Challenge (MxM) (COMPLETED)

Chapter Fifteen- Elian

Note: Read chapters 17-19 of Mercy before this

Chapter Fifteen-

Dax

Waking up next to Noel fills my heart with so much joy that it's hard to understand. I know I love him, but it almost feels like more than that.

I smile at the way he looks. His dark brown hair contrasts with his lighter skin, and he always looks so peaceful when he's sleeping. There's no sassy attitude or cute smirk. He looks innocent this way.

I move slowly so that I don't wake him and stand up, putting on a pair of sweatpants before making my way downstairs.

"Morning, sleepyhead."

I jump slightly at the sound of the voice and turn to look at him sitting at the dining room table with a little smile.

"What the f**k are you doing here? How did you get in? How do you know where I live?" I glare and try to keep my voice down, glancing towards the steps. The last thing I want is for Noel to wake up.

"Can't I come visit my fiancé without being interrogated?"

"Ex fiancé." I remind him, rolling my eyes as I walk towards the kitchen. Maybe he'll leave if I ignore him.

"I still have the ring." He answers while I make my way around the kitchen to get ingredients to make breakfast for Noel.

"Just because you still have the ring doesn't mean I still want to marry you."

"Sure, so what are you making?" He asks, walking closer to put his small hands on my bare back.

I turn around and grab his wrists tightly, glaring down at him. He's pretty. That much is obvious. He has caramel brown hair and dark blue eyes. He has cute little freckles on his cheeks and he has a habit of painting his fingernails when he's bored, but it's as though all of the things that I once thought were so adorable now only make me sad.

I don't want to look at him anymore.

"Don't touch me."

"Why? I miss you and I really want for us to be close again."

"No. How did you get in here anyway? Fabian wouldn't have let you in."

"Fabian doesn't come until 7:30. My boyfriend disabled your alarms, so I just walked right in. Easy peasy." He hums, leaning closer to me.

I tighten my grip more, and back away from him before letting go. "I don't want you here."

"I still care about you, Dax. Can't you just give it a shot?"

"You don't care about me. If you cared about me then you wouldn't have cheated on me multiple times. You would've respected me enough to not hurt me. You don't f*****g care, so stop pretending that you're not the heartless b***h I know."

"Wow, name calling? That's mature." He grumbles, backing up to hop on the counter. He leans back and spreads his legs a bit. I keep eye contact with him, refusing to look at his body. "You want me. I bet you still think about me all the time, right? I'm yours."

"I don't want you, and even if I did, you have a boyfriend, don't you?"

Elian jumps off and comes closer to wrap his arms around my neck and press himself against me. "You and I both know that never stopped me before."

"Dax? Who's that?" I turn my head to look at Noel.

I almost rush to explain myself, but I stop when I see his expression. He's wearing loose sweatpants, but his arms are crossed over his chest and his eyes are full of anger. It's not directed at me, but at Elian.

"His fiancé." Elian answers before turning back to me. He steps back and rolls his eyes. "That's why you won't sleep with me? Look I'm sure he's great and all, but I'm probably better."

"You're too boring for him. He's not your fiancé either. I'm not stupid. You're that guy that cheated on him for no reason. It's pretty pathetic to come back and grovel for him. Maybe you should get lost before I kick your ass."

"Relax, baby. He's leaving."

"Says who?" Elian snaps at me before glaring at Noel. They're about the same height, but Noel is more muscular. I'm sure it's because he's more athletic than Elian, but I'm not sure it matters.

"I had Dax way before you and I made him feel amazing. Honestly, Master never had a problem with how I am in bed."

Before I can react to his words, Noel has already walked closer and punched Elian hard enough to make him stumble back and fall on his butt. My eyes widen as Elian reaches up to cup his cheek.

"He is not your Master, and don't you f*****g forget it. You had your chance and your threw it away like an idiot." Noel snaps back at him, clenching and unclenching his hand which I'm sure is hurting now.

Elian takes a moment to process what happened, but once he does, he glares and lunges at Noel, punching him back. The two of them fall on the floor and go back and forth landing hits.

If I pull Elian away, Noel will just follow and hit him again. The same would happen if I try to pull Noel away. The best idea would be to put myself between the two of them, but... I don't want to get hit.

I snap out of my thoughts when Elian hits Noel hard enough to bust his lip and make him start bleeding. I move quickly, pushing them both away from each other to stand between them, but Noel isn't one to back down.

Rather than staying away, he keeps trying to pass me and get to Elian. I even pick him up, but he's still struggling.

"Noel, Enough!"

He stops when I yell and him and calms down while Elian just stares at him with a smug look on his face. He hums and reaches up to wipe the blood dripping from his nose.

"That kinda hurt. You know, it's not my fault that he loved me more than he'll ever love you. Maybe you should just leave now."

Noel moves to go for him again, but I wrap my arms around him to hold him in place. "Get the f**k off me, Dax."

"You need to calm down."

"Oh f**k you! I can't believe you let him inside anyway. Now you're taking his side too? You're so annoying sometimes. Just let go."

"I didn't let him in. Just ignore what he says. It's not worth you getting in trouble over." I put my hands on his cheeks to make him look at me. "You're the only one for me, okay?"

Noel glances at Elian one more time before leaning up to kiss my lips. The kiss is deep, but quick. He looks at Elian again and sighs. "Just get him out. I'm hotter than him anyway."

"Keep telling yourself that." Elian comments, and I glare at him.

"Get out of my house. Don't come back here either. I don't want to see you again."

"Whatever. You aren't even worth it." Elian tells me before starting making his way out. When the door closes, I sigh deeply. The feelings I was holding on to are gone. It actually makes me feel foolish for liking him to begin with.

"He was kinda hot. You think I look better though, right Master?" Noel asks, making me laugh softly.

"You're the only one I find attractive anymore, Baby." I assure him, wrapping my arms around him.

I pull away to look over his body. There's a bruise forming on his cheek and his lip is split on the left side of his face, but aside from that it's fine. From the looks of it, Elian didn't hit him very hard so it shouldn't swell.

"Let me tend to your wounds and then we need to get dressed to go to the club."

He lets me start to lead him to the bathroom as he responds. "It's still morning. Why are we going to the club?"

"Two subs and a dom in a poly relationship are wanting to join. I told them I'd conduct an interview."

"Could I stay in the room with you guys?"

"If they're okay with it then yes."

When we get to the bathroom, I grab his hips and lift him to place him on the counter. I get peroxide from the cabinet and get some on a cotton ball before starting to dab at the cut. He doesn't get bothered by it at all, making me a bit curious.

"You were quick to hit him."

"I told you I would. I said it a bunch of times actually. He f*****g deserved it."

"Do you fight much?"

"I used to in school. Will was in high school at the same time as me, so I'd fight people if they picked on him. They usually assumed that he likes boys just because I do, and they picked on him for it. I felt bad because he's not gay. At least I don't think he is. He lost his virginity to a girl and has dated a lot of girls, and it's not like he has to hide it from us." Noel shrugs and smiles a bit.

"Maybe it's because he hasn't f****d a guy. I thought I was straight for a while, but I slept with a dude and it all changed. Will is really cool when you get to know him though. He hit a growth spurt and now nobody messes with him anymore. He's quite popular actually."

He seems so happy when he talks about his family. I tend to get a bit envious, but I'm glad that he wants them to know me. He invites me over for dinners and tells me to come with him when he takes the little ones to do fun things. "Tell me more about them."

"Well that was Will. Then we have Frankie. He's a dweeb really. It's not surprising that he gets teased and beat up all the time. It's hard to feel bad for him though because he has a crush on the guy that beats him up. Sawyer feels closer to him because they're so much alike."

Noel smiles and starts talking again. "Don't tell them, but Carson is probably my favorite. She's precious. She's surprisingly smart for a four year old and she's so calm for a kid. She crawls into bed with me when she can't get to sleep, so I usually wake up with her snuggled up to my chest."

I put everything back once the cut is cleaned and stops bleeding. I'm pretty good at treating small cuts especially since I am a dom that likes knife play.

"She seems protective even for a kid. She almost didn't let me take you that time I picked you up from your house."

Noel's phone starts ringing from the bedroom and he kisses my cheek before walking away. I'm glad he wasn't mad at me for Elian being here.

Honestly, I didn't expect him to ever show up again. He obviously wanted nothing to do with me before, and now he suddenly wants me back? It makes no sense. He left though, so I should focus on Noel.

I walk into the bedroom just as he hangs up the phone and starts getting dressed. He turns to me while buttoning his jeans. "Get dressed. I have to take medicine to Julian. He forgot to take it this morning."

"He's sick?"

"No. He's on the autism spectrum. He takes medicine that helps him with anxiety and irritability."

My eyes widen as I walk to the closet to start getting dressed. "Really? When we met he seemed so normal."

"He is normal." Noel answers, turning to me with an amused look.

"I didn't mean it like that. I just mean that he doesn't-"

"I should stop you before you make a fool of yourself." He tells me, laughing a little bit.

"You don't even know what I was going to say."

"Probably the same thing everyone says when they hear that a person is autistic. 'Well he doesn't look autistic or act autistic'. Autism is different in everyone and Julian just controls his symptoms better than some people. He's still just a normal kid. He's just a different kind of normal."

I listen and nod when he finishes. I feel a bit dumb when I talk to Noel about things that he's more exprerienced with. I guess it's because my purpose as a dom is to guide him, and it's hard to guide someone who knows more than you. Then I have to remember that I'm not just his dom. I'm his boyfriend, and of course he's going to want to teach me what he knows as well.

"I didn't mean to be offensive. Sorry about that." I tell him once I'm dressed.

Noel walks over to me and wraps his arms around my neck. He pulls me down to kiss me deeply before letting go. "Nobody is going to get mad at you just because you don't know much about it. If you're curious just ask."

I smile and let him lead me out of the apartment, smacking his ass when he flips off Fabian.

We eventually get to the car and I toss him the keys, knowing how much he likes driving it. "So I can ask you whatever I want without you thinking that I'm dumb?"

"Yep."

"Is he dumber than the other kids his age? I don't mean it in a bad way, but that's what most people assume about autistic people."

"He's not. Quite the opposite actually. The kid is crazy smart academically. I can't say the same for his emotional intelligence. He's s**t at picking up on emotions and even worse at knowing when things are appropriate."

"When I came over the first time, he told me I should just leave because you sleep with a new person every month." I admit, laughing a bit. I guess I can see it now that I think about it. He has no filter and doesn't seem to care if what he says seems rude or offensive.

"Yeah. Like that. Anyway, he's really smart. He gets straight A's and his teachers have tried to move him up a few grades, but Sawyer is scared of how he'll be treated if he goes to a class with older kids. Julian is really special though. He started talking in full sentences when he was only like 16 months old. He can solve any puzzle you give him, and he's so hyper focused on little details that he could draw something that's identical to a picture after only seeing it for 2 minutes."

I get more and more impressed as Noel talks about him. By the time he finishes, we're at their house already.

"I just have to run inside real quick. Stay here."

I roll my eyes, but don't move an inch as he runs inside and comes back a moment later with a little bag of pills.

He climbs back into the car and starts driving again.

"How did you guys find out that he's autistic?"

Noel bits his lip and sighs softly. "When he was 4 and Lottie was 2 she took one of his toys and when he tried to take it back she screamed really loud. He hit her a few times before Sawyer got him off of her. They were both fine and everything, but it was a bit scary because he'd never been that mad before. Sawyer took him to a doctor to see if he had anger issues or something like that and they diagnosed him. The reason he flipped out is because he has sensory overload in his ears. If he hears something sudden or loud it can make him react badly whether it's a panic attack or hitting people."

"How does he do at school? I mean if he's sensitive to noises, I'm sure he has trouble at school." I mention. I remember school being ridiculously loud.

"He has headphones that he wears all the time. They're never plugged in but it helps block out most noise. He doesn't usually wear them at home though." Noel answers. From what he's told me about his family, Sawyer does the brunt of the work with the kids, but he and Candace do a lot as well. I'm quite impressed with him actually especially now that I know how much he hates kids that aren't his siblings.

When we get to the school, we both climb out of the car and walk inside to the front desk. "What are you here for, sir?"

"My brother forgot to take his meds." Noel tells the man, making him hum and type a few things into the computer.

"And what's his name."

"Julian Grayson. I'm Noel Grayson if that matters."

"Right, he's right through those doors. They took him out of class already."

Noel nods and has me follow him through the doors and into a little sitting area Julian is in one of the chairs with his knees brought up to his chest and his hands over his ears. He isn't wearing the headphones that Noel said he usual has on.

Noel looks at him curiously before walking close and crouching in front of him. He reaches out, but Julian jerks away before Noel can touch him.

"What's wrong bud."

"He took my headphones." Julian mumbles, staring at the ground rather than looking at either of us. Noel huffs and hands the bag to Julian, making sure not to touch him.

"Find some water and take those. I'll go b***h at him for you." Noel sighs and walks back out to where the man is. I can hear them talking from in here, but rather than following Noel, I get a disposable cup and get some water out of the dispenser in the corner of the room.

I crouch down by Julian and hold the cup out to him. "Are you alright?"

Julian takes the cup and drinks some of the water before swallowing down his pills. He finishes the water and hands it back to me without a word.

After a few more moments of awkward silence, I head towards the door and move to leave. I hear a soft 'thanks' come from him, but I don't bother to make a big deal out of it. I don't want to make him uncomfortable.

"No problem." I answer before leaving to stand by Noel.

"I don't know what the f**k you aren't understanding. He needs them, and you have no right to take his s**t anyway!" Noel shouts at him.

"Sir, The policy states that students aren't allowed to have any electronics-"

"The headphones aren't plugged into anything. God, you are such a b***h. Why am I stuck here talking to you anyway? Find me someone with more authority to talk to. Worst case scenario I'm taking Julian and the f*****g headphones home and you can go back to being a waste of space."

"You won't be allowed to take the student home unless you're a parent or legal guardian."

"I don't care. Look, I'm trying to level with you. He gets sensory overload in his ears and if there's a noise that is too loud or startling to him, and he reacts violently, it's not going to be his fault. As per the schools rules, children with disabilities are allowed to have tools that help them with school. Considering Julian needs his headphones to function properly, I'd suggest you give them back before I call the school board and inform them that my brother is being mistreated by some cocky, almighty secretary that's so delusional that he really believes that he has the authority to confiscate necessary items from students who need them."

The man glares at Noel for a moment, but eventually caves and reaches under the desk to pull out a pair of old headphones. Once he gives them to Noel, Noel leans in closer with a smug grin.

"You're pretty sexy for someone who's such a dick."

The man looks over Noel for a moment before shrugging with a little smirk. "I could say the same to you."

I glare and grab Noel's chin, turning him towards me to peck his lips. "Stop flirting."

"Yes, Sir."

I take his hand and pull him back to the room where Julian is. Noel walks over to him and holds out the headphones which Julian takes instantly. He puts them in his ears and starts to fiddle with the end of it before looking up at Noel. "Music?"

Noel smiles and takes the end of the Headphone to plug it into his phone. He puts on a song that instantly seems to brighten up Julians mood. I notice his hands shaking and body twitching and jolting a little bit because of the sound.

He seems happy about it though. I wonder what he hears in music that is normal for me. My ears hear things normally and his are hypersensitive to sounds. I wonder what little things make his hands shake like that.

After a few minutes, Noel unplugs his phone and stands up. "See you later, kiddo. If they try to take your headphones again just talk to them and explain that you need them."

Julian ignores Noel and stands up, grabbing his backpack before walking past both of us to go back to class.

"Yeah he's not going to do a single thing I told him to." Noel laughs, grabbing my hand while I lead us out to the car.

"We still have an interview to conduct, so let's be quick." I inform him, climbing into the driver's seat before heading towards the club. Three new members should be interesting.