(Warning. This chapter made me cry while writing, which says something as I'm usually a stone faced midget. So... might wanna get your tissues, just in case)

Okay, I can do this...

The girl continued to stare at the device in front of her on her bed, as she sat cross legged against the headboard. The phone had her sisters contact on the screen, ready for her to press call...

So all she had to do was work up the strength to actually call her. Simple, right?

Nope.

She didn't really like calling people on any occasion, even if it was an emergency. So the fact she had to call Laura, her hardly ever sober older sister who abandoned her, was causing her to mentally argue with herself.

She groaned and grabbed her pillow from under her, slamming her face into it and falling sideways. Why was she so reluctant, it was only a phone call? To her sister... who she didn't talk to much... about relationships.

No pressure.

The teenager growled and rolled over so she lay on her stomach, crossing her arms over her pillow and resting her chin on them. She side glanced at her phone and pouted. Who knew something so small could be so menacing at the same time.

"This is ridiculous..." She grumbled and grabbed the phone "It's one phone call. One! It's not that scary, I'm calling her!"

Her thumb hovered over the call button, but didn't move any further. She tried, but the mental battle just went on until she angrily slammed her phone beside her.

"But what if she thinks I'm creepy?!" She yelled into her hands "Or what if her boyfriend answers the call instead, that would be seriously awkward!"

"Megan?" Luke called from outside her room "Are you talking to yourself again?"

Crud.

"Uhh no! I'm talking to Lillie on the phone" she paused as if she was listening to 'Lillie' "She says hi!"

"Oh, okay! Tell her I said hi back!"

"Will do!"

"...Well, I'll leave you now."

Megan sighed and gazed out her window, thinking about why she was so reluctant to call her sister. They were family- err, sort of. They were divided family. It would've been simpler if Laura hadn't abandoned her siblings, because that way Megan wouldn't see her as a coward. But she did abandon them, to go live with someone not even her siblings knew the name of. And she only came 'home' to drink booze and unintentionally give her brother and sister a harder time. Of course Megan was debating whether to ask her for help! She was untrustworthy!

She growled and placed her hands down on the mattress, but her fingers accidentally grazed her phone screen.

Calling Laura...

"No!"

---

Laura fell back on the couch and groaned, earning a chuckle from her boyfriend who was watching TV. He reached over and gave her a pat on the shoulder.

"There there." He coed teasingly. Laura growled and gently swatted his hand away.

"Piss off."

The younger male chuckled, but paused when the couch vibrated. Laura sighed and reached into her pocket.

"It's my phone." She told him, holding up the device before checking the contact. It was an unknown number "Ugh, I swear if this is one of those marketing calls..."

"If it is just hang up." Avory shrugged.

Nodding in agreement Laura answered, putting on a stern voice to show authority "Hello? Who is this?"

No answer. That got her pissed.

"Okay asshole, you better reply within the next five seconds or I'm blocking your number--"

"Wait wait, Laura it's me!"

She instantly paused at the female's voice, her eyes softening at its familiarity as she let out a breath.

"M-Megan?"

"Yeah... Hi."

"You still have my number?"

"No, I checked the phonebook. But it sounds like you don't have mine anymore, either."

Guilt rose in the woman's chest "I... Didn't think you'd want to speak to me again, after I..."

"I know, and I'm still mad." The younger girl sighed on the other line "But I don't hate you, if that's what you're worried about."

"Megan..." the older murmured. Her sister had every right to hate her, and yet she says she doesn't. Genuinely may I add.

"Also I need a favour."

There it is...

"Woah woah woah. You called me, for the first time in ages, because you need a favour."

"Yup."

Laura facepalmed "I swear to God, if you ask me to hook you up with a dealer so help me."

"You do drugs?!"

"No. That's why I don't want you to ask."

The other line was silent for a moment "Laura?"

"What?"

"Do... you think I see you as a bad person?"

The young adult's breath hitched, and her sister continued to talk.

"Whenever you talked to Luke you held nothing back. You laughed, fought, teased. But when it comes to me you seem distant, like you're afraid of something. And earlier, you said you thought I'd never speak to you again. Like, you did something terrible. And just now, the whole drug thing... Do you really believe I think that lowly of you?"

"W-Well..."

"Well I don't. And honestly, I can understand why you left... You and him were close, after all..."

Laura knew exactly who she was talking about. After all these years, Megan still couldn't bring herself to say 'dad'. He was the reason their family fell apart... And he was the reason why Laura's little sister had a damaged view on life. Thinking that the man who used to be a role model for the Artemus children, was now the one tearing them apart...

Or so she thought.

"So... You forgive me?" She whispered. A chuckle could be heard on the other line.

"I forgave you a long time ago, sis..."

This made the young woman smile, as if the weight of 'betraying' her family had been lifted from her shoulders. It even made her put down her beer, which she never did.

"So..." The younger spoke up again "About that favour."

Laura snorted "Yes of course, how can I forget? What do you need?"

"Well..."

---

It was one in the morning. Gladion was exhausted from those 8 hours covering Megan's shift at work, which made him wonder how she was even able to handle six whole nights. Still, he was happy he was able to help her in some way to ease her mind. Even a little bit.

In fact that's where he was heading right now; Megan's house.

If you want to know why it was because his mother didn't know about the whole work shift thing. He didn't tell her because if he did, she'd pick up on what was going on quickly. So instead he told her he was spending the night at a friend's house, one that she apparently hadn't heard of named... Eddy.

Well, technically it wasn't a lie, excluding the fake name. His girlfriend's older brother counts as a friend, right?

I mean, he did give Gladion the spare key to his apartment and access of the couch. That meant they were cool, right?

He made it to the front door, yawning as he fumbled through his pocket to pick out the required object. He pulled out a silver key with a random koala keychain attached and unlocked the door, quietly opening it and stepping inside without making a sound. He assumed that both inhabitants were sound asleep, so it would be rude of him to enter their house loudly and interupt their slumber. Especially a certain female.

Slipping off his shoes Gladion made his way to the couch, which already had a pillow, blanket and clean pajamas neatly folded on one of the cushions. He smiled slightly; Megan was lucky to have a brother like Luke...

Speaking of Megan why was there light coming from under her door, and... and is that someone talking?

Gladion's eyes widened. I think not!

Standing up he made his way to the door, not even bothering to knock as he swung it open. Not enough to hit the wall, but still.

"Oh no keep going, this is help--"

Megan paused mid-sentence, quickly whipping her head round to the door only to see an irritated Gladion standing there with his arms crossed. She was holding a phone to her ear, which would explain the talking. Nervously clearing her throat, she addressed the person on the other line.

"U-Uhm, okay I gotta go. McDonald's brought an order to the wrong house and now I need to sort it."

"But... McDonald's doesn't deliver meals--"

"Okayloveyoubyyyyyye!" And then she hung up, dropping her phone from her ear onto the mattress and gesturing to the intruder "What are you doing here?!"

"What are you doing awake?!" Gladion retorted angrily, an irk mark forming on his forehead "You should've been asleep hours ago!"

"Well so~rry for wanting to participate in human interaction every once in awhile."

"In one in the morning?"

"...Yes?"

Gladion groaned "You know the whole point of me going to work in your place was for you to rest, right?"

"What can I say?" She shrugged "My sleeping schedule's fucked."

"Who was on the phone."

Megan flinched. Fuck "Umm, Nunya."

"Who's... Nunya?" Gladion raised an eyebrow.

"Nunya business."

His eyes widened, feeling stupid for falling for such a trick. He growled and lunged forward "Gimme that phone!"

Megan screamed and jumped off her bed, swiping her phone as she went and running to the other side of the room. She turned around briefly to see Gladion skid to a halt before changing directions. If became a chase of cat and mouse, with Megan winning as she made many parkour jumps to escape her boyfriend's grabby hands and basically turning her room into a jungle gym. Despite her being more agile, Gladion was definitely faster and was always right behind her. In fact if it wasn't for her jumps and swings, he would've caught her already.

She felt him grab her waist as she jumped on the bed.

Spoke too soon...

Megan yelped as she was pushed down onto the cushiony surface, feeling her boyfriend sit on her stomach and pin her phoneless hand to the pillow with his own. With his other hand he tried to grab the device, which proved to be quite the challenge as she kept flinging her arm out of reach from him. It got to the point where he had to result to her weakness, and lightly pinched her side which made her squeal and momentarily tense up. Then he managed to take the phone from her.

"No!" She whined.

Gladion smirked in slight victory and unlocked her phone, remembering clearly that it was the birthday numbers of this one anime boy she liked, before clicking on the telephone app and checking all of her previous calls.

"Unknown number...?" He muttered, confused. Megan smirked.

"See? Even my phone agrees it's none of your--"

Gladion glared down at her, making her instantly shut up. Placing the device on the bedside table Gladion grabbed both of her wrists and pinned them above her head, so now he loomed over her with a stern look. The shadows casting over his face clashed with his eyes, bringing out the emerald colour which pierced through her soul.

"I'll let you go as soon as you tell me who that was."

Oh shit he's serious!

"G-Gladion wait a--"

"Was it work?"

"No..."

"Was it an old friend?"

"I've never had friends other than you and the gang, so- no."

"Was it a doctor? Are you sick?"

"Hell no, do I look sick to you?!"

"You look tired."

"Irrelevant--"

"Was it a boy?"

Megan froze, partly from his tone and partly because of the hurt now visible in his eyes. Now his actions made sense...

"No Gladion," she said sternly, looking him straight in the eye "It wasn't a boy."

"Then who was it?" He masked his relief well, but Megan could still tell. The eyes are the window to the soul, after all. Megan sighed.

"It was my sister."

"Laura?"

"Yes, that is her biological name, Gladion."

Gladion's grip loosened and eventually he let go of her wrists, crawling off her stomach and sitting on the bed with his back facing her. He reached up and put a hand over his face.

"I see... I'm sorry I overreacted..." he mumbled, before his body tightened "It's just... I've already been cheated on once, and that took so much healing until I felt decent again... But if I found out that you cheated, too... I don't think I'd live with myself... So when I saw you being all secretive, and that unknown number just... it made something inside me snap. You can't keep secrets from me, not ever. I don't even want to think of the possibility of losing you."

Megan's heart broke as his voice became shakier and uneven through his speech. His heart was broken, by someone he thought he loved, and he thought it was happening again. She didn't blame him for reacting that way...

Her arms came around his torso and her head rested on his back, startling him slightly by the way he flinched.

"I can't stop you from feeling paranoid, but I want you to know that I'd never do what Natalie did to you... That was a disgusting, inhumane deed and she put you through so much pain..." she whispered softly "You don't deserve it, especially from someone you loved."

Gladion chuckled bitterly.

"What's wrong? Didn't you love her?"

"I..." the boy let out a sigh and unhooked her arms from his frame, turning around to face her and biting his lip "I thought I did, for a long time... she was the only girl to have shown interest in me which of course made me happy, so when she asked me out I said yes without hesitation. I felt different about her than any other girl, which I assumed meant I liked her. We advanced in our relationship, and soon we began to get-" he coughed "-'physical'... That lasted two years, and my feelings changed. I thought I loved Natalie, which was why I stayed with her for so long even though I didn't really agree with what we were doing. It took her cheating for me to realise... I never loved her at all."

His palms covered his eyes "I was so stupid! I let her toy with me to her liking, making me focus directly on her and push away all of my friends! I let her use me, and I fell right into the her trap! I convinced myself I was happy with her, when in reality my head was screaming to be freed!" When his eyes were visible they were red and leaking with water "Remember that night I bumped into you, when you comforted me when no one else could while I cried my eyes out? I wasn't crying because Natalie and I broke up, I was crying because I ever allowed myself to date her in the first place! How I could've ever been so blinded by... by lust to see just what she was doing to me!"

Megan listened as he let out everything he had held in for two years, watching as he screamed, cried, spat, and punched the mattress... slowly letting go of everything...

When he finished he let out a shaky breath, the tears rolling down his cheeks showing no sign of stopping as he slowly looked up at his girlfriend.

The sight made him want to cry even more.

Megan had her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and tearfilled as her shoulders shook.

"You..." she whispered, before throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck "You poor boy! You- I can't believe that happened to you! Oh Gladion, I'm so sorry!"

Gladion said nothing. He was just shocked that someone was actually crying for him. He was shocked she was crying for him, even though her problems were so much bigger and she never even shed a tear. His arms came up and around her, holding her as if she was his life force. As if he let go, they both would shatter into a million pieces. His head dug into her shoulder, tears pooling onto her skin as he began softly sobbing once again. She wasn't much different as she clung to him, and she was never going to let go...

Luke had come in at one point to see what all the yelling was about, only to see the teenagers in each others arms and in tears. He was smarter than to interrupt it; they needed this moment. So he just walked away...

They felt comfort in each other's clutches. Not because of their feelings, and not because of their current overwhelming emotion. It was because they knew they were both damaged human beings, trying to forget their past and move one. Maybe their meeting was a coincidence, maybe it was fate. But whatever it was, they were now holding onto each other as tightly as they could...

And they were never letting go...