Schatzi

2

"Eli? Eli, look at me," Peter said softly, touching his shoulder, shaking him gently. "Eli!"

Eli focused on his concerned face, his vision blurry through tears. He wiped his eyes and took Peter's hand in his, trying to calm his breathing.

"What happened? You were talking to me, then you kind of spaced out and started breathing really quick. Are you okay now?" He asked, holding Eli tightly, his eyes full of worry as he scanned Eli's face, touching his cheek softly. "Talk to me, Schatzi."

Eli shook his head and leant into Peter's chest, listening to the calming beat of his heart, matching his breathing to his.
"Don't worry about it. I'm fine."

"You're clearly not fine. That's not a normal thing to just happen. I worry when you do this, I think we should talk about it. Was it something I said? Did I upset you? I'm really sorry if I did." He paused, waiting for Eli to respond, tell him it wasn't him, that it was him, just acknowledge him in any way. "Do you want to go home?"

Peter hated when this happened, he hated how hopeless it made him feel. He knew it was selfish, Eli was obviously the one suffering here, but he just wished he'd...not do it. It ruined things like this all the time, Eli would space out or start panicking for no reason. He hated seeing him like that, and he just wished it'd stop, for both their sakes. He'd heard the stories, people like Eli taken away. Kids who didn't learn the same, the ones who saw and heard things that weren't really there, the ones who were so sad it seemed like they'd lost it and got so bad they tried to kill themselves. He'd heard stories of what they did to them. Just stories, but he didn't want Eli to go through any of the things he'd had described to him, mostly in great, gory detail from his friends.

Apparently there were so many of them in asylums now, even after so many died in the first war, that they were killing them all off. Someone said they heard patients were also being sterilised so they couldn't pass anything on to their kids. He didn't believe it, but he worried about Eli. If someone saw him...having an episode, they might jump to conclusions and think he was worse than he actually was. He was so much better than last year. He didn't deserve any of that, he was okay really.

But he knew the stories weren't just rumours amongst kids, and he knew Eli's mum was worried about him as well. Last year, when he was at his worst, he'd done something stupid, and Peter still didn't understand why he'd done it. He'd tried to kill himself, slit his wrists with a blade from his dad's old shaving kit. They wouldn't have found him until he was dead if his dog hadn't started barking and scratching at the door.

His mum wouldn't take him to hospital, she was trying to save him herself, and he was so scared she wasn't going to do enough. He'd asked her why she wouldn't take him and she told him, "this kind of thing doesn't happen by accident, Peter. We take him to that hospital, he's not coming home."

But he was better now, hadn't tried to kill himself since, and he only had episodes like this, nothing like some of the people at the asylums had, at least that's what he'd been told. Eli wasn't crazy, he just had weird moments.

Eli squeezed Peter's hand tighter, taking a shaky breath and looking up at him, sitting up straight.
"No. I'm fine now. And absolutely starving."

Peter chuckled and forced a small smile as he opened up the picnic basket, handing Eli a sandwich.
"You wanna talk about it? What caused it this time?"

Eli just shook his head.
"This place is lovely, how come I've never been to this place before?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

"Because it's where the fags hang out," Peter smirked, glancing around cautiously before leaning in and kissing Eli quickly. "Don't want to get in the way of those ruffians."

Eli rolled his eyes and pushed Peter away playfully. "Dangerous lads, they are."

Peter just quickly scooted back next to him, eyeing him up and down.
"But so pretty," he grinned, resting his hand on Eli's inner thigh, causing him to gasp and slap his hand away.

"Go be horny somewhere else," he smirked. "And to think, you'd try interrupt my decent, civilised picnic with your filthy, sex-crazed tendencies," he teased, putting on an over the top posh voice. "I'm appalled."

Peter bore no mind and leant back over him, grinning. Eli pushed himself away, glancing around nervously. Peter pushed him down so he was pretty much lying on the bench.

"Don't be worried darling," he whispered, no one ever comes here. And isn't it just the most beautiful place for your first time?"

"Peter! We're in public! When I said i didn't want to keep having dates shut in your bedroom for hours, this wasn't what I meant," he said, a small laugh in his voice, but he was serious.

Peter just shushed him and pressed his lips to his, winding a hand into his hair before Eli pushed him away.
"Not here. It's too visible."

"There's bushes over there," Peter pointed out.

"I am not having sex in a bush!"

Parter laughed and backed off, sitting back up and pulling Eli up as well.
"Okay, Schatzi. Another time though, right?"

Eli nodded. "Sure. But never in a bush."

After they finished their picnic, Peter walked him back home, his hand brushing his every now and then.

"What do you want to do next time, Schatzi?" Peter asked as they got onto Eli's street. "You choose this time. I feel like you weren't happy with what we did today."

"What? No, of course I was happy. I loved it!" He beamed, looking up at Peter, subtly taking his hand. "It was so sweet. Really romantic."

"You were crying before I even opened the basket."

Eli sighed.
"That wasn't because of you. I really enjoyed it, honestly."

"Really?"

"Yes," Eli assured him with a smile. "I loved it. I love you," he added.

"I love you too."

An: chapters will probably be short because I'm trying to get them out to ya.
Everything I put in this story is true btw, tho Eli, at this point in his life, probably wouldn't be sent to an asylum or killed or sterilised.
And Peter may be a bit of a dick, haven't quite decided how much yet. Opinions?