blood runs red ✓

IX

'the scars you can't see are the hardest to heal'

- astrid alauda

august

August was incredibly afraid of how Sean would react to losing another match. It was only a friendly match, for fun, but Sean was competitive and hated Ares with a burning passion. Losing, he hated just a little bit more.

It was a shock to everyone when The Ravager actually won against the God of War. Ares was clearly off his game, distracted by something, or someone. Sean got lucky.

August got lucky too, because his boyfriend was in a euphoric, pleasant mood. He was like this a lot, when he won against the other people he fought with. But he rarely ever won against Ares, so when he did, it was amazing. Sean was being genuinely nice, angelic even.

"I won, baby, I won. Ares can fucking suck it. He lost to me, finally."

Sore loser, sore winner.

"Well done, Sean. I'm proud of you." August was not, but he wanted to be on his boyfriend's good side for the moment.

"You're so good to me, baby. Thank you for letting me take out my stress on you yesterday. You helped me win my match."

The part-Venezuelan boy half-smiled. He liked being given good attention, but didn't know how to respond to it.

"I think you deserve a little reward for your good behaviour today." Sean stepped closer to August. Instinctively, he stepped back. "Don't shy away from me, princess. I'm not going to hit you."

The shorter man laughed nervously. "Sorry, er-"

"Don't apologise, baby boy. I'm being nice to you. Don't you want me to be nice to you?"

"I do, I do, I just-"

Sean stepped forward again, and August couldn't help but step back. They repeated this a few times until August found himself with his back against the wall. "I'm not hurting you, August. I'm never going to hurt you again."

I've heard that one before.

"Let me give you a treat, sweetheart." Sean closed the gap between the two, placing his hands above his boyfriend's shoulders to keep him in place. "Can I kiss you?"

The care, the sweetness and the consent made August melt, despite him usually being the complete opposite. The bad version of Sean had disappeared from his mind, and he nodded and let his boyfriend kiss him.

It was slow, tongueless and gentle at first, until Sean licked his lip, asking for entrance. When August decided to deny it, Sean bit his lower lip, eliciting a gasp from the shorter man. The boxer took the opportunity and slid his tongue into his boyfriend's mouth, fighting for dominance.

Of course, Sean won. He always won.

Slowly, Sean moved away from his boyfriend's lips, trailing kisses down his jawline. The kisses were gentle, but it felt euphoric for August. He missed the gentle, loving side of Sean.

Said man was now trailing kisses down his neck, sucking and biting, trying to find August's sweet spot. Once he had found it, he focussed solely on that. The moans August let out were enough encouragement to go further.

Ripping the shorter man's shirt off, Sean began to kiss every inch of his boyfriend's chest, from his faint abs to his slightly defined v-line.

"Wait, Sean, can we not do this here?"

"Of course, baby. You only deserve the best treatment. Let me just deal with your little problem here, and then we'll go to the bedroom."

August blushed and nodded, letting his boyfriend suck him to completion, only to take him away to his room to further his pleasure.

Despite the body Sean was worshipping being covered in his own self-made bruises, August let it go for that night, enjoying the 'princess' treatment he was receiving. If he kept winning, and August hoped he would, Sean would hopefully keep treating him like this.

When August got up a few hours later, late at night, he decided to take a soak in his boyfriend's huge bath with jets. He'd only ever been in that bath a few times, when their relationship was seemingly perfect.

He was enjoying himself until Sean woke up and screamed at him never to touch his stuff without permission again. August sighed, realising the nice Sean was gone for the time being. Good things never last long for him.

Freezing, August had stumbled back into his outhouse, desperately searching for a towel, since his boyfriend felt so selfish he refused to give him one. Once he found one, he sat in his bed wrapped in a towel and boxers, too cold to even wear clothes.

His phone rang, scaring the daylights out of him. He didn't usually get calls, except from his old-boss, and friend, who moved out of town.

"Is this August Lopez?"

"Er, yes, this is he."

"Hi, I'm Florence Evergreen, Ares Cirillo's manager."

August sucked in a breath. He'd been thinking of the boxer for a while. He didn't expect his fucking manager to call him. "Hi?"

"It's come to my attention that you're a physiotherapist?"

"I used to be, yeah."

"Hm." Florence paused. August fucked up. "Would you be interested in being Ares' physiotherapist for the time being? Your old patient seems to have bruised his rib."

"My old patient?" August was confused, until it registered in his brain. He forgot the days where he was Sean's physiotherapist. "Oh, Sean. Right, erm, can I think about it?"

"Alright, Lopez. Call me back when you've come to a decision."

"Thank you, Miss Evergreen."

"Goodnight."

The call ended before August could say goodnight back.

This was an interesting offer. It could absolutely get him landed in the ER, but could also get him close to the hot boxer his boyfriend rivalled against. The choices were tempting.

Sean was so nice though..

As if he was spying on him, Sean just happened to call. "Come back into the main house. I have a problem you need to help with."

Before August could reply to that too, the call ended. He didn't fancy spending any more time with his boyfriend who sent him out in the cold in just boxers, but if he said no, then the consequences would be worse.

And just like that, he came up with an answer to Florence Evergreen's offer.