"Here With Me"

We all visited Luis's house, crowding Nina's living room with all our bags and ourselves. Everyone was impatient until she came downstairs and looked at everyone. She locked eyes with me, and quickly moved towards Bombay, who was more impatient than the rest of us.

"You guys can go see him now, he's not in his best mood, but I'm sure it'll change once he sees you all" She smiles as she goes to the kitchen

We decided to go one by one or groups of three so we wouldn't overwhelm him with all of us asking him questions. I didn't want to see him until everyone was gone, which took a lot of time. I wasn't all there since I was too busy trying to find the right words to say when I see him. I didn't realized that everyone left until Nina gently taps my shoulder. I jolted up, making her jump.

"I-I'm sorry Nina" I breathed "I wasn't really paying attention"

"It's alright" She smiles, there was a moment of silence, until she continued "Now that everyone went home, Luis has been waiting to see you"

A slight smile grew on my face "Alright, let's hope he's not asleep"

She softly laughs "He doesn't believe in sleep if he doesn't see you at least once Nai"

It was my turn to laugh as I began to walk up the steps and towards his room. The door was slightly opened, but me being respectful I gently knocked on it, hearing him say 'come in' in a low voice.

As I entered the room, it was pitch black. Almost as if he wanted no sunlight or even moonlight to enter his room. The only lighting was a lamp he had beside his bed, but it was very dim. It wasn't like him to have his room like this.

He looks away from his comic book he was reading and puts it on his counter, adjusting himself to get comfortable.

I look down at his leg, a blue cast wrapped around it as there were names of each of the members in the team, including Bombay.

"You some kind of vampire or something?" I joked as I looked around his room once more

Throughout his walls, there was nothing but posters of hockey players, teams, and bands he is into. He wasn't too much into music, but if he can listen to one group, it'll be Red Hot Chili Peppers. Non stop he would play them and would even know the song just by listening to it for one second.

Above his head was a signed hockey stick from two of his favorite players in the Florida Panthers: Brent Severyn and Scott Mellanby.

Beside it was photos of the two of us when we were children. Most of them were from us playing street hockey, but there was two that caught my eye. One of him giving me a piggyback ride after we were running around like a bunch of dogs and getting each other wet with the hose. The other was his last day at Miami and his mom made us take a photo after we've been crying for hours and hours. Our eyes were puffy red as our arms wrapped around each other, hoping we can stay like that forever.

"Prefer to be a werewolf so I can turn into one" a slight smile forming on his lips

I chuckle "You mean a dog? Like a tiny chihuahua?"

"We've been through this already Nai, werewolf's are not like dogs"

"If they pant and act like one, then they are a dog"

He chuckles as he shakes his head, the comfort of silence surrounding us. He begins to rub his temple and sighs, reality coming back.

"So what did they say?" I spoke, my voice becoming low

He lets out an even longer sigh as he looks down at it "Doctor said it was a clean break. Told me I was lucky I landed on my leg, otherwise I would've broken my tailbone from the landing"

The smile he had before was faded away as he shook his head, still trying to accept the fact that a cast is on his leg. With the look in his eyes, it showed anger rather than sadness or even fear.

"I'm done for the game, and I have six weeks to heal this stupid leg" he mutters

I felt the whole situation being my fault. Whether he meant to do it or not, he did it to protect me. The feeling of guilt felt like a nasty taste, almost like the need to puke just to feel better.

"Why did you do it?" I finally said, his eyes shooting back at me "You- You didn't need to do that"

"I wanted to" he answered, as if he knew I was going to ask that question "I've known you all my life Nairobi, and you have so much potential that even you can't see it. If we were to switch our positions, I wouldn't forgive myself for not protecting you. I would feel guilt"

"Yeah, kinda feeling that guilt right about now" I chuckle nervously as I look down

"Stop that" he commanded "I did it because I wanted to. Don't feel guilty because you couldn't help me because- because you did"

I looked back at him, his cheeks turning a bit red from embarrassment from the last sentence "How so?"

"Well, you calmed me down. Hell, I was scared shitless, to a point where I had no idea where I was. What you did- your voice, your eyes, looking at you made me realize that I'm gonna be okay. Because you were with me"

Every word he said made my heart flutter, all those times of us talking, laughing- hell, even kissing- it was all because he cares about me. Maybe it's just me talking, but I've fallen crazy in love with him because of that.

"Luis, what I said earlier, about us- I wasn't really thinking straight" I let out a sigh "A bird once told me that if someone really loves you, they would do anything to protect you. And you did that"

"Are you saying-"

"Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I realize how much- how much I love you"

He slowly gets up from his bed, trying his best not to put any pressure on his casted leg.

"Lay back down" I said worriedly

He ignores my comment and continues limping to where I can feel his body heat close to mine "I'd break my leg a million times just to be close to you"

"Cheesy, but romantic" I giggled

His soft lips gently pressed against mine, a shocking feeling going throughout my body. I wrap my arms around his neck, making the kiss more passionate. We pulled apart as he began to admire my face, his hand resting on the side of my cheek.

"Stay for the night" He mumbled

My hand rested on top of his "Okay"

I helped him back in bed, making sure his leg was well rested on the pillow and rested my head on his chest, feeling his heartbeat against my ear.

He plants a kiss on my head as he began to stroke my hair, my arm wrapped around him.

"I love you to the moon and back, I hope you know that" He whispered

"Me too Luis... Me too..."

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It's almost the end of this fanfic- LITERALLY CRYING RNNNN 🥲👍