A/N: trigger warning
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The next day was not a pleasant one for Pete.

Him, Joe, Andy, Patrick, and Bob were all being questioned about what happened to Frank. Although the camera that was in the rec room at the time had been turned away, the boys were all recorded entering the room before Joe moved the camera. So the guards and the warden knew at least one of them saw something. But none of them were talking, they were pointedly keeping their mouths shut.

Despite all of them denying to have any information on the boy that had been hospitalized, they all had been threatened with an extended sentence and a week in solitary if none of them fessed up. Some of them thought about giving up and spilling everything, but they knew better. Snitching wouldn't do them any good, in fact they'd be better off with extra time and solitary rather than saying what happened. But Pete was the closest to cracking because an extended sentence meant he wouldn't be getting in a month like his counselor said he would if he stayed out of trouble. It meant he'd be stuck in this hellhole for who knows how much longer. But they could only keep him in the facility until he was eighteen, then he'd be transferred to a real prison if the weight of his mistakes extended his sentence that far.

He only had two weeks left and then he'd be home free, probably live with his uncle until he could get a job and his own place. But by the way things were going, none of that was going to happen anytime soon. So he was fucked either way. If he confesses, he'll probably get the same punishment as keeping his mouth shut, if not worse, except he'll be the only one to get in trouble. But he'll be damned if he is the only one who gets put down, although it was him who put a boy in the hospital. He didn't care, if he's going down he will drag the rest of them down with him. They were as much to blame as he was anyway.

So he doesn't say a word and neither do his fellow inmates. He's just lucky he didn't get charged with assault along with stealing. Every last one of them is put in solitary for refusal to cooperate.

***

They're all escorted down to the isolation wing of the facility by a group of guards, separating them by at least one cell. Well, trying to anyway. There weren't enough empty cells to separate all of them, so two of them would have to be neighbors.

As Pete is shoved into his cell, he loses his balance and stumbles to the cold cement floor. The guard slams the heavy metal door shut, locking him inside and not even giving Pete a second glance.

"Stupid fucking guard," Pete mutters to himself, not even bothering to get off the floor. He instead just readjusts himself and scoots over to the wall, leaning against it and huffing out a breath. "Hate this fucking place."

"Pete?"

He hears Patrick's voice echo from somewhere, almost thinks he's hearing things. He calls back just to make sure. "Patrick?" He glances around the small room, wondering where Patrick's voice is coming from until he glances down and sees a rectangular vent right beside where he's leaning against the wall.

"Are you okay?" Patrick asks, his voice traveling through the short distanced vent.

Pete lies down on the dirty floor beside the vent so it's easier to speak through, staring through the vent in hopes of catching a glimpse of Patrick. "As okay as I can be in solitary."

"I should've said something. If I confessed then you wouldn't be in here."

"You didn't do anything, Patrick." Pete sighs heavily, blowing some of the dirt and dust around on the floor. "It's my fault we're all in here. I just snapped when Frank said what he did."

"Was it true?"

"What?"

"What he said. Was it true?"

Pete goes silent, thinking back to Frank's words. They struck a nerve that Pete wished didn't exist. But he doesn't know whether he should lie to Patrick about it or tell him the truth. He doesn't want the other boy to judge him. Anyone else can judge him all they want, he didn't give two shits about them, but he'd be crushed if Patrick were to push him away or treat him like everyone else does.

"Yeah..." He chokes on the word. "I, uh... I cut sometimes. I didn't start doing it until I got put in this place though. Everyone I knew just kind of abandoned me, they stopped visiting and calling and I was alone. I got in trouble all the time, I had nothing to lose anyway so I didn't care." He glances through the vent and thinks he can see a bit of orange clothing moving on the other side. "I got into countless fights and eventually no one dared to touch me or even talk to me after my first month here. I always sat alone in the cafeteria, had my own table... until you showed up." Pete smiles to himself at the memory of Patrick's arrival, too distracted by the fact that someone actually wanted to sit at his table after a few years of eating alone.

"Is that why there was blood on your pants that one time in the locker room?" Patrick asks softly through the vent, Pete almost doesn't hear him.

"Mmhm," Pete answers. "I had to hide the cuts and scars, so I did it everywhere except for my arms where everyone could see. If the guards saw them they'd try to put me in therapy and give me an isolated cell. I didn't want that."

"I'm sorry, Pete. If I could hold your hand right now I would."

The boy smiles at Patrick's words, glad that no one else can hear their conversation through the thick walls and semi-soundproof doors.

"Why are you so sweet on me, Patrick?" Pete can hear some shuffling come from Patrick's cell, sees a flash of his bright jumpsuit before he finally set his eyes on the other boy's soft face.

They're both smiling at each other through the dusty vent, then Patrick responds.

"Because you deserve it."

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Lookie here, @gerard_wot made this really adorable art for this chapter and I love it so much. Thanks, hun 💜