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Grian finished up his homework and all but slammed the laptop closed as soon as it had finished saving. He pushed the device away and let out a sigh of relief, happy he was finally done.
University was more difficult than Grian had been expecting. But honestly, he blamed his parents for that. He had been homeschooled for his whole life and while it hadn’t been easy it still hadn’t prepared him for going to an actual college. Of course, his parents never really expected him to go to college. They wanted him to take over their company and in the meantime he could just live off their money. But Grian didn’t want to do that.
He wanted to make his own way in the world. He didn’t want to have to always rely on his parent’s money. He wanted to earn his own . He wanted to be free of them and independent of himself. Besides all that, he didn’t want to take over the company. He wanted to be an architect.
So despite the difficulty, Grian pushed through.
“Hey! I recognize that sound. Are you finally done with your homework?” A voice spoke up from over by his nightstand. Grian jumped a little and looked over to find Scar standing on the nightstand. Somewhere he definitely hadn’t been just a minute ago. Even after all these years together, Scar still managed to sneak up on him.
“I am yeah. Which means we’ve got the rest of the weekend to do whatever we want.” That was the reason Grian had wanted to finish his homework as soon as possible. He had been so busy with school lately that he and Scar had barely had any time to hang out. So finishing his work with a day and a half to spare left him with plenty of time for him and Scar to catch up.
Scar grinned as Grian got up. He had been looking forward to this just as much as Grian had. He was looking forward to finally spending more time with his best friend.
Grian cupped his hand around Scar and picked him up, swiftly but gently. Over the years, after getting much more comfortable with each other, Scar realized he was okay being picked up with being asked. Just as long as he wasn’t contained within a fist. Grian made sure to always scoop rather than wrap his hand around Scar’s form and for that, Scar was grateful.
They headed to the kitchen and Grian set Scar back down on the counter as he looked through the fridge for something to make for lunch. Just as he was reaching for some stuff to make pasta, there was a knock at the door. Grian looked back toward the door, confused.
Scar was also confused. “Were you expecting anyone?” Scar asked, not having been informed if that was the case.
Grian shook his head. “No.” Grian said and closed the fridge. He looked at Scar. “Hide.” He said, and Scar wasted no time in running behind the toaster. Though he did peek out just enough to see. Grian noticed this and rolled his eyes but unless you were really looking for a borrower, Scar was well hidden. So he let him be as he headed toward his door.
He opened it up, only to freeze in shock at who waited for him. “Mom? Dad?” Grian said and Scar’s eyes widened at the reveal of Grian’s parents behind the door.
“Oh! Grian, my baby!” His mom exclaimed, coming in and hugging her son. Grian stiffened but quickly relaxed and hugged his mom back.
“Um, hey.” Grian said awkwardly, not having expected this at all . “What are you guys doing here?”
His dad came all the way in and closed the door behind him. “We can’t just drop in to check on our son? See how he’s doing?”
“I mean, yeah, but usually parents call first.” Grian said, trying not to sound too annoyed. His mother finally let him go and waved her hand.
“Oh, surprises are more fun. And besides, we were in the area while waiting for our next business flight and thought to see how you were doing.” His mom said, still smiling wide.
His dad walked more into the apartment, hands on his hips. “Hmm, I wished you had let us get you a better apartment.” His dad said, eyeing the place with barely concealed disdain. Grian sighed. His parents had tried their hardest to pay for the apartment themselves, for a nice one that practically could have been a house, but Grian had refused. Instead, using the money he had earned over the years and saved up to pay for it. He already allowed his parents to pay for his college. Despite disagreeing with his major, they still payed his tuition. He at least wanted to pay for something himself.
“I think this place is great.” Grian said as he and his mom followed his dad further into his apartment. They entered the kitchen and Grian suddenly remembered Scar. He looked toward the toaster, seeing Scar still peeking his head out from behind.
Unfortunately, his dad had followed his gaze. “Oh! You still have that borrower we got you when you were 13?” His father asked as he walked over. Grian’s heart rate spiked as his dad reached down and grabbed Scar. Scar yelped in surprise, shaking in the grip of Grian’s father.
Grian was at his dad’s side in an instant, holding his hands out. “Dad, please be careful.” Grian begged, watching Scar like a hawk.
His dad rolled his eyes but handed Scar over to Grian, who let out a sigh of relief. Scar was still shaking a bit, so Grian held him close to his chest. “Oh come on, I know how to handle a borrower. I had one myself, remember?” A thoughtful expression appeared on his dad’s face. “Of course, mine had long since died before I turned your age. I’m surprised yours has lasted this long.” He laughed.
That bit of new information made Grian feel sick. He really hoped it was due to old age and not anything else running through his head. But with how his father had so carelessly grabbed Scar he was suspecting it was far worse.
“I…I take good care of him.” Grian stuttered out, having to say something .
“Aww, that’s so sweet.” His mom said. “It’s nice to see you still have your little pet to keep you company.”
Grian bit his lip. “He’s…” Grian trailed off. It was easier not to say anything, like always. Let them believe what they believed. But Grian was 20 years old now. If he really wanted to be independent from his parents then he needed to not only stand up for himself, but for Scar .
He was tired of his parents seeing Scar as less than. Scar wasn’t his pet .
“He’s my best friend. Not a pet.” Grian said, short but to the point.
A small gasp had him looking down and Scar looked up at him with wide eyes. He had not been expecting Grian to stand up to his parents today. Grian hadn’t either but he supposed there was no better time.
To his shock though, his mom just giggled. “Oh, of course sweetie. It’s like he’s part of the family. I understand. I had a dog when I was little and I always referred to him as my brother instead of a pet.” She laughed again. “How silly.”
Grian frowned, dread pooling in his gut. The fact his mom has just compared Scar to a dog was horrible and Grian wasn’t looking forward to the rest of this conversation. “No, mom. Scar is a person .”
His dad snorted and crossed his arms. “Son, they may look like people but that doesn’t mean they are .” His dad’s gaze went to Scar, who flinched. Grian’s grip grew just a bit tighter, trying to protect Scar from his father. “Has this borrower been feeding you lies? Honestly, they love to say they aren’t pets and ‘deserve better’.” His father shook his head. “It took a lot of training to get my borrower to stop spouting that nonsense.”
Scar let out a little noise at that, the thought of Grian’s dad training a borrower to be a good little pet sounding horrific. Grian felt the same but he pushed through. “He didn’t have to tell me anything. Anyone with eyes ,” and good morals, though he didn’t say that out loud. “Can see he’s a person!”
His mother hummed. “I don’t like the tone you are taking with us, mister.” She said with a frown. “Maybe getting you that borrower all those years ago was a bad idea.” She glanced over at her husband. He didn’t look happy.
“I’m starting to think so. Perhaps parting with it would be best. Maybe it's even the reason he wanted to come here and not work in our company.” His father theorized and Grian’s eyes widened.
“What? No! Scar is not the reason for that, I made that decision on my own .” Grian said, his voice turning desperate. He was starting to feel like he was a kid again, trying to talk himself out of being in trouble.
“Well, it’s already lied to you about being a person. Who knows what else it’s put into your head.” Grian’s father shook his head and sighed. He then held his hand out and Grian took a step back, holding Scar tighter. “Come on, hand him over.”
Grian shook his head. “ No .”
His mother sighed. “Come now Grian, don’t be difficult.”
Grian clenched his jaw, done with all of this. “No! I’m not a kid anymore, you can’t tell me what to do. I’m not handing over Scar, he’s staying here with me.” He narrowed his eyes and used his free hand to point at the door. “And you two are no longer welcome here. Leave .”
“Excuse me?” His mother said, eyes wide as she placed a hand over her chest, looking offended.
“Yes, excuse you. If you want to talk about Scar like that, then I don’t want you anywhere near him or me.” Grian said, keeping his stance firm.
His father wrapped an arm around his wife and glared at Grian. “That thing has seriously poisoned your mind.”
Grian laughed and shook his head. “No, actually. I think that was you two .”
His mother gasped and then started to cry softly into her husband’s arm. His father held her tighter. “Well then…you can forget about us paying for your college.” He headed towards the door, leading his mother along. “And when you end up crawling back to us, you can bet that little borrower is as good as gone.”
Grian kept his face carefully neutral and his father just sneered. Without another word, his parents slammed the door closed behind them.
Grian let out a huge sigh and practically crumbled to his knees onto the floor. That whole conversation had left such a sour taste in his mouth. But it had needed to be done. He brought his hand away from his chest and opened it up more to check on Scar. “You okay?”
Scar nodded, though he looked more than a little shaken up. Scar met Grian’s eyes. “M-Maybe you should have just not said anything though…cause now your college--”
Grian cut him off. “I don’t care about that. I’ll get a job or take out a loan or something. There are other ways to pay for it.” He said and then he brought Scar closer to his eye level. “I care about you Scar. And I’ve let my parents get away with saying things about you for too long.” He brought his head closer and gently rested his forehead against Scar’s before closing his eyes.
Scar pressed back, his small weight familiar and calming. “Thank you, Grian.”
Grian hummed and then lifted his head and looked at Scar. “No, Scar. Thank you. I think…it’s because of you I didn’t turn out like them .”
Scar shook his head and laughed a little. “No, I think that was all you G. You’ve never been anything like your parents for as long as I’ve known you.” Scar smiled. “Don’t sell yourself short.”
Grian smiled and used his free hand to wipe away a stray tear. He stood up and went over to grab his phone. “How about we finally have some lunch? I don’t know about you, but I am starving.”
“Sounds great! I’ve got quite the appetite myself.” Scar said and Grian grinned, starting the call to order them a pizza.
It would be a bit more difficult without his parent’s help but Grian was confident that he didn’t need them. He was determined to make his own way, as far from them as possible.
As the pizza came and they sat and ate together, talked with each other, laughed together. Well…Grian knew they were gonna be okay.