James POV
I watch as the boy trips over the clothes I was supposed to hang up (oops!) and crashes into a clothing rack, ruining his chance at a dramatic exit.
I snicker and walk over to him, offering him a hand. He oh-so-gratefully ignores me, pulling himself up with the clothes rack he trashed. He then stands up to leave. At least, I think that was what he was doing. Of course, I'll never know because he yelped and stumbled over the second he got onto his feet.
"You okay?" I ask with a chuckle.
"I'm fine, I just hurt my ankle a little." He says with a strained voice, about to attempt standing once more.
"Oh, no you don't!" I exclaim, scooping him up off the floor.
"Wha- put me down!" He quickly protests, struggling to get away.
"Nope, I'm taking you to the back where the first aid kit is. You," I continue, stretching out the word 'you' and booping his nose, "are going to sit quietly and be cute. Y'know, what you're doing now, but quieter."
Thankfully, he's too flustered to keep fighting with me. I enter the back room and set him down on the couch.
He just huffs and sits there, knowing I would just catch him if he tried to leave.
I grab the first aid kit and kneel in front of him. He sits for a minute, curled into a ball, before sighing and sticking out his foot. However, he noticably winces when I touch his ankle. I pull up his pant leg a bit, and can already see some swelling.
"Yep, that's definitely sprained." I say, grabbing some ice from the mini fridge and putting it in a Ziploc bag.
"Stupid ankle." He growls, crossing his arms and glaring at it as I gently place the ice on top.
"Is your side okay?" I ask, looking at him.
"What do you mean?" He asks, confusion showing in his eyes.
"Your side. I saw you hit it on the rack," I respond, standing up. "Does it hurt?"
"Oh, n-no, it's fine!"
I chuckle, sitting down next to him. "That's what you said about your ankle. I'm gonna take a look."
"N-no!" He shouts defensively, smacking my hand away. Something is definitely off.
"I-I mean, uhh..." He struggles think of an excuse, and I begin getting concerned.
"Sit still." I order, moving away his hands and lifting up his dress shirt.
For a second, we both just sit there. Neither speaking.
Neither moving.
Neither breathing.
Finally, I say something.
"Get into a lot of fights?" I ask with a half-hearted laugh, both of us knowing that that's not what I really want to say.
His abdomen is littered with gruesome bruises and scars. It's more purple and blue than it is his actual skin tone.
"I'm going to check for broken ribs." I say after a moment of silence, and begin poking at his chest. He just looks away. After a minute, though, he cries out in pain.
"That one's definitely broken." I say, pulling out my phone. "I'm taking you to the hospital."
His eyes dart towards me, clearly full of panic. I watch as his eyes flash to the door for a split second, and I can tell he wants to run. If it weren't for his sprained ankle, he probably would've already.
I look away, finding Daniel in my contacts, and stepping away from...
Shit. I don't even know his name.
Daniel picks up on the second ring, and I sigh with relief.
"Hey babe, I know it's your day off, but I really need you to pick me up."
"Of course! Is something wrong?" He asks, noticing the stress in my voice.
"Yeah, uh, there's this guy here and he uh... He really needs to go to the hospital. He's got a sprained ankle and I think his rib's broken..."
"Oh my God! What happened? Is he okay?" He asks frantically, bombarding me with questions.
"Well, he sprained his ankle when he tripped, and uh... Well, he's really beat up."
"I understand. I'll be right over."
I hear Noah start talking in the background as well, and then Daniel hangs up. I look over at the boy, who is staring intently at the ground.
"So, um... What's your name?" I ask cautiously, taking a seat next to him.
He pauses for a second before replying.
"Adam. I use he/him." He answers bluntly, all energy gone from his voice.
"I... I'm James. I use he/him as well."
"Who was that on the phone?"
"Just my boyfriend, Daniel. He's, uh, gonna stop by so we can take you to the ER. Is that okay?"
"Mm." He replies, signaling that the conversation's over.
Daniel POV
Noah's rubbing my shoulder in a sad attempt to calm me down. I really hope that boy's okay. James said he was badly beat up. I wonder what happened? Is James injured too?
"Just calm down, babe. He would have told us if it was serious."
Oops. I must have been thinking out loud again. Still, Noah's words comfort me. If James was hurt, he would have said so. Even with knowing that, I let out a sigh of relief when we enter the parking lot.
I send James a quick text, telling him we're here. Within seconds, he responds with a 'thank you' and it only takes him a few moments to get out here. At first it looks like it's just him, but as he gets closer, I can see that he's carrying the boy he was talking about.
I laugh a little. I always forget how strong he is. Thankfully, the small boy seems relatively unharmed.
They get into the backseat, the boy huffing and making a point to scoot as far away from James as possible, curled up by the window.
We leave the parking lot, and after a few minutes I realize that it's going to be up to me to end this suffocating silence.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Daniel." I say to the boy, nervously squeezing the steering wheel as the words leave my mouth.
There is a moment of unbearable silence, before the boy finally speaks.
"Nice to meet you too, I guess. I'm Adam."
I let out a breath I had been painfully holding in for way too long.
"Hey, you okay? You're holding onto that steering wheel so tight it looks like it's going to have a permanent indentation." The boy says with a chuckle, still facing out the window.
This earns a rare laugh from Noah, and I can hear James stifle one behind me as my face heats up.
"Wow, not even gonna try to defend me? I have such great boyfriends." I respond with a smirk.
"When did you get so defenseless, princess?" James retorts, and I don't have to look back to know he has on his signature smirk.
"Well, It's pretty hard to come up with an insult when all I know about him is that he's short and has cute hair!" I defend.
"Oh, that one hurt!" Adam explains, dramatically falling back into his seat as if he had been shot.
"That's what I mean!" I exasperatedly shout over everyone's incessant laughter.
-Thirty Minutes Later-
We pull into the parking lot of the hospital, the car slowly becoming silent. I finally park and we all step out, one by one. Adam stands up, but tumbles over and catches himself on the roof of the car.
"Stupid ankle." I hear him mutter, and James chuckles.
Adam stands again with a wince, and starts walking reluctantly towards the emergency room entrance. I see Noah roll his eyes, before walking up behind the pained boy and throwing him over his shoulder.
"Ugh, not again!" Adam cries, not bothering to struggle in the large man's grasp.
I let out a giggle as James and I catch up with the two.
"Hey, that's my move!" James jokes to Noah, who simply smirks in response.
Honestly, that's more than you usually get from Noah, at least in public. He's been surprisingly cheery tonight. Not that I'm complaining, of course.
I glance back at Adam, who is pouting with his arms crossed. He is facing away from everyone, since he's still slung over Noah's shoulder.
"You know they can't see you, right?" I tell him with a chuckle.
He just huffs, somehow pouting even more than before.
"It's rude to ignore people, y'know." I say, stepping behind Noah so that I'm directly in front of Adam.
He seems to take it as a challenge, though, and plants is gaze firmly on the pavement.
Little does he know, this works to my advantage. You see, I get a lot less nervous when people aren't watching me.
"What's wrong, don't you want to look at me, kitten?" I slip, placing my hand under his chin.
His head shoots up, face as red as a tomato. I burst into laughter, along with James, who had apparently been watching as well. I even hear another chuckle from Noah.
Adam sticks his tongue out at me, but it has very little effect, since his face is still covered in red.
I hear a door open in front of me, and look up, realizing that we're here.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Man, this one was definitely a long one. Thank you guys for all the support, I really appreciate it.
Now to start editing.
Words: 1588