A few days later, I sit on the floor of the living room with stacks of paper in front of me that all held information of the tons of meetings I've had with people for the fundraiser. Julian sat on the couch behind me with his laptop on top of his legs while he worked on stuff for PRES. I was leaning back against his legs while one of his feet lightly ran against the side of my thigh, sending a calming feeling throughout my body.

I was so focused on my work that I didn't even realize when Julian set his laptop next to me before running his fingers through my hair. When his hand gripped the back of my neck, shivers ran through my body, finally grabbing my attention. I turn to look at him to see his small smile on his face as he watched me. I chuckle, turning in my spot to kneel in front of him. "Whatcha doing?"

His smile gets a bit wider before he grabs my hands and pulls me into his lap so I was straddling him. He sets his hands on the small of my back, lightly rubbing his fingertips over my skin through my shirt. I place my hands flat against his chest as I look down at his peaceful expression. He was looking over every inch of my face, that smile never faltering once. "Have I ever told you that you're beautiful?"

"Every day," I whisper with a smile because it was true. No matter what day it was or how busy he is, he always finds time to explain how much I mean to him or how beautiful I was to him or just something to make me smile. Before I got with him, I was just an insecure boy that wasn't too into his looks and wore sweaters and bulky clothes to hide his body, but now, I'm different. I feel like a man that's confident in his skin because of this man right in front of me.

"Well, you're just as beautiful as you were the day I met you. Even more so, actually," he whispers, reaching up to cup my cheek. "you're the most gorgeous person I've ever seen."

I felt a blush spreading through my face so I hide my face in his shoulder, earning a chuckle from him. He lifts my shirt a bit to place his cold hands against the skin of my back. Once my face started cooling down, I pull back to look at him again with a smile. "You're not too bad yourself. Definitely not the worst person I could've ended up with."

He chuckles, lightly hitting my arm. "I was trying to be cute and you had to ruin it."

"Nah, I didn't," I tell him before leaning down to place a firm kiss to his lips. After a few moments, I pull away to settle my forehead against his as he waits for me to speak again. "no, but you're pretty gorgeous and I know I don't tell you that often, but you are. You're sexy and beautiful and handsome and cute and appealing and angelic and-"

He interrupts me by grabbing my neck and pulling my lips against his. I know he was just trying to stop me from talking, but this kiss was definitely moving towards something else. He pushes on my back so our chests were pressed together as he runs his tongue over my bottom lip. I open my mouth instantly, letting his tongue fill it as my hands run through his soft hair that was still a bit damp from his shower an hour ago.

Julian's hands find the waistband of my sweatpants before he dips his hand into them. His hand immediately grabs my cheek in his rough hand, squeezing it with his fingers. I let out a moan against his mouth that definitely sounded very feminine, but I didn't give a fuck at that moment. He pulls away from my mouth to attack my neck as he unzips my sweatshirt that I had thrown on to cover my naked torso. I let out a whimper when he starts to suck on the soft skin of my neck while his index finger and thumb pinches one of my nipples.

"Julian," I say in a breathy tone as he moves his mouth down to attack the hard buds of my nipples. I put my head back, looking up at the ceiling as he keeps pleasuring me with his tongue. One of his hands was gripping my neck tightly, but not tight enough I had trouble breathing. His other hand had dipped into my briefs and his middle finger was now pressed against my hole, making my body tremble with pleasure.

I could feel that he was about to push his finger inside of me when his phone started vibrating next to us. He pulled away from my nipple to look at it, but I place my hands on his cheeks so he was looking at me still. He smirks before putting his hand back around my neck, making a sigh leave my mouth. He continues to stare at me as his finger starts circling my hole while I stare at him with pleading eyes, practically begging him to finger-fuck me.

I whimper when his phone vibrates again and he takes his hands away from my body. He grabs his phone before giving it a confused look when he sees who was calling. I glance down to see that the name Campbell was displayed at the top of the screen. "Who's that?"

"It's one of the neighbors," he says, still confused. He slides the button to answer the call before putting the phone up to his ear. He looks up at me quickly while his hand lifts to run his fingers over my lips before he pushes two fingers into my mouth. I gladly start to suck on them while my hands grip his wrist tightly, wishing that whoever that was on the other line would hurry the fuck up so we could get back to what we were doing. I could hear them talking away as Julian swirls his fingers around my tongue, but then he freezes. "he's screaming for me?"

I instantly freeze as well because this absolutely did not sound good. Julian pulls his fingers out of my mouth before using my sweatpants to wipe my saliva away. He then motions for me to get off of him, which I do before following him out of the living room. He grabs his jacket before struggling to put it on as he keeps his phone tucked between his ear and his shoulder as the woman on the other side of the line continues to talk to him. I follow his lead, putting on my own jacket and shoes since I wasn't going to stay here when something was going on.

Bailey was watching us from where he sat next to the door, probably thinking that we were going for a walk or something. I pat his head lightly before looking back up at my fiance when he speaks again. "I'm so sorry. I'll be down there in a few minutes to deal with him."

"What's going on?" I ask him when he says bye to the woman before putting his phone in his jacket pocket. He turns toward me, still looking confused as to what was going on.

"There's some man at the gate that's been screaming my name for, like, five minutes. Campbell said that she hoped he would just leave eventually, but he hasn't quit yet. Just stay here and I'll handle it," he tells me before telling Bailey to stay when he opens the door. I don't even listen to his command, I just follow behind him. When I close the door for him, he turns to look, sighing when he sees that I was following him. "Miles, just stay at the house. This shouldn't take long."

"I'm not staying here," is all I tell him before following him down the sidewalk and towards the gate, which was a bit of a walk. The two of us walk briskly and as we get closer to the gate, we could clearly hear yelling. I heard phrases like 'where's Julian' and 'Julian fucking Caldwell' and other things like that. I felt bad for the neighbors because it was starting to get late and they were being bothered by this idiot.

I recognized the voice from somewhere, but I couldn't quite place from where. I could tell that Julian could too by the confusion continuing to build on his face, but he couldn't remember why it was so familiar to him. His step falters when he hears the man scream something that neither of us was expecting. "Where's that fag Miles? Maybe I'll hit him again!"

I stop in my spot, reaching out to grip Julian's arm as I instantly realize who this person was. Of course, his dad was here. Of fucking course that the one good day that Julian and I had this week, it all had to be ruined by this man. I look up at my fiance to see that he looked a bit scared and hesitant as he looked at me. I watch as his face turns from scared and pained to determined. "Call the cops, then go back home."

I shook my head. "I'm not going home."

I made sure to sound firm so he knew that I was serious. I wasn't going to let him be alone with his father after not seeing him for so long. I know it's been years since they ran into each other and this was just going to bring back all of those terrible memories of when he came out to his parents. Yeah, I had a run-in with his father, but Julian didn't. It's been a while since the two have met again and I couldn't even imagine how the two of them were going to react. I pull out my phone as Julian pushes forward, trying to get the gate as fast as possible.

I call 911, rushing to tell them what was going on. I knew Mr. Caldwell would be violent, just like he was the first time the two of us had met, so I made sure to advise the operator of that. After a minute of talking, Julian froze where he stood as he stared into the face of the man that had hurt him for so many years. I reach out to grip his hoodie, not wanting him to move any closer to the unpredictable man, but of course, he wouldn't just stay in his spot. He rushed forward, knocking to phone out of my hand as he pulls away from my hands.

I could hear the woman on the other side of the line saying my name, but I ignored her as I ran after Julian, hoping he didn't do anything too bad. "Julian, stop!"

I watch as Julian flings open the gate before snatching the alcohol bottle from his father's hands. I didn't even notice the bottle at first, but now that I did, I realized that Mr. Caldwell was clearly drunk by the slurring of his speech along with how he swayed in his spot. Julian threw the bottle of whiskey away from the two of them, letting it hit the asphalt with a crash as the bottle broke into tiny pieces. I let out a gasp as everything around me slowed down like it usually does in a movie during an intense part.

It was like everything was going in slow motion as before Julian could do anything, Mr. Caldwell's fist struck out, hitting his son's forehead with a loud smack. I immediately let out a shriek before trying to run over to my fiance to make sure he was okay, but I'm stopped by two pairs of arms pulling me back. I didn't even realize people were running out of their houses until I saw a bunch of people rush over to Julian and his father, who was now fighting his son.

"Julian!" I yelled, trying to get out of the people's arms that were holding me back.

"It's okay, he's gonna be okay," a feminine voice whispers into my ear. I don't even know what was happening because a bunch of people was blocking my view as they tried to pull the two men apart. I just put my head in my hands and started sobbing like my life depended on it. The arms loosened around my waist, but they still had a grip on my shoulders while the two people started running their hands up-and-down my back.

"You're not my fucking son, you faggot! You gave up that right to call me your father the moment you sinned! Leviticus 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination!" Mr. Caldwell screams and I finally look up to see a bunch of people holding him back while Julian stood in front of him with a shirt pressed against his forehead that was spilling blood down his face.

"Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord!" Julian screams at his father, looking angrier than I've ever seen him. His face was red and full of hatred and pain and this time, some guys had to hold him back from charging at his father. I know he wasn't a religious man and we've probably talked about God, maybe, twice in our whole relationship, but I also know that his parents had made him attend Catholic camps or whatever.

"1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another," a man in the crowd spat at Mr. Caldwell, looking in utter disgust at what he just said. He looked happy to be standing up for Julian, even if he had no idea who the man was. I'm assuming that more than half of the people in the crowd had no idea who Julian and I were, but they were still nice enough to help us.

I watch Mr. Caldwell get even more enraged before somehow breaking free from the men's hold to charge at Julian. At that point, I had no idea what was happening because people were blocking me from seeing again. The only thing I knew was that I could hear police sirens in the distance and I just wished they would hurry up. I tried to break free from the girls' hold and I finally do, rushing to my feet before running as fast as I could towards the group of people.

Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to reach the two men because more people grabbed onto me and pulled me back. Mr. Caldwell was fighting with Julian, who was standing his ground pretty well. There were many people surrounding them, trying to pull the two of them back from each other. "Julian!"

I knew my scream got to him because, at that moment, he stopped fighting and rushed away from his father. The group of men grabbed Mr. Caldwell, restraining him as cop cars pulled up. Police officers rushed out of their vehicles and went over to the man that was clearly violent by the way he thrashed against the people holding him. He's forced onto the ground by three police officers, all while he's fighting back.

"Get the fuck off of me!" He screams before elbowing one of the officers, resulting in the man jumping back to hold his eye. I gasp, watching as the officers lose their hold on him before he rushes forward. I know my body freezes when he locks eyes with me before rushing forward. At this point, people were starting to walk away from the scene since the cops were here, which meant that I was mostly unprotected for what was about to happen.

Everything slows down again, just like I was watching a movie play out in front of me. Mr. Caldwell urges forward until he was right in my face before grabbing my shirt in his hands and shaking me violently. He was screaming things in my face, but my heartbeat was so loud in my ears that I didn't hear what he was saying. Then, I'm dropped to the ground, my head hitting the ground forcefully as my eyes keep watching the cops pulling Mr. Caldwell away from me. Everything slowly fades back into real life and the loud noises surrounding me finally makes contact with my ears.

"She'll get you! I promise she'll tear you apart!" He spits at me like I was the worst thing he's ever looked at. I don't even dwell on what he was yelling at me because I'm swept up into someone's strong arms, holding me tightly to their body. I look up to see that it was Julian, he was the one that was holding me and protecting me.

"Are you okay?" He whispers to me, running his hand through my hair before feeling the back of my head to make sure that there was no injury from me hitting my head. When he doesn't feel anything, he takes his hand away to cup my cheeks. "Miles, are you okay?"

I nod my head before reaching up to lightly dab the sleeve of my shirt against his wound on his forehead. "Are you okay? He hit you hard."

"Don't worry about me, it's just a few cuts and bruises, it's fine. Just... don't listen to him, okay? Don't let this affect you," he whispers to me, but I can tell that he wasn't agreeing with his own words. He was already letting his father's words affect him and by the look of it, he was taking it pretty hard.

"Take your own advice. Don't listen to him. Everything he said to you doesn't matter. He's just a bitter old man that thinks he's better than everyone. Nothing that he said to you matters, alright?" I whisper to him, continuing to press the sleeve of my shirt over his injuries to stop the flow of blood.

"He... he told me to change my last name. He said that he hates that he keeps being affiliated with me and my success and he... he doesn't want me to keep being Julian Caldwell," he whispers, looking super distressed, not that I blamed him.

"We'll talk about it later," I rush out since two police officers that just showed up were walking towards us. I notice that Mr. Caldwell was shoved into the back of one of the cars and I'm pretty sure he got pepper sprayed, but I'm not too sure. Some of the witnesses were also talking to officers to probably give statements and whatnot.

"Are you two Miles and Julian?" One of the officers says to the two of us. Julian pulls me off the ground so we could stand in front of them before he nods his head to them. "We're going to need statements from the both of you, then we'll get you both checked out by a paramedic."

We were separated then, both telling the story of what had happened. I had learned that Mr. Caldwell had paid bail before his trial in the next few weeks because of his charges for assaulting me and the other officer. As soon as he got out of jail, he apparently went to a liquor store, got drunk, then came here. I was told that he was definitely going back to jail and he won't be able to get out before the trial, which would now include more charges. He had assaulted that officer tonight by hitting him and he had also assaulted Julian at this point, so everyone was certain that he would be going to prison.

I was currently sitting in the back of one of the ambulances being checked out by one of the paramedics. I had a blanket wrapped around my body while all my vitals were checked along with the back of my head that I had hit against the asphalt. I could tell that everyone was on Julian and I's side because it was pretty obvious that Mr. Caldwell was a bad man. He had spat homophobic banter at us and then threatened Julian multiple times, I've learned. Apparently, he had said many hateful statements to my fiance that I wasn't able to hear, but it was pretty bad.

"You look alright, Mr. Brigg. You don't seem to have any injuries, but if any symptoms come up of persistent headaches, confusion, lack of coordination, memory loss, or nausea, you should immediately go to the ER," the paramedic tells me with a sweet smile. I nod my head before standing slowly, needing to see how Julian was. I walk to the next ambulance before walking around to see Julian sitting on the bumper as one of the paramedics looks at his wound that seems to have stopped bleeding.

"Hey," Julian whispers to me, motioning for me to sit next to him. I get comfortable next to him, tightening the blanket around my body as I watch the woman keep checking him out.

"Is he alright?" I ask her and she looks up with a soft smile, nodding her head.

"He's alright. The injury isn't deep enough to need stitches, so I'll just put a bandage over it," she tells me before starting to do that. Julian grabs my hand, holding it close to his chest as he tries not to move too much. We stay like that for about five more minutes until we're allowed to go home. The officers had talked to everyone involved and got enough statements and were just now leaving. We make the walk to the house in silence before walking in, immediately going upstairs with Bailey following after us.

Julian sits on the edge of the bed, looking up at me when I lean back against the closed bedroom door. I know we should talk about it because neither of us were going to be able to sleep if we didn't. I notice that he looked very sad and upset about all the events from tonight, which was entirely understandable. His father had not only hit him multiple times, but he called him names and even told him that he wasn't his son. I mean... does he really want Julian to change his last name?

"You could become Julian Brigg," I blurt out without even thinking. His head snaps up to look at me, seeing that I was completely serious about what I just said. He slowly nods his head before looking down at his feet with a more depressed look.

"I could, yeah," he whispers. I let out a soft sigh before walking over to him, standing right in front of him. I cup his cheeks before lifting his head so he would look at me. When I see his eyes, they were lined with tears that were threatening to fall at any second and once he sees me, they do. I smile down at him, lightly wiping away the streams of water leaking from his eyes.

"Everything will be okay. He'll go to prison after his court date and you'll never have to see him again. Whatever you want to do, we'll do it. I know this situation seems so impossible, but we'll figure everything out, I promise you," I tell him, brushing one of my hands through his hair.

He nods his head lightly before wrapping his arms around my waist, pressing his cheek against my stomach. We stay like that for a while, him lightly shaking from his tears every so often. I just stand in front of him while running my hands through his hair to make him feel just a bit better. He stays in his spot on the edge of the bed, pressing his cheek into my stomach while his arms tightly grip my body like he was scared to let me go.

"Everything will be okay," I remind him, hoping I could believe my own words.