Secret (Noah Sebastian X Andy Biersack)

2

Trigger Warning: Physical/verbal abuse, injury

* * * 

Noah had never seen anyone so frightened before in his life. 

The house was not silent. Jude was banging on the door and yelling to be let back in. Noah didn't have any idea how to make him stop, but the noise was causing Andy's hyperventilating to worsen, and Noah had no doubt that his presence in the house wasn't helping, either. But he couldn't just leave Andy there alone, covered in bruises and terrified of his own boyfriend. Andy was clearly desperately in need. Noah had to help him. 

He thought about calling the police and reporting a case of domestic assault, but it wasn't up to him when doing that would put Andy through endless interviews and questionings. If Jude was to be reported, it had to be Andy's decision. 

He glanced from the front door - the banging and yelling continued - to the living room. Andy's head was still in his arms. He was audibly sobbing, trying desperately to keep quiet, but the act of trying to calm down was making his state worse.

 Noah took his phone from his pocket and opened Folio's contact, texting him, "Emergency!! Jude drunk outside his house. Need you to get him away NOW. Will explain later." 

Folio replied quickly - thank god - "OMW." 

While he waited for Nick to turn up and hopefully drag Jude away, Noah remained where he was. The sound of Andy's panic was awful but he knew better than to attempt to speak to him. Afterall, he was a complete stranger, and for Andy all knew, could have been there to inflict more pain onto him. 

The sickness Noah had been feeling since seeing Jude hit Andy came back in a lurch at the thought of hurting anyone intentionally, and remained as he bounced on his feet, anxious for the banging on the door to cease.

He could barely make sense of that fact his friend had been hiding a man in the house to beat up; Noah thought he knew Jude well, but if he was capable of something so brutal, well, Noah didn't know him at all. 

He looked back at Andy. The man was still sobbing, struggling to breathe through the distress. Noah didn't need to ask to know that whatever Jude had been doing to him, it had been going on for a long time. 

Things were starting to make sense, though Noah was still in shock and couldn't think all that clearly. It was apparent that the reason Jude had not let anyone meet Andy was because he didn't want them to find out what was going on, and he wondered, horrified, if he'd kept Andy trapped in the house for the entire time they'd been living together. Cutting him off from everyone else. Isolating him from help. Making him utterly dependent on the man who was responsible for his suffering. 

Had he even interacted with another person in the last six years? 

Noah shuddered at the thought. 

The banging abruptly stopped. Noah stood warily by the door, unsure if Nick had pulled Jude away or not. In his drunken state, Jude could have been about to throw a rock through the window.

A text arrived from Nick: "Got him." 

Noah replied, thanking him, before he put his phone back in his pocket and took a few steps into the living room. For a moment, he hesitated, considering what the hell to do.

"Hey, Andy?" He spoke softly. 

Andy's head shot up, as it had for Jude's crying. He looked wrecked. Face blotchy with bruises and hot tears, eyes painfully red. Noah imagined his black eye must have been agonizing by the looks of it, all swollen and purple.