Dangerously In Love

~𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑬𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏~

DaMario laid comfortably on the couch inside of his mother's house while he waited for her to get a first aid kit. He told her that he was fine, but she wouldn't have it. A few of his ribs were broken, his cheek was bruised from where that stranger punched him, and there was a deep gash on his side. He couldn't wrap his mind around who that man was, let alone the fact that he attacked him. Though, the thing that has him worried the most are the words he spoke before disappearing. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑠? DaMario's eyes became stone cold as he concentrated on the ceiling. He won't take this threat lightly, especially if it's gonna involve all of his friends and family. He's lost his brother and father already, he can't afford to lose anyone else. Keiko comes back to the living room with a first aid kit in her hands and sets it on a nearby nightstand before resting on her knees. "Every time I turn, you're always hurt! Even when you were little, you would come home with scraped knees or a sprained ankle." She states and looks at him with furrowed eyebrows but her stern expression changes after he gives her a stupid grin. Sighing, she shakes her head and takes out some gaze, needle, and thread. "You're just like your father, reckless...yet, lovable." Keiko giggles before disinfecting the gash on DaMario's side with peroxide, cleaning it. Being the baby that he is, DaMario jumps and hisses in pain from the burning sensation in his side. "SHHHHHH-.." He keeps himself from cursing and instead covers it up with hush noises.  "How do you even manage to end up with gashes like this, Mario?" Keiko demands as she shakes her head while finishing up with DaMario's stitches. He looked terrible with all the cuts and bruises all over his face and body from his previous fight with that stranger from earlier. Who even was that? And why did he seem to know Diana? "Hellooo, I'm talking to you." Keiko waves her hand in front of his face, but the look on it was serious and unbreakable, as if he was deep in his own thoughts. "Oh, um....Ji and I were messing around with some swords. That's all, just sparring ma.." Keiko noticed this and placed a hand on his shoulder which snapped him out of it. DaMario looks at his mother, his face screaming with fatigue, while Keiko packs up the first aid. "Aw, never mind what I said. Get some sleep, my love." She cooed as she caressed his face, thinking there will be time later to question how he got his wounds. DaMario lays back on the couch, thinking about what happened earlier, while slowly slipping away into his dreams. The room was dark once more and the only source of light was from a lamp placed upon a desk. Getting off of the couch, DaMario ambles over to the desk and sees a single beige colored folder, along with a cherry blossom key-chain, sitting on top of the desk. He opens the folder and pulls out a card that says "MAKE YOUR CHOICE" written in big, bloody letters. All of a sudden, an evil laugh erupts in the distance followed by green smoke flowing towards him. Stepping out of the smoke appears the same man who fought against DaMario earlier at the festival. He wasn't wearing his mask this time, but most of his face was hidden in shadows and the only things visible were his glowing green eyes. There, on both sides of him were his mother and Diana, both gagged and hands tied behind their backs. DaMario's expression and demeanor change drastically with his eyebrows furrowed to the max and his eyes beaming red. "Let them go! NOW! I swear to God, nigga, if you hurt them I'll-" "Aye man, let her go!" Phoenix's voice carries out through the darkness and the room feels as if it's shaking. It was then DaMario opened his eyes and looked around at all of the people surrounding him. Phoenix, Isis, Diana, Ji, Pinkie, and Keiko. He quickly realized that he was gripping Diana's wrist hard, hurting her, which wasn't his intention. "They wanted to come over and see how you were doing. Then you started talking in your sleep and grabbed Diana." Keiko explained while DaMario gently let go of her. Diana looks at him a bit worriedly as she rubs her wrist. "Maybe you need some air, Mario.." Ji suggests, which DaMario humbly complies. Standing up, he grabs his shirt off the couch and slips it on, covering the stitches and gauze. "I'm goin' out back." He states and heads to his old room to change into a hoodie and some sweats then grabs his loud before going out to the backyard. Sitting out on the steps, DaMario pulls a single, pre-rolled blunt out and places the rest of the pack back in his pocket. He sucks his teeth once he realizes he forgot his lighter after patting his pockets only to find it not there. Before he gets up though, the slide door opens and Diana comes out with something in her hand. "How are you supposed to smoke with no lighter?" Diana asks quick-wittedly as she closes the door behind her. She sits down next to him with her shoulder touching his. Since they've been knowing each other for some time now, Diana figured this sort of thing was acceptable now. DaMario began to heat up a little from how close she was to him. It's nothing new, he's been close like this before. Placing the blunt in his mouth, he reaches in his pocket and pulls out the pack again. "You smoke? Or are you like some..goody-two-shoes?.." He asks her while holding up the pack to her. DaMario leans in closer to her face, letting her light it up for him before moving away. "Yeah I smoke, but only when I'm like, bored or stressed out." Diana takes a bud from the pack and inspects the white owl on the packaging. "Though, I've never had this brand before...you don't do swishers or backwoods?" She curiously asks and places the bud between her lips and lights it up herself. He giggles to himself at her question, making puffs of smoke leave his mouth. "Swishers? If I see someone smokin' a swisher then we'd have to fight. As for backwoods? Well, I've been smoking that for the longest time and I guess it doesn't affect me anymore like it used to." Diana rolls her eyes as she endures more of his giggling. DaMario's joking ceases, however, once he finally sees her bruised up wrist from when he grabbed her earlier. "I, um...I'm sorry for grabbing you like that. That looks like it hurts." "Yeah, but only for a little while. I'm fragile." she joked and exhaled some smoke from the bud. "And it's fine. Besides, it looked like you were having a nightmare." Diana glances over at him and frowns a bit, rolling the blunt between her pointer finger and thumb. "So..what was it about?" She asked, watching him bite down hard on his bud. DaMario admired his mother's garden from afar and sighed. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Mario." DaMario holds the blunt between his ring and middle finger and rubbed his face with his other hand, leaving it there as he leans over to rest his elbows on his thighs. "It was about a stranger and he had you and my mom hostage. He threatened to hurt you both and told me to make a choice. I don't know, it was weird." Diana uttered an 'oh' then began to twist her finger around in her hair. They listened to the sound of the wind whistling passed their ears and stayed silent for a while until he began to speak again. "That's the first dream I ever had that didn't have to do with my dad or Lee." The sorrow on DaMario's face grew more with each word he spoke. He was still hurting on the inside. "I take it that they passed..?" She wondered and he confirmed it with a head nod. The hurt on his face made Diana feel terrible and she wanted to help him, but didn't know how. "Well, I hope you aren't depressed or anything like that.." she tries to re-word her sentence to sound less inconsiderate and takes a breath in then exhales, "and if you are, I'll try my best to make you feel better." DaMario peeks at her and smiles slightly, revealing his dimples. "Well maybe you've already made me feel better by coming out here with me." This made Diana's heart flutter and couldn't help but smile. There goes that smile again. The same smile that motivates him to keep going. He also noticed her nose was looking a lot better than the last time he saw it. "Is it feeling any better? Your nose, I mean. The bruising seems to be fading away." Diana had forgotten about her nose entirely and blushed from embarrassment. "Yeah, it feels a lot better now but the process of fixing it was horrible. I guess I look even worse than before, huh?" Diana giggled, but it seemed forced. Though, something told DaMario she was dead serious. "You were beautiful then and you're beautiful now. So, what are you talking about?" He exhales smoke while looking at her lovingly, meaning every word he said. Diana fumbled around with her words, unable to say anything with her blush getting nothing but darker. It was adorable.  The slide door opens once again and Keiko waves them back inside. "Come on, we're all going out for sushi! Just because the festival is ruined doesn't mean we can stop having fun!" Keiko says energetically with her fists balled up, pumping into the air. DaMario has one more puff, with Diana doing the same, before the two get up and go back inside. He stopped and glanced at all the faces in the room. His best friend, family, and friends all had smiling faces. With everything that just happened today, they still managed to smile and laugh. This is why I'm still alive. This is why I do what I do. Whatever happens, I'll do whatever I can to protect those smiles. Even if it kills me..