Title: Moonlight

Author: Cleo Clipper

Genres: Drama, Angst, Romance

Warnings: Slash, violence, abuse, hints at sexual abuse, language, adult themes. If you don't like to read about Lucas and Nathan being romantically involved (as brothers or not) or if abuse/sexual abuse is a touchy subject for you, then don't read this story. You have been warned!

Author's Note: This is an AU where Lucas and Nathan are not brothers! They are just best friends. Lucas' father died when he was younger.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of it's characters. I'm just using them for fun :)

The moonlight shone brightly through the vast glass window of the second story bedroom. It reflected off the off-white walls and sunk into the carpet of Nathan Scott's large bedroom. The moonlight revealed all and shone brightly on all things that wanted to be kept in the dark, including one Nathan Scott, who was curled up in the middle of his bedroom floor. Hot tears streamed down his face, causing his already battered body to ache even more. His body shook as he suppressed his grief at being in this situation yet again. This time, however, he had no idea if his mother was even alive. And he knew that next time, he could most likely die at the hands of his father. Nathan blinked more tears out of his dull, blue eyes as the night's events played through his mind like a movie.

Tonight, Dan Scott was pissed. Tonight, Dan Scott was extremely pissed—more so than usual—because the Ravens had lost their biggest game of the season: the championship game against the Pontiacs. The loss wasn't Nathan's fault, hell he delivered better than Dan had during his championships, but the simple fact that they lost was ammunition for Dan to get angry.

And when Dan got angry, he tended to take his anger out on those closest to him: Nathan and his mother.

As soon as the front door closed, Dan had started yelling. Yelling about the Pontiacs being a below average team, how the Ravens should have beat them, about Lucas Roe supposedly stealing his son's spotlight and "…he shouldn't be handling the ball in the first place, that incompetent bastard!" Nathan wasn't really paying attention to the man; he did tend to rant a lot.

Until a fist connected with the back of his head.

Deb had screamed when he fell, his head inches from hitting the edge of their granite countertops, but he barely registered this when he felt a sharp pain in his ribs from where Dan had kicked him, and he continued to feel this pain over and over again, with no ending coming to this barrage on his ribcage…

Deb finally spurred into action when Dan began his angry assault, and threw a plate that was sitting on the counter at Dan, aiming for his head. The plate hit its target, and Dan stumbled momentarily, giving Nathan enough time to crawl to the other side of the counter, gaining space between him and his assailant. Dan's face change from shock to pure rage, and he gave an enraged growl as he started towards Deb, his face growing flush from pure anger.

Nathan managed to hoist himself up and kick his foot out as Dan came around the corner, hitting Dan in his knee cap and, with a cry of pain, Dan fell to the floor, inches from falling on top of his wounded son. Nathan quickly scrambled to get away from Dan—the punishment was going to be severe now—his mother already half dragging, half carrying him around the corner and to their front door, when Dan brutally grabbed Nathan's still healing ankle from last week's beating, causing Nathan to cry out in pain and his mother to drop him from the sudden tugging. Dan pulled Nathan back to him and crawled up to meet his face at the same time, inserting a knee between Nathan's legs and thrusting so hard that Nathan saw stars. He barely felt it when Dan's thick hands wrapped around his neck and began to squeeze viciously, intending to break the flesh beneath them.

Deb, beside herself with fear, threw herself to the ground and, having no weapon to fend off Dan this time, slapped at him desperately, begging and pleading with him to leave Nathan alone and to let him live. Tears spilled down her face and dripped into Nathans hair as she wrestled in vain with Dan, mindful of Nathan's head beneath her. Dan let up on Nathan and returned Deb's slaps tenfold, the slaps turning into punches and sending her head into a counter, leaving Nathan to fend for himself. Nathan finally regained his breath and opened his eyes, in time to see his mother knocked unconscious, and immediately began to go towards her.

"Mom!" he protested weakly, before the wind was knocked out of him again as Dan kneed him in the stomach. He doubled over, gasping, and felt himself being dragged by his basketball jersey up the stairs, past his room, and into the study, where Dan's most vicious beatings took place. Nathan whimpered as he was thrown to the floor, blood from his nose already staining the hardwood floors and he looked up with fearful blue eyes to see Dan with a smile of pure evil on his face.

He was in for hell.

Nathan had managed to roll onto his back and sit up halfway when the pain hit him hard. He shoved his good hand into his mouth to keep from crying out too loudly, and, breathing heavily through his nose, managed to sit up completely and lean against his bed. Directly in front of him was his full length mirror, reflecting the moonlight through the open window. Nathan crawled gingerly to the front of the mirror and began assessing his injuries.

He had a cut on his forehead from where he fell on the floor, and another cut on his chin. The bruises—he knew there would be plenty of bruises—were varying in size, the worst ones (from what he could see) being the two around his neck that looked like hands that wrapped around his neck. He was almost positive he had at least two broken ribs, if not more, and he didn't even want to look at his back, that hurt the most out of everything.

Slowly, so as not to jostle his sore body any more, Nathan got to his knees, which were bruised from Dan keeping him on them for so long, and stood to full height. He ran a hand through his hair, grimacing at the pain he felt from when Dan had grabbed his hair to yank his head back as he pleasured himself using his mouth…

Shaking his head to will away the awful memories, Nathan located his gym bag that Dan threw in the room while he was cleaning up his mess, and began throwing clothes and items he thought he would need. He briefly worried about his mother, and the kind of condition she was in, but he knew that Dan wouldn't inflict the same kind of damage on to her that he received.

'Nights like these are the worst,' he thought with a shiver of fear. No wonder why his mother was drugged up all the time. He honestly couldn't blame the woman; she was in a living hell, with no hope of ever getting out.

Nathan walked into his walk in bathroom and flipped the switch, the light illuminating what the moonlight couldn't. Here, he could plainly see the bruises that marred his chest and his neck. His eyes were dull and lifeless, and red from crying. The cuts on his head and his chin were minor and would heal without scaring.

It was his mental and emotional scarring he was more concerned with.

He grabbed his toothbrush and his cologne from the counter before exiting and getting his bag. When he zipped the bag up, he found an old hoodie of his on his bed to slip over his head before grabbing his keys and cellphone and silently closing the door. He quickly and quietly made his way down the stairs, and through the darkened house, slipping his feet into flip-flops by the back door and going to his car. He gave a sigh of relief when no noise alerted him that someone was coming, and he hopped into his car, stuck the keys in the ignition, and took off driving.

He hoped Lucas was still awake.

This is my first time posting my writing anywhere, so I would appreciate constructive criticism and just overall feedback on the story so far. Thanks :)