♥ 𝓓𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼 ♥ ~ A Your Boyfriend Game Fanfic/AU

Chapter 10: Part II - Beggar

Soundtrack:

Vundabar by Alien Blues (Lily & Peter)

Threw It Away by Graham Coxon (Peter)

When I enter Peter's line of sight, a hopeful smile crosses his lips. The anger on my face dims his happiness.

He holds up his arms as though to embrace me. "Lily, I—"

"What the fuck are you doing?" I snap, fists clenched.

What's left of Peter's hope evaporates into a dismal, vacant expression. I grab his sleeve and drag him into a nearby alleyway to avoid the public eye. He hunches before me, limp and quiet.

"You're making a whole fucking spectacle of yourself. It's embarrassing!"

Peter blinks a few times, still dazed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just," he swallows. "I wanted to talk to you."

"You could've called!" I wouldn't have answered. "Why are you here?" I cross my arms.

"I-I know last night was a disaster. I'm so sorry. Moving forward—"

"This ends here."

Peter's face pales. "Ends?"

"You're acting insane." My face flushes with embarrassment. "I don't want to see you anymore." Ugh, this sounds like a breakup, even though we weren't dating.

Peter's silent. His blank expression stares through me. I hardly see his chest rising and falling with his breaths. Only the slight twitching of his hands tells me he's not a statue.

I frown and lightly push his shoulder. "You're acting insane," I repeat. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

This draws him back to me. His large blue eyes fix on me, a dark, bottomless depth to them I don't understand, and don't care to.

"You. You're what's wrong with me. I love you." Peter steps forward, into my body space.

I frown and step back, against the wall.

"I love you, Lily." Peter repeats, putting his hands on either side of my head.

My body freezes with fear, images of other hands and arms cornering me in a distant memory dance in my mind.

"You don't want a relationship with me. Okay, I get it." Peter's voice is monotone, logical. "Then let's just be friends." The weight of his unblinking eyes feels suffocating.

Peter searches my face for any waver in my decision. He doesn't find it. "I-It's not logical, but everything you do, everything you are, feels like home to me." He bites his lip before continuing. "I-I've never had that before."

My chest seizes for a moment, completely still.

I've never had that, either.

"Your very presence feels like sunshine." Peter cups my face and looks into my eyes, pleading. "I know it's intense, and I expect nothing from you...I just want to be near you. Being a part of your life is enough."

My heart accelerates with adrenaline. Anger floods my veins like cocaine, and I'm able to move again.

"You expect nothing from me?" I narrow my eyes. "Then why'd you fuck this up in the first place?"

Peter's face crumbles into despair.

I shove him out of my space with a snarl. For someone who looks like he doesn't weigh over ninety pounds, he's difficult to move.

I glare at Peter and jam a finger into his chest. "You don't fucking love me. We've only talked for a few weeks!" I cross my arms. "It's my choice who I keep in my life. And I've seen what I needed to see with you."

I remember a simpler time when the excitement of a new person seemed fun. How quickly it all went to shit. A shame that we've become such fragile, broken things.

Everything you are feels like home to me.

A tremor runs through my body at the distress of the situation. My resolve weakens.

"But it hasn't just been a few weeks for me." Peter looks down, rubbing the back of his head.

I glower with renewed suspicion.

"I saw you before you saw me, remember?" he says. "I saw something in you—"

"You saw me in a fucking diner." A feral, guttural growl rises in the back of my throat. "Unless that wasn't the only place you saw me?"

Peter doesn't answer.

"Fuck this noise." I turn to leave.

"Wait." Peter grabs my arm. "Please." His voice comes out as a hoarse breath. I can feel him tremble through his hand.

I look at his hand on my arm and look at him with such an infuriated bloodlust he drops his hand from me.

"What the fuck do you want?" I say, my nose scrunched in anger and disgust.

Peter's eyes tear up.

Fuck.