High School Drama.

Valic blinked at what he was told, his brows relaxed and gave the appearance of pure worry. "I won't tell a single soul." There was something seriously wrong if he was told that, sure normally he wasn't told that, but it kind of had him jumpy now. Did Joshua not trust him enough to keep his mouth shut? Was it something horrible like the murder he had done? No. That's crazy...

Joshua slowly entered his password, which was a combo of letters and numbers that only made sense to the user. He clicked on a few things to get to his texting app, and sighed, clicking on 'inbox' and then Neku's messages. He scrolled to the top so Valic could read the whole thing.

Why have you been hanging out with that senior? -N

Well, he's helping me pass classes. Turns out we'll be in the same grade next year! I still need to say thanks to him. -J

Do you still like me? All you talk about is him, and how he's helping you pass and stuff. -N

Of course c: He's one of my only friends, but you're my only boyfriend. -J

Well then prove it. -N

Prove it? How? -J

Have sex with me this weekend. My parents won't be home for a whole day, they're out on some business meeting or something. That's the only way I'll believe you. -N

Really, is that what I have to do? There's no other way? -J

No. Skip your tutoring this Friday and we'll get started. -N

That was all the texts to be read, Joshua let Valic read it over a few times to process what it meant. "I have to say yes...I love him."

Valic looked at the phone and shook his head softly before glancing around to be sure they weren't seen skipping class, even though Valic was allowed since he hadn't missed many days. Gently - barely touching the other - he guided him to the bathroom and shut the door. "You don't have to have sex with him. There's other options, you never have to say yes - there's other ways of showing that you love him." Valic had a glower and was...concerned beyond belief. "Mind if I ask a few questions though? It's nothing super personal either."

Joshua leaned against one of the stalls and sighed softly, lowering his head into his hands. "He said that was the only way." he muttered out softly into his hands, so it was kind of muffled. His phone was back in his pocket, Valic was lucky--no one ever got to see anything on his phone. The other didn't know it but that was a real sign of deep, deep trust. He glanced up and sighed softly. "Go ahead, ask away...I'll answer the best I can."

Valic shook his head, "No. There's other ways - he's making it so there's no option. What if you didn't like it? You can never go back..." Even if the muffled voice was too soft, he still heard it - how could he not?
"Think, count up all the happy times you and Neku have had as of recent. Now think of all the bad times, all the times you felt you needed him and he wasn't there or he pushed you back. Which do you have more of, good or bad?" Valic's voice was comforting, like a mother's caressing hand to her wounded child.

"We've had more of the bad." Joshua muttered out softly, eyes lowered down. "But I don't want to let him go, I know he actually loves me...He's just so stressed out because the team has been losing all of the footballs games. It's not his fault." This was just like on one of those TV shows, where the innocent side always tried to come up with fake reasons to try and prevent the real one from surfacing. And in this case it was simple--Neku just didn't like Joshua.

A heavy sigh was given out and he bent over at a strange angle to stay standing yet look at the younger and shorter male's face. "Hey... Don't make up reasons for him, if he loved you like you claim he does then the stress of a game wouldn't interfere in your love life. Sure, I get stressed when my team loses but I don't reject you or Scarlet. One time at tutoring you told me all about your problems, I had my space open for you even though I was having my own issues. That's what true care is, when you brush things aside for someone that means something to you." Valic paused his little monologue for the other to process what he was saying, "I know this may be cruel and you may hate me after what I'm about to say but... You need to hear it before you get hurt. He's using you. He doesn't want you anymore, I've seen this before - that text has been shown to me a million times. He's using you for things that he knows you'll give him - sex."

Joshua glanced down as he was given a little lecture, lowering his head into his hands and crying. He knew that Valic was right, he knew...but he didn't want to believe it. "H-he loves me, he doesn't want to use me." He was just saying that to try and push away the fact. Of course he still liked Valic, he knew he was going to be told this sometime or later. "I--I know, because no one else is like him." He wiped his cheek off, which had tears running down it.

Valic hesitated but reached over and pulled Joshua to his chest, giving him a reassuring hug, holding him close and allowing the other to have someone to cry on, to have someone be there when he was in a time of need. "Joshua...don't lie to yourself, you'll just rub salt in the wound." He knew Joshua hated to be touched, but he needed this show of affection, he needed to be shown that someone was there to help him and to be there at his side through thick and thin. "He doesn't love you, he might have at some point, and everyone could see it at this school - but he doesn't anymore, please understand he's not the same Neku anymore. There are people out there that are better for you, better than him as well. People that can treat you right and make you feel more amazing than he could."

Joshua blinked as he was pulled into the hug. Surprising himself, he reached up and grabbed the back of Valic's shirt, tightening the embrace. He sobbed into his chest, unable to make words that could be understood. Sure, he hated being touched...but he was okay with it as long as they weren't trying to feel him up and he trusted them. As of now, Valic was officially 'in' his touch list--and Neku was booted out.

Valic felt the other trying to tighten the embrace, he sighed softly and held Joshua closer, leaning down a little bit so that the other felt sheltered. Seeing as Valic was far taller than him and that massive gap between them was like a window for 'others', thus being any other voice trying to intrude. Valic rubbed his back softly and made sure he felt secure where he was, "Shhh, it's alright Joshua... Everything's going to be alright, I promise things will get better for you." He murmured in the other's silver blonde hair, jade eyes falling half lidded. By now Neku's beating was already being planned.

Joshua shut his eyes tightly, taking a few small breaths. To try and calm himself. He finally leaned back and gazed up at Valic with his red-tinged ashy eyes. He felt safe for once, safe...for the first time in a long time. He didn't let the moment last long--he dropped one hand from Valic's back to pull out his cell phone. He began to text up a new message: It's over, Neku. Find yourself a new toy.

Once the message was sent, Valic rubbed his back softly and uttered out the first word between the two from the sobbing moment of silence. "Let's leave school for the day, I'll take you wherever you want to go, I just don't want you here with Neku right now." He knew the two had at least one class together, and Valic didn't want that orange haired kid to set a single finger on Joshua, after seeing that and already having emotions attaching to the other, that strong aggressive and protective nature would really show.

Joshua stayed in Valic's embrace, head lowered against his chest. The phone was slipped back into his pocket, Neku wouldn't see the text for another hour or so since classes were rather long. And in PE there was no time to check. "I don't know where to go." He whispered softly, he couldn't go to the cafe where he lived since Mr. H would force him to go back, he honestly didn't know Joshua's issues right now. Or so he thought...The small teen glanced back up at Valic.

Valic thought for a moment, he honestly didn't want to suggest his own home after what he just read. Even if he knew that wouldn't happen between them, he just didn't want for Joshua to get the wrong idea and attack him for it. "How about we go to the hot cocoa store just down the street from the Mall." That place was far from WildKatz so the other didn't need to worry, "I'll buy you a drink and whatever snack you want to make you feel better, and you can talk to me all you want." He gave him a reassuring hug, keeping him close and not letting go - he didn't know if Joshua wanted to stay in the embrace or back out of it, he'd let the other push away when he pleased.

Joshua nodded faintly but stayed in the embrace, stepping a little bit closer even. It had been a while since he was held, Neku was always doing SOMETHING and never had time for him. No, no Neku...Neku is gone. No, he's not gone yet...he will be soon... The teen didn't seem to want to move yet, but they needed to leave soon if they wanted to get out of the school unnoticed.

Neku had actually seen the text. Him and a few other guys were just getting changed into football gear when his phone had buzzed. He had told the coach he had felt like he was going to get sick and left the locker room. He knew where Joshua was, he was always in that bathroom whenever things got bad. He could see Joshua and Valic hugging and glared, he knew he was going to probably get beaten up by Valic for this but he stormed over and grabbed Joshua by his shirt collar, lifting him a foot or so off the ground and slamming him against a wall. "You damn...you don't just say NO." He spat in Joshua's face and raised a fist, viciously punching the small teen in the face.

Valic grabbed Neku by the back of his neck on first instinct and ripped him away from Joshua, forcing him up against the wall opposite of where they had just been standing, slamming him full force with all his weight. "He can say no to you if he wants to damnit!" Valic snapped at him, kneeing him hard in the stomach before throwing him to the ground like a piece of trash. "listen to me and listen to me good, you fucking twerp. If you so much as lay a hand on Joshua, text him, or step one foot too close him, I'll kill you." His foot was pressed to the other's throat - as if he could just end his life right then and there, he had the absolute power to just end it right there. "And when I say 'kill' - I mean it. I'm already going to jail for a life time for manslaughter, I might as well have homicide on my list as well."
That was to make a point, his foot applied just enough pressure to make it hard to breathe before he stepped away. "Heed my warning."

Neku quickly got up and scrambled away-even if he had gotten beaten up he had gotten a small piece of revenge out on Joshua. Speaking of him…Joshua was leaning on the wall, a hand over his left eye. He watched the whole fight with a wide, scared eye and flinched at every hit. Underneath his hand was a swelling bruise, Neku's fist had made rather hard contact with his eye. "I'm fine…"

Valic grabbed him and smashed his fist in the other's face just for the hell of it, "I hate you...with a burning passion. If you loved Joshua as he so believes, then you wouldn't hit him! You would come and try to work it out! You're a worthless piece of shit, get out of here. NOW!" Valic shoved the other to the second door, forcing him out before he looked to Joshua, huffing softly and brushing his hair back. "I'm sorry...I just didn't like what he did to you..." He muttered out before he hesitated to go to his side, he would be rejected by the other due to his actions. "Did...did you still want to leave here?"

Joshua glanced up to Valic, staying by his side. He was kind of…well, touched. He didn't lean on him though, he didn't feel like he had rights to that yet. And besides, he didn't want this to escalate to another relationship…that would be bad. Joshua lowered his head and quietly vowed to never love again. He glanced up at Val and gave a small nod. "Yeah…I do."

{ERTYUI I THINK I PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER - wait, will this have an effect on Fallen? Because if it doesn't then, well - shit.}

Valic nodded his head and stopped the other, standing in front of him and gently pulling his hand down to see the new bruise just under his eye that was all puffy - a black eye. "I know how to get rid of that." He murmured, there was a way to get rid of bruises fast, his mom had a huge gallon of it at home for her hickeys. He just forgot what it was made out of. {This is real, I forgot the ingredients.} He sighed faintly and gently placed a hand on the upper of Joshua's back to lead him out of the school building and to the car.

Joshua walked beside Valic, covering his eye. He had dropped his stuff in the bathroom but eh, someone would find it and return it to the front desk. He watched Valic unlock the door and got into the shotgun seat, covering his bruised eye again. "How?" He asked quietly, head tilted a little bit to the side.

(Huehuehue~This RP gets pretty fuckin' sad if I follow Joshua's history.)

Valic pulled Joshua's hand from his eye, there was no need to hide it away as if it was something so ugly it would kill off life, it looked weak but that was good. it would heal faster. "It's something my mom has that I use sometimes, it's just some strange combo of ingredients that just manages to make it a faint little puff of color." He started up the car and began to drive towards his home, he needed to give Joshua that cream, but it needed to stay on for an hour or so to be absorbed, "Do you mind if we just stay at my place? "

"Yeah, we can stay." He murmured softly and gazed out the window, gently touching the swollen area with a wince. "Ouch…"

(Lazy!)

"Don't touch it, you'll make it worse." Valic pawed the other's hand away and drove to his house, parking in the driveway and bringing the other inside the house and up the stairs to his bedroom like always. "Sit here, I'll go get the medicine and I'll bring up some snacks after we apply it..." With that being said he left the bedroom and went across the hall to his mother's room, going in her bathroom and pulling out her medicine, he walked back in and knead down in front of the other to apply it properly to the bruised area.

{It's all good! :D}

Joshua sighed and shut his eyes as Valic dabbed on the creame stuff or whatever. He sighed and lowered his head, wanting to talk about something but was unsure what.

(Could you vote for Joshua? I want him to win cuz he's amazing~
http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1969298&p=62129027#p62129027 )

Valic smeared the stuff around and under the bruise with a small frown of concentraton before he set it on his desk, cleaning his hands and going down the stairs to fetch promised snacks. He came up within minutes with two glasses of water, all the pockey flavors and Panda cookies (meji products) and other Meji products for Joshua to eat. Figuring it he liked pockey then he'd like products made by the same company. "What do you want to talk about?"

{Casted~}

"I don't know." Joshua glanceddown, sighing softly to himself. He lowered his head to his hands, but glanced up at Pocky. Something he couldn't resist. He picked up the strawberry one and began to nibble on the sticks, he glanced up at Valic. "Dunno…"

(I WANT LE KISS)

Valic placed all the treats next to him on the bed and sighed faintly but smiled either way to him since he needed the comfort and reassessment. "Well, we can think of something soon, oh! You're still going to spend Christmas break with me, right?" He didn't want Joshua to be alone, and as of recent they've been spending more and more breaks together, having started to Thanksgiving, and then Halloween and now Christmas.

{Soon~}

Joshua gave a small nod. "Some days I'll need to be at the cafè but I'll spend what I can with you." He reached for another strawberry one and nibbled on the small stick. They had started hanging out on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which were the ones he didn't have tutoring on. The actual tutoring was starting to slip into hangout time.

(Val should stop calling them tutorings and call 'em study DATES~)

"Alright, that's fine - just let me know ahead of time." Valic gave him a soft and weak smile before he pulled out his own phone - they never exchanged numbers, never. "You don't have my number yet, here -..." He held out his phone Joshua, showing him the name card that included his number and information. The study sessions had slipped away, but even though they faded a lot Joshua still had grades picking up.

{Embarrass him at school~}

Joshua pulled out his phone and entered the random numbers (or so they appeared). He hummed softly and looked up at Valic. Then back down, he sent a 'hi' text to Valic so he could add his number to the contacts. "There." He murmured, putting it back into his pocket. He nibbled another piece. "Want some Pocky?"

Valic saved Joshua's message to his contacts and blinked at the question, "Oh...Sure." He murmured and held out his hand, not wanting to make that awkward 'mistake' like last time. He tried to make a move, in the slightest. But it didn't work and even if it didn't make Joshua awkward, it made him feel embarrassed at his unnoticed actions.

Joshua reached in the small box to give one to Valic but frowned as it was empty. "Well that's a darn shame. I know strawberry's your favorite too~" He purred out teasingly, the one in his mouth still just hanging there like a cigar or something might. It looked like Joshua was teasing Valic, but in reality he wasn't, he just ate Pocky slowly at times.

Valic gave a soft chuckle as well and brushed back his hair, he really didn't want to bite off of what the other had, not after today. "I'll go get another pack then." He murmured with that same weak smile that he always gave, he never gave a real big and happy smile, it was always small and soft, too settle to notice. The raven haired man patted his pants down and stood to go get more.

"Are you going shopping?" Joshua asked, standing up. "I'll come with you."

(LAZY)

Valic blinked a bit, "Oh - um, alright." He murmured and patted his pocket to make sure he had his wallet before he turned to his closet and pulled out two jackets, having left all his stuff at school. He handed one to Joshua and tugged on his bigger leather jacket that had big black spikes on the shoulders, collar, and cuffs. "Let's head out then." He started out of the room, but looked back to make sure Joshua put the jacket on.

Joshua had slipped on the jacket and was now just casually walking beside Valic. It was a few sizes too big for his lithe body, and if you didn't know them it would look like the two were dating. He hummed softly and gazed over at Valic. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing - just surprised you actually put it on for once." He murmured out before starting down the stairs and to the garage, opening the door and stepping out while he waited for the other. It was already snowing again and making soft quilts, he shuddered and gave a cough, looking away from the snow with a soft frown. He made a concoction that kept the illness from taking over, but the illness learned a way around it and was making him sick again.

Joshua frowned at Valic and walked over to him. "Don't wait for me, just get in the car." He didn't like how sick Valic got, but now that the other had the Unspoken Touching Rights, during Christmas break they could probably cuddle after a long day of school. That already sounded nice. If Valic had a fireplace that would be even better, then they could have giant warm blankets and a fire.

Valic rolled his eyes and locked the door, shutting it after Joshua and jogging over to the car with a soft shivering sigh, getting into the somewhat cold car and turning it on, he blasted the heat and turned to of the vents to face him, rubbing his hands together while he sat and waited to Joshua to join him. He rubbed his face as well to warm himself, he hated this illness... It was so strange and everyone thought he was contagious - but he wasn't. It was genetic from his father's side.

Joshua quickly got into the side seat and gazed over at Valic. After a moment or two he slid off the jacket and set it on Valic's shoulders. "You should double layer, sick man." He muttered out, letting his own invisible wings spread out and wrap around himself. He buckled himself in.

(They should get stuck on the side of the road in the cold~
Brb for a bit!)

Valic shook his head and waved a hand, "No, it's fine. I'm not sick, I don't need it." He murmured, handing the jacket back to Joshua as he pulled out of the driveway, "I have an illness - there's a difference." He murmured with a suppressed cough as he started towards the supermarket, he had a dwindling amount of gas, but in the trunk of the car he had a huge carry on of gas - always scared the car would stop.

{OKay~
Shhhhh!!! xD }

Joshua put the jacket back over Val's shoulders. "You're cold, please. I'm okay." He gave a faint smile, hand drifting over to his wrist, thumb rubbing over the small patch of skin. "I swear I'll be okay."

(It must!
Back already xD)

Valic sighed but reluctantly nodded his head, "Alright..." He murmured with a soft sigh before he pulled to the parking lot after about ten minutes of driving, parking and stopping the car. He hesitated to get out, knowing it would take forever to get warm again - that's why the house was always so hot.

{It will~ }

"Start the car and stay here. Give me some money and I'll go buy it." Joshua could tell by Valic's face that he didn't want to leave the car. "I'll be in and out in a few minutes, I promise." He checked his phone, for some odd reason no service…that was bad. The snowstorm probably killed off electricity everywhere, even cell towers, after they left.

(DUNDUNDUN)

Valic nodded a little and handed him a twenty to buy whatever he wanted in the store, he honestly didn't mind what the other was to buy as long as he liked it and would eat/drink it. "Thanks...." He murmured softly, keeping the car on like told while the other left to get what was needed.

{DFGHJK}

Joshua bought some Pocky, as well as candy and soda for the other. He had seen Valic drinking it a few times and figured he'd like it, after buying the stuff he walked to the car and quickly got in before the snow could. He set the bags on the floor and looked out the window. "I think they cancelled school…I can see busses."

Valic glanced out and nodded softly before he started the car up again, starting to drive towards home again, "I guess that means no school tomorrow..." He muttered softly while he drove, about six minutes into the drive when they were just barely at the half mark - the car gave out and slowed to a stop. Sure he had gas in the trunk, but the wind was too strong right now and the snow was too much for him to handle.

Joshua blinked as the car gave out and looked a Valic. "This is bad…this is really bad." He could feel the car start to lose heat, and since the towers were dead there was no way to contact anyone. And no one drove along this side of the road. The snow was covering the car's side so it was almost unseeable and if Joshua got out he'd literally be blown away.