Peter Pan and his Lost Boy // Jian AU

8.

•°Kian's POV°•

It's been almost a week since Jc and his friends found me under a bench in the pouring rain. I'd love to say that everything has changed. Like my mindset, my opinions, or even my feelings toward the one and only Jc Caylen. I still don't want any handouts or to be someone's charity case until I get on my feet, I'm still going to leave at the end of the two weeks, and I still can't keep my eyes off of that damn curly headed boy that's clouded my thoughts since the moment I laid eyes on him.

I work on the lunch shift with Trevor and of the course Jc. I just can't seem to get away from him long enough to assess my feelings towards him. I'd love to just blame it on sexual attraction, but it's more than that. He gets more and more attractive-inside and out-every time I learn something small about him. What makes it even worse is that I seem to remember almost every single detail about him. Like how he likes five teaspoons of sugar and a dash of caramel in his coffee in the morning. How when he's nervous or assessing a serious situation he'll chew on the inside of his bottom lip. Small shit that really shouldn't effect my thoughts or feelings but somehow intensify each aspect.

"Ki, come on, if we're late again Jc is going to take twenty dollars out of our pay checks!" Trevor whines, both hands gasping onto my forearm to try and move me towards the Cafe. I was stuck though, my feet wouldn't unplant themselves from the concrete and my eyes wouldn't stop staring at the new library sign hanging above the door. Surely purchased with the money used to kick me from my first place of refuge. I have no hard feelings towards Ms. Stefanie, but I surely didn't peg her as a woman easily persuaded to kick out someone for money.

"Damn it, Ki, go inside the fucking library," Trevor huffs, his hands leaving my forearm, and his figure walking across the street to the cafe.

With trembling hands I open the door, a ring echoing through the whole space. It smelled so new and polished in here. Where before it smelled heavily of saw dust and old perfume. The newness of the place took me completely by surprise. This place looked nothing like when I had first arrived almost two weeks ago. Everything from the bookcases to the ceiling fan was shiny and new.

"Kian..." her unstable voice cuts through the thick air like a knife, but my eyes continue to roam all over the place. "Listen, Kian-"

"You're one smart woman," I chuckle, finally tearing my gaze from the new surroundings and looking upon the wrinkly old woman.

"W-What?"

"You threw out a teenager you hardly knew for all this, that's pretty smart if I do say so myself, Ms. Stefanie," I showcase a genuine smile, but she doesn't seem to really buy it.

"But I also told you that I would help you out, it was unfair, and -"

"Let's be real here, you always knew that Jc and his friends would sink their persuasive claws into me one way or another. Sadly, you were correct, but it won't stay that way for long," I shrug, walking behind the counter so I could sit with her.

"Kian, you've got a good deal with those boys. Why are you just going to throw that away? Jc has come over here many times this week to give me updates about you, and let me just say he and the others are very fond of you living with them. They're really grand folks, don't leave them, I can't stand the thought of you being homeless again," she pleads with me, her pale fingers reaching over to grab my tan ones. "Why do you even want to leave them?" She pushes when I'm too lost in my own thought to comment on the first part.

"I...I just have to," I whisper back, standing from the cushioned chair. "I have to go," I mumble finally, leaving the library in a rush.

Damn that woman for being right. I have no reason to want to leave such a set up, but I have a feeling that I'm going to have to. At first it was because I didn't want to be their charity case, but then I realized that house is full of them. Plus, I had no problem with Ms. Stefanie taking me in. Pride. That has to be it. Having someone basically my age supporting me and multiple others injures my ego. I'm the strong-willed and smart Kian Robert Lawley, I don't need some boy trying to save me from a life of homelessness and financial crisis.