Imagine a world where your heart literally glowed when you were in love.
I wasn't exactly the most popular kid in school. I was far from it, in fact. I was the laughing stock of my entire high-school. I was accused of being an "emo" more than a crying girl in a My Chemical Romance shirt. There was one person, however that hated me more than anybody else. His name was Chris. Despite always wearing leather, slipknot shirts, combat boots and black skinny jeans his name always dripped off everybody's tongue. Everyone loved him. Girls wanted to kiss him and guys wanted to be him. He always slithered into my day somehow, weather it was slamming my head into a locker as he waltzed past or throwing food at me during lunch. Every word he said to me was an insult yet it didn't stop me from being interested in him. I couldn't help myself, he was pretty. He listened to the same music as I did, watched the same movies, hated the same shows and yet he insisted on making my head hurt every time I tried to breathe. Admittedly, he made my heart glow.
Literally.
I always wore layers upon layers of clothing since every time I saw him my chest began to glow. It happened to everyone.
I sat alone in the cafeteria, my head down and headphones over my ears. It was lunch and, as usual, I was quietly starving. I was too afraid to bring food to school. I didn't want anybody to put anything in my lunch. 'Sup, whore!' I heard Chris shout into my headphone-covered ear. I let my hair fall in front of my eyes and tilted my head away from him. 'You ignoring me now? Don't fucking ignore me!'
'S-Sorry...' I admittedly sounded like a lost puppy. I was so quiet I was surprised he heard me at all. I felt him grip the neck of my shirt, suddenly lifting me out of my seat.
'Fucking sorry my arse!' He angrily dragged me out of the cafeteria before chucking my into a line of lockers. I winced the moment the back of my head slammed against the cold metal. I should've been used to it by now. 'The fuck do you even do here? You don't even say anything! Why the fuck do you even come here?' I coughed loudly and let my knees give out, making me fall face first onto the floor.
'I-I don't know...' He stepped towards me and stuffed his hand into my hair, wadding my locks into his fist. He yanked me up until I was practically on my knees. I could feel my heart glowing again. He stared down at me, confusion burning in his eyes. Something was off about him today. 'A-Are you...okay?'
'S-Shut up! Shut the fuck up!' He practically threw me into the drink-taps, causing water to spray all over my two lays of shirts. I thudded hard onto the ground, water slipping across my skin. Before I could let Chris lift me up again, I scrambled to my feet and bolted off to the change rooms.
'Okay...you're okay...Come on (Y/n), you're fine...' I panted to myself, slipping off my shirts and glancing down at my glowing chest. It was beginning to fade, luckily. Unluckily, the moment it did, somebody barged into the locker room.
'The fuck did you go?' I recognised Chris' voice immediately and froze. He stepped into sight and I immediately stuffed my wet shirts into my locker. I tried to stay quiet as I plucked a spare shirt out but my heavy breathing was too much and soon he was pinning me against the lockers, a sinister frown across his face. 'I'm not fucking-' He suddenly froze the moment his eyes wandered down to my bare torso. I lifted my arms and tried to cover my chest the best I could in my moment if panic.
'I-I'm sorry...I-I'll change quickly, I promise...T-Then you c-can beat me up some more...' I whimpered submissively. He didn't even look angry at that point. He looked more gentle than a poppy. I began to notice his chest as a faint white glow seeped out from his black tank-top. He let out a shaky breath before realising what I was staring at.
'F-Fuck, don't do this now!' He removed his hands from either side of my head and quickly turned around, beginning to ran his fist into his chest. 'Stop it, stop it!' Just seeing him all flustered and embarrassed was enough to make my heart glow gently. I plopped my clean shirt back into my locker and spent an extra second watching him panic.
'C-Chris?'
'What? What do you want?'
'I-I...s-sorry...'
'Why are you sorry? I'm the one with the glowing fucking heart! Stupid thing always does this when you're around! Gotta fucking beat myself 'til it stops!' He was still aggressively bashing his chest, trying to hide what his heart was telling the both of us. I took a deep breath before speaking.
'I-I...u-um...d-does punching your chest work?'
'It better start fuckin' working!' He was already growing tired from the pain. I couldn't help but snicker childishly as he dropped his arm from his chest and let it hand limp beside him. He took a deep sigh and gently plopped himself on the bench sitting in front of the lockers, his head still down and eyes averted away from me. 'Why're you still here? Aren't you gonna go run off and tell everybody?'
'N-No...T-That's mean...'
'Yeah of course it's fuckin' mean. Now you can finally get back at me for being a major cunt.' He hung his head in shame, ignoring me as I hesitantly stepped closer to him until I was standing right between his knees. 'The fuck are y-you...' He trailed off as I kneeled down, finally letting him see the raging glow in my chest.
'I-I um...I-I'm sorry I'm so annoying...I-I just...really like you a-and I've...n-never actually...spoken to anyone before...'
'N-No, (Y/n) I...I like you too...I...God I'm such a cunt...I don't think, (Y/n), I don't think before I do anything.' He placed his head in his hands and tried his best not to look at me again but failed as I leaned close, pressing my head against his chest as it began to glow again- for me. 'S-Stop that, y-you're making my heart glow!'
'O-Oh...sorry...' I frowned and scooted away from him. Finally, I stood up and stepped back towards my locker to put my shirt on until Chris stopped me.
'W-Wait I...When I said stop I didn't really mean stop.'
'O-Oh, sorry...' I paused, unsure of what to do from there. I just went about my business, reaching into my locker and taking my shirt back out. 'I-I um...I-I'll be at the park after school...y-y'know...I-In case you wanted to beat me up o-or whatever...' He genuinely seemed surprised by my comment. Even after I slipped my clean shirt on and left the locker rooms, he didn't leave until much later. He was stunned.
I didn't see him for the rest of the day. Usually he'd be right behind me no matter what, his toes dragging against the back of my feet and tripping me but he was nowhere in sight. I didn't know what to think of his absence, especially after I found him.
The sun was already beginning to set as I shuffled to the park right beside my house. It was always deserted except for that day, when I found Chris sitting on the grass, his chest bright enough to light an entire city. I hesitantly stepped towards him, my chest faintly glowing through my shirt. I braced myself for pain the moment his head shot up and eyes darted towards my general direction. 'Y-You actually showed up?'
'Y-Yeah...' He awkwardly replied, his heart finally settling down a bit but not completely turning off. 'D-Do you...want me to hit you?'
'I-If you want...' Even as I confirmed I'd let him hit me, he didn't move. He was stuck to his spot like a statue. I stepped closer, wondering if he just wanted me to step forward but he still did nothing.
'(Y-Y/n) I...I'm sorry...I'm sorry for everything, okay? Honestly...I've been picking on you because I...I want you...I just don't think and I...I don't know...This sounds stupid, right? I sound like a complete dumb-arse...' For the first time, Chris really did sound ashamed of himself. I could take being thrown against a locker, my parents death and living on my own but I couldn't stand watching him degrade himself. I felt absolutely insane.
'I-I...' I cleared my throat and tried my best to speak clearly. With my chin high, I began to speak. 'You don't sound stupid. I think you just need to be clear to yourself.'
'Y-Yeah! I know that! D-Don't be...don't be nice...I hate it when you're nice...' He hung his head and took a deep breath. 'Okay, okay...(Y-Y/n), I really like you...I...Can't think straight when you're around...M-My mind just clicks into this-this rude, arrogant, egotistical person that I absolutely hate but...I can promise you that I'm not like that. Well, I am like that, but, like, that's not me. I...honestly like how shy you are. You never say anything to anyone. Only me. I love being your only-uh-bully...fuck you're just...so fucking perfect...' I let my lips curl into a smile as Chris lifted his head slightly and stared at my glowing heart.
'T-Thank you...D-Did you...wanna come over or something?'
—————————————————
I will be doing a part 2 so stick around for that!
