34B. |raylijah

22

"It was just a small heart on her chest and she was screaming." Ray recalled with a chuckle; he'd been recalling the memory of a walk-in customer earlier that day.

"Let me see the design again." Elijah sat Indian style on the bed, scrolling on his phone.

Rayan grabbed his binder, flipping through it until he found the sketch. He handed it to Elijah and the man's eyes widened. "This isn't some small heart. This is humongous."

"To you." He shrugged and plopped on the bed. "So you think of what tattoo you want?"

"No." Elijah shrugged and went back to his texting.

"Well hurry."

"I don't even want a tattoo." Elijah whined.

"I want to pressure you so bad but I know that's wrong." Rayan groaned.

"Wow. You know right from wrong?" Elijah gasped, earning a playful nudge from his boyfriend. After kissing the man goodbye a few hours later, he began to head to his apartment—the man had an early day of work and was attempting to practice some form of discipline.

His boyfriend did live right across the hall after all. As he walked out of Ray's apartment and looked across the hall. His eyes landed on Jacob or who he presumed to be the boy. This 'Jacob' was much stockier than the frail teenager Elijah had become accustomed to seeing nearly everyday—instead of a warm grin that stretched from ear to ear, his face was contorted into an ugly scowl. His clothes weren't as colorful either—he wore all black attire; a leather jacket, matching pair of bottoms and a thick pair of Demonia boots. Whereas Jacob's hair was moisturized and always in tight, finger coils accessorized with a burette—this boy's hair a large, tangled mass that nearly covered his eyes. Elijah walked to his door, raising his eyebrow at the stranger. "Jacob?" He didn't even know why he said that because this guy was clearly not Jacob.

The boy's head shot up as he searched for Elijah's voice—finally his eyes landed on Elijah. His cold stare contorted into a sad frown; this expression made him look even more like Jacob. "You know my brother?" He asked, his expression almost pleading for the right answer.

"Yeah? He's in there." He nodded to the door he stood in front of him. He wondered if he should've said told the boy that, considering Jacob's situation at home.

Not even moments later, he started to bang on the door. The rough knocks echoed throughout the hallway until it was opened, revealing Jacob. Elijah watched as Jacob's expression turned from confused to shocked to happy—he jumped into the boy's arms, wrapping his legs around his waist. "Joshua!" He cried, nearly making the man lose balance. The once frowning boy's face softened and curled into a genuine smile as his hands latched onto Jacob's short curls.

"Stop cutting your curls, man." He chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair—Jacob laughed as a few strands stood out of place from the rough action. "I missed you." He spoke softly. Jacob's eye glistened with tears.

"I missed you too."

Elijah didn't want to feel like he was eavesdropping, even though he was, so he unlocked his apartment and walked in.

He was completely caught off guard by the fact that Jacob had a twin brother. What the hell was going on?

(A/N)
Hmmm.

Shall I shed a small light on Jacob?