Later that evening Sav's mum came running to her son when he spotted him in the crowd. By the expression on her face, Sav immediately knew something was terribly wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.

"Richard. Promise me that you'll sleep at Joe's tonight. Please."

Completely confused Sav looked at his mother's panicked face and nodded slowly, still trying to figure out what had happened.

"O-Okay mum, but what... Why? Is something wrong?"

"It's your dad, honey. He saw you and Joe. Kissing on the dancefloor. And saying that he is enraged is an understatement. Please don't return home tonight. I'm so scared he'll hurt you."

Sav's whole body seemed to freeze on the spot when he heard these words. Not sure if he wanted to scream or vomit, he simply slumped back against the wall behind him. One of the best days of his life had just transformed into his worst nightmare.

"Richard? Richard, please answer. I'm so worried!", his mum insisted, her eyes wide and terrified.

"I... I... Okay. I'll talk to Joe. Maybe we should leave directly."

His voice broke towards the end of his sentence and the tears rose in his widened eyes, and he tried his best to not let them run down his cheeks. Because he knew that once he would start, he would never be able to stop.

"Sav? Hey, is everything alright? Mrs. Savage? What's wrong?"

Just hearing Joe's worried voice from behind him and then feel his warm arm wrapping around his waist made the dam break.

Tears forced themselves past his painted lashes, leaving blackened streaks on his cheeks. Joe felt the tremors running through his body and pulled him close immediately, one hand placing itself into the thick mass of his auburn curls while he still worriedly looked at Sally Savage in front of the two of them.

"He found out about your relationship. Take Richard home with you, okay? I don't know what is going to happen to him if he chooses to come home tonight."

Joe was shocked but understood directly. He nodded at Sally in thanks before grabbing Sav's hand and pulling him through the crowd towards the building's entrance. Sav was having a full-blown panic attack at that point but he knew he had to get out so he just forced his feet to follow his lover.

They reached the entrance after a few minutes that felt like hours and once outside, Sav almost collapsed in Joe's arms. Too shocked and worried to do anything else, he let his boyfriend cry on his shoulder, caressing his hair and back, and not caring about the fact that Sav's eyeliner would most likely ruin his white shirt.

"Hey Savy, it's gonna be alright, okay? We'll find a way to deal with this, Love", he tried to assure him, but he was not so sure. Sav had told him about his homophobic dad. He had told him that he had beaten him once for looking to feminine and that he would most likely not hesitate to do it again. And the worst part was that he would most likely try to separate the two of them. Joe got a sick feeling in his stomach just thinking about that.

After a few more moments of silent support and caresses, Sav finally felt stable enough again to walk the short way to Joe's house, which was thankfully close by.

The walk home was horribly quiet, the mood depressed and so full of fear that Sav got goosebumps. He clung to Joe's hand all the way, scared that he'd be gone too soon. When they arrived, Joe unlocked the door on autopilot, leading his shaking lover inside and closing the door behind him to leave the cold outside.

Without a word, Sav left upstairs to Joe's room and the latter followed him, still in too much of a shock to realize what had happened.

He found Sav curled into the sheets of his bed, clinging to his pillow while shaking slightly. Carefully Joe removed the pillow so that he could look into the blue eyes he loved so much it hurt. They were widened and full of tears, smeared eyeliner surrounding them while his skin was so white that he almost looked like a ghost.

"Let's just make the best of tonight, okay? We don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow but that's exactly why we should make the best of the time we still undoubtedly have. Alright, honey?"

Joe tried his best to be the voice of reason and support and he surprised himself by how well it seemed to work. Sav first just stared at him but then he nodded, sitting up to start removing his clothes and getting comfortable.

The taller one thought that he would stop at his underwear but he didn't, laying down naked on the bed in front of him. The look in his eyes told Joe that he wanted love so bad that it was painful for him. So Joe pulled off his clothes as fast as he could, covering Sav's warm body with his own as soon as he was fully undressed, revelling once more in the feeling of their soft skin brushing each other's.

The lovemaking that night was desperate and needy, just like the kiss on the dancefloor had been. It felt as if both of them knew that it would be the last time.

They fell into the sheets together afterward, cuddled close together and tried their best to seek shelter in the other one's arms while their breathing returned to normal. Joe's tattoo was burning, as if it was already dreading the separation from its counterpart while Sav snuggled into his chest and tried to expel the thoughts of the future from his mind.

He dreaded the following day as if death awaited him.

~~~~

They were woken up the next morning by Joe's mum calling out to them through the whole house.

"JOSEPH! RICHARD! GET UP! THERE'S A PHONECALL FOR YOU!"

Sav directly knew what this was about and was wide awake in a millisecond. It took a bit longer for Joe to wake up so he already rose from his position, grabbing his clothes from the floor and pulling them on before heading downstairs to wish Cynthia a good morning.

The small woman directly smiled at him, but he could see the nervousness in her eyes when she wordlessly handed him the phone before leaving.

"Y-Yes? It's Richard Savage speaking?"

"Oh, dear god. I'm glad I finally got to you", he heard the sobbing voice of his mother and his heart stopped from shock.

"Mum? What happened?"

There was silence for a short while before she spoke again.

"He was so angry. God, I'm so glad you weren't here. He wanted to beat you up but he let his anger out on me instead so don't worry."

"He beat you, mum?"

Sav's voice was close to breaking when he asked, but the silence on the other end of the line let him know the terrible truth. His dad had beaten his mother. That was new and absolutely horrifying.

"Look, Richard, he immediately called his work last night. They agreed to let him move to another part of the company. The one situated in... In America."

Sav's legs gave out at those words and he helplessly slid down the wall behind his back. America. They would move to America. The other side of the world.

"W-When?", was the only thing he could get out and he dreaded the answer so much at that point, that he simply squeezed his eyes shut to hide from it.

"He can start on Monday. We'll be leaving early tomorrow morning."

The phone slipped from his grasp at that new information and he could faintly hear his mum's voice trying to call for him from the abandoned phone but he couldn't care less.

Then there was the voice of another calling his name and Joe appeared in his vision seconds later, immediately falling to his knees in front of him to pull him into a hug when he saw the state he was in.

All Sav saw was black. Thick, untameable black that spread through his whole vision of the present and future, clouding all of his hopes and dreams and making them seem unreachable. Forever unreachable.

They sat on the ground for seemingly hours, Joe doing his best to support his boyfriend but knowing that it was almost impossible. Something bad had happened, something so bad that it had pulled the ground out from beneath the younger one's feet once again.

"Sav, what happened? What did your mum say?"

The blue eyes that were once again teary like on the day before fixated on his own. And something in his heart broke at the sight in them.

"My dad got a job offer. We'll be moving to America. Tomorrow."

Joe was so shocked he could not even reply to that statement. This was worse than anything he could've expected. This was the worst possible outcome in their situation.

"But Sav-"

"I have to leave. I need to pack my stuff."

His voice was cold and collected because he knew that he would pass out if he would start crying again. He needed to be strong for the two of them.

Without another word he got up and left for the door, Joe catching him by his wrist when he had his hand on the doorknob, already starting to turn it and pull.

"Sav, wait. At least give me a kiss before you go."

The curly-haired turned around again at those words and nodded absently, stepping closer and pressing his lips against Joe's in a loving, desperate kiss. The taller one wrapped his arms around his lover, pulling him as close to his body as he could and deepening the kiss. As long as they were kissing, Sav couldn't leave. And since this was their last kiss, every last second was worth it.

Every moment they had shared together flashed in front of Joe's eyes, from their first meeting to their lovemaking session the night before, before he finally found himself in the current kiss again, pouring all of his longing and affection into it. He loved this man with all of his heart and he knew that when he left, he'd take a part of him with him.

Sav finally pulled back with a sad look on his facial features, but before he could start crying again, he turned around and left through the door. From the doorstep Joe watched him walk through that small gate in the fence surrounding the front yard, and with it, out of his life.

He was gone.

Rick Savage had disappeared.

And he never once saw him again.