Alone Together

29: In the Past

I haven't updated in forever
My legs feel like jelly and my eyelids are heavy

...moms spaghetti

Ryou sat behind the counter and watched Melvin cook. He was promised a nice dinner of Chicken Parmesan, and felt that he should supervise.

As Melvin set water on the stove to boil for the noodles, he decided to let Ryou in on what he knew. This time, Ryou would be 100% attentive to the questions, which also meant that Melvin had to be extra careful in asking him.

"You mentioned some things to me in your little wine filled mumbles."

Ryou wrinkled his brow. "Like what?"

"Nothing worth enough to blackmail you with," Melvin jokingly groaned. "unfortunately."

"Okay." Ryou let out a sigh of relief. "That's good."

"However," he said, winking at Ryou. "You did pour your heart out to me."

That made the color drain from his face (and he's already so pale, like dang boi). "I...I did?"

"You crawled on top of me, gave me a hickey, then told me to bang you like a screen door in a hurricane."

Ryou's face was as red and hot as a chili pepper. "I swear, whatever I did, I didn't really mean! I'm not actually very comfortable with—!"

Even at his own joke, he couldn't keep a straight face; Melvin erupted into howling laughter.

Ryou's cheeks reddened even darker.

"Your face!" Melvin cackled, stomach hurting. "Oh, Ra, you're so red!"

Ryou sat down again, crossing his arms. "The pasta water's bubbly now."

Melvin nudged his side. He knew Ryou could take his teasing, but he wanted him to feel assured.
"You actually told me about how homesick you felt."

Ryou felt hollow. "Oh."

The chicken was baking and the noodles were softening, but the room seemed motionless and quiet on Ryou's end. Melvin has to tread lightly, if he didn't want to scare him away before he got any answers.

"You said you missed your parents, and your house. And you called yourself stupid and selfish." He said, squinting at him. "Why would you do that?"

Ryou's forced laugh was more like an exhale. "I dunno. Because it's true?"

Melvin glared at him, disbelief written on his face. .

"Melvin?" Ryou looked up to meet his eyes, his own expression as if he would start to beg. "If I tell you something, will you promise me..."
He was hesitating, and wanted to change his mind. But instead he looked at him again. "I can trust you?"

Melvin turned and leaned against the counter and offered Ryou his hands.

"You won't make fun?

"I won't."

His breathing grew deeper and he tried to pick where he ought to start explaining. Should he go in detail? Breeze over the embarrassing stuff? Simply summarize everything?

He hadn't even eaten yet and he already felt as if he would puke.
"There was...a guy, that I really liked. I mean we had been dating for quite a while, so naturally I liked him. And trusted him. I dunno. I trust very easily, I guess."

"I mean," Melvin flashed a toothy grin, "You trusted me."

Ryou shot him a glare, which surprised him. Apparently this was serious, especially to him, so there was no use in joking around.