Chasing Cars (B+B+ Poly)

four

Travis found some clothes waiting for him on his bed when he got out of the shower. They were roughly a good fit and very comfortable. He'd noticed a trend of him only borrowing sweatpants and hoodies, which was nice of them not to put him in something he might not be comfortable in. At least they weren't trying to guess his style.

He changed and looked himself over in the mirror. He felt a lot better, although he wasn't sure what he'd said to Carter when he'd been delirious from the pain and illness. He didn't really care as long as it didn't come back to bite him.

He knew there had been a little bit of an argument between some of the others, he had heard raised voices from the hall and he wasn't blind, he could see the worry on Carter's face. He just hoped he hadn't caused any problems. He felt guilty enough given how kind they had been to him, how he'd been welcomed into their home.

"Travis?" A knock at the door made him jump. It was Kit. The redhead grinned at him.

"Me and Riley are playing Mario Kart downstairs, we were wondering if you wanted to join?"

The inclusion made his heart happy, and he nodded at once. "That sounds good." He glanced at the man in the garden one last time before following Kit downstairs.

"How are you feeling?" Kit asked, passing him a controller as they reached the living room.

"Better, thank you." Travis nodded.

"Once you're better and things are steady, it'll be easy to have a cigarette behind his back every now and again." Kit told him. Riley pulled a face but said nothing. Travis was surprised. Was Kit like him? Another charity case that hadn't been allowed to leave... or had been allowed to stay. "He doesn't like it, but he won't do anything about it if he thinks you're stable."

"H-how do you know?" Travis hated himself for stuttering.

"I used to smoke a pack a day back when I met Carter." Kit shrugged, choosing his character, a small fellow with a mushroom hat. "He helped me with my anxiety and stress, I smoke ony a few cigarettes a week now."

Travis was intrigued by Kit's story. At least he knew where he could get his hands on something. "Why doesn't he like it?"

"Something that happened a long time ago, he doesn't talk about it." Riley replied. "None of us are really sure what happened."

"Must have been bad." Travis instantly felt bad for asking, Carter had all things considered, been so kind to him.

Kit shrugged. "Do you want to pick the track?"

"Um... sure." Travis picked a track that had a lot of bouncy mushrooms on it. It seemed fun, and he wanted to do more of the gliding aspect of the race.

Although they didn't speak much, Travis enjoyed gaming with Kit and Riley. It felt safe, and they always checked to make sure he was still enjoying it.

They gamed for a while until Noah walked in, announcing that it was dinner time. Travis was nervous about having to face Carter again but swallowed his fears and followed Riley into the dining room.

The others greeted him and seemed genuinely happy to see him, and Carter fussed about him and made sure he was eating enough. It felt oddly safe.

"Can I get anything else for you, Travis?" Carter asked as Travis had nearly finished his dinner.

"I'm okay, thank you." Travis rarely ate dinner. It never seemed that important. Like breakfast, it was something easily missed. But the food they were providing him was excellent, high quality and well made. Everything Carter did, conscious or otherwise, proved he had money to spare.