Archive of Our Own

it was 4:42am when cory got the message.

𝗇𝖺𝗏𝖾𝖾𝖽
𝘪'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦

he poked his head out of the window to see naveed, leaning against the fence in front of his house. he was wearing a hoodie so cory couldn’t quite see his face, but he immediately knew something was wrong (probably because he was standing outside in the rain at five in the morning). cory climbed out of bed and slid a shirt on at record speed, rushing down the stairs to let naveed inside.

“what are you doing here?” he called out as soon as he opened the door, and naveed’s head spun around. he made his way over to the door, head hanging low, until he fund himself standing before cory. he looked up, and cory noticed something; it was clear he had been crying. a lot. “shit,” cory whispered. then, a little louder, “come in.”

he did, pulling his hood off as he did. cory noticed that his hair was ruffled but almost fully dry while naveed was sliding his shoes off.

“what happened?” he asked as they both walked up the stairs. nabeed mumbled something under his breath. “what?”

“they know,” he repeate, more clearly, just as they walked into cory’s bedroom.

“okay, who knows what?” they sat down on the bed, side by side.

“my parents. they 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸." and suddenly cory understood.

“oh,” he said, “shit.”

“yeah.”

“uh- what did… how did they react?”

naveed glared at him pointedly. “not great, obviously,” he said, voice teasing, but cory picked up on the way it broke a little. “my mum called me disguisting. ‘one of those disguisting things,’ she said. told me to- to get out. and she-” he cut himself off with a sob, letting his head fall back against the wall. cory hesitated for a moment before throwing both of his arms around naveed.

“shit,” he repeated, “shit, ’m sorry, nav.” he felt his friend go completely still in his arms as he continued, “you”re not, though, you know that, right? you’re not disguisting, i promise.” and then naveed was crying into his shoulder for what could have been anything from a minute to an hour, shaking all the while. when he finally pulled away, cory’s shoulder was soaked.

“sorry.”

“for what?”

naveed snorted and pointed at the tear stains while wiping his eyes with his free hand.

“oh. right. it’s all good.”

“guess you’re literally a shoulder to cry on, huh?” he said between hiccups, and cory rolled his eyes. “seriously, though,” he looked right into cory’s eyes, and cory thought he might just melt, “thank you.”

“yeah, no problem, mate. anytime you need, really.”

“so anytime my mum finds my porn and screams i’m a disgrace to the family as i leave the house?” naveed laughs, seemingly to himself, and crosses his legs on the bed.

“or.. just, y’know, anytime you feel down,” cory pointed out, mirroring the action.

“yeah, yeah, i got the gist.” he paused. cleared his throat, “same goes for you by the way.”

“what, whenever my parents find my gay porn and im dragged out of the closet i can come over at 5 o’clock?” cory asked, grinning. naveed rubbed his chin, feigning thoughtfulness. he shrugged.

“yeah, sure.”

cory took hold of naveed’s shoulder, smiling at him and recieving one right back. he pulled his hand away and, after a moment of comfortable silence, naveed said, “never change, cory wilson.”

and, really, cory had no choice but to pull him in for another hug.