Chapter 21

Derek's POV

Me and Adrian leave the locker room together, and I'm still kind of worried about him. I hope he's not depressed or anything. I feel just so horrible for him. He's such an angel and people treat him like he's a devil.

"Adrian, are you sure you're okay?" I ask.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. We should get some food."

"Where do you wanna get food from?"

"Anywhere. Honestly, anywhere. Chinese food maybe?" he suggests.

"Yeah," I smile at him. "That would be great. I'll order when we get back to the dorms."

"Cool. Thank you Derek."

We get back to the dorms, and go straight to Adrian's room. Something is still off about his demeanor. He usually has his head up and looks comfortable, but now he looks uncomfortable, he's slouching while he walks. I just really hope he's okay. I want to hug him so fucking bad and just not let go until he tells me that he's 100% okay.

I place the order for Chinese food, making sure we'll have plenty of leftovers for next week, and then I sit on the couch next to Adrian. He's just staring into the distance, or at the dark TV basically, and not saying anything.

"Adri, you know you can tell me if something's up, right?" I ask.

"Yeah. Just being called that word so many times really hurts. I know you might think I'm sensitive for it, but I really just can't handle that. Especially coming from someone like that, who is not saying it in a joking way, but in an obviously hateful way."

"Adri, look at me," I say. He looks up at me, and I look into his gorgeous eyes. "Don't ever think you're sensitive, okay? It's normal for you to be hurt by a word that's meant to hurt people. If anything, you're so strong for still playing so well through all that hate. I envy your drive, Adrian, I really do. Your self control too. I would've just started wailing on his ass, but you're such a kind person, you would never do that."

He smiles at me, making my day. "Thanks, Derek. I really don't know what I would do without you supporting me through all of this."

"No problem. Do you wanna come with me to pick up the food?" I ask.

"Yeah," he grins. "This time I want some of the fried rice, you can't eat it all."

"Anything you want, Adri."

Adrian has completely changed me. I can't believe where I am personality wise. I never though I'd be like this, so caring for someone. My mom raised me in such a pro-hate household, and while I never completely dove into being an extremely hateful person, I never was around to support people. I didn't really do that much to support Aaron when he came out, possibly because he didn't really face any backlash, but still. I told him I was cool with him being bisexual, but I never went straight out and told him I would defend him. He also never needed anyone to defend him, the entire school loved him. Guys and girls alike wanted to get with him, and I don't think anyone other than (kind of unbelievably) his current boyfriend hated him.

But things are just so different with Adrian. It's probably because he's actually facing a hell of a lot of hate and backlash, but I want to just protect him. I know he's strong and he can protect himself, but if shit goes down that he can't control I should step in and help him out. It's also kind of great that I have feelings for him, because he's the nicest person I know.

Me and Adrian pick up the food, which is like a fucking tower in a bag, and I carry it in the passenger seat as we make our way back to the dorms. Adrian really did put on muscle over the summer, I keep seeing how much more toned his body is. He also got a really good tan over the summer. That makes sense too, because he was outside the whole time. It doesn't even look like he got sunburned once.

We get back to the dorms and eat dinner while watching TV. I don't even care what's on the TV anymore, I just keep stealing glances at Adrian. He still looks pretty conflicted, but not as conflicted as he was one the way back from the stadium.

The food is great, which is not surprising. There was a great Chinese restaurant I ate at a lot in Boston, but this one is even better. It's spicier, the food has more flavor, and it's just easier to eat a lot of.

Once we're done, Adrian stands up and throws his stuff away before getting his shoes on.

"I'm gonna go on a walk, you know, to clear my mind," he states.

"Do you want me to come with you?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"No. It's nothing about you, by the way, I just need to be alone for a little bit."

"It's already 9:00 PM though."

"Yeah. I like when it's dark outside," he says. I lowkey agree, but I don't want him getting hurt. The Florida State football team is still here, and they'll be here until tomorrow morning, which is when their flight is. I'm worried.

"Alright. Just call me if anything happens, okay?" I ask and he nods.

"Yeah. Thanks for dinner, Derek, I really appreciate it. I'll see you in the morning."

"Bye."

Adrian leaves the room and I clean up all the Chinese food, putting all the leftovers in the fridge. Adrian bought his own fridge for himself because Devin's was always full of yogurt and protein heavy snacks, so Adrian couldn't fit his things in there.

Once I'm done, I grab all my stuff and head back to my room. I know full well who I'll be thinking of all night. Just thinking about him is gonna keep me up until 3 AM. I can't keep him out of my head. He's driving me crazy, just by being himself, and I can't help it. He has a beautiful, absolutely fucking gorgeous soul and I don't want to be with anyone else.

I might not be able to fall asleep for a while, but I'll at least get ready to go to sleep. I walk into me and DeShaun's bathroom and brush my teeth. I don't know where DeShaun is. I feel like him and Devin are out half the time. DeShaun might break up with his girlfriend soon. Shit is not working between them, and he doesn't seem super happy anymore. There's not a chance that Devin and Alicia break up though.

I hear the door open and DeShaun walks in, carrying some food. "Derek?" he calls out, not realizing I'm in the bathroom.

"Hey, what's up."

"Not much. Just got some food. How about you?"

"I'm gonna go to sleep, it's getting late," I answer.

"Nice. Have a good sleep."

"Thanks."

I throw my shirt off and get in bed, grabbing my phone and watching TikTok, which is the only way I'll be able to not think about Adrian the entire fucking time. I think TikTok is cool, sometimes. Sometimes it's dumb too. Brainrot bullshit is really starting to get to me I think. I can't really stand it.

I watch TikTok for about an hour before almost falling asleep if it was not for getting a hell of a lot of buzzes out of nowhere.

Adrian is calling me.

I sit up immediately and answer the call.

"Adri, what's up?" I ask, a sense of worriedness in my voice.

"Derek, *sniffle*, Derek, I need you," he says, and I can tell he's sobbing from the other line.

"Holy shit, fuck!" I bolt out of my bed, throwing on a wife beater before running towards the door. DeShaun looks at me confused, but doesn't intervene, he just keeps eating his salad.

"Derek, please," Adrian begs.

"Adri, breathe, breathe. Share your location with me, okay?"

I hear an 'mhm' from Adrian. I go into the Find My app on my phone and soon enough, Adrian's location pops up. I frantically run down the stairs into the lobby and sprint to the parking lot, which is only lit by some street lamps.

"Adrian, are you still there?" I ask.

"Yeah, I-I'm here."

"Do you wanna stay on the phone?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll be there in a sec, okay? Don't move, I'll come get you," I state.

"Th-Thanks, Derek."

I start my car and quickly drive, terrified of what might've just happened to my angel. I was about to fall asleep. If Adrian is in serious danger, what could've happened if I did fall asleep? I'm so scared for him right now.

"You still there?" I ask again.

"Yeah. Are you almost here?"

"Yeah. I'm almost there, Adrian. Are you in danger right now?"

"I don't know," he sobs.

My heart shatters at the sounds of his sobs. Did he just get jumped? If it was those Florida State bastards they better count their minutes.

I finally find Adrian and pull up and park, getting out of my car without even checking if there's a car that might hit my door. He's sitting up against a building, his face dug into his knees while one of his hands is holding the phone and the other arm is wrapped around his legs.

"Adrian! I'm here, holy shit, what happened?" I ask.

He looks up, his eyes red from crying. He has a cut along his cheek and a black eye. His nose is bleeding, he has a cut next to his lips, and he has another bruise on his other cheek. His shirt is ripped a little and he has bruises forming on his arms and his legs. He looks completely broken, and I can't stand to watch him like this.

"Th-They hit me, Derek. They hit me," he sobs.

I sit down next to him, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him close to me. He turns his head towards me and continues to cry into my chest, soaking my tank top. I couldn't care less.

"Adri, who's 'they'?" I ask.

"The Florida State people. Th-They jumped me," his voice cracks.

"I'm gonna kill those fuckers," I state.

"Derek, don't, please."

"Why the hell not?" I ask angrily. "They hit you, I think they should be hit back!"

Adrian digs his head back into my body and continues to cry even more. I feel so terrible for him. He looks so hurt and I am doing everything in my power not to cry with him.

"Do you want me to take you to the hospital?" I ask.

"No. I just need to get these cuts cleaned," he states, his voice muffled by my body.

I hug him tighter and rub his back, hopefully calming him down.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yeah. I'm sure."

"Are you having a panic attack right now?" I ask.

"Yeah. I've been having one for the last 10 minutes."

"Am I helping you right now?"

"Yeah. So much. Thank you."

"Everything's gonna be okay, alright? No one's gonna hurt you anymore, okay? I'm gonna protect you now, and there's no one that I'll let hurt you again," I tell him, and I feel his body stop shaking as he calms down.

"I shouldn't have gone on a walk," he says, still crying.

"Don't you dare blame yourself for this, Adri. You couldn't have predicted this to happen. Blame me for not pushing harder to come with you. Now you're hurt."

"It's fine, Derek. Don't blame yourself for this either."

"God, why would someone want to hurt you? You're such an amazing person, and people don't care. I can't believe people sometimes," I say.

"Yeah."

"So, was it Josh?"

I feel Adrian nod into my chest. The way we're sitting right now is lowkey comfortable considering we're on a sidewalk. He's in my arms, and I'm holding him, trying to comfort him.

"And his friends. They were big," he states.

"I'm so, so, so, so fucking sorry this happened to you, Adri."

"It's fine. I just want to go back to the dorms," he says.

"I'll bring you back."

"Thanks."

We sit there for a few more minutes, basically just in silence apart from occasional sniffles from Adrian, who I wish didn't have to be the one to go through this. I should've been the one getting jumped, I'm the asshole, not Adrian. I'm the one that wants to beat people up all the time, Adrian's just a sweet person. I keep rubbing his back, while his face is still dug into my body. I feel so horrible for him still.

"You're such a perfect person, Adrian, I really don't want anyone to hurt you again. Seeing you like this is breaking my heart," I tell him.

"Really?" he asks, looking up at me.

"Yeah. I'm gonna be honest, I haven't really gotten this close to someone before you, and right now you're probably my best friend. You're the only person I want to spend time with, and seeing you hurt like this, it really just breaks me."

"I'll be okay, Derek. Thank you so much for being so concerned though. You care so much more than anyone else," he says, hugging me tighter.

"I care so much about you, Adri. I'm so sorry this happened to you."

"I-I think I'm ready to go," he says.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want me to carry you to the car?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"Kay."

I slowly pick him up and somehow keep him in one arm while I open the passenger door and softly sit him down. He puts his seatbelt on and I go to the other side and get in the driver's door.

"Are you gonna be okay? You're sure you don't want me to bring you to the hospital?" I ask.

"No. I would feel if they broke a bone or something."

"But still, you're bleeding."

"I know, but I'll clean up when we get back. I'll be fine, Derek, please don't worry about me."

"I can't not worry about you. You got jumped by a bunch of linemen, that's not something I can just let go and be fine with," I state.

"I'm serious, Derek, I'll be fine. Thank you so much for caring though, you really know how to make me feel safer."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I feel significantly safer with you right now. You're good at comforting me, too. I really appreciate how nice you are."

"It's really nothing. Just basic human compassion, and besides, you're my friend, so it's really nothing, honestly," I tell him.

"I don't know what I would do without you, Derek. You're so unbelievably sweet to me, and I don't think anyone's ever treated me this well."

My stomach fills with butterflies from his words, and beautiful, soft voice. My feelings for him are getting way to strong for my liking. Soon enough I won't even be able to pay attention to anything, I'll just be staring at him the whole time.

"Well, I mean, you're one of the nicest people I know, and I just want to return what you give to me. I'm just surprised you weren't mad at me for being so mean to you over the summer," I say.

"Derek, I can't really be mad at you. Especially when I went through significantly worse shit, what you did was damn near nothing. It kind of hurt, because you were one of my closest friends, but still, I could get over it."

"Thanks."

We get back to the dorms, and I go with Adrian to his room. It's already 10:30, and it's completely dark outside. Again, I really should've pushed to go with Adrian. I don't love thinking of myself like this, but I think I'm almost his bodyguard somehow.

"Devin is not here. Apparently Alicia's roommate is never there, so they can just have alone time every night. It's cute, whatever, and I like having a room to myself," Adrian says.

"Do you want me to help you clean up?"

"Yeah. That would be great."

We go into his bathroom, and I find some paper towels to help. He's still so fucking gorgeous despite all the cuts on his face, the bruise on his cheek, and his black eye. I don't think I can really help with that, which sucks, because he might have that for a while. He'll still look drop-dead beautiful.

"Is there rubbing alcohol in here?" I ask.

"I don't know. There are a bunch of cupboards," Adrian says, opening a cabinet and pulling out a bottle of rubbing alcohol. "This shit's gonna hurt worse than the actual thing that gave me these cuts."

"Yeah, it might, and I'm sorry about that, but it will clean the cut up better."

"You're right."

"Here, uh, sit on the sink so I can see your face better, okay?" I ask kind of awkwardly. Adrian doesn't question me, hopping onto the sink and smiling at me.

I take a deep breath internally so I control myself from accidentally kissing him. He's so fucking beautiful, and I need to do everything to stop myself, considering how strong my feelings for him really are at this point.

I put some water on the towel, because I shouldn't put rubbing alcohol near someone's mouth. I'll use the rubbing alcohol on the cuts on his leg and his arm. I stare at his perfect lips, holding myself back from just jumping at them. I want to kiss him so bad.

I stop myself, and softly rub his lips with the towel, cleaning some of the blood off of his lips. I rub around his lips, cleaning more of it off, before rinsing the towel off in the sink and moving to his cheek, another defining feature on him. He has such amazing cheekbones for a guy. His smile lines are so fucking clear when he smiles.

I clean his cut up, and grab a Band-Aid and put it on the cut. He winces a tiny bit but doesn't complain that much.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Yeah. Thank you so much for helping me Derek, I didn't want to do this myself."

"Of course. Uh, it's my honor to help you," I say. That was awkward again, but he didn't say anything about it.

I move to his nose, which is now covered in dried blood and wipe it off. His nose is also perfect. I don't think he has any bad features. My angel is the definition of absolute beauty. Why I didn't notice him in high school is baffling to me right now, staring at him.

"Drink a lot of water okay? I don't want your nose bleeding again," I state, looking up into his eyes.

"Okay, I will."

"Good. I'm gonna put rubbing alcohol on the cuts on your arms and legs, so it might hurt a bit, if you want I'll switch to water, that might also work."

"I'll suck it up, I'm an adult," he laughs. I am going absolutely fucking insane. His laugh is something that brings me so much fucking joy when I hear it.

I put some rubbing alcohol on the towel and slowly rub around his knees, where a massive scrape was. I look back up at Adrian, and he looks unaffected. He's stronger than me, that's for sure. I'd be on the ground in so much pain.

I move to his other knee and do the same, and again he doesn't seem affected. I put two large Band-Aids on his knees and do the same to his arms, where there were cuts. Once I'm done, I put everything back and Adrian gets off the sink.

"Does anything hurt?" I ask.

"My eye kind of hurts, but I'll just sleep that off," he replies.

"Nothing else hurts?"

"Yeah. My cheek hurts a tiny bit, but only if I press on it."

"Great. Do you mind if I sleep on the couch in this room tonight? I don't think you should be alone tonight, for your safety and so I know you're okay," I suggest.

"I don't mind. I would actually prefer if you stayed here tonight, that would be great."

"Awesome."

"I'm gonna go change, I'll be back in a sec," he says and I nod.

I sit down on the couch and sigh. I am falling for this man, and I couldn't be happier about it. Out of all the people I could be falling for, Adrian is the best of all of them. He's perfect on all things that people should be looking for in a partner.

Adrian comes out of the bathroom in shorts and no shirt. Again, all my mental willpower is used to not jump on him and start kissing him over and over again.

"I'm gonna run a few errands, I'll be back soon, okay?" I ask and he nods.

"I'll probably be asleep by the time you get back."

"Alright. Rest well okay? You had a long day, you should sleep."

He nods at me and gets in his bed, turning off the light next to his bed. I turn off the light for the whole room, and exit the room, and eventually the building.

2 hours later...

"Your total will be $2.50."

"Here."

I exit the gas station, pink lemonade in hand as I finally make my way back to the dorms.

I quietly let myself back into Adrian's room, which was unlocked because no one could have locked the door. He's long asleep, the moonlight hitting his face, highlighting all of his perfect features. His hair, to his beautiful eyelashes, to his somehow super cute nose, to his perfect lips, to his extremely sharp jawline.

I cautiously open the fridge at the foot of Adrian's bed and put the lemonade in and closing it before walking over to his bed and standing next to him.

He's so fucking gorgeous.

I very tenderly move his hair away from his forehead before softly pressing a kiss on his temple.

"Goodnight, my angel," I whisper.

I walk back to the couch, where I'm gonna be sleeping tonight, before the light next to Adrian's bed lights up.

"Derek?" he sounds surprised.

"Yeah? Is everything okay?" I ask softly.

"Yeah, everything is f-why are your knuckles bloody?" he asks. "Wait, what did you do?"

"I just bought you a lemonade."

"You did? Thank you so much, Derek," he says, forgetting about my knuckles.

"Of course, Adrian. Now get some rest, okay?"

He nods before lowering himself back into bed and going right back to sleep.

Yes, I did go to the hotel where Florida State's team was staying. I kind of had to, I needed to get revenge. No one fucks with Adrian like that without having to deal with the consequences, and I showed them the consequences.

It took damn near 2 hours, but I beat the shit out of every single one of them and then told them that they can't say shit about what I did or I'll get them sent to jail for committing a hate crime. I have no regrets, it was satisfying to see offensive linemen that are probably double my weight cowering on the ground while I beat their teammates up.

I'm willing to do a lot of things, and for my angel, I will do anything to make sure he's okay.

A/N: Derek is THAT GUY. Full disclosure, it's not super realistic for a cornerback (generally one of the smaller positions) to be beating up offensive linemen (the biggest position in the game). But for the sake of the story, and the fact that I've built up Derek to be huge, makes it a little more realistic. Anyways, this is an essential chapter to the story, even though I really didn't want to write Adrian getting hurt. Also, Derek's lips have made contact with Adrian for the first time in this book!!! The next few chapters will be much more laid back, terrible things will stop happening to Adrian, and what will probably be your favorite chapter will be coming soon. Thanks for reading!!!