A Pessimists Romance Ch. 01

"Excuse me?"

"I don't know...You're so...Antisocial." Connor said.

"I don't know." Neil shrugged. Connor stopped the truck in front of his house.

"Come on, Kid." Connor climbed out and walked towards the building. Neil followed him, and was surprised when he felt the warmth of home.

"Your parents?" Neil asked.

"Work, my brothers at school. Just the two of us." Connor said. Neil looked at the pictures of Connor and what he assumed were his three older brothers. His mother and father sat on either side of him, as a child, holding up a big fish in the picture next to the one with his brothers. The house seemed warm and full, Neil had always heard of people talk about that, the warmth of a home, but had never felt it himself. His home always felt empty and cold. Like a house, not a home. Connor searched through cupboards and under the couch while Neil looked around.

"What are your parents like?" Connor asked.

"I don't know, we don't really talk." Neil said, looking at a picture of Connor's father holding him up on his shoulders at Disneyland.

"Really? Don't you live with your dad?"

"Yes."

"Then how do you not talk?"

"He does his own thing, I do mine. We don't really have a whole lot to connect us." Neil said.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I like it better that way."

"Why? You don't like your dad?" Connor looked up from the refrigerator.

"It's not that...I...I don't really like people in general. I don't really get along with them." Neil looked down at the old, but soft, carpet.

"You get along with me." Connor smiled.

"Believe me, that's a rare thing." Neil said, flipping through a photo album with even more pictures of Connor and his family.

"Really? Why don't you like people?"

"They're selfish. They only do things to move themselves along in life. If they're given a choice between helping themselves or helping others, they'll always chose themselves. No matter how much the other needs them." Neil said, glaring at the floor.

"Wow, that's very...Cynical." Connor chuckled.

"Cynicism isn't necessarily a bad thing." Neil said. "Nobody ever thinks about it maybe being the truth." He looked up at Connor, a dark look in his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Making chocolate chip pancakes." Connor smiled as he grabbed a bag of chocolate chips.

"Aren't you supposed to be looking for your bag?" Neil asked.

"Yes, and then I looked at you and decided I'm going to feed that skinny ass of yours. My moms recipe, you'll love it." Connor smiled, as he mixed the batter.

"You're insane." Neil stared at him with cold eyes, a scowl on his face.

"Sit your ass down." Connor winked at him. Neil rolled his eyes and sat down. He looked at the worn, scratched wooden table. Several names were carved into it. He moved the rooster shaped salt shaker and read Connors name, scrawled in jagged chickenscratch.

"It's a family tradition. Everyone who's in the family carves their name into the table. So, whenever someone gets married, them and all of their family has to carve in their names." Connor explained.

"Interesting."

"It's been in the family for years, as soon as I could write I carved mine in the middle. I just hope one day I meet some hot stud to- cellar!" Connor shouted the last word.

"What?" Neil furrowed his brow.

"The cellar! I haven't checked there yet and that's where they hide shit all the time!" Connor turned off the burner and put the last pancake on the blue plate. "Hold this." He shoved it in Neil's direction.

"Wait, what? Where are you going?" Neil followed him, plate still in hand.

"I told you, cellar." Connor called out as he jogged out the front door. Neil followed him, not knowing where to set the buttered pancakes. He followed Connor down to the cellar.

"Find it?" He asked, feeling stupid holding a plate of warm pancakes.

"Yep." He held up a green backpack.

"Can we go upstairs, now? It's freezing out here." Neil said, holding the warm plate closer.

"Sure." Connor smiled. He moved past Neil and reached for the wooden doors to the cellar. He pushed on them and only the sound of rattling metal was heard. They both froze. He tried again, pulling, pushing, and then shaking them furiously.

"Uh...How about some pancakes?" Connor frowned.

"W-what?" Neil's jaw almost dropped.

"I don't know, it must have gotten stuck." Connor said.

"Oh Jesus." Neil tried the door himself. Seeing that it was, in fact, locked, he moved to the back wall and sighed. He sank down to the ground and Connor sat down next to him. Connor stared at him, and grabbed a pancake off the stack. Neil glared at him.

"How can you be hungry, now?" Neil asked. Connor shrugged. Neil rolled his eyes, and after a second, grabbed a pancake. They munched on the pancakes silently for awhile

"These are good..." Neil said.

"Thanks, Kid." Connor smiled.

"Stop calling me that." Neil glared at him.

"What, it's your name." Connor winked.

"My name is Neil." Neil said.

"Neil Kidd. So...You're Kid." Connor wrapped an arm holding a piece of pancake around Neils neck and pulled him closer. He kissed his forehead, leaving a small chocolate mark from the chocolate chips. Neil blushed and wiped the chocolate away quickly. Connor smiled and laughed.

"You're too cute." He said, and ate another pancake. "Some first date, huh?"

"This is NOT a first date." Neil said.

"Fine, then we'll have to count our next date." Connor shrugged.

"What? No! I'm not gay!" Neil said.

"That's what they all say." Connor winked at him again. Neil rolled his eyes. He swallowed his pancake and stood up, walking around the small cellar.

"What are you doing?" Connor asked.

"Nothing, just seeing what's around."

"You can't see shit in here. It's pitch black." Connor said. Of course, he was right. The only light would be from the cracks in the door to the cellar, but it was a cloudy winter day and the only light that came through was pale gray and didn't do much.

"Isn't there a light in here?" Neil asked.

"Yeah, above us. But the wiring is all jacked up so it doesn't work." Connor said.

'I could make it work...' Neil thought, but he couldn't do shit with Connor sitting there.

"Oh." He said simply. He stepped towards the left wall and something moved. "What the fuck?!" He screamed. He jumped back and something fell off a shelf.

"What?" Connor stood up, putting the plate of pancakes down.

"Something moved!" Neil shouted, voice higher than he would have liked it to be.

"Where?" Connor asked. Neil felt something scrape his leg. He squealed like a little girl and moved against Connor. Sure, he had lived in one of the harshest places on earth since the consecration camps, that didn't mean he couldn't still get scared. He buried his head against Connor's chest and the only sound in the room was their breathing. They listened quietly. "I think it was just your imagination." Connor said.

"I did NOT imagine that." Neil said. He pulled away from Connor quickly. He stepped back towards the right wall and whatever it was moved past his leg again. He screamed and fell against an old shelf, things falling all around him. "Oh fuck this!" He shouted. He let out a small amount of energy, not knowing how much the light bulb could stand, towards the bulb. The light flickered before a dim yellow glow lit the room. A medium sized raggedy dog sat in the corner. The mutt shivered and stared at them with fear.

"It's just a dog." Connor said. "He looks like a stray. It must have snuck in here at some point and was living here. Poor thing." Connor frowned. Neil stared at the shaking dog.

"It probably has rabies." He wrinkled his nose.

"He's just scared." Connor said. "Come here, sweetheart." Connor got down in a crouch and held out his hand, the dog backed up farther into the corner.

"Chewy over there is going to bite your hand off." Neil said. The dogs ears perked up and he walked stiffly over to Neil and scratched at his leg gently with one of his front paws. Neil raised an eyebrow.

"He likes you." Connor smiled.

"He smells." Neil frowned.

"Don't be so cold hearted. It's not his fault." Connor said, smiling.

"He's going to chew off my leg with his rabies infested mouth." Neil scowled even harder. The dogs ears perked up again and his small tail wagged softly.

"Is that your name, sweetheart? Chewy?" Connor asked. The dogs tail thumped harder.

"Fitting name." Neil frowned. The dog whined and laid down, resting his head on Neils shoe. Neil's scowl softened.

"See, he's not rabid." Connor said. Neil looked down at the dog. He crouched down and reached out for his ear gently, scratching his matted fur.

"Society abandoned you, too. Didn't they?" He whispered to the dog, who sighed and looked up at Neil with huge brown eyes.

"Hey..." Connor said.

"What?" Neil didn't look up from his new friend.

"How did you turn the light on?" Connor looked at him.

"What? I... I didn't." Neil said, trying to think of a lie. "It was just a coincidence." Neil said.

"No way, you said 'fuck this' and then the room went blue and then the light came on." Connor said. Neil sighed.

"You can't tell anyone." Neil said.

"Tell anyone, what?" Connor frowned. Neil stood up and stepped away from Chewy, who was still staring up at him with loving eyes.

"Please, don't freak out." Neil said. Connor nodded his head. He closed his eyes and let the electricity dance over his body. A bolt shot up to the light and the room got even brighter.

"What the fuck..." Connor's jaw dropped.

"You said you wouldn't freak." Neil stopped and opened his eyes.

"How did you... What the fuck!" Connor shouted, backing up against the wall opposite Neil. Chewy turned his head, but stayed near Neil.

"I'm an infected." Neil said. Connor frowned.

"I don't know any fucking animal that can do that!" Connor pointed to the light.

"I'm mixed with an electric eel." Neil explained. Connor blinked. He seemed to relax a bit.

"Okay, things making sense now." Connor nodded.

"You won't tell anyone will you?" Neil asked. Connor stared at him. This was the most emotion Neil had shown since they had met the day before.

"No, I wont tell anyone." Connor finally said. Neil looked relieve.

"Thank you. I swear, I'm not dangerous or anything." Neil said.

"Were you really in Florida?" Connor asked. Neil hesitated. "Don't lie to me anymore." Connor stared at him.

"I was in the holding camps, for the infected. They kept me in solitary confinement." Neil said.

"For three years?" Connor's eyes went wide. Neil just nodded. "Oh my god..." Connor whispered. The light dimmed until it was pitch black again. Neil didn't know if he should light it again, so he just stood there in the silence and the dark.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I don't want anyone to know. I may be cursed by having this mutation, but I was blessed that it wasn't more obvious. I'll hide it as long as I can." Neil said.

"You shouldn't hide who you are. I know what that's like. I was in the closet for three years, you know." Connor said.

"It's different." Neil sat down and Chewy crawled into his lap. Neil wasn't lying when he said he smelled, but he wanted the comfort now. Though he hated to admit it.

"It's not, though. You're hiding this from everyone, and now no one can really know you." Connor said.

"I want it that way." Neil scowled in the dark.

"Why? People aren't as bad as you're making them out to be." Connor said.

"Don't tell me about people!" Neil shouted, suddenly angry. "I spent three years being tortured by those stupid guards!" He shouted.

"Not everyone is like that." Connor said in a calm voice.

"No? You don't think they had families? That they had kids, and wives? That their kids didn't go to school. These people are everywhere, Connor. Open your eyes. People are shit." He spat. Connor was silent for a minute.

"But if you don't give anyone a chance, you won't be able to find the ones that aren't like that." Connor whispered.

"Why bother? The way I see it, half the world is composed of idiots, the other half of people are clever enough to take advantage of the first half." Neil said.

"Are you calling yourself an idiot?" Connor asked.

"Yes."

"What, so you hate yourself?" Connor laughed.

"It makes sense if you think about it." Neil stroked Chewy's back as he slept.

"How so?"

"If you don't like yourself, you can't like other people." Neil said.

"You're very cynical, aren't you?" Connor laughed, again.

"I'm a glass half empty kind of guy, yeah." Neil said bitterly.

"Will you turn the god damn light on?" Connor asked. Neil looked up at where he knew Connor was standing, and let some electricity bounce to the light. The room flickered to life and Connor stared at him. He smiled at Neil.

"So you're a pessimist and a cynic?" Connor asked.

"Negative words." Neil mumbled.

"You're a negative person." Connor shrugged.

"I like being negative, it makes me happy." Neil stared up at Connor coldly.

"Stand up." Connor said. Neil glared at him for a minute before doing as he was told. He brushed off his pants and noticed the light starting to dim. Connor stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Neil, pulling him to his chest. Neil froze for a second while Connor squeezed him lovingly and stroked his hair. The room was now only pale yellow as the light faded

"What...are you doing?" Neil asked.

"I'm killing you with kindness. It's proven to be very effective against cynical gay boys." Connor said. The room was now pitch black.

"I'm... not gay." Neil said. Connor nodded and squeezed Neil one more time before stepping back. Connor was going to say something, when the doors to the cellar opened. One of his brothers stood there.

"Aw shit, you found it." He frowned and sighed, walking off with the doors still open. Neil and Connor scrambled out of the cellar quickly, relieved to be free. Chewy followed Neil loyaly.

"Who's dog?" Connor's brother asked. Then he looked at Neil. "Who's kid?" Connor smiled.

"Not a god damn word." Neil didn't look at Connor, but pointed a finger at him. Connor smiled smugly and made the motion of zipping his lips. "He's my dog." Neil said, but wasn't sure why he was saying it. Chewy seemed to understand, and looked up at Neil. He was panting, making it look like he had a smile on his face, and thumping his tail on the ground.

"This is Neil, he's a friend from school." Connor said.

"Right." His brother was walking away before he turned around.

"Why do you guys smell like Chocolate chip pancakes?"