As I stumble down the hallway through the silent darkness, heading towards my apartment, my hand remains on the wall as I try to navigate my way without any lights. It isn't this dark usually, but it seems there's a problem with the lighting yet again.

I roll my eyes at the convenience of such a problem arising. Alexei, getting busy in the sheets with his latest one night stand, isn't here to help the tipsy fool I am. How foolish I am to drink so much. A soft chuckle emerges from the silence around me, lightening the air a bit.

"Where have you been all night? I've been trying to call you for the last hour, but you wouldn't pick up. So, I thought I'd stop by to check up on you."

At the sound of the familiar, smooth voice, my eyes widen much more than I ever thought they could before they begin to relax again. I expected him to come by, but he's here too soon. 

Things aren't going as I planned them out, but nothing ever goes my way any other day of the year. Why would it start now?

"I went to my class reunion with Alexei, but he's off somewhere else. What are you doing here?" I look up at him, my eyes meeting his even in the darkness of the night.

They appear to be even more radiant at night than they do during the day, however, there's something off about them this time. Something's happened to him ad he seems to want a distraction or even a way to escape from it all.

I would ask him what's wrong with him and comfort him like I usually do with Alexei, but it wouldn't be appropriate for me to do so.

His feet shuffle across the hallway's wooden floors, the creaking getting closer to me with each step he takes towards me. My eyes remain glued to his as they come closer to me. He comes to a halt just a few inches away from me, close enough for him to hold me and never let me go. Why would I want that?

His hands curl around my waist as he pulls me into the warm embrace. The embrace alone is warm. His arms wrapped around me makes me feel as though I have nothing to worry about. Soon enough, the world around me melts away as I hold him just as tightly, not wanting this to end.

Much like myself, he seems to be thinking the same way judging by the grip he has on me. He doesn't seem to want to let go anytime soon and I can't say I want him to.

His shallow breaths echo in my ear, his hot breath tickling the lobe of my ear, as he buries his head in the crook of my neck.

"Aurelius, what's wrong?" I ask him, struggling to think of anything else other than the huge teddy bear holding me in his loving embrace.

Love? Is that something someone like me is capable of feeling? Am I even worthy of such a privilege? I've done many wrongs in this world, which makes me no better than the common thief. Even so, the last thing I need from him is love. So, why do I seek it from him?

"Tonight, can you promise me you won't leave me even if the world is against us? Even if the world is being drowned in flames?"

"What? Aurelius, what are you talking about?" I force out a few chuckles, attempting to hold back the strange feelings overcoming me. 

"Just for tonight, can you promise me you'll stay by my side? Until death do we part?"

My eyes widen at his questions as my mind tries to generate a response to give to him, whether he wants to hear it or not. To stay by his side means to put him in danger and to leave him means to break his heart. I can't figure which one is worse.

Will I be selfish? Or will I be selfless?

"I promise...I promise that I won't leave you even if the world is against us, even if we're being drowned in flames. I won't leave until the day we die."

The incoherent, drowsy mutter leaves me as my eyes creak open to be greeted by the ceiling above my head. I greet it with the same look I always do, hoping that everything was just some weird dream I conjured up at random.

In an attempt to sit up, a spike of pain shoots through my head, a migraine coming to haunt me as a result of drinking too much from the night before. Drinking is never a good idea, but I do it anyway. It may just be to punish myself.

Do I enjoy the pain or do I loathe it? I have to pick one, but I can't seem to be able to choose no matter how much I would like to. 

In another attempt to sit up, my migraine doubles me over once again, despite having nothing to spur the pain coursing through my head. My hands rub my temple, hoping it would soothe me eve a little, but the pain perseveres all the same.

Much like the dream resting in my mind, the pain I feel is very much real, but I wish to have none of it. Another foolish wish of mine to remind myself that there isn't a being in the sky who can make my life better.

"There's something wrong with me...and I don't like it."

"Oh, honey! Sweetheart! You motherfucking piece of shit!"

"There it is."

"There are many things wrong with you that you don't like at all."

"Like you?"

"That's fair."