One Upheaval After Another (Closed with phantomflame) (1/1)

"Oh, I wasn't going to ask about you can still move, I was going to ask where you keep them," Oli said, staring at Cyris with an impressed look on his face. "I only have eleven on me."

He chuckled, smiling back at Cyris. "Unfortunately, we don't have bleach here, but I'm sure we can get some along the way." He walked over once more to the secret tunnel wall and opened it up, looking back at Damien. "Please don't die on the way to Cali, okay?"

"I'll try," Damien replied, giving Oli a hug. When he finally pulled away, the older man went over to Cyris and hesitated before holding out his hand. "I couldn't tell if you're a hugger or not, so just stay safe, okay kid? You've kind of grown on me in the less than twenty-four hours that I've known you. Try to stay safe, and if it's not inconvenient, then keep my little Olive safe too."

Oli turned red at the use of his childhood nickname in front of someone who wasn't biologically related to him, but Damien looked so sincere that he allowed it. Just this once.

Oli stared at the array of weapons that Cyris had in awe, giving a low whistle of appreciation at the shiny, beautiful blades. "You never cease to surprise me, do you?" The fact that he wasn't nervous, or even scared at all concerned Oli slightly, but he honestly didn't care; he saw Cyris as an ally, possibly even as a friend, so why should he be afraid? Plus, he did save his uncle's life, so that surely counted for something. Oli doubted that strangers normally did that type of thing for others.

Damien chuckled as he shook Cyris' hand. "Yeah, he can definitely be a handful. But on the bright side, he can make food, so y'know. He's useful."

Oli's cheeks immediately grew hot at Cyris' words, and he had no doubt that his face looked even redder than before, which only made Damien roll his eyes and grin at his nephew knowingly.
"O-okay," was all he could manage to reply, turning his head away in an attempt to hide how flustered he was. God, was the entire journey ahead of them going to be like this? Oliver wasn't sure if he would last very long; he had never really flirted or teased anyone before, and clearly his brain short-circuited whenever someone did any of those things to him. Hopefully he could hide that fact before Cyris found out, if he hadn't already. He called my name cute. And he has a nickname for me. Is that flirting, or have I just never interacted with guys my age enough to differentiate between friendly teasing and flirting? Oli didn't know, but it was definitely too much to think about right then.

He gave a nod to his uncle before quickly turning towards the bunker tunnel and walking through it, too bosu overthinking to check if Cyris would follow him.

(Lol same dude, my mind is just done with everything)

Oli walked through the bunker, the old, dim lights flickering above him. He hoped that this place would still be back when he returned. If he ever did. At the end of the long bunker, there was a set of metal stairs that led up to a heavily enforced door. The metal felt nice and cool under Oli's hands as he climbed up, straining a bit as he reached to open the bunker door. Sometimes he hated being so short.

With a grunt, he pushed it open and climbed out, dropping the bag of food beside him on the grass as he readjusted his backpack and waited for Cyris to come up.

Oli closed his eyes and let the cool morning breeze hit his face, sighing with contentment. He loved how the woods were in the morning. It was nice, refreshing, and peaceful. It was a perfect place for forgetting the fact that someone had tried to kill his uncle not so long ago.
He opened his eyes and looked over at Cyris, grinning. "I've gone out that way multiple times, I didn't need help." He looked around and pointed in a random direction, going along with the joke. "Hm…probably that way."

Oli tilted his head to the side, looking curious. "Were you not allowed outside often?" He couldn't imagine living a life like that, with so little freedom. How Cyris managed to still be sane after so long of living such a cruel life, Oli would never know.

He forced himself to look away from Cyris, reluctant to do so. He'd keep staring into those amber eyes forever if he could, but that wouldn't be ideal for what they were doing. "Um, so…are we ready to get going?"

Oli let out a small embarrassed chuckle. "Right, I forgot about that." He looked at the ground, knowing how stupid he sounded. Cyris had literally killed a man not even an hour ago. How the hell could he have not remembered that? Trying to brush off his embarrassment, he turned his gaze to the trees, watching the sunlight filter in and brighten up the woods. "Well, hopefully, you'll be able to relax and watch the sun soon. You deserve to have small, peaceful moments like this."

Oli smiled when Cyris ruffled his hair, and he nodded in agreement. "It's always beautiful in the mornings. I would definitely have never been a morning person if I knew that I wouldn't be greeted by sunrises like these every day."

He looked over at Cyris and was glad to see him smiling. "Maybe Canada will be just as beautiful, if not more so," he murmured out loud, looking thoughtful.

"Maybe you can teach me about the constellations," Oli said, adjusting the bag on his shoulders. "I never really learned them."

He could actually feel the warmth of the sun on his face now, the early morning dew that clung to the trees and the grass evaporating. "I really do hope that you'll find that place, Amber." He paused for a moment, a question coming to his head. "Why did you choose to call me 'Peace' as a nickname? I was all for you killing that ugly bastard back there. I don't think that was a very peaceful thing for me to do."

Oli smiled and nodded, looking thoughtful. "I like that. It's definitely a more meaningful nickname than me calling you Amber." He chuckled, but he felt incredibly touched that someone would put so much thought into giving him a unique nickname. It made him feel wanted. "And that guy wasn't just threatening to kill my uncle. He wanted to capture you, too. I've never fought anyone in my life but I would've done my best to make sure that he wouldn't have been able to take you."

(Hey no worries! Take as much time as you need to recover, I hope you get better soon)

(Well, that's something at least lol)

(Ok!)

(It's no worries!)

(I am so sorry for not responding sooner, my summer was way busier than I thought it would be and I accidentally took a hiatus from Notebook)

Oli felt his heart flutter when Cyris said he liked his nickname. The comment shouldn't have meant much, but he couldn't help but grin to himself as they continued walking.

"Um…I guess I can do close range? One of my neighbors taught me how to butcher animals, so that shouldn't be much different from attacking evil people, right?" Oli avoided the other boy's gaze as he spoke. The thought of hurting other people didn't sit well with him, but he knew that he would eventually have to if he wanted Cyris to still believe that he was useful. Although it was becoming quite clear to Oli that he lacked a lot of survival skills. "And no, I don't know how to fight with my hands. Nothing dangerous ever really happened in my town so there wasn't a need to learn how to fight."

Oli squinted his eyes a little as more and more beams of sunlight began shining through the leaves of the trees, but he relished the warmth of the rays; he hadn't realized how cold he felt until now.

He looked back at Cyris, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "I hadn't realized a single stab kill was an option," he replied, a bit of relief creeping into his voice. It certainly would be a less gruesome option than what he had thought he would have to do.

"Would you really?" Oli asked hopefully, smiling gratefully. "That would be amazing."