Damian met him in the cafeteria after Tom dropped him off. Sitting down next to him, it was obvious to his boyfriend he’d been fucked that morning, Steven explaining what he’d been up to. To his surprise, Damian straddled his lap and kissed him. “I’m so fucking horny, Stevie,” he whispered.
Steven kissed him back, the make-out session turning hot and heavy. The only reason they stopped is that they broke apart to see all their female friends, around ten of them, sat at their table. All of them were smiling, Steven feeling himself blush. Damian buried his head into the crook of his neck, definitely embarrassed, though Steven could feel his hard cock pressed against him. Steven was just as hard, Damian shuffling so he was comfortable.
“Sorry, girls,” Steven said softly, “We just don’t like being apart.”
“And I’m really fucking horny,” Damian added, giggling away.
“Don’t mind us. The two of your making out is, quite frankly, adorable,” Emma stated, “Not even guys who are not particularly open-minded will say a thing.”
“Yeah, because Jim, William and the entire university rugby league team will sort them out if they even heard a rumour that these two are abused,” Sarah suggested, “Am I wrong?”
“Probably not,” Steven admitted, “I mean, a couple of bigger guys picking on us? Trust me, I put up with it for six years at school.” Damian just hugged him tighter, feeling his hands on his back. He knew Damian had it worse but he still couldn’t share everything. Perhaps he never could. “We’re still careful around people, but sometimes, like right now, we don’t care. I love him and I don’t care who knows or sees.”
Emma moved closer. “How bad was it Damian?” she asked softly.
“Even Stevie doesn’t know everything,” he whispered.
But he knew what his boyfriend meant when he moulded himself against him, just wanting to feel safe. He reassured him at the same time. “You’re safe here, with me, and the others.”
“I know.”
“Who would hurt either of you?” Natalie asked herself, Steven noticing her wiping her eyes.
“None of that, Natalie” Steven said, looking around, “We’re safe and accepted here. We don’t let our previous experience effect our lives here. But it’s sometimes difficult when we remember some of the shit we endured.”
“Do you have classes soon?”
“Not until three.”
“Want to join us outside?”
“In a minute.” He waited until they’d left before he moved to meet Damian’s eyes. Using his thumbs to clear his cheeks, he whispered, “Do you need to tell me something?”
“I can’t…”
Before he started hyperventilating, as he was clearly upset, Steven stood up, grabbed their backpacks, and escorted his boyfriend outside. Leading him away from the main building, he called Tom and Jim, unsure of what else to do. Damian was in floods of tears by now, clinging onto Steven for dear life, as if he’d let him go, and god knows what would happen.
Tom and Jim turned up, both of them sprinting. They took one look at Damian. “Oh shit,” Jim muttered, Steven letting him go as the man with the heart of gold held onto his boyfriend tightly. It was only the second time that he’d ever seen Jim close to tears. “Has he said anything?” Steven shook his head.
“He doesn’t have to, Jim,” Tom muttered, “I’ve seen this before. I know exactly what happened.”
“So have I. So have I,” Jim added sadly, “Come on, gorgeous, we’re taking you home.”
“I’m okay. I’ll go out tonight and just forget about it. I’m not sure why it all just hit me.”
“Because you can’t keep it buried, Damian,” Steven said softly, cuddling him from behind, “Please tell me. Tell us. We’ll help carry your burden.”
They joined the girls. The two young men would admit they felt safe with the girls. Nearly all of Steven’s friends at high school had been girls. They probably knew he was gay before he did, so that’s why they liked him. In their eyes, he was harmless. Damian hadn’t been lonely but his life hadn’t been easy. Jim took a hip flask from his pocket, offering it to Damian.
“Take a swig of this. It’ll burn, but you’ll feel better.”
Damian did as he was told and started coughing. “The hell is that?”
“Whiskey. The good stuff.”
Steven sat down so Damian was leaning back against him. He didn’t need prompting to start sharing everything. To call it horrific would be an understatement. By the end, Steven was sobbing, holding his boyfriend as tightly as he could. For the first time, he saw the façade of Jim break completely. The girls all hugged them both. Tom was raging. “Call the police,” he said, “You can at least get it on record.”
“I don’t want to, Tom,” Damian whispered, “I just want to forget about it.”
“What if they do it to someone else?”
“Don’t you get it, Tom? I was an easy target at school by the whole bunch of them. And gang-raping the little sissy faggot who can’t defend himself just made them feel better about their own… I don’t know, masculinity or, in some bizarre way, heterosexuality, particularly when I couldn’t fight them off, then the constant taunting of me apparently enjoying it while I was fucked by one after the other… Just be glad I’m not dead, Tom. Because I thought about it more than once afterwards.”
There was more than one gasp. Tom’s face fell, immediately moving across. “Okay, I’ll let it drop. I’m sorry.”
Damian sighed. “I know you mean well, Tom, I truly do. But I doubt they’re in gay clubs now, looking for targets. There was one reason and one reason only. They bullied me for their own reasons, and what they did to me was simply a culmination of all that I had to put up with.” Leaning back against Steven, he added, “All I’ve tried to do is forget about it. And for most of the time, your love gets me through each day. I was struggling until the day you all appeared in my lives.” He turned around. “I want to go home, Stevie. Right now. I want to go home and make love. I want to forget about it again.”
“Okay. Jim?”
“On it. Let’s go.”
Before leaving, Damian kissed Tom deeply, almost reassuring all was okay, though when he whispered how much he loved him too, Tom almost broke, apologising more than once. “You care because you love me, Tom. But I need to handle it my way. I’m in a better place. I have a man who loves me more than anything, and I have others who love me just as much. Maybe I should speak to a therapist at least, but I’m happy with everything I’ve done. I’m living my best life with all of you.”
Dropping them off at home, Jim got out and hugged Damian again, before he returned to campus. The two boys didn’t make love when they ended up in the bedroom. Naked? Of course. Lots of kissing and cuddling? Definitely. But Damian clearly just needed to be loved, and Steven went all out to prove how much he did. They ended up talking and laughing all afternoon, only stopping when the kissing turned intimate and intense.
They were napping together when Tom gently shook them both awake, letting them know they’d have to go in an hour or so. Spooned back against him, Damian chuckled, stating he could feel Steven was excited about him as always. “The day I don’t get hard for you, gorgeous, is the day I’m dead.”