Scarred Souls - 5. Chapter 5

V: Rousing Friendships

Dion woke up to a comfortable warmth wrapped around him. Without thinking he snuggled closer to it, but his eyes flew open as the warmth, that was another living, breathing human being, moved slightly in its sleep.

He drew back a bit, staring down at the auburn head that was resting on his collarbone, and the boy's arms and legs that were throwing over him, holding him rather tightly. He turned his look upwards, staring at the ceiling as he smiled for himself. His hand unconsciously started running through those red locks.

But when it dawned on him what he was doing, he found it best to get out of bed. It took some careful twisting and lifting of limbs to free himself from that clingy and rather adorable sleeping figure though.

He stood there, right next to the bed for a while, just gazing down at the sleeping red-head. He looked so innocent in his sleep, so pure and beautiful, almost like an angel.

Dion soon ripped himself away from the boy in his bed and wandered into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and washed his hands, and then continued out into the kitchen. When in there, he looked through his fridge and decided to make breakfast for the two of them.

It was to that Chad woke up, to the smell of bacon. He stretched and slowly sat up, raking a hand through his tousled looks and rubbing sleep from his eyes. Then he gathered his pants and pulled them on over his boxers.

He left the bedroom and sauntered into the kitchen, stepping up behind Dion and peered over his shoulder, seeing several pieces of bacon in the frying pan. "I love bacon," he declared.

Dion glanced over his shoulder at the boy, who was standing really close to him. "Well, that's good, seeing as that's what I'm making."

Chad grinned. "Can I take one?" He asked, and seeing Dion nod he reached out and snapped one of the pieces. He chewed on it as he turned away from his teacher and dropped down on a chair next to the kitchen table.

"I was thinking," Dion started, "that since it's Saturday today, and you're already here, I could start tutor you in English. That is, if you don't have anything urgent to do or whatever?"

"I have absolutely nothing to do today, so sure, tutor me all you want. God knows I need it." Chad said, stretching his arms above his head. Dion had glanced over his shoulder in that moment, and his eyes lingered on the boy's bare chest. Why in the world isn't he wearing a freaking shirt?! Is he trying to torture me or something?

He huffed and turned back to what he was doing. The food was done and he divided it equally on four slices of bread, two on each plate. Then he walked over to the table and roughly put one in front of the red-head, before dropping down opposite him and starting eating his own food.

He had to get the boy to take on a shirt. Or else he wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything else. That was for certain.

***

"Where the hell are you going?" Spencer's mother asked from where she was sitting at the kitchen table, with an already half-empty bottle of vodka in her hand.

"I'm going to work," Spencer muttered, peering into the fridge. It was empty, expect from his mother's alcohol, but that wasn't anything new.

"You? Working?" She cackled and took a huge sip from her bottle. "Don't make me laugh. You've never done shit in your life. That's why your father is working his ass off, so he can provide for you and your sister!"

"No mother," Spencer snapped. "Dad's working his ass off so he can provide for you. For you and that goddamn alcohol of yours!" He slammed the fridge shut and strode out of there, not wanting to hear his mother's reply to his outburst.

He grabbed his bag and slid the strap over his shoulder. Then he left the house and quickly walked towards the diner.

Harriet was sitting next to the counter as he entered, but there was no sight of the two other boys. The diner was also empty.

"Hello," he said and approached his boss. Harriet looked up and greeted him with a wide smile. "Where are the two others? Not here yet?" He asked as he seated himself beside her.

"Lesley's in the back room," Harriet replied, "but Damian's not here. He's not coming in today. I don't need all three of you here when I'm in top shape and here myself." Her expression turned thoughtful for a while, and then she looked over at the golden-haired boy. "I have to go out for an errand, but you'll be fine here with Les, right?"

"Sure," Spencer nodded, not quite sure if he was telling the truth. He'd been working with Lesley the day before, but then he'd had so much to learn that there hadn't been time for anything else. The other boy was still staring at him with that intense gaze sometimes though, and Spencer kept wondering if the other teen had something against him.

"Lesley!" Harriet suddenly shouted.

The blonde teen walked in through the backdoor, his eyes widening slightly as he saw Spencer, but he quickly smoothed it out into a curious expression directed towards their boss. "Yeh called?"

"Just wanted to tell you that I'm going out for an errand," Harriet said, grinning mischievously at the blonde. "So you two take good care of this place while I'm gone."

"Yeh gonna be long?" Lesley asked, approaching the two sitting figured.

"An hour, maybe two," Harriet mused, stroking her jaw. Then she stood up. "See you two when I get back. Don't do anything foolish while I'm away."

"Ah, Harriet, wait..." Spencer said as she moved towards the door. He blushed slightly as she turned to give him a curious look, and he silently asked, "I was just wondering if it would be okay if I made myself something to eat... I didn't get the chance to back at my house."

"Of course you can make yourself food, my boy," Harriet smiled. "That's just a part of working in a diner, isn't it?" She grinned at them and then disappeared out of the door.

Spencer glanced over at Lesley, who had been glancing over at him as well. But as their eyes met, the blonde quickly turned his head away and strode back around the counter and into the backroom.

Spencer sighed and moved into the kitchen, where he contemplated for a while what to make. He settled on just making a burger and fries, because it was simple and easy.

While he was making said burger and fries, he heard the doorbell ring and Lesley stepped out from the backroom to great the customer, who, as Spencer could hear, only ordered a cup of coffee.

Lesley soon came into the kitchen, and as Spencer looked at him, the blonde strode past him with a stern look, not even glancing at him for a second.

"Why don't you like me?" He blurted out, tilting his head to the side to watch as Lesley froze in place and then slowly turn around.

"What makes yeh think I don't like yeh?" He asked with a frown upon his face.

Spencer blushed, not quite sure what to say. "Well, you look at me with such cold, piercing eyes and when I look over at you, you always turn away abruptly and ignore me," he spoke in a low voice. "The only things you've said to me are how to do that and how to do this. You've never spoken to me in a friendly tone, and it seems like you're avoiding me." He ran a hand through his golden locks and bit his lower lip gently. "I don't understand why you're like this, because I've never done you any harm. Not intentionally, at least."

Lesley blinked at the other boy. It seemed like he didn't like him? He was head over heels in love with him for godssake! But as he now thought about it, he guessed he'd been a bit unfriendly and avoiding, for exactly that same reason.

"I don't dislike yeh," he said, now avoiding Spencer's questioning, hazel eyes. "I guess I just ain't that good at makin' new friends, or somethin'." Lame excuse, he thought feverishly, but it seemed as if Spencer believed it as he gave a small smile and turned back to the frying pan, turning his burger.

"I'm glad to hear that," Spencer spoke up suddenly, just as Lesley was about to go back out again. The blonde stopped though at the other teen's voice, and his heart leapt from his words. "I get uncomfortable around people that don't like me," Spencer continued in a low voice. "So I'm feeling a bit better now by your words. Now there's just one person here who can't seem to stand me, for some odd reason. I've never done him any harm either."

"Damian likes nobody," Lesley said. "It's just who he is, I guess. Don't yeh worry about it."

"Yeah," Spencer mumbled. He seemed to be pretty okay sitting at the rooftop with Josh though, he thought discouragingly, and without knowing it, he sighed out loud.

Lesley's look turned sad as he watched the golden-haired boy that had been on his mind so often the last couple of months. He couldn't like Damian, could he? No offence to the black-haired boy, he was extremely hot, but he didn't like people in general. It was doomed. But listening to the other teen's sigh just now, it seemed like that was how it was.

He swiftly turned and excited the kitchen, seeing only the guest that had ordered coffee sitting on a table, reading a paper. There was nothing for him to do out there at the moment, and therefore he went into the backroom, just dropping down in a chair and feeling miserable.

***

Josh was bored. He looked around the empty apartment and sighed, not seeing anything interesting to do. Damian had left a little while ago with a goodbye and a very brief twitch of his lips. They hadn't exchanged many words this morning, both feeling slightly awkward, knowing what they did about the other.

But now Josh was all alone and he wished that Damian was back there, holding him company, even if the awkwardness would still be there. At least he had someone with him then. He would have Damian with him.

He sighed and tilted his head back, looking up at the ceiling. I like him, he thought. I really, really like him.

He attempted to turn his head down again, but then a blinking red light suddenly caught his attention and he walked over to his answering machine, clicking on the play button. "Where the hell are you, Josh?" Chad's voice came through the loudspeaker. "Dad just told me I wasn't welcome home, and now that you're not answering I don't have a fucking place to crash for the night." He could hear Chad laughing bitterly, before he continued: "Maybe I should just go to one of the nightclubs or back into the brothel and get laid again. Doesn't look like I have much of a choice either way. And you just left without saying shit to me. You better be okay or else I'm gonna kick your sorry ass. Anyway, I'll talk to you tomorrow or something." Then he hung up and the machine gave a little peep before going quiet. He had no other messages.

He went around searching for his cell phone, not wanting to use the house telephone Andrew had fixed for him. When he finally found it, stuffed into one of his jeans, he dialled Chad's number. His friend didn't answer though, there was only a woman telling him that the phone was out of reach or turned off.

"Damn you, Chad," he muttered. "Leaving such a message on my answering machine and then not even have the fucking decency to keep your freaking phone on."

He threw the phone on his bed, and then went over to his desk. He flipped the top of the laptop open and then turned the machine on. He looked up at the shelves over the desk itself. His camera was fastened in one of them, for the time being it was off. He had a lot of videos on his laptop though, that that camera had recorded from right here in his room.

Long drunken nights with Chad and Spencer and all the crap they talked about when drunk. Many, many videos of Andrew abusing him. His stepfather had never noticed the camera though, and for that Josh was glad. A few videos with other sex-partners he'd had, even some with Chad and himself. They'd been sleeping together a few times, when they were horny and didn't have anyone else. Well, to be honest, Chad was always horny, as the sex maniac that he is, he thought with a small smile.

The laptop was on now and he logged onto the internet, planning to spend many hours on there, just doing stuff that interested him.

***

As Damian entered his house, he could hear Mathilda and Matthew's high-pitched voices coming from the living room. His young cousins, on respectively twelve and ten years old, were obviously fighting about something.

Damian didn't care though, he just slipped inside the basement door and went down to his room. He closed his door safely and then dropped down on his bed. He rested his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling for a while, but what he'd seen last night came back to him, and soon he sat up and pulled forth his sketchbook.

He sharpened his pencil and then put it to the paper, drawing line after line. A long while later, when he was pleased with the whole drawing, he straightened up and took a good look over it. It showed Josh sitting in the bed with the covers around his waist. He had his sleeve pulled up on his left arm, and a razor was placed against his wrist, drawing blood.

Suddenly there was a knock on his door and his aunt Claire peeked in, seeming rather startled as she saw him sitting there. "You're home, Damian?" She asked, coming further into the room. "I didn't hear you come in. I was just double-checking, I didn't really think you'd be here." She was holding a hamper under one arm, and as Damian's eyes locked on it, she laughed lightly. "I was just coming down to see if you had any dirty clothes scattered around."

"I don't," Damian said, glancing around his tidy room.

"I can see that," Claire said dryly, looking around the room herself. She couldn't believe her husband's nephew, this boy she looked at as her own son, could be so tidy. He was a teenage boy for heaven's sake, they were supposed to be messy! "There's dinner in a few minutes," she said, looking back at Damian. "Will you please come and join us?"

Damian contemplated it for a while as he closed his sketchbook and put it away with his pencil and eraser, which he mysteriously hadn't used once on this drawing, everything was just perfect on it.

"Okay, sure," he mumbled, standing up from the bed. He could get through a dinner with them, as long as they didn't delay him afterwards, so he could go down here again and get rid of the food.

Claire's face lit up into a wide smile and she scurried out of the room to get the dirty clothes stuffed into the washing machine as fast as possible. It wasn't often Damian said yes to join his family for dinner.

***

Later that day, as Lesley entered the house he called home, he was met by his ten year old younger brother, who threw himself around his neck and wished him welcome home in a happy, cheerful voice.

"Is it you, Les, honey?" A woman's voice came from the kitchen.

"Yes, grandma, it's me," Lesley replied, laughing as he practically had to force his brother off of him. Adam was very much like himself, with piercing blue eyes and silver-blonde hair, and if it hadn't been for the age difference between them, they could've been twins.

"Come on, Les," Adam said, taking his hand and tugging him with him towards the kitchen. "Grandma's makin' pizza for dinner today, and she's also been bakin' muffins and chocolate cake and waffles! And I've been helpin' her, Les, I've been helping her make everything!"

Lesley felt his mouth practically water as they entered the kitchen at the smell and the bakeries themselves came into sight. His grandmother turned away from the counter, she had dough on her fingers while flour covered her apron and the tip of her nose.

"What have yeh been bakin', Adam?" Lesley asked, looking down at his brother who was practically glowing.

"I've baked those muffins over there," Adam said, pointing to a whole tray of odd-shaped muffins. They did look rather delicious though.

"Can I taste one?" He asked, and as Adam nodded severely, smiling from ear to ear, Lesley took one of the muffins and stuffed it in his mouth. Hit little brother and grandmother was watching as he chewed, and as soon as he'd swallowed it all, he exclaimed, "These were excellent, Adam!" He ruffled his brother's tousled, blonde locks. "You thinkin' of becomin' a cook too?" He asked. He'd known for a very long time that he wanted to be a cook, to be able to make all kinds of food, and his brother seemed to have the same interest for it as he had. They must have inherited it from their grandmother, seeing as she was a cook herself, and a damn good one at that.

Adam nodded severely again, beaming at them both.

"He made those muffins all from scratch," their grandmother said, smiling at her two grandsons. The two boys had been living with her and their grandfather for years now, ever since the fatal accident that took their parents and little sister away from them. Neither of the two had rid themselves of their dialect though, in these years. Not even Adam, who had been pretty young back when they had moved up here to live with their only other relatives, their father's parents.

"Yeh're a natural, Adam," Lesley said, ruffling his brother's hair again. Adam wrinkled his nose slightly, causing Lesley to laugh good-naturedly at his cute little brother.

"Will you be so kind and set the table for me, Lesley?" His grandmother asked. "I would've done it myself but as you can see I'm covered in dough and flour and need to finish these muffins. The pizza's already in the oven, and will be done in a couple of minutes."

"Sure, grandma," Lesley said and started doing exactly as she'd told him to. He set up for plates, for Adam, his grandparents and himself and then continued with putting down glasses and cutlery.

Adam was now busy talking hurriedly with their grandmother, and helping her with the muffins, so Lesley thought back a few hours, to that time when Spencer had asked him why he didn't like him. That had been a perfect moment to tell him the truth, that he was in love with him, but he could never do that. He'd just ruin the whole thing. It was better just getting closer to Spencer as a friend, right?

It was more than he could ever hope for before, it'd been impossible just thinking about it, but now that they were working together that could happen. He'd make sure it did happen, because he wanted nothing more than to be on good terms with the golden-haired crush of his...

***

Chad went down to the brothel that night. He had been at Dion's place for most of the day, and he'd gone right down to his workplace after they'd eaten dinner. Dion hadn't asked about any of what he'd found out the night before, and for that Chad was grateful.

He didn't want to discuss his life with his teacher. Though he still wanted to get him in bed. The guy seemed pretty immune though, and that was very frustrating for Chad. No one had ever refused to sleep with him before! He could get anyone without any problems. Anyone except this guy.

He was confident though; he'd get him in bed sooner or later.

Now, however, he was here to get laid and paid, and he wasn't going to let his English teacher ruin his mood and/or performance. He just had to shut him out of his head. Which was easier said than done, but he managed it barely somehow.

The bar was crowded, and as he made his way through he said ‘hello's and ‘good evenings' and ‘good to see you again's in all directions to people he was acquainted with.

He soon spotted a blonde head he was quite familiar with, and he grinned wryly and waved as Josh looked over and caught his eyes. He smiled and waved back, but then had to turn back to some guy he'd been talking too.

Chad still had the grin on his lips as he looked around. He was horny, so who should he let do him tonight...