Your son for Mine

chapter 8

Lucas walked out of the bathroom freshly changed and bandaged. He'd found the first aid kit under the sink, and figured he didn't need Mario to do that for him too. It was bad enough Mario had had to bandage him up the first time. Bad enough he was right, to begin with. Someone had tried to kill him. Both he and Mario had the soon-to-be scars to prove it. The warmth that had been with him since the shower left him; felt ice cold. His stomach churned. He made his way to the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed, too afraid he would fall down if he remained standing for much longer.

Someone tried to kill me.

He bent his body in half, resting his elbows on his knees and hanging his head down low between them. He shut his eyes and forced himself to take a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Find my inner chi or whatever the fuck my yoga instructor called it. He knew the word, it was lurking somewhere in his scrambled brain, but the only words that found their way into Lucas's consciousness were words like an explosion, psycho, hurt, and dead.

Someone tried to kill me.

Fuck. In through the nose, out through the mouth. The words went on repeat in his head. He forced his body to comply and, breath after breath, his mind began to clear. When he felt like he wasn't going to pass out, he lifted his head and looked up at the wall at the end of the bed. There were two photos hanging next to the screen.

Lucas stared at them a moment before his curiosity got the better of him, and he got up to take a closer look. The larger of the photos showed a group of five men, barely men, they all looked younger than Lucas was now. All of the men wore camouflage pants, two of them had tank tops on, but the others were shirtless. They each had their arms slung around the shoulders of the man next to them, smiles wide on their faces, their eyes showing the gleam of invincibility. And comradery, friendship. Mario was easy to pick out. His hair was cropped short. It looked almost white, but whether that was just a reflection of the bright sun, or whether the sun itself had bleached it, Lucas couldn't tell.

The smaller photo showed Mario with just one other man. The man had dark hair cut short, and the brightest green eyes that Lucas had ever seen. Mario and his friend were sitting in deck chairs hunched forward, each with an elbow on their knee and a Budweiser in their hand, leaning towards one another. Mario had sunglasses on. Something had made him laugh and turn his head to look at his friend just when the photographer clicked the shutter button. He looked so relaxed, So happy.

There was no furrow on his brow, his shoulders were relaxed. Was this really the same man who was in the other room? It made Lucas sad. The Mario that was here with him had nothing in common with the Mario smiling in the picture. Lucas lifted his hand and lightly ran it across the glass of the frame. The green eyes of Mario's friend smiled at him, and Lucas felt the corners of his own lips turn up. Whoever this man was, he could make people smile without even having met them.

"Hey." Mario's voice broke whatever spell Lucas was under, and he took a step back from the wall. "Are you ready for new bandages?"

"I found the first aid kit under your sink and did it myself. Thanks though."

"Did you use the antibiotic cream? Did..."

Lucas rolled his eyes and waved his hand, effectively cutting Mario off. "Yes, Mother. I used the antibiotic cream. I even made sure none of the adhesive stuck to the wounds," His voice rose up high and held an entitled air as he spoke. He knew he was acting more uppity than was warranted, but damn it, he was not a child. He might, begrudgingly, need a bodyguard, but he'd be damned if he needed a nursemaid too. He was tired of talking about how he was hurt.

"lucas, we've got to go. I got a call, and the FBI wants to talk to you. Not to mention your parents. I talked with them last night and told them all the pertinent stuff, but they still want to talk to you in person. Your parents aren't very happy with me right now."

"Huh, why? I'm fine. There's nothing you could have done to stop anything. I was the one who left the apartment. You stopped me in time. You got me out of there and kept me safe." The cold feeling in Lucas's spine returned. He looked down at the floor and then back up at Mario. His stomach felt like it was on a rollercoaster.

"Well, that's not exactly how they see it. They think you should have gone to the hospital." Mario sighed. "We've got to head downtown for a meeting with the powers that be. They've got a theory about who's behind all this. Your parents will be there too."

Lucas didn't want to leave. He felt safe here in this house, even with its black-and-white movie color scheme. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"So, you were in the military." He lifted his hand and gestured towards the picture on the wall.

"Yeah. Marines." Mario's hands were in his pockets, and his shoulders hunched a bit forward.

"Oooh... my own personal G.I. Mario. I never had one as a kid. But I think I could appreciate you as my action figure. Though, between you or Channing? I'd have to pick Channing. No offense." Lucas knew he was being a brat. It happened when he got nervous, and the idea of leaving was definitely making him nervous.

"No offense." Mario rolled his eyes at him. Lucas thought he could still see the hint of a smile trying to curl its way into the corner of Mario's mouth. Lucas liked it. 

"I'm only teasing." Lucas smirked at him and then looked back at the photo of Mario and the other man. "I am, however, totally serious when I ask, who's the hottie in the picture and when do I get to meet him?" Lucas looked back at Mario and waggled his eyebrows.