forum O/O with @Caustic-Fraust-is-The-Pokemon-Champion

Started April 14, 2020 by @MusicElle-is-here

tune

“Well, it’s not,” Nick said firmly, but also less fierce than before.

Cas nodded weakly. "H-How do you know though, Nick?" He asked.

“I just do,” he said, not entirely sure either besides something that told him Cas was a good person. And his morals.

Cas sighed and rested his head on Nick's shoulder again. "I dunno… I mean… I was never good enough, was I? I'm still not."

“What are you talking about? Of course you’re good enough.” Nick’s eyes narrowed.

"Why should I be? I can't… I can't do anything…" Cas whispered.

“You don’t need to prove that you’re worth not being beat up,” Nick said. “You don’t need to prove that you’re worth existing. Trust me. You are worth it.”

Cas seemed almost confused. "What? I-I mean… yeah, right. Of course. Most people don't experience that, do they?"

“I mean, sure they do sometimes,” Nick admitted. “Or, at least, I do, but the way you say it with such conviction is kind of heartbreaking.”

Cas flushed lightly again. "Y-Yeah, um… you know, for a while, I just kinda assumed that everyone's parents did that…"

“Oh, well, mine don’t,” Nick responded. “Not like yours did.”

Cas nodded, looking back down at the floor. "I just… y-you know, I never went to school, so I didn't talk to a whole lot of other people my age…"

“I guess you’re just gonna have to get your talking to your peers in now then?” Nick suggested.

"I guess so? I mean… I'm talking to you, so… that counts for something, right?" Cad asked, sighing softly.

“Yeah, I’d say it does,” Nick said, giving him a small smile.

Cas smiled weakly and closed his eyes, running his fingers through his hair. "Well, I'm probably not doing great, but I guess it's basically my first time, after all."

“You’re doing just fine,” Nick responded, smiling at him.

"Mm… you think so?" Cas looked back over at Nick. "Everyone else at school that I've talked to I've mostly just gotten into fights with.

“You’re making an effort and that’s the most important thing,” Nick assured.

"I guess so… why don't your friends like me?" He asked softly. "I mean, obviously I've fought them now, but they didn't like me as soon as I walked in…"

“Because Brandon and Ian are assholes who I shouldn’t have been friends with in the first place,” Nick answered. “I’m seriously sorry about them. They grew up to be pretty awful.”

"Yeah… I mean, like I told him, I just… I don't understand how people like that can even exist. What went wrong? I'm hardly socialized at all and I'm still a decent human being."

“I have no idea,” Nick said, frowning. He remembered playing tag and capture the flag with them as kids in elementary school, and laughing with them about some stupid inside jokes on the front lawn. He supposed he had missed the time along the way where they’d gone from simply being opinionated to being downright mean, and it bothered him more than he could say.

"Like, I feel like you can't even draw it up to being daddy issues, because obviously I've got those and I just… I'm still not a complete asshole. What happened to them that would make them think that that's okay?"

“I mean, they both have had bad things happen to them but that doesn’t excuse their behavior,” Nick commented. “And it’s been getting gradually worse because it happened so slowly that I guess I thought that they’d stop before they started actually hurting people, but they didn’t…”