This chapter is for Loving Erik and Nate. Hope I did it justice!

Day fifty-five of the Nate and Sully friendship.

"Sully!" Nate yelled, getting a muffled call back in reply. Nate walked into the living room of the motel they were currently staying in and saw Sully had his face pressed up against the couch while he explored it looking for the remote. "We don't have anything to eat." To make a point, Nate's stomach made a noise not unlike the sound of a cat meowing for attention. Sully, who'd retrieved the remote, had flopped onto the couch and pondered over their dilemma.

"Well, kid, I can't go, I've got to meet up with my new boss." Nate vaguely remembered the shady man who had hired Sully a few weeks prior. Nate huffed. Sully rolled his eyes at the kid's antics and took out his wallet. "Listen, kid." I trust you. Here's some money." Sully handed Nate 60 dollars, much to the kid's surprise. "Go buy us suitable food, enough to last us a few days at least." Sully said suitable in a way that stood out from any other word he'd ever said to the kid. Nate raised his eyebrows.

"Is coke classed as suitable?" Nate asked, just the right amount of cheek in his words. Sully chuckled.

"What else would you drink, kid? It's suitable enough." Sully replied, much to Nate's happiness. "C'mon kid, I'll walk with you to the store. It's on my way." Nate and Sully put on their coats and left. Nate had his own set of keys to the motel, which suited the two of them fine. Sully liked the kid to be independent and Nate liked to come and go as he pleased. As long as he came back before 9 o'clock, and stayed out of trouble, then Sully didn't mind. The two made their journey to the store, making sure they'd wrapped up to face the biting cold that was November. Sully and Nate held conversation throughout the journey, Nate making Sully laugh whilst he told him a story about something that happened to him when he was younger. They finally got to the store and Sully split off, leaving the kid to buy as much coke as he pleased. Although the store was only a few streets over, it'd felt like a long journey to Nate, so he told himself he'd make good on some alleyways he'd seen on the walk over. Nate walked around the store, picking up a whole bunch of edible looking things and stopped when he got to something he'd never seen. He picked them up and tried to read the label, pronouncing a word he'd never heard of. "Do-nuts." He whispered it, before adding them to his pile. He paid at the till and headed back to the motel. After about one street, his casted arm ached even though it had practically healed and he was getting the cast off in about a week or so. He saw one of the alleyways he was going to take, but skipped it. That was, until it started to rain like there was no tomorrow. Nate groaned and turned, heading down the alleyway that was providing cover from the rain. Damage had been done though, and his shaggy hair was plastered to his face making it difficult to see. He silently cursed Sully, for telling him to cut his hair. Something moved near Nate and he slowed for a second, before moving faster than he was before. Nate heard someone whistle near him, a bad feeling suddenly building in the pit of his stomach.

"Hey!" Nate almost kept walking, but three teenagers who were definitely older than him stepped out in front of him. He slowed to a stop; the bag feeling like it was weighing a lot more than it was a minute ago. They started to walk towards Nate, which caused him to tighten his grasp on the bags. The one in front started to speak. "Look guys, a little punk who's bought us some food. Good think too, I'm starving!" The other two tittered, amused with the thought of what they were about to do. They stopped, their aim to close the gap between them and Nate becoming more and more successful. Nate was pissed off. He had enough of being bullied in his life, he wasn't about to let this group of idiots try and bully him. Nate started to walk towards the boys, anger spilling out into his words.

"Hey." He matched the tone of the boy. "Look, it's a bunch of assholes trying to scare the crap out of some punk." He heavily emphasised the word punk. Nate's stride towards the boys had ended and they were only a few feet away now. The smirk that had previously been on their faces had gone without a trace and they were now dangerously staring at Nate. The group looked at each other for a moment, and then rushed Nate. He barely had enough time to drop the bags and put his arms up to his face in defence before the first hit. They pounded on him and Nate fought back with all he had. One tried to grab Nate, which he counteracted by pushing him to the floor. As soon as he did that, he was punched in the face. Nate could taste blood when he licked his lips. The boy had gotten back up again and kicked Nate in the stomach. His recently healed ribs screamed out to Nate in agony and Nate fell to his knees. They all started to kick him, but Nate grabbed a leg and swung it so the boy went off balance and fell into the others. They fell to the floor in surprise. Nate could feel the blood was running freely now, as he scrambled to get away from the boys. A hand snaked around his leg and Nate fell back down to the floor. He landed on his cast and the pain was almost as bad as when he first broke it. Nate looked around him in desperation and saw a plank of wood just outside his reach. Nate tried to crawl towards it, but the hand just tightened around his ankle.

"Not so fast, you little shit." He heard the owner of the hand around his ankle sneer and he began to pull Nate towards him where the boys were waiting to attack again. Nate desperately reached for the plank of wood, but it got further and further away. Turning towards the hand in frustration, he kicked the hands owner in the face, causing the boy to let go and grasp his nose as he shouted out in pain. Nate rapidly crawled and grabbed the plank, just as sets of hands wrapped around his back. Nate's ribs were in agony. In his last attempt to defend himself, he turned around and hit the plank of wood across the head of the closest boy. The boy fell to the ground. Nate stood up and the last boy stopped trying to attack in fear of being hit. Nate put a face to his pain and hit that boy too, just as the boy tried to get away. Nate hit them all repeatedly, his anger getting the better of him. He hit and hit, before realising what he was doing. The boys were all groaning in pain and Nate dropped the plank of wood. He grasped his bags and ran away, running back to the motel. Blood had coated his face and people were staring at him in curiosity as he ran past. He fumbled with his key in the door, before shoving the door back and running inside. He shut the door and locked it, his heart pounding. He put the food away, trying to get his heart rate back down to what was classed as a healthy speed, before going into the bathroom. Nate knew Sully always travelled with a heavily stocked first aid kit, so he pulled it out from under the sink and looked into the mirror. Smeared blood had begun to dry across his face, so much that he was barely recognisable. Nate stared at himself, before turning the tap on and cupping his hands under it. He put the water on his face and hissed in pain. Sucking in his breath, he began again. He got a little bit of the blood off and looked down to put his hands back under the water. He looked back up again and jumped in surprise when he looked into the mirror.

Sully was standing behind him, watching Nate try to clean his face free of blood. Nate put a hand over his heart. "Shit! Jesus, you scared the crap out of me!" Sully just looked at Nate before choking out his words.

"What the hell happened to you, kid?" Sully asked, his eyes portraying what he felt when looking at Nate.

"I was just attacked by these kids who wanted the food." Nate looked down, wiping his face. Sully watched Nate for a couple seconds more.

"Tilt your head back and pinch the bridge of your nose, kid. I'll wash your face." Sully grabbed a flannel and began to wash Nate's face free of blood, while Nate tried not to make any noise in pain. After a couple of minutes, Sully looked into Nate's eyes. "Is that all they did, kid?" Nate looked away, uncomfortable with the question.

"...They hit me a couple of times in the ribs. And I fell on my bad arm. And my back hurts. A lot." Nate listed, Sully listened carefully. Sully shook his head and turned to leave the room. "Wait, where are you going?" Nate asked. Sully looked over his shoulder, chuckling.

"Wait a second, kid. We're going to need backup. I can't leave you alone for one minute." Sully left the room and came back a few moments later, his hands full of snacks which he promptly gave to Nate. Nate smiled and leant back, letting Sully fix him up. Nate cautiously took a donut from the packet while Sully checked his casted arm. He put it in his mouth and his eyes lit up, his whole body straightened out, which caused Sully to move back in fear he had hurt the kid.

"What's wrong?" Sully asked, watching Nate's face.

"Nothin'" Nate replied through a mouth full of the donut he'd just shoved into his mouth. "It's jus' good."