A R I U S
Flashback **
Arius hikes up his backpack and trudges along with Viggo by his side.
Venus is prancing in front of them as she tails her father's footsteps while humming a tune way too on point for a seven year old.
Arius was sure she'd grow up to be one among the greats like Whitney Houston, David Phelps and Mariah Carey. She was too good.
Often times, when Viggo and Arius would jam together, she'd join in and sing. She was his duet partner more times than not.
They're out on a family weekend trek which they did every other week. Their families were thick as thieves and were always spotted together in their community because of all the parties and dinners they hosted.
Arius is feeling particularly daring today as he steps closer to the steep drop down from one of the hills they're scouting.
"Arius, get away from there, you're going to hurt yourself." His father's voice rings out, startling him.
"Yeah dad." He replies, gingerly stepping away from the steep edge.
Not a second has passed by after his father and Mr.Ryse turn around when Arius tiptoes back to his position and puts his finger on his lips, motioning for Viggo to shut up.
Viggo furrows his brows and shakes his head in warning as they walk silently.
He's having a damn ball walking on the edge while simultaneously trying to do it in silence.
"Dad! Aji is going to fall!" Venus shouts all of a sudden. Arius whips his head up alarmingly quick, shaking his head furiously at Venus.
Arius hurriedly tries to jump away from the edge when the loose rock and sand beneath him gives way, sending him toppling over the edge as he rolls down the hill, hitting multiple bushes and rocks as he gains momentum.
The next thing he knows, his head is burning and it feels like someone's twisting his leg mercilessly. He cries out in pain and in a second, Viggo jumps over a boulder and topples over a little bit as he struggles to reach him.
"What the fuck is wrong with you Ari?" He whisper-shouts, scrunching his forehead painfully as he stands up and holds his hand out for him to take.
Arius cannot speak, it's like his throat's dried up and a searing pain shoots up his leg making him want to rip his hair out in agony.
He looks down and sees his pants ripped near the knee, blood oozing out of the wound, the sight making him queasy and faint.
He stands up with Viggo's help and tries to rub his left arm that's throbbing when he realises that he can't feel his right arm.
Nothing, zilch.
He wills it to come up again, but no such luck. His eyes widen in horror as Viggo gingerly lifts his arm and it wobbles and feels like jello; like all of his bones were displaced.
Viggo and Arius look at each other, speechless.
"Fucking hell." Viggo breathes out.
"Boys?" Mr.Ryse calls.
"Uh dad? Y'all should come here."
The two men carefully climb over the edge with Venus in Aaron's arms.
"Arius? Why is your hand bent like that?"
And then Arius realises he's not able to talk. He looks at his arm again and he doesn't know what the fuck to do.
"I think he's broken his arm. Completely." Viggo mutters, gripping his shoulder.
His dad lets Venus down and rushes to his side, helping him tug off his jacket. His eyes catch the thick fabric ripped in multiple places exposing his skin and scratched all the way.
They pull his sleeves up and he sees his arm bathed a sickening red, turning purple in some places. There's multiple cuts and ridges where the sand and stone have claimed property.
Aaron squeezes his arm and Arius visibly sees it happen but doesn't feel anything.
He's panicking.
A sharp ache shoots up his arm all of a sudden and stops.
And it happens again.
And again.
Arius wants to howl in pain and get it out of his system somehow but his throat is sore and dry.
The next few minutes pass in a blur and extreme bouts of sharp throbbing and prickling as they pile up into their cars and rush to the nearest hospital.
~ • ~
It's been a week in the hospital, slipping in an out of consciousness as they operate on his arm and try to stop the sepsis from breaking out. The heavy sedatives hardly keep him awake as he lies on the bed, barely opening his eyes.
He's starting to feel more awake today though.
His mother comes in, looking disgruntled and extremely apologetic.
The nurse follows her and walks to Arius. She takes his hand in hers and looks at him affectionately.
"Hi Arius, how are you doing today?"
"Fine, I feel better." He croaks out, his voice hoarse and scratchy from all the silence.
His mother and the nurse look at each other and he sees his mother gulp as she takes a sharp breath. Her fingers have started to shake as she rubs her forehead in tense anticipation and discomfort.
"Little one, I need you to know something. I'm so sorry for this but the doctors have asked to prepare you for a final operation scheduled for tomorrow. They're amputating your arm." The nurse says, gripping his good palm in a dead strong hold, making it throb.
Arius is crying. His face is wet and sticky as he tries to fathom the intensity of everything that's going to happen after they brutally cut off his fucking arm. Fuck them.
His mother looks at him with remorse as she shrugs her shoulders slightly. She approaches him slowly, her lower lip trembling as she envelopes him in a warm hug. Arius doesn't feel anything but angry.
He's numb to everything as the nurse explains why they have to do it. Something about osteomyelitis and severe arm shaft damage.
Something about how if they didn't amputate his arm, his other organs wouldn't function normally because of the sepsis.
Fuck her. Fuck his mother. Fuck that hill. Fuck trekking. Fuck everything.
It was literally the stupidest fucking way to fuck up his life. It was all his fault, he should've listened to his father.
Now he was going to have to walk around with a stump of an arm. He was so angry at everyone and everything. How does one even fathom something like that? Within seconds, his life had changed drastically.
He couldn't even tell people that he lost his arm in a car accident or something; not that that was any better. It definitely sounded more believable than the fact that he was being an adventurous, disobedient chowderhead.
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Arius pulled on his overcoat and stepped over the giant puddle of water as he walked back to their dorm. He was going to meet Ryder by her room tonight so they could begin working on the brunt of their astronomy project.
He turned the collar up so it grazed his chin ever so slightly, shielding his neck from the harsh wind.
He rapped on the door three times before a familiar voice called for him to come in.
He pushed it open only to find Elijah lying on the floor, face buried in the carpet.
"Where's uh, Ryder?" Arius asked, looking puzzled.
Elijah shot up from his position, straightening his shirt as he sat up cross legged. He was totally not expecting Arius to walk in and Arius bit back a smile at the embarrassment on the other boy's face.
"I don't know? She was saying something about having to get a book from the library."
"Ah, right." Arius muttered back.
They were enveloped in an awkward silence as Arius looked everywhere except Elijah and the latter looked at Arius with a confused look on his face.
"Why don't you sit down?" Elijah said.
Arius moved to the giant, plushy looking beanbag in the corner of the room and sank into it, closing his eyes at the warm feeling.
He had he started to feel comfortable when the door shot open with a bang, a tired looking Ryder burst into the room at full speed and came to an abrupt halt right in front of Elijah who had resumed his postion on the floor.
"Do you have a fucking death wish?" Ryder breathed out, kicking Elijah.
"Right now, I wouldn't mind. I really want to know what it feels like when you're taking your last breath ever." Elijah said, turning on his back and smiling at Ryder.
"You're impossible." Ryder shook her head and came to a second abrupt halt when she saw Arius in the corner, looking uncomfortable and small.
"You're here!" She said.
"We're starting now right? I've got to go back by two." Arius said, standing up and peeling off his coat.
He caught Elijah looking away shyly on the floor and rolled his eyes, smiling a little. It wasn't like he was naked under the coat.
"Fine by me." Ryder said.
The two of them settled on Ryder's bed and Arius worked on her laptop while she wrote down some equations and theories on her notepad.
They were assigned the topic of Complex numbers and since both of them scored high on that chapter, it wouldn't really take much work to finish the project.
"Elijah, make some of that cocoa milk?" Ryder mumbled, as she stretched backward.
"What's in it for me Ry?" Elijah grinned from his position on the floor.
"I'll do your math assignment too." She replied spontaneously.
"Done deal." Elijah stood up, rubbing his hands together.
"An entire assignment for a cup of milk?" Arius rolled his eyes, not realising that he'd spoken out loud.
Elijah narrowed his eyes at him and shook his head really fast.
"You know what? You're right. I'll just buy you ice cream the next time we go to town." Ryder said, stretching as she stood up, walking to their bathroom.
Elijah's eyes lit up like a fucking Christmas tree and Arius was reminded how pretty his eyes looked when he was excited about something, which was very often.
He felt his lips quirk up at the boy's excitement as he shook his head.
"Oh, and the blue gummy bears from those candy packets you've brought!" Elijah said, face turning deadly serious.
"Gladly! I hate the blue and yellow ones anyway!" Ryder yelled from inside.
"Yes sir!" Elijah said as he made his way to the small counter next to the bathroom.
"You just got me a way better deal that the math assignment, thank you." Elijah appeared before him in an instant, quickly dashing back into the corner where he was heating up something.
Arius and Ryder continued to work in silence, while Ryder yawned every now and then and made impatient noises at Elijah.
Arius felt out of place and very alien when he saw the dynamic Elijah and Ryder had struck up in the few months they'd stayed together. It was like him and Viggo, but way crazier.
He trained his eyes not to look anywhere except the screen and typed away, fingers flying across the keypad.
He didn't know how much time had passed when Elijah came out with two mugs of steaming hot milk. It smelled heavenly and Arius could already feel his mouth watering.
"Arius? This one's yours!" Elijah said as he held out the remaining mug to him after Ryder had greedily grabbed hers.
"Uh, thanks dude." Arius rubbed his neck awkwardly, taking the mug.
"Fuck. I ruined this shirt too." Ryder mumbled, setting her mug down on the table next to her as she stood up slowly.
"You're so careless. It doesn't hurt to wait a little before drinking it you know?" Elijah chided, bringing out his own mug.
He sat next to Arius and blew over his mug, face screwed up in concentration.
"What? Doesn't taste good huh?" Elijah said, shaking him out of his stupor.
"I haven't tried it yet. It smells good though, I won't lie." Arius smiled at him involuntarily which the other boy returned with one of his own, ever so happy and radiant.
They spent the rest of their time in silence, sipping on the milk with Ryder occasionally cursing under her breath.
"I best be going now, I'm getting sleepy. We'll be done tomorrow, Ryder?" Arius said, standing up as he buttoned up his coat.
"Oh oh, yeah! Sure thing." Ryder muttered.
"Alright, sleep well you two!" Arius ducked around the hanger and swing open the door.
"You too." Ryder said.
"I'll drop you off, come on." Elijah exclaimed, following Arius closely.
"If you want to." Arius shrugged his shoulders.
The two of them started walking around the courtyard all the way to Viggo's room which was directly opposite to them.
"So what have you been doing these days?" Elijah asked, trying to strike up a conversation.
"Nothing really, just been trying to balance everything." Arius replied back.
Vague statements tended to come out of his mouth faster than he had thought them out.
"You do realise that things don't have to be so awkward in between us right? We can forget it, and just move on. I don't like the fact that we don't hang out anymore." Elijah said in one breath.
"But that's the th-"
"No Arius, seriously, we can forget about it. Things happen and it's okay." Elijah cut him off.
The was a chilling silence in between them as they walked on, not knowing what to say.
"I can't. No matter how hard I try." Arius said softly, not daring to look Elijah in the eye.
"What the fuck?" Elijah was bewildered.
Elijah was annoyed and even though Arius had never seen him annoyed, he knew. Because Elijah was an open book when it came to what he was feeling at the moment.
"I know. It's fucking annoying. You are fucking annoying." Arius finally looked at Elijah as they stood in front of Viggo's room. He put extra emphasis on the "you" which only made Elijah flinch.
Elijah took a deep breath and stepped closer to Arius, slowly wrapping his arms around him. Arius felt like he'd been stripped bare and all his insecurities and inhibitions were painted across his skin, for Elijah to see and judge.
But Elijah did no such thing, he held him with a force and grip that screamed security and no judgement. Like he was being safeguarded.
Like being vulnerable wasn't scary or daunting anymore. It was okay.
Like Elijah got him, he understood exactly what he was trying to say.
Is this what people meant when they said someone felt like home?
Arius didn't know, but this felt really fucking good and therapeutic.
He snaked his own arms around Elijah and held him, trembling a little every now and then due to the sheer intensity of his feelings.
Everything felt heightened to his senses and unshed tears prickled at the corners of his eyes. He shut them as tight as possible and allowed himself to relax in the embrace. A tear or two slipped down his cheek and then, nothing.
Everything shut down. The only thing he was aware of was the outline of the green-eyed boy's body tracing his own as they stood, hugging each other in the dark.
"You put your arms around me and I literally felt my knees buckle. This is fucking pathetic." Arius murmured into Elijah's shoulder where his head rested.
Elijah chuckled softly, his entire body vibrating which sent shockwaves of nervousness and excitement into Arius' stomach.
"I've been told my hugs heal." Elijah whispered back, tightening his grip.
Well, they weren't completely wrong, Arius thought to himself, deciding that he'd let out enough of corny comments for the day.
They eventually broke apart, Elijah patting Arius's back and turning around after saying goodbye. He'd left Arius feeling just a little better, but it was something.
Arius felt like there was someone other than Viggo who genuinely wanted him to be in their lives in this school and it made his heart soar that it was Elijah, the annoying, happy-go-lucky brat.
He pulled out his phone and shot him a text.
Arius :
That chocolate milk tasted like heaven :)
12:04 am
Elijah :
I know ;)
12:07 am
Arius :
Cocky bastard. I'm going to sleep.
12:07 am
Elijah :
Good night, Arius ;)
12:07 am
Arius blushed just a little more at the winky faces Elijah was sending. He turned off his phone and wondered why it was so difficult to have genuine connections and relationships with people. Why wasn't everybody just nice to everybody else?
He knew Elijah was a good dude but his past experiences had fucked him over so bad that he couldn't help but become extremely doubtful and cautious. He was scared, more than anything.
The good times with Elijah felt like fiction, like looking into himself and finding what he'd buried deep down within the depths of his soul. Elijah was everything Arius wanted to be. Elijah was also everything Arius wanted.
And then reality would hit him like a bucket full of ice cold, dirty water and he'd push the boy away, feeling terrible everytime Elijah masked up the hurt look on his face with a smile. It was a vicious cycle. How was one supposed to break out of the loop?
It was all too confusing wasn't it?
_________________________________________
A/N
I love my boys sm 🥺
I've missed writing these cheesy scenes but ayy I'm back!
Meanwhile, guys we hit 1.5k reads, it's crazy crazy crazy like woah.
Thank you everyone!
I hope y'all like like how the story's going on so far.
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Much Love XD. Thank You!