TRIBULATIONS

28.

Pierre's deep voice was velvety and magnetic as he leaned closer, stared down at the younger man, and whispered. "..Won't you look at me, mh?"

Arthur breathed a lot heavier than usual, the tension was undeniable ... I'm just overwhelmed, simply overwhelmed. Arthur tried to make sense of the situation, but it didn't work.

Pierre tucked Arthur's curly neck length hair behind his hair, "..Don't be afraid of me."

Arthur bit his lower lip, no matter how hard he tried to keep his tears from running down his face. They still ran down his face, they fell down and stained his shirt. He carefully drew out, "..How can I not be..?!" He tried not to raise his voice in fear that Pierre would hurt him. "..This isn't like me, these past few weeks have been too much, I.. I didn't want this. I don't want to be afraid of you, but I can't help it."

He sniffled, hiding his face from Pierre. "..I'm pathetic.. You were right, I shouldn't have come here.. I was just afraid, I didn't want to die.. But I wish I did, at least I would be with my Mother."

Pierre stared down at Arthur with sympathy. He saw himself in him, his younger self. Pierre thought about the way Arthur tried his best to comfort him, despite the fact that he assaulted him, accused him, and pushed him away. Pierre hesitantly lifted his thick calloused hand to grab the back of Arthur's head, who flinched. Pierre pushed Arthur in his arms, soon, he encircled his left arm around Arthur's waist. His other arm wrapped his head tightly as he buried himself in Arthur's hair.

Arthur wasn't sure if it was appropriate to touch the man, but considering the fact that Pierre was now hugging him, he assumed it was alright. Eventually, he wrapped his trembling arms around Pierre's upper back as it was hunched over him.

Finally..

Arthur could feel his heart ache a little less. As if all of the clogged up emotions he was unable to let out, all dissipated. Despite biting his lower lip, small whimpers and sharp intakes of breath managed to escape his mouth. Soon, his legs gave out. He slid against Pierre's body, knees meeting the floor. Pierre cursed under his breath as he was forced to go on his knees. He embraced Arthur who was weeping against his chest, almost with instincts, he pressed a kiss against his forehead.

Arthur's eyes snapped open, "..Did you just—"

Pierre quickly slapped Arthur's back who gasped out, and let out a cry in his arms, "..Let it out, you'll be fine."

Arthur weeped. Why was he so aggressive? He annoyingly thought.

☠

Roman was in his room, he was calling Edena.

Edena advised Roman to copy all of the files she saved on the laptop she was given. Roman only had to hack into the laptop, then save all of the data in that laptop in his drive. It was to be safe.

In the mean time, Ravena was gathering more information.

Just then, Roman got a call from Ravena, "Hold on Edena."

He connected with Ravena, "What's wrong—"

Ravena cut him off sharply, almost impatiently. "Arnold is planning to send agents to raid Mispair, he'll have the experimented help, alert the Rulers."

Roman was speechless, but he instantly went back to his work. He typed as fast as he could, he would send a message to Pierre's office, and then Pierre would send a vocal message to the citizens.

☠

Pierre had led Arthur on the comfortable sofa across the room, and that's when Arthur realized that his office was rather humongous. Arthur used the tissues Pierre offered to him, to wipe his tears. He calmed himself down, thinking about the incident made him sad, but not as sad as he felt while bottling up all of his emotions. Pierre had lit up a cigarette, "You're a handful, aren't you?"

Arthur didn't feel offended, he let out a snort. "..I suppose I am.." His smile dropped, "..Thank you, sir—"

"Call me Pierre." Pierre glanced at him as he puffed a smoke away.

Arthur felt the heat rush up to his face due to Pierre's intense dark brown eyes. "Thank you, P-pierre, and I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble."

Pierre shrugged nonchalantly, he looked like he was zoning out, but Arthur knew that he was paying attention. "Tell me about yourself."

Pierre interrupted the comfortable silence.

Arthur was taken aback by the sudden question. Is he interested in getting to know me? He suspected in his mind. Nonetheless, Arthur was pleased with the way they were getting along. He hoped it was stay like this, he seriously did not want to linger on Pierre's bad side.

Arthur was unsure about what to say. "..Uh.. What would you like to know?"

Pierre thought for a while, making up his mind, he posed a question that startled Arthur. "How'd you know how to fight so well?"

Arthur's heart skipped an anxious beat. "..How did you.." his eyes widened. "You were there?"

Pierre now faced Arthur with an incredulous expression. "You seriously think I don't know what's going on in my streets?"

Arthur stayed silent. Pierre waited patiently, and Arthur finally decided to confide in him. "..I learned in Dreamaspira. I didn't like laying around and doing nothing, so I decided to get into a new hobby. It kept me busy from my responsibilities."

"Responsibilities?" Pierre pried.

Arthur sighed. "..I was studying to be a lawyer, you probably already know about it."

He slumped his shoulders, Pierre was watching him and listening intently. "I didn't want to be a lawyer, but I couldn't let my family down."

He smiled with nostalgia. "To make my life a tad bit interesting, I got into boxing, I drew a little, sang, read, and.. I experimented with clothes."

Pierre raised a brow, he finished his cigarette, now paying attention to Arthur. "Experimented?"

Arthur blushed embarrassingly. "..Oh it's nothing."

Pierre frowned. "It's not nothing since you mentioned it. Go on."

He stared at Pierre.

Arthur uncomfortably shifted from where he sat, he averted his gaze. "..I like dressing up a lot. I used to take so long picking out an outfit for the day, so my mother decided to check up on me everyday in the mornings."

His heart ached as he mentioned his mother. It was the first time after a while that he was speaking about her so freely, without his eyes suddenly watering. He looked down at his hands, they weren't shaking. It was a start, it was scary, have I gone numb?

But Arthur knew it wasn't that.

He was slowly accepting it.