Eun-Jae thoughtfully sucked on the lollipop for a moment, allowing Romeo to wrap his arms around his waist. “I don’t know,” He eventually replied. “Maybe they sell it on another website? Or I can look up if they sell it in a store somewhere.” He then continued, before putting the candy back into his mouth, even if it was just as an excuse so he didn’t instantly have to respond to his friend’s words. He knew the other was right – he should have brought up the topic of school to his parents weeks ago. Actually, he should have done it months ago. Years ago. Was that why he now felt like it was probably too late? Just the thought of bringing it up made him feel sick.
The boy felt a strong urge to curl himself up into a ball and pretend he didn’t exist, a mixture of sadness and guilt on his features. He tossed the half-eaten lollipop in the trash can that was luckily within arms reach and pressed himself a little closer against Romeo’s body. “I don’t know how.” He whispered, closing his eyes. “I’m scared.” Of course, they’d talked about this before. He’d talked about it with Romeo, with Basil. Every time the topic was brought up, he just felt anxious and miserable. He knew he was just wasting everyone’s time as long as he didn’t talk to his parents, but he didn’t have the courage to do anything about it.
Eun-Jae flinched slightly when he felt Romeo’s thumb brush over the mark in his neck, his cheeks heating up. “It… doesn’t really hurt.” He muttered, wondering why he suddenly felt so small and guilty. Was it because he’d told Romeo that he was his and had still gone off and let someone else mark him like that? “I’m sorry,” It only felt appropriate to apologize, his voice small. “I met this guy who kept… flirting with me and he took his clothes off and stuff and I tried to ignore it, but–” God, he’d acted like some horny teenager and it was embarrassing. “He… tried to touch me. Not my neck, but… um… other places.” He felt his blush intensifying. “I stopped him, though. I couldn’t do it.”
“I can help you search for it in stores, if you please”, he muttered, and by ‘I’, he meant ‘send his his servants to comb the continent up and down searching for a bottle of conditioner’; dear God, never let him do the peasants’ job. His chin resting on the other’s shoulder and his hands wrapped around his friend’s body, allowed Romeo to have a better ( yet discreet ) feeling of his bony body, which just seemed to not get better by itself. The topic was inevitable, but right now, the bubble of warmth and sweetness that surrounded wasn’t worth to be popped.
Silence made its entry into the room as Romeo laid still like a statue after Eun-Jae’s questions. How? Well, just spit the truth, child, there’s no other way. Your parents will be upset, angry, enraged even that you made them spend their money -----at least Romeo would be enraged to know he had been spending valuable money in a teared sack----- His eyes went dry with how long he spaced out. The blond shook his head and drew another little smile on his lips as he nuzzled his bird on the union of the shoulder and the neck. “You know how, you are just afraid of the consequences”, he whispered, “listen, they will find out inevitably, so they will prefer that you tell them instead of them catching your lies. Be smart, birdie, find the best time when your parents are in the best mood”, he advised with a quiet voice to avoid disturbing the peace of the moment.
“No need to apologize”, he commented in a soft hum; but YES, it was good Jay was apologizing, because he shouldn’t have done that. He shouldn’t have let that happen. “Did he make you uncomfortable?”, he asked with a sudden and unusual cold tone, “did he make any kind of... serious move on you?”, he questioned again, “do you want me to get rid of him?”, he finally inquired. “Good, good. You are a good boy”, Romeo said with his sugary tone hitting once again right before he placed a soft kiss on the top of the bruise as a passive-aggressive remark of letting him know to whom he belonged.
