Here are the notes I went through while writing these two.

Paris is really kind hearted person, and that will never change. He got his kindness from his grandmother and he holds that aspect of him close. Even when he got bullied, he didn't let he corrupt his good heart. He just grew a better backbone. But their damage wasn't purely verbal, they were really physical. So even with his backbone he couldn't defend himself and that led to his submission. The difference between the abuse between the bullies and Jackson is that Jackson is deluded that everything is fine and that nothing is wrong. The bullies knew his tears were from pain and sadness. Jackson just believed them to be of joy.

Jackson went through abuse as a kid. He was neglected for his brother and idolized him. His brother got a scholarship to a different highschool as him so he took it as his chance to be the golden boy. The person he always saw his brother as. However, it wasn't enough. So he turned to the ideal lives he learned about in stories and realized it was all because he was lonely. He knew somewhere that wasn't enough, but he refused to admit that. So he found a person like the stories described. She was an independent person who loved him liked the rest of the girls fawning over him. He managed to convince her that he was a hurt person that needed love, but after a while she left him. She told him that she was moving out of town and would always remember him. The next person was a boy. He met him during a summer camp. He was kind hearted as well, but not as willling to stay. He felt like he needed to keep a leash on him and was extremely posessive. He became more submissive, but lost that kindness and liveliness that he wanted. So he broke up with him. He later learned that the boy had commited suicide a year later, but convinced himself it wasn't his fault. It was his junior year he met Paris, who became his new victim. To him, Paris was perfect and exactly the person he was looking for. He opted fo a more casual approach and ensnared the boy in, making sure he never noticed what was happening until it was too late. He notice the fear that Paris had grown fo him, but he opted to use it instead of try to fix it. He was finally completed and had forgotten what the point of all of this was, become seen by his parents. He wanted someone and anyone to give him the attention and love he never got, yet opted to dragging people against their will for it that it was something he never recieved in the process.

 They drink a bit and then leave to walk in the park giving the two memories of what happened in the park. Jackson's wife, Waifu, is confused about their dynamic and how affectionate Jackson is to Paris.

Quick Scene Break

"I'm just going to cut to the chase. We were really close in highschool. It was a weird time." Paris stated, like that would help the situation.

"That would help if he had told me anything about his highschool days. He always blushes and looks away from me when I bring it up." She gave a huff and sent Jackson a glare, a pout on her face. Jackson chuckled nervously and hid behind Paris, arms draping over his shoulders. Apparently that action didn't help because she turned away from the two upset. Paris sighed and sent a look at Jackson. He pouted a bit, relased him and step away, but not too far. Paris led the group to the gazebo he sometimes sat at when he didn't want the memories the bench they sat on that night to resurface. It had two benchs inside facing each other, allowing them to all face each other while they spoke. Paris sat where he normally did. Jackson went to sit next to him, but sat on the other side once he noticed Paris's slight head shake. Waifu sat next Jackson, and relaxed slightly. She sent Paris an uncertain gaze. He could tell she didn't hate him, but his relationship with Jackson confused her a lot.

"Jackson here used to be our highschool's golden boy. We got close and dated a bit, before breaking up mutually. We remained close, and one of the things that remained throughout our friendship was Jackson's touchiness." Paris leaned back and gave a slight sigh. He kept it vauge because he didn't know whether Jackson wanted to reveal that part of himself yet.

"Ari, you can go into detail." Paris huffed at the nickname. After the talk on the bench, Jackson had dropped the pet names in favor for the nickname 'Ari'. It wan't that he hated it, Jackson just had the tendancy to backhug him and nuzzle his face into the crook of his neck. It was embrassing. Jackson chuckled a bit and gestured for Paris to continue.

"Jackson didn't understand relationships back then. He was desperate and got all his romance information from terrible romance novels so you can guess how bad that was."

"That sounds embrassing, but not that bad", she noticed the darkened look in their eyes. "Right? Am I missing something?"

"It was abusive. There was no love in it all. We became a couple simply because I wanted Paris to be even closer to me. I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't stop it. I saw him as the ideal person the books described and I dragged him into his personal hell. Paris feared me for a long time. The only reason we are as comfortable as we are now is because he forced me to accept reality. He was more of my hostage, than my boyfriend." Jackson let out a sigh as he finished speaking. Paris got up and sat on the other side of him, giving him a gentle nudge. Jackson relaxed his weight onto him and rested his head onto his shoulder.

Waifu looked at the two, not saying anything. She understood, yet was so confused. How could they still be so close through all that? She would hate someone who did that to her.

"How? How can you two sit there so comfortably like that never did happen."

So this is a difficult part for me to write. For me to answer this question, I need to understand the abuse, the characters, and how they handled it. I intended to make them fade out off each other's lives, then meeting back up with a few hints of their old dynamic. But now I can't image them just leaving each other alone like that. Paris was such an important person in Jackson's life. Same for Paris. Even though Paris wasn't as enamored and submissive as previous lover interest, that didn't mean he didn't spend a lot of time with Jackson. They were so invovled with each other's lives that it would be strange for them to just cut all ties with each other, espescially since Paris wanted to end everything on a high note. Ending with unresolved emotions was something he wanted to avoid. Jackson also wouldn't take well to just cutting it off like that. He understood that he needed to let go of Paris, but that wouldn't happen that easily. It's why they stayed friends even after they broke up.

Actually, the breakoff from one another was the reason Jackson's last love interest commited suicide. He had grown dependant on the lifestyle he had with Jackson. He felt like he was the only purpose he had at that point and his life had been so consumed by him that when Jackson left him, he didn't have a point anymore. The feeling of emptiness consumed him to the point of ending his life.

Jackson finds comfort and peace with Paris. He helped him out in a big change of his life and encoraged him during the time he was getting help and dealing with with his abusive parents. Paris was such an important person that helped him with a lot of his emotional baggage and even vice versa. Paris, in ways to comfort him also told him about his old school life. Jackson, wanting to help Paris somehow after all the time and care he has gave him, asks him if he wants to ever visit his old school.

Okay quick break, I WANNA SHIP THEM! So bad. Do you even know the agony of writing a broken up couple who remain pretty close and not afraid to get touchy and stuff. The romantic undertones are there and it's killing me. I view their break up less of a break up and just a sign of them letting go of the abusive relationship and becoming more healthy together and just comfortable. THEY HAVE SO MUCH SHIP POTENTIAL BUT I FEEL LIKE I CAN'T SHIP THEM! I feel like if they dated it might stress them out because they never actually dated properly. They are so comfortable with the friend title because it reminds them of the healing process they went to to get better.