Battle Scars [BxB]

S E V E N

I felt safe again, laying in Luca's arms, wrapped up in his jumper, the bed sheets a tangled mess between our legs. My back was pressed up against his bare, well-built chest. He was fiddling with my hair, one of his hands running up and down my injured arm, tracing the scars with his fingertips soothingly.

"Can I help?" He asked, his voice husky and accented.

"Hm?"

"I wanna help you." He specified. "Will you be angry if I try to research ways I can help you?"

I frowned, twisting around to face him, "A-Angry?"

"I know you don't like me worrying about you." He explained, his fingers still running up and down my arm. "But I wanna help. Please don't try and be brave."

I nibbled my bottom lip thoughtfully, shuffling over to peck the tip of his nose, "Y-You're really sweet." I whispered. "But I don't think you can do anything."

"Yes, I can." He countered. "A ton of my friends from uni are Psychology students. I can ask them about it, I can do some research, I can try and find out ways to prevent this."

I nodded blankly, trying to crush my emotions building up, making it hard to breath, "O-Okay. Th-Thank you, Luca." I breathed out.

"You're not...you're not suicidal, are you?"

My eyes widened as I sat bolt upright, tightening the jumper around my body self consciously, "W-What?"

He sat up too, staring at me carefully, "It's just that-"

"No! I'm not." I said firmly, lying through my teeth. It was all I thought about these days.

"Okay." He nodded, raising his hands in surrender, "I believe you."

I let out a tight sigh of relief, watching his expression soften encouragingly, "S-Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"It's alright." He smiled vaguely. "And Theo...you need to start eating more."

I snuggled back into his side as we lay back on the bed, our limbs knotted together. "I-I know. And I will." I lied again.

He believed me. Again. "Good." He uttered, kissing me repeatedly on the lips, as if he was trying to taste as much of me as possible.

"Phoenix was here last week." I interjected casually after a moment of relaxed silence.

"I heard. He told me about what happened at the store. Are you okay?"

I nodded, playing with his fingers absentmindedly, curling them around my own. "I'm okay." I answered. "J-Just assume I'm okay unless I tell you otherwise." I joked.

He rolled his eyes, leading to another chain of quick, chaste pecks. "I'm sorry about all the shit Sam's being doing. She can be a prick."

I chuckled artificially, "Y-Yeah." I agreed. "I-It's okay though. It's not your f-fault." I assured him, shifting out of his grip and putting some distance between us, allowing for a better view of my pretty boyfriend. "S-Stop worrying about me. I-I wanna hear about you. Tell me everything."

He smiled as we both pulled the covers up to our chins, "The campus is amazing. You should come up one day, I'll show you round. You'd love the library." He added. "Everyone from the football team is really nice. Uni's just so different. I can be myself up there, it's not like school. I can talk about my boyfriend without people raising their brows and making some unnecessary comment about how I don't look gay."

A small, genuine smile tugged it's way into my lips, "Y-You're out?"

"Yeah." He replied as if it was obvious. "People caught on after a few too many comments about my gorgeous boyfriend back home." He smirked, making me flush involuntarily. "Girls only hit on me as a joke. Everyone's just really nice and genuine."

"I'm proud of you." I whispered, like the statement was some big secret. "And you l-like your classes?"

"Yeah. I mean, I always they were gonna be difficult, but I'm managing. With football and friends and parties, I barely think about work."

"I'm really h-happy for you." It was the first time I'd been happy for weeks. Proper happiness. Not just a drug induced haze of joy. This was what happiness tasted like. Here, with Luca.

He watched me sadly, "I can't wait for you to get out of this town."

"W-What?"

"This place isn't good for you. You're not happy here. You don't smile anymore. I wish we could just run away together and live as isolated sheep herders in Iceland. We could get a dog and name the sheep after old movie stars."

"S-Sounds like the dream." I giggled. "Freezing our arses off as we drown in animal shit."

He grinned deviously, "As long as I'm with you." He winked, his cheesy line making both of us cringe. We burst out laughing, pulling the sheets up to cover our heads. I felt like a kid at a sleepover, hiding from their parents late at night. Except, I was hiding from the world. I was hiding from myself. Under the covers with the one boy who knew how to keep me safe.

"I don't want you to leave." I whispered quietly. I felt the need to whisper when we were wrapped up in transparent darkness like this, sharing body heat.

"I don't want to leave either." He agreed, shuffling over to press his lips against mine.

"C-Can I come up to see you one day?" I requested shyly.

"I can't wait." He winked.

I flinched at the sound of the door swinging open from downstairs. I heard a few familiar voices echoing up the stairs, announcing my family's return. They must've picked Milo up on the way home. I peeled the covers back, pulling on a pair of trackies over my boxers. Luca followed my actions, hastily getting changed before kissing me hard on the lips.

"Luca!" My Mum exclaimed in utter surprise once she saw us descending the stairs, "I didn't know you were back!" She rushed forward, locking him in a tight hug before stepping away again.

"Yeah, I arrived this morning." He smiled.

"You've been busy." Milo scoffed as my parents started bombarding Luca with questions, "Nice hickey."

My hand flew up to cover the stain on my neck. "Fuck off." I muttered, rubbing it slightly, as if I was expecting it to smear off.

"So, Luca...plenty of girls throwing themselves at you out there, huh?" Milo asked casually, leaning against the kitchen counter, his arms folded over his chest.

"Milo." My Dad groaned in exhaustion. Milo's never liked Luca, that was just a simple fact. I understood it at first. Milo was extremely protective over me, he assumed Luca was playing some sort of game and me being the naive little boy I was, would fall right into his trap. But I thought that once Luca proved his loyalty, Milo would back off and realise he's in it for the long run. But that clearly hasn't happened.

"What? I'm just asking." My brother grinned smugly.

Luca rolled his eyes, "Yeah, there's a few." He retaliated, tightening an arm around my slim waist and pulling me close, "Not that it matters."

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" My Mum offered kindly.

"I'd love to, but my parents are expecting me back tonight. Thank you, though." He declined politely.

I walked Luca to the door, pulling him out of my family's line of view, "W-Will I see you tomorrow?"

"You bet." He smirked. "I'll text you." He leant down, capturing my lips in a frenzied kiss, his hands clinging to my waist to try and pull me as close as possible. I balanced on my tiptoes, wrapping my arms around the nape of his neck for support, parting my lips to try and deepen the kiss. Once we were both out of breath, we pulled back, smiling sloppily. "Love you." He whispered, pecking me on the corner of my mouth once more.

And then he was gone.