Dedicated to a boy who always knows how to make me smile.

---

He took my ink-stained hands
into his bigger, softer ones;
he pulled me close to him
and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear;
he smiled at me with that smile of his
that made my knees collapse inward,
but he held me up high
in spite of everything dragging me down;
he kissed my cheek softly
and spread his own skin’s warmth to mine,
and despite my many flaws,
he looked me straight in the eye
and said, “You’re beautiful.”
And it was funny,
because in that exact same moment,
I’d thought the same of him.