Punish Me

By:  Julie

"’Cause if love is a crime, then punish me. I would die for you…"

 

So, in a general sense, it wasn’t truly wrong.

Well, it was wrong if you were a good Christian and wanted to say that God created Adam and Eve, and not Adam and Steve.

In that sense, yeah, maybe our love was a crime.

It was a fun crime, at any rate.

 

We were at a party. Chris was on the floor, his glass held above his head as his body slammed against Justin’s, his laughter carrying to me as he was grinding with my boyfriend. I, of course, not being so inclined to dance immediately, was leaning against the bar, chatting with another nameless boyband member that was not my own.

Justin came over a few minutes later, wanting to go somewhere private, while Chris found a new drink and a new partner.

It was easy for us to find somewhere private, a secret place for him to press me against the wall and whisper my name into the darkness.

Reality decided to walk in a few moments later.

It didn’t seem real, at first, before the situation truly sunk in and we realized that we were truly in trouble.

It was a public place, even though no one could see us, in the dark room as we were. But the fact remained that he probably shouldn’t have been on his knees in front of me and I shouldn’t have been getting off in such an almost public place anyway.

We hadn’t cared when we started, riding high off the release of our new album. It was our mistake at first, not counting on narrow minded people seeking us out for a punishment that we didn’t deserve.

They shoved him away from me first, and I frantically tried to re-button my pants with the raging hard on, and of COURSE they’re button fly, and a pain in the ass in the semi darkness.

And they were hitting Justin and shoving him around, breaking skin and drawing blood, crying out that he needed punishment for an act against God.

"No," I whispered, realizing that they were ignoring me. I threw myself on them, knowing that it wouldn’t make any difference, because they we’re probably both twice my size. But I could always dig my fingers in and try to scratch, or bite, and oh GOD, they were ARMED, and I realized that too late…. I’d fight for all I was worth to save him, fight to my death if I had to…

"Justin," I shouted, mentally willing him to get up off the floor. "Baby, get up and get OUT!" I cried, seeing him struggling to his feet as I wrestled with the two men, having taken possession of the knife one had been carrying. They were both coming after me, backing me toward the wall, one with a brand new gash across his forehead and the other with a nose job courtesy of my fist.

Hey, skinny boys learn to throw punches.

"Josh," he said, moving toward the door, afraid to leave, afraid that I might not be there when he got back.

"Justin!" I shouted, lashing out at the two men. Oh, FUCK, I was bleeding at this point. Not a good sign. "Please get help."

He was crying, and then he was running toward the men. His fists slammed frantically into their backs, hard as rocks and as quickly as he could, frantically trying to help—he was terrified. He was screaming as best he could, putting all his vocal skills to the best use they’d ever had.

One of the men turned and was on Justin immediately. And he was screaming from pain then, no longer for help.

"You have to be punished," the man on his said mechanically, as though he’d been brainwashed into thinking so.

"Punish me instead," I cried, my voice cracking halfway through in a way it hadn’t since I was a teenager. The man turned toward me, and tried to focus.

Oh god, they were both high. They so high they were beyond space, these two men. Where the fuck did their coordination come from?

It seemed as though they couldn’t make up their minds whether they wanted Justin or me. Whether they wanted to kill us or simply hurt us.

I could hear Chris coming in, as the man that had been attacking Justin came towards me. I could hear him shouting for help, could hear him throwing his weight on the two men. I could even hear his ragged breath as he alternately pounded them with his fists and screamed for help.

In those last few minutes, I remembered telling Justin once that I’d have died for him.

In the moments before help arrived, my words were true.

And then my world was black, and there were know feelings, no pain, nothing else.

~+~

The ambulance sirens were blaring as Chris climbed into the ambulance with Justin. The lights flashed across his face, tear and blood streaked.

It had taken their security three minutes to get through the crowd from the time they heard the screams coming from the back room. Just three.

But they were thirty seconds too late. Seconds before they arrived in the room to pull the men off of Chris, Justin, and JC, the man with the knife managed to slash the fisherman’s knife across JC’s neck, spraying all of them with his blood.

Justin had burst into hysterical tears then, as the NSYNC security tore the men away from JC and Chris and held them away, and as one pushed his hand against JC’s neck, trying to stop the blood flow.

It was too late.

Chris brushed his fingertips over Justin’s forehead, trying to wipe away splatters of blood, but simply smearing it with the blood that coated Chris’s own hands.

Justin clung to his hand tightly, tears still streaming down his cheeks, sobs shaking his body. He’d bear the scars of this night forever, both physically and mentally. He’d spend time in the hospital for the gashed that punctured deep.

And he’d spend nights crying for the man that had taken Justin’s own punishment.

Crying for the man that had given his life so that Justin could keep his own.

~+~

WARNING: DO NOT leave reviews saying that you wish I had placed a slash warning in the summary. That is simply going to make me not do it any more than I already do. I actually quit doing it, simply because people complained when I forgot once. Perhaps you find that terrifically immature and bitchy of me, but too bad. Slash fiction deserves as much credit as any Het fiction does, and I’m tired of putting slash warnings. My ratings come from graphic blood and violence, or from habitual ratings, and not from graphic sex. Most of it is insinuated wild animal sex, or plain kissing. This one has a mentioned blowjob, big deal. Homosexuality is as much a part of modern life as anything else.

Sorry about my ranting, anyone who actually LIKES slash. I’ve left the warning off of three of my slash stories, and have received reviews stating such on two of them. I actually took the time to go back and place a warning in the summary for "Looking In." I did not do so with rain, nor will I do so with any other from this point on. Disclaimers are required, slash warnings are not. Read it for the way the fiction is written, not for the sexuality of the characters. Thank you for taking the time to read this story, please read the rest if you have time.

The End

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