[$] Untitled (Your Missing Period)

[Your Missing Period]

"Shrimp tempura is a fancy way of just saying fried shrimp. But women don't eat friend things so you say 'shrimp tempura' and it's fancy and it attracts women." he said. "I'm not a big fan of fried foods myself, but I've perfected a style where it's lightly battered with lots of meat inside instead of heavily battered and little meat. You just grab it and peel back the fried part if you don't want it and inside is nice hot and juicy meat ready to be eaten." he smiled. "It took me a while to master it, but Andrew still didn't like it so all of it went to waste." he thought a moment longer. "Pasta. I like pasta, but the long noodle pasta not the short and curly pasta." he was distracted, thinking about the pasta now. "Stuffed shells is okay if you stuff it with something other then fifty types of cheeses."  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Daren chuckled, "i thought tempura was different because of the batter used, but that is of little matter. for the most part i'll eat anything." he frowned that Givens destroied all of James' hard work. they would have to have a fried foods night sometime soon so he could have James use that technique and praise him for it. it would go along way building back the man's confidence. "i like pasta too." he laughed at James' discription of stuffed pasta. "ageed one hundred persent. i love lazagna too, we should make this recipe i have sometime. i got it from a friend who lived in Italy for six years and is amazing! it has both white and red sauce, takes a while to cook but totally worth it. let's see, as for stuffed i like potstickers and ravioli though i generally like what i make myself better than any store bought ones. have you had fried noodles? there is a place near my house that makes the best fried noodles you've ever tasted. i even took a job there for a while so i could learn how to make them."  

[Your Missing Period]

Timothy had told Aomine that he could make lasagna from scratch, and it sort of hurt that he'd suggest another, but it made sense. You'd trust your friends more then you would a stranger. "That sounds delicious." he said with a smile. "I'll cook it if you give me the recipe." and nodded, listening as he started to add foreign food. "No, actually I've never had fried noodles. Or maybe I have. I think I have. Andrew liked to eat Chinese take out a lot." he said, thinking of what he'd eaten. "Can you make potstickers?"  

[VampuricWerewolf]

"I want to try your lasanga first, though. the one you said you could make before? we'll get the stuff for it tomorrow when we go shopping, ok?" Daren smiled at that, "yeah, i can, i was taught how to make them by another friend from-" he paused and smiled softly, "well, a friend. he was really good at making them, taught me how to make steamed buns too." his friend ahd died shortly after teaching him to make them, having been shot by a member of his own gang who was trying to move up in their ranks. Daren had made sure he was the first man he arrested when he became a cop. "fried noddles are kind of like what you get in Chinese, but not really. take out is the cheap version of it, i'm talking about the real stuff." he chuckled, "we'll make it together, ok? and potstickers too. let's see, what else can i make? i'm pretty mean on a grill. charcoal or gas, you give me some meat, some veggies and a grill and i'll give you a feast. have you ever cook on the grill before?" though James kept bringing up Givens, this seemed to be helping him move out of that self distructive phase he was falling into not too long ago.  

[Your Missing Period]

He was a little better, Aomine's memory kicked in and made Timothy feel better about lasagna. "I'll try your friends first, this way I can make mine better." he teased lightly, smiling and giving a soft chuckle. But then Aomine paused, the look on his face distant, seeing something that wasn't there before refocusing. "I think I'd like your friend's dishes first. I won't be strong enough to cook, yet." and listened some more. Aomine's voice wasn't as...snide, as Andrews. It was friendly and warm, maybe a little deeper then Andrew's, but certainly not in a scary way. It was nice to hear.

But the last sentences were not, the pale face taking on a somewhat gray color. "I've been cooked on a grill before." he murmured weakly, partially aware of his tenses and wording. "I don't like grilling. It leaves marks, they're not attractive, kind of makes you hate what was cooked on it." he stroked his arms unconsciously before realizing this was the first time in a while they were bare. he looked down knowing full well the scars were visible only if you knew where they were. They had long since healed over. "Always need to tenderize too, because the grill makes it too tough." the grill was outside, and the neighbors did nothing but go inside to ignore it.

He gave a small whimper, resting his head on his bent knees, staring at the sheets. If he closed his eyes the pain would be remembered much more clearly, the smell of burning flesh faint in his nose. It had only been for a few seconds but it was a few seconds with searing pain and ears deafened by a scream. And Andrew, Andrew telling him he'd been terrible again, a bad boyfriend. Thin arms wrapped around his ankles, Timothy staying silent despite the other next to him. "Stuck my head in an oven before we went to the grill," he murmured. "Suffocating, said it wouldn't hurt as bad, just five seconds. Minutes in that oven. Minute after minute of breathing it in, I could barely stand." his eyes closed only for a moment, and that's all it took for the memory to painfully etch itself into his skin once more. "It hurt worse then I imagined it would. But that's what I get for going out drinking with friends without permission. I always need permission, this way he knows I'm safe."

His voice was calm, so very, eerily calm to the point it frightened him. Inside he was flinching, curling away, covering his ears and his eyes to the images and the pain which streaked underneath his skin, making his hands tighten into fists. Andrew liked him in tears when he was remembering these things, and as if on cue the hazel eyes beaded with tears before they fell. "Then he bought those things." he whispered. "He bought them and thought they needed to be broken in, and I had been such a terrible boyfriend." the tears were obvious in his voice, high pitched, wavering, chocking and breaking.  

[VampuricWerewolf]

"I've been cooked on a grill before"

Daren was going to say something when the wording struck home. Wait, what? he watched James in horror as the man continued talking, curling in on himself further and further. Givens had what? he felt his anger boiling over, felt his hands starting to shake as he ached to find that a*****e and beat the living s**t out of him, but Daren forced himself to calm down. he would report what he'd heard to Iroh later, as he'd been instructed, but right now James needed him. "hey-" he said softly, placing his hand on the other's, making sure the touch was light. "james, can you look at me?" the other's calm voice was erie and sent chills down his back, it was the voice of someone who'd see too much, been through too much and they just didn't have anything left inside. no emotions, no pain, just-nothing. but there were tears in James' eyes and that gave Daren hope.

"James, you didn't do anything worthy of being hurt like that. you are a good boyfriend, James. you are a good person, no one should be hurt like that, least of all you." his hand was gently massaging James', trying to sooth the other without touching him too much. Daren didn't think James would react well to touch at this time. "look at me, James, please? you are a good person, he shouldn't have hurt you like that. you weren't wrong, James, he was. you are a good person, a good boyfriend. do you believe me when i say that, James?"  

[Your Missing Period]

A large hand touched his, and at the moment it only spoke of pain, making his hand tighten further before pulling away, arms now curling in the space between his thighs and chest. "No." he said weakly. "I'm not crying enough. I haven't learned if I'm not crying." and grit his teeth, eyes clenching tighter at the memories and the white hot pain. It didn't claw at his skin, it tore right through down to the bone. Andrew liked it that way, it got the message across.

But Daren's hand found his again and he grabbed it, looking at the man. "But you don't get it, Aomine. You don't get it." he was crying now, almost on the verge of sobbing right there. This was how Andrew liked him, this was a face the man always considered beautiful. "He did it because he love me, he really really loved me and now who's going to love me?" and used his free hand to try and cover his face, only managing his eyes. "I don't believe you. i don't believe you!" and tried to hit the officer, though the attempts were too weak to do even minimal damage.

And it didn't last long, gripping the shirt and crying. "Who's going to love me now that I'm like this?" he sobbed, allowing himself to fall back onto the bed and just let it pour out.  

[VampuricWerewolf]

"James-" Daren said softly, but he doubted he could hear over his own crying. Daren did the only thing he could think of. he got onto the bed, right next to James and pulled the crying man against him. "if he loved you he wouldn't have hurt you like that, James. if i were to go and do that to my lover what would you think of me? would you think i was doing it because i loved them? if i told you i was, would you believe me?" he held the other close, letting him just cry it out, "Givens should never have hurt you, James. I do understand, i understand better than you might think." he hesitated a moment before finally deciding to tell James a little about his own past. "i understand because i watched my father beat my mother to death slowly over years and years. he said he loved her too, and that he only did it because he loved her, but he killed her, James and he almost killed me too. that isn't love. that's insanity, it is someone who enjoies hurting other making that person think it is ok to be beaten so they can keep doing it. you will find love again, James. someone like you? i'd be shocked if there isn't a line of people waiting for you at work, all of them not acting until now because they knew you and givens were together. you'll find love again, James, i promise."  

[Your Missing Period]

"Don't come near me!" he shouted through his sobs, but Daren didn't care and did so anyway, strong arms wrapping around him and pulling him close. Timothy tried to fight, he really did but he was too tired and to weak to do much more but cry onto the other. What if Givens had hurt Daren because he loved him? Then it wasn't love, it was just abusiveness. it was that thought that made him sharply inhale and soon hold it. Andrew was abusive, just pure abuse, no love at all, maybe for the pain but not for Timothy. He hadn't loved Timothy for a long time, had he? He gave a slow exhale, hiccuping and still crying, but he was trying to calm down now, looking up at Aomine as he spoke about his own personal experience with abuse. "I'm... I'm sorry." he must have seemed selfish and self-centered now because of it.

But a line of people waiting for him at work? It was hard to imagine, they were nothing but professionally friendly toward him. No one there could have liked him.  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Daren shook his head, "don't be sorry, i became a cop so i could help people. so i could save them before it got to that point, and i nearly failed with you. so don't apologize, James, ok?" but from how James reacted, Daren felt that things had finally clicked with the man. and a lot of times using that example got through to most people. if it was abuse with others, even if they claimed it to be out of love, then why was it not abuse for themselves? "it is the past now, and it shall stay in the past." his father had been taken away, and he had been placed in foster care since he had no other living family. though some of the houses he lived in were close to being as bad as with his father and a couple others worse, he still had some bright moments in his childhood from when there had been a good house. "you've seemed to calm down a little, do you want something to drink?" Daren freed his hand long enough to wipe away James' tears before it returned to hugging the far too skinny man.  

[Your Missing Period]

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I can't help it but I'm sorry." and hugged the officer tightly, his heart rate slowing down. Timothy couldn't remember hearing it rise. Timothy didn't move, the exhaustion of the crying and the sadness hitting him. Always tired, always exhausted, how bored Daren must be to watch the cooking channel while the office worker slept. "If I didn't knock it over, yes please." and released his grip on the blue-eyed man, leaning against the bed which was already upright. "Sorry." he murmured again.  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Without thinking, Daren kissed the top of James' head, "don't worry about it, really and truely. that's why i am here, so i can help you." he got the water and held it out to James, putting the straw near his lips, "here, drink. you need to re-hydrate yourself after all that crying." he winked and waited for James to finish, the man drinking most of the glass at once, and put it back down. "tell me if you want more, ok?" he gave James' hand a squeeze and glanced at the door a moment or two before the doctor walked in, smiling.

"sorry, but it's time for me to do my check ups, is that ok with you Mr. James?"  

[Your Missing Period]

The kiss made his subconscious perk ever so slightly, worried but pleased. Affection, good affection, kind affection, Timothy liked it but it was oh so bad coming from heterosexual Aomine. "Thank you." he wanted to hold the glass, but right now he was too mentally exhausted to do so and settled with the straw, gulping it down thirstily before breaking away with a satisfied sigh. "I could use some sugary drinks." but stopped as the doctor came in, making him nervous. "That's fine." he said with a small nod, aware he must have still looked terrible from crying.  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Daren moved a little to the side, but stayed near and kept his hand in James' while the doctor did his check, making sure that james was ok through the entire thing. when the doctor finished and left, looking at his charts to go analize the results, Daren smiled at James, "you're getting better at this. you weren't squeezing my hand nearly as hard that time." he chuckled before looking around, "i can go get us some sugary drinks if you want. there's soda down in the lobby, i could snag us a couple and be back pretty fast. what do you say?" would James be ok with Daren leaving again so soon?  

[Your Missing Period]

The doctor made him nervous, all the touching to make sure he was fine. Timothy knew it was nothing sexual but it still made him uncomfortable. "A soda." he mused as the doctor left, smiling at Daren's observation on his getting better. "I'd like that. Um, but a Sprite, or Mountain Dew, if they have any." he could taste the carbonate bubbles on his tongue. "I haven't had soda in a year." and he was smiling at the thought of getting it again. "I'll count to one hundred and twenty."