Facade: Love, Lust and Deception

CHAPTER 14

TW!! DESCRIPTION OF BRUISES IN THIS CHAPTER

Louis' Christmas break had been better than he'd originally pictured it. Him and Harry had spent almost everyday together, sneaking through the back doors and the garden fence connecting their houses. He felt like a teenager sneaking a boy to his bedroom so his parents wouldn't find out.

"You can come over to mine somedays" Harry whispers, and Louis' eyes widen. They'd never gone to Harry's.

Apart from that one time Harry forgot his jacket and Louis went to return it. A maid had opened the door, taking the jacket without a word. Louis was a bit stunned to say the least, he was sure the college wasn't paying as good to own multiple cars and a massive mansion. The glimpse inside lasted barely a second but he could tell the house was far more stocked and decked with expensive stuff than he could imagine. When he timidly asked Harry, skirting around the question Harry simply said his parents were rich. And that was the end of that discussion because Louis could sense the hesitation and unwillingness to talk about this topic from his tone.

He had a weird feeling in his chest about this but brushed it off. He trusted the genuinity in Harry's eyes more than some skirting and hesitating.

"I will" Louis affirms Harry, and himself too.

[H]

It was a few minutes past midnight when Harry heard some commotion in Louis' house, before he could step out to inspect what was causing it, Louis was standing in front of his back door.

Harry felt like someone had thrust him into a box of his worst nightmares. He could hear his own heartbeat, thumping away; scared and raging.

Louis was standing there, somehow looking smaller and more fragile. His shirt was blotted with blood in places, hair damp from the blood on his forehead and sweat. Harry could see his steps wobbling, eyelids heavy as he moved forward towards the smaller boy.

But before he could hold his boy, Louis' eyes rolled back and his eyelashes kissed his cheeks, a blood drenched kiss, droplets of blood rolling down his cheeks like strained tears. His body fell forward with a dull thud, knocking Harry's entire body off its senses. He ran forward, cradling Louis' head, his fingers immediately detecting his pulse.

He's here.

Questions swirled around in his brain, different things crossing his mind but he pushed them all away. He needed to tend to Louis, needed his boy back to his senses first.

He gathered himself, lifting Louis in his arms and rushing the smaller boy to his own bedroom. Immediately he got rid of the dirty clothing, throwing them away and wiping away the blood that he now realised was not stopping to seep through his back.

Harry carefully turned Louis to his side, an audible groan of pain leaving his lips at the sight. Louis' back was slashed, and Harry knew it was a leather belt strap with a metal buckle, he had given people these scars before. His skin felt like it was peeling off when he realised someone had given those same scars to his boy. He wanted to take away all of Louis' pain, he wanted to reverse time and bring him home instead of letting Louis stay back.

"Lou..." he whispered, the most broken whisper. Pain and hurt that Louis felt physically was what Harry bore in his heart. He felt like his heart was being squeezed out of his ribs forcefully.

Living life with a threat that it might end any moment was not anything unusual for Harry. It had been engraved in his brain like clockwork now. Waking up was a monotone task, nothing exciting or nothing to look forward to. Teaching gave Harry an escape, he'd see students milling around in corridors, worried about their grades or a relationship that was bound to crash. He'd watch them, and himself like a soul watching the world after departing.

He felt like someone else had entranced his body, living a normal life. Living life like he always wanted to. But it was momentary. Everything in his life was happiness, sadness, anger. He never truly got to grasp his emotions and surroundings before they got ripped out of his body and thrown away.

When he had come to Hendreld's Hills, the last thing he had expected was to fall for a student. But it was hard not to, it was hard to avoid the blue eyes boring into his soul with an intensity to churn his hidden desires out and put them out in the open for his beast to act upon.

But before the beast could rip his vulnerable heart apart, Louis picked it up, the same way he'd managed to coax it out. He felt his heart being handled with a tenderness he never knew. A tenderness he wished kept him warm all the lonely nights he spent.

Each breath Louis took, lying on Harry's bed equaled a heartbeat in Harry's chest.

The beast was tame, the angel was asleep.