Because I'm scared to say the truth - Landoscar

·Chapter 4·

A few hours later, Lando wakes up and looks at the clock, noticing how late into the night it is. Then he realizes that he and Oscar were cuddling. He could hear Oscar's soft snores on top of him. When Lando shifted a little to hold him more comfortably, Oscar wakes up but doesn't open his eyes.

"Is the movie over?" Oscar asks sleepily.

"Probably. I fell asleep before you, so unless you finished it without me, then..." Lando tries to explain, but Oscar quickly opens his eyes and gets up.

Oscar stands with his back to the Brit. Tears start to form in his eyes, and he tries to apologize without letting his classmate realize he's crying. Lando immediately picks up on it from Oscar's trembling voice, even though he's trying to hide it.

"Oscar... why are you crying? It's not that big of a deal," Lando explains, getting up and trying to hug him, but Oscar quickly steps back.

"Do you realize what your friends will say when they find out I slept with you? They'll make fun of me even more, and they won't leave me alone!" Oscar is no longer just crying; he's completely breaking down.

"Technically, you didn't sleep with me, we just fell asleep in each other's arms, but that's not the point. Oscar, no one will laugh at you because no one will know. What happens here stays between us."

Oscar calms down a bit, taking a deep breath and apologising again.

"You're not the one who should apologize. I am, Oscar," Lando says calmly.

Oscar turns and tries to head toward his room but stops. During this moment, tears fill Lando's eyes, blurring his vision. Oscar turns his head slightly without letting the Brit see his face.

"In the end... I'm the one who visits the nurse's office more often."

When he finishes, Oscar leaves, and Lando has nothing left to say; he just watches as he hurts the Aussie all over again. He sits back down on the couch where, just minutes ago, he had been sleeping peacefully next to Oscar. He grabs a pillow and clutches it tightly to his chest. He starts crying and blaming himself for Oscar rejecting him, even though Lando knew that the younger one was right. He tried to stop himself, telling himself that he didn't deserve this, that he didn't feel anything for Oscar, but deep down, he was too scared to accept the truth.

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Near dawn, Oscar turns off the heat in his room and opens the window. The cold morning air quickly fills the room. The Aussie goes to his bathroom and turns on the cold shower, stepping in without taking off his clothes. The ice-cold water hits his back, and his tears now flow quickly down his face.

It doesn't take long for Lando to start feeling the chill that wakes him up. He can't figure out where it's coming from but hears the shower running in Oscar's room. Realizing he's awake, he goes to prepare breakfast. Lando isn't the best cook... Oscar is far more skilled, but after what happened last night, the Brit just wants to make him smile.

Minutes pass, and Oscar doesn't come out of his room. Lando gets a bit worried, but his mind starts coming up with all kinds of scenarios where Oscar doesn't want to see him and how he might ask to be taken home. Summoning his courage, Lando enters the Australian's room, and the cold hits him instantly. He quickly shuts the window and then knocks on the bathroom door, but there's no response. He enters slowly and sees Oscar curled under the water pouring heavily from the shower. Lando rushes to turn it off, then kneels next to his friend. He takes off his hoodie, and after removing Oscar's soaked shirt, he wraps his hoodie around him to warm him up a bit. Lando picks up Oscar from the cold floor and takes him to the living room couch, where he places him on his lap, letting him relax against his chest.

"Oscar, what were you thinking when you did this?" Lando asks, his hand in the other's hair, stroking it gently.

The Australian hasn't stopped crying and struggles to speak between his small sobs. "I shouldn't have come here... I shouldn't have—shouldn't have let you see me like this... broken."

Lando cups Oscar's face in his hands, forcing him to look into his eyes. "What if you had gotten hypothermia or something worse? Oscar... you could have really hurt yourself!"

Oscar shakes his head, contradicting the Brit. "It's not the first time I've done this... I'm used to it."

Tears begin to form in Lando's eyes, and he rests Oscar's head back on his chest. The Brit's thoughts are everywhere and nowhere. He knows that Oscar went through all this because of him; he knows that because of the stupid things he said, his friend started hurting himself. Lando holds Oscar tightly, wanting to cry and hit himself, hoping it would teach him to think before he speaks.

"Oscar..." Lando gathers his courage to ask, "if I ask you to go somewhere with me, will you trust and follow me?"

The Aussie hesitates for a few moments. He shouldn't trust him, but he nods. Why did he just do that? What made him agree? He knew he couldn't trust Lando, so why the heck did he nod?

"After we eat, get changed. We're going to take a walk in the forest."