OLD Campus Love (sequel) Malexmale

9

Author Note

Back at it again with switching POVs! Guys, this is the first time I'll be writing in David's perspective and it freaks me out because I have to sound like a 38-year-old male psychologist meeting his fiance for the first time in 8 years... easy peasy. Tell me if I nailed it because I'm crying.

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~Casper's POV~

There was an eerie silence that hung in the air for a few seconds to a few minutes.

I wanted to rip my hair out in frustration and maybe even a little anger or jealousy, but I kept my emotions in check. Honestly, how did we get here? Why is this happening to us?

David clearly didn't know how to take that first step toward meeting the man he'd spent his life loving. I knew I had to put myself in his shoes because he'd do that for me. When I did try to look at this in his perspective, all I could ask myself was... what do you say to someone you've mourned for eight years, who's sitting right in your living room? What do you say to someone you were ready to spend your life with, someone you trusted, only for them to hide from you--in plain sight--for so long?

And on top of that, you couldn't escape this person. Your heart would never let you.

So I had to give him that extra push because I knew that if I didn't exist, he'd be in the living room this very second.

"It's okay," I said, giving his shoulder a loving and supportive squeeze. "You know I love you, and I know you love me no matter what. So, go."

I could see the hesitation in his eyes, and a fear that I tried not to match. He was vulnerable now, so one of us had to be strong for the other.

"I can't do this," he admitted quietly then turned to Dani, shaking his head in refusal. "Please make him go. I-I can't..."

"Are you scared he's changed?" Dani asked. "I mean, of course, he's a little different considering all these years, but he came here as timid as ever. I was so shocked, but I didn't realize how much I missed him. I'm gonna murder him, yes, but... I just missed him. Rowan is in there, fidgety and nervous to see you and possibly get rejected by you."

For a second, I felt sympathy for Rowan. He did say that Mr. Larsen managed to dig up a secret from his past, one so damaging that he'd rather be dead than with David. How unfortunate that a father could be so evil to his son's love - I definitely knew the feeling.

"Casper can come upstairs with me and Sofie if you wanna see him privately. Or he can go with you."

"No, no; I'll go alone. If, you know, if I can get there sometime tonight." He sucked in an anxious breath.

"Come here. I'll at least walk you halfway." I took his hand and pulled his stiff body out of the kitchen. We ventured down the hallway, closer and closer to the living room. I stopped right before we could round the corner and turned to David, holding both of his hands. "It'll be fine," I whispered in assurance. "Whatever you do in there, whether you embrace him, hold him, kiss him, I get it. I mean, if I saw you after eight years of being apart, I'd go crazy."

He nodded, clearly trying not to cry in front of me. Kissing my forehead, he murmured an I love you.

I bit my lip, letting his hands go and walking back the opposite way to follow Dani up the stairs.

~David's POV~

I often ran away from home. It wasn't that I wanted to cause trouble, but I needed to breathe. I was suffocating from my father's overbearing imperiousness -and being the middle child, one would think that I'd be invisible. That wasn't the case at all. He was just a bully, a control freak that liked to pick on his gay, fourteen-year-old son. I hated his wealth, and I despised his power even more.