Chapter Fourteen

“I have phonophobia,” Tristan said quietly.

Oliver looked at him in confusion - he clearly was not familiar with the term.

“Fear of loud noises,” Tristan explained, “When I was a child, there was a bad storm in Ireland one night, and a tree fell over on the attic of our house.”

He paused for a while, checking for Oliver’s expression, which had changed from confusion to sympathy. After a while, Tristan added, “My room was in the attic. Since then, I have been afraid of loud noises.”

Oliver looked down at their hands, then interlocked his fingers with Tristan’s, and said softly, “I am sorry, Tristan.”

Tristan shook his head, “You didn’t know and had no way of knowing.”

Both of them sat in silence for a while, holding each other, when suddenly Tristan realized something. He raised his head from Oliver’s shoulder where it had been residing, “What was the party popper for though? Is tonight something special?”

Oliver looked at Tristan’s face for a while, then his face broke into a sol