The final school bell of the day rang and all the students are rushing out the door. Nathan goes to sit under one of the trees, looking through all the photos he took today on his DSLR. He hears a familiar laugh from last night coming from the front entrance of Blackwell. Nathan turns his head to see Warren walking down the steps with Max Caulfield. He doesn't think much of Max, only that he doesn't like her. The two sit at one of the wooden tables laughing about something. Probably one of Warren's lame jokes like the one he told him last night. He scoffs but raises the camera and with the click of a button, he captures an image of Warren laughing. Mouth open, lips wide, teeth showing; Nathan couldn't imagine seeing a better smile.

"Oh my God, you would not believe the day I had." Victoria's voiced from behind shocked him and he quickly turned off his camera. "Max Caulfield was being her usual bitchy self but worse. She 'accidentally' spilled milk all over me today at lunch and she just got off scotch free. I'm so gonna fuck up her work later." She takes a seat on the lawn in front of him. "Well enough about me, can I see some of the photos you took today?" She gestures towards his camera.

"No! I mean, they're not really that great. I need to touch them up on my computer before I show anyone." Victoria rolls her eyes and mutters a 'whatever.'

"So I was thinking that the club should throw another party just for the hell of it next week. We could either have a Hawaiian theme or an underwater theme. I haven't decided yet so I'll need your input on that. I also need you to get into contact with your dealer to bring more goodies and spice up the fun." Nathan begins to tune her out. His gaze shift from the motormouth to the same boy he took a photo of. He's showing Max something on his phone that's making him laugh his ass off while Max looks rather disgusted. He could clearly read her lips saying 'That's gross.' Nonetheless, his eyes are still focusing on the smile on the boy's face, like he's addicted to it.

Sometimes he likes to imagine what his life would be like if things were different, if things were better for him. Maybe his parents would actually be proud of him. Maybe he'd have more than Victoria as a real friend. Maybe he wouldn't have been such an ass to almost everyone around him. Maybe someone would've like Nathan for Nathan and not give a shit about what his last name is. His thoughts wander to what happened last night. It was weird how easy it was for him to open up to Warren. Could it have been because the boy wouldn't stop leaving him alone? Or was it that there was someone next to him at his lowest point, willing to listen to whatever Nathan had to lay on him. There were too many questions he wanted answers to.

Eyes still fixated on the boy, he sees him and his friend walk over to the school bus that takes them downtown. He almost feels disappointed that he wouldn't be in his sights the moment he gets on that bus.

"Nathan." He hears Victoria calling out to him. "Hello? Nathan, did you just hear anything I just said?"

"Uh, yeah. Party this weekend. Sounds good."

"So you're gonna contact your dealer. Right. And don't forget that-"

"Sorry, Vic. I've got a massive headache. Listen, I'd really love to talk some more but I just need take a little rest in my dorm." Nathan gets up from the ground and brushes some blades of grass off his pants. "I'll see you tomorrow, cool?" Victoria doesn't hide that her face is a little confused at the boy's odd behavior. Nathan starts to walk towards the Prescott dormitory. It wasn't a lie. He really did have a headache. After all, it had been a while since he last took the medication his therapist prescribed for him.

He dreaded every time he was forced to see the therapist his father made him go to. There was something that Nathan didn't like about talking to a complete stranger about his feelings. Sure he did it with Warren, who he considers more of an acquaintance at school, but the difference was that Warren genuinely cared while the shrink was being paid by his father. He could give the therapist the benefit of the doubt if they could really help. But to him, it just wasn't working, no matter how many times he went. Could there be something missing? Could that missing thing have been part of the reason why therapy wasn't working for him?

Nathan takes out the key from his pocket and unlocks his dorm room. The blinds are still shut, only allowing a little bit of light to come through. He just preferred his room that way. Setting his keys and camera on his nightstand, he picks up one of the orange prescription bottles. The boy sits on his bed, only to stare at the bottle in his hand. There was still two thirds of the pills that have not been taken. Taking that thing was torturous for him and he wishes he didn't need to take anything just like any 'normal' person.

Sighing to himself, he pops two of the pills out and hesitates as he looks at them. It's almost as if the capsules are mocking him, telling him that he isn't sane enough, that he wouldn't last in this world if he didn't consume them.

Put those thoughts away. He tries to tell himself. Just take them. Take them, and you'll be normal. You'll be like everyone else. Popping them both in his mouth, he quickly drowns them with water as they go down his throat. His stomach doesn't feel well afterwards and it didn't help that his headache wasn't gone either. Sleep. He needed some rest especially after being so hammered from last night, trying to forget everything his father said to him over the phone.

Nathan kicks off his shoes and climbs into his covers. A few minutes pass and he's annoyed that his mind isn't being put to rest. He turns towards his nightstand and presses the play button on his bluetooth speaker. The room begins to fill with the sound of whales and it makes Nathan feel happy. It puts his mind into a state of meditation and before he knew it, he was already asleep.

By the time he was awake, the room was in complete darkness. Looking at the time on his phone, it was already 7 PM. He gets out of bed, stretching his arms out. The rest did him good as he no longer felt the need to throw up. Nathan walks towards his desk with his camera in his hand. There were no other plans for him for the rest of the night and homework didn't exist in his mind. The photos on his SD card transfer onto his computer. He might as well start editing some of his photos instead of sitting on his bed and self-loathing himself.

The first photo he opens in Photoshop is the picture of Warren he took. He just loved seeing the joy on the boy's face. At least there was someone out there enjoying what life had to offer. He starts to control the depth in the background, blurring out the green trees, making Warren pop in the photo. He cropped it so you could only see the boy from the chest up, no longer seeing his meow box shirt. Majority of the photos Nathan took were dark and depressing, although they were all very well shot, they seemed too eerie for everyone else. Photographs of dead animals aren't that well perceived by children. However, this one was quite the departure from his usual works.

He went on to color correct the photo. Nathan usually left his photos black and white but he was on fence of what to do for the photo of Warren. Keeping it monochromatic would help with the consistency in all of his works but there was something charming about keeping it in colors. Like it gives the photo life. Deciding he likes how it currently is, he tries to make the green in the blurred out background a little more vibrant. It gives the boy an almost glowing effect. The work was finished and Nathan was almost proud of what he did to the image. He creates a new folder on his desktop and names it 'Warren Graham.' He then drags the photo to that folder. This isn't weird. I'm just organizing my photos, that's all. He thinks to himself, justifying his reasoning for having that folder.

His stomach begins to growl. It was already eight and he hadn't eaten since lunch, which wasn't much. He puts his shoes on and decides to head to the kitchen on the third floor of the dorms. He could use something more filling but ramen is good enough for the night. Nathan goes to lock his dorm and hears explosions coming from the dorm across from him, Warren's room. He puts his ear against the door and hears Warren gasping at something that's going on in the movie. Intrigued by what's going on, he knocks on the boy's door. The sound from the film is paused and it only takes Warren a moment to open the door. His face is shocked when he realizes Nathan is standing in front of his room.

"Nathan? What's up? Did you need something?"

"No, just curious about what you were watching."

"I was just re-watching Avengers: Infinity War because that movie is just so mind-blowing. You want to watch it with me? I wouldn't mind some company. Plus I have leftovers from Two Whales. More than enough than I can finish myself." Warren opens the door wider revealing the laptop on his bed with a takeout bag from the diner. His stomach grumbles again. Two Whales leftovers sounded a lot better than ramen right now. Nathan agrees and Warren lets him into his room.

He takes in the surrounding around him. He had never seen what Warren's room was like, only bits of it whenever he walked by the room and the boy walks in or comes out of it. There were movie posters all around the room ranging from various genres. From sci-fi to action and animation. His dorm also did not have a lack of science and space elements to it. Albert Einstein had a place on the back of Warren's door while he had a pin of the Milky Way sticking on his bulletin board. The shelf was really fascinating to him; there weren't any DVDs, just a lot of figures and statues from all sorts of movies, TV shows and video games. There were even books on various scientific topics. Warren had a tiny coffee table in his room that had a giant book that appears to be filled with images from space, taken by the Hubble telescope.

"You seem to be really big on movies, but it doesn't seem like you have much of a collection." Nathan says to him, comparing his own shelf full of DVDs of movies with dark themes.

"That's because I pirate them all onto my flash drive." Warren lets out an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "I would have bought them all but they're just really expensive." Warren goes to sit on his bed and he pats on the space next to him, signaling Nathan to sit with him. "You want me to start over? I'm only a third of the way through but I don't mind seeing it all again."

"What did you say we were watching again? Something Avengers? I don't think I've seen any of them?"

"Wait a minute, you've never seen any of the Marvel movies?" Nathan shakes his head. It was never really a genre he had explored. He usually liked sticking with watching movies with dark elements in them. A part of him was always scared that people would make fun of him if he liked something that would be remotely considered geeky. "Okay, we can't watch this one. We need to start from the very beginning with Iron Man. Then after we watch all the eighteen films that came before it, we can go back to Infinity War."

"Wait a minute, the other eighteen? There are nineteen films in this franchise?"

"With many more in the works which means we need you to get caught up ASAP."

"Hold on, I didn't agree to this commitment."

"Too late." Warren opens up Iron Man on his laptop and movie begins to play. He hands Nathan some chicken tenders and fries, muttering a 'Thanks' to the boy. Warren takes a bite out of his half eaten burger.

His eyes are focused on the movie. It was odd to have someone watching a film with him. He usually watched movies by himself on his projector in his dorm. Victoria wasn't a fan of what Nathan liked to watch and Nathan wasn't a fan of the romantic comedies that the other girl loved seeing. He just found them to be ridiculously unrealistic. Events in those movies can't possibly happen in real life, especially to him. Nathan would just reject every time Victoria invited him to see a movie but he couldn't bear to watch those type of films and Victoria does the same when Nathan wanted to see something but it creeped her out. Going to the drive-in or the theater alone wasn't an option even though he left that way most of the time. He could only imagine himself being taunted for being a loner Prescott. None the other Vortex club members took interest in his is activities that don't include alcohol and drugs.

They were halfway through the film which to Nathan's own surprise, he was actually really enjoying. He thinks maybe branching into more film genres isn't such a bad idea. He eyes slowly shift to the boy who's still wearing the meow box shirt from earlier in the day. Warren's eyes are so focused on what's happening on screen with a slight smile of joy on his face, watching Tony Stark put on his armor.

"I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers initiative." Were the last words he heard before the movie ended. Warren looked so excited, he asked about his thought on the film.

"It wasn't bad. Quite enjoyable."

"What do you mean 'It wasn't bad'? It was amazing, man!" He gives Nathan a playful push of the shoulders. "You up for the next one?" And he agreed. By the time the third movie ended, it was already three in the morning. The two boys were too busy enjoying the time with each other to even notice how late it was.

"Damn, it's already 3AM? Looks like we'll have to save the next one for another night." Warren says to him. "We are going to watch the rest of the movies together, right?"

"Definitely." Nathan gets off of the bed and Warren follows suit as he leads him to the door.

"Goodnight, Nathan."

"Goodnight." Nathan says with a smile. He heads to the bathroom to wash-up before bed. Tonight wasn't such a bad night. For once it was actually great.


The end of the week came by fast and there was going to be another Vortex club party tonight. It was the last period of the day and Nathan is at Rachel's locker, inviting her to the party. They talked from time to time but he's not as close to her like Victoria. The only thing that set her apart from the rest of the people he knew in his life was that she wasn't fake. At least she doesn't appear so to him.

"Sorry, Nathan. I'd love to come but Max invited me to hang out with Warren."

"Warren? Hang out to do what?"

"Warren just bought a new TV for his room and he wanted to celebrate by hosting a little get together in his dorm." Nathan was almost hurt that Warren didn't invite him. Why would he? They only hung out about once. It's possible that Warren didn't see the two of them as friend who could casually hang out with one another other yet. But then why would he invite him to keep watching the Marvel movies with him? He almost wanted to confront Warren about this. And Warren bought a TV? Nathan thought it was odd since he told him earlier in the week that he was complaining about how expensive it was to buy movies.

"Anyway, I'll see you later, Nate. I have to get to class which you should be doing too." She closes her locker and heads into the classroom. Nathan sighs heavily as he really isn't in the mood to go to his last class. The school day was almost over and he couldn't wait to destress.

Evening had arrived and Nathan struggles to figure out what to wear. Victoria decided on an underwater theme so he thought something blue would be an appropriate attire. He spots a blue sweater in the back of his closet, it was something he hadn't worn since his earlier years at Blackwell. Deciding that he wanted to please Victoria by at least matching the color scheme of the party, he reluctantly takes off his red jacket and puts the sweater over his t-shirt.

As he exits the dorm, he sees Max and Chloe Price walking in his direction, assuming they're there for Warren's little get together. He wasn't the biggest fan of Chloe, and he actually had a reason for it as they would tend to fight over drugs and money. He was ecstatic to find out she had be expelled from attending the school.

"What's up, twink?" Chloe says as she and Max walk past him.

"Get the fuck out of my face." Why can't Warren get better friends? He thought but then again, who is he to judge. He made his way to the school's indoor swimming pool where the party was already in full effect and finds the Vortex club in the VIP section.

Victoria greets him and asks where the drugs are. Nathan freezes. He completely forgot about contacting Frank Bowser, his drug dealer, about them. His mind was too distracted by other thoughts aside from drugs for the first time in a while. Victoria thought the party was going to be lame since they only had booze to have fun with.

Nathan went to sit on the couch. He still wasn't in the greatest mood and was almost holding a grudge against Warren for not inviting him to the get together that was happening in his room. Everyone around is dancing and having a great time but he was just sulking. The only thing he planned to do that night was to have a drink while scrolling through his phone and being called a buzzkill by Victoria. He saw that Rachel had recently updated her Instagram story. It was probably her in Warren's room. He taps on the circle icon and sees her and Warren in a selfie with a plate of California rolls. He could tell from the background that they were making it themselves. The next story was an image of Chloe getting soy sauce stain on her shirt while looking really upset a Max who looks guilty, like she was the one who spilt it on her. By the looks of things, Warren seems to be having a great time without his presence. He wasn't even enjoying himself at the party and without a thought, he just left. Victoria didn't even notice that he was gone.

He ended up in front of Warren's door once again and knocks on the door. It was opened almost immediately by Warren himself. Like last time, his face was full of shock.

"Why are you always so surprised to see me at your door?" Nathan asks him.

"Because that usually doesn't happen."

"You should get used to it then." He lets himself into the room.

"Are you implying that this is gonna be a regular thing?" And Nathan only mutters a 'Maybe.' He looks around the room and sees Chloe and Max with a shock on their face as well. It seems like he has that effect on people now. Rachel was there but it seemed like she was happy that Nathan was there. She was cutting the California roll that he assumes she just rolled up. There were ingredients all over the room and a horribly low budget sci-fi movie playing on Warren's new TV. Warren suggests that he sits next to him on the floor where his coffee table is.

"How good are your cooking skills?" Warren asks him. Nathan had zero experience in that category. His father and mother never cooked at home, they always hired someone to do it for them. He felt no need to learn something like that if he can get someone else to do it for him. Though, a part of Nathan sometimes wished that his parents did cook at home so they could enjoy a meal together that wasn't made by someone who was being paid by his father for once.

"I don't know how."

"That's alright. It's something that everyone can easily learn. I'll even teach you." He pulls a sheet of seaweed out of its plastic packaging. "Well we're not dealing with a stove this time so you can't burn anything. Unless you somehow magically find a way to do so then I'd totally be impressed." He pulls out another sheet but this time places it in front of Nathan. "It'll be easy, we're just going to be putting things together on this one sheet. Just follow what I do." Warren wets the sheet with a tiny bit of water and adds sushi rice and Nathan does the same. "Now this part is really hard to mess up. You just add all of these along the bottom part of the rice." He sees Warren adding cucumbers, avocado and tobiko amongst other ingredients and squirting a sauce that is a mixture of sriracha and mayonnaise.

Nathan watches Warren roll up all the ingredients. He tries to do the same but it ends up falling apart. Chloe breakout into a laugh.

"My night has officially been made. It even makes up for the soy sauce you got on me, Max." Chloe says, making full of the boy's failure.

"What the fuck ever" Nathan turns to Warren. "I don't think I made it tight enough." He said with disappointment. Warren reassures him that it's alright and they try it one more time, this time succeeding. "Suck it, bitch." He tells Chloe.

"I'd rather not." The room erupts with laughter with Max complaining about the lame joke she just made. Time passes as the group enjoys the food they made together and making fun of the movie in front of them. It was 10PM by the time everything had settled down. The girls just left leaving only Warren and Nathan in the room. Warren complained about how they made so much food, their stomachs felt sick despite finishing it all. They were picking up all the trash left behind and cleaning up the mess of food.

"Nathan, you really didn't need to stay behind and help. I would've been fine cleaning this all up on my own."

"It's not a big deal. I'm right across from you. I'd feel guilt if I just left knowing you had to clean all of this up yourself." He says as he stacks up all the dirty bowls and plates. By the time they got Warren's room looking back to normal, an hour had already past. Warren attempts to carry the heavy stacks of plates and bowls to the kitchen but Nathan still insisted to help. As they start to clean the dishes together, Nathan couldn't help but wonder why Warren never asked him to hang out.

"I mean I tried texting you when you gave me your number that night we were having a marathon but I just kept getting 'Who's Nathan?' as a reply so I just assumed you typed it in wrong or you wanted to pull some kind of prank on me." He chuckles. "I even tried knocking on your door but I never got any answer and whenever I saw you in school, you were with Victoria."

"What's wrong with Victoria?"

"She can be a little, how do I put it? Intimidating." Nathan laughs. He doesn't blame Warren for thinking that way. Victoria can be a little aggressive at getting what she wants.

"You know, I'm surprised you bought that TV. It's nice but you were complaining about the cost of movies."

"I know but I saw this as an investment. I work part-time at a shop downtown and saved up enough to buy it. Now we don't have to crowd around the tiny screen on my laptop."

"You know, I have a projector in my room. We could've just used that. Besides, nobody asked you to buy a TV just to watch movies with me."

"I never said it was just for you. I was planning to buy one a long time ago. It was only now that I had enough to get one."

Exhausted they were finally finished with the dishes until a mischievous thought appeared in Warren's mind.

"Oh, I think we missed something." Warren says looking into the soapy sink with Nathan asking 'Where?' Nathan doesn't see anything. "Right here." Nathan looks up from the sink and Warren sprays his face with the hose.

"You're a dead motherfucker, Graham." Nathan takes the suds from the sink and throws it at Warren's face. Luckily he dodges it and continues to spray Nathan who's begging for him to stop as he's laughing. Nathan grabs a bowl and scoops up some of the water and suds which successfully hits Warren this time. He stands still feeling victorious until he is sprayed with water one last time. "I thought we were done cleaning for the night." They look around and there's water all over the kitchen. Warren grabs a roll of paper towels and hands some to Nathan as they try to dry everything up.

"Can I ask you a favor?" Warren asks him.

"I don't think you're in a position to ask after what you just did to me."

"What are you doing tomorrow evening?" He proceeds anyway.

"Nothing really. Why?"

"Good. I need help with something."