2025-07-27 2:33:46 ¶ ●

Both Gerry and Michael have quite a few scars.

Gerry’s scars mostly come from living a life that’s entangled with fears. He has burns all over his body from the Desolation Leitner that went wrong. He has burns all over his hands as a consequence of all the things he’s had to set on fire over the years. He has slash scars, and bug bite scars, and even a scar he left over from a rash caused by The Corruption. All of them remind him of the world he lives in, and he couldn’t get rid of them even if he wanted to.

Michael’s scars tend to come from mundane clumsiness. He has a scar on his finger from not paying enough attention while cutting a carrot. He has a scar on his ankle where he accidentally ran into a corner of his house too hard. He has a scar on his arm where he tried to pick up a stray cat. All of his scars come from perfectly normal things that he doesn’t really linger on because they don’t hold any significance to his life. They’re just there.

Neither of them really know what brings about the conversation, but after knowing each other for a few months Michael and Gerry get on the topic of scars. Gerard tells the harrowing stories of some of his worst ones, and Michael is embarrassed to admit all the clumsy ways he got his. Despite his hesitation he tells Gerry about all the little moments in life that ended up leaving him with a scar. He expects laughter or at least a little smile due to the severe contrast in their stories, but he’s surprised when he’s met with quiet contemplation from Gerry instead.

Awhile after they start dating Gerry and Michael are walking by a park and Gerry spots a rose bush. He goes to get one of the flowers for Michael and end’s up with a thorn in his finger. Michael helps him get it out, but it still end’s up leaving a tiny scar, one that Michael doesn’t think much about. Clumsy misgivings are normal to him. They’re just a possible part of his day to day and now he guesses they’re a part of Gerry’s too.

But he doesn’t miss the way Gerard runs his fingers along his scar in the moments where he feels like he doesn’t belong in the normal world. Or the way that he jokes that it was “hard earned” despite being one of the least severe injuries that he has ever gotten.

One day when they’re passing the same rose bush that gave Gerry his scar, Michael jokes that the bush is a lot more dangerous then it looks. Gerard laughs and agrees, and Michael takes the opportunity to apologize for the thorn incident since he was getting the flower for him in the first place. But Gerard just shrugs and says that it was no big deal. “That scar has my favorite story, anyways.”