Heartbreak hotel

Chapter 18

Royal thought that, having heard they would all likely die soon, the Tomas would express something other than annoyance at this revelation, but no. Isaiah and Midnight both seemed to be fine, as if this was another casual Friday night and not one where two people who had supposedly been dead for the past seven years had magically reappeared in their lives with news that they were now working for the opposite side and they would be dead soon.

After another ten minutes of Ashton threatening to kill Seth and Lillian, Sebastian decided he had had enough of everyone and went to bed, dragging his husband along with him. So, it was up to Erza what to do. She yawned into the crook of her elbow as she adjusted her dressing gown before staring at the two. “Okay, so, from the top of my head, Ravi’s living here, Roman’s at Alex and Nathaniel’s and Rick is with Luca. So, Seth, you can stay with Luca-”

Seth’s eyes widened as he stared at Luca and Rick, who were both arguing about something under their breath on the couch but had paused when they heard their names.“Oh, can I not-”

“No. You don’t get to choose. You go there, Lillian, you’re with Megan and me. You can crash here because I know Silas will not be leaving Soren alone anytime soon. Now, everyone else, to bed.”

Erza stood up and grabbed her wife’s hand, and the two left, with Lillian walking a few feet behind them. She turned to look at Seth once more before walking out of the sliding doors. Luca and Rick stood up next. Luca glared at Seth, but he walked out. Rick, not so subtly, stared at the man’s ass with Seth walking out behind them.

Midnight had groaned, standing up, claiming he was tired. He helped Royal up, and Midnight rolled his eyes and stood up. The three walked out into the summer night heat. “So,” Midnight said, groaning a little as he rubbed his back. “We all saw Rick checking Luca’s ass out, right?”

“Mhm,” Royal replied, stifling a yawn. “Should we tell Luca?”

The three stared at one another and shrugged. When they walked into the house, they hadn’t expected Luca to be drowning a bottle of Vodka and for Rick to take it from him a few seconds later, saying something too quiet for all three men to hear.

“He’s a grown-ass man,” Isaiah muttered. “I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.”

They went upstairs, not bothering to turn the light on; Midnight crashed onto the couch, not even taking his shoes off or pulling the sofa open, and he was out like a light before the blanket had fully covered him. Royal sighed but walked over to the man. He took his socks and shoes off before covering the man with the blanket. Then he got into bed beside Isaiah, staring at the wall.

Royal didn’t know what to think of the revelation. They couldn’t kill the Tomas’s, nor his friends. They all meant too much to him, even if they were theoretically bad people. They had taken him in with open arms, not once asking any questions, which, in hindsight, they really should have, but they didn’t. They didn’t pry when he had appeared on the day with Isaiah, with a bright red mark on his face, or why he had been wearing all black, with tear-stained cheeks. But they had wanted him, even when his own family didn’t, and that had to mean something. He didn't want to lose any more people. All he wanted was a family, which he finally had.

He was surprised they had let him stay for the whole scenario, and he wanted to help them. Somehow, he had to find a way to pay them all back for taking him in when he had nowhere else to go. But realistically, there was only so much he could do, and unlike their children, he wasn’t trained in anything like they were; he didn't have a fantastic aim, nor was he good at computers; hell, he wasn’t even sure what he liked to do besides getting high. There wasn’t anything he could do with that. So, in a situation like this, he was powerless, as much as he hated to admit it.

Unable to sleep, Royal sighed. He turned to see Isaiah’s back to him and gently patted his arm. When the man didn’t respond, Royal inched closer until he was pressed against the shorter man. He could feel the heat of his body; in this heat, he was already too warm, but he needed something to comfort him. While he knew this was only an effect of the weed, he let himself relish in Isaiah’s heat because, until the next time they got high, Isaiah wouldn’t let him be this close.

What he hadn’t expected was for Isaiah to turn around in his arms and look up at him with a stupid smile on his face. Royal hadn’t meant to, but he had leaned down and kissed his forehead, tightening his grip on the man. “They won’t kill you, will they?” he whispered after a few moments. Royal closed his eyes, squeezing them. He didn’t want to imagine a world without Isaiah. He knew he wasn’t everything Isaiah wanted, but for Royal? Isaiah was everything he had ever wanted in a person.

Isaiah rolled his eyes, sighing as he shifted a little. He hummed to himself when he heard Royal’s heartbeat. That brought a small smile to his face. He wasn’t sure when, but Isaiah began enjoying listening to Royal’s heartbeat somewhere along the way. And he wasn’t sure why, but he would always let the man do as he wanted. “I’m sure that first thing in the morning, the parents are going to wake up and scheme something.”

It was eating away at him, “but-” he began.

“No, Royal,” Isaiah said, sighing a little as he yawned. “The parents will make sure. They’ll figure something out, they always do.”

There was silence for a few moments. “You can’t die,” Royal rasped.

“I won’t die.”

“Proimise?”

Isaiah hesitated as he looked up at him with a slight frown. “You know I can’t make that promise.”

“But then-”

Isaiah shifted closer and kissed him, holding his face between his hands as he stared at the man. “You won’t be alone,” he said after a while. “I promise you that. Even if things go to s**t, I won’t let you be alone.”

Royal blinked back tears. He didn’t know what else to say, and then he thought, maybe. Maybe he could confess, and they could have these soft moments all of the time instead of only when they were high, and by the time he had finally gotten the courage to do so, he looked down to see that Isaiah had fallen asleep in his arms. He sighed and kissed the man on the forehead again, and although Royal had never considered himself a religious man, he prayed for everyone's safety.

~*~