Pain of Discovery (BoyxBoy) [The Pain series Book 1]

At the hands of fate and destiny

[A/N: Soooo, soooo sorry that it's taken so long to get this update finished. I re-wrote it more times than I can remember, and I didn't want to hold it back any longer otherwise it might never have been uploaded! I hope you like it - vote, follow and comment, they mean the world to me! And to my crazy Irish leprechaun, DeerInHeadlights... this one's for you ;)]

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“No way Guy, I'm not leaving him! He needs somebody here when he comes round, and it should be me.” I was impatiently pacing the room now, feeling my forehead throb with anxious energy.

“Look Jason, I know that you guys are close and this has all been a massive shock to everyone that knows Aki, but there's nothing more you can do for him right now. That's what the doctors and nurses are there for,” Guy reasoned, his tone pleading but with a slight edge to it.

But I stood firm. “I need to be sure that he's okay, and if that means sleeping by his bed for the next two days, or two weeks, or however long it takes his body to find enough strength to breathe on its own again, then I'm going to do it; no questions asked.” I hovered over the small sink in the corner of the room and started turning the tap on and off, staring stubbornly but resolutely into my weathered face in the mirror. My eyes were ringed with grey hoods and they drooped in a pained weariness that was seeping gradually throughout my whole body.

“I understand all that Jason, and I hate to play the boss card right now, but you have a contract to fulfill and I can't let you jeopardise the shows.” Guy's voice sounded so alien to me now, like I'd lost an uncle and suddenly gained a cold-hearted stranger as a close contact.

I spluttered indignantly before firing back with a childish retort. “Well, maybe I don't care about the shows right now. Maybe all I care about is the boy that I love lying semi-conscious in a hospital bed, unsure of when he's ever going to open his beautiful eyes and smile at me again!”

The silence from Guy's end of the phone was deafening. Well, that's certainly one way to come out to your manager, Jason. Good job!

I continued after taking a long, deep breath to try and soothe away some of the crazy from my fractured mind. “Look, just get someone to cover for me tonight Guy, please. As my manager, you're supposed to look out for me and have my best interests at heart, right?”

Guy sighed. “Well, yeah... but I really don't get what...”

“You don't need to get anything right now Guy,” I interrupted. “Just understand that I can't perform the way I feel right now. I'm way too screwed up and can't leave Aki. Can you please just do this one little thing for me?”

Another few seconds of silence followed, with only the hum of the static on the line punctuating the nothingness. Finally, Guy responded. “Okay Jason, I'll see what I can do. But don't think that this will go unnoticed. You might need to explain to the others why a key member of the supporting team is suddenly threatening to leave the tour so unexpectedly.”

“It's one night, Guy,” I tutted, annoyed that my manager still didn't seem to grasp why it was so important for me to stay with Aki. “As soon as I know that he's okay, I'll be back at rehearsals, I promise.”

Guy chuckled lightly. “Well, you'd better hope that he recovers soon, Jason. Our flight is booked for 3pm tomorrow, and there's no way I'm letting you miss it. We've come too far to wreck the chemistry that you've built-up with Zak and Laura.”

I gasped in desperation. With the tumultuous events of the past few days, I'd totally lost all concept of time, and I couldn't quite fathom that in less than 24 hours, I'd need to head to the airport and leave Aki behind. The thought of abandoning him again when I'd already caused him so much physical (and for all I knew, emotional) pain tore my heart to shreds, and I felt the room start to spin in blurred circles around me.