Living all up on a hill was the least thing Oliver ever wished for. Going all by foot was an infinite travel through barely changing scenery. All it did to him was burning thighs and aching lungs. His stamina has rapidly worsened over the winter months; after all, he – once again this year – barely found shelter nor generous people to be handing out food to him.

Oliver hardly noticed it during his daily routine of scrolling through the streets, mugging people and panhandling for anything that filled the stomach, however, now that he had to walk to the end of the city all up the highest hill, his withdrawals clearly showed effect.

A relieved sigh escaped his throat as soon as he reached the familiar city-limit sign. Right behind it lied his destination; the apartment complexes of Eastside. Eastside was known as none other but the scum district. Even Oliver, despite him lacking the social connections for rumors to spread, was aware of the bad reputation and dreaded it to a certain degree. Nonetheless, no bad word would prevent him from coming to this place every now and then. There was a certain spell luring him into the witch's cottage.

Oliver stepped forward after a short break and passed by the run-down houses. The greyish façade started to chip off, exposing the rough concrete. The blond had to remind himself not to lean on it – he didn't want to lose another shirt for a foolish mistake. Despite the early afternoon hours, there were barely any people wandering around. Oliver had noticed before that it was mostly an abandoned place, regardless of it actually having the largest population of the city.

Merely the person he had been searching for suddenly perked out of one house, walking towards Oliver. They didn't notice him and merely threw out the trash onto the huge pile of plastic bags, taking a few seconds to close their eyes and breathe out before turning around, ready to go back inside. However, Oliver was quicker and hurried to get out of his hideout, rushing to the familiar boy.

"Fuka! There you are, finally," Oliver called out and laughed. He did not receive a response just as enthusiastic as Fukase stopped in his tracks and turned around wide-eyed.

"What are you doing here?"

Oliver froze and stared at the scene in front of him in shock. Violet bruises were scattered across Fukase's face, his lower lip prominently swollen. Combined with the scared expression, Oliver was punched right in the face by this image. It took a few seconds for him to come back to his senses, as he suddenly jumped up, grabbed Fukase by the hand and pulled him closer. There was a resistance in the redhead's body, but he was too paralyzed to make a distinct move.

"What happened to your face?" Oliver shouted out almost too loudly, making Fukase flinch vehemently. His counterpart looked away and bit the inside of his cheek hard. His attempt to cast a weak smile didn't work on Oliver, who continued to stare holes in his boyfriend's face. Fukase ran his free hand through his hair.

"Ah, well, just a little accident."

"Was that your mother?" Oliver cut him off, not paying much attention to the obvious lie. Fukase's head shot back to Oliver. He quickly shook his head and subconsciously shook off Oliver's hand intertwined in his own.

"No, it's just – you know, she's sometimes just not that thoughtful. That was just an accident. I swear."

Oliver stared at Fukase a little longer, processing the whole situation. Knowing that being upset would only make matters worse, the blond tried his best to keep his anger to himself and instead reached his hand out to caress Fukase's cheek. The redhead tried to suppress it, but Oliver could tell that touching the bruises hurt. His heart wrenched.

"Please be more faithful to yourself. Don't cover her." Oliver pecked his lover, who remained frozen in his tracks. The blond frowned at this sight. "I figured that your mother's a witch, but I didn't know it's this bad."

Fukase's eyes travelled down to the ground and he gulped hard. He pushed Oliver away lightly but his shaking limbs barely made an impression.

"Don't say that. I deserved this," Fukase mumbled but then quickly raised his voice, knowing that Oliver would not be happy hearing him talk like this, "No! I mean, this was really just an accident. We all get a little too angry sometimes, no?" Fukase chuckled to cheer Oliver up again, however, his smile faded as soon as he noticed his lover to not believe him.

"Thank you for visiting me, but it's better if you leave. We can meet up at the park again tomorrow if you want to."

Fukase pressed Oliver's hand lightly, signaling him to get going again. Nonetheless, the blond did not move an inch but continued to stare at Fukase in both confusion and pain. The weak attempts to make him not worry broke his heart even more.

"What fucking takes you so long?!"

A throaty screech resonated through the house's hallway to the boys. Fukase jumped, his head quickly turning to the source of the sound. Oliver flinched at the sudden clutch on his hand. He wanted to pull back his hand but stopped midway as Fukase looked back at him with an expression of horror all over his face. 

The blond gulped, unable to catch up with the speed of how things were going. Fukase was shaking vehemently, jumping from one foot to another. While retorting a shaky "coming!", Fukase grabbed Oliver by the shoulders now, pushing him much less cautiously towards the street. Oliver barely managed to resist; too much has happened in a few seconds for his brian to process it.

Fukase's visible panic was the only thing he could grasp. His stomach turned at the sight of it. With his head feeling too light all of a sudden, Oliver let out a heavy sigh. He frowned at the fake smile beamed towards him.

"Really, leave now. I need to go," Fukase stuttered repeatedly, dearly hoping for Oliver to get going all by himself now. However, there were no traces of it. Quite the contrary, the blond stemmed his feet against the asphalt as soon as his body listened to him again. He grabbed Fukase's wrist, keeping the redhead from pushing him any further. Fukase's attempts to break free were just as hasty and shaky as his entire composure. Oliver was close to tears just a few moments ago, but now there was a much stronger feeling travelling through his blood.

"I won't! You're scared to death. Do you really think I'd leave you alone like this?" Oliver was yelling now, not at Fukase but because of the entire situation. He couldn't tell what was happening, but he knew he had to react. Seeing Fukase this vulnerable scared himself just as much.

However, Fukase barely reacted to Oliver's words and merely shook his head vigorously, trying to calm his boyfriend down that way.

"Don't mind me, I'm just weird sometimes, you know that," Fukase gave a dry laugh, but it sounded more like a sob, "my mother just wants me to go back inside. Nothing's wrong."

Oliver was getting even more upset the more Fukase was lying straight into his face for the sake of someone else. The urge to pass by Fukase into his house to confront his mother was seducing him with every further second. Oliver hadn't thought much about it before, thinking that Fukase's family was just yelling around a little too much, but seeing the redhead in front of him like that – shaking and covered in bruises – there was no way for Oliver to let it slip easily. 

Even so, Fukase might have been weaker compared to Oliver, but he was using all he had to prevent the blond from stepping back, making it near impossible for Oliver.

"Ey, you deaf or what?!"

Another voice echoed through the hallway as a tall man was approaching them. Oliver recognized him as Fukase's older brother and he gulped hard.

"Get away from that scum and get back home already."

Fukase's brother sounded just as irritated as the voice prior. Even Oliver was shaking now. Despite himself feeling terribly uneasy, he stepped forward and shielded Fukase away from him. The man rose his eyebrow fairly unimpressed and stepped forward until he was facing Oliver directly. Fukase kept pleading for the blond to leave, but it was much more subtle now, signaling that he was too scared to take charge now of anything. Oliver bit the inside of his cheek. His growing rage was wavering but he did not falter. Fukase needed him more than ever before and he was ready to be there for him.

"Haven't I seen you begging on the streets the other day?" Fukase's brother scanned Oliver up and down, his eyes reflecting how unimpressed he was to see him acting that way. "What do you want here, street dog?"

"Leave Fukase alone."

Oliver glared up the figure in front of him, trying his best not to mind the derogatory words. His body was still shaking, but he was determined to not move an inch. Gritting his teeth, a laugh echoed in his ears.

"You're telling me what to do? Cute."

Fukase's brother stepped even closer, bending down so he was on the same eye height as Oliver.

"You better get lost or else."

"Or what?" Oliver sneered, smirking now, "You're calling for your mommy?"

Oliver expected his counterpart to be losing his patience at that point and ducked in advance. Much to his luck, he was right with his assumption, finding Fukase's brother to be punching the air.

Oliver could feel adrenaline shoot through his blood, taking over his body's action. He couldn't even think of what to do next as he himself suddenly swung out to hit right into his counterpart's abdomen. There was a peculiar mix of panic and rage rampaging in his body, pushing him over his own limits. Before Oliver could do much more harm, however, he felt a harsh slap in his own face, causing him to lose orientation of his surroundings. He merely came back to his senses as he was suddenly facing the sky.

Another pained grunt escaped his throat as there was another punch directed at the sides of his rib cage. His mind barely caught up to every further injury as it was raining punches down on him. Oliver tried to shield himself from them, but he could barely see where his opponent was. He merely clutched the leg in front of his face, digging his fingernails into the flesh as soon as his sight became clearer again. Even so, Oliver was groaning in both pain and exhaustion. His body was not used to that much physical impact and the lack of food the past days clearly showed of disadvantage now.

Oliver tried to stem his body off the ground while still holding onto Fukase's brother, but he was quickly kicked back down. The bravery from before quickly escaped out of his body, leaving him on the ground with nothing but shaking fear. Oliver's sight became blurry once more as he felt the last bits of energy leaving his body.

"Akira, stop! You're going to kill him!"

Oliver managed to breathe properly again once the painful punches stopped all at once. He coughed and flinched at the pain piercing through his torso. Only reluctantly, he opened his eyes to find Fukase standing over him, protecting him now.

"I'll come along immediately. Leave him alone, he learnt his lesson."

Akira stared down Fukase for a few seconds, looked down at Oliver and back to Fukase. He reluctantly moved away and grunted. He set on to speak up again, but was interrupted by Fukase pointing his attention to the blond still lying on the ground instead. He crouched next to Oliver's head, helping his boyfriend to lean on his elbows.

Fukase cupped Oliver's face in his hands and merely stared into the hazel eyes in front of him. A deep frown crept up his face. The redhead wanted to say something but his lips were only trembling. Oliver couldn't find the right words either. His mind was still dazed from the incident from a few seconds ago.

Instead, Fukase leaned forward and kissed Oliver. The blond noticed his lover to still be trembling terribly hard. He quickly pulled away and froze at the sudden sight of seeing traces of blood on Fukase's lips. Oliver barely processed that it was him who was bleeding severely.

"You did something I could only ever dream of," Fukase chuckled through his sore throat, tears forming in the corner of his eyes, "You're really my hero."

Oliver barely managed to react to the confession as Fukase was suddenly pulled back up by the hair. Loud protests pierced through Oliver's ears but his body was too numbed out to react. He merely managed to watch the scene in paralysing confusion as Akira harshly dragged Fukase with him back towards the apartment complex.

"You're also gay now or what?" Akira yelled and slapped across Fukase's face. The redhead's complaints silenced down. Oliver grunted in both pain and shock to see his boyfriend to be hit as well now, however, there was barely anything he could do about it. His attempt to stand up ended up in him falling back to the ground. His face landed on a cold but smooth texture, making him wonder what it was. His fingers weakly fiddled with the small object. Identifying it as Fukase's phone, he also noticed the emergency number to be already typed in on the display.

Oliver jumped up at a sudden scream piercing through his ears. Fukase sat up and so did he. His hands subconsciously pulled the redhead even closer, who was turning around hastily. Oliver's eyes met Fukase's and the redhead leaned forward to embrace his partner. His body was shaking heavily, making Oliver stroke across his back in reassurance. He looked around and found the room to be dimmed down in dark shades of grey. He forgot for a moment that the two of them had fallen asleep on the couch.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Oliver murmured and received a weak nod in response. Fukase breathed out shakily, slowly letting go of Oliver again.

"Or I mean, I don't know. It was more of a flashback."

Oliver's eyes widened. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

"Ah, it was just about that one time," Fukase gulped and looked away, searching for words, "You know when you were at my house one time and Akira showed up."

Oliver remained silent for a while, processing Fukase's confession. Fukase looked at him in confusion and frowned.

"I'm sorry. I just, at the end, like, was with her again and that was scary."

"No, it's alright. It's just that..." Oliver's voice trailed off and he wondered for a second whether he had been dreaming the same thing. His memories became blurry, making him contemplate it even more. However, eventually, he played it off as a mere delusion of his tired brain.

"Nevermind. Rather, just tell me about your dream more if it'll make you feel better."