Chapter 27

Henry, who had been equally out of touch with is surroundings at first, had found his body moving before he had even grasped the situation. There was only one thing that had registered in his subconscious mind, Joshua Lore was falling onto glass shards. With a lightning speed, he immediately went to catch the beautiful man, getting his arm behind him, his hand protecting the back of the man's head. With his other hand, he grabbed the edge of the table next to him.

It would have all been fine if the water bottle that had smashed was not half full of water. At that crucial moment, Henry slipped due to the water, losing his footing, the placement of his hand not allowing him to hold the weight of two grown men. This meant now they were both falling towards the shards of broken glass.

On reflex, the blond man turned his own body towards the floor, his upper arm taking most of the impact. Joshua fell on top of Henry.

Determined not to let his hard work go to waste, with a grimace on his face, Henry got both of themselves sat up away from the glass shard.

The whole restaurant sat there in silent shock, more than a few amazed by how ridiculous the train of events had been. It was safe to say that no one could have predicted such a turn of events. Even their families were shell shocked by the fall.

However, since they had fallen between two tables, one of which was vacant, only a handful of people could see just how dangerous the situation had been, to everyone else it was just a horrid stumble.

By the time Joshua had gained his bearings, Henry was already standing up, using the table as a support. The man looked up, not sure what to think or do anymore, that is until the younger man stretched his hand out for him. It was only then he really registered he was on the floor, mostly unharmed. It was just his ankle that was throbbing from the impact of the chair leg – he was sure it was not too bad.

Grabbing Henry's hand, he pulled himself up, missing the slightly strained look on Henry's face. The two men eventually managed to stand up, looking at each other, neither's face readable, mostly due to the fact that neither were really thinking.

Not until Joshua's ankle gave away again, this time due to the pain the man had stubbornly dismissed, his foot slipping on the water and sending the man falling again, this time forwards. This time, unlike the last, Joshua was hyperattentive, quickly grabbing onto Henry's cardigan and guiding his fall onto the other man's chest, stopping another injury.

Henry just managed to support Joshua's body with his wrist, causing enough inertia that they would not fall to the ground again.

Joshua didn't move immediately. All he could feel was the other man's rapidly beating heart and heavy breathing. Then he came to realise it was not just Reyes, he himself was out of breath, heart hammering from lingering panic.

What on earth had just happened? Did that class as a fall, it seemed more like an entire incident.

Henry tried to catch his breath as the other man looked up at him. Joshua's translucent skin was flushed, dark hair everywhere. As he subconsciously helped Joshua up, Henry could not help but feel the man seem small all of a sudden. Of course, he was aware there was not much of a difference in size between the two of them, but it was like he was suddenly hit with a need of keep the older man out of harm's way. Henry didn't quite understand it but that was all he would be able to describe it as had anyone asked; in reality, if anyone asked, he would have most definitely denied there being any such emotion.

The two men eventually made eye contact, seemingly losing each other in their joint gaze, breathing heavy, faces flushed, bodies supporting one another. At least, that is how it looked to everyone else in the café. Even if they had not publicly announced their engagement on Monday, there would be no denying from any spectator that there was something between the two men. No two people would stare at each other so deeply for so long after something like this, not unless they were in some kind of relationship, especially not with their faces so close.

In reality, the two men were silently agreeing that whatever had happened so far this weekend had been ridiculous and horrific. Neither were even aware that they had been staring for long enough for the silence in the restaurant to be deemed unnatural, nor that their faces were being fanned with each other's breath, nor that they were still holding onto each other. If they were to see the photograph on of the informed camera men had taken from the window, no doubt the two men would throw up blood in horror and shame. In that moment, they really did look like they were in a relationship, not even just that, they looked like a pair in a romance film scene.

It was only when their noses touched the two men realised their faces and bodies were absurdly close, naïve to the fact that their breath had been mingling for some time now. Both their eyes grew wide in horror, both immediately pulling back.

Just as they did, something whizzed between the two, right where their faces had been not even a second ago. There was a smash on the wall by them, both men freezing.

Around them, things suddenly got loud.

A few people screamed, everyone but the two involved immediately snapping their heads to the direction the flying glass had come from. A man, who in hindsight to the servers and manager of the restaurant, was dressed quite suspiciously, a hood covering his face, standing up and running to the door of the restaurant. There was a clatter, followed by Samuel Reyes angrily shouting, "Get the fuck back here!" People turned to see the Lore's and Reyes' table, only to see the Reyes heir was already hot on the assailant's heels, rage on his face. What shocked them more was Archer jumping over the table, running after the man too.

"Ramy, go make sure no one gets hurt." The Reyes' PA ran after the two heirs immediately with a nod.

Everyone watching slowly came to notice that both families had stood up at the table, surprisingly malice-filled expressions on each one of them.

As the chaos ensued around them, Henry and Joshua, both lost for breath, stared at each other again, this time in pure shock. Slowly, the older man nodding slightly towards the back of the restaurant, as if asking if the other man wanted to go to the bathroom. Henry immediately seemed to understand, just nodding. With that and minimal thinking, both men absent-mindedly stumbled to the men's bathroom, Joshua having to use the younger man as a crutch.

By the time everyone else looked back to see the couple that had been attacked, they were already near the back of the restaurant.

The female server, who was still on the ground, looked to where the men had fallen, her face paling in an instant. "There's blood." Her voice had been barely above a whisper, however the restaurant was still in an eerie silence, meaning the two's parents heard loud and clear.

The four looked at each other, an aura around them that neither Meera nor Penelope having seen before, however it was clearly the type of atmosphere that said to leave things to the adults. They could only watch as the four parents exchanged a couple quiet words before all springing into action. Caroline left the restaurant, calling Ramy to find out where exactly her son and Archer had apprehending the attacker. Marcus walked over to where the incident had happened, inspecting what they were not able to see in real time. Hanna walked over to the manager to discuss the incident. John stood up where he was sat, speaking out and apologising for what had just happened, even if the fault did not fall on any member of the either families.

While this went on, the two men had entered the bathroom, Joshua felt himself slipping and went to grab onto the sleeve of Joshua's cardigan. However, he found himself being stopped the other man, who out of nowhere raised his arm out of reach. Joshua managed to grab onto the body of Henry's cardigan, stopping himself from falling. Once half stable, he looked up at the blond man, sending him an incredulous look, wondering what was wrong with the man. However, the question quickly left his mind as he realised the pained look on Henry's face, a trail of sweat visible down his forehead.

Henry hadn't missed the initial look and had quickly turned away – not fast enough for Joshua's perfect recall of course – and answered, trying to keep his voice clear. "You might cut your hand, try not to touch the arm." Even as he tried to hide his worsening condition, Henry knew he was reaching his limit.

Joshua let his words sink in before suddenly remembering that a bottle had smashed on the ground. The man didn't need to think much to realise what Henry had done in breaking his fall. He also realised that it was weird for his waist to be supported by the younger man's arm instead of his hand. Stopping their slow walk in the middle of the bathroom, Joshua quickly looked down and grabbed Henry's hand, prying it open to see the bloody shard stuck in his palm, blood flowing. He then turned to the mirror on the other side, seeing the red seeping into Henry's cardigan, shards of glass sticking out of his upper arm.

"You're bleeding!"

"I-it's, it's nothing."

"That's nothing? Are you insane?"

"I said it's nothing!"

Not taking any notice of how they had suddenly dropped their formal speech, Joshua felt anger bubble up in him. Protecting him was one thing but pretending he could deal with an injury like that was another. The man could also remember what Marcus had said during the press conference, strong emotions and pain made Henry's legs weak. What was he suddenly acting all strong for? Joshua hadn't noticed until then, but Henry's was shaking.

"You're struggling to keep us up."

"I said it's nothing!"

Feeling enraged, Joshua pressed down on the palm of Henry's hand, more blood oozing out as the man let out an exclamation of pain. With that, the two men fell to the ground again, Joshua hissing at the sharp pain in his ankle.

Henry was the one to send an incredulous look this time, his entire body screaming. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"Oh," Joshua's voice came out coy, "I thought it was nothing."

"I-it is!" the childish response made Henry want to slap himself.

It made Joshua want to slap him too. "You have glass in your arm, that is not nothing."

"And? Your ankle is going purple. Just focus on yourself."

"I'm not the one that's bleeding everywhere, genius."

They sat on the floor, looking at each other for a few seconds, before starting to find a strange hilarity in the situation and their sudden childish bickering. They soon looked away, trying to keep themselves from laughing despite how much pain they were both in. Neither were sure when they had gotten comfortable around each other – probably at some point in their hazy night out. Nor were they sure why they found whole thing where they had fallen, made fools of themselves, ended up injured and barely escaped imminent head injuries so humorous.

"Did… did that really all just happen? It felt more like a comedy skit."

Joshua was the first to lose control of his amusement, laughing as he just nodded, completely agreeing with Henry's words. "That didn't even feel real. I mean, what the hell!"

"I know!" Joshua's laugh was infectious, setting Henry off too.

And that was how Marcus found the two beautiful men, in an uncharacteristic mess on the floor of the men's bathroom, laughing through the pain and shock of everything that had just happened. The man couldn't help but feel slightly calmed to see the two like this, but also amazed, because he did not know his son was capable of such behaviour.

All the while, the small scene in the restaurant had quickly gone viral, with everyone capable of suppressing the story too busy to even realise.