Ren yowled, yanking himself away, but not before the coppery tang of blood flooded Micah’s mouth. Micah spit it out onto the floor in disgust, but he couldn’t deny the satisfaction that filled him when Ren bared his teeth at him in response and blood leaked between the cracks.

“What the fuck?” he demanded.

At the same time, Ren exploded, “You manipulative whore!”

Micah blinked in shock, knowing he shouldn’t have been surprised, but still taken off guard by the pure venom in Ren’s voice. “You kissed me.”

“You made me,” Ren hissed back, eyes wild. “Looking at me like that. Talking like that. Acting like a wanton slut even with the gaze of God himself bearing down upon you.”

More victim blaming then. Lovely.

Micah forced himself to remain calm. “I’m sorry,” he said evenly. “I wasn’t trying to- to seduce you. I just wanted to let you know that you’re not alone. We’re the same, you and I, and it’s okay.”

“We’re not the same,” Ren snarled at him, face red. “I recognize these… these sick urges for what they are: the workings of the Antichrist. You bask in your sins, flaunt them, encouraging others to eat from the same poisoned fruit.”

Ren was right; they weren’t the same. Because Micah was a rational human being, and Ren was an unhinged zealot with the biggest case of internalized homophobia Micah had ever seen.

“God made me in his image,” Micah argued reasonably, figuring he might as well try the religious route since that seemed to be the only language Ren spoke, “and He doesn’t make mistakes. Isn’t that what the church teaches? By that logic, it is okay to be gay – it’s natural even.”

Micah knew he was walking on thin ice, even before Ren began curling and uncurling his fingers at his sides and his already colored face took on a purple tinge. Still, he wasn’t prepared for the sudden backhand to the face, the force of the blow causing the chair to topple sideways.

He landed on his bad shoulder, and a strange, aborted sound escaped his mouth as his breath caught in his throat, choking on the sudden onslaught of pain.

In addition to the agony radiating from his shoulder, Micah’s cheek stung fiercely, and there was a slight ringing in his ears.

“How dare you twist God’s words to validate your depraved lifestyle?” Ren spat, his voice cutting through the resonance. “‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.’ That’s what God has to say about homosexuals.”