Love Thy Neighbor ✓

two

TWO  |  MID MARCH

( half - edited )

"I'M SORRY ABOUT him," was the first thing Blake said—huffed— when they sat down together at the outdoor table.

Blankly, Luca stared at him. Immediately, he became embarrassed about making too much eye contact and darted his gaze across the yard where that stupid football had been abandoned in the neat grass. He frowned, briefly.

"He's in that stage of life where he hates everyone and everything and he seems convinced that that justifies him being a pain in the ass," Blake muttered, leaning back in the chair opposite Luca's, one of his arms slung over the back of it; toned and tanned like his chest. He was still smiling, angel wings spreading in the pinks of his lips. Luca was still flushing, roses blooming beneath his bronze skin.

"It's okay," he managed to splutter, gathering the courage to glance back at Blake and nod. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't intimidated. Part of him was waiting, coiled and tightened, to get snapped at for scolding Mason. He swallowed the building lump in his throat, ignoring how dry it felt. "Maybe I shouldn't have been so aggressive about it."

To his surprise, Blake laughed. Accordingly, the gates to heaven opened above them. "If you think that's aggressive then you should see some of the fights that we have."

"I should've known better than to think I could win against an angsty thirteen year old," he mumbled, still feeling the aftermath of mortification; the waves of relief at Blake's amusement washing over him were quickly shrinking into gently lapping undulations. The entirety of his humiliation had yet to be swept under.

"Don't worry," he assured, his cerulean eyes glittering like the edges of sunlight diving into pools of water. He shrugged, unbothered. "I'll talk to him for you."

"You will?" Luca asked, suddenly feeling much better.

"Of course," he replied, as though it was no big deal. It was a big deal to Luca.

"Thanks," he murmured, smiling at the table but unable to resist the urge to take another glimpse at Blake, who was smiling back at him, who was still half splashed in lazy sunlight, who was still devastatingly beautiful.

"You know," Blake began thoughtfully, studying Luca with a faint curiosity, "you could've come and talked to me about him. You wouldn't be the first person."

"Come and talk to you?" Luca echoed dumbly, staring with his brown eyes blown wide.

"Yeah," he shrugged again, easily. "I don't mind."

"I didn't want to get him into too much trouble," he tried. It was somewhat true. Mostly it was a weak attempt at an excuse.

"I wouldn't get him into trouble," Blake insisted, shaking his head, "but he listens to me more than he listens to anyone else. Older brother effect." The crown of his cheek bone was softened by a white pool spilling from a hazy sunbeam.

"I guess I hadn't thought about it," he replied, clearing his throat and scratching the back of his neck.

That, of course, was a lie. He had thought about mentioning it to Blake constantly (almost obsessively), both to shut Mason up and to have a reason to strike up a conversation with a boy who looked like his heart pumped liquid gold, but he always thought about it too hard and then spent too much time considering every little thing that could go wrong.

A big thing, however, was that he didn't know how Blake would have responded to him. He knew he wasn't mean-spirited and he didn't have the type of arrogance to dampen any of his kindness like some other boys he knew, but he had always worried that complaining would end in him getting made fun of. Even thinking about it made him so embarrassed that he wanted to dig a hole that he could bury himself inside of forever.

"I would've fixed it for you earlier if I'd known," he continued, oblivious to Luca's heart bursting open; the swift flood of admiration; the heat of his nerves; the soaring of his stomach. "If he starts causing trouble again, you'll tell me?"

He nodded rapidly and silently, ignoring the wings springing out of his heart and how madly they fluttered.

"Good," Blake decided, his lips teasing and his eyes glazed with intrigue. With that, he stood up from the table and glanced back at Luca, who had promptly shot up after him and had to be careful not to stumble over his own feet. Blake smiled at the floor before looking at him again, his eyes bright and filled with spring. "You know, I feel really bad about all of this. I feel like I should make it up to you."

"Make it up to me?" Luca was digging half-moons into his palms, little stars collecting in his hands as he stared at Blake, who was all stardust and ichor and diamond.

"I'm having some people over next weekend," he declared, chewing on the inside of his cheek, his hands in his pockets.

"Like a get together?" Luca frowned, trying not to be too optimistic about where the conversation was going.

"More like a party," he grinned, his eyes glittering nervously. "I'd love it if you came by."

"You would?" His eyes were wide, brows raised, his lips gently parted.

"Yeah," Blake told him, smiling almost bashfully. "It would make me feel a lot better about Mason. What do you think?"

He didn't think anything at all. He didn't have a chance because, without even pausing to consider, he blurted, "Sure. I'll come over." He paused before sheepishly adding: "If it would make you feel better."

"It would," Blake laughed. If the angels had been merely gazing before they were singing now. "Next Friday, okay? Come over whenever you want."

"Thanks," Luca replied briskly, trying not to trip over the mountain rising in his throat. "I will."

"Hope I see you there," he beamed, raising his brows momentarily as though there was some inside joke that Luca wasn't in on.

Trying not to fall over, Luca forced himself to smile, his heart like a rabid animal. "Yeah," he managed. "I hope I see you, too."

When he stepped down from the decking and made his way back home, he was smiling so hard that his face was starting to ache. He'd never been invited to one of Blake's parties before.

note
thank you so much for reading!! I hope this was okay as I'm not as satisfied with it as I want to be but it's been a very long day and I'm very tired lol

if you enjoyed reading then any votes or comments are appreciated! any feedback is always welcome, too <3

hope u are doing well and I hope I see you again for the next chapter <3 have a good rest of your day or night :')

originally published
28. july. 2022.

next update
02 — 05. august. 2022.