Chapter Two

                       It was three in the morning when Dirk returned at home. Jake was actually starting to get extremely worried. Where was Dirk? The question kept running through his head. Tiredness was starting to overcome the worried boy. Although it was only ten minutes after three when Jake decided to go to bed. He couldn’t sleep though. Dirk just wouldn’t leave his mind. About twenty minutes later, Dirk quietly opened the door, he tried to just quietly close it but failed at the attempt. The sound of a slamming front door echoed in the apartment. He walked as fast as he could trying to get to the bathroom, but this time was really slow. Jake had heard, and because of the echoing noise, he got startled to where he fell off the bed.

     “Dirk?” Jake said quietly, slowly getting up from the floor, looking out the hall. He walked slowly down the hall, and pass the bathroom. Dirk froze, when Jake was seen walking groggily towards him.

     “Hey Jake,” Dirk held his breath. Fortunately for Dirk, Jake didn’t have his glasses on. In result, Jake couldn’t see too well, “What are you doing up?” He asked, freaking out a bit at the fact that Jake was literally right in front of him.

     “I was worried about you...” Jake squinted his eyes trying to get a good look at still trying to make out what he was seeing. “Dirk, are you alright?” Dirk kept quiet. How was he even supposed to reply?

     “Yeah, I’m fine! I just... I just have to use the restroom!” Dirk hurried past Jake, and went to the bathroom then slammed the door. Jake jumped when her heard the door slam, and ran to the bedroom to retrieve his glasses. Then heading back to the bathroom and knocked on the locked door

     “Dirk? Are you sure you’re alright?” Jake’s voice was still filled with tiredness. There was some wincing on the other side of the door by the other. Jake was getting more and more confused by the minute. And of course Dirk was horrible a horrible job at hiding his pain.

Dirk just kept quiet, his fingers running over the already now swollen, and dark purple bruises.

     “Dirk. Let me in.” Jake’s voice was now sternly, and tried to open the door even when he knew it was locked.

     “No,” Dirk simply said. He was defiantly not going to let Jake see him like this.

     “Please, Dirk… At least tell me why you won’t let me.”

     “You’ll… You’ll be disappointed in me..,” Dirk said quietly.

     “W-what? What happened?!” Jake was starting to get extremely worried.

     “I…I broke our promise…” His voice trailed off. He was so disappointed I himself.

Jake’s eyes widened the slightest, “Dirk… W-what promise?” He gulped.

     “Jake… I…I got in another fight…” His voice trailed off again, shaking just the slightest. 

Jake froze before saying something quickly than anything else he actually said. “Let me in,” he says before trying to open the door again.

Dirk took a deep breath, reaching over and unlocking the door before going back to his original spot on the toilet.

Jake opened the door right away after hearing the click of the door. He gasped, his hand covering his mouth. The bloody mess in front of him was a horrible sight to see, “Dirk…” He shook his head, not believing it. “Why??” His voice was quiet, almost impossible to hear, and had some shakiness in it. He walked up to Dirk, kneeling down to meet his eyes.

Dirk had tilted his head up the slightest to meet Jake’s sad eye, “I was protecting you...” He had said as quiet as possible.

     “Protecting me? Dirk, what on earth do you mean?” Jake stood up slowly, and got to the cabinet to grab the first aid kit.

Dirk took a deep, shaky breath. “Please, don’t make me talk about it.”

Jake nodded, taking a wash cloth and getting it slightly wet, “Alright, But I expect you to tell me later,” He walked up to Dirk and started to slowly dab at the bloody wounds. “Dirk, don’t tell me a knife was pulled on you,” Jake could feel his eyes start to get watery, but no way in hell was he going to cry in front of Dirk. Dirk didn’t answer, neither did he want to. He only nodded as a response. “Dirk, I don’t want you to get hurt for me anymore, alright? I’m not some weakling who can’t protect myself!” His voice went a bit higher then what he wanted it to do, so he sighed, “Sorry,” He mumbled, when he heard the wincing coming from Dirk.

      “Jake I don’t care what you say, I will protect you. People shouldn’t be saying that stuff about you,” Dirk said determined. Jake let out a loud sigh, “But I don’t want you to fight for me!” He got the hydrogen peroxide to clean the cuts.

       “Do you think I went out there to just fight?!” He let out a breath, calming down, “No, I was taking a walk. Then I heard people talking about you. I promise I was only meaning to keep it verbally, but then one of them threw the first punch, and you know me, I always fight back! I won’t just walk away, so you best believe I’m fighting back.” He closed his eyes.

       Jake kept his eyes closed, and he shook his head sighing. “You didn’t have to protect me though, you could have just avoided them,” He sighed again, “Just prepare for this to sting,” Dirk nodded, signaling Jake to continue, he brought the cloth to one of Dirk’s cuts. He yelped quietly, the pain shooting through his body.

       “Take your shirt off,” Jake says as he took a step back to examine Dirk’s underneath. He pulled back, and watched carefully. Gasping when the shirt came off. “Good golly!” Jake’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Underneath the clothing was worse. Bruises were more purple then the ones on the outside, the cuts were deeper. “Oh, Dirk…”He bit his lip, “Is there anything else you need to show me?” Jake prayed that there wasn’t anything else. Dirk gulped, and turned around to show the huge gash that came across his back. Jake covered his mouth, “Jiminy crickets! Please promise me you’ll never get into another fight.” He said frowning, worriedly. “Especially not for me. This cut looks very extremely bad! Perhaps we should go to the hospital?”

        “I’ve already promised that a long time ago, Like I did a good job keeping it.” He gritted through his teeth. His mind comprehended what Jake said about the hospital, and he shook his head quickly. “No. Hell no. I’m fine, there’s really no need to go there.”

Jake made sure Dirk didn’t see him roll his eyes, he was determined to get Dirk to the hospital if it was the last think he’ll do. “Just… Try harder this time, will you?” He pecked his cheek briefly, before going back to the large gash.

         “Alright, I’ll try,” He clenched his eyes shut, getting prepared to feel the stinging on his back.

 Jake began to slowly and carefully clean the large cut. “I don’t quite know how to clean this one, Dirk. Do you suppose it needs stitches?”

Dirk held his breath, and hissed through his teeth. A small shrug came upon his shoulders. “I don’t know. I can’t exactly see my back, what does it look like?”

         “It’s pretty deep and long, also seems like you lost a fair amount of blood through it.  I think you’re lucky that it didn’t slice through any of the nerves and whatnot,” Jake really didn’t know much about the human body, but he knew that it could have been very dangerous if it would have gotten any deeper.

Dirk took a moment to think, he gave a shaky sigh admitting defeat. “If it seems that bad, the I guess I’ll go to the hospital.”

          “I know you hate hospitals, so we’ll only go if you want. Perhaps I could just wrap a bandage around it?” He closed his eyes, trying to focus. “I do apologize for my lack of skills in the department…”

          “Don’t apologize,” He sighed and turned around to face Jake. “I don’t honestly think that putting a bandage around it will help much. Let’s just go. Get it over with,” he groaned.

          “Alright just let me finish cleaning the other few wounds that I had missed so you can wear a new shirt without it getting all bloody.” Jake said carefully, cleaning the rest of his boyfriend’s cuts. The few that he had missed weren’t nearly as bad as the one on his back. Dirk winced a few times, even though they weren’t absolutely horrible they still hurt. When Jake was finished, he put everything away, including the peroxide, and the complete first aid kit. Turning to Dirk he smiled sheepishly, “Thank you by the way,” He said softly. “For defending me.”

Dirk stood up slowly, and took a step to Jake. He leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to Jake’s lips before pulling away, “Anything for you.”