Happy Anniversary.

27. Broken Arrow.

A/N: I sincerely apologize for erratic and not often updates. Depression and school are kicking my ass and yeah writing has taken a backseat right now.

Weight pressing softly against the top of my head woke me. I was a bit confused in my early morning disorientation until I remembered where I was and who I was with. Alex's fingers continued to comb through my hair and his face shifted toward my neck. He kissed against the tender skin he had bruised last night. "Morning." He murmured.

I rolled to my other side so I was facing him and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer to me and giving him a kiss, to which he almost immediately moved away from. "Gross, stop. Morning breath."

Laughing, I kissed him again. "I don't care if you don't." He seemed to find comfort in my words as he melted into my lips, molding his body perfectly against mine. "How did you sleep?"

His expression turned sour. "Not well, honestly. Too much to think about."

I got up and stretched, suddenly not wanting to be as close to him as I was. I turned away from him, remembering why I hadn't wanted to get naked with him last night until the lights went out. Guilt burned in my stomach as I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeved t-shirt from my bag. What a hypocrite. "About?" I questioned, already knowing the answers.

"Well, the usual stuff that keeps me up...and you." He sat up and watched me curiously. My heart slowed a little; his face would probably look angrier if he saw the blemishes I put on my own skin. He was already upset enough that I hadn't told him about the ones that obviously didn't come from me. If he did end up seeing my cuts right now, I wasn't sure what I would tell him. He knew I had scarred myself in the past, but I also told him I stopped. Thankfully, when I had let on about this little fact of my adolescence, he had been too wrapped up in his own problems to focus on mine. Maybe he hadn't even realized what I told him at the time. I didn't mind, though; quite the opposite. I didn't want to look back at my old life. This one was much better, despite my new issues. Nothing could compare to that.

"Me?" I asked with the same ignorance tainting my word.

He groaned as he lifted himself off the mattress and stumbled to my side. Maybe he was too disoriented to notice that he was still naked from last night's activities. If he were in his usual frame of mind, I imagined he would be rushing to his bag and trying to cover up.

Or maybe he trusts me enough to not worry about his imperfections. Maybe he's finally starting to believe all the things I tell him about how perfect I think he is. Maybe I'm actually helping instead of harming, for once.

For the first time, but certainly not the last, the thought occurred to me that if I didn't have Alex, I might actually have the guts to run away from everything. It wouldn't be long until I was 18, and judging my the way my parents were treating me, they might not even look for me in the first place.

He was only inches shorter than me, but it made me feel better, being the taller one of us. Like I could protect him from everything the world throws. "Don't play dumb, dude. You know exactly what I mean."

"I don't know what you want me to tell you, Alex." I could barely feel my mouth form around the words.

"Oh, I don't know. The truth might be nice?" His tone was cool, even though he spoke with the same lethargy he had been since I woke up.

"Nothing bad even happened!" I exploded, immediately reining myself back in when I saw him cower back in fear. I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to stay as still as possible as I spoke so I didn't scare him anymore. "My dad...he....just....we were...wrestling, trying to show Joe some new moves, and he got really...into it. I'm rusty with my fighting skills, so I didn't block him as well as I should have."