Stand for Love

Nicholas came back home walking inside faster. He was in a really good mood and wanted to spend the rest of his day with Adrian. After a fucking long meeting he had met with the lawyer who he had talked to about suing his mother. He finally pulled through and now he was back home, happy and excited as always. He took a glance at his watch and noticed that it was only 3.pm so he still had a few hours to spend with Adrian before it gets dark. Maybe they'd just go out, eat some ice cream and probably go to the cinema. Hmm, the cinema sounded romantic. He just wanted to watch a romantic movie while holding the boy he loved so much.

As he entered the living room, he noticed that there was no one around. Guess all he had to do was go in the room and pick Adrian up. Increasing his pace on the stairs, Nicholas rushed to his room, happy. But when he entered the wonderful room, it was quiet and as if no one was in.

"Strange," Nicholas thought as he scratched his head. At that exact time Adrian was supposed to be in their room waiting for him but he was not there.

Nicholas headed for the bathroom, hoping his Adrian was just taking a shower. Entering the bathroom, it was quiet and he knew Adrian was not in the room.

"Where could he be?" He chuckled.

Then it hit him. Adrian was probably in John's room chatting or catching up with him. Why didn't he think of that before?

Getting out of the room, Nicholas headed outside to John's room. He reached John's room and knocked. It was not long before he heard John telling him to come in. Happy and in a bright mood, Nicholas opened the door with his heart racing. He knew his Adrian was right in that room but when he entered, he got disappointed. Adrian was not in the room. It was just John and he was reading a book.

"Sir," John smiled, folding the book. "How are you?"

"I... I am okay." Nicholas stuttered, scanning the whole room to see if his Adrian could be spotted anywhere.

"Are you okay?" John asked the confused looking man.

"Yes," Nicholas chuckled nervously, moving his eyes towards John. "Um... is Adrian here or have you perhaps seen him?"

"No," John said softly, slowly rising from the bed. "I haven't seen him today. Perhaps the others have seen him."

Nicholas froze when he heard that Adrian was nowhere to be seen. Where could he have gone when he knew of the plans that they had made in the morning?

Nicholas thanked John and then he left his room. He was still lost in thought, wondering where his husband could have gone. He went slowly to George's room and found him with a laptop. When George raised his face to stare at his friend, he saw a really long face. He could tell that the man was probably looking for Adrian. That was why he was in that mood. George closed the laptop and went to his friend, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Hey," George called, squeezing his shoulder.

Nicholas moved his face and looked into his best friend's face. He gave him a wonderful grin and then patted on his back. Somehow being around George made him a little happy though he wasn't gonna be until he sees Adrian.

"Are you alright?" George asked, squeezing Nicholas' shoulder. "Anyway, you don't have to answer that. It's Adrian right?"

"Yes," Nicholas sighed, smiling faintly at his friend. "I don't where he is and I miss him a lot. We had a plan to go out but he's nowhere to be seen. Have you perhaps seen him somewhere?"

George chuckled and then moved his hand on Nicholas' muscular chest. "I talked to him and he left a message."

"Message?" Nicholas was surprised. If Adrian left a message then where was he? "What do you mean he left a message?"

"He went out this morning."

"What?" Nicholas hollered, widening his eyes. "He went out? But where did he go and he is not yet back by this time? Or did he go with granny?"

"Calm down." George chuckled softly and then patted on his friend's back. "He went to meet a lawyer. Well someone called and he went hurrying to meet him."

"The lawyer," Nicholas muttered. He felt relieved that Adrian had gone to meet the lawyer. "But why didn't he call me?"

"He tried." George sighed deeply. "He tried to call on several occasions but... you had your phone switched off."

"No I did not," Nicholas breathed, giving George a look that made him laugh. Then he slipped his hand through his pocket and brought out his phone. Bringing it in his hands, Nicholas noticed that the phone was off. Funny thing was that he couldn't remember switching the phone off.

"I knew it was off." George chuckled nervously. "Anyway he said you should call him and then meet him at the address that he'll give you."

"Thank you." Nicholas chirped. Then he moved away from George and went at a distance. Then he switched on his phone and began calling Adrian. It was not long before he heard the machine telling him that the number was off.

"I can't get through." Nicholas said impatiently as he tried the second time.

"Try again." George hollered, sitting back on his wonderful bed.

Nicholas tried several times but he was getting the same response. He knew Adrian's meeting with the lawyer was important and that he was safe but he was feeling uneasy again and it got to him. He just wanted to see Adrian and talk to him but in that situation, there was nothing he could do but wait until he comes home. He was really missing him a lot. He couldn't wait to see him when he comes home, probably with some good news.

Standing firmly on that floor while his finger tapped on the phone, Nicholas walked to the window and stared outside. He was really hoping Adrian would come back early so that he could hold him and kiss him. He had spent almost 7 hours at the office and he didn't want to spend any more time without Adrian.

Seeing his friend quiet and looking impatiently through the window, George rose from the bed with a deep sigh. He knew his job then was to make his friend calm and assure him that Adrian would be back soon. He walked towards his friend and reaching him, he put his hand on his back.

Feeling George's hand on his, Nicholas slowly turned and smiled at him. He didn't want his friend to worry over nothing so he might as well tell his friend what he wanted from him.

"Are you worried or anything?" George asked, grinning at his friend.

"No," Nicholas fretted, sliding back the phone into his pocket. "I just miss him and that's all. I really hope his meeting with the lawyer will be a success."

"Speaking of lawyers," George chirped. "What is with... "

"It's kinda... "

"Don't give me that crap." George chuckled, beating on Nicholas' chest softly. "I am demanding to be told what this lawyer stuff is all about. Are you two getting divorced or something?"

"No!" Nicholas hesitated, slapping on George softly. Both of them laughed together and then held on to each other's hands. "He's just some... "

"Alright, will you at least tell me about it?"

"Adrian will definitely kill me if I do." Nicholas joked, giving a soft chuckle.

"I'll kill you if you don't." George hinted. "Besides, it will pass the time while we wait for him."

"I don't know, man." Nicholas sighed. "I promised him I wouldn't tell anything. I think it will be appropriate if you find out with the others."

"Fine," George raised his hands as if he was surrendering. "Then come and tell me all about the meeting and what had happened. And I have something important that I have to tell you."

"Let's sit down."

George and Nicholas both went to sit on the bed, chuckling like teenagers. Nicholas felt lucky for having such a friend. He knew George was only doing that so that he could forget about Adrian. Though talking to George seemed like a pretty good idea, Nicholas didn't stop thinking about Adrian one bit. He just hoped he would come home early.

***

A loud bang woke Adrian up, making him slowly come back to reality. Still with his eyes closed, he felt a headache which was not bad at all. His body felt weak and helpless and he moved his head from side to side. Somehow he could feel that he was not home but in a strange place.

Adrian slowly began opening his eyes. As he opened his eyes he realized that he was not able to see clearly because his vision was still not quite clear and the headache was making his head pulse a bit. Still with a blurred vision, Adrian could tell that he was somewhere where there was no bright light. It seemed a bit dark and he couldn't see anything else so he just sat there, waiting for whatever that he was feeling to go away. He had no idea where he was but he sure hoped that it was all a dream and when he wakes up he would be able to be in his house.

As he breathed in softly, he realized that each breath he made was somewhat painful. It was like his nose trills were dipped in something poisonous which made his breathing painful. He couldn't understand a thing. The more he breathed, the more he realized that he was slowly losing consciousness. It was like he was breathing in poisoned air and the funny thing was that he couldn't feel or even think of a thing. It was like he was drugged.

Each breath was making him weaker... each pulse was taking him deeper into his sleep... his eyes were getting heavy. He could feel something travelling to his brain each time he breathed, something toxic. The more he breathed, the more he felt weaker to the point where he couldn't do it anymore. He closed his eyes and lost consciousness without even realizing the place where he was or the situation in which he was in.

****

Nicholas was panicking, breathing violently. His heart was pounding painfully in his chest... his breaths were rather painful... his eyes were fixed on the door... he kept looking at the door without even blinking. He was moving from side to side, glancing at his watch with every passing second. It was now 8.pm and Adrian had not yet returned.

To say Nicholas was worried would definitely be an understatement. He was scared... he was worried... he was panicking and he was freaking out. He felt like his heart was out there searching for Adrian. None of the things around him mattered and he definitely had no idea what to do or think anymore. Adrian had never been that late before and funny thing was that no one was able to reach him on the phone.

Still moving about, Nicholas stared at granny who was seated with her face on palms, probably thinking about Adrian's whereabouts. He got even more worried when all the family members where in the same mood. All of them were worried about Adrian. But Nicholas was sure none of them were as worried as he was. If only he could hear his voice, just one phone call but then he would somehow feel happy and be able to breathe that Adrian was safe.

After a few seconds, Nicholas took out his phone and tried Adrian's phone, switched off. Why the fuck was that happening? Even the fucking driver couldn't be reached. He was more worried than he had ever been and couldn't take it anymore.

With one final stroll to the right, Nicholas groaned and then furiously started moving towards the door. He didn't know where he was gonna start but he was gonna look for Adrian no matter what. He couldn't just stay at home while his husband was nowhere to be seen

"Where are you going?" George hollered, following behind quickly.

Nicholas furiously turned and groaned. Then he looked straight at his friend, pushing his shaking hands in his trouser pocket.

"I can't take it anymore." Nicholas panted, trying to bring himself under control. "I can't just sit here and wait for him. It's killing me. I have to go and look for him."

This was one of the hardest times for George. The time had come again when he saw his friend at his least. It was hurting him to see him like that but he couldn't do a thing this time because he knew how Nicholas got when it came to Adrian. In fact, George was worried himself because Adrian had left twelve hours ago and now he was nowhere to be seen. He should have called or something.

"But where will you look?" George asked with a concerned voice. "We all don't know where we could find him. We don't even know... "

"I don't care," Nicholas said hoarsely, removing his hands from his pocket. He didn't care whether his friend saw him in that state anymore. "I have to look for him. I'm really worried." Nicholas then quickly turned and began heading out. "All of you can stay here and wait for him. I'll call you if I see him and you can do that as well if he comes back.'

"Wait!" John hollered, rushing to the door. Nicholas stopped and turned around to see John coming closer. He was also looking worried.

"I'll come with you." John offered. "I'll also not rest until I see him. It's getting late and my friend is not yet back. I know this is not the time to be panicking but Adrian is all I have in this world. I can't help but get worried."

"I am coming too." Noah said as he came closer. "I'll go with George and you can go with John. That way we can cover greater ground."

"Thank you." Nicholas said with a serious face. "Let's go."

All the four men left, hurrying outside. Now the women remained alone and they were not good themselves.

Granny had been watching everything without saying a word. She didn't say anything because she knew her Adrian was just at a meeting and he was gonna come back any minute. It was not like him to be late but after what Nicholas had told all of them, Adrian had gone to meet a lawyer because of a company. What Nicholas had explained was pretty important so Adrian was probably busy with all the formalities.

"He'll come back," Granny chuckled, sitting on the couch while others watched with panicky faces. "Just sit down and wait for them. All of you are just worried for nothing."

"Aunt," Emily said softly. "I guess you're right. Adrian is probably on his way home." She sat confidently on the couch with her legs crossed. "I'm sure when the men come back... he'll be here laughing with us."

****

Granny looked at the clock on the wall and gave everyone a look of horror. Tears had already formed in her eyes but she wasn't gonna cry. Her mood had already changed and she felt like she was gonna have a panic attack. It was almost 1 in the morning and the men had not yet come back and surprisingly... neither did Adrian. Now she was really panicking and the bad thing was that she hadn't received any call from any of the men. She was scared... she was panicking... she was shaking... she was breathing violently... she was about to have a panic attack.

"Why haven't they called us?" Arianna asked in a panicky voice. "They went ages ago and none of them have already communicated."

Granny's mouth moved but she couldn't utter a word. She wanted to scream and shout out but that wasn't what she had planned on doing. She was gonna be strong and she was gonna be strong for everyone there.

"Uh," Arianna shouted angrily, throwing her phone on the couch. "I can't get through to any of them."

"Let's calm down." Granny quacked, signaling for everyone to sit down. "I'm sure one of them has found him. Let's just relax and sit down. I'm sure they are on their way now. The only reason they haven't come back is probably because they found him in that meeting and he didn't finish it. So... let's just sit and wait."

Granny might have encouraged everyone but never had she been as scared as she was at that time. Her heart was pounding, trying to bust out of her chest. If she had a weak heart, she'd have probably been in a hospital or a mortuary. Not seeing someone that she loved a lot for almost a whole day was killing her. She'd have understood if he had called but no phone call.

They all sat on the couches with their fists on their chins, praying for Adrian to come home. They sat like that for one more hour without any news. None felt even the desire to sleep or close their eyes for once. They just wanted to be alert.

After so much waiting, the door was heard opening. All of them stood up, rushing to the door to see who it was that had come back. Their hearts were pounding terribly, literally busting out of their chests. This was one of those moments were your mind is about to explode due to the many questions.

"Adrian!" Granny called softly.

But it was not Adrian. It was just Noah and George and they seemed tired, holding their waists.

"Where is Adrian?" Granny asked. "Where is my grandson?"

"What?" Noah hollered, suddenly panting. He was now really scared. "You mean he's not back yet?"

"What do you mean?" Emily yelled angrily. "You two went to look for him so what happened? Shouldn't you have come back with him?"

"We looked almost everywhere." George said in a panicky voice. "We checked the hotels, restaurants and cafeterias but none of them had seen him. We thought he had returned home and that's why we came back."

"Did you take pictures... anything or... "

"Granny calm down." George said. Even though he was trying to make the old woman calm, adrenaline was rushing to his body and he was shaking in fear. He had never been as scared as he was that time. He didn't want to think the worst but that had never happened before. Could it be... no, he didn't even want to think about it. He loved Adrian a lot and couldn't think anything evil had happened to him.

"He just took a photo shoot with Nicholas last week," Noah gulped as sweat made him wet. "Everyone knows about him but in the area that we checked he was nowhere to be seen. I'm sure Nicholas and John will have some good news. Let's just wait for them."

With a nervous breath, everyone went back to the living room to wait for some news from Nicholas and John or even from Adrian himself.

While everyone sat with their faces all sweaty, George couldn't sit down. He felt a really sharp pain when he did. Only moving around was helping him and not so much either. Whenever he stopped his movements, he began thinking about the worst and he didn't want that to happen. He just wanted happy thoughts in his mind. He just wanted to imagine Adrian sleeping in a hotel somewhere because the meeting didn't end really early or because they had to go for an early meeting.

The thought of his last conversation with Adrian brought tears to his eyes but he suppressed them. In just a few minutes, the door creaked open and everyone ran there to see tired looking Nicholas and John coming inside.

"Where is he?" Nicholas asked, looking at the faces that stared him back. "Is he sleeping or... "

"He's not back." Granny sighed deeply. "We thought... "

Without even hearing granny's sentence to the end, Nicholas quickly turned back and decided to go and look for Adrian. He didn't care how much it took because it was already 2.30 am and he was gonna turn the city upside down just to get Adrian back to him. He didn't care who would get involved because he had to find Adrian.

Before he could even touch the knob, Nicholas felt strong arms wrapping around his waist, preventing him from moving any further. He immediately began struggling to get away. He didn't care who had gripped because all he knew was that he had to go out and find Adrian.

"Let me go," Nicholas shouted, trying to pull away. "Leave me alone!" He yelled. His voice echoed throughout the house. "I need to find him."

"We will," Noah said as he tightened his grip on his brother's waist. "Please calm down. Adrian is... "

"Please, let me go." Nicholas begged as a tears made its way down that cheek which Adrian caressed if he was around. "Please, he needs me. I need to find him."

"Please," Noah sobbed. "Nothing has happened to Adrian so calm down."

"I need to go," Nicholas yelped, tears now flooding his face. He felt his body get weak and he melted in his brother's arms. He knelt on the floor as more tears left his eyes. He was suddenly weak and in pain as his brother held him tighter.