Near on seven months later, that fateful night was still fresh in Art's mind; the packed party, your drunken curses, and shouts of 'stalker' and 'freak' all directed towards him, hell if he thought of it long enough he swore he could feel his cheek still sting from the slap you landed before storming off.

Over and over he told himself he should've stopped you from getting in that damned car drunk off your ass instead of drinking himself into oblivion that night but he could never fully regret not stopping you.

If he stopped you it would've ended with you cutting him off for good instead of you ending up his girlfriend—he still gets butterflies when he says it—his girlfriend and not his best friend who he had a creepy crush on, it was a much better title.

The crash left your memories in tatters, what little of them you had left were so jumbled that they were essentially useless, you relied on others to put the pieces back together—that's where the whole boyfriend nonsense came in.

Initially Art didn't even give thought to the idea of lying about being your boyfriend, he was so frayed with nerves when he first heard what happened it wasn't even a blip on his radar until a doctor asked if he was your significant other and he said yes without even batting a lash.

It wasn't done with malicious intent, he just wanted to be close again and it was far too late to back out now. "They all missed you," Art reminded as sat knelt at your feet like a loyal lapdog, his head tilted back to get a good look at you.

"And I know they appreciated seeing you again." It became a daily occurrence for him to find himself reassuring you when you had these bouts of paranoia about how everyone was 'pitying' you. It didn't help that Art was presenting himself as the only one who still saw the real you beyond all the scars.

Art's hand's words deftly to rub lotion into your scarred up leg, pressing a kiss to your kneecap to remind you he was here even as you both wound down for the night, he loved the soft domesticity you allowed him these days—something he definitely didn't deserve.