One and Only (LAMS)

Poptarts and Pizza

The two boys arrived back at 1776 and Alex squeezed his eyes shut as another whip cracked. Hercules' eyes widened, soon darkening into a terrifying scowl of pure hatred.
"Son of a bitch." Hercules growled. "The door on three," Hercules ordered, preparing a run up. Alex nodded and prepared himself. "3!"
Both boys sprinted forward and slammed their bodies into the door. It shook but didn't budge.
"Again!" Alex cried out, blocking out John's yelps of pain on the other side.
He and Hercules slammed into the door again.
And again.
And again.

Until,
BANG!

The door flew off it's hinges and slammed into the floor. In John and Alex's dorm room, John knelt shirtless with his Dad over him, holding his belt up in his right hand ready for another strike, and the bible-like book in his left, reciting a passage from it's worn yellow pages. Henry looked up with an annoyed expression, but it instantly changed when he saw Hercules.

Herc stormed right up to Henry and threw him backwards, punching him more times than there were freckles on John's cheeks. Alex cried as he held John in his arms, ignoring the blood seeping onto his shirt. He helped John to the bathroom and sat him in the bath tub, retrieving a rag and wetting it with cold water before pressing it against the open wounds. John shivered a little and stayed seated in the bath while Alex stormed out of the bathroom.

Hercules held Henry with his hands behind his back, and Alex walked right up to him and punched him across the face.
"If you ever touch my boyfriend again you will have hell to pay, am I clear?" Alex growled, before spitting on Henry's cheek.
"He deserved it." Was all Henry replied with. Alex sent another punch flying into Henry's gut.
"You deserved it, and much more."

Hercules lead Henry downstairs to the school's reception where he would be taken into custody. Alex rushed back into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him, where John sat lifelessly in the bath tub. Alex let his tears run freely down his cheeks as he tended to the wounds slashed across John's back.

"How often did he do this?" Alex whispered.
"Every six weeks." John sighed quietly, his voice hoarse. Alex choked back a sob, realising why some of John's wounds were still fresh when he first found out about them.

The boys sat in silence for a little longer before John reached out and turned on the bath tub. He was still in his jeans but didn't care. Alex was seated on the edge but John pulled him closer, letting him slide into the tub too. They sat, holding hands, while the warm water pooled around them. When it was just above Alex's stomach John stopped it, an eery silence falling over the room.

"Well we'll have to get a new door." Alex laughed half-heartedly. John forced a smile. Alex noticed how strained it was and sighed, moving closer to John in the water. He leant forward and let their foreheads rest on each other. "He will never come near you again," Alex croaked, reaching a hand up to hold John's face. John held Alex's hand in one hand and Alex's forearm in the other. Sighing contently at his boyfriend's promise.

---

After almost an hour of just sitting in the bath tub talking, a knock echoed through the bathroom. John tensed before an angelic voice filled the room.
"John? Alex? Are you guys alright?" Angelica asked quietly.
"Y-yeah, we're good." Alex answered for the both of them, squeezing John's hand.
"Okay, well we're gonna replace the hinges on your door," Angelica spoke, her smile evident in her voice.
"Thank you so much Angelica," John croaked.
"Thank Peggy, she's the only one who actually knows what she's doing," Angelica laughed, the giggles of Eliza, Peggy and Lafayette echoing behind her.

When John and Alex finally decided to get up after their insane morning, their room was empty and the door was back on it's hinges. John fell face first into his bed.

"Do you want something to eat?" Alex asked, earning a quiet moan in return, muffled by the pillows. "We have poptarts," Alex added with a grin.

"Yes." John said quickly before throwing his face back into the pillows. Alex chuckled before throwing four in the toaster. He came and sat down beside John, running a hand through his hair. John slipped his face off the pillow and moved his head to the side, meeting Alex's gaze. Alex continued to play with John's hair until the poptarts were finished.

He carried them down on a plate and John sat up slowly. They ate their poptarts in silence. Alex had so many questions, but it didn't look like John was ready to talk yet, so he kept his mouth shut. John turned to lean against the headboard but hissed as his back pushed against it, forgetting it was practically shredded. Alex jumped up and whisked his pillows off his bed, fluffing them up behind John.
"Thanks," John muttered with a small smile. Alex sat beside John and slung his arm over John's shoulders. John leaned against Alex as he finished his poptarts, and eventually fell asleep with his head in Alex's lap.

John woke again about an hour later to Alex reading over him. John grabbed Alex's attention by rolling over a little, arching his back to avoid pressing it into anything. Alex closed his book and turned to John, who rolled out of his lap.
"I think we'll go to bed early tonight." Alex sighed, John looking up at him with a weak nod. "What are we doing for dinner?"

"Not hungry." John whispered under his breath, loud enough for Alex to hear.
"You need to eat, John, Pizza?"
John shrugged. Alex sighed in defeat and called the local pizza joint.
"Do you wanna invite the others over?" Alex asked while the phone rang, a predicted answer already echoing in his mind.
"No thanks, sorry," John muttered, picking up his phone and curling into a little ball on the end of the bed.
"Don't be sorry John," Alex sighed, about to reach out to him when the pizza place picked up. Alex ordered their pizza and John kept his eyes downcast, his eyes not leaving his phone screen, even after Alex finished the call. Alex threw his phone on the bed and sat beside John but he shuffled away a little, Alex noticed and frowned, grabbing John and pulling him closer.
"Alex!" John yelped, trying to push him away. Alex held on despite John's weak attempts to wriggle out of his grasp. Eventually he gave up, slumping in Alex's arms reluctantly.

After a moment of stillness John shivered and spoke up.
"I didn't want you to see that," John spoke softly into Alex's shirt. Alex rubbed circles in John's shoulder with his thumb and held his head in his other hand.
"I didn't want to see that, but-" Alex began to reply before John interrupted, looking up at him.
"Why couldn't you have just left?"

"What?" Alex gasped, examining John's face with wide, scared eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I deserved it, my Dad said it himself." John spoke, looking anywhere but Alex's gaze.
"John!" Alex cried, holding John's face in his hands now. "Don't you dare. Nobody deserves that, especially you!"

A small tear escaped John's eyes and slipped down his cheek, but Alex wiped it away with his thumb.
"You can't listen to your dad, he's a psycho! John you mean so much to me," Alex began to explain before pausing and biting his lip, a sigh escaping his lips. "I probably wouldn't be here without you," he whispered the last part.

John's eyes widened and a small sob wracked his body, vibrating through Alex's arms.
"I couldn't leave you, John," Alex finished, his eyes glossy with tears as he watched John's flow freely down his cheeks.

John shoved his body forward and wrapped Alex in a deep hug, crying into his shirt. Alex held him with one hand in his hair and the other on the small of his back, avoiding the area that was scarred and sliced. Alex stayed strong for John in his moment of utter vulnerability, blinking back his tears and holding John's shaking frame in his arms.

Eventually John calmed down and every now and then a small sniffle sounded from his nose that was pressed into Alex's shirt, along with the rest of his face. A knock echoed through the room and John flinched, squeezing Alex a slight bit tighter, until they heard a shout.

"Pizza!"