Something Isn't Missing [Tyler Seguin]

(Jae's POV)
The school day drags on but it’s a little easier, as Tyler is apparently all my classes.
Lunch rolls around and I eat nothing, brushing it off as the period being too early. Tyler doesn’t buy it but he, again, stays silent.
The day continues to drag on. I feel my cuts opening more and more through my pants, I excuse myself to the bathroom. While walking down the hall, I hear foot steps behind me, which only makes me walk faster.
“Hey, are you alright?” Tyler asks, grabbing my arm and turning me to face him. I look down and notice that I started bleeding through my pant leg slightly. He follows my gaze and walks with me into the bathroom, not giving a shit about gender rules.
“I’m not going to hurt you, trust me?” He asks, to which I nod, before he turns to grab some paper towels. I begin to shimmy my pants down, exposing the deep, bleeding cuts.
“Holy shit, love, you should’ve gotten stitches. When did you do this?” He asks, eyes wide at the sight of the cuts.
“Yesterday after they were done with me.” I say, looking away from him, wincing at the pressure he was applying to my thigh. I couldn’t face him because I knew exactly what he was going to say.
“Hey, I’m not mad at you. I’m sorry if it sounded like I was. We need to get this stitched up after school. I can’t let you hang out with gashes this deep on your leg. I’m sorry, I know you don’t want to. But I’m not letting the person I—“ He cuts himself off before starting again. “I’m not letting you risk these getting infected.”
I nod with tears in my eyes, from the pain. After a few minutes, he finally gets the bleeding to stop, which I’m thankful for. As we walk back to class, I can’t help but think about what he cut himself off from saying.
He sits behind me, so he keeps a grasp on my free hand with his own, squeezing it every so often so I’d know he was there. God, this kid has something about him that makes me want to stay with him. He makes me really happy, or at least the closest thing to happiness that I can conjure up.
I’m brought out of my thoughts by the bell ringing and Ty pulling me by my hand to our lockers. The day is over, that means I have to deal with another hospital visit, the third one this year. The 8th time in my life that I had to go to the hospital for something related to self harm or suicide attempts. Everyone there knows me, it’s nothing new there. The only thing that’s changed is that I refuse therapy, mainly because I don’t like talking about what happens. Also because of the fact that I need to stay with this family until after the operation because they’re the ones paying for it.
“Are you ready?” Ty asks me, snapping me back into reality again. I nod and he takes my hand as we weave through the crowded hallway and out of the school. We walk up the hill to the bus, which we get onto. Once we reach the mall, we get off that bus and cross the street to the other bus, which brings us up the block from the local hospital.
“Ty, I should tell you something before we get in there.” I say, stopping outside of the emergency room entrance.
“What is it? Are you alright?” He asks me, sounding slightly frantic.
“I’m fine but you should know that most of the staff know me in there. I’m here too often because of this,” I gesture to my thigh, “and this is the third time this year, and it’s only the middle of February. I’m toxic, Tyler, I want you to know that before you get too close and end up getting hurt.” I tell him, avoiding eye contact.
He doesn’t say a word, which concerns me a little. Then I feel him tilt my head to face him. We lock eyes as he leans in toward me, I stand on my toes to bridge the gap between us as our lips meet. In that moment, I felt something I never felt before. I felt loved, wanted, needed, happy.
“Does that show you I’m not leaving or do I need to try again?” He says, smirking. I stand on my toes and kiss him, wanting to see if I get that feeling again, which I do.
“C’mon beautiful, let’s get you fixed up.” He says, tugging me by my hand into the hospital. For once, I don’t refuse.

Notes