Paradise (MikaYuu)

35

(Yuu)

Ash and I had ended up at a nearby Denny's for breakfast. Yes, ended up. No one actually goes to Denny's intentionally, you end up there.

I had ordered the double berry banana pancake breakfast and Ash ordered the blueberry pancake breakfast. It was dead quiet and all I could really do was chew on the straw in my orange juice as he scarfed down his food.

I nonchalantly tossed the two eggs on my plate over to him, he looked up at me curiously, "I hate eggs." I said.

"I see, thank you." He smiled before digging in.

I popped a strawberry into my mouth and and leaned against the window, I wasn't really mad anymore, just hurt, I guess. I didn't have the adrenaline coursing though me and I just felt upset. Disappointed, but not surprised. I expected us to fight about this at some point, it was just sooner than I expected. I thought about what he said, something was 'off' about my aunt's suicide... vague, of fucking course it was vague.

"Are you ok?" Asher asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you ok? He looked like he was going to actually hurt you," I said half joking until Asher shrunk into the seat a little more, "Ash? He hasn't done anything before, has he?"

"I don't want to answer that question." He stabbed his fork hard into the pancake.

I sat up straight, "Are you serious?"

Asher rolled his eyes, "That seriously surprises you? I've been their punching bag for years, I'm happy enough with the dynamics considering what I could be."

"Dead?" I asked.

"Yes, Yuu, dead. I've been involved with them both since I was 22, that's 5 years of pure fear every day of my fucking life. 5 years of things I will never be able to forget, but can't seem to remember. The things I've seen, the things I've been-" he cut himself off as he plunged his hands into his hair, staring down at the table, "you need to get out."

I wasn't expecting him to say that, I really didn't know how to respond, "We would need to get you out first, especially if Mikaela is actually willing to hurt you over me."

"No, no, no, you idiot. It's not just me. He acts like you're special, acts like he wouldn't dare to hurt a hair on your head, and I genuinely think that part of him wouldn't, but Mikaela Tepes would do whatever it takes to make sure you don't leave him. He can and will hurt you if he thinks it's necessary and with him it's almost always necessary. And if you become a real threat to him he. Will. Take. You. Out. He won't hesitate for even a second. The moment you step over whatever line he's already set, he'll kill you. But he does feel something for you, we all already know the line is harder to cross for you than it is for us. He's had partners before, most are fine, they hate him, they got out early enough to just hate him, but they're fine. Some are in therapy, stayed a little too long, scared shitless, but Mikaela made sure their stories won't reach public eye. 2 of them, they're not anything anymore. Just a body in a shallow grave. No one will ever find them. They stayed for more than a year, they wanted to try to fix him, just like you. And I, I'm the fucker that did nothing but watch, the asshole who didn't go to the police because I knew it wouldn't work but I didn't even try. I didn't even try." Asher was eerily still as he retold the tales of the last few years.

I was shocked. It was so different hearing about how much of a monster he was from someone who who had watched it all, "But, I thought there was the whole thing with the past life-"

"Fuck the past!" Asher slammed his hand down on the table, attracting the stares from most of the restaurant, he noticed and quieted down to more of a whisper scream, "I don't CARE about the past, Yuu, and neither does he! I swear to god he must think if he convinces himself and you that you're soulmates it'll make when he inevitably kills you some fucked up form of morbidly beautiful art! He's NOTHING like the past him! He doesn't care about you! Saying that he cared about you back then is even a stretch! I know you don't remember him, but Mikaela Shindo was a saint compared to this fucker! He gave up at the end, but still lived a life revolved around being decent towards you, which he failed miserably at. He was not a good person, he was one of the worst people I ever had the displeasure of knowing, but at least he actually felt something. Aside from looking exactly like him, no one can convince me that those two people are even remotely similar."