The next day the group was all hanging out together again, it was a Saturday so they had all agreed to just hang out at Braxton's together. Levi was calm and clearly able to pretend that what happened the night before never happened and Jaxson seemed completely unaware that something had happened. The others kept their mouths shut for now, unsure how to really bring up that topic to Jaxson, Salem however was upset despite not bringing it up. They told Jaxson Salem was upset because someone was flirting with Gabe earlier that day, Jaxson bought it.
"I'm just saying that it's a fact," Adrian said, "Everyone in the LGBTQ+ community likes Hozier."
Austin rolled his eyes, "No. Just the cottagecore lesbians."
"They are just the biggest stans."
"Hozier is great!" Levi said, "Whoever disagrees loses living privileges."
Zeek smiled, "Good. Take me out Levi!"
"No," Levi said, "I know you're joking."
"Prove it."
"We share a Spotify account Zeek!" Levi said, "Besides, I hacked into all of your phones so Yeah."
Salem looked at Levi, "Lee. We talked about that, you don't want to do that."
"Salem, you say that like your phone was anything except pictures of crystals, Gabe, and the occasional aesthetic board," Levi said, "Honestly, Zeek's was the most concerning."
Zeek shrugged, "That's your fault."
"Wait," Shawn said, "Did you hack into our phones too?"
"None of you have passwords so no," Levi said, "I just stole your phones while you slept and went through them. Excluding Ryan. I didn't do anything to him."
"What type of favoritism bullshit!" Zeek protested. Levi shrugged and grabbed his water bottle. Pausing when Jaxson whispered something to him. Levi nodded some and took a sip of water.
Levi looked at Zeek, "Ryan's secretive for good reasons. The rest of you just have trust issues."
"You're right but hey!" Gabe said. "I mean, my phone has little to nothing on it besides texting."
"Your conversations are funny though," Levi said, "You're good at avoiding serious topics by dissuading them with jokes."
Micheal paused, "You really called him out huh?"
Levi rolled his eyes, "I mean I gagged looking at your conversations Micheal."
"It's a lot of just spammed emojis," Braxton said, "A lot."
"Yeah no shit!" Levi said, "There's this thing called English learn it!"
"No."
"Honestly the best part of going through your phones was seeing that Maddox had listened to Breezeblocks for hours on repeat," Levi said looking at Salem.
"Really Maddox?" Salem asked him, Maddox looked at Salem for a moment and realized what was happening.
Maddox nodded, "Yeah! It's a great song. I'm surprised Levi doesn't like it more. Whole song is about drowning someone."
"Yeah," Levi said, "A wife basically. Breezeblocks are cinder blocks so basically he tied her to some and tossed her in. I mean, 'Hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks' is basically the most damning line in the whole thing."
"Soggy clothes can't help drown someone that much," Adrian said.
"Actually soggy clothes give hypothermia so you don't drown from that. Soggy clothes will weigh you down though so I suppose they would help you drown," Levi said.
"Sounds healthy," Adrian said while typing on his phone. Salem grabbed his phone off the table and motioned to Jaxson. Jaxson looked at Salem before shrugging. Salem led Jaxson out of the house. Adrian immediately set his phone down, "Was that intentional Levi?" Levi nodded softly. "Both of them?"
"Yeah I meant both of them."
"Is that what he whispered to you?" Braxton asked.
Levi shook his head, "He only threatened to beat me. The second part was more because I worried. I don't think he would actually do that."
"What's going on?" Micheal asked.
"Code words," Braxton answered, "Levi used two of them. Both are... not what you'll want to hear."
"Why?" Gabe asked quietly.
Braxton sighed, "Breezeblocks is our word for a physically abusive partner. Soggy clothes means rape by a stranger or sexual abuse..."
"Jaxson said to meet him later on so he could teach me a lesson for invading his privacy," Levi said.
"Levi, how long has he been like that?" Shawn asked.
Levi shook his head, "Not long. Only a week or two. It's mostly because his mom hasn't been... the best lately."
"So you're a surrogate for his rage towards her?" Adrian asked.
"Basically," Levi said. "He's a good guy..."
"We know Levi," Maddox said, "I'm sure Salem is talking to him."
"Let's hope he's actually talking," Lucas said.
"Salem is the only one who could really talk to Jaxson about this," Braxton said, "Sadly he's also the one who will kill for Levi. So... let's hope that Salem wants to help Jaxson more than he wants to protect Levi."
Adrian paused, "Send Salem a text. If he responds then they are likely talking. If he doesn't... someone follows them and we pray they get there before Salem decides to be done." Braxton sighed and typed out a message to Salem, making sure it was a private chat. And waited for a moment. Braxton's phone dinged and he sighed. "So, we're okay. Let's hope Salem can get through to Jaxson."
While the group was talking and hoping that Salem wasn't beating the absolute life out of Jaxson, those two were walking together. Salem leading the way, he planned on taking Jaxson to where he always went, where he took Adrian that day they skipped. "Where are we going Salem?"
"We'll talk about it when we get there," Salem said, "Don't worry Jaxson."
"I don't really think you brought me out here for no reason."
"I didn't," Salem said, "We need to talk." Jaxson sighed but walked with Salem. When they got to the clearing Salem sat in the grass and Jaxson sat down slowly as well. "Jax, I want you to remember that we care about you."
"What's this about Salem?"
"What's been going on with you and Levi?" Salem asked, "Be honest Jaxson. I'll be honest too."
Jaxson looked at Salem, "What do you mean? Nothing's going on."
Salem sighed, "He told us Jaxson. He said that you hit him." Jaxson went dead silent. "I'm being honest. I am a bit mad that you hit Levi, I care about him a lot. He told us that you told him if he tried to kill himself again, even if he failed, you'd kill yourself. Jaxson that's not okay."
"You wouldn't understand."
"Jaxson," Salem said, "Believe me, I get it. I understand it. I'm just hoping your reasons are as good or better than mine."
Jaxson was quiet, tears springing to his eyes, "I didn't mean to hurt him. He freaked me out and my immediate response was to swing and I hit him and I was so sorry but... he listened. And he never listens to me at all and I just-"
"Jaxson, calm down," Salem said, "It's okay."
"He must hate me," Jaxson said, "he told you guys. He wanted you mad at me didn't he-"
"Jaxson stop," Salem said, "He told us when panicking. I found him at the beach last night, and there was... some issues. I'll be honest, he tried to kill himself last night. He's fine, he tried slitting his wrists and couldn't go through with it. He's okay. But, when I found him last night we talked for a while. You know, I noticed you view him as your angel."
Jaxson paused, "How did you-"
"I know a lot about a lot of things," Salem said, "I know about devil angel scenarios, so I noticed. After that I talked him into coming back with me to Braxton's. And I told them about that. Shawn said he was lucky you weren't there and Levi insisted he didn't want you to know. He told us you said you'd kill yourself if he even tried. Braxton pointed out it was abuse and Levi said you'd never actually do it. We debated a bit about that honestly. He should've told us you were suicidal as well. Levi panicked because we told him that he needed to talk to someone about that with you. And he said you hit him."
"I didn't mean to!"
"I know Jaxson. You still did though."
"You said my reasons needed to be better than yours... what did you do?" Jaxson asked.
Salem sighed, "When me and Micheal were together I beat him. Both of us hated it, him more than me. I never wanted to hurt him. I was just mad, and he was there. More often than not he encouraged me to hit him, he wanted to keep my friends safe. I beat him though, and most of it wasn't his fault, he didn't do anything to deserve it but I just... home sucked so much I needed control."
"My mom lately," Jaxson said softly, "She hasn't been the nicest... she also has been smoking again."
"Ah," Salem said, "And you feel out of control?"
"Yeah," Jaxson said, crying some. "I love Levi. I don't wanna hurt him."
Salem gently hugged Jaxson, "It's okay. Calm down."
Jaxson hugged Salem close and cried, "Do you think he tried to kill himself because of me?"
"No," Salem said, "Not because you hit him. He worried about you being upset with him for not leaving Jez and those two behind. Thought you were pitying him. But that would've happened regardless if you hit him or not Jaxson. He worries a lot."
"I just want him to be okay."
"And he will be."
"I don't deserve him," Jaxson mumbled.
Salem smiled some, "He thinks he doesn't deserve you."
"He doesn't deserve me beating on him."
"Jaxson, he loves you. I know that you regret what you did, but we can find something else to help you feel in control."
Jaxson paused, "How did you stop? You clearly don't beat Gabe."
"Part of that is Gabe runs our relationship," Salem said, "And I found something else I can control. My religion."
"I'm not religious," Jaxson said.
"There's other things in your life you can figure out how to control," Salem said, "Learning something new helps. That was what I did more than religion since it's a lot of researching at first. But a new hobby or just becoming an expert in a topic. You control that."
"I dunno what I could do."
Salem paused trying to come up with ideas, "Make playlists or something. Like Adrian is making songs for us all. Make a playlist for each of us with your music taste. Either with songs you think we'd like or songs you associate with us. Or maybe... study flowers or sea animals because I'm sure Lee would love it if you could tell him about sea animals."
"Yeah maybe..."
"Jax, Levi said you threatened him for going through your phone."
"I don't have something to hide from him or anything, but I didn't want him going through my phone," Jaxson said, "I don't know why. I'm just super concerned about privacy."
"You could've talked that out with him."
"He doesn't listen well."
Salem sighed, "He does now. You have to realize it's been a year Jaxson. He's improved in that. He listens a bit more. I'm not saying he'll do anything you say, but he listens and considers."
Jaxson paused for a moment, "I'm a piece of shit for doing that... How did you know I threatened him?"
"We have code words, he used them," Salem said.
"Why do you have code words?"
Salem shrugged some, "I insisted on them. I didn't want one of them to be unable to tell us if they were in danger. So I made sure that there were words they could use that we'd all recognize. Mostly song titles or lyrics since it's really one of the few topics we share interests in."
"Oh," Jaxson said softly.
"Jaxson, believe me, Levi loves you. He forgives you for hurting him. Hell, I'm sure they all think I'm beating you up. I'm a bit protective of Levi."
"Do they really think that?"
"Well," Salem said, "Braxton sent me a text saying not to so they thought I would at least... As much as I want to protect Levi, I also want to help you Jaxson. We'll find a way to help you, I promise... I mean, it's not like I'm willing to let Levi be alone right now anyways so you wouldn't have a chance to hurt him."
"Okay."
Salem smiled softly at Jaxson, "Want to get back?"
"Yeah."
"You know that things are gunna be tense right?"
"I know Salem," Jaxson said. "I'll manage." Salem smiled fondly at Jaxson before the two started to walk back to Braxton's house. Jaxson was quiet and carefully adjusted the grey beanie on his head, pulling it so it covered more of his head. Salem could tell that the behavior was in an attempt to hide, but he wouldn't point that out. The two stayed silent on the walk to Braxton's house. When they got there, Salem made sure Jaxson was behind him some as they walked in. Salem paused looking at the room. Most of it was fine, except for Levi threatening Zeek with a knife to eat a granola bar.
Salem sighed, "Levi, you could get people to do things without threats maybe?"
"That's no fun," Levi replied as he sat on the couch, closing his knife and pocketing it. "Jax! You're still in one piece, I'm surprised."
"I considered it," Salem said. "Believe me, I did."
Shawn looked at Jaxson, "Are you okay?"
"That's a great question," Jaxson said, "Um... to which the answer is as definite as the answer to life."
"So no," Adrian said, "Got it."
Micheal was looking at Jaxson and then turned his attention to Salem, "What did you say?" Micheal looked back at Jaxson, "That is an anxiety ridden pyromaniac. What did you say?"
Salem shrugged, "Not much really. Well a lot, but not much."
"Thank you for the straight forward answer as always Salem," Lucas said sarcastically. "Would you like to rephrase your answer to be even more vague?"
"Nope," Salem said, "Pretty content with that one." Salem paused and looked at Levi, who was casually twirling a butterfly knife open and closed. "What maniac gave you a butterfly knife? I vividly recall taking all of those from you."
"He's had it for a few days," Jaxson said softly.
Levi smiled, "I stole it."
"Levi!" Braxton said, "I want to be mad and proud of you! From where?"
Levi paused, "Someone who was taken to the hospital for possibly fatal injuries."
"Levi," Adrian warned.
"The dude was beating on some girl in an alley," Levi said, "So I beat him and stole his shit."
Braxton smiled, "No longer mad. I'm proud of you Levi."
Gabe was quiet for a moment, "I don't know whether to condone that behavior or not."
"Regardless if you do or don't, I'm still gunna do it," Levi said, closing the knife. "You better give up hope on keeping us out of crime now. Your boyfriend is the worst of us though."
"...I know that's true but I still won't accept it," Gabe said.
Salem looked offended, "Excuse me! Unless someone hurts one of you I can be pretty damn forgiving. It's Zeek they need to worry about!"
Zeek laughed some, "I was never as cruel as you or Adrian and you know it Salem."
"I wouldn't be so sure, you may not have been as violent physically. But you hurt them in other ways," Adrian said.
Braxton sighed, "You three need therapy."
"No, it's fine," Salem said, "Totally normal and healthy."
"I blame you guys for everything Levi has become," Maddox said.
Salem paused, "That's fair."
"Yeah that's fair," Levi said, "They are the ones who dragged me with them though so ha!"
Austin was quiet as he mumbled, "fucking kidnappers."
"See we can't even say you're wrong is the problem," Braxton said, "With Maddox, even after he punched Adrian they just kinda brought him here and went 'Hey we found a kid.' Same with Levi."
Zeek nodded some, "Yeah Adrian and Salem kinda went around protecting a lot of people. They were just two of many kids brought to Braxton for medical care. They were just the only ones willing to stick around."
"Sure," Levi said, "Because we had a choice."
"There was no choice," Maddox said, "Adrian and Salem got attached and Braxton and Zeek just sighed and went with it."
Shawn chuckled, "Adrian has a tendency to do that with random people he meets."
"You were different Shawn," Adrian said, "I saved your life."
"Sure," Shawn mumbled.
Salem chuckled, "Shawn, Adrian's first words when waking up in the hospital after the crash were 'Where's that other boy', completely ignoring that me, Brax, and Lee were there. He got attached immediately."
Shawn looked at Adrian, "Is he telling the truth?"
"Really getting outed here huh?" Adrian mumbled, "I mean, what did you expect? I was kneeling there in the middle of the road with you for like 30 minutes keeping track of your pulse and breathing."
Braxton paused, "You realize kneeling on your leg is probably what made you long term fucked?"
"I knew it would fuck me up long term as I did it Braxton," Adrian said, "But I was a bit preoccupied in the moment."
"Adrian," Shawn mumbled, "I hate you so much."
"Bitch I hate me too, you ain't special." Zeek pushed Adrian's shoulder some and Braxton threw a granola bar at him. "OW! Sons of bitches."
"My mom is a bitch," Zeek said, "Don't say that about Brax's moms though, they are lovely."
Adrian looked at Zeek, "Ezekiel, if I had a dime every time you pissed me off, I'd be a millionaire."
"You're not the only one Addy," Braxton mumbled.
Zeek scoffed in offense, "Fuck then. Fine. I'll just go fucking die then! Damn."
"Zeek you try to kill yourself and I will personally tear your head off," Braxton said.
Ryan looked at Braxton, "I don't think even you are strong enough to rip off a head. Unless it's a partially decomposed body then it's relatively easy. But a living person? It requires more strength than the human body allows a person to use at one time."
"Why do you know so much about this Ryan?" Micheal asked softly.
"I get bored," Ryan replies with a shrug.
Adrian chuckled, "Ryan will be the easiest to convert to a life of crime."
"You are not converting anyone," Lucas said, "And you five are getting help!"
"Five?" Braxton asked.
"Yeah you're counted in that," Lucas said.
Braxton shrugged, "I knew that. Who is five?"
"Levi."
"Ah, that makes sense."
Adrian chuckled, "Raise that number by one Lucas. You forgot someone."
"I'm not a criminal," Lucas said.
"I'm not referring to you Lucy," Adrian said.
Micheal sighed, "I hate that I already know who it is."
"Okay first of all!" Shawn said, "Fuck off Mike. I am not that bad! Second of all, pick-pocketing is hardly the extent of what you heathens have done!" Adrian laughed some at how offended his boyfriend sounded. "You're the one that encouraged me to do it Adrian!"
Adrian calmed his laughter, "Babe. I wasn't referring to that, I had forgotten about that honestly. I was talking about the identification in your wallet."
Shawn paused for a moment, "Shit."
"I have many questions," Gabe said, "I'm assuming a fake and for alcohol?"
"Bars," Shawn said, "And to uh... get tattoos and piercings without parental consent since I do not have parentals to give consent. Although I don't need the fake for that second one anymore."
Micheal paused, "You have tattoos?"
"I'm more concerned that he mentioned piercings since I cannot see any," Salem said. Shawn looked at Salem and moved his hair to reveal he had pierced ears, "Ah okay. Carry on about tattoos then."
"It's on my shoulder, that's why none of you have seen it," Shawn said simply.
Braxton paused, "Can we see it? I'm curious."
"I am too," Austin said quietly.
Shawn sighed and pulled his sweater off over his head and turned so they could see the tattoo on his right shoulder. There were black cracks along with pastel colors flowing out of them, Salem could tell that the cracks mimicked that of a porcelain doll with a few larger holes but mostly being jagged lines. Written by it were the words 'I heard that Hell is lovely this time of year'. Salem smiled, "Is that Adrian's handwriting?"
"Yep," Shawn sighed. "He's got one on his left shoulder."
Adrian looked at Shawn, "How dare you?"
"If you're being a narc then so am I Addy," Shawn said simply putting his sweater back on realizing that they could all see the small scars that scattered all around Shawn's torso and arms.
"Show me," Salem said, "Now. Come on. I wanna see." Adrian sighed and rolled his eyes pulling off his hoodie and shirt. His tattoo on a base level was similar, Salem noticed the difference in the style of cracks though. Adrian's cracks were that of glass, done in circles around a center looking more like a web but still having lines that jutted out. Similar colors flowing from the cracks but more of a dark red and purple variety. Next to the cracks the words were written 'Heaven is so annoyingly bright'. The handwriting it was in was much neater and not nearly as sharp as Adrian's. "Shawn's handwriting?"
"Yeah," Adrian mumbled.
Maddox looked at it for a moment, "It's a conversation. Left to right. Aww that's cute."
"It was the first things we said to each other," Shawn said, "We roomed together and it was awkward but then... since I nearly died and saw the cliche white light I commented that Heaven was annoyingly bright and Adrian said that he heard hell was nice this time of year."
Adrian paused, "Well it was our first conversation. Technically the first words I said to you were 'I swear if you're dead,' while ripping you out of a car."
"How romantic," Zeek remarked while rolling his eyes. "Done acting more like a married couple than the engaged one?"
"No," Shawn said, "Absolutely not."
Micheal paused, "I'm just now realizing that we hadn't seen your arms or torso since the crash."
"Yeah," Shawn said, "It's the self confidence issues."
Adrian looked at Shawn, "Wanna trade?"
"No," Shawn answered, "I still don't have to like the scars."
Austin smiled, "Your tattoos are cute. Better than mine."
Micheal paused, "your what now?"
"They are behind my ears," Austin said, "You never would've noticed so don't get upset."
"What tattoos?" Salem asked.
Austin smiled softly, "A heart and spade behind my left ear and diamond and club behind my right. Helps me feel balanced."
"I had no influence on those tattoos and yet I am so proud," Adrian said.
"Only Maddox has seen them and that's because I showed him."
Lucas smiled, "Salem thought he was the only one with a tattoo."
"I'm getting a second one," Salem said.
"Of what?" Gabe asked.
"Lunar phases across my knuckles."
Braxton chuckled, "Do you plan to get any tattoo's not related to your religion?"
"A rose?"
Gabe shook his head, "No that counts as a part of your religion Salem and you know it."
"Fine then!" Salem said, "I'll get dumb bitch tattooed on my ass."
"No you will not," Gabe said.
"Fine," Salem said, crossing his arms. "I'll think of something though."
Austin rolled his eyes, "Get a potted cactus tattoo. You love plants so you might as well get something to represent a houseplant."
Salem paused, "I might. That's a good idea... I might."
"Get a sleeve with an item that represents each of us you obsessed freak," Zeek mumbled.
"You guys are giving me too many good ideas and unless you want me to have more tattoos than blank skin, you better stop."
Austin chuckled, "Just don't do what I plan to do and get a ton of piercings to match."
"How many piercings?" Salem asked.
"Two on my left eyebrow, septum, snake bites and an undetermined amount per ear," Austin said.
Salem paused, "Whoever legally adopts Austin better sign to let him get those or I'm committing a homicide."
"Salem's the person who gives a fifteen year old alcohol with a bunch of their friends," Zeek said.
"That would be Shawn actually."
Shawn paused and looked at Austin and Maddox, "How old are you two?"
"14, 15 in three months."
"16."
Shawn mumbled, "Shit."
"Why?" Austin asked.
"The law requires I deny that fact. Austin and Maddox are excluded from that statement though."
Adrian paused, "Austin is only 14... I thought all of us were at least 16."
Salem was mumbling, "Austin's only fourteen? The fuck. I know trauma makes you act older pretty young but what. I thought he was like 16 at least..."
"I'm just now realizing that Austin is probably gunna be very tall," Gabe said, "Someone do me a favor and shoot me."
"Hypocrite much?" Braxton mumbled.