Then Where Is Home?

Chapter 4

Tw: Past panic attack, past suicide attempt, past self harm, mentioned past hallucinations

Liam went up the driveway and glanced back at Puffy's car. He didn't say anything as Sam put a bookmark in his book and closed it.

"Hey Liam." Sam smiled as Liam sat down in the chair across from the porch swing.

"Hi Sam." Liam replied, not looking up at him. Sam put the book down and glanced over at Puffy's car pulling away.

"You wanna talk about what happened tonight? Where you went?" Sam asked but Liam knew he already knew the answer. He knew Puffy already called Sam.

"Don't you already know?" Liam asked in response and he saw Sam's smile waiver slightly. "Why do I have to talk about it if you already know?"

"Because Puffy said she wanted you to talk about it, and I think it could be helpful if you did." Sam said as he used his legs to kick a little bit, moving the swing slowly.

"I went to the Watson's." Liam said shortly.

"And?" Sam asked, to which Liam huffed.

"I saw them and talked with them." Liam continued. He knew Sam didn't know about exactly what was said and what happened, that was for certain. That was until Sam pulled out his phone and looked at it.

"Puffy just messaged me with what happened." Sam informed him. Liam crossed his arms.

"Then you already know what happened, why do I have to talk about it more if you already know what happened?" Liam snapped and Sam put his phone back down. He looked at the boy before him and took a moment before he spoke.

"I'm not going to lecture you about what happened, I'm sure Puffy already did. I just want to say that it's okay that you're hurting, but you have to remember they're also hurting." Sam spoke softly and for a moment Liam was unmoving and silent, until he began to cry.

For the time that Sam had known Liam, only two short weeks, he hadn't seen Liam cry. He had seen Liam angry, he had seen Liam try to rebel and he had seen Liam shut down completely, but he had never seen him cry.

Now Liam was sobbing into his hands, bent over in his chair so Sam didn't see his face. The sound of his sobs still gave away what was happening. It didn't take much thought to know what was going on with the boy.

"Liam, do you want a hug?" Sam asked, but Liam quickly shook his head. "Okay, that's okay. Is there anything I can do for you?" Sam asked, again Liam shook his head. "Alright. I'll be right here." Sam said and he stuck to his word. The entire time Liam cried Sam just sat there, giving him space.

"I just wanted them to be happy to see me. I wanted to see them all again. I didn't even fucking know Tommy was going to be there." Liam said eventually, still through tears. Sam frowned softly.

"I thought you knew he was there?" Sam said slightly confused, but Liam shook his head.

"No, I knew that Techno was there, and Wilbur too. I had asked Puffy about Tommy but she didn't tell me anything about him. She said she couldn't, so I didn't know he was even there." Liam admitted and Sam nodded slowly. "And Tubbo and Ranboo being there was a surprise too."

"Oh." Sam said, knowing who Tubbo and Ranboo were. While Sam hadn't directly met those two he had read Liam's file and knew what happened with when Liam 'died'. "They were all there together?"

"Yeah. Techno had answered the door and yelled for Wilbur, Wilbur saw me then went back inside. I thought he was going for Phil, but Tommy came out. Tubbo and Ranboo followed out and then Phil came out a bit after them." Liam explained. He took a deep breath and tried to control his crying.