𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 (𝘣𝘹𝘣)

twenty seven

"Hi! Welcome!" Adrian opens the door with the brightest smile on his face, Katen right by his side.

Benjamin smiles back and holds out the bottle of wine. "This is for you."

"Oh, wow. Thank you so much," Adrian glances down at the bottle, "Come in."

Noah nods at Benjamin, letting him in first. Noah walks in and shuts the door behind himself.

Benjamin looks around. "Wow. You guys have a really nice place."

Katen smiles. "Thanks. We got it right before he graduated college."

Benjamin nods. "Oh...Nice."

"So, uh, Noah. How long do you have to use the cane? What happened to your leg?"

Noah takes a seat at the table. "Oh, uh. It's not my leg, it's just my knee. I had a pretty intense accident playing basketball in college. This is my third surgery."

"Oh wow. What happened?"

"Tore both my ACLS and shattered my knee caps."

Katen frowns. "Ah, man. That's sucks. Did you finish playing college basketball?"

"No uh...They took away my scholarship and with all my medical bills I wouldn't have been able to stay anyways."

"Ah. I'm sorry, man."

Noah shrugs. "It's cool. I've pretty much accepted it, you know? Just gotta keep going, I guess."

**
Katen clears his throat and looks up at Benjamin. "Uh. I don't really know how to approach like...Any of this."

Benjamin looks up from his plate where he had just moved his food around for a few minutes while Adrian told them about himself.

"I've uhm...Told Adrian...As much as I can. About the past...It feels good to have him by my side, you know?"

Benjamin shifts in his seat and nods. "Yeah, I guess."

"I guess...My main goal is to just...Hopefully, help you find some closure with what happened. We were so young and...I never wanted to hurt anybody."

Benjamin bites his lip and looks down at his plate. He was the only one who hadn't picked up their fork to eat.

"I treated you so horribly to try and protect myself from...Myself, I guess. I tried to come out...In middle school-."

Benjamin looks up with wide eyes.

"My dad threatened to kill me...And so I lied...Said it was a joke and then internalized it. I was the son my dad wanted to have. I guess I targeted you cause I wanted what you had."

Benjamin scoffs and looks up. "All due respect...You don't even know what I had or what I went through."

"Benjamin-."

"No. I had to deal with you for four years...On top of...Being abused by my father and dealing with some...Serious mental health issues. It wasn't all picture-perfect for me, Katen."

"I'm aware and I'm sorry. I used you as a punching bag cause I felt as if I had no way out."

Benjamin reaches over to grab Noah's hand. Noah felt his hand was trembling and sweaty. He squeezes it once for reassurance.

"I know now that just because I went through things it wasn't fair for me to act out on you, and treat you like that."

Benjamin takes a deep breath before standing up from the table. "Can you guys give me a second?"

Katen nods his head and looks down at his food. Noah grabs Benjamin's hand in an instant, "Want me to come with you?"

Benjamin shakes his head. "I'll be okay."

*
Benjamin stepped out to the front porch. He sits down on the first step, bringing his hands up to his face.

Katen was so different.

And Benjamin could tell he was getting therapy and the help he needed. He could tell he trusted Adrian and had him as his support system.

But, he didn't know how to feel.

Katen opens the front door, looking down at Benjamin. "Mind if I join?"

Benjamin takes a gulp and nods as he scoots over. Katen sighs as he takes a seat. "I'm sorry if I overwhelmed you."

Benjamin sniffs and shakes his head. "No, you're fine."

Katen nods and looks forward at the street. "Well...I understand if you don't forgive me. I just wanted you to know I was sorry."

"It's not that...I don't forgive you. I just...Some of the things you did to me are hard to just...Forget, you know?"

"I know," Katen rubs his hands together.

Benjamin sits up. "Middle school?"

Katen chuckles dryly and nods his head. "Yeah. Remember I didn't come to school for a month? I was...Recovering from what my dad did to me."

Benjamin frowns and loses eye contact with Katen. He had healed scars all over his face, but most assumed it was just from all the fights he used to get in.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I'm pretty much okay, I think."

Benjamin nods. "I understand that. Like I said...My dad was abusive pretty much my whole life. I was just really good at covering it up."

Katen shakes his head. "That fucking sucks. I'm so sorry."

Benjamin sighs and looks up at Katen. "Look, it's gonna be hard for me to...Be completely okay with what happened between us...But I'm willing to try."

Katen widens his eyes. "Seriously?"

"You can't justify what you did to me...But you were constantly going through abuse and trauma and...That's not fair. You never had a chance."

Katen nods his head.

"I'm really...Proud of you. And thank you...For apologizing. It means a lot."

**
Adrian smiles as he shakes Benjamin's hand. "Thanks for coming over. It was really nice."

Benjamin smiles back. "Of course. And thank you for dinner."

Noah nods back. "It was delicious. Thanks."

Katen smiles and shrugs his shoulders. "See you around?"

Benjamin nods with a soft smile on his face. "Yeah. See ya around."

**