The Lunar Life Ch. 09

"Thank you."

"Make sure your son forgives you before you thank me." Varek said, once again returning to his work.

Trevor climbed the stairs to the second floor, taking his time with each step. He didn't know how to do this. The way Will had said he was disappointed in him, struck a nerve in him. The look on Will's face would forever be engraved on his mind, knowing that he had been the one to cause it. He knew now, that he should have never pushed Will away, and he worried that perhaps the damage done was irreversible. He didn't know if Will could bring himself to forgive him, especially after the things he had said, but he needed to at least try, while he still had the chance to.

He stopped in front of Will's door, listening for any sound from the inside but everything was dead silent. Slowly, he raised his hand to knock on the door, the sound reverberating down the quiet hallway. There was no answer, but Trevor decided to enter regardless.

Will was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling with his hands behind his head. His eyes looked red and Trevor knew that his son had been crying, and he was the cause. "Hey, can I talk to you?"

"What's there to talk about Dad? We've already said all there is to say." Will muttered, not removing his eyes from the ceiling.

"No, we haven't. At least I haven't."

"Go on then." Trevor watched as his son stared at the ceiling, his eyes darting between it and the window, anywhere but him. He knew that Will thought he had come up to lecture him some more, but he wasn't. Trevor walked over to the bed and sat down by Will's feet.

"Are you okay?" Trevor asked, trying his best convey his apologies for making his son cry.

"Don't worry, I wasn't crying because of you. Not all of it at least."

"Then why were you crying?" Trevor asked. Will inhaled but didn't say anything, blinking away any remnant of tears still in his eyes. He didn't want to talk to his father about it, knowing that it would probably only lead to them fighting even more. Trevor, however, didn't need Will to say anything to understand. "It's about Thane, isn't it?" Still Will said nothing. "He's gonna be alright you know." Trevor said, in a small attempt to comfort his son.

Will scoffed at his father's statement. "Why do you care? He's just another disgusting human, just like myself."

Trevor cringed at those words. It's wasn't only the words themselves, but the way that Will had said it. There was so much resentment in his tone. So much disappointment. To know that it was his own doing made him sick, and the thought that maybe Will really couldn't forgive him ran through his mind again. Still, he had come up for a reason and it was now or never. He took a deep breath, before uttering the words that had so long been stuck in his throat.

"I'm sorry." At those words, Will's brow furrowed, finally casting his gaze towards his father.

"What?"

"I'm sorry Will, I should never have said those things to you. I was just scared." Trevor stopped. Will stared at his father, unsure of what was happening. "Maybe it's just that you have grown so much and I suddenly realized how much you no longer needed me."

"Dad."

"No, let me finish. When I caught you and Thane that day, I don't know, it made me worried for you. I was scared of what could happen to you because of it, and I flipped out, saying everything that I said. Looking back now, I realize how much I have hurt you by pushing you aside. I never want to do that again Will. I don't want you to grow up hating me because I was too stupid to see how much damage I had done to our relationship." Trevor said, looking at his fingers as he played with them nervously.

"I don't hate you Dad." Will said, sitting up on his bed.

"I guess all I'm trying to say is, I respect whatever choices you make in your life and I hope that you can forgive me." Trevor said, glancing sideways to look at Will. The younger man simply sat there, staring at his father. Trevor couldn't tell what Will was thinking, and the fact that his son hadn't said anything yet was also alarming to him. He had expected at least a reply. A yes, a no, anything. Silence didn't answer anything, except make him more nervous. "I know, I don't really deserve your forgiveness, and I'll understand if you don't, but..."

Trevor was cut off by Will pulling his father into a hug. For Will, it was all that he could do. When his father had knocked on his door, he hadn't expected an apology was on the horizon. Who would? Just minutes before, they were at each other's throats in the room below them, and suddenly his father not only apologized for the things he said, but also seemed like he genuinely accepted him. That was all Will wanted from his father really. Trevor hadn't needed to apologize for the things he said; all Will needed was for his father to accept his decision and really, just accept him as who he was. With everything that his father had done, Will felt bad too, for saying the things he did towards his father.

"I'm sorry too, for all the things I said." At that Trevor laughed, letting go of his son.

"You don't have to say sorry for anything. I was the idiot, not you. I mean if I were in your shoes, I would have felt a lot more than disappointment if you ask me. So I think you handled the situation with a lot more grace than I would have."

"Still, I shouldn't have said that. I'm not disappointed Dad, at least not anymore. It's just...I have a lot on my plate." Will said, dropping himself back down on his bed.

"I can imagine, what with your boyfriend getting kidnapped and all." Trevor said, chuckling in a sad sort of way. To Will, hearing his father say boyfriend sent a sort of happiness through him. It was the same verbal acknowledgment that Thane talked about so many times before. As soon as the happiness came, it was gone, replaced by worry at the thought of Thane.

"I hope he's alright." Will voiced, not really to his father but to himself.

"He will be." Trevor said, patting Will's shin in comfort. "Well, I'll let you rest. I'm sure you've had an exhausting day." Trevor got off and walked to the door.

"Thanks again Dad."

"No problem Will. It's my duty as a parent is all." Trevor said, standing by the open door, ready to take his leave.

"One last thing, what made you change your mind?" Will asked, curious as to his father's sudden change of heart towards him.

"Your elite friend downstairs is very persuasive." Trevor smiled, finally leaving the room. Will could only smile at that. Varek had been so much more than a mentor to him. He had been a friend, and even a father to him, something that he was so lucky to have. Even when Varek should have been so preoccupied with finding his own missing son, he had looked out for Will's best interests.

For the rest of the night, Will tried to distract his thoughts from Thane. On a couple of occasions, he contemplated heading downstairs to check the progress on locating him with Varek, but decided against it seeing that it would have only provided Varek with an unnecessary distraction. That didn't help him though, constantly worrying about Thane's current predicament. He tried not to think about it, but his mind automatically imagined every horrible thing that Dart could do to him, and each after the next more scary to Will.

Eventually, sleep consumed him as the exhaustion from the day took its toll on his body. The rest however, was anything but restful. Dreams permeated his sleeping brain, all of which were about Thane. In so many of them, Will had called out to him, but he never responded, almost like an empty shell rather than the bubbly man he was used to. Seeing Thane like that, sapped the soul out of Will himself, waking up after each dream feeling more empty than when he went to sleep.

After the third similar dream, Will wanted to stay awake, to stop these nightmares, but the body has its limits and Will found himself falling back asleep time and again. Once again, he was thrown into the same dream, Thane standing in front of him, a blank expression on his face. Everything else in the dream was a blur, only Thane in focus. This time was different though, because as Will reach out a hand to Thane, the other man spoke.

"Will." He said, voice muffled and distant.

"Thane?"

"Will, wake up." Thane said, his voice getting louder and clearer.

"Wake up? What are you..." Will asked but was cut off.

"Will wake up." Thane's mouth moved, but it wasn't his voice but Varek's. At that moment, Will woke from his dream, eyes shooting open to see Varek hovering over him. His brain was still foggy from sleep and he took awhile to register the things around him, but the next words that exited Varek's mouth woke him right up.

"Will, I've found Thane."