You never assumed that the always stoic, stern, callous Don Williams would cry on tear, which was snaking it's way to his cheek and at the end to the ground. You can't imagine what it's like being marry to such a, apologizing the choice of words, b*tch. Passing seconds, whom felt like hours, the muscular man conitnued, slowly and steady.
"It was when she demanded to be treated like she was the f*cking queen of England or a princess served by her charming prince...It was madness. I didn't see the lovely yound lady I met at college, I saw narcisstic demanding woman, who's highest goal was to make my life miserable."
"An opportunity rose up to embarrass me in front of her, my family, friends, coworkers, distant relatives, aquaintances it didn't matter, as long as she had her fun..."
"I hurted myself at work or anything likely, she would say 'Don't pussy around and act like a real man, not that you ever will be one'. After this sentence she would laugh evily, mocking me with those eyes, I once fell in love with."
"This, I tell you kid, people may act friendly, caring in front of others, but you're never know what happens behind the door. I was relieved after the divorce, building myself up again, swore to never trust anyone ever again..." He paused for a second and looked at the ceiling and then at you. "Until I met you..." Your eyes widening, did he just unintentionally confess to you? Or did you interpret the whole situation in the most wrong way possible?
"M-Me...?,"you blurted out, not getting the hint he hoped you would get. "You are one of the few people I can call friends and give others a feeling of, I don't know, hope," he finished, his eyes sending shivers down your spine. It's like in an old highschool movie where you're the nest friend who helps everyone.
"You're strange in a good way kid," he said and petted your head gently. "But as I said, don't be too naive and careless...Don't make the same mistake that I made a long time ago," he added, withdrawing his hand from you. You looked up and nodded nervously, your thoughts spinning in your mind, deepening his words. Suddenly the gaze in his eye turned from concern to confusion, from confusion to unsureness, repeating in that cycle.
"Don... "You paused, not used to the feeling of calling him by his first name. "Are-Are you're alright?" You carefully approached your question and he gulped, his soul mirrors inspecting your face. You tried to ask again, rasing your index finger but ended in your landlords embrace. Before he squeezed you to death you noticed his flushed tomatoe red countenance. Frozen in place you did not there to make a single sound including your breath sounds. Seconds passed and you still didn't move an inch, Don neither. He tighened the hug instead so sharp
that you let out a slight yelping sound.
"D-D-Don?!?!?"
You barely got your voice to function properly. You wiggled and tried to push him gently away but in this, he was the surperior one. "Just...let me hold you...just for a little while...," he silenced you while continuing petting your head. Obeying his wish out of pity you calmed down a bit. "I'm not sure what's going on," you muttered and buried your face in his chest, embarassement written right into your face. It was this nasty feeling of guilt that's making it's way through your mind.
What if Peter would see your right now in the arms of another man?
Would he snap? But he was too good natured to to do that. But why? Why? Why does it feel so good to be held by another man like a father protecting his daughter?
Your heart jumped, sweat pourinh from your forhead. "You okay? I'm not holding to tight?" The mascular man gabe you a worried look and you shook your head quickly. "No...I..." You couldn't finish the sentence. "Are you feeling uncomfortable because of your current love interest?"
Really tactful Don, really tactufl.
"Yes and No." Confused he lifted your chin to study your expression. "What kind of answer is that?" You both chuckled and the tension vanished like sand whipped away from the ocean. "It feels good to be held, my father never did that too me, in fact my parents never really hugged me anyway," you admitted sadly with a deep sigh, the anguish emotions from the past overhelming you. Don's wide smile turned into a worried one in seconds, slightly thinking he mad you more sadder than before. "I'm so sorry Y/N," he said and took hold of both of your hands, forcing you to look again into his soul mirrors. You let out a bit amount of air and focused your gaze on anything but him, maybe the ceiling, yes good idea. "I had good parents but their love was just ... different," you said and let your eyes wander from the ceiling to his hair. "They cared about me, giving me a strict, but loved childhood. But as I grew older the tension in the family became too much. The competition for 'Who has the child?' was just one of the examples why I left. We were a perfect triangle until my aunts, uncles, grandfather and grandfather, cousins and the whole clan called 'family' came into our life. The wanted to make up for lost time and that's when I lost them slowly. These toxic pests had interrupted our peaceful life and took away my triangle. I had to leave... I had to start over... The pressure was too much... I-I-I-..."
Don puts a hand to wipe away the streams of tears dripping from yyour eyes to the floor. You didn't even notice them through your emotional scene. "The simple things like gettting comfort are often the most forgotten," he said and leaned down on your level. "You deserve the world kid, even if you would not admit it yourself," he continued and rubbed your cheeks dry from the salty water.
"I think we both had load off a lot of weight from our shoulders," he said and checked if you're calm now. "Yes, I feel much better already, telling someone about it." You smiled and this time genuinely and with utmost truth. The landlord nodded, checking his watch, eyes widening. "Well I gotta go, i'ts late and you must be tired." As if someone push a buttom you yawned loudly, covering your mouth with your hand. Don chuckled again and waved you goodbye, telling you if anything is wrong he'll be there for you...
Perhaps you've found a real father figure, that you haven'T had in your whole life...