Nathan's POV
Nathan wasn't sure what he had done wrong. He was talking with his father about when he was going to take over the family business. Then all went bad when his mother quickly excused herself from the table. The next thing he felt was the connection between his father's fist and his face. It was absolutely unbearable. Sean Prescott continued to shout insults at his son as he beat him. Punch after punch. Over and over again. It hurt. There was no way Nathan was going to be able to leave the Prescott Estate without multiple bruises being spread across his face. But one thing that hurt him the most was the fact that his father would never love him. Even when the beatings had started, there was nothing else Nathan wanted the most from his father. Just his love and affection. That was it. He wanted the chance to be an actual, normal person. For his whole life, that was all he wanted. But that was obviously not going to happen any time soon.
time skip
"Fuck."
It was about 2am and Nathan had somehow found his way back to Blackwell Academy, despite all the pain. He stumbled out of his car and as soon as he left the slight comfort of the driver's seat, he crashed onto the ground, legs giving way.
"I always fuck it up," he muttered to himself.
"I always fucking FUCK IT UP!"
Warren's POV
It was already pretty late but Warren smelt like shit. Yeah, Max was continuously friendzoning him but he had no excuse. He just had to take a shower. He pushed himself out of his bed, walked to the other side of the room and opened his dorm door. He was about to enter the bathroom when he heard a shout.
"What the fuck was that?" he thought to himself. Warren, being the nosy boy he was, decided to check it out. He then heard screaming and some other sound that sounded like someone was punching something. He assumed it was coming from outside. Trying to be as quiet as possible, he exited the boy's dormitories. Then he saw something. Someone. Someone who was repeatedly punching a tree, their blood smearing across the bark. Someone who was screaming and shouting words that Warren couldn't make out. Someone who was sobbing uncontrollably, tears streaming down their face. Someone named….. Nathan Prescott.
It was Nathan fucking Prescott. Warren was surprised to see him out her at this time. Didn't he have a Vortex Club party to sort out? Warren pushed these thoughts away from his mind as he slowly approached the troubled boy. He wasn't really sure how to approach him though. If it was any other person, yeah, he could have easily just gone there and helped the person. But with Nathan, it wasn't going to be that simple.
"What the fuckdo you want?"
Warren had tried to stay in the shadows for Nathan not to see him, but of course that hadn't worked. Nathan's voice was coarse and he could barely here it.
"I said, what the fuck do you want?"
He had been noticeably staring at Nathan for a while now, so he had barely even heard Nathan the first time. Trying not to anger him more, he replied with a stutter,
"A-are you okay?"
Nathan scoffed and let out a little laugh.
"Does it look like I'm fucking okay?"
Warren slowly shaked his head.
"Then there you go, there's your answer."
Warren wasn't really sure what he was going to do at this point. Any false move could potentially kill him. But he really wanted to help the poor guy. He needed help, and he was going to get some. So Warren just tried to be kind.
"Nathan, let me help you to your dorm," he said, slowly walking towards him.
"You obviously need some help, I can tell."
Nathan suddenly got very angry at this statement and shouted,
"Do NOT analyse me! I pay people to do that! Now get the fuck away from me!"
Nathan started to walk off towards the parking lot but Warren knew that was going to be impossible for him: he looked like he had twisted his ankle, maybe broken it, as he staggered, dragging his feet across the floor. It was also very clear that his legs were hurting as he scrunched up his face on each step that he tried to take. Suddenly, Nathan fell down onto the ground, yelping in pain as he hit the floor. Warren quickly rushed over to him and tried to help him up but Nathan wasn't being very helpful.
"Do you not understand English? Get the fuck off me!"
He struggled and struggled but it was no use. Surprisingly, Warren was stronger than Nathan. He usually wasn't but with Nathan in this state, he knew he wouldn't have much power left in him. He put his arm around him and took Nathan's hand and put it around Warren's waist. Just to make sure, Warren softly said,
"Please, let me help you. Just to your dorm. It's the least I can do."
There was a long moment of silence until Nathan let out a heavy sigh and said,
"Fine."
Warren silently praised himself in his mind. He had just gotten the king of Blackwell to listen to the stupid nerd. Now that wasn't something you see everyday. Warren walked slowly with Nathan in his arms towards the steps that led to the boy's dormitories. He silently hoped Nathan let him at least sort him out with the first aid kit he (hopefully) had in his room, but if he didn't, it was going to be a long night.
It was quite a struggle getting up the stairs to Warren's room. With Nathan clinging onto him, he knew that it would take them a while. So Warren did the thing he was best at. Small talk.
"So um, how was your day?" Warren asked, trying to form a smile on his face.
"The fuck did you just say?" Nathan said, stopping to glare at Warren. The fake smile left Warren's face as he said once again, a little quieter this time,
"H-how was your day?" Without an answer, Nathan carried on to walk, but Warren was still frozen and he wasn't going to get anywhere without him. With an annoyed sigh, Nathan stopped and mumbled,
"Whatthefuckever. Now will you get a fucking move on already?!" Warren quietly said,
"Oh um….s-sorry," and continued to walk with Nathan by his side. Warren hadn't got a clue how, but after a while, they were standing outside Warren's door.
"Why the fuck are we here?" Nathan mumbled, annoyed at the fact that they weren't at his own room. Warren let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding and said to him,
"Come on. The least I can do is fix you up. I have a first aid kit somewhere in my room."
Nathan let go of Warren and shouted,
"When the fuck did I say we were going to your room?!" Warren stared at him with wide eyes and said to him carefully,
"Please Nathan. Your cuts are going to get infected if I don't help and the bruises aren't going to get any better."
He slowly stepped towards him and went to place his hand on his shoulder but Nathan slapped it away.
"Don't fucking touch me!" he screamed and started to walk towards his dorm room,(which wasn't too hard for him since it was right opposite Warren's). wincing at the pain he was feeling. Warren had no idea why Nathan was acting like this but he was going to find out why. He was just about to call Nathan's name once again when he heard light sobbing coming from him. He knew the consequences of comforting him were bad but he really didn't care. He was going to help the boy. He rushed over to him and pulled him into a tight hug.
"O-ow."
Warren realised that he was hugging him a bit too tightly and of course it was going to be painful for Nathan due to his injuries. He carefully lessened his grip and whispered,
"Sorry."
Surprisingly, Warren felt Nathan's hands slowly lift up and wrap around his back. Warren held him a little bit tighter, trying his best not to hurt him as Nathan dropped his head down onto his shoulder, making it wet with the tears pouring from his eyes. Warren quietly said, while rubbing Nathan's back,
"Don't worry. It's okay. You're safe."
Warren continued to whisper comforting words to Nathan until his crying slowly subsided. Nathan looked up at him and quietly said with a little sniffle,
"T-thank you."
Warren smiled at him and continued to hug him. Weirdly enough, it was better than any hug he could have gotten from Max. While Nathan rested on Warren's shoulder Warren decided to take this as a chance to look at Nathan. He slowly turned his neck around and looked at the boy in his arms. He had light, brown slicked-back hair that was surprisingly quite neat and bright, blue eyes that glistened in the morning sunlight that shone through the window across the dorms.
"He's beautiful." he thought to himself but quickly shook away the thought. Nathan Prescott? Beautiful? No. That couldn't be right? Could it? Before he had a chance to question his feelings, he felt Nathan's arms slowly removing themselves from his back, pulling away. Warren felt the same coldness that he felt every time Max had rejected him. However, he couldn't let this disrupt his little moment with Nathan. He put on a soft smile and said to him,
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
Nathan looked a bit uncomfortable but after a few moments he replied with a silent nod. Warren was thrilled. For once, he was actually helping someone and not just annoying them. He put his arms round Nathan's shoulders and Nathan put his arms around Warren's waist. Once they were comfortable enough, they walked back to Warren's door. Warren quickly grabbed his keys out of his front pocket with his free hand, put them through the keyhole and turned the lock. He pushed the door open and helped Nathan inside his room. As soon as they were both inside, Warren closed and locked the door, then set Nathan onto his bed.
"Now," he thought. "Time to find the first aid kit."