The Truth About Drew

t h i r t y f o u r

Drew landed flat on his stomach as Jared tackled him, knocking all the air out of him. Jared sat just below his shoulder blades, essentially pinning Drew to the floor. Drew struggled furiously, flailing around and nearly punching Jared clean in the face before he leaned to avoid it.

"Get the fuck off!" Drew spat, struggling vehemently.

"Now why'd you do that?" Jared asked quietly, leaning forward ever so slightly. For not being that much taller than Drew himself, he sure weighed a lot more. Muscle weighs more than fat, Drew realized and thought with a mental groan that if he ever got out of this, he'd lay off the corn chips and hit the gym a little more than once a year.

"Why'd you do that?" Jared repeated the question and pushed down a little harder, making it that much harder for Drew to breathe.

"Because you're crazy!" Drew wheezed. "Isn't that good enough reasoning? I don't have Stockholm Syndrome, sorry!" (He was quite proud of himself for remembering what Stockholm Syndrome was under the circumstances.)

"I'm not crazy!" Jared said. Much to Drew's lung's relief, he slowly picked himself up off Drew's shoulder blades and, grabbing him under the arm, heaved him to his feet. Using his body, he pinned Drew's smaller frame to the peeling wall, not hard enough to hurt Drew's back, but enough to make him pretty freaking nervous.

He could feel Jared's warm, sweet breath washing down his neck as he leaned in. Jared had always looked good from close range; he had immaculate skin and beautiful eyes. Once Drew, before the accident, had told him that he would have been an amazing soap opera actor because his skin was so perfect. Unfortunately, Drew didn't much like the look of Jared so close to him now.

He shoved him away or tried to at least. Jared's solid form barely moved as Drew shoved on his shoulders. "Get away from me! I demand you let me go!"

Jared pressed against him firmly and sighed, resting his head on Drew's shoulder like he used to when he was upset about something. "You're not being very nice right now."

"Nice?" Drew practically squawked, continuing his struggles in vain. "The fuck should I be nice? You're holding me against my will, you moron! I'm not going to be nice!"

A thought occurred to him and he slowly stopped speaking, forcing his body to relax. "However if you let me go.... Then you might see how nice I can be...." The smooth, sultry tone of his own voice made his stomach churn as Jared visibly stiffened against him.

The brief idea he had about seducing his way out of his tricky situation was quite promptly shattered when Jared's cold fingers grazed just under his shirt. Fuck no. Without thinking, he lashed out and managed to connect with his jaw; not enough to free himself, but enough to daze him. "Fucking hell if you so much as lay a finger on me I swear to Almighty God I will-"

Jared cut off his threats. "Why are you being so difficult? They said you wouldn't be difficult!" He ground his teeth in frustration.

"Who's they? What the fuck are you even talking about? You best get your hands off my stomach right now or-"

He stopped talking when he realized Jared wasn't paying the smallest grain of attention to him. He was staring intensely at his face, eyebrows drawn together. Reaching up, he slowly traced a finger along Drew's scar. "What happened?" he asked quietly.

Drew was speechless. "For real?" he finally said. "If you care so much about me let me go! I don't like you, and this is not how you get someone to like you! I protest!"

"It's okay, I won't let anyone hurt you ever again." Drew shuddered as Jared unintentionally breathed all over his face. Not pleasant.

"Nobody hurt me, it was an accident! Jared, Jared listen to me okay?" He used the same tone he used to when he would try to convince him to do something almost two years ago. "You're hurting me, okay? You need to let me go. I think you need help, alright? Let me go and we can go get you help together." Tears were starting to build up in his eyes, but blurry vision was the last thing he needed.

Abruptly, Jared shoved him roughly against the wall, pinning him harshly to the prickly, peeling surface. "No! Just stay with me and you'll be fine. Be with me forever, okay?" One hand held Drew's firmly to the wall while the other wandered over Drew's face, focusing on his scar.

Just as Drew was about to give up all hope, he heard a faint noise from downstairs. Jared drew away from him, confusion written across his features. "What was that?" he whispered.

A crash came from just outside the room and Drew didn't think; quite without meaning to, he shoved Jared back as hard as he could. Jared stumbled, and as he tried to regain his balance, Drew smashed his head down on the dresser as hard as he could. Jared let out a noise of pain and crumpled like a puppet whose strings had been cut.