Broken Bonds and Brave Choices

Chapter 5

Dhruv sat at the edge of his seat, his nails digging at the soft fabric of the leather chair. Nervousness rolled off his body movements as he listened intensely to the courtroom live since he was not allowed to be present in person for his safety.

The Rangers department was almost empty apart from a few cleaners and administrators Dhruv had become acquainted with in the past few months. Part of the Rangers were on courtroom trial due to the huge number of people to process in today's case and others went home early.

Sitting at Carlos's desk, facing the desktop, Dhruv's eyes snapped over to the office window when another flash of lightning struck, reminding him of the current storm over Austin. The sudden awareness of the room temperature sent a shiver through his body.

A soft fabric fell over Dhruv causing him to glance up at a pair of familiar brown kind eyes he's become more comfortable around the few days.

"It should pass by soon." Carlos assured taking a seat next to Dhruv just as a thunderous boom echoed belonging to the previous flash, "Sounds pretty close."

Dhruv hummed in agreement never taking his eyes off the monitor but rolling closer to the older male silently.

"It's going to be fine," Carlos emphasized making the boy turn toward him finally just as the whole building went dark.

"Yeah for sure Mr. Carlos," Dhruv said sarcastically, falling back on his chair and huffing in faux annoyance.

The whole room became instant darkness at the power outage and no moonlight streaked into the office due to the raging storm outside clouding it. Turning on the flashlight Carlos flipped his phone on his desk so the flashlight on his phone faced the ceiling illuminating a lone ray of light in between them.

"You know there's no way they're not getting convicted." Carlos leaned forward, playfully flickering flicked Dhruv's forehead. Within a few seconds, another flash of lightning illuminated the place quickly, followed by a thunderous boom.

"That is close," Dhruv remembered reading somewhere that the moments between a thunder's flash and its sound tell a person how close they are to the thunder strike.

And right now Dhruv felt uncomfortably close to it.

Sitting upright, Dhruv bit his lips changing the topic into a lighter tone "By the way how are the guitar lessons going? Did you guys get the A's and B's of cords down?"

Carlos smiled fondly at the memory of his husband's gift on their anniversary a few days ago even if the day started in less than happy note. He hoped to keep the promise of not letting his obsession take over his life anymore.

Carlos made a conscious effort to be more present -going home early, cooking for his loved ones, spending time with the people he cared about, and having fun with his friends. Living his life.

"Yeah um, we try." A mischievous smile pulled on Carlos's face recalling the last two lessons beginning with a tutorial video on his laptop while TK had the guitar around his arms and Carlos had TK wrapped around his arms leading to a not-very effective learning session so far, "It's just not clicking for us yet. I guess."

Dhruv's eyes narrowed suspiciously, muttering out an unconvinced "Uh-hu.". He turned his phone on and switched to the local news to better get an understanding of the current situation.

The news anchor reported on the thunderstorm lingering for a few more hours and that civilians are advised to stay indoors. They continued on the recent incidents of lightning strikes in and around Austin.

Wrapping one arm around Dhruv's shoulder and pulling the boy closer, Carlos smooched the boy's head softly and reassured feeling the nervousness rolling off his movements "It's gonna be fine."