If I Stay✔️

94 | part one

A/N: POV will switch between third person and Leo throughout the chapter.
be prepared, it's gonna get emotional.
trigger warning; mentions of sa, rape, abuse, trauma, suicide, violence, m*rco.

Killian loved Wednesday's.

That middle point in the week when his mind felt alive and fresh. It was different to how he felt, on say, a Monday. The day he'd be tired and drained from studying late on Friday nights, spending Saturday mornings at his tutoring sessions, night with his family, having Sunday as his (and the Lords) only day of rest.

Killian really loved Wednesday's.

Until he didn't.

It was a normal day, so he thought. He had a free period before the lunch break, as he always did on Wednesday's, meaning he was currently trying to rummage through his pristine locker for the book he so desperately wanted to read before his forty five minutes of free time ended.

Wednesday. Wednesday. Wednesday.

If Killian could turn back time, this would be the exact moment in which he would.

"Hey!" A voice called from the end of the hallway. Killian didn't pay much attention, in fact, he didn't even turn round, assuming the voice wasn't calling out to him. "You... it's Killian right?"

Feeling surprised and not being able to put a face to the voice calling out to him, Killian abandoned his search and twisted his neck to find out who the mysterious owner could be. When his eyes met those brownish green Iris's, his whole body tensed and he instantly wished his locker could somehow swallow him whole to save him from having to converse with this creature.

"Can I help you?" Killian asked politely, because no matter how hard he tried Killian could never not be polite. He avoided eye contact with the older boy, turning his stare back to the inside of his locker, his trembling hands gripping his calculus textbook tightly, hoping it would somehow stop the shakes.

Killian didn't know why he felt so uneasy, nervous even. He had never spoken to the older boy, had only ever heard the stories that painted him in darkness. Stories that involved more than one of his brothers.

Drug dealings. His fight with Jack. His fight with Leo. Killian never believed in petty teen gossip; always trusting his own opinion over anyone else's. This time, though? Killian believed every rumour he'd ever heard.

"Yeah," Marco smiled. A smile that made the hairs on the back of Killian's neck snap upwards as the older boy roamed his face with an expression the sixteen year old was too innocent to understand. It made him feel exposed, vulnerable. "I think you can."

"Oh... uh..." Killian stammered, cheeks flaming.

Marco's smile widened. There was something endearing about the boys shyness. Whilst he looked a lot like Leo, even more so than Leo's twin sister did, he didn't have that nonchalant, dead eyed, straight face that Leo mastered. The face that drew Marco in from the moment he laid eyes on the then nine year old.

Killian cleared his throat, voice shaking. "H-how can I help?"

Marco tilted his head, staring at him in a way he knew would make the teen feel uncomfortable. His assumptions, much to his pleasure, proved to be correct; how Killian's body trembled against the lockers told him so.

In that moment, staring at the curly haired boy with crystal blue eyes and bright red cheeks, the boy who looked so much like a deer caught in head lights, so much like Leo... Marco was ready to forgo his original plan and take this sibling instead. He had no doubt that Leo loved Killian just as much as he loved his twin sister.