Crooks & Nooks

Imperfections

Chapter 24

"You okay?" I asked as I helped Will move around on his crutches.

"Yeah, I will be," Will said and sat himself down on the couch.

I sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around him.

"I'm sorry," Will said after a few moments of silence.

"For what?" I asked, a bit nervous.

"That I scared you so bad. I obviously don't deserve you, you're perfect and I'm not," Will said quietly.

"I'm not perfect. And even if I was, so what? I think that you are the most hardworking, humble, best man that I've known. And I'm even luckier to call you my boyfriend. You are perfect. In my eyes, and in plenty of others'," I reassured Will.

"Thank you," Will said.

I gave him a small smile and a kiss, because I knew that he needed it. I picked up the TV remote and turned on Arrow, because that was slowly becoming my favorite TV show, I was obsessed.

As Will and I watched, I wondered why Will was thinking so low of himself. He usually didn't do this, maybe it was Jackson? No, I knew how much Jackson valued Will, he'd never degrade Will. I was confused, Will had never said things like this before, maybe it was the meds the doctor had given him. Yeah, it was probably the meds, I told myself, trying not to get worked up about it.

Will and I cuddled and continued to watch Arrow for a few more hours. I looked over at Will, who was snoring while he slept. I pressed a kiss to his forehead and tried to sleep myself.

A couple of hours later, I woke up and saw Will mumbling next to me. I grabbed his hand and he relaxed a little. I didn't want to wake him up, because he'd lose more sleep and he'd already lost way more sleep than usual, but I couldn't watch him like this, it hurt me too. Still, holding onto Will's hand, I slowly tried to go back to sleep.

~

I stepped off the stage, heading backstage where I met Liz, who was waiting for me with a bouquet of flowers.

"Good job Ray, you did great!" Liz said and gave me the flowers and a hug.

"Thanks, I'm so sweaty and tired, but hey, I didn't mess up, and I successfully competed solo, so I'd call that a win," I said.

"Are we still on to go out to eat later?" Liz asked.

Mase, Matt, Liz, Will, Chris and I were planning on going out to eat, to celebrate. They had been convinced that I was going to win, so I just went with it. There was no point in telling them that I may not win, because they didn't care. I loved my friends.

I walked over to where my family was waiting for me.

"Good job, Ray!" my parents chorused.

They could definitely pull off being supportive when they actually tried.

"Thanks, guys," I said.

"Hey, you did good out there," Brandon said from behind me.

I spun around, surprised to see him there.

"You came?" I asked in surprise. I had expected that Brandon wouldn't come, we were still working on our relationship, but it had definitely improved.

"Yeah, of course," Brandon said and gave me a hug, which surprised me. 

"Ugh, I need a shower," I said and he laughed and nodded, then my parents saw him and started talking to him.

I saw Will sitting in a chair off to the side. I walked over to him and sat down next to him.