Protection From Hell (H2OVanoss FanFic)[COMPLETED]

Chapter 28

Flight has been delayed for hours, enjoy!

--------

When Jonathan got home he went straight to his room, well, he did take a detour to ask his mom where Evan was, and when she said upstairs, he went to his room.

He opened the door and found Evan sitting on his bed, his legs crossed and his head stuck in a book off one of his shelves. His friend had changed into a black, short-sleeved shirt and black skinny jeans, probably something he had packed in his backpack.

At the sound of the door opening, Evan looked up and saw Jonathan. He smiled at him, shutting the book and placing it on the bed as Jonathan stepped into the room.

"Hey." He greeted, watching as Jonathan took off his shoes and threw his backpack near the foot of his bed before laying down next to Evan on the bed.

"Hey, how was your day?" Jonathan asked, turning his head toward Evan.

"It was great, your mom is really nice, she re-did my bandages nicely as well." Evan replied, holding up his injured arm.

"Yeah, I think she took a medical class sometime during high school. She used to want to be a nurse." Jonathan pulled out his phone, feeling it buzz in his back pocket.

There was a comfortable silence for a few minutes, Jonathan scrolling through his phone and Evan continuing to read.

"You know, I think Craig is worried about you." Jonathan said warily, being cautious of what he said.

Evan replied without even looking up from his book. "Good, he should be. This whole thing is his fault, it's always his fucking fault." In an instant, Evan's snappy attitude returned as he remembered the argument with his friend.

Jonathan sat up, his own curiosity driving his actions. "Ev, if you don't mind me asking, how is it Craig's fault?" He paused for a heartbeat, gaining a boost of confidence. "What have you two been fighting about these past few days?"

-----------

It was a loaded question, and Evan wasn't sure what to do. He was cornered with only two options; Tell the truth and deal with the outcome, or lie and pay for it later.

Both options appealed to him, and it was obvious why.

One of them was his natural instinct, and the other was what Craig wanted him to do.

Even when he was no where near Evan, Craig still had some control over him and his actions. It was almost a natural response. Evan liked to think he had the same effect on Craig, but sometimes he wasn't so sure, his brother had always seemed so one-sided.

Just don't cry again, don't be that guy. Demons don't cry, Ev, demons don't cry. He thought to himself as memories of last night rushed through him, and he could feel his friend's eyes burning through his back.

"It...well....the thing with Craig and I.......it's...it's complicated." He started, his tone suggesting he was going to say more. "Yeah, we always look out for each other, and he'd never try to hurt me, but.....shit happens. Sometimes, after a while of peace and tranquility, we just...snap.

And we snap because we just get so sick of one thing, and our nerves are so high strung that we latch onto the nearest thing that's wrong, and we yell about it. Not like a friendly argument, a full-blown shits-about-to-hit-the-fan argument. And every time, we end up yelling about the same thing. Each other, and who's better, who's in charge, and usually it ends there....but, this time, it was just different." His eyes were fixed a certain spot on the floor as he tried to explain, it was harder than he thought.

"How was it different?" Jonathan thought this was his moment to press, to get the answers he wanted.

Evan took a deep breath, blinking a few times to clear his eyes of a few stray tears. "Because, this time, Craig brought something into this argument that he shouldn't have. One moment, I was yelling at him and calling him a control freak, and the next, he was going on about....family." He barely managed to choke out the word, like a cough stuck in his throat.

Jonathan sat up, crossing his legs like Evan, who was trying so hard to keep his emotions in check. "What about family?" Jonathan had never been one to pry, but he knew that something was eating at Evan, and he just wanted to help him.

"Well, he brought his parents into it, and started going on about what they wanted and how they thought he was more responsible, the same shit he's been saying for years. But after that, he brought up my parents, something he promised to never bring up again, and when he broke that promise, it was like something just snapped. I...yelled at him for being selfish, something he accused me of. I just got so mad at him, I've never been that mad at him before." Tears jumped into his eyes, and he drew a sharp breath, calming himself.

Jonathan stayed silent, debating over what to do. Should he hug Evan? Should he speak? He was afraid to do something wrong, he was so close to learning more about him, but he got the sudden sense of wrongness, because it was wrong to want someone to be in the state his friend was in.

Finally, he decided to wrap his arms around Evan after he didn't continue for a few minutes. And as soon as Evan felt Jonathan's touch, he broke down, tears streamed down his face as he awkwardly turned to bury his face in his friend's chest.

"It's okay, Ev. I'm right here. Let it out." Jonathan said, rubbing comforting circles into his back, keeping his arms wrapped tightly around the other boy. "It's okay."

They two boys stayed like that for a while, wrapped in each other's arms as Evan had his first real breakdown, sure he had cried before, but this was the first time he had had an actual breakdown.

And it was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and the longer it lasted the more relief washed through him, calming him down and putting him at ease. He didn't know how much he needed a breakdown until he was right in the middle of it.