Titel: Into better days
Rating: rated M because of the content of later chapters
Disclaimer: The real people I'm referring to belong to themselves of course. Their characters and gimmicks belong to the WWE.
Pairing(s): eventually Mason/Evan
Summary: High school can be hell. But what happens if some of the 'outsiders' decide to stand together, facing all the injustice each of them had to suffer in their past? A loose alliance soon transformed into friendship... and more...
Warnings in this chapter: strong language
A/N: Wow, thank you so much for the comments! I'm sorry that it took me so long to upload the next chapter but university startet again, blablabla
IV. - To light our way
When Evan woke up he first didn't know where he was. But the severe pain reminded him way too soon. At first he thought that he was unable to move. His arms, legs, his neck and sides, they all just hurt so terribly. To top it all, his unknown attackers must have stripped him off his jacket because he was laying there at the roadside in the freezing cold without any defence against the chilly air. He tried to get up but it took him five tries to finally get on his knees. Immediately he wrapped his arms around himself. Now that he was sitting almost upright his sides hurt more than before.
Biting his lips to deter himself from screaming Evan crawled towards his bag. The content of his backpack was lying all over the ground and as he finally reached his cellphone he had to realize that someone must have stepped on it. The display was splintered and as he picked it up the backside came off. Sobbing he curled up, hugging the remains of his phone. Nobody to call – nobody to help him...
After some minutes of uncontrolled crying the young man found some strength left in his mind and heart. He gathered his belongings and crawled to where he assumed his bike must be laying between some evergreen bushes. He actually found it there, pretty damaged. He couldn't ride it anyway so he pulled it out of the bushes which send a new wave of pain through his body. He had to rest for some time but eventually he freed his bike.
Using it as a sustainer Evan unbent and leaned over the handlebars. He shivered like a willow in the cold and piercing wind. The wet underground he had been lying on had soaked his clothes, making it much easier for the cold to take over his body. Step by step he moved on through the dark and freezing evening.
"Awesome!", Daniel shouted. He was extremely pleased with the progress of the band. Phil smiled at Sheamus who was standing next to him, his own bass in his hands. As Daniel went on babbling about how great they were and that they would totally rock the crowd on their gig Phil leaned over to the Irish boy. "You fit in perfectly", he told him and Sheamus smiled in return. "To be honest, at first I didn't think that it would actually work out, but it's as if you were there from the beginning." The pale man nodded thankfully. He knew that Phil's compliments were rare and he was proud that he had earned himself one.
"Can we please go on practising?", Wade asked. He sat at his drumset, an almost empty bottle of water in his hands. "I want to play some more songs before our little mate here decides to talk about this stupid stage gear again." Daniel sent an angry look over at the English-born but he picked up his guitar not trying to get into another argument with him.
As they played another song Mason was sitting at the small table, pondering over his homework. A weak knock on the door made them all look up. "Would you get that, Mason?", Phil asked, apologetically pointing at his plugged in guitar. "It must be Evan anyway", he added as Mason get up and went over to the side door.
"Finally", the strong man said as he opened the door but he choked on the word as he looked down. Evan was leaning against the door frame, his hands pressed against his side and his face covered with mud, dried blood and sweat. The young man looked up, exhausted. He tried to make a step forward but his legs refused to work and he fell towards Mason's stretched out arms.
"Holy shit, what happened?", Mason screamed, his voice higher than normal. He took the small boy into his arms, trying not to squeeze him too hard since he obviously was in great pain. His heart had skipped a beat as he saw his friend, and was now beating as fast as a jackhammer. He ran his fingers through Evan's wet hair which earned him a suffering and tired but somehow relieved look. "Who did that?", Mason whispered, fighting the urge to kiss Evan on the forehead.
The others dropped their instruments at the sight of their kneeling friend and went over to them. "Fuck!", Phil swore. "Take him inside", he ordered. He was rushing over to the sofa, throwing the bags and jackets that were laying on it into a corner. Mason lifted Evan up, surprised at the low weight of the swimmer. He gently placed him onto the sofa, kneeling beside his head.
"Bugger!", Wade cursed and Sheamus countered: "Which bleeding git does something like that?" Daniel remained silent. All of them were shocked at the sight of their friend's condition.
"We have to call an ambulance!", Wade stated after a while.
"Bullshit, I'll drive him! I outrun every fucking ambulance!", Phil noted and started to browse his chaos, searching for his car keys.
"We should call his parents", Sheamus remarked and Daniel whipped out his cellphone.
Mason was just kneeling beside the crouched boy, stroking his wet hair and caressing his cheek. He couldn't avert his eyes from Evan's. The young man looked back at him, his eyes half-closed. "T'was closer... than home...", he whispered and closed his eyes. His head hurt dreadfully and everything started to grow hazy in front of his eyes. Helplessly Mason continued to caress his friend. He seemed to be so fragile.
He looked up as something hit his head. Phil was standing at the open door, putting on his leather jacket. He had thrown Mason's jacket at the tall man and Mason hurried to put it on. "You have to carry him", Phil ordered and again Mason lifted Evan up, trying to be as gentle as possible. The young man moaned but didn't open his eyes. "Lock the door when you leave!", Phil said to Wade and together they went outside. Sheamus and Wade were left behind, watching Daniel as he was gesturing frantically while talking to one of Evan's parents.
"I hope he'll be okay", Sheamus said while putting away his bass, "He looked awful." Wade nodded silently.
The clock on the white, sterile wall was ticking very loud. Mason was making a face because of the strange smell of blood, disinfectant, sickness, and awful hospital food. He hated hospitals. The last time he had been to one was at his youngest sister's birth. He and Marysa had to wait outside the hospital room and as everything was over his mother had pressed a little, crying, bloody human bundle into his arms. Since then she had never really taken care of any of her children except for giving them money to buy food and clothes and such. He had been only 15 years old back then, Marysa even three years younger...
Mason shook his head as the memories tried to overwhelm him. He was standing in front of the room where they had taken Evan to, leaning against the wall he waited. He waited for something to happen. And he waited for answers.
A high and creaky voice roused him from his thoughts. "Where is he? Where's my son?"
Mason turned his head to see the Bourne's running towards him. Ellen, Evan's mother stopped in front of him, grabbing him by his shirt and forcing him to look into her eyes. She had cried and she still did. Her hair was messy but still the tall man could see how beautiful she was underneath all those tears and loose locks of hair. Just as her son.
"What happened?", she asked in a very high pitched voice and Mason waited for Evan's father to drag her away from him. "We don't know", he finally answered. "He just turned up at Phil's and we brought him here."
Ellen looked at him with eyes widened in fear. Then she hid her face in her hands and her husband led her to a chair. They stood there in silence until Mason couldn't stand it anymore. "Phil's over at the reception desk, trying to fill out the papers...", he mumbled and Mr. Bourne looked up. "I guess I should do that instead", he stated, happy about finally being able to do something. "How do I recognize him?", he asked. Mason pointed in the direction the nurse had taken Phil. "Black hair, lip piercing, tattoos.. You can't miss him", he said. "Thanks to his eloquence they agreed to look at Evan right away."
"I'll bear that in mind", the man said and walked away, leaving Mason with a completely distraught and worried mother.
After some minutes Phil and Evan's father joined them and Phil introduced himself to Ellen. Mr. Bourne put his arm around his wife. "Still no informations?", he asked quietly and she shook her head. Another sob escaped her throat. Again silent afflicted the little group.
"Mrs. Bourne?", Mason finally uttered. She looked up to him, eyes red and swollen. "I... I'm sorry. We should have looked after him. I should have looked after him. It's my fault! … I'm so sorry."
He cast down his eyes to avoid her look and started to rub his knuckles. A cold and soft hand touched his arm. "No it's not", Ellen whispered. "You did the right thing by bringing him here. I'm more than thankful", and with a side glance at Phil she added: "Evan's lucky to have friends like you two."
They were interrupted by an elderly man in a white coat. He came out of Evan's hospital room and looked around. "Are you Mr. and Mrs. Bourne?" Evan's parents turned around and looked at the doctor with big and eager eyes. "How is he?", his father asked.
"Four ribs show minor fractures and he is suffering from concussion. He also has some minor injuries on his thorax and face, but they are negligible. Also, he is feverish which is not the best state with regard to his injuries, but he'll be fine."
"Can we see him?", Ellen asked and the doctor pointed at the door. "Of course. One of our nurses is applying a bandage and we gave him some strong pain killers, but you should be able to talk to him for a couple of minutes before he becomes too tired."
As the little group entered the room Evan was sitting on a hospital bed. His upper torso was covered in white bandages and several patches covered his face and arms. "Oh sweetheart!", Ellen exclaimed, rushing over to her son and hugging him carefully. "What happened?"
"I had... an accident", Evan said, hanging his head. "Don't lie to me Evan!", his mother stated in a harsh yet concerned tone. "I've been working for the youth welfare office for over twenty years. Believe me, I know what a victim of a beating looks like."
She cupped her son's face in her hands and looked into his eyes. Evan started to feel very uncomfortable. The painkillers started to work but he still felt some throbbing pain in his chest. He didn't want his parents to know what happened, but it was no use lying to his mother. She'll find out what happened either way. All he could do was averting his head and nodding.
"Dear lord", Ellen sighed. From the look of the wounds she assumed so, but his nodding still shocked her. She hugged him again and Evan suppressed a painful hiss as she squeezed his injured ribs too hard. By looking over her shoulder he perceived the three man standing behind his mother. His father looked as concerned as his mother did whereas Phil seemed to be thinking about something. He clenched his fists and bit his lip. He seemed pretty upset.
At last he looked at Mason who was looking straight back at him. Still the smaller boy couldn't detect any emotions in his eyes but Mason's raised eyebrows and his tense muscles revealed his concern. Evan smiled at him but instead of smiling back Mason looked even more concerned. "I'm sorry", he said silently just by moving his lips and looked away.
"I think you should go now, boys. Don't you have school tomorrow?", Evan's father said. "Besides, I think Evan's pretty tired." The young man wanted to disagree, but he felt that his eyes became heavier and he realized that he indeed was very tired.
"You're right Mr. Bourne", Phil answered.
"We'll call you once we'll have talked to the doctor", Evan's father promised. "I think I have your number, Mason."
After waving at Evan and wishing him to get well soon, the two boys left the room and the hospital. On their way through the nocturnal yet lively city they remained silent. From time to time, when they had to wait at a red traffic light, Phil turned his head to look at Mason. But the tall man just stared out of the window.
"Would you give us a call when you hear from his Dad?", Phil asked as he dropped Mason at his home. He nodded and got out of the car. "Mason!", Phil called. "It wasn't your fault", he said looking into the dark and inscrutable eyes of his muscular friend. Mason just shrugged.
Three days later the boys, except for Evan, met up at Phil's. Cody was there, too. He had been really shocked when the others told him about Evan and was eager to support his small friend. Since they had several courses together he made extra specific notes and copied them for Evan.
"I have some additional homework sheets", Daniel announced and handed Cody some papers. "And Mrs. Carolan is sending her regards to him. Maybe you could tell him. He seems to enjoy her lessons... Urgh." Daniel shuddered.
"The blonde one? She teaches biology, doesn't she?", Phil asked, raising an eyebrow. "She's hot!"
Daniel looked at him in disgust. "She's a student-eating monster from hell", he stated and refused to elaborate more on this topic.
"Anyway... He's back home, is he?", Cody asked Mason, who nodded. "I thought about stopping by to bring him all this." He tapped on the pile of papers he was carrying. "Anyone wanna come with me?"
Mason agreed to accompany the smaller boy, who had chosen to wear his glasses again as long as he was with his friends or at home. He looked a lot nicer and not as arrogant with them, Mason thought, but he avoided to tell his friend.
They stayed with Phil up to late afternoon and then went to the Bourne's house together. It was close to Christmas and the streets, trees, and gardens were covered with snow. It was almost dark and the warm light that shown through the windows of various houses they passed by cast a festive glow on the white grounds. Except for two cars that drove by nobody could be seen. No surprise, since the wind was cold and keen and did its best to penetrate their warm coats.
With a friendly smile Mrs. Bourne asked them in as they arrived at their destination, almost frozen and sniffing from the cold. "It is so nice that you come by to keep Evan's company", the woman fluted and headed towards the kitchen to prepare some tea for them. "It's bothering him that he's not allowed to go to school or his training. He'll be so glad to see you!"
Standing in the hallway and removing their wet coats and boots both men looked at each other. Cody shrugged and took off his glasses, cleaning them with his sleeve until he could see through them again. The cold weather always made them mist up and every time he entered a building he went almost completely blind because of it.
"He's upstairs in his room." Ellen's head appeared in the door and she smiled at them again. "I'll bring you some tea and snacks later on."
Passing by at the living room the two boys greeted Evan's father and went upstairs to Evan's room. "She's a nice woman", Cody said as they climbed the stairs. "My mother's quite busy. Sometimes she stays in her office till late and Dad has to make dinner..." He grimaced which let Mason assume that Mr. Rhodes wasn't the most blessed cook in town. He, on the other hand, decided to keep silent about his family, especially his non-at-all-caring mother. She had always blamed all misfortune on her children. Mason, because he was too similar to his father, who had left the family when he had been five years old, and Marysa for looking like the young bimbo their father ran away with. She even blamed young Maria because she had been a Caesarean delivery and 'ruined her hitherto perfect figure'.
He was extracted from his thoughts as they arrived in front of Evan's room and Cody knocked. "Come in", a muffled voice answered from inside and they entered. "Hey guys! Good to see you!", the young boy shouted. He was sitting on a small sofa, playing some games on his playstation. As he saw his friends his face lightened up and he paused his game, putting away the pad. He wanted to stand up but the others indicated that he should remain seated.
"I made some notes for you", Cody said and placed his pile of papers on Evan's desk.
"Wow... that's great... Thank you, I guess...", Evan fake-cheered and earned a stern look from Cody.
"I know, it's important to keep track." The small boy raised his hands in an apologetic manner. "To be exact, I miss school. I have to stay home for another week and then it's Christmas break... It's sooo boring to stay home all day." Evan sighed.
Mason sat down next to him, giving him an understanding look.
"Well, after Christmas you'll be back", Cody tried to cheer him up. "And during the break you can still hang out with us again!"
Evan smiled and Cody was pleased that he could pep up his friend. "And up to then you can still rehearse all the stuff." He put his hand on the papers and Evan's smile vanished in consideration of all the work laying on his desk thanks to his friend and classmate.
"Daniel said that your biology teacher sends her regards", Mason said and Evan felt his heart jumping a little bit. Sitting next to his tall friend made his face warm up and he felt the small hair on his arms raising. "That's nice", he mumbled and looked away.
Cody raised an eyebrow at the sight of his two friends. He had always guessed that something had to be true about the rumours about Evan and now it somehow seemed as if the small swimmer had a crush on Mason. He hasn't told anyone yet about his assumption and sometimes he felt really silly thinking such things but then again... He shook his head. 'As long as you don't know for sure you should keep your mouth shut', he told himself and shook off the thought. Either way, it was none of his business.
A knock on the door made them all look up. Evan's mother entered, carrying a tray with three cups, a jug and a plate with cookies. "That's very nice, Mrs. Bourne, but I think I gotta go", Cody said as the woman placed the plate on the desk.
"Oh, what a shame", the woman said and by looking at Mason she added: "But you'll stay for dinner, won't you?" The man nodded and happy again she left the room.
"Well then", Cody said. "I got some studying to do and I recommend that you two have a look at the books, too, instead of wasting your time playing video games all evening." He gave both of them a stern look.
Two hours later, Evan and Mason were back up in Evan's room. The young boy was laying on his bed, rubbing his belly. "Your mom's awesome!", Mason stated. He was sitting on the sofa, completely stuffed.
"Okay boys", Evan's father said as he entered the room. "We'll go then."
"Say that they can call us anytime, Robert", Evan's mother whispered from the hallway.
"Darling, we agreed that Mason will spend the night here so we can go out, remember", Mr. Bourne tried to assure his wife.
"But what if..."
"They're old enough, Ellen, don't you think?"
Ellen entered the room and gave Evan a worried look. "If you need anything.."
"... I'll send my humble slave", Evan ended her sentence, giving Mason a deceitful smirk.
"Okay, as I said, we'll go then!" Mr. Bourne took his wife by the hand and soon they heard a car in the driveway.
"Alone at last", Evan said. He slowly got up and went over to the sofa, letting himself fall into the cushion next to his friend.
"Wanna see a movie?", Mason asked but Evan shook his head. "It's not often that we are alone", he said, placing a soft kiss on Mason's cheek. "And what do you want to do then?", the taller man asked, puzzled. "I'll think of something", Evan said, demanding a kiss by pointing to his face.
Mason bent down to kiss his friend but he recoiled as Evan flinched under his touch. "It still hurts, right?" Concerned he cupped Evan's face in his hands, running his fingers over the cut that was still visible on the smaller one's forehead. "You just touched the sore spot on my lip", he quietly replied. Mason kissed him again, avoiding the left side of Evan's mouth to avoid causing him more pain.
"Those dickheads", he whispered, pulling Evan closer. "You still don't know who they were?"
Evan shook his head. "I haven't seen them before. But they were after me, they knew my name..." He shuddered and laid his head against Mason's shoulder.
"If I get hold of them I swear...", Mason growled and clenched his fists. "Me and the guys will beat the living shit out of them!"
Evan laughed softly.
"I'm serious", he growled again and put his arm around Evan. The presence of his little friend calmed him down but his anger didn't vanish completely. It won't until he actually did sent those strangers to hospital.
"I know you are", Evan said, still smiling. He climbed onto Mason's lab and crossed his hands behind his broad neck. "Thank you", he whispered and hid his head at Mason's neck. The strong man placed a hand on Evan's back and the other on the back of his head. He closed his eyes, inhaling the light and pleasant smell of the younger man. For some time neither of them moved or spoke. Mason began to stroke Evan's back, sliding his hand under the other one's shirt. Evan chuckled as the cold hand touched his skin.
Mason's other hand found its way down to Evan's back, too. Feeling the light weight of the small body on his he went on caressing his younger friend's back and sides. Evan set upright, placing his hands on Mason's shoulders and kissing him. At first his kisses were soft and somewhat shy, but soon they became more demanding.
Mason ruck up his shirt and sent some shivers down Evan's spine. His motions became more rough and suddenly Evan let out a little cry as he brushed over his injured ribs too harsh. "I'm sorry", Mason said. "I should be more careful."
"Maybe...", Evan began and his head turned red. Curious Mason looked into his deep blue eyes. "Maybe we should go on somewhere... more... comfortable", he whispered, feeling a strange heat building up inside his body. Mason looked at him for what felt like a very long time. Then, he nodded.
A/N: Well, what so you think?