Still Hurting {Cobra Starship, The Academy Is...}
“Please, stop!” William screamed, his body instinctively curling inwards as the pipe made contact with his side. “I gave you what you wanted, please just stop!” The three men around him only laughed as they continued to beat their victim, despite his cries.
“Alright, that’s enough!” one of them said, calling off the others. “We’ve had our fun, gotten our money, we don’t want to kill him, after all.”
The men disappeared into the shadows, leaving William in the alley way. His long legs were bent, pulled up to his chest, his entire body shaking with a mixture of sobs and pain. The rain was soaking him through to the bone, washing away only some of the blood that was matted in his long hair. The men had come out of nowhere, ambushing him as he was walking home from work. They had taken his wallet and phone immediately, and while William had handed over the items without contest, the men had stayed continuing to beat him. Now he was covered in cuts, bruises were beginning to form, he was freezing from the rain and he had no way of calling for help. He knew how vulnerable he was - a skinny, good looking boy lying wounded in an old, dark alleyway, and while he wanted to be found, and quickly, he didn’t want to be found by the wrong person. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep the tears back as he lay still, praying to a god that he wasn’t sure he believed in that someone would come and find him. Soon.
“Oh my god…William?” Almost an hour later, William opened his eyes to see the one person he longed for more than anyone, his boyfriend, Gabe. “Baby, are okay?”
“Just take me home,” William whimpered, staring up at Gabe with wide, brown eyes.
“Of course!” It didn’t take long for Gabe to lift William, scooping the boy up into his arms, holding his body close.
“I was afraid that no one would find me,” William whispered, clinging tightly to Gabe as they walked.
“Baby, I’ll always find you,” Gabe whispered. “Don’t worry, if you don’t come home, I’ll always come to you, come to you, hold you right, take care of you - I’ll give you any and everything.”
“God.” William let out a deep sigh. “You love me so much.”
“Yeah, I do.” He smiled. “I have since I met you, Bilvy, since you were a scrawny 16 year old getting picked on in high school.
“You always defended me.” William smiled. “Even when it hurt you more than it helped me.” William buried his face in Gabe’s chest, glad that it was Gabe who had found him.
“That’s because I fell in love with the skinny boy who sat with his guitar in front of his locker every day. You’ve been the most important person in my life since I was 18 years old - that’s a long time, William. I don’t think that things will ever change.”
“I love you, Gabe. No matter what, you’ve always been there for me, you don’t know how much it means to me that you’ll come find me, carry me, every time I don’t come home.” William sighed. “I’m in so much pain and you make it all seem okay, like it’s all going to be just fine.”
“It will be.” Gabe stopped at the house, setting William down as he unlocked and opened the door. He picked William up again, carrying him to the couch and lying him down, kneeling beside him. “I’ll make it all okay.”
“God, I love you so much.” William leaned forwards, kissing Gabe softly on the lips. “You’re so amazing…ever since you hit that jock for calling me a faggot, I’ve been crazy about you, you didn’t even know my name, you’d only just transferred in, but even though you were the new kid, you had my back as though I’d known you forever.”
“Maybe I wanted to be your hero,” he said softly. “I wanted you to see that I would protect you if you chose me,” he stated.
“You didn’t have to prove anything to me,” he stated, smiling up at Gabe. “I would have loved you anyways.”
“And I would have protected you,” Gabe replied. “Even if you never fell in love with me.” He leaned in, kissing William’s cheek.
“Somehow, I think I knew that.” William smiled, moving to kiss Gabe again, though he pulled back with a wince.
“Baby?” Gabe looked at William, biting his lip with concert.
“It hurts,” William said softly, sinking down into the couch.
“It’s okay.” Gabe stood up, biting his lip. “I’m going to get stuff to clean you up, you just sit here and remember that I love you.”
“How could I forget?” William asked, biting his lip. He was in pain, but he had Gabe, so what else really mattered?