Nothing More than an Acrimonious Dispute

Kellin's POV

Pain. That's the first thing that registered in my consciousness. An acrid ache clawed it's way through my head, sending a wave a nausea and dizziness to through my entire body. Instinctively, I clutched my stomach in an attempt to numb the pain, almost hugging my own torso in desperation for the pain to go. But the ache in my stomach was nothing in comparison to the headache that ripped through my skull. 

Confusion. That was the second thing that hit me. As I reluctantly peeled open my eyes, I realised that I wasn't at home, which was unlike me. Groggily, I attempted to sit up, but a strong arm kept me firmly in my place. What the fuck? Once again, I unstably tried to push myself up but the person held on to me tighter, nuzzling their face into the back of my neck, mumbling something grouchily. Ok, what was going on? My confounded state only made my already unbearable headache worsen, and I just did not know what to do. 

"Urrm... Hello?" I uttered out nervously. 

"Shut up." A distinguishable, throaty voice croaked. 

My mind flooded with relief as I realised it was just Vic. Wait... Vic?! Shocked, my eyes widened in disbelief, and I bolted up from the couch, stumbling and staggering around dizzily. I definitely shouldn't have gotten up that quickly. After I regained some balance, I stared back at a shirtless Vic, who was looking up at me drowsily. A dimness enveloped his usual rich brown orbs, making them look somewhat hollow- they held a look of hurt, but only for a split second. Sure enough, it was hastily replaced by a loathsome glare accompanied with him giving me the finger. Before I could even contrive a response, Vic had turned his back on me, grumbling a quiet 'fuck off'. 

In all honestly, I felt slightly saddened. It was in my nature to take things to the heart, even if I didn't make it obvious. I also had a bad case of wallowing in self-pity, which was never a good characteristic to have. Also, I had a tendency to rant and never knew when to stop. For fucks sake, I was doing it now! Instead of dwelling on my pessimistic thoughts, I pushed them aside and I leant down to pick my shirt up. As I slipped it over my head, I set on trying to remember what had happened. 

Since the only thing in Vic's 'living room' (other than his sofa) was a battered, unwatchable television, I had no where to sit but the cigarette burnt carpet. Annoyed, I dropped to the floor and shoved my head in my hands. This headache was getting increasingly worse, and I had no aspirins or painkillers to rid of it. Of course, it made trying to remember things considerably harder; the pain was eating away at my concentration. Every time I thought I could grasp hold of a random image or event, an unpleasant convulsion darted through my foggy mind, making me lose any traces of remembrance. 

It must have been reaching the hour mark, and I still had not been able to recollect any happenings. The irritation and frustration was starting to test my patience and I just wanted to smack my head against something. No matter what I did, I just couldn't remember. The harder I tried, the more murky my memories became. Brilliant.

Just as I was losing the will to live, (what can I say, I'm a drama queen) the creaking of stairs and footsteps entranced my full attention. There was someone else in the house? Curiously, I looked over my shoulder to be greeted by a familiar face, a familiar face that helped me patch together some of last night. If I was right, this guy was Mike: Vic's brother. 

Straining a smile was the best I could do to greet Mike. I didn't know him, so I certainly did not want to set a bad impression of myself. Also, he seemed like the kind of guy that could physically break my skull open with a single punch if I got in the wrong side of him. 

To my surprise, Mike waved at me eagerly from the bottom of the stairs, a wide grin spreading on his lips. He seemed relatively friendly, unlike Vic (and I was, without a doubt, thankful for that). I wasn't really sure what Mike was doing- did he want to talk to me? Or was he just seeing if I was still here? My internal queries were soon answered as Mike gestured for me to come over to him. It was only when I stood next to him did I realise how fucking tall he was. Without a doubt, I would have to look up at him when I talked to him because, unfortunately, I was a pretty small guy. 

"Hia! After you!" He whispered excitedly, and pushed towards the stairs, if you could call them that. There were only about six, but they seemed quite steep. I was still confused as to why Vic had stairs in an apartment. Cautiously, I climbed them, careful not to wake an already angry Vic. When I reached the top, I was greeted by a matchbox room. The only things in it were a bed, a set of drawers, and a beaten up guitar. I knew I was being nosy, and I would have continued my snooping if Mike had not sent an evil grin my way. Oh no. I had no idea what he was going to do, but it was not going to be good. He was still lingering at the bottom of the stairs and I was beginning to get curious, so I stepped down one of the steps, so I could see what was going on. 

"Morning fucker! Sleep well, Vic? How's that hangover treating you?!" Mike's voice bounced off of the walls, making Vic practically jump out of his skin. The expression on his face was priceless, and I would be lying if I said I didn't snigger. Mike of course beamed triumphantly, and turned to me, sticking his thumbs up in the air. 

Vic however was not as pleased as Mike and I. The initial shocked expression had melted away, and now he looked very irritated. A hateful look etched itself onto Vic's face and he narrowed his eyes, almost warning Mike to run.

"Say one more word and I rip your stitches out, and you know I'm not joking. Fuck. Off." On that point, Vic flopped back down on the couch, resumed his position, and closed his eyes, probably hoping to avoid the world since he must have one hell of a hangover. It didn't even surprise me as Mike chuckled to himself, evidently happy about winding his brother up. However, he did leave Vic be and make his way up to where I was standing.

"C'mon!" Mike gripped my arm and gestured for me to sit on the very unstable looking bed. I honestly didn't think it could take the weight of us both, but it did somehow. For a couple of seconds, Mike just looked at me, eyeing me up, as if he was trying to make some sort of judgement. 

"Don't worry about it." 

I furrowed my eyebrows, unbeknownst to what he was getting at. "What?" 

"Vic. I may have accidentally stumbled across yours and Vic's disagreement before..." A sympathetic glance was sent my way and I felt my disappointment return. 

"I wouldn't call it a disagreement, just Vic being a stubborn ass like he always is, no offence." This made Mike laugh and he nodded his head in agreement.

"Ha, none taken. Everyone who knows Vic thinks he's the world's biggest prick, it's just the way he is, don't take it personally. I know you like him n' all, but it's just his strange, strange nature to hate everything." 

"Whoa, whoa, back up. Like him? I... I don't like like him. I mean, he's a... nice guy but I'm not into him." 

Mike just scoffed and smirked at me knowingly. Ok, I might have been lying slightly. I didn't necessarily 'like' Vic, but I could definetely appreciate that he was extremely attractive. What can I say, I'm a flaming homo and Vic had a gorgeous body, his ass particularly. Trying not to check him out at work would be impossible, and it wasn't doing anyone any harm.

"Kellin? You there, man?" Fingers clicked in front of my eyes, snatching me away from my little daze.

"Uh huh, sorry. My headache is kinda getting worse, makes it hard to concentrate." I lied. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie, but Mike doesn't need to know the full truth, does he?. "What were you saying?" I tried, averting the conversation away from my supposed crush on Vic.

"I was just saying, you need to persevere with the moody bastard, as hard as that seems." 

"Ha yeah, like that's a good idea. The last time I tried to be his friend, he punched me in the face!" Angrily, I pointed towards the cut on my face. "And that was yesterday!" 

"Whoops. I apologise on Vic's behalf..." The look on Mike's face looked almost embarrassed, but I couldn't fathom out if it was that or something else. 

I had no time to dwell on that as a ver profound memory came flooding back into my thoughts.

"Hey Kell? I'm... I'm sorry about your cheek. I really didn't mean to."

That then caused an array of other mental shards to piece together and my mouth practically hung open in disbelief as my contorted memories became less opaque. I literally sat there in the biggest state of 'what the holy fuck' I had ever been in. We had nearly fucked! No, I must be wrong; I must be remembering some things wrong.

"Mike." The taller man turned to me, stopping whatever his was talking about and cast me a worried look. "What happened last night, I'm a little... well, fuzzy." 

The concerned expression left Mike's features as quickly as it arrived and now he just looked amused. "You were so high, man! It was so funny! Ermm, something about Vic being angry because I "cockblocked" him and that's about it. I don't know what dirty stuff you two had been up to before I made my appearance." Mike winked at me, causing a wave of heat to travel through my face, scorning my pale cheeks with a very noticeable blush.

"Oh my god."  I muttered, Mike only confirming that what I remembered was the truth. But it left me perplexed. Why would Vic do anything with me? I mean, he's the one who cuddled me, and he was definitely the one who initiated everything.

"Look Kellin, I know Vic is an absolute dickhead sometimes, well most of the time, but  he's just lonely. Loneliness can do strange things to people. He never used to be like that, you know? It was ever since-" Mike stopped mid sentence, realisation glinting in his eyes. I looked at him expectantly and raised my eyebrows, intrigued as to what he was going to say. "Ermm... Right, what I'm trying to say is keep on doing whatever you've been doing. Please?" 

"I really don't think I should do that. All I do is annoy him." 

"No Kellin, please. Trust me with this. He needs someone to bother him." 

Sighing in defeat, I nodded my head, accepting my fate of having a black eye next week. The only way I could ever get Vic's attention was bugging him, so I guess I just had to act how I normally did, which really wast that hard. Mike gave me a small smile and continued to tell me about his antics of pissing someone called 'Oli' off.

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Mike and I must have sat there for about 3 hours, mindlessly gossiping about nothing of relevance. In that time, I had discovered that Mike was quite the bad boy. If you wanted dangerous, then Mike was your guy. His most recent run in entailed him punching a guy called Oli straight in the nose, breaking it. This would have been no biggie if Oli hadn't been the leader of some badass gang that was now out for Mike. It didn't really help that he stole drugs from them. Of course, he didn't take it seriously, instead, Mike just laughed it off. 

"Oh god, it was funny. You should have seen their faces! Jaime found it hilarious, then again, it is Jaime..." A short laugh left me as I admired Mike's carefree personality. I certainly wanted to meet this 'Jaime' guy, he sounded fucking great. 

In the midst of all our conversation, I hadn't even noticed Vic walk up the stairs. Without sounding spiteful or callous, I really did not want to contend with Vic's shitty attitude at the moment. I was enjoying talking to his brother; Mike was so friendly- I felt comfortable around him. Vic on the other hand made me feel edgy and unwelcome. 

Without any doubt in my mind, I knew that there would be a glare on Vic's face, and I was right, but it looked slightly more malicious than I imagined. 

"You." Vic barked, pointing a finger at Mike. "Out. Now." 

Just like that, Mike's persona did a 180 flip, and he scurried off nervously, a neutral expression residing on his face. You would have thought he wasn't that bothered, but the pained look in his eyes told me otherwise. The whole situation pissed me off. Mike was his brother, why would he talk to him like that? Determined, I began to walk towards the stairs, set on continuing my conversation with Mike. I was not bowing down to him, damn it. 

You know, I would have followed Mike. But I couldn't, as a stern grip clamped down on my shoulder, preventing me from moving. There was no point in me resisting or attempting to struggle because I knew Vic was strong- despite him not necessarily looking it.

"Let go, you bastard." I hissed nastily.

"No." Vic scoffed, turning me around so I was forced to look at those gorgeous brown eyes of his. They really were quite the distraction. There was also another thing averting my anger- Vic was still shirtless. My eyes had a mind of their own as I trailed my glance down his sun kissed torso. He was so toned, and had prominent V-lines, which made me melt inside. I bit my lip, nervously as I allowed my stare to fall further down his body, almost reaching the front of his jeans, until Vic's supple fingers gripped under my chin, forcing me to look up at him. I knew my body was betraying me- the burning sensation of a blush crept up on my cheeks, and there was no denying that I was checking him out. So much for me being 'angry'. 

"Like what you see?" Amusement danced in Vic's eyes, but it left quickly, and was replaced with a steely glare that I had grown to despise. It was like he was constantly battling with himself, constantly trying to cover up his true personality. 

Without warning, he harshly shoved both of my shoulders, causing me to stumble backwards, falling straight onto the bed. I was laying flat on my back staring up at Vic hopelessly, as he hovered over me, showing nothing but a deadpanned, unreadable visage. Growing tired of his bullshit, I nudged at his chest, trying push him away from me. 

"Please, just get away from me, Vic." A surge of guilt ran through me as soon as those words left my lips. It was an injurious, spited thing to say, and judging by the hurt look plaguing Vic's face, it had worked a treat. In spite of that, he didn't move like I expected him too. His hurt expression, however, did change, turning bitter- he looked pissed. 

"You know what I'm going to tell you to do? I am going to tell you to fuck off and never, ever bother me again. Frankly, I don't care what happened last night or how you feel. I don't care, and I never will. I know I'm a prick, and I know I'm hateful, before you tell me. They're just a few of the vile qualities that make my despicable personality..." The harshness in his scowl seemed to haze slightly, allowing streaks of sadness to leak from his resplendent brown orbs. "A-and I'm sorry for those qualities, Kellin. I'm sorry for the way I am, and for the way I treat you, I'm just a naturally bitter person. Its all my fault, I cant blame anyone for the way I am. I can tell you're repulsed by me, it's fine though. I'll 'get away' from you, I don't know what's gotten into me..." Without anymore remarks, Vic began to sit up, leaving me feeling quite sorry for him. 

I didn't even think about my next move properly. I followed his actions till I was kneeling on the bed, desperately reaching out, tugging at his arm. He simply brushed my hand off effortlessly and continued to get up. I wasn't going to let him feel that worthless though, no matter how angry I still was. Once again, I gripped onto his arm and he pulled away roughly, which resulted in me falling onto his lap. It was all a bit messy and I wasn't really sure how I ended up there, but I was in the perfect position to keep him where I wanted. To my surprise, Vic made no efforts to leave and simply looked up at me curiously, trying anticipate my next move. 

Cautiously, I reached my hand up to his cheek, caressing it lightly. "You don't repulse me Vic. At all. I just think you're a bit misguided, and lonely... and that's definitely fixable, I promise." I kept my hand where it was, running my thumb over Vic's flawless tan skin. "Please Vic, just let me help." My voice turned into a whisper and by now, I had rested my forehead on Vic's, staring straight into his eyes in an attempt to search out some answers. 

"You can't. This is the way I need to be." Vic uttered out, his gaze focused on my lips.

"Are you sure?" 

"Absolutely not." And with that, Vic slipped his hands around the back of my neck and smashed his lips against my own. I didn't even think twice about kissing him back.  
Admittedly, it wasn't a sweet innocent kiss. No, this was a desperate messy kiss. Roughly, Vic moved his soft lips against my own, occasionally nibbling on my bottom lip- causing little waves of pleasure to course through me. I ran my hands over Vic's bare chest, causing him to lightly moan into my mouth. The action in itself caused a shiver to race across my skin, and I couldn't help but taunt him by catching his bottom lip between my teeth, toying with it slightly. That's when things started to heat up. Carelessly, Vic shoved his tongue into my mouth, massaging it against my own. Oh fuck, that felt fucking good. His hands tangled in my hair and pulled at the strands desperately. After a while, Vic dragged his lips down my jaw and to my neck, where he roughly nipped at the skin, occasionally sucking it. There was no doubt in my mind that I would have some very noticeable hickeys. 

Then, it all stopped. Just like that. Confused, I stared at Vic, trying to determine what was wrong.

"Out." 

What the hell? What does he mean out!? Once again, I flashed him a puzzled look, but I got nothing but a hostile, stony response- completely emotionless.

"Out. Get out. By the time I get back, I want to out of my house." Vic pushed me off him and stormed out of the room, leaving me totally and utterly bewildered.