Page 42 of Operation Sunshine
Franco fluttered his eyelashes. “Maybe? Which is exactly why I merit more of a response thanfine.”
He stilled. “What kind of response were you expecting?”
Franco shrugged. “Just… more, I guess.”
Ben’s jaw clenched. “What do you want from me, Franco?”
The question came out harsher than he intended, but it was too late to take it back now. The conversation had suddenly veered from light to heavy, not that he’d intended for it to go in that direction.
My mouth needs a brake.
Whatever irritation he’d been feeling melted when he saw Franco’s expression, open, patient, as though he wasn’t going to back off until he got an answer.
Something inside Ben cracked.
Franco didn’t respond immediately, his gaze steady. “I don’t want anything from you, Ben. I just want you to be here, with me—just us. You’re always so distant, so…” He trailed off, as if searching for the right words, “... closed off. It’s like you don’t trust anyone to get too near to you.”
Ben opened his mouth to retort, but the words stuck in his throat. He sat on the couch, picked up his coffee cup, and tried to focus on the steaming dark liquid, but it didn’t help.
He couldn’t shake the feeling Franco had seen something Ben hadn’t even allowed himself to acknowledge.
“Maybe I don’t want anyone to get close,” Ben said quietly, his voice quaking under the weight of the confession. “Maybe it’s easier this way.”
Franco’s brow furrowed, his posture shifting from teasing to something more serious, more concerned. “Why?” He sat beside Ben, ignoring the coffee.
Ben didn’t answer right away. The evening light pressing against the windows felt oppressive, the air thick with silence, and for the first time in years, he felt exposed. Unprotected. It was as though the walls he’d spent so long building had started to crumble, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for what might come rushing in.
He turned away from Franco, staring out into the street.
“I’ve spent my entire life trying to prove something.” Ben kept his voice low, as if he was talking to himself. “To my parents, to my bosses, to me. Always chasing success, always trying to be better, to be something more than... than whatever I am.”
Franco stayed silent, but Ben could feel the weight of his gaze, steady and unwavering.
“I thought if I kept pushing, if I kept achieving, I’d eventually find... something. I don’t know. Fulfilment? Maybe. But all I’ve foundis emptiness.” At last, he looked Franco in the eye, his heart pounding, his chest tight.
Franco’s expression was warm, and he shifted toward Ben, his voice gentle. “Ben, you don’t have to do it all alone.”
Ben’s bitter laugh echoed in the room. “You don’t get it. I’ve never had anyone.Iwas always the one people turned to when they needed help, when they needed guidance. But when I needed someone... when I needed to let go of all the shit I’ve been carrying for years... there was no one there. No one to trust.” He swallowed. “So I shut down. I learned to keep people at arm’s length.”
Franco was quiet for a moment, as though processing Ben’s words. When he spoke, his voice was calm but there was an edge to it Ben wasn’t used to. “I get that more than you think.”
Ben blinked at the sudden shift in Franco’s tone. “What do you mean?”
Franco sighed, running a hand through his hair. “You think I just act like I don’t have a care in the world, right? That I’m all jokes and energy and never take anything seriously. But the truth is, I’ve been running from my own shit for a long time.” Another sigh fell from his lips. “My family’s messed up, Ben. My parents... they’ve got their own problems, their own walls. I grew up in a house where love was treated like a currency, something you had to earn, something you could lose at any moment.”
Ben blinked again. Franco, the perpetual ball of energy, the man who couldn’t stop talking about love and connection…
He has his own set of walls, too.
“I tried to be everything for them,” Franco continued, his voice low, almost inaudible. “The golden child. The one who kept the family together, who could make people laugh, who could fix things with a joke or a smile. But it never worked. The harder I tried to make everything perfect, the more I realised how alone I felt.”
A lump formed in Ben’s throat, and a strange mix of sympathy and understanding washed over him. It was hard to imagine Francoas anything but the vibrant, larger-than-life character who seemed to have an answer for everything.
And yet here he is, opening up in a way I never expected.
“You’re not alone anymore, Franco.” The words came out before he could stop them.
Franco gave him a searching gaze. “What do you mean?”
