Camp Camp GC Fic

Henry

TW: DOMESTIC ABUSE

Preston had trouble getting up for school the Monday after Thanksgiving. Being with his family brought up some shit.

And Henry. Seeing him again was shocking. He knew Henry was back, but actually seeing his face after a year was distressing and scary. He knew what Henry was capable of. When Henry left the school, it was a huge relief for Preston. Their relationship was... messy. Very messy. It was good for about a month. But Henry would lie. Lie about things to make himself look better in Preston's eyes. Henry would manipulate Preston into doing things he did not want to do. But when Preston would bring up something he did, he would find some way to make himself into the victim. Henry described his feelings to Preston, sometimes. He said he felt empty. Like he could do anything without consequence. He felt invincible to punishment. But that's because nobody would dare snitch on him. They were too scared he'd shoot up the school or something. But Henry would talk about killing people, so they had a reason to be afraid. He'd talk about killing Preston. He'd go as far as to threaten to kill him. And everyone knew he could actually do it if he wanted to.

Preston was too afraid of him to leave him. He wanted to leave him. But he couldn't. He was trapped in this terribly draining relationship with a boy he didn't even like. Not even a little bit. Preston avoided seeing Henry at all costs. Because whenever Preston would do anything slightly out of line with what Henry wanted him to do, he would flip.

But Preston got up for school because Nerris practically forced him out of bed. For once, he didn't put any effort into the way he looked. The bags under his eyes were darker than the souls of those in the seventh layer of Hell. Nerris tried to force feed him some Cheerios, but he refused. He just needed sleep. And he really wanted a hug.

Preston was excited to see Neil. He was excited to get that hug from his boyfriend. His fucking tall ass boyfriend. But he did want to make sure Neil was there when he got to school, so Preston pulled out his phone and called Neil.

"Hey Pres."

"Hi Neil. Are you at school?" 

"Yeah, why?"

"Can you meet me at my locker in five minutes?"

"Sure. See you then."

"See you then."

Preston hung up the phone and continued walking. Usually he and Nerris were more chatty on the way to school, but Nerris knew he wasn't feeling it that day, so she just listened to her music and left him alone. Once they arrived to school, Preston and Nerris parted ways and Preston sped to his locker. He spotted Neil standing there waiting for him and he ran over.

"Hey Pres," Neil said gently and pulled Preston into an embrace. "You look awful. Do you feel okay?"

Preston shrugged. "I had a horrible nights sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about..." Preston trailed off.

"Henry?" Neil whispered.

"Ugh, yeah. Seeing him the other night brought up so much shit I wanted to forget about," Preston admitted.

Neil sighed. "What exactly did he do to you?"

Preston immediately tensed up and scanned the room. "I can't tell you here. Can we go somewhere else?"

"Pres, we don't have much time before class," Neil said.

Preston pouted. "Please, I need to get this off my chest."

Neil nodded. "Alright. Let's just go to the Starbucks for a bit, then comeback."

"Okay," Preston smiled.

They slipped out of school and walked over a block to the Starbucks. They found a secluded booth and sat down. Preston took a deep breath.

"You ready to hear about this shit show?" Preston joked.

Neil put his hand on Preston's knee. "Yeah."

"Okay. Well, what do you want to know?" 

"Um... what was the shit that was brought up from seeing him?" Neil asked.

Preston scratched his head. "He would like... hit me and shit."

Neil gasped. "Holy shit, Pres I'm-"

"It's fine," Preston cut him off. "Anyways, at the beginning of our relationship, he was so nice to me. Like, really sweet. Bought me flowers and stuff. But after like, a month, he started to get angry. All the time. Anything I did made him mad. But whenever I'd confront him about it, he'd make me feel like he was the victim. He was the master manipulator. I hated being with him, but for some reason, I felt like I did something wrong."

Neil buried his face in his hands. "Jesus christ." Neil looked up at Preston. "Pres, you're shaking."

"I'm anxious. I haven't talked about this in forever. My grandma didn't even know about what happened, and I told her everything. The only person I told the whole story to is Nerris," Preston admitted. 

Neil placed his hand on top of Prestons. "So that's everything?"

"Uh, no." Preston took a deep breath. "He would sometimes threaten to kill me. Or others."

"Fuck, really?" Neil stared at him, shocked.

Preston nodded. "Like, when he got really mad at me for whatever I did, he pulled out his fuckin' knife he always carried around. I hated that he always carried a knife. It scared the shit out of me. He scared the shit out of me. That's why I didn't leave."

"And now he's back. What are you going to do?" Neil asked.

Preston sighed. "Nothing. I'm going to ignore him, and hope he does nothing."

"Makes sense," Neil said. "If he approaches you or does anything to try to hurt you, call me. I'll beat his ass."

Preston chuckled. "Thanks Neil, but honestly, he would kill you. If you tried to beat his ass, I mean."

"Oh," Neil said, sounding defeated.

"I'm not trying to make it seem like you're not a hunk, well, you're not, but I didn't want to make it seem like that," Preston defended himself.

Neil laughed out loud. "Oh Preston honey, I know I'm no hunk. I'm a twunk, at best."

"Exactly, thank you for understanding," Preston grinned.

Neil sighed. "But Pres, I'm so sorry that happened to you. I promise, our relationship will not end up like that. I adore you."

Preston blushed. "You're adorable."

"You too," Neil booped his nose, then had a realization. "Oh shit! Pres, I came out to my parents."

Preston smiled and giggled. "I'm so proud! What made you tell them?"

"They asked," Neil explained,

"They asked?"

"My mom straight up asked if I'm gay," Neil laughed.

"Well, however you came out, I'm proud," Preston said and put his hands around Neil's neck, and Neil placed his hands around Preston's waist.

They didn't go back to school that day.