Thorns & Roses

Hazel was frozen, hand over the door-knob of the bedroom of their shared house. In his arms was a few grocery bags, filled with what would have been a lovely dinner for that night. Swallowing heavily, he clenched his eyes shut and pulled away from the scene in front of him. With a slam of the door, the young man fled into the kitchen and began to angrily shove the groceries into cabinets.

“Hazel!” the other man shouted from the bedroom, naked as the day as he was born.

“I don’t want to hear it!” the words spilled from his lips as he slammed the cabinet doors and began to violently pull drawers open. Hazel whirled around, golden-brown eyes flashing in righteous fury. “I open my home to you, I fed you my food!” His vision was heavily blurring from the angry, agonized tears trying to be desperately held in. “I gave you everything! EVERYTHING!”

“It’s not what it looks like!” the taller, heavily muscled man pulled Hazel into him, crushing their lips together in a bruising kiss. No matter how much he wanted Jasper, Hazel knew that this… this relationship was over.

“No,” Hazel sobbed, wretching himself away from him and glaring up at Jasper’s face. The other man’s face was just as agonized, causing the terrible terrible feeling within him to crack in two. “You showed me what it was like to love,” he murmured with a heavy heart, dropping his honey-brown eyes to the cheery yellow cabinets below the sink. “You gave me what I always wanted.”

“Jasper?” a raspy, feminine voice interrupted the two, full of irritation and confusion. “What the hell is going on?” Once more, fury rose up within Hazel like a tidal wave. His eyes flashed like the sun to meet unfamiliar, glaring green eyes.

“You cheated on me,” Hazel rasped, hands curling around a drying towel in a frightening imitation of choking someone.

“What are you talking about?” the red-headed woman was more confused than anything, although some kind of understanding was beginning to dawn on her.

Jasper raised both of his hands in front of him, entirely uncaring about his lack of clothing. If it would help get Hazel back, then it would just be a plus. Hazel’s eyes narrowed in on the dark-haired, much taller male with rising suspicion.

“How long have you been with Jasper?” he asked the young woman rather bluntly, hands still squeezing the towel like he would dearly love to throttle someone. Preferably Jasper.

“About three years, why?” It dawned on the young woman just as understanding sparked across Hazel’s face.

“You fucker,” he hissed like a thoroughly incensed feline. "How many?” Hazel’s voice was low and silky, golden brown eyes glinting threateningly.

Jasper’s pale blue eyes rounded, his square face blanching as both of them advanced on the black-haired male. The red-head’s knuckles cracked, and he backed into something solid, rocking on his feet unsteadily. He mutely shook his head, waving his hands in a sort of pathetic ‘X’, trying to calm the duo down.

“How many?” the female snarled furiously, her pupils slitting like a cat’s and her voice gaining an eerie hissing quality. For a moment, confusion flashed across Hazel’s face. What the hell?

Once more, Jasper blanched and tried to back up, only to feel hard plaster against his back. Where was there an opening? Both of them were competent in combat, although the female was more skilled. Hazel’s talent far out-stripped the red-head’s, even though he could do with some more practice.

“Tell me,” their voices blended together in eerie harmony, both hiss-like in quality and full of a righteous temper.

“You two and three more!” Jasper blurted out, his pale eyes round in fear. His pupils were dilated hugely, probably due to the fear that he was exuding. “Hazel’s the only male!”

The golden haired male’s pupils thinned to pinpricks, his snarling mouth exhaling in an angry hiss reminiscent of a snake. “You- you-”

“ASSHOLE!” At the same time, Jasper could feel a blinding pain scratch itself across his face and arc it’s way around his cheekbones.

Had he been… slapped?

Hazel gritted his teeth, pinching the bridge of his nose and glowering at the cowering blonde. “Get the hell out of my house,” he snapped, his voice as frigid as the ice on the streets. “You’re no longer welcome here.”

“W-what?” Jasper practically squeaked out, confusion flitting across his face. “What do you mean?”

Utter outrage settled on Hazel’s face, while a stunned disbelief settled on the girl’s. Taking a deep breath, Hazel straightened his spine and met the pale blue gaze of the male in front of him. “Do I need to make it clearer?” he asked frostily, his voice dropping to a whisper. “You’re leaving.”

Jasper gaped at his now ex-boyfriend and ex-girlfriend. “Y-you can’t do that!” he spluttered angrily, spreading his hands out in front of him in an angry gesture. “I don’t have anywhere else to go!” he accused the slightly younger male with a slightly pleading expression.

“Too bad,” Hazel plowed over Jasper’s weak pleading, his voice steely. “I’m kicking you out.”

Jasper merely gave him a wounded look before he fled to the bedroom, where Hazel could hear some crashing and cursing. His heart pounded painfully against his throat as he heard the noise, desperately hoping that the much taller and broader man didn’t break any of his stuff. With a shaky sigh, he placed his head in his hands and wondered at how much had gone so wrong in such a short amount of time.

Two hours later, Hazel was witness to a remarkably calm Jasper exiting the house. Why did he seem so unruffled? Not even two hours ago, the tall man was terrified of them. What happened in that period of time that made him look like that? Hazel was so confused, so uncertain, so… so… hollow.

“Go get a shower,” Hazel sounded tired as he gestured at the young woman, who blushed furiously when she realized she was only wearing a towel around her body for so long. “Meet me in the kitchen afterwards.” The dark-brown-haired young man studied her small body with a scrutinizing look. “You look about to me my size,” he murmured, absently gesturing for her to follow him as he entered their- his bedroom.

Digging through his drawers, he produced a light green shirt with the local college’s emblem emblazoned on its front. A pair of his skinny jeans followed suit, along with the lingerie the young woman had worn the night before. “Your own clothes are in shreds,” Hazel remarked dryly as she opened her mouth to clearly protest. “Plus, I don’t mind helping others when they’re not being assholes.”

He glanced up at the night sky through the white and dark blue checkered curtains, pursing his lips angrily at the reminder of Jasper’s cheating self. Wait until the other three encounter each other, he thought bitterly as he shut the drawers and turned to stare solemnly at his bed. With a large, irritated exhalation, Hazel ran his fingers through his slightly curly dark brown hair sulkily.

Damn it, Jasper ruined his favorite mattress! Now he’d have to go find another one. Mentally grumbling and actually kind of pouting, Hazel muttered angrily under his breath about cheating bastards and lighting them on fire the next time he saw the bastard in question.

In the background, he could hear the sound of someone slipping in the bathroom and hitting the floor with an audible thump. Hazel couldn’t help but burst into hysterical laughter, leaning his forehead against the tall wardrobe and attempting to keep himself standing. The laughter turned into another form as he slid to the ground and curled up in the corner to pound on the floor.

He was cackling, gods he was cackling. Why was this so funny to him? It shouldn’t be funny at all. This laughter was physically and emotionally painful to go through, with his fingers tugging painfully through his hair and clinging to his scalp. Golden-brown eyes were wide with hysterical amusement and emotional agony, as he continued to laugh and cling to the wall.

What was wrong with him? He had just kicked out of someone he loved with his very being, his entire heart. Did he do something wrong? Did Jasper get bored with just him? Was it even a coincidence that he had a longer relationship with him than the woman? Tonight had been their anniversary of three years and six months. Hazel had been prepared to make Jasper’s favorite, but then he had found the two entwined together.

They were drenched in sweat, panting as if they had run mile. The woman’s legs had been wrapped around his waist, while her neck, collarbone, and shoulders were spattered with love-bites. Gods, he had wanted to cry right then and there. Then Jasper had the utter gall to run up to him in the kitchen and kiss him like the man would never let go. Hazel had been tired, oh so tired of him disappearing for weeks on end. Then Jasper would show up out of the blue and spend a couple of weeks with him.

When Hazel asked Jasper to move in with him, he hadn’t imagined that this behavior would continue. Oh, he had asked. He had pleaded with the taller man to stay longer. However, he had only been patted on the head and told that he had work to do across the country.

Distantly, he could feel something warm wrap around him in a tight hug. His tightly wound up emotions released like a waterfall as his vision blurred into a mess of salty tears. He was drowning drowning drowning in the ocean, swallowed up by the waves and unable to reach the surface. It was like his ribs and lungs were bound by ropes, choking him until he could no longer breathe. His aching gasps and sobs were being brought to a halt, the knives of agony throbbing, stabbing and clawing at his throat as if they couldn’t get enough of his immense grief and longing.

Tears quietly dripped down his face, soaking into the woman’s shoulder. He wanted to feel embarrassed, but all he could feel was the release into hysterical tears from the onslaught of wild emotions. He couldn’t deal with this anymore. When Jasper entered his life, it was like he had entered a new chapter. It was like he had met his match. Verbatim for verbatim, playful insults one after another, and their wit had met each other in barbs that could be thought as cruel.

But… but after this? After this revelation? Nothing could hurt more than the utter pain of losing what he thought was his soul mate. Didn’t opposites attract? They were opposites in so many ways, often arguing about the silliest of things. Then when they argued about things that actually mattered, their arguments would span days, if not weeks. After the hell-hole his life was, Hazel had thought he met a breath of fresh air. And like the gullible idiot he was, he inhaled it greedily and cradled it close to him.

Why had he never picked up on that he was being cheated on?

Hazel heaved a great shuddering sigh, nuzzling into the woman’s shoulder like a needy child. Golden-brown eyes peeked up hesitantly, almost shyly up at her solemn, worried expression. Why wasn’t she just as pained about this? Hazel didn’t understand. He didn’t understand the situation, didn’t understand her, and didn’t understand why Jasper had been so calm when he left.

“What did I do wrong?” he asked, his voice coming out in a painful croak.

She merely smiled down at him gently from behind a curtain of red curls. Gone was the fiery wildcat from earlier, gone was the fury that lit her green eyes up like hell-fire. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” she murmured, gently threading her fingers through his hair like he was a kid. Admittedly, it made him feel warm on the inside, but her next words froze him like an icicle.

“You were never meant to fall in love with him,” she tilted his head up with her pointer finger gently, running her thumb across his chin. I- What? What? WHAT? Hazel could only look like a startled owl, golden-brown eyes round with confusion and startled shock.

“Wh-what?” his croaky voice was pained and uncertain.

“Did Jasper not tell you anything?” her gentle, slightly stern expression morphed into one of intense confusion.

“Tell me what?” Hazel practically demanded, straightening his spine and wiping harshly at his face. Red-rimmed eyes stared almost accusingly at her.

“SHIT!” the red-haired woman leaped to her feet, her fury igniting even higher than before. “JASPER!” she bellowed at the top of her lungs, green eyes alight with an anger that burned as hot as the fires of hell.

Hazel was confused. Why was she yelling his ex-boyfriend’s name? It wasn’t like he could-

When his bedroom door was blown in, shattering into pieces on impact with the wall, the dark-haired twenty-two year old could see the much taller, muscular form of a… battle-ready Jasper Hall with a battle-axe in one hand and clad in what looked like protective clothing. Hazel’s mind blanked as he took in this oddly hot new form of the other man. What the hell was going on?

“My door!” he cried angrily, leaping to his feet and prepared to punch the other man in the face as soon as he focused on splintered pieces of it.

His furious cry was ignored by the red-headed… fire being that was currently burning a hole in his beloved dark gray shag carpet.

“My carpet,” Hazel’s red-rimmed eyes were wide with indignation, his fingers pulling at his hair in this new situation. “What the hell is wrong with you people!” He practically moaned, clawing his hands down his face.

While Jasper was staring in absolute bewilderment at Hazel’s current reaction, the red-head was glowering furiously at the black-haired male.

“You stupid, stupid w- man!”she snarled, twisting his left ear harshly to gain his attention.

“Ow, ow, ow!” he gasped, loosening his grip on the war-axe in his hand. “I thought you guys were being attacked!”

Hazel could only stare in increasing distress as the weapon embedded itself in his carpet and tore a gash into the wooden floor beneath it. A soft keen escaped him, before he took a large breath in order to calm the fiery rage that coiled beneath his skin like a tightly wound snake.

“You consorted with a human!” the lady shrieked, probably entirely unaware that Hazel was still in the room. She certainly seemed like the type. “Jasper, you know they’re off limits! They get too attached to us!”

Frozen in his spot, Hazel could only watch helplessly as the closest spot on the wall to the fire lady began to sport an impressive melted spot, while a nearby wooden table (thankfully clear of items) caught fire.

"Ash, I was only messing with him!” Jasper protested, wincing as her grip tightened on his ear and she got in even closer to his face.

“You call that messing with him?!” she snarled, jabbing a finger at the small human with the distressed expression on his face.

However, when he heard those words come from Jasper’s own mouth, Hazel’s rage began to rise steadily. It was only being stoked the further the woman scolded Jasper for being in a relationship in the human world. Something inside him snapped in response to his growing wrath, coiling around him tightly. Taking in a deep breath, Hazel attempted to calm himself down from the current scene. However, he wanted answers.

And he was going to get them, whether they were going to make this easy or not.