Fixing Broken Hearts

23

Warnings:
-Panic attack

Elliot's POV

I ran to the library after I got a panicky text from Clay and saw him sitting in front of a computer, tears rolling down his cheeks. 'Clay, what's wrong? I'm here for you, I skipped my class so I'll be here the whole period.'

He looked at me with such a hopeless expression that I wrapped my arm around him and gave him a gentle kiss on his cheekbone.

'Sapnap and George got angry at me because they wanted me to work on the project. I haven't had time and feel so awful. I skipped class to try to work on it, but I can't type with my wrist. I tried to with one hand, but I typed one sentence in a few minutes. I'm so tired and...'

'Stand up,' I demanded, which made him look even sadder. He stood up anyway, making me switch places with me. 'Alright, let's see what the task is.'

'You don't have to do this for me,' he whispered, his eyes closing because he was so tired. He shook himself awake again, but I gently made him rest his head on the table. He quickly gave up the fight and within seconds, he fell asleep...

~~~

When the period ended, I made a lot of progress, even though I had no clue what the project was actually about. However, when the new class started, Sapnap and George walked into the library as well.

They didn't notice me at first and sat down on the opposite side, but slowly but surely, George moved his head towards us and whispered something in Sapnap's ear. He looked up as well and their eyes went to Clay, who had fallen asleep.

I acted like I didn't know them and continued typing, but soon, they entered the document as well and noticed I was doing the work for Clay. Sapnap stood up after a while and walked up to me, sitting down next to me.

'So, are you taking care of your nephew?' he asked, which made me frown.

'No? Clay is my brother,' I replied with a confused voice.

'Alright, so there's not a nephew at home?' Sapnap questioned, raising his eyebrows. I slowly shook my head and heard George sigh from a distance. 'So he lied about that too.'

'Dude, can you leave me the hell alone?' I exclaimed with an annoyed voice, mostly shocked because I revealed a lie Clay told them for a reason.

'Those anger issues are a family thing it seems,' Sapnap stumbled as he stepped back. 'Maybe you should let himself do something for once instead of letting him jerk off all day while you do his work for him.'

'Yeah, I totally believe you're both these innocent guys who never even think about masturbation. Don't make Clay seem like a weirdo, while you're the ones who should use your brain. He tried to work on the project, but he fell asleep and because he was terrified you'd get angry at him, I decided to help him.'

'Alright, I understand that he's tired, Elliot. I promise, we've been really patient with him,' George started. 'But this is the ninth time he ditched us. We gave him eight chances to work with us and help us get a good grade, but he just doesn't want to and lets us suffer because of it. I need a good grade or I have to redo the year.'

'Guys, I get it, but there's things Clay can't talk about and I promise, if you'd know those, you would understand the reason of his actions. I know he can be a dick sometimes, but that's not his true personality.'

Sapnap and George nodded slowly and walked back to their seats to continue working on the project. I glanced at Clay, who was still in a deep sleep, and felt tears in my eyes. All because of our awful father, he constantly had to lie and let all of his friends down.

Sapnap and George used to be the best friends he ever had. They hung out a lot, he truly enjoyed being with them and laughed more than he ever did outside of their friendship. However, that started to change when the abuse got worse and worse.

His pleasure in things faded and he was hit by a deep depression, one that I seemed to share with him. I didn't like to talk about my own problems, but I knew something was wrong as well, with both of us.

Abruptly, I closed the document and leaned my chin on the palms of my head. I had to start fighting against the panic inside again, but didn't want to leave Clay alone in here either. I just wanted to jump up and run, but didn't see any other way than to text Tristan.

You
I canr leavw clay bur ik fedl a oqkic ayyack cokijf up

The more I typed, the worse my hands started to shake. I tried to correct my mistakes, which led to full deletion of the word due to the shakiness. However, Tristan understood me right away and texted back as if he could understand what I was saying.

Tris <3
where are you at? deep breaths in through your nose, please. after breathing in, hold your breath for a while and then breathe out as much as you can. don't suck the air into your chest, but low in your stomach <3

You
libabbbey

Tristan went offline, while I started to get more and more breathless. I curled up and tried to hide myself in the corner so no one would see me suffer, but I knew Tristan would be the only one who could ease my pain only a little bit.

'El!' he exclaimed as he ran into the library. He threw his bag on the floor and knelt down in front of me, grabbing my shaky hand. 'Focus on my breathing.'

He began to breathe louder so I could copy him and smiled so gently that I felt more safe than I did before he came. I managed to smile back and reached out to hold his other hand too.

'I'm with you, Elliot. I'm here for you and I will be here until it's over again. If you need, you can always sleep at my place to get away from all of the stress.'

I smiled shortly and curled up, leaning against his body. My stomach filled with butterflies again, but even after last time, when I kissed him, I still had trouble admitting my feelings for him.

'I love you,' he whispered, causing a blush on my face. He leaned even closer and giggled. 'Cutie.'

'Stop,' I whined as I hid my red cheeks.

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