the boys in blue couldn't break up me and you, *

[JAMES RUSSELL RUNE]

WE'RE MOVING FORWARD BUT WE'RE NOT THERE YET

It was Friday, the best day of the week, at the best time of the day too. James had been looking forward to this since Monday morning, and it was more than satisfying when he exited the weight room. He went there every day after practice to work on his muscles, even though it was unnecessary work. Plus, it kept him away from home longer, and his dad always seemed to be less angry when he told him that he’d been working out instead of watching SpongeBob after school. He still does that anyway, but it’s better saying that he did go and get some work done instead of coming straight home and plopping on the couch. This particular Friday was a little bit different, however. It started off fine, great even, because his homework was completed at a somewhat decent time and it was pretty easy.

James was lying on his bed on top of his covers, which were made and tucked in by his mom earlier that day, and texting with his boyfriend, Jayden, of three months. He’d occasionally giggle and send little faces that were winking at him, really enjoying just joking and talking with his boyfriend. He didn’t have any other plans for the night other than just to relax and hopefully watch a movie with his mom, depending on if she got home early enough. It was hard to tell with her sometimes, especially on Fridays, but he really hoped that it would be a special Friday that they let her off earlier than normal.

This continued for about an hour but he heard his dad call for him, and without hesitation he put his phone down and walked into his office. In there they argued for what seemed like hours, but in reality was about forty-five minutes about his grades. Lately, they had been slipping a lot because of his ADHD which was beginning to get out of control. He claimed that he really couldn’t help it – but his dad wasn’t buying it, which he never did. It wasn’t a surprise to him when he walked back into his room with a grounding sentence –which was really bullshit, his dad never carried those out past the first night—and a nice bruise on his face and a couple on other parts of his body.

At first, he didn’t do anything about it, other than cry for a couple of minutes. He went into his bathroom and changed his clothes, looking in the mirror as he did so. There were still fucking bruises from the last time, and he was honestly getting tired of it. What could he do, though? … Tell someone? He didn’t know who he could… except for Jayden. But how would he react? Figuring it was time something was done about it, at least to the smallest degree, he had made up his mind. He was going to Jayden’s house tonight, grounded or not, and he was going to tell him… maybe. Either way, he needed to see his man.

He brushed his teeth and texted Jayden very vaguely and to the point that he was coming over. There was no smiley face, and it was probably evident that something was wrong, because James hardly, if ever, stopped texting randomly without warning. He went out to the balcony and climbed down the ladder, peering through the window and dashing away as fast as he could. As soon as he was half way down the street he walked under the mockingly bright lights that shone down on him, illuminating him as he advanced forward on the still road. He seemed to be the only thing moving, and as he went on the tears came back, slowly but gradually growing harder.

James calmed himself before approaching the small, but comfortable house that he was becoming more familiar with. It honestly felt more at home there than at his house, as it was large and almost… empty. He knocked on the door and stood with his arms at his sides, eyes on the porch and head pointed downwards. His eyes were of the red type and he could feel the sticky wetness that tears always left on his face when visiting, although there were no new ones coming down.



WORDS 707
TAG JAYDEN!
NOTES (:

[/size]

[JAYDEN ALEXANDER]

TABLE MADE BY SOCKMONKEY OF CAUTION 2.0.

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 450px; background-color: transparent;true] you better run baby, run this week had been one of jayden’s worst, he had doubled his dosage of the steroids he’d been taking for the last few weeks. This was his senior year and the stress seemed to be increasing the more the days went on. It didn’t help that the pills gave him roid rage, anxiety, paranoia, and mood swings. No one really noticed much unless he was on the field, but even then, they assumed he was just too into the game. Luckily, he hadn’t been having any episodes around james, in fact, the only person he sort of took some frustration out on was Brandon. But Brandon didn’t pay much mind, he assumed it was just jealousy, considering he did have the position that jayden wanted. Jayden wasn’t himself and he knew it, but he didn’t care. He needed to bulk up and fast. He needed to show the coach that he could lead a game on his own, hell, at least give him half the game. After practice today he went to talk to coach, just asking for a chance, he had done really well in practice today so the coach agreed to let him lead the first two quarters at next week’s game. If jayden did a good job, he’d play a lot more. Jayden was more than ecstatic to hear the news, now he just needed to restock. He was convinced that it was thanks to the steroids and he was not going to take any chances by not taking them, especially since they had been such an aid to him during practices. Jayden had finally returned home after he took care of his business, throwing everything to the side and immediately heading to the kitchen. He was always hungry after a long day, but he had been a lot more careful with his food choices since he knew had to take care of his body more. He grabbed a banana and walked around the house a bit, it was weird living in his own place. Sure, it was small, but it was home now. he was always alone now, unless he had friends or his boyfriend over, but still, it was odd. After finishing his banana, he threw the banana peel away and started to clean up. His place was a dump, he assumed because he hadn’t really been paying much attention to it, but right now, he was alert and he needed to do something with his hands. He wasn’t sure if it was the steroids or just him being OCD, but then again, he never really had any type of OCD before. His phone vibrated every few minutes, mainly because Jayden had begun texting back and forth with James since he got home. It was almost like the two never got tired of talking to each other, even if it was about nothing. Jayden couldn’t get enough of James and he loved the fact that it seemed to vice versa. Maybe the two were still in the honeymoon stage of the relationship, but either way, jayden was happy. As much as jayden wanted to invite him over, as he always did, he knew he couldn’t hog james all the time. He knew he had to share, especially since, unlike him, james had a family at home. He had siblings and parents. When james didn’t reply as quickly as he had, jayden had tossed his phone on the coffee table and flopped onto the couch, looking around, seeing how spotless his place looked. How long had he’d been cleaning? He didn’t even realize how quickly the time passed until now, it was already night time and jayden had been on his feet almost the entire day. ”damn”, he said laughing to himself and grabbing his remote, turning on the television. He guessed james had found something to do, the boy was distracted easily, thanks to ADHD, but Jayden was used to it. Almost dosing off, about an hour later he heard the noise of his cell phone vibrate against the wood of his small coffee table. He groaned, actually wanting to fall asleep already, but sat up anyways. It was james and he was coming over, jayden smiled a little, happy that he was going to see his boyfriend tonight. That would surely wake him up. He replied back, telling him he’d see him soon, not realizing any sign of trouble. He didn’t get the usual winky face whenever james said he was on his way, but jayden was too out of it to really read into it. He placed his phone back down and stretched his arms out, yawning a bit. Beavis & Butthead were playing on the television screen and Jayden laughed at something they said, getting back into the show before him. To jayden, this was just a typical Friday for him, hanging back and watching television. He was such a guy’s guy. But he wasn’t prepared for the next few minutes. He stood up as soon as he heard the door, his heart leaping as always when james was nearby and walked to open it. ”final-“, he started to say but stopped when he saw James’ face. ”James?” he said walking forward and bringing a finger up to lift james’ head up to look at him. He could tell he had been crying and the expression in his face was heartbreaking, ”are you okay? Come in,” he said grabbing his head and pulling him inside, shutting the door behind them. ”babe, talk to me”, he stared into his eyes, searching them, trying to figure out what had gone wrong in the time frame that the pair weren’t texting. ”james?” he was worried and you can tell it in his voice and face. 960 words. Tagged: james. Notes: (:.

[JAMES RUSSELL RUNE]

WE'RE MOVING FORWARD BUT WE'RE NOT THERE YET

While James was waiting, his phone rang and he silenced it immediately and turned it off, shoving it in his pocket and hoping to just run into Jayden’s arms. He was over the crying stage, but he didn’t know if he’d be able to shove the sadness out of his system before he answered the door. He closed his eyes and breathed out, re-opening to the sight of Jayden’s worried face. He tried to respond as he walked in, but he couldn’t get the words out without his throat clogging up. He didn’t say anything yet and wrapped his arms around Jayden silently, burying his face in his shoulder. He could feel his heart beating harder than ever, and he almost felt like he was going to faint from the pressure. How could he tell on his own dad? Even if he was an abusive asshole that scared him shitless, he was still his dad. They had their moments, and sometimes it seemed genuine, but he just didn’t know what to do about it. He didn’t want his dad to go away, he just wanted to be away from him more.

James knew that the man deserved to be put in jail, after all that he did. He also knew that would tear his family apart. In front of the others, he was a really, really fun dad, and hilarious, at that. Really, his only faults were his aggressive traits and his close-minded ways. He sighed a little bit and tilted his head so that it was still on Jayden’s shoulder but looking at him, and he just squeezed his hand and brought him down on the couch with him. He had no idea how to start and he couldn’t look at him in the eye for more than a couple of seconds at a time. “I’m gonna tell you something… but it absolutely, can never, ever, ever, EVER leave this room, okay?” He said, looking into his eyes desperately, unable to truly decide if he was going to tell him. Then again, it was a little too late to turn back, and his mind slowly became made as he realized that.

With a couple of seconds pause, maybe even a minute, he let go of Jayden’s hand and slipped his white shirt off gently. He had black skinny jeans on too, but he left those on because most of the bruises were up top. “None of these are from football… maybe one or two of the little ones…” He said, referring to the bruises. “so, I lied about that…” He said quietly, looking down at the ground. “It’s my dad, Jayden. He hates me.” he said and looked at him finally in the eye. “But it’s not all the time! Mostly when hes like.. drunk, or just really mad… and I know it’s because I’m gay because he says so… But then sometimes he acts like it’s no big fucking deal… I never know when to expect it.” He told him, pretty much pouring his heart out. It was all genuine too. “I’m really sorry I lied… but he’s threatened me so many times, it’s like… natural to tell people otherwise.” He said and looked at him in the eye, not realizing how fast all of that came out. It wasn’t so fast that it was hard to understand at all, there was just very little of a break inbetween the different thoughts. He let out a big breath and blinked a couple of times, “I can’t stay there anymore. Not all the time, anyways...”




WORDS 707
TAG JAYDEN!
NOTES (:

[/size]

[JAYDEN ALEXANDER]

TABLE MADE BY SOCKMONKEY OF CAUTION 2.0.

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 450px; background-color: transparent;true] you better run baby, run jayden was worried, his expression never changed either, he hated not knowing what was wrong with his boyfriend. He waited impatiently for him to tell him, only because he wanted to fix it already. He wanted to see that flawless smile and that cute little sparkle in his eyes again. He watched james carefully, but seconds went by and james hadn’t responded. Jayden instantly wrapped his arms around james when he stepped into him, squeezing him as he felt james bury his own face into jayden’s shoulder. ”I’m here,” jayden whispered, seconds later james looked up at him and led him to the couch, jayden followed obediently. Jayden was sort of scared, did he really need to sit down for what was to come? Did james cheat or something? Jayden didn’t want to think about that, but it was a wonder running around in his head. When james finally spoke jayden nodded in agreement, ”okay,” he said cautiously, relieved that it wasn’t going to be anything about them and their relationship. But what was it? jayden was still worried especially since james had been obviously torn because of it. their hands broke apart and as much as jayden wanted to reach and grab james’ again, he couldn’t, he needed to know what was going on. James took off his shirt, at first jayden was a little confused. Did james really want to have sex right now? but then his eyes landed on all of the purple bruising all over his boyfriends torso, he had seen them before, sure, but james always told them it was from football. And with james’ next words, jayden finally found out the truth, james lied to him. He had to admit, he was hurt, but his feeling of betrayal didn’t over shadow the real cause of james’ bruises. Jayden sat there in disbelief, just taking in all that james was saying. All of this was going on in james’ home and jayden didn’t even know about it. ”does benny know?” he croaked, not knowing how he got any of the words out. His throat was dry and he almost wanted to cry for his boyfriends pain, pain that he probably had to deal with all on his own. He could feel his anger start to rise though, he had played nice with james’ father for so many years, if not to show him he was a good friend to benny, but a good boyfriend to james. Jayden looked away and into space, ”that fucking asshole” he breathed, plotting in his mind numerous ways to kick james’ dads ass. He looked back at james, ”you’re not staying there anymore period,” he declared as a matter-of-factly, ”you’re moving in with me”, he said and reached over to take james’ hands and gave them a squeeze. ”but under two conditions”, he said looking into his eyes. 478 words. Tagged: james. Notes: (:.

[JAMES RUSSELL RUNE]

WE'RE MOVING FORWARD BUT WE'RE NOT THERE YET

James knew that lying to Jayden was the worst thing he could have done in the situation he was placed in, but in all honesty, he had already been doing it since he was about twelve. When Jayden came around into his life, not to say he wasn't before but more promiently, it was just natural to lie as he had to everyone else. He watched him carefully and nodded with a sad look on his face, but at the same time his overall body tension decreased. He was happy, to say the least, that it was finally out. He didn't have to sneak around the truth and Jayden knew about it. Jayden's expression made him sad though, and he couldn't help but wrap his arms around his boyfriend, just to feel that warm embrace once again."No... he doesn't know." He responded, a little wave of embarrassment rushing over him.

He took his hands gratefully and nodded, perking up at what Jayden said to him. He nodded obediently, agreeing completely that he was going to stay there, even if it didn't seem like much of a choice either. He couldn't help but smile, but that kind of faded in return of a more confused expression. "Um... yeah, of course... whatever you say," He said, nodding and looking willing for anything. It was given that not lying was going to be one, but the number two definitely kept his attention. What was the other condition? He for the life of him couldn't figure it figure it out. James leaned in close though, watching him and staring directly into his eyes, even though his inattentive minded tempted him to look elsewhere. It was completely habitual, he could hardly resist the urge, most of the time.
WORDS 400ish?
TAG JAYDEN!
NOTES (:

[/size]

[JAYDEN ALEXANDER]

TABLE MADE BY SOCKMONKEY OF CAUTION 2.0.

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 450px; background-color: transparent;true] you better run baby, run jayden was relieved that james had told someone about his issues at home, even more so that it was him. Jayden was definitely one of the people in the world that would protect james from anything and anyone, james had to have known that, right? He just hated the fact that he didn’t know before, while it was happening. And how on earth could he have been so stupid to believe that all of those bruises were from football? Ugh, jayden hated how naïve he could be sometimes, especially when it came to james. But no, jayden wasn’t letting james go back to that house, he was much safer here with jayden. He felt james wrap his arms around him, his arms wrapping james up in return as always. Even though he was hurt by the fact that he was lied to, he knew his boyfriend needed his comfort right now, a reassurance of safety in his arms. Jayden knew he had to be careful not to hold him too tight, even though he wanted to squeeze him. He loved this boy so much and who knew how long this had been going on. Was it for weeks? Months? Years? Did jayden even want to know? The possible answer scared him and would only anger him more. Jayden was relieved to hear that benny didn’t know, because if jayden found out that he did and nothing was done about it, he would probably have to get into it with benny too. Jayden released him and took james’ hands in his, looking directly into james’ eyes. ”one, you have to tell benny… as soon as possible,” he said seriously, he knew benny would want to know, and benny would be man enough to do something about it. it would just be an assault if jayden did something about it, and probably worse considering jayden already had anger problems. Who knew if he’d be able to stop pounding the older male’s head in? And what would a charge like that do to him? There was just… too much. ”two, never…” he looked down, obviously still hurt by it, ”ever” he said and looked up to meet james’ eyes again, ”lie. To. Me. Again”. He knew he wouldn’t be able to forgive him again for it, even though jayden probably had his own fair share of lies. Well they weren’t lies, just… things james didn’t know. ”promise?” he said wanting to hear it come out of his mouth. 415 words. Tagged: james. Notes: (:.

[JAMES RUSSELL RUNE]

WE'RE MOVING FORWARD BUT WE'RE NOT THERE YET

James wasn’t surprised; however, he was dreading the moment that Jayden’s first request occurred. Benny was the second choice, in who he was going to tell in the first place, but he knew the second that he told him, he’d be off to settle things. Even if he was close with their dad, he was closer with James and they both knew it. he sighed a little bit and nodded hesitantly in agreement, “Okay… I will.” He said quietly, dropping it at that and not leading the conversation in any other direction as far as the Benny topic went. He squeezed his hands and looked into his eyes, feeling his heart drop at what the second condition was. There was no hesitating in this response, as he hugged him immediately and kissed his cheek. “I promise I never, ever will again. Even if it’s just something silly like eating the last cookie, I won’t.” He told him, burying his face his shoulder and just sitting there, comfortably at ease.

It was hardly two minutes after Benny was brought up that the guy himself opened the door, a worried, confused, and overall tired expression on his face. He was relieved to see that his brother was where he thought he’d be, as it was that their dad was as mad as ever at the kid, and he managed to run away. He had been playing with Zack’s action figures with him when his dad came pounding down the stairs, practically screaming his lungs out in search for the missing, grounded boy. He closed the door gently behind him, having not worried about knocking because the small home was like a second one to him. “Dude… James, are you out of your fucking mind?” He asked, his eyes wide and he sat down on the couch, “I told you before, running away is the absolute last thing you do when Dad gets that mad. What did you even do anyways?” He questioned, watching his brother curiously.

James bit his lip and looked at Jayden, knowing that as soon as possible meant right now, because it was indeed possible at the time being. He opened his mouth to talk but it felt like nothing could come out, but after a minute he took his shirt off and showed him the bruises. “Our dad, is a psychopath. And does not like me. Not since I came out. So I’m going to live here.” He said, insinuating that it started around the eighth grade.
“Wait, you mean he did that?... Fuck. Yeah. It’s better here than there, then… don’t worry about them, I’ll work something out…” Benny looked carefully at the bruises when he came over and shook his head, not knowing if he was more sad or angry. “You could’ve told me, bubba.” He told him quietly though, the anger rising more and more despite his tone of voice. He knew how James could be sometimes, and he didn’t want to upset him. “Alright, fuck this, Jamie, go watch a movie or something, get some rest.. Jayden, you gonna come kick some ass with me?” He asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at him.

WORDS 527
TAG JAYDEN!
NOTES (:

[/size]

[JAYDEN ALEXANDER]

TABLE MADE BY SOCKMONKEY OF CAUTION 2.0.

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 450px; background-color: transparent;true] you better run baby, run jayden couldn’t wait to get to the bottom of it all, he knew he could trust benny to at least do something about the situation. Jayden smiled a little at james’ promise to not lie to him again, ”deal” he muttered as he hugged his boyfriend close and kissed the top of his head. ”I love you”, he whispered, but something broke their moment alone, the front door flung open and out came benny. Almost as if he was summoned, and boy, did the guy sure know how to make an entrance. Jayden had to get better at locking the door, he didn’t want anyone trying to rob him because of his stupidity, even if he didn’t have much to steal. But then again, if he found any of his Will Ferrell movies missing, all hell would break loose. And now that his boyfriend was going to be living with him, he’d have to double his security, just in case. Damn, Benny had perfect timing, jayden watched the interaction between the two, and when James looked at him, Jayden nodded, letting him know that now was the time to tell Benny. Jayden gnawed on his lip as he watched Benny look over James’ bruises, pain in his own eyes once more when he took another look at them. he was glad benny didn’t object to james living with him from now on, both of them knew better than anyone how to keep james safe. Jayden looked up at Benny when he was addressed and stood to his feet, ”do you even have to ask?”, he said as he felt the fury go through his body every which way. ”I’ll be back, James”, he told his boyfriend and followed Benny out, his fists tightening with every step. 296 words. Tagged: james. Notes: (:.