Monsters and Men ~ Rosenwalker & Richpez

Chapter 18

Once again I made the chapter too long so it'll be split into two. The next chapter should be out some time tomorrow and I promise it'll be the last angsty chapter for awhile and we can get back to cute Rosenwalker and Richpez fluff.
TW~ panic attack.

Brian hugged his legs tighter, his sobs still coming in random waves. Some moments, he thought it was over; and then the next big surge of emotion would hit him. He couldn't stop reliving the entire ordeal in his head over and over. Seeing Joe on the ground crying in front of Zoey, her spotting him witnessing the ordeal, and then sending her cronies to kick the living crap out of him. Images of the attack kept intrusively popping into his head. He couldn't stop reliving how after they'd finished beating him up, they left him lying outside on the pavement, too weak to get up.

Brian wasn't sure how long he'd lied on his side for, waiting for the pain to lessen. Eventually, he'd forced his aching body to roll over on to his back. He'd known in the moment that he had to get up and get out of there before a teacher found him; but of course there was no way that he could go to class looking the way that he did.

So instead he'd forced himself to his feet and limped his way to the theatre building. Thankfully, it was empty first period. Once inside, he'd dropped down to his hands and knees and crawled to the stage, where he knew no one would find him any time soon. He'd made it inside of there just as the bell had rang to signal the end of first period.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting behind the stage curtain, hugging his legs to his chest as he cried his eyes out. His entire body ached, and he could still taste blood in his mouth. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't let anyone from Glee see him like this, especially Joe.

Joe. Why did everything always have to come back to Joe?

Brian sobbed harder at the thought of Zoey knowing and telling Joe that Brian had feelings for him. They'd probably had a laugh about it, Joe amused over how pathetic and hopeless Brian was. Even worse, from there they'd gone and told their friends, who evidently were going to tell the entire school.

"Fuck!" Brian screamed into the empty theatre. He wasn't ready, he wasn't ready, he wasn't ready. His coming out was supposed to happen on his terms, when he felt comfortable sharing that information with someone other than Joey. He hadn't planned on that being any time soon, definitely not prior to Joe graduating.

He was going to be forced out of the closet. What was going to happen to him when the school got wind of this information? Would his friends treat him differently? He remembered all the times Joey had told him that everyone would accept him for who he was, and if they didn't then they weren't his true friends. He knew in his heart of hearts that Joey was right, but that didn't make that fact any easier. He didn't want any of his friends to see him differently. He didn't want anyone in the school to see him differently. So what if he was attracted to guys? He was still the same person. Would his friends know that?

Would Joe know that?

Brian let out a quiet whimper as his mind circled back to Joe. It didn't matter what Joe thought; their friendship was definitely over. Joe was probably repulsed by him now that he knew the truth. And even if by some miracle he wasn't, he wasn't going to be able to speak to him anymore. Zoey had made that quite clear.

xXx

Joe scanned the room several more times, confirming that Brian was missing. He leaned forward and tapped Joey's shoulder. The younger boy turned away from entertaining Lauren and Meredith, smiling at Joe. "What's up good buddy?"

"Where's your good buddy?" Joe asked.

"Um, staring me in the face?" Joey responded awkwardly.

Joe laughed, his first true laugh of the day. "Not me you fucking dork, Rosenthal."