He Could Be The One: RJ CASWEN OneShots

Set Me Free

"EJ, what are you doing? Stop!" Ricky said, laughing.

"No, c'mon! Continue to sing. I'm just recording." EJ said, holding his phone.

"No, stop. This song was just meant to be for you. I was just goofing off." Ricky said a bit more embarrassed now.

"This song is cute, You're cute! Now continue." EJ said, walking towards his boyfriend and giving him a small kiss on the lips. Ricky smiled and continued to sing.

It was a Saturday night and the two college boys were just hanging out in their shared apartment. EJ has just cooked the two of them dinner, box Mac and Cheese (Ricky's favorite), and was now just watching movies and messing around with each other.

Ricky just pulled out his guitar and was now singing to EJ some dopey love song he wrote all of a sudden. EJ was smiling ear to ear knowing that he was with the most perfect person ever and that how could someone not love Ricky Bowen. Ricky was in his own little world, closing his eyes to sing, not knowing EJ had started to film his little performance.

After Ricky stopped singing, EJ smiled and was laughing at how cute Ricky looked in the video.

"I'm gonna post it!" EJ said.

"Stop! You better not!" Ricky said.

"Make me!" EJ stuck his tongue.

"Oh, You're gonna get it now Caswell!" Ricky said, putting his guitar down and jumping off the couch.

The shorter boy chased his boyfriend around their apartment. It was a fairly small New York apartment so their little chase only lasted a few seconds.

"Got you!" Ricky said, tackling EJ to the ground.

"Yes you did." EJ said, laying on his back on the hardwood floor of their bedroom.

RIcky laid on top of EJ and just looked into his deep blue eyes smiling. He had never been so happy before, all of his wildest dreams came true. He was living in New York, going to school for music, and had the best boyfriend in the world. Nothing could ruin his mood.

"Looks like you're too late though." EJ said, smirking. RIcky looked to his left to see EJ holding the phone in his hand and a sent arrow was on his screen.

"You did not!" Ricky said.

"I did! You're gonna love it. I promise." EJ said, leaning up kissing Ricky's forehead.

"Ugh, whatever EJ."

"C'mon, let's go to bed."

The next morning came around and Ricky rolled over in his bed to snuggle up with his boyfriend, but when he reached his arm over to hug EJ there was no body to be found.

"EJ? EJ?" Ricky said as he looked up from the bed. EJ wasn't there, so Ricky rolled over to get his phone to text him, but instead his phone was blowing up with notifications.

Ricky was in utter shock. He couldn't believe all of the notifications and messages coming through his phone. Texts, emails, DM's, everything! He read a few of them, mostly good. But there were A LOT that weren't so good.

RIcky didn't know what came over him, he read one bad comment and continued to read more and more and more and more. He went down a rabbit hole of awful comments left on the post that EJ sent last night. Comments that were homophobic, sucidial, even predatorial. Ricky couldn't take it anymore. He knew it was a bad idea for EJ to post that video, but he didn't think it was going to be this bad.

He got up from his bed, phone still in hand, and tried to go to the living room, but fell to the ground instead. Ricky's heart ached, he was feeling useless, sad, alone. He didn't understand why or how random people could be so mean to him. He was a nobody online, but yet people still wanted to attack him. He immediately started to cry and curled up into a corner of his bedroom. He needed help... he needed EJ.

Back on the other side of town, EJ was out for an early morning jog. He woke up early, in a great mood, and had so much energy, so he decided to go for a run. On his way back home, he stopped at the local donut store, picked up a dozen donuts and a few chocolate milks, Ricky's favorite, and continued on his path home. What he didn't expect was to find his boyfriend crying.

"Ricky! Are you up? It's 9am! I bought us some donuts and chocolate milks, you're favorite!" EJ shouted as he entered their apartment. He put the donuts on the kitchen counter and the chocolate milk in the fridge, before walking to the bedroom.

"Ricky, Ricky. Baby, get up!" EJ said, as he opened the bedroom door. But when he opened it, he found Ricky crying in the corner.

"Oh my god Ricky! What's wrong? What happened? Are you hurt?" EJ said as he got down on his knees in front of his crying boyfriend.

Ricky was speechless, he was crying so hard into his knees. He didn't even notice EJ was in front of him, until EJ put a hand on his knee and lifted his chin up. Ricky felt a little better now, knowing his boyfriend was here, but he still felt awful.

"Ricky, what's wrong? Talk to me baby, please." EJ said, holding Ricky's face.

Ricky opened his mouth to talk, but no words came out. Instead it was more tears and loud cries, so EJ pulled his boyfriend into a tight hug and just let him cry on his shoulder. EJ rubbed tiny circles on Ricky's back causing Ricky to finally stop crying.

Ricky took his head off of EJ's shoulder and just held his phone out to EJ.

"Is this the problem?" EJ asked.

Ricky nodded his head, still looking down. EJ took the phone out of Ricky's hand and looked at the screen. He started to read all of the comments and messages, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. This was all his fault. If he didn't post that video like Ricky wanted, he wouldn't be getting all of these comments.

"Ricky, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have posted that video. I'll delete it right away." EJ said, but Ricky stopped him.

"No, don't." Ricky finally spoke.

"You don't want me to delete it?"

"No... I want people to see how awful some of these comments are and the person behind them." Ricky said, looking more angry now.

"Are you sure babe?"

"Yeah Eej, I'm sure. I'm safe, now that you're here." Ricky said, hugging EJ tighter.

"I'm so sorry Ricky."

"Don't be EJ. You didn't know this was going to happen, you can't control what people say."

"I know, I know. But if I didn't post that video, like you wanted me to, none of this would've happened. I'm so sorry Ricky, you don't deserve this."

"Thanks Eej. Just as long as you are here, I'll be okay."

"Don't worry baby, I'm not going anywhere, ever." EJ said, kissing Ricky's curls as he held him.

"I got a surprise for you." EJ whispered into Ricky's ear causing the curly haired boy to look up.

"I got us some donuts and chocolate milk, your favorite." EJ said.

"Thanks babe. You always know the way to my heart is through my stomach."

"Always baby. Always. Now, c'mon let's go eat."

The two boys got up from the bedroom floor and made the way to the kitchen, hand in hand. Knowing that EJ would always be there for him, Ricky felt safe. He felt like he could be free from all of the hate that was being poured at him. He was going to be set free.

A/N: Just wrote something real quick and wanted to keep this as vague as possible, not diving into any specific hate. Please support Josh in everything he does and not spread any hate towards him. We love you Josh!