Forbidden II Arthur TV and Italian Bach

Chapter 10

Third Person:

Arthur sat in the dimly lit living room of his small apartment, the quiet punctuated only by the occasional hum of traffic from the street below. He stared at the flickering light of the old lamp beside him, lost in thought. The weeks of silence from Isaac had left him in a state of confusion and hurt, and now that Isaac had reached out, the emotional knot in his chest seemed to tighten rather than loosen.

The knock on the door was soft, but it cut through the stillness like a jolt. Arthur hesitated for a moment before rising to answer it. He opened the door to find Isaac standing on the threshold, looking as uncertain as Arthur felt. There was an awkward silence as they locked eyes.

Arthur had texted him asking to meet up and talk. Surprisingly Isaac had agreed. Now Arthur stood in front of the man he loved, the man who had hurt him, rejected him, and abandoned him. All of the sour feelings coming back, he was past grieving the death of their relationship. All that was left was the bitter aftertaste of their final interaction and their inevitable no contact. 

"Hey," Isaac said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hey," Arthur replied, his voice clipped. He stepped aside to let Isaac in, unable to shake off the sting of their last interaction. 

Isaac stepped inside, and the tension between them was almost tangible. The small apartment seemed even smaller with the weight of their unspoken issues hanging in the air. Arthur gestured to the couch, and they both took a seat, facing each other but not quite meeting each other's eyes.

"So," Arthur said, trying to keep his voice steady. "I really wanted to talk to you."

Isaac nodded, his gaze fixed on the coffee table between them. "Yeah, I guess I do too. Well I-I need to talk to you. I—" He stopped, took a deep breath, and started again. "I've been meaning to reach out for a while now. I know I've been terrible at communication, and I'm sorry for that."

Arthur's jaw tightened. "You've been more than just 'terrible.' You ghosted me, Isaac. You just disappeared without a word, and I've been left here trying to piece together why."

Isaac winced. "I know. And I'm really sorry for that. It wasn't fair to you. It's just... I didn't know how to handle things."

Arthur's eyes flashed with a mix of hurt and frustration. "Handle what, exactly? What's going on here, Isaac? You vanish for weeks, and now you show up like nothing happened?"

Isaac looked up, meeting Arthur's gaze with a pained expression. "It's complicated. I didn't want to hurt you, but I was scared. I didn't know how to deal with my own feelings, let alone yours."

Arthur's heart raced. "What feelings? You never told me what was going on. All I know is that one moment we were talking like friends, and the next, you were gone."

Isaac ran a hand through his hair, his eyes searching for the right words. "I've been trying to figure it out myself. I... I have feelings for you, Arthur. Romantic feelings. And I didn't know how to handle it."

Arthur's breath caught in his throat. The words he had longed to hear were finally spoken, but they came with a sharp edge of hurt. "So you shut me out? You left me hanging without any explanation?"

Arthur, as elated as he was that Isaac loved him. Was past that, if the pleading in his texts and voice notes hadn't been enough for Isaac to reach out, then why was this the breaking point? Isaac's confession didn't sound abashed it sounded acidic, as if he had to force it out.

"Was I really that shameful that he had to force himself to spit out those seemingly vile words? Was I truly that repulsive that he had to ignore me for a little over two weeks?" Arthur thought to himself.

Isaac's face crumpled with regret. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I was afraid. I wasn't ready to confront my own feelings, and I didn't know how to tell you. I thought maybe if I just disappeared, the feelings would go away."

Arthur shook his head, feeling a mix of anger and sorrow. "That's not how it works, Isaac. You don't just run away from things you're scared of. You confront them, talk about them. It's what friends do."

Isaac looked down, unable to meet Arthur's gaze. "I know. I should have been honest with you from the start. I was just so afraid of ruining what we had. I thought if I ignored it, it might just go away."

Arthur's heart ached with the weight of Isaac's words. "And what about me, Isaac? Did you ever stop to think about how your silence affected me? I was left feeling rejected and confused. I thought I did something wrong."

Isaac's eyes were filled with tears now. "No, Arthur. It wasn't your fault. It was me being afraid. I'm so sorry for hurting you. I should have talked to you about it instead of running away."

Arthur took a deep breath, trying to steady the storm of emotions inside him. "We need to put our emotions aside, for the podcasts sake. Laura asked me to reach out." He said dismissively not wanting to talk about their rocky relationship.

Isaac would've rather Arthur yelled and belittled him than to hear him dismiss the confession, dismiss his feelings. The worst part was knowing he brought this on himself, he brought Arthur to the point of not trusting him. He was the reason Arthur was hurt.

Arthur sighed, taking Isaac's silence as acceptance, "We're filming this Thursday, we never changed the schedule."

Isaac reached out, his hand trembling slightly as he placed it over Arthur's. "I promise. I'll do better. I'll be honest with you, no matter how hard it is." Attempting one more time to reach out to Arthur. 

Arthur's despairing approach to the conversation hurt, even if it was deserved. However Isaac understood, those extremely long two months without Arthur were the worst of his life. They seemed to drag on. It was hard for him to breath, to get up, he struggled to do anything knowing Arthur was hurt because of his actions.

"I'll do anything to make him trust me again, for him to love me again." Isaac thought, determined to make sure that Arthur never felt like that again. Intent on letting Arthur know that this wasn't temporary.

Isaac nodded, "I'll see you this Thursday." giving Arthur a small, soft smile which Arthur did not reciprocate.

Once Isaac left, Arthur let out a sigh of relief. Despite his biting, sour demeanor, he was elated to know that Isaac loved him. He was more than elated, however he also knew he didn't forgive easily. Isaac would have to fight for his trust back, he would have to fight hard. Isaac knew that, and Arthur would soon see how far Isaac would go for him.

Author's Note: I hate this chapter so much, but you guys deserve an update. So sorry I haven't updated in more then a week and you guys get this chapter as compensation. Different side note: Do your high schools have an ozone section at football games, or is it just my state?