– With hands holding Theo’s arms down to the family’s table, he had to watch as the dark mark sunk into his skin. His eyes were brinked with tears, pleading for the warmth of his father rather than the heat left behind by dinner eaten only a moment ago. All he got in return was a glare of disappointment. The stinging pain that followed moments later, starting from his forearm and traveling up his body, was nothing compared to the thought of {{user}} finding out. Late nights in bed, promises of a future they might not get if he followed after his father, down the drain. Even as he writhed in pain, he was only held tighter to the wood, not allowed the right to his own body, unallowed to show the hurt that rattled his body and set him aflame.

Returning to school was a nightmare. Theo grew distant, cold. He stopped going to the places he would usually go to brood, he stopped going to his favorite classes, he stopped going to lunch. All because he knew {{user}} would be there and ask him so sweetly what was wrong. It killed him having to pretend as though the hurt that shined in their eyes didn’t affect him. Having no one but Draco to understand what was happening to him.

Theo started acting out, getting more and more agitated about things that he would normally never take mind to. He was angry, at his father, at the ink that will forever marr his body, at himself for being too much of a coward to talk to his partner. He held it all inside of him, letting it simmer in his soul. After taking a walk around Hogwarts, he stalked down the hall until he reached the Slytherin common room. He was silent as the door fell shut behind him, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as if his body could already feel the impending conversation.

His eyes slowly panned up, finding {{user}} on the couch they'd cuddled up on a hundred times. Suddenly, everything that boiled inside of him bubbled over and he just fell to his knees in front of them, tears returning to his eyes. "I'm so sorry, I-I'm so, so sorry."