Jonas carried Hugh on his back from the school back to the dorms. When they entered the common area, the many boys fell silent. Jonas and Hugh were a mess of bruises, cuts, and blood. They were both obviously exhausted, and Jonas dropped the gym bag heavily on the floor.

"Jo... are you guys ok?" Travis asked hesitantly.

Jonas nodded with a small grunt.

"Um... who did you fight?" Travis bit his lip, scared of the answer.

Hugh chuckled quietly on Jonas' back. "Each other."

The boys all stilled and started wide eyed at the two Kings. "Who won?" One asked hesitantly.

Jonas shrugged. "Who knows." Without paying attention to any more curious stares and questions, he carried Hugh to their room and locked the door behind them. Jonas automatically carried Hugh to the bathroom and sat him down on the sink while he turned on the shower.

He examined the cuts in Hugh's face and sighed. "Damnit Hugh, why did you do this?"

Hugh chuckled. "I got some good hits on you too!"

Jonas smiled. "At least I know how to keep my guard up most of the time. Seriously, you need to defend you head a little more."

"I can handle it."

Jonas laughed and kissed his forehead. "You can, but you're face is too good looking to get hit. Next time, keep your guard up."

Hugh snorted. "Whatever. Hurry up and take off your clothes and shower with me."

Jonas winked. "Yes sir." He pulled off his shirt.

Hugh gingerly pushed himself off of the sink and hissed in pain.

Jonas steadied him and looked him up and down with worry. "What hurts?"

"My ass, you dumbass. Or did you happen to forget last night?" Hugh said with a playful glare.

Jonas gave him a sympathetic look. "Sorry. Are you ok?"

Hugh wrapped his arms around his neck. "More than ok."

He leaned forward and pressed his lips on Jonas'. Jonas let out a small sigh and kissed back, his lips moving in sync with Hugh. He welcomed Hugh's tongue in his mouth and let it dance around with his own. Jonas lifted the hem of Hugh's shirt and tugged it off, breaking the kiss for a moment while he lifted it up.

Hugh clumsily helped Jonas undress. While touching and rubbing each other, they made it to the shower. Jonas restrained himself from turning Hugh and taking him again. He knew that Hugh was still sore from last night and from the fight, so they washed each other with lingering hands.

They remained there until they water turned cold and the hopped out laughing. They dried each other off, and Jonas brought out his first aid kit. He checked out the cuts one more time, and taped up a few that needed it while Hugh returned the favor.

The tormental emotions in the last 12 hours hit Jonas like a truck and collapsed on the bed. Hugh curled up next to him, and they both fell asleep for hours.

Surprisingly, Jonas woke up before Hugh and spent the moments of quietness to just admire him. He brushed his hand over his arms, feeling the contour of his muscles, but it was enough to wake Hugh up.

Hugh grinned as he looked up. "Morning, sweetheart."

Jonas chuckled. "Evening, babe." He pulled Hugh on top of him and gave him a kiss. "I was thinking of taking you out tonight."

"A proper date?" Hugh asked with a mischievous smile.

"I don't think our luck will ever let us have a proper date, so we will probably fight someone tonight if you're up for it." Jonas truly hoped for a quiet night out, but with the way that Lukas had been acting, he wasn't holding his breath. But he still truly wanted to be with Hugh and enjoy themselves.

They quickly dressed in nice t-shirts and jeans, and wore similar earrings. They put a little product in their hair so it didn't show that they just got out of bed. Hugh threw the keys to his bike to Jonas as they slipped on their leather jackets. Jonas took Hugh's hand and they paused when they entered the common room.

A number of students were already leaving to their homes for winter break, but there was still a large group in their common room, and all were staring at Hugh and Jonas.

Travis had a panicked look on his face when the boys emerged. Their bruises were already forming and turning purple. They both had some tape on their faces to close the lacerations on their more serious cuts.

Jonas nodded as a greeting and started to walk to the door with Hugh. Travis suddenly ran up and stopped them. "Guys, stop! We need to talk about this!"

Hugh cocked his head to the side. "About what?"

Travis huffed. "Who did you really fight this morning?"

They both gave him a bemused looked. Travis mistook this as the Kings being surprised that he found out that they fought someone. "We know that those St. Vincent's bastards stopped by last night and talked to you. Then you leave suddenly this morning and come back a bloodied mess. Who did you really fight?"

Jonas chuckled a little. "They did come last night, but the conversation didn't get very far and they left. Hugh and I had a spar this morning."

Travis glared. "And you ended up like that? I call bullshit. Why would you two fight without gloves."

Hugh ruffled Travis' hair. "We did use gloves."

When Hugh mentioned the used gloves, the room turned cold. There were a number of boys in the room who had sparred with Jonas and Hugh lately, but they never were able to leave a wound on the Kings, and they ended with a few bruises. Seeing the cuts, they knew that they have been holding back their raw power.

Jonas gently shuffled Travis away from the door, and he opened it and pulled Hugh out with him.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Travis called out after them.

Hugh laughed. "A date!"

Jonas and Hugh ran down the hall, ignoring the yells and protests from Travis and several boys who all knew that their dates were really brawls. The jumped on the motorcycle before anyone could run out after them, and Jonas took off the moment that he felt Hugh wrap his arms around him.

Jonas weaved in and out of the traffic until he made it towards the edge of town. He pulled into a busy parking lot of a pub. Hugh raised an eyebrow. "A pub?"

Jonas laughed. "They have the best food. One of the guys who used to go to the gym owns it." He held on to Hugh's hand and led him inside.

The inside was fairly large with on side being a large bar with bottles lining the wall. The other side was tables and booths. Edison lights hung from the ceiling, giving the place a warm glow. Light rock music played from the jukebox in the back. Hugh had a wide smile on his face. "This place is amazing."

Jonas chuckled and started to lead Hugh to one of the empty booths. A couple of guys called out in excitement.

"Jonas!"

"Bro! You look good!"

"Good to see you, Jonas!"

Hugh gave Jonas a questioning look as they sat down. A pretty woman with a low cut shirt, showing of her deep cleavage approached them. Her figure was perfect, with long tantalizing legs. She knew she looked good because all of the men would watched her with open mouths. She smiled seductively and bent down low, showing off even more of her chest.

"Hi Jonas." she said with a low voice and hopeful eyes.

Jonas' jaw clenched for a moment. "Hey Becca."

Her eyes flickered towards Hugh and she arched an eyebrow, appreciating the view. But she looked back quickly to Jonas, leaning a little closer, making Jonas tense a little. "What brings your gorgeous ass here? Miss me?"

Jonas' face turned cold and her glared at her, making her gasp a little and back up. "Why would I come here for you when you haven't crossed my mind."

She stood up. "What the hell, Jonas?"

Jonas took his eyes away from her and looked at Hugh with a small smile. "I'm on a date, so how about you fuck off Becca."

"A date? And whos the skank?" She huffed and crossed her arm to push up her bust, she looked around the pub and towards the door ready to humiliate the unknown person.

But Jonas never looked back to her. He took Hugh's hand into his and pulled his palm to his lips and gave it a small kiss. Hugh leaned forward, propping his head up with his free hand. His face held a smirk as Jonas slowly trailed his kisses down his palm. When Jonas reached the crown tattoo on Hugh's wrists, he rolled his eyes over to Becca, and licked the tattoo.

Her mouth fell as Hugh felt a growl rumble in his throat. The noise surprised Becca, making her jump with a yelp. Her face flushed and she stammered out an apology before briskly walking away.

Jonas looked back at Hugh and gave his wrist another kiss before pulling back.

Hugh laughed a little. "Did I meet another one of your exes?"

Jonas rolled his eye. "We were never official. She relieved some stress from time to time."

Hugh looked over to where she ran off to and looked her up and and down. "Not bad, Jo. But my ass is better."

The comment surprised Jonas and made him start laughing with his head thrown back. It was something Hugh had seen a few times, Jonas just letting go and laughing without a care in the world. He treasured these moment and watched Jonas laugh with a look of awe.

Jonas calmed a little, but was still chuckling. He ran his hand through his hair. "Yours is the best, babe."

Hugh smirk. "Of course it is."

A large man with a rag over his shoulder approached the table. "Well I'll be damned. Jonas Spencer knows how to laugh."

Jonas smiled and quickly got out of the booth and gave the man a hug. "Norm, it's good to see you again." He gave Hugh a quick look. "This is my boyfriend, Hugh."

Hugh was already out of his seat and shook Norm's hand. Norm grinned. "Looks like you both do more than date." He pointed to the cuts on their faces. Being a fighter himself, he was used to these injuries.

Hugh rubbed the back of his neck. "Jo's one hell of a sparring partner."

"Looks like you gave him a run for his money. Good job. He needs someone to beat common sense into him." Norm chided. He made them sit back down again. "Alright boys, what are having today?"

"You know me, Norm." Jonas said with a smile smile, his hand naturally finding Hugh's.

"I trust him, so I'll get what he orders." Hugh said with a smile.

Both of them were grinning through their meal. Hugh had to swear a couple of times, chastising Jonas for holding out on this joint and the best burgers he had ever tasted.

As they were leaving, several of the men stopped Jonas to talk to him. Norm approached Hugh and gave him a tight hug. "Thank you, Hugh. He's had a hard life, and I have never seen this light in him. You bring something good out of him."

Hugh chuckled. "Chuck said something like that too. But honestly, he brings something good out of me too."

Jonas watched the interaction with a small smile from across the room. The realization that he wasn't that alone last year dawned on him. He had a great family and group surrounding him from the gym. And he was letting the man he cared about the most into that sacred circle.