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With a groan Chloe regained consciousness. Sitting up, she felt the bump on her head, her hand coming back tinted red when she pulled it forward again. That son of a bitch. She could only remember Max’ warning yell and the feeling of something hard colliding with the back of her head. Looking around, she noticed that she was still laying in the junkyard, the make shift grave still behind her. Her head was killing her.
“Max?” Max was nowhere to be found. Shutting her eyes tightly for a few seconds, Chloe took a deep breath and stood up. Opening them again, she stumbled a few steps. The sun was rising in front of her and a fine drizzle of rain was coating everything in a moist layer. “Shit. Shit shit fuck! Max!” No one answered her call obviously. Max was gone. Probably taken somewhere by the little Prescott bitch. “I will kill you, Nathan. I will fucking kill you.”
Pulling out her phone when she reached her car, she at least tried to call her best friend, but she didn’t have any hope for an answer. The phone went immediately to voice mail. Cursing, she brushed a hand over her face and looked down. Which is when she noticed the oil stain coming out from under her jeep. “No. No! That fucking son of a bitch!” Kneeling down, Chloe looked under the car and noticed a deep slash through her oil pan. “Jesus!” Reaching for her phone again, she started to scroll through her contacts. Getting more and more frustrated because she didn’t know who to call for any help, she stumbled upon a new name. Well, it actually only read ‘Nerd Alert’. “Warren.” The boy was so fucking in love with Max, he would do anything to help her.
Pushing call, she started to pace. “Pick up, pick up, pick up!” When she heard a suffering ‘Morning’, she almost cried in relief. “Warren! Warren, you need to wake the fuck up, now. Throw down an aspirin and get me from the junkyard. Max is in danger!”
She heard shuffling and a yelp. “I’m up! I’m up, I’m coming. What the hell happened?” Warren stayed on the phone with her while he was hurriedly pulling himself together from the hangover. Chloe told him everything she knew, and with every word she said, she noticed that his movements grew faster and clumsier, too. Finally she heard the rustling of keys and the closing of a door. “I’ll be there in a sec!”
---
When Warren arrived in his new-old car, Chloe practically jumped in and started rattling down instructions. The boy was very quiet, something he wasn’t usually known for. She could see his hands shivering slightly, despite the death grip he seemed to have on the steering wheel. “You’re not about to throw up on me, are you?”
He huffed out a tense laugh. “I’ll try to aim in another direction.”
“Heh. Nathan Prescott’s face, I hope.”
Warren winced at the mention of the Prescott boy, his eyes wandering to his still bruised knuckles. He still felt weird about his outburst, still felt a weird sense of guilt. “Are you absolutely sure that it was Nathan?” He didn’t know why he asked. He just had a feeling that it wasn’t right. “It seems too easy, too obvious.” He frowned.
Chloe snorted bitterly. “This isn’t a movie or a book, Graham. This is real life, and real life tends to be pretty fucking obvious.”
“I don’t know.” He sighed and pushed the gas pedal down a little more. “I just don’t know.”
“Well, I do. And he’s gonna pay.” Until now the sheer anger had driven her. But slowly, real worry started to cloud her mind. She didn’t know what she would do if she had to dig up another grave.
---
Arriving at the old barn, Chloe was about to jump out immediately, but Warren held her back. “Wait!” Getting out slowly, he made sure to look out for any sign of enemy sighting. “You can’t just run in there, Jesus!”
“Don’t piss yourself, just hurry it up.” Stomping towards the front gate, she looked through one of the holes in the barn wall. The trap door was open, but there was no sign of a car or any other way for another person to be here. “Come on.” Hurrying to the other side, where Chloe and Max had entered the day before, they quickly pulled themselves through the wall.
“What is this place?” Warren asked, looking around at the sterile walls of the tunnel and the thick metal door to the bunker.
“Hell.” Punching in the code, she let Warren open the hatch and took the first step back into the bunker. “Absolute hell.”
Warren almost gasped when he saw Max lying lifelessly on the white linen behind the numerous cameras. Chloe immediately ran over to her and rolled her over to check her breathing. “Fuck, thank god.” She huffed in relief when she felt the soft puffs of breath against her cheek.
“What’s wrong? Is she okay?” Warren hovered over them, shaking and anxious. Max looked incredibly pale. Paler than usual, and that was scary.
Chloe pulled her head into her lap. “She’s alive. Completely doped though. We need water, try to find some kind of sink or something. I think I saw one yesterday.”
“Alright, hold up.” Taking his eyes off of Max was almost impossible. But when he looked around the bunker for the first time, he noticed that they weren’t alone. “Nathan!”
“Nathan?” Almost jumping up, Chloe started cursing again but Warren shushed her.
The young Prescott was slumped against the opposite wall, right next to the sinks like a rag doll. His eyes were barely open and he seemed to mumble something under his breath. “No wait, something’s wrong. He’s barely conscious.”
“We can change that to completely unconscious!”
Running over to the sink, Warren grabbed a container – sniffed it to make sure that there wasn’t any weird substance on it – and filled it with cold water. He passed it on to Chloe who tried to wake Max up, splashing her face and trying to get her to drink some. Warren on the other hand kept his eyes on Nathan and thought only a second about it, before filling a second container and kneeling down in front of him. “Nathan? Nathan, can you hear me?” He heard an angry ‘What the fuck are you doing’ behind him, but ignored it. “Nathan, come one. Can you hear me?” He put the container down to put one hand on the barely conscious boy’s shoulder. He used the other to pat his cheek awkwardly. He still couldn’t understand what the boy was mumbling. Nathan’s eyes seemed to focus a little. He blinked sluggishly and raised his head a little to look at Warren.
“Seriously, what the fuck are you doing?! He probably just overdosed, getting off on seeing Max like this!” Chloe seethed, Max still out on her lap.
“You just concentrate on Max. I got this.” Warren yelled back. His skin crawled just thinking about her theory being true. He still didn’t believe it though. Nathan’s eyes seemed to widen slightly when he yelled, and his body pressed back against the wall.
“You…” his voice was faint and slow, his eyes starting to blink faster.
Warren took the container with the water again and held it up against his lips. “Here, drink this.” He tried to be gentle, his other hand still on the other’s shoulder.
Nathan winced horribly though, pushing back again. “W-what is that? I-I don’t want t-to.” He almost whimpered. “P-please, d-don’t… I…” His breathing started to fasten, going from faint and sluggish to harsh and panicked. “D-don’t…”
“No, no I don’t…” Warren himself panicked slightly when he saw the pure fear in the dark eyes. “It’s water. It’s just water, here look.” He took a sip himself to reassure him, the water cold and tasting of metal on his tongue. “Just water. See?”
The other’s breath normalized again, his eyes still suspicious. But when Warren held the container back to his lips, he drank the water almost greedily. At the same time, he could hear an urgent intake of breath behind him. “Max? Max!”
“C-Chloe?” Warren almost collapsed in relief when he heard the soft voice. “Chloe? What… What happened? W-where are we?” Nathan had closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall, breathing regularly in and out, while Chloe leaned down to hug Max tightly. Warren hesitated for a second, but then securely placed the container in Nathan’s shaking hands and turned to walk towards the two girls. “Warren?” Max tried to smile at them both and pushed her elbows up to sit up a bit. “Fuck, my head is killing me.”
Suddenly overcome with even more relief – She was okay! She was okay. – Warren fell to his knees next to them and hugged Max tightly. “Oh god. Oh god, I’m so glad you are alright.” She hugged him back just as tightly with one arm, the other still keeping her up.
“I’m okay, Warren. I’m okay.“ She reassured him, while Chloe just threw her arms around both of them. They stayed like that for a bit, Warren and her concentrating on Max’ even breathing. When he pulled back, Max and Chloe embraced for second time, while the older started to pull her up. Max was pretty unsteady, so she held on to Chloe while they started to hobble towards the exit.
Warren was almost about to follow when he froze. “Wait. What about him?” he turned towards Nathan, still slumped against the wall, eyes still closed, but he was breathing normally and the water was gone.
Chloe sneered. “Leave him to die for all I care.” Warren tried to protest but she just bulldozed over him. “Graham, he’s responsible for all this shit, if you don’t leave him to die here, then I will kill him!”
Nathan didn’t seem to hear her at all or if so he didn’t care, didn’t react. Warren didn’t move his eyes from him. He twitched though, when Max spoke up in a slightly breathless voice. “Chloe no. We need to take him with us.”
“We are not taking that little bitch anywhere!”
Max rolled her eyes. “You don’t understand. It wasn’t him. He’s not behind this all. He was drugged almost the same way we were. It’s not… it’s not completely his fault.”
Chloe cursed. “You hesitated, which means that it partially is. I’m not taking him anywhere.”
“Chloe, it was…”
“No!” Putting her hands on Max’ shoulders, Chloe looked at her intensely. “I’m taking you to the hospital and there you will tell me exactly what happened. Then, maybe, I will come back for the little Prescott princess!”
Max huffed. “Chloe…”
“I’ll stay.” Another twitch in Nathan’s body and his eyes slightly opened to look at Warren, who has spoken without thinking. His eyes finally left the other boy to toss Chloe his car keys. “Take Max to the hospital. I will stay until he’s feeling better and then I will get us out of here somehow.”
“Warren…” Max looked stricken. “Just… be careful.” She shifted her gaze to the slumped body. “He’s still dangerous.”
Warren smiled at her and waved her off. “You think about yourself right now. I’ll be fine.” He looked at Chloe who still glared at him for giving a fuck about the Prescott boy. “You take care of my best friend.”
Her glare softened slightly. “You mean my best friend. And I always am.” She offered him a crooked smile and then started to lead Max out again. He heard them talk faintly but chose to turn towards Nathan again.
He got some more water and kneeled down next to him again. “How are you feeling?” Stupid question, and for a while he thought Nathan would chose to ignore him.
The Prescott closed his eyes again but took the water again, drinking it all up in one go. “Like shit.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.” Warren froze under the slight glare he received. “I mean… I can’t actually imagine it. But I mean… Uhm…”
“Why the fuck are you still here?” The question caught him off guard and he winced slightly. “Just go with them.”
Frowning, he made to put a hand on Nathan’s shoulder but the other flinched away again. He pulled it back awkwardly. “I’m not leaving you here.”
“And why not?” The other sneered, levelling him with a hard stare. “I drugged your wannabe girlfriend and did whateverthefuck with her, just piss off.”
Warren glared. “She said it wasn’t you, why are you being like this?”
“Bitch is completely dosed up, what would she know?” The older snapped, arms going up to cross over his chest, knees pulled up slightly.
“Don’t call her that, you bastard!” Fed up, Warren raised his hand and smashed his closed fist against the wall next to Nathan’s head. The Prescott winced horribly, eyes widening and knees drawing in even closer. The unnatural slump of his body disappeared and he started to shake, arms getting tighter. The younger cursed himself, focusing on the bruises on the boy for the first time. He had done that. He had done that to him, god. “Nathan…” He gritted his teeth when the shaking just intensified. “I’m not going to hurt you… not again.” Nathan just kept looking at him with big eyes, pushing himself as close to the wall as possible. His hands were fisting and un-fisting in his jacket. “Come one, I stayed here right? I will get you out of here.”
“Why? Why are you doing this?” Slowly, Nathan’s hand crept up to grip his hair tightly. “You weren’t far from just finishing me off yesterday.”
Warren winced again. “You pulled a gun at my best friend. A gun.” He frowned and let himself fall on his ass in front of the other. “Not that that excuses my actions. I kind of… lost control.” That didn’t really sound any better.
Nathan actually relaxed a little though. “I don’t need your stupid apologies, fucker. I know myself that I deserved that.” He sneered, rolling his eyes. “Man up, Graham.”
“No one deserves that.” The other stubbornly replied, looking him over again. The boy was more purple than skin colour. He was about to add more when his eyes caught sight of something. Nathan’s jacket sleeves had risen up, showing a lot of particular bruises. Not able to withhold a gasp, Warren grabbed for his wrist and pulled the sleeve up even more, making Nathan wince again. “What…” His arm was littered with circular bruises. Warren had seen a similar one on Max’ neck. There were dozens of them on Nathan’s arm though. “Are those from needles?” He asked in shock, looking Nathan in the eyes again. The other avoided his gaze, trying to pull his arm away. “Nathan. Did… did you…”
“Did I do those myself?” His voice still sounded annoyed, but slowly a little more of the initial fear started to creep back into it. Warren didn’t like it. “Some I did. Some I didn’t.”
“Who did…”
“Get away from him, Mr. Graham.” The calm voice behind him, made Warren jump. He whirled around, his hand still loosely around the pale, thin – so fucking thin – wrist. “Get away from him. He’s dangerous.”
“Mr. Jefferson?” Warren looked between the teacher and Nathan, who started shaking again. His eyes were showing way more horror than they ever did because of the younger. Warren shifted uncomfortably. “What are you doing here, Mr. Jefferson?”
“Max and her friend phoned me. Told me what happened.” He levelled a cold glare at Nathan, who let out a barely audible whimper. “I came to get you. And to take Mr. Prescott… to the police.”
Warren’s skin crawled for some reason. He looked back to Nathan, noticing that he was staring back at him with something in his eyes. Was that worry? Concern? For him? “Why…” He gulped and turned around again. While standing up he unconsciously positioned himself in front of the other boy. “Why would they call you?” Max’ phone was smashed. He saw it briefly on his way into the bunker. And why would Chloe have the teacher’s number in the first place? Nathan’s reaction to the teacher worried him as well. He was scared. Sure, he could be scared of the prospect of the police. But even Max had said that Nathan hasn’t been the real culprit in this.
“Step away from Mr. Prescott, Mr. Graham. He’s done enough damage, don’t you think?” Jefferson’s look turned harder and he stepped closer. Warren felt Nathan stand up sluggishly behind him, a hand gripping the back of his Henley. He stepped even closer, shielding Nathan’s slightly smaller body completely.
Gathering all of his courage, he stood up straighter, less hunched. “I’d rather not, Sir.”
The teacher gave him a humourless smile. “You are shielding a murder suspect, Mr. Graham. Just think about what he did to your friend.”
A shiver ran down Warren’s spine, Nathan’s body heat making him anxious to get the hell out of this creepy bunker, the Prescott under his arm. “I’m pretty sure that is not the truth.”
“Mr. Graham, I’d really rather not use… force. But maybe you don’t leave me a choice.” Completely calm, Jefferson reached into his tweet jacket and slowly pulled out a gun, pointing it right between Warren’s eyes. He gulped, reaching behind him to grab at Nathan’s hip. Why he was so bend on protecting the older, he wasn’t sure. He just knew that someone had to and he happened to be the only one present. “Now, step back.”
“Are-are you going to shoot me otherwise?” His voice wavered but he tried to stay somewhat calm. Nathan was completely still behind him, the puffs of breath that fanned over Warren’s neck stabilizing him for some reason.
“As I said, I’d rather not. You are not part of any of this.” The sound of gun cocking was heard. “But you appear to know too much.”
Glaring and taking a deep breath, Warren steadied his stance. “Killing me won’t do you any good. Max and Chloe will tell the police exactly what happened to her.”
Jefferson actually laughed at that. “And who would the police believe? A high little girl or a world famous adult and teacher, who presents them with a bunker filled with evidence. A bunker belonging to the Prescotts, who's son's a known troublemaker and drug dealer?”
The boy gritted his teeth. What to do? Nathan started shivering behind him, holding him with both hands, but his grip slowly loosened. Warren’s eyes widened when he felt the hands on his arms, pulling him to the right. Nathan stepped in front of him now, almost shoving the younger down into the corner of the cabinet with the sink. “L-leave him out of this. He has-he has nothing to do with this. I will confess to the police. No one will believe him even if he tries to tell the truth. You don’t need to hurt him.” His voice started to sound surer and calmer, his body going stiff. “This has nothing to do with the idiot.”
Warren stared at him with wide eyes. Was the Prescott actually willing to defend him at cost of his own freedom? The day just kept getting weirder and weirder.
“How very mature of you, Nathan.” The condescension in the teacher’s voice pissed Warren off. Nathan, too, tensed even more, his eyes narrowing. “Well then, let’s go then. Mr. Graham, if I were you I wouldn’t try any funny business.” Taking a few steps closer, standing between them and the central couch now, Jefferson made the mistake of moving the gun slightly lower.
Warren, not ready to let this go, did the first thing that came to his mind. As fast as he could, he jumped up, pushed Nathan over to the side and sprinted towards the teacher, tackling him with his arms around his waist. His head collided with the teacher’s chest painfully, but they went down together. In the struggle that arouse Warren managed to twist Jefferson’s right wrist in an unnatural position, the gun falling to the ground next to them.
Before he could do anything else the teacher pushed him away with surprising strength and positioned himself on top of the boy, straddling his stomach. Hands came around the younger’s neck and he felt the air being squeezed out of him. Gagging, he tried to push at the hands, scratching and pulling. Way too quickly, he felt himself getting dizzy, his eyes wide with dread. This did not go as planned, but maybe Nathan had at least managed to escape.
Oddly enough that thought calmed him down somewhat. At least Max and the Prescott were save then. He wouldn’t give up without a proper fight though. He started thrashing with his legs, anything to get the teacher off of him. His hands closed around the dark wrists, nails digging in until he could feel moist blood on his fingers. Nothing worked and his mind started to slowly tint black.
The gun shot echoed around the walls of the bunker and Warren winced, drawing in a greedy breath when the hands around his neck loosened. Jefferson’s body slumped down on top of him. He quickly pushed him off and scooted back, eyes searching for Nathan, who hadn’t escaped and actually stood in front of him. He was shaking horribly again, the still smoking gun falling down from his hands. “No…” He sank to his knees, tears welling up in his widely opened eyes. “No, no no no no…” His hands found their way back into his hair and he looked down. “Oh god… Oh god, no no no no…”
Finding his power to move again, the dizzy feeling starting to vanish, Warren quickly hurried over to him on hands and knees and grabbed his shoulders. “It’s okay…” Nathan’s body shook with sobs, mumbled no’s still leaving his mouth. “Nathan, it’s okay. You’re fine. We are fine.”
“I killed him. I fucking killed him.” The Prescott looked up, tears staining his cheeks, eyes bloodshot and filled with fear. “I killed him.”
Warren squeezed his shoulders. “It was self-defence. It’s alright. It was self-defence. I’m here, Nathan, we will call the police and I will tell them exactly what happened. You will be fine.” He reassured, but the boy still winced at the mention of the police. “It was self-defence. He was about to kill me.” Now the younger started to shiver, too. “He was about to kill me. You saved my life.” Shaken, he pulled the shell-shocked boy into his arms. “You saved my life, Nathan.” Trembling hands grabbed the back of his Henley tightly and Nathan pressed against him, still sobbing. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“I’m scared.” Warren froze when he heard how broken the boy sounded. “I was so scared, Warren, thank you. Thank you for getting me out of this. I’m so sorry, so sorry, I’m sorry.” The sobbing intensified again and Warren pulled him even closer. He ran his hand through Nathan’s hair, trying to sooth the older boy as best as he could. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Giving in to his instinct he pressed a kiss against the trembling Prescott’s forehead. “You’re okay, you’re okay.” He pressed another kiss against his hair, pulling him as close as possible.
---
Later on, when they both calmed down a bit, Warren pulled out his phone to call the police. Nathan watched him through wary eyes the whole time, still suspecting that the younger would blame it all on him. The police arrived, along with an ambulance that was – thankfully to be honest – too late for Mark Jefferson. They took his body away, leaving behind a read stain, matching the one on Warren’s t-shirt. He hadn’t even noticed the teacher’s blood until they had pulled apart.
The younger tried to stick as close to the Prescott as possible, hovering over him while he was connected to an IV drop to hydrate his drugged up body. While Nathan slowly sobered up, Warren realized with building dread that he has never seen his eyes this clear before. They even looked a lighter shade of brown. Which could only mean that in his whole year in Blackwell, Warren had never seen the elder not under the influence of drugs. A scary thought that made him stick even closer, until a police officer pulled him away to get his story down.
They later on confirmed the story with Nathan’s. Warren’s scary thought from before turned out to be true, as Nathan told the police that Jefferson started to drug him consistently since the middle of his freshman year. Three years. Of course, those weren’t the only things keeping him drugged. They just enhanced everything else he had to take because of his doctors and everything else he took because… well because he was still Nathan Prescott.
Warren shivered when he listed everything he had to take that was prescribed to him. That the boy hadn't overdosed from medical prescriptions alone was a small miracle.
The ambulance turned out to be for Nathan, to get him to the hospital for monitoring. Even though the elder watched him in confusion, Warren drove along in the car, not quiet managing to part from him after all that happened.
Once they arrived at the hospital, Warren was ushered off to the waiting room though, where he met up with an antsy Chloe. One of the police officers followed him, taking Chloe’s story as well, who still couldn’t quite believe that Nathan was somewhat innocent. She had gotten the whole story from Max on the ride to the hospital though, so she had to yield.
Together they waited.
---
Chloe was called into Max’ room first, promising Warren to get him when they allowed more than one visitor at a time. When she was gone, Warren pulled up his knees onto the seat, arms going around them. His body was still shaking pretty badly and he swore never ever to make fun of a character in a movie again, who was scared of something.
He and Nathan had almost died. Max had almost died. Chloe could’ve been dead, if Jefferson had used the gun on her that night instead of just knocking her unconscious.
Waiting out a full body shiver, he stood up. He couldn’t just wait around anymore. Walking towards the nurse station, he waited to get the attention of the man in the pale blue scrubs. “Can I help you?”
“Uhm. I came here with Nathan Prescott. I’m a little too jittery to wait around and wanted to visit a friend, who’s on the third floor. Could you perhaps-perhaps call me from there, when I can visit him?” The man looked at him for a while and Warren deflated a little. “A-actually, I will just keep waiting, you probably have enough work as it is.” He was about to turn back, when the young man smiled.
“What’s the room number of your other friend?”
The boy’s eyes widened. “Oh, uhm, room number 205.”
“I’ll see to it that someone from the floor informs you.” He promised and Warren nodded his head in gratitude.
Walking to an elevator he punched in the third floor and leaned against the wall. He wasn’t sure if Kate would be happy to see him. They did hang out sometimes. He and Stella were pretty close and Stella was close to Kate so it was more of a second hand thing. Still, they sat at one table in math class and understood each other just fine. Although it was probably bad mojo to show up empty handed. Thinking it over, he made a detour to the gift shop and bought a small balloon with a cute little duckling design. It reminded him of the drawings he saw her make sometimes.
He was glad for the lost-and-found shirt he got from a nurse, at least he didn’t have to visit her with her teacher’s blood on his chest. He had asked someone if Kate was allowed visitors and they told him she was awake and alone at the moment, so he could go in. Holding the balloon tightly, he knocked softly. Her lovely soft voice called him in and he entered with a smile.
“Warren.” She looked surprised, but not in a bad way. Standing up she went over to him with a small smile.
“Hey Kate.” Squeezing her shoulder in greeting he presented her the balloon and she laughed softly.
“Did Max tell you that I’m keeping the balloons because they are my favourite?”
He grinned in relief, glad she liked the late obtained present. “No, the duck design just reminded me of you.”
“Thank you.” Walking over to bind the green balloon to the others, she sat down on her bed and gestured for him to sit in one of the chairs. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, visiting you, duh.” He snorted and sat down.
Kate shook her head with the hint of a grin. Warren was known to be the only one to get actual grins out of the shy girl. “Shouldn’t you be nursing a hangover, or something?”
Ducking his head, he cleared his throat. “Well, I was kinda… I kinda drove someone here and now I’m waiting for news. I planned to visit you anyway, sometime this weekend, so why not now.”
“Drove someone here?” Worry started to show in her hazel eyes. “It’s not Max, is it? Is Max okay? She promised me she would be careful.”
Waving his hands in front of him quickly, Warren shook his head. “No, no… Well kinda. But Max is okay, she is here that is true, but she will be just fine, don’t worry.”
Her shoulders slumped in relief. “Thank god. I was up almost the whole night, praying.” She blushed slightly at the confession. “Did Nathan… Did Nathan do something to her?” Fear clogged her voice and he saw her hands shake.
“Uhm, Kate… Oh god, this is a really long story. I… Are you sure you want me to tell you everything?” He started to sweat slightly. He was about to tell a girl, who tried to kill herself two days ago that it was her teacher who drugged her and that he had rescued a boy who had made her life hell.
She straightened her shoulders though and nodded. “Yes, please. I want to know what happened. Don’t worry, I can handle it.”
He huffed out a small laugh. “I know you can. You rock after all.” She laughed faintly and nodded for him to go on.
So he told her. He told her everything from waking up to Chloe’s call, driving with her to the bunker, finding Max – a startled gasp -, finding Nathan – another, even more shocked gasp, her hand flying to her mouth – and to Mark Jefferson.
When he finally finished Kate stared at him with wide, pained eyes, her mouth working behind her hand. “Oh god… Mr. Jefferson? Oh my god.” He went to sit down next to her on the bed and pulled her softly into his side. “Oh my god.” Burying her head in his shoulder she let out a few shocked breaths. “Mr. Jefferson did all of this. Rachel Amber, me and even Max.” She shivered. “And Nathan. Poor Nathan.”
Warren almost laughed at that. Of course Kate Marsh would be this forgiving. “Now don’t get me wrong. He’s still kind of a dick.” He received a slap to the stomach for the word. “But he’s… he’s not well, Kate. Hasn’t been for a long time. Which is why I couldn’t just leave him there. He saved my life. He saved it. He could’ve run, but he didn’t. He saved my life.”
She smiled at him and shook her head. “I understand, Warren. He… He wasn’t himself. I don’t think anyone’s actually known him for real if what you say is true. Maybe-maybe Victoria. Maybe not even her, who knows.”
“It’s just… I don’t even know why I started to care at all. He was just lying there, not really moving, not even attempting to get out himself. Chloe wanted to leave him there. Not that I’m judging her or anything, she had every reason to not give a d-uhm, to not care.” He blushed when Kate giggled lightly at his slip up. “I just couldn’t leave him there. And when Mr. Jefferson arrived… You should’ve seen him, Kate, he was so fucking scared. Sorry. He looked so scared and my skin just crawled at the thought of leaving him alone with that man. And then of course, I tried to play hero and almost got myself killed.” Shaking his head, he looked down at his hands.
Kate pulled his hand into her lap, holding it tight. “Warren. It was very brave to stand up for him. You and Max are just the perfect superhero couple.”
The warmth of a blush rose to his cheeks. “Uhm… We are not… I mean, Max and I… We aren’t a couple or anything. I like her. A lot. But we’re just friends. She’s my best friend.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to assume…”
He waved his free hand up and down. “No, don’t worry. I did have a huge crush on her. But I’m actually pretty sure that there’s something going on between her and Chloe.” Blinking he remembered how religious Kate actually was. Cursing himself internally he cleared his throat. “Oh, I mean-I mean…”
“I love Max, Warren. I don’t care if she gets together with another girl.” Kate reassured him quickly. “As long as she’s happy, I am happy for her.”
Looking at her, Warren broke out into a wide smile and shook his head in disbelief. “You truly are too perfect for this world, you know?”
“Don’t be stupid.” She blushed, but was still smiling. He was glad for that. Glad that she was smiling again.
A knock on the door interrupted any further conversation. Calling for the person to come in, Kate stood up, Warren in tow. It was a nurse. “I was told to tell someone in this room that Mr. Prescott is allowed to have visitors now. He’s on the second floor, room 107.” She gave a quick smile and closed the door again.
Warren turned towards Kate with a questioning look. “Go on. See how he’s doing.” She smiled a little wider. “If you see Max, tell her to get well soon. I’ll try to visit her if I’m allowed.”
“I will.” Bending down for a quick loose hug, he exited the room and almost ran all the way to Nathan’s room, only to freeze in front of it. What if the Prescott didn’t want to see him anymore? What if he was actually still afraid of him? Or hated him again? It was technically his fault that Nathan had to shoot Jefferson. But no, Nathan would have been arrested otherwise and the teacher still free. Shaking his head, he skipped the knocking and just entered the room.
---
Nathan was sitting up in the bed, hospital gown sliding down his slender shoulders. He actually looked like a sullen kid, were it not for the dark purple bags under his eyes – matching his bruises, Warren winced – and the IV needle in one arm. He looked up from his phone startled when he heard the door. Raising his eyebrows, he watched the younger walk in tensely and sit down on the chair next to the bed, back rigid. “You’re still here?”
Warren’s shoulders lost the tension as he cocked his head in confusion. “Where else would I be?”
“In your dorm room? Therapy? Europe?” The Prescott huffed out a laugh without humour, looking down at his phone again. Warren could see an open text window to Victoria briefly, before looking at Nathan’s face again.
Giving in to his inner battles, he groaned and let his face slam down on the bed next to Nathan, his hand searching and finding the elder one’s, gripping it tightly. And suddenly everything that had happened caught up to him and he was a sobbing mess. Nathan visibly panicked, his hand that was held by Warren pulling and shaking to get free, outbursts of 'What the hell' and 'Fuck really?' were heard. And just as Warren was about to apologize and leave the room quickly, he felt a delicate hand in his hair, first hesitant, then stroking smoothly through his locks. He relaxed somewhat, his words starting to make sense, albeit shaken by sobs.
"Sorry. God, this is embarrassing, sorry. I'm just so glad that everyone is okay." Nathan actually snorted at that and Warren thought about what he said. "Well everyone who deserves to be okay at least."
"Yeah, that's better." The Prescott didn't stop stroking his hair and the fingers of the hand still clutched in Warren's closed around his.
The younger's whole body shook with noisy sobs and Nathan tried to think of anything to make him stop. In the end he opted for something Warren had initially done to him. He leaned down awkwardly and pressed his lips to the hair he was stroking. "Shut up already, its fine now."
He thought he had only made it worse for a second because the boy started to shake even more but what left his mouth this time was a snort and then a full blown laugh.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, adrenaline’s catching up with me. I think I just realized what could've happened to all of us. Sorry, didn't mean to annoy you." He straightened his back, running the sleeves of the borrowed shirt over his wet eyes. He looked ridiculous and slightly hysterical and Nathan found himself actually smiling a bit. It was probably the first time that he realized that the boy was two years younger than him.
"You're not annoying me, idiot. It's not like you didn't do the same for me about an hour ago." He clicked his tongue. "Still, to be rescued by such a fucking nerd, I will never hear the end of it."
Shaking his head, Warren grinned at him, eyes shining, cheeks tinted red. "Well, you did rescue me back, so I think we're even." He looked down, his eyes being drawn to the pattern of bruises around Nathan’s arms. Slowly he stroked a finger over a particularly dark one, noticing the slight tremor jerking through the arm. Nathan’s hand squeezed his, reminding him that they were still technically holding hands. He didn’t really care. “I’m glad, though. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to go through this. And I’m sorry, I added to it.” He locked eyes with him, running the same finger that stroked his arm over a bruise on Nathan’s cheekbone. “I’m really sorry.”
Nathan had gotten really still, the hand in Warren’s going slack. He stared at him with something in his eyes that the younger couldn’t depict. Slowly he raised his own hand and drove it gently over the black eye Warren still sported. “I guess we’re even then.”
Okay, Warren was confused. What the hell was going on right now? Why was he having butterflies in his stomach all of a sudden? He stared into Nathan’s eyes without blinking, searching for something, not knowing what exactly that was himself. He knew that feeling. He experienced that feeling not even three days ago with another person. Those were his Max feelings. But the person in front of him was decidedly not Max Caulfield. “Nathan…” It was barely a whisper that left his mouth and he observed fascinated how Nathan’s pupils seemed to widen. “I…”
They jumped apart when the door to the room slammed open, a pissed sounding shriek of “Prescott!” being heard. In stormed a dishevelled looking Victoria, almost jumping the older of the two boys, arms thrown around his neck. “Jesus, why do I have to learn from Kate Marsh that you are in the hospital?!” She yells, hands still desperately clinging to Nathan’s neck.
Warren noticed how pale the boy went when he heard the shy girl’s name. “Vic. How did you… how did she even know?” Nathan threw the younger a questioning look, eyebrows raised.
“Yeah, I kinda told her. You know, I visited her while waiting for news about you.” Warren admitted.
The Prescott just shook his head and hugged Victoria back eventually. The two of them embraced for a small eternity and Warren was getting increasingly more uncomfortable. A weird, painful feeling started to gather in the pit of his stomach and he was about to stand up and leave the room, when thin arms wound around his neck, the girl now clinging to him. “Kate told me what you did. Thank you so much for helping him. Thank you so much!”
With wide eyes, he awkwardly patted her back, while watching Nathan over her shoulder who almost lovingly smiled at her back. The weird feeling intensified and Warren slowly pulled back. “I… Uhm, I was glad to help, really. I couldn’t just… couldn’t just leave him there after all.” He noticed the Prescott’s eyes leaving them, to look down at his hands.
“I really don’t care for what reason you helped. He’s here because of you and that’s all that matters to me, Graham. So just accept the gratitude.” With a mean smile, she thumped his forehead, only to sit down in the seat Warren had occupied a few minutes ago. Reading this as a clear dismissal, the youngest directed a small smile towards Nathan and backed off towards the door.
That was that then. He would probably visit Max, go home and soon they would forget the weird connection they briefly had. Not knowing why, tears started to prick his eyes again but he brushed them off as a side effect of the weird fucking day.
As he was just about to leave, he heard a timid voice behind him. “Warren?” Turning back to see Victoria hold the hand he had been holding just mere minutes ago, his heart kind of jumped pathetically. Quickly he concentrated on the Prescott though, who had called his name. “Just… See you around.”
Smile widening just a fraction, Warren nodded and quickly left, heart feeling weirdly hollow.
Weird fucking day, indeed.