Round and Round

Part 29

How long had he been walking?

Hours, Francis guessed, judging by the burning pain shooting up and down his legs and the soreness of his feet. He would've worn something more comfortable today if he'd known that he was going to be touring their town so spontaneously.

...This was stupid.

Everything that they were doing was stupid. Everything that they were doing; everything that they had done. It was all completely idiotic.

In all honesty, letting Antonio go was probably the first intelligent thing that he'd done in years...

Also the most difficult. The most painful... And now Francis stared down at his hands, staring down at the fingers clenched into fists. And began to slowly release. Wondering how long they had been like that. Perhaps since he'd resolved to do this, to completely sever the ties binding himself and Antonio together.

Maybe.

There was blood under his fingernails, blood that perfectly corresponded with the deep crescents cut into the palms of his hands. From where he'd clenched; the pain being the only thing holding him back from turning. Turning and running back and pulling Antonio into his arms... Stroking his hair and holding him close and promising him that he'd never leave him alone. He'd stand by his side forever, no matter what... Of course, he'd never leave. He loved him...

He always loved him.

The streets were pretty empty at this time of day, since most people would be at work or school. Where he should be...

Not that it really mattered anymore, since he'd soon be long gone. Off living in London with Arthur. He vaguely wondered what his parents would do when they found out that he'd run off with their money; would they send someone after him? Or would they just ignore it, since at least he'd finally be completely out of their hair...?

He scowled at the thought, lifting his eyes to gaze into the shop windows that he was currently passing. A thrift store, little café, coffee shoppe... He sort of wanted to go inside and sit down, but then he'd probably end up getting questioned about why he wasn't in school. And he'd much rather not deal with nosy shop owners right now.

...It was annoying to wander around like this, though. Since his thoughts kept skipping about. One minute he'd be worrying over that idiotic Arthur, desperately wracking his mind in an attempt to think of places where he might be... The next minute, the image of Antonio's shattered expression would flash in front of his eyes.

Francis knew that he couldn't let it get to him. He had to remember why he was doing this. No matter how much he wanted to stay with Antonio. No matter how much it was tearing him apart... He had to let him go.

He had been selfish up until this point, letting Antonio follow him and Arthur into alcohol, sex... Just because he didn't want to lose the other boy. But Francis wasn't going to be selfish anymore. He was doing what was best for Antonio by severing their friendship... It was how the saying went, wasn't it? "If you love it, let it go." He was letting Antonio go.

Letting him go so he could finally realise his feelings for Lovina. Because Francis wanted both of them to be happy. Together.

And his internal thoughts were suddenly broken by the sound of his cell phone...

Which actually made him jump quite badly.

Francis hesitated to answer for a moment, as he needed to get his breathing under control. One he had, he slipped the slim phone from his pocket and glanced at the caller ID...

Unknown number.

He stared at the screen for a few moments. And then shrugged and flipped the phone open. "Bonjour? Francis Bonnefoy speaking..."

"Do you feel it entirely necessary to answer your bloody phone with that fucking frog language?"

And Francis almost dropped his phone at that. "Quo—Arthur?"

Okay, that had not been expected. Francis's attention immediately fixated on the other teenager's voice. "Arthur, where are you? Where have you been? Are you okay? Are you hurt? You didn't pick another fight, did you?" He didn't sound hurt, but you never knew.

He heard a slight scoff on the other end of the phone. "Quit sounding so panicked, frog. I'm fine..." A pause, and then, "Mostly..."

"Mostly?"

"I sprained my ankle... Anyway," he hurried on before Francis could respond. "I need you to bring me a sewing kit."

...What?

"A sewing kit?" He wondered if he might have heard that wrong. Why in the world would Arthur want to bring him a sewing kit?

"Yes, or is that too difficult for you?" And now he sounded slightly defensive. Which made Francis immediately relax. Because if Arthur was being his usual moody self, then that definitely meant that he was okay.

"Non. Non. But where are you?" And why did he want a sewing kit? And how had he sprained his ankle? Actually, that last one was probably explained by his bad habit of jumping out of second story windows.

There was a moment of silence after Francis's question, as if Arthur was considering where he really wanted to tell Francis where he was... Which of course just made the French boy incredibly curious. He was acting weird—which was saying something, since this was Arthur that he was talking about...

He continued to walk down the street, a little faster than before. He knew that there was a craft store nearby, and thankfully he'd thought to bring his wallet with him...

"I can't bring you anything if you don't tell me where you are," he reminded the other boy after a few moments of silence.

"Fuck off. I know that..." He sounded incredibly reluctant.

Where in the world was he? The suspense was killing him...

"Fine, you know those apartments near Greenview Park?"

"Oui." He'd been in quite a few of them over the years; they were popular with the twenty-something crowd, since they were decent apartments that didn't cost too much. And there was the craft store; he sped up slightly and then pushed the door open. A bell softly chiming to alert the shopkeeper of his presence. The woman behind the counter glanced up from her magazine for a moment, but then immediately returned to the pages when she saw that he was on his cell phone.

"I'm in apartment D402."

"Why are you there?" Sewing kit. Well, he'd found the aisle with knitting stuff... "Some nice girl decide to take you home and nurse you back to health?" Sewing machines...

"Not...exactly..."

Francis paused in his search. That tone had been interesting to say the least...

"Arthur, it would be much easier if you would stop being cryptic."

Another moment of silence. And then Arthur sighed irritably. "All right, fine. After I got off the phone with you, I might have wandered over to the park and fallen asleep because my ankle hurt too much to go anywhere..."

Francis sighed. Idiot. "You spent the entire night in a park? Were you asking to get mugged, cher?"

"I can take care of myself, frog." He was sounding defensive again. "Anyway, so I fell asleep in the park and then when I woke... That fucking pig was there and practically forced me to come back to his apartment with him."

...Pig...Arthur couldn't mean...?

"A cop? Wait, you don't mean that cop..."

Arthur's silence was answer enough.

Oh, this was good. This was very very good. Francis chuckled as he leaned against one of the shelves, running his fingers along the rolls of multi-coloured thread. "Mm, that's not fair. Why didn't you call me earlier? This would have made things so much easier..."

"Fuck off, Francis. I don't care about your fucking libido."

Ooh, somebody sounded even more pissy than usual. Francis smirked in silent response as he switched the phone to his other ear and began walking down the aisle again. Sewing kit. Sewing kit. Ah, there they were... "Now, cher~" he cooed into the phone. "You know that I'd be willing to share with you."

"Fuck. Off."

This was very interesting. Normally Arthur would respond to that sort of remark with a combination of disgust and disinterest, leaning slightly one side or another depending on the situation. But, he actually sounded angry right now. The tone was just slightly different. Probably not noticeable to anyone who didn't know him as well as Francis did...

Francis wondered again at exactly why Arthur wanted a sewing kit so badly. Perhaps it had something to do with the adorable little cop?

...If it did, this could be a very very good thing.

Francis couldn't convince Arthur to stay here. He wanted Arthur to stay—hell, he knew better than anyone what the other kid was capable of... Arthur was incredibly intelligent; he could probably due absolutely anything that he wanted to do if he had the right motivation. He didn't deserve to live on the streets for the rest of his life.

Which Francis knew would happen if they ran away to London. Once the money ran out, they'd have to figure out some other way to live... Prostitution, most likely. Since he was already good at selling his body for what he needed...

He wanted Arthur to stay here, finish up school, turn his life around... But he knew that Arthur sure as hell wouldn't listen to him about something like that. Wouldn't listen to him. But...if he managed to get close to someone else...

Francis really had no idea what would happen to him after that. If he lost Arthur, too. He'd already broken from Antonio and Gillian... It wasn't like there was anything else holding him here.

He could always go by himself, he supposed. Live in Paris... Ration his money.

Be alone.

"Are you still there, frog?"

Francis jumped slightly at the voice, almost dropping the sewing kit that he was currently holding in his hands. He'd forgotten where he was for a minute. "Oui. Oui. I was just thinking..."

Arthur snorted at that. "Don't hurt yourself, frog... Now hurry up and get here. He's at work right now and I'm not sure when he'll come back."

"Oui. Oui." He smiled as he began walking toward the register. "I'll see you soon, ami. Don't miss me too much~"

"Fuck off, frog." And he hung up.

Ah, Arthur. Always such a ray of sunshine.


A/N: ...Aww, Franny... :(

*snuggles*

Franny is kind of breaking my heart right now. I want to give him a hug so badly. I suppose I shall have to be content with writing future scenes where Franny is happy... Because he needs a happy ending if anybody does.