Hero Chapter 2
Hero Chapter 2 -- A Shoulder to Cry On...
"So, do you think the little guy likes Jacob too?" Scott asked out of the blue, as he, Jack, and Jonathan sat at one of the lunch room tables, about thirty minutes before first period.
"Huh?" Jonathan, a little slower than the others, raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"
"He means Billy." Jack shook his head.
Jacob, for a long while, had been attracted to the awkward little sophomore rabbit, but was too afraid to say anything to him. Scott, Jack, and Jonathan had heard more about it than anyone else -- even more than Robert -- which was why they found it so funny when it seemed like Billy had been showing interest in Jacob the day before.
"Oh that!" Jonathan snapped his fingers, "I'd assume so. You saw how much he wanted to hear about Jacob's home life yesterday.
"And when Jacob left," Scott added, "the little guy didn't even hesitate. He followed right along behind him like a lost little pup."
"Well I kinda' hope he does like Jacob," Jack shrugged, "Not that it would affect me in any way, but I can't imagine it would be anything but good for the two of them."
"Yeah," Scott nodded, "Jacob's never had a relationship at all, and he's been pining over the kid all damned year."
"But what about Billy? It might actually give the kid a reason to not dread school if...if...oh holy shit!" Jack jumped up and his brow dropped low, as a soft growl rose in the back of his throat.
Jonathan's eyes widened, "...fuck."
"What?" Scott turned around in his chair, as Jonathan stood up, too, "No..."
Scott nearly knocked his chair over, and the three walked the short distance to the cafeteria's entrance, where they found Billy limping in through the door. The fur on the side of his face, near his mouth, was dark and matted with dried blood. He seemed to be too hurt to even stand on his left leg, let alone walk, and he winced and whined with every motion, as if he was too hurt to even move.
"Billy!" Jack got to him first. He opened his arms, to wrap them around the rabbit, and Billy basically fell into his grasp. He held the boy, but even that touch seemed to hurt him. "What happened to you? Did Keith and Jeff do this!?" Every muscle in the wolf's body was clenched with anger, but he kept his grip on the boy as soft as he could.
The rabbit didn't even open his mouth to answer, he just whimpered and whined more, as he began to sob and new tears joined the ones already soaking his cheeks.
Jonathan approached them slowly, "J-Jack...Jack, here." He lightly placed a paw on the back of Billy's head, and motioned to Jack to let go of him. "We need to get you cleaned up..." The horse, followed by Scott, placed their paws on Billy's shoulders and arms as the increasingly tense Jack released him.
"Jack," Scott looked back to the seething brown wolf behind him, "You stay out here and wait for Jacob, ok? If he gets here, j-just tell him we're in the bathroom."
~
Jacob usually didn't get to school until the last possible moment, and today was no different. Before long, still with no sign of Jacob, the two furs came back from the restroom, Scott holding the still sobbing Billy, and Jonathan carrying the rabbit's backpack. Billy's face was even wetter now -- a mixture of tears and water -- but most of the blood, at least, had been washed out of his fur.
"God, kid...there's..." Jack shook his head, finally more worried about Billy now, than he was angry, and took the rabbit from Scott. "There's no way you should be at school today." Billy rested his wet head on Jack's chest. "Come on," The wolf took Billy's backpack from Jonathan, and he and Billy turned to walk off, "We're gonna' go wait outside for Jacob..."
The two slowly walked out the door and to the concrete curb. They sat down, very slowly, and as they did, Billy yelps and winced.
"Billy," Jack turned the little rabbit's head toward his, "Kid...come on, talk to me."
Billy just sniffled and sobbed, trying to hold back his tears as best he could, but failing.
"What happened to you?" Jack leaned in closer, to look into Billy's eyes, but the rabbit's only answer was quickly laying his head down onto the wolf's shoulder and sobbing louder. "It's ok kid," Jack held him, "I'm here. You can cry...don't try to hold it in."
Almost fifteen minutes passed by, and the whole time, Billy couldn't do anything but shake and sob. Not really knowing what else to do, Jack kept his arms around the little rabbit and softly stroked the back of the head. He didn't really care how it might look to the furs passing by them to go to school. Jack might not have been gay, but he could really care less what a few narrow-minded children thought of him...not right now. Just as he started to realize how wet his shoulder had gotten, he saw a familiar brown F100 come down the road and whip wildly into the parking lot.
Jack lifted Billy's head up, "Hey kid: he's here. Come on."
The wolf stood up, helped the still hurt and shaking rabbit stand up with him, and the two stepped down, off the curb to wait for Jacob.
They watched as he parked and stepped out of his door, and before Jacob could get to them, or even see them, Billy called out his name: the first word he'd said all morning.
"Jacob!"
"Hey Billy!" Jacob called back, chipper and oblivious, "Hey Jack! Hold on a second! I'll be right over!" Jacob tossed a few bits of trash into the bed of his truck before locking the doors and turning to walk over to them. When he got a bit closer to them, he smiled, "Hey guys! What are you doing out here, instead of inside?" But when he noticed the looks on their faces, he dropped the smile, "Wh-what? What's going on?"
Before either of them even opened their muzzles to answer, Billy ran over to Jacob and threw his arms around him.
"B-Billy?" Jacob pushed him back just enough to see his face, but not to break the hug.
He lifted his head up, catching sight of his tear soaked cheeks, and of the red stain on the normally white fur by his mouth. He froze, his mouth parting and his eyes growing wide. His breaths deepened and he pulled the rabbit right against him without another word.
Billy just pushed back into the otter; it hurt, the tightness of the hug, but he didn't dare let go. He sobbed louder and harder, barely hiccupping out Jacob's name as he shook against the larger fur's dress shirt. Jacob just stared at Jack in wide-eyed silence, until the wolf hesitantly spoke.
"I..." Jack stepped closer, "I'm not quite sure what happened." He lightly patted the little rabbit on the back of his head, "But I don't think he should be at school today. I...I just figured that maybe you could take him home. To your home..." Jack ran his fingers through the rabbit's head fur, "He's really hurt, you saw how bad he was limping when he ran up to you just now."
"Keith and Jeff." Not intending it as a question, Jacob stated their named blankly, directed at Jack, knowing that Billy wasn't up to saying anything yet.
"We think so, but we haven't really got anything out of him."
"Thanks Jack. Go to class. I'll call you later, unless you just want to stop by." Jacob looked down at Billy, doing his best to restrain his anger, for the rabbit's sake.
"Ok..." Jack watched the two walk away, toward the otter's truck, "Don't worry, Billy. Jacob...Jacob'll make sure everything's ok..."
As he watched them near the old pick-up, he the doors behind him opened and Scott and Jonathan joined him, their muffled conversation lost to Jacob & Billy's distant ears.
"Here, Billy." Jacob unlocked the passenger side door of his truck, and helped Billy climb in.
The rabbit curled up on his side on the bench seat, instead of sitting down, and Jacob rubbed his thigh lightly, before closing the door and walking around to his own.
He opened his door and jumped in. "You're coming home with me. It's obvious that, whatever happened, your parents didn't much try to take care of you after." The otter turned on the car and turned the radio down, "But don't you worry about that. You're with me now. No matter what, Robert and I'll get you cleaned up, and we WILL take care of you."
Jacob got out of the parking lot and back down the road to his complex as fast as he could. Not even worrying with his or Billy's bags, or with locking his truck's doors, once there, he helped Billy to his and Robert's apartment.
"Jacob? That you?" Robert's voice came out of the kitchen, followed by Robert himself, all dressed for work, "You forget something? Or..." the wolfbear's eyes went right to the red stain on the rabbit's face. "What's going on?"
Jacob held up his finger and shook his head, motioning for Robert not to worry with it, and he walked farther into the living room area.
Robert nodded and picked up his coffee on the counter. His eyes never left the two, Billy clinging to Jacob, as he gathered his keys and wallet things, and walked to the door, "I'll be back tonight." Robert, not wanting to pry or to get in the way, opened the door and stepped out. "Text if you need anything."
"Yeah..."
"Later." Robert closed the door and headed on out to his own car.
Jacob slowly led Billy over to the couch, and helped him to set down. As soon he sat down on the old couch, he jumped up and yelped. His little white paw jerked directly to his tail, landing softly under it as he winced, before lied down on his side, instead.
"Oh my God." Jacob could barely speak, as it dawned on him what had happened, "Y-you...were...were you...?" The otter sat beside his friend, laying a paw lightly on the rabbit's shoulder. "I...I had no...who...who..." Jacob was cut off by Billy pulling himself closer, his arms around the otter's leg, and his head on his thigh. "My God, Billy. I'm so sorry..."
Billy hugged Jacob's leg as tight as he could and cried, much more openly and louder now that they were alone, soaking the otter's pant-leg with tears as he nearly screamed. Jacob just draped one arm over the rabbit, while he stroked Billy's hair with his other paw, and tried not to tear up, himself.
"I know Billy...I...I know..."
~
Much later that day, at nearly 10 at night, Billy and Jacob were sitting quietly in the living room, with the TV on the news, but not really watching it.
After Robert had gotten back from work, they'd gotten Billy undressed, gotten him into the shower, and helped him clean off and get the dried blood out of his fur. It had been awkward for him to be nude around them, especially with them touching him to try and get him clean, but when he looked at Jacob for support, the otter's eyes were nothing but reassuring, and everything was fine. Once they'd finally gotten him clean, they led him into their bedroom and let him borrow Jacob's robe, and a pair of Robert's jeans.
Before long, Robert had taken his shower as well, and was off to bed, leaving Jacob and Billy in the living room, alone. It was 10, and the news was on, but the sound was off. Billy had spent much of the day leaning against his friend, but, at the moment, they were on opposite ends of the couch.
"Billy?" Jacob finally got up the nerve to break the uncomfortable silence, "I...I could tell what happened. R-Robert could, too."
Billy's eyes snapped closed, and he turned away from Jacob.
"It wasn't hard to figure out..." Jacob moved closer, and turned him back around. "The way you favored your tail...how it seemed to hurt when you sat down. I already knew."
Billy just nodded, quietly, looking down at his lap.
"But...but then...in the shower..." Jacob took a deep breath, slipping an arm around the rabbit, "The-the dried blood...it was everywhere. The backs of your thighs...under your tail...even...even your balls."
Billy shook and his body tensed up in the otter's arms. He was quiet, but the tears were already dripping off of his nose, tapping lightly on his thighs and Jacob's arms.
"No! No-no-no..." Jacob pulled the rabbit into another hug, "Listen to me: you didn't do anything wrong. It's not your fault. I'm so sorry...I shouldn't have brought it up."
"No...No." Billy sniffled, trying to keep from crying as he forced himself to speak, "I-it's nice...nice to know that someone cares." Billy sniffled a bit and tried to keep from crying as Jacob let go of him.
"Was...was it..." Jacob had trouble getting the words out.
"Was it what?" Billy tried to keep his composure, waiting for Jacob to finish.
"Was it your father?" Billy jerked his head up as Jacob asked the question, "I only ask because, well, it's obvious that your parents didn't do much to help you this morning. I just thought that it...I dunno..."
"No." Billy looked down at his feet and shook his head, "My father may be a bastard -- like yours -- but even HE wouldn't..." Billy's entire body clenched and he shook. As Jacob held him tighter, he pulled his feet up onto the couch to rest his head on his knees, "No...no, he wasn't even home this morning."
Jacob rubbed the rabbit's back, "If you...if you feel up to it, and I understand if you don't want to talk about it....but...but who? Who did this to you?"
Billy started to tear up again, and Jacob just pulled him closer, letting the boy lean against him. Billy obviously wasn't ready to talk about it. A few long minutes passed by and finally Billy's light sobs started to take the form of words.
"My...my mother died when I was born you know..." Jacob just looked on as Billy started to talk. This was the most he'd ever gotten out of the kid, so it was probably best to let him finish. "I've never had anything more than my dad...what of him I've even had. I've had the few 'step-mother' types, but they were no more than his trophy FUCKS that he wanted to trot out in front of me! They'd all end up being gone in about a week." Billy started to shake and seemed more angry now, than he did sad, "But...but at least I got to see him when they were around. Usually I don't even get that. He either spends the night somewhere else, or he's out so late, he's still asleep when I wake up for school. The very, VERY few times he gets home before I've already gone to bed...he just passes out without even bothering to check and see if I'm home."
Silently, Jacob lifted Billy's head, touching their noses together and looking him in the eye. Again, those maroon eyes only showed the rabbit comfort and compassion, though, this time it was clouded behind a deep sadness.
"I'm sorry..." The otter finally spoke, "I must have sounded like a whiney, little, emo jackass yesterday...bitching about MY dad, like I was..."
"No...it-it's ok." Billy forced a little smile to let Jacob know it was fine. The smile was short-lived, though, as his mind shifted back to his own problems, "You know...he probably doesn't even realize I'm not home! He's never noticed before! Just like all the times I was gone with..." Billy stopped abruptly and looked back at his knees again.
"With...?"
"I've been gone for days on end before, after dates with...with..." Billy couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, "and he never once noticed I was gone!"
"Who were you with, Billy?" Jacob tried to look at Billy's face, but the little rabbit avoided eye contact, "Was it...were you out on dates with a guy?"
Billy looked away again, trying not to look at Jacob at all. He was too embarrassed to even try.
"Billy. It's ok if it was a guy..." Jacob swallowed a bit and tried not to seem happy about the possibility, especially not now "...it's ok if you're...gay. That doesn't make what happened to you ok."
"That's not the problem, though. I...I..." Billy took a deep breath, "I'm gay, but...but that's not...not the problem..."
"What then?" Jacob once again tried to hide any semblance of a smile, not wanting to scare Billy off, or make him think that he was just trying to get him into bed. "Look at me. I saw you nude just a couple of hours ago. I've bathed you. I think we're past the point of being shy or withdrawn, now." Jacob lifted Billy's chin, to look him in the eyes, again, "You can tell me. I won't judge you, I don't do that."
"Keith..."
"Keith? What about Keith?"
"I was out...with Keith..."
"Oh...you..." Jacob leaned back, trying to steady his breathing and figure out exactly what to say or think, "How did...when were you...?"
"I met him last year. He let me sit with him and Jeff, and all the other football players, at lunch. Robert was there too. Didn't realize it was him 'til today." Billy took a deep breath before he continued, "They were all really nice to me, and I liked the idea of having friends that were juniors and seniors, especially ones that were on the football team. Eventually, Keith started inviting me over to his house, and...and one day, he just kissed me. It...it was so out of the blue. I didn't know what to do...or say."
Jacob just blinked as Billy paused. He would have never guessed Keith, of all people, was gay.
"I never saw myself with anyone like him before. I-I mean, I always saw myself with a guy, but not like him: not a big, popular football player. But...but...it just felt so right, y'know? He was so nice to me -- so sweet -- and he had already introduced me to all of these new friends on the team. I had no idea things would turn out like they did." Billy sniffled loudly and shook, trying not to cry more. "I...I loved him...I really did. I should have known better, though; I should have seen how controlling he was..."
Billy stopped again, just giving up and letting his tears pour out over his recently cleaned fur, again. Jacob took his paw, silently, as his own eyelids dropped, and he felt a tingle in the corners of his own eyes.
"Before long he just started being...mean. He started calling me his bitch and his 'little girl.' He made fun of me in front of all of his friends. Well, except Robert: I didn't see him there anymore. He did it most in front of Jeff, really. Then Keith...he started forcing himself on me..." The rabbit looked up at the ceiling as he continued, "It...it's not like he even had to! I-I would have done anything for him! He told me that he loved me, and that if I loved him, then I'd let him...let him FUCK ME! And he threatened to leave me, if I didn't..."
"Billy..." Jacob still wasn't crying, but it was everything he could do not to. He had to be strong for the rabbit. He shook his head, and squeezed down on the bunny's shaking paw, "That's not right Billy. I'm so sorry..."
"That's when he realized that he had me under his thumb...and he brought Jeff in on the act! Hell, he had probably already been fucking him too!" Billy pulled his paw away from Jacob and clenched his jaw. His tears were running dry, "He told me that if I was a good boyfriend -- a good little BITCH -- that I would let Jeff have me too! He wanted us to have th-threesomes, right? But of course they were all just Keith and Jeff using me from both ends like I was a...rotisserie chicken!" Billy actually laughed a bit, almost all of his crying gone in the wake of his growing rage. "So that's what they'd call it, right? Pulling a rotisserie! Of course it wasn't long before both of 'em had a bunch of new names for me too! I was their toy: their 'fuck bunny!' That's really all I ever really was to them, anyway: just a play thing! They showed up at all hours, since they knew my father wasn't home, or wouldn't care anyway. They'd take me out to their cars, or back to their houses, and they'd use me, and then just toss me back at the apartment building...like a sack of trash."
Jacob just looked down. He'd been trying to keep himself from tearing up too much and crying along with Billy. But now he was holding back a different urge. He knew where this was going, but even though he already knew, he didn't want to hear it. He was a little scared of what he might do.
No. That wasn't it. The otter was a lot more scared, that no matter how much he wanted to do...there might not be anything he COULD do.
"Pretty soon they started getting violent. That's the part you saw. They started picking on me at school, and smacking me around for not doing things right or for talking back to them: all of the typical, cliché abusive relationship shit. But never enough to really...REALLY hurt me: at least not physically. And that's when you guys came in..." Billy sparked another little smile. It was a shimmering light of happiness: just one more emotion to add to the anger, and the sadness already winding throughout his body. "You guys saw them beating on me at school, and cared. I was so happy that someone, that anyone cared. I was starting to think that no one ever would."
Jacob looked back up at Billy, who still had that small smile stretched across his muzzle. Any other time, that smile would have melted him. It would have made him feel amazing to know he was the cause of the little rabbit's happiness. But this time was different. No matter what Billy said, he knew he was at fault for all of this. If he hadn't got involved...if it weren't for his "caring," Billy would have never been...
"But..." Billy broke Jacob's train of thought, only echoing what was in the otter's head, "But...you really should have just stayed out of it. You....you..." The rabbit put his face in his paws and started to sob openly again, "I know that you...I know you were just trying to help. But you made it...made it so much worse."
Jacob wrenched his eyes closed, and pulled the rabbit closer. He fought the urge to kiss Billy, to tell him that he was here, and that he would be safe here, so long as they were together. And he succeeded: he kept himself from it, and just let Billy cry.
"They were so angry...so angry..." Billy pressed up against Jacob, almost like a child being held in his parent's arms, "They just kept screaming:" he yelled loud enough to wake Robert, but neither thought to stop it, "'THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO HAPPEN IF IT WASN'T FOR THAT DAMNED OTTER OF YOURS!!' and... 'ARE YOU FUCKING HIM!? ARE YOU CHEATING ON US, YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BITCH!?'"
Billy clenched his eyes closed and curled up, falling onto Jacob's lap, lying in his arms, and barely able to keep his breathing steady. Jacob's own breathing was no better, and he just pulled the rabbit in closer and squeezed him, hoping the tighter he held him the safer he could make him feel.
"There...there were so many of them: more...more than just Keith and Jeff. They were everywhere: hitting me, fucking me...inside of me, everywhere..." The rabbit jerked with each word, almost as if reliving it in his mind, "I couldn't see. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't even hear myself screaming or crying for help. They just kept laughing and yelling..." Billy's voice dropped lower as he buried his face in Jacob's shirt, "They were everywhere...just...laughing..."
Jacob stroked lightly across Billy's headfur, running his fingers through it, as he pulled the rabbit's head up under his own. There, he stole a stray kiss on the top of his head, between his ears, not really worrying whether Billy noticed it or not. Luckily, he didn't.
Jacob's voice cracked as it came out, "I'm sorry." He spoke softly, just for the set of ears inches from his muzzle. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault." He couldn't help himself anymore, and his tears ran down his muzzle, dripping into the rabbit's headfur. "I should never have...I wish I'd just..."
"No." The otter was interrupted, as Billy, although strained, pushed up and away from him, "Jacob...no. I don't blame you." The rabbit sniffled, looking down as he grabbed the otter's paw. "I'm sorry."
"S-sorry?" Jacob used his free arm to wipe away his tears, "You don't have anything to be sorry for!"
"Yes I do. I should...I should have made this clear before I ever started talking." Billy looked up. His face was still wet, but his smile was back, as he put a little white paw on Jacob's face. "Thank you..." The rabbit nearly cooed at his friend, and locked their eyes, blue and maroon, on one another yet again. "You have no idea...NO idea how good it felt to know that someone cared, especially enough to get involved in it. You cared enough to stand up for me. No one has ever done that for me." Billy's thumb wiped away another of Jacob's tears, "No...no matter what came after it, that was the first time in my life...not counting Keith's lies...that I felt actually loved. Please...please don't wish that away. That moment...and everything you and your friends have done for me today..." He took a deep breath, his smile widening, "I need them. They give me hope."
Jacob just grinned back, finally melting again under the rabbit's smile.
Billy looked into Jacob's eyes, just like he had the day before in the hall, but then realized what he was doing and jerked his paw away, "I'm sorry...you...you probably don't want someone like ME touching you like that. I...I wasn't thinking."
"No," Jacob shook his head, trying to keep his reaction sensible: not so open to the touch that he looked gay, but not so against it that he might scare Billy out of doing it again. "Don't worry about it. It really doesn't bother me."
Billy had looked away, but looked back at that. "Thank you for being such a good friend..."
"Thank you..." Jacob put his own paw on Billy's cheek, as the rabbit had done to him, "...for still letting me."
Billy put his paw on top of Jacob's, and nuzzled into it. "Do me a favor?"
"Anything."
"Tell me things will be ok?"
Jacob scooted closer to Billy again, pulling the rabbit's head to his shoulder. He opened his muzzle slowly, savoring the moment as he said what he'd been wanting to say since the conversation began.
"It's ok Billy. It'll all be fine." Jacob rubbed the rabbit's back gently, "They can't hurt you here...not so long as you're with me."
~
Hours later, short from the rise of the next day's sun, Jacob sat in the dark of his kitchen. Click by click, he slowly tapped a battery on the table-top, his mind racing with endless prattling thoughts. Thoughts of Keith...of Jeff...of Billy's father...and of Billy...but most of all, racing back and forth, were the practical, impractical, well planned, and impetuous answers to the question of exactly what to do to make it...to just make it all better. He stopped tapping, the noise now getting on his nerves, and turned to look out of the kitchen and into the living room, at Billy. Not long after Billy had collapsed in his arms, he had given the rabbit a few of Robert's pain killers, grabbed him a blanket, and left him on the folded-out futon to sleep. That was around about five hours ago, and Billy was still asleep. He looked so peaceful, so happy, as if nothing in the world could possibly be wrong. But Jacob knew better: Billy was barely able to keep from reliving it every moment while he was awake, and the otter didn't even want to imagine what the poor, abused, little rabbit might see in his sleep.
Jacob laughed to himself, leaning back in his chair. He hoped he was wrong. He hoped he hadn't really fallen for Billy already. That was the last thing the poor rabbit needed. Jacob stood up and walked into the living room, stepping lightly, as to not wake Billy up. The boy didn't need a relationship. He needed a friend; he needed family; he needed a rock. Jacob smiled more as he looked down at his white furred little house-guest, and whispered to himself.
"I guess that I may just have to accept that this isn't about me this time. Even though it's so much more fun when it is..."
Billy let out a soft whimper and rolled over, making the old futon creek as his tongue lolled out of his mouth. As Jacob looked on, he began to pant and shake his head, whining and whimpering under his breath the entire time. But when, with a moan, he tried to toss back over, Jacob's paw caught him by the shoulder to stop him. The otter, holding the younger boy's shoulder to settle him, gently slipped in beside him on the futon.
"Quiet down now kid. I'm here..." Jacob whispered as he pulled Billy up onto his chest and held onto him, rocking slowly and trying to hush his moans and calm him down. "It's ok...it's ok, baby...don't worry..." Billy never woke, but his breathing slowed as he relaxed, limp in the otter's arms. "I knew you weren't getting any rest..."
Jacob lied there too long to keep track of time, just rocking the little rabbit, and feeling him cling, involuntarily, to the arms around him in his sleep. He felt bad for it before he'd even done it, but he stole another kiss, this time on Billy's cheek. He loved him. He really did, and he never thought he'd feel guilty for that. But he did; he burned with guilt for enjoying this: for how much he loved the feeling of the rabbit clinging to him, the feeling of his fur and the heat beneath, and the smell of his recently cleaned headfur only inches from the otter's nose. This should have been about Billy, and Jacob was doing everything he could to make it be, but in this dark, private moment in the early morning hours...the otter was in heaven.
After a while, there, Jacob finally pulled himself away from the boy, and sat him, as softly as he could, aside, before standing up. It was time for Jacob to sleep. Billy would be up before him already, and the rabbit would need him; he needed to get all the rest he could, so he could be there for the kid.
He turned and walked toward his and Robert's shared bedroom, but about the time he got to the door, he was greeted by a short, stout shadow.
"Mornin' Jay. Couldn't get to sleep?" Robert pushed past the otter and walked into the kitchen, followed by his sleep deprived roommate.
"Not a wink. Between crying...I've spent most of the night working out ways to hurt people." Jacob leaned on the counter while Robert retrieved an energy drink from the fridge. "Why are you up, already?"
"Needed a piss...and I went to bed a lot earlier than usual last night," Robert opened the drink, "so I couldn't get back to sleep after I was done." Robert downed his drink, and sat down at the table, as silence dropped down around the two of them.
"You know Rob?" Jacob broke it, "I think I'm in love with the kid..."
"Really?" Robert tilted the empty can back and forth in his paw, "He gay? Does he know how you feel?"
"Uhm...yeah, he is. But, no -- I haven't said anything."
"Why not?"
"After what happened?" Jacob raised an eyebrow, "He really doesn't need to feel that anyone's...lusting after him, right now. I'd rather him not even know that I'm gay."
"Lust? Thought you said love."
Jacob looked down, "Kid was raped: doubt he can tell the difference right now."
"So...we were right about what happened to him."
"You were there when we cleaned him up. You have to ask?"
"Was it his dad?"
"No, his dad's just an asshole. But...it's worse than we thought."
"How so?"
"I..." Jacob looked back up, "I'm not sure he'd want me to tell you."
Jacob and Robert never had secrets from one another...including other people's. It was just how their friendship worked: nothing left the confidence of their conversations, but anything said to one of them, most understood was being said to both. This was the first time Jacob even hesitated to share, and it was for Billy. There was an understanding there, too, between the otter and the wolfbear. No one said a thing, but that was all Robert needed to see to know Jacob really loved the kid.
"All I want is a name. Just give me that, and I'll leave the rest be. If Billy wants to tell me more, on his own, he can."
After a pause, Jacob finally spoke, "Keith..." Jacob shook a bit, seething, and Robert watched his friend start to cry, for only the second time since he'd known him. "It was Keith...Jeff...and a bunch of their friends. They fucked him, and beat him, and may as well have left him for dead!"
Robert clenches down on his can and stood up, his brow low. On the outside, he was quiet and calm, but Jacob could see that, inside, he was anything but. "I should have seen it. The way Billy and Keith acted around each other last year: they were....together....weren't they?"
Jacob neglects to answer.
"And then the way they started treating him, after I left." Robert let out a deep, low growl, "I should have known." Robert's expression changed dramatically: almost to a smile. "I'll be back later. I have something to take care of." Robert picked up his keys off the counter and, wearing only an old, tattered pair of blue jeans, walked to the door.
Jacob turned around to him, talking loud enough that Robert could hear across the room, but low enough to not wake Billy, "Where are you going? There's nothing you can do..."
"You've known me a long time." Robert opened the door and stepped out, "You should know: there's plenty I can do."
~
Later that day, just after noon, the small apartment was filled to the brim with music: this time some of Jacob's favorites including Pearl Jam, Elton John, and Third Eye Blind, all of which, Billy found that he legitimately liked, as well. Jacob had been able to get his sleep, even after Billy, grown lonely and scared in the living room, timidly asked joined him in bed, and neither fur had been awake when Robert came back to get into his clothes, and leave for work. When they'd first got up, Billy was awkward and uneasy around Jacob, embarrassed about everything he'd told the otter the previous night, and feeling like a little cub, after having begged to sleep with him that morning. Jacob did what he could to help Billy get past all of that, though, and they'd been able to carry on with their day, with almost no mention of the rape, or Keith, or Billy's sexuality.
Amid their conversations, they had decided to stay home from school for a while, and to keep Billy here. That way Jacob and Robert could help him recover both mentally and physically, and get him ready to face going to school, and generally being a normal teenager, again.
Of course, although they tried to keep the conversation off of Keith and everything else that had happened, they didn't succeed a hundred percent.
"Billy? I need to let you know something..." During one of Pearl Jam's slower songs, a vocally unintelligible jumble called 'Yellow Ledbetter,' Jacob decided to spark up another conversation.
"What's that Jay?" Billy sat down on the overstuffed chair by the couch, sipping a Gatorade, and watched the otter pace the room.
"I told you yesterday that Robert knew what happened, just like I did, right? That he could tell?"
Billy let out a sigh, "...yeah, you mentioned that."
"Well, this morning...and I'm sorry if this just makes you mad at me...but I told him who did it." Jacob lowered his shoulders a bit, expecting to be berated for it.
"That's ok...I guess..." Billy took another drink of his Gatorade and offered an awkward smile, "L-like you said yesterday...after you've been bathed by someone, it seems a little silly to try and keep secrets, right? But...you, uhm...you didn't tell him that me and Keith had been going out, did you?"
"Unfortunately..." Jacob straightened up, "I didn't have to, Billy; he had already figured it out. I think he may have known back when you hung around him and the rest of the football guys."
"Oh..." Billy sat his drink on the small end table beside him, and scritched at his neck. "I didn't think it was that obvious..."
"It's not, really! Robert just figures things out really quick." Jacob laughed a bit, "I mean, he was the first person to that figured out..."
Jacob trailed off abruptly, catching himself from accidently outing himself. Though not showing it outwardly, he was suddenly frantic inside, with no idea what to say to end that sentence. Luckily, though it wasn't the smoothest save, his pacing had brought him by the computer.
"Oh! Hold on. Listen to this! This is my favorite part of the song!" Blushing under his fur, and hoping he hadn't been caught, Jacob turned up the volume on his computer speakers for Yellow Ledbetter's guitar solo.
As the solo ended, Jacob turned the volume back down, and looked back to Billy, who immediately started back up the conversation.
"It really is ok if Robert knows. If he's known I was, y'know...gay...all this time, and has still been cool with me...and was even cool enough yesterday to help..." Billy laughed nervously, "...bathe me...then I guess he's not really the type to judge people. And besides, he's one more friend to help me through this, right?"
"And a good one, too." Jacob sat down on the couch, right beside the chair Billy was in, and nervously rubbed the back of his neck, "Billy...there's something I've been meaning to bring up."
"What's that?"
"You know...you understand that no matter how much me and Robert, and even Jack, Scott, and John, want to help you...there's not a whole lot we can do."
"You can all be there for me, though. You can be my friends, like you..." Billy paused and smiled at the otter, "...like you've done for me already."
"And we will be, Billy...but...but that won't solve the problem." Jacob stopped to take a breath as Billy sat back, "We've already seen that none of us can be there for you twenty-four-seven to make sure it doesn't happen again."
"B-but I could just stay here, couldn't I? I don't have to go home..." Billy looks almost on the verge of tears again, "They-they couldn't find me here. A-and you said I could stay, right? You're not making me leave are you?"
"Of course not! Of course you can stay here." Jacob reached over and grabbed a hold of Billy's forearm, "You can stay here however long you need to...forever if need be. I'll always be here for you." Jacob stopped again, as he screamed at himself in his head for saying that. "But that's not the only problem. I know it's not something that you wanna' think about right now...but you're gonna' have to go back to school at some point."
"I...I know I will..."
"And THEY'LL be there. How would you handle having to see them? Or...or even if you did something drastic like waiting until next year to start going again...what if you see them in town?"
"I..." Billy's eyes darted in his head, "I just don't know ok!?" He jerked his arm away from the otter, feeling trapped and lashing out, "What the hell am I supposed to do?"
"Talk to someone who CAN help." Jacob stayed calm, completely understanding the rabbit's reaction. "We should take this to the police."
"The police? I..." Billy looked scared, still, but now it was clouded in shame, "I...I can't do that."
"Why not? They'd be able to help you...they'd-"
"They'd know!" Billy screamed, closing his eyes and shaking his head, "They'd all look at me like the little faggot that I am! The poor little fag that bit off more than he could chew! There's no way! Just no way!"
"They would not, Billy. There are professionals, there -- detectives -- not just beat cops and resource officers. And in this town? I'm sure they've seen it before."
"B-but I'd be all over the news when it went to court!" Billy teared up and shakes his head more frantically, "No...I won't do it!"
"Billy. You didn't do anything wrong! They did! You have nothing to be ashamed of!" Jacob got up off the couch and knelt in front of the rabbit, "Something has to be done, Billy. And..." He pointed Billy's face at his, "Listen to me. While you're with the police...while you're in court...if you're on the news...where ever you need me...I will be right beside you." Jacob lifted the rabbit's head more. His long ears, just like Jacob's short, were laid back defensively, and Billy slowly opens his still watery eyes. Jacob looks up into them, deep into their pure blue expanses...his own eyes racked with guilt...with fear...and with love.
Billy looked into those beautiful, honest, piercing, maroon eyes that he's found himself staring at ever since he first looked at them two days ago. He smiled: a smile that grew from deep inside before it spread out across his muzzle. He leaned out of the chair and wrapped his arms around Jacob's neck, letting a few stray tears fall on his shoulder.
"Thank you so much for being here for me. You just...you really don't know how much it helps..." After a few long moments, Billy sat back up and smiled, wiping his eyes dry, "But...but could we talk about this another time, Jay? I just...I'd rather not deal with it all right now -- talk of police, and trials, and everything -- ok?"
"Sure. I'm sorry. I should've waited longer to bring it up anyway..." Jacob stood up and, without thinking, grabbed Billy's paw to bring him along. He pulled the still sniffling rabbit slowly up out of the overstuffed chair, and into his arms, for another hug. After only the shortest of moments, he walked Billy with him the three short steps to the couch and, the two sat down together, Jacob quietly holding the still hurt and confused boy in his arms.
The two sat listening to their music, nearing the last few songs on the Pearl Jam playlist. Jacob worried for a while about whether he was being a bit too brash, and if maybe he shouldn't have been holding Billy like he was...but he would rather not say or do anything to find out. So he just sat still, holding onto the little rabbit.
After about two more songs rolled by, the two heard keys clicking and scratching at the door before finally finding their mark. The knob turned quickly, and Robert stepped through the swinging door.
"Robert?" Jacob lets go of Billy, but didn't get up, "Aren't you home a bit early?"
"Heh...maybe..." Robert walked over and dropped down into the overstuffed recliner. No sooner had he sat down, though, than Billy and Jacob's eyes began to widen. Robert's rather dark fur under his lip bore the smallest streak of blood and his forehead just above his right eye was swollen. The wolfbear popped his neck and groaned, "The foreman told me to just head home, I'm a little too sore to work today."
"What happened to you?" Jacob wondered why he asked as soon as it passed his lips; he already has a good idea.
"I think you know what happened." Robert cracked a smile, despite his split lip, "I paid Keith and Jeff a little visit before I went to work today. Found 'em down by the football field...early practice or somethin', I guess."
"Damn-it, Robert!" Jacob burst out in anger, lowering his brow, "If I'd known you were gonna' do something like this, I wouldn't have said anything!"
"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Robert barked back, as Billy recoiled in his seat. The rabbit didn't realize it yet, but arguments like this were different for Jacob & Robert than for other people. They were never really quite so mad as they might sound. Sometimes it was just how they communicated. "I'm busted up and the first thing I get is you bitching at me!?"
"My apologies!" Jacob turned to sarcasm, "I forgot some people can't help but lead with their fists! You know, my truck's making a weird noise! Wanna' punch it back into working order?"
"Oh my God! You don't even listen to yourself, do you!?" Robert tapped the side of his own head for emphasis, "Two days ago, you almost gave Jeff a concussion! You attacked them in the middle of the school!"
"I was saving Billy from an imminent -- very imminent -- threat!" Jacob pointed at the wolfbear, "Not getting revenge!"
"Bull shit!" Robert pointed back, "The only reason you haven't fought them since they did THIS to him, is because you were afraid of what you might do to them! Right?"
Jacob retracted his index finger, clenching his fist.
"Right!?" Robert raised his deeper voice a good bit louder than Jacob could raise his.
Jacob backed off, sitting closer to Billy, again. "Fine. Yes: you win."
"Thank you!" Robert flashed a smile, and Jacob couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
After a sigh, Jacob shrugged and pointed at the kitchen, "Should I grab you anything, man? Pain killers? A drink?"
"Nah!" Robert waved his paw dismissively, "I'll be fine!"
Billy wasn't entirely sure what he'd just seen. For a second, he thought they were going to come to blows. But now, so quickly, they were best friends again. In the silence, the rabbit timidly interjected himself, hoping not to be caught in a fight like that, of his own.
"Did..." He began, "They didn't hurt you, did they? I...I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me."
"Because of you?" Jacob turned to Billy, putting his arms back around the rabbit, "None of this is your fault, kid. Don't talk like that."
"Eh," Robert just shrugged, "I'm a little hurt...but not as bad as they are."
Still in Jacob's arm, Billy leaned forward, "What did you do?"
"Are..." Robert raised an eyebrow, "are you sure you wanna' hear about this?" Billy nodded without hesitation, "I am."
"Jacob?" Robert looked at his friend.
The otter looked back and forth between Robert and Billy, then, with his eyes on the rabbit, finally answered with a sigh and a shrug, "If I was Billy...I know I'd find some pleasure in it." He looked back to Robert, "He says yes. Go for it."
"Well...like I said: they were at the football field. Or the parking lot by the field house to be more precise. Keith, Jeff, another tiger, a 'yote, and a mutt..."
Robert began the story. He spared no detail, both for any catharsis Billy might take from the experience, and for his own personal gratification. Robert had always taken pride in matters like this...and for reason.
As the story went on, Billy ran the gambit on his emotions. At some moments, tears traced lines down his cheeks as he listened in silence, and other moments he spent staring in wide eyed excitement at hearing how his attackers suffered at the wolfbear's paws. Others moments, he was wrapped up in his ever-present rage, but at others still, those only moments in which he spoke, he was taken by fear. He worried that this would only make things worse...just as it had the last time someone stood up for him.
Jacob's arms, though, never left the rabbit. The otter spent the entire story cradling his new friend. When Billy cried, Jacob rubbed his arm, when he tensed with rage, the otter held him tighter, and when he voiced his fears, it was Jacob's voice that calmed them. Jacob reminded him, at every opportunity, that the rabbit had nothing to fear here; he would be completely safe, so long as he was under Jacob and Robert's roof.
Robert's tale began slow.
He met the five furs near the field house and practice fields. Jacob and Billy's information didn't have the benefit of detail, so he couldn't be sure if the second tiger, the coyote, and the dog had been involved with what Keith, Jeff, and others had done. But he didn't care.
He greeted Keith and Jeff like they were friends. They had been, once. They spoke cordially for a few minutes, until Robert began to see a look in their eyes that he didn't like. They were about to start asking questions. Why was he here? Where were his shirt and shoes? He couldn't let them grow too suspicious.
Normally, he would have handled the situation differently, next. Normally, he didn't approve of sucker punches; it seemed like a cowardly tactic in a fight, but this was a one-on-five situation, and he needed every advantage he could get.
He punched Keith in the jaw, sending the larger of the two tigers to the ground. Before the others could react, Robert was kicking the cat in the stomach there on the asphalt. Jeff stepped in to protect his friend and pulled Robert away, but the black wolf was short work for the stouter wolfbear, who tripped and head-butted him to the ground as well.
When he turned back, he was face-to-face with Keith. The Tiger wrapped his orange arms around the smaller fur. Perhaps he'd intended a bear-hug, or some sort of grappling maneuver, but all he got was a knee to the groin for his troubles.
And then the numbers got the better of Robert.
As Keith buckled to his knees, the wolfbear was swarmed by the other four furs. Things became nothing but a blur of black, brown, and orange fur, and of the blue haze of the pre-sunrise hours. He was kicked and kneed in the sides, and his face got more than just a little banged up, as was now obvious to Jacob and Billy hours later. But if there was ever a time for the phrase "you should see the other guy," it was now.
Keith had made his way back into the fight, but he, of all the five, was Robert's primary target. By the time the wolfbear was done with the big tiger, he was barely in any shape to walk under his own power. The last time Robert saw Keith, as he retreated from the fray, his jaw was shattered, his arm was broken, and one of his legs had been hurt bad enough that he was having to use cars and fences to keep himself upright.
Jeff, meanwhile, was unconscious. Robert had knocked out and leveled the unnamed dog with a series of punches, and tossed him into Jeff. The black wolf's head hit the asphalt hard as the two canines tumbled to the ground, and neither one made it back to their footpaws.
With the other tiger having, at some point, gone through the windshield of what Robert hoped was one of their cars, Robert was only left with the coyote. The coyote to that point, had barely been a nuisance, but now, after watching what had become of his friends, the kid had pulled a knife.
By the time Robert heard the sirens, he was in the middle of digging that knife into the coyote's tail-base. He'd pinned the canine to the ground, and was busily at work removing his tail, to teach him not to brandish knives like that. But fortunately for the coyote, Keith had called the police, and their approach saved that tail from getting anything other than a deep cut.
At the mention of the police, Billy grew worried, but Robert assured the rabbit that he hadn't been caught. He wouldn't be there, talking to them in the apartment, if he had. He'd run away the second he heard the noise, and was back to his car, a couple of blocks away, before he saw the lights.
"But what if the police come looking for you?" Jacob added his voice to Billy's.
"Yeah." Billy's emotions had shifted back to fear, "They know who you are. All they have to do is say your name and this will all get really bad for you, really fast."
Robert just shook his head, holding up a paw, "Seriously, kid, don't worry about me. This wasn't my first rodeo, and I've never been nabbed before."
"But-"
"No 'but,' little bunny." Robert just smiled again, without even a twitch at the pain in his split lip. "I'll be fine."
"How do you know?" Jacob finally took his arm off of Billy to lean forward.
"Well...first, there's the same thing that's kept me out of trouble in every situation like this before." Robert sank back into the recliner, "Five big strong guys -- football players, mind you -- aren't interested in announcing to the world that just one little guy did that much damage to them. It ruins the image that they're all big tough alpha males, right?" He chuckled, "No...they'll blame gang violence or something, and it'll run in the papers until everyone just stops caring."
"So..." Jacob tilted his head, "So they'll blame a gang? Why can't they just say you were one of the gang? Like...the only one they recognized?"
"They could. But they won't."
"Why not?" Billy interjected.
"After what they did to you?" Robert raised an eyebrow, "They don't want the cops involved anymore than absolutely necessary. It's one thing if the police are chasing the ghosts of a gang that doesn't exist...but you need to realize something. Those five: they have a very present understanding that what I did to them was probably because of what THEY did to YOU. They don't want the cops digging into the truth. They'd rather the police never talk to me or anyone else that might be involved in what really happened...because they don't want the cops being led to you."
"I hope you're right." Jacob leaned back again.
Robert nodded, "Worst case scenario? The truth gets out, and I get to be the big hero who took it to a gang of rapists."
Billy, unabashedly leaning against the otter, seemed relaxed for the first time since Jacob had come to his rescue in the hallway two days earlier. "Thank you Robert."
"Not a problem. This is what I do." The wolfbear stood up with a groan, and slowly trodded out of the room toward the shower, "You two just trust your papi!"
~
There we go! Hero continues!
I originally wrote Hero as one whole story. I wrote it between TMCS 1 & TMCS 2. It was REALLY long, though, so I decided it shouldn't just be a single story. I broke it into three chapters. This is the second of those chapters!
I applogize if there are ANY tense problems remaining in this final product. I tried to fix that, but the entire original was in present tense...so I might have missed something here or there while converting it to past tense.
Side note: Like I said before, this is my "Mary Sue" story, I think. It's based on an old romantic fantasy of mine, and...as such, Jacob is basically me. Just...a little cooler. But, going along with that -- Robert is based off of my real life best friend, Robert. Guy's not a furry himself, but loved that I made him a wolfbear. And, regardless how unrealistic it may sound...I assure you, my RL Robert is almost exactly like his furry counterpart...including the fighting prowess.
Anyway, thanks for reading!
I welcome any feedback! Comment or PM me here, or email me at frostborealis[at]gmail.com I'll also be getting myself a twitter and a facebook dedicated to Borealis soon.
See you for the conclusion in Chapter 3! ^_^