Impenetrable Heart | Lams College AU

Two Sides, Same Coin

     A/N- TRIGGER WARNING!!! This chapter has mentions of attempted s**cide. So please please PLEASE, if you are sensitive to this, skip over the section. I put two **'s before and after the sections if you still would like to read and just skip the part. Stay safe, know your boundaries. If you feel there's better places I can put the **'s, let me know and I will in a heartbeat.

   It was three in the afternoon when the front door opened. Alex, Laf and Herc were all sitting on the couch, anxiously waiting for something to come of the hours of anxiety and dread. When John had walked in, Alex was positive there has never been a more intense silence. Naturally, it was short-lived.

     "John!" The three yelled, springing up from their seats. John stared, wide-eyed.

     "Jesus Christ, I was so scared," Laf sobbed, pulling him into a hug.

     Alex noticed him wince. He looked like an absolute mess, there was dried blood covering his torso and face, and his eye was nearly swollen shut, bruising begging to form around it. Laf seemed to notice this too, as he pulled back and gawked.

     "What happened?"

     "Nothing," he mumbled, looking down to the floor.

     "Dude, that doesn't look like 'nothing'," Herc noted, crossing his arms. John rolled his eyes.

     "Really, it's fine-"

     "We had to call the police! We all had to miss our classes because we thought you had done something stupid so now we have to call them back and say 'oh, nevermind, he showed up'!" Laf suddenly snapped. Alex stared. He had never heard Laf yell before, and quite honestly, it was frightening.

     "Nobody made you miss your classes! It's not like I asked!" John shot back, his face flushed red with anger.

     "What else were we supposed to do? You could have been out dead somewhere for all we knew!"

     While the three fought, Alex felt like he was stuck in a movie. He, for once, didn't have anything to add to the conversation. This was unlike the John he thought he knew as if it was a completely different person standing in front of him. He wondered what else he didn't know about him.

     "I'm not dealing with this," John said finally. "I'm here, so that's enough. I appreciate the concern, but it isn't needed-"

     "-What if there was no concern last time? Huh? Then what?" Laf asked. Alex saw John tense up, and Herc shoot him a look of: dude, don't do it.

     "Laf, don't-"

     "Don't what? Well, it is not like you were going to say anything to him! You never do! And you wonder why I worry? I don't know what you're thinking, I can't read your mind! If I could, then maybe I wouldn't have had to pull you out of that river!"

     The river? 

     John's eyes fell again momentarily as if all the aggression had quickly subsided

     "Laf-"

     Laf cut him off again, fuming.

     "If something happens to you, that's on me, do you understand that?" His voice broke. "I know this is hard for you to understand, but people actually care about you, and it hurts them when you do things like this."

     There was a heavy silence, and Alex was afraid of what would happen next, And by the looks of it, so was Herc. Instead, John clenched his jaw and said,