the lost - kam kotlc human au

KEEFE

Let me sleep

I am tired of my grief

And I would like you

To love me, to love me, to love me

"Tam?" a voice rings out, and I jolt awake. Where am I? I am at Tam's house. I must have fallen asleep watching a kid's movie with my worst enemy.

"Ow!" I accidentally elbowed Tam when I woke up. Oops.

The movie is still playing, it has about five minutes left, so we didn't fall asleep for that long.

"Oh, hi, Keefe. Are you sleeping over?" Linh asks.

"Uh, no, I should probably go home. If my dad kicks me out, though, is that an option?"

"Of course!"

"You think your dad would kick you out?" Tam asks, shooting me a worried glance.

"Eh, nah, probably not. Doesn't matter anyway. I'll get enough money to live by myself whenever this is all over."

"This?"

"Like, the band. Well, touring, I guess."

He nods in understanding.

I switch shirts, snorting at the amount of flour.

Linh, to her credit, doesn't even ask. "I'll walk Keefe to the door," she offers sunnily.

"Sounds good," I say, following her upstairs. I wave to Tam. "See ya later, Tammy!"

"Bye, Keefe," he says with a sigh.

"You got Tam to watch Trolls?" Linh asks skeptically.

"I can be really convincing when I want to be," I say mysteriously. "Plus, I think he secretly loves it."

She laughs. "Maybe," she says with a smile.

I open the door.

"Don't hurt him," she whispers to me as I walk out.

I... what does she mean by that? "I won't?" I say, my voice tilting up at the end.

She nods before closing the door.

I don't feel like walking, so I catch the bus.

It's kinda late, like 11 or so, so I climb up to my window and crawl through.

Success!

"Keefe?"

Shit. Not success. Failure. A familiar pattern in his life, especially when it comes to his dad.

"...yes?"

"Where have you been?" Cassius interrogates. Aww, a concerned and overprotective pops, you think! Aww, my douchebag father all worried that I've ruined his reputation, I think!

"Uhh... writing an essay on my beloved father talking all about how great he is?"

He opens my door. "Bull crap." (My dad doesn't swear. He's in a Christian phase right now. 'Cleansing his soul' or whatever because his wife and son 'tainted him.')

(Side note: nothing against religions when they're healthy and make you healthy and happy and kind and stuff! religions can be extremely cool and interesting and beautiful! there's just a lot of parts of it that aren't! and cassius is that breed whose religion is a lot about homophobia and sexism and racism and stuff and yk what i mean)

"You have flour all over your shirt. My cook wouldn't have let you in the kitchen, so you obviously went somewhere. I also heard you climbing up the window."

Dammit. "Uh, I was at a friend's."

"Well, you sneaked out, tried to sneak back in, and then lied to me. You also didn't iron your shirt like I told you to, and you defied me even more going and making a mess of yourself. You're not allowed to leave this house if you want to keep staying here for free."

I don't argue. There's no point. I don't really have anywhere else to go.

So, I'm the perfect little son the first two nights, but the third, my dad comes up to criticize me. One second, he's saying I need to be more like Fitz, and the next, he's criticizing the whole band and all the girls. He makes some infuriating comment about Tam, and I snap.

"Shut the fuck up, Cassius. You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't even know them. You haven't cared to meet your son's friends, except Fitz, because his dad's rich. They're all fucking amazing, and I don't deserve them, but I'm pretty sure I don't deserve you, you shitty excuse for a father," I yell at him.

"Get out," he seethes.

"What?"

"I said, get out. Now."

For standing up for my friends? Wow. (Am I really surprised, though? I predicted it the other day, didn't I?)

"Okay. Whatever." I grab my bags and walk downstairs, popping into the kitchen and quickly stuffing a bunch of gourmet pastries into a napkin.

"Hey!" Cassius yells, but I run out the door and away, away, away from that hellish place, the gilded prison that held me captive growing up.

Before I even know what I'm doing, I pull out my phone and call Tam.

He picks up almost immediately. "Keefe? Did you get kicked out or something?"

"Uhh..."

"Shit. I was joking, but... sleepover?"

"Thank you," I say gratefully.