wasn't.

Suddenly, someone was demanding he wake up and tell him who he was.

Aven opened his eyes and looked at the clio standing over him. His mind flicked instantly to the understanding, forgetting all about The Ruins, that this clio was his most recent bedmate.

He smiled sleepily at the other. "Don't be so rude..." he whispered. "Don't swear at me. I just woke up..."

He rolled over, pulling Braden's covers back over him.

Braden quickly pulled the covers back off the person. He grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face him. "Alex Gaskarth?"

He stared. "Are you Alex Gaskarth?" Jesus this makes absolutely no sense. What the fuck is Alex Gaskarth doing in my house? You guys aren't supposed to be here until like, the 22nd..."

Braden had tickets to that show. (And it is incredibly possible that Becky Neal does to. Her good friend Jordan's cousin works for the House of Blues, and he is trying to get some tickets and perhaps passes backstage to meet the love of Becky Neal's life.) He stared still at the boy. "Come on." He shoved him. "Alex, wake the fuck up." He shoved him again off of his bed, onto the floor.

Aven moaned from the floor. "Fuck you, you fucking dick!" Lazily he pushed himself up from the floor and leaned against the mattress. "What the fuck is your problem?"

He stared at Braden. "Who the fuck is Alex Gaskarth, you asshole?" Ra climbed out of Aven's clothes and sat on his shoulder. He tried to look as ominous as a squirrel could. "I'm sure as fuck not him." He looked up at Ra and then back at Braden.

Braden glared back. "Well, I'm Braden. This is my room. You're the intruder in case you didn't realize. In America, as in The United States Of, we have certain laws about breaking and entering. They don't tell you that in the three bears story, Goldifuckinglocks."

Then as Ra climbed out of Aven's clothes, Braden was unnerved. "Don't move, dude. You have a fucking sqirrel on your shoulder." Braden slunk up closer to Aven. "Don't fucking move."

"Haha, the joke's on you, Braden. There's no such place as America As In The United States Of. I may be stupid, but I know a little something about fucking geography."

When Braden froze up, Aven did the same. He looked where Braden was looking. "Oh, him? That's Ra. My daemon. He's basically my soul. Don't touch him. As a matter of fact...Where's yours?" Aven began to look around. "You don't have one?"

Aven came to the sudden conclusion. He knew what was going on.

He whipped over to the window. Outside it, there was a big, shiny daemon outside. "Ah-hah! I knew that was a daemon! But...why do you keep it outside? It's cold out there, Braden! Don't keep your Daemon outside!"

Braden stared at Aven. "Your...your what? I don't have one! Stop throwing my shit around!" Braden followed Aven around, straightening up after him. "What the hell is a daemon?"

Suddenly, as Aven became transfixed on the car outside, Braden quieted too, going over and looking with him. Then when Aven turned to him, demanding to know why he kept these "daemons" outside.

"I don't fucking know what you're talking about! There's a fucking squirrel in my fucking room!"

"Daemon! Ra is my daemon!" Aven demanded. "He's fucking harmless. He's basically my soul."

Aven then got very excited. "You need to bring your daemon inside, Braden."

"You're an idiot. That's a car. It won't fit inside!" Braden pulled Aven away from the window. "Calm down. Tell me what's up. Tell me how you got here. Please. We can figure this out. Its a big fucking misunderstanding."

He pushed Aven down on the bed. "Sit down. Stop talking about daemons, and clio, and how I should take better care of my car."

Aven frowned as he was pushed. He figured he probably wasn't going to get anywhere. "Fine. I'm Aven. I don't know how I got here. I don't remember where I was before I woke up with you."

He looked away. "Ra is my daemon. You should have one too. We all do. I've never heard of an animal called a car before, but I suppose everyones' different. And that goes for the fact that you don't take care of your daemon either. I bet that's why you're so mean, is because your soul is freezing."

Braden groaned. But at least he had one bit of information. The person's name.

"Look, you must have hit your head. You're talking completely nuts. I have no idea what you're talking about." He looked the other over, "That thing is my car. I drive places in it. And listen, my soul is NOT freezing. And I am not mean, you ass."

"That's not what Iiiiiiii think," Aven stood up and tapped Braden on the nose. "You sound awful mean to me." He laughed.

"Now, really, be serious. Who are you?"

Braden yanked his head away. "Do I look like I give a fuck what you think?" Oh. Yeah, that did sound a little mean. "Don't touch me." That sounded mean too. "Sorry. I'm Braden, like I said before. This is my room. Like I said before. We're in the United States of America. Like I said before...And this is Mentor, Ohio. I haven't said that before, but I don't expect you to understand even if I told you three or four times."

He sat down next to Aven on the bed. "Now, why can't I touch...Ra?"

"Ohhh..." Aven sighed, trying to fake like he understood. "You're really smart..."

He smiled. "You can't touch him because it would be like touching me where my bathing suit goes. And the lady at the school told me that no one was allowed to touch me there besides doctors. Or my mom and dad. But if I felt uncomfortable with them doing that, then I should ask them to stop and if they didn't then I should tell someone. Except, I'm not sure, Lior told me once that if someone touched it, I would die. I don't know though." Aven smiled, politely.

Braden smacked his head. Yep. It was just his luck to have a retard suddenly "appear" in his bedroom. And it was a bonus for this retard to be fluent in speaking about things that didn't exist.

It seemed like Aven was switching gears though. He listened, a light red blush dusting his face, as Aven began to compare touching his soul to touching...other parts of him. "...Yeah," Braden frowned. "Um. You're really weird. I don't have a clue what you're talking about."

Aven winced, watching Braden hurt himself. He smiled as politely as he could. Yeah... Ra said. I think he's the weird one. And I don't think that too often when it comes to you and other clio.

He rolled his eyes. The other still didn't understand him. He reached his hand out and touched him on the crotch of his jeans. "How does that feel?"

Braden lept up off the bed. "Holy fucking shit! Don't fucking touch me!" He stared at the other person. "What the fuck are you thinking, you forward bastard?"

His face red, he backed up away from Aven. "How do you think it felt? You totally didn't ask permission to touch me, and you just...you fucking touched me! I definitley didn't appreciate it! What are you thinking?!"

Braden took a deep breath, eyes locked, somewhat fearfully on Aven. "Honestly!"

Aven yelped as the other moved quickly away from him. "Holy fuck!" Aven watched the other move. "What the fuck? I was just going to tell you that that feels kind of like what it would feel like if someone touches Ra. Only I think I would die. And I never have to ask permission. Most of the time, anyone who touches me there is the one to ask permission. Fuck, don't you know that?"

The two stared at each other, unblinking. "P.S. Typically when clio touch me there, it doesn't bug me. That sort of proves we aren't the same."

Braden blushed. "...When other clio touch you." He took another deep breath and leaned up against his dresser.

"I guess it doesn't bug me when other...people...touch me there. -Not that it's happened very recently for me to judge or anything." He frowned. Maybe this new person was on to something relatively astute. They couldn't possibly be the same. They had to be different.

For starters, the squirrel wasn't running from him. Animals did run from people. Secondly, Aven looked pretty clear-eyed. He probably didn't hit his head. He wasn't complaining about a headache.

"So...how come you can touch Ra but I can't? Why can't any one else?"

Aven smiled. "Yes. Other people touch me... I'm pretty popular where I'm from." He laughed. "Can't you tell? Haha, just kidding, don't answer that."

He adjusted himself on the mattress, pulling his feet up onto it. "I can set you up with someone. What does it for you? Boys? Girls? ...Me? Haha, just kidding, don't answer that either." Aven shimmied his shoulders. "But the offer does stand, if you're ever interested. Don't answer that, either." Aven had a huge smile on his face.

"Well...I guess I can touch Ra because he's a part of me. Like my arm. Or my hair. Or... Never mind. But he is as much a part of me as I am a part of him. The things each of us do influence the other. It's basically the most complex relationship ever. Without any sex. Ever. But, as terrible as that sounds, what Ra and I have isn't terrible. I've never lived my life without Ra. It isn't possible, physically, I would die without Ra. On some days, that sounds favorable, since he's a stick in the mud, but I don't want to live without him. Which is why you need to bring your fucking daemon in. He's probably lonely out there."

Ra was impressed by and pleased with his clio. That was probably the smartest thing Aven had ever said. He was also touched. But not like that. His nose quivered, happily. Aw, Aven, I wouldn't live without you either, even though you are a retard.

"So yeah." Aven said.