The Victorious [BxBxB] ✓

Pressure

Content warning - talk about sexual abuse.

Ollie bought Victor a can of coke from a vending machine before they returned to the courtroom. James couldn't follow everything that happened, all the exchanges between the lawyers and the witnesses, the many, many objections, and the judge getting impatient with them.

He didn't care about those people, not as much as he cared about Victor.

What he remembered was Victor dragging himself up from one chair to another, surrounded by dread, looking like he was more willing to throw himself out the window than talk.

But he had to talk.

Victor's reluctance was more than obvious. He was sitting behind the stand, either touching his face, his eyes, or crossing his arms, leaning back, trying his best to merge with his chair and disappear. It took him seconds to answer the most basic questions.

"How do you know the defendant?" his lawyer asked.

James remembered that question. Victor's attention darted towards Mason for a fraction of a second.

"Victor?" his lawyer pressed.

Victor closed his eyes for a brief moment and swallowed hard. "He's my mom's husband, my stepfather."

"When did the abuse start?"

Victor didn't answer immediately. He kept his glare locked on his lawyers, probably hoping to burn a hole through him. "Three-four years ago," he said.

"How old are you now?" the lawyer asked.

"Nineteen." Victor sunk more in his seat, biting the inside of his cheek.

Mason snorted. James heard him loud and clear; his voice resonated in the room. Victor lowered himself in his chair.

The judge only told Mason to wait for his turn to speak. James wondered if that simple thing managed to put doubt in anyone's head. He hoped not. He hoped that Victor's lawyers were well prepared for this, for the allegations they were making. He hoped they could actually show everyone that this wasn't just a case of a young man seducing an older "gentleman," then claiming foul play for the fuck of it.

Victor's lawyer looked down for a second, trying to make a point by pretending to think. James felt his stomach churn. He kept watching Victor like a hawk.

"So that would've made you... fifteen, sixteen?" The lawyer said.

"Liar!" Mason's outburst startled everyone. He was furious. Insulted.

"Quiet!" The Judge spoke loud and clear. "The jury will ignore that. And sir, please wait for your turn to talk, or you're going to fly out of my courtroom, understood?"

Victor fished out his inhaler from his pocket and used it. The questions kept coming, asked in a soft, understanding voice. The tone didn't help. Victor became increasingly agitated as the lawyer demanded more and more out of him.

James kept staring at Victor's lawyer - he couldn't remember his name, Mark? Michael? - hoping that he'll get a clue and ask for a break. He didn't, or he did, and used this as more proof that Victor was distressed.

"Can you tell the court how the assaults usually happened?"

Victor made fists and clenched his jaw. James could see that his breathing was erratic, and he was sweating.

"Answer the question, son," the Judge said, nodding towards him.

Victor looked at her for a second, then at his lawyer, then closed his eyes and forced a breath in. "I can." Victor pressed his lips into a thin line. He didn't add anything else for a long moment. Then he leaned forward, placed his palms on the stand, and sucked in his bottom lip. He sighed.

James felt Ollie's hand on his knee, forcing his leg to stop bouncing. He hadn't realized he was tapping his foot. Ollie looked just as unnerved as James felt.

Then Victor told his story in as few words as humanly possible. Mason would call. Mason would come. Mason would walk into the dorm room, and then Mason would – and Victor stopped. He didn't want to say the words, but both the judge and his lawyer pushed him to do it. Victor grimaced and took his hand to his mouth. He bit the side of his thumb.

The lawyer insisted Vic finishes his sentence.

Victor slapped the stance, hard. The sound echoed. "Raped," he said, cold anger seeping through.

Mason seemed on the verge of objecting again. James couldn't see his face, but he could see the way his body twitched, ready to jump, to shout, to defend his lies.

James hoped that this wasn't enough to sway the jury in his favor. It was an act, a good one, but still a last-minute desperate attempt at saving face.

It was the first time Victor said the word out loud. There was no room for assumptions, no room for speculations. Victor inhaled and dropped against the back of his chair. He dragged his tongue over his teeth and continued to chew on his lip.

James thought that would be the end of it. That had to be the end of it.

He was wrong.

Mark or Michael wanted to go into detail, saying that he understood the difficulties that relieving trauma is hard, and they can take it easy, but he had to.

Victor seemed murderous. Victor seemed heartbroken.

Victor obliged.

Then the defense lawyer stood.

"I need a break," Victor said before anyone had the chance to ask him anything. "I need. I need a -" he stopped and swallowed his curses, his need to say fucking "-break."

The judge agreed. Fifteen minutes. Victor left the room too quickly for James to follow him.

Author's note<3:

Is anyone else nervous? I'm nervous. But then again I'm always nervous.

Any theories? Any ideas? Where did Vic go? I hope he'll come back :<.