Don't let go [A Nadani Love Story]

Shooting

"Come in." Jac groaned as someone hammered on the office door.

"Have you seen Kian?" Marty asked, and Naylor nodded, pointing towards the couch where the Canadian was fast asleep.

"Is it urgent?" She asked, feeling slightly bad that this was the first sleep Kian had had in 36 hours, and now he was going to be woken up 10 minutes into it.

"Yes."

"Alright, fine."

Jac threw her pen, hitting Kian smack bang on the forehead.

"Good shot." Marty complimented, and although she pretended like it was nothing, she was secretly very impressed and proud of herself for the accuracy.

Madani grumbled as he rubbed his eyes and sat up. His hair had fallen into his eyes and he looked like a toddler with his pouted lips and grouchy expression. She hated to admit it, but his sleepy expression was absolutely adorable.

"Wakey, wakey Madani." She called, and he scrunched his nose up at her grumpily.

"What do you want?"

"It's not her, it's me." Marty said, stepping forward so that he could see him from where he was sitting. "Can I speak to you?"

Kian tilted his head to the side, the sadness in his tone alarming him enough to snap him awake.

"What's wrong?"

Marty glanced at Naylor as if he was indicating they needed the room, but she immediately raised her eyebrow. "This is my office."

Kian realised that this was not a battle to pick and so he just nodded, standing up and walking his cousin out of the room. He could see just in the way he was standing that something was seriously wrong with Marty.

"What's up?"

"I need a place to crash." He admitted, and Kian's brow immediately furrowed.

"What's happened?"

The boy in front of him suddenly broke down and Madani was shocked, hesitantly pulling him into a hug. He felt the tears soak his shoulder as he slowly rubbed his back, doing his best to comfort him.

He pulled back and patted his shoulder. "Calm down, and tell me."

"I think I have AIDS, and now Dad is stopping me from talking to Mum, and I've spent too much on alcohol and drugs, and I don't have any money for rent or food or-"

"Hold up. You might have HIV?" Kian shout-whispered, trying to process everything. How could Marty be so reckless?! "And why on Earth is Graham causing an issue again? I thought he went off after you came out to him."

Neither of them were particularly fond of Marty's father, but considering that he had optionally left them alone, it was relatively easy to forget him. Why he would return? Kian had no clue.

"I've been... experimenting and I tried chemsex."

It was strange to be on the opposite side of this, usually it was Marty having to scrape him up off the ground.

Kian sighed, piecing the story together in his mind. "...And slept with a guy who was HIV positive. Why would you do that?"

"Life would just be so much easier if we were white, and I was straight."

He took Marty's head in his hands, his heart breaking for the poor boy. He'd vaguely known his cousin had been struggling, but he'd never expected anything on this level.

"That may be true, but that should not be anything to be ashamed of, or wish away. We should be proud of our Iranian blood, we carry generations of culture, suffering and honour in our veins."