Hurt Me Once- A Boyf-riends fanfiction

Chapter 2: Wake

Sorry for publishing late- yesterday my WiFi was really spotty. Thanks for continuing to read!!

Rich

The lights against his eyes shine dimly, and for the first time in the week since he got here, he wakes without a headache or drugs making him seem half an echo away from the rest of the world.

Nurses in blue scurry around, handing him water and helping him sit up as the world clears and white hospital room walls come into focus, allowing Rich to think about what the hell happened for the first time since... whatever it was.

Yeah. That. The fire. He burned something... newspapers, trying to end the SQUIP. And himself.

Rich expected to be dead. He wanted to be. The nurses tell him he was rescued from Jake's house... Jake's house.

Suddenly, he can't think of anything anymore. Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake. Is he okay?

Fuck, I burned down his house.

The nurses leave the room, and Rich scans the empty room to find-

"Jake," he croaks.

Jake is watching him silently. His skin is blotchy in some places- Rich now notices he does too- and has casts on both legs.

"Rich," Jakes' voice sounds a little too hollow.

Rich isn't sure why- they're friends, right? Jake is his friend, that much he can remember, though he has a feeling there's something he doesn't remember, and, well, he can't remember what that is.

He does notice something else though- Jake is really cute- really, really cute. And then- that's not new is it?

Finally, Jake seems to take pity on his confusion. "You set a fire in my house, but you're okay- well, you're mostly okay. And they removed our SQUIPs."

Rich remembers now. "Someone pulled me out, huh?" He runs his eyes over his burned arms, trying not to cry. "Oh my gosh, I'm so bi." He hasn't forgotten. He hasn't changed.

Jake seems really thrown off by this. "I- you're-?" Jake swallows. "Yeah, someone pulled you out." His voice is heavy, his eyes unreadable.

Rich winces. "Sorry about the house," he offers lamely. Jake doesn't even smile.

Jake

They both know the house isn't a big deal; his parents are so rich, they've got another only a couple blocks over. But. Rich doesn't seem to remember what is a big deal, at least to Jake.

Jake's biggest reward for pulling Rich out is that Rich is alive, of course. But. He'd hope for Rich to remember.

Rich is bi, though, that's something to cling to. That's a hope. Jake should feel elated, but honestly he feels a bit blank, like he's holding off the emotion subconsciously before it bowls him over.

He can feel that dam beginning to crack. Not good, not good.

"And the legs dude. God, I'm sorry, like seriously, my bad. I don't know what I was thinking- I- I don't I didn't think about you at all, literally. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me." Rich rambles on, and all Jake's careful walls crumble as he begins to cry.

"Fuck! Jake- I'm sorry, what did I say? Oh fuck. It's- I didn't mean I didn't- It's not that I don't care about you, I just didn't think- god, I don't fucking know, let's talk about something. Or- or we don't have to talk if you don't want to talk to me- god, I'm an asshole-"

Jake laughs through his tears, his heart twisting painfully in his chest. He doesn't miss the irony of his elation- effusive, non-SQUIPed Rich is back!- coming from such painful words. "It's not you," he gasps out, scrubbing furiously at his tears. It is, it's you, it's always been you.

"I'm terrible," Rich whispers in a small voice.

"No," Jake shakes his head, gulping a lungful of air, "Keep talking." He smiles waveringly. "Let's talk about something."

Rich shifts, wincing, and Jake wants to reach out and smooth over the wrinkle between Rich's brows. "What did you tell your SQUIP to do?"

Seriously? This is not the small talk Jake was expecting. "I... to get me the person I like?" he says weakly. Oh, the irony.

Rich nods, a small smile on his lips. "Dude, I bet she already likes you. You were the coolest guy in school before you even got the SQUIP. Why didn't you just ask her out?"

Jake wants to go back to crying. Anything but this. Rich's hair is singed, but he's still as beautiful as that day in freshman year when he turned and the light caught in the red stripe in his hair and stole Jake's breath from his body. "Too shy?" he tries.

Rich laughs, and Jake aches to bury his flushed face in the pillows. Still, a popular kid learns to hide emotions with ease. "Well, you don't need that tic-tac, man. Best of luck! I'll be your best man."

Ha fucking ha. God must have a really twisted sense of humor. "What was yours?"

Rich's smile fades, his hands twisting in the blankets. When he speaks, his voice comes out bitter as black coffee. "Didn't want to be bi," he says. That's all he says. No ramble or smiles, no change of subject or peppy second comment.

Didn't want to be bi. As a gay guy, it feels like a slap in the face, though he can understand. As a boy in love, it feels like his heart has been tossed into a meat grinder.

"Can't be-"

"Changed," Rich replies grimly. "Yeah, I know. Tried to off myself." Rich won't meet his eyes.

"Oh." Suddenly, Jake starts to see the appeal of not waking up.

Thanks for reading!! Sorry it was so short, they get longer, especially the Boyfs' chapters.

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