Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Drew quietly stepped into the large house, closing the door behind him and dropping his bag to the floor by the coat rack. He didn’t bother announcing his presence.

He'd barely made it to the hall when a voice sounded behind him.

“Do you want to explain the five thousand-dollar charge I received on my credit card this morning?”

Drew sucked in a breath. Oh, hell. He'd known he went over his allowance, but he hadn't expected to be confronted about it so soon. He turned to see his mother and father in the sitting room. His mother was in the armchair near the bookshelf, looking extremely disinterested. She was, as usual, nursing a glass of wine. He swallowed thickly. 

Drew looked to the man who had spoken. His father was looking at him coldly. He raised an eyebrow, making Drew's shoulders rise.

Drew cleared his throat. “Yeah, I was with Zoey yesterday.”

His mother studied him piercingly. “The blonde one?”

“Yeah..” Drew intoned, eyes flickering around the room reflexively, looking for an exit.

His father spoke in a warning tone. “Don’t mumble, boy.”

Drew’s back straightened involuntarily, clearing his throat. Somehow he'd managed to get on thin ice already.
“Yes, the blonde girl.”

His mother hummed, looking back down at her magazine. “Never liked her. Rather whiny, honestly.” Drew had to stop himself from making a noise of agreement.

His attention turned back to his father, who stepped closer to him. Drew crossed his arms over his chest as a means of comforting himself and prayed his father didn’t see the gesture as defiance.

“Enough excuses, boy.” His father growled. “What on earth could you have bought that cost that much money?”

“Zoey and I were clothes shopping, and she forgot her wallet,” Drew lied through his teeth. “I offered to pay for her clothes along with mine. It was more expensive than I thought it was going to be.” He let out a tense breath, attempting to relax his posture.

His father seemed the opposite of comforted by this explanation. He sneered, and Drew refused to meet his eyes. “Your mother and I work tirelessly to keep this family afloat. This is what we get in return? A son who goes running off to carelessly waste the fruits of our labor on random teenagers?” 
It was a shameless lie, and he knew it. The two adults had never done hard labor in their lives, and they had plenty of money to waste. His mother had a hefty pension, and his father was practically living off his daddy’s money. I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, huh?

Drew kept his mouth shut, the tension in his fists building by the second. 

At some point, his mother had gotten up and left the room, not interested in witnessing whatever argument the two were inevitably going to have.

His father continued, now standing directly in front of him. “It always comes back to your fucking friends! I’m tired of your goddamn excuses, boy!”

He sucked in a breath, radiating tension. Rage shook in his chest, his knuckles sore from how tightly he was clenching his fists. He felt like a bomb ready to blow. And oh, fuck, there it goes. “ My friends?! What about when your little fucking group shows up for your drinking games and shit? The cost of the replacement and damage repairs alone is far more than anything I’ve spent!” He snarled, finger pointed at the man’s chest.

His father snatched his wrist. “Listen to me boy-”

“No! You listen to me!” Drew wrenched his arm out of his grip and shoved at his father’s chest, barely moving him an inch.

His father shoved right back, Drew efficiently being acquainted with the floor. The air was knocked out of his lungs, but he quickly righted himself and stood up.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, old man?!” The boy snapped.

“You don’t speak to your father like that!” His father fumed, raising his hand.

He backhanded Drew, and the magenta-haired teen staggered back blankly.

The smack rang out in the large room, dissipating into a deafening silence.

Drew stood stock-still in front of his father, brain refusing to process what had just happened. Tears burned behind his eyes, but he didn’t have half the mind to let them in. Instead he blinked furiously until his father’s next words struck him out of his stupor.

“Get out.” He growled. 

Drew’s gaze snapped up to meet his, eyebrows rising minutely. “W-What?” He stammered.

His father swung the front door open, the hinges snapping against the wall. “ Leave. If your friends are more important to you than your family, you can go be a burden to them . Give them another mouth to feed. I can’t deal with you today.”

Drew tried to object, fingers trembling. “Dad, hang on-” he was cut off, yelping at the tight grip around his wrist. The older man forced him out, releasing his arm and letting him stumble onto the porch. 
Drew turned back around, trying to plead his case. His father would hear none of it.

The door slammed and locked in his face, leaving the harsh cold to bite at his trembling figure.

-:o:-

The small house was quiet, the only noise being the clacking of computer keys and the hum of the AC unit. Liam yawned, his shoulders going lax against the wooden chair. He crossed his arms over his chest, turning his head to the right. “Ma, what time is it?”

Liam’s mother looked up from her computer, shooting him a small smile. “A quarter to 7, hun. Why?”

He stood up, making his way to the kitchen. “It feels way later than that.” He grumbled.

His mother hummed. “Maybe it wouldn’t if you started going to bed earlier.” The clacking sounds resumed. Liam stuck his tongue out.

“Hard pass.” He said, grabbing a handtowel. The clatter of plates added to the soft noises filling the house. “Hey, once Raylan comes back from college, he’s on dish-washing duty for like- a year.” Liam called over his shoulder. He heard a soft chuckle from the living room, and let his face slip into a relaxed grin.

The doorbell rang, much to Liam’s confusion. They weren’t expecting anyone, were they?

“I’ll get it!” He said in the vague direction of the living room. He dried his hands, treading over to the doorway. 

He opened the door, finding Drew on his doorstep, a blank expression and reddening mark on his cheek.

Well, fuck.

Chapter Text

Neither of them spoke for a moment, and Drew’s eyes bore into the ground. 

“It’s cold out there, you should come inside.” Liam said softly. Drew nodded, and Liam opened the door wider, stepping aside to let him in.

Drew side-stepped past him, standing in the middle of the entranceway as though he didn’t know what to do with himself. Liam called out, startling him.

“Hey, Ma! Drew’s here!” There was a shuffling noise from across the hall, and Liam’s mom stepped into the room.
Liam could see his mother immediately catalog multiple things about Drew. The mark across his face, the minute shaking of his fingers, the slump of his shoulders, she noticed everything. In her words, 'It’s just what a mother does.' Well- Liam amended- a good mother, that is.

She smiled warmly at him. “Hello, dear. You must be cold, I’ll get you a blanket.” She said as she led the three of them into the living room.

The AC unit rattled faintly as Liam grabbed the two blankets they had in the room (conveniently lain across the arm of the striped armchair in the corner) and handed them to his mom. They were rough, and one of them was a bit scratchy, but they had spares in the closet. He made a note to grab them at some point.

Drew looked around the room as if trying to figure out what he was meant to do. His gaze finally landed on the couch against the wall.

Liam watched him sink into the couch, face pinched with concern. Drew looked… remarkably small. Which, to be honest? Was extremely off-brand. 

His mother began fussing over him, pulling the blankets over him gently and asking if he’d like a jacket or some tea. “We only have Ginger and Green right now, but our neighbor Ms. Deon has Earl Grey if you’d prefer that.”

Drew looked a bit overwhelmed, and was probably just agreeing to get a moment alone, but he said “Uh- Ginger is fine, thank you.”

Liam excused himself from the room, claiming to need to plug his computer in for school tomorrow. Which he should probably do, actually, but there were more important matters at hand.

He sat down on his bed, pulling out his phone. Muttering the lyrics of some stupid song he’d heard on the radio, he scrolled through his contacts until he found Henry’s number. He opened a text conversation, then hesitated. 
Was it really his business to be telling people what happened? Honestly, did he even know what happened? Drew could’ve gotten in a… fight of some kind and our house was just closer than his.

Liam flopped back onto his bed and groaned. He was being stupid. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why Drew showed up all silent and beat-up.

He picked up his phone again, and began writing and rewriting a text message to Henry. He and Liam had promised not to keep important secrets. Plus, Henry may be a dweeb, but he’s not that much of an asshole. He could keep things like this to himself.

hey, remember what
what if i told
drew showed up at my
so turns out drew’s dad is a dick after all
hey henry can u

Liam turned over and grumbled into his mattress. This shouldn’t be so hard. Suddenly his phone vibrated, and he turned his head to see what it was. Henry had texted.

you’ve sure been typing a long time now lmao
what is it, a breakup text?

He huffed affectionately and went to reply.

nah, i would never
just trying to figure out how to say something right

yeah that’s fair, words are hard
feel free to dumb it down as much as you need, probably make the whole thing easier for both of us lmao

Liam began typing again, encouraged.

drew showed up at my place

damn, and you guys didnt invite me? shaking my smh

i dont think youd want to be here tbh
he’s not in great shape

oh shit is he hurt
is there someone we need to beat up

only if you think we can take on a 52 y/o hispanic man

…
is this a bad time to say i told u so?

Liam rolled his eyes.

absolutely.

A few weeks ago, they’d had a similar conversation.

Henry had been sketching on the English homework that Liam was meant to be helping him study, legs lying across Liam’s lap, when he brought it up.

“Hey, don’t you think it’s weird we’ve never met either of Drew’s parents?” Liam looked up from his phone, tapping his fingers along the edges of the case.
He shrugged noncommittally. 

“Not really. I mean, I’ve never met your uncle. And Drew’s only met Raylan, not my mom.” He looked back down at his phone, picking at the stickers on the back.

Henry hummed. The noise of his pencil scratching on the paper stopped, and Liam looked back up. He looked conflicted. “Yeah, but like- Drew mentions his dad ALL the time. And I’ve never even seen a picture of him.” Liam blinked. Neither had he, now that he thought about it. “And-” Henry looked at him, “I- have you noticed he’s always a lot.. quieter after long weekends?”

Liam finally realized what Henry was talking about. He would be lying if he said he’d never considered that Drew’s home life wasn’t great, but he wasn’t about to have this sort of conversation behind his back. 
“I- this is a type of thing we probably shouldn’t speculate about, Henry.” He looked back down deliberately, unpausing his Candy Crush level.

Henry shifted. “Yeah, I guess.” He said hesitantly.

Liam looked back up for a moment. Henry seemed genuinely perturbed. “Hey, if it’s really bugging you, you should just ask Drew about it. We’re his closest friends- well- barring Jake. I think he’d tell us if he was in a bad situation.” He said softly.
Henry looked at him and smiled.

“Yeah, I’ll ask sometime. I just worry, y’know? Guy doesn’t act like he gets a lot of paternal affection.” He says with a chuckle.

Liam snorted. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

That had been the end of that discussion at the time.

guess we should’ve speculated about it after all, huh?

lol yep
in all seriousness, is he ok tho?

Liam grimaced. The semi-distraction had been nice for a bit, but this was important.

not sure. he showed up with a pretty bad mark on his face, and it’s getting late so i think maybe he was kicked out?

shit 
i assume ur mom patched him up?

yeah
rn he’s wrapped in a bunch of blankets on the couch.
he’s not doing too hot emotionally either i think
just looks kinda empty
tired and stuff, yk?
my mom’s making him tea bc it’s cold out and it seems like he walked all the way from his house to mine

dude that’s like 18 blocks away
isnt zoey’s house like 3 blocks away from his?
he shouldve gone there he couldve gotten like frostbite or something

well its not quite cold enough to get frost bite tbh
just shivering levels cold
and zoey’s house, really? she’s about as likely to help as the asshat who kicked him out
prob steal his credit card out of his back pocket and then kick him out to the streets again

ehhhh ok yeah fair
honestly thought i was the only one who thought there relationship was weird

their**
i literally tutor u in english

no u dont you sit on your phone and play candy crush so it looks like you’re doing something cool and important
or cheating on me or something 😒
even though u stick your tongue out in concentration the whole time

Liam scoffed. 

i do not stick my fucking tongue out

u do its cute

i do not ur imagining things

wow gaslighting me? rude
thought that was drew’s department

where tf u think he learned it from

ouch
that’s one way to get us back on topic

mhm
anyways, i think he’s staying the night. 
he doesnt have any of his school stuff tho so idk how tomorrow’s gonna work

yeah idk
he can borrow my math binder i dont have that class till thursday

we’ll make it work
in the mean time i should probably go
keep him company and stuff

kk, keep me updated :)

i will. love u :)

love u too bro

Liam rolled his eyes. At least they were past the stage where Henry said ‘no homo’ after everything remotely non-platonic.

He got up from his bed, vaguely aware that he was in his room a bit too long to have been just plugging his computer in, and slipped his phone into his jacket pocket.

He grabbed the blankets from the top shelf of his closet and made his way back down the hallway.

Chapter Text

“Hey.” Liam tossed Drew a smile as he stepped into the living room. Drew looked up, slightly startled. 

Drew shifted positions on the couch, pulling the blankets tighter around himself. “Hi.”

Liam held up the blankets he was carrying. “I brought some softer ones if you’d prefer them. I remember that blue one’s kinda scratchy.”

Drew looked down at the blankets wrapped around him. “No I- these are fine.” He paused, “I like the patterns.” The blankets were patterned with intricate stripes and shapes in monochrome colors. One was shades of orange, the other shades of blue. Liam remembers his grandfather gifting them to his mom for her birthday when Liam was in elementary school.

“Yeah, fair.” Liam kept his voice light, draping the extra blankets over the arm of the couch. “You up for a game? We could play Mario Kart.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Though I can’t promise I remember where the steering wheels are.”

Drew blinked. “Uh. No, thanks. I’d normally be good to play, but…” He chuckled, but it sounded forced. “‘M cold, and don’t really want to get out of these blankets now. So.”

Liam snickered. “Yeah, no that’s fair.” He sat down on the couch, crossing his legs. “Wanna watch something, then? We don’t have that many streaming platforms, but we have enough DVDs to last us a lifetime.” He grinned, leaning his arms on his knees.

Drew looked confused about something. “Sure.”

Liam whooped, then hopped off the couch to open the TV cabinet. “Any ideas about what you want to watch?” He started flipping through the discs. “I have a bunch of animated movies since those were my favorite as a kid, but we’ve got some live action if that’s more your speed.”

Drew didn’t answer, and for a minute Liam skillfully ignored the incredulous look building on his face until Drew asked bluntly, 
“Are you not going to ask?” 

Liam paused in his sifting through the DVDs, looking up. “Well, I- figured I wouldn’t bring it up unless you did. Do you… wanna talk about it?”

Drew looked away, brows furrowed. God, you’d think this guy had never had to set boundaries. Oh, wait- 

“I mean, I showed up at your house in- well it wasn’t really the middle of the night, but it was dark out. Feel like I owe you an explanation.” Drew finished awkwardly.

Liam’s brows drew together. “No, you don’t owe me anything.” He crossed his legs where he was sitting on the ground, looking up at the teen on the couch. “We can totally talk about it, but only if you want to.”

Drew was quiet, scrutinizing Liam’s face. Finally, he averted his eyes.

“This doesn’t usually happen.” It was so quiet Liam barely heard it. 

Liam twiddled with his thumbs, shifting slightly on the floor. “What doesn’t? The… whatever happened to your face, or the getting kicked out thing?” He tried to pick his words carefully so Drew didn’t clam up, but he knows he isn't great with words, so he just hopes it came through. 

Drew’s face was carefully blank. “The getting kicked out thing. Well- Uh. The getting backhanded thing too, I guess, specifically.”

Liam frowned. ‘Specifically’, he’d said. Liam was really regretting not speculating with Henry. His eyes flickered down to the little space of Drew’s wrist that was showing beneath his hoodie, doing his best not to grimace at what looked like the beginning of bruises- like fingers, he realized reluctantly. He’s rethinking every time Drew showed up angrier than usual, quieter than usual, or uncharacteristically apologetic.

God, this sucks.

Hesitantly, he opened his mouth to speak. “Is it likely you’ll need to stay longer than tonight? Because I have an air mattress I can set up in my room for a while.”

Drew thought for a moment. “Probably not. If I’m lucky he’ll just pretend it never happened.” Then his eyes widened in alarm. “Shit, I don’t have my school stuff!”

Liam shrugged one shoulder, cringing. “Yeah, I figured. You can borrow Henry’s math binder since he doesn’t have that class tomorrow, and English and stuff you have me to borrow paper from.”

Drew’s shoulders dropped, and he grabbed the pillow at the end of the couch to groan into. “This fucking sucks.” He said, muffled by the plaid-patterned pillow.

Liam sighed. “Yeah.”

Drew threw the pillow back to his right, suddenly looking like he wanted to punch something. “I mean, I put all that effort into my English 2 project, and now I’m going to have to turn it in late. God, could my dad have chosen a better day to be a dick?” He asked no one, gesturing wildly. “My math homework too! Considering I didn’t get a foot in the fucking door, I didn’t get any of it done. Not that I would be able to turn it in even if I had. I just-” Drew threw his hands up before burying his face in them.

Liam blinked, trying not to laugh. “It’s just like you to be worrying about the academic aspect when you’ve literally been kicked out of your house.” He held a hand up. “Not that that doesn’t suck. But I mean, Mr. Deley loves you. I’m sure he’ll excuse your project being a day late ‘cause of extenuating circumstances.” He reassures.

Drew removed one hand from his face for the sake of flipping Liam off. Then his face scrunched up. “Where’d you learn big words like that?”

Liam scoffed. “I’ll have you know I am an English tutor.” He said, crossing his arms. 

As much as he and Henry joke around, Liam does do actual tutoring work sometimes. He’d started in middle school as an elementary school English tutor, mainly to save up for a game console, but also to make some extra money if his mom needed it. He didn’t do it as often now, partially because his mom’s teaching job pays more than her old one did, but he still takes on a few tutoring sessions here and there. Because he does pay for  some  of his Twitch subscriptions himself, thank you very much.

Drew sighed, dropping his hands into his lap. Liam studied him for a moment. He still looked exhausted, but… the tension was out of his shoulders, and he was a lot more responsive than earlier. Mostly with frustration.

But then, his brother once told him that 'as long as somebody has the heart to complain, they’ll probably be fine.'

He took a deep breath. “Yeah, this is probably gonna suck for a while, but… I think we’ll be okay.” He said, shooting Drew a small, hesitant smile. After a moment, Drew returned it.


-o0o-


Liam groaned and let his head fall back against the couch pillow. "Drew, I lost all my lives," he whined over the dialogue coming from the TV.

Drew huffed and rolled his eyes. "Then maybe watch the damn movie you put on."

Liam grimaced. He'd put on Night At The Museum. As it is, he'd seen that movie so many times he could recite it by line. 

On-screen, Jedediah and Octavius were bickering in front of an exasperated Larry.

"They remind me of you and Henry." Drew said.

Liam looked over to see Drew with a small- and dare he say fond- smile over his features. 

Yeah. Maybe they would be okay.