{ 𝗟𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 }

23

Elio's feet wouldn't stay still. He walked back and forth the station. He had biked all the way by himself, nothing but a quick farewell to his mother.

Oliver didn't say when he was coming back exactly but he did say it was this week.

Things couldn't ever be so specific with him, specially now that he had been a spy.

Damn the war, the young boy thought to himself.

Oliver shouldn't have ever been caught up in this. Had he stayed in Italy for a few more days, he wouldn't have been caught up in the drafting in New York.

But Elio couldn't be more grateful that his boyfriend had ended up a spy rather than some random soldier. The odds of him getting killed were much higher being in combat. He didn't doubt the strength of his own man—believe me, he knew his strength— but he would only be able to stop a bullet once.

Oliver, before leaving, insisted that two would not address each other by their names. Instead, they wrote as if one was the other. Elio always laughed as he wrote 'Dear Elio' to Oliver but he knew it was for his own safety, and his boyfriend's.

The train was coming to view and his feet stopped immediately.

It was Thursday. He can't wait another day.

Please, please, please—

The train came to a full stop and Elio couldn't help but bite the skin by his fingernails out of nerves. People kept stepping off but where was his American man?

"Elio."

His head perked up as he looked at the front of the train. And there he was. His happy place. Elio's face brightened up as he ran to Oliver.

The end of the tunnel.

He wrapped his arms around those muscly arms he so much missed being close to and buried his head in his chest. A sense of relief radiating the both as he realized, his boyfriend was safe.

"Hey sweets." Oliver wrapped his hands around the skinny boy's shoulders and sighed at the smell of peaches that Elio carried with him. "You miss me?"

Elio looked up, happy tears ready to burst. "Are you fucking kidding? Like crazy!"

Oliver smiled and his younger boyfriend noticed the small cut on the corner of his mouth, the small purple bruise on his exposed collarbone, and the way he placed all his weight on his right leg.

"Can you walk? I only brought one bike, I didn't think this through... Dammit."

Oliver chuckled as he kissed the top of his head, not caring who saw him be loving with his boyfriend. "You never think anything through, no offense. But yes, I can walk."

Elio's smile brightened up Oliver's day. "Let's go home."