The Only Exception

"Hello?" Payne answered the phone.

"Babe! What happened? Is everything okay?" Alex asked quickly.

Payne chuckles. "Alex, I'm fine. Everyone is fine. I just... He's French. I wasn't thinking. But we're eating right now, so I'll call you back," he said.

"Alright. I'll talk to you later. Send Mike my love," Alex replied.

"Alright. Later, babe," he said and hung up. He set the phone down and walked back into the dining room, taking his seat again. "Alex sends his love," he told Mike.

Mike chuckled. "Doesn't he always?" Payne chuckles a bit and nodded in agreement.

Pierre stared down at his food as he ate. He assumed Alex was Payne's boyfriend. It made him think of his ex. He shook that thought away. Now was not the time to get all depressed over a man who hadn't loved him enough to wait for him.

Payne noticed Pierre shake his head and rolled his eyes. He probably didn't like gay people or something. Damn Frenchies.

Pierre finished his meal and stared blankly at his glass of water, thoughts racing behind his iced blue eyes. He missed home already.

Everybody finished and Mike and Payne cleaned up, Mike having to get Pierre's dishes because Payne wouldn't go near them. They washed and dried the dished and put the leftovers away before each headed to their respectable rooms.

Pierre laid down in his bed, listening to his iPod to his favorite French artist. Homesickness sat heavy in his stomach. He missed his parents, his friends. He felt out of place here. He sighed. Payne didn't help the situation at all.

Payne laid on his bed and called Alex, talking for a while before they decided that Alex would sneak in so they could have some 'fun time'. Payne's room was in the attic, so the only person who could hear what was going on was directly below him. And that was the guest room. Pierre's room.

Pierre got ready for bed, stripping down to his boxers and a wife beater. He tossed and turned, trying desperately to fall asleep. He sat up and frowned when he started to hear noises coming from the floor above him.

Alex came over, sneaking in the window, and they immediately got into it, not bothering to keep quiet. No one could hear them anyways. Or so he thought.

Pierre winced as he heard loud moans and screams. They were going at it... all night. Pierre felt awkward listening to this, but what choice did he have? He put a pillow over his face, trying to block out the sounds.

Alex and Payne finally stopped at about 3A.M, Alex needing to get home before either of his parent woke up. Alex got dressed and kisses Payne goodbye before climbing out the window and heading home.

Pierre was dead tired by the time they stopped. And being jet-lagged, he was even more tired. He fell asleep the millisecond the noises stopped. The next morning at breakfast, Pierre was dead tired, and he looked like it too. Though even with his disheveled hair, he still looked sexy as hell.

Payne was refreshed the next morning, smiling and talkative at breakfast, paying no mind to Pierre. He ate his eggs and bacon and sausage and toast and drank his orange juice and chatted with his family. He felt good.

Pierre didn't really eat except for the toast, ring a vegetarian, plus the fact he wasn't very hungry. Not to mention he just wanted to go back to sleep. He looked down into his orange juice, tracing the rim of the glass with his finger absentmindedly.

Mike looked at Pierre and frowned. He looked like shit. "Hey, Pierre, you alright? You seem a bit out of it," Mike asked as he continued to eat.

Payne rolled his eyes at his brother's niceness to the Frenchie. It was absurd.

Pierre glanced at Mike and smiled softly. "Nothing, nothing. Just.... could not sleep." He said, shrugging slightly and running a tired hand through his hair. "Something was keeping me up." He said, his ice blue eyes looking at Payne's.

Payne's eyes narrowed slightly into a glare, telling him bad thing would happen if he told.

Mike saw this and smirked internally. "Really? What kept you up?" he asked, though his voice conveyed that he already knew.

Pierre looked right back at Payne, unafraid. But he sucked in a breath slightly and looked down at his drink. "Homesickness." He said lowly. Well, it was partly true at lease. But it was mostly the fucking that had happened the floor above him that kept him up.

Payne went back to eating as if nothing had happened, enjoying his meal.

Mike's eyes narrowed at Payne as he said, "Of course. I can't imagine."

Pierre sighed softly. "Oui. Well if you would excuse me, I'm going to take shower." He said quietly an got up to head upstairs for a shower.

"Good riddance," Payne mumbled, rolling his eyes. The stupid Frechie needed to lighten up. Seriously.

Mike gave him a hard look. "Payne, cut the bullshit. He's not a bad guy if you get to know him," he said.

"I don't care," Payne replied and cleaned up his mess.

Pierre finished his shower. He combed his hair, getting the disheveledness under slight control. He though as he got dressed. He wanted to to talk to Payne, but he knew he'd just shut him out. Pierre was willing to be friends, but he had a feeling that would never happen.

Payne sighed stood at the sink. He felt so bad about hating someone he didn't know, but it was how he grew up. He knew he should try to talk and be friends with the Frenchie, but the thought made him gag to the point he almost threw up. He didn't know how he was going to make it year with him in his house.

Pierre came downstairs, seeing Mike on the couch watching some American show he'd never seen. Mike was had been nice to Pierre since he arrived, and Pierre was grateful for that. He came up behind the couch. "Do you mind if I join you?" He asked politely.

Mike jumped a bit and glanced up, smiling when he sees Puerre. "You don't even gotta ask," he replied and patted the couch next to him.