Electricity races through your arm as your fingertips gently trace the marks on his back. You can tell he feels it too by the occasional slight shudders that run through his body. He's trying to hide it. He doesn't want to feel it but it can't be helped. For months both had played the cat and mouse game. Neither one surrendering. Both scared of the consequences if you did.
Your ragged breathe comes in uneven intervals, strangely matching the pace of his. A cut deeper than the others catches your attention and you trace his warm skin all the way to his chest. His arms softly encircle your waist, ever so slightly pulling you closer. You place your palm flat against his chest, just above his heart, where the mark finally ends. You stay like this for a moment, memorizing the feel of his skin against yours.
Slowly, you look up, only to see his eyes are closed tightly, his soft pink lips slightly parted.
"They are beautiful."
His eyes snap open at the sound of your voice. His forest green eyes causes your breathe to catch in your chest.
"How? How can something so painful, so broken, so... so hurt, be considered beautiful?"
"Because," you loop your hands around his neck, your lower body now touching his as you speak, "It shows your strength. It shows your will to survive despite the whole world telling you not too. It shows all the pain you have been through and all the obstacles you have overcome that have made you into the man you are today. The man that... the man that would rather be beaten up and left for death than let someone he cares about be locked up for a crime that she did indeed commit. And we both know that she could have survived in there."
He rolls his eyes at your last remark, a small grin tugging at his lips.
"I know you could have survived. You are stronger than any woman I know chica, but I... I couldn't take the thought of being away from you for so long. I couldn't take the thought of you being all alone or of me not being there when you needed me. The image of you crying chica, it... it tears me up inside. I will never let another person hurt you again. Never again."
A tear slowly makes it's way down his face. You reach up and gently brush it away. You smile softly at the meaning behind his words. Reaching up, you run your fingers through his soft ink black hair.
"When I hurt, it hurts you?"
"Yes chica."
You grin widely as you ask, "Why?"
Immediately his eyes shift focus from yours to something behind you. Two pink spots appear on his cheeks as he studies the unseen object like his life depended on it.
"You know why."
"Maybe I don't." You say playfully.
He sticks out his bottom lip a little, eyes slightly narrowed as he tries to find a way to get out of admitting his feelings. He sighs.
"Its because I... I love you."
Warmth spreads throughout you body and you a huge smile breaks out on your face. You cup his face gently in your palms and pull his head close to yours. You place a small, lingering kiss on his forehead.
"And I, my amazing hero, love you with all my heart."
