17

                                    

                                          
daniel's mouth fell open, stopping his tracks for a moment. is he taking me here?
                          
corbyn tugged the hood over his head, feeling beads of rain bounce off his sweater, some soaking in over time. the rain was on and off today, inconvenient. 
                          
"are we going in here?" daniel asked, seeing corbyn turn as he glanced at the gate of the graveyard.
                          
"i'm here to prove you wrong..." corbyn muttered, i've experienced just as much as you have, i don't want to seem weak to everybody.
                          
his eyes met daniel's blues, seeing the shock and confusion that wiped away all anger from before. corbyn shook his head, continuing his travel. "come along, seavey."
                          
the gate creaked as they entered, corbyn could feel his heart rapidly pounding against his ribs, eyes falling upon the same line of graves as they always did.
                          
"be careful where you step, don't disrespect anyone, please."
                          
that was the last thing corbyn wanted to do. thankfully, daniel followed him clearly, dodging every grave as they stepped up to a line of identical stones.
                          
"daniel, meet my family; that's my mom, saskia, my dad's right next to her. you've already met ashley, and then there's jordan, and... me."
                          
if daniel's body was heavy this morning, he could've fallen to the ground with this. it was easy to forget corbyn was dead, he felt like a normal person. he wasn't a skeleton at all, not even close to one.
                          
"i could've experienced the pain you're feeling, you know that now, daniel, right?"
                          
corbyn's eyes squeezed shut, feeling tears wet his lashes as he reached a hand up to wipe them away. you've never experienced the guilt of killing your whole family.
                          
daniel was speechless. "they're, they're all dead..."
                          
"i got home one night, we had this propane stove and i was hungry, so i wanted food, like any other person. i just, started up the oven and i didn't really notice the smell of gas. it was right after some stupid houseparty..."
                          
daniel's throat clogged, he could tell corbyn wasn't looking at him. corbyn sniffled, head lifting to look at the sky, praying for his tears to disappear.
                          
"the house caught fire, i tried to wake up jordan, i woke up ashley first so she could wake up our parents. it wasn't much use, though, the propane leaked out easily and my father didn't tell me because i wasn't home for the discovery." 
                          
his sigh was choppy, biting into his lip for a moment. corbyn refused to forgive himself for this, he didn't deserve forgiveness.
                          
"everything went up in flames, all the alcohol didn't even have an effect on my body at that point. i was completely sobered, panicking, jordan didn't have windows in his room, all i could do was pray for ashley and my parents, just for them to get out safe."
                          
the blond finally looked at daniel, tears staining his face as he swallowed with a pained look, emotion clear in his eyes as his bottom lip quivered. 
                          
"i killed my family, daniel. all of them, up there, in a house with me. i know i deserved it, but i couldn't save any of them. that's the entire reason i became one of these stupid guardians. i wanted to save someone, anyone, daniel. at this point it wouldn't even matter if i helped a turtle cross the road."
                          
corbyn bit onto his lip hard, stifling a sob as he could only stare at the graves of his family. he gave a sad laugh toward the end, watery eyes sent to the teen beside him. for once, for the very first time, daniel wrapped his arms around corbyn and pulled him close.
                          
he broke.
                          
corbyn shattered in daniel's hold, sniffling as his shoulders jerked with pained breaths. daniel, himself, had silent tears rolling down his face. i never knew, if i did i would've been more considerate...
                          
the grip on corbyn tightened, daniel's nose pressing to the top of his head as he breathed in slowly. his heart absolutely ached for corbyn, and he regretted anything he'd ever said before.
                          
"what? i hit the rough spot— did i? your precious little family walks down here, sulking around without you. so why are you here, wasting my time, when you could be with them? hm?"

                          
"tell me, blondie. why are you bothering me, ruining the past few weeks of my life when you could be off nagging one of your beloved family members?"

                          
"what? so you can help me? i swear, corbyn, it's all in my head, you can't do shit, you've never experienced what i'm going through so you can just leave."

                          
the list could continue, honestly, daniel was so rude to corbyn with no true reason. it was all his stupid anger spikes, and he'd now felt so upset with ever taking rage out upon corbyn.
                          
"i hate stupid alcohol, i hate cooking, i hate it all, daniel. jordan hurt me so much last week when he pushed me to cook for him... it was just, pure panic, i don't want to hurt anybody anymore..."
                          
corbyn weeped, straight into daniel's hoodie. he would've regretted this entirely if it weren't for how badly it was needed. this scene played out so often with saskia, he'd felt guilt for going to anyone anymore. corbyn would've told himself he was a burden to daniel, and it was true, he was a pain in the ass to deal with sometimes, but daniel now realized that the consistent visits and check ups were all because corbyn wanted someone to live. he wanted daniel to survive in this horrible world, he wanted to save daniel.
                          
so they stood, rain pelting their jackets, corbyn's cries dying as daniel processed the situation.
                          
"you never killed them, corbyn. you never knew."
                          
corbyn's hand turned into a fist, beating weakly at daniel's back as he lifted his head. "i started the fire, daniel, i— i couldn't save them, and i'll never get the chance to ever again." 
                          
he was stammering, blinking to rid his tears but only causing more to fall. he beared his entire life, soul, all of it, to daniel. 
                          
in response, daniel only hugged him tighter.

                          
EXTRA NOTES
-corbyns origin amirite 🤧