To Save Our Families, Let's 'Marry' (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 15

It was only once they had finally finished their individual cigarettes, Henry and Joshua noticed that they were already a couple minutes late. If the two hadn't been so accustomed to press conferences they might have panicked, however after a split second, both simultaneously remembered this was a split-second decision and would mean not all of the news companies will have arrived yet. Even once they all do, it would still take a few minutes to for everything to settle.

That all being said, Joshua also did not want to think about the evil eye his mother would direct at him for being so uncharacteristically late.

"We should head back before they start to worry about us."

Henry hummed in agreement, nodding slightly. He had just been thinking about putting out the cigarette. However the ring on his finger had distracted him – was he really about to go through with all this? He still could not quite believe it.

The older man noticed that Henry was acting a little strange as he pressed his own cigarette onto the ashtray on top of the rubbish bin they had found themselves next to. While he may not have known the pretty man long, he had gotten a relatively good grasp on what type of person he was.

Zoning out like this just didn't seem quite right.

Before he could even think about bring it up, Henry suddenly felt a dull burning on his thumb, the intensity suddenly increasing. With a yelp, he dropped the cigarette butt, which had burnt for far too long.

A sudden urge of unwarranted overprotectiveness hit Joshua as he watched the entire scene play out. Within a fraction of a second, he had stamped out the lit cigarette and grabbed Henry's wrist, inspecting his fingertips. He only needed a glance to take note of almost every detail thanks to his powerful photographic memory. His head turned to see Henry's face still in a grimace, making his face look almost a little pitiful.

Joshua could neither explain the overwhelming need to help nor could he bring himself to think too deeply about it, for his own sanity's sake.

"We need to run it under water." With that simple announcement, a serious expression on his face, he dragged Henry into the company building, ignoring his protests and insistent claims that the burn did not hurt.

Henry found himself embarrassed as he was dragged away like a child, feeling his face heating up a little. He felt a little embarrassed. Of course the burn did sting, he had endured it a little too long before letting go, however he hadn't expected the other man to suddenly grab him like that, let alone pull him in tow. Everything had happened so quickly, the whole situation muddled in his head as the thought about it; the only thing he could say for certain was that he felt incredibly embarrassed.

Unbeknownst to him, or any onlookers, was that Joshua had started to find himself quite embarrassed too. What on earth had he been thinking, just grabbing someone like that? And treating them like some child? Worse than all that, he kept finding his mind going back to the image of Henry's hands.

They were innocent thoughts, it was because, besides the reddened, burn area and ash, he had noticed all the little papercuts, scars and callouses on the younger man's hands – he couldn't help but admire the clear signs of his hardworking nature. However, with how much his mind was dwelling on it, he could not help but feel his thought process was somewhat abnormal.

While the two entered the closest bathroom, Joshua, despite all thoughts, shoving Henry's thumb under the faucet, insisting that they had to leave the burn running under cold water for at least 10 minutes, slight chaos had ensued outside.

The two had been so absent minded that they had not realised that their entire scene had been captured in pictures from one of the inquisitive press photographers. All eyes had already been on the unlikely duo, especially once realising the two were smoking. A particularly bold photographer had started snapping pictures in the case of a scandal, the images would have gotten him a good price.