Heyyyy //OxO// LGBTQ+???//CLOSED

"P-Please…" Lloyd blinked to keep himself from crying. God, not now…

"Is everything okay?" Irene paused and her eyes widened. "Are you about to have a panic or anxiety attack?!"

Lloyd shook his head. "No… I-I'm fine, I just… please go see her… I'm trying to be as direct as possible. I have no ulterior motives. Please…"

Irene let out a breath. "Oh good, I'm glad… and I know you don't, but I want to stay here… I'll be fine, my mother will be fine, and my father.. will be fine."

"You don't sound sure…" Lloyd looked away, his voice quiet.

Irene looked out one of the windows. "… No.. I'm 100% sure."

Lloyd let out a shaky sigh. "I… sh-should you tell your dad?"

"Probably… Maybe I should go do that right now…" Irene stood up. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Not really… just imagining the look he'll probably have makes me feel like throwing up already…" Lloyd drew his knees up to his chest, crossed his arms on top, and hid his face in them.

"O… ok, just don't get any ideas…" Irene left the studio. She stood outside her father's bedroom for a good 5 minutes before entering the room to tell him.

Lloyd nodded and stayed where he was, anxiously awaiting to either hear yelling or see Irene return.

"H-hello? Are you in here, father?" Irene was in the doorway, waiting for her father to respond. "Yes, dear!" She took a deep breath and went fully inside his room. "F-father… I um… I'm not going to visit mother with you." Irene closed her eyes, afraid of what her father would say. " Irene, do you have any idea how important this is to your mother and I? Why would you possibly not want to go?!" Her father stopped. "Oh… is it because of that friend of yours?" Irene slightly nodded, her father looking slightly disappointed. "I see how it is. Your friends are more important to you than your family… more important than your mother that you barely get to see… You know what? I don't care. I'm still going to go see her, I guess you will just miss out… Now please, let me get ready so I can go visit your mother." He turned around. Irene stood in place for a few moments then slowly went back upstairs to the studio.

Lloyd glanced up as Irene entered, dreading to see the look on her face. He blinked away tears when he saw her, the pit of guilt in his stomach growing deeper. "I'm… guessing it didn't go well…?" He whispered shakily.

"It.. it was okay…" Irene slowly sat down on a beanbag. "He's going to, um, leave soon…"

Lloyd nodded and hid his face again. "I-I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"No no no! You don't need to be sorry at all!! You gave me plenty of chances to leave and I didn't take any of them on purpose. My father made a big deal about me not going and he's pretty annoyed, I think."

"B-But I'm still sorry… if I… if I just stayed home and dealt with it, I wouldn't have caused you and your dad to argue…" Lloyd's voice was muffled, but still audible.

"It's okay, I wouldn't have wanted you to deal with something alone… and we didn't really argue… he mostly gave me a lecture with disappointment and annoyance…"

"Sorry…" The guilt felt like it was already eating away at him, and he started trembling a bit. "I'm… I'm s-so sorry…" I swear to god if you do this again…

Irene quickly got up and wrapped Lloyd in a hug. "It's okay, it's okay…"

"B-But it's not okay… it's all my f-fault…" Lloyd bit his quivering lip to try and keep himself from crying again.

"Nothing is your fault, Lloyd. I could have gone with my father if really wanted to, but I wanted to stay." Irene held him a little bit tighter.

Lloyd hesitantly let his knees down to hug Irene, crying softly. "I'm sorry I've caused… and… and currently causing p-problems…"

"You aren't causing any problems at all, don't worry…" Irene said in a very soft voice.

Lloyd held his breath, hugging Irene tighter. "T-Then what do you call what I'm doing right now? There's… there's no way this is helpful…"

"First, keep breathing, try to match my pace." Irene took deep breaths so that Lloyd could follow. "No, no it's not helpful, but you don't have to be helpful to not cause problems."

Lloyd tried to match his breathing to Irene's, but it was far too quick and shaky. He closed his eyes, whimpering quietly to himself.

Irene slowly and softly rubbed Lloyd's back in an attempt to calm him down. The sound of a door closing, then a car starting filled Irene's ears. Father must be leaving… finally…

After a while, Lloyd managed to mostly control his breathing, but he was still shaking and whispering apologies over and over.

Irene was also calmer after that. "So, my father will be gone for a long long time, so what should we do that doesn't require any stress." She was trying to shift Lloyd's attention to something else so that maybe he could calm down completely.