I am woken up by my phone ringing. I groan and feel Lyric reach over me. He grabs my phone. "Hello?" He says groggily.
"What the hell are you still doing in bed?"
"Danny. You're loud." He says.
Lyric sighs. "Yeah. That's better. Alright. Give us about two hours. Yeah. Bye." He lays my phone on the bed beside him and lays back down. "What was that about?" I ask quietly as I lay on his chest. He wraps his arm around my waist.
"Danny is freaking out."
"Why?"
"I don't know... All I could understand was that his dad called him and-" He leans up quickly. "Shit."
"What?"
"He said his dad found out about Tony."
"Hasn't he known?"
"No... He wasn't at the dinner everyone else was. We need to hurry and get dressed." He throws the blankets off of us both. He runs to the closet with just shorts on and grabs him a pair of jeans and a random Guns N Roses t-shirt. He then throws me a pair of jeans and one of my Shinedown shirts. I quickly change and run a brush through my hair. We quickly go out of the apartment and make our way to Danny's. We get there and I see a black car I don't recognize in front of the building. We get out of the car and take the steps two at a time. All I hear is yelling coming from the front door. Lyric walks in first. The scene I see is this: Tony looks like he has been hit in the face. He is standing in the far corner of the living room, looking terrified and worried. Danny and a man I assume is his father are yelling at the top of their lungs. Danny's father stops as soon as he sees Lyric and me. "What are you doing here?" He asks him. Lyric pushes me towards Tony. I run to him.
"Are you okay Tone?"
"...I guess..."
"Come here." I pull him to the kitchen.
"What is she doing?" Danny's father asks.
"Helping her friend whom you punched." Danny says, with venom lacing every word.
I touch Tony's face carefully. "Geez Tone. Why didn't you fight back? I know you can fight. I've seen it."
He shrugs. "It's Danny's dad."
"But he punched you."
"I'm fine Lav."
"Tony. Don't lie to me." I take some ice out of the freezer and wrap it in a rag and hand it to him. "Here. Hold this to your face."
"Thanks." I grab his hand and we walk back to the living room where Lyric has made Danny's father sit down on the couch. Danny looks towards us in worry. Tony nods in reassurance.
"Okay, we're going to try this one more time." Lyric says. "What is your issue with them being together? You did this exact thing when you found out Danny and I were together."
"It's an abomination!"
I feel Tony flinch and I squeeze his hand. Lyric closes his eyes and breathes out. He looks like he wants to punch him. He opens his eyes. "That is not a valid reason. That is an opinion. You haven't seen how happy your son is with Tony. I have never seen him this happy as long as I've known him."
"He can't marry him."
"Yes he can." Lyric says. "It's legal."
"He can't have children."
"He can adopt."
"He...He...."
"What?"
"I can disown him for this."
"No you can't." Danny says. "You can't touch any of the money because it's Grandmother's. And she loves Tony, so she won't disown me for something as stupid as me liking men."
"Now, try again." Lyric says. "And don't throw something out there as stupid as 'they're both men' 'it's not right' or anything like that. We've all heard it before."
"Why do you support this?"
Lyric smiles. "I've been with your son, remember?"
"Not you. Her." He says pointing at me.
"Excuse me?" I ask.
"Why do you support this? I mean, you're obviously friends with him and you're undoubtedly with Lyric. So, why do you support it? Knowing Lyric was with him has got to gross you out."
I look at him in shock. "I'm not as shallow as you. I don't see a relationship with two men as something that is wrong. I see the love that they both have for each other. I've known Tony for years and have seen him in a toxic relationship that made him so unhappy, that I'm glad he finally found someone that makes him happy. Hell, I'm the one that got him to meet Danny. And where Lyric is concerned, I love him." I look to Lyric. "His past is his past. I know it all and still choose to love him every day. I'm not saying him and Danny being together was a bad thing. I'm saying his past is what made him who he is and I'm glad for it."
Danny's father narrows his eyes at me and I smile. "So, are you going to leave them alone or am I going to have to call the cops to get you to leave?" Lyric asks.
"I'll leave." He stands up. "My son is dead anyways." He walks out of the door and slams it. Danny slides down the wall he was leaning on. I can see him shaking and crying. "Fuck!" Danny says as he punches the floor. Tony runs to him and knees down in front of him.
"It'll be okay. Everything will be fine." He grabs Danny's hands. "It'll be okay."
Danny looks up at Tony. "Look at what he did to you." He reaches for Tony's face. "I'm fine. Are you okay?" Danny shrugs. Tony kisses him softly on the lips and pulls him up. "You will be."
Lyric walks over to Danny and he starts crying again. "This is a major déjà vu." Lyric says smiling slightly.
Danny laughs between sobs. "Except last time you actually punched him."
Lyric chuckles. "Took him by surprise. He got his ass handed to him by a seventeen year old."
Danny laughs then hugs Lyric. "Thanks for coming."
"It's no problem. I enjoy putting your father in his place." He leans up. "And this time I had some help." He says looking at me.
I smile. "I'll do it anytime."
"Thanks."
"Do you guys have any plans today?" Tony asks.
"We're supposed to go check on Rose, Toby, and the Twins."
Tony smiles. "Can we come?" He says practically jumping up and down.
"Of course. Let's just cover up that shiner some, yeah?"
He nods and I walk down to the car to get my makeup. I walk back in and take Tony into the bathroom. He sits on top of the counter around the sink. "Do you have something that will match my color?"
I nod. "I do." I take out the concealer. "Close your eyes." He does as I instruct him. I carefully add the makeup to his eye. I then add a bit of base and powder. I blend it to where you can't tell it's there. "There. All done." He jumps off of the counter and looks in the mirror.
"Thanks Lavender."
I nod. "Of course." We walk out of the bathroom and Danny and Lyric are talking quietly. I notice Lyric is holding Danny's hand and talking to him. Danny smiles slightly and nods. He stands up as he notices we've walked into the room. Danny walks to Tony and kisses his cheek. "Are you ready to go?" He asks. His eyes are still a little puffy from crying.
Tony nods. "Yeah. Are we taking your bike?"
"I figured we would."
"Alright. Let's go. Do you have the keys Lyric?" I ask.
Lyric holds the keys up silently and nods. We all make our way downstairs and head towards the hospital. "Is something wrong Lyr?"
He sighs. "Sort of..."
"What is it?"
He shakes his head. "It's not my place to tell. Just know, that everything will be fine...I hope."
I nod. "Okay." He reaches over and grabs my hand and squeezes it. "I love you."
"I love you too." What is he hiding? Is something wrong with someone? Is it Danny? Or Tony? I wish he would tell me. But he said it's not his place to tell... That kind of scares me. Okay, it really scares me. We pull up to the hospital and walk in with Tony and Danny following us. I knock on the door as we get to the room. I walk in quietly and see Rose is asleep. Toby looks up as we walk in. He is leaning over the twins' bed, playing with them. He smiles slightly and I walk to where I am beside him. I look down at the babies who are cooing quietly. "Hey cuties." I say down to them.
"I wanna see them!" Tony says walking towards the beds quickly.
"This is Elijah or Jessica. And this is Michael or Mikey." Toby says motioning to the babies.
"Oh my gosh. They're adorable." Tony says smiling down to them.
"Thank you." Toby says. "What are you guys up to today?"
"Nothing much." I say. "Oh! Engagement party. My family is throwing an engagement party for us Wednesday. You're all invited."
"Sounds like a plan." Toby says. "At your grandparents' place?"
"I assume so."
He nods. Rose turns over and sees us. I smile towards her and sit on the bed with her. "Hey." She says groggily.
"Hey. You getting out today?"
"Tomorrow."
I nod. "Wednesday my family is throwing an engagement party. You should bring the twins."
"Alright. We'll be there. That'll give us two days to get everything settled in. How's your morning been?"
I look over to the guys who are standing around the twins' beds, talking. "Oh, you know...The usual..."
"Something happen?"
"Yeah. Sorta."
"I need to get moving around, want to take a walk and tell me about it?"
I nod. "Sure." I stand up and help her stand up.
"We're gonna go walk guys." Rose says.
"Be careful." Toby and Lyric both say.
I smile. "We will." I grab Rose's hand and we make our way out of the room. We start towards the courtyard. We are halfway there when Rose speaks.
"So, what happened?"
"Danny's dad found out about him and Tony."
"Oh god. I can only imagine how that went."
"Yeah. He called my phone freaking out. I guess he just got to my name first."
She nods. We get to the courtyard and Rose sits on a bench that's in front of a fountain. "I feel like you're leaving something out."
"It's not me that's leaving something out. When I took Tony to the bathroom to cover the huge bruise that Danny's father left on him Lyric and Danny were talking. When we came back, they stopped talking. Lyric started acting strange after they talked. I feel like he's hiding something from me..."
"Did you ask him about it?"
"I did. He said it wasn't his place to tell me so all I can think of automatically is something is wrong with either Tony or Danny..."
Rose nods. "Me too." She sighs and stands up. "Let's get back... I'm sure everything will come out when it needs to."
"Yeah. I know." We start walking back towards the room. We get back and see the guys are watching the tv while Tony and Toby hold the twins. I smile slightly. I walk and sit in Lyric's lap since there's nowhere to sit. He kisses my head and wraps his arms around me. "Hey Lavender?" Tony says.
"Yes?"
"Want to come with me to feed and ride the horses today?"
"I'd love to. I haven't ridden Raven in forever. You've been taking care of her, right?"
"Of course." We say goodbye to Toby and Rose and head towards Tony's farm, where he is keeping the horses. We get there and Tony and I go out and feed the horses. "Let's take them out to one of trails to ride." Tony says as they finish eating.
I nod. "Sounds like a plan." I start to get all the equipment and put it onto Raven. We get them both ready and head towards one of the trails while Lyric and Danny stay at the house. We are out about ten minutes when Tony stops beside me. I bring Raven to a stop and look back at him. "Is something wrong Tone?"
"...Kind of..."
"What is it? You know you can talk to me about anything."
"I know..." He sighs. "Come on. Let's get to the creek so the horses can drink and I'll tell you, okay?"
I nod and we go on ahead for another ten minutes. We reach the small creek and get off the horses and tie them to a couple trees near the water. I sit down on the ground and Tony sits beside me. He seems like he is struggling with something. He sits beside me and looks down at his hands. "...There was a specific reason that Danny's father showed up this morning..."
"What is it?"
"Danny's sick Lav...Really sick..."
"What do you mean?"
"Danny, he's dying. And there's basically nothing we can do about it..."
"What is it?"
A/N: I understand it's really short compared to what I usually do, but more should be coming soon.
-JBG