Boys This Young

33|I'm Eating Nachos Rn LOL

AN: the last chapter got about 200 reads while the chapter before got over 400 like damn sorry if I'm boring ya'll I'm just tryna rap this up you feel me?
//

"Hey, Dad." Dan said, "Thank you for agreeing to do this."

"No problem, home slice." Dan's dad, Mark said, walking into the dorm with a smile. "Always happy to help a friend of my main bro."

Dan shook his head, closing the door behind him. "I'm your son."

"Main broooooo!" he repeated with a wink. "Now where's this Arin dude, I got a case of the helpies and I need my client."

"You better not talk like that in court." Dan said.

"You kidding me? I win all my cases with mad stease."

"What does that even mean?"

"Style and Ease, home slice. Style and mother fucking ease."

Dan laughed. "Sometimes I wonder how you and mom brought me up without me actually becoming the cringeiest person at my school."

Arin walked out from the bathroom looking nervous. He saw Dan's dad and awkwardly held out his hand. "Um, hey, Mr. Howell."

"Hello!" he said, shaking Arin's hand. "So nice to meet you. I'm sorry about what happened to you. I...just know I'm going to do my best to defend you. And that I will take this case seriously. And even though I may seem too goofy at times, I will try my hardest on this. But I'm sure you're tired of remembering all the details, and I already know whats important. So, let's talk business, yeah?"

Arin smiled. "Thank you."

//

"Witnesses. They're important. I'm sure Dan's asked you this but is there anyway you can get your brother or your mother to back us up here? They may just be end game."

Arin sighed. "My mom...she's not exactly a human anymore. She's like...an empty shell. She doesn't do much of anything at all. She used to, but now she only talks in her head. When me and Spence were really little, she'd sing us a song grandma made to calm her down. When I was eight, she quit loving us. She drinks tea and stares out windows. Sometimes she'll stare at walls or clean. She isn't anyone anymore, and she notices no one except for my Dad. Theres barely even a chance I would get a sentence out of her if I called her name."

Mark nodded. "What about Spencer?"

"I'm been trying, but...he hates me." Arin whispered.

"Why?"

"I never...I could stop dad from hurting him, when he did. I...I never saved him. I told him not to tell anyone."

Dan and Mr. Howell made eye contact, looking sad. They had never gone through anything like that before, and it made them feel like the worst people having to bring up Arin's childhood memories. They were tragic, and a lot for one kid to deal with.

"I'm sure Spencer will come around when he hears about this. Everything will be alright. He's not our last chance, he'd just help a lot." Mark explained, "And I have confidence his lawyer won't be able to belittle his sentence less than fifteen years if we do this. He'll be gone, I promise."

Arin closed his eyes. "Don't...don't make promises. They've been a jinx my whole life."

Mark sighed, "Then...I say with comforting confidence so that you may have hope and feel safety again, that is likely—After calling upon the universe and all its mysteries—that we'll do good."

When Dan's dad left later, Dan was about to say his own goodbyes to Arin, when he saw something that made him stop in his tracks. Arin was muttering under his breath, hands clasped together and eyes shut tight. A tear escapes his wall of lashes but the rest of his face didn't react. He kept muttering on his knees, his knuckles turning white.

He was praying.

And Dan had never seen Arin pray, in fact he never knew Arin was religious. He could even recall a time when Arin said: "Religion is for believers and people whom love being let down; but frankly I believe in nothing but boobs and Reese's Pieces, which have never let me down."

The quote was funny then, but now it was just confusing. If Arin didn't believe in God why was he praying? Who was he praying to? What was he praying for?

Dan let Arin finish, and when he did he wiped the tears from his eyes, turning around and standing up and looking surprised when he saw Dan standing there. "Oh...fuck, I thought you left already. You gave me a heart attack."

"You're religious?" Dan asked.

Arin looked down at the floor. "No...not really. My grandma is."

"You were praying though."

"It can't hurt me."

Dan thought about this. He guessed he was right. In the situation, praying couldn't hurt him. But did he ask for forgiveness? Did he even believe someone was listening? Why was he crying?

"Do you think someone was listening?"

"I hope, Dan. That's the thing about faith, it's blind. So it's scary and...without logic most of the time. So if He was listening...good. If I'm so crazy I just talk to myself now, than I don't know what to do anymore."

Dan hugged Arin tight, breathing out slowly. "I'm sorry I say sorry so much. But I'm sorry. And for your sake...I hope He was listening too."

Dan realized something that day. In times of hurt, all people change. All people get down on their scratched knees, ready for anything. And regardless of their beliefs, in their own way,

everyone prays in the end.

-

AN: Pray//Sam Smith