Chapter ten: The first night and a scuffle.
Mother pauses at the question. "Why are you asking?"
"Well I am just curious. I mean after all you believe being gay is a bad thing." I point out.
Mother pauses again. "Well dear…" She seems uncertain.
"I guess I'll give you time to think about it." I turn away. "I just wanted to know anyways." I head back into my room closing the door behind myself. I lean against it.
That question almost blew our cover.
I look to Near who is still soundly asleep. I move over to the bed and sit beside him looking at him.
He looks so adorable sleeping like this.
I watch him for a bit and find myself smiling.
Yeah we can do this.
I settle onto my side on the bed not bothering with the covers. I lay facing Near's peaceful sleeping face. I find myself drifting off.
When I awaken it's late afternoon.
Near isn't in bed.
I sit up and look around myself.
Where did he go?
I get up and begin looking around then I almost run into him from stepping out of the bathroom. "Ah. Good afternoon." I greet.
"Good afternoon." Near greats back.
"Feel more awake?" I ask.
Near nods and wants to twirl his hair but knows it'd be a bad idea right now.
"Well you hungry?" I ask him.
"No not really." He lets me know.
"Ok well then why don't I show you around town?" I offer.
"I guess it couldn't hurt." He agrees.
So we head out and along the way to head out the driver stops us.
"Where shall I take you young masters?" He bows.
Near blushes very softly at the words spoken as if we were already married.
"It's fine. We will walk. It'll be good for us to get some exercise since we were on the train for a while." I say then I slip past with Near as we head out.
We head into town and begin to look around hand in hand to not lose each other as we walk.
Our trip around town was casual and nice.
When we noticed the sun setting we began to head back to the mansion.
About half way there Near suddenly moves much closer to me.
I glance to him and he looks to me.
"Mels." He says a little quietly.
This almost makes me stop.
That's it. That's his safe word as we established each a safe word disguised as a nickname on the train.
His eyes flicker back and I follow his gaze.
There by an alley is some guys who seem to be eyeing Near.
So he is feeling uncomfortable under the gaze of those guys.
They do look like trouble.
I turn to him. "Don't worry about them." I move an arm to around his waist to let the guys know silently to back off. "Just ignore them."
We keep walking and Near stays close to me.
I dare to glance back only to see them following us. I sigh in annoyance and turn back to where we are going.
These guys are annoying.
Near is pressed up against me as he can sense the guys following us.
I keep a secure grip around his waist as if to comfort him.
This continues until I have become fed up with it.
I stop and Near stops too. I turn to the guys who approach us. "What's your problem?" I demand. "Can't you take a fucking hint?"
"Mello." Near says in a hushed tone seeing as we are outnumbered.
"Pfft." The one that seems to be the ring leader rolls his eyes. "You are a loser." He looks to Near. "Hey girl if you want to be with a real man instead of some girly boy then why don't I show you what a true man is?"
I push Near behind me. "Fuck off loser." I growl in warning.
The ring leaders eyes narrow. "I am not addressing you." He snaps his fingers.
The three others in the group go at me landing me to fight against them while the ring leader makes for Near.
Damn it!
I try to make it past them to stop the ring leader but the three are so annoying not allowing this.
The ring leader grabs Near hands.
"Let go of me." Near says trying to pull away from him.
The ring leader moves his grip to Near's arm a little too tightly. "Oh come now. You want to be with a real man or not?" He purrs.
"Let go of me. You're hurting me." Near says though I don't catch what tone he used I think it was demanding but I find myself not able to concentrate enough to truly pick it up as I suddenly I see a flash of red cover my sight and I snarl.
I slam a punch hard into the face of the nearest one of the guys then I move to try to get to the ring leader only having to slam a kick into another one of the guy's crotch.
Before I can do anything the third one jumps onto my back arms around my neck.
I spin and find a nearest wall slamming him hard into it two times before he lets go. I turn to Near and the ring leader….. Only the ring leader is on the ground and Near is free.
Near turns to me as I blink in surprise.
All this time he can fight but he never used it on me or any other bullies or showed it until now?
"You ok Mello?" Near asks me.
I nod. "Yeah. You?"
He nods also.
"Well let's go." I take his hand and begin leading him back towards the mansion.
He moves right up against me and closes his head resting his head on my upper arm almost on my shoulder. "Thank you Mello." He says in a slightly soft tone.
I glance to him. "Don't worry about it." I say. "And you took out the ring leader." I add.
He opens his eyes half way to look up at me. "But you protected me. All I had to worry about was the ring leader." He points out.
I blink. "Did you really think I'd just let those jerks take you?"
He lets out a very small and quiet laugh almost making me wonder if I heard him right.
I find myself smiling.
The rest of the walk there was quiet but we stick close together.
Once we reach the mansion we head inside.
"I'm guessing you'll want to shower." I say glancing to him.
He very slightly nods.
I take him to my… currently our room to get his regular clothes we decided to let him use to sleep in. I make sure that there is a towel then I let him be to get the shower done.
In the meantime I head towards the dinning area wondering if there is any food.
None at this time.
I turn to a servant. "A chocolate bar please." I tell him.
He nods and heads off to get what I asked.
I turn and I spot father coming over to me.
"Ah Mihael." He says.
"What is it father?" I ask as he comes over to me.
"I just want to say I am proud of you. You found a lovely girl." He tells me. "Say maybe one day we can meet her parents."
I flinch.
Father blinks confused. "What's wrong?"