A/N This was so much fun to write

At one in the morning on Tuesday, Lawson gave up on trying to sleep and rolled over to reach for his phone to check for messages. He had multiple from Nathan, a picture of Reese from Kye, and an inappropriate message from Jean, but he skipped over all of those until he saw Sean's name. After their afternoon out on Saturday, they had begun to text one another, nonstop, and Lawson found that Sean could always make him laugh, even over the text.

Sean:

So, my entire building is being charged for the cleanup of bodily fluids in the first floor public bathroom because no one owned up to it, so I've decided to steal silverware from the cafeteria for compensation because it's ridiculous I'm getting charged six dollars because someone couldn't wipe their semen off the stall wall. 

Lawson stifled his laugh into his pillow so it didn't wake Wes, and then checked to see when the message was sent. 12:08. Lawson doubted that Sean was still awake, but he still responded with a smirk on his face.

Lawson:

Well, was it yours?

After the message sent, Lawson went to check his social media, more to kill time than because he was interested. For about three minutes, he looked through his step-father's profile, just because he had plethora of pictures of the twins and he missed them, but his search was cut short when a his phone buzzed with a message.

Sean:

That is neither here nor there

But, no. It was not me. I don't have a roommate, so I can just do that whenever

Why the fuck are you still awake? Do you know what time it is?

Lawson:

Yeah, do you?

I can't sleep. I slept for a couple of hours this afternoon so I'm not tired.

There was a minute long pause before Sean responded.

Sean:

Wanna come and hang out? I'm just finishing up a phone call, but we could watch a movie or something

Lawson:

You sure? I don't want to keep you up late since I know you have a class tomorrow

And who are you having a phone conversation with at one in the morning?

Sean:

It's only midnight back home

You have a class too. At least mines not in the morning

I really don't mind if you come hang out. I also can't sleep. Had coffee around ten to keep me awake long enough to finish my paper and now I'm regretting it

Lawson:

Yeah I'll come over

Warning, I'm only wearing sweatpants

Well, and a shirt, but what I meant was I'm not putting on nice pants

Also, I have no idea which apartment building you live in, or your room number

Sean:

No judgment on the pants

Apartment 3, room 207

***

The apartments weren't too far from Lawson's dorm, just on the other side of the math building, so the walk only took a matter of minutes.

When he knocked on the door, Sean answered immediately, greeting him with a quick, "Hey," and then saying, "I need to go," into the cellphone that was pressed to his face. With a hand, Sean gestured for him to enter the apartment, so Lawson slipped past him. "That is none of your business. Talk to you later". Sean hung up and Lawson, who was staring at his living room with an open mouth- because it was an actual living room, and there was even a kitchen attached- stopped his gaping for a second to throw a smile over his shoulder at the other boy.

"Hi," he greated, quiet because he didn't feel comfortable getting much louder at one thirty in the morning. "This is... amazing. I can't believe you have all this space. I'm embarrassed that you've seen my shitty dorm that's the size of of closet". The blue eyed boy laughed, eyes crinkling at the corners. "And this is just the living room".

"I know," Sean replied sheepishly, throwing his phone onto the couch- he could fit an entire couch in here. "It's almost too big, you know. I get lonely". As Sean looked around his own apartment, Lawson looked at him. He was wearing a pair of blue and grey plaid pajama pants and a maroon shirt that totally didn't match, but it was so cute that Lawson had to dig his teeth into his lower lip to keep himself from blurting this out and embarrassing himself. After a minute, when it seemed clear that Sean was just looking around to give Lawson more time to look at him, so Lawson cleared his throat, and Sean's blue eyes snapped to his face.

"It's nice though, or maybe it just seems that way to me, because I have another guy who is practically living on top of me all the time," Lawson said, and then his eyes got wide, because Wesley was a wonderful roommate. "Just to be clear, I don't dislike my roommate. He's great actually and we get along really well, it's just... well, he's loud and whiny sometimes and it's a very small room". Sean chuckled.

"I get it, Lawson. I shared a small bedroom with my brother for years until our parents moved into a bigger house, and while I loved him, I still wanted to kill him sometimes". Immediately, Lawson wanted to point out that it was a little different, since he most definitely didn't love Wesley, but he figured Sean understood that, and besides, the boy was already moving towards his couch. "What do you want to watch?"

"I'm not picky," Lawson responded, following suit and taking a seat next to Sean, who pulled a blanket from the back of the couch and threw it over their legs. "You can stream?" Sean nodded in response, but he seemed distracted as he looked at both of the arms of the couch, and then leaned forward to look at the floor. "What?"

"Remote," was the answer, but Lawson didn't have time to even attempt to find it before Sean was sticking his hand into the couch cushion and pulling out the desired item. Without looking at him, he handed it to Lawson. "Whatever you would like is fine. I'm not particular, just please don't make me watch horror in the middle of the night, because I live alone and won't sleep for weeks".

After laughing, Lawson admitted, "oh no, I don't watch that stuff either".

He chose a random movie with a decent sounding synopsis that actually ended up being funny, and they watched it making light banter between them, which both of them enjoyed. It was when Sean made a joke about Lawson's current state of hair- which he hadn't even thought about before leaving- that Lawson looked at him, eyebrows raised but unable to keep the smile off of his face, and made a joke about public bathrooms, masturbating, and cleaning. It was so fucking stupid, and not even funny, but the look on Sean's face made it worth it.

There was a pause in which Sean's just looked at him with widened eyes, and then they were both laughing so loud that Sean's neighbor began to pound on the wall and they were forced to quiet down, but still, they shared smiles and little laughs about the joke.

It is after one of these little private laughs that Sean reached between them to Lawson's hand and linked their pinkies. He had done it so casually with a confidence that Lawson would expect him to have after having executed  the motion on him many times before, not on the first time. It was attractive, and it was one of the many reasons why Lawson didn't pull his hand away.

The room was silent for a while after that, filled with only the sound of the television and occasional snickers, but it was far from uncomfortable, and Lawson found himself relaxing comfortably into the couch, moving his hand slightly to brush his thumb over the smooth strip of skin on Sean's wrist.

"Will your morning class be difficult?" Sean asked him, voice at a whisper and Lawson shook his head.

"It's just philosophy, so I can probably get away with sleeping through it," he admitted, and Sean laughed lightly. "What about you? When do you have class tomorrow?"

"Later, like, around five. I'll probably skip though".

"You skip class?" Lawson inquired, eyes getting a little wider and Sean turned his head to look at him with a little smile. It answered his question. "Will it be because I'm here right now and you'll be tired?"

"No. I'd be awake even if you weren't here. Coffee, remember?"

"Oh right". Lawson turned his face back towards the television, but he was really no longer watching. "Did you get your paper finished?"

"I did," Sean confirmed.

"Do you want me to read it?"

"Sure," Sean responded, but he made no move to get his laptop, so Lawson's eyebrows raised. Catching the expression, Sean frowned. "Oh, you mean right now?"

"Well, Yeah".

"Oh, no," Sean said with a little laugh. "I refuse to let you do homework at two thirty in the morning".

"But I-" Lawson cut off as his phone began to buzz in the pocket of his sweatpants, and he pulled his pinky from Sean's grasp to reach into his pocket.

"Who are you having a phone conversation with at two thirty in the morning?" Sean mocked, referring to Lawson's previous text message. In response, Lawson just stuck out his tongue, and then looked to see who was calling him.

"Nate, apparently". He answered. "Hello?"

"Oh thank fucking god," Nathan breathed, and something about the absolute relief in his tone had Lawson sitting forward in alarm. "Hey man, I know its a school night and I'm so fucking sorry, but I need you to come and give me a ride". On instinct, Lawson patted his pockets for his car keys before remembering he had left them in his dorm room.

"What's wrong?" Lawson asked, turing to look at Sean who returned the gaze with wide eyes.

"Glenn's fucking trashed and he called me to come get him because he went out with a friend who went home with someone and I was going to drive him home but I'm afraid if I leave him he'll choke on his vomit and die or some shit, and I don't want to just lay him in the back of my car when I drive and I don't know what to fucking do but would you come here and drive Glenn and I back to my place and then I'll come get my car in the morning?" Nathan rambled, and Lawson frowned, but didn't say anything. "Lawson?"

"It's a Tuesday".

Nathan released an exacerbated noise. "I know. Could you help me out please".

"Lawson?" Sean asked, voice thick with concern. An idea began to form in Lawson's mind.

"Hey, hold on a second," Lawson said into the phone before tilting it so it wasn't next to his mouth. "This might sound really weird, and you can most definitely say no and I won't be offended, but would you be willing to come with me somewhere? Nathan needs someone to drive his car, and you could follow me in my car to his apartment, and then drive me back here?" It was a lot to ask, Lawson knew this, so he wasn't expecting Sean to give a positive answer so quickly.

"Yeah, of course".

"You are literally the greatest person alive," Lawson praised. Ignoring the surprise on Sean's face, he addressed Nathan. "Alright, we're coming".

"...we're?"

***

Lawson spent the entire drive to the bar thanking Sean over and over again, and he was planning on doing it once more once they arrived at their destination, but at the sight of Nathan literally holding Glenn up, he forgot about all of that and flew out of the driver's seat the second he pulled up to the curb.

Nathan's full attention was on Glenn, so it wasn't until Lawson greeted, "Hey, how can I help," that he looked up, relief clear on his face.

It wasn't Nathan who responded. "Lawson!" Glenn exclaimed, and in Nathan's moment of distraction he was able to pull away from him, and instead stumbled into Lawson's arms, hugging him tightly. "Oh my god! How are you?"

Over Glenn's shoulder, Lawson raised his eyebrows at his friend, who just shook his head and brought his eyes back to his boyfriend, concern very clear on his face. "Uh, Hey Glenn. I'm great. How much have you had to drink?"

"Maybe too much," Glenn admitted, and then he hiccuped and pulled away from Lawson's arms, his hands instead reaching out for Nathan who immediately came to him. "I was upset". Affectionately, Glenn nuzzled Nathan's jaw, and then whined when Nate shifted in order to grab his keys from his pocket.

He threw them at Lawson. "Who's driving your car?"

"Sean," Lawson responded, and Nathan nodded once before swiftly crouching to get one of his arms behind Glenn's knees. Effortlessly, he lifted him, and then began to carry him to his car, which was parked a few in front of Lawson's.

Lawson shot a look at his vehicle, squinting to see if he could see Sean in the driver's seat, but it was late, and too dark.

It took Nathan a minute to get Glenn in the back of his car as the other boy struggled, saying over and over that he wanted Nate to come with him, and not listening to Nathan's response of, "I will, I will". Lawson climbed into the driver's seat, and then turned as much as he could to distract Glenn long enough for Nathan to close the door and round the car to get in on the other side. Immediately, Glenn slid over to him, pressed his face into Nathan's neck, and began to cry. For a second, Nathan ignored him to ask Lawson, "you know where you're going?" And when Lawson answered with a nod, he began to make soothing noises to console the crying boy.

Silently, Lawson drove, wishing he could tune out the conversation in the back, since it seemed personal enough that he shouldn't be hearing it.

"I don't want to go to my dorm, Nathan, please don't make me go to my dorm. I want to stay with you. Can I stay with you, please? Nathan-" Glenn cried, the alcohol making him irrational.

"We're not going back to your dorm. You can stay at my place tonight," Nathan assured, and Glenn stopped crying to make a noise of content, and then started again. "Hey hey, what's wrong?"

"You don't love me anymore". Lawson reached forward to turn on the radio, adjusting it so it only played in the front seat, but it did little to drown out Glenn's voice. "Ev- even when I wasn't responding, you- you would," he stopped to take a huge gasp of air, "You would still text me every night and tell me that you loved me, but then you dumped me and y- you stopped, you stopped texting and you stopped loving me".

"Glenn," Nathan began softly, but the other boy just spoke over him.

"And- and then I saw a video of you dancing with some other boy and I thought that our year together must not ha- have meant anything to you, because, you, you've got yourself a replacement already!" Glenn accused because another wave of sobs hit him, hard enough that he was rendered speechless as he gasped and cried.

It hadn't been something Lawson was even thinking about, but Glenn had gone to elementary school with Kye and him, and if they had run into one another since Kye had gotten back, if would make sense that they exchanged social media's. Lawson just wondered why Kye would post that video if he knew there was a chance of Glenn seeing it.

The rest of the ride was filled with Glenn's uncontrollable crying, and the soft sounds of Nathan trying to console him, which were thankfully dulled by the upbeat pop song on the radio.

The second Lawson parked the car in Nathan's apartments parking lot, Glenn announced he was going to be sick. Since Nathan wasn't exactly in the best place to get Glenn out of the car as fast as possible, Lawson took it upon himself to scramble out and pull Glenn from the back seat, just in time for the boy to keel over and throw up on the asphalt. A swearing Nathan joined them a second later.

"Do you need help getting him upstairs or anything?" Lawson asked, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder to assure that Sean had followed them and relaxing a little at the sight of the navy truck.

"No, I've got it from here. Thank you, Lawson. I owe you," Nathan said, and while he sounded sincere, he also sounded exhausted, and worried, and heartbroken.

"Nathan-"

"It's alright," Nate assured, taking his car keys from Lawson's hands and then crouching over to help Glenn, who had thankfully stopped throwing up, to his feet. "Thank Sean for me, as well. I own him too. Come on, Glenn. Let's get you upstairs".

Once again, Nathan lifted the boy off his feet, and Lawson stood there and watched them until the had disappeared into the building.

There was the hum of an engine behind him, and when he turned, he was greeted with the sight of Sean pulling up in the parking spot next to him, and Lawson sighed. The window between them rolled down. "Are you okay with driving back?" Lawson asked, suddenly feeling a million times more tired than before.

"Yeah. Are you okay in like... general?" Sean questioned. Lawson grimaced and chose not to respond until he was sitting on the passenger side with his forehead pressed to the dashboard. "Lawson?"

"That's not the Glenn Pearson I grew up with. I've never..." Lawson cut off and groaned. "Fuck, that just wore me out".

Sean put the car in reverse and Lawson leaned back in his seat to watch the road. "Do you want to crash on my couch? It'll be less walking if I park in front of the apartments, and then you don't need to worry about waking up your roommate when you get back".

While it was an appealing idea, Lawson shook his head. "You've been incredibly generous all night, Sean. You don't need to do any more for me".

It was quiet for a little, and then Sean sighed. "Why do you keep doing that? If I really didn't want to invite you over at one in the morning, I wouldn't have, but I wanted to see you, so I did. If I minded driving you car across town, I wouldn't have done it, but I didn't mind, and I wanted to help, so I did it. If I didn't want you to stay in my apartment, I wouldn't have asked, but I do, so I did. I'm not the kind of person who offers things insincerely because I want to look nice".

After this speech, Sean him a look, and Lawson leaned his head back against the seat and asked, "why do you want me to stay in your apartment?"

The answer wasn't instantaneous, so the radio filled the brief silence between them. "I- I don't want to have to worry about you getting kidnapped on your walk home, or waking up your roommate and him being mad at you, I guess".

"Okay".

"Okay?" Sean repeated, sounding unsure.

"Okay. I'll stay at your apartment".

That's where Sean drove them, but strangely enough, when they got there, neither of them got out of the car. Sean turned the key so the engine stopped rumbling, but the sound of the radio remained. "I didn't take you for one to listen to techno music, but I couldn't seem to figure out how to change it".

"Oh. Yeah, that doesn't change," Lawson answered, and Sean looked at him, eyebrows raised. Somehow, even in the dark, his eyes seemed very blue. "It's one of the cars many quirks".

It made Sean laugh, which made Lawson laugh. The moment was nice, relaxing compared to the previous forty minutes, but when the amusement dissipated, the air in the car felt heavy with something more somber. "Talk to me about it," Sean demanded, unbuckling his seatbelt and turning on the seat to fully face Lawson, pulling his right leg up to make himself more comfortable.

He wasn't asking, and Lawson knew that wasn't because he was being rude and insistent, but because he already knew Lawson wanted to talk about it. So he did.

First, he explained Nathan and Glenn's relationship, how good they were together, despite his original hesitance upon finding out that the perfect Glenn Pearson was dating someone as immodest as Nathan. Then he explained thief current issues, and how sometimes, stress would eat at Glenn, and if someone didn't force him to take the time to figure out how to fix it, he'd completely shut down. Lastly, Lawson explained what Glenn had said in the car, about why he had acted this way, and by the time he was done talking, he felt better than he had before. Talking about it all, the whole picture, really put the night into perspective.

"Wow," Sean said softly, and Lawson hummed, letting his head loll back against the seat, heavy with exhaustion. Blue grey eyes roamed over his face, and then his posture for a split second, before Sean sighed. "Alright, come on. Let's go in before you fall asleep in your car and I have to carry you up".

"You'd do that for me?" Lawson asked sleepily with a coy smile. Sean scoffed, and Lawson wished there was some light so he could see if the other boy was blushing.

"I think there's many things I would do for you," Sean admitted, and because Lawson even had time to process this, the other boy was opening his door and climbing out of the truck. "Come on".

"Wait," Lawson said, speaking quickly before Sean could close the door between them. "I have to lock this door from inside so I need to get out of your door". Sean laughed, and then continued to laugh as he did just that.

"Have I mentioned that I love your car?" He teased and Lawson faked a scoff, as if offended as he took the keys from Sean's hand to lock the driver's door. The boy chuckled again, and then reached out to tug on Lawson's sleeve. "Come on".

The rest of the night was uneventful, save for the brief argument they shared about who would take the couch, with Lawson until ally won by simply laying across the piece of furniture and saying, "I refuse to take your bed away from you. Go to sleep".

Originally, Lawson thought he would lay on that couch awake for hours, thinking about the boy in the other room, but once Sean disappeared into his bedroom, still making snarky quips under his breath- all of which were accompanied with a smile- it took Lawson less than a minute to fall asleep.