[ FACEBOOK ]

[beautifulday]

With Justin Campbell at Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut.

You knock me down, and I'll get up stronger #boyfriend #donatingblood #samebloodgroup #ab+ #helping #imstillhere

[ TEXT MESSAGE ] To Luke @ notskywalker

[aussielawyer]

We need to talk. Preferably ASAP.

"Falling apart..."

[valuetosurvival]

Who? Luke Jackson and Will Jackson
What? Bitch, sit down
When? Monday Morning
Where? Luke and Haley's house

Will wasn't stupid enough to think that he didn't know what this conversation was about. It wasn't as if there hadn't been a room full of witnesses to his drunken actions at Jett's party, and while his parents were out of the country, Luke would be the first point of contact. He had no way of knowing what he was going to be coming into, though. He knew Luke was pissed, though. There was no missing that from his big brother's messages.

He headed straight to his brother's apartment, letting himself in with his key, and made his way to the living room. "What's going on?" he asked when he saw Luke, as if holding onto the last vestiges of hope that his brother hadn't heard what had happened. He was feeling guilty enough already, and had no idea how he was supposed to deal with any of this. It was like he wasn't in control of himself anymore, and he didn't know how to find the control again.

"Today I'll play the part of non-parent."

[notskywalker]

Who: Luke Jackson and Mark Campbell
What: Mutual anger
Where: Hartford Hospital, Connecticut
When: After this

A billion things had run through Luke's mind on his drive to Hartford. Normally, he would've laughed the drive off and told Mark it could wait until he was back in New York for them to talk. Then Mark revealed WHY he was in Hartford, and there was no way Luke could argue. That wasn't to say he wasn't incredibly pissed off about having to drive up there... it just wasn't at Mark to which he was pissed. He chose to wait until he attempted to contact Will. He wanted the full story first, because if he was going to tear his little brother a new one, he wanted to make sure he had the right information. Either way, Will was going to end up with an extra anus. No two ways about it.

When Luke got to the hospital, he was directed to which room Justin was saying in. He took flowers, per Haley's request. Luke wouldn't have thought about the gesture like that because he was too angry, and she knew it. But in the middle of all this was a really sick kid whose conditional was ever-vulnerable. None of this was Justin's fault.

Luke got to the room and inside, he got the view of Justin in bed, with another unfamiliar kid lying there with him holding him. Justin's head was on his shoulder, and he was holding Justin's hand. Both were sleeping. Mark was sitting there with them, but when he saw Luke, he got up and came out to him. Justin really had moved on. And who could blame him, especially now? "Mark. I'm sorry. I know that means bugger all, but I am. If I'd have known the little piss ant was going to try to harm anyone like this, I would've intercepted sooner. I had hoped he would deal with the situation like an adult. Apparently not. What happened?"

[ TEXT MESSAGE ] To Will @ valuetosurvival

[notskywalker]

I want you to get over here right now. We're going to talk.

"If you like my body, and you think I'm sexy, come on, sugar, let me know..."

[valuetosurvival]

Who? Will Jackson and Spencer Marcus
What? "Do ya think I'm sexy?"
When? Tuesday night
Where? A busy gay club

One thing about New York was that, the clubs were always open. They didn't close for the weekdays. It was a party seven days a week. Will had somehow, in the last few days, come up with a fake ID to get himself into all the clubs, and he was determined to go out tonight and find someone to fuck away some of the pain and guilt he was feeling over everything that had happened between himself and Justin, and Sasha. He wanted to go back in time and fix it, but he couldn't, so no the only real option that he could see was to go out and find someone hot to fuck the pain away with.

He went into the busiest looking club, and quickly got attention on the dance floor from a lot of the guys dancing. But Will immediately caught sight of a drop dead sexy guy in black leather across the room. There were about 5 other guys hanging on him in varying states of undress, but Will walked over anyway and looked the guy over with his eyes hungry. "Hey," he said, giving him a wink. "I'm Will. And you should definitely be fucking me right now."

[ FACEBOOK ] with Sasha Stanford

[likefatherlikeson]

"I want to know what love is."

[beautifulday]

Who: Sasha Stanford and Mark Campbell
What: One day night at a time
Where: Campbell home, NYC
When: Early hours of Tuesday morning

Justin had been discharged late in the evening the day after he had been admitted. He had responded well to the blood transfusion, and when his dad said he would make sure he had follow-up with his own doctors and therapists in New York, they were happy to let him go home. Sasha wanted to go with him, and his parents gave him the green light. It had been the plan anyway, to stay with Justin until he had to go back to school. He was dreaded the prospect of school, considering Andi had now passed away and the grapevine would be discussing the fact he was quite possibly dating Justin. He didn't want to think about any of that yet, though.

Justin slept. He slept almost the whole time he was in hospital, save for being woken to be helped to the bathroom and to have something to drink. He slept the whole drive home to New York, and then when they got in, he went to bed and slept more. Sasha found himself crashing on and off too. When his headache started to come back, he tried to sleep it off, but it had a result of disrupting his sleep pattern. He didn't care. Back in New York, he had gone to bed with Justin after taking a shower, but he had woken up when Justin started to have what seemed to be a nightmare.

Sasha had just cuddled up behind him to spoon him, and it didn't seem to eventuate into anything horrible. Justin woke, briefly, but he didn't really seem with it. He went back to sleep, and Sasha just lay there with him, watching him until he calmed down again. Sasha didn't quite know what it was, but soon after that, he found himself crying. The tears were silent, and he didn't try to fight them. Everything catching up with him, he was sure. But mostly, it was because it set in then that Justin had cut his wrist, and tried to die. It was Sasha's first experience with this, and he was sad for Justin. He hurt for him. He lay there, held him while he slept, and just let the tears come.

It helped. Somehow. In ways he didn't need to analyse or overthink. Having a cry was what he needed. But he dried himself out and soon desperately needed a drink of water. He hadn't thought to bring a bottle of it to bed, and he knew there were no glasses in Justin's bathroom because he had a history of smashing a glass and self-harming. He carefully and quietly got up and then tucked the covers in all cosily around Justin so no draughts got him.

He went out into the kitchen and helped himself to some water. Mr Campbell had told him to make himself at home, and help himself to anything he needed. Or if he needed something and it wasn't there, to ask and he would get it for him. He twisted the cap off and sat at the kitchen table, taking a long drink. He had brought his phone with him, and he opened Facebook, sitting there and looking at his new relationship status. So much had changed in a month. No matter how much it hurt, he knew he was so damn lucky to have met Justin. If this was what love felt like, he never wanted to give it up.