Archive of Our Own ^beta

Allen looked around with worry. They were in the middle of the quad on campus, and it was between classes. Shit, shit! Lysander wasn't going to let the subject or him go. "It's...nothing. Don't worry. I've got class, we can talk about this later."

He tried to pull away, but Lysander's grip was still tight. "Mate, please, I've been feeling like shit all week, you haven't answered calls or messages. What's up? You mean a lot to me, I'm worried about you, talk to me."

"Maybe you should have talked to me first." The moment he said it Allen regretted it, knowing it would create more questions. Shit, he was terrible at being put on the spot, he always needed time to think about things. The look of confusion on Lysander's face told him that this was going to end badly and he could feel himself beginning to panic. Shit.

"Tell you... I... About what? I always open up to you, hell, I feel like I never shut up. Did I cut you off or something before?" Looking even more concerned, Lysander stepped forward, likely trying to get a hug or something, he always did when he was worried, he needed physical comfort. Allen didn't, he was terrible with public affection and now that a few people were giving them curious glances he was getting more concerned and needed to get out of the spotlight a bit.

Putting a hand on Lysander's chest, Allen tried to give a bit of space, looking for an escape from being out in the open. "Just... I'm not comfortable like this, we'll talk later."

Lysander took Allen's other wrist, now looking annoyed. "No, you always do this, you always run away, stop it for a second and just tell me what the hell's going on."

"Everybody's looking."

"So? People are nosy, forget them. It's not like we're making out here or anything."

"Did you make out with everyone else in public then?"

It didn't make any sense, and it was him lashing out randomly and without reason, words he instantly regretted. Lysander frowned but didn't loosen his grip. "With- What?! No! I don't get all kissy in public. Are- You think I'm cheating on you or something?!"

"Maybe! No! I-" Allen gritted his teeth and closed his eyes to try to shut out the accusing stares from the growing interest in their conversation. "You're just- Not here!!"

Lysander was getting angry and glared at his friend, wondering what he was talking about it. "You know me better than that, I'm faithful to whomever I'm dating at the time."

"And how many have you dated? Did you just ditch them when you got bored, then?" Allen raised his voice without thinking about it, feeling his heart pounding in his ears. This was getting worse and he was getting more stressed and more people were watching and he just had to get away!

"The fuck! No! What the hell is wrong with you?! Ever since we first hooked up you know that I've always been dedicated, I don't keep count and I don't just dump people. Is that what this is about? Are you jealous that I slept with other people after we broke up when you moved?"

Cheeks burning red, Allen could feel tears burning in his eyes he had to get away, somehow! "You never told me about them, that you've... How many you've..."

"So? I didn't ask about your previous lovers when we got back together because that's none of my business."

Their voices were getting louder, drawing more attention, and though Lysander seemed oblivious to it Allen felt his panic grow stronger. "What about my business, shouldn't I know who you've been banging just in case?"

"I'm clean and I always use protection, you know that, they knew that, I don't go around just fucking anyone, it's not a game."

"You'll still fuck anyone if they ask."

This visibly hurt Lysander, and his grip on Allen's wrists grew painfully tight. "I do not. What the fuck is all this about?! I've never lied or cheated, and yeah, I'm potentially interested in anyone but I'm not just gonna go stick my dick in anyone that walks by. You've always known that. Mate, I love you, and I'm not going to fuck this up for a cheap piece of tail."

"But I don't!" This gasped rebuttal wasn't at all what Allen meant, but his head was too full of noise and he could physically feel the eyes of onlookers burning into his skin. Abruptly, he shoved Lysander away with both hands. "Just go away!" This was even worse, he knew it, but he couldn't find the words that he did want, and the pain welling up in his chest stole his breath for a moment. Why couldn't Lysander have waited until later? This was all going wrong! "I don't like men like you do and-" He was cut off when Lysander's fist connected hard with his jaw, knocking his glasses askew and sending him sprawling into the grass. His vision was thus doubly blurred when he looked up in shock, a cold pit forming in his stomach to see the look of betrayed anger on Lysander's face, but at the same time. Before Lysander could say anything, however, it was his turn to soak a punch out of nowhere. "David! Fuck, wait!!"

One of Lysander's ex-boyfriends, member of the gridball team, and mutual friend had apparently run up during the altercation, but upon seeing Lysander take a swing at Allen had decided that he needed to intervene. However, this was the worst way he could have done so, as Lysander simply staggered, snarled, and swung back, much harder than he had the first time and than David had a moment ago. This sparked a very fast but intense fight where Lysander tried to get in a hit of his own but the other man ducked out of the way each time. Barely evaded, that is, neither Allen or David had seen him this angry before, and he was much faster than they had expected. But then, he was somewhat wiry and slim, and all of that dance he'd done left him stupidly agile. The shouting had already attracted attention, but now the fight commanded it, and three of their other friends had run over to try and subdue Lysander. Allen shouted at them to stop and back off, he knew how volatile that he was and had seen him in situations like this before, but either he was ignored or they simply didn't hear him. It was only going to get worse the more people that tried to intervene. To his surprise Lysander was holding his own rather well, though in fairness to everyone involved, they were simply trying to stop him and he was the only one fighting back. But again, Allen had seen this before, Lysander wasn't himself at that moment, and he wasn't going to stop until everyone else was on the ground.

Too paralyzed with fear and indecision Allen could only watch in shock until Lysander tripped and landed on his back. This provided the opening that David needed, and he planted a knee in Lysander's chest as he used a move that Lysander had tried to teach to Allen before, where one could use their opponent's shirt collar to help cut off air and blood supply for a moment, momentarily knocking them out. It should have worked, but David wasn't as well-trained as Lysander had been, and a final, frantic swat caught David at just the right angle to dizzy the gridballer. This gave Lysander  the opening that he now needed to break free, shove David aside and roll away, getting his feet under him. He gasped for breath, shaking his head to clear it as someone helped David to his feet, eyeing his friend warily. Standing again, Lysander blinked and snarled, still angry, but now no longer offensively so, and saw Allen still where he had fallen. The fog of rage instantly cleared when he saw the look of pain and terror that his friend wore, shrinking away from him.

Now that Lysander had got a hold of himself David tried to move to him to see what had happened and if he was okay, but the adrenaline that hadn't quite left him pushed him in the wrong direction yet again, and Lysander turned to sprint away, moving much faster than they had expected. "Lys, wait!" Allen tried to get up but grunted from the weight of his backpack. He shrugged out of it and got up. "Watch this for me, I'm going after him." Not nearly as fast as the other man, Allen ran after him, knowing where he was going and hoping he would be able to fix this when he got there. He had to! This was all his fault...