012.

                                    

                                          
"Are you sure I'm going the right way, Aws?" Geoff pulled his denim jacket closer to his body as he spoke softly on the phone. The people around him were all eyeing him, and he was beginning to get quite scared. 
                          
The younger boy's laugh echoed from the receiver. "Considering I can see you stumbling in a sea of people, yes, you are." 
                          
Geoff stared up, his eyes scanning street corners for the normally blue-haired boy. It wasn't until he saw Awsten, purple hair and all, stuffed into an alleyway. "Holy fuck." Geoff mumbled beneath his breath as he crossed the street, just a few feet away from Awsten. 
                          
"Does it look nice?" Awsten breathed into the phone as he stared down to his feet shyly.
                          
There was only one word on Geoff's mind at that moment: Beautiful.
                          
————
⚠️TRIGGER WARNING: Below are mentions of sexual molestation and rape. If these themes trigger you, please do NOT read(: you may skip this chapter as it will be the only chapter which goes in depth on these issues! I love you!
                          
"So you're telling me that you've seen Patty Walters's penis?" Geoff laughed loudly as him and Awsten laid sprawled out in Awsten's backyard, passing around a nicely rolled blunt. It was approximately two in the morning, and both Awsten and Geoff were buzzed from the marijuana. 
                          
Awsten stole the blunt away from Geoff and sucked in a long drag, blowing it up into the night sky. "Yes, I have. It's pretty nice, if I do say so myself." He handed it back over to Geoff and shut his eyes, practically seeing imaginary stars of his own. "Don't tell him I told you that. He's gotta keep himself in the closet, or whatever he told me that night."
                          
"I hate to be 'that guy' but—" Geoff blew out a cloud of smoke, watching as its tendrils dances together into the cold pre-spring air. "I have to know your sexuality, because it's been bothering me for-fucking-ever." He sat up, spinning around on the now dew covered grass and facing the newly purple-haired boy. It was still really strange to see Awsten with lilac hair. It brought out his dual-toned eyes even more, and Geoff was certainly not complaining about it. 
                          
Sitting up himself, Awsten faced Geoff, stealing a drag from the blunt before blowing rings up into the air between them. "I'm bisexual, with a strong preference for boys. I've been with a few girls, but guys are just better for me, even though my longest relationship was with a girl." He took another drag into his mouth, this time blowing it over his right shoulder. "What about you, Gee? You're quite difficult to figure out."
                          
Oh god here we go. "I—" Geoff scratched the back of his neck as he tried to place his words together. "I don't really care about gender, I kind of just like who I like, I guess? I don't know—there's just a lot you don't really know about me." He tore hungrily at the blunt and stomached a few long drags, blowing them out into the night air. The rising anxiety within his chest began to simmer once more, and left his nerves buzzed and calm. 
                          
"Then why don't we tell each other?" Awsten smiled at Geoff as he leaned back on the palms of his hands, feeling as the dewy grass tickled his palms. "I'll tell you my history only if you tell me yours."
                          
"Can I keep this handy?" Geoff gestured at the blunt in between his fingers. "It'll make sure I don't burst into tears."
                          
Awsten nodded for Geoff to continue telling his story, laying down and placing his newly dyed head of hair directly into Geoff's lap as he listened to Geoff speak. 
                          
"I was six years old when my parents divorced. I had just graduated from my kindergarten class and it was the summer of 2004. I remember being home alone with my babysitter at the time, who was curled up on our couch asleep as I played with a box of Legos. The door bell rang, and when my babysitter didn't get up, I bolted for the door and unlocked it, pulling it open to reveal my dad. I immediately gave him a hug, because—well he was my fucking dad. Whenever he hugged me back, he picked me up, slammed the door shut, and rushed me to the car without a word being spoken—" 
                          
Geoff paused to take a few puffs of the blunt, letting the smoke lazily drift from his lips. "I fell asleep during the car ride, either that or he drugged me again. I woke up in a d-dark room—" Another hit. "And he came downstairs and gave me breakfast. It made me really woozy, too woozy for a seven year old. I told him I didn't feel well, and he told me to lay back on the bed. H-he touched me, Aws! He fucking put his hands down my pants and touched me!" Geoff was trembling as he pushed the blunt back between his lips, letting the smoke filter this lungs in an attempt to calm himself down. "He did this for eight months. I was locked down there for eight fucking months, with the police and even my own mother believing I was kidnapped randomly. I spent my eighth birthday down there, where I lost my virginity as an eight year old little boy, who knew nothing about the world around him." Geoff's tears were cascading freely down his cheeks, soaking into the purple and black sweater he had worn. 
                          
The blunt was long gone, burnt out and laying in the grass with its flame melted out by Geoff's tears. Awsten was now sitting up, pulling Geoff into a long and stabilizing hug. He felt Geoff's body shake as sobs racked through his lungs. Awsten raked his hands up and down Geoff's back in an attempt to comfort the older boy. He didn't know how to respond to Geoff's story except with sympathy and sadness. To the young boy, Geoff didn't seem like the stereotypical victim of sexual assault. Geoff seemed strong, easygoing, calm, and reliable. But now, seeing Geoff so broken and beaten down made Awsten angry. It made Awsten's chest well up in anger, his fist clenching and unclenching as he rubbed patterns into Geoff's back. "Is he locked up?" Awsten asked, which he knew wasn't the best timing, but he had to know before it practically ate him alive. 
                          
"Death penalty." Geoff mumbled from the crook of Awsten's neck, his voice sounding nasally and congested. "He was executed by lethal injection on November 3, 2017."
                          
Awsten stopped rubbing the older boy's back as the dots connected inside of his brain. "So—just a few months ago?"
                          
Geoff leaned back, his eyes bloodshot and bleary from tears. He sniffled loudly and laughed halfheartedly, wiping underneath his noses as he shut his eyes. "Why do you think I moved here when I did?"
                          
————
                          
Comment if you cried like a little bitch
I did too, and I fucking wrote it😂