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The world they knew was not a kind world, it was a dark world with various different ways to target and or kill who it so wished too, whether it would be by the person's own choice or against their very will, the world they lived in did not care for who it chose.
So it was never uncommon for people to find themselves with injuries that they could not explain where on earth they came from or who had done that to them.
The common ones were on the arms and legs, easy to reach places where people would assume they bumped into someone or something, but there were other places where the world would attack much harder to explain.
Jimmy, a boy taller than most with soft fluffy blond hair, was most sustainably to these whether he knew of it or just assumed it was common to leave his home and return with injuries he could not quite fully explain to himself.
Ever since he was a child he’d always remember going somewhere and returning with cuts or scrapes covering the length of his back, particularly his shoulder blades as well as his middle back.
And they wouldn’t be the small ones that barely left a mark, no these ones were deep red scars that would sting once they were noticed.
It’s why Jimmy always dreaded when he’d have to return home, his shoulders dropping as he opened his door to his apartment.
He could already start to feel the pain in his shoulders, the scratches that were already there, with the new ones growing over them, making his stomach sink.
He prayed they wouldn’t bleed, Jimmy didn’t know how many more times he could explain the stains on his shirt to Joel without making him suspiciou or worried.
It had been a couple of weeks since they’d moved in together, and Joel knew about where he gets hurt, but Jimmy could never bring himself to actually show him his scars.
They had agreed to it ever since they had met when they were young, Joel never liked talking about his and Jimmy hated talking about his so it made sense that they just collectively didn’t speak of them.
Tho that never stopped either of them asking about the pile of shirts stained with red colour on the back, or the tea towels with sprinkles of red on them waiting to be washed.
They both knew where they were from, but neither of them wished to ask, and neither of them wished to say.
So, when Jimmy finally made it home from the adventure that was his job, he was ready to just go straight to their shared room and get quickly changed along with surveying the damage to his back before Joel got home.
So that’s what he did once he unlocked their front door.
He climbed up their stairs to their room, a mirror placed in one of their corners for both himself and Joel to use, their room a light green colour since it was one of their favourite colours.
Jimmy always found it calming to be in their room, so once he was in there he moved himself over towards their mirror preparing himself to take off his shirt so he could deduce the damage done to his back.
It was a quick process, getting his shirt off and starting to grab one of the tea towels placed on the nightstand to start cleaning the splatters of red on his back, he knew Joel wasn’t due to be home at least for another 20 minutes or so, so he knew he had plenty of time to clean himself up.
Or he thought he had that time, apparently he had miscalculated that as he heard footsteps making their way up towards his and Joel’s room.
Was Joel home already? Did he finish early? It wouldn’t be the first time Joel had finished early from work, but normally when he did he’d give him a heads up, a quick text to let him know that there was a change of plans.
And when Jimmy grabbed his phone from his pants pocket to see if Joel had sent him a text, there was nothing there.
Now Jimmy liked to think he was pretty quick on his feet, a pretty quick thinker when it came to unexpected situations like this and to an extent, he was, but there were certain things that he just couldn’t quite handle as he tried to grab the shirt that he had put down on their bed.
It was just as Jimmy managed to get the shirt half way up his arm that the bedroom door had started to open, a short man with green highlights walking in not quite looking in Jimmy’s direction yet as the door fully opened.
And Jimmy started to feel dread pool into his stomach as he looked towards the door as it opened, looking directly into Joel’s brown eyes as Joel looked into his own.
And Jimmy knew Joel could see them, he could see Joel’s eyes start to travel down away from his face and towards his still exposed back as he’d frozen when he turned his face towards the door.
And Joel was just there, standing unmoving as he raked his gaze over Jimmy’s back, they weren’t pretty, Jimmy knew that, he’d known that since he was young and he started having them.
And he expected Joel to know that too.
Yet Joel wasn’t looking away, he wasn’t turning around in the door and walking out of the room, he wasn’t looking at him as if he was something less than what he was.
Joel wasn’t looking at him like how Jimmy looked at himself, instead his eyes were soft not the cold stare Jimmy thought he’d have in them, Joel lips were slightly downturned and Jimmy didn’t really know what quite to do when he started to walk over towards him.
He was expecting questions, statements, maybe even yelling. What he wasn’t expecting was for Joel to pick up the tea towel he had dropped and slowly start to dab it across the top half of his back, watching his movements in case he tried to pull away.
“You know you don’t need to hide these from me Jim” Joel’s voice was quiet as he spoke as he continued to carefully pat the rag over the length of Jimmy’s back, his free hand being placed on Jimmy’s shoulder to give him some comfort.
Which Jimmy didn’t even realise he had needed as his heart started to slow down as Joel continued the process he was doing, his hand on his shoulder rubbing it in small motions.
And Jimmy didn’t know what to say, his face scrunching up slightly as Joel accidentally caught a sensitive spot as he worked, and he squeezed his shoulder in a slight apology.
Jimmy hadn’t even realised how quickly time was going as he just let Joel continue what he was doing, not saying a word just nodding his head as Joel was apparently finishing up, his hand not one leaving Jimmy’s shoulder until the scars were all gone of blood.
And once they were, that was when Joel finally let go of him, and Jimmy finally felt that his ability to move was coming back to him as his body turned around to look at the shorter man who was looking up at him with a small smile on his lips as he brought his hand up to his hair.
“You know you’re a real idiot sometimes” and Jimmy just stared at him, not even realising his own smile was making its way to his face, as he felt his body start to lose its tension, his shoulders slacking as Jimmy brought his arms to lay over Joel’s shoulders.
“thank you…” Jimmy’s voice was soft if but a bit shaky as Joel carefully brought his own hands to hold him by his waist.
And Joel just shook his head as his eyes looking up into Jimmy’s own as he started to move the both of them towards their bed “come on, it’s been a lot day” and with those words Jimmy knew what Joel was trying to say.
As they both made their way into their bed Joel’s hands never leaving Jimmy’s waist as they both started to get comfortable, both their heads laying on their pillows neither of them properly changing out of their clothes as they started to lay down with each other.
They knew they should talk about this and they know they will, but for now this was a good start as Jimmy’s body started to relax more as he lay on his side facing Joel as the other rubbed circles into his side as they both stayed there letting the emotions they felt in that short time start to shimmer down.