Intertwined ~ Credence Barebone

05: Developing and Understanding Feelings

"You know, you never did answer my question Credence. Why are you here? Especially this late?" I glanced at the raven haired boy who stood infront of me wiping the blood off my hand with trembling hands.
He blushed at the question before his eyes fell dark, full of pain and sadness as if something happened.
"I wanted to see you again....and I had no where else to go..." he frowned.
At his response I quickly took my time examining him for signs of his mother's abuse.
He seemed fine until my eyes landed back onto his face where a fresh bruise went from beneath his eye to his sideburns.
The bruise was in the obvious shape of a hand.
"Credence" I whispered sympathetically.
Without thinking I lifted my hand towards his face.
He flinched but he didn't pull away. I cupped his right side of his face.
Instead he leaned into my touch and closed his eyes.
I had to bite my lip to prevent the happy sigh wanting to escape my lips. Feeling his skin on mine caused its usual warmth in my chest.
What happened to staying away from him and being his friend
I rolled my eyes slightly at my own thoughts and resisted the urge to kick myself for initiating anything with Credence.
"She hit you again? What was her excuse? Why did you supposedly do?" I narrowed my eyes slightly.
"She said she knew I was having ungodly thoughts about you"
My eyes widened in horror and I dropped my hand back into my lap causing Credenece to open his eyes and look at me
"She hit you because of me?"
He bowed his head slightly.
'"It's not the first time. The day we met she whipped my hands"
I quickly grabbed his hands and flipped over his palms.
"Oh god. No Credence. I'm so sorry" I gasped as his hand opened to show a large gash on each hand, surrounded by different welts.
"I-It is not your fa-fault" he took his hands away.
I sighed and shook my head before standing up and taking a few steps away from him.
"It is Credence. I should not have given you my card right infront of her and responding like I did when she confronted me only infuriated her more"
"I-If you had not we would ha-have never met" he explained.
I turned my back to Credence.
"At least she couldn't find another reason to hurt you" I bit my lip slightly.
"Please don't " Credence spoke up.
"Don't what?" I turned back towards him and I immediately felt his arms wrap around me.
I tensed not expecting him to do that. Instinctively I put my hands out to push him away but something stopped me.
I wasn't sure whether it was my heart, my brain or some unseen force but I couldn't bring myself to push him away.
This whole staying away from him thing has essentially flown out the window
For once in my entire life being in someone else's embrace made me feel safe.
I couldn't help but melt into him as one of his arms wrapped around my shoulders and the other was behind my waist. He was shaking, clearly scared I'd push him away or yell at him.
Instead I buried my face into his shoulder, as I inhaled my nose was met with a musky smell mixed with a smokey tinge, most likely from tending to a woodstove heater.
Slowly I felt him relax slightly as I did and he began to pull back.
Without thinking I quickly grabbed a handful of his wet jacket in each of my hands and pulled him back into me causing him to tense up again.
"No. Please just a moment longer" I begged.
He relaxed once more and nervously brought the arm that was around my shoulder up and he pet my soaking wet hair with a shaky hand.
I hummed softly and closed my eyes.
"A-Are you okay Thea?" His voice dripped with concern.
I realized that I had been in his embrace for a while and I had probably overstayed my welcome in his arms.
I pulled away from him, and from the burning sensation down my neck, cheeks and ears, I could only assume I was covered in a deep red blush.
"I-I am so sorry. That was probably very strange for you. I do not enjoy physical contact very often " I explained.
This seemed to peak some sort of curiosity in him.
"I remember that woman, Queenie said that. M-May I ask why being t-touched makes you so uncomfortable?"
I shifted from one foot to the other feeling embarrassed all of a sudden.
"Well. My father died before I was born and my mother died while giving birth to me. None of my family claimed me so I was sent to an orphanage for 5 years and when I was five they were shut down and I was left on the streets. No one in my life had ever tried to hug me, if they were touching me it was to hurt me or harass me so I was never able to associate being touched with love... even when I was engaged I still couldn't bring myself to allow him to touch me" I frowned deeply, feeling my eyes begin to quickly fill with tears.
"Damn. I apologizd. That was too much to lay on you" I forced myself to smile, looking down as a tear finally fell down my cheek.
I went to wipe it away but a hand beat me to it.
I looked up startled as Credence wiped away the tear with his calloused thumb, the salty liquid rubbed into my skin.
"W-why do you let me t-touch you then?" He stared at me like a curious child.
I blushed slightly.
"Well, to be honest I do not really know. When you touch me I know you are not going to hurt me it feels....nice" I struggled to explain as I became overwhelmed with embarrassment.
His eyes stared back at me full of wonder and curiosity.
"That makes me happy" he anounced.
I stared back at him incredulously.
"It does? Why?"
This time he blushed and brought his hand back from my face.
"B-Because I l-like touching y-you"
My eyes widened and I felt my entire face begin to pulsate at the way his sentence had came across, I knew he didn't mean it in the way I had taken it but it was still embarrassing.
His eyes widened as large as saucers as he also realized how it sounded.
"Th-th-that is n-not what I m-meant!" He barely was able to sputter the words out as his face flushed a deep scarlet red.
"I-It is fine" I giggled nervously.
Suddenly his eyes glanced down at me and he face went even more red.
At this point I thought he had forgotten how to breath and was suffocating but when I followed his gaze down at myself I saw that my white blouse was soaked and my dark red undergarments beneath were very visible.
"Oh!" I quickly crossed my arms over my chest and looked for something to cover myself.
I didn't have anything down here and glanced back at Credence and found him shivering slightly as his own clothes we soaked too.
"Here, come up to my apartment. I think I have some spare clothes somewhere, a warm shower at the very least"
He hesitated but eventually followed me to the dark mahogany door.
As I placed my hand on the handle I slide the small piece beneath the know from "wizard storage room" back to "home".
I quickly opened the door before he could become suspicious.
Walking in to the apartment I quickly made my way into the living room.
"Here, the bathroom is the way, it's the door on the left. I'll grab you some clothes and leave them on the counter for you" I explained leading Credence further into my apartment.
"A-Are you s-sure? What a-about you?" He stammered as I crouched doen beside the tub and began turning the knobs to grt the shower started for him.
"Of course. I'll take one later. I didn't get very wet thanks to you. My human umbrella" I teased him lightly before placing each of my hands on my thighs and standing up.
"O-oh"
He blushed slightly and looked down at his shoes.
"I'll go get these clothes, you go ahead and get in"
"Wait..I have a question"
Turning back to Credence, I saw that he had removed his overcoat and was holding a small card in his hand.
I tensed as I immediately recognized it as my card I had used magic to slip back into his pocket after his mother had returned it to me.
"How did this get back in to my pocket? I watched mother give it back to y-you?" He stared at me in confusion and wonder.
I gritted my teeth for a moment as my mind raced all the possibilities I could use as a cover up.
"Oh? Perhaps I gave you two cards that were stuck together and your mother only paid mind to take one from your pocket" I furrowed my eyebrows as if to mimic his own confusion.
He stared at me for a moment seeming almost unconvinced before nodding.
"Perhaps you are right"
"I am going to take my leave now and see if I can find you some clothes to wear until yours dry"
I left the bathroom and made my way down the hallway and up the stairs to my bedroom.
I made my way to the pile of boxes in the corner of my room.
Staring down at the boxes I hesitated for a moment.
The views infront of me were full of Thesus' belongings he had left here and never come to retrieve. I'd planned on shipping them to him but hadn't gotten the chance yet.
"If he wanted them he would have came and got them" I huffed irritated at the thought of him coming back into my home.
I crouched down and opened one of Thesus's boxes that was full clothes.
Thesus was a few inches taller than Credence but I figured he'd still fit in the clothes just fine. I grabbed a plain white shirt and a pair of deep red pajama pants.
Closing the box back up I quickly made my way back downstairs and into the bathroom.
When I walked into the bathroom it was full of steam.
I set the clothes on the counter and opened my mouth to let Credence know but I turned around the the curtain was open just enough for my eyes to land of his pale muscular back.
I was surprised to see such a fragile man have such body structure but I assumed over time all of the walking and chores he was forced to do by that lunatic has probably warn off on his physical body.
The water droplets slid down his back and I felt myself gulp slightly.
As my eyes followed the water droplets my eyes began to focus on the different scabs, lifts, and scars all over his back.
I quickly crossed my arms over my chest to resist the urge of reaching out and tracing the marks with my fingers.
"T-Thea?"
His voice ripped me out of my thoughts and I jumped, somehow tripping over my own feet causing me to fall.
"Ow! Damn!" I grabbed my elbow wincing as it has hit the wall behind me.
Suddenly the shower curtain opened.
My face went beat red in only a matter of seconds.
"Credence!"