Freckles

SEVENTEEN

Ash hissed in pain as he stared at his mangled face in the small mirror of the bathroom.
His brow bone had stopped bleeding but the blood was now dried around the wound. His torso was marred with blue bruises and he had deep cuts on his fists.

He sighed. That's what he got for playing the hero.
Trey had no idea how lucky he was.

Ash heard the small boy opening the door at that moment.
Trey saw the open bathroom, decided to enter the cramped room and gasped when he saw the state of Ash's face.

"Ashton your face it's-"
"Fucked up I noticed." Replied Ash with a sour laugh.
"I was going to say bruised, but yes it's pretty f-fucked up. Do you need any help? You look like you're struggling. I know the basics." Offered Trey.

"What don't you know?" Grumbled Ash.
It wasn't against him personally but he was tired and had taken quite a few punches so he was sore and in a foul mood.
"Fine get over here, at least you'll do something useful."

He handed him a damp cotton ball and sat on the sink, Trey inched closer.
In order to remove the dried blood on Ash's forehead, he needed to stand between his legs.

He slowly patted Ash's brow bone with extreme care. The tall boy hissed when the product touched his skin but didn't dare move. He was already too close to Trey for his liking and was getting a sense of deja vu. So he tried as hard as possible to even his breath and gripped the edges of the sink while Trey tended to his wounds in silence.

"Where did you learn all this?" Finally asked Ash as Trey delicately wrapped his fist in a clean gauze before applying a bandage.

"My father died when I was twelve, and my m-mother married a new man not long after. I think she was cheating on my father because he was sick but she never admitted it."

"I shouldn't have asked."

"It's fine, it's the past.
The man's name was Robert. He was f-fine at first but always busy at work and my mother was lonely most of the time so she went out a lot.

Because both of them were rarely at home, I had to learn how to look after myself. Robert never admitted it but he didn't like me. He thought I was a nuisance. And he had very bad drinking habits. Replied Trey in a frown as the painful memories surfaced once again.

However, unlike with the headmaster, he felt safe with Ash and trusted him enough to unravel little bits of his past.

"You got lucky, I don't think you need stitches. You should keep the wounds clean and disinfect them, but you already know how to do that." He added with a smile, referring to their first meeting when Ash had disinfected his books.

"Did he ever hit you?" Asked Ash, resting his thumb on Trey's cheek as if to make sure he wasn't injured.
Trey was so comfortable that he didn't even realise the proximity.
His voice almost dropped down to a gentle whisper:

"No he didn't, but he did hit my mom. Though immediately after he would apologise and buy her gifts so she would forgive him but things just kept getting worse.
I never understood why my mother forgave him every time. And it scared me to think that love could be so fickle it could trap you without you realising.

Robert would accuse my mother of going out too much and spending all the money he brought home. His words were also always very harsh and he easily got angry against me for the most ridiculous things, like dozing off on the couch before on of his matches, forgetting to set the table... So I avoided him as much as I could.
Until that night at least."