Closure

"Fine, you love me." Dylan snapped, although he didn't believe a word out of Ace's mouth. "But I don't fucking love you anymore. I want you out of here, now." It was the biggest lie he'd ever told in his life as he nudged Ace off of him with the gun. He still loved Ace with every fiber of his being but he couldn't, not after how the boy had betrayed him. He had given the boy his virginity and it had been a lie the whole time. The pain was threatening to overtake him but he held strong. He just needed to wait until the boy left.

Ace fell backwards as though Dylan had stricken him, complete silence filling the room as the wolf simply stared at the hunter. Everything inside him shattered. Every hope for the future, every link of happiness in him totally died with that comment. It was the only thing Ace had processed. His luck had finally run out.  Slowly, Ace began trying to stand on his shaking knees, soft hiccups leaving him as he finally made it. "Y-You don't love me any-anymore?" The werewolf whispered hoarsely, like shrapnel flying in an explosion. "O-Oh, God...You don't...?"  The boy wan rambling again, gasping as though Dylan had punched him in the gut. "Remember? When you said you did? I told you to remember..."  The boy was completely lost, head hanging as he slowly worked Dylan's ring from his finger. "I-I don't blame you though,"  Even now, he felt the need to do anything he could to make it easier on Dylan.  He was resigned to his fate. The man didn't love him anymore."I just...I..." The boy gently tucked the ring into Dylan's pocket, his hand lingering for longer than necessary. "I love you, Dylan. Im sorry. I love you." And with that, Ace bowed his head, stumbling slowly to the door. He wished Dylan would stop him. Change his mind.
Ask him to stay.

Dylan merely waited for the boy to leave before dropping the gun and allowing himself to sink down onto the mattress. He felt the tears dripping down his cheeks before he could stop them. It felt as if his heart was being ripped out of his chest altogether.
He had never had a relationship before Ace and he had been wondering how he'd missed out on it all these years. Ace and their relationship had been the best thing to ever happen to him. But he was now realizing by missing out on relationships he had also missed out on the heartbreak, something he wished he was missing out on right now.
He had told Ace the other day he didn't remember how he'd lived before they met and now he was going back to that. He had no clue what he was supposed to do now other than sit there by himself all day every day, going back to what now felt like a miserable existence.

Ace didn't make it even five steps away from Dylan's home before collapsing to the ground, nothing but a crumpled heap of hiccuping sobs. He had just lost everything, but he couldn't even focus on his pain. Not when he could sense the same in Dylan. His wolf was frantic trying to figure out a way to help its mate, but all Ace could do was let out broken howls. He spent hours sitting there, his legs unable to hold him, his wolf not willing to part with Dylan. But eventually Ace began his long trek home, stumbling everytime he heard a shift in Dylan's heart beat.

Dylan spent his night in one of the armchairs in the living room, downing every kind of alcohol he had in the house until he couldn't feel a damn thing anymore, his vision becoming fuzzy. He knew he was drinking far too much to the point where he could have been in serious danger but luckily he dozed off before he could drink any more, slumped over in the chair with fresh tear tracks on his cheeks.

Ace had gone home, unable to so much as even look at Bane. The boy was too much like Dylan, and only reminded him that he was a failure. No ones hero. Dylan didn't even love him anymore. He had ruined himself. The wolf spent the first portion of the night locked up in his room, not speaking to anyone, only filling the home with his tormented howls. He had wound up crying himself to sleep, only to be jolted awake by dreams of his mate, Dylan's words resounding in his head. It had been enough to drive Ace out of his room and into Danny's. The young wolf never spoke, only laid in between Danny and Bane, burrowing himself into the hunters chest.

Bane had of course woken after several minutes of Ace being there. Wide eyed he looked down at the wolf before speaking.
"Ace, what happened? Shit, are you okay?" He had been getting increasingly worried about the boy and how much time he'd been spending with Dylan. He hadn't meant for it to get this out of hand.

" He doesn't love me anymore, yo." The young wolf choked out, so pitiful that Danny couldn't bring himself to make the kid leave, even if he was interupting snuggle time with Bane. "I failed. " Came another violent whisper, Ace's arms winding around Bane and pressing him close, trying so hard to find a piece of Dylan anywhere. " I lost him. I love him so much, and he's gone." Bane smelled similar to Dylan, looked similar.
But it wasn't enough.

"Oh shit Ace." Bane spoke gently as he realized what had happened, pulling the boy tighter into his arms. He had known Ace was falling for Dylan and he had regretted starting the plan in the first place, knowing it could not end well. But he had never thought he'd see Ace so broken like this. "I'm so sorry." He whispered. He knew it couldn't make the boy feel any better but it was all he knew to say. It was all his fault and he could feel the guilt twisting his stomach. He was why his best friend was here now, more depressed than he'd ever seen him.

"S'not your fault. I fucked it all up." Ace let out a mournful whine, his wolf distraught in the absence of his mate. "Maybe if I would have just said something sooner. Maybe..." He couldn't stop rambling, knowing that Dylan was by himself. "He's all fucking alone, Bane. He is hurting. I love him. I don't want him hurting. How could I hurt him?" Another pained cry left him as he clutched at Bane, his heart aching at how small the boy felt in his grip.  It was nothing like his mate. "He doesn't deserve this."  Ace whispered hoarsely, "I made him hate me. I don't want him to hate me." It was only made worse because Ace knew he deserved it, after all the lies he told.  He had taken Dylan's virginity, without doing the hunter the decency of letting him know just what he was crawling into bed with...........
"Oh god, he hates me and I deserve it."

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you." Bane reassured, carding his fingers through Ace's hair although he wasn't sure of anything, really. "And you definitely don't deserve it. I'm so sorry, Ace, this is all my fault..." He had just wanted his brother back but now his brother and the only friend he had were both hurting because of it. "It's going to be okay... he's just hurt, maybe he won't hate you." He spoke gently although his voice was hesitant, unsure if Dylan really did hate the boy or not.

"He does.  You know how I know?"  Ace looked up to meet Bane's gaze for the first time, his eyes blood shot and glazed. "The look on his face. Oh god, I wish he would have just shot me. It was like he didn't even know me anymore. I was a monster. I am a monster."  The young wolfs chest rattled, his fingers furling and unfurling in Bane's shirt. "H-He called me by my name. " He couldn't look at Bane anymore, instead his eyes had fallen to his hands, focusing on the bane finger where Dylan's class ring used to be. "He took his ring back." Ace inhaled sharply, as though someone had stabbed him. There was a moment of silence, and then the boys trembling voice came again. " He even said so himself."

"I'm so sorry." Bane whispered again, burying his face in Ace's dyed blonde hair. "I shouldn't have ever made you do this. God, I'm so sorry." He was grimacing as he held his best friend close to him. He didn't have to be a wolf to feel the pain radiating from the boy and it made him ache just as terribly.

" I can't live like this, not without him." Ace hiccuped softly, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to expel the wetness. "I've gotta get him back, Bane. I have to." He couldn't imagine life without Dylan. "Ill devote myself to it. Ill be anything he wants."

"I can try and help." Bane frowned lightly as he looked down at the boy. "I'll do whatever I can, I'll tell him it wasn't your idea, that you really fell for him." He nodded, pressing Ace closer to him.

"I gotta talk to Sterling about getting my hair back." Ace mumbled softly. He was wringing his hands together, much too aware of the absence of Dylan's ring. The young wolf let out a low whine, his insides aching for his mates touch. "I don't want you anymore involved than you have to be. " This was on him. He had to be the one to fix it. Silence fell over them, the grief exhausting enough to leave Ace panting. "Its hard to breathe without him, yo."

Bane frowned deeply for a moment as he watched his friend before he spoke about something he had been worrying about.
"Ace... did you mate with him?" He arched an eyebrow as he stroked the boy's back.

" I don't know anything about that mate shit, yo." Ace had been too caught up in Dylan and Bane, he never stopped to ask anyone about the mating bond. "What happens if I did?" He could tell his love for Dylan was special. It did things to him that he never thought possible.

"I don't completely understand that whole thing either. But I know it means you can't live without them. Danny wouldn't get off of my case when he mated with me." Bane looked over at his lover, wondering if he was awake. "Danny, can you tell him how you know if you mated?" He asked, nudging him gently.

Danny's eyes fluttered open, the clouded blue orbs glowing in the dark of the room. A smile slowly curled his lips as he considered the question, reaching over Ace to rest his hand against Bane's cheek. After so much time spent loving the boy, he could find Bane anywhere, no matter how dark. " I uhh, I heard your heartbeat. Its what brought me to you in the first place. Oh wow...." His thumb caressed gently under the hunters eye. " It never goes away, and if you try to ignore it, it gets louder. When I am with you, I can't describe what its like. Every thing falls into place. Nothing hurts. Having you is the greatest comfort. Its why we all get so testy over our mates. Life without them is impossible. " Danny sighed softly, speaking more to Bane than Ace. " But being away from them hurts. Even if I leave for a while or Bane goes to hunt, and we're happy and on good terms...I uh....I still feel his absence. The longer I go without him the worse it gets."

Bane smiled gently at his lover before glancing up to Ace.
"Is that how it feels? Can you hear his heartbeat, even now?" He questioned gently.

"I started hearing his heart beating during the first time we had sex. My first time, yo. He doesn't even know that. " Ace let out another mournful howl. "But it just got so loud....and then it never went away. I know what he's doing just by the way his heart is beating. "

"Shit, babe, then I think he is your mate." Bane nodded, frowning deeply because now it was not simply a heartbreak Ace could get over. He needed Dylan back. "But at least this means that he feels the connection too. He can't just ignore it and leave you."

"Its never going to be the same yo, though.  He wont ever love me the same."  Ace's face was contorted in pain. "But if I can get him to love me again, just enough to tolerate me....And let me be with him." He knew Dylan would never think of him as beautiful, or precious again, but it would be enough just to sit in the mans presence. Lord knows he didnt even deserve that. "It would be okay. I'd live with that. I'd even let him see other people if he wanted to....I just don't want to be blocked out completely.I can't."

"I'm sure you can do it, he must have loved you a lot to not shoot you when you told him." He nodded. "Do you know what you're going to do? To get him back?" He questioned.