The Thing About Glenn Pearson (boyxboy)

Nathan- Twenty-eight

Nathan was doing homework in his living room when someone began to pound on his front door. It scared him, and he stared at his door with wide eyes until both of his parents rushed into the room. "Who's at the door?" Carmen asked and Nate looked at him from over the back of the couch with wide eyes.

"I don't know". Osmond and Carmen shared a look and the pounding increased in volume and pace.

A second later a voice yelled through the door, "Nathan, I know you're in there, you son of a bitch!"

"Jean?" He asked at the same time that Osmond went to open up the door. Nate stood from his spot on the couch, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

When Osmond pulled open the front door, no one said anything. Jean's hand fell to his side, and he looked at all of them as they looked at him in return. When Nathan had last seen Jean, he still only had that one bruise over his eye. Now, his other eye was almost swollen shut, his lip was spit, and Nathan guessed based on the way his friend limped over to him that his face only showed a small fraction of what had happened to him.

Osmond swore, and Carmen sharply inhaled.

Jean stopped directly in front of him, so close that Nathan would have fallen backwards if Jean didn't grab his arms to keep him put. And then he was being yelled at, and it shocked him so much that he didn't hear the first half of what Jean was saying, and when he started listening it didn't make any sense.

"I trusted you, Nathan. I trusted you and now you've gone and fucking ruined my life. I told you about my dad with confidence. The police, Nathan? Are you fucking serious-"

"What the fuck are you talking about!" Nathan yelled.

"My father was arrested this afternoon for child abuse you-" Nathan grinned at this news and Jean's hands tightened on his arms. "You fucker, you promised me that you wouldn't call the police-"

"I didn't call anyone, man, but I can't say that I'm mad someone did," Nathan admitted. Jeans hands lost all grip on his arms.

"You didn't call anyone?" Jean questioned, his voice increasingly low and weak. Nate's smile fell as he shook his head, and his hands came up to his friends waist.

"You told me not to". At these words, Jean completely deflated, and his entire body fell against Nathan.

Nate had never seen Jean cry until this moment, and all he could do was hug his sobbing friend and make soothing noises into his hair. Jean's body shook against his, his hands grasping the back of Nathan's shirt tightly, as if he would try to slip away. "Hey," Nate breathed, brushing his fingers though Jean's hair. "It's alright".

Nathan lifted his head a little to look around his living room for his parents. He was hoping that one of them would be able to get him tissues or something, but when his eyes met Osmond's, his words were frozen in his throat.

His father's expression was blank, as it always got on his worst of days, but for the first time that he was in this state, his eyes met Nathan's, and all he could see was his father's pain.

Nathan's mouth parted to call out to him, to ask him what was wrong, but Osmond turned quickly and left the room, and Carmen didn't hesitate to follow after him.

And so he was left with Jean, hugging him tightly and wondering what the fuck was going on.

He didn't know how long they stood there together, clutching at one another, but by the time Jean's sobs turned to sniffles, and there was some space between the two of them, Nathan's shirt was wet with his friends tears. "Are you okay?"