Pictures Past

                                                             by Connor Fitzherbert

“Are you sure you're alright? You've been acting kind of odd lately.”

“Nah, it's alright. I'm fine.”

“You sure?”

“Don't worry, man. It's all good, lol”

Royal frowned as he read through the conversation on his phone. That was the last time he had talked to Landon. It had been a week since and he hadn't heard from him. He wasn't answering his texts, his emails, his door... It was time to see what was up. He loudly knocked on the door a few times before sighing. As he expected, no answer. Well, that only left him one option. He turned, walking away from the door... before turning around, running back, and putting all of his weight into his shoulder as he rammed into it. He didn't feel bad for knocking the door off of it's hinges. If it went down that easily, Landon obviously needed a new door anyway.

Looking around, it wasn't hard to realize that the house was... messier than usual. Landon always did keep the house in a slightly messy state, but it was never as bad as this... well, except that time he introduced him to Molly, but that was another story. Piles of unwashed clothes laid in heaps around the house, empty soda cans and TV dinner trays littered the floor... Royal was used to it being messy on a daily basis, but it was never this bad. He was about to look for him... until realizing he was already laying on his couch, curled up in a ball. It looked like he had been in that position for at least an hour or two.

Stepping closer, Royal got a good look at Landon. Taking a quick smell, it was obvious he hadn't changed his clothes for at least three days. His hair was messy and unkempt, and it was clear that not only had Landon been avoiding Royal, he hadn't left his home at all for at least a week. Pulling out some paper, he quickly wrote down “Landon, what's wrong? What happened?”, and waved it in front of Landon's face. Nothing. He just remained there, unmoving. Royal gave him a strong, firm shake. ...Still nothing. He probably hadn't even flinched when Royal broke the door down. He was about to write down “Come on, I only want to help you. Tell me what's wrong” before something caught his eye.

Since he walked in, Landon had been holding-no, clenching- a photo in his hand. Looking between Landon and the photo, Royal raised an eyebrow. That picture obviously had something to do with this, it just made sense. Carefully, Royal slowly slid the picture from Landon's hand. Landon, of course, didn't even flinch and remained still and emotionless in his little ball. Royal looked down at him worriedly before shifting his focus to that of the photo. His eyes widened in surprise as realization struck him.

It was a picture of Royal, albeit younger, probably 15, and a young girl about a year older than him, with long, dirty blonde hair and dark, aquamarine eyes. A girl he knew as the former London Maines. Royal was smiling brightly in the photo as London clung to him, laughing. He remembered now. This picture was taken by Landon's mother, about two months after they had decided to make their friendly relationship a romantic one.
The relationship didn't last long, only about a year. They had decided that it was getting a little awkward and that the two were just better off friends. The “break-up” wasn't painful at all and the next day it was all back to normal fairly quickly. Sure, Royal would always have feelings for her, and even had a crush on her for a while when she had changed her gender, but he was over them now... though someone wasn't. He finally looked back down at Landon, who hadn't even moved. It was all clear now. He had been acting stranger and stranger since he had first introduced him to Molly, though it didn't seem like it at the time. It explained the picture, it explained the depression, it explained everything.

He still loved him.

Sliding the photo into his pocket, Royal slowly climbed on the couch until he was right up against him, hearing his slow breathing. Royal slid an arm around Landon's body, bringing him even closer to him, letting his face rest on his neck. He clung to him, mouthing “It's going to be okay” as Landon started to quietly cry, despite the fact that he couldn't even see or hear him.

Then again, maybe he didn't have to.