Bruises [Minizerk]

Chapter 1

Josh's POV

Simon and I were filming a new YouTube video, a try not to laugh.

Simon was my best friend, he had been since the day we meet. My friend Tobi introduced me to his friend JJ, and JJ was Simon and I's mutual friend. We clicked instantly.

We'd made our other friends later down the line - Harry, Ethan and Vik. All of us eventually ended up forming a youtube group together.

The fame we accrued was unimaginable - millions of subscribers each, and on our second channels and group channels.

Simon and I regularly did try not to laugh challenges on his channel. We were doing one right now, it was going well.

Was.

That was when I spotted the bruise on his forearm as his sleeve rolled up.

"Si you okay? That's a nasty bruise" I said worriedly "We can cut this out down worry"

"What? Oh yeah that, sorry I smacked my arm on my door handle the other day" he told me.

"That looks like it fucking hurt" I said.

"Yeah it did, don't worry it's healing now" he said.

"Is it? It's still purple, how long ago did you do it?" I asked him.

"Josh it's fine, it was like a couple days ago" he assured me. But that worried me more.

"But you were round Jack's then" I frowned.

"And..?" He trailed off.

"You said you did it here" I pointed out. Simon's face instantly fell.

"What is this, twenty one questions? Seriously Josh I already said I'm fine, just leave it now" he snapped.

"Do you wanna finish this video another time Si?" I suggested and he nodded, getting up and hurrying out of my room.

I frowned to myself as I walked over to my bed and laid down, staring up at the ceiling.

I wasn't overthinking right? Those bruises were huge, and there were more than one so I knew Simon had lied. And the second I brought up Jack he got defensive, which to me suggested that Jack was partially involved somehow. I'd never liked Jack, I was finally realising why.

Did I seriously think Jack was capable of abusing someone though? There was no way to be sure unless I caught him doing it. But abusers rarely slipped up and got caught in the act.

I'd need to keep an eye, on Simon's bruises. If any more appeared, or he was trying to hide them, or he had injuries that interferred with our football vidoes. If this all became regular I'd know I was right.

I needed to talk to the others about this. If Simon was being abused, he wasn't gonna report him so I doubted he was keeping evidence. But I had some, a clip of Simon's bruises in our youtube video, and the conversation.

I wasn't gonna report Jack now, not before I was one hundred percent certain it wouldn't put Simon in more danger. The only safe way to report him was to wait until there was enough evidence to guarantee he'd be going to jail. If he got away with it, would he just go after Simon again? I couldn't risk that.

What I would do though was try keep Simon here, make sure I was upstairs whenever Jack was here, make sure he knew I cared. Maybe he could trust me enough to open up about it.