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He and Joris had been walking. Although Joris protested for hours, he convinced him to go to the movies together.
A new shitty movie had come out, and even if people usually avoided those kinds of movies, he liked seeing them just for the sake of a few bizarrely funny moments. Joris, of course, had complained the entire way to the cinema, the entire time they were watching it, and now the entire way back to his car.
“Why couldn't you have invited Tera?! I would rather get shot in the foot by you again than have to go through that torture ever again.” They were currently walking side by side, on their way to Joris’ car.
The boy chucked slightly and nudged him, “I didn't shoot you in the foot! And Tera is busy, and we're friends, right? Friends should do fun things together.”
“Friends my ass…” The boy rolled his eyes. They kept bickering for a while before being interrupted by some guys whistling.
“Look at you, doll!”
Joris turned around and instinctively got closer to him. The boy pushed him a bit before approaching the guys a bit more.
“Oh.. Thank you, I guess!”
“It’s not a fucking compliment, they're catcalling you, idiot!” Joris hit him on the back of his head.
“Oh,” The realization sank in, and he brashly turned around and yelled, “What is wrong with you?!”
They laughed once more, but before he could continue to yell at them, Joris pulled him by his arm. “Joris-”
“You’re gonna get me in trouble with Tera! I can't let anything happen to you, or he will get mad, and then I won't be able to-”
One of the guys, who was wearing a leather jacket, walked towards them, “What are you two faggots talking about? What, is he your boyfriend?”
“Mind your fucking business!” This time, it had been Joris who started yelling.
“Joris-”
“Between the two of us, you're the fucking-” A punch abruptly interrupted Joris. The boy took a few steps back, mildly surprised. He quickly recovered from the shock and hurried to Joris’ side after he fell on the ground.
He tried to pull the other up, but Joris slapped his hand away. He quickly got up and knocked the leather jacket guy to the ground. They started wrestling on the ground, violently attempting to knock the other out. “Hey, what the fuck-”
The boy tried to pull Joris away from the leather jacket guy, but his arm was pulled by another guy. He had a cap, and the lack of lighting in the street cast a shadow over his face. “Not so quick, doll.”
“Get away from me!” He pushed the cap guy, only to be pulled once more when he attempted to run away from him.
Now it was him wrestling with a guy; he managed to kick the guy in the stomach and scratch his face before another guy came behind him and grabbed his arms.
He yelled and struggled against the guy's grip, “Get off me, you stupid assholes-” The cap guy interrupted him by punching him in the face, and he gasped sharply from the pain. The boy’s breathing started hitching.
“Not so brave now, huh?” They both chuckled. He turned his head to the side, wanting to see if Joris was winning his stupid fight, but the cap guy grabbed his chin and forced him to look at him in the eyes. His jaw clenched, and his face distorted into a scowl. “Cat got your tongue-” Taking advantage of the distance, he spat on the guy’s face. Smiling smugly upon seeing the anger set in his face.
His action gained him a kick in the stomach that knocked the wind out of him; he gasped and wheezed, trying to breathe. The guy behind him let go of his arms, and he reeled back, falling on his back.
Before anything else could happen, the cap guy was knocked down by a gunshot. The boy’s eyes widened. While actively trying to regain his breath, he turned around to be faced with Tera, who hurried to his side and pulled him up.
“Are you okay? Can you walk?” The boy nodded his head. He stood paralyzed, still shocked from seeing such a display.
After recovering his breath, he asked, “Joris?” He turned around and saw him sitting on the floor. He looked a bit proud of himself, and next to him, there was the leather jacket guy, completely knocked out. He seemed to deflate upon seeing Tera, gulping while slowly getting up.
“I’ll- I will go now, I’m sure you can take care of him now.” The boy waved at him as a goodbye as Joris walked away. Now looking at the direction of wher Joris had been, he realized most of the guys had run away from there after Tera’s arrival.
“H-How did you get here?” He turned his head, facing Tera’s helmet and realizing he probably had gotten there on his motorcycle.
Tera pointed at his motorcycle, which was a few meters away from them. He tilted his head, and if the boy had to assume what he was doing, he would say he was most likely inspecting his face. As the adrenaline left his body, he realized how much his eye was hurting and how breathing wasn’t as easy as it should be. “Your eye is swelling.”
There was a long pause before he spoke, “Are we just not gonna acknowledge that you just killed that guy?”
Tera hesitated before cupping his cheek with his hand. The muscles on his arm tensed just slightly, enough to be noticeable. He shook his head and sighed, “He punched you, he was ready to- do whatever twisted thing he was thinking of to you! I didn’t like the way he looked at you.” The boy’s frown became a slight smile.
He pushed Tera softly and muttered, “You’re so possessive and overprotective.”
Tera tilted his head slightly, and the boy turned around. Almost immediately, he put his arms around the boy’s waist and pulled him close. Embracing him in a way that felt too intimate. They stayed like that for a few seconds before Tera pulled away and made him face his covered face.
“I will take you home, let’s go.”
***
Avoiding his grandma on his way to his room was quite difficult, especially because of the smell of recently made food. As bad as he wanted to eat his grandma's food, he couldn’t let her see him until he figured out what to do about his black eye and split lip.
He was lying on his bed, waiting for Tera, when he heard the—now normal—noise of a knock on the window. He hurried to open it, closing almost completely the curtains. When he faced Tera, he found him lying comfortably on his bed, with a plastic bag with several things inside it, as well as a bag that smelled like take-out food.
“I only asked you for some makeup. How many things did you get?” The boy crossed his arms. Knowing Tera, he might have, in fact, stolen some of the things rather than buying them.
“You need ice for that eye if you don’t want it to get worse,” the boy huffed. He walked towards the bed and lay on his back, right next to Tera. He handed the boy a bag of frozen peas, and he begrudgingly put it on his eye. They stayed silent for a few seconds before Tera sat up and motioned the boy to do the same, “Take your shirt off.”
His eyes widened, and he playfully kicked Tera. “Calm down! Are you not even going to ask me for a date first?” Tera chuckled softly when he heard him and tilted his head to the side.
“I’m going to apply ointment so the bruising is not as bad. I will try to be careful, but it’s gonna hurt a little.”
The boy rolled his head and pulled his shirt over his head. Feeling exposed, he simply sat down in the corner of his bed and stared at Tera. The other seemed to hesitate upon seeing the boy showing even more skin than usual, but it wasn’t long before he kneeled between his knees and opened the ointment.
He scooped some with his fingertips and carefully started applying it. Although the pain was tedious, the warmth of Tera’s body and the feeling of his skin against the boy’s was extremely distracting. He couldn’t see him because of the helmet, but now more than ever, the boy found himself longing to see him. He wanted to be able to tell what he looked like when he smiled, when he laughed, when he scowled.
“Done.” Tera wiped the rest of the ointment off on his pants and closed the lid of it, putting it on the floor next to him; however, he stayed right where he was.
He raised his head, probably looking at the boy’s face. “Isn’t it uncomfortable to wear that helmet? Where is your mask?”
“It is, but I don’t have it with me.”
The boy hesitated before speaking once more, “If you turn off the lights, you could take it off and stay for a while until I fall asleep…” They stayed silent once again, for a few moments, before Tera got up and gave him his shirt back. The boy put it on again and crawled under the covers.
He lay on his back and closed his eyes, knowing that Tera would most likely do what he said. It wasn’t long before the lights were turned off, and a click was heard. The boy opened his eyes and stared at the stars painted on his ceiling.
It took a few minutes before Tera lay next to him, close enough to feel the warmth but not to touch.
“Thank you.” He said, the boy closed his eyes as he reached for Tera’s hand and held it.
“For what?”
“Just thank you.”