Thank you all so much for 2K reads!!

I even passed 300 on chapter 1! It may not seem like a lot but it means so much to me :)

Also, thank you all (the few people still reading this story) so much, your comments mean the world to me and are the only reason I am still able to keep writing this story

I'm going to put a little on this chapter because some parts are a little rough, it's not gruesome or descriptive.

My room was a greyish blue color. My walls could barely be seen as they were completely covered by posters of famous boxers. I had a large King-sized bed in the corner with a desk on the opposite wall and a small tv right above it.

And I know it's kind of cringy, but I also have LED lights all around my ceiling, I don't know, I like the mood they set with different colors. Plus my lights don't dim.

Oh, and we are just going to pretend I don't have dirty and or clean clothes completely covering the entirety of my floor.

Kai set his backpack down next to my desk, looking at all the different boxers, some pictures taken during fights, and some after winning championships.

"So you weren't kidding when you said you were into boxing," Kai said, his hazel eyes exploring the new environment.

"Yeah," I put my bag next to his and sat on my bed as Kai slowly walked around my cramped room.

"There aren't a whole lot of things I enjoy in life, but I've loved boxing since I was little!" Kai sat down next to me, I could tell that sparkles were coming out of my eyes, they did that whenever I talked about boxing.

"I've never tried proper boxing, but I'm not gonna lie, I really do like fighting," Kai had this light in his eyes, his excitement evident.

"You know what I'm talking about, it's the adrenaline rush, the high it gives me is better than any drug."

"I know exactly what you mean," I smiled, staring straight into his eyes.

Neither of us said a word. We just stared into each other's eyes.

The air felt heavy, tension filling the room. I began to lean in but as I approached Kai's face he turned away and stood up.

Ouch.

He turned around and looked around my room really quick until he spotted something on my shelf. Trying to appease the awkward mood Kai picked up a football and asked me, "How about we play some catch?"

His smile was enough to make me forget about that little rejection from before.

I shook my head and laughed, "Sure."

We headed to my small backyard, walking towards the grass. As Kai passed the pool he paled, quickly averting his eyes. It looked as if he was going to pass out.

Once we were away from the pool and a good distance away from each other Kai cocked his arm and began to throw the football.

"Hey," Kai started, "can I ask a question?"

"Shoot," I threw the ball back.

"Why'd you say something about this being a once in a lifetime chance to be alone? Do you have a big family or something?"

I caught Kai's next throw.

"Big family?" I scoffed, "Are you kidding? I have four siblings."

"Four??" Kai looked repulsed by the number as he caught my toss.

"Yeah, I've got two brothers and two sisters. And I only have my own room because I'm the oldest."

"Well shit. How the fuck do your parents take care of that many kids? Sounds hellish," He threw the football back, nearly hitting my face.

"It's just my mom, my dad's who knows where," I threw the ball back with a grunt.

"I've got a decent job so I pick up a lot of the bills and take care of my siblings whenever my mom can't. I mean, My brothers are twins, they are actually freshmen at our school. And one of my sisters is in 7th grade and the other is in 2nd."

"Damn that's some age gap, 17 to what? Seven?" Kai sounded surprised.

"Let's just say my house is chaotic. This is the first time everyone's been gone in months."

"I can't imagine sharing a house with five other people at all times. I've literally lived by myself for three years."

"Hah. That would be the dream," I chuckled.

"What do you even do for work?" Kai asked.

"I'm a boxing instructor at a gym downtown."

"Oh for real? That's hella cool. What ages? Like, little kids or adults?"

"All ages, we have different classes for different levels."

Kai suddenly stopped halfway through his motion in throwing the ball and lowered his arm, "I seriously can't imagine you with kids. You look so scary," He smiled giving me a questionable look, scanning my body from head to toe.

"Dude, I practically raised my siblings since my mom's always at work. If I wasn't good with kids then my brother's and sisters would probably be dead," I joked.

"Can't argue with that," He laughed. His laugh was so beautiful.

He was so beautiful.

I'm whipped. I know.

Yes. This boy right in front of me was my sexual awakening, and he knows it too. What he doesn't know is that I've had feelings for him ever since that one fight. (I know you know exactly what I'm talking about).

Honestly, it was really hard at first, I didn't want to be gay and I couldn't come to terms with all the weird things I was feeling. It made me more aggressive and lash out at him even more during our fights, but he always responded with the same level of violence. It took me about a year before I could even admit to myself that I was into guys.

I still haven't told my family yet either. It's not because I think they're homophobic, or at least I don't think any of them are. I just never saw any reason to tell them.

I was stuck in this unrequited love with Kai who I was completely sure was straight and hated me. As long as I was into him, I knew there was no way I'd be able to be in a relationship with anyone else, so there was no reason for me to come out.

Also, someone has to say it, emotional cheating is just as bad as physical cheating.

Sure I've slept with a couple of guys here and there, but that was as far as my intentions went. Just sex. I couldn't be in a relationship with anyone when I knew I liked someone else.

But Kai, he's just, I can't even put into words how he makes me feel.

And here we are now, Kai isn't straight.

He's gay too.

We don't fight anymore.

We talk casually.

He had sex with me.

We are literally playing catch in my backyard right now.

I have hope.

----

We had been playing catch and just talking about life for a while and I was starting to get a little bored.

I caught Kai's throw one last time, "You wanna do something else now? It's getting kinda hot."

We were both sweating like crazy, it was an abnormally hot day for this time of the year. If anything it should be raining right now, not scorching hot.

That's what we get for living in California.

"Sure, let's go inside its so fucking hot out here," Kai said, pulling on his tight maroon shirt as it clung to his body.

Damn.

I'd love to see him without his shirt on again.

He was walking in front of me as we headed towards the door. I was looking at his toned back. Sweat dripping down from his short, black hair down onto his neck.

I want to see more.

Without a second thought, I ran up behind him and shoved him into the pool.

With an unmanly yelp, he created a big splash in the water.

That noise though. I was laughing my ass off. Never in my life did I think I would hear such a high pitch sound come out of a 6'3 man that fights for a living.

I looked back toward the pool expecting to see an angry-looking Kai, but instead, I was met with a disturbing sight.

It looked like he was drowning. His face kept going underwater, his arms struggling in and out of the water trying to raise himself to the surface.

"Shit!" I yelled as I dropped the football and jumped into the pool.

I swam toward the middle where I could barely see Kai's head and quickly grabbed his waist, pulling his upper body out of the water. He gasped for air as I dragged him to the side of the pool. He was coughing uncontrollably.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I muttered as I struggled to hold him up.

Once we got the side I pulled him out of the pool. I sat down with Kai between my legs. He was dry heaving and tears were streaming down his face as he clung onto my shirt, curled in a small ball.

I feel so guilty. I just assumed he knew how to swim. We live in the Bay Area and almost everyone knows how to swim, it's even required in PE.

"K-Kai," I stuttered, "I-I'm so sorry. I didn't know you couldn't swim."

He was no longer coughing and his crying had mostly subsided, now all that was left was the tears streaming down his face.

We sat there quietly for what felt like hours. My arms were wrapped around the large boy and his face was buried in my chest.

He slowly moved out of my embrace and looked up to meet my eyes and what I saw was not the eyes of a boy who simply doesn't know how to swim.

They were the eyes of a boy who looked utterly defeated and broken.

I didn't say anything. There was nothing left to say.

I slowly stood up, still completely soaked. I reached out my hand and took Kai's in mine, lifting him up as well.

I held his hand, I couldn't bear to let go.

I guided him back to my room and had him sit on my bed. Kai was looking at the floor with an empty look in his eyes.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to grab you a towel," I said in the softest voice I could muster.

He didn't say anything.

I quickly grabbed a towel out of the closet in my bathroom and rushed back to my bed.

I slowly sat down next to Kai and draped the towel around his head and began to dry his hair.

I wanted to ask. But I wouldn't. The look on his face tells me this is so much more than inhaling too much water.

I left the towel on top of his head and grabbed a white shirt, black shorts, and some boxers from my closet for him to change into.

I handed them to him and I heard a raspy, "Thanks," come out of his mouth. The clothes laid in his hands but he didn't move to change.

I turned away to give him some privacy, changing my clothes in the process. I had changed my pants, now pulling my wet tank top over my head. My bare back was facing Kai as he began to speak.

His voice was barely audible and was extremely hoarse, "Sorry that you have to see me like this. It must be uncomfortable for you to have to deal with me crying and everything."

I turned around, still shirtless, "No, you're not bothersome. It's my fault I pushed you in the pool. It was stupid, I shouldn't have done that."

Kai wouldn't even lift his face to look at me.

Shit, how bad did I just fuck up?

"I-It's just that, um, I, I don't like water."

I moved to sit down next to Kai, my dry shirt crumpled in my hands, forgotten.

He moved the towel off of his head so that it was wrapped around his body like a blanket.

"I know you've seen all the scars on my body," he paused.

"Yeah," I whispered.

"I'm honestly really thankful you didn't ask about them. It's not exactly easy to talk about."

"I knew that if you wanted me to know you would tell me eventually," My voice was also raspy. This situation unsettled me, especially knowing that it's related to the shit he went through when he was younger.

"Um, I'm sure you can guess about some of the stuff that happened, like how I have all of these things on my body..."

Kai explained everything. He told me everything about his sick father and the things he did to him.

But I still don't see how this is related to what happened in the pool.

"The thing is," Kai began after being silent for several minutes.

With a trembling voice, Kai continued, "I actually had an older brother."

"Since the reason my mom died was because of me, because the only reason we were out was because we were celebrating my birthday, my dad only did that stuff to me."

"But my brother Ace, he tried his best to stop him," Kai burst out crying.

His voice was shaking and he could barely talk, "He always helped me, he did everything he could. B-but one time my dad was trying to drown me in the bathtub," Kai was sobbing.

"A-and Ace was trying to get him to stop. H-he was trying..." Kai stopped and put his face in his hands.

When he finally moved his hands away he told me what happened, and nothing could have prepared me for the trauma this boy has had to endure.

"My dad, h-he k-killed him. He killed him. He slammed his head into the counter and killed him. A-Ace was only 11 and my dad killed him."

Oh my god...

I knew that bad things had happened, but this... Not only did Kai's dad try to kill him, but he killed his brother...

Kai quietly whispered, "He buried him in the backyard."

My breath got caught in my throat.

Kai had stopped crying, but tears were still falling.

He was staring at nothing. He looked like an empty shell, so deeply scarred both physically and emotionally.

His dad... he murdered Kai's brother. And if it wasn't Kai's brother it would have been Kai.

No, that's not right. He tried to kill Kai too. He tried to kill him several times.

Disgusting.

I'll just leave this here in case anyone was wondering, Kai's father is a disgusting piece of shit and there was of abuse, but none of it was sexual.

I do not and will not write anything regarding or related to sexual abuse, sexual assault, or rape as it is such a disgusting and disturbing topic that I cannot even bring myself to read about it let alone write it into one of my stories.

So do what you will with that information, I just wanted to put that out there.

Haha anywayyyyy, I hope everyone liked this chapter, it gives more background for both the characters and is the beginning of them opening up to each other and becoming much closer!