Saving Lives & Loving You {p}

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    As it got later in the night, Riley was stumbling out onto the streets from a full night of spend time drinking at their friend's home who lived right smack in the middle of the town. They weren't scared of anyone trying to jump them at this hour because first if someone tried they'd hit the living daylights out of them or second they wouldn't even try knowing Riley's record. They staggered a bit as they walked out onto the streets and looked around to see if anything was going on.


    They then heard the all too familiar sounds of a fight and slowly walked in that direction. They neared the action enough so that three people involved in the fight could see them, two of the attackers and then the victim. The victim didn't look familiar to they so they assumed that they must be a townie, a regular person not a part of either gang.

    Oh of course they go find a townie, they aren't even a part of our fight they thought realizing that they needed to get the poor guy out of this fight.


    They were about to yell for all of them to stop when one of the two attackers that could see them recognized them. "G-guys, Riley Johnson's right behind us" he stuttered. Some of the others turned around and faced Riley with looks for fear on their faces. Some started begging that they didn't attack them.


    "Get the * out of here in the next five seconds or I will knock you into next Thursday" they threatened as the others started to slowly back away from the guy and ran in opposite directions not wanting to be near Riley when they got to 5. Riley smirked a bit and neared the young stranger slowly. "Come on townie, let's get you out of here" they said in a gentle tone, a rarity of theirs as they held out a hand for him to grab onto.

    A cloud of air escaped his mouth as James put his hands in the pockets of his Black and white wind breaker. He chastised himself as his shoes made small clicking sounds on the concrete that was only audible because of the silence that hung over the air. He knew it was a bad decision the moment he said yes to Bryce about covering his shift in the restaurant they were serving at. If he wasn't too shy to say no, he wouldn't have had to walk down the dark streets! He cursed under his breath as his mind raced with a million possible scenarios, and most of them aren't even close to positive.


    His breath hitched in his throat as he heard loud laughter behind him. Welp, this is the end of it; the end of him. He may be a bit too paranoid about seeing people from either gangs and he's just blowing it out of proportion, but being paranoid has never hurt him in anyway, has it? No, not in any situations he could recall right now. James wondered whether he should just gap it and run, but again, his mind kept telling him that they may have weapons and he could be shot dead before he even set foot in front of the other...or they could possibly follow him and know where he's living and that'll be something even worse. "Damn it.." He thought.


    As they showered James with curses and swears at him, he just tuned them out and kept walking. That might've made it worse because one of them ran to in front of James and he just took two steps back to get away from them only to realize that the rest was behind him. "Great...Just what I needed..." He chastised again as he just turned around and decided to back up to a wall towards a building so he can see all of them and nobody can come up behind him, and also because they were blocking his way from running. He kept his eyes towards the ground as he avoided all possible eye contact or interaction with them; he just stood there with his eyes stuck to the ground and small clouds of air coming out of his mouth.


    He stayed like that for a bit, knowing that he had to find a way out of this semi-circle of humiliation and quite possibly injuries. He immediately knew that they were getting slightly closer and curled his hands into fists in the pockets of his jacket as he half-readied himself for a shove or something similar...except he got nothing.


    James' attention immediately diverted upwards once he heard one of them stutter and say the name that send shivers down his spine: Riley Johnson. The Riley Johnson? The one who's infamous of being the most fierce fighters for the Grease Monkey's. He wanted to take another step back only to realize that the wall was behind him and there wasn't much of a space to escape. James couldn't help but smile though as they started begging, but it was soon demolished once he realized that if gang members were begging then he should probably be sobbing.


    He released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in when they ran in opposite directions, but he held it again when his piercing green eyes made contact with Riley's. He held it as he couldn't really move his eyes away. He hadn't noticed that they had been nearing him until he held his hand out. "What..?" A random thought screamed loudest through the mess inside James' head. He spent mere moments glancing from Riley's hand to their eyes before they grabbed onto it. "T-thanks about t-that." He stuttered as he couldn't help but still feel afraid of what would happen.

    Riley held James hand for a moment while staring into his green eyes. They were almost hypnotic in a way that made them not want to turn away from him for a moment. Then something seemed to knock him out of his transe and his gentle gaze turned a bit harsher. "What on earth are you doing out here at almost three in the morning? You know that it is the worst time for anyone especially a townie like you...no offense, but you should know better" they rebuked almost even doing the whole wagging finger, but never going that far.


    They thought over where the pair were in the city at the moment and realized that wherever this guy was from, he wasn't going to make it back safe on his own. Riley knew their home was nearby so they could let James stay at least for a night. "Look, I'm sorry about the tone, but you know it's dangerous out here. Since it's late, I'm going to extend you an invitation to stay I be my home" they explained.


    This was strange for them to ever do. Normally Riley would never apologize about anything they did. They didn't earn the title of toughest Grease Monkey from being gentle and sweet. But yet, they felt different around James. They couldn't understand why. They looked down realizing they were still holding his hand and quickly let go for a moment. "Do you want to stay for the night or risk it out here by yourself?"

    James froze and his breath caught in his throat once again as Riley silently stared into his eyes. It was rather unnerving yet comfortable in an odd sense that James was just putting it off as his mind playing with him because of the tiredness. He shook his head slightly when he noticed the change in Riley's expression to get his thoughts straight. James looked downwards at his feet again when Riley started chastising him for being out at 3 am in the morning. It's not really his fault, it's Bryce's for not being able to attend his shift...but then it could still be considered his fault as he was the one who said yes to covering it.


    He looked up again at them with softness in his eyes and an expression on his face that couldn't be read as anything. "I-I know. I don't usually go out at this time. I'm not that stupid, you know..." He replied, meeting their eyes as his shone a dark emerald. James eyes raked around their surroundings as Riley did the same, except he did it in a manner of looking for any other gang members, even though he knew non would dare approach him with Riley in front of him.


    James' attention went back to Riley when he started talking and his eyes widened the slightest bit that it couldn't have been noticed unless if the person was paying attention to his eyes. He stayed silent for mere moments as his eyes flickered over Riley's face to see if he was joking or no, but his expression was just serious. That was even odder. Why would he offer his house as a sanctuary for a townie? Especially one he just met? James realized that he had been silent for too long and that after 2 more seconds, it would just turn unnaturally awkward. Quickly tossing the options around in his head; either get mocked and thrown around by the Grizzlies or go to Riley's house. Riley's option seemed better, and he just saved him from potential injuries, so it wouldn't be so bad, would it?


    "Um...I'd rather stay the night at your h-house.." He said in a tone louder than the others, but considered normal since the others were mostly whispers. Stuttering while saying house because it was still rather odd for in James' opinion for them to offer that. He hadn't realized their hands were still linked until Riley suddenly left his and the odd warmth around his hand suddenly disappeared, making James frown for a mere moments before it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

    Once they heard that James accepted the offer to stay, Riley flashed the man a smile only really visible under the streetlights. He felt his hand reaching up and grabbing James' again. "Then come on, we don't want to stay later than we needed to, right?" they asked in a bit of a joking manner. They seemed a bit confused by his own attitude change.


    Nevertheless, they walked James to their home. It was on the far side of town where an abandoned train station was. It was only in that state for a while because the town no longer saw train as a viable source of transportation. However, it was the perfect places for someone who typically wanted to be by themselves. The pair entered the station which upon seeing it looked almost like any apartment would.


    Riley looked over at James as they entered. They weren't sure where he could sleep because it wasn't just Riley living there. There was their little brother, Mikey who was sleeping on a couch nearby and his little sister Chasity that Riley had learned not to expect to see until the morning typically. That meant a bed was free. "I have a bed you can have all to yourself" they've explained.


    They dragged him over to the room showing it having two twin beds. "Yours is the one on the right. You have a window" they explained though that didn't give too much detail since both sides had windows. Regardless Riley moved over to the left side to indicate that Jane had to go to the other side.

    Riley's smile was contagious and James couldn't help but give a small smile back. He was taken slightly aback by them grabbing his hand again, but he didn't mind it and just nodded in agreement with his remark. James didn't know what to think of this; the way Riley was treating him kindly, so he just stayed silent, which wasn't something new to him being shy and all.


    As they passed by stores and walked down streets, there was silence between them, but it wasn't totally uncomfortable nor was it comfortable; it was just plain old silence. They walked for quite a bit before they neared the abandoned train-station. He knew it was the train-station because everyone in town knows where it is because it's a place where there are probably a thousand rumors by now talking about it and what's inside it. Everybody knows it's off-bounds, though, he didn't know why it was "off-bounds" as people say until now. Riley was staying there, so people didn't dare go there.


    James entered after them, still holding hands for some unknown reason and wondering to himself how he doesn't feel the need to pull away from their grip. He looked around it and - to his puzzlement - it looked like any normal apartment would. It didn't give off an abandoned place vibe and it didn't really look like one except for small details around it like the walls. Other than that, it looked perfectly fine to James.


    The first thing that grabbed his attention when he entered was the guy sleeping on the couch, though. He knew that Riley had siblings, but he thought that all of them lived in different places, not that living in the same place bothered him in any way. He nodded once again in acknowledgement of Riley's remark.


    While he was dragged to a room, he continued to observe around his surroundings. It was something that he liked to do and it was something that helped him when it was dark, so he preferred to do it to every single place he went to. It probably looked quite weird to any other person, but it was perfectly fine and normal to James. He left Riley's hand and went to the bed on the right as they had indicated. He looked out of the window for mere moments before turning around and facing them. "Thanks for this. I don't know what would've happened if you didn't show up.." He said softly with a soft smile as he looked at him.

    Riley looked over back at James as he thanked them. "Knowing how this city works, you probably wouldn't be standing right now" they muttered. They turned away from James just getting ready as they would normally for sleep. Nothing, but just boxers on. They just crawled under the covers trying to fall asleep. That proved to take longer than normal since Riley wasn't really used to another person in the room. Just pretend you're alone they thought sighing as they stared up at the ceiling before closing their eyes again


    The night was uneventful for the rest of it until a nightmare decided to enter Riley's head forcing them to wake up panting. They glanced over at James still managing to sleep. They couldn't help, but feel a thing of jealousy for a moment, but pushed it aside getting dressed because it was practically morning anyway.


    They sat outside to a late morning sun smoking on the train track side of the Old station, when they heard loud yelling from inside of "who is in my bed?" They rolled their eyes tossing the cig to the side and went back in. Upon entering they saw Chasity annoyed at the sight of James.


    "Chast, calm down. I brought someone in for the night. He wasn't safe outside" they explained while Chasity just rolled her eyes.


    "If you're having your new boyfriend stay here, he can't stay in my bed" she said leaving the room


    Riley did fluster at the 'boyfriend' part, but ignored it for the moment. "Sorry about her, so you'd you sleep?"

    James nodded in agreement once again with Riley. He kept looking at them for a few extra moments before a rose-tint immediately took over his face as he saw them take off their shirt, seeing a few inches of their bare back. James turned around with the blood rushing to his face from seeing somebody taking their shirt off in front of them. He couldn't help but contemplate whether to sneak another peak at him or not before snapping at himself for even daring to think of that. He just took the blanket off the bed and slipped underneath it, raising it to his shoulders and sliding down on his back. James' eyes curiously glanced at Riley's direction though to see if they had gotten into bed or no, and he managed to see that they slept in bed with only boxers. What? They undressed so casually in front of a townie they just met! They probably got his confidence from his reputation and knowing that nobody would dare touch them. He felt curious once again and wanted to ask, but decided to brush it off and just drift to sleep.


    After closing his eyes, he pretty much slept peacefully for the rest of the night, but an odd sound of panting somehow reached his ears and he wasn't sure whether it came from the real world or the dream world, so he just brushed it off. He awoke to the sound of a girl yelling rather loudly and the blanket being yanked away from him. James just put his hand on his ears and sat up. The yelling was so much worse than it probably is because he just woke up, but it's too annoying. He opened his eyes to the sight of a girl with an annoyed expression on her face and Riley standing by her and explaining something. James didn't bother much with what they were saying and swung his feet off the side of the bed, but the sudden expression of boyfriend for James made a rose-tint appear on his face as he stood up. He glanced at Riley's direction to see how they had reacted to the expression and noticed them fluster, why though?


    He returned back to reality from his thoughts by them speaking to him again. "I slept okay. Thanks for letting me stay here. I'm the one who's sorry for causing you trouble." He said as he looked at his feet, genuinely sorry for causing trouble between Chast - as he had heard them call her - and Riley. "New boyfriend, huh?" He blurted out all of the sudden and he immediately regretted it, but he was just tossing the expression around in his mind to the extent that he physically said it.

    Riley rubbed the back of their neck as James brought up the boyfriend thing. "She thinks that whenever I bring anyone home. Unlike her, I don't sleep with the first person I find at any given night. Besides I barely even know you" they explained. They looked down at the bed and sat down on the corner of the bed. They looked over James again really being able to take in his apperance in the light. He really does like handsom they thought starting to fluster again before turning away muttering to themself that it wasn't a good idea. They slowly turned back to face him again. "How about we just start with friends and see where it goes, huh?" they asked.


    They waited for the answer when he heard arguments going on in the other room. They rolled their eyes. "Looks like it's time to play mediator with my siblings. You can come if you want, but I'm warning you that it'll be loud" they warned.


    They went out handling the argument and keeping it under control trying to make sure that they were safe. He came back into the bedroom before pulling out a cig to smoke as a stress reliever. "You okay if I spoke in here?"

    James nodded in an understanding manner, rubbing his arms as his face reddened and took on a cherry color at the idea of both of them sleeping together. Chast had an excuse of why she assumed that, but that doesn't change how awkward and weird it made James feel. He soon returned to reality and realized that he had been staring at them and they had been staring back at him before both of them turned theie heads around to face different things at the same time, although James had noticed the fluster on Riley's face and was awfully curious of why he was blushing slightly furiously after staring at him.


    Before he had any chance to toss the idea in his head, they asked him a question and without thinking, he replied "Yeah, sure. Why not?" He said with a soft smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. The sound of yelling suddenly reached his ears and he turned his attention fron them to where the fighting was coming from. He chuckled at how Riley phrased it before shaking his head. "I'd rather stay here. Thank you very much." He said in a rather alarmed way as he looked at them for mere moments before looking back outside the door.


    As Riley walked out the door, James was suddenly struck with the flashback of Riley's bare back and he started blushing profusely. They're handsome AND muscular. The thought ran through his head and James just covered his face in his hands and shook his head. No, not now. Don't be like this. He chastised himself and blamed his sexuality for it, but it's still him in the end.


    Riley entered the room while James was still trying to calm the thoughts down. The blushing had calmed down too, but there was still the cherry-tint on his face and he hoped that they wouldn't ask about it. "Yeah. It's your house afterall." He said and gestured with his hands like "Be my guest" sort of way. "I guess you do that a lot, eh? I've never really known the struggle since I'm an only child, but I can sort of understand." He said as he looked at them.

    Riley just gave a short nod before lighting the cig and smoking it. They sat back down next to James before blowing out a ring of smoke out in front of the pair. They had done that for years now, unaware of what was technically killing them, but no one at this time period knew too much about the risk. Riley let out a sigh after a bit. He looked over at James as he spoke. "Yeah, I've had to handle them for a long time"


    "I've basically had to raise them since I was 15" they explained. They were currently 21. "What's it like being an only child? I know it's got to be a different than how it's been for me" they explained. As they waited for an answer, they puffed out a bit more of smoke enjoying it

    (What if the gang comes back for James afterwards and pins him once again and push him around, and this time they challenge Riley because they're outnumbering him and they gets to beat people :3? Then, James asks Riley to teach him to defend himself?)


    James was honestly impressed by the ring of smoke that Riley made, staring at it before it dissipated into the air. He looked back at him as he talked. He nodded midway to show that he was listening, looking at the floor and leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees. When he was asked, he bit his bottom lip sub-consciously as he thought of how to describe it. "To sum it up; I was alone and lonely but I learnt how to deal with it myself. Attention became too suffocating and disappointment happened because of the smallest things." He explained, his throat closing up slightly as he remembered the last fight he had with his parents before running away.


    He stretched his arms before yawning and covering his mouth while looking at the watch on his wrist. A small squeal escaped him as he realized he's late for work and James jumped up. "Uh..I have to go now. Thanks for having me. I..uh..I guess I'll see you around." He said with a soft smile before going out of the room.

    Riley watched James run out of the room, past the fighting siblings and out into the town. They finished up their cig and snuffed it out. They walked out to see their siblings ready to head out. "Come on, let's go see the other Grease Monkeys and figure out where the Grizzles might attack again" they said.


    The three of them headed off into the city proper and Riley couldn't help, but notice James wandering the streets. They kept their eyes on him making sure nothing happened to him. However something did happen. A small group of Grizzles slowly approached James and pushed him against a wall. They roughed him up a bit and would do more until Riley had enough and ran towards the group.


    They didn't notice them, just the way Riley liked it. They broke up the small group one by one beating them to a bloody mess. Riley was roughed up when they made it to James, but they didn't mind. "Hey, need a hand?" they asked

    James was walking normally, replaying in his head everything that happened yesterday. He went from being pushed around by the Grizzlies to being friends with the toughest fighter of the Grease Monkeys. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips before he suddenly bumped into someone. "Sorry." He said briefly as he attempted to walk around the person without looking at ther face before they pushed him backwards. "What the hell?" He said before he looked up and recognized one of the Grizzlies from yesterday. "I'm not looking for any problems. Just let me go." He said, but all he got was another shove that slammed him into the wall behind him. Well, he got an answer...


    James tried once again to walk around them, but instead just got shoved around by them. He was sure he was gonna get a beating sooner or later before noticing Riley, he didn't do anything to alert them of their appearance though. "You better run.." He said and glared at one of them, but they just laughed right before they came.


    After a few minutes, all of them ran once more, but with missing teeth this time and possibly a broken nose. He couldn't help the smile appearing on his face at the sight of Riley. "That was another unexpected saving. Thanks for that.." He said, contemplating whether to ask or whether he shouldn't. "Hey, Riley. Do you mind teaching me how to do that so that you don't have to bother and save me every time?" He asked as he looked at him with some of his carmel hair falling on his emerald eyes.

    Riley thought over James suggestion of training. They knew it would be wise since the guy was attracting the wrong kind of attention and Riley wouldn't be there all the time to save him. Plus being able to hang out with James more in one on one time, made them very happy to have. "I believe that we can arrange something like that" they said. They helped him up from the ground and looked him over a bit. He noticed a bit of blood dripping from the other's mouth and went to wipe it getting rather close to him.


    The two were almost inches apart, but then Riley pulled away before doing something they feared might mess things up. "You know if you aren't busy right now, we could get started now if you want"

    James nodded at their first remark with a smile on his face, not noticing nor feeling the blood dripping from his mouth; he was just glad he got out of this mess and he couldn't be thankful enough to Riley for saving his ass once again. He took Riley's hand and got up back onto his feet with an "omph" sound. He patted his clothes to arrange them back into place and to get rid of the dust and dirt that had settled onto them from falling onto the ground.


    As he looked back up on Riley, he noticed they were getting really close and he was taken aback when they wiped the blood from the corner of his lips. Of course, he noticed that there was barely any distance between both of their faces. James' face started reddening and taking on a rose-tint from how close they was. He stared at Riley's eyes afterwards and there was just a moment of shared silence between both of them. The silence was oddly comfortable and his mind was starting to fuss a bit about how close they were, stopping himself from the urge of closing the distance and putting his lips on theirs.


    He shook his head softly after they pulled back to gather their thoughts together before looking back down at them. James' eyes oddly trailed from Riley's eyes to their lips and he bit the inside of his cheek as a reprimanding to himself for even daring to do that. "Uh..Yeah. We can start now, if you're free. I don't have much to do and I can easily skip this shift to do something more useful." He said with a soft smile as he reached for his phone in his pocket.

    Riley nodded. They slowly took James's hand in their own not wanting to let go this time. "Before we start, we're going to need to clean you up. No point in starting training when you're still bleeding" they explained.


    They led James around the streets arriving back at the abandoned train station now eerily quiet from the earlier part of the morning. They moved James over to a bed. "Where does it hurt the most?"

    James wasn't the least bit bothered when Riley grabbed his hand again and he was rather glad that the warmth caused by their hand returned once again. Instead of holding his hand loosely like before, he held it tightly and walked beside him rather than being dragged. Both of them walking beside each other with hands held provided a completely different scene from what was actually happening, but James wasn't paying attention to any of that nor the people that looked at them.


    The young adult went into the train station that now resembled an apartment that he forgot that they were even at an abandoned train station from how it looked. The quietness didn't bother him with Riley beside him as much as it would if they weren't there.


    He sat on the bed and immediately responded "My ankle is hurting like hell, but my shoulder is killing me." He said as he put a hand onto his right shoulder, wincing slightly. His shoulder got the most impact from slamming into the wall and being pushed from them repeatedly. "It's probably badly bruised." He continued, looking up at them to see their expression.