Life Goes On.

Chapter 9 - Picking up our pieces.

"I gave you a second chance."

A sat at the table with J, the air tense with the strain of their relationship. J was fighting the urge to give into the countless apologies and excuses A had thrown at him. "I gave you everything I had, A, but I-"

 Out of support, A slowly clung to his hand. He held on to it as tight as he could, trying to hold on to what they had before it could slip away. After years of building walls of trust and floors of stability, A had knocked it all down.

 J took a heavy breath. It was becoming hard to talk. "I have to go, A." 

"Where would you go?" A said quietly. 

J broke away from eye contact. "You mean where will I go."

Silence. A silence that once brought them closer, but had now made them as distant as ever.

 "I'll find my own place. Somewhere where I won't be able to see you anymore-"

"You can't do this! You don't- no, you NEVER could handle leaving me alone, not for a second," A cries, the chair making a painfully curdling screech as he pushes away from J. "W-we have one hiccup and we're suddenly supposed to cut all ties? Please just-" He storms towards J, breaking out of his outburst into the softness of his normal voice.

 "Just listen to me."

 For a minute, something connected. Something deep inside them, as if they were one, as if they were building their walls again, mending the damages. As if nothing else could ever destroy the harmonious bond between them.

And so, J embraces A into a tight hug. He clung to A's jacket, wet tears embedding themselves into the fabric. 

 "You mean everything to me, A."

 The world suddenly felt right again. A surge of relief washed over A. He would be okay. They would be okay. Everything would-

 "But I'm tired of listening. Goodbye."

 A could almost feel J in his arms, strangely as if his spirit was still there, clinging to him again. He had stood in their- his apartment for what felt like hours. He collapsed onto the floor.

 And started to pick up the pieces.