Asher watched as Amir left, waiting long enough after the door clicked closed that he would be adequately far ahead that Asher wouldnât have to see the back of him walking home. He got up and stretched, massaging a crick in his neck from slouching, and tried thinking through what he was supposed to say when he saw Loch.
   Iâm tired of being scared of you. Iâm done running away, from you, from everything. Lochâs words ran on repeat in his head. Iâm tired of being scared. Iâm done running away. Asher should have known heâd do something like this. His therapy was telling him to stop running away from problems and to let go of ones that didnât matter. Of course heâd try to solve this head-on. Asher sighed. Trying to tackle things alone though, without his input... still not a great step in the right direction, but at least not a whole two steps back. He wasnât too happy being handled, or with Loch trying to make a decision for him, but at least he had seemed to realise that nearer the end of the conversation.
   And yet, he couldnât help but feel a little proud of Loch; heâd stood up to someone he was scared of, even put him in his place a few times. Heâd done what he thought was right, even if Asher didnât necessarily agree, and whilst Asher was annoyed about being left in the dark, it took courage for him to have done all this.
   Making his way to the front door, he sighed inwardly, knowing they were going to have to have another talk about communicating, and not keeping things from each other. But for now, he just wanted a snuggle his boyfriend on their sofa with a takeaway pizza.
