Confrontation
Prompted by 'TeethOfTheHydra' and based on the 13th August 2014 episode: What if Ste believed John Paul when he told him it was Trevor and not Finn who raped him?
As soon as the words left his lips, John Paul knew that he had made a mistake. He hadn't meant for it to sound as though he was telling Ste that Trevor had raped him; he was trying to explain that he had been acting strangely because Trevor had been forcing him to deliver the passport. One glance at Ste's face told John Paul that Ste had misinterpreted what he had said, but it was too late to take it back. Instead, John Paul watched his rapist run away and swallowed the bile in his throat at what he had done. John Paul knew that he had complicated the situation even more by insisting that Finn was 'just a little kid' that wasn't capable of raping him, and he had no idea how he was supposed to fix things. Inwardly, he decided to just change the subject and try to move Ste's questions away from who his attacker was. Unfortunately, that just led to a massive row, and John Paul couldn't take any more of it so he fled from the petrol station as quickly as he could. Once the surge of adrenaline had ebbed away, Ste was left feeling utterly confused by the whole situation. He had been completely sure that Finn was the person who had raped his boyfriend, but apparently he was wrong. Although Trevor was a horrible bully, Ste couldn't imagine him ever sexually assaulting someone, especially as he had no reason to do it. Then again, do rapists ever need a reason to attack someone? Determined to figure out what was going on, Ste marched in the direction of Trevor's flat to face the man who had destroyed John Paul's life.
xxx
Trevor was already exasperated about Big Bob's threats and trying to hide his dodgy deals from a hormonal Grace, so when he found Ste standing outside his flat, Trevor was far from happy.
"What do you want?" Trevor sighed, "Did you little boyfriend send you here to fight his battles for him?"
Not realising that Trevor was referring to John Paul doing the favours for him, Ste jumped to the wrong conclusion and stepped closer to the taller man, "What did you just say?" Ste snarled
Trevor took a step backwards, "Woah, careful" he chuckled, "You don't want to hurt yourself trying to take me down, remember what happened last time?"
Ste shook his head, "You're sick" he spat, "I'm gonna make sure you pay for what you did to John Paul"
"What are you going on about?" Trevor questioned in bewilderment, "I haven't done anything to him"
"Of course you'd say that, nobody admits to being a rapist, do they?" Ste exclaimed
Trevor looked appalled and quickly shoved Ste out of the room before shutting the door behind them, "Say that again"
"I know what you are" Ste warned him, "I know what you did to John Paul and I'm going to tell the police everything"
Before Ste could move away, Trevor grabbed him, "Why don't you tell me everything first?" he suggested angrily, "You can't just go around accusing people of rape with no evidence"
"John Paul told me that you raped him, what more evidence do I need?" Ste pointed out
"Well, John Paul is lying" Trevor argued, "Why would I do something like that to him, to anyone?"
"You tell me" Ste retorted, "I'm guessing it was to have some kind of hold over him, am I right?"
"No, because I didn't do it" Trevor replied angrily
"Then explain what happened the other day outside College Coffee" Ste demanded
Trevor thought back to his conversation with John Paul, "I was trying to get him to deliver a passport, that's all. He owed me after-"
"He doesn't owe you anything after what you did to him!" Ste yelled in disgust
"I didn't do anything to him" Trevor insisted, "I helped him out while we were in prison, I've never even touched him"
Ste's eyes narrowed at Trevor as he recalled John Paul telling him that the attack happened before he went to prison, so the stories didn't add up.
"Tell me exactly what John Paul told you" Trevor demanded
"He told me that someone raped him before he was sent to prison" Ste began, "He didn't want to talk about it much, so I let it go until I noticed him acting weird around you and Finn"
"Finn O'Connor?" Trevor questioned, wondering what the schoolboy had to do with it.
"Yeah, he and Robbie bullied John Paul for ages" Ste explained, "In fact, I thought that Finn was the one who raped him, but then John Paul told me that it was you"
"Well, it wasn't" Trevor cried, "I swear on my yet-to-be-fertilised-child's life that I did not rape John Paul"
Ste held his gaze carefully, "Then who did?" he questioned
"I think you answered that yourself" Trevor responded, "You thought it was Finn, so start with him"
Ste remembered holding Finn down earlier and demanding a confession out of him, which he had been sure that he was going to receive before John Paul arrived. Reflecting on it now, Ste realised that Finn had done everything but admit to attacking John Paul, so it must have been him.
Timidly, Ste moved away from the taller man, "Look, I'm sorry for accusing you and making a scene" he muttered
"It can't happen again, you got that?" Trevor clarified, "I know my record's not exactly squeaky-clean, but I would never rape someone"
Ste nodded, "Yeah, sorry" he repeated quietly, "I'm just so riled up at the moment"
"I get that" Trevor responded gravely, "I knew something was wrong with him when we were in prison, but I had no idea what it was"
"Me neither" Ste agreed before gazing at the other man, "What should I do about Finn?"
"Hand him in to the police" Trevor replied as though it was the most obvious thing in the world
"Can I really do that, though?" Ste questioned, "There's no evidence, and John Paul told me that it was you, I can't go behind his back and tell them that it was Finn"
"Then we need to get a confession out of Finn" Trevor pointed out
"I've already tried that, but then John Paul turned up and let him go" Ste responded before blinking at Trevor, "Hang on, 'we'?"
Trevor nodded, "Yeah, we need to get Finn alone somewhere and make a recording of him confessing, then we can go to the police"
Ste was taken aback by Trevor's offer to help him, "Well I don't know where Finn is, but the last time I saw him he was in a right state"
"Then this is the perfect time to find him" Trevor pointed out before opening the front door, "We might as well start with his home"
Ste glanced at Trevor nervously before nodding and banging his fist against the front door of Tony's flat, prepared to face whatever lay ahead.
xxx
Finn definitely was 'in a right state' when John Paul had let him go. He hadn't felt so petrified in months, not since the night that John Paul found out that he had attacked Marlena and tried to call the police. Back then Finn was scared of the prospect of going to prison, but when Ste had him tied up in the petrol station, Finn feared for his life. Although he had worked with Ste for a while, he had no idea what the man was capable of and made a mental note to keep his distance from him in the future.
Huddled in the corner of The Dog, Finn hoped that Ste wouldn't be able to find him amongst the other people in the room. He reckoned that if Ste decided to look for him, he wouldn't choose the pub immediately, and instead would go to Tony's flat. Finn was also in desperate need of a strong drink to calm his nerves, but unfortunately he was underage so he had to have a soft drink, which didn't help the situation.
When Finn stood up to buy another orange juice, he almost walked straight into John Paul, who had clearly had the same idea as Finn in regards to needing an alcoholic beverage. The men stopped and stared at each other in shock for a few seconds before John Paul began to move towards the bar again.
Finn stopped him by reaching towards him, "John Paul" he began
John Paul jumped away at the contact and Finn smiled slightly, "Thank you"
John Paul looked confused, "'Thank you'?" he repeated incredulously
Finn nodded, "For bailing me out earlier" he explained casually, "Your boyfriend's messed up in the head, who knows what would have happened if you hadn't shown up?"
John Paul pursed his lips together, "Yeah, who knows?" he muttered
"Just make sure he stays away from me, alright?" Finn warned the older man
"Hang on, you're acting like you're the victim, like you've done nothing wrong" John Paul hissed, utterly dumfounded by the way that the teenager was acting
Finn shrugged, "I haven't, Ste was the one who tied me up and threatened to kill me"
John Paul groaned, "Look, Ste may be impulsive and reckless, but he was totally justified in what he did to you"
"Well now that Ste thinks Trevor attacked you, he technically threatened me for no reason" Finn pointed out before chuckling, "I wonder if Ste went after Trevor, I would love to see Ste try to take him on"
John Paul shook his head and let out a deep breath, "Wow Finn, you're making it really difficult for me to be civil towards you, you know that?" he murmured before scoffing, "And why should I be after everything you've done?"
"I haven't done anything" Finn responded, "I mean, that's what you told Ste, right?"
John Paul squirmed and Finn took a step closer to him, "What was it you said? 'He's just a kid, how can he do something like that to me?'" Finn recalled before smirking, "As it turns out, very easily"
Full of rage, John Paul grabbed Finn by his collar and pushed him into the counter aggressively. This attracted the attention of all the customers, who were alarmed and confused by the sight unfolding in front of them.
"You're a disgusting little bully!" John Paul barked
"Please, let go of me" Finn squeaked, realising that he must look innocent to everyone who was watching and playing up to them to gain their sympathy.
"Why should he?" A voice retorted.
Both John Paul and Finn looked around in confusion as Ste and Trevor entered. Ste folded his arms, "Why should he let go of you, Finn?" Ste repeated
"Because I haven't done anything wrong!" Finn insisted
"Except you have, haven't you?" Trevor cut in, "I mean, 'rape' isn't exactly 'nothing'"
A few gasps were heard from those in the pub, and John Paul and Finn looked horrified, "I don't know what you're talking about!" Finn cried as John Paul slowly let go of him and backed away
"Oh, stop playing innocent, Finn" Ste snapped, "We know what you did to John Paul, and now everyone else does as well"
Trevor grabbed Finn with one hand and used his other hand to fish for the mobile phone in his pocket, "I'm calling the police" he muttered casually
"But I haven't done anything!" Finn squeaked
"Shut up" Trevor snapped, "You're a liar and you've gotten away with this for far too long, so now it's time for you to pay for what you did"
John Paul watched Finn writhe under Trevor's hold and felt sick to his stomach. How could this pathetic teenager have overpowered him like that? John Paul was so consumed by his own feelings that he didn't notice Trevor telling the police what was going on until he ended the call.
"They're on their way" Trevor informed them before shaking Finn harshly, "Any last words, kid?"
Finn glanced at John Paul in a panic for a few moments before shaking his head resolutely.
"You're pathetic" Trevor growled, "I hope you rot inside for what you've done"
"There's no evidence for any of this" Finn hissed
"I thought you didn't have anything to say" Trevor sighed
Finn ignored Trevor, "It's his word against mine" he continued as he nodded at John Paul, "Who are they gonna believe? A smart young man, or a queer who was fired from his job at Hollyoaks High for beating up a student?"
Trevor shoved him harder against the counter whilst John Paul staggered backwards as Finn's word sunk in. He was right: from an objective perspective, Finn would look like the innocent person. Shaking, John Paul fled the building, unable to stay in the same room as his rapist any longer.
"Go after him" Trevor instructed Ste, "I'm not letting this little rat go until the cops show up"
Ste nodded and glared at Finn, "I can't believe I ever thought you were a decent human being" he snarled, "You're gonna get exactly what you deserve" he added before chasing after John Paul.
Finn watched after him bitterly and tried not to show how affected he was by the way in which Trevor had him restrained, especially as all the witnesses were whispering about him instead of attempting to help him. He knew there was only a matter of time before the police showed up and was inwardly scared that there would be enough evidence to get him sent to prison.
xxx
Ste watched John Paul sitting by the pier outside of The Dog. John Paul was trying to take deep breaths to calm himself down, and he had just managed to reduce his pulse rate to a normal speed before Ste approached him.
Ste gently touched John Paul's back as he sat down beside him, so as not to startle his boyfriend, "I'm not gonna ask if you're ok because that's a stupid question, but how are you feeling?"
"Terrified" John Paul choked out
Ste nodded in understanding, "But the police will be here any minute, and hopefully Finn will go down for a long time, and you won't be terrified anymore"
John Paul's eyes filled with tears, "There were so many people in the pub, word's gonna get around" he muttered, "People are gonna be pitying me, Diane's gonna hate me-"
"Who cares what other people think?" Ste pointed out, "Just focus on getting justice and trying to move on, then everyone else will as well"
John Paul considered this, then glanced at him quizzically, "How did you know it was Finn?"
Ste sighed, "After you told me that it was Trevor, I went to confront him about it and he made me realise that it was Finn"
"You spoke to Trevor?" John Paul repeated in horror
Ste nodded, "Yeah, and he was pretty mad" he grimaced, "Why did you lie about it?"
John Paul hung his head, "Ste, I wasn't trying to say that it was Trevor that did it, I meant that he was the reason I was acting so weird before. He was forcing me to deliver stuff for him, and I didn't want to"
Ste shook his head in annoyance, "You could have just said that instead of accusing Trevor of something that he didn't do!"
"But then you would have insisted on finding out who it was that… attacked me" John Paul whispered
"And what would you have said?" Ste countered
John Paul looked away uncomfortably and Ste sighed, "I want to help you, but you're not making it easy"
"None of this is easy" John Paul snapped, "And you're not making things any better by acting on impulse all the time"
"Then what do you want from me?" Ste exclaimed
John Paul held his gaze for a few moments before glancing away sadly, "To give me some space" he murmured gravely
Ste stared at him despondently, and couldn't help but feel annoyed that John Paul was treating him this way considering what he had done to help him. However, realising that John Paul was struggling with everything that was happening, Ste stood up slowly and noticed the police arriving.
John Paul spotted them as well and Ste offered a hand to him to help him up, which John Paul accepted shakily.
"I can handle this" John Paul murmured, "I'll call you later and let you know what happens"
Ste wanted to argue, wanted to be there for John Paul whilst all of this was going on. He stopped himself, however, and reminded himself that if John Paul needed space, then Ste would give that to him. Ste watched John Paul return to The Dog and knew that he would do anything for the man he loved, no matter how much it hurt to be pushed away.
Happy New Year!
Thanks for reading, and thanks 'TeethOfTheHydra' for the prompt. I'm sorry that this took so long, but things have been intense lately, so finding the time and inspiration to write this has been difficult. I wanted it to tie in to what happened on screen (JP pushing Ste away), and hopefully this is somewhat close to what you were expecting. Anyway, if anyone has any more ideas for one-shots, then let me know (and I'll try my best to get them done), and remember that reviews are always welcome!