People Like Us (Boy x Boy)

Civility

Xavier's POV

I woke up to the scent of coffee drifting from the kitchen. I sighed, wincing slightly as a dull ache began to spread all over my body. My head was pounding, I opened my eyes, slightly disoriented. It took me a moment to remember where I was.

I could hardly believe that I'd come to Brendan's house of all places. I thought back to the night before. He'd been...civil...almost like he was back when we were still friends, before everything had turned to shit. I wondered if that civility would stretch out till today. Or would things go back to the way they had been for the past three years?

I let out a shaky breath and got out of the bed. I needed a good shower. I hoped Brendan didn't mind. Besides, I thought, he's lucky I hadn't destroyed his precious house, not that I had much strength to do so. I still remembered where everything was, so it didn't take me long to find the bathroom, which was just across the hall from Brendan's room. I slipped inside.

Turning on the shower to heat up, I slowly, being mindful of my back, stripped of my clothes and hopped into the shower. I hissed when the water hit my body. After a few moments, I could feel my muscles beginning to relax and I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of the warm water.

After the shower, I used Brendan's towel to dry myself. The mirror was covered in steam so I took my hand and wiped a section of it away. My face looked a mess and I sighed. No way would the bruises go away before I saw Skylar.

I opened the bathroom door a smidge and peeked out into the hall. No Brendan in sight. Quickly, I gathered up my clothes and snuck into his room, locking the door behind me. Hoping he wouldn't mind, I thought as I dug around in his drawers, looking for a shirt to wear. I pulled out a drawer and rooted around until I found a t-shirt that was wadded up at the bottom of the drawer. I straightened it out.

It was a Bring Me The Horizon band tee. I'd given this shirt to Brendan in the ninth grade. For weeks, I had forced him to listen to the band's music even though I knew he couldn't stand it. Then, for his birthday, I'd bought him the shirt. He'd been pissed. He hadn't spoken to me for two days afterward. Then one night, I snuck out of my house and walked to Brendan's and snuck into his house. I went up into his bedroom and woke him up. We'd spent the entire night playing video games and eating junk food seeing as how Brendan's parents weren't around.

I chuckled at the memory and looked down at the shirt. I couldn't believe he still had it. I squeezed the shirt and frowned. I figured he'd thrown away anything of mine that he had. I wondered why he would save this. I put the shirt back where I found it and quickly dug out a plain, black, long-sleeved tee. I slipped it on and stepped into the skinny jeans I'd worn yesterday, then I quickly made my way out of his room, shutting the door behind me.

Brendan was sitting at the kitchen counter, staring blankly at his phone which lay on the counter in front of him. He had a coffee mug in his hand and a bowl of untouched cereal without milk and a spoon in front of him. His head snapped up when I walked into the kitchen. He blinked a few times, as if trying to clear his head and he grabbed his phone and slid it into his pocket.

Brendan arched his brow and cocked his head at me as he examined me. "Is that my shirt?" he asked.

I nodded. "I hope you don't mind."

Brendan shrugged and he faced away from me. "Here," he said, sliding the milk-less bowl of Cheerios towards me. I thanked him and took a seat on the stool and looked down. He remembered, I thought. I never ate my cereal with milk. It was a weird quirk of mine. Brendan nodded and took a sip of his coffee. I bent down over my bowl and silently picked up the spoon and ate a spoonful of Cheerios. Brendan got up and walked behind me to the coffee pot that was there.