Time Runs Through Our Veins.

When Nolan falls asleep I can't bring myself to tear my eyes away from him long enough to fall asleep myself. His face is relaxed and he looks like an angel. My angel.

I would give him the world if I could.

I run my hands through his hair and watch him sleep, unable to find a hint of tiredness in my body. Thoughts run through my head and an amazing idea springs to my mind. Something that will show Nolan exactly how much I love him.

After an hour I just can't wait any more and I press my lips to his, hoping it'll wake him up. It takes a couple seconds but he responds slowly, waking up more and more as our kiss gets more heated.

Nolan's fingers twist in my hair and he bites my lip tenderly before pulling away and gasping for air. His eyes are bright and shining. "Can you wake me up like that everyday?"

I smile and kiss his head. "Trust me, I wish I could. Let's go get a shower, yeah? I have something I wanna show you."

The curious glint in his eye almost makes me cave when he asks what it is but I just pull him out of bed with me and lead the way to the bathroom.

Almost an hour (and several kisses) later I'm in a pair of loose fitting jeans and Nolan is in a pair of my boxers and one of my shirts that's way too bug for him. He's so adorable it hurts.

I tell him to close his eyes and I lead him out into the hallway and into my most sacred of places. We stand in the middle of the room and I allow him to open his eyes.

A small gasp escapes his lips as he takes in the rows of amps and various guitars. His gaze shifts over to the neat stack of keyboards along the wall and the carefully placed drum kits. His eyes take in the coils of wires and screens of editing equipment.

Nolan turns to me, eyes shining. "Rylan, this is amazing. You didn't have to show me but thank you so much." 

I lean down and catch his lips with mine, resting my forehead against his once he pulls away. "Baby, this is my favorite place and I want to share it with you because your my favorite person and I love you and I trust you."

Nolan wraps his arms around my neck and I can feel him shaking. "I trust you too."

"Baby, don't cry." I murmur into his sweet smelling hair.

"I ha-have to te-ell you s-something." He stammers, clutching onto me harder. My heart jumps to my throat. This can't be good if he's so upset. 

I lead him over to one of Jordan's drum stools and instruct him to sit. I kneel down in front of him and cradle his face between my hands. "Calm down, Nolan. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. What's wrong?"

He swipes the back of his hand under his eyes to get rid of the tears and takes a deep breath. "You have to promise me you won't do anything stupid." 

I nod quickly in agreement. "I promise, baby. Please just tell me."

Nolan takes another deep breath. "I didn't make all these bruises myself." He admits. "My dad.... Sometimes he gets really drunk and I don't think he means to but he just gets so mad." 

I sit shocked for a second before the outrage sets in. "Your dad hits you? Fuck, Nolan, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"He doesn't mean to! Just when he gets drunk-"

"Don't make excuses for him! He hits you. Baby, he hurts you. That's not okay." I rise and start out the door. 

"Ry, where are you going?" He asks, panic clear in his voice.

"I'm going to have a little chat with your father." I reply, teeth grit. I think my baseball bat is still in my car...

Nolan's hands wrap around my wrist and he spins me around to face him. "You promised me you wouldn't do anything stupid! You promised!"

"Nolan, if he's hurting you then someone needs to set him straight." I growl.

"Please, Rylan, no. I trust you but no. He hast done it in a while anyway and he's just upset about my mom." 

"Why are you defending him?" I ask softly.

"He's all me and Allegra have left. If he gets thrown in jail then we have nothing." He answers, more tears gathering in his eyes.

I wrap him in my arms and kiss him tenderly. "You have me and I know it's not the same but it's not nothing." I murmur. "I promise I won't go over there but you have to promise that if it happens again you'll bring Allegra over here and you'll stay until he gets straight." 

He nods into my neck and places a small kiss on my jaw. "I will."

"Good, because you deserve so much more."

"I do?" He looks up at me, genuine confusion shining in his eyes. 

"Yeah," I say. "You do. You deserve a life as amazing as you are and I intend on giving it to you 

"Really now?" Nolan's smile turns practically giddy.

"Of course." I return his smile. "Wanna know how?" He nods eagerly and I hold him tightly against me. "We're gonna start by going to the same college so we don't ever have to be apart. Somewhere where I can focus on my music and you can focus on your art. When we graduate I'll buy you the car of your dreams and we'll move to New York. The big city because I know that's what you've always dreamed of." Nolan giggles and I can't help but to enjoy the butterflies in my stomach. "I'm going to buy you a condo or a flat. Either one. It's your choice. By then I'll have proposed, of course, and we'll have the most beautiful wedding of your dreams. After our two year anniversary we'll decide that we're ready to adopt. We might have some problems at first but we'll overcome them because we always do. When that beautiful baby boy is in our arms none of that will matter, though. We'll name him Eli because that's what you've always dreamed of naming your baby and he'll be almost as beautiful as you are. Almost. And he'll be perfect, just like you. After that our lives will be complete and we'll live happily for the rest of forever."

Nolan leans up to kiss me passionately and I know that every single word I said is true.

It's only a matter of time until everything's perfect. 

It's only a matter of time until all of our dreams come true.

Its only a matter of time until there's nothing in the way to stop us from living happily. 

And it was only a matter of time until I realized how much I truly love him.