Open Your Heart

Chapter 10

How many days had it been again? He swore it had to have been a week by now, maybe even more. Checking his phone for the millionth time, Henroin sighed and leaned back in his chair. How had this all gotten so wrong in only a few weeks? Taking a long drag of his cigar, he held the smoke in for as long as his body could stand, staring up at the ceiling as he did. He heard the knock on his door, but he didn't bother speaking. He could tell it was Orco just by the pattern that sounded. Another breath of the thick smoke and he heard the door not only open, but the footsteps as the man entered, and the click of the door closing behind him. He followed the man audibly as he crossed the room to sit in his usual chair by the bookshelves on the far wall. After a moment of silence, he heard the heavy sigh from the other man. "So, how many times did you check your phone while I was gone."

"I haven't been checking it that much." He paused and sat up to look at the man. "Have I?" Orco cringed.

"You've been checking it every few minutes, Henry." Henroin winced and shook his head. He'd known it had been often, but not that it had been that frequent. "I'm guessing he still hasn't messaged or called you?" He nodded and leaned against his desk on his hand.

"I fucked up. Badly." The night haunted him, along with the dream he'd had every night since. The one that reminded him of what could have happened. "I don't even know what came over me, Orco. I just... I got close to him and it was like I couldn't help myself." Orco hummed.

"You know, I remember when you first met him, and you told him that he "wasn't your type". Yet, here we are in the after math of you forcing yourself on him." Henroin threw a glare at the man that he hoped would strike fear into him. Even though he knew that, after all these years, Orco was numb to his intimidation tactics.

"I didn't "force myself" on him. I just... We kissed, okay." Orco nodded slowly.

"Uh-huh... and then he pushed your ass off and ran away, saying he'd call you later. Which he hasn't done." The man pulled out a book and opened it to where it was bookmarked, scanning the page for where he'd left off. "Maybe you should just give up. If he does call you, he might ask to just be friends. Or..." The man pursed his lips and gave Henroin a look he didn't appreciate in the slightest. "He might try to blackmail you with it. After all, a lot of the Pride Ring consider you a homophobe. It might ruin your reputation if they found out that not only did you kiss a man, you incited it, and it was a hooker. That wouldn't look good for you." Henroin scoffed.

"Let's be honest, who would believe that without proof? A handful of people, sure, but it'd be the same conspiracy theorists who insist that there's a love triangle between Lucifer, Mammon, and Asmodeus." Orco tilted his head in agreement before glancing back up at him.

"True. However, it would still look bad. Even if they didn't believe it, they'd expect you to exterminate whoever started the rumor, and I know you can't do that. Not while you're still having dreams about him, anyways." He watched the man turn the page as he spoke, his wonderful little ability to multitask showing off. Sighing, he dropped his head back to the chair again and stared at the ceiling.

"Is it wrong of me?" Orco hummed curiously. "To feel this way after everything I did to Tony?" Another hum and his friend snapped the book closed.

"Well, let's look at what you did to Tony, shall we? Gio told you that he'd caught Tony with Sam. You believed him. You spoke to Sam first, and he told you that Tony had seduced him when he was seventeen." Henroin rolled his eyes.

"I don't need-"

"And you believed him." Orco cut him off, which had him sitting back up to throw another glare at the man, but once again it had no effect on Orco. "When you finally talked to Tony, you steamrolled him." Henroin shook his head.