You know the drill, Ralger and fluff.

..

"Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be aright, no one can hurt you now."

..

The stare lasted for an uncomfortable and awkward one minute. Ralph silently cursed his uncooperative mouth, and Roger was only being his silent and mysterious self. Both boys had some red staining their cheeks. The cicadas chose that exact moment to stop crying, leaving the boys with the loud thumping of their hearts that were unusually excited. Roger backed away first, but had not yet let go of Ralph's hands, for fear that he might bite his nails again. Ralph opened his mouth to say something, but shut it as he had nothing to say. Another long and awkward minute passed.

It was weird of Roger though. He normally did not care about others, not even Jack, who Ralph thought would be the closest to him. He usually, if not always, waited for other people to initiate a conversation before starting to talk. The only exception, to Ralph, would be that time in the first assembly, when he interrupted Jack's gloating about being able to sing C sharp to propose the vote for chief. Outside of that, Ralph could not remember any other times he had heard Roger's voice.

Ralph asked himself if he had actually noticed Roger that much, and he found the other boy still staring at him. He forced his mouth open and tried to think of something to say.

"Go back to sleep." Roger was, surprisingly, the first one to speak.

"I'm not sleepy." Ralph automatically replied. It was true, though, that he did not feel like sleeping anymore.

Roger was silent again. He was playing with a rock that he had picked up from the ground, but he would sometimes glance up at Ralph. The dark circles under his eyes triggered Ralph's curiosity.

"Why aren't you sleeping then?" He decided to ask. Roger had sat down on the ground in front of Ralph. He shifted his focus from the rock to the blonde's face.

"Can't."

That one-worded answer made Ralph a little more curious. He stared at his hands that were so close to his mouth he felt like he could put them back in it anytime. The boys stared at each other again. The awkwardness from earlier that was beginning to die down rose back up. It was weird what Roger's intense and constant stare made Ralph feel. It was silent again, and the cicadas were still refusing to make any sound, not that it would help anyway. Ralph's eyes were fixated on the bridge of the other's nose, where a small scar lied horizontally. Ralph had always thought Roger looked like that boy porcelain doll his father bought in Russia, minus the scars. Now that he had noticed it, there were many scars on the boy's strangely pale skin. His eyes were dark gray in color and his lips were thin. There was another scar, a long one running down from his forehead and lied on top of his left brow. His neck was small and his shoulders were narrow. Ralph wondered what the boy had done to get that many scars, and realized he had been scrutinizing Roger again. He blushed and hoped that the other boy did not notice it. He remembered his curiosity of Roger's dark circles.

"Why can't you sleep?" He asked without another second of hesitation.

Roger did not answer to this one. He looked down to the ground, trembling terribly. Ralph was surprised by Roger's sudden change of attitude.

"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it if–"

"Because I see him every time."

The answer made Ralph jump. He ran a hand through his hair to get it off his face, then took Roger's shaking hands and tried to calm them down. He did not exactly know what to do in this situation, so he just did what he thought would work.

"Who is 'him'?"

"Papa."

"Your father?"

"What is a father?"

Ralph froze. He stared at Roger solemnly. His brows furrowed.

"What did he do to you?"

"He beat me, like what Jack does to the bushes when he can't hunt a pig. He put me in a cage like what people do to dogs that misbehave. He sometimes fed me cold food. Other times, he didn't. H–" Roger's voice was cut off by his shaky lips that did not allow him to speak more. He lowered his head, but no tears came out.

Ralph wrapped his arms around the trembling body, his eyes were focusing on nothing in particular, but he just kept staring forward.

"Why are you squeezing me with your body?"

Ralph squeezed Roger even tighter.

"It's a hug, Roger. Mummy usually did this to me when I was feeling down, and Daddy, too."

"What is a 'Mummy'?"

The knot in Ralph's stomach tightened. He felt himself shaking and on the verge of tears. He did not know why, but he wanted to cry, for Roger. The other boy had stopped trembling and started looking at the space behind Ralph, puzzled. Why was Ralph shaking?

Was it because of him?

Did the "hug" transfer his pain to Ralph?

Roger pushed Ralph away. The blond boy was dumbfounded for a moment. His ocean blue eyes were red and teary, and Roger stared at them. Did he hurt Ralph?

"I'm sorry." He said, his lips started shivering as he repeated the phrase over and over again.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, I wasn't hurt."

"You were shaking because you hugged me. And you were crying."

"Roger, no, it wasn't your fault. I'm just.. having these weird feelings inside of me that I need to let out, that's all."

They were silent again, the cicadas finally started making their sounds. Both boys had no idea what time it was, but the silence seemed like an eternity. Ralph did not move at all and Roger kept mouthing his apology. The small frog jumped, giving them both a heart attack. He saw Roger's head bobbing again. His eyes were close to shutting but snapped open again, and then they shut, opened, shut, opened. Ralph knew he did not want to see "him". He gazed at Roger somberly.

"Roger, do you want to try something?" Ralph spoke up. The sudden sound startled Roger.

The other boy nodded, clearly looking guilty from what he thought he had just done previously. Ralph sat, his back leaning on a tree, and he called Roger over, addressing the boy on his lap. The black-haired boy stood up hesitantly, but did what he was told anyway, half because he was curious of what Ralph wanted to try on him, half because the blond boy was the only one he had respect for on the island. When Roger's weight descended on Ralph, he realized that the boy was light, extremely light. He took a deep breath, and wrapped both his arms around the thin frame again, making Roger gasp in surprise and tried to push him off. Ralph held him down, rocking his body back and forth.

"Now close your eyes." He instructed. His voice was small and quiet, and his eyes were so gentle they had persuaded Roger into slowly closing his. "I want you to think about me before your eyes close completely. Just think about me, and when you close your eyes, just remember that I'm there. I won't let him touch you, never will, okay?"

Roger gave a small nod before the darkness draped over his vision completely. The man was there, but he did not open his eyes this time. He thought and thought about Ralph, about how the blond hair flew free in the wind, how the gentle blue eyes matched the color of the ocean, how that smile warmed him up to the core, and how that one person was holding him, rocking him back and forth, giving him feelings he never had before. The angry man slowly faded away, and he saw Ralph, standing there in the sunshine.

"Mummy used to do this to me when I had nightmares. It made the monsters go away."

Roger did not want to sleep just yet, despite not having a proper's night sleep in a long time. He curled up in Ralph's embrace, letting the other boy stroke his hair and face gingerly. A small song was echoing in his ears, and he realized that it was Ralph's voice. Something with "you'll be alright", and "no one can hurt you now". For the first time, he knew it was the truth, because he knew he was safe in Ralph's arms.

"I like you Ralph." The voice was small as a whisper. It was the third, no, the fourth time Roger started a conversation with another person.

Ralph froze at the confession, then kept on rocking himself and Roger back and forth. He noticed how the other boy liked the rocking motion. He guessed it was what made him feel safe and protected.

"Why?" Ralph whispered back.

"Because you're nice to me. Others aren't."

"Simon–"

"He's nice to everyone. He's batty. He doesn't count. I meant you. You're not nice to everyone, but out of all the ones you choose to be nice to, you chose me. And for that I like you." Roger yawned, his voice got smaller towards the end of the sentence, and he finally dozed off.

Ralph said nothing, and continued the song. He never liked to sing, it reminded him of his mother and how she used to sing to him while rocking him to help him sleep. Her voice was angelic and soothing. It was one of his memories of her before she left.

He looked down to the already sleeping Roger and laid a gentle kiss on his temple. He was surprised with what he had done, but then decided that the other needed it. He took a breath before singing the last line of the song. Ralph felt like an angel was sitting next to him, singing with him. Her voice was so sweet and angelic it drove him close to sleep.

"You and I'll be safe and sound."

The fair boy stood up, holding the sleeping body in his arms. He was light, like a black and white feather. So fragile. It was as if he would break when Ralph dropped him.

If he dropped Roger, would he break?

Ralph decided that he would never try it.

..

Yes, I casually inserted a Taylor Swift song because I can.