Chapter Text
Charles was a little bit of a perfectionist. Sure he annoyed his brothers and caused problems and broke stuff, but when it came to his art and his food, perfectionism may even be an understatement.
“Dad! I can’t get it to look right!” Charles exclaimed huffing.
“What doesn’t look right?” Lewis asked, looking over at Charles’s painting he was making, unable to see what his son was so worried about.
“That!” Charles exclaimed, gesturing to the canvas as if there was a big cross through it.
“Charlie, I cannot see anything wrong with it, it looks great!” Lewis said, admiring his son's work.
“No! It’s all wrong! It’s just, urgh!” Charles threw his paintbrush at the table and picked up a random tube of paint.
“Charlie, don’t waste the paint please.” Lewis said hoping he wasn’t about to do what he was thinking.
“I don’t like it! I don’t like it! It’s shit!” Charles yelled.
“Charles! Watch your language!” Lewis exclaimed.
“Urgh! I- Urgh!” Charles yelled again, walking out the room and slamming the door.
Lewis didn’t really think much of it, he knew Charles would come around again, he had seen him do this before. It broke his heart that his son could not see the talent he held when he was painting, but then again, there were not many artists who ever liked their work.
There was a soft knock at the door.
“Is Charles alright?” Seb asked, poking his head around the door.
“I think so, he just got quite annoyed at his painting not looking the way he wanted it to look.” Lewis explained.
“Ah, I see, I’ll probably leave him to cool down then.” Seb said, leaving Lewis to continue painting.
“Alright, see you later, love.” Lewis replied.
However, what Lewis was unaware of was the pure state that Charles had put himself into. The boy was upstairs in his and Carlos’ shared room, alone due to Carlos still being at football, and trying his best to hold off a meltdown.
Charles had stuff to do, he knew he had stuff to do, so why couldn’t he bring himself to do it? And why when he did do it, was it all shit?
He had so many things to do, he needed to cross them off a list, but he didn’t have a list, and he didn’t want to write a list, because the list would be too long.
“Urgh!” Charles threw a book across the room in an attempt to calm some of the emotions but it didn’t work.
“Charles! Shut up!” Max yelled through from his room.
Charles couldn’t shut up, he felt like he had a hundred bees stuck at the top of his throat and he didn’t know how to get them out.
“Fuck off!” He yelled as loudly as he could, clenching his fists and his eyes.
“Charles!” Seb barged into the room, “I will not tolerate you shouting that kind of language around this house, is that clear?”
Charles couldn’t even find the words to reply, he just huffed and turned to face the other way.
“Charles! Don’t you dare pick up an attitude with me.” Seb exclaimed.
Charles was trying to say he wasn’t, but he couldn’t find the words, his fists just clenched tighter.
“Charles!” Seb reached around and grabbed Charles’ arm to get him to look at him, but this was Charles’ final straw.
Charles instantly pulled away, he couldn’t explain why, but he just cried out, and sprinted out of the room, leaving Seb shocked in his room.
“If that’s the way you’re going to behave, then don’t expect me to pick you up from wherever you bring yourself.” Seb shouted after Charles as he heard the front door open.
Charles ran and ran and ran. He had tears streaming down his face, he couldn’t breath, he had stuff to do, but yet, he was running away from it all, Lewis was going to be so disappointed.
His lungs were burning, but a voice inside his head told him that was the way it should be, it was the only thing reminding himself that he was human. The burning.
His legs, his lungs, his nose from the cold.
They were burning.
Tears were rolling down his cheeks, sobs mixed in with his heavy breathing accompanied the sound of his feet hitting the pavement and the wind whizzing past his ears.
He ran until he no longer recognized the streets, where he couldn’t find a sign, there was no recollection of where he was, and for once, he found peace with that.
He was running up the side of a large hill, he knew he was quite a way from his house as he knew he had never walked here before, he’d remember a crumbling hill, he would have wanted to talk a picture of it to paint later if he wasn’t in the state that he was in now.
His legs eventually buckled from all the running and he was left slumped against a tree, but at least he didn’t even have the energy to think anymore, it was kind of quiet. And Charles liked it.
~~~~
Meanwhile, Seb and Lewis sat waiting for the front door to open so they could scold Charles for running off, however, there was a part of both of them that was kind of concerned, because they had never seen their son act like this before, and quite frankly, they were worried something might be wrong, despite this, neither of them voiced these thoughts to the other.
“Lewis, it’s raining.” Seb said, pointing out the window where rain was starting to hit the window.
“He’ll be running back soon then, he won’t want to be out in the rain.” Lewis said, looking out the window, searching for his son retreating.
“Should I drive up and down the street just in case?” Seb offered, looking at the rain heavily falling.
“Fucks sake, it’s hard to punish them when you also worry for them.” Lewis muttered, “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”
Seb nodded his head and picked up a jacket and car keys, sliding his shoes on. He opened the door and quickly ran to the car, the rain falling quicker than he expected. He was quick to get the car started up, pulling it out of the driveway and he turned along the street, the way that Lewis saw Charles run.
Seb drove slowly, headlights on so that he could scan his eyes across the road for a Charles shaped person.
When he got to the end of the road, he still hadn’t seen him.
Seb examined the cross roads, Charles wouldn’t have thought to cross the road, he probably just followed the pavement. So that’s what Seb did too.
He called Lewis as he drove along the road.
“You found him?” Lewis asked as he picked up the phone.
“No, he’s not on the road, I’m still looking for him though.” Seb replied.
“Shit. Where the hell would he have gone?” Lewis asked.
“I don’t know, I’m just following the pavement, hoping that’s what he did too.” Seb explained, keeping his eyes on the road and surroundings.
“He can’t have gone far, he hates running.” Lewis stated.
“I hope that too.” Seb murmured.
“I’ll keep an eye out here, if he comes home I’ll call you, stay safe.” Lewis said.
“Okay, I will. I love you.” Seb replied, hanging up the phone.
~~~~
Meanwhile, Charles was exhausted, cold, and wet. He had no idea where he was, his anger had calmed down, and he just wanted to go home but he couldn’t see more than a few meters in front of him due to the rain.
“Dad-” Charles whimpered, he wanted his dad, he wanted to say sorry, he wanted to go back home.
He knew that sitting there was doing nothing, so he eventually pulled himself to his feet despite the protests of his muscles, and he started to walk in the direction he was pretty sure he came in.
He kept walking, the crumbling hillside was slippy now, Charles’ tears were mixing in with the rain as he kept as far away from the drop at the side of the path as possible.
“One foot in front of the other, come on.” Charles’ voice wobbled as he tried to keep himself going, he got himself into this mess, he could get himself out of it.
Charles looked ahead to the thinning path, he was starting to really regret his decisions to run away, especially up this path.
Suddenly, Charles’ foot slipped on mud that was underneath him. He gasped as his foot went up in the air, his arms flailed as he tried to grab onto anything that was available, but he couldn’t catch himself. He could see himself falling towards the edge as he cried out in fear, but just as he thought he was going to go over, his t-shirt got caught on a tree branch, leaving him dangling half-over the edge of the drop.
Charles didn’t move, he didn’t want to risk the branch snapping. He took a moment to process what happened before pulling himself back to his feet. He sat down on the path, taking a minute to breathe. His clothes were soaked through and muddy, he was scared and cold, he just wanted to get down this hill and go home.
He slowly, and shakily, made his way back to his feet, taking a glance down at what would have been a landing of jagged rocks. He carefully restarted his descent.
~~~~
Seb was still driving around, unknown of his son's struggles, but Seb was getting more worried the longer it was taking, so he called up Lewis again.
“Still no sign of him?” He asked Lewis.
“No, I’m assuming the same for you?” Lewis asked.
“No, I still haven’t seen him. It’s still raining, and it’s been a while, can you call Kimi, or Jenson?” Seb asked, “He could be hurt, it’s raining, and he’ll be cold, we need to find him-”
“Seb, take a breath, deep breath, don’t outdo yourself, we’ll find him, it’ll be okay.” Lewis assured, trying to find some reassurance in his words too.
“Yeah, yeah, okay, we need to find him.” Seb stated.
“I’ll call them now, see if they can help. Carlos is staying at his friend's house tonight.” Lewis informed his husband.
“Okay, well at least we don’t have to worry about him.”
“Stay safe, I’ll call them now.”
The phone call was then hung up and Seb continued following the path, keeping his eyes open for any sign of his son, not sure whether to feel more worried or more reassured that Jenson and Kimi could help.
“Come on, Charles, where the hell are you?” Seb murmured to himself.
Seb then reached the end of the pathway, the only way to go forwards was up the old hill. He had hiked it with Jenson before because he was planning on taking the kids up it, but the way that the two of them struggled to stay on the path and not fall off, they didn’t want to imagine what their kids would be like going up and down that.
Seb had an awful feeling in his stomach that Charles had gone down the footpath that started right where Seb was, and up the hill. He jumped out the car and turned on his flashlight, and as he thought, there were child-shaped shoeprints in the mud. Seb felt his heart drop as he ran back into the car to grab his phone.
He clicked on Jenson's contact immediately.
“Hey, Seb, I’m just leaving the house now to help, Lewis called me, have you fo-” Seb cut him off.
“He’s gone up the old hill, Jenson! He’s up there!” Seb yelled down the phone.
“What?! Shit, Seb, it’s raining, that means it’s slippery and-” Seb cut him off once again.
“I know, Jenson, I know, just hurry, please!” Seb exclaimed, trying to push his fear away but it wasn’t working very well.
“Okay, I’m driving there now, Seb, do not go up there without me, promise me that you wo-”
Seb hung up the phone. He respected Jenson, and he was his friend, but his son was up there, and he wasn’t about to wait around.
~~~~
Charles was still slowly making his way back down, at least he hoped he was heading down, he didn’t really know where he was going, all he could see was the way his feet were barely staying on the path with the amount of mud.
He was still shaky from nearly falling earlier, well it was either that or the cold, and Charles didn’t know which one it was to be honest.
He was trying to keep calm, but quite frankly he was anything but calm, he was cold, shaky, scared, and he didn’t know if he was even going the right way.
One foot in front of the other, he kept going.
The path was becoming even more narrow, he didn’t remember it being this thin when he came up, but then again, he wasn’t in the state to notice things when he was running up.
He looked up to see if he could see anything else, but it was pitch black and rainy, there was no light to guide him anywhere.
However, just in the distance, a small light flickered around, Charles’ eyes snapped up.
“Hello?” Charles called out, “Dad?”
He then cursed quietly, Seb said that he wouldn’t come to get him, he had to make his own way back, oh well, he deserved it, he needed to face the consequences of his actions.
“Charles!” The voice called out, and Charles was suddenly filled with hope again.
“SEB! Wait!” There was another voice calling after Seb, and it wasn’t Charles, nor was it Lewis.
“Dad?” Charles called out, his voice breaking as tears rolled down his cheeks.
Seb was down at the bottom of the hill, he could see Jenson running after him, and he was going to give him a mouthful for going in without him, but that could wait.
Charles began to go faster, his dad was down there, he just wanted to go home.
“Charlie, be careful, we’re coming!” Seb called, the flashlight had found Charles, and Seb could make out the vague shape of his son.
“Seb, be careful, it’s slippery.” Jenson said, also turning on his flashlight as the two of them carefully started walking up.
Charles had lost all sense of fear, he just wanted to go home, his dad was there, he could see the light, they could see him, it was going to be okay, and-
The ground crumbled underneath Charles’ feet.
Charles felt himself fall, it happened too quickly to do anything.
He heard Seb and Jenson yell out, but they were too far away to do anything.
He couldn’t find anything to grab as he flailed about in the air, desperate to break his fall, but his luck had run out. He scraped along the rock face of the drop, being twisted and turned against his will, before free falling the rest of the way until hitting the ground.
Seb screamed out his name as he ran over to him, Jenson in pursuit, already pulling up his phone and calling an ambulance.
“Seb, be careful, don’t hurt yourself getting over to him.” Jenson instructed, but he didn’t expect Seb to listen, the younger man had tears falling down his face that was mixing in with the rain.
“Charlie? Charlie?” Seb called out, shining his flashlight, trying to find where his son fell.
“Seb, over there.” Jenson said, his flashlight shining on a clump on the ground.
Seb gasped and rushed over, almost slipping on the rocks and mud before planting himself next to his son.
“Charlie? Charlie? Look at me, Charles.” Seb instructed, pushing the hair out of Charles’ face.
“Seb, don’t move him, an ambulance is on the way.” Jenson said.
Charles' eyes fluttered open, slowly taking in his surroundings.
“Charlie?” Seb asked softly, then Charles’ eyes started to fill with tears. “Hey, it’s okay, I’m here, it’s okay.”
Jenson was quick to take off his jacket and place it over the top of Charles, not sure how much it would do since the boy was already soaked through.
“Charlie, what hurts, bud?” Jenson asked softly.
Charles just whimpered and tried to curl up into his father, but both Seb and Jenson were quick to stop that from happening.
“You need to stay still, Charlie, you’re hurt and we don’t want it to become worse.” Jenson explained.
Charles didn’t like this, his bottom lip started quivering and tears were falling out his eyes.
“Shh… you’re going to be okay, I promise, it’ll be over soon.” Seb said gently, stroking Charles’ hair back again.
“Seb, I’m going to call Lewis, he needs to know.” Jenson said, standing up, Seb silently nodded in response, not wanting to take his eyes away from his son, scared that if he did, he’d turn back and-
“Seb, stay in the present, don’t spiral.” Jenson said, walking away to take the phone call.
Seb really didn’t know what he’d do without his friends or his husband, he was a wreck, and they were holding him together as best they could.
Jenson pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he pressed on Lewis.
“Hey, Jenson, have you found him?” Lewis asked immediately.
“Yeah, we found him bu-” Jenson was cut off.
“Oh thank fuck, he’s okay, right?” Lewis sighed in relief, Jenson wasn’t sure how to break the news. “Jenson?”
“We’re waiting for an ambulance.” Jenson said he's not sure why he couldn’t have broken it to Lewis in a slightly better way.
“What? Why? What’s happened? Jenson, what’s going on?” Lewis was frantic again, just the same as he was when he first called Jenson to tell him that they couldn’t find Charles.
“Charles ran up the old hill, the one which is really crumbly, the ground gave way when he was coming down and he fell down the side, so um-” Jenson had to pause for a minute to not let his emotions get to him, he had seen the way that Charles flailed about mid-air to try to grab anything to stop him from falling, both him and Seb cried out and ran over to find him unconscious in a clump on the ground.
“Jenson, what’s happened to him?” Lewis’ voice was weak.
“He’s awake, but god, he fell Lewis, and he hit the side before the ground, he hasn’t even said anything, he’s just crying.” Jenson admitted, his voice wavering slightly.
“Is Seb there?” Lewis asked.
“Yeah, he’s sitting with Charles right now.”
“Okay, keep me updated, I’ll call Kimi.”
“Okay, stay with Kimi, Lewis, don’t get lost in your head.” Jenson advised before hanging up.
He quickly wiped the tears out his eyes and walked back over to Seb and Charles.
“How is he?” Jenson asked.
“Hurts.” Charles whimpered, his eyes were dangerously dazed.
“I know, kid, but the ambulance will be here soon, and they can help.” Seb said softly.
“And you’re holding up?” Jenson asked, directed at Seb.
“Priorities, Jenson.” Seb replied quickly, and Jenson knew that tonight would be a long night for Seb.
Jenson had already turned his phone, Seb’s phone, and their two flashlights, into a signal for a helicopter, as the dispatcher on the call had already told him they wouldn’t be able to get an ambulance to them so they’ll need to bring a helicopter.
“Well at least you get a ride in a helicopter, bud.” Jenson said, trying to lighten the mood a little for the young boy.
Charles didn’t seem to see it in the same light, as he whimpered.
“Sorry.” Charles said weakly.
“It’s okay, we’re not mad, kid, we just didn’t know what was going on.” Seb said softly.
Charles tried to readjust his positioning but ended up with shooting pain coming from somewhere, accidently letting out a yelp.
“Woah, Charlie, stay really still, please, you need to wait.” Jenson instructed, placing his hand lightly on Charles’ shoulder.
Charles didn’t say anything in response, he just whimpered, tears started falling again.
Jenson looked up in the air to see a helicopter starting its descent.
“Look, Charlie, they are here, just hang on a little longer.” Jenson said softly.
Seb held onto Charles’ hand, trying hard to keep calm for his son. Jenson put a hand on Seb’s shoulder, assuring him he was there, and that he didn’t need to get lost inside himself again.
“He’ll be okay.” Jenson whispered.
Charles’ eyes were starting to shut again, so Seb started to talk to him whilst Jenson kept his eyes on the helicopter coming into land.
The helicopter was loud, and Jenson could tell the noises were not helping Seb remain calm.
“Just five more minutes, you’ll be okay.” Jenson whispered to Seb, but Seb shook his head, brushing Jenson off.
The paramedics ran over the moment the helicopter landed, stretcher and equipment in hand. They asked about what happened, Jenson explaining briefly, just wanting them to hurry up.
They were careful moving Charles into a neck brace and strapping him to the board. He started crying when Jenson and Seb had to step away, Covid restrictions not allowing anyone to go into the helicopter with him, Jenson had to put his arm around Seb to make sure he didn’t make a runner.
“We’re going to the hospital now, I can get Kimi to bring dry clothes for us, okay?” Jenson said, ushering Seb into his car.
Seb didn’t say a word, earning him worried looks from Jenson as he backed the car onto the road.
“Seb, what are you thinking?” Jenson asked.
“That I could have stopped this from happening.” Seb said weakly.
“You know what I’m going to say to that, don’t you.” Jenson replied.
“But I’m the one who let him run off! I didn’t chase after him! I could have stopped him or asked him what was wrong or anything! Any half-decent parent would have done that!” Seb exclaimed.
“Yes, but it’s Charles, he would have done that anyway, you couldn’t have imagined that he would have run up the hill, you wouldn’t have let him if you did.” Jenson replied.
“I keep hurting them, Jenson.” Seb whispered after a moment of silence.
Jenson hated seeing his friend beat himself up like this, but he knew it was bound to happen.
“Seb, I promise you, this is not you hurting them, this is your kids being children and not thinking things through.”
Seb just hummed and kept his eyes ahead on the road.
“I’m serious, Seb, if I catch you blaming yourself again for this, I swear to god.” Jenson said.
Seb didn’t speak for the rest of the journey, Jenson only eyeing him picking at his fingernails and his bouncing knee as his face remained pale.
They pulled up to the hospital, Seb nearly jumping out of the car, only Jenson preventing him from running into oncoming traffic.
“Seb, I swear to god if I have to hold your hand like you’re a child, I will.” Jenson threatened but Seb just looked at him with desperation in his eyes.
Jenson sighed and led Seb into the hospital and into the little plastic waiting room chairs.
Seb waited anxiously, Lewis managed to join him about 30 minutes later, however, he kept going back and forth to make sure the boys were still okay.
“Mr Vettel?”
Seb jumped from his seat, rushing to the doctor.
“Are you here for Charles?” The doctor questioned.
“Yes.” Seb answered.
“Okay, follow me.”
Seb followed the doctor down the long hallways, Jenson in pursuit.
“He’s got out of this fairly lucky, given the fall that he had this could have very easily ended very differently.” The doctor explained, “He’s out of surgery that took place to fix his leg, there are plates in there now holding it together, however, it is still very fragile.”
Seb nodded, indicating the doctor to go on.
“We’re currently treating him for a concussion, as well as broken vertebrae, he was very lucky to not permanently damage any nerves.” The doctor explained.
Seb wanted to cry. Charles was okay, well, maybe not okay, but he would be okay.
“Can we see him?” Seb asked, his voice quiet as if he were too scared to get his hopes up.
“Yes, but just be aware that he is still healing and is likely to be asleep for a while still because of concussion, although nurses will be in frequently to check on them, so any questions they can answer for you.” The doctor said, opening a door into a room and letting Jenson and Seb in.
Seb hated the sight of any of his boys in hospital beds, they always looked so small compared to the sheets and the wires. His face had scrapes and bruises scattered around, mainly the right side, of his face, and his arms that were visible were less skin colored than bruises and cuts, many of which had been bandaged up.
Jenson reached out to place his hand on Seb’s shoulder, he appreciated the gesture, however, it didn’t take from the fact that Charles was in the hospital bed, unconscious, hurt, and it would have been avoidable if Seb had half a brain.
“Seb, do you want to sit down and wait for him to wake up?” Jenson suggested, pulling Seb in the direction of the two chairs in the room.
Seb huffed and allowed Jenson to pull him down to the chair.
“Seb, look, he’s okay, he’s alive.” Jenson tried to explain, but Seb knew that he wasn’t an idiot, he just felt like he could have avoided this whole situation.
Seb didn’t reply, he barely even noticed Jenson until Charles began to wake up.
“Charlie?” Seb asked quietly when he saw his son's eyes start to flicker.
Charles groaned, his eyes not being used to the light.
“Dad-” Charles whimpered.
“It’s okay, honey, I’m here, I’m right here.” Seb said, taking Charles hand carefully.
Tears started to fill Charles’ eyes as they opened again.
“Dad, I’m sorry.” He whimpered.
“It’s okay, monkey, it’ll be okay.” Seb said, stroking Charles’ hair back, trying to hide the tears that are starting to form in his own eyes.
Charles tried to slightly shift himself, but his face showed discomfort.
“Hold on there, Charlie, you don’t want to be moving around quite yet.” Seb said softly, squeezing his hand lightly.
“It hurts dad.” Charles whimpered.
“I know, honey, it’s going to hurt.” Seb replied softly.
“Dad.” Charles cried, tears starting to form already, despite the morphine that he was on.
“Shh, I know, honey, I know.” Seb soothed, carefully stroking his son's hair. “It’ll get better, I promise.”
Charles’ face screwed up as he started to cry.
“Charlie, what’s wrong?” Seb asked.
“I don’t know.” Charles admitted through tears.
“Does it hurt?” Seb questioned and Charles nodded, “Is that all that’s bugging you?”
Charles shook his head and groaned, shifting about uncomfortably.
“Do you want me to turn the lights off?” Jenson asked, making his presence known, and Charles eventually nodded.
Jenson flicked the lights off, however, Charles was still squirming uncomfortably, groaning and crying, no matter how Seb tried to comfort him.
“Charlie, what’s going on?” Jenson asked, but Charles only sobbed in reply.
Jenson moved closer to the bed and pulled the covers off of Charles and gently kneaded his thumbs into the back of the kids neck. Charles’ cries slowly subsided.
“It’s okay, I know it’s overwhelming, but it’s okay.” Jenson said softly.
Seb watched in confusion as Jenson managed to calm his own son down, something that he should be able to do but never would have managed to do in the way that Jenson was.
“You can go to sleep, Charlie, there’s nothing you need to worry about, we have it all sorted, just rest.” Jenson soothed as Charles started to shut his eyes.
Once Charles had fallen back asleep, Jenson regained his seat beside Seb.
“How did you know to do that?” Seb asked quietly, as not to wake up his son.
“Lewis explained that he was overwhelmed, that happened to me a lot as well when I was a kid, my dad would help me deal with it.” Jenson explained.
“Did you get angry when it happened?” Seb asked.
“Sometimes,” Jenson replied, “Yeah, sometimes I would scream and shout and punch things because I couldn’t express the fact that I couldn’t explain what was happening, it felt like it was trapped in my throat.”
“Shit, I got mad at him for that earlier.” Seb mumbled, putting his head in his hands.
“Seb, that’s a normal reaction for parents, you don’t want to raise an angry kid, my parents were the same at first, what matters is that you learn from it.” Jenson explained, putting his hand on Seb’s shoulder, “And as long as you’re learning from it, that’s being the best parent there is, because no parent could do everything correctly.”
Seb knew Jenson had a point, but the irrational part of his brain was stronger today so he just shook his head instead.
“It’ll get easier Seb, I promise, just maybe get him someone to speak to?” Jenson suggested.
“Yeah, someone to speak to, okay, I can do that.” Seb mumbled, just trying to keep thinking in the moment.
“He’s okay, Seb, call Lewis and tell him that.” Jenson replied, handing Seb his phone.
“Shit, yeah, that’s a good idea.”
“Yeah, I know, I’m full of them.” Jenson smirked and Seb slapped his arm lightly before taking the phone outside the room.
Jenson waited inside whilst Charles remained asleep. He thought about what he knew about Charles, it was a lot, but more specifically whether suggesting an ADHD test to Sebastian wouldn’t be a bad idea. He was an overactive child, constantly trying to do something or other, never giving his parents a break, and now running away because he’s overwhelmed, it all was starting to add up.
Jenson stayed quiet as he waited with the sleeping boy, his dad out in the hallway calling Lewis who would probably be worried sick, but as for now, Charles was okay, he would continue to be okay, because Jenson knew his dads loved him, and he had a feeling that Sebastian would know exactly what to do even if Jenson weren’t to try and hint at certain directions to go down, because that’s who Sebastian is.
Charles moved slightly in the bed beside Jenson, to which the older man turned and looked down at the boy.
“You’re going to be okay,” Jenson whispered, “I promise.”