Damn it.

"You should," Mine growled back, his cheeks flushed and teary eyes.

Damn it. Damn it.

"Stop," Addai wiped the tears.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!

"Let me go," Mine tried to fight the grip on his hands.

"No."

"Let. Me. Go," Mine threatened, his hands clenching into fists.

"Go ahead and beat me then," Addai hissed, his eyes turning sharp as well as his pupils. "Beat me instead of yourself."

Mine laughed a bitter laugh, "Look who's all mighty. You barely know me to think such foolishness," and Mine tried to bite him, but as tied as he was, it was a useless try.

Not touched nor moved, Addai kept looking at Mine. The once sharp eyes slowly turned the usual gentleness and no more the viciousness Mine saw earlier. Still, he didn't loosen the grip on Mine's hands.

"I know you enough," he approached Mine's face.

"You don't," Mine hissed, and his eyes flickered like a ready-to-combust gasoline.

"You're as sweet as the desserts you like. I know enough to see your smile as wide as ever and feel the sun inside you shine as well," and as Addai kept speaking, Mine started squirming as if those words hurt.

They, somehow, hurt.

He knew he wasn't all that.

Each compliment was followed by cries and shouts as if his "friend" was exorcising him by finding beauty in him.

How could he be all of that?

How could Addai not move forward and break him like everybody did on the flooring at the Pub?

How could Addai feel that overwhelming feeling towards a person like him?

Just... how?

He needed to cut those beautiful words and shred the flowers in that bush because dear Lord... he was so sure he wasn't that because-

“I’M A PROSTITUTE!" Mine screamed, his sole acidic voice filling the room. “I work… I work as a slut…” his breathing shuddered.

The volcano inside him was violent and mercilessly willing to destroy everything. So, he kept shouting.

"Countless people have touched me, now you dare to touch me as well? Where's your pride?! Why did you catch feelings for me?! Do you like trash? LET. ME. GO!”

That’s it. He finally said it.

It felt weirdly off and light but also very dark. Euphoria took over his fighting arms, and so did his heartbeat, wildly jumping from his chest and barely making his mind work properly. His breathing was inconsistent and hitched like his blurred vision.

Fighting, kicking, and yelling at the man above him – who was as still as a mountain with his blurred expression – Mine tried to set himself free at all costs, even though it hurt his wrists. Tired lungs and sore throat made his fighting desperate.

The Chronos mask didn't activate, nor did the time-stopping spell work. He was trapped in his own misery until he couldn't feel his hands or arms at all, not even his sore throat and throbbing heart from too much adrenaline. But he was more troubled inside, dreading keeping him in shape to keep fighting.

Some questions started popping up while that man's mortifying silence persevered and insisted on letting only Mine's tired and raspy voice resonate under the walls, porcelain floors, and brush against the paints of the paintings as melancholy as he was.

What would happen to them if Addai found him disgusting?

How would their relationship turn with that information?

Would he… hurt Mine?

Would he start treating Mine like sex material like the others did?

What... was going to happen-

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Mine," Addai voiced using a soft and gentle intonation.

Approaching Mine's right cheek, he left a warm and cozy smooch on it while he ignored the salty, sore tears rolling down the face of the boy beneath him.

It felt like an ice cube tossed in a hot cup of water. Violently melting but cooling down the steaming water.

It wasn't only one, but two, then three, then four in each main spot on his face. They were gentle, calm, and... was that guy really his friend?

The turmoil soon turned into a thin and meek river.

Their lips didn't touch anymore, but Mine felt the steady breathing come from the man's nostrils whenever he approached his face.

Barely digesting these attitudes - so different from what he thought the script would be - Mine felt the world slowing down, and not by the Chronos' spell he failed to cast earlier. It seemed that his premade story he was following... reframed points he didn't think could happen.

It was so... good.

"Did you calm down?" Addai asked, looking at the boy beneath him, whose eyes turned the usual pink hue again but with dots of exhaustion.

"You..." but not everything was settled. "Y-you must find me disgusting now, right?” Mine asked, looking at Addai uneasily.

"Why would I?" Addai faintly smiled and brushed his nose on Mine's. “You’re perfect the way you are.”

Once again, it seemed that the universe was throwing in his face that his ideas were, in fact... wrong.

“Don’t say such things about yourself again,” Addai slowly loosened the grip on the boy's hand and healed the soreness. “Let me help you.”

Addai scooped Mine from the cold, dusty floor, and wrapped those gentle arms around his body, warming the once-cold spots and caressing his hair.

When his pink eyes met his friend’s blue and yellow gems, Mine realized those touches and gazing were… different. They silenced most of the horror and suspense stories his heart endlessly created about finding his hobby and eventual second job. That gaze was… warm and cozy, the kind that makes every heart flutter, but in a good way.

This foreign realization made his stomach flutter, but still… not all horror and suspense stories were seized… a few remained stubbornly.

"Why are your eyes too distant?" Addai asked, lifting Mine's chin.

"I'm filthy..." Mine voiced the thought while Addai's care started feeling odd by this thought's power.

"Why that?”

“It’s-”

Addai interrupted Mine’s explanations with a smooch on his cheek. Mine looked at his friend confused, blushed, and startled, while his friend looked back with soft eyes and a shy, small smile.

Before Mine could ask something, Addai approached again and kissed the other cheek of his and so his hands.

“I don’t mind at all,” Addai pressed his hand on Mine’s head, leading him to rest on his shoulder. “You won’t lose me,” he whispered.

Taking a deep, shuddered breath, Mine whispered back, “How can you be so confident about that?” he let out a shaky breath.

“Because…” and Addai caressed Mine’s head, tracing the thin hair, “… because my feelings aren’t fragile, and I’m very stubborn when I want to. Also, we made a pinky promise,” he let out a faint chuckle.

"O-oh..." Mine voiced, feeling his cheeks turn redder.

"Now you need to rest. Enough emotions for today," standing up with Mine in his arms, Addai nodded for a shadow, which tidied the room once again, storing the sketched canvas, the easel, and his drawing materials back in their places.

Behind, he left a sketch on that canvas.

A face, rather bust, from someone.

He'd take more time to finish that piece, and, maybe, he'd probably continue other paintings as well.

While they walked out of the room in the dark, chilly corridors, Mine noticed that, even under the dim lights, Addai’s face turned redder and redder.

“… E-erm… sorry,” Addai voiced awkwardly. "S-sorry f-for acting with such imprudence earlier.”

Oh. OH.

How could Mine forget all of that?

Mine then turned as red as a tomato, hiding his face the best he could, and even his toes were curled up.

“L-Let’s think about that tomorrow,” Mine muttered, feeling his whole body hot from embarrassment.