Surprise in the Haystack

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Abele stumbled after him, not expecting to be pulled along. Well, the other was certainly excited, and his excitement made the farm boy email a little. It was nice to see someone this happy about something so simple. He himself was actually a little excited to show him around now.
 
When they reached the end of the road, Jacob came to a halt. He looked up and down the crossroad. Obviously he didn't know which way to go. He turned to Abele, eyes bright. "You lead now, okay," he said happily.
 
Abele nodded. He had actually been expecting to lead the whole way, so he wasn't totally surprised. He walked ahead, still holding the others hand because he had just not bothered to let go. In his head, he went over what he would want to show Jacob first. The problem was, he didn't know what the boy LIKED. That was a totally mystery. He'd figure he'd find out on this trip, though.
 
Jacob followed Abele, clutching his hand in his own. His eyes were wide as they walked towards the city. The way the landscape gradually changed as they neared the more populated area was breathtaking. Any time he'd see something new to him, he'd tug on Abele's shirt with his free hand and point at whatever caught his attention. It was as if he was seeing the world for the first time, which wasn't so far off from the truth on that one. He looked up at Abele like he was his hero. "This is so cool!"
 
Abele smiled down at him, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. He was glad that Jacob seemed to find literally anything to be cool. At least he wasn't disappointed, like Abele feared he would be. As long as the other was having a good time, Abele didn't mind being here; alone, of course, he hated the place, but that was mostly because of the huge crowds and a fear of getting swept away by them.

"I'm glad? I mean, I've been here a million times, so the 'cool-ness' has kind of dulled a bit." He replied, shrugging a little as he spoke.
 
That's when Jacob heard it, the tell tale rumble of the carts he feared the most. Immediately he froze, heart racing behind his ribs. He broke out into a cold sweat, clutching Abele's hand for his life. Jacob looked around for a safe place to hide, finding a small rundown building to their left. Without giving any sort of warning, Jacob dragged Abele behind it, ducking down out of site of the caravan. Jacob covered his ears with both hands, squeezing his eyes shut at it passed. His stomach twisted and flipped inside of him. He was shaking as the sounds of boisterous laughter filtered over to the two boys as well as the sounds of jingling pots and pans and trinkets they planned to sell. Once they passed and their sounds began to fade, Jacob peeked over the top of their hiding spot. They were heading to the city and all of a sudden Jacob wasn't so excited anymore. He was terrified. "Can..Can we uh...go back t-to your house?" Jacob asked timidly not taking his eyes off of the caravan.
 
Abele frowned at the sudden change in attitude. He wasn't about to deny Jacob the request; he looked terrified, after all, and denying such would be a horrible thing to do. He was curious, though, about what caused this. Well, he was curious. Then, he spotted what Jacob was looking at, and made a assumption he assumed to be right. Jacob had said previously he was a run away, and to not tell anyone he was here. So, if he was so scared of that caravan, that could possibly be what he was running from.

Abele nodded "Yea, we can. Come on." he agreed, beginning to walk swiftly back. The sooner they got back, the sooner Jacob would probably not look so scared.
 
Jacob glanced over his shoulder every few seconds until they were out of sight of the caravan. He was basically glued to Abele's side as the walked home. He clutched his hand tightly. He felt like if he let go he'd be swept away by the caravan. The closer they got to the house the more Jacob's trembling faded away. He felt ashamed for ruining their trip but he didn't want to get caught. If they saw him they wouldn't let him leave with Abele. They'd take him back and maybe even force Abele to work for them as well. He couldn't risk that. "I-I'm sorry I...they were...that's who I was running from," Jacob said timidly, voice fading as he spoke.
 
"I guessed." Abele replied, sighing a little as he went and opened the door "If it helps, they should only be there for a few days. We can go back once they leave, if you want? I don't care either way."

He figured Jacob would want to, but, at this point, he wasn't entirely sure. If the other was paranoid, he might just want to stay on the farm all day. Abele wouldn't mind that, himself, but he also didn't want Jacob to be scared half to death about leaving the property. That was not really a great way to live. If he, himself, lived like that, he would have a horrible time running errands in town for his father, and that would just make his life worse.
 
Jacob nodded without speaking. He went straight to Abele's room, not really in the mood to speak with his parents and certainly not Abele's sister. He sat on the bed, just staring off into the distance. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to handle what was going on. Jacob heaved a sigh, wringing his shaking hands. He wanted to forget about the caravan, about the merchants, but the sour feeling in his stomach persisted. He couldn't shake it.
 
Abele paused a moment, before following him and sitting next to him. He was silent for the most part, staring off to the side. He didn't know what to say. Sorry you were a slave? Wow, that sucks? Both were probably not great things to mention, but he couldn't think of anything else. How would you even comfort someone in this situation? He had no clue, whatsoever, because he never had.

In the end, he decided to go with hugging. After all, the other seemed to be fine with that. When Abele's grandmother died, his father had hugged his mother for a while, and that had seemed to make HER feel better. It was worth a shot.
 
Jacob broke down when Abele wrapped his arms around him. He clutched onto his shirt as tears fell from his eyes. He didn't know why he was crying. He hadn't cried since he was young, when they'd first taken him. But somehow, when Abele pulled him into his chest and hugged him, it broke down whatever wall Jacob had built all of these years.
 
Abele rubbed his back soothingly, letting him cry. He wasn't exactly expecting Jacob to cry, to be quite honest. That was surprising, had he was a bit worried when he started. But, he didn't say anything, figuring he could possibly make it worse. So, he just kept hugging him, and hoped that work work to help calm the other boy down. If he continued, then Abele's parents might come in, and he was sure Jacob wouldn't be too pleased with that.
 
Jacob stopping crying after a few minutes. He reduced to uneven breathing and hiccups. He didn't move out of Abele's arms. In fact, he crawled into the others lap and tucked his face into the crook of his neck. Of course Jacob didn't think this was necessarily inappropriate or weird, he just liked the feeling. It helped him calm down.
 
Oooookay, now Jacob was in Abele's lap. That would be a bit awkward. He felt his face heat up a bit, but reminded himself that Jacob was looking for comfort. Comfort! So, this wasn't weird. He didn't say anything about it, not wanting to disturb the other boy, but he wondered how long he planed on sitting like that. He hoped it was for a short period of time, because this felt odd.
 
Jacob didn't move, in fact he'd slowly fallen asleep. His breathing evened out as his body shut down, exhausted from the wide range of emotions he'd just felt. His hands stayed clutching Abele, even in sleep, too afraid to let go. Every now and then soft whimpers slipped through his lips as nightmares of being taken back to the caravan tormented him. He'd been having nightmares since he'd ran away, always terrified they would find him.
 
Shoot. Slowly, Abele moved to gently take Jacob off of him, and to put him on the bed. It would be more comfortable for the other, he was sure, because the bed at least had padding. Abele doubted that he was very comfortable to sleep on. He went as slow and quiet as possible, as to not wake the boy. He didn't want to do that in the least; if moving him meant waking him, he would stop, but he felt confident he could remove him.
 
Jacob's whimpering got worse when Abele tried to move him. His brow furrowed in his sleep as his body gripped on to the boy even tighter then he was. "No," he whimpered loudly. Once he got a solid hold back on Abele he calmed considerably, whispering a softer, "No." Jacob nuzzled into Abele's neck, feeling safe there. He didn't want the bed, he wanted Abele, his only friend and his new family.
 
Abele sighed, and ceased his attempts to remove Jacob. Instead, he attempted to get them both into a comfortable laying position on the bed. He wasn't going to sit up the whole time Jacob was asleep, that was for sure. His neck would get cramps, and if he had to work later, he didn't want that. So, he tried laying down with Jacob next to him, still holding onto him so it assured that Abele wasn't going anywhere.
 
Jacob slept soundly next to Abele. He kept his hands twisted in his shirt so he wouldn't leave. His legs were tangled in Abele's with his face tucked into his neck. His breath came out in little puffs, ghosting across Abele's neck. His nightmares faded eventually and he slept soundly for the first time in days. The bed was soft and it felt like sleeping on a cloud. Jacob could get used to this, sleeping on a bed, tangled up with Abele.
 
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