The Noble Desire (Peterick)

.•°Seventeen.•°

Patrick wasn't surprised to hear that the queen and king were made unaware of the trip until after they had reached the airport and boarded the private jet. He knew that had Pete informed them beforehand they would have most certainly objected, for his safety could not be entirely monitored if he were off elsewhere, but it was because they could do nothing with the plane now in the air that they eventually wished Pete luck over the phone with whatever plans he wished to carry out in the foreign country across the ocean. Those plans, oblivious to everyone else except to Patrick himself, were not to aid those less fortunate but rather to ease their minds of their traumas and stresses. He supposed it was an added benefit that they would also be free to display their affections for one another, however specific they may be, in the solitude of the rented penthouse condo that awaited them. Pete buried his nose in a Jane Austen book as Patrick went to choose a seat by a window, pushing the plush curtains aside, so that he was able to watch the land grow smaller below them.

He meditated among clouds dipped in orange and pink for a while until he ultimately bore of the task and inquired to the prince which novel he was enjoying.

"Pride and Prejudice. The most classic of them all."

And Patrick couldn't help but wonder about the parallels of the story concerning marriage and Pete's own situation and if he was able to align the irony. If he had he didn't speak a word of it to Patrick who decided to leave him to the book and switch on the plasma screen in front of them. There were a few movies downloaded onto the television, but none necessarily interested him enough to endure the flight through watching.

Pete's reverie in the plot was thus interrupted by the sigh that flowed past his lover's lips, and he dog-eared the page before setting it down on the coffee table before him, turning his full attention toward the distress.

"I thought you'd be delighted to spend time in the jet," he told the bodyguard.

"Oh. I am."

"Delight doesn't exactly look nor sound the way you're displaying it."
Patrick didn't know how to reply for the mere fact that he hadn't realized his body language reflected that of misery. He was indifferent, and that was the extent of it, but he didn't wish to burden the prince with his feelings more than he already had the weeks following the incident with Gabe. This trip was not a vacation for his mind but a distraction from what needed to be carried out and would only prevent him from receiving any kind of justice. It was like he was running away, and that only proved he was weaker than he already felt.

How could he face the world and pretend as though he were having fun whilst his rapist walked a free man with no remorse for having tarnished his self worth? Nevertheless, despite these troublesome thoughts preventing him from truly showing his gratefulness of the occasion, he didn't dare speak of them because he feared they would only cast a gloom over Pete's positive disposition. Maybe it was the idea that they were off together like they were the only two people to ever exist to each other that pulled Patrick deeper into the absurdity of this fantasy Pete wanted for them both.

They couldn't hide no matter where they ran off to. Pete would always be tied to his duties back home, and Patrick- as much as he hated to hold this state of mind- doubted that Pete cared even an ounce for him taking into account that he didn't seem to want to change the course in which he was to head with Meagan. Patrick wanted to believe that he would not be bothered if whatever their little sexual arrangement was ended, but something like this- going off to Rio together- only made it much more difficult to accept. He didn't know when, but in the middle of all these months he had had the pleasure of knowing the prince, he had fallen ever so hopelessly attached to him, and for that, he was ashamed.

It made him the worst of souls to have encouraged it all, and here they were, set to continue their affair in more private conditions. If what this was was moral in any sense they wouldn't have had to board a jet to kiss and touch as any other couple. All this seemed to swirl around Patrick as Pete attempted in vain to spark even a smile out of the other with jokes or conversation surrounding what was to come in Rio. Patrick met him with short answers and mumbled replies that forced Pete to cease his efforts and return to his reading. The ride dragged on for hours in silence, and the bodyguard began to wonder if it was ever a good idea for him to have accepted the proposal, but he had been drunk on that perfect moment in the rain to have thought it to be foolish.