KIRI'S POV
"Kiri, wake up."
I opened my eyes with an annoyed groan, blinking to adjust to the brightness in my room. Anna's blurred face appeared in front of the bed, and I raised a brow at her.
"Since when do you wake me up?"
She sighed, running a hand through her hair, for once not wearing her grin. "Come on, get dressed and join us in the kitchen. Conan's parents are here."
I was awake in a matter of seconds, rolling out of bed once she had left the room. His parents where here. Fuck. I hadn't even thought of them.
I had left Asher's house in the middle of the night, going straight to bed once I came back here. My thoughts had been everywhere but with Conan. Shit, I didn't want to see him.
After quickly throwing on a pair of shorts and a shirt I left my room, trying to gather as much confidence as I could as I walked down the hallway.
They where all gathered around the table, Conan's mom looking small and fragile next to her gigantic husband. I had never seen him before, so I briefly took in his thick beard and dark expression before sitting down on the other side of the table, as far away from him as possible.
"Finally," his mother stated, pursing her lips. "We thought you were too much of a coward to come out."
I frowned, not having expected her to say that, but Anna didn't hesitate with a reply.
"He was sleeping. It was a long night for everyone, as it seems."
"As it seems, yes," the mom repeated, looking at her son. My eyes widened when they fell on the swollen bruise on Conan's face. Asher hadn't been lying last night, he really had punched him hard.
Conan's unreadable gaze was fixed on the table, his arms crossed. His mom guessed that he wouldn't join in on the conversation, so she turned back to us with a scowl.
"Unacceptable. Look at him, he can't go outside like this."
"Well, yes Babsy, it looks bad," Anna replied, "but wasn't Asher the one who got into a fight with Conan?"
The mom, Babsy, scoffed. "Sure, the Villin brat. But your kid was involved in this as well. They should all be held accountable."
"And they will," Michael replied rather hesitantly. Anna nodded.
"As we seem fitting. Kiri's upbringing is Mike's business."
Babsy's expression still didn't change. "And how exactly is that supposed to fix my son's face?"
"Mom," Conan groaned silently, averting his gaze.
"What? Have you seen yourself? What will the people say?" She looked back at Michael, narrowing her eyes. "They'll think he's a delinquent."
"Sorry, are you more concerned about the public's opinions, or your son's actual wellbeing?" Anna asked. She crossed her arms on the table as she leant forwards. "He got into a fight, Babsy. Maybe you should look at the reasons behind that."
Babsy's expression darkened as she glared at Anna. "Are you saying my son has problems?"
"How can he not, you're a literal Karen," I replied before I could stop myself.
"What we're saying is that maybe, you should have this conversation with Conan instead of us," Anna quickly said, trying to get Babsy's attention away from me.
Babsy scoffed, then turned to her husband. "Bob. Say something."
He just raised a brow, not meeting anyone's gaze as he remained silent. Babsy turned back to Michael, obviously displeased with her husband's reaction, only fueling her anger.
"This is not okay. No wonder you're an alcoholic, you can't even raise your own-"
"Shut the fuck up already," Conan interrupted her, his anger easily matching her own. "I told you this isn't necessary. We shouldn't have come here."
His mother's face had grown red as she turned to him. "Conan Leary, don't you dare speak to me like that."
"Or what? You kick me out? You make me homeless?" He was close to yelling at this point. "Fucking do it, mom. Come on. Kick your own son out since you're so ashamed to go out in public with him."
Michael shifted uncomfortably next to me, but I was too surprised by the scene happening in front of me to think of him. I had never before seen Conan this enraged, this fed up.
Okay, so his mom was this strict lady with clear opinions on what was good and bad, and his dad was this closed off, intimidating guy. They wanted Conan to work, to become responsible, to learn to stand on his own feet; but all that Conan had in mind was finding his own way in life, without listening to others.
He wasn't as ambitious and hard working as his parents. He wasn't like them, and when his dad looked at him with empty eyes, I realized that they didn't accept it.
"Enough," Babsy hissed, her face a dark shade of red, not going well with the bright shade of her pink hair.
Conan pressed his lips shut, once again fixing his gaze on the table, still not meeting anyone's gaze. I froze when his dad, Bob, suddenly looked at me.
"Aren't you a faggot, too?"
"Excuse me," Anna hissed, her patience ending. "Don't you dare call him that."
Bob met her burning gaze with an indifferent expression. "I'm not wrong. It's not natural."
Everyone looked at Conan when he stood up so suddenly his chair almost fell over. He hurried out of the kitchen, and the sound of the front door falling shut erupted through the house only seconds later.
"This isn't over," Babsy said through gritted teeth, but Anna met her cold stare with the same determination in her eyes.
"Yes it is. We don't have anything to say to you."
She stood up, and Michael copied her. "You should go now."
Babsy shot her husband another glare before grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the house. I remained seated at the table, thoughts raging through my mind.
Conan liked boys. They didn't accept it.
They didn't accept him.
"Kiri, you alright?" Anna asked as she sat back down next to me. I shrugged, slowly turning my head to her.
"I had no idea Conan's parents are like... that."
Anna sighed, exchanging a look with Michael before gesturing him to sit down again as well. "Kiri, they threatened to take legal action. We don't know if they actually will, but we need to know what happened so we can be prepared."
I hesitated, not sure how much I could share with them. I ended up only telling them about the party, but not sparing any of the details – well, maybe a few like the cigarettes, but I included all the important ones.
When I was done Michael sighed. "I never got into that kind of trouble as a kid."
I tilted my head, grimacing. "You probably also didn't have a social life as a kid."
"Hey, don't be rude," Anna said, frowning. "We should focus on Conan. The poor kid."
"Wait. They'll probably talk to Asher next." I pulled my phone out of my pocket, already dialing his number. As I waited for him to pick up, I walked back to my room, closing the door behind me.
"Morning," he greeted, his voice husky and slightly sore.
"I woke you up. Good."
He sighed. "No, not good. Rude."
"No dumbass," I replied, frowning. "That means Conan's parents haven't visited you yet."
I could hear him moving, and when he started speaking again, he sounded a little more awake. "Why would they visit me?"
As I paced around the room, I briefly told him about my morning, including how angry Conan's parents were.
"It was obvious that Conan hadn't wanted his parents to come over, though. He didn't want to cause me any trouble," I stated once I was done telling him about their visit.
Asher sighed. "My mom's at work, my own shift starts in two hours. I don't wanna deal with them on my own."
"Should I come over?"
"That's not exactly smart." He paused, and I rolled my eyes since he was right. They wouldn't want to deal with me a second time today, if they really decided to visit Asher next. "But you can come over tonight, after my shift."
I smiled at the thought and nodded, even though he couldn't see it. "When do you get off work?"
"At seven. Come over at nine, maybe a little earlier if you want to eat with us."
"Ash."
"Yeah?"
I bit my lip. "Are you really comfortable with this?"
"It's a start, isn't it?" he replied casually. "Also, I want to see you. Do you not want to come over?"
"Do you not want to come over?" I mimicked. "I'm practically already there."
He laughed a little. "I'll make coffee now. If they show up, I'll pretend not to be home."
I smiled when a sudden knock caused me to turn around. I jumped a little at seeing Conan standing in front of the glass wall, looking at me with raised brows.
"I- Conan is here."
"They came back?"
"No, it's just him. I'll talk to you tonight then, when I come over, right?"
Asher hesitated for a second. "Yeah. Bye."
We ended the call, and I quickly opened the door that let to the backyard. Conan slipped into the room before anyone outside could see him.
"Hey. Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," he said as I closed the door again.
"No, it's fine." I turned to him once I was done, studying his stressed expression. "You alright?"
He nodded, letting out a tired sigh. "My parent's are arguing. I think they've gone completely crazy now. My dad wants to send me to this military academy for a year."
"Shit. That sucks."
"Nah, he's been wanting to do that for forever now," he said, but his shrug didn't manage to hide the tension in his body. "Look, I'm sorry for them. I didn't want them to cause a scene."
I quickly shook my head. "It's not your fault. My mom would have done the same, so."
He sighed, sitting down on my bed and burying his face in his hands. "This sucks. This sucks so fucking much. I don't wanna join the fucking military."
Not really knowing how to handle the situation, I sat down next to him, searching my mind for comforting things to say.
"It's probably all going to be okay again soon. They'll forget about it."
"No they won't. They fucking suck," he contradicted. "Ever since dad caught me with another boy in my room, he hates me. Most days, he can't even look at me."
I put a hand on his shoulder, not really knowing what else to do with my hands. "Just a few more months or so, then you can move out anyway. It'll be alright."
"It won't, Kiri," Conan said, meeting my gaze. There was an odd certainty in his voice that made a shiver run down my spine. "My parents hate me, I'm fucked up, and I neither have the money nor the perspectives to move out. I don't know what to do anymore. So no, it won't be alright."
Gritting my teeth, I let my hand fall off of his shoulder. "Sorry."
He sighed, running a hand through his hair that was especially messy today. "It's fine for now. I'll just crash at Kian's for the next few days. Wouldn't be the first time."
My brow twitched. "You do that often?"
"Only when they argue a lot, like now. Every other month."
"Shit. I hate when parents get into arguments," I mumbled, thinking of mom and all her former partners. None of those relationships had been excessively happy, so naturally, none of them had lasted long, either.
Conan simply sighed and turned his head to look at me. "Anyway, good luck with Asher."
I managed to shoot him a small smile. "Good luck with your family."
He nodded, standing up. "I'll need it. I won't be around for the next few days, like I said, so, take care."
"Yes, you too."
Conan let himself out, and I stayed back on my bed, staring at where he had been sitting just a minute ago. For the first time, I felt nothing but sympathy for Conan.
He had always appeared so confident, so well put together. But today that façade had been crumbling, threatening to reveal the scared kid hiding behind it.
Because that was all that Conan was. A scared boy, too insecure to be as confident as he liked to pretend he was, too afraid to find his own way. Neglected by his own parents that couldn't accept who he was.
I sighed, laying down on my back and crossing my arms behind my head, hoping that things really would be okay for him soon.