looking too closely | late 2018

:epilogue:

      ON the seventeenth of September, Eli turned eighteen. The entire Guvara family, excluding Aaron, had burst into his room to scream happy birthday.

Eli had woken up in shock, meeting the eyes of his boyfriend leaning against the doorframe with an apologetic smile on his face, something he had mastered by now.

About two weeks after the two boys had kissed, the Guvara family practically begged the raven haired boy to take up one of their empty rooms.

Aaron's mother, father and sister could never have imagined the pain the boy would be in, so they desperately wanted it to end.

A room was little cost for a life.

So Eli had moved in, with Belinda and Luca as his guardians, and Anita as his unofficial little sister.

Now, Eli was definitely family. The Guvara's had wanted his eighteenth to be a large celebration.

After opening the presents the family had given him, something Eli that brought tears - happy tears- to his eyes, the two boys were left alone in his room.

      Aaron grinned as he leant down to the boy "Happy birthday" He whispered, placing a soft and caring kiss against Eli's lips.

      Even the smallest of kisses still had Eli weak "Thank you," Eli glanced down at the gifts he had been given "But really, all of this, it's too much, you're already-"

Aaron silenced the boy by kissing him once more, longer, and more addictive.

      He moved back with a smile still on his lips, raking his fingers through the other boy's hair "I wouldn't have been able to stop them if I tried. They love you, Eli" He leant his forehead against Eli's "I love you, Eli" He whispered.

      The raven haired boy smiled back "I love you"

      Aaron leant back, a playful smirk reaching his lips "You have to wait until tonight for my present"

      Eli blushed profusely "Aaron -"

      "Unheat your cheeks, you pervert, we're going somewhere I know you'll love" Aaron laughed, making Eli blush more.

Eli found himself laughing with Aaron, excitement resonating within him.

It was so hard to wait.

Every hour that clocked by, Eli found himself desperate to know the secret, but each time he would ask, Aaron would just wink, causing goosebumps to rise across Eli's skin.

He could hardly stop himself from bouncing in his seat as they began to drive, just the two, to somewhere Aaron knew that Eli would adore.

These past months, the two had gotten to know every inch of one another, every cell of their body, every thought in their minds.

Eli came to understand the bruises on Aaron's knuckles; the result of needing an outlet for his ramped emotions. Needing to understand those emotions. To hurt another was something he only did if that other person deserved the pain.

Aaron understood why Eli had stopped fighting everything, even his own thoughts.

His family hadn't loved him like they should. Those people who taunted him didn't have hearts, so they wanted to draw out his blood.

It was sick.

But now, here they were, turning into a road somewhere far from the city.

      "Baby, where are we?" Eli laughed softly, staring into the sky as it became dotted with stars.

      "A place where hearts never stop beating and love is always close by"

As the time turned the world, the two found themselves staring up at the sky from so far away, their fingers intertwined.

Aaron pointed out constellations, the stars in patterns like those across Eli's cheeks.

But Eli couldn't care less about the sky as he stared at his own world.

The colours he had dreamt of were in Aaron's eyes. They were in the back sky as the stars twinkled back down to the two boys. Those colours were in Eli's heart.

Aaron turned to the boy, his voice halting.

Eli smiled, his fingers tracing Aaron's jawline.

Neither of them had bruises now.

The boy who had once been painted by pain was now filled with colour, and the boy who used to beat his own knuckles raw felt his heart beating for him.

The painted boy and the beating boy had found new meanings in another.

Eli looked deeply into his boyfriend's eyes, his lips so close he could feel his breath against his skin, his heartbeat rhyming so perfectly with Eli's.

And close wasn't a fear of the raven haired boy anymore.