My lover, Benjamin

Chapter 1: The boy in the photo

Hello! Chapter 1 serves as an introduction to Issac (and his obsession with Ben), as well as some context for the events that will unfold later on in the story. I hope you enjoy :)
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Benjamin was quite the timid boy.

The commotion of others around him always seemed to make him deeply uncomfortable. Although it may not always be obvious to most people, it becomes easy to see when he starts to tense up after observing him for a while. His soft brown eyes stare down at the ground while his hands clench at his waist, and his jaw locks tightly as he grinds his teeth together.
What is he thinking about in those moments? Issac is always curious about the smaller boy next to him. Issac himself had a tendency to avoid other people, but that was purely because of his preference on the kind of person he would willingly engage with. He was capable of being plenty charismatic when it suited his needs, unlike Benjamin who struggled greatly with making small talk. That was something Issac liked about Ben a lot. It was actually one of the reasons Issac fell in love with him in the first place.

A few years prior Issac became infatuated with a photograph he had found while going through his recently passed Grandfathers albums, in which there was a singular picture of himself much younger than he was now and a few others. Issac was smiling as he always did in photos and so were the three girls situated around him posing for the camera. But not him.
The person furthest away from Isaac in the photo...was a younger boy with a deadpan almost angry expression. His gaze stared annoyed at the photographer taking no part in the joy that seemed to be radiating from the others. Issac's face flushed with a whip of electricity striking up from his stomach as he looked at the boy staring back at him in the photo. "Beautiful" was all he could think when he looked at him. He was so very beautiful. His hair was cut neatly at the sides but his rich brown hair held bangs that were beginning to fall past his long eyelashes. His skin was a ghostly pale which contrasted his dark red lips folded slightly into a frown. His nose was sharp and his eyebrows were perfectly shaped across his small pretty face. Issac couldn't look away from the small photo he held tightly in his hands, gripping it in such a way as if he feared it would run away from him at a moment's notice. He breathed heavily making a pained expression as he gazed further into the mysterious boy's eyes. He so badly wanted to know him more, to drink in his entirety as he stood in front of him. However, Issac couldn't even grasp the context of the photograph. He was certainly in it, that he was sure of. But who had taken it? Where was it taken? And why couldn't he for the life of him, remember who the small boy on the left was.

He began to search his brain for any bit of information he could gather. Issac's family was quite large, at least that was what he was told by other people he spoke to about them. To him, the commotion of family around him was normal, and when he wasn't surrounded by those who said they belonged to his kin he felt rather lonely and lost. That's why he found it so odd he had no memory of the supposed family he was looking at around him in the photograph. Every person has similarities to them, proving in his mind that they were certainly related even if only a little. Cousins? Cousins removed? Perhaps the boy was just a guest at an event his family held. It was more than possible as his family's reunions were almost always crowded by family and strangers alike. Isaac frowned at his thoughts. No. He was compelled to believe the boy was indeed directly related to him even if it didn't make the most sense. He stared for a few moments more feeling his face begin to heat up slightly.

Vrrrrr.

He whipped to the side, startled out of his daze as his phone went off brightening up the darkened room he was sitting in. The smile that had washed over his face as he looked at the photo had faded into a deep frown as his phone continued to vibrate and light up. Annoyed, he moved to the side of his bed and opened his side drawer, carefully placing the photo inside a light book he had begun to read a couple of days ago. He shut it softly pondering about the next time he would look at it again as he reached over to pick up his phone. Isaac squinted his eyes, adjusting to the violating light that was shining off his phone. "What the..." he muttered staring at the countless message pop-ups that were on his notification screen. He skimmed through them lightly, seeing a few family members' names as the senders which piqued his interest. There was always something someone was planning in his family, and more often than not Issac would end up having a bit of fun with them. Family was very important to him after all. He unlocked his phone and clicked on the messaging app most of his family used to send group messages with, noticing that he had 43 unread ones from the chat that included people outside the city as well. He scrolled up before stopping at seemingly the beginning of the swarm.