"No, Jack, stop!" Simon sobbed; trying desperately to pull his boyfriend off of Roger without getting hit himself. Jack finally seemed to hear him and backed away, his fists still clenched, breathing deeply.

Roger's face was horrific. Both of his eyes were swollen shut and the blood from his broken nose seeped into his open mouth to mingle with the blood from where several teeth had been knocked out.

Simon was terrified to see Jack looking down at the unconscious boy with something that looked like pride.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he screamed.

Jack seemed surprised at Simon's reaction. "He was hitting on you and I had to make him stop."

The current of fear and terror and nameless emotions in Simon's gut swelled into anger. "That doesn't mean beat the shit out of him! Goddammit Jack!"

"Simon!" Jack whined like a petulant child.

Simon drew himself to the awe-inspiring height of five foot four and slapped Jack in the face. "No! You've driven away everyone I love, you threaten me, and you're so overprotective it's horrifying! We are over!"

Jack's disbelief quickly melted into fury and he grabbed Simon's arm. "What the fuck are you saying?! You think that you can just get rid of me? You need me! I feed you and clothe you and drive you everywhere!"

Simon's eyes widened and he tried to shrink away from Jack. Jack pulled him close and stared into his eyes. "So what are you gonna do about it?"

Simon trembled as adrenaline flushed through his body and initiated the "fight or flight" mode. There was no getting away from Jack's iron grip, so flight was out. Fight it was.

Simon drew back a fist and punched Jack in the jaw. Jack gasped and let go of Simon, leaving him free to run away.

"Get back here!" Jack roared.

Simon didn't go back there, he pumped his legs and swung his arms and completely disregarded the burn in his lungs. He didn't stop until he was ten blocks away and completely out of breath. The people on the sidewalk spared him a quick look of either surprise or disdain before moving on with their business. He looked back. Jack was running after him, and angry flush turning his face as red as his hair. Simon let out a cry of fear before pushing open the door to a small shop and stumbling inside. It was an antique shop that Simon would have loved to explore, if he had had the time. The clerk was a tiny old woman. She set down her novel, and looked at Simon with concern.

"Can I help you with something, sweetie?" she asked in a wavery voice.

Simon tried to get the words out around the gasps. "Don't… let him… get… me," he said before dashing behind a display of ceramic cats. He curled his legs up to his chest and tried to slow his entirely-too-loud breathing. He stopped breathing when the door creaked open.

"Where is he?" Jack asked.

"Why, I'm not sure who you're talking about, honey. Could you help an old woman out and give me a description?" the woman replied.

"He's about this tall, black hair, green eyes," Jack snapped.

There was a silence, which Simon assumed was the old woman thinking, or at least pretending to. He desperately tried to quiet the haggard breaths that had started again.

"No, I don't believe I've seen him. I'm very sorry. I've been forgetful lately, but I would remember a boy that sounds as handsome as the one you're looking for."

Simon almost cried with relief. Jack cursed and stomped out of the shop. He started to move out of his hiding place.

"I wouldn't do that quite yet, sweetie. He's still looking in here," the woman said.

Simon froze.

"Okay, he's gone."

He moved slowly out of his hiding place, suddenly realizing that his harsh breathing had turned into sobs.

The woman stared at him with sympathy. "Do you need something?"

Simon wiped his tears away. "Maybe, I don't know."

She nodded and picked up her book again. "Just let me know if you need anything."

Simon pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number that he hadn't in a very long time.

"Hello?"

"Ralph? I need your help."

Author's Note- So, lately I've been noticing a general trend of people accepting and writing about relationships where one of the partners is way too overprotective for the relationship to be healthy. (I recommend watching Laci Green's video about Twilight youtube watch?v=V8gpHK5orJQ ) I thought I would write this one as a general response to those stories.

I'm not trying to pick on Twilight, but it is a good example of these kinds of relationships. Edward is way too overprotective, but Bella (and Stephanie Meyer by default) accepts this and writes it off as "adorable", when in actuality, it's disturbing and not at all how a normal boyfriend should act.

Sorry for being all preachy, I just needed to say that. I've started seeing a lot of fanfiction about these types of relationships, and I couldn't not do (or write) anything about it.