The sound of his door opening pulled Lonely away from his work. The sweet violin music cut off and he put his instrument in its case with a sigh. “Who’s there?’ he asked as he walked out into the hall.

“It’s just me,” Confidence replied, but he didn’t have the usual cheer to his voice. Something was wrong, but Lonely couldn’t exactly place what it was. They hadn’t spoken for a few days and hadn’t seen each other since Lonely saw him fight with Sadness and Disgust. He didn’t mind it, but it meant that he had no idea what was going on.

Confidence held a book in his hands, one of the ones Lonely had given him months ago. “Are you alright?” Lonely asked, leaning against the doorframe.

“Not really,” he replied and collapsed on the couch with a sigh. The book landed on the coffee table as he dropped his head into his hands. “I’m so tired.”

Lonely sat next to him, frowning deeply. “What’s been going on?” he asked, desperate to know the things he had missed, even if they weren’t anything to do with him. Confidence had spent so much time making sure that he was alright and happy, it was the least he could do to make sure the other man felt the same.

For a long time, Confidence didn’t say anything but shuffled on the couch until he was pressed against Lonely’s side. His head fell against his shoulder and for a second, Lonely stiffened before wrapping an arm around his waist. He relaxed against the couch, pulling Confidence with him.

They sat like that for a while, letting the world pass by around them. There was no reason to talk, it was better to just sit and be together. It was obvious that something was wrong, but from the way Confidence sighed, he was content enough to sit there. He would tell him what was going on when he was ready, wouldn’t he? Surely, that's what friends did.

“I’m sorry,” Confidence whispered eventually, shifting against him and accidentally digging his elbow into Lonely’s side.

He hissed in a breath but didn’t protest against it. “For what?” he asked, frowning down at the head on his shoulder.

“I… I don’t know, invading your personal space, I guess,” he muttered.

“You’re not invading my personal space,” he said, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “If this wasn’t alright, I would have said so.”

Confidence only hummed but thankfully, didn’t move away. Lonely tightened his grip and brushed his thumb against his side. He had never seen Confidence look so upset and had no idea how he was supposed to deal with it, so he did what comforted him when he was feeling down. For the most part, Confidence didn’t seem to hate it. There had to be something he could say that would make things better, but his inexperience meant that he couldn’t think of anything without being sure that it wouldn’t make things worse.

All he could think of was the time he’d told Confidence that there was no way he could feel. How wrong he’d been. If he hadn’t listened until right that moment, Confidence’s sadness would have been more than enough proof.

“I’m so worried about you,” Confidence whispered, loud in the silence.

It shocked him for a moment and he couldn’t speak. “W- Why?” he asked, even though the answer was obvious. “Haven’t they threatened you too?”

“Of course, but I don’t care about it. There’s nothing they can do to me,” he replied and sighed. “There’s nothing they can do to you either, but I’m still worried.”

If there was nothing they could do to him, then there was no reason to be worried, which could mean that Confidence was lying to him. “If anything happens, I can handle it,” Lonely said, but that could easily be a lie too. When it came down to it, he had no idea how he would react.

He wanted to think that he could stop Sadness and Disgust from doing whatever they wanted to him, but he was scared. It was very well possible that he would just let them do it, too scared to fight back, even though he didn’t want it to happen. It was nice to think that he was stronger than them, but he’d been under their control for centuries.

“I don’t know how it’s going to go, but I promise I will try as hard as I can to stay here,” he said and gripped tightly to Confidence’s shirt. “I don’t want to leave, not now.”

Confidence frowned up at him. “You did once?” he asked.

“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “But once, I wouldn’t have put up a fight. I would have just let them do it. I didn’t have anything that made me want to stay. Now, I do.”

For a moment, there was silence as Confidence settled against him once again. “I want you to stay,” he said, not looking him in the eye.

His cheeks were hot and his heart fluttered with one of the few emotions he’d been unable to recognise. “I’m going to, I promise. I won’t let them do a thing to me,” he said. He had to stick to that promise, no matter what. He couldn’t let Confidence be as sad as he was. “Is that what you were talking to Sadness and Disgust about the other day, down by the beach?”

“Did someone tell you about that?” Confidence asked, finally sitting up to look at him. It was cold without him pressed against his side, but Lonely resisted pulling him back.

“No, I was on the beach with Love and Happy and Fear, I saw you,” he explained with a shrug.

"They invited you out?" he asked and he sounded happier than he had all day, as if he were proud.

Lonely nodded, his cheeks still hot. "Yes, but that's not what I want to talk about," he said and immediately hissed in a breath. "I mean, if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. I don't want you to feel pressured or anything-"

He was stopped by a hand over his mouth and the light sound of chuckling next to him. "Calm down, it's alright," he said and moved his hand away. "They wanted to know what we were doing. They told me that I should have known better than to talk to you, that it was my fault that you were going to be taken away. I told them that you were staying, that there was nothing they could do about it.

“But I’ve never been that angry before, never. We never should have let them have so much control over the centuries, but we didn’t know any better. They let the power go to their heads, especially when it came to you.”

Lonely sighed and rubbed at his tired eyes. “I was far too easy for them to control,” he mumbled, shame flowing through him.

“That’s not your fault though. You never knew any better and the moment you learned the truth, you didn’t allow them to control you,” Confidence said, grabbing his shoulders and turning him towards him. “You’re strong, you know that, right?”

Most days, he didn’t feel like it, but he couldn’t find it within himself to disagree. The heat in his cheeks spread up to his ears as they stared at each other, a strange silence between them. He couldn’t explain it, but he wanted to get closer to him, had for a long time. There was nothing stopping him except his own nervousness.

Would it be a good idea to listen to what his mind begged him to do? He wouldn’t know unless he tried, but the idea of trying filled him with so much nervousness that he felt sick. So he closed his eyes and without giving himself another opportunity to think about it, leaned forward and pressed his lips against Confidence’s cheek.

Confidence froze and with wide eyes, Lonely jolted away. That was more than enough of an answer to his question and instead of the smiles he wanted, he had to find an excuse for why he had done it. “Sorry, I just…” he said but stopped when he had no idea how to finish the sentence. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

The hands fell from his shoulders and he resisted the urge to stand and run away. “I…” Confidence said. “I didn’t expect you to… Why?”

“I don’t know, it’s just what I want to do whenever I see you,” he said, knowing it was better to be honest. “You’ve been so kind to me and I… I want to show you how much I appreciate you for it.”

Silence again. He didn’t look at him, not until soft fingers ran against his cheek. He gasped and stared up at Confidence, who looked down at him with an expression he couldn’t read. “I knew you were feeling things for the first time and I didn’t want to overwhelm you with my own feelings, but do you understand what it is you’re feeling here?” he asked.

“For a while, I didn’t, but I think I do now,” he answered. Like everything with his feelings, it was sudden, but it made so much sense. What else could it have possibly been? His strange urge to be closer, to know what he was doing, the heat in his cheeks whenever someone mentioned him. To anyone else, it would have been obvious, but of course, it had taken him a while to understand.

But it didn’t seem to be enough for Confidence. “You think?” he said and frowned, his hand still on Lonely’s cheek. “I don’t expect you to be sure any time soon, but I don’t want you to do anything you’re not ready for.”

“I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think I could handle it,” he replied and bit down hard on his lip. Confidence had feelings for him and was more than willing to push them away to make sure that he was alright. It wasn’t fair on Confidence at all and Lonely didn’t want to push away his own feelings.

So he leaned forward again, slowly so that Confidence could pull away if he wanted to, but he didn’t. The kiss was soft and sweet, barely lasting a second before Lonely pulled away again, his hands clenched tightly into fists. Confidence’s eyes were wide and his breathing was shallow as if they had been kissing for more than a short second.

“Lonely,” he said and took a deep breath. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” he answered. It was one of the few things he was sure about. “But can we take things slow? I don’t… I don’t know how to do any of this.”

Arms wrapped tightly around him, pulling him against Confidence’s chest. “Of course, as slow as you need,” he answered and pressed his lips to his temple.

Lonely sighed against him. It wasn’t what he expected to happen at all when Confidence showed up in his living room. There were still things he was worried about, like Sadness and Disgust, but he had friends and he had whatever it was he had with Confidence now. It would take time to explore it, to talk to him about it, but he wasn’t going to let himself be taken away, not when he had something so precious to look after.