Kindred Love

In Hiding

Author's Note: WARNING: Violence.

Brian nervously opened the front door to his house, listening for the sounds of his family. He could hear the television on, and decided to try to make a run for it up the stairs to his bedroom; maybe no one would notice he came in. He had made it half way up the stairs when he heard his father's voice and felt a sense of dread fill him.

"Sonnyboy! Where the fuck have you been?" Jack Kinney demanded, the drunken slur obvious in his voice. Brian turned to face his father, trying not to show his fear for the man.

"I had dinner over at the Taylors' house," he replied.

Jack huffed. "You expect them to feed you? What makes you think that they want you over there, anyway?" Jack snapped.

"They invited me, Pop," Brian said quietly.

"You spend too much fucking time over there. You have responsibilities, Sonnyboy. You have obligations," Jack scolded.

"I finished all of my chores before I left, sir," Brian replied.

"Well, Mr. Smartypants, can you explain to me why you left your fucking skates in the middle of the God Damn floor for me to trip on?" Jack yelled.

Brian knew that he didn't own skates; his sister, Claire did. Jack must have been too drunk to figure that out. Or it could have been that he just needed an excuse to be angry with his son. Brian was the one who was blamed for everything, no matter what. His sister, Claire, was "daddy's girl", his little angel. He never yelled at her for anything, nor laid a finger on her.

"Pop, those aren't my --" Brian started to say, but was interrupted by his father's open handed slap to his face.

"Don't fucking talk back to me, boy," his father growled. Brian felt the heat radiate from the stinging blow. He didn't dare cry, though. Not in front of Jack. That was always done in private. He never wanted to let his father see him cry.

Joan Kinney walked to the staircase where her son and husband were, noticing the obvious displeasure on Jack's face, and her son's stunned stare.

"Jack, what's going on?" Joan asked. She loved her son, but she wasn't strong enough to stand up to Jack. When she interfered, Jack would just get more angry. She had always felt guilty about the way her husband treated Brian.

Jack turned to his wife, an angry frown still on his face.

"I'll tell you what's going on. This little asshole doesn't know how to put his things away," Jack told her.

"Brian, go to your room," Joan told her son quietly. Brian nodded and walked the rest of the way up the stairs, his head down and shoulders slumped forward. He made it to his room, and shut his door, thankful that he had been able to suppress his tears for as long as he had. As he leaned against the back of his door, he could hear his parents arguing. Wanting to drown them out, he went over to his bed and buried his head into his pillow as he continue to allow his tears to fall.

"Jack, don't you think you were a little hard on him?" Joan confronted her husband.

"Hell no. How else is he going to learn if I don't discipline him?" Jack told her.

"Honey, it was a mistake," she replied softly.

"Oh, look at that. Saint Joan wants to show us how to be a good parent." Jack slurred.

Joan tried to ignore his comment, as she headed up the stairs.

"Yeah, that's it. Go comfort the whiny baby," Jack spat, and turned around to walk back to his liquor cabinet with plans to pour himself another drink and then pass out in front of the TV.

Joan slowly opened the door to her son's bedroom, and saw him laying prone on his bed, hugging his pillow. She could hear him sniffling quietly.

"Brian, honey," Joan called out softly. Brian made no reply to his mother. He only wanted to be left alone so he could cry in private. He wasn't interested in hearing his mother's excuses or a defense for Jack.

Joan walked to Brian's bed and sat down next to him. She reached out to touch her son's face, but he flinched.

"Brian, I'm so sorry," she whispered. She felt her own tears start to spill down her cheeks. "I never wanted you to get hurt. I never believed..." she trailed off and started sobbing. Brian still did not make any effort to speak to her. He kept his face turned away and remained silent, tears streaming down his face and soaking the pillow he was hugging.

Realizing that her son would not acknowledge her, she guiltily walked towards the door and closed it behind her. She walked down the stairs and immediately sought out their liquor cabinet and poured herself a drink. She joined her husband in the living room, sitting on the couch in front of the TV, and started drinking her sorrows away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday morning, Justin was in his room playing Mario Artist: Paint Studio, yet again. He loved this game, as it enabled him to play around with colors and shapes and drawing. He couldn't get enough of it.

Jennifer walked into her son's room, seeking his dirty laundry so she could wash a load. She smiled as she saw how much fun Justin was having with his game. It suddenly reminded her of the last time her son and Brian had played it.

"Honey, have you seen or heard from Brian?" Jennifer asked.

Justin's eyes were still on the screen, and he shook his head. "No. He was supposed to come over to go swimming the other day, but he never showed up," Justin replied.

Jennifer nodded her head. She remembered that Brian had seemed excited to go swimming, and she had promised him that she would find some work for him to do. It was odd that he didn't show up. She had hoped that maybe he had called her son and told him why he hadn't come over.

"I wonder what happened to him?" Jennifer asked, really thinking more out loud than to her son.

"I dunno," Justin shrugged. He stopped looking at the screen for a moment and looked at his mother. "You know it's probably going to be hot again today. Maybe I should go over to his house and ask him if he wants to swim today," Justin suggested.

Jennifer nodded. She knew that Mr. Kinney wouldn't be home at this hour, so she gave her permission to go over there. She had always felt uneasy around Jack Kinney, and preferred to keep Justin away from him; and from the vibes and little hints she picked up from Brian, she found she was right to feel that way.

"All right, honey. But come right back, okay?" Justin nodded in agreement and shut off his game.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brian heard the doorbell ring and was reluctant to answer it. He hadn't left the house since the night he had dinner at the Taylors'. He had been depressed, and was also embarrassed about the obvious bruise on his face from his father's openhanded blow. He had been too ashamed to show his face at the Taylors' house, which is why he hadn't shown up the other day, as planned. On top of that his father had told him he was spending too much time next door, and didn't want to upset him any more than he had. He needed a few days to let things mellow; Jack was like a ticking time bomb.

Brian opened his front door and saw his blond friend smiling back at him; his blue eyes so alive. He always looked so happy to see Brian. It made the older boy feel good.

"Hey, Brian," Justin greeted. Brian tried to keep the side of his face which had the fading bruise, hidden behind the door.

"Hey," Brian replied with a nervous half-smile. He dreaded having to answer any questions, but knew that they would come.

"Well, uh, we missed you the other day. I figured you had something else to do. But I just wondered if you weren't busy today, if you wanted to come over and swim?" Justin asked.

Brian was so relieved that he hadn't been demanded any explanation. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Uh, sure. Just give me a minute. I need to grab my swim trunks and tell my mom where I'll be," Brian replied.

Justin nodded and gave his friend his famous sunshine smile. The smile quickly faded though and turned into concern as he noticed the bluish mark on the side of Brian's face. He felt the need to reach out and touch Brian's cheek. He wanted to ask his friend what had happened, but knew that it was probably something he didn't want to talk about. He decided to try to ignore it, and forced a smile, hoping that Brian didn't didn't know that he had noticed the bruise. If Brian wanted to tell him about it, he would let him come to him when he was ready. This wasn't the first time he had noticed bruises on Brian, but his friend never said anything to him about it, and he didn't want to push.

"All right, I'll meet you at my house," said Justin and turned around and headed to back to his house.

Brian knew that Justin saw the bruise and that he had probably noticed the others that he hadn't been able to hide in the past. But the blond had never asked questions about it. He could tell Justin had wanted to say something, but he seemed to know that Brian didn't want to talk about it. They had their silent communication, and Justin looked at him with his eyes with an understanding.

Something that Brian had come to learn about Justin, was that even though the blond was 2 years shy of him, he was very perceptive, and wise beyond his years. He was smart; even smarter than some kids Brian's age, which was one of the reason's they got along as well as they did. A lot of the time Brian forgot Justin was younger than him, though he enjoyed teasing him about it from time to time. Age didn't matter. Justin was Brian's best friend.