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“Jimmy.”
Scott’s voice made Jimmy turn around to face him. The shorter stopped a few feet away from Jimmy. Moonlight shone down between the thick leaves of the dark oak trees around them, making the yellow streak in his hair glow like the sun. He seemed more fish-like than Jimmy remembered him. Scales trailed up his neck and seemed on the verge of breaking through the skin on his face.
The two stood in silence for a moment, before Scott spoke again. “I’m glad you came.” He said, giving Jimmy a half smile.
Jimmy didn’t smile back.
“Why did you call me here?” He asked impatiently.
Scott’s small smile dropped, but he still kept his face neutral afterward. “I wanted to be able to talk to you, without Joel and Grian breathing down my neck.” He explained.
Crossing his arms, Jimmy responded: “You could just tell them to leave, you know?”
“They’d probably shoot me.”
Jimmy was silent a moment, before shrugging. “Fair.” He took a step closer to Scott, who held his stance. “Now what do you wanna talk about?”
Scott wavered a moment and looked away. After a minute passed, he looked back at Jimmy.
“I meant it, you know.” He told him quietly.
“Meant what?” Jimmy asked with genuine confusion.
Scott stared at him, and responded: “When I said I loved you.”
It was Jimmy’s turn to look away. “Okay then.” He said blankly. “I don’t know why you had to call me here to say that.”
“Jimmy, I gave you every piece of me multiple times, and you can’t even be bothered to look at me when I’m talking to you.”
Jimmy didn’t look at Scott despite being called out. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t let himself.
“I still want you.” Scott continued, emotion slowly creeping into his voice. “I think I might still need you. Sometimes I wake up at night and expect to see you there, but it’s never you. Usually, it’s nobody. And every time it just makes me feel more alone, and…” He trailed off a moment. Jimmy noticed how tears glistened in his eyes before he finished.
“I don’t know how much longer I can be alone for.”
There was a minute of silence, before Jimmy let out an un-joyous laugh. “It’s cute that you think I still care about you.” He said.
Still, he couldn’t meet Scott’s eyes. He couldn’t even look at him, cause he knew he’d break if he saw Scott crying because of him.
The two stood in silence again, before Scott, voice shaking, said: “So you’re just willing to forget everything we’ve gone through?”
“I’ll never forget,” Jimmy responded. Suddenly he was pushed backward, barely catching himself before he fell to the floor, he glared at Scott.
Scott looked furious. Entire lifetimes of unshed tears welled in his eyes, as his fists clenched at his side. “THEN STOP ACTING LIKE YOU HAVE!” He shouted loud enough to be heard in the sky net. “LIKE EVERYTHING THAT’S HAPPENED MEANT NOTHING TO YOU!”
“I don’t want to, alright?!” Jimmy defended himself. “I just… I can’t do it again!”
“Do what?!” Scott challenged, as he stepped to be directly in front of Jimmy.
“Hurt you!”
Scott backed down slightly, after a moment of silence, and stared at the other in confusion.
Jimmy gestured widely with his hands as he continued. “I’ve done it more times than I can count, and I can’t do it again! I just can’t!”
He turned away from Scott, and took a few steps towards the brush lining the clearing they were in. Tears were starting to well in his eyes, and there was no way he could have continued to look at Scott without crying.
“Jimmy-“ Scott tries to say, as he put a hand on Jimmy’s shoulder.
The taller shrugged him off quickly. “No!” He interrupted. “I can’t! I never wanted to hurt you. I really didn’t. But that’s all I’m good for. Hurting people. And I couldn’t live with myself if I had to put you through that again.”
There were a few minutes of quiet. No noise except for the light rustle of leaves filled the clearing.
Finally, Jimmy said softly: “Sometimes, I wish we’d never met.”
He started to walk away. He knew that Scott was crying. He could feel it. But he knew that if he didn’t hurt him now, he’d hurt him worse later. And he couldn’t do it again.
Added just before he walked back through the trees, he said: “I gave up on loving you a long time ago, Scott. You need to give up too.”