Before the sun comes up

The world cup inspired this ship. Well, the ship was always there but the writing is new!

"Quade" James calls, running to catch up with his friend.

Quade stops but doesn't turn around.

James steps in front of Quade, breathing hard from running.

"Don't listen to them okay!" James pleads, "You know they can be bastards sometimes"

Quade looks away.

“Why is it always me? Why do they hate me so much?"

"Hey" James says gently, "Quade"

Quade looks at him, green eyes shining. James puts his hands on either side of Quade's face and leans closer.

"You're focussing on the wrong things" he says and kisses him.

Quade hesitates and James draws closer, more insistent.

James smiles in to the kiss when Quade kisses back, hands reaching up tentatively to rest on his hips. James loves it. That he is the only one who can make Quade Cooper hesitant. Quade, who is so sure on the footy field, who kicks centimetre perfect kicks, who is one of the most in-control people James knows, only he can make Quade unsure, make him hesitate.

"Are you going to help me forget?" Quade whispers, hands slipping under James's shirt.

"I'm going to help you remember" James kisses him again.

"Remember what?" Quade breathes against his lips.

"That I'm the only one that matters" James grins.

Quade laughs and skims his fingers over James's ribs.

"The only one?"

"The only one" James agrees, arching his neck as Quade nuzzles his neck.

Quade draws back, meeting James's eyes.

"I already knew that"

---

"Get off him!" Quade yells, entering the fray and trying to pull people off.

"James!" he yells, frantic.

There is so much happening around him, everyone joining in the fight. Quade hesitates only for a moment when confronted by a man twice his size. James is in there. Quade has no thoughts about backing down. He charges, sending them both flying. Size has never been a problem before. He takes on men bigger than him on a weekly basis. This is no different.

He doesn't see it coming, the blow to the head. But he feels the pain and the force of the ground rushing at him.

When he opens his eyes, he finds Rocky looking down at him with worried eyes.

"You alright, Quade?'

Quade tries to sit up.

"James?" he asks. Rocky looks over towards the fray.

"Boys are getting him out right now" he says, looking back at Quade.

Quade succeeds in trying to sit up and has to grip Rocky's arm to stop the world spinning around him.

"Fuck! My head!"

"Stay out of this, Quade" Rocky commands, "we've got it"

"But-"

"But nothing! Can't have you getting hurt before the big game" Rocky pulls him to his feet.

"Barnes!" Rocky calls and Berrick appears out of nowhere.

"Sit him down somewhere and keep him out of this" he instructs and Berrick nods, putting an arm around Quade to help him stay upright.

"I can-" Quade starts.

"No, you can't." Rocky glares at him, "stay out of this or you'll have extra training for a year!"

Rocky's expression softens at the look on Quade's face.

"We'll get him out alright, Quade"

Quade finally nods, letting Berrick help him to a corner of the room not in the vortex of the fight.

"He'll be fine" Berrick tells him as Quade cranes his neck with a wince to see what is happening.

"He is a stubborn asshole. I'm gonna kill him, "Quade says, "after he gets out of this alive"

Berrick laughs.

"God! You're as bad as Ash and Drew"

Quade makes a face.

"Don't even, man! No one is as bad as Dradam!"

Berrick laughs again but Quade is distracted by the appearance of James from out of the melee, flanked by Dan Vickerman and Rocky. He looks a bit worse for wear, face already bruising and bloody. But he's grinning and trying to get back in to the fight. Rocky grips him by the arm and points at Quade. James turns his way and the smile disappears from his face, replaced by a frown. When Rocky lets him go, instead of rejoining the fight, James makes his way towards Quade.

"Are you alright?" James asks as he reaches him.

"Am I alright? What the fuck? I'm not the one who just got pulled out of a fight!" Quade yells.

"Quade you're bleeding" James says, reaching out to touch his face.

"What?" he blinks in surprise as James's fingers come away red.

He feels his head with hesitant fingers and flinches when he feels a cut on the side of his head.

"Fuck!"

"Quade…" James moves closer. Quade looks at him, the bruises are already starting to show on the pale skin.

"I can't look any worse than you" he says and James grins.

"Red's always been your colour"

"BOYS" they both turn at Rocky's call, "let's get out of here before shit really hits the fan"

Everyone shuffles out, James keeping a protective arm around Quade and Quade could hit him, if his head would stop hurting and if it actually doesn't feel so nice.

---

James lets go as soon as they enter the lockers, bursting into tears and collapsing on the bench. And Quade's been fighting his own tears and the sight of James crying sends him over the edge.

He sits down next to James and wraps his arms around him. James melts in to him, crying and shaking and hurting and Quade holds on to him and they fall apart together.

---

"How does he do it?"

Adam slows down but doesn't stop as Drew walks up alongside him.

"Who?"

Drew nods at James, who is currently wrapped around Ant, both boys with brilliant smiles lighting up their faces. James has been doing this all day. Going around to all the boys and making sure they were doing alright. Adam has to admit it is amazing that after completely breaking down in the lockers yesterday, James has picked himself up so quickly.

"It's because he's made of sugar and sunlight" Adam says and is rewarded with Drew's laughter.

"Do you think it would have helped if…" Drew says, slowing his pace and Adam turns to face him.

"Don't." he brushes his fingers against Drew's wrist, "Don't do that. It's past now and nothing can change it"

Drew looks at him, a small smile on his lips.

"Since when did you get so wise?"

"One of us has to be the mature one, otherwise we'd be like James and Quade and I'd never be able to live with that!" Adam says jokingly.

"So you're the brains and I'm what? The brawn?"

Adam grins.

"Nah man. You're the beauty"

---

"I'm here" James whispers.

Quade trembles and James leans closer, lips brushing Quade's ear.

"Quade"

He doesn't care right now about the millions of people watching. All he can see right now, all he can focus on, is Quade. Quade who is trembling and on his knees and about to fall apart.

Quade breathes in, a ragged, broken sound.

"James…" he says and James can hear the tears in his voice. And he knows how much Quade hates being exposed like this in public, especially here where they hate him.

"Just hang on for me, Quade. We're gonna make it out of here. Hang on"

The End.

For Nathan and Daniel

Lovely Daniel Mortimer is leaving the eels. It sucks for us all who follow the most cannonest of all canon ships in the league. This is no way as worthy of them as Yellowleaf's fic but this drabble is in the honour of the love Nathan Hindmarsh bears for the beautiful Morts.



"No"

"Nathan-"

"I said no!"

"The board has already made its decision and Daniel has already agreed"

"No-wait what?"

"Daniel has agreed to the contract"

"You talked to him about this? Before you talked to me?"

"It is his contract"

"When did you tell him? How long has he known?"

"Since last week"

"This is not fucking over!"

---

"Why'd you do it?"

"Nathan..."

"Explain it to me because I don't understand. I don't get why you'd...why do you want to leave?"

"Nathan...you know I...I can't be here anymore. You know that"

"But you said...you said you'd stay"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Nathan"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was...scared. I didn't want you to ..."

"What?"

"I didn't want you to hate me"

"Morts! Goddamn it Morts!"

"I'm sorry. Please don't hate me"

"You idiot! You absolute idiot! How can I ever hate you? My Morts, I can never hate you"

"I love you so much. You know that, don't you?"



*sigh* Morts, don't go!!!

When You Crashed In The Clouds/ VII

When you crashed in the clouds/ part VII

"You promised me you wouldn't send him away!"

Billy freezes at the sound of Johnathan's voice. He'd just come down to get a few books he'd forgotten for his last minute packing frenzy.

"I don't make promises to whores" his father's voice is as sharp as a knife and Billy presses against the wall to listen.

What?

"I did everything you asked. I didn't tell him anything...please" Johnathan's pleading voice reaches him and Billy closes his eyes.

Everything he asked?

"Think of it this way. You got yourself a good bargain. You've tasted the cocks of both Slater men so count yourself lucky"

"Do you think I have anything to lose now? All you had over me was him and now he's leaving. I will tell him everything. How will you look your son in the eye then?"

There is silence for a moment and Billy's brain tries to put together what he'd just heard in to something he can understand. He flinches when he suddenly hears something knocking against the book shelves. Billy is not sure when he moved but he finds himself tearing open the library door and storming in to the room. He freezes at the scene confronting him.

Johnathan, clutching his shoulder, is curled against the old bookshelf and his father poised over him, ready to strike again.

"William…"

Any other time, Billy would have loved the look of surprise on his father's face.

"Is it true?" he asks his father, knowing the answer but dreading it anyway.

His father takes a step towards him.

"William, I hardly-"

"It was you" Billy says quietly but his father freezes.

"The bruises on his body. That was you? All that time I wondered. I thought that…" he can't look at Johnathan. He thought that Johnathan had betrayed him. He'd been so wrong.

"William, he's nothing. He's trash" his father's voice is cool and Billy is probably just imagining the tremor behind it.

"Then why did you want him? If he's trash then why did you touch him?" Billy yells. At the corner of his eyes, he sees Johnathan flinch. He's never been the cool one, never known how to hide his emotions. He stopped wanting to be like his father long ago.

"You knew I loved him" Johnathan's head lifts up at his words.

"You knew I loved him and you still did this" Billy sees Johnathan straighten up, eyes fixed on him.

"William-" his father's voice is losing its patience. But Billy will have none of it. He had almost lost Johnathan. He might have still lost him but he knows now and he can fight for him.

Billy remembers all the times he'd seen the marks on Johnathan's body and never said anything. Until he couldn't ignore them anymore.

"You had him beat up"

The sight of Johnathan asleep on the white hospital bed with bandaged ribs and a broken arm had given him nightmares for weeks.

"He did everything you asked and you still hurt him" he takes a step forward and is surprised when his father takes a step back.

"I am your father"

Billy looks at him, the perfect aristocrat.

"You lost me when you touched him for the first time" he looks away from his father's white face to Johnathan. He finally looks at him, the beloved dark eyes and the too-long hair.

"I'm sorry, Jay…" his voice breaks and he takes a deep breath and tries to hold the tears at bay.

"I'm so sorry"

Johnathan smiles and Billy feels like a man seeing the sun after a lifetime of darkness. Johnathan smiles at him and Billy feels his heart set free from the fear that had been weighing it down. He hasn't lost him forever.

Billy reaches out a hand and Johnathan doesn't hesitate when he takes it with his own. Billy holds tight and looks back at his father, whose shock has given away to anger. But Billy will not be swayed by his anger anymore.

"We are going to leave. You will let us go and not interfere. I am done with this life"

---

Billy unlocks the door with his key and pushes, using his shoulder for extra force when the door jams like it always does. He throws his bag on the couch and goes for the fridge. Jay won't be home for at least another hour since he has training for the game on Saturday. Billy grabs a beer and goes to check on their mini-herb garden. It was Jay's turn to water the plants and he better not have forgotten because Billy will totally kill him if he has. He opens the door to the balcony and the plants are still alive so Jay hasn't forgotten.

He sits down one of the chairs on the balcony, making sure it's not the dodgy one with the crook leg, and looks out at the city.

It has been three months since they moved out of Johnathan's family home and in to the apartment.

Six months since Billy walked out of his father's house.

He'd left with almost nothing and had been so lucky that Johnathan's mom let him stay at their house. A month after that his mother's attorney had come to see him, letting him know that he still had her side of his inheritance available to him. His father still hasn't done anything, hasn't even cut him out of the Will. Billy isn't sure what he's thinking but knows it'll be a long time before he could even think about forgiving him. He can't. Not when Billy knows what he did.

He is incredibly thankful that his mother hadn't combined her fortune with his father's. They wouldn't have been able to afford the apartment otherwise. They could have gotten a better place but Jay had been reluctant to let Billy pay for anything extravagant. So here they are. In their own apartment, with their own herb garden, which was Jay's idea by the way, even if Billy looks after it more often, and both of them going through university and Jay his rugby apprenticeship as well.

He loves it. It had been a bit difficult at the start but Jay's mom had been incredible, coming over and teaching them the basics of running a household and making sure neither of them set the house on fire or drowned in the washer.

Billy has to admit that this is not the life he would have seen himself leading if you had asked him a year ago. Don't get him wrong, he doesn't regret anything. Doesn't think about the could- have-beens. This life, the one he has with Jay, is the only one that matters. This life is the one he'd choose every single time.

---

Johnathan's eyes flicker open at his touch and Billy finds himself transfixed by the colour of his eyes. He traces his fingers over Johnathan's face, over the smooth dark skin, the full lips and the dark hair. Then his hands move lower, over the bare chest, brushing over the dark nipples until they come to rest low on his hips. Johnathan's eyes are dark and his breathing has quickened and Billy can't help but lean forward and catch his lips with his own. Johnathan is still for a moment and Billy smiles against his lips when he feels Johnathan's hands come up to curl against his chest. He deepens the kiss, drawing Johnathan closer. His heart is beating so fast in his chest and everything feels so incredibly unreal. It feels like the first time and every single time that had come after and he knows he will never get enough of this. Seeing Johnathan on the verge of being undone, all darkened eyes and beating heart and it is all the things Billy could ever want in one place.

The End.