Nathan watched as Warren picked up his satchel and started down the hallway.
He was dumbfounded. No one has ever been able to calm him down from an attack so quickly. Especially someone he just insulted. He glared at the ground as he clenched his fists. He didn't like when people saw him like that… so out of control, like a fucking 2 year old. He doesn't deserve friends. He didn't deserve someone like Warren.
Warren only made it a few steps away from the other before he noticed that he wasn't following behind him. "Come on..." Warren said quietly as he took Nathan's clenched fist in his hand. Nathan's natural instinct was to pull his hand away, but he fought the urge and let Warren lead him. After walking for a bit, Nathan's hand relaxed and intertwined with Warren's. Nathan was terrified that Warren would pull his hand away in disgust, but he didn't. Warren actually felt somewhat victorious when he felt Nathan grip his hand. It didn't feel intimate, more like Warren was comforting him.
Warren's hand was warm and soft... everything Nathan's weren't. His hands were calloused and scarred from all the times he'd fought. Whether they were trying to get something from him or he had just pissed them off, every one of his conflicts ended in a fight. He never knew why his hands were so cold, but he couldn't care less. He looked down at the hand he had punched the lockers with, it was already bruising.
As the front door to the school came into view, Warren's grip loosened as a sign that he was going to let go. As their hands detached, Nathan frowned at the feeling of cold air back in his palm. "I'm not sure if there are people out there or not; if you don't want to be seen with me its fine. I'll meet you there." Warren gave a sad smile as he opened the door and stepped out into the autumn air before Nathan could say anything.
Warren's words made Nathan's chest ache, but that was the sad truth of their situation. Did he care if people saw him with Warren? There's no way that people would think they're together just because they're walking together. 'It only matters what you think of yourself.' The words Warren spoke earlier replayed in his head. The door clicked shut, waking Nathan from his thought. What was he doing?
Nathan pushed the door open and jogged to catch up with Warren. Warren was surprised to see Nathan walking next to him, but he couldn't help the joy that welled in his chest.
There were some leftover students hanging around the front of the school, but the two said nothing about it as they walked back to the dorms. Nathan could feel the stares on his back as he walked with Warren. Whether they were really looking or it was just his paranoia, he couldn't shake his discomfort. He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. He wanted more than anything to turn around and snap, but he contained himself, clenching his fists so hard his nails bit into his palm.
Warren could sense how tense Nathan was beside him. "We're almost there, don't worry." Warren whispered to the other. His words somewhat calmed Nathan as they finally made it to the dorm. Warren opened the front door and Nathan followed closely behind as they walked through the entrance.
The dorm's halls were clear and Nathan was thankful. He let out a deep sigh once the door closed behind them. "You okay?" Warren asked as the two continued to walk towards the stairs. "Peachy." Nathan stated sarcastically. Warren looked to Nathan and smirked. Nathan ignored the other as he went ahead of him to go up the stairs first.
Warren didn't complain as he watched the other go up the stairs quickly. He grabbed the rail and began his ascent behind the other. He started off with normal steps, but with the bruising of his ribs, it slowly became harder for Warren to go up the stairs as fast as usual.
"Is it my turn to ask if you're okay?" Nathan asked as he watched the other boy struggle to climb up the last few steps. Warren pushed past the pain and stood next to Nathan, trying his best to hide his loss of breath. "You weren't going to help me?" Warren asked jokingly. "I was going to, but you looked like you had it. Besides, I'm not always going to be here to help you. You're gonna have to get use to not being babied." Nathan argued. Warren frowned, he was right.
The two continued their journey and finally made it to Warren's room. "Oh. I'm going to go get that medicine for you. Just leave the door unlocked." Nathan said before walking across the hall to his own room. Warren fished the key to his dorm out of his bag and unlocked the door, walking in and closing it behind him.
He looked around his room and made sure there wasn't anything too embarrassing out in the open. He was glad he decided to pick up before he went to school. He never would have thought that he'd actually have company. All of his friends usually left for the weekend, leaving him here by himself to watch lame movies all alone. Warren sighed, smiling as he went over to his closet.
Nathan found the pills he was looking for; making sure that none of his other meds got mixed in with them somehow. He's been taking pills for as long as he could remember. He's always had problems with his anger, which usually lead to attacks. But it wasn't just anger. Anxiety, paranoia, muscle spasms; everything was wrong with him. He took antidepressants and a whole bunch of others to calm him, but he hasn't been taking them lately. He doesn't like that he has to take all these pills just for people to fucking deal with him.
He closed his safe, waiting for the beep to signal it was locked before he stood from his crouched position.
He put the bottles into his pocket as he made his way out of his room, making sure his door is locked before crossing the hall and opening the door to Warren's room.
He walked in right when Warren had taken his shirt off, leaving him in nothing but his briefs. Warren's bruise had gotten darker, traveling farther up his torso. Nathan's face flushed as Warren turned around surprised. "S-Sorry I thought you were going to take a bit longer so I decided I should change really fast." Warren said as he picked up his pants from the floor to throw in his hamper. Nathan entered the room, closing the door behind him. "It's fine." He said as he stood there awkwardly.
Warren continued to get dressed; going through his shirts he had hung up. "You can sit if you want." Warren said once he noticed how awkward Nathan looked. Nathan gave a slight nod, going over to Warren's bed and sitting on the edge.
Nathan eyes wandered over to Warren as he picked out a shirt. His back was surprisingly muscular. You wouldn't be able to tell with as many shirts as he usually wore. Nathan's eyes wandered lower, he had a nice ass, that much was noticeable, pants or not. But what shocked Nathan the most was the fact that Warren's legs looked so silky smooth. He must shave because of swim or something. No man's legs are that naked naturally.
"Is there something wrong?" Warren asked, chucking when he caught Nathan staring from the corner of his eye. Nathan jumped at his voice, snapping his head away from the other, blushing. "Oh… N-No there isn't." Warren smirked, "It's my legs, isn't it?" Nathan refused to answer, finding Warren's Friends poster more interesting.
Warren held in his laugh as he slipped a navy blue long sleeve over his head, biting his lip at the pain as he lifted his arm gingerly through the sleeve. Once his injured side of his body was all sorted out he slid his other arm through, getting out his sweats with the swim logo on the hip to slide up his legs.
"Hey, I was thinking, since it's getting kind of late, we should get some dinner before we start watching anything." Warren said while tying the strings to his sweats. Nathan nodded; he was actually starting to get hungry. He never really had an appetite towards the end of the day, but skipping breakfast today had his stomach growling almost on cue. He was glad Warren hadn't heard.
"No one delivers to the school, so we'll have to drive some place. Anything in particular you want to get? I help tutor some of the science kids and they give me like 15 bucks an hour so I'll pay." Warren explained, sitting on his bed next to Nathan so he could put his shoes back on.
"I'm okay with anything. Not picky." Nathan stated, watching as warren brought his foot up onto the bed so he could tie his laces. "That doesn't help me much." Warren chuckled as he brought up his other foot.
Nathan shrugged; it really didn't matter to him. "Fine then, does pizza sound good?" Nathan nodded. "Sure." He said, a small smirk playing on his lips. "Oh yeah, here." Nathan pulled the white pill bottles from his pocket to give to Warren. "Be sure to take one of each every four hours." He instructed.
"Okay, Mom." Warren joked as he stood from the bed to walk back his closet.
