My Cutthroat Romance

Chapter 27

Gerard stopped about halfway down the stairs, turning and looking back up them, biting his lip anxiously. No, this wasn't a situation to be left alone.

He walked back up the stairs. When he got to the door, Sweeney appeared to be locking it. When he saw that Gerard was back he frowned and pulled it open.

"What now?" He asked slightly irritably.

"I just…I need to…" Gerard stuttered.

He continued to try and say what he wanted for a moment before shaking his head and putting his hand flat on the barber's chest, pushing him back and stepping into the room, shutting the door behind him.

"What do you want Gerard?" Sweeney sighed.

Gerard started stuttering again, his cheeks growing steadily warmer as the barber raised his eyebrow and crossed his arm, tapping his foot, as though very impatient. All whilst clearly very amused by Gerard's discomfort.

"I…well…you!" Gerard finally blurted out desperately.

"Gerard, I'm the last person you want." The other man frowned, turning away.

"No…" Gerard grabbed Sweeney's wrist. "I mean…I do like you. I mean, I'm interested in you, honestly, I just…its complicated; sort of a long story." He mumbled.

"I'm listening."

There was a pause and Gerard sighed.

"I have my reasons but, uh…it's been…a while…since I got into anything, um, serious." He said vaguely, unsure of how to explain himself.

"So why the inclination towards me?"

"When I figure that out, I'll tell you. Until then…" He tugged on the barber's wrist, pulling him closer.

The response was a firm headshake and a'no'. Gerard made a frustrated noise and threw the wrist he held down.

"You are infuriating!" He snapped, but his tone became softer as he blushed. "I only wanted a kiss, then I'll stop and I'll go and leave you a…"

"That's the problem." Sweeney cut him off. "I won't want you to stop. I won't want you to go away."

"Then what do you want, Mr. Todd!" Gerard asked incredulously, looking expectantly at the man in front of him.

"In all honestly, I'm not sure. Once I get past how wrong the situation is, it's okay, but…" He trailed off.

"There's nothing wrong with the situation. Nobody's judging you, except for you."

Sweeney frowned at Gerard until the meaning of his softly-spoken words became clear.

"Who has to know? Is that what you're saying?"

"Precisely."

"Gerard, you're twenty."

The response was feeble in comparison to Gerard's sudden confidence and decisiveness.

"Yeah?" Gerard shrugged. "So what?"

"Oh, my God." The barber said exasperatedly, before grabbing Gerard's shoulders and shaking him slightly. "Does seventeen years mean nothing to you? What is wrong with you!" He asked in disbelief.

"Nothing, you stupid git, you're the one with the problem!" Gerard retorted.

Another of those long, tense pauses.

"Okay Gerard. Okay. Why don't we just go to bed? We can discuss this tomorrow."

Another pause.

"Okay then."

On the outside, Sweeney maintained the same demeanor as before. However on the inside, he was having a celebration of sorts, firstly for the fact that he would get some peace, even if Gerard would still be there throughout the remainder of the night, secondly for reasons he did not care to admit.

He slipped out of his waistcoat and boots before undoing the knot in his tie, pulling it from his collar and dropping it on the floor by his wardrobe with the other two items of clothing. Then, he treaded softly over to the bedside table and dropped his razor from the holster on his belt onto it.

"Gerard." He said quietly, tugging on the duvet.

"Hm?" Gerard mumbled, his face half pressed into the pillow as he let some of the cover go.

"If you talk in your sleep, I'll kill you. Don't steal the cover either, it's cold in here."

Gerard giggled quietly before fidgeting a little and falling silent, save for his breathing.