Capturing Oliver (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Nine

Oliver was in the kitchen. Aiden practically ran towards him, a weird stinging in his eyes that made him think he was going to cry. He didn't want to cry however, he wanted to be angry. He wanted to be furious about what he had just seen, and the anger was there, mixed in with the hurt and confusion that threatened to overwhelm him. His hands were balled at his sides, his nails pressing into his skin.

"Oliver!" he called out. It was the only word he could muster from his foggy mind.

Oliver turned with a smile on his face. His smile was so genuine and happy. His blue eyes were bright and wide. He must have seen Aiden's expression, however, because that smile was gone after less than a second. "What?" he asked innocently. His expression contorted into a look of confusion.

Aiden's mind cleared. He felt the anger clear and strong. It was itching at the edge of his tongue, wanting to pick a fight. "Don't play dumb," Aiden replied. He stopped a few steps from Oliver.

"What on earth are you talking about, Aiden?" he asked. Oliver looked so confused and innocent. Aiden hated it.

"Why are there twenty of my photos sitting upstairs?" He practically screamed the question at Oliver. Aiden's voice broke on the last word. That gut-wrenching hurt was still there, pushing at the edges of his anger.

The light in Oliver's eyes suddenly faded and his confusion slowly morphed into one of extreme guilt. The expression was so different from normal that Aiden felt like he didn't even recognise the person standing in front of him. "Oh no," Oliver whispered out.

Aiden shook his head at his boyfriend. "Why did you do this?" The question was asked in anger, but hurt lingered at the edge of his tone.

"You, you weren't-" Oliver stuttered. His fingers ran through his short hair quickly and his hand lingered on his forehead for a second in frustration. "You weren't supposed to find those photos."

"It's my fault?" Aiden yelled out. He felt himself getting more and more upset. Oliver didn't' seem upset about what he had done, just that Aiden had found out. He felt so stupid. He felt like he should have known this would happen. Oliver's entire life was a secret, why was he so surprised that Oliver's secrets included him?

"No! I'm not saying that!" Oliver told him. He seemed lost for words. Oliver huffed under his breath. "I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have, I know that."

"Do you?" Aiden asked. "You gave me that whole spiel today about not wanting to use money to control people and yet you had a whole room of lies upstairs that you didn't think to mention?" Oliver's eyes looked wet. Aiden tried to ignore that. He didn't feel sorry for Oliver.

"I didn't think that you would find them. I didn't want to create more problems with us."

"You had the perfect opportunity to tell me what you did and you said nothing."

"I'm so stupid. I'm so sorry, Aiden."

"Are you?" Aiden asked suddenly. He didn't know if he could trust what Oliver was saying. Oliver had secrets, Aiden knew that, and maybe this was just the tip of the iceberg. He wondered what else Oliver had hidden from him to avoid problems between them. "Why did you buy them? To give me some false sense of accomplishment?"

Saying the words out loud sent a pang of hurt straight through Aiden's chest. He thought back to all those lovely things that Oliver had said about his photography. Oliver had sounded so sure of him. He had so much belief that Aiden was good at what he did and in those moments, Aiden had felt like finally someone understood what he had been working so hard for all of these years. Yet, Oliver had bought his photos and Aiden wondered whether it was out of pity. He didn't want pity, especially from Oliver.