#your side

You're out dancing. Briefly left alone on the dance floor while your partner heads to the restroom, you shrug and keep on dancing. The music thrums in your chest and the bodies around you are a mess of color and noise as you move with them. You might have drank just a hair too much, but it's all right. Your boyfriend is here.

A hand slides around your waist and on instinct you lean back into it. "Babyyy..."

Stubble scratches your cheek and you freeze in place. Someone's unwelcome breath hits your ear as the person behind you laughs. "Who left you all alone, hm?" His voice is low and gravely and far too interested in you.

You try to shrug him off you but his hold remains firm, another arm coming to snake around you from the other side. You're now flush against him, and a pit of disgust forms in your stomach as you realize he's trying to sway with you to the loud music.

He shifts back with you and you stumble a little. "F-fuck off, let go!" You can barely manage that out through the panic beginning to restrict your throat.

He nuzzles your hair and kisses the crown of your head. "You know you don't want that."

He's pulling you somewhere, you realize. No, no, no, no!

Your vision goes fuzzy as you feel the first pinpricks of a panic attack. His hands shift on your body and a bubble of vomit threatens to emerge at the sensation. Wrong hands. Wrong hands.

Vaguely, you hear shouting a few feet away -- but you can't quite make it out through the loud music and your blood pumping in your ears. You realize he's pulled you just a few meters away from a back exit and in a panic you find the willpower to bend and bite at his hand.

"Fuck!" He shouts and rips his hand from your mouth, nearly slamming it against your throat and bringing his lips to your ear with a snarl. "Try that one more time and-"

Your bodies are ripped apart with a loud, sickly thud as something crashes into the man's face. You fall to the floor and someone leaps over you to dive on top of the large man. He starts pummeling the man with his fists, shouting something over and over that you can't quite make out.

A girl crouches next to you as a crowd forms. "You okay, sweetie?"

You shake your head, tears forming as the sound of fists meeting flesh seems to get louder and louder. Someone cuts the music and you hear security get called.

Only then can you hear what the person is saying, and realize who it is.

"Xyx!!!"

You leap to your feet to try pull him off the man, who by now is rather black and blue and trying to block Xyx's fevered punches.

"Piece of fucking shit, you fucking low life degenerate waste of air, touching my fucking partner--"

"Stop! Stop!"

You grab his arm and he whirls, ready to scream at whoever is trying to hold him back. You start -- there's blood red fury in his eyes and his expression is twisted up in an anger you haven't seen before.

At the sight of you, though, his face falls and he stands and yanks you away from the man. He hugs you close to his chest and murmurs absently. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Noise gets louder across the room as security approaches and the girl who helped you touches Xyx's arm and points to a side door. "Go. Don't worry about it."

Xyx lets go of you as if it pains him to do it before gripping your hand and rushing out the door. The moment it's shut behind him he yanks you back into that all-encompassing hug and buries his face in your hair.

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

Is he... crying? Your heart falls and you hug him close. You can't help a cry of your own escaping your lips, and the sound is glass in his ears. -------