No One Does it Better

It seemed that for once in the boys’ lives, true peace had been found. It had been ages since they’d heard from Craig. Even Sarah had slowly begun to accept Kellin when she saw how much happier Vic was becoming. Jakoby was growing – he was hardly a kitten anymore, although it would be a while before he reached actual adulthood.

Kellin landed himself a job – he worked nights at the clubs, earning money as an entertainer. And not some kind of sleazy entertainer, he used his voice and he was learning more on the piano. He kept urging Vic to come with him some nights and bring the guitar he’d found in the closet, but the older boy would always say he had too much homework, even though he’d never have so much that it would stop him from going out to see his boyfriend perform.

Every night Kellin would grin down at Vic from the stage before
singing his little heart out. Most of his songs had references to his struggles with drugs and things in the past, but slowly, Vic noticed that the songs were becoming happier. He was in the process of forming a band, too. The guitarist he had found was named Jack, and they’d recently recruited a bassist. All they needed was a drummer and a second guitarist now. Of course Kellin kept the position open to Vic, but the Hispanic boy politely declined.

No, he was much too busy with school to start a band, even though he was nearing finals week, and then there would be graduation week… it seemed crazy to think that after all this stress, it was actually coming. How in the world had he even survived the school year?

Well, as he looked over at the sleeping lump on his bed, not bothered by the light from his laptop while he worked, Vic knew it was because of Kellin. He made him want to rip his hair out at times… but really, he’d kind of saved him from the stress and melancholy of his life too.

“Idiot,” he muttered under his breath, leaning down to plant a soft kiss to the boy’s head, careful not to wake him. “MY idiot…”

On the edge of the bed, Jakoby yawned and stretched, rolling over and promptly falling back asleep in the crook of Kellin’s knee.

—-

“Thank you, and have a good night everyone,” Kellin said in to the microphone, brushing his hair out of his eyes before giving Jack a high five as they stood. People cheered and clapped for them as they walked off stage; although no one would be louder than Vic and Sarah.

“Good job!” said the tan boy as soon as Kellin got close to his table.

“Thanks,” he said, leaning down to press a little kiss to his lips.

A flash they saw out of the corners of their eyes made them both look over to see a grinning Sarah, her phone in her hands. “Aw, that’s adorable. Good thing I turned the flash on,” he said, holding it up so they could see the image of their kiss.

“Fantastic,” said Vic, rolling his eyes. She giggled and placed it back down on the table. “So did you let that guy join your band yet? His name was Gabe, wasn’t it? Kellin?”

Kellin seemed to be in a daze. He was staring off at a corner of the bar, looking shocked and taken aback. Vic turned his head to look at whatever had caught his attention and his hand twitched, wanting to ball up in to a fist.

Staring back at him and his boyfriend was none other than Craig himself, and whatever it was that he wanted, Vic would be sure that he wasn’t going to get it. “Kells,” he said softly, reaching out and taking Kellin’s hand. “Ignore him. He can’t do anything to you anymore.”

“Why is he here?” Kellin asked quietly, fear seeping in to his voice.

Vic shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He reached up, tilting Kellin’s face so that he would look at him. “I won’t let him near you.”

Kellin focused his attention on Vic and smiled. Of course; the little Hispanic boy gave him so much strength, so much confidence. He’d never felt so healthy and happy in his life and he owed all of it to Vic. Slowly he leaned down to show his appreciation with a quick kiss.

He whipped around when two people approached from behind him. One was Jack, the other a well-built looking guy with light hair and blue eyes. He had a sort of lazy, lop sided grin.

“Gabe?” he guessed, extending his hand to shake the other guy’s.

“Yup. Nice to meet you,” he shook Kellin’s hand rather firmly; the pale boy could feel the callouses on his skin. Definitely a practiced musician, then.

“I saw the videos Jack showed me. You’re good, dude.” Kellin flicked his eyes to Jack; his friend gave him an excited nod. “So you wanna join our little band?”

A grin even wider spread out on Gabe’s face. “Dude, after hearing you up there, you bet.”

They shook hands and smiled. It was settled; all they needed now was a second guitarist. And Gabe and Jack actually already had a mutually known red-head in mind, although they would introduce him to Kellin later.

A tug on Kellin’s hand made him turn back to face Vic, but he was only using him to stand up. “Want anything from the bar?” he asked.

Kellin shook his head. Vic nodded and smiled, walking towards the bar to get drinks for himself and Sarah, who was having fun with the club’s wifi. As he strolled over, he reflected on the fact that she WOULD be the one to be on tumblr while out with friends, not that he minded.

“What can I get you?” asked the bar tender as soon as Vic approached him.

“Just a couple beers, whatever the hell you think is best,” said Vic. The bartender nodded and turned around, quickly getting Vic his request.

When he came back to the counter he handed Vic two ice cold drinks and smiled. “For the boyfriend of the dude that just rocked our stage, on the house.”

“Thanks man,” said Vic, as a warm feeling flushed inside of him. Damn it, he was so fucking proud of Kellin; after everything he’d been through, he was still going to manage to make something of himself. He knew it, he just knew it.

That warm feeling dropped to an icy, stabbing pain when he turned back towards the table though. Over in the corner, he saw the messy-haired head of his boyfriend following a tall, burly figure out the door of the bar. And to his horror, it looked like he wasn’t being taken against his will, either.

But where Kellin could be going with Craig, Vic had no idea.

—-

Three in the morning, and Vic still had classes in just a few hours. He flicked his eyes towards the clock for the millionth time and nearly vomited. Was it really getting that late? Damn it, where was he?

Of course he’d followed the younger boy out the door, but he couldn’t find him anywhere. He called, he texted, he left message after message while he was running around outside trying to find him, and only after half an hour was searching in vein did his phone finally light up with Kellin’s name. And even then, all he got was a text that read ‘Go home.’

Where was he? Had he lost him? What if he relapsed? The questions burned and tortured Vic’s brain without answers. “fucking hell…” he muttered, rubbing his eyes. Jakoby lay on the bed next to him, resting his head on his paws.

If he ever lost Kellin, he didn’t know what kind of hell he’d be in. The pale boy had carried him through to the end of his last semester; he’d given him so much happiness and now that he had him he couldn’t imagine life without him. How could he go with Craig so… willingly?

The sound of the kitchen door opening roused him from his thoughts. Instantly he sprang to his feet and saw him, quietly closing the door behind him before turning to face him. “Oh, you’re still up?” he said softly.

“O-of course I’m still up! Are you kidding?! Kellin I’ve been worried sick!” Vic almost shouted, allowing all the hurt to cloud his voice.

Kellin frowned and turned his eyes to the floor. “Yeah… I figured you would be. Sorry.”

“Where the fuck were you?!” Vic demanded. He stepped closer, wanting to hug him and punch him both at the same time.

The pained look on Kellin’s eyes made Vic wanted to light himself on fire. What the hell had happened? What was he about to hear? Slowly Kellin’s lips parted in speech. “I was with Craig.”

“What were you doing?” Vic crossed his arms.

“We were talking…” Kellin’s voice trailed off. “He begged me to just talk to him for a second. It was fucking weird, but I agreed… I dunno why I did, but I did.”

“And?” said Vic, wanting him to cut to the chase. “Why were you gone so long? What else did you do?!”

Kellin raised his hands to get him to calm down. “I’m getting there…” He kicked off his shoes and brushed his hair out of his eyes. “He was like… telling me he missed me and shit. Like I said, it was fucking weird. He said he needed me because he couldn’t come out to his friends. It was kind of sad.”

Vic’s face fell. His eyes clouded with fear and he felt like his nerves were going to make him be sick at any given time.

“He offered me free drugs whenever I wanted them. All I had to do was basically agree to be his bitch again,” Kellin continued.

Vic shook his head. His hands were trembling. “And… what did you say?” he whispered.

The paler boy stepped closer, wrapping his arms around Vic’s waist and pulling him closer to him. He pressed their foreheads together so that their noses lightly brushed against each other. “I told him I’d found a new addiction and I left. I had to walk across town, but I wasn’t going to stand there listening to his pathetic speeches anymore. I couldn’t leave you if I tried, Vic.”

Finally Vic smiled and tilted his head forward, pressing their lips together. “I’m proud of you, Kellin. You know you could have called me for a ride home though, right?”

“I thought you might be asleep or something,” answered the younger boy, kissing Vic again.

Vic shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Of course you did.” As he kissed the boy again, he couldn’t help but think of something. He grinned, looking at Kellin with even more happiness. “You picked me over drugs and that whole life style with Craig,” he whispered.

Kellin smiled brightly back at him. “Of course I did, Vic, are you kidding? Who needs drugs when I’ve got you? Who needs to get high when you’re in my life, you know?” He sighed, resting his head on Vic’s shoulder. “You know I love you, don’t you Vic?”

The tan boy’s heart nearly burst out of his chest. He tilted Kellin’s head up to look at him. “I love you too, Kells,” he said happily. He moved forward, pressing their lips together for a few moments.

“You saved me,” said Kellin in between kisses.

“You saved me, too,” Vic responded, making Kellin giggle a bit. They deepened their kisses and started stepping backwards towards the bed room.

“And I would never ever leave you for anything. No one makes me happy like you do…”

Color flushed in to Vic’s face; he wanted to push Kellin against a wall or something when he started talking sweetly like this. “No one makes me feel the way you make me feel…” he admitted.

Kellin broke their kiss and looked in to Vic’s eyes, smiling. “No one can ever compare to you, Vic. No on loves like you do, or smiles or laughs like you do… No one does it better.”

They kissed and finally Vic turned and dragged Kellin to their bedroom, slamming the door shut behind them. The sound was loud enough to make the small, sleepy, white form on the couch jump up. Once the cat realized that all was well, however, he simply curled in to a ball on the couch once more and rested his chin on his paws. With nothing more to fear, he drifted off easily.