Warning:

Justin cleaned his hands and went up to his room, when Alex wasn't there he went down to see if he could find him. He checked Alex's room. When he wasn't there he tried the bathroom. As he got close to the bathroom door, which was open, he could see Alex in the mirror. It looked like Alex was using the toilet at first glance, then Justin noticed that there was something strange about the way his face looked. He didn't want to embarrass him by walking in while he was using the loo, but something told him that Alex was doing something else. As he walked in and saw what he was about to do, Justin moved quickly to take the scissors away from him.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Justin asked.

"I...it's just...some of the things I talked to David about earlier, the same things I need to talk to you about, have been going around my head since we left the doctor's, and well they are not nice things. They've been making me feel worse all afternoon."

"You should have come and got me and we could have talked about it." Justin pulled Alex up into his arms and held him. Alex lost it and broke into a flood of tears.

"Come on, we need to talk this over with mom now, she can tell dad about it later. I don't want you to end up in hospital again."

"Ok." Alex felt too drained to argue.

The two boys made their way to the kitchen, Sarah was sat at the breakfast bar drinking a cup of tea and reading a magazine when Justin walked in.

"Mom, we need to talk." Sarah was surprised at the tone of Justin's voice and started to feel a little apprehensive when she noticed that Alex had been crying. She hadn't noticed the pair of scissors in Justin's hand.

"What's wrong? Alex are you ok?"

"No I'm not. I...I..I was just about to cut up again before Justin stopped me."

"I thought you were going to come and talk to me when you felt like doing that?" Sarah felt a little relieved that something serious hadn't happened between the boys.

"I know but I just had some things going around my head and I wasn't really thinking properly."

"He said this is all to do with what he talked to that counsellor about earlier, so I said we should all talk about now rather than wait for dad."

"Are you sure you want to Alex?"

"I think Justin's right, if I don't I am just going to continue to feel like this."

"Why don't you boys go into the living room, I'll make a fresh pot of tea and bring everyone a drink and then when we are comfy you can tell us what has made you so upset."

The boys went into the living room, Justin sat next to Alex and placed his arm around his waist. He wanted Alex to know he was going to be there for him. Alex could feel the tears building again. 'God haven't I cried enough today?' he thought. After a few minutes Sarah came in with tea for the boys and herself. She sat down opposite Alex and waited for him to start.

"Ok, well the easiest way to start I suppose is to say that I am being bullied in school and I can't get it to stop."

"I guessed as much earlier." Justin answered. "So why don't you tell us what's been going on?"

"Ok, well until last week, all the bullying was just name calling, and whilst that isn't nice to have to deal with, I was able to block most of it out. I don't know why they were calling me names like faggot, poof and queer, but it was something I could deal with. I mean I haven't told anyone in school that I am gay so I don't know where the names came from. "

"You shouldn't have to deal with anything like that. Have you gotten any help from the teachers to curb it?" Despite what Sarah had been told about the lack of help from teachers she thought Justin hadn't been serious.

"It's pointless asking for help, once you do it may quieten down for a day or so, but then it comes back twice as bad."

"So what changed last week?" Sarah asked.

"It is kinda horrible to talk about but I think you need to know. There is a gang of boys who are the more vocal of the bullies. On Monday they went from name calling to something a whole lot worse. During the morning break, I went into the toilets. This gang followed me in, I didn't notice because I try not to notice who is around me especially in the toilets. I heard the normal names being thrown at me and ignored them. They grabbed me before I got into one of the cubicles. When they were confident I couldn't get free, they took me into a cubicle and forced my head into the toilet and pulled the flush. For a moment I couldn't breathe and I got soaked. When the flush finished they ran out of the bathroom. I pushed the door of the cubicle shut and fell on the floor crying. I ended up spending most of the next lesson there in the toilet, I finally got up and dried off as best I could. I didn't see the point in telling any of the teachers about it and ended up with a detention for missing that lesson. To make matters worse though the whole school had heard, or at least everyone in my classes knew about the dunking and the names were pretty relentless for the rest of the day."

"Oh my God, I can't believe you kept quiet about all of that. I know it's probably not what you want to hear, or if Justin is right and it won't make a lot of difference, but I am going to the Headmistress on Tuesday."

"There really is no point Sarah, not only will it remind them about that Monday, they will just get a slap on the wrist, if they get any punishment at all. Believe me, the Head won't believe you. She has never believed anything I have told her before. Besides, I only have to spend the next two weeks there before I go out on study leave, then I have my exams and well, who knows what's going to happen after that."

"I just can't believe that the school has that type of policy when it comes to something so serious as bullying or that they have managed to get past inspections with it."

"They play crafty, I know they suspended quite a few of the real troublemakers two years ago just before the inspection team came in. It was amazing how quiet the school was that month." Justin said. "Listen I can't stop the names, but I can watch your back when we're not in class. We are in the same part of the school at breaks anyway and at lunch we can do something together." There was a reason Justin made the offer, but he wasn't sure it was best to tell Alex or his mother.

"You would put yourself out like that for me?"

"It's not putting myself out, I like spending time with you and besides you are family and I intend to look after my little brother."

"I am sorry about how badly that school has treated you Alex, I just wish there was something we could do about it. Hang on, I know a few of the Governors. I think I'll have a word with them about it. Boys, do you think you could find out some of the names of people who are being bullied? If I could get a number of parents together in front of the Governors then they won't be able to ignore us all. I am still going to talk to this Headmistress about bullying in her school though."

"Do you think it's worth stirring up the trouble you are going to cause?" Justin asked.

"I do. I didn't realise until you told me earlier that the school allowed bullies to flourish. We thought it was one of the best in the area. Well, enough of this kind of talk for now. Alex, why don't you and Justin go for a run now, the weather has cleared up quite nicely, it might take your mind off things? Before you go though, can I have a minute with Alex please?"

"Ok mom." Justin was curious about why he was being asked to leave.

When he had gone Sarah started again. "I am going to ask you a few things now and I need you to be completely honest with me."

"Ok." Alex wondered why she asked Justin to leave the room.

"Firstly, I think it is great that you have managed to go a whole week without cutting up. I know how difficult it is to break habits. I also know how easy it is to slip back into those habits. So do you think you still want to harm yourself?"

"I do, but not as much as earlier. I think Justin's offer to spend time with me in school will help keep the bullies at bay. The run should take my mind off it as well."

"Ok, I want you to come and talk to me before you get that close again though."

"I will."

"One last thing. Do you think talking with the counsellor is helping? I know it's only been one proper session but I don't want you coming back from there wanting to harm yourself every time."

"I don't know right now, I think we should give at a go for a bit longer, I did read that with counselling, things get worse before they get better. I suppose it's because you are talking about all the bad things."

"That's true, I just don't want to see you end up in hospital again."

"I know."

"Right then, you scoot off with Justin and I'll see you when you get back."

"Ok."

Alex went upstairs and got changed before going up to Justin's room. He knocked on the door but got no answer. He went in slowly not wanting to interrupt Justin. As he stepped in, Justin was face down on the bed, shoulders shaking and he could hear sobs coming from him. He moved over to the bed, sat down and placed his hand on Justin's back. Justin tried to control the sobs and rolled over to look at Alex with tears streaming down his face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Alex asked wondering what could have made Justin this upset.

"I know who did that to you last Monday, and I could have stopped it."

Alex's head started spinning, what was going on.

"When I got up here I realised that I was outside the toilets that day, when I heard the gang coming saying something about teaching a little faggot a lesson. If I had been a man and told them to cut it out, you wouldn't have gotten flushed."

At hearing Justin's explanation, Alex's heart melted. It was obvious now just how it felt to really care for someone. Alex pulled Justin into a hug and began to whisper into his ear.

"I know this much, if you had stood up to them they would have found another way to get me, or worse they would have turned their efforts on you instead." This brought more tears from Justin.

"But at least if they had tried with me, it wouldn't have been you."

"They were always going to get me one way or another. Now how about you stop the tears and we go for the run like your mom suggested." Alex let Justin go and got up off the bed.

"Ok. Are you sure you don't blame me, I could have saved you."

"I know you care a lot for me already, but last week you didn't know I existed. I can't blame you for not getting involved with a gang of bullies. Now come on, get changed before the dodgy weather comes in again."

Justin wiped his eyes as he got off the bed. He went to get his running gear and started to change. Watching Justin stripping off made Alex think of what they had done in the shower at the beach. He started to feel really horny and he could feel his cock growing in his boxers. He was glad they were tight fitting. Justin looked over to Alex when he was putting his shorts on and noticed the bulge Alex was sprouting; it made him smile.

The smile on Justin's face seemed to light his whole face up and it made Alex think of sunshine. That was when he knew from then on Justin would always be his Sunshine.