"I don't matter to anyone."
JD wasn’t meant to hear that statement. He knew as soon as he heard it, a low kind of self-deprecating statement that was made into the phone rather than out into the open room. Santiago hadn’t asked him not to come into the room, of course, but he had to assume his mate hadn’t heard the shower turn off. He didn’t know who he was on the phone with, or what was happening, but he knew he shouldn’t interrupt. He shouldn’t eavesdrop either, really, but with that statement… He couldn’t help but wait where he was.
He heard a snort, a disbelieving one, and then a lower, “If you say so, mom. If that was the case, they would have at least tried to see me. Tristan’s not Pack Leader anymore, they’re not barred from Pack Territory. They didn’t want to see me. They just wanted to make sure they got the last of their stuff now that it’s safe.” JD frowned, leaning against the wall by the door frame curiously. He wondered who Santiago was talking about – he hadn’t brought up anyone coming to the Island that he knew, after all, and it sounded like it was someone that Tristan had known about.
Santiago was quiet again for a couple of minutes, and JD shifted a bit closer to the wall in an attempt at hearing what was being said on the other side of the line, before a sigh sounded and Santiago spoke again. “I don’t think that’s true at all. I don’t think they thought I’d left. Why would they have thought I left? I don’t… No. I don’t believe that. I’m sorry, I just… I can’t believe that.” Another sigh, a shorter pause, and Santiago finally said, “I think JD’s out of the shower. I’m sorry, I just needed to talk about it. We’ll come by for dinner this weekend, I promise. Yeah, love you too. Bye.”
JD didn’t wait until the beep of Santiago hanging up his phone sounded, stepping into the room to walk over to him and wind his arms around his fiance’s shoulders. “What’s going on?” he questioned, tilting his head down to press a kiss against his jaw. “I heard you talking to your mom. It didn’t sound like anything good.” Santiago didn’t seem to want him to know about whatever it was, for some reason, but he asked nonetheless. Perhaps prompting would work. In an effort to comfort him at the same time, he settled onto the bed beside Santiago, shifting so that he could wrap around him once again.
Santiago was quiet, thoughtful, for a long moment. When he spoke, it was a slow admission. “My parents were back on the Island. I ran into them. I was having lunch during my shift a couple days ago, and they were there together. With some other kid. Someone younger than me, I think. Looked a lot like them. A lot like me.” Santiago was still upset about it, clearly. It did explain his off mood for the last few days, but JD didn’t say that. He just hugged him a little tighter against his chest.