skin isn't supposed to be a canvas for broken colors.
blue
that was the first shade that caught troyes eye when the new employee introduced himself. the color traced itself underneath the young mans eye, trickling into a light shade of purple that blended in with the bags under his eyes. the bruises complexion was the exact opposite of the angelic boys delightful personality.
red
in the office before roll-call one morning, huddled up at the silver machine that spewed out fountains of caffeine, troye took a look at the bloody red lip that was lapped over with connors pink tongue. every once in a while he would flicker it over his wound, probably to ease over the stinging pain. troye kept quite and continued to stir sugar into his coffee.
purple
the dark shade of violet looped around connors wrists and pressed into his skin making indents of fingerprints. the area that connected his hands to his arms were usually hidden by over-sized sweaters but when the sleeve hitched up, so did troyes breath. he kept his pupils on the marks, watching the way connor nervously tugged the fabric down over it, scurrying away from the printer.
yellow
during their lunch break one afternoon, troye sprinted out to the parking lot to catch up with the fast moving body. "hey, connor, you wanna grab some sushi?" he called out with hopeful eyes, almost stuttering when he saw the mans complexion when he turned around to face him. his now unhealthily yellow shaded skin had abandoned its youthful pink colors. "sorry, I can't today." connor flashed him a jittery smile, jumping into his beat-up car.
white
the highlight of troyes monday mornings had grown to be the adorable flash of clean teeth that grinned at him in greeting each work day. on this day, he frowned a bit when instead the boy gave him a half-hearted, close-lipped smile, lowering his head quickly. he didn't speak much that day, his mouth never daring to open too far, not until he was caught by suprise by his curly haired co-worker who caught up with him afterwords. he yelped when troye put a tentative hand on his shoulder, quickly apologizing for scaring him, but then examining his mouth in worry. because one of connors bright white teeth had been knocked out.
black
the black eyed baby stumbled into work one morning and this time the color was too dark and the bruise too severe for troye to ignore. his brow creased in concern and he shot connor a questioning look, who in return just steered into the restroom, where troye proceeded to follow. " con, it's okay, you can come out." troye spoke softly to the empty bathroom, slowly making his way over to the locked stall and from where stifled breathe came out. it took a while, but eventually he coaxed connor to open up the door, letting troye shuffle himself into the large handy-capped stall as well, the black and teary eyed boy blubbering for words and eventually running out, just letting himself burry his splotchy face into the others shoulder.
pink
" connor, I want you to look at me." troye spoke sternly yet quietly, since they were technically supposed to be working but had ushered themselves off to the side instead. so at last, the shorter of the two lifted their head, giving troye visible access to the bright pink hand print that had been branded into his soft cheek. " oh, connor, not again..." troye sighed in sympathy, cupping the boys cherry face, and analyzing the raw area of skin. " you wanna tell me who did this?" troye spoke on the verge of pleading, but connors lip just trembled and he shook his head, mumbling reassurance that he was fine to his friend. " really tro, i'll be okay." he promised.
green
green had always been one of troyes favorite colors, loving the way it filled in the grass, the trees, and connors round eyes. but it could also be a nasty, ugly, color, and it had never looked more hideous than it did when it teased tauntingly around connors bruising neck, a tender lime that unevenly graced his freckled flesh. they made eye contact from across the office, troyes eyes brimming with concern, and connor leaving the room, retiring with a turtle neck. a little past two, when their shifts came to an end, troyes hold halted connors movements and gave him a knowing look. " please talk to me about this, connor. im your friend, im worried." Hesitantly, connor nodded and dragged troye into the bathroom, snapping it locked behind him, proceeding to explain in a quiet voice about the many violent ministrations that were given from his boyfriend.
rainbow
troye had always took pride in rainbows, but when he saw that connors fragile body had transformed into one, it took everything in him to stay steady. when they were alone next, his worry came out in harsh words, and excessive hand gestures. " you need to get away from him! I can't bear to see you like this anymore connor!" his voice raised, but it quickly lowered when connor cowered away from the loud sound. " s-sorry con. im just so worried about you and I care a lot." he stepped in closer, rubbing comfortingly at his arm. " i know, i-im just- i can't-" connor broke off, opting to instead tilt his head upwards, capturing troyes gaze. blue eyes slid down to blue lips, softening at the way such beautiful things could bruise and want nothing more then to kiss it better. so that's what he did, so delicate and lovingly. as he drew away his head, he stumbled into apologies and stutters but was silenced by connors quiet words; "please do that again." and so with trembling hands, and featherlight touches, he cupped the purple jaw, running his thumbs over the unfair wounds, and leaning in, placing kisses onto the abused lips. when he pulled away, it was only peaceful for a moment before that generated into panic. " oh my god, oh no, oh no!" the feathery haired boy began screaming out, pulling at his tuffs of light brown hair." he's going to know, troye! he's going to find out! he's going to kill me!" tears flooded, and ears muted troyes rush of reassurance, trying to get connor to call down as he ranted into a sob about all of the things he was going to do.
blank
troye learned that as much as the colors that painted connors skin pained him, it was still better than having no canvas at all. because connor hadn't shown up to work in a week, and he didn't answer any texts or phone calls, and troye sat in silence at lunch, brewing worry and devastation while others chatted merrily. he shouldn't have touched their lips together, he shouldn't have gotten involved, and he shouldn't have messed this whole thing up.
it was two weeks after when the familiar face returned. connors small body came rushing into him, and they enveloped each other in an embrace as tears creeped into connors shuddering and messy sniffles. " I-I called the cops and then I just ran here, and im so scared-" troye recognized his inability to explain in much more detail and instead just held him tighter, saying how proud he was, and how he would never let there be a single bad color to taint his perfect skin again.
guys im not gonna have ANY internet for like 5 days and I'm so scared like WHAT IF SOMETHINH IMPORTANT HAPPENS IN THE FANDOM. but yee im goin on a trip so i wanted to update before I was gonna be offline for a while
ALSO THANK YOU FOR OVER 50K READS ILY ALL SO MUCH AND I READ ALL OF YOUR COMMENTS AND YEAH;;;; TY SM