This Is Me (Bondi Rescue)

1

Let's begin with this. After the prologue, Bacon becomes a lifeguard. When this chapter starts, he's been a full-time lifeguard for a year already.
! ALSO, UNASHAMEDLY, THIS IS BACON X JAKE NOLAN !
Third Person POV
      He didn't know what it was about him. His eyes, maybe? His smile, or his laugh? The way he was so sweet to people that needed it? Or maybe, it was the secret way he looked at Bacon, as if he was silently saying I want to love you, because I want to show you how much you are truly worth to me.
      The guy Bacon loves is Jake. But Bacon was scared. He wasn't used to nice love. Even still, he was nervous around the older guys, still scared one day he'd upset them, and all the hurt would come rushing back. But the guys weren't like that. They loved him. Actually loved him. It was hard to believe, but it was there, right in front of him.
      He's been dealing with self-harm alone. His mind was betraying him, telling him that it wasn't going to work. Jake wouldn't love him, he wasn't a fag. He didn't want that stain on him. His mind was like water turning black like ink, like smoke coiling around in his brain, choking him until Bacon could hardly breathe.
      He'd lay in bed on his days off, either crying or hurting himself. He couldn't understand why he felt so...empty. He felt like a jack o' lantern, carved and cut to smile but feeling so hollow inside. His guts had been scooped out to make him prettier, but he didn't feel that way anymore.
      They hadn't gotten to know him that well, but the team was concerned. "He's hurting." Kerrbox said one day, staring at the water. Beside him, Singlets was staring at his fingers. "I know, but we can't corner him, Box." He sighed. "He'll fight, get defensive, and we'll only hurt him by scaring him away."
"I know, but it worries me." Kerrbox sighed angrily. Singlets said nothing.
      Bacon was barely 18, so he was still under Whippet's care. The older man would pause sometimes at Bacon's door, wishing he could help, but Bacon clearly didn't want it. He loved Whippet, that much everyone knew. He was so thankful Whippet had saved him. But he didn't trust him. He didn't trust any of them. No one blamed him. He was scared to get close again. After all, the people who helped make him had only hurt him because he was different.