"You know you can come sit down, I'm not going to bite you" Matteo muttered, trying to lighten up the mood, he could see the fear and doubt in Nate's eyes. At first when he saw him, he almost didn't recognize the kid, with all the bruises on his face.

Who would do something like this to him? the kid didn't seem like a trouble maker so he doubted it was from a fight. This looked more like a beating than a fight. He could see now why Spade looked so down casted yesterday after returning from Nate's place.

Nate could feel the nerves in his body kick in as he felt the sweat already forming on his forehead and his palm, he didn't mean to be so withdrawn but with everything going on with him, it was all just so overwhelming.

Taking slow steps, he walked towards the chair where Matteo was seated, his steps having a limp gait to it, he was still feeling pain on his side, but he was trying not to show it

He stopped in front of the couch and gently perched himself at the edge, this was his house but he felt more on edge than Matteo that was the visitor. He could feel Matteo's eyes on him, making him uncomfortable and extra conscious of his bruises, but he couldn't hide them.

After sitting down close to Matteo, he could still see the way Nate's shoulders were tense, he wasn't relaxed, if he wanted the kid to talk, he had to be relaxed, even if not completely, at least a little bit.

"I didn't expect your place to look like this" he muttered looking around the living room, making Nate to do the same, wondering what Matteo meant by his place looking like this. "It's way more cooler than I imagined" he muttered, Nate swallowed understanding him. He was trying to make small talks.

Nate just stared at him, making the room go completely silent again, the only sounds both of them could hear, were the sounds of their breathing. This was becoming harder than Matteo thought.

His eyes moved to Nate and the kid was fiddling with his fingers, looking at him so closely, in such a vulnerable state, he could see now how innocent the kid looked. With all the bruises on his face, Matteo sort of felt sorry for him, but he felt more sorry for whoever did this to him, because if Spade ever found them, they'd be in a much worse state than Nate.

"Are you okay"? He finally asked, making Nate's sharp gaze to rest on him, he watched his brown eyes move in doubt and uncertainty, like he was lost. He nodded slowly.

"Yeah" he whispered before his eyes went back down to his fingers on his thighs. Matteo didn't know if he should move closer to the kid, would he be okay with that much close proximity, he didn't wanna make him more uncomfortable than he already was.

"Nate" he called out, testing his name on his lips, it felt strange, he'd never called him by his name before, even when he spoke about him to Spade, Nate turned in a flash and looked at him, his eyes lighting up from the dark brown to a lighter shade "I know you don't know me, and you probably don't trust me, which is solely my fault, but I just wanna talk to you, and don't get me wrong this isn't some request from Spade or anyone, it's me trying to be there for you" he whispered, his eyes calm and his voice sooting, he knew his words probably didn't make any sense to Nate but it was the best he could come up with. "I was the one that found you yesterday" he muttered, making Nate to look at him sharply "When I found you, I called Spade immediately, because I didn't know what to do" he whispered before moving closer to Nate on the couch, making sure to leave a small space between them "seeing you like that, I kind of got confused" he whispered making Nate's eyes to widened at the sudden confession from the man beside him, he nodded assuring him that he was being truthful "yes Nate, I got confused, I didn't know what to do, for the first time in a long time, I got confused" he whispered, his eyes shinning with sincerity.

They both fell into deep silence as they both stared at each other, Nate felt himself relax, all the doubt and all the uncertainty in his mind, disappearing slowly, he felt safe sitting here with Matteo. Since what had happened with his father, this would be the first time he'd feel relaxed, and safe from the taunting voice in his head.

He sighed out and looked ahead of him, breaking the eye contact first. He licked his lips and swallowed hard. Matteo too turned and faced the empty space in front of them both.

"I know Spade can be a lot to deal with, but he's not the kind of person you think he is" he whispered, his mind drifted to Spade and his lips kind of tilted in a small smile. "Half the time he means well but he just has a very weird way of showing it" he muttered

Nate sighed out, trying to stop his mind from going to the events of the previous night, what transpired between Spade and him "Half the time, he's threatening to kill me, I don't think that's him meaning well" Nate finally spoke a full sentence making Matteo to look at him, chewing on his inner cheek

"I know it's hard to believe but I know Gio, more than anyone thinks, he's not a bad person, yes he may have done some bad things, even I have, but he wasn't always like that" he muttered, his mind again going to a better time. "There was a time Gio was different, a time when he was still Gio and not Spade" Matteo finished, his eyes still focused in front of him.

Nate looked at him for a while before looking away, feeling the little anger from before dissipate, he could almost imagine Spade being different, from the domineering, emotionless, and angry man he is today. It sounded almost impossible, but when the image of Spade's eyes on him the previous night surfaced in his mind, it became likely possible, that there was a time when Spade would have been different.

The calmness and softness in his eyes last night for him was something he'd never seen or imagined he'd see in Spade's eyes for anyone.

He clenched his jaw and tried to push the anger away. He put Matteo's words in front of his mind, relishing in it and trying to put the possibility in play.

"Any part of Spade you've seen, that's not who he is, that's what the world turned him into, and I'm not telling you this because he asked me to or because I want you to look at him differently, I'm telling you so you can understand him, he doesn't hate you, actually on the contrary he..." He cut himself short before he said something that he didn't have the right to say.

Nate still had his eyes on him, watching as every word came out of his mouth, asking himself if it were true. The voice in his head was starting to whisper again, clawing to be heard but he only kept replaying Matteo's words, pushing the doubt away.

"I wanna believe you" Nate muttered his eyes meeting with Matteo, his brown orbs shone with doubts "I really do.." he paused sighing out "i.. I.." he couldn't complete the words as they got stuck in his throat

"What happened between the both of you last night before he left, what happened"? He asked turning his whole body to face Nate, the younger man looked at him before he turned his head away, avoiding the question and Matteo's eyes. "Nate" Matteo called gently but enough to tell Nate that he wouldn't stop asking "What happened"? He asked.

Nate swallowed before he finally looked at the blonde, seeing the intensity in those blue eyes "He... He almost choked the life out of me" he whispered feeling the huge lump in his throat, as he tried to swallow it

"What did you say to him"? Matteo pressed, he couldn't just believe Spade would do something like that for no reason, Nate looked at him with disbelief

"What do you mean..." Matteo cut him off

"What did you say to him Nate"? He asked again, seeing the doubt slowly replace the ease that was in Nate's eyes before, he sighed out "look I'm not trying to justify what he did, but I know Spade, he wouldn't do it if you didn't say something that got on his nerves, something he probably didn't like" he muttered, Nate bit his inner cheek and let out a deep breath.

He looked away from Matteo, trying hard to remember what he'd said to Spade last night, or what had been so intense that it prompted Spade to almost kill him, remembering the last words that came out of his mouth before he felt his back hit the wall, he looked at Matteo again.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I'm not pushing you, but I just want you to know that whatever he did last night, he regrets it" he whispered, seeing the surprise on Nate's face.

"Spade regretting something he did"? He asked as if he couldn't believe his ears, he scoffed and looked ahead of him "I don't think so" he whispered

"I know it's hard to believe, but trust me, I've never seen Spade look so conflicted and guilty about something like he did last night" he whispered, making Nate's lips to part slightly

"What do you want me to do"? He asked, feeling his whole body want to know the answer to that one question, what exactly did Matteo want him to do, or rather what did Spade want him to do?

"I don't know Nate, that's for you to decide, I just thought you needed someone to talk to and I showed up to save the day" he muttered letting his lips pull up in a smile, this relaxed Nate even more as he could see the sincerity in the smile and the eyes of the blonde.

He let out a deep breath, thinking hard about what Matteo just told him, what was he going to do? It's not like he hated Spade or anything, but Spade's appearance in his life had turned a lot of thing upside down for him, that includes the strange feeling he was starting to get for the older man.

"Don't think about it too much Nate" Matteo muttered. "Now are you gonna tell me who did that to you so I can go kill someone" he muttered making Nate's lips to tug in a half smile, as he felt the tension in the room disappear with the wind

"Thank you for this" Nate muttered and Matteo just smiled before shrugging his shoulder.

"I needed it too, and besides I couldn't just leave my elevator friend alone now could i"? He muttered making Nate to smile again, he felt really accomplished with himself with what he'd done.

It wasn't much but at least he'd gotten to the kid, it was a start and he couldn't wait to share the news with Spade. Both of them sat facing the empty space as they basked in the silence in the room, although it wasn't as awkward as it was when Matteo had just come.

Nate was still thinking hard about what Matteo had told him, most of it centering around Spade, everything he had told him about Spade was starting to make small senses, but he still had a long way to go in understanding it all.

Maybe he did go too far calling him selfish last night, but it wasn't his fault. After what had happened between him and his father, he needed someone to blame and Spade was the next best person that he could blame for it.

If Spade hadn't showed up, maybe his sister would still be around, and he wouldn't have to worry about his father's ultimatum, speaking of ultimatum, his eyes moved to Matteo and he wondered if he should ask him about Spade's ultimatum to his father, if it was still valid But after hearing what Matteo had explained about Spade, he doubt if it was.

But was Spade really regretful about what happened last night? What about the other countless time he'd threatened to kill him? Did he regret those too?

All this was making his head ache and the pain in his body intensify. So if Spade was remorseful about last night and every other time he threatened him, will he just forgive him? What would happen if he did? Would he still continue doing business with his father? What about his sister? Was the marriage contract still valid?

He had so many questions he wanted to ask but he knew Matteo didn't have the answers to all of them. Only one person does, and he wasn't really on talking terms with him.

He sighed out and just let the silence fill the room, he would worry about all that later, he needed to heal himself first and then think about how he would avoid his father for the time being.

Boring chapter, and very short too, I know 😎😎