Love 'N' Stuff [boyxboy]

Love 'N' Stuff [Original Slash] {15}

Benny

‘No.’ I almost looked around to see who said it before I realised it was me.

                Jack blinked at me, but didn’t say anything.

                I swallowed nervously. ‘You can’t drop the case,’ I clarified, as if I could have been talking about anything else.

                Jack gestured vaguely at his phone. ‘You heard him,’ he said helplessly. ‘I can’t just ruin his life Benny. I don’t want that on my conscience.’

                ‘Jack,’ I said seriously, slightly desperately, sitting cross-legged on the sofa and facing him, ignoring the fact that Matt and Freddie were still in the room. ‘I had the shit kicked out of me every day for four years because I’m gay.’

                Jack looked confused. ‘I know. And if I ever see that Austin prick I’ll give him one for you, but I don’t see what this has to do with…’

                I shook my head, causing him to trail off. ‘If I had the evidence that you have, the… The courage that you have… I wish I could take Austin to court and make him apologise for what he did to me. But I can’t do that. And I know Aaron didn’t beat you up because you’re gay and I know it only happened once but… But you have to show him that just because he’s bigger than you and more powerful than you doesn’t mean he can get away with hurting you and manipulating you and making everybody think that you’re the bad guy, that there’s something wrong with you.’ I paused to let this sink in, wondering where exactly it was coming from. Jack seemed to be considering it, so I added quietly, ‘Plus, do you think he’d hesitate for a second to ruin your life? I mean, do you really think any law firm worth the paper it’s registered on is gonna hire you if everybody thinks you beat up Aaron Samuels, superstar?’

                Jack’s face was scrunching up slightly as he mulled this over and I could sense Freddie and Matt holding their breaths in expectation behind me.

                ‘Let me think about it,’ he muttered eventually, and left the room. We heard his bedroom door swing shut seconds later, and he didn’t re-emerge for the rest of the day.

Matt

‘Isn’t Benny sort of wonderful?’ I suggested to Freddie later as we got ready for bed. Without discussing it or even mentioning it, it had sort of just been understood that I’d more or less move into his room. All my stuff was still next door in my room, but it seemed like this was where I was going to be sleeping more often than not from now on.

                ‘How so?’ Freddie was organising his notes in an effort to quell the guilt he was feeling at not having bothered to go to college in the few days since the news about Aaron had broken.

                ‘He’s so wise. He’s like Grandmother Willow. He always has the best advice and knows the right thing to say.’

                ‘Hm. I suppose you’re right.’

                ‘I’m always right,’ I informed him, sneaking up behind him and slipping my arms around his shoulders. ‘Which is how you’ll know I’m telling the truth when I say that making a neat pile out of your notes isn’t going to make you a doctor and you should just come to bed instead.’

                Freddie sighed in resignation and dropped his notes. ‘If only it were that easy to become a doctor,’ he lamented, and allowed me to guide him towards the bed. ‘Do you really think nobody will hire Jack if he decides to drop the case?’