Catharsis || Lashton AU - boyxboy

24. mukti

"New York, New York,
She's resilient and rough,
Hanging out under streetlights and laughing,
And laughing, laughing,
Laughing at the days to come."
-­Pushstart Wagon, Los Angeles

l.h.

I didn't wake up until nearly nine-and-a-half hours into the next day.

I thought I would've slept longer than twelve hours, but Mido had jumped into my lap sometime in the night and had a claw digging into my leg so hard there was a bit of crusted blood around the spot. I picked up his paw and moved it slightly, but I didn't move him, because he was still sleeping so peacefully and I didn't have anywhere to go, anyway.

I rested a hand on his head and stroked behind his ear with my thumb, but he did do anything more than grumble a bit in his sleep. I laughed lightly, because I realized that I've been so caught up in my own shit that I almost even forgot he existed. I'm too self-absorbed for no one's good, really.

I shut my eyes for a moment, until there was a knock at the door and Mido went flying off my lap leaving irritated red scratch marks on what was exposed of my skin. He barked loudly at the door, and my eyes flew open as I scrambled to hide him in my bedroom in case it was someone here in the building. I smoothed out my t-shirt and exhaled, opening the door as casually as I could muster.

My breath caught slightly and I looked down at my feet instead of him.

"Luke?" he asked frantically, and I didn't respond. I didn't need to, I thought, when he pulled me into a tight embrace that usually would have been very out of place. My hands found their way from my sides to his back, and I sighed. "I'm so sorry, fuck," he breathed, and I wasn't used to him swearing very much. "Audrey wanted us to have some 'personal' date last night so we left our phones at home and I didn't see your calls until this morning and I'm so sorry, Luke, God, I'm so glad you're okay--I was so worried on my way over here that something was going to be wrong it would've been all my fault and I've never been happier to see your face like you have no fucking idea how--"

I stopped him short when I released a weighted laugh and he pulled away from me. "What are you--are you laughing?" he furrowed his eyebrows. He seemed angry. "Is this some kind of joke to you?"

I lifted my eyes from my feet to his brown eyes, and I laughed again. "No, no, it's not that." I shook my head. "It's just, you know, it's nice of you to grace me with your presence only when your conscience is at risk." I huffed, running a hand down my mouth over my stubble. "Like, yeah, I could've been dead, but you weren't worried about that, per se, right? You were worried that if I were dead, the blame would've fallen on you and you would've had a guilty conscience, right? So seeing me clears that up. It's not like you wanted to see me the other day when I needed to see you."

Noël looked taken aback at my words, but I didn't really care. I was happy to see him until I realized that he was only here for himself. In fact, I was almost happy when Mido came bolting out of my bedroom and threw himself at Noël. He wasn't hurting him bad or anything; just biting little bits of skin like he first did to me, but Noël didn't seem to be enjoying it as he jumped back into the doorway and shrieked very subtly. I chuckled after a moment and grabbed Mido by the collar and pulled him back. "Yeah, see what you get?" I laughed. "You pissed off the wrong owner, bub."

Noël didn't laugh, however. He looked down at his left hand that had a bit of blood oozing from a tooth mark between his middle and forefinger. He glared at me and sighed, smoothing his shirt down. A moment passed, and he said, "You're needed at work."

I scoffed. "I don't need to do shit."

"Your boss showed up yesterday and you weren't there." he said, leaning his shoulder against the door frame. I was mad at him, that much was true, but I was still jealous of how cool he looked doing that. "He's well aware of how many days you've been missing recently, and he says he's been lenient because of your illness but you're killing business."