The Fragile the Broken and the Brave

43. Stress

8.23.20

Connor's POV

"Come on! We might miss it!" Varian was tugging me through the forest, and I found it easy not to trip in the dimming sunlight. His hand felt soft and warm in mine, and I allowed the sensation to spread up my arm and thaw my heart just a bit. I often times can't tear my walls down once I've put them up, and I would say that those barriers are still there as protection around my fragile heart. However, Varian had waltzed his way through them like a pro, and I don't know exactly how I feel about it. It's nice to have someone else to share my burdens with, but I didn't know what I would do if he were to hurt me... Probably go cry about it to myself in a corner.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" As soon as we reached the tree, he flew up the branches as if he had been up there a thousand times. Then again, he probably has. I came up with much less experience, but I was still situated beside him on a branch by the time the sun was sinking beneath the horizon. His head fell against my shoulder, and I ended up putting an arm around his waist to satisfy the burn in my chest. Every part of my skin was on fire, but I didn't mind as I watched Vari yawn. I could see the molars all the way in the back of his mouth, and the adorable nature of his appearance made me melt in my skin. The remainder of the light in the sky reflected back into his gray irises and gave them an amazing tint, and I allowed my body to move closer to him without the boy knowing. When his eyes shifted to look at me, I got lost in the endless emotion. I could read the contentment and excitement on the surface, but there was a deeper layer that hadn't opened up to me yet. Just a bit farther, I kept thinking to myself as I not only ventured deeper into the stunning color of his eyes, but also much closer to his face.

I didn't notice how close I was until I felt his breath against my lips, and his eyes flickered down to my lips before going back up to my eyes. The action had my hands tightening around the branch so hard that the knuckles turned white, and the dragon deep in my chest had awoken from its slumber. It wanted some attention for it, and it wanted that now. My forehead leaned gently against his, and the point of contact warmed me to the bone. The air was cooling down significantly, but it was nothing compared to the heat coming from his body. His eyes fluttered closed when our lips rubbed against each other breifly, and he leaned closer to me to seal the exchange. I wrapped an arm around his waist to keep him from falling out of the tree, and his arms slowly curled around my neck as our little lip war continued.

It was perfect. Well, it would have been, if I didn't hear Dad's voice screeching from below, "CONNOR PIERCE WHEREVER YOU ARE, YOU ARE IN SOME DEEP, DEEP SHIT!" I pulled away from Varian with a loud sigh, and his eyes observed me in concern.

"I'm sorry, do you need to go?"

"I don't know. He probably won't find us." Just when I was about to lean into Vari again, I heard Dad's voice shouting from the forest floor again. Seriously, old man, can you just shut your pie hole?

"COOOONNNNNNNOOOOOORRRRR I CAN SMELL YOU!" It was impossible to describe how annoying his voice is when he's interrupting me from something so important, and I slowly scooted myself away from Varian. My eyes traced up and down his flustered, red cheeks, and I smiled warmly.

"It appears I have to go. I'll see you whenever I can, okay?"

"M'kay... I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah. Bye." I climbed down the tree until I was toe to toe with my father, and he gripped onto my ear like a man in a cringey television show before dragging me back to the clearing. "Hey! Hands off the ear!" We reached the clearing not a moment too soon, and he pushed me onto the grass with his foot. I hit the ground with a painful thud, and he crouched down until we were face to face.

"Do you know how embarrassing it would have been if something happened and my own son wasn't here!? We are in the middle of a crisis and you're running off all willy nilly like all of our lives don't matter. I told you to stay selfless above all else, and you're throwing it back in my face!"

"There's plenty of you all to deal with him."

"I've told you your entire life that you cannot underestimate your grandfather. He can squish us all like bugs in mere seconds if we don't play this correctly."

"Well maybe I have something else important going on in my life. Do you care nothing about that!?"

"Well then what is your precious situation. If you say anything short of crippling illness I'm going to kick your ass to the moon for talking back."

"You've always been, so strict on me! I'm tired of listening to you talk on and on about how I'm supposed to be the perfect prince when I'm not! I just want to be a teenager, is that so hard to believe?"

"Your papa and I have worked endlessly to give you the best life, and you're just throwing it right back at us. Get it together Connor! Your people need you to help stop the world from ending!" I looked slightly to the left into the forest, and my vision caught on familiar gray-blue eyes. Varian... He had followed after me to make sure I was okay.

"Is it so hard to believe that I have one thing I want for myself? Is it incorrect to have personal goals?"

"Connor-"

"Oliver stop this." We both turned to look at Papa, and he was standing there with his arms crossed. I could tell from his posture that he was about to erupt, and boy was I right. "The boy should be allowed to have his own life; he's 18 now, and its his turn to make his own way in the world."

"Babe he-"

"NO. You listen here. You're starting to turn into your father with constant work loads. Everything here is peaceful, and our boy clearly has something more immediate pressing on his mind. Now get up, we're going home for a few days."

"But what if everyone gets hurt while we're away?"

"They're fine, and you need a few days off. You can't be constantly on everyone's ass trying to be the responsible one. It drives you crazy, and it drives them absolutely mad because of how much you get on top of their asses."

"Fine, I'll go home."

"Good. Now let's get going." The two took a swift exit, and I sighed while watching them leave.

"Vari you can come out now."

"That was horrible," he mumbled from beside me, and my gaze matched up with the ground again.

"Yeah, it was. He isn't normally like that."

"Good... Mind if I sleep here?"

"Orion won't be worried?"

"I told him I would be gone."

"Then yeah, lets go to sleep now."