Laugh with me

The following morning I wake up again in Matt's bed, a thin beam of sunlight shining through a gap in the blinds and onto my face. I roll over, turning my face away from the bright light as I let out a soft groan and the bed shifts before a warm arm wraps around my waist and Matt slides his body over to press against my back. "Good morning" Matt croaks out, his voice still thick with sleep as he presses a soft kiss to the back of my bare shoulder. We lay in silence for a little while, just letting ourselves wake up before Matt lets me go and climbs out of bed, coming around to take my hand and help me up before leading me to the kitchen and I sit at the table while he starts making us coffee. While he's working on it I get up and make my way to the bathroom and as I go to wash my hands I glance in the mirror and my face drops when I see the light bruising around my nose and under my eyes from where Frank punched me. I splash some water on my face before going back to the kitchen and Matt smiles warmly at me as he asks if I'd like some food but I shake my head and say "No just coffee is fine." He nods and grabs his own cup, joining me at the table and we drink in almost complete silence. When we're done I tell Matt I should probably get going because Linda and Anthony are coming home today and he nods and says "Will you be alright? I could come with you if you want?" "Really?" I ask, hopeful as I don't want to be alone incase they're not home yet. "Yeah of course, just let me throw on some clothes first" he says and I follow him to his room, putting my clothes back on while he gets dressed too and once we're ready we leave the apartment and start walking towards the house. By the time we get there Matts hand has slipped into mine and his warm solid comforting grip on me makes me realise just how much I'm shaking at the thought of facing Frank again. As we approach the house I notice there's no car in the driveway which means they aren't home yet and I whine softly, feeling afraid but Matt gently squeezes my hand and leans in to whisper "I'm right here and I won't let anyone hurt you, you have every right to be here, it's your home and you shouldn't be afraid of it." I take a deep breath, nodding to myself as I lead Matt up the path to the front door, letting us in and as the door closes no one seems to be home but we can hear the tv playing in the living room so I lead Matt down the hallway and as we step through the doorway into the living room we see Frank laying on the couch, his gaze focused on his phone. He looks up when he hears our footsteps and when he notices Matt his eyes narrow and I can see his gaze drifting down to focus on our joined hands in between our bodies and I quickly drop Matts hand like it's burning me, feeling afraid again. Frank drops his phone on the couch as he gets up, charging towards me and I back up, my back pressed against the wall as Frank reaches out and wraps his hand around my throat. "Where the fuck have you been you pathetic faggot? Out selling your disgusting faggot ass all night? Mom and Dad have been worried about you all morning, they have no idea you're just a dirty diseased slut with all your dirty fag diseases. You should leave for good, I don't want your fag AIDs" he spits in my face as his hand tightens around my throat more and I close my eyes, tears streaming down my cheeks and I hear Matt saying "That's enough" and I reopen my eyes to see Matt trying to pull him off me as Anthony comes into the room to see what the yelling is about and he barks out "Frank Anthony Iero, what are you doing?" And Franks hand leaves my throat. I slide down to sit on the floor, pulling my knees to my chest as I bury my face in my knees and sob, curling in on myself and I hear Anthony say "How dare you lay a hand on your brother? We didn't raise you like that." "That worthless faggot is not my brother, he's not really a part of this family. He's just a poor pathetic disgusting faggot and I don't want to catch whatever he's got. He deserves to have a dead family, if I was actually related to him I would want to die too." I can't handle hearing any more so I drag myself off the floor, running from the room and I vaguely register someone calling my name but I keep running, going upstairs and into my bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind me before collapsing down onto the bed.

Just as my tears slow to a stop I hear a soft knocking at the door and Anthony's voice calls out "Gee can I come in?" I slowly climb off the bed, reaching out with a shaky hand to unlock the door and it slowly swings open, Anthony coming in and closing it behind him. "Are you ok?" He asks softly as we stand facing each other and I bite my trembling bottom lip as I glance down to the floor and shake my head. "I can leave if you want" I tell him and Anthony steps forward and gently wraps his arms around me, pulling me into a hug as he says "You know mom and I don't care that you're gay right? There's nothing wrong with it and you shouldn't be ashamed to be who you are. We would never want you to be anywhere than here with us." "Really?" "Of course, we love you no matter what." I cling to him as I let out a few more tears and when we pull apart again Anthony smiles softly at me and says "Mom is back and your boyfriend is waiting downstairs for you, how about we go back down?" "Frank..." I trail off and Anthony shakes his head and says "He's not down there, it'll be alright I promise." I nod slowly and follow him from the room, stopping at the bathroom to splash some water on my face before Anthony and I walk downstairs, going into the kitchen where we find Linda and Matt sitting at the bench drinking coffee and talking.

Notes