Now what? (Ravi!)

[Tobias Vaughn]

Ravi hadn't shown up for work, and Tobias was worried about him. For a while he had told himself that he didn't care. That it wasn't worth worrying about Ravi any more because he obviously wasn't going to deal with things well, no matter what Toby said or did. If he knew that Toby was staying with Kyan now, well, he'd probably kill them. Or himself.

But, after two hours of working without Ravi calling to say why he hadn't shown, he started to get nervous. He had been rather upset earlier, what if something had happened? He decided that he would go visit Ravi during his break. After all, 30 minutes was plenty of time.

He looked up Ravi's address in the work employee directory (which was illegal, but who cared?) and drove to his house, nervously ringing his doorbell and praying he'd answer.

[Ravi Malone]

Linda Malone

Earlier Ravi had ran home and went straight up to his room. He'd told his mother that he was just tired and needed a nap. His mother didn't argue even though she could tell something was wrong, it probably had something to do with those two boys at Ravi's school Ravi's mom, Linda, was just getting ready to take her two year old daughter, Bella, to the park when someone rang the door bell. Carrying her small child, she went to the front door and opened it. A handsome, built young man stood on her door step.

"Oh, you must be Toby." she said with a smile. She remembered what Ravi told her Toby looked like. "Ravi is up stairs in his room, second door on the left. He's sleeping, but go ahead and wake him up. I was just going to take Bella to the park." She stepped aside to let Toby in. "Please tell Ravi I'll be back in about an hour would you?" She walked outside and closed the door behind her leaving her son and Toby alone in her house.

Meanwhile Ravi was hidden under the covers in his bed crying into his pillow. He was still very shaken up about Kyan yelling at him and the fact he'd gotten Toby kicked out of his house. He didn't even want to go to work because he knew he'd have to face Toby there.

[Tobias Vaughn]

When the door opened Tobias found himself face to face with who he could only guess was Ravi's mother. She was holding his little sister in her arms, and appeared to be in the middle of doing something. He wondered how much Ravi had told her... would she hate him too? Did she know he was gay? And here he was, just standing there, silent, like an idiot.

"Hello Mrs. Malone," he said, but didn't have to say anything else.

"Oh, you must be Toby. Ravi is up stairs in his room, second door on the left. He's sleeping, but go ahead and wake him up. I was just going to take Bella to the park. Please tell Ravi I'll be back in about an hour would you?"

Toby stepped inside the doorway as Mrs. Malone moved aside for him. He decided that Ravi must not have told her too much, otherwise she probably wouldn't have allowed him inside without consulting Ravi first, especially if he was sleeping. As a matter of fact, he was positive that she knew nothing.

"TYeah, I'm Toby. Thanks," he said. "I'll let him know," he added, as she left to head to the park. He was now alone with Ravi in the house, and he had to admit that he was a little nervous. What if Ravi didn't want to talk to him? So much could go wrong...

Yet Toby found himself upstairs, walking to the second door on the left, and knocking three times. "Ravi?" he called, to avoid any unpleasant surprises if Ravi had opened the door without question. "Your mom let me in... she said she went to the park, and she'd be back in an hour," he added, and waited to see if he was really sleeping or if he would come and open the door. He didn't want to just walk right in...

[Ravi Malone]

Between sobs Ravi heard a knock at his door then something very unexpected; Toby's voice! Toby was in his fucking house! Not only that, he was standing out side his room! Ravi stopped crying at once and looked fearfully at the door. Why was Toby here? Was he here to yell at him like Kyan had done? Ravi hoped not. He then went into his own little fantasy of Toby asking him to the Home Coming Dance and telling him Kyan meant nothing. Yeah, right. Ravi may have been hopeful, but not stupid.

He looked around his room for anything that might be embarrassing. His room looked very normal except for him having a few more stuffed animals then the average teenage boy and perhaps his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles poster. There was also the stuffed Pikachew at the foot of his bed.

"C-c-c-come in!" Ravi called with out thinking. Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap.

[Tobias Vaughn]

"C-c-c-come in!"

Tobias only had to take a quick deep breath before he finally turned the handle and opened the door to Ravi's room. What he was greeted with looked normal enough... more like a younger teenager's room, but nothing out of the ordinary. No creepy shrines to Kyan or anything like that. Good signs.

"Hey," he said, trying to ignore the fact that Ravi had obviously just been crying. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay... you didn't come in to work, and you didn't call, so I got worried. I just wanted to make sure nothing happened to you or anything." Toby didn't want to say anything, but if Ravi struck him as the type of person to get a little over dramatic about little things. The type of kid that was prone to self-mutilation or drugs or something. He was worried about him.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier," he added, figuring Ravi didn't really want to talk to him. "I didn't want Kyan to say anything to you..."

((ooc- and then, abruptly, my inspiration died.))

[Ravi Malone]

Ravi was sitting on his bed with a blanket over his head like a very large hood and his eyes puffy from crying. Toby, on the other hand, looked amazing, as usual.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay... you didn't come in to work, and you didn't call, so I got worried. I just wanted to make sure nothing happened to you or anything."

Ravi sniffed and whipped at his nose with his hand. "Thanks." he said half-heartedly. "I-I was going to have my mom just write me a note or something saying I was sick. . . I wasn;t much in the mood to call." Ravi was finding it very hard to keep his gaze on Toby. He was far too embarrassed about the whole situation.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't want Kyan to say anything to you..."

Ravi's eyes began to fill with tears again. "B-b-b-b-but Kyan was right!" he blurted out, "I was a total asshole!" Suddenly he pulled his blanket over his face and curled up into a ball on his bed, bawling like a baby. "You hate me!" he exclaimed through his sobs. "You and Kyan, you both hate me!" Toby probably had come to tell him he didn't want to be friends anymore! Sure he was being nice about it, but it was probably because he didn't want Ravi to be hysterical about it. Well, too late! "A-a-a-a-a-and now you don't have a home anymore, a-a-a-a-a-and it's all m-m-m-m-my fault!"

[Tobias Vaughn]

Ravi looked like shit, but Toby didn't say anything. He was still worried about him, even though he could see him sitting here in front of him, with nothing wrong except for the fact that he was still emotional about what had happened earlier. Tobias could help but wonder if his neverending supply of tears ever dried up, or if he could quite possibly cry forever if he so chose.

"Thanks. I-I was going to have my mom just write me a note or something saying I was sick. . . I wasn;t much in the mood to call."

"I can see that," Toby said, glancing at his puffy eyes and noticing that he couldn't say an entire sentence without stuttering or sniffling. He was a mess! "Is there... anything I can do? Or something?" he felt awkward now, having shown up uninvited and now just standing there while Ravi started to cry.

"B-b-b-b-but Kyan was right! I was a total asshole!"

"No you weren't," Toby tried to reason with him, but found that once Ravi had gotten started he couldn't get a word in edgewise.

"You hate me! You and Kyan, you both hate me! A-a-a-a-a-and now you don't have a home anymore, a-a-a-a-a-and it's all m-m-m-m-my fault!"

"Ravi, shut up!" Toby said, raising his voice. Maybe he could shock Ravi into silence, and get him to stop crying. "You need to stop whining all the time. Not everything is as terrible as you think... it's like you aren't happy unless you're upset! It's getting old. How the hell am I supposed to have a civilized conversation with you if you're sobbing every time I look over at you?"

Toby resolved that he would stand there, silent, and not continue on until Ravi had at least quieted down. If being nice didn't work, then he'd try other options.

"And I don't hate you," he added, just so that Ravi would know he wasn't yelling at him to be mean, but just to get him to calm down and see that he was being stupid.

[Ravi Malone]

"Ravi, shut up!"

Ravi immediately stopped his sobbing, well it took him a couple of deep breaths for it to really die down and his had to bit his bottom lip to stop it from starting up again. Slowly he began to sit back up while Toby continued to yell at him.

"You need to stop whining all the time. Not everything is as terrible as you think... it's like you aren't happy unless you're upset! It's getting old. How the hell am I supposed to have a civilized conversation with you if you're sobbing every time I look over at you?"

"I'm not happy when I'm upset. . ." said Ravi quietly, looking at the floor. "I-I'm just not used to having this much angst in my life." He sniffed and wiped at his nose then began twisting his blanket in his hands. "Before this year nobody every noticed me. . . then I started talking to you and Kyan. . . then every thing just started sucking." It was true; Ravi didn't have many friends in the past. No one had every noticed him. The perk was he was never bullied, but on the other hand he had close to no friends. It wasn't like he was shy, it was more because he was so awkward. He liked having Toby and Kyan as friends, he wanted to be so much more though.

"And I don't hate you,"

"Really?" said Ravi, looking up at Toby, "because it's OK if you do. . . I would." Seriously, if Toby hated him he totally understood. He realized he must be getting really annoying if Toby actually yelled at him.

[Tobias Vaughn]

Tobias felt horrible about yelling at Ravi, but was surprised to see that he immediately stopped crying. There was a little bit of sniffling going on, but that wasn't too horrible. Toby could deal with that much at least.

"I'm not happy when I'm upset. . . I-I'm just not used to having this much angst in my life. Before this year nobody every noticed me. . . then I started talking to you and Kyan. . . then every thing just started sucking."

"Well... I'm sorry about that. If you want, I could start ignoring you, I guess." Toby really didn't want to lose one of his two friends, because that was quite literally what he was down to now. Two real friends, and if Ravi blamed him for all his woes then he'd be down to just Kyan, whom he wasn't sure qualified as a friend so much as someone who just wanted to have sex with him.

"Really?" said Ravi, looking up at Toby, "because it's OK if you do. . . I would."

Toby shook his head. "Really. I mean, you could've been a bit more mature about the situation, but... I was a crappy friend," he admitted. "I shouldn't have turned around and gotten involved with him. I deserved whatever you said to me because I should've told you." Not that he had the chance, since Ravi kept walking in on him, but still... maybe if he apologized Ravi would feel better. "My dad being an ass isn't your fault."

[Ravi Malone]

"Well... I'm sorry about that. If you want, I could start ignoring you, I guess."

"I didn't mean it like that!" said Ravi hastily, "I just meant that, if I hadn't told you I liked Kyan this all wouldn't have happened! And that I probably should have just stayed away from Kyan in the first place, but I couldn't help it! He's just so hot and he was actually nice to me the first time I met him . . .it was really cool. . . he noticed me, you know?" Ravi fail to mention that it was just him and Kyan in a bathroom smoking and it was hard not to notice only one other person in a bathroom at school smoking.

"Really. I mean, you could've been a bit more mature about the situation, but... I was a crappy friend. I shouldn't have turned around and gotten involved with him. I deserved whatever you said to me because I should've told you. My dad being an ass isn't your fault."

Ravi sniffed again, but was starting to feel better. It seemed that Toby was genuinely not mad at him. He was glad that him and Toby could still be friends even though the both of them had screwed up big time. Then Ravi realized that he and Toby were alone in his house. should he grow some balls and make a move?

"Toby-"

The phone rang. Ravi had a phone in his room so he didn't have to leave the room to answer it. The caller ID said it was his father at work. Ravi picked up the phone from his nightstand.

"Hello?. . . . . . . . What do you mean? . . . . . . . . HE WHAT?" Ravi dropped the phone out of shock and scrambled to pick it up. "I-i-i-i-is he going to be ok?. . . . . . . You don't know?" Ravi was very shaky now, his eyes were filling with tears again, and the look on his face was of utter shock and distress. " Mom is not here right now, sh-sh-she took Bella for a walk. . . . . . ok. . . . bye."

Ravi's heart was beating uncomfortably fast as he hung up the phone. He was in such a state of shock he'd completely forgotten that Toby was still there. "M-my cousin just tried to kill himself." Ravi told Toby before bursting into tears. His cousin, Desmond, was his only friend while he was growing up and Ravi really looked up to him.

[Tobias Vaughn]

"I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that, if I hadn't told you I liked Kyan this all wouldn't have happened! And that I probably should have just stayed away from Kyan in the first place, but I couldn't help it! He's just so hot and he was actually nice to me the first time I met him . . .it was really cool. . . he noticed me, you know?"

Toby had to laugh a little at the way Ravi quickly changed his wording. He couldn't help but realize that Ravi needed him as a friend nearly as much as Toby needed him. Weren't the two of them just in the best of social situations? Besides Ravi, all of his old friends had abandoned him. The only friend he'd gained by announcing he was gay had been Kyan. Maybe he should join the GSA...

"Toby-"

Just then the phone rang. Toby wondered what Ravi was about to say, but he decided he would have to wait until he was done on the phone. As the conversation on the phone progressed, though, Tobias realized that something was wrong. Ravi looked like he was going to start crying, and then he did. There was lots of stammering, and Toby was growing more and more concerned. What was wrong? Who wasn't alright?

"M-my cousin just tried to kill himself."

Toby didn't know what to say, so he just walked over to the bed and sat down next to Ravi, wrapping his arms around the younger boy. "Hey... hey, but he didn't, right? I mean, he's probably going to be okay..." why was he always put in these situations? "Is he at the hospital? I can drive you there, or something... are you okay?"

[Ravi Malone]

Ravi would have been excited about the fact that Toby was holding him had it not been for the fact that Desmond just tried to kill himself. He compensated by sobbing into Toby's shoulder. He was glad someone was there to comfort him; if he was alone when he'd heard the news who knew how he would have handled it. It was more of the shock that Desmond would actually try to do something like that then him actually doing it. Of all the people Ravi knew Desmond was the last person he thought would try to commit suicide.

"Hey... hey, but he didn't, right? I mean, he's probably going to be okay..."

"My dad said they had to pump his stomach cus he swallowed so many pills!" said Ravi between sobs. He didn't know if that had anything to do with Desmond's recovery, it just sounded extreme. "And he's still unconscious!"

"Is he at the hospital? I can drive you there, or something... are you okay?"

"Can you please?" said Ravi desperately. "M-my will know where I've gone. . . I just think he'd like to see a familiar face when he wakes up." If he wakes up. . . Ravi really wasn't ok, but he didn't want to tell Toby that. With all the stuff that was going on in his life right now this piece of news was the last thing he needed.

[Tobias Vaughn]

"My dad said they had to pump his stomach cus he swallowed so many pills!"

So maybe he wasn't going to be alright. Tobias couldn't imagine what Ravi was going through, but he was trying to help as best as he could. He kept a tight hold on Ravi, hoping that it would help for him to just feel the touch of a friend.

And he's still unconscious!"

Toby wanted to say that at least Desmond wouldn't be feeling any pain if he was unconscious, but he wasn't sure if that would be helpful so much. He decided that it would probably be best for both of them if he thought before he spoke. Suicide was a serious thing, and he didn't want to say the wrong thing to Ravi.

"Can you please?" said Ravi desperately. "M-my will know where I've gone. . . I just think he'd like to see a familiar face when he wakes up."

Toby could sense that Ravi really needed to go and see his cousin. He checked his watch and saw that it was 5:00. He was supposed to work until seven, that his break ended in ten minutes, but knew that if he called them and explained what was going on.

"Yeah... no problem. Just let me call work first. I'm only on my break, but they should let me leave. It's been pretty slow," he said, pulling out his cell phone and dialing the number for work. After explaining everything he hung up the phone again.

"They said it's okay. Are you ready to go now, or do you need to change, or get anything ready?"

[Ravi Malone]

Ravi waited anxiously for Toby to make the phone call. So anxious that he grabbed one of his pillows and began chewing on the side of it. He really didn't care how ridiculous he must look chewing on the side of a pillow; he was far more concerned about his cousin and how badly he wanted to go see him.

"They said it's okay. Are you ready to go now, or do you need to change, or get anything ready?"

"No, just take me now, please." said Ravi quickly, wiping tears away from his eyes. He just wanted to get to the hospital as soon as possible to make sure Desmond was ok. He didn't know what he'd do if Desmond wasn't alright. Desmond was the only person he really felt like he could talk to.

[Tobias Vaughn]

Toby was glad that work understood the situation. He wanted to make sure Ravi wasn't left alone while he was under so much stress emotionally... who knows what he'd do? He imagined that he was very close to his cousin by the way he had reacted.

"No, just take me now, please."

Tobias nodded. "Okay," he said, taking his keyes out of his pocket. "Let's go," he eyed Ravi once more to make sure he was okay...