Winning His War

46

Andrew's POV

"This is the worst idea you've ever had," Barrett dismisses with a wave of his hand as Dev goes ridged beside him.

"No, it's a good idea that you two are afraid of for some reason."

"You don't get to pretend that you know what's best for him," Barrett said harshly before letting a tense sigh.

I watched with a bit of pride as he closed his eyes and physically stepped away from the conversation. His back faced me as he stared out the wall of windows while working on calming himself down.

It had only been a few weeks but Barrett was making a lot of progress so far.  The ADHD meds I was able to prescribe him were helping curb his short attention span but the anger issues have proven to be more difficult to treat, thankfully this isn't my first time treating it.

Dev and I stood there silently as Barrett took in his deep breaths before turning back around. He looked just as upset but when he spoke he was able to push the anger to the back burner.

"You didn't see what it was like for him, for either of them. It's not just Jem you need to think about," he said with a forced calm voice.

"Barrett's right," Dev sighed. "Patrick had to physically drag Liam off of Jem that day. Having both of them back in this house again, even for a short visit could be so triggering."

Months. It's been months since Liam last saw Jem and the impact of that was showing.

Ever since the threat started Jem stopped going to see Liam in order to keep the threat away from him and his boyfriends. At first it was only meant to be a few weeks that Jem could brush off as a busy period but now that it's escalated into getting shot and bedrest, Jem's lame excuse isn't working anymore and Liam is paying the price for it. His anxiety has come back worse than before, not to mention the recent nightmares he's been having about Jem getting murdered without anyone knowing. He couldn't stand much more of this.

Jem would never admit it but he was starting to Liam just as much though. Every time I went over to his apartment for an emergency session the second I got back Jem demanded to know every thing that had been happening. He tried not to look disappointed when I refused to tell him anything but his frown always slipped though.

Besides, I think Liam would be able to talk sense into him about a thing or two.

"Liam has never once mentioned a bad memory in this house, much less lead onto this place being a trigger. If anything he would love to come visit just to see a few people he didn't say goodbye to before he was sent to camp. This could end up helping him find closure."

Both of them were quite for a moment.

The shared a look that only the two of them could understand, seemingly having a silent conversation, before Barrett groaned.

"And what about Jem? You think bringing Liam here is going to help him at all? It was hard enough to send him away the first time. You think he can go through that again?"

"They both know when they say goodbye at the end of the night that it won't be the last time they see each other. It won't be anything like the night Jem sent him away."

Another silent moment passed as the two stared at each other.

"Do you honestly think it would help them," Dev asked with a sigh.

"Dude who's side are you on," Barrett said with a glare as his fist balled up on his lap but Dev only ignored him.

"Liam and Jem's at the moment but I'll let you know if that changes," Dev scoffed as he looked to me expectedly.