Loving from afar - JJPope

Six

There is a difference between someone telling you they love you and them actually loving you. This poem by Rupi Kaur resonated a lot with Pope's thoughts right about now. Since the early hours of the morning, he had been reading 'milk and honey', and had found himself falling deep into his thoughts to the point that what he saw made his stomach coil with fear. JJ, pinned down and helpless in that video, and all the other photos and videos of him that were stuck in Pope's memory that he wished he could erase.

For if any of those guys, including Topper, actually loved JJ, then they would not treat him as though he were a piece of property that they owned and controlled. Why couldn't JJ see that? Surely he knew that the way he was being treated wasn't right, that he knew he deserved to be respected and loved fully and never be forced to do anything he did not want to do.

None of what he knew sat right with him. Of course it fucking didn't, only sick and disgusting people would be fine with everything that happened to JJ. Pope wished he could say something, wished he could walk right over to Topper and punch him square in the face without Cleo or Kiara stopping him. For JJ deserved someone to finally be in his corner and stick up for him.

"Pope!" The familiar voice of his father shouts, forcing him to slam his book shut and jump with fright. "There's deliveries to do, you coming to help?"

"Uh, yeah!" Pope calls out, throwing his blankets off of his legs and leaping to his feet, heart pounding. "Just give me a sec and I'll be down!"

"Okay, I'll be waiting outside."

Hopping around his room, Pope pulls on random items of clothing, trying to be as quick as possible to not piss his dad off and runs down the stairs, his last thought before climbing onto the boat being 'I wonder what JJ is doing.'

******

A pained yell echoes around the air, high in pitch and forcing the voice to crack. JJ goes flying back a few steps into the wall, causing a frame to fall to the floor and smash to pieces beside his foot, the shards of glass stabbing into his bare skin and making him scream. "You did this, didn't you?" Topper's angry voice shouts, deep and authoritative, sending horrible shakes through JJ's bones. "You made them take the account down, you made them delete it!"

JJ pushes himself off the wall, his hands landing on Topper's chest and shoving, a slap being made across his boyfriend's cheek. "No, I- I didn't!" Cries JJ, stepping back shakily at the look in Topper's eyes, almost murderous. "Stop, please! Topper, please!" JJ's voice breaks, his body shaking uncontrollably as his back hits the wall once more, Topper stalking forward uneasily slowly. "Please, my siblings-"

JJ is cut off as Topper's fist meets his jaw, a painful crunch-like sound echoing in JJ's ears, a scream on the tip of his tongue, and his head whacks into the wall, his body sliding to the floor and on top of the shards of glass. Topper's foot kicks his ribcage as soon as he hits the floor, blood spilling from his lips as JJ coughs and wheezes, clasping his arms around his chest.

Dropping down onto one knee, Topper grabs JJ by the throat and pulls him up, forcing him up to Topper's level, an evil grin on his lips. "You're pathetic." Spits Topper, squeezing the sides of JJ's throat tightly, further blood coating his lips, JJ's flailing hands coming up to hold onto the other males wrists, teeth gritting together. "You can't even land a decent punch to save yourself. Fucking pathetic."

Topper lets JJ go with one last shove and kick, not even bothering to look back as he walks right out the door without a care in the world. JJ curls in on himself, sobbing and heaving as the blood coats his tongue and threatens to fall to the carpet, his skin screaming at him to get up and away from the glass. To get him up and away from the excruciating pain his body was experiencing. But for some reason, he can't. He can't seem to reach his arms underneath himself and lift his body up, lift his body out of the large pile of sharp objects and into safer ground. There's no strength, no will power to even make the slightest of movements.