Serendipity

TJ had been staying with Steve and Bucky for half a week so far, and the withdrawal symptoms had died down for the most part thanks to some crazy medicine Steve’s friend Bruce had thought up.

TJ had just woke up from a nap when Bucky knocked gently on the door with Steve behind him. “Come in” TJ said softly, his morning voice being extremely sweet, Steve trying his best not to ‘aw’.

Bucky slowly opened the door, his heart beating rapidly. Him and Steve walked in slowly, taking seats on the edge of TJ’s bed. They had been talking and decided to try and just get a little information on TJ’s past. They wanted to know how to help him, and they sure as hell weren’t going to pawn him off to some facility.

“Hey Teej” Bucky said softly resting a hand on TJ’s thigh, making the younger male blush as he yawned. TJ squirmed slightly and scooted up to Bucky’s side, wanting to steal his warmth.

“Hiya guys” TJ said smally, pulling with the sleeves of the absolutely huge shirt he stole from Steve’s room. Steve had noticed when it was stolen a few days ago and was unable to hide his excitement for the rest of the day. Bucky gave him hell about it for days.

“Can we talk Teej? You… you don’t have to tell us whatever you don’t feel comfortable saying, but it’d help us help you if you gave us a little insight into what you’ve went through buddy” Bucky said softly, squeezing his thigh. Steve nodded chewing on his lips, he felt like he was overstepping boundaries once again.

TJ looked up from where he was playing with the excess of his sleeve and nodded slowly with a sigh. He had seen this coming, he knew he should let them know and give them a brief overview. He just didn't think it’d come this soon.

“Yeah… I guess I could tell you guys… just… please don’t hate me” TJ said scared. He took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. “Well… I guess it started they day I came out” he started shakily.

[May 21st 2007]

TJ starred in the mirror blankly, his hands shaking as he tried to fix his tie for the hundredth time. Elaine came in fixing her earrings and patting down her pant suit to rid herself of any invisible dust. She gave her son a pitiful look and gently turned him around, lifting his head up to look her in the eyes.

“Remember why you’re doing this Tommy, this’ll help your father when this year’s election. No president has ever had an out of the closet gay son. You’re doing this to help your family” Elaine said, knowing her son would run and hide from reality in the blink of an eye.

TJ had came out to his family about a month ago, at first Bud was shocked and scared what the press what think if this got out. Then Elaine had talked to Bud later that night, and they both decided that this was sure to win them the election.

So here TJ was, just minutes from being forced to come out. Everyone in the family thought it was the perfect plan, even Doug. His family loved TJ with all of their hearts, but sometimes their morals got buried when politics were involved.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Half an hour later the announcer at the press conference had called TJ up to follow behind the rest of his family. He gulped and put on his playful facade, smiling and waving to the crowd as he ran up on stage. He took his respective place next to his twin and twiddled his fingers behind his back nervously.

“We’ve called this press conference today because our dear son TJ has something he’d like to say” Bud said with a carefree smile, motioning to the smallest Hammond brother. As the crowd clapped and cheered, Doug chuckled and pushed TJ forward so he was directly in front of the microphone where Bud had been standing just minutes before.

The crowd went silent as they anxiously awaited TJ’s words. He stood on his tiptoes, pulling the microphone down so he could speak into it. He let out a shaky breath and cleared his throat as he listened to the camera snaps sounding all around him.

“H-hey everyone” he gulped shakily, unable to keep up his facade any longer. He tapped his fingers on the microphone stand as his eyes darted around the room. “I… I’m Gay” He said quickly, squeezing his eyes shut. Audible gasps were heard all around the room and TJ cringed inwardly as the pace of the camera snaps picked up.

After a few awkward seconds of terribly awkward silence reporters started yelling. Some would yell things like “Burn in hell!” and “You’ve ruined your father’s presidency!” which made TJ tear up and back back to his family, trying to hide behind Doug was fuming. There were few reporters who said stuff like “We’re so proud of you Mr.Hammond!” and “Would you come in for a photoshoot for the front page of our magazine?!” which had made TJ feel the tiniest bit better, but when he heard one reporter threaten to kill him and Doug clamped his hands over TJ’s ears, his soul was crushed. That was the first time he’d actually felt like he wanted to die.

[December 7th 2011]

Since that day back in 2007, TJ had been hate 1,000 times a day. He’d become numb to it, and discarded it since it had never affected the relationships he had with his friends and family who still loved him deeply. That is, until one reporter took it too far.

TJ had been dating a man named Patrick since 2010. Patrick was 23 and an extremely talented musician. He had a band going since 2001 and they’d came up from a garage band to a pretty successful punk band. They’d been dating for a year and a half, and everything had been perfect. Patrick and TJ had bought an apartment together, wrote songs together, were considering getting their own dog, and Patrick was even planning on proposing on Christmas Eve as they made cookies.

They had planned to be together forever, and TJ was the happiest he’d ever been in his entire life. That is, until Patrick had been the victim of a drive by shooting two weeks before Christmas. He had been shot two times in the chest right outside their apartment. A reporter named Jane Ansley quickly wrote an article saying how this was all TJ’s fault, and that TJ might have even hired someone to kill Patrick for his money, saying that the Hammonds had allegedly cut TJ off just a week prior.

TJ was devastated when he found out. He had three panic attacks back to back, and stayed in his bedroom screaming his heart out which scared the rest of his family residing in the house. The shooting was all over the news with TJ’s face stamped on the cover. No memorials of his beloved boyfriend, just slander and accusations of murder towards TJ.

Around this time he’d been dabbling with weed a little bit, he and Patrick would smoke a little to clear their thoughts when they were depressed, but this time not even that could take the pain away. TJ had felt like he’d lost his soulmate.

After days and days of mourning in denial, TJ got ahold of a fifth of whiskey and his mother’s antidepressants, deciding there was only one way to stop the pain forever.

At 19 years old, TJ Hammond had tried to kill himself for the first time.

[April 15th 2013]

Ever since Patrick’s death, TJ hadn’t been the same. At 21 years old TJ was already an alcoholic and a stoner. He’d met a man named Rocco about a week ago who approached him outside a club. Rocco had knew who TJ was and knew he was extremely rich. He slipped TJ a tiny baggie of white powder with a card that had the number of his burner phone on it. TJ had thought it ridiculous that a random stranger had given him a free bag of cocaine, and told himself he’d throw it away right when he got home.

But here TJ was now, a week later, staring at the line of coke on the glass coffee table of his new apartment. He had told himself he wouldn’t ever stoop this low, but it had been Patrick’s birthday last week and he was depressed out of his mind. Ever since his first suicide attempt, his mother had made him check in with her every other hour, only reminding him of his past over and over again. He needed an escape, and this seemed like the best route to get him out of his mind.

Without another thought TJ did coke for the first time, unaware of the struggles ahead.

[December 25th 2016]

TJ had struggled with his drug addiction for a year and half, until he met congressman Sean Reeves. Everything about Sean was taboo, he was running against TJ’s mother, and he was married with children. Everything in TJ’s mind told him to let it go and run before he got hurt, but with just one look and the brush of a shoulder at a gala, Sean had the young man’s heart.

Sean and TJ had dated in secret for two years, and TJ loved every minute of it. Well, until Sean had started hitting TJ. It started off by only happening when TJ would almost expose them in public, used as a scare tactic, but as time went on, TJ would get for no reason at all. He became Sean’s punching bag, his toy for whenever he needed to escape his perfect family.

TJ stayed with him though because he thought that’s what he deserved. After all, he was just a no good, drug addict who killed the love of his life according to all the press.

On Christmas though, TJ had asked the wrong question. He asked Sean if he loved him, resulting in a hard punch to the jaw. “I could never love someone as broken as you. You’re insane” Sean spat, slipping on his shoes and leaving TJ bleeding on the floor. Sean made it clear he was never coming back.

Once TJ was able to pull himself up, he trailed to the kitchen with tears streaming down his face. He grabbed all his remaining Vodka and chugged it, feeling the warmth start to flow through his veins.

He sobbed holding the bottle to his chest as he stumbled towards his garage. Everyone he’d been in a relationship with had left him in horrible ways, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He wouldn’t.

Once he was in the garage, he threw the empty Vodka bottle against the wall and climbed into his car, rolling down his window. Tears streaming down his face, he started his car and rested his head on the steering wheel.

This is the closest he’d ever gotten to actually dying.

[Present Day]

By the end of his story, TJ was a shaking mess. He wasn’t even able to form the words to tell them what got him staying in Brooklyn in the first place. He had started sobbing too much.

Steve and Bucky were also crying as well, but Bucky felt extremely guilty. He wasn’t there to protect TJ from any of that. Why the hell had nobody ever told him when that happened? Sniffling, Bucky pulled TJ to his chest and rubbed his back as his shirt got soaked. Steve wiped his tears away and wrapped both TJ and Bucky in a huge hug, making them all lay down on the bed.

In this moment, both Bucky and Steve vowed to protect TJ with their lives, no matter what.