There were many ways to get from their school to their ratty old house. But this was not it. This was not the way home. Malcolm could feel it in the air, the sounds were wrong, the smells. Everything was all wrong. The trees in the forest swayed the wrong way and the animal noises were all wrong. There were plants and twigs brushing up against his ankles when usually there was a path cleared out. Clearly, his game of 'tag' with Reese had gone wrong.

Malcolm swallowed hard, in attempt to rid himself of the horrible metallic taste that planted itself heavily on his tongue. Despite the forest being lit up by the sun and the snow, it felt so dark where he was. He tried to be rational, he tried to follow the sun to direct the direction he was going in, and he walked around for a bit, looking for anything familiar. But really, nothing was familiar. Everything was wrong.

Malcolm's toes were growing sore, and for a few moments, his knees nearly gave out, until he grabbed hold of a branch, and caught himself. His fingers were cold and bluer than usual.

He checked his watch, it was way later than the time he should've been home. They'd get yelled at for not grabbing Dewey before running off into the forest, but at the time, all he cared about was getting them both home in one piece.

He searched through the woods, before his heart started racing, he was getting scared.

He hated getting scared, it showed that he was weak, vulnerable. A pussy. A coward.

Malcolm's feet began to move again, he started running. The twig's snagged in his pants as he ran, slowing him down, and leaves crunched into the snow beneath his feet, and tears built up at the corners of his eyes. He couldn't cry though, because maybe they'd freeze against his eyeballs. Malcolm's legs picked up speed, and his throat ripped as he yelled out Reese's name is horrible, aching, cries. "Reese!" He shouted, his ratty old sneakers pounding against dirt.

"Reese!" He was worried now, he was in the wrong side of the woods, what if Reese was too? And what if something happened to Reese? "Reese, fuck, Reese!" But maybe nothing would happen to Reese, he was a tough guy and he could take care of himself. "Reese, this isn't funny anymore!" But there were tougher guys out there, where they were.

He shut his eyes as he continued to run, just for a few moments, just to clear his head just to-"Fuck!"

Malcolm had fallen back against the snowy ground, his sweater now coated in a thin layer of snow. He'd bumped into something, it was warm and had a jacket. It was Reese.

He stood up and dusted himself off, he barely had enough time to even breathe before Reese's arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulling the smaller red-head closer to him. "Dammit, Malcolm." He showered him in kisses, he was so grateful just to have Malcolm there in front of him. He kissed Malcolm's profile and held him tightly against him once more before pulling away and examining Malcolm for any cuts or bruises. "Don't ever run off like that again. You have no fucking idea how fucking scared I was. Fuck."

Malcolm melted into Reese's embrace, he was warm and strong and keeping him together. Most importantly, Reese was his. "I know," he said, "I won't."

Reese examined him quickly again, before wrapping an arm around his shoulders and guiding him away from the twisty trees. He offered a small smile, "Let's go home, jackass."