Though I was l just another homeless gay teen in the spacious New York City, I knew I would be luckier than anyone else. To start off for some background, my name is Lavi, my family kicked me out a year ago for coming out as gay and vie been living on the streets for a while. But everything changed one day in the LGBT specialized homeless shelter I had been staying in for the past months when something truly spectacular came to me. An angel of sorts, going by the name of Neah, promised me that in seven days, I would be able to have one wish come true. I don't even know why he chose me, but I guess I did something right.
On day 3, I was laying in my cot in the main hall of the shelter, thinking about how I can use the wish to get me off the streets and fulfill me dream as a musician, when I heard the the steel doors open and the pouring rain from the outside. I looked up towards the doors to see the two shelter officials, Reever and Link, holding up a skinny young man by the arms into the shelter. They kid had on a black hoodie, ripped up jeans, torn up shoes and a black beanie over his long black hair. I was able to se his vivid gray eyes as they stuttered shut and he fell to his knees, only being held up by Reever and Link. The two carried the young man to the cot next to me. It was when they laid his head gently on the pillow that I noticed how striking the guy looked. He had to be the most beautiful person I'd ever laid eyes on. Reever rolled up they boy's sleeves to check his pulse, but paused when he saw multiple cuts all over the boy's arms. Link immediately checked the kid's pockets while he could and found what he had expected, a small blade wrapped in a dirty white cloth. I could feel my stomach churn in uneasiness for him. 'God,' I wintered, ' how much has this guy been through?'
A few minutes later, he woke up with confused eyes darting around and stopped when he saw me staring down at him.
"Can I help you?" he asked in a confused tone. My face turned warm and red as I realized that I had been staring at him the whole time. But he replied at me by smiling a beautiful smile and chuckling at my stupid expression.
"Heh, don't worry about it. Name's Kanda."
"I-Im Lavi."
"Hmmmm thats an interesting name, in a good way of course."
"Uh, thanks" I smiled.
He paused and shot up from his bed.
"Uh, did they go through my pockets?"
I paused, fearful of his reaction, "Yeah. They took your uh-"
"Well I understand why they'd take away that, but.." he rummaged through his jeans pockets, then relief filled his eyes. "Phew! They didn't take it. Thank God!"
He took his hand out of his pocket, revealing a small piece of cardboard paper, unfolded it and and it revealed a narrow card with blue on the back and on the front, a mural of a medieval woman blindfolded, her hands tied behind her back, walking through a valley of tall swords.
"Wow.."
"It's called the Eight of Swords. It's a Tarot card that's supposed to predict oppression in a person's life. It's supposedly bad luck for someone's future, but it's just so beautiful I like to think of it as someone getting through oppositions. You know?"
I could tell by his expression that the card meant a lot to him. It turned out we were both 18 too. As we kept talking, I felt warmness in my heart. I don't know why, but I knew I wanted to get to know Kanda more and more. He was just so fascinating. Over the days, we just kept talking and talking like we had know each other our whole lives. We seemed to talk about our dreams the most, it turns out his biggest dream was to become an artist and make it into the School of Visual Arts(or SVA as the college kids called it)here in NYC. It was around then I got my first realization that I might have had a crush on Kanda. And not just a small one either.
The one night we were sitting on our cots, whispering so the officials wouldn't see were were still up way past the shelter's curfew. We were talking about our past that night, and it it turned out Kanda's was worse than mine. He told me he had been abused by his family for as long as he remembered and he finally ran away after they bloodied him up after he accidentally blurted out that he was gay. And it was after some sort of altercation at another shelter that triggered him to start cutting himself, and it was there where he found his blade in the first place.
"So that's how I started slitting my wrists I guess.." I couldn't help but notice a similar red line coming from a hole in his jeans.
"Wait, did you cut your legs too?" I asked. His gaze was the cast down and he paused and I could see the sudden sadness in his bright eyes.
"No," he paused, "those are scratches." As soon as the tears started forming in his eyes, I scooped him up in my arms towards me and he placed his face on my chest, immediately sobbing into my chest. The realization clicked in.
"K-Kanda, did someone-" I didn't even need to finish as I felt his buried head nodding, his sobs increasing. I already guessed this had happened at the other shelter. I could hear his whisper 'Why is all of this happening to me?' through his sobs in his chest. All I wanted to do was protect him from everything, keep him in my arms forever so no one could ever hurt him again. Then I remembered the wish.
"W-what if I told you that I could change all of this." he immediately shot his tear streaked face into mine.
"wha?"
"Look, I know Im about to sound really insane right now, but something visited me, I think it was an angel. And he said I could have one wish granted any day now. Maybe I can wish the both of us out of this shitty life and we can live our dreams! I can be a musician and you can be an artist. It can save us both."
He looked at me, his eyes still showed sadness in them.
"You don't believe me do you?"
"No, I stopped believing in fuckin' miracles like that years ago." I was saddened to see how serious he was, "But it was nice to hear for once." he gave me a weak smile. I felt like a complete idiot instantly.
"God Kanda, I-Im sorry. You-"
He interrupted me by reaching up to me and hugging me by the waist.
"Don't be." he whispered. I think it was then that I knew I really loved him. I was going to use that wish to save him and have him and I have the happiest life imaginable, together. I was going to tell him my feelings towards him the next night when I gained the courage to do so, but I fell asleep from staying up the night before. I'd regret doing so for the rest of my life.
I awoke in the middle of that night to something inside the shelter that sounded like the pouring rain from the night Kanda came to the shelter. Everyone else was still asleep. I was surprised to see that Link had left the drawer to his desk open. 'well that's dumb.' I thought to myself. I turned to see Kanda, only to se that his cot was empty. It was then that I felt something under the palm of my right hand. I looked under it and held up what ended up being Kanda's Tarot card, it turned to the blue back to see the most chilling words sharpies on the card.
'I'm so sorry.'
My heart was strained instantly and was beating at 1000mph. I got up from my bunk and ran towards the showers. Praying that Kanda had just ran away, that it wasn't him who opened Link's drawer, knowing what was inside. That it wasn;t him who turned on the showers. The scenario turned out to be true.
When I got to the showers, I saw the guy I was in love with lying on his back, his eyes closed, his lips completely white. Then I saw his arms, his sleeves pulled up to reveal a long bloody gash on both his arms reaching from his inner elbow to his small wrists, his blood seeping into the shower drain. His beloved blade lying in his lifeless fingertips. I immediately started sobbing as I knelt to his side and scooped his body into my arms. I should have told him, but I was too late. He had lost hope completely, and I could't change any of it anymore. I failed the man I loved. My stinging tears flooding my face as I felt my whole world crashing down while looking at his lifeless, beautiful face. I screamed silently, I was too late to save him.
"Have you made up your mind yet, Lavi?" my mournful eyes looked up to see that the angel Neah was standing in front of him. The running showers not wetting his as he stared at us two drenched boys. It was then that the realization flooded in, I knew what I had to do. If I couldn't save Kanda's life then, I could now.
"Yes." I whispered. The words came rushing off of my tongue as I kept sobbing.
"P-Please give Kanda a new, happy life. Change everything that happened to him and give him the best life possible instead. Let him be able to do whatever he wants," I paused and looked at him again,"..and love whoever he wants. Please, just let him finally be happy."
Neah looked at me with a confused and shocked expression on his face. I guess he had never heard a wish like this.
"But do you realize what that will mean? You will be stuck living this life of yours, and you may stay here for the rest of your life. Plus, if the boy's life is altered, it means that he won't remember you. In fact, he will never even get to know you again."
I hesitated at the angel's words, then I saw Kanda again, his lifeless body in my arms, his face still as lovely as ever. I repaid by looking my stinging eye into Neah's.
"Ok. This is my wish."
"And it shall be mine to grant." Neah's voice grew bigger and louder around me. As quick as I could, I pressed my lips against Kanda's white, lifeless lips in our first and final kiss as everything was enveloped into whiteness.
_

Kanda woke up instantly from his deep sleep. He looked around his dorm room in SVA until he was finally aware of the knocking coming from his door. He sprang out of his bed and opened his door to see his red-headed, tattooed boyfriend, enjoy, waiting for him outside.
"Shit, I'm sorry babe, I was still sleeping and I-" he was interrupted by a sweet, deep kiss, courtesy of Renji.
"Well at least you slept well." Renji smiled. Kanda hurried up, keeping his v-neck black tshirt on and changing his sweats to black jeans. "Yeah, I was having the strangest dream..but now I don't remember it." he said, disappointed.
"Hmmmm…..well was it a good dream?" Renji asked. Kanda thought and them smiled, "Yeah, I think it was."
"Did it involve meeee?" Renji asked in his jokingly perverted tone.
"Hah! Don't worry, I don;t have to dream that kind of shit up with you." Kanda replied, giving Renji a sly wink.
_

LAvi sat at the corner of a New York City sidewalk on West Broadway with his mug of change by his side, expecting another hapless day of begging. His gaze around the street stopped as he saw Kanda's smiling face, holding hands with a taller, red-headed man, coming up to Lavi with a dollar in his hand. It was as Kanda placed the dollar in his mug that Lavi saw that he didn't have a single cut on his arm, but instead a big, beautiful tattoo on his arm of The Eight of Swords Tarot card. Kanda smiled at his sweetly and them walked away, grasping Renji's hand again.
As they both walked away, Kanda had a realization swarming through his mind all of a sudden.
"I've seen his before." he whispered.
"Eh?" Renji replied, looking at Kanda.
"T-That guy! I've totally seen him before!"
"Really? Well is he always at that corner?"
No it's something else, I swear! I-" he looked back to the street corner, only to see that the homeless teen had disappeared from the spot.
"Kanda?" his boyfriend asked, now confused. Kanda turned back to Renji. "N-Nevermind, Its nothing I guess." he smiled at Renji and kissed him quickly on the lips. Renji replied by hugging Kanda's happy form as they walked farther.
From the Distance, Lavi hid in the alleyway near his spot. Smiling and crying tars of joy as he looked up towards the bright New York City sky and whispered,
"Thank You."

FIN.