The boy awoke groggily and found himself back in his home, lying in bed. 'Huh? wasn't I... did they bring me back home?' Y/n threw the covers off and stood up, the floorboard creaking as he did. 'Is mom home? She must have questioned where i was.' the boy opened his door and walked out to descend the stairs to the first floor "Mom?" he called, but there was no answer.
The boy reached the living room and opened the door, no one was there, only the sound of the television and light was on. the boy furrowed his brow and walked up to the television to turn it off. But came to a standstill. The news was broadcasting.
"The Runswick killer has struck again."
Y/n furrowed his brow but continued listening attentively
" On March nineteen **** the body of a teenager named Y/n L/n was found murdered inside his house."
Y/n felt his face whiten 'What? But that's..today.' He turned on his heel and stood face to face with a person dressed in all black, a dirty beige mask pulled under their hood. 'Fuck fuck fuck.' The male stood frozen until the killer raised their weapon and Y/n closed his eyes, shielded his face with his hands, and let out a scream
Everything went black.
Y/n blinked and opened his eyes. He was staring up at the roof of Roy's car. 'A nightmare.' He scrunched his nose as a smell entered his nose, he glanced to the side and found that neither Roy nor Nova was in the car with him. His head was still pounding, nevertheless, he glanced out the window, the window was rolled down, and y/n could see locks of vermillion hair.
Roy was leaning against the car, and he was smoking. 'Typical'
The scarlet hair glanced into the car and turned his attention to Y/n when he noticed the male was awake. "Well, hello there, pretty boy." he teased, puffing out smoke "Where are we?" Y/n inquired, "We're at a gas station around twenty minutes away from our house." Roy answered, leaning his forearms onto Y/n's open window.
"Your house?" They were, in fact, at a gas station on the side of the road, Y/n asked as he sat up and peered out the window. He felt a sharp ache go through his head as he sat up, and he made a painful expression. A hand was put on his chest and with a gentle shove, he was lying back on the backseat. "It's best if you lay down, you're suffering a possible concussion," Roy advised.
The boy winced, "Concussion? Are you serious? He groaned. The redhead took an inhale from his cigarette, looking thoughtfully at the h/c haired "What?" Y/n remarked noticing Roy's stare. "Do you mind telling me what happened?" Roy inquired after giving him a long look.
"I'm not sure...It is not really important. Y/n brushed it off. Roy stayed silent. "Well, it is Y/n. She clearly hurt you." He countered. "Just leave it, I said it doesn't matter," Y/n said with more hostility than intended.
Roy didn't budge from the hostility in Y/n's voice, He stared at the male before turning around and leaning against the car again. The two didn't say anything to each other. Roy eventually peered back at the boy "Don't think you can tell that half-baked answer to Ezra and Elio, they are going to want to know what happened." There was an edge to his tone that the h/c haired couldn't quite understand.
"Whatever."
After a few minutes of silence, Nova came back. Roy threw his cigarette to the ground and stepped on it, brushing off his hands "You got what you wanted N?" The ash blond nodded. "Yep."
The two stepped into the car, "Oh, you're awake, How are you feeling?" Nova asked turning towards Y/n as he put on his seatbelt and Roy started the car up once more. "Hey Nova Yes I'm feeling amazing, I've never felt better," Y/n remarked in a mocking high-pitched tone Nova gave him a sideward glance. Y/n grunted and laid his arm over his eyes, the evening light was giving him a headache.
"I'm sorry, I feel like shit, I feel like bashing in my own skull just to get rid of the fucking aching pain"
"...We got bandages at home, Ezra can bandage you up, to at least stop the bleeding," Nova said, Y/n nodded in gratitude. "I got blood on your jacket, sorry," Y/n added. Nova Frowned "Don't say sorry, if anything, We should say sorry that we weren't there earlier." The h/c haired merely hummed.
"Here I got this at the gas station" Nova threw him a bag of (Favorite snack) Y/n caught it and held it up "HA hell yeah!" he exclaimed but quickly gripped his head ''Fuck...too loud'' Y/n rolled over and grabbed his bag, opening it to prop the food inside and zipped it up again. "Thanks N."
"No problem." Nova replied. Y/n rolled back to his previous position but before he could close his eyes to relax one more Roy regarded him. "Do you perhaps wanna stay for dinner?" Roy questioned. Y/n thought over the offer for a moment, his mother wouldn't be back until late in the night, and if he really had a concussion it was better if he stayed with someone in case something happened "Sure."
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Eventually, the vehicle pulled into a driveway and came to a stop. Because he was lying down, Y/n was unable to see very well. Nova and Roy exited, and then Y/n's door opened, causing him to sit up and exit. His feet reached the pavement, but as soon as he stood up, a wave of nausea overcame him, causing him to stagger. Quickly reaching out, Nova put a hand around Y/n's waist to keep him from falling.
"Be careful," Nova muttered, Y/n nodded slowly. Roy locked the car and Y/n glanced around. There was another car in the driveway, Ezra's car. He continued observing, and his eyes landed on a house; it was rather big. The only strange thing Y/n noticed was that the house was in the middle of nowhere, there were no other buildings to be seen from miles away, only trees and grassfields.
He at least expected there to be a few other houses but there were none, it was just this one house in the middle of nowhere, god knows how far away from civilization. What was the benefit of moving here?
Y/n decided not to question the two about their rather obscure choice of living location. But it was a thing to take note of. Nova walked Y/n to the door, and Roy took out his key to unlock the lock, Again, Y/n noticed something off, They had about three locks on the front door. Not that there was anything wrong with wanting precautions for thieves, but they lived in the middle of nowhere, and the chance of a break-in was extremely slim.
the scarlet haired opened the door and let Nova and Y/n in before closing the door again, locking it. Nova led Y/n into the living space, it was spacious, it was around two to three times the size of his own living room. 'Damn rich people.'
Y/n shielded his eyes as the light of the lamp hurt his eyes. "We're home," Nova said, soon footsteps were heard from the other corridor leading to the kitchen and dining area, Ezra came into the living space. He stood by the threshold of the hall and crossed his arms, Y/n looked over his outfit, He wasn't in his school uniform but he was wearing an oversized black shirt with long sleeves, that complimented his characteristic black nail polish.
Ezra stood silently for a few moments before his gaze met Y/n and he looked his form up and down, his steel-blue eyes stopping when he saw Y/n's bloodied hand, "Where are you hurt?" he questioned. Y/n blinked a few times and glanced at his bloodied hand before looking back up at Ezra. "...My head." He answered. Ezra pivoted on his heel and walked away.
Roy leaned in "Don't mind him, He's grumpy in the evenings." he jested, and Nova wheezed. "Hm. I see that." Y/n answered.
Footsteps were heard coming from the stairs and Elio emerged. The black haired boy looked at the trio and adjusted his glasses before turning his attention to Y/n "How bad is it?" He questioned, Y/n gave him a confounded look, to which Elio rolled his eyes and walked up to the boy, grabbing him by the wrist pulling him to the sofa, and lightly shoving him to sit down with his back turned toward the black haired.
Elio reached out to move away the boy's hair to check on the wound. "It seems to have been a pretty bad hit, not fatal, but enough to cause a mild concussion," Elio concluded standing up.
Ezra came back in with bandages. He sat down by the h/c haired male and started gingerly wrapping the bandage around the boy's head. Y/n felt Ezra's soft hands gently touch his head. It felt...comforting. Tugging on it lightly to secure it. Y/n turned around to face the quartet "Thanks guys.." He mumbled. Ezra smiled warmly and ruffled his hair "Of course, anything for you." Nova and Roy gave him a thumbs-up, and Elio nodded.
It was odd, despite everything Y/n had been told about his old friends, when he was with them like this...he couldn't help but feel... safe, it was a warm fuzzy feeling of nostalgia.
"What time is it? I'm starving" Nova whined, "It's only 5 pm, what do you mean you're starving?" Elio inquired with judgemental lacing his voice. "Yeah, well..-"
"Speaking of time, weren't you two supposed to have detention until 5 pm?" Ezra commented with suspicion, Nova scratched his face. ''We snuck-'' Roy kicked his shin "Shut up you idiot!" the redhead whispered through clenched teeth.
Ezra gave the pair a blank stare before he turned around to walk out of the room. "I'm not starting cooking until 6 pm" Nova scowled as he watched Ezra walk away. "What are we going to do until then?" he protested. Ezra stopped at the threshold "Play a board game with Y/n or something." The ash blond glanced behind his shoulder "No television; it's not good for someone who just had a concussion."
Nova rolled his eyes "Okay, Mom, we promise, Do you want us to deck the table as well?" he mocked. Ezra smiled condescendingly. "Yes. Elio and I did it yesterday while you two were pulling your foolish antics, so it's you guys's turn." Ezra walked away.
Roy smacked Nova behind the head "Do you ever shut your dumb mouth?" he scorned.
Y/n just chuckled as he saw the whole scene unfold. ''Are they usually like this?" he asked turning his attention to Elio. The black haired stared at the bickering pair "Unfortunately." He deadpanned.
"Anyways, do you want to play a card game Y/n?" Roy asked, "Sure." Roy turned his attention to Elio "You in, dude?" Elio nodded. The redhead looked at Notva "And you?" Nova grinned. "You bet!"
The four of them were sitting in the dining room, Roy was holding a deck of cards. "So this card game—I learned a few weeks ago—it's called 'Card Hunt; it's a trick-taking game." Roy started taking out the suites of cards. "Each player gets their own suite of cards from two to ace, so thirteen cards in total." Roy looked at Y/n "Which one do you want?"
Y/n glanced at the cards in contemplation. "I'll... I'll take hearts." Roy nodded and gave the boy the heart cards before handing out Elio Nova and himself a suite of cards. "So the one that starts the trick, is the one left to the one who handed out the cards, so Elio leads the trick in this case." Elio glimpsed at the card he held in his hands and laid out a two.
"Elio started the trick with a two, now it's my turn, If I choose to participate in the trick, I need to lay out a card higher than the one previously laid out," Roy took out a card and laid it down a three, "You can also choose to pass if you don't want to enter the trick," Roy added.
"Okay, I think I get it." Y/n glimpsed at his own cards and laid out a five. Nova looked at his cards and laid out an eight. "I pass," Elio said. Roy laid out a nine and Y/n laid out a ten. "i pass, not risking my joker for this one." Nova commented, "Since Elio already passed, he is out for the remainder of this trick, so it's my turn, and I pass as well."
Roy gestured towards the cards "Since all of us passed and you laid the latest card, it means you won this trick." Roy took the cards and counted them "Six cards, that means you got six points, good job, Y/n." He congratulated. "Thanks?" Y/n remarked.
"You won the trick, but, the one to your right, leads the next trick," Roy explained. Nova laid out a five. "You play until everyone doesn't have any cards left, if someone lays an ace, they win the trick automatically, since there's no card higher than an ace." Elio took out a seven. "When everyone is out of cards, you play again, you play as many rounds as there are players, so we play four rounds." The scarlet haired laid an eight.
"Eventually you run out of cards, and then you're forced to pass, the person who laid the highest card wins the trick."
Timeskip
Four rounds eventually passed, and Roy started counting up the points from each trick. "Hm, it looks like Y/n won, with 27 points." Y/n made a surprised expression. "I did? "Okay, I didn't see that coming." Sounds came from the kitchen. "Ugh, looks like Ezra is starting dinner; that's our cue to start decking the table," Nova groaned, stretching his arms.
"I'm going to go see if he needs help with anything," Y/n stated and got up before he could walk out, Nova stopped him, handing him his cellular device "Here you dropped it" Y/n pulled his lips to a grateful smile. "Thanks N." He stuffed the device in his pocket and went to the kitchen.
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Ezra was in the kitchen, pots were on the stove, and was standing back-faced towards Y/n, chopping vegetables on a cutting board. Y/n walked up to the distracted boy and stood beside him. "Hey, Ezra." He greeted, Ezra jolted upright, not having heard the h/c haired male walk in, "Oh, Hello Y/n" The ash blond shot him a welcoming smile.
"Can I help you with anything?" Ezra shook his head. "No need, but thank you for the offer." Y/n hummed at the boy's declination and leaned against the counter "When did you learn to cook?" Ezra peered at him "A year ago or so, had to, we couldn't keep eating takeout." He snickered. "That's understandable...Did you join the cooking club?" Ezra hovered the knife in the air for a split second before resuming cutting.
"I tried, but I was...rejected on the spot as soon as the president saw me, said I wasn't welcome." Ezra shrugged. Y/n furrowed his brows.
'Didn't Kiara say Clark is the president of the cooking club?'
"I could have a word with the president of the cooking club, I'm friends with him." Y/n offered but once again Ezra shook his head. "No, it's fine, he made it clear he didn't wish for me to join the club, and I'm pretty certain he won't change his mind anytime soon." He declared with a layer of bitterness.
Y/n stayed silent after that. "So, how did you get the concussion?" Ezra broke the silence, Y/n shuffled nervously. "I..i just fell while having an argument." Ezra put down the knife abruptly, with more force than he wanted to let on.
Y/n shifted his gaze to the knife, then to Ezra, his ash blond hair covered a part of his face, more specifically his eyes, making it hard to determine exactly what Ezra was thinking at the moment; the eyes are the mirror of the soul after all.
The h/c haired male did notice that Ezra was mumbling under his breath something incoherent.
Before Y/n could register, what was happening, Ezra had practically lunged at him and pinned him against the counter, securing both his hands on the counter, caging in the boy. "Don't lie to me." Ezra's tone was sharp. "I don't care what you tell the others--" he slammed his fist down on the solid surface for emphasis. "--But you don't fucking lie to me." Ezra's hand shot up to the back of Y/n head and he pushed his head closer, making Y/n wince at the contact with his wound.
"So. What. happened?"
Y/n gritted his teeth and put his hands on Ezra's chest and pushed him away and stomped away before stopping, glancing back. "I don't need to tell you anything, I don't need to tell any of you anything." he hissed. He started walking out before stopping at the threshold as Ezra regarded him.
"We care about you, so, so, much, you can't even begin to fathom how much we care, what we would do for you, and only want to help, why can't you see that?" Ezra's voice was small and desperate.
Y/n stood still, taking in Ezra's desperate pleas. "I don't need you to help me, i don't need to depend on you." With that, he walked out.
Ezra was left behind, staying in his stance motionlessly. He felt his anger rise up, stretching his nerves to a breaking point, instead, he dug his polished nails into his palm. Ezra inhaled and unclenched his fists, then exhaled, glancing down at his hands, and noticed the blood that drew from his palm.
I don't need to depend on you. He scoffed morbidly as he thought about the boy's words. The ash blond walked back to the counter and resumed his cooking as if the last few minutes hadn't occurred.
'We'll see about that.'
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.
"So did Ezra need help, Y/n?" Roy asked from his seat at the sofa "No." Y/n responded flatly and seated himself on a chair by the table
Timeskip
"Dinners ready!" Ezra exclaimed as he walked into the living space and put the pot on the table. "Hell yea!" Nova shot up from his slouched position on the couch to take a seat by the dining table, and soon Elio came downstairs as well. but before Y/n could seat himself together with the quartet, his phone began ringing. He took out his phone to look at the caller
Father
Y/n rolled his eyes and was about to put his phone away when a message popped up that made him freeze.
Father: If you don't pick up I'm calling your mother.
Y/n looked at the message, feeling blood rush to his ears. 'If he calls Mom and she finds out...' The boy shook his head and excused himself. "I'm really sorry but I have to take this." the boy hurried out of the room leaving the four males looking at each other in puzzlement.
Y/n closed the door and accepted the call "What? What do you want, dad?" he hissed a tusking sound was heard from the other line, "Finally, you picked up."
"What do you want?" Y/n enquired again.
"I want you to come home."
"No," he stated sternly
"It wasn't a question, you piece of shit." He shouted.
"DAD! I am not coming back to your apartment, I'm sick and tired of your abuse and drinking problems." He bit back, feeling tears start to build up
"I'll come back when you stop drinking, but that won't happen, will it?"
"..."
the boy tried to restrain the pool of emotions dribbling over "You blame me for everything, and it's not fair. Why can't you just..." A quiet sob escaped him "I need to go."
Y/n hung up and put his head in his palm 'Damn everything!'
He wiped his eyes with the sleeves of his shirt and opened the door to reunite with the group, he stayed silent and sat down.
Ezra wordlessly gave him a plate of food and they all began eating.
after dinner, they all cleaned the table, Y/n sat himself down on the couch and began idly scrolling through his phone. He was left disturbed until Nova regarded him.
"Do you want something to drink?" He asked softly Y/n didn't reply for a while but eventually nodded his head. Nova walked out of the living room and after a few moments came back with a glass of water, giving it to the H/c haired male.
The boy accepted the glass and started taking sips. He set the glass down and continued looking at his phone.
After a while, his vision started becoming distorted, and he squinted his eyes. 'Why is...' His breathing became shallow.
Y/n looked out around his surroundings and noticed everything started to slowly sway. 'Am i..dreaming?' Numbness started to set in, and he felt as if he were looking outside his body.
'i'll take a few minutes to rest.'
The boy accidentally let his phone slip out of his grasp landing on the ground with a thud. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was someone bending down and picking up his phone.
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The boy awoke groggily and found himself back in his home, lying in bed. 'Huh? wasn't I... did they bring me back home?' Y/n peered around his room and noticed nothing, There was nothing out of the ordinary that could indicate what had happened. He was in bed, under his covers, and his phone... was on his nightstand. He reached out for his phone and checked it.
5:36 am.
'What the hell? Wasn't I... didn't I just have dinner at?..'.the fuck?
Y/n threw the covers off and stood up, the floorboard creaking as he did. He went over to his mirror and saw around his head, bandages, that Ezra had wrapped around his head, when he was at their house.
'Did they bring me home, must be..but why don't i remember it?'
The boy gripped his head and tried to remember the events that led up to him being back in his bed. but couldn't; the only thing he remembered was...
'The drink, that glass of water Nova gave me.' Y/n narrowed his eyes as a suspicion popped up in his mind.
"Did they drug me?'