chapter ten - bread

chapter ten — bread

I NEVER LIKED THE NIGHT-TIME. Sleeping wasn't exactly one of my many talents, and I spent most nights contemplating useless theories and imagining pointless scenarios. It wasn't that I wasn't tired; it was that my mind never could shut off the way it was supposed to. I could only say I slept well whenever we had a basketball game since I usually collapsed from exhaustion afterward. Every other day was just as bad as being in class: I couldn't make loud noises, I couldn't get up, and I couldn't move. I was stuck.

When it was night time I was resigned to sitting in bed and wondering why I couldn't fall asleep like everyone else.

Sleeping over at Lukas' made it a mite better. He had an unholy amount of people under his roof: his grandparents lived in the renovated basement, his eight siblings, parents and him on the first and second landing. His house was never quiet.

Whenever my Mum and I stayed over, she'd take the one guest room they had and I'd borrow Lukas' sleeping bag and make camp at the base of his bed. We'd tried swapping before, but his sleeping bag was old and barely covered him completely. It suited me just fine though, and it had that strange warm-bread scent Lukas carried around with him everywhere. It was more like a smell a Grandma should have than a teenage boy, but I didn't mind that much. My Mum's cooking was not exactly the greatest thing in the world, so I was more than fine with Lukas' Grandma-scent as long as it was accompanied by that good Grandma-food too.

I'd slept over at Lukas' house a grand total of three times the past week alone, my Mum eventually giving up on bringing me home and staying the night to hang out with Mrs. Schmitt. They'd gone to bed around 1 am, a feat for my mother since her bedtime was around 9 o'clock every night. It'd been quiet since then, the only sound in the room Lukas' steady breathing. It was relaxing in the strangest way possible. Though I still couldn't sleep the way he could, the odd depth to his snores helped me slow down a little: helped me stop thinking so much and just lay there without driving myself crazy.

It was around five in the morning when the house started waking up. It wasn't that I'd stayed awake the whole night, but the little sleep I'd gotten was restless and near worthless. Lukas' littlest brother Asher was only one year old and he loved waking up bright and early — and waking everyone else up bright and early too.

Lukas called him Rooster.

I yawned, sliding out of my sleeping bag as Asher's steady wail thrummed through the walls. I sloppily rolled the sleeping bag into a ball, tossing it into the corner before getting up and stretching. Lukas hadn't bothered to shut his blinds yesterday, so the early sun peeked through slicing ribbons on his waking form. He rolled around tired, hair wild and sticking to his pillow. Mine probably looked worse.

"Rooster up?" He grumbled, his voice gravelly from a night of sleep.

"Bright and early," I sighed, rolling my shoulders back and grabbing my toothbrush from my bag.

"You getting ready Keke?" He sat up straight in bed, sheets pooling around his waist as he lazily stood up.

"Yeah, I thought we could hit the gym" I shrugged, looking over at him. Sleep was still clouding his eyes and he rubbed them lethargically, looking at me with a weird smile.

"At five am?"

"Yeah?" I grabbed the towel Lukas had set aside for me yesterday.

"You're so fucking weird" He muttered and I caught it, turning around with a grin.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, your highness"

I chuckled at his response, grin spreading a little wider across my face. He mirrored me, a stupid smile on his face as he grabbed his phone from the nightstand. It'd been going off constantly in the night, the ringer muted but the screen glaring at the ceiling with all the Snapchat notifications Lukas got. I'd rummaged through his phone before, with the rest of the guys, and we'd discovered that Lukas got a shit ton of nudes — way more than any of the rest of us. All of them were unopened and they'd built up, the girls usually sending him a questioning chat afterward. We couldn't fathom why he wouldn't at least open them, or tell us about them, but that was the little mystery to him.

Lukas had a great selection of girls to get with, yet he preferred dates nights to late nights.

We'd made the mistake of leaving them on Open after laughing at Lukas, and he'd taken the brunt of the girl's fury. He handled it like a gentleman though, so I wasn't too guilty.

"What's going on in your pretty little head?" Lukas knocked me in the side of my face gently, toothbrush half in his mouth. We were sharing the sink awkwardly, a mess of elbows and hips trying to take control of the ideal-spit-range territory.

"Don't say shit like that, it's weird," I huffed, grabbing the toothpaste from him. He shrugged at me and I shoved him aside to start brushing square in front of the sink.

"I was thinking of that one time DJ, Roger, Marco and I found all those nudes on your phone"

"Oh"

I smiled to myself, boxing Lukas out as he tried to swerve around me to get to the sink.

"Keke, I will spit on you"

"Don't you fucking dare, shitface" I finally let him pass, leaning my back against the door as he bent over the sink with a triumphant look.

He finished up, sticking his tongue out at me goofily as I pushed him aside for the sink. I splashed some water on my face, hands wet as I rested my palms against my eyelids. I loved Mum and I liked our house, but nothing could beat these mornings with Lukas. I shook my hands out by him, splashing him accidentally.

I ignored his hushed curses as we tiptoed back to his room, his parents and my Mum gathered in a little group in the hallway. Asher spotted us, his chubby body cuddled in Mrs. Schmitt's arms. He began to gurgle and point, but Lukas and I changed and ran out the door before he could eat us out.

Lukas laughed as I jogged to his car, eagerly clambering into the shotgun seat. My laces were still untied so I set my feet up on the dash, taking my sweet time to loop around the bunny ears or whatever-the-fuck you needed to do to tie your shoes.

"Seatbelt" He began to back out of the driveway, eyes focused over his shoulder and to the back of the car. His right hand, not on the steering wheel, slapped my chest roughly as I yanked the belt on and clicked it into place.

"Just drive, Schmitt"

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"The fuck is Arrigo doing here?"

"Arri-oh. Henry? He's always here," Lukas nodded at the buff moron with familiarity. His eyes lit up, smirk very clearly directed towards me. Arrigo started to walk over, towel around his neck doing nothing to stop his shirt from sticking to him with sweat.

"Come on, Lukas. Let's go home." I pretended not to see him, looking the other way and grabbing Lukas' wrist. His forearm was warm to the touch, my fingers snagging on the random friendship bracelets his sisters made him wear. I had one too, but I kept it hidden under my socks. I'd been tricked into having it tied to my ankle and was far too lazy to take it off.

"Lukas, my man, how's your summer been?"

Lukas' arm slipped from my grasp as he returned Arrigo's hug. He looked at me with confusion as my eyes narrowed into sharp slits, meeting Arrigo's gaze unrelentingly.

"And Kieran? I'm not even surprised. You two are always together," Arrigo's shrugged, his arm settling on my shoulders. The weight pushed down on me, making me feel even shorter next to him and Lukas.

I moved closer to Lukas, Arrigo's arm dropping from my shoulders with the movement. I noticed, with some satisfaction, that his jaw was still bruised from where I'd socked him a few weeks ago. He bruises easy, then. My lips involuntarily curled up into a smirk and Arrigo caught the movement, his own smile dropping. Lukas caught the exchange with a frown, stepping in front of me a little bit so he could bring Arrigo's attention back to himself.

"You get punched?" Lukas' head tilted to the side like a puppy. I tried stepping next to him, not appreciating being left out of their exchange, but his hand stopped me gently, keeping me behind him.

The fuck?

"Yeah, this girl hit me a few weeks ago. Didn't even know how to punch," Arrigo's eyes slipped to mine, lips curving up into a seemingly embarrassed smile.

"She was a bitch—"

"—Maybe you're the bitch for getting punched by a girl—" I retorted, feeling Lukas' hand press against my abdomen as I took a step forward.

Arrigo ignored me, brows furrowing, "—but you'd know all about being a bitch, wouldn't you Keke?"

Lukas held onto my forearm, giving up on the subtle restraint. Arrigo watched with mild interest as Lukas' hand slid down to encircle my wrist. I quickly pulled it out of his grasp, turning around to enter the locker room.

"See you around, Keke!" Arrigo waved cheerily as I flipped him off, the locker room door blocking his face.

I'm not a fucking bitch. What's with him and those fucking jokes. Me and Lukas—

"Kieran?"

I ignored Lukas' quiet call, slipping into the row where we'd dropped our stuff off. I stripped my shirt off, bundling it into a ball and digging my fingers into the material.

Fuck him. We're not gay. Lukas isn't fucking gay. I'm not a fucking faggot.

"Kieran," Lukas took a seat next to me, much closer than he normally would be. Our legs brushed and I jolted away like I'd been touched by lightning. Lukas seemed not to notice though and his hand reached out behind me.

"You let him call you Keke?"

"Only you," I barely moved my mouth to make the words, realizing how weird they sounded.

"You know that"

Goosebumps erupted on my neck as his fingers brushed my back softly. I pulled away, looking at him angrily.

"What are you doing?" I hissed, putting more space between us.

You're not fucking gay.

"Chill, Keke. You have bruises on your back. Did Henry do that?" Lukas looked at me imploringly, nothing but genuine curiosity in his eyes.

"Yeah. I punched him in the face, he slammed me into a wall. Didn't know I bruised though," I craned my neck, trying to see what Lukas was talking about.

"You bruise easily," Lukas mused, eyes darkening a fraction. I frowned, unable to make out the new emotion on their depths.

"Why'd you punch him?" Lukas handed me my change of clothes. I took them gratefully, stripping down to my boxers before slipping on the change of sweatpants. They were his and way to loose at the waist. I tugged the drawstrings tight, rolling the leg up a bit so I wouldn't drown in them.

"He was talking shit" About us.

About you.

"About me?" Lukas guessed, pulling his own shirt above his head. His muscles contorted, briefly flexing as he pulled another one on.

"Yeah," I muttered, looking down at my feet.

"You didn't have to do that Kieran, I can take care of myself"

My head snapped up, mouth open in confusion.

"And what was that back there then? Keeping me from talking to Arrigo?" I scowled, catching Lukas' diverted gaze. He quickly looked back at me though, pulling on another pair of sweats.

"I didn't want you guys to get into a fight"

"It's my life, Lukas. I can take care of myself." We both stood up at the same time, the air between us tense as I angrily gazed into Lukas' eyes. They were still clouded over with that unknown emotion, but as I watched, it slowly dissipated.

"You're fucking scary sometimes, you know that, Keke?"

I took a step back, startled.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Lukas nodded, a small smile on his face.

"You can be hella intimidating when you want to be"

My stomach did a somersault, chest feeling warm. The ghost of a smile flitted across my face.

"Thanks"

Lukas smiled fully, taking a step closer to me. He didn't seem as tall as he'd seemed before, his mouth level with my eyebrows. Even though we'd just spent two hours at the gym, the smell of pastries still cling to him like a second skin. I subconsciously took a deeper breath, eyes fluttering shut.

"Your phone is buzzing"

My eyes opened slowly. Lukas bent over the bench, picking up my phone. I started to cram my sweaty clothes into my bag, stomach beginning to growl with hunger.

"Text? What's it say" I stood up, almost knocking into Lukas. He was only a breath away from me, his eyes decidedly troubled.

"Your Dad wants to see you"

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2242 words

Kinda cutesy, kinda angsty.

What do you think?

Expectations for Kieran's father? (I'm aiming for their dynamic to be different than version one's).

Thank you so much for reading! Have a beautiful week :)