burning bridges.

four

that sunday, dominic woke up with an incredibly bad headache, something he could easily trace back to last night. he sighed, thinking back to the painful lecture he'd gotten from his never satisfied mom. he called his dad to ask him something, and when she found out, she sat him down, and interrogated her son about what he said and did.

the strict woman had lost the respect she had left for her ex-husband the moment she found out he'd been sleeping with several other women to quote unquote 'satisfy his other needs'. a divorce was filed and ever since the incident she's been bugging her children to not follow his footsteps.

the boy walked down the stairs to the kitchen, grabbing a t-shirt on the way out. he went to take out a glass once he reached the cabinets of the black cuisine, but was startled by someone calling out.

"why're you up so early?" sage asked, sitting on the couch in the living room, fully dressed. dom looked up, recognizing the voice of his brother.

sage was a tall, vigorous character. raven locks were cast aside his forehead, giving him a long, supple profile. he supported the same eyes as his brother, though he gazed through them differently. dom couldn't quite explain it. sage saw the world individually. he had his own morals, his own standards, outside of society.

"could say the same about you"

sage shrugged. "never went to sleep. i was up doing an assignment all night." he replied as he eyed his younger brother.

dominic rolled his eyes, "since when do you do schoolwork?"

the older sighed. "since mom's been threatening me to break up with jae. i thought if i did my homework for once, she'd, i don't know, cool down." he said. dom shook his head, as a sign of distaste, most likely.

"i don't get why you like dick." he bluntly spoke, setting down the glass he was meant to fill with beverage. he wasn't homophobic or anything, he was just implying that he himself would never want anything up his ass.

it was sage's turn to shake his head. "it's not just the dick i'm interested in. look, i know you don't like the idea, but can you at least try to comprehend? you're the last person i'd want to fight right now." he let out with a (relatively) visible frown.

dom simply shrugged his shoulders, too unbothered to finish the conversation.

sage noticed the change in his attitude and complied. "i heard you have a project with a partner." he asked instead, getting up as he went to lean against the bar dom was standing behind. the younger sighed. "jesus, word spreads faster than covid around here."

sage grinned. "it's the first time you do a project with a partner, why?" he asked.
"there's a new student in my history class, which makes it an even number of students, nothing important." dominic answered in complete dullness. he went to grab a beer, in a desperate attempt to soothe his headache.

sage raised his brows. "wow, what are you doing day-drinking?" he asked, following the can of beer with his eyes.

"nothing, am i not allowed to drink when i want to?" dom glared, pouring the fluid into the earlier grabbed glass. the older held up his hands in defense saying "as long as mom isn't home." and leaving the boy to his drink, making his way back to the living room.

dominic remained where he stood, drinking his beer as he rubbed his forehead.

-

at 2:37, elijah had given up his last hopes of dominic showing up.

what was he thinking anyway, inviting that asshat into his house?