You Make My Life Complete (Boyxboy)

Chapter 7

Jameson's POV

Traffic laws may or may not have been broken on my way to Levi's. The phone call with Levi left me a little... spooked. Hearing him like that, so devastated, it scared me. I didn't know why he was so hysterical but he must have a reason and it couldn't be good.

I got to his house in record time and rushed up to the door before pausing. I probably shouldn't just barge in but Levi's state on the phone seemed as if he probably wouldn't want to answer the door.

I knocked and then tried the door. It opened and I started in slowly. "Levi? I called out as I entered.

I found him as soon as I walked in, on the floor of the kitchen, leaning up against the oven, knees up with his elbows rested on top of them. His head was down so I couldn't see his face but his shoulders were shaking so I could tell he was still crying.

"Oh, Levi," I said, walking over and sitting on the floor in front of him. "Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, tilting my head to try and catch his eye.

He was silent, sitting there with his shoulders shaking and refusing eye contact, and I had no idea what to do. I couldn't remember the last time I comforted someone, or someone even comforted me. After thinking a couple seconds, I remembered all the times I felt like this and just did what I would have wanted someone to do for me.

I moved around to sit on his left side, scooting right up next to him. "Come here," I said quietly as I wrapped my right arm around his shoulders and pulled him toward me. He resisted a little at first but soon just collapsed into my side, clutching my shirt tightly in his right fist. We didn't talk, I just held him until he calmed down. I waited, not saying anything so as not to push him.

"Riley..." Levi started a couple minutes later after the tears had slowed and he had caught his breath. "For awhile now, he has been pulling away, acting cold, and angry and I don't know why. I love him, he's my brother and he's one of the last family members I have left and he hates me." Levi breathed.

"What? No, he doesn't hate you. Why would you think that?" I asked.

"This morning... Today is his birthday and I got up early to make his favorite breakfast to celebrate and he just left. He said he had other plans and it was like all of the hurt I've felt the past couple of years because of his pulling away crashed on top of me and I realized, I lost him. I lost my little brother because he hates me and I don't even know why."

"I'm sure that's not true." I said, holding him to me as I thought. Things were piecing together in my mind but I was still missing a lot of the story. I shook my head to clear my thoughts, I couldn't think about this right now. Levi needed me.

"Alright, I think it's time for some cheering up, okay?" I leaned down to look at him but he still avoided eye contact. He nodded against my chest but didn't let go so I stood up and pulled him up with me. "What you're going to do is pure gonna go upstairs and take a bath or a shower, whichever helps you to relax, while I go out and get some ice cream for us to eat while we have a Disney movie marathon. Sound good?"

He nodded and started to pull away. Before he left, though, he turned back and kissed me on the cheek, his bloodshot eyes met mine for the first time today as he whispered, "Thank you."

*******

I was on my way to the nearest convenience store when I saw it. Riley's bike was in the parking lot of the beach we had gone to a week ago. After a split second decision, I turned into the lot and parked.

After climbing over the rise of the hill, I looked over to see Riley sitting where he was the entire time the last time we were here, so I walked over to him. As I walked on the rocks, I noticed he wasn't doing anything but staring out at the ocean.

"Hey," I said as I came up next to him. He didn't move, didn't react, just stayed still. I sat down next to him and looked out at the ocean. "You know, I just came from your house. I talked to your brother and he thinks you hate him."

As soon as I said those words, I felt Riley flinch next to me and I looked at him. He was tense and the look on his face showed it all. It was the same look I had seen earlier, the same look I'd had. And I could tell now that he was trying to push back his emotions, trying to hide them but he was fighting a losing battle.

"You know, I recognize that look. I've seen it on you a lot and I only recognized it because I've had it before. It's the look when you're in pain because you're being forced to hide yourself, wear a mask like my parents made me. I had to hide myself and I wore the same look that you're wearing now. Only question I have is why you're wearing it." I said.

And the damn broke. He collapsed into a fit of sobs so I pulled him into me like I did with Levi. Eventually he gave up fighting and just sagged into me. After minutes of holding him, he began to speak.

"When Levi was 18 and I was 14, Levi lost his best friend and our parents in the course of a month, right after learning Rachel was pregnant with Spencer. Seeing him so hurt, so broken, I knew I couldn't do that to him. So I pulled away, acted like an asshole to get him to hate me. That way, if he lost me, I wouldn't hurt him like he was hurt after those deaths three years ago. I can't hurt him like that, Jay. I love him too much." By the end, he was looking me right in the eyes and I could see it, through the pain in them, just how much he loved his brother.

"But don't you realize how much this is hurting him? This isn't just causing you pain, it's causing him pain too." I said.

He pulled away. "How?"

"Because he loves you and he thinks you hate him. He was on your kitchen floor sobbing after you left." I told him. "I think you should tell him. Tell him the truth about all this -"

"W-What?" He asked before zoning out a little. "No... No! I can't tell him. Telling him will just hurt him even more and like I said, he needs to hate me so if he loses me, I can't hurt him. I refuse to tell him." He said strongly, looking out at the ocean, no longer leaning against me.

I sighed, shifting and getting ready to stand. "Alright, well I gotta go. Just think about telling him okay? For both of you." I stood, patting him on the shoulder and walking back toward the beach.

*******

I think this is the most comfortable that I have ever been. I would say the happiest but that wouldn't be true since I knew Levi was still upset about this morning.

After I left Riley on the beach, I went and got the ice cream and returned to Levi's. By the time I got back, Levi was calmed down and sitting in his living room, watching Spencer play while Finding Nemo was playing on the TV. We are our ice cream while watching Spencer play and now we were just lying together with Spencer playing on the floor below us.

Levi was lying on my chest between my legs while I laid on my back on the couch. His warmth was sinking into me, making me a little lethargic. I had my arms around an amazing man, a beautiful little boy giggling in front of us, and was watching Tangled. If Levi and Tiley could have been here happily then the moment would have been perfect.

Levi shifted on top of me and I moved my eyes from Flynn fighting a palace horse to Levi's face. He looked up at me solemnly for a moment before speaking. "Jay, I just... I want to thank you. For everything. For today. I know it probably doesn't seem like it because I've been down all day but you've helped me so much, you've cheered me up and made me feel so much better. You don't know how much that means to me." He said, his blue eyes, full of sincerity, piercing mine.

I smiled down at him and simply pressed my lips to his in a gentle kiss, having no idea where I got the courage from. We broke apart quickly when we heard Spencer squeal but realized he was only laughing at Flynn slamming into a post.

When I looked back at Levi, I saw him smiling at his son. The expression alone put a smile on my face since it was the first time I'd seen him smile all morning.

When he looked back up at me with the smile on his face, I couldn't help but grin back before kissing his forehead. After I pulled away, we settled back into our original position before continuing watching the movie.