Title: Victims (inspired by the Culture Club song of the same title)

Author: J.L. Hastings

Rating: T for some violence and mildly sexual themes.

Warnings: Slash, though it won’t be graphically sexual, and slight violence.

Summary: Adam “Addie” Reynolds was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, the victim of a horrible hate crime against homosexuals. As a result, his boyfriend was killed and he found himself in a coma for three weeks and was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down; while recovering, however, he meets another patient that just might change his life forever. Slash.

Extra commentary and disclaimer: Okay, so I’ve been completely obsessed with Culture Club for the past few days and they inspired a story. Yes, the main character is modeled after Boy George and the plot was derived both from the title of one of my favorite songs by them and the anti-homophobia spiel on my profile, so that being said, I think a disclaimer is in order, don’t you think? This is NOT, I repeat, this is NOT based on real life and any resemblance to real life people or places or events is purely coincidental. Additionally, I don’t own Boy George or Culture Club or any of their songs, and any place where their lyrics or titles for songs appear are not intended as Copyright infringement and is done without their permission as I am not affiliated with them in any way, shape, or form. Well, that about covers it. Enjoy, and please leave a review:-)

Woman, thank you, thank you

God thank you woman

What we have is something special

Something quite unique

What we have should last forever

Heaven at my feet

The music spilled forth from the small night club, known as Solar. The place was frequented by the gay community because of the open-mindedness with which the place was run. A group of college students sat comfortably inside it, a pitcher of some fruity drink sitting in the center of their table. Each of them had a cup, little umbrellas sticking out of them. Among these college students were Adam “Addie” Reynolds and his boyfriend, Leo Hartford. They sat cuddled in the corner of the booth, Leo’s arms firmly placed about Addie’s small waist.

Adam and Leo had been together for going on two years now, and there were talks of a permanent engagement in place. It was quite ironic, actually, given that Addie was not the type of person you’d expect to settle down. He always dressed outrageously, spoke his mind freely, and generally did whatever he wanted. Tonight, he wore a bright yellow trench coat with stars and peace signs made of sequins adorning it, a pair of black parachute pants and silver, high-heeled boots. Under the coat, he had a white shirt with lace at the collar and sleeves and a magenta vest, which matched his hat perfectly. His hair flowed out from underneath the hat, some of it in small braids with brightly colored ribbon and the rest slightly crimped and falling loose about his pale face, which was accentuated by a load of brightly colored make-up that made his electric blue eyes pop; looking at him, it was like traveling back in time to the 80s.

In contrast, Leo was very ordinary looking, with a messy mop of black hair, bright green eyes and a pair of glasses; freckles dotted his face. Addie would always tell him that they made him look absolutely adorable.

I would give the world to you

Or anything you need

There is nothing I won’t do

Just promise that you’ll never leave

God thank you woman

Thank you, thank you

For the joy that you give to me

God thank you woman

For the joy that you give to me

“Okay, okay, so what do you think of the singer of that band, AFI? Hot or not?” chimed in one of their friends, a girl with blonde hair and streaks of purple and blue throughout named Tory. This was a game the group often played when they got together, where they would think of random famous people and see what they all thought of them; everyone of them was either bi or gay, so there were really no rules on gender or anything of that sort and it was a funny experience when one of them didn’t find someone attractive and another did.

“Are you kidding me!? No offence, Leo, but I’d throw him down and--” Addie began, but Leo laughed and held up a hand.

“None taken, love, but I don’t want to hear the details of what you’d do to him as I’ve experienced a lot of them and wouldn’t want to feel less privileged knowing that you’d be doing the same thing to him,” Leo said.

Everyone laughed, and Tony, Tory’s twin brother, piped in a moment later with, “Well, I think the guitarist is hotter!”

Tory gave him an incredulous look. “What!? Don’t get me wrong, the guitarist is cute, but hotter than the singer? No way!”

The argument lasted a little longer, with comments thrown in by each member of the group, but before long, Addie and Leo found themselves quite occupied with exploring each other’s mouths rather than paying attention to an argument they knew Tory would win.

Silence began descending as the argument drew to a close and the two were still kissing, until a snicker and a pointed, “Ahem!” caught their attention. They both jumped and looked at their friends; Tory was smirking slightly, Tony was staring at them in envy, obviously wishing he had someone to kiss like that; and the others, Bela, Tory‘s girlfriend, Jose, a very attractive Hispanic boy, and Surrey, a cross-dresser who Jose fancied, were all fighting to hold in their laughter.

In this world you are my pleasure

No one can compete

Happiness is hard to measure

Woman you’re so sweet

I would give my heart to you

You’re the air I breathe

There is nothing I won’t do

Just promise that you’ll never leave

Leo suddenly glanced at his watch and, judging from his facial expression, it was getting late. “It’s almost midnight! We had better get back to campus if we want to get up in the morning for class,” he said, unlacing his arms from around his lover’s waist. Addie quickly scooted out of the booth and the others followed, heading out of the club.

Halfway to their car, Addie suddenly stopped short. “Oh, shoot! I forgot my book!” he pouted. They had all brought the books they were required to read for their British Lit class in order to study them. They had read what they were supposed to earlier in the evening, talked it over, and then Addie had placed it on the table.

Leo gave a long suffering sigh before laying a gentle hand on Addie’s arm. “You guys go ahead; I’ll go ahead and get Addie’s book.”

Addie hesitated a minute; he hated sending Leo on an errand for him. “You don’t have to, baby. I can get it myself.”

“It’s nothing. I’ll be back before you can say the name of the book.”

God thank you woman

Thank you, thank you

For the joy that you give to me

God thank you woman

Thank you, thank you

For the joy that you give to me

When I’m alone at night

I think of love

Well, baby that’s alright

But it ain’t enough

Leo quickly began trotting towards the club and Addie turned to catch up with the others. But a second later, he smiled brightly and turned back in the direction of the club, taking one step towards it so that Leo could hear him.

“Baby! A Room of One’s Own!”

Leo turned back to face him, trotting backwards, a smirk upon his lips. “That’s cheat--” Suddenly, an explosion tore through the night, and Addie felt like he was flying. It took him a moment to realize he really was flying, but by the time terror began to set in, he felt his back hit something incredibly hard, probably a car, or maybe a tree, and agony swallowed up his consciousness. He could have sworn he had heard something snap, but was at a complete loss as to what it had been; all he knew was that it felt like his entire body was on fire. Darkness began gathering in the corners of his eyes, and screams of terror and pain were heard all around him as he slowly closed his eyes. His last thought was, What about Leo? And then, there was nothing.

Won’t you call me if you need me?

I have loved

I would give the world to you

Or anything you need

Oh God thank you woman

Thank you, thank you

For the joy that you give to me…

A.N.: Okay, so, I promise I’m slowly but surely working on the rewrite and sequel of TFY, but I felt that it was time to toss in another story, since my obsession with BG & CC is all-consuming and wouldn’t let me think of much else. So, please leave a review and tell me what you think! And for the record, the lyrics featured in this chapter are from Boy George and Culture Club's song, God Thank You Woman. The song from whence the title was derived will more than likely be featured in the last chapter. Love you! And I hope you enjoy:-)