[Discontinued] Peril of Choices and Falling

Viva La Vida

Author's Note: This follows directly after Landslide, but in Krist's POV. Standard disclaimer apply.

Enjoy, and please leave your comments and votes :)

You fall from grace,

off the beam,

tall tales,

frowns of fortune;

But still hope?

Oh the reality of woe,

close my eyes now!

SEPTEMBER 2019

The words keep ringing inside his head, over and over again, until they started to lose their meaning.

"It's yours. Why would I keep it?"

Left foot forward, right foot afterwards.

"It's yours. Why would I keep it?"

Turn around the corner, continue walking onwards.

"It's yours. Why would I keep it?"

Deep breaths, keep calm, he's almost there.

"I don't know, Phi. Why did you keep all the others before?"

Silence was his only answer, and he can still see the genuine confusion on the other man's face. He grabbed the photograph, not bothering to look at it before stuffing it inside his pocket. He said his thanks, turned around without waiting for the other man to further break him with his words, and walked away with nary a backward glance.

Lately, that's all there seems to be between them – unspoken words and walking away.

He finally reaches his destination. He stares at the closed door blankly for a few seconds, before raising his left hand and doing three sharp successive knocks. It takes about a minute before it opens, Off looming over the doorway.

They look at each other for a beat, him with his blank face, and Off with his worried one. Before the older man can even open his mouth, he moved forward quickly, throwing himself solidly at the other.

Off catches him expertly, and with one arm embracing him, the other man uses his free hand to quickly close the door. He burrows his face into the older man's chest, not caring if he's ruining a 5,000 baht shirt with his tears. To his credit, the other man doesn't seem to mind either, content to just let him cry.

Pretty soon, as his sobs wreck his whole body, he feels Off's hands make soothing circles in his back, even as the older man attempted to make comforting noises.

"Na, Kit, it's okay. Tell P'Off who he has to fight. Shhhhhh, stop crying, na."

This goes on for several minutes, before he feels the older man leading him by the hand. They walk a few paces, and he suddenly finds himself sitting on the edge of a queen-sized bed. The covers and bed sheets were bunched up, signaling that he interrupted the room's occupants while they were resting.

He looks around, but doesn't spot the other person who was supposed to be there. He roughly wipes at the tear tracks on his face, not liking the way it makes his cheeks feel itchy. He stops when Off hands him a bottle of water, urging him to take a drink.