Sebastian sighed as he looked down at his arm, the fresh cuts dripping a vermillion color onto the paper towel underneath his arm. Quickly glancing towards the door, he began to clean up his arm. Sebastian had skipped classes because he was "sick". He knew Hunter wouldn't be back for a while, so he had no idea why he was freaking out about it. 'Maybe because you have cuts all up and down your arms and you know it's sick,' a voice told him, but he quickly shoved that voice away, wiping away the blood, praying that it wouldn't get on anything.

"Sebastian?"

Sebastian heard his roommate call his name, and muttered a quick "Shit!" before racing to the bathroom door and locking it. He raced back to the sink, rinsing his arm under the faucet. The cold water stung to the touch, and he hoped it didn't show in his voice when he called out, "I'm in here." His heart was racing a mile a minute, and he needed Hunter to leave now.

"Are you okay? Do you need any help?", Hunter called through the door. He knocked once. "You have to lie down again. It's not good for your health to be out of the bed."

Sebastian was slightly worried by how caring Hunter sounded, but shook it off. "I'm fine. Besides, you need to go to class. Now, run along, before I decide that your lovely little cat is the best thing to puke all over."

Hunter laughed a little bit. "I just want to make sure that you really go to bed. You sound really sick."

Sebastian put his usual bitchy tone forth. "I'm fine, and I'll sleep when I damn feel like it," he said, looking down at the now light pink tinted sink. He shook it off, pulling on a sweater he had lying around in the bathroom to cover the scars. He unlocked the door, glaring at the boy. "You need to go to class. Aren't you late enough already?"

Hunter sighed. "I'm sorry I just wanted to help you.", he snapped. "He walked over to his desk and searched for the folder he needed. "Where is it..?", he mumbled and bent down to looked under his desk.

Sebastian rolled his eyes, pointing over to the other boy's laptop. "There," he said, one jacket sleeve rolling up a little. He didn't even notice. "You left in under your laptop, oh wise one."

Hunter stood up again and picked up the folder. "Thanks." he smiled at Sebastian. He looked down and noticed Sebastians damaged wrist. "Sebastian?", he asked quietly.

Sebastian looked over at Hunter's eyes, and noticed where they were heading. 'Fuck,' he thought, turning around and fixing his sleeve quietly. "Don't you have a class to get to, Clarington?"

Hunter stepped closer to Sebastian. "What happened to your wrist?"

Still facing away from Hunter, he sighed. "It's nothing. I scraped my wrist the other day. No big deal." Sebastian took a deep breath, trying to keep his bitch mode intact. "Either way, it's none of your concern. Clarington, you have class, and you're probably late by now."

Hunter sat down next to Sebastian and grabbed the other boys arm gently. He tried to pull the sleeve up but Sebastian pulled his arm away. "Please let me look at it."

Holding his arm close to him, he shook his head. "It's fine, Clarington. Go to class." He could feel the bitchy facade fading, and a quiet, meeker, much more frightened side of himself creeping out. "Please... Go."

Hunter grabbed Sebastians arm again and succeeded to pull the sleeve up. He gasped as he saw Sebastians skin. "What have you done? he whispered?"

Sebastian ripped his arm away from the other boy, glaring at him. "Leave. Now."

"Sebastian..", Hunter breathed. "Why would you do something like that?"

Sebastian stood up, crossing his arms. "Did you not just hear me? Leave!" he yelled, knowing that no one would hear him besides Hunter, since everyone else was in class.

Hunter stood up too and put his hands on Sebastians shoulders. "We have to talk about this..."

Sebastian shook Hunter's hands off, taking a step back. "I don't have to talk to you about anything, Clarington," he spit, covering his arm back up. "In fact, if you'd rather it, I don't have to talk to you at all." He glared at the boy, before muttering, "Leave. You're late for English, are you not?"

"I don't care if I'm late for English or whatever! I care about you!", Hunter looked into Sebastians eyes.

Sebastian glanced into Hunter's eyes, shaking his head. "You're so full of shit, Clarington."

Hunter sighed. "I just want to help you. Maybe we should sit down and calm down a little bit. I'm not gonna leave you right now." He sat down on Sebastians bed again.

Sebastian, being as stubborn as he is, shook his head. "I think you should... leave me, that is."

Hunter stood up again and took Sebastians hand. "Why would I leave you? I think you really need someone to talk to. I won't judge you. I just want to help."

Sebastian glanced up at the boy before reluctantly sitting down. "Why?"

"Because you're my friend and I really care about my friends."

Sebastian scoffed half-heartedly. "I'm not your friend, Clarington. You've been nothing but a dick to me just for flirting with you once, which was a joke, might I add."

Hunter looked to the ground, ashamed. "I'm sorry for that, but I thought we were friends... kind of..."

Sebastian stayed quiet for a while, before murmuring, "Do you know what it feels like to be the family disgrace?" He began fiddling with his fingers as he explained. "It's not easy, you know. I mean, a strong, perfect Catholic family like mine... until me. I fucked up, and just had to like men." He glanced over at Hunter, before continuing. "They hate me... I know they do."

Hunters eyes widened. He opened his mouth as to say something but he didn't know what. "Sebastian...", he whispered. "It's not your fault that you're gay."

Sebastian sighed. "It /is/ my fault, however, that I'm the family whore," he said, feeling a tear threaten to leak from his eyes. "It's just... I guess I got too lonely."

Hunter was near tears. That was horrible. "So..you.. just...like.. punished yourself?"

Sebastian nodded, glancing down at his covered up arms. "If I'm disgusting on the inside, I should be disgusting on the outside," he said, feeling small and helpless. "I should be..."

"You're not disgusting!", Hunter interrupted him. "And you don't deserve this hate and the pain!"

Sebastian glanced back up at the boy. "I am. You yourself should know that it isn't natural to be what I am... I shouldn't like men. I should be sneaking off to Crawford Country Day every other night, fucking girls senseless. Instead... look at me. I'm pathetic."

Hunter cupped Sebastians cheeks with his hands and wiped away the boys tears. "Why would you say something so horrible? Who told you that you're not natural? Is that what your parents told you?"

Sebastian didn't even realize he was crying until Hunter's soft fingers began to wipe the tears away. "It isn't horrible; it's how I've been raised."

"It /is/ horrible. I don't know what to say to you, Sebastian. I can just say that being gay is not wrong."

Sebastian shook his head. "You see, I know it's wrong because I am gay. I get the hate... You're straight..."

Hunter was desperate, he didn't know what he should do. He hugged Sebastian to his chest. "But everyone here accepts you. They don't think you're some filthy whore."

Sebastian sighed, hugging Hunter back. "That's a lie. Everyone here /knows/ I'm a filthy whore... So I try to stop. Find myself crushing on Blaine... but he has someone already. I mean it figures." He took a deep breath. "Next guy I like ends up being straight. I guess I'm hopeless."

Hunter rubbed Sebastians back. "Have you told the other guy? Did he hurt you or something? Was he mad?", he asked.

Sebastian shook his head. "Nope. This guy once said, 'I'm not even remotely bicurious', though. Take a wild gander at who he is."

Hunter looked up. "You have a crush on... me?"

Sebastian pulled away. "Told you I'm hopeless."

"I...I don't know what to say..", he said and took Sebastians hand again.

Sebastian took his hand away. "Let's not make a big deal out of this, shall we?"

"Don't lock yourself up again Sebastian. We were making progress..", Hunter said softly.

Sebastian shook his head softly. "Forget it. It was stupid."

Hunter laid a hand on Sebastians back. "You don't have to be ashamed."

Sebastian shook his hand off. "I'm not usually one for... much contact."

Hunter sighed. "Is there... anything I can do to... help you?"

Sebastian shook his head. "No... I'll be fine."

"Sebastian…", Hunter sighed. "I'll do anything to help you."

Sebastian looked at him with puffy eyes. "I know Hunt, you're my best friend, you know?"

"You're mine, too.", Hunter answered, he lookes into Sebastians piercing green eyes and pressed a gentle kiss to the other boys cheek.

"And I'll help you. I'll protect you." He wrapped his arms around Sebastians waist and pulled him closer.

"Thank you.", Sebastian said and burried his head in Hunters shoulder.

"Always."