"He did it again"

Alex didn't need to explain what he meant, because it was almost like a routine now.

Alex would come to Chris' room in the middle of the night with blood dripping from his nose and a bruise forming on his eye, Chris wouldn't ask any questions, he would just open his arms and cradle Alex against his chest.

"It'll be alright, i promise you" Chris sometime s felt bad about saying this to Alex, because he didn't know if it would ever be alright. But it seemed to put Alex at ease for a while.

"Why do you stay with him, 'Lex?" Chris asked as he stroked Alex's hair.

"Because he's the only one who loves me, sure we're not perfect but he's the only one that makes me feel like I'm wanted.. sometimes." Alex felt a tear slip out of the corner of his eye.

It was silent for almost 5 minutes, Chris looked down to see that Alex had his eyes closed and his breathing had softened.
He picked him up, pulled back the covers on his bed and laid Alex down.

He hated nights like this, not because he stayed up half the night to make sure Alex was alright, but because he didn't know how to make Alex see that people did love him, that he loved him.

"Please don't go back to him, stay with me, i could love you, we could be perfect" Chris didn't realise he was crying until he tasted the salty tears that dripped into his mouth.

there was no denying it now, Chris Sabin was in love with Alex Shelley, and he hated what was happening to him.

Alex woke up the next morning with Chris' arm wrapped around him, holding him tightly.

He knew he'd have to go back to his room soon, Kevin would be getting annoyed now.

He shook Chris awake gently, telling him that he had to leave,

He got up from the bed and picked up his phone, must have fallen out. And saw that it had 3 missed calls from Kevin.

Chris caught the worried look that crossed Alex's face. Predicting that it had something to do with Kevin, he walked behind Alex and rubbed his shoulder.

"what's up, babe?" it wasn't unusual for Chris to call Alex 'babe' or 'baby'

"Kevin is going to be so mad at me" Alex bit his lower lip.

Chris sighed, he hated Kevin. He hated Kevin for what he was doing.

"Why don't you just leave him?" He already knew he would get the same answer he got every time he asked this question, but it didn't stop him asking anyway.

"Chris, if i left him it would probably make things worse." Alex sighed.

Both men were silent for a few minutes, until Chris spoke up with a burst of confidence.

"I love you, i hate seeing you like this, under the thumb. When i know i could treat you so much better." Alex's eyes widened in shock at the sentence.

"You love me?" Alex felt tears slip down his face again. But it was just really hard to believe that Chris had said that.

"Yeah. And I'm not letting you go back to him. " He said gently.

"But i have to, you don't know how much of a beating i'll be in for if i don't go back!" Alex sobbed.

".. Do you love me back?" Chris asked.


"You know i do." Alex said quietly.

"Do you love Kevin?" It was a simple question, but it triggered something inside Alex's head.

Alex thought about saying once again the he loved Kevin, but he just couldnt lie to himself anymore.

"No, i hate him. I hate him for making me like this. I hate him for making me feel worthless. I hate him for never loving me like i should be loved." Alex was bawling his eyes out now.

"Come here, baby" Chris opened his arms to Alex, who gladly fell into them. Burying his head in Chris' chest.

"Chris? Can i stay here? I don't want to go back to him."

Chris felt like his heart was going to explode from joy. How cliché. He thought.

"Of course baby, im never going to let him hurt you ever again."

Chris kissed Alex's head and vowed to never ever let anyone hurt Alex again.