"Hey, tell me a story."

"Aw, just like your mom, huh? What story you want?"

"Anything."

"Hm." Lloyd sat on the bed, a pomegranate in his hand. "Once upon time, there was a young woman named Persephone. One day, when she was picking flowers in the spring, the god Hades came and dragged her to the underworld with him."

"Why would he do that?"

He cringed slightly, remembering his uncle. "To make her love him. She was very upset, but she gradually grew to love him, and she ate the pomegranate he gave her, meaning she had to stay with him forever."

The taller, half-asleep, thought of another idea. As Lloyd was talking, he pretended to fall asleep. He heard the other leaving afterward. He got up and reached for his notebook. He had to write this down.

--------

François came back from outside, his throat sore and his eyes bloodshot. He walked into his cold room. He threw himself on his cot and cried into his pillow.

Mulligan's deep voice rang in his ears. Even the sound of his voice was more manly and better than his high-pitched and girly one. Lloyd deserved him. He would be happy with him, he'll be with a beautiful man. A real man. He saw a note on the nightstand in the middle of his and Kim's bed. He sniffled as he picked it up out of curiosity. It was in Korean cursive and smelled like Lloyd's favorite colone.

"You will be Juilet and I Romeo.
We will run away to Korea together,
Us loving and picking the may flowers for centuries.
We will see the skies in Sokcho and rest in my home in Bukchon Hanok.
We will be wed in the night under the moon.
We will die together, hand and hand.
I love your eyes of stars and your hair of chocolate.
I love your golden heart and your pearly smile.
I love your skinny frame and light voice."

François felt a pit in his stomach as he sat up with the note in his hand. In his heart, though he didn't want to admit, he knew who it was.

"Alas, I'm aware of the beast you are trapped with.
He must not love you more than I.
If you are too blinded in your terrible situation,
May you be Persephone and I Hades.
I will drag you to my underworld,
Where you would be protected and praised,
Rather you want it or not.
You will learn to love me,
Just as she did.
I will feed you a pomegranate,
And we will plant the seeds.
A tree will go as tall as our house,
Where we will hold each other forever."

François felt sick to his stomach, then he saw the name and a drawing of the familiar face. The face with uniquely shaped eyes and wavy hair. The name that began with L. Rage consumed his trembling body.

"Hey-" Kim stood frozen in the doorway as Dauphiné slowly turned his head to him.

"What is this?" His voice was tanted with disgust and disappointment.

He stumped to him as François stood up. He ripped the paper away from him. "You had no reason to read that."

He shouted in French, "Your underworld?! Learn to love you?! You're sick!"

Kim didn't stop speaking in Korean. "You're no better! I read your diary!" François froze this time. 'I shouldn't love him! He's my world!' If I'm sick, then I must be contagious!"

"At least I know that I can't have him! He's engaged, for fucks sake!" He felt tears of rage. He blinked them away.

"He wouldn't want you, anyways! You're short, you're redheaded, and you look like a girl!" That stung deeper than any bullet wound, Kim didn't even know his secret. "He would want a man like me. I'm tall, I'm muscular, I have a house and a job back in Korea!"

"Motherfucker, you're thirty-five and I'm nineteen, fuck do you expect!? He's only seventeen!" Tears were falling as his voice cracked. "You're a pedophile! You're evil! He would never want to be with either of us because he loves that boy at home!"

The realization kicked in. Lloyd was fourteen when he joined, Kim was thirty-two. He thought of the times he would look at the shorter like the forbidden fruit. It had to be going on longer than he's been here, White said he always acted weird around him. As Kim was yelling about something, François kicked his balls. The grown man growned and went down, grabbing his dick.

"I hate you! You fooled me! You fooled Lloyd! You fooled everyone! You're a sick disgusting bitch!!" He felt himself getting angrier the more he spoke. "You're a beast!"

Kim roared as he slapped François' banaged arm. The redhead cried out as he clung to his shoulder. He never expected any of this from him. He was a weirdo, sure, but he never thought he was a monster.

"You're not holier-than-thou, you freak!" That broke what was left of any respect he had for him. "You lied to him too! You allowed him to think we didn't know about his attempt! He did it to get away from you!"

He screamed as he lunged at his face, but the taller pushed him to the ground with one arm. He fell on his good shoulder as Kim stormed off. François rolled up to cry into his hands. He thought he was his friend. But as he thought of the times when he would look at him with dismay when he spoke with Lloyd without him, his heart soured. How could he be so gullible?

He got up and stumbled out of the room, his shoulder aching. He needed to find him before he found Lloyd, who knows what that bastard would do. He heard a person yelling to someone that a heart was broken just minutes ago. That makes two, he's supposed.

??? -????