"No, it isn't," Fabrice agrees, observing the other man carefully to see how he reacts to the scars. Even as his hand lingers above the marking on his skin, Fabrice can still sense the weight of it, thick and warm like smoke from a campfire. He yearns for the other's touch, still. "But they insist that it was some biker gang related knifing incident anyway." Demetri's mouth tightens, and Fabrice's heart starts beating faster when he recognizes the glint of concern in his eyes.

He shivers as Demetri glides his fingers along his scars, his touch feather-light yet certain enough that it stirs the heat inside of him. He realizes that he is incredibly lucky to be alive, something he's been working on trying not to take for granted. The reverent gleam in the other man's gaze makes his stomach dance about.

"I..." His face fully flushes at the words, unused to anyone using the word 'beautiful' in conjunction with himself, especially someone as gorgeous as Demetri Thornton. His heart feels so light it might float out of his chest like a stray kite. "Thank you? Um, you're even more beautiful than I remember," he tells him, because it's true. Up close and personal like this, Demetri possesses a complex beauty beyond his appearance. In the way he speaks to Fabrice and touches him, he has a beauty beyond words.

He can't keep his eyes from the other man's chest as he pulls down his own shirt. He's worked out, and it shows. Fabrice feels even more drawn to it, when Demetri takes his hand and places it over his heart, warm and alive beneath his fingers in a way that makes him never want to let go.

He lifts his eyes to meet the other man's gaze. How could such a beautiful man have scars in his heart?

"We can be scarred together," Fabrice says in response, offering him a small smile.