Nothing could have prepared Sean for what Met said then.
It had him jolting out of bed like a firecracker was set off under his ass.
He'd only managed to reply with a 'what?!' before Met had immediately hung up on him.
He was in the bathroom now, washing his face and cleaning his teeth and fixing his short hair that was probably fine.
He paused momentarily to ask his reflection what the hell it was doing, acting so nervous. This wasn't like him. Besides, it's not like he hadn't seen Met in a long time, it was only like a week or so. Why was this so different.
He pulled on black sweatpants before going down to open the door. He tried not to focus on the fact that he was taking the stairs two at a time.
Met was still in his car when he hung up on Sean. It was parked at the front of the house.
He glanced at his rearview mirror and looked away. He glanced at it again and this time checked his teeth.
He fought the urge to look again and find something else to fix that didn't need fixing.
Met got out of the car and went to the front door. His hands needed to find something else to do before they ripped his hair out.
Sean opened the door to a pristine looking Met. Suit and tie and a dark tendril of hair that escaped its confinement only to fall rebelliously against his forehead. He looked gorgeous. He always looked gorgeous. Sean didn't even want to begin on the body that was beneath all the multiple layers of cloth, the toned muscles, the broad--
Nothing, the broad nothing.
He didn't continue because that was the wrong train of thought. He found Met looking expectant and he realized he had yet to let him in so he stepped aside, letting the expensive dress shoes carry the man into his house.
Met settled on a table across from Sean. Elbows on the smooth surface, he was so tense and Sean himself was scared to get to the bottom of everything. The fact that they were both in the same room unsupervised and trying to find common ground spoke volumes about how much they 'hated' each other.
"Can I get you—" Sean tried to ask out of hospitality and to try to make things seem less awkward but Met only shook his head. It was going to be a long morning.
He only saw one way everything was going to go down after this. They would be damaged beyond repair.
So why was he still holding on to that rainbow in the hurricane. The nonexistent silver lining that lived in his imagination.
His nerves got the better of him before he could form a decent answer, he didn't understand how Met could be so calm at the moment.
So many things were running through his head. Internally, he was in disarray. Now, he couldn't help it.
He was going to be the one to break the ice. The words came tumbling out.
"I couldn't find you Met. When I was supposed to pick you up after that meeting, where you sold our ideas out to those money hungry scavengers. The dreams we'd spent sleepless nights working on. you gave it all away like none of it mattered." Pathetic as Sean felt, it didn't stop Met from looking at him like he had grown two heads and a third one was on the way.
"What the hell are you talking about?! Look at me Sean."
Sean had not realized that he was looking everywhere but Met. A warm hand rested on his and he pulled back. Good, at least his pride was still intact.
He looked up though, hard eyes stared back at him. He could tell Met was trying to keep his emotions in check, he seemed shocked.
"Don't even act like any of this baffles you Met! You rejected me and pushed me away, you discarded–"
"Sean!"
Met's voice was sharp and firm, silencing Sean with the one syllable that was his name. It was even laced with concern. But that shouldn't make sense, Met wasn't this type of person, a backstabbing prick even if he told himself that every single day. Deep down he knew it wasn't true.
Sean had always thought that when this moment came—if it ever did—he would look Met in the eye and give him a piece of his mind, just not sound so fucking hopeless. He'd played the scenario so many times in his head, and he was always destroying Met with his words then walking away strong. But now, all the pain and emotions he'd suppressed came up on the surface, and he was the one struggling not to be pushed under.
"I understand that there's something really wrong here, what you're saying—it's not making any sense. Let's do this the right way. Tell me what happened that day, tell me your side of the story, and I'll tell you mine, please?"
Sean did not know what his face was doing because Met suddenly added, "I just need us to be in the clear, I'll keep out of your life after this if you want, just, let's get it over with."
"Fine, no problem. While I waited for you to join me in the car, waited for the good news that was supposed to shape our future, I received a message. A message thanking me for offering up my part of our to-be-company. My fifty percent gone, just like that. There was even a picture attached to it, a contract that confirmed you were the legal owner and had signed it all away to this anonymous person. I guessed it was the number that had texted me," Sean hated this, he was getting to the part he hated the most.
"I tried to call you immediately because obviously something was wrong, it went straight to voicemail, I didn't want to overthink it because you'd explain, you'd give me a reason for the mind fuckery I was having at the moment, but you had just vanished, you weren't there. I got to your apartment and you were gone, with all your things, it was clean and empty, you had disappeared, for whatever reason, you had screwed me over, you left me... just like that Met, like I meant nothing to you. I started off Skyward on my own, just to prove to myself that I could do anything by myself and I didn't need you for it, somehow it was a success," as much as he hated to bring it up, he had to get it out, at a cost of course.
The old feelings came back like he was reliving the day, loss, hurt, betrayal among them.
"Of course it was a success, you're way too smart to fail," Met mumbled mostly to himself but Sean had caught it.
His hands were shaking slightly now, mostly from talking about the worst day of his life. He'd been harboring all the feelings for so long and now, it was like he'd been cut open.
Met was furiously shaking his head. "And no, no such thing happened! I didn't leave, you have no idea—"
"You think I have the time to make up
something like this?"
"Not quite but–"
"What do you mean 'not quite'?!"
"Just hear me out, the meeting took a way shorter time to adjourn than I'd thought, and then I got a text from you, it said to meet you at our favorite diner, you apologized for not picking me up because there was something urgent you had to take care of first and then we'd celebrate. And so I did, I took a cab and went to wait for you, I waited for three frustrating hours, trying fruitlessly to call you in between, you never picked and I got so worried I rushed to your place to check if you were there, no other place came to mind," Sean thought he was taking all this rather well. What the fuck was Met talking about?!
"I called you once more and it went straight to voicemail, I ignored that for the moment and tried to get in but you had changed the locks, the key didn't work. I don't know how loud I banged at your door but it had your neighbor coming out, I'd never seen her before but she told me about an hour ago, you had left with bags, you'd told her you were traveling for a few days when she asked you," Met paused like to continue meant to hurt.
"I didn't believe her, couldn't. I went back to the restaurant, somehow you'd come back to me I thought, I'd wait till you came and explained everything. That's when I received the same message you were sent, only this time, it was your signature and you had sold it all. You never came, even after I'd waited until the diner closed. I went back home and drank myself to sleep. I'd been royally screwed over by the person I held closest to my heart," the last part had Met sounding so broken Sean couldn't take it.
He couldn't believe what Met was saying, "That can't be true, you know I'd never–"
"Just like I'd never do the same to you?"
"I'm sorry that you thought I could do that to you, you must loathe me, but I just want you to know that I didn't," his eyes glassy as he began to walk away, he just couldn't do this. "And I'm really sorry for being your first and taking that away from you."
"Sean wait!" Sean did not wait. He kept walking away and only stopped when a broad chest engulfed his back and strong arms caged him, trapping him and his heart that was currently trying frantically to break free.
"Don't you dare apologize for that," said Met after locking Sean in his embrace, remembering the night Sean had taken his virgin hole.
"But you said–"
"I know, but that didn't mean I didn't want it to be you either. I wasn't going to admit it but it was special to me. I just didn't think you felt the same. It threw me off balance Sean, you threw me off balance."
"And I know you didn't do that to me. I know that now," his breath was warm against Sean's neck, "I should have known all this time something was up and I'm sorry for that. You do realize what this means right? That someone has been watching us and keeping tabs, so accurately enough to know our routines and even favorite places. That's just too personal."
"It's now clear that all this was a ploy, a plan to steal everything we had and maybe keep us apart, it might not be much but I'm going to get to the bottom of it, I promise you that," finished Met.
Sean turned around and Met's hand closed protectively behind him. He looked at Met and tried to fight the doubt in his eyes.
"I want to believe you so bad, I'd even be lying if I said that I wanted you to stay out of my life now," Sean confessed.
"I'm not going anywhere, I'd readily beg you to stay if I had to," his admission had Sean gasping.
"Can I kiss you?"
Sean nodded despite the fact that he was already leaning forward, they met halfway in a heartwrenching kiss.
Met's hands on each side of his neck, holding him in place as he ravaged his lips. Taking everything Sean had to offer. They were breathless when they pulled apart, Sean took to breathing in Met's neck and he was feeling like he could float.
"Sean," Met quietly called.
"Yeah?"
"You're shirtless, you know that right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"It's very distracting."
"Oh," he chuckled softly and felt himself still, he wasn't shy or anything, but Met was Met.
"I forgot to put on a shirt, you didn't give me much time if you must know," Sean retorted, peeling himself off Met to look at him.
"Oh I don't know, probably takes a second to throw one on but what do I kno–"
Sean's lips cut him off, they were soft against his, it was a different sensation this time, teasing and coaxing him to deepen the kiss only for Sean nip his bottom lip with his teeth, then look up at him with a little victory smile playing on his lips.
"Where's that smart mouth now huh?"
Met groaned, "Fuck. Do that again."
Sean's whole demeanor changed and for a moment Met was scared.
"Met," Sean's voice had gone almost too quiet.
Met tensed and looked at him but didn't say a word
despite the fact that he was inwardly holding his breath, indicating that he was ready to listen to whatever Sean had to say.
"There's something you have to know, it's Jade, I can't get him off my mind, no matter what I do, I know that's weird but–"
"Right here," he said as he placed Sean's palm right over his heart, "I'm not sure what it means but every time I think about him, it hurts right here."
Sean nodded in understanding, "In it's way, that night felt like a breakup," he laughed bitterly, "One I can't get over, the scariest part is that it has nothing to do with the sex, what am I going to do?"
Met pulled Sean to his chest and held him tight, his head leaning against him, "We, what are we going to do, and we'll figure it out."
"We're not letting him go," Sean said.
"No, no we're not."
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The first time I wrote this chapter, I couldn't believe it was possible for me to write so many words. But I guess you grow as you keep writing😅
Thank you so much for reading!💙