Chapter 3: Resolution

They talked for what seemed like hours, both of them realizing how much they missed each other. It was 12 am now. Yawning, Jean states tiredly,

"We should go to bed. He kisses Marco again, and then stands, making his way to the door.

Marco reached out and took Jean's hand before he could get further.

"Jean...would you mind staying with me..? I think if you stay with me, then I might be able to sleep tonight..." He pulled himself up and stood in front of Jean.

"I'll make you a bed up and everything or you could sleep on mine. Just...please stay, okay?"

Jean turns to face Marco again, a small smile pulling at the corner of his lips.

"Marco...At this point, I'd do anything to make sure that you're okay." Not a second later, he has his arms wrapped around Marco's waist and torso, whispering to him,

"Go change...I'll come help in a minute."

Marco held on to Jean and when they let go he grabbed his clothes from their drawer. He opened the bathroom door and turned back around to Jean.

"I'll be out in a second, okay?" He shut the door behind him and stared at the blanket that completely covered the mirror.

He wanted to take it down entirely but the glass was firmly held to the wall. Marco sat down on the floor wanting to relieve the pressure on his broken ankle. He was already half undressed from showing Jean his wounds earlier and so he easily slid the t-shirt over his head. Maybe everything would be okay after all, as long as Jean stayed by his side. Marco paid no thought to the idea of Jean looking through his things and finding things that Dazz had given to him or the pictures that kept Marco bound in silence. He hid all of this in a little shoe box in his closet. What he failed to realize that anyone looking for something in his closet would easily find it.

Nodding to himself, Jean wanders off to the closet, in search of blankets. He had no intention of anyone sleeping on the couch, but the sheets on the bed had small speckles of blood on them. Searching through the closet's contents for sheets, he knocks a small box from its hiding place. Curious on its contents, he picks it up opening it. What he found inside it horrified him. Hundreds of photos...photos of Marco...and Dazz. What terrified him the most, was the CD he found in the bottom of the box. Grabbing it, he puts it in his coat, which was hanging by the door haphazardly. He places the box back into the closet, giving up with the sheets, and resolving to not tell Marco that he had found the photos. He sits on the bed, mulling over what he had just found...trying to comprehend why anyone would do this. His thoughts were interrupted as Marco stepped out of the other room.

"Did you decide what we should do for tonight? I'll sleep on the floor if you want. Oh! We could both sleep on the floor if you wanted, or I-I don't know. It just depends on what you want."

He held on to the door frame while keeping his left foot from touching the floor. Marco looked over at Jean who seemed like he had just seen a ghost.

"Are you alright, Jean? You look like a little pale. Are you sick? I won't... I won't keep you here if you really don't want to stay..."

It was hard for Jean to look at Marco after seeing the photos in the box. Pictures of him naked and vulnerable. Although he hadn't seen much on the day he spied on them; the pictures in the box of his innocent friend being violated were enough to make him thoroughly sick at his stomach.

"I don't want to scare you again, so uh just tell me when I make you uncomfortable, okay?"

Snapping out of his trance, he shakes his head, assuring Marco he was fine.

"I'm alright; just a little tired is all?" That was a lie.

Those images couldn't be unseen. They would be branded in his mind. He knew Dazz did something horrible to Marco, but he couldn't manage to exactly picture it in his mind before...now he could see it clearly. He resolved to help Marco, but for now, his friend needed him.

"I'll be back in a minute, I'm gonna go get a glass of water. Get in bed."

"Alright, Jean. I'm really tired anyways." He chuckled a bit, and made his way over to his bed slowly.

He lay down and pulled the covers over his shoulders with his stuffed friend in tow. For the first time in a year now, when his head touched the pillow he fell asleep right away. There was no need to cry himself to sleep. It felt nice to just fall asleep instead of being scared, and alone in the darkness with only his own sobbing to comfort him. The lights were still on and the bloodied sheets were warmer than they had ever been previously. Marco for the first time was sleeping soundlessly and peacefully.

Jean hadn't lied completely about being tired, he was...the day's events had stressed him out. Slipping off his shoes by the door, and switching off the lights, he walked towards the bed, knowing that if Marco would wake up in the middle of the night, he would need comforting. A small smile lit up his face, Marco's peaceful face making a warm feeling creep through his heart. Without making a single noise, not the ruffling of clothing or the creaking of floorboards, Jean silently slipped beneath the covers with Marco, encircling an arm around his friend's waist protectively. "I've got to tell someone about this...Dazz needs to be dealt with...but...that can...wait..." That thought in his mind, he drifted off to sleep beside the one person he knew he had to protect.

About four in the morning, Marco was twisting and mumbling in his sleep. His dreams had gone from peaceful to what they were every night: painful and terrifying. The dream always stopped with him dying and Marco's eyes opened. He was covered in sweat and was still breathing heavily. The only thing that kept him from curling up in a ball and sobbing was Jean's arm holding him. Marco gently shook Jean's shoulder.

"..Jean... wake up..." He regretted this decision almost immediately when he realized that during the dream he had soiled himself. He hoped Jean didn't wake up now and he tried to move out of the bed to go shower.

Jean didn't wake up until minutes after Marco had left the bed. Warmth under his arm now gone, he turns over to the side of the bed, sitting up and ruffling his hair, not even bothering with the soaked sheets. He looked at the clock, 4:15am. Grumbling to himself, he stood up, stretching his arms above his head. The light under the bathroom door caught his eye, along with the sound of running water. Pushing the door open with one hand, he entered the steam-filled room. Marco, not noticing his presence was leaning on the shower wall, fists clenched above his head, teeth ground together. Jean, knowing that something was wrong from the start, opened the shower door, and shut off the water, wrapping a towel around Marco.

"Marco...?"

"Please stop...please stop...it hurts..." was the only response that came from the other.

He wasn't in the right state of mind at the moment; it was more of a fragile state that held him in the moment of yesterday.

"I don't want this... . Please don't...don't hit me! Please!" All over again the pain from his ankle breaking surged through his body, and he sat in the tub sobbing and unable to catch his breath.

He didn't see Jean, but only saw what wasn't there. The elderly man above him was mocking him and he could feel Dazz's fingers touching him all over as blood dripped from places that were delicate. Marco curled up in a small ball in the bottom of the shower and cried.

"Jean...please help me...where are you...it hurts so much. I don't want this..."

Now completely worried about him, Jean made an attempt to calm Marco down.

"Marco... MARCO! Sshhhh!" Being as careful as he could, he picks Marco up and carries him out of the tub onto the floor. Pulling Marco as close as he could, he talks to him.

"Marco...listen to me...You're gonna be okay. It's going to stop. You won't hurt anymore. I'll protect you until the day I die...I won't let him hurt you again...You'll be okay." Cradling Marco's head against him, he puts a kiss on the boy's shoulder, rocking back and forth on the floor.