1.1 | louder than bombs

- 18 -

tw: homophobic slurs

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"What is it, Doe?" Jaemoon asked the male in his arms, scooting back a little to fully lean against the tree.

It was yet another breezy night, the cold wind sending chills down the couple's backs, causing them both to snuggle even closer. Winter was just around the corner.

Normally the medic would be rambling about his favourite painter or another one of his shenanigans with Troy, a silly smile adorning his delicate features while Jaemoon looked at him with heart eyes but Cairo was quiet that night.

Cairo sighed. "It's just," he paused, pulling Jaemoon's arms even tighter around his waist, "Silvius...is not a very nice person."

The Captain tensed.

"It's nothing much. He just bullied me, you could say," Cairo admitted in a small voice, his slender fingers fidgeting with Jaemoon's calloused ones.

Jaemoon inhaled sharply, tightening his arms around Cairo but not to the point that it hurt.

"He what?" he gritted out in an eerily calm voice, his jaw clenched.

"He- he just used to push me around and call me names. I could defend myself if I wanted to because, well, I am an army officer but I just chose not to," he softened his voice, "I see where he is coming from."

Now, don't get him wrong. Cairo is fully capable of defending himself physically and he very much does so when needed but he couldn't bring himself to do that in front of Ryan Silvius. Not after what he saw.

...

The corridor was crowded, the lean male pushing his way through.

Cairo was walking towards his dorm as usual after training, his muscles sore from all the exercises he did during the day's drill.

He was almost there when his body was suddenly slammed backwards, his back painfully hitting the wall which drew a sore groan from the brunette.

"Watch where you're going, fag," a deep voice hissed into his ear.

Cairo looked up to see a dark-haired male sneering down at him, "Or are you too exhausted to see what you're doing after slutting around and taking all those dicks up your ass?"

Silvius looked back at his friends with a snigger on his twisted face, the two men giving him an approved look with matching malicious smirks.

The words hurt Cairo, stabbed him right in his heart but he stayed quiet. He just gave the man a smile like he always does before walking the remaining steps to his dorm and closing the door with a slight thud.

...

"I was always open about my sexuality, well after Troy showed me that it was nothing to be ashamed about. And you know how the Force works, people either don't give a darn or mindlessly hate you. So I guess he just took that as an excuse to bully me in particular."

"Why, Doe?"

Cairo sighed again, knowing that it will take a while to explain everything to Jaemoon.

"Silvius was always, how do I put it, weak-minded? I don't know. He would always stick to the background, you know. That's not a bad thing, it's more like he just couldn't do anything, as if he lacked the will or motivation to even move a muscle. He is strong and all but he was always the last one during the drills or any other activities in the Camp. He wasn't even like this in the beginning, he just used to stay quiet as if he didn't want to be seen by anyone."