halcyon {joe sugg & caspar lee}

twenty-one

"I'll go and look..." Caspar trailed off, slowly making his way up the narrow staircase. The promise to be there if Joe needed him replayed in his mind over and over as his ears strained to hear anything from the floor below. He stopped at the top step and sat down on the wooden floor, as that would probably be the best place to be if he needed to go and protect Joe.

Caspar sighed heavily. He had gotten them into the situation, and now it was Joe who was finishing it. It made Caspar feel weak, which he probably was. He shouldn't have left Joe to fight his battles for him.

And what if Joe got hurt? Really hurt? It would ruin... whatever they had between them would be ruined forever.

Caspar mentally cursed himself. How selfish was he, his only thought on the two's relationship when Joe could be dead. He really was weak, and pathetic.

Three minutes passed, and no sound was heard.

Five minutes, nothing. The only sound Caspar could hear was the faint noise of voices coming from downstairs, but they weren't anything threatening.

The impenetrable silence was almost deafening. Downstairs, the voices had stopped. Caspar could almost hear his own heartbeat, and was just about to stand ready to run down the stairs....

When a hand wrapped around his mouth and throat.

Caspar's attacker dragged him backwards, pushing his neck in the direction it didn't bend just so he wouldn't see who had gotten him. Caspar flailed in blind confusion, limbs flying everywhere, head throbbing from spinning around. Caspar tried to sit up, pushing against the arms of the other person, and was halfway there until a pain in the centre of his back dropped him back down again. His now limp body was thrown like a rag doll against the banister, his head hitting the rail almost in sync to the first crash echoed from downstairs.

Caspar screamed out through the attacker's fingers, a little because of the pain but mostly because of the thought of what could be happening to Joe downstairs. This was in vain, as his screams (along with his windpipe) was cut off as the attacker tightened their fingers.

As more crashes and sharp noises sounded from downstairs, Caspar's body was now being pulled backwards slowly. It was like every single horror film Caspar had ever seen, where the unsuspecting victim is pulled backwards down the corridor to their imminent death. Was this person going to kill him? What did they want with him?

Suddenly all Caspar could see was the ceiling of the corridor, and he was just about to veer his head backwards to look upon the face of the person when a sharp kick in the back of his head put him back in his place. Without his height, Caspar had practically no advantages to use. He wasn't particularly strong, he couldn't think quickly so he had no ways to get himself out of a bad situation like Joe could.

Maybe that was it for Caspar. Memories flashed before his eyes, his family back in South Africa, his friends, all of his fans, and the final memory he lingered on was Joe.

The world faded to the sound of Joe's laugh in a distant memory.

The downstairs living room was filled with the sound of heavy breathing and Nala whining.

Joe's eyes flickered from Alfie's deranged face to the weapon in his hands. He recognised the chunk of glass from an ornament Zoe had bought for the house. She'd been so excited about it; it had been one of the most expensive things she'd gotten for it. She told everyone it symbolised her and Alfie's relationship; precious, rare, something they'd both treasure forever. And as Alfie stood with a piece of it in his hand, waiting to strike it at Joe, all he could think was oh, the irony.

Besides the ironicness of the situation, Joe's entire body seemed to be turning too led from fear. He was slowly freezing, shaking from the anticipation. His gaze was now stuck on Alfie's face. Joe hadn't disfigured it that badly compared to pictures he had seen of other fights. Blood poured from Alfie's nose and mouth, dropping down onto his t-shirt. A dark purple bruise was forming underneath his right eye, almost exactly like the one Caspar had sported from Oli a few days previous. The bruise that was again, caused by Alfie.

Alfie had warned him. He'd told him he would kill him, and now he had his chance. Joe was trapped in a corner, the door to his right but Alfie would definitely catch him before he got to it. Where would he go from there, anyway? He needed to get Caspar out of the house before.

Caspar. Where was he? He promised Joe he'd be there for him. To protect him. It wasn't even as though Joe was badly hurt physically, but the moral support would have done him good.

The tension in the room was so high; you couldn't even cut it with a butcher's knife. Neither of the two boys moved, but stood watching each other as though they were preparing for a shoot-off like in those cheesy Western movies. Joe wondered that if he didn't move for long enough neither would Alfie, and Zoe would arrive home and stop Joe's death.

Alfie made the first move, "you know, I don't want to do this Joe. You're giving me no choice. If Zoe ever finds out..."

"I wasn't going to tell her," Joe interrupted, "but now I feel like I have to. You're not going to kill me, Alfie. We both know that. You don't have the balls to do it."

"Don't I?" Alfie sneered

"No, you don't. You wouldn't kill me, Alfie!" Joe raised his voice, in the hopes Caspar would hear his cry for help.

It was all in vain, however, "I see what you're doing. You're trying to get Caspar to come down and save your ass. But ask yourself, if he's really as there for you as he says where is he now?"

"Caspar!" Joe began to yell, as Alfie closed in, "Casp...!"

Before Joe could finish, like a cat pouncing on a mouse, Alfie leaped over to Joe and pressed a hand into his abdomen. The pain didn't come straight away, but a breath-stealing wind knocked Joe to the ground. The large shadow of Alfie knelt down over him and handed Joe something sharp.

"He really loves you, you know," Alfie smirked, "you love him too, I can tell. It's a shame; you would have made a great couple."