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The doctor prescribed Jeff some painkillers for the first week or so of his injury. Of course, they made him extremely drowsy, and helped him sleep soundly through the night.

Good thing. Without them, he didn't know if he would have ever gotten to sleep, what with all the chaos swimming around in his mind. What his father had done to him this time was far worse than an innocent slap across the face. And if that hadscared him, then this utterly terrified him.

How far would he go next time?

Jeff didn't want to think about it. He stayed in his room for most of the morning, until well passed noon, just lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. The cast suffocated his wrist, and no matter how hard he tried to imagine it gone, he could still feel it there. Clinging to his skin, hot and itchy and constricting…

It was haunting him. Skateboarding accident? Really? Who would buy into that? He had no other scrapes or bruises other than his broken wrist. What if the nurse or the doctor saw through his lie? What about Nick?

He couldn't tell him the truth. He wasn't going to. Nick didn't need to worry about Jeff. Jeff would go with the skateboarding accident. Simple enough. Nick wouldn't have to know about Jeff's wretched home life.

He didn't feel like he needed to worry about Tyler. His 'secret' seemed safe enough. And speaking of Tyler…

"Are you ever going to get out of bed?" said his older brother at the door to their room.

"Maybe later," Jeff mumbled. Maybe…

Tyler sighed. "Dad's not home, you know," he told him. He walked into the room and closed the door behind him. "I tried to talk to him about what he did yesterday, and he got angry and stormed out. I wonder if he's been drinking or something…"

Drinking? It was possible. Maybe he only hated Jeff in his drunken state? Jeff could hope… "Just forget it," Jeff said.

"Forget it?" Tyler echoed. "He broke your wrist, Jeff. And, according to you, this isn't even the first time he's laid a hand on you."

Oh, really? I never noticed! Thanks for clearing that up for me, Tyler. You're the best big brother ever. "I knew I shouldn't have told you about that," Jeff muttered.

"You always do this," Tyler said, exasperated. "When you need help the most, you shut everyone out."

"I wonder where I got that from?" Jeff said dryly, sending a look at Tyler.

"Hey—I'm working on that now," he defended himself. "Besides, neither of us has had to deal with something like this. I hate to say it, but you got the hard end of the deal, bro."

"No kidding," Jeff muttered. Next to Jeff's life right now, Tyler's had been just about perfect: likable, got all the girls, liked girls, and he was a genius in school.

Jeff was kind of similar, at first. He'd always had a little trouble in certain subjects at school, though, but he never got lower than a C in anything. But, now, in addition to liking girls, he also liked boys, evidently—one Nick Romano in particular.

That one thing sent his entire home life into an avalanche, crashing down around him, taking everything away with it… But Nick was worth it.

Right?

No, he couldn't question that. Never his love for Nick. It would always be enough. No matter how bad it got around home, he still had Nick, and Nick was completely worth it.

"You know, if you ever wanted to talk about it, Jeff, you can talk to me," Tyler told him, his voice sincere.

Jeff glanced at his brother disbelievingly at first, but allowed his gaze to soften. Tyler was actually offering to help Jeff. Not just pretend everything was fine, like their mother. He wasn't trying to sugarcoat anything, emptily assure that everything would be fine, or just hope that things would sort themselves out.

Maybe Tyler really had matured. "Thanks, Tyler," Jeff said. "I'll keep it in mind."

He nodded in acknowledgment. "Are you going to tell Nick?" Tyler asked.

"No," Jeff said. "And don't you dare tell him. I don't want him to know. He can't know," Jeff said, looking at Tyler almost pleadingly. "Don't tell him anything."

"Alright, alright," Tyler eased, holding up his hands. "I wasn't going to. Chill out." He paused. "Oh, by the way, he's called twice this morning. Eleven and one o'clock."

"He did?" Jeff said. "Did you answer? What did you say to him?"

"Um…That you were sleeping?" Tyler said it like it was obvious. Which it kind of was.

"Why didn't you bring the phone to me?" Jeff demanded, springing to his feet and rushing passed Tyler to the living room. What if Nick figured out something was up now? Sleeping in so late was never a very good message to send.

He grabbed the home phone from the coffee table and quickly dialed Nick's number. It rang three times. Nick's voice greeted him on the other line, "Hello? Nick speaking."

"Nick," Jeff greeted, trying to sound enthusiastic. "It's Jeff."

"Oh, hey. Finally wake up, sleepyhead?" he teased.

Jeff breathed a fake laugh. "Yeah," he said. "I had a…rough day yesterday."

"What do you mean?"

"Um…" Jeff hesitated. He hated to lie to Nick, but he didn't want to burden him with the truth. It would be better for him and Jeff both if he was left in the dark on what had actually happened. "I hurt my wrist. Skateboarding trick gone wrong," he explained simply.

"Oh," Nick murmured. "So…that made you sleep in so late…?" He questioned confusedly.

"No," Jeff said. "The painkillers did. Doctor gave them to me, and they're practically a sedative."

"Painkillers?" Nick echoed. "How badly did you hurt yourself?"

"Well, it's broken," Jeff informed him. "I got a cast. But it's no big deal."

"You broke your wrist?" Nick gasped. "Why didn't you call me?"

"It was kind of late," Jeff said. "And I don't have a cell phone at the moment. I was stuck at the doctor's office with Tyler for hours. By the time I got home, it was late. I didn't want to wake you if you were sleeping. Besides, it's nothing, really. It hardly hurt." That was a huge lie, of course. One that Nick could probably very easily read through.

"Hardly hurt? And yet you needed painkillers?" he challenged.

Yep, he could read through it all right.

Nick sighed on the other line, not waiting for a response. "Can you come over?"

"Probably," Jeff answered. His father wasn't home and his mother wouldn't care. "Yeah. I'll be over in 10 minutes."

"Good," Nick said. "See you in a few."

"Bye." Jeff hung up the phone. He quickly returned to his room to change into a fresh set of clothes, though it was awkward with his casted wrist.

Just as he was about to leave, just his luck, his father came in the front door. Jeff went back to his room quickly and closed the door, waiting for the coast to be clear. He did not want to face his father. Maybe not ever again.

He waited by the door, listening. He could hear his father's footsteps around the living room. Then coming closer. Jeff backed up to sit at the corner of his bed when the footsteps came towards him. The doorknob turned and the door was pushed open by Jeff's father.

Jeff held his breath. "Dad…?"

His father cleared his throat awkwardly. "Jeff…I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" I REALLY don't want to talk to you, though…

He leaned against the doorway and looked the other way. "Erm…Well, I wanted to…apologize for what happened yesterday."

Jeff blinked in surprised. Apologize? He wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel. An apology wouldn't change a thing, but at least he was admitting he'd done wrong…

"I'd already told you that I am…fine…with you being bisexual. And I meant to hold to that. But part of me still isn't comfortable with this whole thing," his father went on. "I know that doesn't excuse my actions the other day, however. I'm sorry for what I did. I…I hate to admit it, but I had been drinking a little yesterday morning. That probably had a little to do with how I acted."

Jeff still wasn't sure how he should react. He didn't know how he felt about this and he felt extremely uncomfortable. "It's okay," Jeff lied. "I understand." He really didn't, but he wanted to get out of here.

His father nodded. "Good," he said. He stood there awkwardly a moment longer before standing straight and walking off.

And that's that. One half-bit apology and now everything would be forgotten. By his father, at least. Jeff would never forget.

That had been a poor excuse for an apology, but what do you expect from another Griffin? They never liked to admit they were wrong, or had done wrong, no matter what the situation. Stereotypical men, in other words. Jeff wasn't sure if he should take this apology to heart or just assume that they were empty words. He wasn't typically a pessimist, but these days, it was hard to predict anything his father would do or say.

He shook his head and stood. He didn't want to think about these things. He wanted to see Nick.

He left the house and cut through his backyard to Nick's house. He didn't even have to knock on the door before Nick opened it, probably anticipating Jeff's arrival.

"You're six minutes late," Nick teased in greeting. He motioned Jeff inside.

Jeff smiled. "Sorry." He stepped inside the door.

Nick sent a look at Jeff's cast. "So, skateboarding accident?"

Jeff nodded, worried Nick might see through the lie. "Yeah. I'm a little out of practice…"

Nick nodded silently for a moment. "I thought you lost your skateboard, though?" he questioned. "Last summer."

"Yeah, I did…but I got a new one," Jeff lied quickly. "A while ago. I guess I forgot to tell you."

Nick seemed to accept that response. "You need to be more careful, caro," he murmured, shaking his head. "You keep on getting hurt. I worry what you'll end up injuring next time."

"Caro?" Jeff echoed. "I'm guessing that's Italian?"

"Yep," Nick answered. "If you want to know what it means, look it up."

Jeff breathed a laugh. "I think I will," he said with teasing threat. Being with Nick, as usual, cleared his mind of all stress. He was already feeling less tense and more comfortable.

And yet, indirectly, Nick was sort of at fault for Jeff's stress and confusion in the first place. Jeff's father wouldn't be treating him this way if he wasn't with Nick. His life would still be normal. His wrist wouldn't be broken. His father wouldn't hate him.

Stop.

He was letting himself think like this again. He could not question what he had with Nick. If he did…then he'd have nothing left.

Nick is worth it.

He told himself this, but there was still that nagging pit of uncertainty and doubt in the back of his mind. No matter what he said to himself, it wouldn't go away. It stayed there, taunting him, forcing him to question the thing most sacred to him.

Without really thinking about it, Jeff leaned in towards Nick and kissed him. An impulse to push away the doubt. To make his mind just shut up already. To prove to himself what he already knew—that Nick was worth it.

Nick seemed lightly taken aback by the random kiss, but didn't pull away. He instead kissed Jeff back. It was a passionate kiss, more intense than usual. Although it worked. The nagging doubt vanished as the taste of Nick's lips took over Jeff's senses.

He was definitely worth it.

When they broke apart, Nick gave Jeff a look of mixed bewilderment and mystification. "What was that for?" he asked, somewhat questioningly.

"Nothing," Jeff said. "Just… I love you, Nick."

Nick's eyes—his bright, beautiful, green emerald eyes—met Jeff's and he smiled softly. "I love you, too, Jeff."