lawrusso

part five (2)

when they finally get to reseda, after what feels like hours but is probably only 10 minutes, daniel helps laura out of the car and turns to his old house just as lucille opens the door.

"you made it!" she calls, hurrying down the stairs and planting a kiss on daniels cheek before turning to johnny.

"wow. 6 years and you still look just like i remember" she pulls the blonde into a hug and whispers something in his ear that daniel can't hear.

it makes johnny laugh.

"hi lucille" laura smiles, putting her arm around daniels ma. "i made brownies"

she winks and lucille giggles. oh god. had laura made weed brownies? daniel wants to doubt it but he doesn't.

"well this is going to be fun" daniel grins, shaking johnny by his shoulders before following the 2 ladies up the stairs.

when they walk in the first thing daniel notices is that she's cleaned everything. the house was never that messy but this was something else.

and the food on the table. daniel was right. she'd made literally everything. and of course her "famous" spaghetti sat in the middle of the table.

"lucille, you've really out done yourself this time" johnny smiles.

"you're too sweet" daniels ma returns his smile easily "but the breads still in the oven so we've still got about 5-10 minutes until we can eat"

"show me your room" johnny nudges daniel

"you've been in my room before" the brunette replies

"i wanna see if it's still the same"

"fine" daniel leads the way to his room, carefully opening the door, nothing had changed since the last time he'd slept here.

only his bed was made, which he definitely hadn't done.

"this makes me feel like i'm still in highschool" johnny laughs running a finger over daniels pictures

there's one picture of daniel, susan, ali and barbs on the beach.

another of bobby and daniel playing football.

one of just him and ali.

one of johnny, bobby, ali, susan, barbs and daniel at susans house.

there was one of just johnny, doing a handstand on the beach. daniel wanted to pull it down before johnny could see but it was too late anyways.

there were some of daniel and his ma. there was an old picture of his father and one of daniel as a baby.

but the picture that seemed to catch both boys attention at the same time was the one in the middle. a picture daniel hadn't even realised was being taken.

it was at johnnys beach house from that christmas 8 years ago.

daniel and johnny are on the beach, not close enough that they're touching but close enough that you can tell they want to be.

johnnys wiping a strand of hair back from his eyes and daniels laughing. pure and open. a way he hadn't laughed since then.

johnny looking at him like he's hung the stars. and daniels reaching out, as if to touch something on johnnys stomach.

suddenly daniel feels very hot and turns away. heat crawling up his neck.

"i remember that day" johnny says "you'd just found out that i had a scar on my stomach and you kept running your finger over it."

daniel goes even more red. was johnny making fun of him? "sorry"

suddenly a memory comes back to him, they're at  the beach house. it's still morning, the sun peeking  through the cracks in the curtains.

illuminating johnny, casting a shadow of his eyelashes across the rest of his face. he's fast asleep and daniels carefully running his index finger over a scar on his stomach.

"no matter how many times you trace it, it won't disappear, sweetheart" johnny had said groggily

"how'd you get it?" daniel replied

"my dad. he-"

"don't be sorry. i- didn't mind" the johnny standing in front of him says, pulling him out of the memory.

"can i see it?" daniel asks, not looking at johnny

the other boy takes too long to answer and daniel gets embarrassed "i- oh"

daniel turns to look at him and he's pulled his shirt up, revealing his stomach. the scar is still there, less prominent than before but still there and... there's others.

"you've collected your fair share of scars over the years" daniel laughs taking a step forward

johnny doesn't reply, he's looking away, his shoulders squared like he's waiting for a fight.

daniel reaches out and runs his finger over the scar, even the light touch sends electricity through his body and johnny tenses. still not looking at the brunette.

daniel knows he should move but he can't seem to bring himself to pull away.

he reaches his other hand out and grabs the blondes waist, pulling him closer until their hips are practically touching. then he squats down to get a closer look at the other scars.

johnnys breathing goes ragged and shaky. he grabs daniels shoulder and grips it so hard it hurts.

"am i hurting you?" daniel asks innocently, any reaction he can get out of johnny is welcomed, looking up at the other boy through his eyelashes

johnny looks down at him, his chest heaving "no. i'm alright"

"how did you get these" daniel asks 

"karate. some of them"

"you still do karate?"

"i only teach now. under 10s, every wednesday at 5. in the hotel gymnasium" johnny admits sheepishly "and the other scars are fr-"

"boys! lunch is ready" laura calls

johnny drops his shirt faster than daniel can reply.

"hungry?" daniel asks instead

"for your moms cooking? always" johnny smiles, running a hand through his hair.