His Bright Eyes (Septiplier)

The Beautiful Quality

-Mark's POV-

My mind replayed the last words he said a few times before responding. His tears still hitting my bare chest like small raindrops.

"My family..they don't think that we should be together."

He sniffed loudly, and my brain snapped back to the present. It was getting darker now, the light from outside changing to a dark shade of auburn. His naked skin absorbing the orange hues to help his pale skin blend with a brilliant golden color.

I wanted to know more about what had happened with his family, but he was so fragile right now that even gently pressing questions might shatter him completely.

I rubbed his back and shoulders with my fingers and palms, not knowing what else to do to comfort him. Occasionally he would take a long and shuttering breath, and then more tears would fall.

"It's my sister who thinks it the most," he said finally, with a shallow breath. "She thinks that I'm confused and need some time alone to figure out what I want and who I am."

I hugged him gently, and he gripped onto my arms, a fresh wave of sobs fining their way to his eyes and lips.

"Is it because of you being bisexual?" I asked, as gently as I could " If so that's her issue, not yours."

He shook his head "no" stiffly, and taking a deep breath, sat up and rested his head on my shoulder. He took my hand and interlocked our fingers together.

"She thinks that I am being reckless. I went into a relationship with Signe very soon after my first serious girlfriend, the one who moved back to South Korea, and I broke apart."

He looked at me quickly, and I nodded that I understood what he was saying. He looked back down at our hands, and continued.

"Then Signe breaks up with me, and I travel halfway around the world and start up with you." His voice was steadier now. "She says that I am not taking time in between to heal, and to how to learn how to deal with being happy alone. My other brothers, sister and my parents agree."

"Which.." and then I paused, watching another tear fell from his eye, leaving a fresh line on his over red cheek.

I had been about to ask which sister it was, but it didn't really matter, did it? At the end of this one of his siblings who he loved dearly was at the head of such a painful situation. My insides twisted sharply, not only because of his sadness, but also that his sister was making very valid points.

We had rushed things. Even though the love is real, so amazingly real, we should have taken more time before we started dating. But now we couldn't erase that night in the shower. We couldn't rub away all of the kisses left on the other's the skin. All of the words said after the our bodies moved as one.

And even if we could, the terror and misery of it would tear our heart into broken and splintered pieces.

His eyes were looking into my face so closely, as if waiting for me to respond with a simple solution. I knew I needed to say something to fix this. To make it better. To see the smile lines I loved to kiss right after I said a corny joke, the ghost of his giggle still lingering in his throat.

"I'll do anything I can to help. What would you like me to do?" I asked, feeling like this was not what he had wanted to hear from me.

"I don't know," he said, my ears ringing with the helplessness in his tone. "Maybe...talk to her? Meet all of them? Then they'd see why I love you so much."

His eyes looked into mine, desperate.

"Sean, of course I'll meet her. I'll meet with all your family, if there is even a slight chance that it will help."

We were silent again, his face turned upward to mine, as I was very aware of him gazing at me quietly again. Reading my expressions as I cradled him in my arms.

"I kissed you first," he said quietly. "Please remember that."

I looked down at him, slightly confused.

"Your eyes," he said, sadly. "They always tell me what you're thinking. You agree with them about us."

"I, no," I said quickly, "I want us to be together."

He nodded, his fingertip rubbing the side of my face softly. "I know that you do, but you are worried that we did move too fast. Please remember, I kissed you first."

He straighten up and looked at me fully in the face now, his eyes still wet, but resolute in their focus.

"You were willing to never tell me how you feel." He said. "To just stay friends forever. "

"I was scared to tell you how I felt," I said, feeling almost ashamed of the words as I said them.

He shook his head no, and continued. "You loved our friendship and me as a person so much that you were willing to never tell me how you felt. My family needs to know that. They need to see how much you care about my comfort and feelings."

I glanced back at him, trying to understand how me being afraid of losing him as a friend to become a lover would change how they felt about our relationship.

His face, at this point, was radiating sheer frustration at me, his reddened eyes almost begging me to connect the dots.

"Mark," he said sharply, "You have no idea how fucking rare that is. To be the type of person who is able to love another more than your own needs. Very few people have a quality that beautiful. You are one of them."

My head was feeling fuzzy now, and I opened my mouth to try to ask a question or two.

"If you never had asked me on a date," he continued, his voice slightly trembling, "or if I had said "no" towards your advancements, what would you had done?"

"I would have wanted us to stay friends," I said, thinking that answer was obvious, "and tried to repair any awkwardness between us."

His eyes lit up and he squeezed my hand with his. "And that's what makes you so amazing," he said pointedly. "That quality is so beautiful. Most people would just stop talking to one another, or try to continue to push a relationship that wasn't going to ever work. You would do your best to make me feel comfortable just staying friends."

I nodded, finally getting what he had been saying to me.

"My family values that type of love. That type of...sacrifice, so to speak," he continued, "so if they are able to see that in you, they will see that this relationship is truly one that is worth me being in."

I nodded, and he kissed me. His lips felt so warm now that the tears had stopped.

"When are we heading over?" I asked.

"I just need a bit of time to convince them to meet you. A few days at most?"

"Ok, Bright Eyes," I said, taking a deep breath and laying back down, him sliding down with me, and resting his head on my chest again. His fingers finding my few chest hairs and rubbing them gently.

It was quiet again, other than our inhales and exhaled of breaths floating through the darkening room. I felt hungry, but didn't want to move, the jet lag from the trip along with the love making from earlier finally settling into my body and mind.

I felt heaviness on my chest where he laid and I knew he had fallen asleep. Soon after his soft and rhythmic snores would begin, and then I would drift off as well.