They say Thanksgiving is a day of reunion and forgiveness. A family gathering, there to set aside all issues of miscommunication and hatred, just to get along for a few days. Oliver was not the one to believe that solely the existence of an obligatory holiday would solve all problems – even if it was just for a few days – but it made him contemplate about it either way.

For what felt like hours to him, he was staring down the number displayed on his phone. It was so familiar yet strange to him. Just when was the last time he dialed it? Oliver had thought about it a few weeks ago, managed to successfully push the thought aside until now, but yet again, he was stuck with his self-made dilemma.

Oliver knew he had to call his parents eventually. Not because he needed them or still owed them some sort of apology, but because he wanted to. He knew well enough that deep inside of him, he wanted to hear his parents' voices again – regardless of if they were full of defiance once more.

The longstanding silence was only one touch away to be broken, yet, Oliver couldn't bring himself to do so. His thumb kept on resting on the edge of his phone, stiffening from the long lack of movement. Biting on the inside of his cheeks, Oliver pondered what to say to his parents. Knowing that no words would leave his throat once it was time, he thought of writing that down first.

'Hey, Mom, Dad, it's me...Oliver.'

Oliver looked down on the almost empty sheet in front of him. His head was empty. There were no words in the world to comprise what he truthfully wanted to say. He wondered whether he actually wasn't ready to approach them yet.

'It's been a while. How are you doing?'

He frowned and erased the last part. That's not where he wanted to lead the conversation. He wouldn't get to hear a pleasant response anyway. Now Oliver noticed that he really was stuck. Not knowing what he actually wanted to tell his parents, he set the pen aside for a moment.

'I'm sorry for leaving and never contacting you in all these years. My life's going miserable, so I hope you actually made something out of your malicious asses.'

A dry chuckle left Oliver's throat, looking down at his notes. It was guaranteed that he would never get to talk to his family ever again if he acted this straightforward. Sugarcoating his words really wasn't his forte either though.

He was just about to scratch out the last paragraph as a bloodcurdling burst echoed through the entire apartment. It electrified Oliver's entire body, causing him to get a bad feeling. Without a second thought, the blond jumped off his bed towards the source of the sound. Oliver froze for a second, staring at the scene in front of him. Little shards were scattered across the kitchen floor, along with squashed pieces of fruit. Sprinkles of the juice covered the furniture, but despite the terrible mess, Oliver didn't care much for it.

It was more alarming for him to find Fukase in the middle of this mess, frozen in shock, staring at Oliver with eyes wide-opened. Only as a string of blood visibly dripped down Fukase's forehead, they lost their trance as Oliver scooted forward to pull Fukase away from the scene.

"Oliver, I'm sorry...I'm really-" Fukase stopped mid-way to look back at the mess behind him, "I'm going to clean this up right away."

Oliver pulled Fukase in an embrace as the redhead tried to get back in the kitchen. He stroke through the crimson hair, pushing the back of his partner's head even closer. Fukase's weak and shaky voice unsettled his own body.

"Don't worry about it," Oliver murmured and leaned back to face Fukase, pulling up his bangs. Needles pinched through the blond's heart as soon as he saw the heavily bleeding wound on his partner's forehead. Glistening of small shards caught his attention, making Oliver pull Fukase with him to the bathroom.

"Let us treat your wound first."

Fukase halted and tried to free his hand from Oliver's grip.

"No! I'll..it's fine. I'll do that myself. Sorry."

"Nonsense," Oliver grunted and shook his head, cramming in their medicine bag for a non-expired emergency kit. He ended up finding a few band-aids, tweezers and antiseptic lying around loosely. Turning back to Fukase, he found him bewildered and shaking. Oliver frowned.

"Don't apologize, baby. I want to take care of you."

"I just wanted to get what was behind the bowl. That was stupid, I know. I'm sorry."

Oliver merely smiled softly and places a few kisses on Fukase's eyelids, trying to hush his lover down that way. Eventually, it started to show effect.

Fukase hesitated but let Oliver take out the shards from the wound eventually. He watched every movement, delicate and careful as they were, in adulation. Mesmerized by the unfamiliar endearment, Fukase's body lost itself in trance. The sensitive touches on his face had a different kind of impact on him. Making something inside of him shift, Fukase barely managed to hold back tears from forming in the corner of his eyes. He kept them shut, yet, single drops travelled through anyway.

"Does it hurt a lot?"

Fukase opened his eyes as he heard Oliver's concerned voice. He shook his head, and gulped hard. This strong sensation increased solely by seeing his partner look at him. Oliver's eyes were so full of love and tenderness, causing Fukase to frown in pain.

"I just...I missed your touch."

Oliver faltered for a moment, processing the confession he just witnessed. Fukase wiped the tears off his face and looked away, clearly flustered by the shift in atmosphere. With a shaky sigh, Oliver wiped off the wound with antiseptic one last time, covered it with a band aid and pulled Fukase in for another embrace. Fukase answered it almost instantly, grabbing onto Oliver as if he was about to fall back to where he just was.

Oliver frowned at the desperate act of getting pulled even closer. His mind had been occupied with thousands of thoughts lately, but only now, there was a single one – Fukase. Seeing the one he loved and cherished begging this dearly for affection broke his heart.

"I admit that I haven't really shown my love for you lately," Oliver breathed out shakily and stroke across Fukase's back, "Nothing has changed, though. I still love you more than anything else in this world. I'm terribly sorry."

Oliver pulled in for a kiss, much more delicate and cautious than usually, and only now, he noticed how dearly his mind and body were craving this as well. Tender affection was something that remained unspoken the past weeks inbetween all the stress and miscommunication. Oliver cupped Fukase's face in his hands and slowly stroke his thumbs across his face. Fukase's soft skin tingled on his hands.

Fukase pulled the two of them from the edge of the bathtub down on the rug and sighed in the kiss. Pushing Oliver away from himself lightly, he took the opportunity to stare into his partner's eyes once again. His heart got heavy when reminiscing about recent thoughts. Oliver was responding to his longing stare just as intensely, but there was something different.

"You have changed," Fukase muttered and gulped hard. He continued to observe Oliver, who was just smiling weakly in response.

"Well, I'm also just getting older."

Fukase didn't take the subtle sense of humor and lightly shook his head, not breaking the eye contact even for a second.

"It's your eyes. They're so different to what they used to be," Fukase sighed and raised his arms to gently circle the blond's eyes. His index fingers rested in the light pit of Oliver's deep dark circles, the skin even more delicate than the prior touches. Oliver's eyebrows curved to a frown, but Fukase payed little attention to it.

"It felt like...they were stuck in the present. But now, you constantly seem to be looking forward. You see something in the future and you're not sharing it with me."

Fukase's sharpness combined with his fragile confidence bewildered Oliver. He was aware that the redhead noticed more of his sourroundings than anyone would assume, but he did not expect to be confronted with it anytime soon. For a moment, Oliver was feeling safe and cared about in Fukase's arms. There was no harm waiting for him, no matter what he would be doing or saying. Fukase would always be sitting there with him, smiling and caressing him tenderly. The urge to just be telling him the truth was prominent.

Nevertheless, Oliver caught himself before he could lose control of himself any further. His heart clenched when being reminded that this was an utopian thought – a fantasy – he desperately tried to convince himself to. Reality was something different, and reality didn't allow him to ever slip like that. Regardless of how much he loved Fukase, he knew he could not just tell him about all the things the blond had been confronted with lately; not without painful consequences.

For Oliver, it was sometimes easy to lie to Fukase. It was easy whenever they were fighting and barely managed to keep their mutual anger to themselves, but now, in a moment of love and infinite affection, there was no space for lies. Merely the thought of it sent daggers down Oliver's throat.

Therefore, as little as much of a concern it was lately, Oliver tried his best to change the topic that way. He dearly hoped to not have this peaceful bubble break just yet.

"Ah..it's probably because I've been thinking of the future lately."

Oliver scratched the back of his head and sighed. His stomach turned when thinking his wording through.

"I'm pretty tired of my job and regret to not have gone to college back then."

Fukase looked up confused and dropped his arms back to his side. Bending his head to the side, he looked up and down on Oliver. The blond wasn't too sure whether his partner was processing the news or observing him to find the lie in it. He was nervous about it either way.

"You don't like your job anymore?"

"I mean, it's a job – there's not much to like about it," Oliver huffed halfway jokingly and looked down on Fukase's lap. The redhead was rubbing his fingers vigorously, as if he was being nervous. For a second, Oliver was thrown off-guard, but tried to play it off.

"Customer service sucks though. I'd really prefer doing something either with no clients at all or just a few regular ones."

Fukase hummed and looked down to his own hands, continuously rubbing them. He eventually reached for Oliver's hand, pressing this one now in irregular beats. Their eyes locked again, and the blond was surprised to see actual interest and enthusiasm in Fukase's eyes.

"What would you have studied, then?"

"That's the part I haven't really pondered about. I don't know."

Oliver sighed internally once again when reminded of his lethargic past-self. He hasn't changed much, but now he was at least doing something, and not just sulking all day. He actually never really regretted to not have gone to college since high school was tiring enough for him already and he barely would be able to keep up with the pressure, but merely the fact that he hadn't even had an idea what could interest him dragged him down until now. Once again, he was reminded of his little interest in anything particular and therefore his monotonous life.

Fukase interrupted his stream of thoughts as he pulled Oliver closer once more and snuggled his head on the crook of the blond's shoulder. He stared up at the ceiling, watching a spider making its lonesome way to its web.

"Psychology would suit you," Fukase said and lightly pressed each of Oliver's fingertips, "You're a very good listener and always manage to make someone feel better."

Fukase faltered for a moment and sighed, a faint chuckle following.

"I wish I could heal people like that."

Oliver looked back towards Fukase, down onto the red hair on his shoulder. The redhead did not move, making the blond frown. He did not expect Fukase to be admitting something like this. Oliver couldn't really believe those words either.

"You think so?"

Fukase nodded and kissed the back of Oliver's hand.

"You make me feel that way at least. Whenever we're like this, I know that I don't have to be scared anymore. She's never talking to me when you're around."

Oliver barely managed to gulp with his dry throat. Flustered and confused what to do with this kind of information, he decided to let silence cover the topic. Even though that was something Oliver has always dreamt of, it was hard for him to actually believe what he was hearing. Despite all the lies and arguments, he remained to be a safe haven to the most precious person to him. Oliver didn't want to, but he was happy.

Even if his life was falling apart, dragging him back into the abyss he had tried to escape from years ago, it all didn't matter as long as he managed to help Fukase. Loving him and protecting him was all there was to do in order to feel fulfilled. Oliver was a hero. At least to a single person in this infinite life.