That one exception

Part 44

"There were two that officially shared the house with me but they had a friend...Daniel...he pretty much moved in with us though they never actually said he was living there" Evan sighed and cuddled up to Jonathan.

"He was fucking one of the other guys"Delirious snarled, he was obviously not happy about being reminded of this guy.

"He was fucking both of them"Evan sounded like he was surprised that Delirious hadn't figured this out.  "anyway...it started off as some snide comments which developed into verbal bullying....then to physical intimidation, to pushing...slapping...then..." he cleared his throat and was obviously trying not to make eye contact with Delirious. "then the beatings started"

"they beat you?...that was all they did though right?" I was trying to ask without it sounding like I was belittling what he went through. I knew that it was never easy to get away from abusive people, they usually spent months or sometimes years breaking down their victims confidence in themselves or instilling fear of what would happen if they tried to leave them.  I felt Mini fidget uncomfortably and looked down at him, he looked like he had been reminded of those months in his past that he wanted to forget.  I tightened my arms around him and slipped my hand up into his hair, I hoped he might get some comfort out of me being with him.

"uh..." Evan cleared his throat and refused to look at anyone, my heart sank, he had just told us that he'd been sexually abused and it was only a few years ago. I had known him when this was going on, I felt sick, not only had I not noticed that Mini had been beaten I hadn't noticed when one of my other friends had been beaten and molested by his house mates...how was I not noticing this, I could have stopped it or at least made it easier for them to get out of the situations they were in. Evan cleared his throat before continuing "uh...this was going on for almost a year and a half....anyway...one day I had had enough and moved back to my parents place, I was suppose to meet up with Jonathan, he was driving up for two weeks to spend some time making video's and just messing around...we hadn't started dating at this point, though we did know that we were interested in each other, we had had one kiss at a convention but nothing else had happened and we hadn't even talked about it...Jonathan spent the whole time just comforting me after I'd had a melt down and admitted to him about that the assholes were doing...he was more concerned about making sure that I was looked after than doing what he really wanted to do"

"He had made me vow that I wouldn't do or say anything before he would tell me why he was having a melt down...if he hadn't I'd have gone to Canada and killed the fuckers"Delirious growled and wrapped his arms tighter around Evan as if he was trying to protect him all over again.

"Before I was going to meet up with Jonathan I wanted to pick up the last of my stuff...I knew that all three of the assholes would be out all day at college so I thought I would be safe...what I didn't know was that one of them stayed home with a hangover, he knocked me out with one punch while I was packing some stuff...the next thing I know is I'm waking up with a sore head and no idea where I was or what time of day it was....all I knew was that I was naked, it was cold, my hands were tied to my feet behind my back, I was gagged, there was a pillow case or something over my head and I was laying on the floor...I won't go into detail about what happened but....after... I remember hearing this guys voice"Evan nudged Delirious and smiled lovingly at him "He cut me free and took off the blindfold and everything but I still couldn't see... he kept me calm while he wrapped me up and carried me out to his car, then took me to the hospital where I found out that both of my feet were broken.  He then took me back to my parents...stayed with me helping me through some of the most painful days of my life...two weeks later he took me and my parents back to North Carolina for an extended holiday while I got better...I had a massive freak out one night and told him that I couldn't go back and be alone again I didn't want to be without him" Evan looked a little embarrassed there was a slight flush of pink to his cheeks and he was keeping his eyes fixed on a button on Delirious' shirt  "it got really mushy and pathetic...I had worked myself up so much that when he told me that he would never let me be alone I asked him to prove it, which we all know is impossible to do" he chuckled and I realized he had finished telling us about the abuse he had had to endure.

I felt the tension in my shoulders relax a little, I was definitely regretting asking now but I was a little confused because he hadn't actually answered the question.  Unless he was saying that they got together because of that traumatic experience, which lets face it is a really bad way to start a relationship.  it suddenly occurred to me that that was exactly how my relationship with Mini had started, he was in a bad situation and we had started dating.  I felt worry creep up my spine, was this just a reaction to all the stress he'd been through?  were we ultimately doomed to fail?  I was jogged out of my thoughts by Mini fidgeting to prop himself up a bit so he could see the guys better.

"I asked him how he wanted me to prove it" Delirious chuckled and planted a kiss on Evan's forehead.

"so how did he have to prove it" Mini asked making it obvious he was very interested in this part of the story

"I didn't...He asked me to marry him" Delirious huffed as his and Evan's faces turned red.

"So wait....are you guys married or engaged or something" Mini almost sat up with excitement, I will admit I was surprised I knew they were serious but I didn't think they would have actually gone out and gotten married.

"Nah he distracted me to the point that I forgot I'd even asked him...he does that a lot" Evan actually giggled and tucked his head under Delirious' chin which made him look kinda cute.

"so you're not married?" Mini actually sounded disappointed as he curled back into my side again.

"not yet" Delirious chuckled and instantly yawned "but he asks every single time we have to leave each other and gets the same response...I think it's pretty obvious I'm sticking with him till the world ends"

"so you haven't got a ring on his di.." Mini's eyes widened " finger! I mean finger"Mini hurriedly corrected himself then buried his face in my side as even the back of his neck turned scarlet "kill me please!" He whimpered into my chest making him sound muffled.  He must be feeling really embarrassed because it felt like I was holding a personal heater with the amount of heat that was coming off of him.  All three of us  almost died laughing at his slip of the tongue and it took us at least five full minutes to calm down enough that we could catch our breath.

"this guy knows us too well" Delirious mumbled through giggling fits as he wiped tears from his eyes with one hand.  "that reminds me...Tyler did you give him that thing yet?"

"thing?" I chuckled as I calmed down from the fit of laughter

"Yeah...the thing...you know the thing I showed you..that you had to order specially" he was now smirking at me and I felt my heart speed up a little.  I hope he wasn't going to ruin my surprise for Mini.

"it's in there" I pointed at the bag on the table beside Mini "and no he doesn't know about it yet so Shush"  I kept my attention on Mini who looked up at me for a moment before turning his attention to the bag with a kind of cautious excitement.

"there's a gift for me in there" He mumbled and started sitting up as he turned his attention back to me but kept glancing at the bag

"Yes but you can't have it yet" I smirked as he narrowed his eyes and pouted at me, it was too much fun teasing this guy...in every sense of the word.