Chapter 2 prt.2: Reunion with the Past

The golden iris was a well-known trademark in Johnny Thumb's family. Those eyes always brought Peter back to simpler times.

It was one of the many things the faun would remember from his last encounter with the man he sought and loved above all else. Peter would never forget the rage in his ex-lover's golden eyes as the small human laid on the white bed that night many years ago. Nevertheless underlying it all was a pure love that would never fade.

A pure love that wasn't for Peter.

Those same gorgeous pupils that the faun had always loved and sought to love him back over the years, but in all honesty, the human didn't have any room in his heart for a faun like him because Peter could never compete with Johnny father's love for his child.

Peter despised that little brat from the moment he was born. Johnny was the result of a one-night stand that, in the faun's opinion, wrecked Johnny's father's life.

He despised Johnny even more because he was the spitting image and memory of the only human he had ever lost, loved, and continued to love after many years.

Adam Thumb was a reckless man with a heart of gold to match his brilliant eyes. Always dive forward into anything without thinking was his life motto.

Peter recalls every detail of Adam's short auburn hair, which curled around his heart-shaped face and highlighted each dark freckle on his tanned shoulders and face.

The two grew up together, quickly having been rivals to best friends during the scorching summer months when they had to labor together on Adam's grandparent's farm. They made good money together.

The final minutes Peter shared with Johnny's father were heartbreaking, but he treasured those memories. Even now in the current moment, all Peter could see in Johnny's eyes was a past love that he lost.

The faun's grip tighten on his young worker as his hate had only had grown for the brat that had taking everything from him.

So in return the faun was dead set on making Johnny's life hell on Earth but it was never enough.

Peter was going to break him once and for all in hopes that the reminder of his dead lover would finally be put to rest.

Then without warning, Johnny accidentally read Peter's mind, and the faun's entire life history flashed before eyes.

The scene in Peter's head depicts a tiny bedroom with prescriptions of medicines on the wooden nightstand next to a single white bed, the oxygen tech laid on the bed while Peter and Adam argued.

"You are a fool! After everything I've done for you!" Peter snarled between his teeth, tightening his grasp on Adam's weak shoulders as tears stung his eyes. "You would give everything to a little brat!"

Adam was no longer the heathly and bright youthful man he once was. His once golden eyes now dull and baggy from lack of sleep. His body once curvy now looked liked a skeleton and he could barely move on his weak days. Lastly, his once wild beautiful auburn hair was falling out in clumps.

Cancer. After all that hard work. Adam had nothing to show for it but lung cancer after digging in the mines.

During the Apocalypse, Adam was already struggling to provide for his sole son. To make matters worse, he had been denied health insurance since his diagnosis, which was only available to government employees or second-class civilians like Peter.

Peter paid for everything merely to try to save the person he desired most. He provided and paid for everything, and what does Adam do in return?

Adam gave his son, Johnny, the secret to locating the Kronos' scythe. A child who did not earned it.

Peter couldn't comprehend why somebody would willingly do anything like this.

Instead of seeing reason, Adam yells out, despite the fact that the man was clearly battling with every single breath as he coughed furiously through the breathing machine, "Do NOT speak about little Jonathan that way. You are a fool if you believe I would choose a selfish monster like you over my own son! Ack! Ack!"

His words were sharper than any dagger, severing the heart of the faun. Peter realized at that precise time that he was foolishly and hopefully hopelessly in love with a simple human and the worse part? That love would never be returned.

"How dare you say that to me!" Peter shouted angrily as he thought his heart had already been broken, but this revealed that there was still more to break. "Why can't you find it in your heart to love me?!" The faun could no longer hold back the tears.

"Peter! Stop it! Your hurting me!" Adam cried furiously, struggling against Peter's strong grip and kicking at his abdomen to no avail. The half goat man was too strong. The two of them broke out into a wrestling match, shoving, pushing, and grabbing at each other. Eventually, Adam ended up with his back against the bed and Peter was straddling his waist. The two of them were breathing heavily.

Adam's weaken golden eyes met his gaze, and they both stared at each other for a few seconds, tension building in the air between them. It was sexual for a brief moment before fading into numb, crushing grief. Peter's hand stretched out to caress the human's delicate face and some amounts of hair leaning in close, his hot breath caressing the tan skin.

Despite his own feelings, Adam smacked Peter's hand away, "I need you to leave me, now" Adam pleaded, too sick to have the mental energy to fight, "Please Peter, leave"

'So,This is what heartbreak feels like.'

Peter remembers thinking that night as he felt tears stream down his shaggy beard as he was ultimately kicked out, but not before grabbing a single piece of paper from Adam's desk and engraving it with the gold letters.

To: my most prized treasure

From: Dad

The letter that was no doubt: Adam's last will and testament. '

So, that's what happened to Johnny inheritance. He always knew Peter hated him but never understood why until now that is.

All of this knowledge came hitting him all at the same time. Johnny's head throbbed; his boss was in love with his father and took the last will and testament out of resentment. Suddenly, Johnny overcome with emotions he knows are not his own. Regret. Guilt. Envy. All of it. It is always present, and there is no escape.

There's a searing ache, like an itch, that makes it difficult to go through anything. He feels something like to regret—a numbing ache that buries itself deep within his chest. And the itch is covering everything. It's nearly impossible to dig through. He cannot seem to get anywhere or discover anything here.

Yet, he needed to know! The young man had to know where his boss put the letter that was written by his late father.

Then Johnny physically jumps, as a foreign voice fills his mind as he notices his boss's eyes looking down at him.

"You ruined his life. It's your fault he died!" The voice is loud and harsh, and it is unmistakably his employer, Peter.

No, it's wasn't his fault. It couldn't be. His father loved me. Johnny tried to argue back with the voice.

Then, before the young man could respond to the cruel words, he is pushed out of Peter's consciousness and dumped back into his own.

Johnny shoved his employer hard in an instant, trying make all the loud and horrible thoughts stop. For the first time in his life, he with determination yelled, "Stop it!"

Interestingly, Johnny appeared to be unaware of his newfound god might, as a simple push sent the faun flying across the room, crashing into the book shelf wall and knocking over the grandfather clock, along with many damaged old volumes.

Crash!

Peter falls down to the floor as the faun's ears ring with the aftershocks of the strike to his chest. Johnny dashed to his side and knelt, stopping just short of touching him. "Peter! "Are you okay?" he asks, trying to help despite what he has just learned.

"You…" Peter started, his breath hitching in shock from the harsh blow to the chest, "You tried to kill me," the faun accused with breathless disbelief.

Johnny was stunned after hearing the event. He attempts to explain himself, "Wh..what?! No! I did not! It was an accident-"

The words mean nothing to Peter as he attempted to stand on the hard wood floor. Peter just whispered "Get out" in a lethal warning tone.

Johnny blinks, then freezes for a second, wondering what to do. He opens his mouth to say something, but his boss beats him to it, shouting and pointing a sharp finger at the front door.

"GET OUT!"