~Ian's POV~
It was the next day that I received the phone call.
Anthony called me around nine at night, surprising me when his named showed up on my screen.
"I-Ian. Can I..can I come over?" He sounded close to tears as he spoke, voice hoarse and tired.
"Sure, but why exactly?"
He hung up, not giving me the answer I was expecting. I sighed, placed my phone on the coffee table and cleaning up the house a little bit before he got here. Gotta be presentable for Anthony, right?
When the knock on the door came, I was hovering nearby. I got it open, noticing the state Anthony was in stopped me in my tracks though. His hair was disheveled and he had a bruise swelling on his jaw line, another on his eye.
I covered my mouth to stop my gasp, swiftly ushering him inside without a word. I guided him, with a hand on his back, to my couch. He flopped down, head lowered in sadness as I sat myself so close next to him that our sides and legs were pressed against one another. Seeing him like this made me want to be close to him, to comfort him and keep him from harm.
I didn't want to pry into his life, but I just had to ask. "Anthony, who did this to you?"
His shoulders started to shake and I reacted fast, grabbing his right hand in my left and giving it a squeeze of comfort. "It-it was Sawyer and his buddies. I threw the first punch, so I guess I should have seen it coming." He let out a dry laugh after speaking, no humor contained in the sound I usually found so beautiful.
"Why were you getting into fistfights with Sawyer and company in the first place?"
"They were insulting you, Ian. When I tried to tell them off about it they..started saying all of the things I was afraid people would say. They called me a fag, weak. I just couldn't help myself." I didn't say another word, just pressing myself ever closer against him, fueling the feelings of connection between us.
I felt my heart deflate, he said this kind of thing would happen; that we would get made fun of. And now he had the bruises to prove that they weren't afraid to take it further then just name-calling. "Anthony, did you call the cops or anything?"
He chuckled that same hollow laugh. "And say what? Hey, can you arrest these people because I hit one of them and they all hit back harder? Yeah, that'll go over just great."
I sighed, getting up from the couch to go retrieve the first aid kit from my bathroom. I'm pretty sure I've got some bruise cream in there. When I sat on my knees in front of where Anthony stayed, he barely glanced at me. I took the cream out and put a little bit on my finger, instructing Anthony to look at me as I did so.
I reached forward slowly, carefully covering his bruises in the relieving cream. He sighed, leaning his head into my touch before I retracted my hand. "You got any scratches or anything?"
He shook his head which in turn lead me to put the bruise cream back in it's place in my kit and getting up to put it back in my bathroom.
When I came back out Anthony hadn't moved, I need to distract him somehow. "You hungry? We could order your favorite vegan pizza."
He shook his head. "Not hungry."
"Well what do you want to do then?"
He just shrugged his shoulders, causing me to let out a sigh of frustration. I sat back down on the couch, as close to him as I was previously. I leaned closer slowly, pressing my lips against his neck. He breathed in sharply and I knew I was accomplishing my goal. I left my lips there as my hand moved up to draw through his hair once before dropping back down to his arm again. He surprised me by coming to life all of a sudden, grabbing me by the waist and swinging me around to face him as I straddled him. I laughed as I looked into his eyes, one normal and the other ringed with purple. I leaned forward, putting my head against his neck as we sat contentedly.
I could faintly hear his heartbeat as my head leaned against his shoulder and neck. His hand drew through my hair a couple of times and I knew that no words had to be exchanged to know what the other was feeling. He felt sad and lost, I felt pain on his behalf.
Anthony is such a resplendent person that when he smiles the whole world should smile with him. And when he is sad, it makes those around him, including me, feel sad just because he wasn't being his usual luminous self.
I wrapped my arms securely around his lower back, his winding around my torso. This was an unusual position, but it was perfect all the same. His head resting against mine, my head on his neck, arms wrapped around each other as a grounding point. Yeah, I think I like this.
Eventually though, my leg started to cramp which caused me great discomfort. I released Anthony slowly, removing my arms and stepping off the couch, almost falling due to the numbness in my calf. I wiggled my leg around to try and regain feeling, causing Anthony to let out a laugh; a real and true one this time.
I stretched my back, feeling a nice feeling in my muscles. When I looked at Anthony, he had a warm grin on his face. "What?" I felt a tad insecure, seeing as he had just watched me stretch and was still watching me.
He just continued to grin, standing up to pull me close enough that we were practically nose-to-nose. "Oh nothing Blue Eyes, you're just very enticing."
I shook my head, drawing away from him once again to grab the T.V remote off of the table. I turned on Netflix and sat in my usual spot on the couch, patting the cushion next to me as an invitation for Anthony to sit.
"Come on you goof, you can choose what we watch first."
~
Somehow, during Wolf of Wallstreet (not exactly a romantic movie), Anthony and I drifted closer to each other. I rested my head on his chest as we watched the movie and I gazed up at him as he observed the movie. His eyes met mine and we gravitated our heads towards each other. Anticipation of the touch of his lips was intoxicating; that is until a sudden weight on the couch cushion next to us caused our foreheads to bump harshly together as I toppled onto him.
Daisy, always wanting to know what I was up to, wagged her tail happily as she stood next to me on the couch. I scowled but pet her anyway, you can't be mad at her because she didn't know we were about to do anything.
Anthony breathed in deeply. "Hey Ian I'm pretty tired, can I just spend the night here?"
"Again? You moving in or something?"
"Dude this is only the second time." I rolled my eyes at his response.
"If you want to stay here then sure, go ahead. Turn the T.V off when you're gonna sleep and the extra blankets and pillows are in the hall closet. "
I walked out of the room, Daisy behind me, as I headed to the bathroom to do my nightly routine. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and did my business.
I was already in the sweatpants I was going to be sleeping in but I stripped my shirt off along the way to my room.
"Anthony, what the fuck are you doing in my bed again?!" I said upon entering my room, seeing Anthony under the covers on my bed.
"You said I could stay the night," he said, trying to look innocent.
"By staying the night I meant you could sleep on the couch."
He rolled his eyes. "Just get over here you douche."
I breathed deeply in exasperation before shutting the lights off and going over to my usual side of my bed. I got under the covers before noticing Anthony only being in his boxers. "Anthony, seriously? Put some more clothes on."
"Why?" He asked, sliding closer to me so that I was looking into his eyes. "Is it distracting for you?"
I decided to just let it go, rolling over so that he couldn't see my beet red face. No protests from me were heard as his arms found their comfortable place around me. "You know," he said quietly and cautiously, "I really like cuddling like this."
"Me too." I was going to leave it at that but I just had to add on. "You shouldn't have punched Sawyer you know."
"I know, but I just..I don't know. I didn't like them making fun of you. And when they made fun of me it just brought back bad memories."
I constantly forgot Anthony got picked on, it was hard to imagine. The way he was so confident and at home in his body, but we all have our secrets. "I know, it really sucks when dickheads like them exist in the world. But it gives us the chance to be better than them. We won't talk back, we won't hit them. We're just gonna flip them the bird or whatever. And if anyone says anything mean to you then I'll egg their house when they aren't home."
"Don't waste eggs, Ian." I also forgot how passionate he was about things he cared about, such as animals.
"I'm trying to tell you how much I care about you here, work with me."
He pulled me tighter against him. "It feels nice to hear you say that."
"Why? A lot of people care about you."
"Yeah, I guess. But you're just so..Ian. You're too amazing to give someone like me the time of day." He sounded so sincere it nearly broke my heart.
"No, you don't guess. A lot of people care about and appreciate you. And if anything you are the one who's too amazing to even look at someone such as I. For I am but a flower and you are a whole garden of beauty."
I felt his breathing on the back of my neck, strange yet somehow comforting. "Oh Blue Eyes, that really isn't true. And if you're a flower, then I'm a flower."
I shook my head, snuggling into the pillows and entwining my hand with his as it rested over my stomach. I'm pretty sure that he stole that line from some cheesy movie, but whatever.
Anthony Padilla, I never again want him to be hurt.
It shouldn't work that way in the world, the good people being hurt the most. I felt guilty he started it by defending me. It should be me dealing with the pain, not him. Anthony Padilla is no superhero, but he's as close as you can get living in this reality. And the fact that he lets me see the sides of him few got to see? Almost magical in another reality (and this one too).
A.N: So this chapter wasn't the best, sorry:( And 4K READS?! THAT IS INCREDIBLE AND VERY SURPRISING SO THANK YOU<3 <3 Also I have a new Ianthony one shot out, called How? (Ianthony One Shot). So if you want to read it that would be awesome:) I actually really like it:P