Falling Before Her Eyes - Chapter 5

[jentle55]

First off... WOW. I just have to say, WOW to all of you who have been commenting and reviewing my little fic. In one of my responses, I admitted to the fact that this delightful fandom is the first place I've ever publicly displayed my creative writing. Sure, I did little fiction contests as a kid, but not since I finally found my own style and began to write as stress relief have I ever been able to let others read. Not even my husband. So for me to put myself out here like this and get such resounding positive feedback? It makes me cry. Seriously. So, you all RAWK hard core. *Clink*

That being said, I'm trying to maintain the quality and hopefully live up to your expectations of me.

This chapter is highly based off of two glorious pieces of concept art found here. I saw the two (you'll figure out which) and just knew I had to write about them. So what follows isn't so much focussed on the whole hair infatuation, though it is there, but more or else me playing with parts of the movie that left so much up to the imagination.

So I present to you... The Art Gallery Date and the beginning of the Minion/Megamind fall out!

PS - I will own my first tablet this weekend... I could be persuaded to draw fanart as well >.>;;

Title: Falling Before Her Eyes - Chapter 5
Author: jentle55
Word Count: 5,186
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: NOT CANON! This chapter REALLY extrapolates on some allusions in the movie.
Summary: Based closely on the movie (but not really this chapter), read the story of Megamind and Roxanne's romance through his changing interpretations of Roxanne's hair.
Disclaimer: Dreamworks owns everything.

Read from Beginning

Last Chapter

Megamind felt as if he had three very separate personalities all of a sudden. It was like a bad comedy movie, similar to the ones Minion sometimes forced him to watch as a way of observing humans and social customs. He had to struggle to keep the three lives very separate; Himself as Space Dad working to teach Hal Stewart the ways of being a hero, his life as Bernard standing alongside Roxanne, and then there was just him, Megamind, developing a large battle suit for his inevitable fight with his new hero.

Sometimes Space Dad, Megamind and Bernard all wanted the same thing, but sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes he had to stop being one and had to rush to be the other, constantly twirling the face of his watch so the tiny mechanics inside groaned with the stress of changing again and again. He could feel the heat put out by the device against the back of his wrist, and the spot itched and burned by the end of the day.

Some days, late at night, he reflected that he had a bit of an identity crisis in terms of which ‘self’ was more true. The ones he had to disguise himself as, or just him staring back in the mirror, blue and tall headed.

As Space Dad, he knew he was working toward righting what wrongs were happening in the world because of him destroying Metro Man. Hal was improving with each day; not that it wasn’t a struggle as he did lack most of Metro Man’s personality and the things that made him a great hero, like morals, simple logic, a sense of justice, restraint...

Megamind shuddered at remembering the violence with which Hal ‘practiced’ fighting him.

Zap Zap Zap echoed in his nightmares some nights, accompanied with the sensation of having his face liquefied by heat-vision.

But it would be worth it in the end. All his hard work would pay off.

As the true Megamind, his goal was clear. Purpose. He needed to find purpose again in his life, and not just the fleeting sort of short-term goals like Build a Battle Suit, or Train Hal and Fight Hal. No, he needed an overarching reason for being. And that purpose would start with... building a battle suit and training Hal, then fighting Hal. Either way, he would soon be done his giant mechanical suit, and his life would have purpose once again. He would be brought to justice, and everything would return to the way it was. This thought kept him up at night, working diligently with Minion at his side to perfect the schematics for his best invention yet. With owning the entire town pretty much outright, he had to admit it was much easier to get supplies this way, so the machine was coming along quickly and efficiently.

But then there was Bernard. Where would Bernard be, after Space Dad’s job was done and Hal was a hero, and Megamind completed his battle suit and used it in an epic battle? His plan had been to have Roxanne report on the epic battle. But, then... after that, there would be a hero around to keep her happy and she’d keep reporting because of that. Once Hal was ready and their battles began, Bernard became obsolete.

He reflected on this with a numb heart while leaning against the workbench he was currently attached to. His left arm was encased in a thick glove, a heavy metal casing surrounding it from wrist to elbow, electrodes and wires travelling to a large computer terminal. He was using his right hand to reach across the other immobile arm, typing on the keyboard with less than enthusiasm. Dials flashed, and lights blinked in the giant warehouse, the soft sounds of computer motors whirring and Brain-Bots moving around filling the air.

“Are you ready to test the battle suit sir?” Minion called from across the Lair, and Megamind turned to look at his companion, who was standing beside a massive arm made of metal and electronics, the thing easily as big as a tanker truck. It looked skeletal in nature, all raw mechanics and open wiring strapped to a metal frame. They had to work out the hydraulics first, before the thing could be decorated.

“Hmm? Oh, yes. Of course Minion,” he replied without much conviction, and he turned to press a few buttons beside him. The sound of engines roaring to life and gears spinning met his ears. The hum of electricity made the air vibrate. Checking his calculations one last time, Megamind hit another button in front of him and then looked at his gloved left hand still connected to the sensors and he slowly tightened his fingers into a fist. The black glove glowed blue along tracks of fibre optics, and as he looked over at the massive robotic hand that Minion stood near, it too formed a fist, the whole thing shifting and grinding.

“Success sir!” Minion cried cheerfully, and Megamind flexed and unflexed his hand, watching the corresponding movement in the battle suit arm.

“Very good,” he replied in a lacklustre tone. He just couldn’t get into the spirit of it today, it seemed, as he kept thinking about Bernard, and his normal life that was beginning to hold more and more appeal when compared to all of this. Even a giant robotic hand that mimicked his every movement couldn’t shake his sense of unease, and his longing for Bernard’s perfect life.

But that was all fake, wasn’t it? His feelings of normalcy, of finally fitting in, were all dependent on that disguise. But once Hal was up and running, Roxanne wouldn’t need Bernard around to inspire her to continue to report anymore. So where did that leave Megamind and his new found joy of being able to walk around without people screeching in fear? Once, the chorus of screams had been soothing to him. Now... He didn’t know how he felt.

He was suddenly ripped from his musings by the tell-tale tune of the cell phone at his hip. Forgetting about the experiment, he quickly whipped around and scrambled to grab the device, a grin already splitting across his face, his worries melting away.

“Sir! Careful! Maybe you should de-activate the battle suit firs--”

“Roxanne! Hello!” He couldn’t stop the delight from filling him. Normalcy aside, what would he do without the joy that Roxanne brought to his life? His heart pitter-pattered just knowing she was on the phone.

“Hi Bernard!” Roxanne said across the line, and he could hear the smile in her voice. He smiled back, leaning more comfortably on the work desk. He ignored the fussing that Minion was making.

“How are you today, Miss Ritchi?” he asked comfortably, his smile turning lazy and content, eyes half-lidded as calm flowed through him, just from speaking with her. All his thoughts and anxieties about Bernard disappeared to be replaced with just the thought of her. Roxanne.

“Pretty well actually. Look, it’s Saturday so I thought we could get together,” she was saying.

“Eager to do more research?” he asked, using his left hand to roll a pencil back and forth across the desk. He heard some crashing and Minion’s shocked cry in the background, but figured the servant was stumbling and tripping over things again. He’d have to work on a better suit for the fish, once things calmed down and he had more time. He felt tugged in so many directions as it was, living three separate lives that he hardly had a moment to breathe let alone make a more coordinated suit for Minion.

“Actually, no. We’ve been working so hard recently, and I’ve kind of hit a block, so I actually wanted to see if you wanted to do something fun today.” She sounded hopefully, a tad anxious.

“Something fun? Oh, well, what do you have in mind?” he asked, his voice going practically sultry with implications, but he to himself at how it had sounded to his own ears. It sounded a bit too much like how he sometimes had purred to her during all those kidnappings. The word Temptress was right there at the tip of his tongue, so he hurriedly carried on in a more casual, light tone. “I mean, what is there to do in this city that’s fun?”

“Oh lots of stuff!” she laughed into the receiver, and he sighed, dreamily picking up the keys to the invisible car where they sat in front of him. He played with the keychain between his fingers of his left hand, examining it and the blue lightning bold engraved on the key’s face, continuing to ignore the shouts of Minion calling for him.

“I thought we could actually go bike riding.”

“Bike riding?” he asked, sitting up a bit and wrapping his fingers fully around the keys. Minion FINALLY stopped shouting, so he could focus on the conversation at hand. “I’ve never been bike riding,” he confessed awkwardly.

“Really? Wow, you don’t get out much at all do you? Not even as a kid?”

“No... I never had access to a bicycle when I was a child. Well, actually, I had one... but they took it away,” he said, a little more miserably than he should have, so he began to toss the keys up into the air and catch them, as if to lighten his own mood. Minion started yelling again, panic in his voice, and Megamind ground his teeth in annoyance, sending a glare his way without actually really looking. Perhaps he should finish the phone call to see what was the matter with the stupid fish... “But I’d love to try it with you. When shall we meet, Miss Ritchi?”

“How about in an hour at Metro City Park? You can rent bikes there.”

“Wonderful! I will BE there!” he grinned with enthusiasm and then hung up, tossing the keys once more in his hand and then catching them quickly, before turning to glare at Minion.

“There, now what was all that fuss ab-Minion?” he asked, seeing the Lair was entirely empty. He looked left and then right, leaning slightly as if to see further past the motionless mechanical arm that took up the majority of the space. “Minion?” he called again a little unsurely. No response.

“Well, the nerve...” he muttered, tossing the keys once more for good measure, and the giant robotic arm taking up a portion of the floor mimicked the motion, and Minion’s scream sliced through the air. Megamind watched with some amazement as the mechanical hand opened up and toss Minion into the air, catching him again, just as he had been doing with the keys.

Oops.

Hurriedly, he guided his own arm to set the keys down on the table gently, and the giant arm followed suit to set Minion down, who was spinning madly in his tank, his robotic body stumbling this way and that as if he had just gotten off of a rollercoaster ride. Then he promptly collapsed to the ground, groaning.

“T-thank you Sir,” he managed weakly.

Realizing he had been inadvertently tossing the poor creature around like he’d been doing with the keys, Megamind clambered to turn off the computer, shut down the mechanical arm, and then slowly extract himself from the battle suit arm-sensors. Minion laid still on the ground, alive and seemingly undamaged but severely dizzy. The nutrient rich liquid that filled his tank was still swirling and rocking back and forth, bubbles foaming up the top third of the dome from the seemingly violent ride he’d endured.

“Well... The.... experiment was a success then,” Megamind stated awkwardly, slowly inching his way out of the area. “I’ll just... leave you to... clean up then.” And he all but ran for the exit before the fish could pull himself together and give him the lecture he no doubt deserved. Guilt plagued him and his stomach felt like he’d swallowed a dozen or so of the steel bolts lying around the Lair. Oh Minion. Please forgive me.

This was getting bad. Roxanne was back to distracting him terribly, so much so that he wasn’t paying proper attention to his duties as either Space Dad, or Megamind. This third personality, Bernard, was beginning to consume him. Maybe it was time to drop the charade and focus on what was important.

...But he’d already said he would meet her. So maybe he’d go on just this one little date. It couldn’t hurt, could it? He could stop whenever he wanted to. ...Right?

Right. Exactly. He just had to keep his head in the game. And the best way to do that was to put some distance in between himself and the project. Look at it objectively, without bias, and not let silly things like emotions get in the way. He’d look at it like any other sort of experiment. That was it! This was an experiment! Just like his other plans. If he could break it down into parts, and then simply go through it by procedure, he’d be able to emotionally step back from Roxanne without endangering the mission in any way. GENIUS.

So he tried to break down his time with Roxanne into experiments. A new section of his idea wall was created, which Minion continued to frown at each time he found Megamind atop his ladder, scissors, clips and yarn in hand, eagerly slinging long lines of the string from the rafters. But the evil super-genius brushed off any comments, purporting that because he had a research design it was all very scientific indeed and warranted no concern. But Megamind caught the fish staring and reading over his proposals and observations with great scrutiny. So much so that Megamind had to tear apart one of the sheets of paper before his companion could read it, due to the silly little heart he’d accidentally sketched onto the bottom of it. How had that happened...? Must have been doodling as he was thinking and his pen had randomly scribbled out a simple shape, which just so happened to be the shape humans called a heart.

Why’d they pick that shape anyways? The human heart looked nothing like that...

Hastily, he had to rewrite his whole experiment for that date in his sharp, jagged and very meticulously legible script and it looked something like this:

Date #3 (See Date #1 [RESTAURANT] and Date #2 [LIBRARY] for reference)
Location: METRO CITY PARK
Activity: BIKE RIDING
Environmental Factors: 61 DEGREES. SUNNY. NW WIND 8 MPH
Pre-Test Observations: ROXANNE APPEARS HAPPY. DRESSED CASUALLY. HAIR IS NICE. LOOKS CUTE WITH PINK HELMET ON.
Experimental Procedures: RIDE BIKES THROUGH PARK.
Post-Test Observations: ROXANNE LAUGHS WHEN I FALL [4 TIMES] BUT IS SUPPORTIVE. SMILES A LOT. IS GREATLY DISTURBED BY GARBAGE IN PARK. STOPS SMILING.
Conclusions: ROXANNE HAS SENTIMENTAL VALUE ATTACHED TO PARK [SEE NOTES ON Mother]. GARBAGE DISTURBS HER AND RUINS HER MOOD.
Follow Up: CITY MUST BE CLEANED FOR ROXANNE TO REACH GOAL.

Minion was walking by as Megamind leaned precariously on his rolling ladder to put this rewritten experiment up where the original had sat. Holding a laundry basket against his one hip, the fish suddenly extended a mechanical arm with a whirr of machinery, grabbing the sheet of paper straight from Megamind’s hand. Gasping and shouting out obscenities, the criminal genius had to wrap arms and legs around the side rung of the ladder as Minion’s arm retracted back to himself. The sudden instrusion caused Megamind to lose his balance while trying to snatch it back, and the ladder clattering loudly as it rocked back and forth until settling into place again.

“MINION!” he screamed in rage, sliding down the ladder fully to rush over to his servant.

“Is this why we cleaned up the city last night, sir?” Minion asked, his fish face contorted in a frown. His fins fluttered angrily, and his jagged front teeth seemed more pronounced with his entire body twisted in a frown.

Megamind snarled and lunged at the robot, who screamed in fright and promptly lost the battle to hold onto the loose leaf paper after Megamind started to climb all over him. Smoothing the paper delicately, clutching it to his chest, the blue alien glared at the other.

“How DARE you! I think you’re forgetting your place Minion!” he snapped, over exaggerating the last syllable of the creature’s name, before he stormed back over to the ladder, hastily clambering up to clip the entry in place.

“Sir, I’m just trying to understand,” Minion pleaded, bending down to scoop up the laundry that had fallen from his grasp after trying to block Megamind from getting the experiment report.

“You don’t need to understand anything, Minion. Just do as you’re told!”

Minion made a soft little mewl of hurt at this, but Megamind just frowned expressively, back turned to his caretaker, clutching the rungs of the ladder in a deadly grip.

“FINE sir,” the fish said back firmly, and Megamind dared to look over his shoulder just an inch, seeing his companion and lifelong friend with lower lip quivering, before he marched off, hugging the laundry basket to himself. A heavy sigh escaped Megamind as his body seemed to slump against the ladder with weariness. He gazed around himself, hovering in a cloud of paper and ideas, taking a few steadying breaths of air as if to fortify himself, before pulling another paper out of his belt. He unfolded it carefully, smoothing its creases with his fingers, before he clipped it up beside the last report. It was mostly blank, as if preparing for more data to be entered later, but the top held that day’s date and the words DATE #4. Location: ART GALLERY. 1:00 PM.

Glancing down at his watch, seeing both hands pointing up at the 12, he slowly stepped down each step of the ladder, something he rarely did, and then prepared to get ready for the next stage.

The Brain-Bots had already been at work for sometime before he brought Roxanne to the steps of the Museum and Art Gallery. By now, they should all be gone, their work completed. No doubt Minion would be growing angry once he figured out that Megamind had used them for such a purpose as this, but he quickly put the cyborg out of his mind and focussed on Roxanne, dressed in a prim white button up short sleeved shirt, and some form of grey skirt that hugged her wide curves and made her heels all the more attractive on her surprisingly thin legs.

She was smiling at him in an untrusting, but joking sort of way.

“What’s this big surprise you have for me, Bernard?” she was asking, her tone teasing. She looked a little bit excited to have a surprise prepared for her, and he smiled at her with a casual shrug.

“Oh, just something I know you’ll enjoy,” he responded in an offhand way, though his stomach clenched with nervous energy, hoping she DID enjoy it as much as he thought she would. He led her up the steps of the white washed building, being so bold as to guide her by the elbow as they reached the front doors. It had been closed to the public after Megamind, or he, had taken to using it as his personal office-decorating depot. But now, the caution tape was gone, and the facade of the building with all its columns and large windows, was cleaned of graffiti and back to some form of normalcy.

Eagerly, he reached to open the front door but then stopped and glanced at her. She smiled back at him with a questioning look.

“Close your eyes,” he said with sudden excitement, and although she blinked at first, she did as instructed, a bemused grin stealing across her lips. He practically giggled with anticipation, and threw open the doors so they could walk in, before scampering around behind her, doing something he’d wanted to do forever.

He laid his hands gingerly across her eyes, his thumbs resting against the tendrils of her bangs and she gave a little gasp of shock. The sound seemed to send a zip of awareness through his body and he dared to lean against her and whisper in her ear. Oh the thoughts that ran through his head as he took in her smell, the delicate curve of her ear so close to his mouth. But he just grinned.

“No peeking.”

She gave a strangled sort of giggle in response, and he could feel her cheeks warming beneath his palms. Trying to reign in his own excitement about the situation, he nudged her forward a little bit so she was walking, still with his hands over her eyes. She had her hands out in front of her as if to catch herself should she bump into something, but he steered her forward so no harm would befall the reporter in her vulnerable state. They entered the gallery in this way, slowly walking forward past benches, her heels clipping and echoing in the vast open space meant to hold hundreds of people at once.

He stopped her after he was sure she was in a good enough position to see all of his work, but he kept his fingers there a few moments longer, savouring the feel of her skin, and the idea that he was at least part way touching the hair he had coveted for so long. The ends of the tapered strands tickled the knuckles of his thumbs, a few scant bits of the hair managing to be beneath the pad so his fingerprints felt alive with electricity. It was soft like silk, always shifting and moving as he struggled to move with her while staying at her back. He wanted to just melt into the sensation, to pull his hands up further on her freckled brow to burrow his fingers into the hair that taunted him so. But he restrained himself. Which was AMAZINGLY difficult. He hoped she appreciated just how difficult it was, especially since he could have buried his nose against the back of her head and just nuzzled his whole face into that glorious mop of hair. But he didn’t.

Finally, after he was sure he’d absorbed as much of the moment as he could for future memories, he opened his hands and spread them wide so she could see again. She gave a soft gasp and blinked in the light, turning in a slow circle to take in the previously empty gallery, filled with all of the paintings he had once stolen. Each was properly placed back in its spot, impeccably clean and lit professionally so the frame glistened under their individual lamps. She spun and spun, mouth opened in shock, eyes shining more beautifully than any of the paintings displayed.

“They’re all back! But how? Why?” she asked, her smile as wide as the sky, and even more gorgeous. She walked backwards, as if eager to go and view all the works of arts at once, but still wanting to see his face.

“Maybe Megamind isn’t so bad after all,” he offered with a humble smile, hands clasped behind his back to keep himself from touching her, his chest filling with an ever-expanding sense of accomplishment and happiness as she excitedly giggled, and pointed out a painting.

“OH!” she sighed, such a luxurious sound that Megamind wondered if he could record that and just play it on a loop over and over again. He’d never get any work done, but he’d be quite happy in the meantime.

“Look, it’s Starry Night,” she said with a smile, walking up to the painting as if it were an old friend. Megamind peered at the plaque beneath, claiming the art was done by Vincent Van Gogh. He tilted his head at the swirly blues and yellow of a glimmering sky that more resembled a sea to him, the way the colours bled and circled into each other. A dark spire of black jutted purposefully in the foreground, giving the illusion of the shadowy scenes of night that watched over a quiet town below.

“It’s my favourite,” she said with a grin, sitting down slowly onto a bench in front of it. He sat beside her and nodded.

“I can tell. I’m glad you’re happy.”

“How did this all happen, Bernard?” she asked again, still amazed and he struggled to just shrug. He wanted to blurb that he had done it for her, to make her happy, but he forced himself to say the words he’d practiced.

“I don’t know, really. I was walking by the other night, and saw some lights on. When I went inside, all the paintings were back on the walls. I guess Megamind put them all back.”

She made a little scoffing sound, setting her hands on the bench to either side of her, leaning back a bit.

“Hardly seems like something Megamind would do,” she replied back dryly, and Megamind tried not to cringe.

“Maybe he’s changed.”

“You expect me to believe that? A lifetime of being evil, and suddenly he’s good?”

“Well, maybe not suddenly. Perhaps he was never all the way evil.” What was he saying?

“What do you mean?” Yes, Megamind, what do you mean?

“Well, maybe there was always a little part of him that didn’t WANT to be evil. Maybe he had a rough childhood. Maybe it was his only option.”

He knew he was digging himself a hole. A mighty big one. But something in him craved for her to agree, even a little bit, that he wasn’t some spawn of the Devil. That even in all his evil treachery, she could see the little glimmers of morals in him. In how he had treated her. In his current actions, even though there was no way she would see this as being his handiwork. But at least cleaning up the city, and re-opening the banks and emergency services as he’d done earlier that week... Surely she could see some good in that? Couldn’t she see how he was doing it to please her? To make her happy again? To bring her back, the way he wished he could do with Metro Man?

She didn’t say anything though, and just sat in silence, staring at the canvas before her, her lower lip working slowly in thought. He cleared his throat, threading his fingers together and leaning forward so they hung between his knees, his forearms resting across the top of his legs.

“Thanks for showing me this Bernard.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied automatically, chancing a look in her direction. She was smiling at him gently, reaching up to brush her hair back behind her ear, endearingly.

“I really appreciate it. I think it’ll make the rest of my day go by a lot faster, knowing I can come back here and see everything back to normal. A little oasis, so to speak.”

“Hmm,” he replied back, none too pleased that because of him she would need to find an oasis of sanity in her world. He offered a sad, half smile and nodded. “Of course. I’m glad to help.”

“Hey, why don’t we go on a picnic tomorrow. Just you and me, in the park? Now that it’s cleaned up, I can show you what a great place it is,” she smiled and he nodded again, numbly.

“Of course. That would be nice.” Sounded like more research for him. Pic-nic.

“Good. Look, I have to get going, but I’ll call you later, ok Bernard?” she added and he smiled as best as he could, nodding and giving a little wave to her retreating back as she left the Museum. He stayed seated for some time after her rather sudden and abrupt exit, first looking down at his hands clasped together, and then back up to the painting before him.

The painting held such emotions, all warring with one another. There was something beautiful to the chaotic blend of colours. Something exceptionally lonely but at the same time filled with life about the stars against a swirling almost liquid pool of blue. The town below seemed sleepy and peaceful.

It seemed to echo the feelings coursing through him. All at once he felt joyous, filled with life, and filled with purpose, and yet at the same time, vast, empty and regretful. Guilt gnawed at the corners of his mind as he tried to rationalize what would happen in the future. He would eventually have to show her his real self. The self she refused to see any good in. He couldn’t keep lying to her like this, not when he was having feelings for her that made his every lie and omission stab itself into his chest. God, he did have feelings for her, didn’t he? Something that made his brain take a leave of absence when she was beside him. Something that made him forget who he was and what he was, all in favour of enjoying her company for even just a few minutes a day. This was no experiment. No objective plan to improve her skills as a reporter. It was all a cover up so he could indulge in his years long crush, guilt free.

But it wasn’t guilt free.

How could he keep doing this? To himself? To her...?

His logic told him to cut his losses and disappear while he still could. Before he was in too deep. But another, tiny but growing stronger voice told him to be greedy. To take what small amounts of happiness he could find in his world and cling to them desperately. Lie, cheat, steal. Anything to hold onto what was precious for the little moment it was available. It would only be a matter of time before the rug was pulled out from under him again, and someone would rub in his face all the things that had eluded him thus far. What was the harm in finding a little oasis, as Roxanne said. Just a little place in his life to feel right and normal.

The voice grew louder and more insistent, pushing all rational thoughts to the side without him noticing.

Yes, he deserved to find happiness in the small moments with Roxanne. Minion be damned. The world be damned. Plan or not, he liked being with her. She filled up some empty place in his chest. And it eased the hollow ache he had always assumed was simply a part of being alive.

Just as the paintings and cleaning up the city had brought her to life bit by bit, so was he being awakened day by day.

He reached down and turned the watch, the zap of blue energy travelling down his body so he sat in his true form, eyes still fixed on the painting. Absently, he rubbed a gloved hand over his heart, wincing a bit.

But if he was finding such happiness, why did it have to hurt so much?

Read Next Chapter