Skinny Love

October, 1970

I'm doing a trigger warning before the book starts, okay? So, I read this one fic a couple days ago and the author gave John an eating disorder, but I think they went about it all wrong, that reactions and actions were incorrect. I, myself, am a diagnosed anorexic with bulimic tendencies, and I thought that I could put my knowledge on my illness to use - also, I saw this as a way to raise awareness. A majority of this is taken from my personal journals/diaries, and websites I followed for a long part of my illness. Also, they're all going to be the same age, to help with relationships and all that.

So, without further ado, this is Skinny Love:

John
"It's alright, John, I'm here. I'm right here, and I'm not leaving." Freddie whispered, shakily, holding my body closer to his chest, kissing the top of my head and crying into my hair. "Don't cry, love, please don't cry." He breathed, petting my hair down so I would stop sobbing.

"Why did you choose me, Freddie? You deserve so much better than me- you all deserve so much better than me." I sobbed against his chest and he rubbed my back in response. "I didn't mean to do it- I didn't mean to do it!" I screamed and he shook his head, patting me in attempt to calm me down.

"No, John, don't start with that. You know very well why I chose you... I love you, and I love what you did for me... We'll get through it this time- we always got through it."

Ten Years Earlier [October 12, 1970]:
Mother always told me that I had perfect teeth. Julie had to get braces when she was ten, only on her front four teeth, and that was when Mum told me that I had perfect teeth. I had never needed braces, and they barely went darker than a slight off-white. The little train track in her mouth made me proud of mine, wanting to show off my smile as much as possible, despite the gap that everyone made fun of.
Freddie didn't make fun of the gap, he said that it gave me character and that it made me look fun- he knew what was fun, because he was insanely interesting. He was flamboyant, and charismatic, everything opposite to who I was, and that was why we hit it off so well- opposites attract. He was my voice when we were in public places, and he was like a special bodyguard. I... I loved him, and he loved me. He knew that I loved him, so he made sure to take care of me like I was the most important person on the planet- maybe, to him, I was.
"How long have you been waiting? I got caught up on something in art- we're working on portraits of people we love, and I just really want to get everything finished right now." Freddie sighed, plopping down on the other side of the cafe booth.

"It's fine, Freddie. I just got here." I smiled in response, and he panted a bit while he pulled his books from his rucksack. I had been sitting there for almost an hour, but I didn't want him to feel bad for being late. "How was class? I feel like I haven't seen you in decades." I stirred sugar into my tea and he pulled out the math textbook that we had to share.

"You saw me this morning, John- in math, remember?" He raised an eyebrow at me and I nodded with a small giggle. "But the rest of my day was fine- I'm just ready to graduate, you know? I just want to be out of here, living my life- I want to be with you, and being in school is only slowing us down. We could be in a really serious relationship, but school is just making us friends with slight benefits." Hand stuff- he wasn't allowed to touch me anywhere else.

Freddie and I had only been together for four months- he had asked me on our first date at the end of the previous school year, and we spent a lot of time together during the Summer. He had a Summer job, and I didn't, so there was a lot of time where I was waiting for him, or going to the market and bothering him until he noticed me- he said he'd get in trouble whenever I came to sit with him, because he didn't pay attention when Roger needed his help with something.

Roger was one of Freddie's best friends, Brian was the other one. The three of them were almost uncomfortably close, like jerk-circle close, but I liked that he had close friends. I didn't want to know about their regular jerk-circles, and Freddie made sure that they didn't do anything while I was around- I was still the baby.