Meant to be Broken [boyxboy] [Watty Awards 2012]

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Did you enjoy the party the other night?" Mark Salazar asked at Monday's archery practice.

Ives was surprised that Mark was mentioning it, but he realized he probably shouldn't be surprised, knowing Mark. "Yeah, except the rain."

"You could have come inside," Mark replied. "There was still plenty of party time left."

Ives shrugged as he picked up his bow to take his turn at the targets. "Yeah, well, I'm not usually very social when I'm soaking wet."

When Ives finished shooting – a decent round, he decided – and retrieved his arrows, Mark waved Terris Brodie to the target to take his turn. Apparently, he wanted to talk to Ives.

"So, I had no idea straight sex could turn you guys on," Mark commented.

Ives was even more surprised by that. He stared at Mark. "Uh... excuse me?"

Mark shrugged. "You know, you guys being gay for each other and all, I didn't expect to see you guys get so into the whole thing."

Ives sighed in annoyance as he put down his bow. "All right, I don't normally like talking about my sexuality because it's no one else's business, but you're an idiot. I'm not gay. I'm pansexual. I find a wide variety of people attractive. It just happens to be that I really wanted to be in a relationship with Tomi, who, by the way, isn't gay either. He's bisexual. Just happens to be that he wanted to be with me instead of someone else."

"But if you're both guys, that means you're gay," Mark argued. "That's all that makes sense to me."

"No," Ives growled in frustration. "Just because we're dating doesn't mean we suddenly stop liking girls, too."

Mark had a thoughtful expression on his face, his arms cross over is chest. Finally, he shook his head and stated, "I don't get it."

"I know you don't," Ives sighed, shaking his head.

The captain rubbed his faintly bearded chin. "I especially don't get the whole pansexual thing," he added. "How is it different from bisexual if you just like guys and girls?"

Ives sighed. "I don't feel limited by whether someone is male or female," he tried to explain. "I care even less than someone who is bisexual. Anyway, most people who are bi tend to lean toward either guys or girls. I don't give a crap."

Mark didn't look like he understood any more than he had to begin with. "Oh," was all he said, before finally taking his turn shooting.

Ives just shook his head. Ignorant bastard, he thought, which made him feel oddly better.

When Mark came back, he asked, "Did you hear about the guy from Madison?"

Ives nodded, glad for a change in subject. "Yeah, he's Tomi's friend. I've met him a few times."

This excited Mark. "That guy is a hero. He got shot protecting his girlfriend. Isn't it incredible?"

"It's pretty heroic," Ives admitted. "I wouldn't say it was incredible. I feel bad for both of them. Seth is going to be in the hospital for a while, I heard. And Eirianna will have a horrible time getting over what happened."

"I would think so," Mark agreed. "At least she won't have to worry about losing her virginity, now, though."

Ives' jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" he demanded. If Mark was trying to win some award for stupid comments, he was really on a roll today.

"What?" Mark asked innocently.

"I can't believe you said that," Ives replied, shaking his head in disbelief. He grabbed his bow and took his next turn before Mark could even reply. Such a thoughtless comment wasn't something he would expect from Mark. He pretended Mark's face was on the target as he shot – and he didn't miss the target with a single arrow. When he walked back from the shooting line, he more or less ignored Mark when he commented about how their teammates were doing.

"I was just trying to look at the bright side," Mark said after a while.

Ives shook his head, arms crossed over his chest while he watched Terris Brodie shoot, playing with his lip ring while he tried to decide why the senior was aiming where he was. "There's no 'bright side' of rape," he stated, not looking at Mark.

"I wouldn't know what it's like," the captain added, clearly still trying to save himself.

Ives wasn't about to even suggest that he might have an idea, so he just ignored what Mark was saying and watched another member of the team, Anna Smith, shooting. Eventually, Mark seemed to get the hint and stopped trying to talk to him about what he'd said earlier. He clearly realized he had put his foot in his mouth enough already.

Sometimes Mark Salazar was a complete idiot.

Tomi came over for dinner on Thursday night. They were working on homework at the kitchen table after dinner when Ives asked about how Seth and Eirianna were doing.

"Eiri is out of the hospital now," Tomi answered, glancing up from his math homework. "She's spending a lot of time with Shauna – I think Shauna might have gone through something similar to what she's going through. Her family life was awful, I know that much. We're all just trying to be here for Eiri, though. Seth is still in the hospital. We're still not sure when they'll release him."

"He's doing okay though?" Ives questioned.

Tomi nodded. "Yeah, he's doing pretty well. He has his arm in a sling so he doesn't mess up the stitches in his shoulder – that's where he got shot – and injure himself again."

"That has to be annoying," Ives commented. "I know I would hate that."

"So would I," Tomi agreed. "By the way, we're all starting a fundraiser to help his parents pay for his medical bills. His one dad has been trying to get a job since they moved here in August, and their family doesn't have any health insurance at the moment. We want to help out, because he's our friend and we want his family to have an easier time dealing with everything."

Ives nodded. "I don't have a ton of money, but I would be happy to help out a little bit."

His boyfriend smiled. "Every little bit counts, as they always say. It's true. Every penny they don't have to pay is more that they can keep. Or put to better use."

"Hold on," Ives instructed as he got up from the table. He went to his room and dug through the drawer in his desk until he found the buried envelope where he had been stashing his allowance every week since his mother had started giving him some – well, what was left of it, since he had spent a small amount of it. There was just short of $75 from the last month. He took it out and returned to where Tomi was waiting in the kitchen. "Here's my contribution," he declared, placing the money in front of him.

Tomi looked up from his homework again. "Wow, thank you Ives." He folded the money, stuck a piece of paper around it with Ives' name written on it, and stuffed it into his pocket. "You're great. I love you."

Ives smiled and leaned down to kiss him. "Why thank you. I love you, too."