Mend

Leonardo had called Noah minutes before pulling up to his apartment, essentially shouting into the phone that he needed help—those weren't the exact words he used, not in the slightest, but Noah gathered the message from his friend's hopeless cries.

He was outside waiting anxiously till the moment he saw his friend's car pull up. Next thing he knew, Noah watched as Leo hastily exited the driver's side, then opened the back door out of which he began to lift an unconscious Savannah. At least she looked unconscious. Either way the pitiful state of the girl caused Noah's stomach to churn uneasily.

"Leo, Leonardo, what the hell??"

"Help me get her inside, Noah, please!"

Again, that panic in his voice. Noah ran over to him. "Leo, we should get her to a hospital, she's-"

"No!" An immediate cry of disapproval. "No, we're already here, just help me get her inside-"

"Leonardo, she's clearly been assaulted, she needs medical help!"

"We can help her! I don't need anyone else's help!!"

The raw emotion in those words reverberated like a bell in Noah's ears. He knew Leonardo well. He knew this wasn't just about him hating hospitals.

"This is my responsibility, I'm to blame for this happening, I won't let a stranger fix my mistake."

His voice trembled all the while as he stared at his friend in desperation. Noah couldn't turn him down. He was weak to those eyes of Leo's, those innocent eyes he had seen shed tears far too many times than he could count.

"Fine, but we need to hurry."

In case of running the risk that someone should see them, Noah pulled the hood of Savannah's sweatshirt over the girl's head to at least somewhat shield her face. Then with great effort he and Leo labored in carrying Savannah all the way to Leo's apartment, preparing to act as though this was nothing more than two guys assisting their drunk friend back home. Luckily no one happened to poke their heads out of their apartments so they didn't need to put on their acting skills after all.

They made it safely to Leo's place and lowered Savannah on the couch while taking as much care as possible. Once she was out of their arms, Leonardo's panic switch flipped again, and he could hardly function whereas Noah had already raced to the kitchen to find something to wipe away the blood.

"Leo!" He called out suddenly. "Do you have bandages or anything around here? A first-aid kit? Anything??"

"Under the sink," Leo blurted.

He was only half-listening. The other half of his focus was on Savannah's resting face, the ugly bruises, the sight of which made Leonardo's eyes begin to well with tears again.

"My fault, this is all my fault..."

"Leo, just relax," Noah said calmly once he had returned to the living room. He knelt down in front of the couch next to Leo. His uneasy gaze settled on Savannah's heavily marked complexion. "Mostly bruises," he said in a soft voice, somewhat in relief. "She should be fine, bruises aren't difficult to treat, is that the only thing wrong with her?"

Leo didn't respond. His mind had been trapped in a loop of repeating the same words, over and over.

"Leonardo."

More firmly this time. Leo snapped into focus. "What, what is it??"

"Is it just bruises on her face?" Noah asked with urgency. "Do you know if she has a sprain or cuts anywhere? She wasn't stabbed, was she??"

"Stabbed??" In that moment Leonardo felt like he was stabbed, his heartbeat accelerating from the sheer level of anxiety bubbling in his body. "N-no, I don't think so, I don't know, I didn't-"

"Lift her shirt, make sure she's not bleeding there."

He wasn't in a state of mind to be embarrassed. Right now, the only thing he was concerned about was Savannah being okay. So he did what Noah asked of him and lifted up Savannah's shirt, all the way up to her abdomen just to make sure there weren't any missed spots. No stab wounds, fortunately. But there were more bruises there, and that certainly didn't help Leo feel much better.

"Leo, it's okay, you need to breathe just as much as she does-"

"No, no, I don't, I just need her to be okay-"

"And she will be." Noah cut him off sternly. "You need to distract yourself from your thoughts right now, Leo, why don't you go get some ice and wrap it in another rag? Okay?"

Again, he listened to Noah's sensible instructions as his friend got to work cleaning off the blood from Savannah's face and from around the girl's mouth. There was a cut on her lip but it looked to have stopped bleeding. Her nose, also, seemed to have stopped bleeding, the blood from which had already dried around the nostrils.

"What kind of gang fight did she get herself caught up in?"

"Noah, here."

Leo's shaky voice stole back Noah's attention, and he turned to find his friend holding out a rag, tied at the top and filled with ice. He gestured at Savannah's face. "Hold it against the bruises," he said. "It helps reduce blood flow. We'll wrap them later, at least the ones we can wrap. Can you hear me, Leonardo?"

"I can, I do, I hear you," the boy answered. He swallowed his breath nervously and fell to his knees, then began to press the ice against Savannah's bruised face. Noah had cleaned the blood from it by this point. He sat back for a moment just to watch Leonardo. The expression his friend wore right now wasn't like anything he ever remembered seeing on the boy. Of course he had seen Leo panic before—excessively so. But this panic was directed towards another person.

'We don't mean anything to each other,' that boy had claimed. If Noah hadn't already held the suspicion those words weren't entirely true, this scene in front of him confirmed it. The way Leonardo watched Savannah's face right now, silently pleading for her to wake up as he struggled not to let the water escape from his eyes.

And this went on for quite a while. Leonardo, kneeling down beside Savannah by the couch, applying the ice to the bruised areas and even getting up once to go get more ice, as the ice he had already started to melt.

There wasn't much else for Noah to do. At this point, it was primarily a matter of minimizing Savannah's physical activity so that the bruises could heal most efficiently. All the blood stains had been taken care of, cleaned with care, there was nothing that had been infected, no deep cuts.

That being said, Noah left it to Leo. Because it was obvious the boy had wanted to take care of it himself to begin with.

So Noah just stood in the background and kept a caring eye on them.

Leo had blocked out everything he couldn't see right in front of him. Everything but Savannah. He held the girl's hand in his own.

Tenderly.

He refused to let go of it.

And he refused to look away from Savannah's face, swearing to himself he wouldn't leave the girl's side until her eyes opened again.

It took some time. But they finally did.

Gradually, peeling apart as if having been sealed shut by some other force, they opened, only but a centimeter of space between them, but it was enough.

Leo reacted faster than his own heart beat. A crooked smile slapped itself across his countenance but faded just as quickly.

"Savannah, it's okay, you're okay, we're at the apartment now," he whispered breathlessly. "You're okay, Anna, you're okay."

A ragged breath escaped Savannah's barely parted lips.

"I'm here, Annie, I'm here, it's okay..."

The girl's gaze found Leo's own and shattered his composure on impact. Those tears of Leonardo's spilled over. He pursed his lips tightly but it didn't help.

"Annie, I'm so sorry..."

He couldn't take it. Everything about this moment, for some reason, overwhelmed him, and Leo gave in to the sudden urge to just press his forehead against Savannah's as though the closeness was the only thing that could calm him right now.

It didn't stop there, though. In this atmosphere of uncontrollable emotion, Leonardo kissed her.

Pressing his lips against Savannah's bruised own, he kissed her softly as the tears continued rolling down his cheeks. He kissed Savannah, taking a second every so often to whisper 'it's okay, you're gonna be okay,' and 'I'm so sorry' over and over again. He kissed the bruises covering Savannah's face, even over the girl's delicate eyelids.

He most likely would have continued for a while had Noah not stepped in.

"You should let her rest for now," he said, stepping once again into the living room. Leonardo spun his head around to look back at his friend, then back at Savannah.

Savannah's eyes began to drift close. Noah was right. Again. If there were anything Savannah needed right now, it was to rest. So Leo gave in and rose to his feet, unsteadily, because he lost track of how long he had been on his knees, to the point where they were starting to numb. But he found his balance soon enough.

"Come sit with me in the kitchen, Leo."

"She needs a blanket-"

"I'll get her a blanket, just go sit."

Reluctantly, Leo sauntered over to the kitchen and pulled out a seat for himself, pouting like a child that had just received a minor punishment for a mild misdemeanor. Meanwhile Noah picked off the floor his own blanket he had left there earlier that day and draped it over Savannah.

"There, she's tucked in goodnight," he said, soon pulling out a chair at the kitchen table to join Leo. "You can wipe away your tears, Leonardo. She's gonna be okay."

The boy sniffled one last time before rubbing his eyes and grabbing a napkin to blow his nose. Noah sighed at the sight. He paused for a quiet minute before speaking again.

"I don't mean to sound like a disappointed parent," he began in a gentle voice, "but I think you owe me a bit of explaining."

Leonardo's shameful gaze dropped to his hands which he now rested on the table's surface. "I know," he replied.

"So you two are dating then?"

"Dating?? No, we're-"

"Leonardo."

"We're not dating..."

"Then you're in love with her."

Leo tried to argue but the approaching tears shut his mouth before he could get out another word.

"She's asleep, Leo. You can tell me."

The boy kept his silence. Another sigh passed through Noah's lips.

"I'm not gonna accuse you of anything, Leonardo," he said, "because clearly there's something going on, but I'm just saying...the way you were looking at her-"

"I was worried," Leo blurted in defense.

"So if you were worried about me you would kiss me like that? Is that what you're saying?"

"N-no, I wouldn't do that..."

"Leo, I just want you to talk to me."

Solemn-spoken, but gentle at the same time. He relaxed as Noah massaged his shoulder. Right then, he could have cried again but managed to hold it back.

"It's been so much," the boy said vaguely at first. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Noah, I just didn't want you worrying about me, you had a job to manage...but, people found out about my blood, Noah. And it was just like high school, they all looked at me weird and wondered why I wouldn't go to the hospital, and-..."

He hesitated to glance over at Savannah.

"She tried to help," Leo continued. "After it happened, and I ran all the way back to my apartment, and that idiot followed me, just because I left my phone in the classroom and she wanted to return it."

Noah made a face. "She followed you? Like from your college campus?"

"Yeah," Leonardo scoffed at the memory. "And you know she didn't even give it back right away. She refused to until I let her inside and talked."

"That's kinda..."

"Weird, I know. But I was already too exhausted to argue with her so I just gave in and let her inside. She wanted to help treat the scratches I had...she was such a weirdo...still is..."

"She didn't react weirdly to your blood being purple?" Noah asked.

"No," the other replied. "In fact, she wouldn't shut up about how 'pretty' it was. She's even gone to the effort of purposely embarrassing me just to see my face turn purple..."

"Well, you are quite cute when you blush."

"She seems to think so..."

"Sounds to me she has a crush on you."

As Noah smiled, Leonardo shrunk into himself, rubbing the back of his neck as memories surfaced in his head, Savannah's selfless actions, her kind words, even the way she looked at Leo. In a way no one had, at least not since his secret had been made known to them. Regardless of all of it, Savannah was unfazed. By the stares, the gossip, the rude comments she received for hanging around Leonardo.

Even going as far as to fight someone in public and get fired from her job. Just for sticking up for Leo.

"Maybe," he whispered. "Or maybe she's just an idiot."

"Maybe both, that's a possibility, too," Noah chuckled. "But I'd bet money it's her heart piloting her actions. Yours, too, from what I've seen just today. You wouldn't kiss someone who's just a friend like that. I'm not that dumb, Leo."

"I didn't...say you were..."

Noah nodded, smile still on his lips as his gaze washed over his friend's expression. He didn't want to ruin this lighthearted mood, but deep in his chest Noah held a question he had been putting off asking since that morning. So he dared to ask now.

"Leo, are you friends with your next-door neighbor?"

The boy's eyes widened noticeably at this. He looked at Noah, then looked away as some degree of frustration took form around him.

"She mentioned my name when I accidentally knocked on her door," Noah continued. "You sent me the wrong address. She saw me and freaked out before running back inside and yelling at me to go away. You must have talked about me to her, right?"

"Oliver's a liar, she's not my friend."

Such an undeniably harsh statement. Noah narrowed his eyes. "A liar?"

"She played with my trust, Noah, I don't wanna talk about her. Maybe later, but not now. I don't feel like getting mad again."

"Okay..."

Noah felt the need to massage his friend's shoulder again to ease approaching nerves.

"It's okay, Leonardo, I understand. Why don't you get some sleep, then? Been a long day."

"Yeah," Leo said softly. "It has..."