December 31st, 2023
Day Eight
" Run. Save yourself, before I trap you again. "
" Run. Save yourself, before I "
" J j ? C o M e O n , W a K e U p . "
" Save yourself, before "
" j J , p L e A s E ! y O u ' R e S c A r I n G m E ! "
" Save yourself "
" W h Y a R e N t Y o U w A k I n G u P ? "
" Run "
" a R e Y o U d E a D ? "
" RunRunRunRunRunRunRunRu- "
"JJ!"
He screamed as he woke up, flying forward. But he was immediately caught by Mikey, who laid him back down as he hovered over him with concern. He'd apparently woken him up by talking loud enough, which had interfered with his dream. The sequence had been repeating in JJ's head constantly as he'd continued to hold Mikey's dying body, but now, it was finally over.
At least, he thought it was. When JJ looked up at Mikey, he could swear he could see that same gash etched into his side, with blood leaking from it constantly. He panicked as it poured onto him, and when he looked into Mikey's eyes, for a split second, he saw those same widespread, bloodshot, agonized eyes. Resisting a scream, he closed his eyes and shook what he knew wasn't real away. When he opened them again, everything was normal. There was not a single bit of red anywhere.
Just then, he saw his hoodie sleeve, alarmingly bright red. He panicked again, immediately tearing it off and hurling it across the room, leaving him in just the plain white shirt underneath.
Mikey stared at JJ with tears in his eyes, knowing he was witnessing just a sliver of how bad this was. He leaned down and hugged him, using his hand to avert his gaze from the hoodie on the floor. Mikey composed himself as JJ relaxed in his embrace, remembering what he'd been planning to say since he'd woken up, and pushing away his nervousness at how JJ would react to it.
As much as he didn't want to make things worse, Mikey knew he had to tell him sooner or later.
"JJ," He began, extremely hesitant at first. "There's something I have to say."
"What is it?" JJ answered hoarsely.
"I just... want to set a boundary down." Mikey continued. "A little one. Okay?"
JJ went silent, urging him to keep going.
"Nothing else is going to change," Mikey clarified. "This isn't anything major, but... for the time being, I... I-"
JJ's stare was intimidating him, and bringing back his anxiety. He started to hesitate again.
"Get on with it." JJ said, impatience evident in his tone. Mikey felt a cold, nervous sweat forming, but eventually forced himself to blurt out:
"I don't want you to kiss me as much as you do anymore. And if you still d-do, that you at least are g-gentle and not forcing, and that you respect when I don't want you to k-kiss or touch me."
A moment of tense silence passed.
"What?" Came JJ's response, appalled. Mikey increasingly became more afraid as the realization that he was resorting to anger. "How could you say that?"
"B-Because it makes me uncomfortable." Mikey answered, trembling. "This is just temporary, JJ. I-I just want a break from it a while."
JJ fell back a little, scoffing.
