Josiah

Vrrr…Vrrr

I set my coffee down to check the message on my phone. To my surprise, it’s from Shinta. 

[I promise I’ll be there tonight! No bailing this time! I swear!]

[Okay. -_-]

[Promise!<3]

I can’t help but sigh. He’s been ghosting me for almost two weeks at this point. Ever since Simon came along he’s pretty much been ignoring me. I don’t want to get my hopes up.

[Kk. See you tonight then.] 

I toss my phone back down on the counter before I notice the time. Crap. I chug the rest of my coffee and stuff the last piece of toast in my mouth before grabbing my phone and hurrying down the stairs. I almost miss the last step before opening the door, pain shooting up my ankle. 

I manage to open the store with three minutes to spare. Thankfully there was no one outside waiting on me. Hopefully today is steady and it goes by quickly. 

It’s quarter till three when Shinta shows up. 

“Perfect, you’re just in time to help me close.”

“I haven’t seen you in almost two weeks and that’s how you treat me?”

“And whose fault is that?”

“Hey, I told you I’d be here tonight and I’m here aren’t I?”

“I can’t believe I’m being granted his majesty's presence after multiple bails.” I make a show of bowing deeply like some squire to a king.

“Oh my god, stop.” He pulls me up to a standing position and I can’t help but laugh. It’s good to see him again. I wanted to stay mad at him for leaving me hanging but I just can’t. 

“Okay, I’ll stop.” I throw a towel at him. “But seriously, it’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too,” he says back. “I missed you.”

My heart leaps into my throat. He caught me off guard. “I missed you more. Will you go lock the door?” I hope he doesn’t catch me blushing as I finish putting away the rest of the mugs from the dishwasher. 

There’s an awkward silence as we head up the stairs. Neither of us knows what to say. We hardly ever spend this much time apart and it shows. I go to my room to grab a blanket for the couch. When I return, Shinta is already sitting, getting our show ready. I sit down next to him and spread the blanket over both of us so we can rot the rest of the day. 

That’s when I notice he has heavy makeup covering up dark marks on his neck. Some look like hickies but there's some that look more like strangle marks.

 “Are you doing okay?” It slips out before I can stop it. 

“What do you mean?”

“Your neck? It looks pretty bad. He’s not abusing you, is he?”

“What? No, everything we do is consensual. He can just be a little rough sometimes.” He covers his neck up with his hand. 

“Rough? Shinta, I haven’t heard from you in almost two weeks. Now you show up with your neck torn up. What do you expect me to think? I’m worried about you.”

“You don’t need to worry, I promise. It’s really not that bad, we just got a little carried away, that’s all.”

“A little? It looks like he tried to eat you then strangle you to death.”

“He only did it because I asked him to.”

“That doesn’t make it any better. He left marks on you Shinta. I wish you valued yourself more than that.”

“I’m sorry.” 

Shit. I didn’t mean to make him upset. Much less apologize to me. “Don’t apologize to me, please. I’m just genuinely worried about you. You don’t think this is going a little bit too far?”

“Not at all. He’s never done anything without permission. Seriously, he asks all the time.”

I run my hair out of frustration. “I wish you wouldn't put yourself in situations like this.”

“It’s not forever. I told you that. I’m enjoying myself, seriously.”

“Yeah, for now.” I sigh, trying to let go of my anger. “Look, I don’t want to fight with you.”

“I’m really okay.” He reaches out and grabs my hand. “Promise.”

I let the rest of my anger go. I have to trust him. He knows his body best. If he says he’s not being abused, I believe him. He has never lied to me before. 

“Okay, I’ll drop it for now. But if it looks any worse, I’m beating some ass okay?”

“Okay. Can we watch our show now?”