𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄

ꜱɪx

𝗠ason kept his hands flat on the door of his old bedroom as he closed it behind him, not bothering to lock it. He took a step forward, facing away from Kai while leaning his head against the cold oak. He wanted to take several moments alone – and several long steps away from him, but he knew that if he didn't at least hear him out, he would regret it.

That was the only thing that stuck with him this whole time. Throughout this entire ordeal, he had always been the one to urge healthy communication instead of turning to violence or fighting if there was something up in the air. Yet, in the field, Kai had been the one to bring it up, not himself.

"Start talking," he spoke to the door, unable to turn around.

He toed the tip of his Vans along the trim of the surface, needing something to take his mind away from this place. He needed something to distract his mind from the fact that he was craving the arms and the hands of the same person who hurt him – the same person he was unsure if he'd ever go back to in fear of getting hurt like this, or in another way, again.

"Can you face me?" Kai asked.

His voice was so soft, that it almost sounded like his accent didn't exist.

"No," he returned, doing his best to keep his own flat, "I can't."

"Oh."

There was a stillness in the room. Right now, it became even harder to breathe than any moment he'd ever experienced before. Maybe that was due to the fact that he'd never loved another person the way he loved Kai – or maybe it was because he knew that nothing he could say could repair them. Still, as the heavy air drew its asphyxiating hands around his neck, choking him, he kept up his armor of steel, pretending like all was okay.

Truth was, without the anger, he was just sad.

"Start talking," he repeated, ignoring his own thoughts.

"Where do you want me to begin?"

"With whatever you were referring to Emmet about."

"Okay," he answered; Mason kept his face toward the door as he listened to the sound of his bed squeak beneath Kai's sitting weight, "—I really think you should sit down for this."

"I'll pass."

"Right."

He sighed behind him, in probably what was his personal ritual to begin something heavy. And he knew that's what it had to be – heavy, or else, why would not only him but his adoptive father hide it from him for as long as they did?

"When I was younger, around sixteen, my parents took Kae and I on almost every out-of-country trip. It is how Emmet has known us since we were little – my family did business with him, as well as his late father – Rueben's grandfather," he breathed out, "Anyway, because my parents were very hovering, one day when we were in Los Angeles, I decided to freak them out by bailing out on them during one of the missions. I ran out the back door of this closed club we were hosting the meeting in and began going on my own furious rant of all the things I wanted to scream in my mother's face, well because she was the worst – even worse than my father. But, as I did it, a boy sitting by a dumpster interrupted me, and when I caught sight of his beautiful blue eyes, I couldn't help but investigate what he was doing all alone back there."