Thank you to Purple-Kissed-Wishes, Moonlight Memories, OnlyNotReally, MistyElisabeth, Beeku, Taco, Annika Preminyer, Deal-wit-it, Lamanth, 13Lulu's (sorry again!) and Beywriter for your reviews!
In case anyone's curious, the ratio for the last chapter was 11 reviews to 76 hits.
I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.
"Pater noster, qui es in caelis,
sanctificetur Nomen tuum.
Adveniat regnum tuum.
Fiat voluntas tua,
sicut in caelo et in terra.
Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie,
et dimitte nobis debita nostra
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.
Et ne nos inducas in tentationem,
sed libera nos a malo."
I opened my eyes and sighed softly. Somehow, it wasn't the same without Oliver sitting next to me, an arm around my back and stubbornly saying the Lord's Prayer in French. I smiled as a thought came to me – yes, with my upbringing it was considered wrong to use anything but Latin to address the Lord, but my upbringing had stopped mattering to me in other forms years ago. Why not break this one, last rule and hope someone else up there was listening?
Staring up at the blue sky, I hesitantly brought the French words to mind. The Lord would have to put up with hearing it again.
Notre Père, qui es aux cieux,
Que ton nom soit sanctifié,
Que ton règne vienne,
Que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel.
Donne-nous aujourd'hui notre pain de ce jour.
Pardonne-nous nos offences
Comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensés.
Et ne nous soumets pas à la tentation,
mais délivre-nous du mal,
car c'est à toi qu'appartiennent le règne,
la puissance et la gloire, aux siècles des siècles.
'Oliver, it's Enrique calling … you'll listen better than the other guy, anyway.'
It wasn't that I had stopped being a Catholic that day, when I had confessed to Father Moretti "what" I was and been effectively excommunicated from the church I had grown up attending, it was more that my perceptions had been changed. I put more faith into the parables that told of forgiveness above all else, and wished others would, too.
Even Oliver only humoured me. He believed that the Church (of every denomination) would forever close its doors against us, committed homosexuals. I expect he sees his fate as confirming his life-long mistrust in people and their religions. My aim is to find somewhere that will prove him wrong. There is someone, somewhere who will accept me for who I am, I know it. Maybe it's "just" God who will – but then, Oli had stopped believing in him too by the end.
I hope you're watching me, Oliver. I'm going to prove you wrong. I hope you're pleased – no, I hope you're not; it was always so much more fun then. Je t'aime, to use your silly language. Ti amo, to use mine.
I know, I know, most of the word-count here was taken up by prayers. XD I think this is quite sweet - what do you think?
xIlbx