I Care (Solangelo)

Chapter Forty-two

Alrighty, times here, I signed. School had ended, things had been learned, and Will has had time to give me an explanation.

"Wait, what about ASL?" Will protested, clearly stalling.

Later, I told him. Important stuff first.

"Communicating with you is important!" He was putting up a good, and might I say adorable, fight.

God dammit, W-I-L-L. Yes, I still respect him enough to spell out each letter. Just tell me what happened! You know I'm worried, you know that I care about you! You know I love you!

Those last signs kind of slip, and that seems to happen a lot. Every time I do it, Will says it's just me being cute, but it can be seriously annoying.

Will sighed in defeat. "Fine."

I perked up, giving him my full attention.

"You know how I told you my mom was homophobic?" Yes, I remember completely. "She threatened to send me to conversion therapy of some sort. She told me to 'get my priorities straight' or whatever."

The bruises? The marks? Did she do that?

"Yeah. 'Dump him immediately and delete the fag's number' She said," Will started to look pale. "It turned into a battle of screams, until I told her to - and excuse my French - fuck off."

That was my kind of French, right there. I'm not worth that.

Will looked a little taken aback. "What are you talking about?" He practically shouted. "You're amazing! You make me laugh, smile, be happy. You've never hurt a fly and Lordy Lord, you're amazing at calculus."

I walked over and wrapped my arms around my boyfriend. I shook my head into his chest, denying all he said. I moved my arms, pressing down a little on one of his marks.

You don't deserve this.

"It's fine," Will tried to reassure me, yet wincing at the pressure. "I'm fine."

No. You can leave me. We can break up. Anything to keep you safe.

"No!" His voice was booming and terrified. "Please, no. You're just about the greatest thing that's ever happened." I winced at his loud voice. "Sorry," he whispered.

At least come home with me, I pleaded. He didn't deserve to be with someone who abused him.

"No, it's fine. She stops when my father gets home."

Why when your father gets home?

"Well, he's normally out all night at... er... 'work'." Will looked like he was avoiding admitting something.

Work?

"Off with some female and male prostitutes alike, ripping my mom to pieces," Will trembled. The words came out of his mouth so fast, you'd think he was rapping. "She points her anger at him every night."

You talk about this like it isn't the first time.

"This is the first time it got physical." Will looked a little ashamed about telling me about this.

It's settled. You're coming home with me.

"What? Nico, no-" I stood on my tip toes and slammed my lips to his. Part of it to shut up his protest, but mainly because I really liked kissing Will. Will refused to back away, and he started to seem like regular Will again.

He licked my bottom lip, and that's when I started to feel like it was getting a little too much. I backed away, and being the amazing person he was, let me.

"Are you sure I can come with you?" Will asked. I nodded, gripping his hand tightly in my own.

I moved my thumb in circles in Will's palm, trying to at least make him feel a little safer with me. It was working, too.

Now all I had to do was convince my mom to keep Will, which shouldn't be too hard.