Inspiration
It was in the way the boy began to smile day after day, able to put his tortured past behind him. He began to move on.
It was in the way he had learned to see everybody as a potential friend, with a small possibility they could be an enemy, instead of the other way around. He had learned trust.
It was in everything that touched his new life, especially when he realized that he couldn't escape from the man who'd led him down his new path - not the butler, who had let him live, but rather the cook, who had taught him how to live. He couldn't escape that rogue smile, that brash optimism, that honest criticism. He had found love.
So when the older man pinned him into a kiss, he knew it was right, and let whatever happened, happen.
He'd embrace the chance to learn more from the man who had inspired him since they met.
And the first night he did learn – he learned more about a terrible, beautiful passion than he could ever have imagined possible.