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Oliver found the note when he finally went back to his house and felt his heart shatter again when he’d just picked up the pieces.
His dad left.
Again.
There were mugs left everywhere, like his mom said there would be, and this note. The only signs his dad had been here at all.
He felt frozen to the spot in his kitchen, reading the note over and over again, feeling every bit like the scared fourteen year old he’d been when his father first disappeared from his life, supposedly dead. He’d shown back up and thrown Oliver’s life into complete disarray by revealing he’d purposely lied and that he was now actually dying from some illness that nobody could diagnose. And before they’d found out what was going on, before Oliver had a chance to do more testing, to try and get used to his being here, he was gone again with no signs that he’d be coming back.
A voice in the back of his head told him he should call his mom, call Carol, call someone to talk about this. Tell somebody he trusted, that cared for him, but he was just… stuck.
The sound of someone at his door broke him out of his thoughts, causing his eyes to break away from the letter for the first time since he saw and read it. It took a couple moments for him to even realize why he was looking at the door, and he stumbled the first couple steps as he moved to answer it and see who was there.
He knew who it wasn’t.
Opening the door, he was surprised to see who was on the other side. He knew it wasn’t going to be his dad, but he hadn’t been expecting to see Josh.
“J-Josh? What’re you doing here?” Oliver asked, still in a bit of a daze.
“I wanted to check on you and maybe talk a bit. But, are you ok? Did something happen?” Josh asked, brow furrowing with worry as he took in how Oliver looked, presumably seeing the distress Oliver was sure was all over his face.
Oliver just shook his head and realized that his vision had become blurry and only knew why when he felt water leak down his cheeks. Josh immediately came inside, closing the door behind him, and pulled Oliver into his arms and Oliver broke.
He wasn’t normally a crier, and could count the number of times he’d cried like this on his hands. It wasn’t often, and it wasn’t usually in the presence of someone else, except maybe Carol. It just wasn’t something he usually did.
One of the most memorable times had been after his dad had “died” all those years ago.
He wasn’t sure how long the two of them stood there, Oliver clinging to Josh and just letting out the buildup of emotion he hadn’t realized was there until it was breaking down with this last little push.
Eventually, he ran out of tears and took a couple moments to just breathe and enjoy the warmth of his boyfriend’s coworker’s arms. This probably wasn’t what Josh was expecting when he showed up here.
“Are you alright?” Josh asked from above Oliver’s head. He nodded slightly.
“For now, at least,” Oliver replied, voice thick. Josh slowly unwound his arms from where they’d been holding Oliver to his, bringing one of his hands to Oliver’s face and tilting it up so he could look at Oliver’s face.
“What happened?”
All Oliver did was hand Josh the note from his dad. He watched and waited as Josh read the note, his brows furrowed first in confusion and then in anger.
“He left again?”
Oliver nodded in response. “I finally came home and all I find are coffee mugs and this note.”
Josh just pulled Oliver into another hug and Oliver went willingly and just enjoyed the warmth he felt from the affection. They stayed in that embrace for another few moments, Oliver not wanting it to end.
Then Oliver remembered that Josh had said that one of the reasons he came over was to talk. Oliver wasn’t sure what he wanted to talk about, and wasn’t sure it was anything he’d want to hear, but he was too curious to not know. He pulled back enough to look over Josh’s face.
“What did you want to talk about? You mentioned that as one of the reasons you came over in the first place,” he asked. Josh sighed a little.
“I’m not sure if this is the right timing in light of… this, but I’m here to fight for us. I know that you’re worried because your dad showing back up has made you question everything about yourself and that you push people away and shut down, Carol told me,” Josh added that last bit when he probably saw the questioning look forming on Oliver’s face. “But I told you I was falling for you, and that hasn’t changed. I know you seem to think his coming back has changed who you are, but from what I’ve seen, it hasn’t. You may have modeled yourself originally after certain things regarding your dad, but you’ve become your own person and your own doctor. I want to be here for you whether he’s here or not, and whether he decides to return again or not. I want to be the one you can lean on and rely on. I’m not leaving.”
That made Oliver start to tear up again. He didn’t think there were any tears left, and he wasn’t sure he could handle another crying fit right now. His brow furrowed as he remembered something else.
“What about ‘the other guy’ you mentioned earlier?” Oliver asked, remembering what Josh had said in response to Oliver’s remark about his tan. The idea that Josh had already moved on had hurt but Oliver hadn’t really had any right to do anything about it.
Josh looked away a little… abashedly. “I, uh, haven’t seen anyone since we… took a break. I was saying that to make you jealous.”
Oliver let out a light laugh at that. “It worked, though it hurt more than anything.”
Josh winced at that. “My bad.”
Josh’s hands cupped his face as he drew him into a soft, sweet kiss. One that was soothing that pain that Oliver was feeling, at least for the moment.
“Why don’t you go and shower and I’ll clean up down here?” Josh said, looking at Oliver with a conviction that told Oliver that it was more of an order than a suggestion. One that sounded pretty good. He hadn’t showered here in a while.
Oliver nodded. “Sounds good.”
It still hurt that his dad left again, he was still in pain over that, without so much as saying anything to Oliver in person. But Josh was here this time, and was determined to stay despite everything Oliver had done to keep him at arms length to try and protect Josh and himself.
Maybe this could work.