xie_xie_xie (xie_xie_xie) wrote in qaf_challenges, @ 2008-05-16 22:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | challenge in two parts |
Graphic Number 15: "4 AM"
Title: 4 AM
Author: amelialourdes
Timeline: Season 1, 3x08
Rating: G
Warnings, if any: None.
Graphic: Image 15 by badbapixie
Brian learned a lesson early in life from his father: The only person you can depend on is yourself. Jack and Joanie never really paid that much attention to him unless one can count the attention given to him when he was beaten for forgetting to take out the trash or not emptying the dishwasher or the million other little reasons his father used to beat him. Sometimes Jack didn’t even need a reason to beat him. With a bottle of liquor in hand, he would just walk up to Brian or wake him up in the middle of the night, screaming about something that didn’t have anything to do with him. What would follow that screaming match are memories that he wishes he didn’t have.
Joanie didn’t do anything to protect him. She claimed that there was nothing that she could do and Brian used to tell himself when he was younger that he took the beatings to protect his mom and his sister. When he got older, he knew better. He wasn’t protecting them from shit and he had enough of it.
As much as he tried to avoid the beatings, even when he was a teenager, he couldn’t escape them. He tried staying at Michael’s place for days at a time but Debbie would always eventually send him home when Brian’s mom told him he had to come home. Brian figured he’d only have to put up with it for two more years and then college would give him some freedom.
College did provide him with freedom. From there, he worked his way up to becoming a successful advertising executive.
He didn’t think that he’d be facing old demons when he’d met that twink on Liberty Avenue. How did he get so deeply involved in that kid’s life that he agreed to let him stay at his place? There weren’t enough hours in the day to think about that question. What he knows now is that Justin’s sleeping next to him but not soundly. In fact, he doesn’t think that he’s sleeping at all.
Tonight, Craig had finally had enough of his son playing queer and took it out on Brian’s face and his ribs.
Brian flinches at the memory of first being punched and then kicked in the side. His breath hitches in his throat, releasing it slowly until the pain eventually begins to subside.
“I’m sorry,” he hears Justin beside him, awake. These words he had heard earlier tonight as Brian had been observing his face in the mirror. This time though, he doesn’t tell him that ‘sorry’s bullshit’.
“Go to sleep.” Brian closes his eyes again to try to rest but the pain’s too great.
It’s too familiar.
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Sometime during the week, Brian picks Justin up from school with every intention of sending him back to his parents’ house. After the encounter with his mother and the mess at the loft, having Justin there on an even temporary basis is impossible. Brian’s space is Brian’s space and it’s only meant for him. Having Justin there is an invasion of his privacy and solitude.--------
Brian drops Justin off at the loft and then leaves to congratulate Michael on his promotion. The day has been long and resurging memories of his own past has left him feel vulnerable. Not to mention, he is beginning to form a headache because of the realization of what he’ll be coming home to: a teenage runaway.