Nowhere Haven

Back In The Old Days

Living all up on a hill was the least thing Oliver ever wished for. Going all by foot was an infinite travel through barely changing scenery. All it did to him was burning thighs and aching lungs. His stamina has rapidly worsened over the winter months; after all, he – once again this year – barely found shelter nor generous people to be handing out food to him.

Oliver hardly noticed it during his daily routine of scrolling through the streets, mugging people and panhandling for anything that filled the stomach, however, now that he had to walk to the end of the city all up the highest hill, his withdrawals clearly showed effect.

A relieved sigh escaped his throat as soon as he reached the familiar city-limit sign. Right behind it lied his destination; the apartment complexes of Eastside. Eastside was known as none other but the scum district. Even Oliver, despite him lacking the social connections for rumors to spread, was aware of the bad reputation and dreaded it to a certain degree. Nonetheless, no bad word would prevent him from coming to this place every now and then. There was a certain spell luring him into the witch's cottage.

Oliver stepped forward after a short break and passed by the run-down houses. The greyish façade started to chip off, exposing the rough concrete. The blond had to remind himself not to lean on it – he didn't want to lose another shirt for a foolish mistake. Despite the early afternoon hours, there were barely any people wandering around. Oliver had noticed before that it was mostly an abandoned place, regardless of it actually having the largest population of the city.

Merely the person he had been searching for suddenly perked out of one house, walking towards Oliver. They didn't notice him and merely threw out the trash onto the huge pile of plastic bags, taking a few seconds to close their eyes and breathe out before turning around, ready to go back inside. However, Oliver was quicker and hurried to get out of his hideout, rushing to the familiar boy.

"Fuka! There you are, finally," Oliver called out and laughed. He did not receive a response just as enthusiastic as Fukase stopped in his tracks and turned around wide-eyed.

"What are you doing here?"

Oliver froze and stared at the scene in front of him in shock. Violet bruises were scattered across Fukase's face, his lower lip prominently swollen. Combined with the scared expression, Oliver was punched right in the face by this image. It took a few seconds for him to come back to his senses, as he suddenly jumped up, grabbed Fukase by the hand and pulled him closer. There was a resistance in the redhead's body, but he was too paralyzed to make a distinct move.

"What happened to your face?" Oliver shouted out almost too loudly, making Fukase flinch vehemently. His counterpart looked away and bit the inside of his cheek hard. His attempt to cast a weak smile didn't work on Oliver, who continued to stare holes in his boyfriend's face. Fukase ran his free hand through his hair.

"Ah, well, just a little accident."

"Was that your mother?" Oliver cut him off, not paying much attention to the obvious lie. Fukase's head shot back to Oliver. He quickly shook his head and subconsciously shook off Oliver's hand intertwined in his own.

"No, it's just – you know, she's sometimes just not that thoughtful. That was just an accident. I swear."

Oliver stared at Fukase a little longer, processing the whole situation. Knowing that being upset would only make matters worse, the blond tried his best to keep his anger to himself and instead reached his hand out to caress Fukase's cheek. The redhead tried to suppress it, but Oliver could tell that touching the bruises hurt. His heart wrenched.

"Please be more faithful to yourself. Don't cover her." Oliver pecked his lover, who remained frozen in his tracks. The blond frowned at this sight. "I figured that your mother's a witch, but I didn't know it's this bad."