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Finral loved dating Yami.
He had never thought before that a single person could make him feel so cared for, so important, so loved. Because in the past, Finral hadn’t been loved.
The earliest memory Finral had of his father hitting him actually had nothing to do with his lack of powerful magic. It didn’t have anything to do with Langris’ superiority either. He had simply been running around the halls and accidentally bumped into and broke a vase that apparently was his step-mother’s “most valuable possession”. His father had been furious, but too furious to let his anger show in words. Instead, he slapped Finral and stormed away. That was nowhere near the last time that Finral would mess up and “purposely” make his parents “miserable”.
Finral’s magic showed up at the age of six.
It was nothing special, so it wasn’t a big deal.
But then Langris’ magic first appeared when he was only five, and everyone was impressed with what he could do then. That was around the time that people started calling Langris the better sibling. Of course he was, wasn’t he? Langris was stronger and that was all that mattered. Langris never got yelled at, never got hit, never got locked in his room, never was forced to go a day without food, never got kicked out of the house. He was perfect in their parents’ eyes. And he loved to join in tormenting Finral, too.
Finral had never been so glad to leave his house as he had been when Yami welcomed him to join the Black Bulls when he was 15. If he hadn’t been accepted into a squad, then he would’ve been stuck in his horrible household for yet another year. Not being able to see Miss Finnes, Finral knew, would be disappointing; she was the only one who seemed to show Finral any respect, sympathy—any emotion other than hatred.
Miss Finnes, Finral thought, was his one and true love.
The Black Bulls offered so much more, though.
Even if Finral didn’t tell his fellow members anything about his past, he still felt like he could trust them to never intentionally hurt him. Everyone there made fun of each other, but in a way that was kind, not berating.
Yami made Finral take him everywhere, not that Finral minded. He wanted to be needed by someone; it was one of the only things (or maybe even the only thing) that gave him a reason to live.
When Finral arrived at the Black Bulls, there weren’t that many members, since this squad had only been around a couple years. There was Gordon, a strange man with a pale face and shadows all around his eyes, who seemed like he was always spying on Finral somehow. And then there was Gauche, apparently an ex-convict who was obsessed with a little girl named Marie. Vanessa was there, too.
Vanessa…was strange, to say the least. Somehow she could be both absolutely clueless but also incredibly emotionally intelligent. She drank a lot of wine and beer and whatever other liquors there were, and got Finral to drink with her sometimes, even though they were both technically underage then. (Yami never stopped them, though.) Sometimes when they were drunk, they would sleep together, but Finral would always make sure to redress and leave her room the next morning before she woke so she didn’t find out about his scars. Vanessa never said anything that implied she knew, thankfully. On occasion, she would randomly wrap Finral in tight hugs, which was probably just her drunkness, but, either way, it felt really good. When was the last time Finral had been hugged before Vanessa came into his life?
Other members joined throughout the next years, some from the Entrance Exams, and a couple that Yami pretty much forced to join because he found them “interesting”.
Magna, Grey, Charmy, Luck, and then Asta and Noelle. And then Zora and Henry appeared, and Nero turned out to be a hot girl named Secre, and there were suddenly so many people who made Finral feel like he belonged.
Yami was the best of all of them, though.
He’d actually been the one to ask out Finral. At first it had seemed like just a friendly invitation to dinner until Finral realized that Yami was flirting with him and calling him nicknames like “pretty boy” and making sexual innuendos. They’d left that restaurant without paying.
They didn’t have sex that night. Finral said he wasn’t ready.
But they did make out. A lot.
And they made out every single day. For hours at a time.
One of the things that Finral loved most was how damn accepting his friends were of his and Yami’s relationship. In fact, a lot of them were gay themselves.
Magna and Luck confessed that they had apparently been dating for years, and Asta said that he was dating his rival Yuno. Zora was in a state of not-dating-but-sleeping-together with the Vice Captain of the Coral Peacocks, and Noelle was with the girl from the Underwater Temple.
They were all wonderful, amazing people. Finral was so thankful for all of them.
By now it had been half a year since he and Yami started dating. Of course Yami had found out the reason for why Finral didn’t want to have sex by the first month—he’d caught Finral digging the blade deep into his thigh and then confiscated all of the knives that were hidden in the room.
In all honesty, Finral had been furious and angry and sad all at once when he had no outlet for his emotions and self-hatred anymore.
Looking back now though, he supposed it was a “good thing” that the blades had all been taken away. He’d never wanted to start hurting himself.
Anyways, once Yami knew the truth, they’d started having sex, which was…pretty amazing, to say the least.
Finral sighed, staring at the scars that were all over his body. Yami said he didn’t mind them, but in Finral’s opinion, they were just another reminder that he was a failure. Finral pulled the sheet up to cover more of himself and then snuggled closer to Yami.
That motion, though, caused Yami to stir and yawn.
“‘Morning, pretty boy,” the older man said, causing Finral to flush red like he always did when Yami called him that. Yami leaned over and kissed Finral gently.
Kissing Yami was amazing. Whether it was a gentle kiss like this, or rough, passionate kisses that involved Finral being slammed against the wall, Yami always managed to make Finral feel like he was the most important person ever to exist. He had a purpose, and a person to live for. Someone who loved him.
And someone Finral loved back.