The Meaning of Sanctuary
folder
Original - Misc › -Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
7
Views:
2,447
Reviews:
13
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Original - Misc › -Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
7
Views:
2,447
Reviews:
13
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
The Meaning of Yearning Pt. 2
---0~0~0---
“Yearning is not only a good way to go crazy, but also a pretty good place to hide out from hard truth.”
-Jay Cocks [1]
---0~0~0---
Alex gulped.
The smirk widened. “Don’t worry, darling – I’ll take care of you. Now come and put on your costume.” The other dancer purred, stalking forward. “Don’t look so terrified, beautiful boy – I assure you that you’ll enjoy working with me. Almost as much as I will, in fact.” Now the smirk looked absolutely evil. “After all, I’ve been waiting to work with you for weeks!”
Alex tried very hard not to whimper. Honestly he did.
Drake cooed.
Whimper.
---0~0~0---
“Now come, darling, put on your costume like a good little boy!” Drake ordered, shaking the raggedy pieces of ‘clothing’ so demandingly that Alex was certain it was going to fall apart. He held his breath.
Sadly, it didn’t.
“Drake…” Alex started to say, warily backing away as the dancer stalked closer. “I really, really don’t know about this… You know I’m not a professional or anything, and I’m not sure if I can do what you and Vin seem to think I can do.”
Drake tutted. “Of course you can do, dear boy! I have faith in you.” Then an evil grin flitted over his lips that, with the Nazi costume, effectively gave the Brit an aura of such convincingly sinister enjoyment Alex was sure his heart stopped in abject fear. “And most importantly, I have faith in me. The crowd is going to absolutely love you after tonight, Lexxie!”
Alex shook his head, raising his hands as if to ward the other dancer off. “Drake, I really think that I – gah!” He yelped, heart in his throat, too taken by surprise as the dancer almost materialized in front of him, costume falling to the ground behind him with a light thump as Drake – gently – grabbed hold of his wrist and carefully tilted it this way and that.
His heart suddenly dropped to the bottom of his stomach as he remembered.
Shit. I completely forgot about the -
“Bruises, Alex?” That coldly rumbling tone was unfamiliar, and all the more frightening for the unfamiliarity.
Deceptively slender fingers turned his wrist around, then took the other one and held it up for inspection as the boy unresistingly – wisely – let him. Clever, depthless verdant eyes noted the black-blue marks – recent. Noticed the longish shape – fingers. Looked closer, and saw lightly scabbed areas in the shape of half-moons – nails.
“Now here’s something my pretty little bird didn’t tell me, hm…?” Drake questioned mildly. Too mild.
Alex swallowed. “Drake, I – ”
“And would my pretty little bird tell me exactly how this happened? And if, possibly, there are still other little secrets being kept from me?” The dancer continued in an unhurried tone, as if the boy never spoke at all. Green hardened into narrowed slits of emerald, and the next few words were jagged icicles, sharp and cool with rage. “Without lying and trying to squirm away too much?”
The teen swallowed again. “Listen, Drake, it’s just – ”
“Ah, ah, ah.” Drake said with a smile, and hard eyes, holding up a finger and waving it slowly, almost hypnotically from side to side. “No excuses.”
As Alex had been ready to present just that, if with slightly more truth than he had offered to Dave and Adrian, his jaws snapped shut and he gulped. The other dancer let go, then, and began to circle around him, considering.
Hands now dangling at his sides, Alex let him – he was entirely too thrown off by this new side to the usually affectionate and open dancer that he had never even suspected existed. And on some primal, instinctive level…
…he could freely admit that he was scared shitless.
“Now. Once again – and I’ll ask only once more, Alex.” The cheerily conversational words were completely marred by the undertone of warning. “What happened?”
Icy emerald met shakily determined, defiant brown.
A bare few moments passed before the teen lowered his gaze in defeat.
“It… It happened earlier today,” Alex admitted hesitantly, choosing his words will all the desperate caution of one attempting to soothe a wild bull with nothing on hand. “While I was coming back from my free period to my next class.”
“The wrestling team’s practice usually ends around that time, and since some members of team… aren’t exactly friends with me...” The boy licked his lips, and when Drake showed no sign of wanting to interrupt, he continued. “I take the long way around to class so I won’t run into them. Except, today, I was in kind of a hurry so I took a short cut.”
“I figured that if I moved fast enough we’d miss each other... We didn’t, so,” Alex looked down at his bruised wrists, and stated the obvious. “...this happened.”
A long pause ensued, wherein Alex hoped that was enough, yet knew that it wasn’t.
“Why?” Drake prompted. He elaborated at the slightly confused look the boy gave. “Why did it happen? It’s obvious he grabbed you, but why?”
The boy looked down. “I didn’t ask.”
Green eyes narrowed. Try to challenge me, will you, boy? You’re far too young yet. “What was he trying to make you do?”
A low string of sound. “Say that once more, and louder.”
“They… He… They were trying to drag me off to the shed where they keep sports equipment, in the gym.” A miserable flush stole across Alex’s face. “They wanted to get me alone, so they could,” the slender throat worked, and the boy squeezed his eyes shut, “so they could have some… fun… with me…”
“…but then the coach came in, saw us and chased us out so we could get to class.” Alex shifted uneasily on his feet, still not looking at the dancer. “I grabbed the chance and ran for it. I barely made it to class on time.”
The dancer said something that Alex missed, too intent on the scuffed floor of the dressing room. He lifted his head. “What?”
“I asked,” Drake repeated, carefully. “Did they do anything besides bruise your wrists? Did they touch you at all?”
“…y-yes…”
“Where?”
“Well, a couple of them pushed me around, and – ”
“Alex.”
“…”
Alex looked into Drake’s eyes, then, pleading for reprieve.
There was none. The dancer cared too much. “Where else did they touch you?”
“They – they groped me… Pretty much wherever they could and… And they… Pulled and squeezed my… my...” The words trailed off, but the pale hand, wrist ringed with steadily darkening bruises, that waved in front of the thong made the boy’s meaning more than clear.
When no response was forthcoming, and nothing but silenced answered his words, Alex swallowed, then swallowed again, fighting against the rising tide of tears. His hands fisted, nails digging into palms hard enough to draw blood as he heard the footsteps move away. The door opened, then closed, leaving him alone in the room.
For a few seconds, Alex hoped it might have been a joke – that Drake was still in the room, that Drake was coming back any minute any second, that he was only hearing things.
But it was only him in the room, and the only things that disturbed the silence were the rough, gasping breaths that Alex belatedly realized was coming from him.
And when seconds turned into a minute, a minute into two, and two into five, into ten, into twenty… he knew Drake wasn’t coming back. He locked his knees into place, refusing to collapse in the wake of the horrible realization that swept through him.
He’d been rejected.
He had been rejected by the man who he had come, through long weeks of working together, to respect and like – no, cherish as a friend. A friend who knew some of the darker secrets that he sparingly gave with the willingness of a thirst-ridden man in the desert, and one flask of water. A friend who had listened to him, even when he refused to talk. A friend who protected him from the occasional unwanted advance from the other dancers, and a few of the bouncers in the club. A friend who gave him cake for a birthday that no one but he remembered. A friend who had kissed him and hugged him for the slightest reasons, because he felt like it.
A friend who now left him, and wasn’t going to come back.
After a few more minutes in which Alex dazedly tried to come to grips with the loss of one of the very few good things in his life, he finally stood up and walked, stiltedly, to the duffel he had tossed onto the table.
Slowly he picked up his clothes, redressing himself, uncaring of their wrinkled state. He packed away his things slowly, prolonging every movement until…
…until he was finished.
Everything was put away, the forgotten costume on the floor neatly hung, all entertainment value gone. The make-up was stored neatly back into the drawers, the chairs pushed under the tables.
Alex slowly left the room, closing the door behind him.
He made his way to Vin’s office, hesitated, then lifted his hand to knock.
“…don’t think Alex should be working here anymore.”
Alex froze. Heart in this throat, he leaned close, pressing his ear to the thin wood, taking care not to make a sound. He couldn’t hear everything, but heard just enough to make out the gist of what they were saying.
“Are… sure, Drake?”
“….course I’m sure! …don’t care WHAT… takes, ...get rid of the boy!”
“But… needs the job… money… good kid!”
“Who cares, Vin??? He shouldn’t even be working here! You know that! Especially considering what just happened!”
“…”
“...need time… take care… and the boy.”
“Dunno, Drake… We need you more than him.”
“…Spare… Just get him to stop working!”
“…”
“For gods’ sake! If you won’t do it, then I will!”
The clear tones of Drake’s voice sounded like it was spoken right next to the door.
Alex just barely managed to catch himself from falling as the door opened. For a few seconds, he and Drake stared at each other, green eyes wide with shock, brown eyes round and dark with hidden hurt.
The Brit opened his mouth, but before he could say a word, the boy suddenly turned and ran down the hall, making for the exit door, side-stepping and dodging around props and the other employees of the club.
Drake cursed and belatedly gave chase, his progress hampered by his larger size. His longer legs helped him, though, and he was beginning to think he would reach the boy –
CRASH!
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Came the ear-grating shriek right in his ear.
“Not now, Derek!” The dancer said impatiently, trying to untangle himself from the ribbon and fabric, when long, manicured nails grabbed hold of his shirt and wouldn’t let go. “I have to get to – ”
“It’s Delilah!” The other man – woman – whatever – yelped. “And you are NOT going anywhere until you act like a gentleman and help me up!”
“I don’t have the time, Derek! Alex is going to – ” Drake, panicked, abruptly reminded of what he was doing, shot up and made for the door.
The open door.
It was too late.
Alex had gotten away.
---0~0~0---
[1] I know what you were thinking... And you can just get your minds out of the gutter! (While I try to pry mine out at the same time... *sweatdrops* )
AN: Well. Latest installment - the second portion of the fifth chapter. I'm currently debating between making a third section of chapter five, or simply removing it and making it the sixth chapter. Either way would change the story, so I'm still not sure...
Anyway. Speaking of changing stories... I apologize that it's taking a long time to update this story. Part of it is I didn't have the inspiration to write, and part of it is I don't have the motivation to write, either.. I haven't gotten any feedback on my last update of this story, which I take to mean that there is little interest in it, if any. Therefore, updates will accordingly be few and far in between since I'll be writing and posting for mainly my benefit.
I could beg for reviews, I suppose, but if the quality of my writing and if the plot is such that people can't be bothered to review, then it's hardly fair for me to demand them. It would be like asking for compensation for a substandard quality of work. So I will not beg.
I will, however, take more time in my work and take more personal pleasure in it, and will now update as I see fit. Just to give you a heads up as to how updates will go now.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Jade Ai
“Yearning is not only a good way to go crazy, but also a pretty good place to hide out from hard truth.”
-Jay Cocks [1]
---0~0~0---
Alex gulped.
The smirk widened. “Don’t worry, darling – I’ll take care of you. Now come and put on your costume.” The other dancer purred, stalking forward. “Don’t look so terrified, beautiful boy – I assure you that you’ll enjoy working with me. Almost as much as I will, in fact.” Now the smirk looked absolutely evil. “After all, I’ve been waiting to work with you for weeks!”
Alex tried very hard not to whimper. Honestly he did.
Drake cooed.
Whimper.
---0~0~0---
“Now come, darling, put on your costume like a good little boy!” Drake ordered, shaking the raggedy pieces of ‘clothing’ so demandingly that Alex was certain it was going to fall apart. He held his breath.
Sadly, it didn’t.
“Drake…” Alex started to say, warily backing away as the dancer stalked closer. “I really, really don’t know about this… You know I’m not a professional or anything, and I’m not sure if I can do what you and Vin seem to think I can do.”
Drake tutted. “Of course you can do, dear boy! I have faith in you.” Then an evil grin flitted over his lips that, with the Nazi costume, effectively gave the Brit an aura of such convincingly sinister enjoyment Alex was sure his heart stopped in abject fear. “And most importantly, I have faith in me. The crowd is going to absolutely love you after tonight, Lexxie!”
Alex shook his head, raising his hands as if to ward the other dancer off. “Drake, I really think that I – gah!” He yelped, heart in his throat, too taken by surprise as the dancer almost materialized in front of him, costume falling to the ground behind him with a light thump as Drake – gently – grabbed hold of his wrist and carefully tilted it this way and that.
His heart suddenly dropped to the bottom of his stomach as he remembered.
Shit. I completely forgot about the -
“Bruises, Alex?” That coldly rumbling tone was unfamiliar, and all the more frightening for the unfamiliarity.
Deceptively slender fingers turned his wrist around, then took the other one and held it up for inspection as the boy unresistingly – wisely – let him. Clever, depthless verdant eyes noted the black-blue marks – recent. Noticed the longish shape – fingers. Looked closer, and saw lightly scabbed areas in the shape of half-moons – nails.
“Now here’s something my pretty little bird didn’t tell me, hm…?” Drake questioned mildly. Too mild.
Alex swallowed. “Drake, I – ”
“And would my pretty little bird tell me exactly how this happened? And if, possibly, there are still other little secrets being kept from me?” The dancer continued in an unhurried tone, as if the boy never spoke at all. Green hardened into narrowed slits of emerald, and the next few words were jagged icicles, sharp and cool with rage. “Without lying and trying to squirm away too much?”
The teen swallowed again. “Listen, Drake, it’s just – ”
“Ah, ah, ah.” Drake said with a smile, and hard eyes, holding up a finger and waving it slowly, almost hypnotically from side to side. “No excuses.”
As Alex had been ready to present just that, if with slightly more truth than he had offered to Dave and Adrian, his jaws snapped shut and he gulped. The other dancer let go, then, and began to circle around him, considering.
Hands now dangling at his sides, Alex let him – he was entirely too thrown off by this new side to the usually affectionate and open dancer that he had never even suspected existed. And on some primal, instinctive level…
…he could freely admit that he was scared shitless.
“Now. Once again – and I’ll ask only once more, Alex.” The cheerily conversational words were completely marred by the undertone of warning. “What happened?”
Icy emerald met shakily determined, defiant brown.
A bare few moments passed before the teen lowered his gaze in defeat.
“It… It happened earlier today,” Alex admitted hesitantly, choosing his words will all the desperate caution of one attempting to soothe a wild bull with nothing on hand. “While I was coming back from my free period to my next class.”
“The wrestling team’s practice usually ends around that time, and since some members of team… aren’t exactly friends with me...” The boy licked his lips, and when Drake showed no sign of wanting to interrupt, he continued. “I take the long way around to class so I won’t run into them. Except, today, I was in kind of a hurry so I took a short cut.”
“I figured that if I moved fast enough we’d miss each other... We didn’t, so,” Alex looked down at his bruised wrists, and stated the obvious. “...this happened.”
A long pause ensued, wherein Alex hoped that was enough, yet knew that it wasn’t.
“Why?” Drake prompted. He elaborated at the slightly confused look the boy gave. “Why did it happen? It’s obvious he grabbed you, but why?”
The boy looked down. “I didn’t ask.”
Green eyes narrowed. Try to challenge me, will you, boy? You’re far too young yet. “What was he trying to make you do?”
A low string of sound. “Say that once more, and louder.”
“They… He… They were trying to drag me off to the shed where they keep sports equipment, in the gym.” A miserable flush stole across Alex’s face. “They wanted to get me alone, so they could,” the slender throat worked, and the boy squeezed his eyes shut, “so they could have some… fun… with me…”
“…but then the coach came in, saw us and chased us out so we could get to class.” Alex shifted uneasily on his feet, still not looking at the dancer. “I grabbed the chance and ran for it. I barely made it to class on time.”
The dancer said something that Alex missed, too intent on the scuffed floor of the dressing room. He lifted his head. “What?”
“I asked,” Drake repeated, carefully. “Did they do anything besides bruise your wrists? Did they touch you at all?”
“…y-yes…”
“Where?”
“Well, a couple of them pushed me around, and – ”
“Alex.”
“…”
Alex looked into Drake’s eyes, then, pleading for reprieve.
There was none. The dancer cared too much. “Where else did they touch you?”
“They – they groped me… Pretty much wherever they could and… And they… Pulled and squeezed my… my...” The words trailed off, but the pale hand, wrist ringed with steadily darkening bruises, that waved in front of the thong made the boy’s meaning more than clear.
When no response was forthcoming, and nothing but silenced answered his words, Alex swallowed, then swallowed again, fighting against the rising tide of tears. His hands fisted, nails digging into palms hard enough to draw blood as he heard the footsteps move away. The door opened, then closed, leaving him alone in the room.
For a few seconds, Alex hoped it might have been a joke – that Drake was still in the room, that Drake was coming back any minute any second, that he was only hearing things.
But it was only him in the room, and the only things that disturbed the silence were the rough, gasping breaths that Alex belatedly realized was coming from him.
And when seconds turned into a minute, a minute into two, and two into five, into ten, into twenty… he knew Drake wasn’t coming back. He locked his knees into place, refusing to collapse in the wake of the horrible realization that swept through him.
He’d been rejected.
He had been rejected by the man who he had come, through long weeks of working together, to respect and like – no, cherish as a friend. A friend who knew some of the darker secrets that he sparingly gave with the willingness of a thirst-ridden man in the desert, and one flask of water. A friend who had listened to him, even when he refused to talk. A friend who protected him from the occasional unwanted advance from the other dancers, and a few of the bouncers in the club. A friend who gave him cake for a birthday that no one but he remembered. A friend who had kissed him and hugged him for the slightest reasons, because he felt like it.
A friend who now left him, and wasn’t going to come back.
After a few more minutes in which Alex dazedly tried to come to grips with the loss of one of the very few good things in his life, he finally stood up and walked, stiltedly, to the duffel he had tossed onto the table.
Slowly he picked up his clothes, redressing himself, uncaring of their wrinkled state. He packed away his things slowly, prolonging every movement until…
…until he was finished.
Everything was put away, the forgotten costume on the floor neatly hung, all entertainment value gone. The make-up was stored neatly back into the drawers, the chairs pushed under the tables.
Alex slowly left the room, closing the door behind him.
He made his way to Vin’s office, hesitated, then lifted his hand to knock.
“…don’t think Alex should be working here anymore.”
Alex froze. Heart in this throat, he leaned close, pressing his ear to the thin wood, taking care not to make a sound. He couldn’t hear everything, but heard just enough to make out the gist of what they were saying.
“Are… sure, Drake?”
“….course I’m sure! …don’t care WHAT… takes, ...get rid of the boy!”
“But… needs the job… money… good kid!”
“Who cares, Vin??? He shouldn’t even be working here! You know that! Especially considering what just happened!”
“…”
“...need time… take care… and the boy.”
“Dunno, Drake… We need you more than him.”
“…Spare… Just get him to stop working!”
“…”
“For gods’ sake! If you won’t do it, then I will!”
The clear tones of Drake’s voice sounded like it was spoken right next to the door.
Alex just barely managed to catch himself from falling as the door opened. For a few seconds, he and Drake stared at each other, green eyes wide with shock, brown eyes round and dark with hidden hurt.
The Brit opened his mouth, but before he could say a word, the boy suddenly turned and ran down the hall, making for the exit door, side-stepping and dodging around props and the other employees of the club.
Drake cursed and belatedly gave chase, his progress hampered by his larger size. His longer legs helped him, though, and he was beginning to think he would reach the boy –
CRASH!
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Came the ear-grating shriek right in his ear.
“Not now, Derek!” The dancer said impatiently, trying to untangle himself from the ribbon and fabric, when long, manicured nails grabbed hold of his shirt and wouldn’t let go. “I have to get to – ”
“It’s Delilah!” The other man – woman – whatever – yelped. “And you are NOT going anywhere until you act like a gentleman and help me up!”
“I don’t have the time, Derek! Alex is going to – ” Drake, panicked, abruptly reminded of what he was doing, shot up and made for the door.
The open door.
It was too late.
Alex had gotten away.
---0~0~0---
[1] I know what you were thinking... And you can just get your minds out of the gutter! (While I try to pry mine out at the same time... *sweatdrops* )
AN: Well. Latest installment - the second portion of the fifth chapter. I'm currently debating between making a third section of chapter five, or simply removing it and making it the sixth chapter. Either way would change the story, so I'm still not sure...
Anyway. Speaking of changing stories... I apologize that it's taking a long time to update this story. Part of it is I didn't have the inspiration to write, and part of it is I don't have the motivation to write, either.. I haven't gotten any feedback on my last update of this story, which I take to mean that there is little interest in it, if any. Therefore, updates will accordingly be few and far in between since I'll be writing and posting for mainly my benefit.
I could beg for reviews, I suppose, but if the quality of my writing and if the plot is such that people can't be bothered to review, then it's hardly fair for me to demand them. It would be like asking for compensation for a substandard quality of work. So I will not beg.
I will, however, take more time in my work and take more personal pleasure in it, and will now update as I see fit. Just to give you a heads up as to how updates will go now.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Jade Ai