"And the pictures were in this file?" Misha asked with doubt, finding it difficult to believe that Chris was suddenly willing to let them go. Joni shrugged.

"I haven't checked. I'm... I don't know... it feels uncomfortable."

"Want me to take a look?" Misha asked calmly and Joni gave him a hesitant, perhaps a bit frightened look.

"It's embarrassing."

"The pictures are of you naked, right?" Misha spoke with a calm tone of voice. "Joni, I've seen you naked and it's far from being embarrassing. Of course, I would like these kinds of pictures of you to be private, only for my eyes and no one else." He smiled slightly and touched Joni's cheek.

"Not just naked," Joni murmured. "It's... posing... like you know... showing... things," He was blushing and touching his neck nervously.

"Well, I've seen your... things as well," Misha smiled trying to remain calm. He didn't like the idea of Chris taking such pictures of Joni, but he needed to act natural about it now. Joni glanced at him, smiling briefly before turning and taking a seat on his bed. He drew his knees close to his chest, hugging them and looking back at his boyfriend. Perhaps in some way, it would ease his mind if Misha would see some of them if he wouldn't judge him for them. "Can you promise that you just take a quick glance, to see if they are right? Then delete them. There might be things you really don't want to see and I'd die if you saw them."

Sex pictures? – Misha wondered, feeling himself tensing slightly. It was a troubling idea, he didn't know how he'd react if he saw Chris doing something to... "Nothing will explode on my face?" He tried to joke, chuckling nervously.

"Uh, I should do this. This is too uncomfortable..." Joni groaned, dropping his feet on the floor, about to stand up.

"No, just stay where you are. I'll take a quick look and then delete them," Misha promised, already taking a seat in front of the computer. He took a deep breath and typed in the address. Joni felt his stomach churn. Maybe this was a really bad idea. What if Misha would start despising him? He lay down on the bed, holding a pillow over his chest, not daring to look at Misha.

Misha wrote down the user information and the password, to access the file. There were three different folders named: sweet 18, birthday present, and hotness. Misha gritted his teeth, his heartbeat speeded up and he tried to guess the safest content. Finally, he decided to open the sweet eighteen files; there were twenty-five pictures of Joni, naked and posing over a bed. In the first pictures the youth seemed very much amused, grinning at the camera kneeling over the bed, and hiding his private parts, next pictures the poses changed and though Misha hadn't intended to take a closer look, it was difficult not to. His cheeks grew hot and his pulse speeded up, indeed one could see every bit of Joni... It left him with a disturbing state of arousal and conflicting anger directed at the man behind the camera.

Misha cleared his throat and closed the folder, but the images still kept playing in his head.

"It was right, wasn't it?" Joni's quiet voice asked and Misha turned his face towards him. His boyfriend was lying on his side of the bed looking at him insecurely.

"Yes," Misha answered hoarsely. Sadness overthrew the arousal, he felt sad for Joni and upset. Chris had taken advantage of Joni so early on without Joni realizing it. What else was in those folders, he wondered to himself. What else Joni didn't remember? He didn't want to see what else Chris had photographed and with a heavy sigh, he deleted the whole content of the file.

"Did you delete them?" Joni asked and Misha turned his chair to him.

"Yes, they are gone", he nodded, watching Joni carefully.

"You look at me so strangely, do you despise me now?" Joni asked quietly and slowly sat up.

"Of course not, I admire you; you've come through well after all that. I guess it just really starts to sink in how much wrong he did to you and how long." Misha stood up and approached the brunet who kept his eyes on him. Misha kneeled on the floor in front of him, smiling softly and bringing his hand to his lover's cheek. "I wish I would have opened my eyes sooner, I wish I would have come and talked to you sooner."

"I guess there is no point dwelling in what-ifs, it is what it is," Joni replied and took Misha's hand. "Come here..." He coached, pulling the blond on the bed, to lie on top of him. Misha leaned forward to kiss the brunet's lips slowly and once he broke away from the kiss Joni smiled.

"I feel relieved, so incredibly relieved," Joni sighed, bringing his hand in Misha's hair. "I'm free, finally I'm free, we both are!" He grinned and brought his head up to kiss Misha again. "So this is the time where you can gloat how you and Dad were right and I was wrong, but for this, I'm happy to be wrong," Joni chuckled.

Misha gave a concerned look to his boyfriend, feeling unsettled over the situation. "What's wrong?" Joni asked and frowned. Misha sat up slowly and Joni followed the example.

"What did Adam say exactly? I mean what did Chris say?" Misha asked and Joni tilted his head confused by the worry, he had expected Misha to feel the same relief as he.

"That he understands now, that he needs to let me go and that he wouldn't want me to worry. He gave that file to show he's being sincere. I thought you'd be happy?"

"Of course I am... If it's true." Misha said quietly, reaching to take Joni's hand.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you think that this is a little bit sudden and strange? Why now?"

"Because," Joni kept a small pause and swallowed. "...because your plan worked, Chris understands now, he won't bother me anymore. He understands. It's over and we can move on." Misha saw how desperately Joni wanted to believe it and he hated to be the one to point out that the danger hadn't vanished yet, not just like that.

"I worry. Perhaps this might just be another game of his, an attempt to gain your trust," Misha shrugged. "He is a sick man, unless he gets real help, real therapy, we shouldn't trust anything he says. It's a bit random that he should decide to give the photographs to you now, he might have other copies as well and..."

"Don't," Joni said, pulling his hand away. He drew his knees close to his chest once more. "Don't do this... I want it over, it has to be over."

"Baby," Misha whispered. "I'm not attempting to make you unhappy; I just want you to be careful."

"You said you arranged the beating so that it would help, then why-?"

"I never said you could start trusting Chris," Misha reasoned. Joni gave him a hurt look and stood up. He paced in the room for a while before sitting down in front of his desk and looking outside. Most leaves had fallen from the trees, it was gray and rainy, such depressing weather.

"What do you expect me to do then?" Joni asked, keeping his gaze outside. "Keep worrying? Constantly looking over my shoulder in fear of what Chris might come up with next?" He turned his gaze back to Misha, his eyes glimmering slightly from the tears he tried to fight against. "I can't live my life like that, none of us can." Misha stood up and approached, he stood next to Joni, lowering his hand on his shoulder and gently rubbing it. The brunet looked up to him. "Can't you see that this worrying won't help us?" He asked. "Let's just... Move on, okay? I can't see any other way." Misha was quiet for a moment.

"I just want you to be careful, never trust that man, promise? And if he ever tries to contact you, you tell me or your dad?"

Joni sighed and nodded slowly. "I promise if you promise to let this subject go now? I don't want to talk about him anymore, it's... exhausting me." Misha nodded and Joni stood up. He wrapped his arms around the blond and kissed his lips. "This is a new start for us, I want to live my life with you," Joni smiled. "And I want to... explore things with you," He grinned, raising his brow suggestively, while his hands traveled down on Misha's back. Another kiss caused Misha to moan.

"You do a good job of distracting me", Misha whispered.

"Good", Joni smiled and again brushed his lips against his boyfriend. "Then let's go to your place. I think I want some undisturbed alone time with you, I need it." The suggestive look on the younger man's face, almost made Misha forget everything else. He swallowed hard.

"You are teasing me," Misha whispered in a hoarse voice.

"Not just teasing... I hope," Joni grinned and Misha could feel himself hardening at the thought of what they could do. "New start, new life. I want to enjoy it," Joni kept whispering, his lips caressing Misha's neck.

"Then... we better get going," Misha said his hand caressing Joni's side. At that moment he too pushed the thoughts of Chris aside. Just as badly as Joni, he too wanted it all to disappear, but he also knew that it couldn't, not this easily.

**^^**^^**

Thank you for reading and especially to those who have voted or commented!

What do you think; can Chris's sincerity be trusted?