𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚘𝚖 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚎𝚌𝚑 [𝙳𝙸𝚂𝙲𝙾𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙽𝚄𝙴𝙳]

Assured Love

Alexander wasn't really too sure how long he had been there, at the base of the basement stairwell, shivering harshly from lack of a decent heating system and wincing any time he were to move his wrists. He had grown to a sort of unconscious conscious state, like being on the borderline of sleep after a lack of it for days. At one point, he couldn't tell if his eyes were open or not, because of how dark the room was, and just how heavy his eyelids felt. However, a sort of humming he heard seemed to wake him up, frozen body stirring after a while of stillness.

He blinked for a few moments, a yawn leaving his lips, before he noticed the fact that the room had a new brightness to it. It was a soft, warm, golden glow, like perfectly made toast on a Sunday morning. It was easy on the eyes, nothing like the bright, harsh lights of an artificial lightbulb. The sound he heard, finally dawning on him, connected to a weight on his shoulder, and a fidgeting with the bottom of his shirt. It took him a few more moments to notice this than he noticed the light, head quickly snapping to look over at whoever was by his side. The feeling that rose in his chest after realizing it was John was probably something to the likes of a heart attack.

Alexander let a small whimper escape his lips, one of a terrifying nature no doubt, which alerted the freckled male to his sudden consciousness, glancing up. When he saw Alexander, a soft smile played on his lips, before he set his head back down on the shorter male's shoulder, his eyes fluttering closed.
"Goodmorning, love."
Alexander had attempted to mutter out a reply, the ballgag in his mouth not doing much to help those attempts. When John heard no response, he frowned, looking back up again. However, when he noticed his mistake, he let a small chuckle escape his lips, leaning up to take the gag out of Alexander's mouth.

Alexander stayed silent a moment after that, watching John wrap the gag up and put it beside the two with surprising care. Once again, he didn't smell the familiar reek of alcohol on the other's clothing, instead a soft sort of lavender that fabric softener would hold. He finally managed to mutter out a meek "Mornin'." to reply to the other, watching as his head once again left to rest on Alexander's shoulder, hands once again fidgeting with the bottom of Alexander's shirt.

They sat like that for a while. Silent, besides John's humming, a sort of Disney song that he hadn't heard before. Even that was quiet, echoing off the empty walls of the basement until it landed back to the two men. Alexander was perfectly fine with the silence, for once, keeping it to him and his thoughts. Though, even still, he had to break it, a sort of reassurance being begged for in the back of the immigrants' mind that he simply couldn't keep silent anymore.

"..John?"
"Yes, love?"
"Do you.. Do you love me?"
The question brought a small frown to John's face, but he nodded nevertheless.
"Of course I do. I love everything about you."
"Like what?"
The Carolinian thought for a moment, silent.
"I love your eyes. How bright, and beautiful they are. I love your mind, and just how intelligent you are, the irreplaceable spark you have. I love your smile, the way it's off-kilter, it always brightens me. The same with your laugh. I've loved you since I met you."

Alexander stayed silent after the examples were brought up, swallowing down a lump in his throat. He didn't know how any of this was playing out the way it was. He wasn't being hit yet, or insulted, or belittled. Quite the opposite, really. That worried him, to no extent. He could feel it coming, and he knew it was going to be soon; he just didn't know /how/ soon. He was tentative with his next question.
"Then why.. Why do you do all of this to me?"
The question earned a sad chuckle.

"If I don't, you'll leave me again. I don't want you to do that. You hurt me, Alexander. We were so good, and I didn't need to do anything to keep you with me, because we have our love and that was all we needed. But then there was /Eliza/, and you left me for /her/, and I'm not letting that happen again. These people are just going to hurt you, Alexander. They don't love you. They're using you. I want to keep you from that. And if it takes /this/ to do it, then I'll make that sacrifice."
He paused.
"The better you are, and the better you behave, the better I'll get with punishment. The more lenient I'll be. I just need to teach you to stay, you know?"