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The silhouette standing near the edge, with curly hair and the left leg of their pants rolled up was no other than the love of his life, Edgar Valden.
Luca was used to Edgar leaving bed late at night to spend time alone outside, sometimes paint the scenery, just take a nap on the grass or drink and smoke until he passed out and had to have someone drag him back into the manor.
No one who has been at the manor for a while doesn't know about Edgar's extreme mental health issues and drinking problem. Whenever he had a tough day, he would end up at Demi's door, begging for a drink. He would drink and paint until he passed out on his painting, ending up all dirty and stained by fresh paint from his canvas. But this night was different, the man wasn't doing anything.
He was only standing at the edge, staring down at the garden below them. Luca had searched the places he thought Edgar would be at, he knew Edgar deserved his privacy and alone time, but he was worried and couldn't help but search, just in case he ended up in need of help again. His last destination was the rooftop, the place the two would run away to back when they were teenagers.
The teenagers that were stupidly in love. The rooftop where they would relax together, watching the stars and escaping the regular lifes struggles. It would calm them both down after a long day of having to deal with their parents and just life in general...
The rooftop where Edgar first confessed to Luca, when he kissed his cheek before cuddling him to sleep there. Without any words, Luca held him close and let himself relax.
The rooftop where they first argued, Edgar insisting that Luca is overworking himself. Even their arguments were because they cared about each other, because they wanted to see their lovers healthy and happy.
The rooftop where Edgar was now standing at the corner of, stepping even closer- dangerously closer to the edge.The painter's muffled cries weren't hard to hear, nor were the empty bottles on the ground hard to see from afar. Even though the air outside was fresh, as Luca got closer to him, he could smell that he reeked of cigarettes.
To not startle the painter, nor do anything wrong in a rush, he only continued walking quietly. He couldn't go fast even if he wanted to. From drowsiness and anxiety, Luca had forgotten to put on his leg braces and only used his cane.
Edgar wasn't blind nor deaf. He could hear the inventor's shaky breaths and his cane stomping on the ground, he could see his shadow on the ground— he was just simply feeling too humiliated to turn around and face his husband in such a state. Every breath he took made him cough and every step closer to the edge made him want to go even further. He simply could not face Luca in this condition.
Sure, Luca has seen him worse— while he was blackout drunk, or on the ground in pain from cutting his wrists, or throwing up all over the carpet in the middle of summer with a fever, but this time, Edgar truly didn't want Luca to see him.
"Come on, you fool..."
"Nnh- ow!" Edgar rubbed his head, groaning and scrunching his face up in pain as he looked up at the tree branch.
"You didn't even hit your head, Ed." "...It still hurts." Luca sighed, lifting the smaller man up to his best ability.
Helping someone drunk and not able to hold up their whole body weight was hard if you couldn't even stand up on yourself. "Headache..?"
"Y-Ah... Yeah...."
"Dork... how much did you drink again...."
Edgar shot a glare at Luca and groaned, speaking louder now
"Just one!"
Luca chuckled.
The tint of red on his cheeks, the half lidded eyes and his body barely being able to lift itself up told anyone who wasn't dumb that Edgar in fact did have way more than one drink— or at least that he was a lightweight. "Mhm.. sure, honey."
Despite how much Edgar wanted to turn around, run to his husband and cry into his chest, have Luca comfort him until he fell asleep in his arms, he couldn't, but he couldn't move forward either. It was like his body just stopped working.. maybe it was because of the headache he could feel bubbling up, or maybe the tears threatening to spill from his eyes... either way, he was frozen in place.
He could only feel himself actually calm down and move freely when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist, pulling him down to sit. The painter finally let his body relax, his head falling onto the chest of his husband as he sat down.
"st- STOP! LET GO!"
"If you stopped moving around so much, I would've been done by now, Valden!"
"I HATE YOU! FUCK YOU!"
"Good, now shut up."
"Shh... shhh...." That voice... oh that soft and familiar voice... that voice that would whisper soothing words to his ear every night to help him fall asleep...
"You're doing so good."
"I love you, you know that?"
The inventor's hands went up to caress his cheeks and hair, still holding him close and whispering comforting words to his ear. Luca's hands might be dry and injured with burns all over them, but they were as gentle as a dove when they went up to caress the painter's cheeks.
That gentle voice, that sweet touch.. those were far from the painter's unpleasent memories of his past. As the brunette relaxed further onto the brown haired mans chest, his tears calmed down and stopped falling slowly, instead turning into spasms and hiccups. When he finally turned to face Luca, he saw how gently he was looking down at him— his eyes were nowhere near the ones that used to look him up and down.
"Lu-.. ca...."
"It's me, honey..."
Edgar buried his face deep into Luca's chest, wrapping his arms around him.
"Do you want to talk...? Hm?.." Edgar shook his head "no", not moving a single inch away from his chest.
"Okay, that's okay dear..."
When some time passed with them only hugging and being silent,Edgar looked up at Luca, opening his mouth to speak, then taking a deep breath before doing so.
"Do you..."
Luca looked into the painter's eyes, waiting for his next words
"Do you think people who kill themselves go to hell?"
"...Where did that come from?" Luca froze
"I.. don't know. I guess my mind can't... comprehend the thought of people.. struggling so much here and then getting punished for it."
Luca couldn't do anything but stay silent.. He knew Edgar wasn't a religious person, so where did this come from?
"..But... even so.... if they do, I hope there's a place in hell where fire burns gently. I hope... I hope it warms them, not tortures them."
"... I hope so too, but you're not going anywhere. I won't let you."
Edgar's eyelids were getting heavy, but despite that, his efforts to stay awake didn't stop.
"...I guess not, I don't want to leave you so soon..."
"I don't want you to leave either, dear..." Luca, noticing his eyelids drop, help up his head with his hands to look at him
"Go to sleep... We'll talk about this tomorrow, okay?"
"Noo..." Luca chuckled at the response
Even though he wasn't as drunk as before, but you couldn't deny he was still a bit tipsy and obviously drowsy.
"Yes... Now lets go back to our room... as much as I want to, I can't carry you with my grandpa legs."
They both slowly stood up, Luca grabbing his cane and wrapping his free arm around Edgar to help him walk back. When they made it to their room, Edgar plopped onto the bed, groaning and coughing from fatigue and the god knows however many cigarettes he had.
Luca took off his capelet, then his blouse, replacing it with his pajamas. He helped him take off his pants too, neatly folding them with the blouse and placing them into his closet.
He made the painter sit up, forcing him to sip a bit of water, then laying them both down gently, tucking them in.
"No more of this. You won't drink or smoke anymore. I promise I'll take care of you..."
Edgar only groaned in response, but then turned around to face Luca, giving him a peck as they went to sleep.
"I promise you, I won't let
you do that again."