revelation

Tom glanced around the house through a veil of tears. It was all surreal to him. Jonny couldn't be gone...he just couldn't be. Collapsing on the stairs, Tom pulled at his hair as if that would bring him back. He realized what he was doing and began rocking back and forth, trying to hold in tears.
A tall, red haired guy with glasses came over to him. Tom recognized the guy, Nat, as the guy that came to visit Jonny periodically. JOnny loved him. Nat's eyes were wet as they intently watched Tom. "I'm sorry." Nat whispered. Tom looked up at him. The desperate, grieving look made Nat's heart melt as he sat down next to Tom and drew him close. Tom was trembling and he finally let the tears come. Nat did too and they sat together for a good while until they both regained composure. "Thank you, Nat." Tom whispered, shakily. Nat still didn't speak, just squeezed Tom close to him again, and then got up.
He made his way back to the rest of his friends who were sitting in the living room. Although none of them had seen Jonny on a regular basis, they all came anyway.
"Who was that?" Jesse, Nat's best friend, asked him.
"Jonny's boyfriend." Nat said quietly, knowing full well that none of them knew about Jonny and Tom.
"His what?" Jesse asked in disbelief.
"You heard me, Jess."
"I thought he and Sam..."
"Jess, don't make a big deal about that...he didn't want anyone to."
"No, no...I won't." Jesse, said, still dumbfounded.
Some of the others had been standing close by and had overheard. None of them had known and Nat felt supremely guilty for blowing Jonny's cover when he was no longer around to keep it. He saw the hurt in Samantha's eyes and that hurt him.
"You shouldn't have said anything, Nat." she said quietly.
"I know...I don't know what to say..." he mumbled, his eyes wet again.
"Jonny knows what happened...and you will know if he understands or not." Sam said in the same quiet voice and walked away.

* * *

Sitting in bed, Nat caught sight of a framed picture on him desk. It was old, taken almost six years ago. He and Jonny were 12. Nat picked up the picture and held it, letting the tears come in earnest. It wasn't right that one of his oldest friends was gone...it just--
"That was fun." Nat started and looked up, seeing Jonny on his windowsill. "I remember that day...we played ball in the driveway till our moms had to threaten us to come in..." Nat stared at him.
"Jon...about today..."
"What, when you blew my cover?" Nat didn't answer, he just looked at his hands. When he looked up, Jonny was right in front of him. "Don't listen to Sam...she just misses me. She didn't mean what she said."
"I miss you, too..."
"Well, there's really nothing I can do about that...but I wanted you to know that I am not angry...I just never got around to telling them. I only told the people who were closest to me."
"Jon, I--"
"Just one thing?"
"What?"
"Look after Tom a bit?" Nat nodded, tears still in his eyes.
"I will, Jonnny." And with that, all that was left in the room was Nat and the picture.