Memories {A compilation of Britin short stories}

Story 2: Sticks and Stones

Brian was almost sure that Justin hadn't noticed him looking, eyeing the bruises and dark marks scattered across the younger man's pale skin. He wondered where they'd come from, how Justin had come across getting them. In a part of Brian's mind, he wondered if it had been him. But that was nearly impossible; Brian hadn't been that rough with him the other night. Had he?

"Justin?" he spoke out, brow furrowing slightly as he sat up in bed. He reached over, carefully shaking the younger man's shoulder, wary of the marks over his back. "What happened?" he found himself asking. "How'd you get those?"

Justin turned around to Brian. The bruises on his back making a sharp pain shoot up his backside. He tried not to let it show on his face. "I fell coming down the stairs at home," he lied, "It doesn't really hurt." He didn't want to tell Brian the truth, that his dad was beating him.

"You sure?" he asked quietly, his fingers lightly touching a particularly dark mark over Justin's shoulder blade. "Must have been a nasty fucking fall." he asked. At this point, Brian was just humoring the younger man. He knew better. Brian knew where those marks came from. He could point them out a mile away. Hell, he'd had quite a few of them, himself, growing up. "How did you manage to fall down the stairs anyway?"

"I tripped." Justin didn't feel like his lie sounded very convincing. He flinched in pain as Brian touched one of the bruises. "Just forget about it. I'm fine."

"You tripped," Brian echoed Justin's words, his tone flat, disbelieving. He rolled onto his side, inspecting the bruises further, balancing his weight on his elbow. Brian bit the inside of his cheek when he saw Justin flinch. "Yeah, you're the definition of he word fine," he deadpanned. He quickly bent his head forward, kissing the mark with the lightest of touch of his lips. "Are you going to tell me what really happened?" he asked gently, a part of him wishing that he could just see the younger man's face.

Justin let out a deep sigh. He knew he didn't sound convincing. He turned so he was facing Brian. "Alright. I did fall down the stairs but, not because I tripped. My dad...since he found out I was gay, he hits me. He pushed me down the stairs and then kicked me in the back. That's where the bruises came from."

Sitting up quickly, Brian looked at Justin with worried eyes. "Jesus Christ, Justin!" he said, anger in his voice. "And you're still fucking living there? Have you told anyone? Your mom?" He knew it was really none of his business, but he'd hoped he'd never see Justin in that kind of pain.

"No one knows but you. And I want to keep it that way." Justin propped himself up on his elbow. "Where else am I supposed to live, Brian? I'm not even out of high school yet. Plus he's my dad. It's not like I can say anything about it."

"Okay," Brian said, turning to look at the younger man over his shoulder. He shrugged. "I don't know, Justin. All I'm saying is that when my old man laid into me, I got the hell out of there." Brian shook his head slowly. "Christ, I still remember some of the bruises. Just ask Deb. She'll tell you; it was bad."

He turned slightly at Justin's words, facing the younger man. "You can say something when it's your fucking life you're talking about, Justin. It doesn't matter if he's your dad or not. If he's beating the shit out of you, he's not doing a very good job at parenting."

Justin sat up straight gasping quietly at the pain it caused his back. "I don't want to worry my mother, alright? She already has enough going on with her job and Molly to worry about me getting beaten for being gay. I'll be out of there in a few months anyway when I go to college. I can live until then."

He watched him with worried eyes as the younger man sat up, wanting to reach out to him, to comfort him. But then Justin spoke. "Uh, yeah. You lost me at for being gay..." Brian furrowed his brow, ran a hand through his hair frustrated. "If your asshole of a father can't handle that his son is a fag, then he can fuck off. You shouldn't have to deal with that shit, Justin." His jaw set and he sighed heavily. "And what if you don't, huh? What then?"