His Unexpected Mate [MxM]

Too soon?

Chapter 2 — Present

It was a beautiful spring's day with a clear sky… Yet, the mood was much colder than the dark winters, while Mason tried to process what had happened.

His last remaining family was gone, just like that.

The officers told him that it had been caused by an electrical issue. Some old wire burst, and the fire started due to that.

It was all that Mason got as the most basic and simple explanation of the events of that tragic night.

… most of the building had been affected, but only his sister’s apartment had been completely destroyed…

“It was where the fire started,” said a firefighter old enough to be his father. Yet, none of this mattered, it was just a ringing noise in his ears while he tried to process the loss of his sister and nephew in the deep silence of the night.

His mind was void of emotions and expressions, just like life was gone from his eyes, and only an ice-cold stare remained on his emotionless face.

It was as if Mason had died with them, and Ronnie had no idea of what he could do to help the other man.

He had never dealt with grief before, and it was the first time he had seen one of his friends lose someone so important to them.

… he wanted to help Mason, but he wasn't sure what would be proper and right to say to him at that fragile moment…

He was as clueless as he was on the first day he joined Mirror Night.

The first two days were tough as Ronnie took Mason’s fragile self back home, but the other man kept behaving like a lifeless doll.

He didn't want to eat or drink anything; he didn't want to sleep as they waited for the call from the funeral home.

But, it was easy to tell that it was just an excuse to keep his phone constantly in his hands… Mason honestly had one last hope deep down in his heart that maybe his sister would call him, saying she and his nephew were fine and coming back home…

The following days seemed to move by themselves as Ronnie helped his friend with the basic details one needed to handle to keep themselves alive when the patriarch of the D’Alberto family gave his son a suggestion, “Do you remember the chat we had before we moved here?”

… It was a simple question recalling memories from years ago, but it did give hope for the young man…

“Hey, Mason! Do you want to go visit my family with me for a couple of days?” Standing behind the kitchen counter with his hands in the back pockets, Ronnie asked with hints of fear in his voice, as he felt it was too soon to mention the word ‘family’ to the other man. “The town is full of woods all around, and my dad got these old tents that we can use to camp and enjoy some time by ourselves.”

Camping was something both of them had been talking about for a while now, moved by Mason’s curiosity as the older male had never done it before, and Ronnie’s nostalgia as the younger guy would always talk about how he used to do it with his father and brothers all the time. So, as it was something they had already talked about before, it felt like a good suggestion to get his friend out of the house during such a hard time…

… hopefully, it would be enough to help Mason start to enjoy life once again…

… but soon, Ronnie started to regret it as his friend gave no reaction for a while, leaving them in deep silence, until a faint whisper left the other man’s lips, pushing Ronnie to ask him ‘what’ as he missed Mason’s words before his friend repeated himself, “Okay… let’s do it.”