Grayson let his smile grow, but only for a moment and he made sure to at least try and hide it, "At least this year is Cinderella." He slipped his hands in his pockets, looking over Evan for a moment before down at the path, "Sorry I'm not ah, the best at conversation."
"That's alright. Ya know,you have a very handsome smile. Wear it more often, it looks good on ya. Scouts Honor, I swear you have a very beautiful smile. The type that could light up a whole room. Definitely makes me want to smile." He winked before Ella called his name with an idea for what to do on stage. "See ya around Grey!" He then walked over to Ella to talk before he had to walk home.
Gray went beat red, spluttering out some nonsense before he said goodbye and watched Evan walk away. He didn't think that he had a nice smile, maybe because he didn't smile all that often. He watched Evan for a moment longer before he turned dreading the walk back to his place but his mum might actually kill him if he wasn't home soon.
Evan quickly wrapped up his conversation and headed out the door, put in his earbuds and walked on home. He saw Grayson in front of him and wonderer if he should go up and chat with him again. The thing is,he really didn't know what to say. So he kept quiet and waited to see if the opportunity would present itself.
Gray's house wasn't a long walk from the school, luckily. His home which was once a nice place with flowers on the outside was now rundown and needed repainting badly. Unluckily, however, his mum was home which immediately made Gray tense. The door was open and there was crashing and shouting from the inside meaning one thing: she was drunk and mad. Gray didn't even notice Evan as he moved to bring the bins in.
Evan walked past and say Gray, and gave him another small wave and a smile, as well as a sympathetic look. So that was the mystery books secret. Well now Evan was sure to find a way to make Grey a little happier. He walked home,and almost ended up calling child protective services but decided against it, until he got closer to Grey. There was crashing and screaming coming from the backyard which meant a nerf gun fight had started up. He immediately threw his stuff down, grabbed the hidden gun out of the shoe bin by the door, and headed outside to join in the chaos.
On one hand where Evan was having fun with his family, Gray on the other hand was going though hell. He was six foot whatever and couldn't fight back against his own mother. There were glass bottles and plate thrown his way, a few punches and slaps. It went all all afternoon and into the evening after the sun had set. He didn't want to stay, not tonight at least. He jumped out his window and went for a walk, hood up and looking quite suspicious but it was only to hide the bruises.
Evan ,after dinner, homework,and chores, was hanging upside down from his window. This was not uncommon for anyone in the house and if someone were to look in the backyard they'd see his sister Starla doing the same thing. He enjoyed the cool breeze. Now he just wore boxers and the shirt he wore today,makeup worn off. It was pretty late at night but with his thoughts still on Greyson he couldn't sleep. Suddenly he saw someone in a dark suspicious hoody walking around, and the guy having startled him, made him fall out the window. Luckily it was only a second story window and he fell in his mother's bushes, so he only got scratched up a bit and some bruises. "Ow fuck…" He stood in the moonlight,dusting everything off. Falling out of the windows was also not uncommon.
Grayson jumped slightly, pushing his hood down as he turned towards the noise, "'Ello?" He called out, taking a small step forwards. He couldn't see who or what it was in the dark but he could see the house and didn't want to step on there property in case they were crazy and threatened to shoot him. He knew he should leave, but honestly he didn't know where to go apart from home and that was out of the question.
Evan walked forward onto the sidewalk,and checked himself out in the moonlight once more,his eyes glittering. "Pretty sure I got all the sticks and leaves off…" He muttered to himself,before running a hand through his hair. He then noticed that there was a person standing in front of him,and he looked over the dark figure. "Oh Grayson! Uhm… hi." He looked over his outfit. "Running away from home hm? Don't say I blame you. Would you like a place to stay the night?" He asked sincerely.
"I- what?" Gray frowned, shaking his head and taking a step back, "That's not.. I'm not running away," He crossed his arms, looking down at the floor. The light from the moon and the nearby streetlamp illuminated the bruises on his cheeks, "I was just going for a walk. Get some air, you know?" He shrugged a shoulder.
He laughed. "I'm an actor and I have 9 other siblings,I know how to read people and situations pretty well. Are you sure you don't want somewhere to sleep? My mom would be totally okay with it. Hell she'll probably even have PJs for you. Whaddya say? You could room with me if you'd like, if not you could always take the haunted basement. I'd offer the upstairs couch but it's gross and needs cleaning and, you deserve better treatment then that."
Gray shuffled his feet, taking a moment to think about it. Evan didn't know him well, he didn't know Evan to a good degree, either, and he was offering a place to stay for the night? He was still frowning when he looked up and asked, "Why? Why help me? You barely know me and you have what? Nine siblings? And your mother probably doesn't want another person staying with you all."
"Because I was raised on good morals and why not? See a need fill a need. And my mother could care less. If anything she'll try to help you more than I can. Look it's about to rain in oh, 10 minutes? You don't have to come inside I just want to help. If you have another place great, I'd suggest getting there soon." He shrugged and ran another hand through his hair, trying to fix it a bit.
Gray bit his lip, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "One night, then… if that's okay with you." He could have just sucked it up and went home and dealt with his mum like he normally did. But a night without being beat sounded like a gift from an angel at this point.
He nodded. "I heard the ruckus coming from your house when I walked home yesterday. It did not sound good. Feel free to stay as long as you'd like." He walked Grey inside as he talked. There was the front entrance, and a huge 4 panel picture window right next to the front door,and in that little alcove was a grand piano. There were small house plants on top of it, and a cat curled up there as well. Then there was the couch, and on the couch was strewn crumbs and Ashton,passed out on it. The floor was strewn with x box games and video game controllers. This was to the right. If you kept going straight you'd hit the kitchen which led you to the backyard. To the left was the stairwell with all the bedrooms upstairs, and then the attic and the basement. Evan walked past all of this into the kitchen,being careful of where he stepped. Crystal was reading and drinking her tea in a black and white fuzzy robe, when she looked up and immediately saw Grayson's injuries. Evan leaned down and whispered what he suspected and Crystal nodded. "Alright well the first thing we must do is take care of wounds. Cuts scrapes bumps and bruises, we wouldn't want to get them infected. Would you like anything to eat or drink dear? We have apple cider,hot cocoa, tea, coffee, uhm left over pizza, spaghetti, stuff for tacos, cereal…or you can hunt the fridge for anything else you'd like." She got up and headed to the bathroom to get the medic kit.
Grayson shook his head. He didn't think he could stomach anything to eat right now, "No, it's okay, I'm not hungry right now." He hadn't eaten much at home, but he was used to it and didn't care enough. The injury thing, though, made him nervous as he new there were worse wounds that were going to be discovered.
Crystal came out with bandages, Neosporin,even a suture kit. "Hoodie off please. This is for your personal well being. I promise,it'll be quick." She then pulled out a salve. It was clear and smelled sorta like grapes. "This is to help reduce swelling in bruises and such, so they will hurt less and heal faster. Evan go get him some pajamas from the linen closet." Evan nodded and walked off.
Gray swallowed. He knew it would be far from quick. He shrugged off his hoodie, placing it in his lap. He was only wearing a tank top underneath, and some of the other wounds were obvious from underneath, "Sh-Shirt, too, Miss?"
She nodded. "Yes please, and stop with the formalities. Call me what you wish. Crystal,Momma Rose,Auntie Crys…" She said this while Evan put the clothes on the table and began to make two cups of sleepy time tea, knowing that after this Greyson would most definitely need the extra boost to get some rest.
"Okay.. Crystal." Gray pulled his shirt over his head, revealing the mess of scars and cuts and bruises on his back. Some looked like they had been healing, but clearly not anymore. He'd taken some painkillers at home but they hadn't done much to help.
Crystal nodded and got to work, and it was all overly fairly quick. She then grabbed a rag, rubbed some handsoap on it,and only got half of it wet in Luke warm water. She then rubbed down his back to clean off any dried blood and any other dirt and grime to cause pain,and used the dry part to well dry him off. Evan handed Grey the cup of tea as he sipped his own. "Grey,where would you like to sleep? In the basement? It's sort of cold and creepy down there. Or with Evan. You can either share a bed with him or if you're not comfortable with that, a sleeping bag on the floor. You choose."
Gray tried not to flinch or hiss as the wounds were cleaned, scrunching up his shirt in his hands before he was given the tea, "Uh, just a sleeping bag will be fine, thank you." Even though he knew Evan might not care if they shared a bed, he'd rather not on what was technically their first day of friendship if you could even call it that. He sipped his tea.
"Would you like to sleep in Evans room or the living room?" She nodded towards the area with the piano,and the room was most definitely well lived in.
"Evan's room… if that's okay with him." He looked towards him then down at his tea. Gray would rather not be woken up by how many of Evan's siblings in the morning if he stayed in the living room.
She nodded and Evan went and grabbed the sleeping bag, then headed up to his room to go her Greyson set up. "The bathroom is just down the hall and to the left." She pointed to a door way, put the PJs in Grey's lap, and stood up. "I'm off to bed. If you need anything please feel free to wake me up." His PJs were an oversized tye dye t-shirt and some red and black flannel shorts.
Gray nodded a little, taking the clothes gladly, "Okay, thank you for letting me stay." He offered a small smile before he went and found Evan's room, knocking before he entered.
Evan opened the door and fluffed up the pillow one last time before getting back in his own bed. His room was sort of messy,strewn with clothes. He had one of those big vanity mirrors and desk, ya know the mirrors with lights. He had a few posters and a huge gay pride flag signed by Brendon Urie hanging from his ceiling. He curled up under the blankets. "Just turn off the bedroom light when you're ready." And he turned to face the wall to give you as much privacy as possible.
Grayson nodded even though Evan had turned away by that point. He shut the door, making sure it was closed properly before he changed. He didn't bother slipping on the shirt, only changing into the pyjama pants. He turned off the light, climbing into the sleeping bag with a soft sigh.
Evan turned back over and looked down. "My, today has been a strange day. I guess then again every day is strange here…" He mused outloud whole looking up at his ceiling.