Soul Mate Service (boyxboy)

Chapter 11

THIRD PERSON POV

Aria's soft palms still burned bright red from the force that he had used to beat his homemade pizza dough into submission. It was almost cathartic for the small man, a socially acceptable way to get out at least some of the frustration that had begun to surmount over the past few days.

Bug had never really, truly been angry at anyone or anything before in his entire life. The man's frustration was shrouded by more sadness than anything. However, thinking about his special bowl, shattered into a million pieces on the ground, still stoked tiny embers of resentment in his overwhelmingly kind heart.

The heat from the oven blasted Aria in the face like a hair dryer turned up way too high, drying out his eyes and making him take a small step back. But as the initial heat dissipated, Bug couldn't help but crack a little smile as he spied what lay inside.

Cooked to utter perfection and filled to the brim with all of the best toppings that he knew Thad loved, Aria resisted the urge to squeal with happiness as he pulled the pizza out of the oven and gingerly carried it toward the waiting, heat-resistant counter.

Deep down, the petite man knew that he shouldn't be doing this - that Thad would probably find a way to misconstrue the pure intentions of his kind gesture as something else completely - but he simply couldn't help himself.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that he was too giving at times -'too much of a people-pleaser,' as his mother would so often tut at him. But on the contrary, Aria's brain was just a pressure cooker of kindness. He loved helping others and making people happy, no matter who they were or what circumstances they may be in at that moment.

And - just like a pressure cooker - he constantly felt that if didn't find an outlet to let that kindness out, he would certainly explode.

Bug's head snapped up from where it was - staring down and stuck in a daze as he marveled at his beautiful pizza. Instead, the muted 'shh' of the front door of the Housing Pod sliding open caught his attention, and Aria quickly scurried around the corner as he prepared to slip away into the bedroom for the rest of the night, as had become habitual for him.

However, just as he went to pull his apron over his head, something that he was absolutely not expecting made him pause in his spot and swivel his head over to the door with an utterly terrified expression.

There were... people.

Multiple people, walking straight into his Housing Pod as if they owned the place.

It sent Aria straight into the throes of a fight or flight reaction.

'Who are these people, are they trying to rob me!? But I don't have anything valuable, so maybe they are here to kidnap me instead!? Don't they know committing crimes like this could warrant an immediate escalation to execution?!'

Bug's flight of thought was terrifyingly uncontainable, sending his anxiety reeling as he tried to think of how to handle this horrible situation. Only when a few people brushed past him and began pulling at slices of his pizza that his brain finally decided to snap into place and he re-discovered the ability to move his frozen limbs again.

"H-hey, I put a lot of love into that recipe!" He wailed, flying back into the kitchen as fast as his short legs could carry him.

Before his rational mind could tell him that this was definitely a bad idea - especially considering these men were quite literally twice his size - Aria seized the forearm of the closest one and tugged hard, leveraging the weight of his entire body in an effort to yank them away from his masterpiece. The men simply looked down at Aria as he tugged fruitlessly, his scrawny arms not moving the man even a millimeter from his previous position.