Lukesse Oneshots~2018 Wattys

Her Pain

Before this begins,

TRIGGER WARNING!!!

If you get triggered by bullying or any of that stuff then read at your own risk.

"Jesse? What is this?"

Jesse looked down at the ground. She couldn't bear looking her best-

Her only friend in the eyes.

She could only imagine his blue eyes wide with shock, his face disapproving. She could feel the sharp barb of his tongue as he shouted, 'I don't want to be your friend! You hurt yourself because you think it's the easy way to deal with pain!'

"I-I'm sorry......." Jesse whispered. "How long has this been going on.....?" her friend asked. Jesse didn't reply, only grab a tank top and Pj shorts and walk into the bathroom. She changed from her sweater and sweatpants to the lilac Pj shorts and black tank top. She tied her hair up into a bun before walking out to her room where her friend waited. His eyes widened in shock at the amount of scars, fresh and old, covering her legs from her ankles to her thighs and her arms from her wrists to her shoulders. "Jess.... I knew you were bullied.... But this? Just to relieve pain? Why would yo-" her friend was cut off as Jesse glared up at him.

"You don't know what it's like to have no friends. Everyone's your friend, you're the cool one. Me? I'm the one always bullied everywhere she goes. The one who has no safe haven except for her home. But I can't live the rest of my life here. So I have to deal with the pain from the moment I step out of the house to when I step back inside. Then, the pain is too much, the only way to deal with it is this," Jesse snapped, motioning to her scars covering her arms and legs.

Her friend stayed silent.

"Well? What do you have to say?" Jesse asked, her voice cold.

Her friend stayed silent.

"Just what I thought. Now leave me alone," Jesse said, turning her back to her friend.

"You're right. I don't know what it's like to have no friends, to have everyone bullying me, to have my only safe haven be my home, the one who hurts them self because of the pain. I have no right to judge. But you're my friend. I care about you, and this isn't going to solve the pain. Please.... You've kept me out of this long enough.... Let me in.... Let me help...." her friend whispered.

Jesse looked down at the ground. It was true. Her friend had tried to help her, but she pushed him out, not wanting him to be a part of the life she lived now. She especially didn't want him in her life because she loved him, and she didn't want to fall any more in love with him, to protect him from the life she lived. Perhaps now was the time to take down the walls blocking people from her heart, and open her heart to those she cared about.

"O-Okay...."

Her friend wrapped Jesse in a hug. It stung, but Jesse hugged him back. They pulled away, saying nothing, staring into each other's eyes.

Jesse gently held her friend's cheeks in her hands and gently touched her lips to his. His blue eyes widened in shock before he melted into the kiss, wrapping one hand around Jesse's waist, the other holding her chin up. After a few moments, they pulled away.

"I hope you can open your heart to me as well," Jesse whispered.

"I already did..." her friend whispered.

Tears fell down Jesse's cheeks. Her friend gently wiped them away.

"Thank you....

"Lukas......."

~A week later~

Jesse had been afraid to go outside for a week after Lukas had found out that she had self-harmed. She was afraid she would self-harm again if she went outside too early. Lukas understood and stayed with her at her home, keeping her company and preventing her from hurting herself. They were sitting on the couch together, silence filling the room. Jesse sighed.

"Lukas... I think I'm ready."

Lukas looked at Jesse with worried blue eyes.

"Are you sure? We could wait for a li-"

"No. Now is the time."

Jesse went to her room and changed from her Pj's to a cream colored tank top with dark brown shorts and a pair of sandals. She wanted everyone to see the scars she had from the bullying she had endured for so long. Her hair was in a messy bun again, and she and Lukas walked outside of her house.

At first, they saw nobody. Until a large group of people ran up, all wanting to talk to Lukas. Until they noticed Jesse.

"Lukas, what are you doing hanging out with this loser?" a boy asked, sneering at Jesse. Jesse shut her eyes tight as if she thought she could close off the insults coming from everybody else.

"I'm hanging out with her because she's my girlfriend. And I don't appreciate people making fun of her and bullying her because they think they can," Lukas replied. Silence filled the crowd.

"Lukas, you're hilarious! But do you really think you can fool us with that?" a voice said.

The crowd started murmuring, believing what Lukas said was a joke. But Lukas held his head up defiantly, his blue eyes glaring at the people in the crowd. The crowd's murmurs grew uneasy, as they started to believe what Lukas had said was true.

"Do you really think you expect us to believe that? Lukas, come on. You're our friends. Not hers," a voice said.

Lukas's glare went to the area the voice had come from. "I'm not lying. Now, if you excuse me, Jesse and I are going to go, and you all will stop bullying her. Otherwise, you deal with me," Lukas said, his voice ice. He gently took Jesse's hand and started walking out of the crowd, but a hand grabbed her other wrist.

Jesse hissed in pain as she turned to look at the person. It was a man, about Lukas's age, with brown hair and yellow-green eyes. Behind him stood two other people, another man, and woman. All three wore matching leather jackets with an Ocelot on the back.

"Ohh, does that hurt? Maybe this will more," the brown-haired man said, twisting Jesse's wrist while holding it much more tightly. Pain seared through Jesse's wrist. "Let go of her, Aiden!" Lukas cried his worry about Jesse more than his anger. A few people in the crowd held Lukas back and he was forced to watch as Jesse was hurt even more. Aiden twisted her arm behind her back before grabbing her other wrist. Jesse's eyes were starting to well up with tears as she fought through the pain. Lukas continued to struggle, to escape so he could stop this and help Jesse. But too many people were holding him back.

Finally, Aiden let Jesse go, and she fell to the ground. Tears fell down her cheeks onto the grass. Aiden kneeled beside her and held an object out to her.

It was a small knife.

Jesse shakily took the knife, holding it to her arm. Lukas couldn't say anything, for someone had gagged him. He wished he could tell Jesse to fight, that this wasn't right. But he couldn't.

Jesse hesitated. She just sat there, doing nothing, holding the knife to the skin of her arm.

The crowd stared, waiting for Jesse to break, to cut her arm.

To their shock, Jesse plunged the knife into the grass beside her, not even cutting herself.

She glared at Aiden before punching him, sending him flying back. Lukas managed to struggle free and he ran to Jesse, kneeling beside her, holding her in his arms. Jesse cried into Lukas's shoulder, letting all her pain out in her tears. They stood up and Lukas started walking with Jesse away from the shocked crowd.

~A year later~

Jesse looked at the skin of her arms. The scars that had once covered her arms and legs had faded away, just like the bullying and pain. Now she had many friends and was reunited with her old friends and twin brother. Jesse would never forget their faces when they saw her scars and heard her story. They, as expected, had been in shock. "What are you thinking about?"

Jesse smiled as she turned her head to look at Lukas. His blue eyes were gentle, a smile on his face. "Just thinking about everything that's happened," Jesse replied. "Everything turned out all right in the end, didn't it?" Lukas asked. Jesse nodded. "Yeah, and I think it was all worth it," she said, gently kissing Lukas.