He Was Duressed, Your Honor

Chapter 9

It had been one day. 

Poe left Memphis in the care of his doctor friend, and decided the endless calls from his mother deserved an in-person response.

He arrived back to Midlands with the excuse that he had had a little too much fun and crashed at a friend's place. Community college was still college he reasoned. His mother told him she was glad he was being safe.

He saw Jun the very next day. 

Opening the car door in his driveway, Poe heard footsteps pounding the pavement and suddenly Jun was there. He attempted to breathe out a brief hello, but Jun beat them 

If Jun was a violent person, Poe would have sworn that they would have hit him. 

"The fuck is up with you," was the first words out of their mouth.

Poe stayed silent. He'd spent weeks crafting the perfect apology, or maybe the perfect excuse which he'd convinced himself was an apology. 

But seeing Jun here in front of him, he wanted nothing more than to hug them and break down sobbing in their arms. It took Poe everything in his power not to. 

"I-" he started but Jun cut him off. 

"No. Clearly you don't care enough to tell me what's been going on with you, but Poe, you looked scared," they said more gently than Poe felt like he deserved. "On Halloween, who was that man with you?"

Poe could feel tears welling his and he quickly swallowed the lump that was rising in his throat. 

"Memphis," was the only word he could get out of his mouth before he choked out a sob and fell into Jun's arms.

Jun stepped back, alarmed, but wrapped their arms around their sobbing best friend and did their best to comfort him. Jun had been around for all of the highs and lows that Poe had experienced with Memphis. There had been nights where Jun and Poe would sit in the middle of the street for hours talking about how scared they were for her. But this was something else. 

Jun had never seen Poe as fearful as he was at this exact moment. 

After a moment, Jun tentatively ventured a question, careful not to upset Poe even more.

"Is Memphis okay?" They asked.

Poe took a deep breath and pulled back from the hug long enough to nod his head. When he spoke, his voice was strained.

"She should be," he said slowly. "Right now, I think we're all okay. I think it's done."

Jun was beyond confused, but did not respond. They were silently urging Poe to continue, and maybe explain a little about what the hell was actually happening. Just when Jun thought Poe wasn't going to say anything more, his words chilled Jun to the bone.

"I've done a terrible thing."

It wasn't so much his words as the way he said them. Confidently. Jun hadn't spoken to Poe in nearly a month where he didn't sound shaken up or terrified. The one thing he seemed certain about is what he'd done. 

Jun wasn't sure what to think. Poe was known for being one of the kindest people in all of Walton Park. 

That's one of the reasons they loved him. 

"Okay..." Jun said. "Is it about Memphis?"

Poe shook his head yes.

"Did you hurt her?"

Jun regretted the words the minute they came out of their mouth. Poe's eyes widened and he no longer looked scared. He looked hurt.

"What?" He yelled out immediately. "You think I would hurt my own sister? No! Are you kidding?"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Jun responded, sticking their hands up in innocence. "Poe, it's just, you're scaring me. I don't know what to think right now."

Poe sighed, swung his head on a swivel, and then motioned for Jun to follow him inside the house. A lot of things caught Jun's eyes as they walked through the hallways in Poe's apartment. The bed in his spare room torn apart and the sheets scattered, papers (what looked liked invoices) and receipts scattered all over the floor, and amidst it all, Poe.

He stopped, sitting down on his couch and motioning for Jun to take the seat opposite him. After thinking for a moment, he pulled out a wooden box, put his phone and laptop inside and reached towards Jun who jumped backwards.

"Sorry," Jun mumbled seeing Poe's hurt face and put their phone in the box as well. 

After the lid was closed, Poe leaned back in his seat, took a deep breath, and began.

"No one should be able to hear us. That box cuts off all cell transmissions," he said. "I would never want to put you in danger, but I really - I need you to know this."

He recounted the story, and did not stop for well over an hour. He told Jun everything: how he went to check on Memphis and became roped into the Miller Tower heist, how Mr. De la Porta had been watching him and making sure he never said a word, how his entire families lives were in danger, and the terrible things he had actually done.

"I-I don't know if she's alive. That poor lady. I killed her didn't I?" Poe asked with tears in his eyes as he finished. "I murdered some kids grandma, how could I do that?!"

Jun was silent for a long time.

They were unsure of how to respond. Unsure of how anything they do could possibly help resolve this situation. They had chills as Poe had described what Mr. De la Porta had done to him. Held him hostage. Jun looked down at their hands, trying to formulate the best response. Poe watched them intently.

"Jun," Poe started after minutes of silence. "Jun, I'm so sorry. Jun, please don't hate me. I don't know if I could bear it if you hated me."

Jun looked up and locked eyes with Poe. 

"I could never hate you." 

Some of the worry left his face as his gaze softened, but Poe continued to anxiously fiddle with the ring on his hand. He stared off out the window and started to speak.

"Jun I-" but Jun reached out and grasped his hand, cutting off his sentence. 

The two locked eyes for a moment, before Jun moved to sit next to Poe. 

"I'm serious," they said. "I could never hate you."

They leaned in slowly until their faces were inches apart. Poe looked scared, as he always had recently, but there was something new behind his eyes that Jun hadn't seen for a while. Hope. Happiness. Before Poe could say anything, Jun kissed him.