IAN
"I can't believe that happened," Miles shook his head as if he were trying to knock some sense back into himself. "Xavier was all like, 'roar don't talk to Ian anymore or I'll hit you' and then Draven was like, 'bitch I'll rip out your throat, crush every bone in your body and murder everyone you love if you even breathe in his presence' and just... shit man."

"You're making my headache worse." I rubbed my eyes, shifting around to lay on my side. After I fainted I guess I hit my head pretty hard and got taken to the nurse. Xavier was probably sent to either a morgue or emergency room. I was too scared to ask.

"I swear life is crazy here." He ignored me and kept ranting, "you have two sexy ass men after your heart and I can't get one."

"We can trade lives if you want," I offered.

He smacked my arm. "You've got no clue how lucky you are, Ian!"

I smacked him back ten times harder. "Lucky to be in between a horrifying machine who's killed dozens of innocent— well, mildly innocent people and another guy who's so sweet that he can't even notice I don't have feelings for him? A guy who's heart I'm going to crush? A guy who's probably buried in a graveyard right now because he was selflessly trying to protect me and I don't even like him?"

"Exactly." Miles nodded, "now you're getting my point."

I groaned and buried myself in the nurse's bed I was laying on. It was still incredibly uncomfortable but felt luxurious compared to the practically bricks we were used to sleeping on.

I peeked up at Miles hesitantly who was sitting in the chair beside me before giving in, "what happened to Draven and Xavier?"

"When you passed out Draven let go of Xavier to check if you were alright," he began. "An ambulance came for Xavier, I swear those paramedics practically live in this place because of him, and Draven surprisingly didn't interfere because he was trying to get someone to make sure your head's okay." He wiggled his eyebrows at me suggestively when I blushed.

I had a headache and a small scrape on my forehead but it was nothing important. The headache was probably more from my thoughts running wild than the impact honestly. I was worried about the two of them. It'd be a shock if Xavier was still alive and Draven didn't get sent to prison by now. I was clueless on how he'd been kept here for so long anyway.

"What about Draven? Where is he?" I questioned more eagerly than I intended.

"I'm not sure. After he got one of the paramedics to take a look at you, they brought you here and I followed so I'm not sure what he did after we left."

I tried to hide my disappointment and the worry biting my skin. I knew Draven and I would never work out but I couldn't help the desire to be around him, making sure he was okay.

There was a knock on the door and I held my breath, hoping it was Draven, but it was just the nurse and I frowned.

"It's time for dinner. Miles, you should go to the cafeteria but I need to get Ian back to his room to get some rest," she explained sweetly but Miles groaned.

"Shouldn't someone stay with him to make sure he's okay? What if his brain started bleeding after he fell and we just haven't noticed yet? What if he has a brain hemorrhage and it was your fault?"

She sighed at his pushiness, "another boy offered to watch him. Ian's bed is broken and the boy has two perfectly fine ones in his."

Miles and I turned to look at each other with wide eyes.

Draven.

"I'm perfectly fine to go rest without you, Mi." I hid the excited smile that wanted to spread across my cheeks.

"Fine," he pretended to be sad, equally as excited as I was. "I'll see you later, twink."

He pranced out of the room, winking at me when the nurse was turned the opposite direction and I blushed.

"Do you need help standing up, sweetie?" she offered kindly.

"I'm alright. Just tired," I fake yawned. All of the tiredness left my body.

I get to see Draven.

As she walked me out of the nurse's office and toward our rooms I felt my heart rate spiking. I had so many questions to ask him. I was terrified and I know I was complaining and saying we shouldn't see each other anymore but I threw all reason out the window, walking towards his door.

I took in a deep breath, going to knock when the nurse spoke, "Ian, it's actually this room." She pointed to another across multiple doors away from Draven's and the disappointment sank through my entire body.

"Oh," I chuckled weakly and walked to the other, knocking on it. I had no idea who's room it was but I was too dismayed to think about it.

The door opened and I almost screamed.

"Hey Iron!" Mike nudged me to walk in as I spluttered, "Welcome to my casa, muchacho!"

"Fuck me," I muttered under my breath. I turned to beg the nurse to take me anywhere else on the planet but she was already gone.

"Mm, I dunno." He studied my body and I felt immensely uncomfortable, "I'm not really into twinks."

"On second thought, I think I'll be just fine on my own!" my voice cracked and I went to bolt to my own room but Mike grabbed my elbow.

"Come on, Iron. I have something to show you." He tugged me into his room.

My stomach twisted into knots when his door slammed closed and I was standing in the middle of his "casa".

I swear to god if he pulls out his dick...

"How's your head feeling?" he asked, walking over toward his bed as I gulped. "That was a pretty rough fight between Draven and Lightsaber!"

"Lightsaber?"

He looked at me like I was an idiot. "Your boyfriend that you pretend to like but don't."

I ignored that part. "You mean Xavier?"

He scoffed, "you don't know your own boyfriend's name? I'm pretty sure it's Lightsaber."

"Okay!" I squeaked, "I'm going to go to my own room now!"

"Come on," he whined. "Come look at this."

I kept inching closer to the exit, "I'm just gonna..."

He pulled out Ms Lynn's journal and I paled. At least he didn't have a collection of worms. Or carrots.

"Look at this thing!" He wagged it around, "it's such a pretty color!"

I left the door and bolted over to him. "Where did you get that?!" I gasped and snatched it away from him.

"I found it under Lightsaber's bed," he answered in a bored tone. "The one Draven broke, it was on the ground after their fight."

I swallowed, throat feeling tight as he casually sat down on his bed and blinked at me.

"You got this from Xavier?" I panicked. If he knew then that meant he knew what happened to me. And fuck, that meant he knew Draven's secrets too.

He shook his head, "nah."

"Thank god," I sighed in relief. "But you just said you got it from Xavier."

"No," he sighed. "I got it from Lightsaber. Keep up, Iron."

My breathing got heavy as my hands trembled. Was Xavier going to tell everyone about Draven? About me? I suddenly looked at Mike. Would he?

"Have you told anyone what's in there?" I asked shakily.

"I can't read."

"What? Why would you take it then?"

"I like maroon."

I groaned, grateful that at least he couldn't go around telling everyone about it.

"So," he rubbed his palms together, "have you 'done the do' with Draven or Lightsaber yet?"

Jesus fucking christ.

"No, I haven't done the do with anyone!" I blushed.

"What a shame. Do you think they'd want to with me?"

I couldn't help myself. "I'm not sure, but you should definitely ask."

I was more than ready to get up and sprint to the other side of the world. Maybe this interaction happened for a reason. And now I know to be careful about Xavier (if he isn't dead). I was halfway out the door when he started talking about.

He grinned, "I like you Iron. I understand what Draven was talking about now."

I ran back over to him, my voice ten octaves higher than normal, "you talked to Draven about me?"

"You get flustered a lot." He squinted at me, "why do you care if I talked to Draven?"

"What did he say?" I begged with eyes as wide as saucers. My palms got sweaty and my breathing was erratic again.

"Um, well, he said that he doesn't want to hurt you so he was pushing you away to prevent that." He tapped his chin in thought, "oh yeah. And he basically admitted that he loves you."

"He loves me?!" I shrieked, ignoring Mike's confusion.

Was Draven really pushing me away because he didn't want to hurt me? The thought made so much sense and fit all of the pieces into the puzzle I hadn't been able to solve. I desperately wanted to believe Mike, but I wasn't sure if I should trust a worm eating, carrot-in-ear sticker that couldn't read and heard voices.

"Basically," he agreed. "But I don't know if you should bring it up to him. He almost ripped my tongue out of my mouth."

"He almost wh— you know what, never mind." I shook my head, deep in thought. "Are you sure?"

"Uh yeah. He had his fingers in my mouth and was about to pull it off before I explained that he would only hurt you if he kept telling himself he would."

My stomach twisted, "when did that happen?"

"A little before he snuck into your room during the middle of the night and fucked the hell out of you."

I cringed, "oh my god. How did you know about that?!" My face was so red it almost matched Ms Lynn's book.

"Your moaning woke up the whole hospital, Iron. I knew he'd be good in bed, he got me hard just by choking me, but I didn't know he'd be that good!"

"He got you- he got you what?"