The Shadow

Chapter 1

Zane didn't know what was scarier.

Sleeping past his alarm, or seeing Garroth staring right at him when he first woke up.

"Good morning, baby brother!" Garroth said cheerfully, a little too happily for Zane's comfort really.

Staring at him for a minute, Zane slowly turned over on the bed. He was now staring at the wall, where he closed his eye and tried to go back to sleep.

Keyword; tried.

Garroth, being the stubborn blonde he was, would not be content wwith Zane going back to sleep. In just seconds he was already ripping the covers off of him, much to Zane's displeasure. Being a stubborn person himself, Zane fought against his older brother. He grabbed onto the end of the blanket closest to him, pulling the cover in his direction.

"Come on, Zane! It's time to get up!!" Garroth huffed, tugging on the black blanket.

"Nooo! One more hour, and then I'll get up!!" Zane insisted, pulling on the blanket.

"First it's one hour, then it turns into three, and then you wake up at nine at night and stay up all njght and crash at noon!" He argued, completely ripping the blanket off of the bed.

Because he had still holding onto the blanket, Zane fell off the bed with it. He groaned as he hit the floor, looking up at the blonde who disturbed his sleep every single morning. He didn't even let him take naps!

"Come on, baby brother, get dressed. I have a feeling today is going to be special!" Garroth smiled, his usual cheery self.

Zane never did understand how he could be so happy and carefree, like nothing else mattered in the world. Of course Zane wouldn't be able to understand. He never felt cheerfulness, or even plain happiness. He only felt such things when he got cupcakes or was watching My Little Horsies.

After Garroth left his room, thankfully closing the door this time, Zane spent a good five minutes on the floor of his bedroom. Finally he decided to get up, knowing his brother would come check on him again if he wasn't downstairs in a few minutes. Picking clothes for the day was never too hard of a task, all his clothes were practically the same in style and color. That and he had learned to prepare outfits beforehand, a small thing he had picked up from his mother during high school.

Walking down the stairs, he braced himself to be tackled to the ground by his older brother.

"Look who finally decided to wake up." Laurance said from the table, where he was putting his food onto his cheek.

"You're hardly up yourself, Little Laurance." Zane huffed, sitting down in his usual seat. "You're missing your mouth. Move any further to the right-- your right-- you'll get that soup in your ear and hair."

Laurance blinked a few times, a quick way to wake himself up some more. His cheeks turned a small, almost unnoticeable pink as he put the spoon in his mouth.

Even if they didn't get along most of the time, Zane still liked Laurance quite a bit. He was a better roommate than Garroth was, which made the emo feel bad for the brunette, since he had been roommates with him ever since the start of MyStreet. At least Laurance was quiet when Garroth wasn't home, and he let Zane take naps.

He also made the food, since Garroth would just catch the house on fire, and Zane would send all three of them to the hospital and poison control center. Even after they were cleared of the poisonous contents, Zane would most likely be accused or arrested for attempted murder.

Realizing that he had called it soup, Zane looked down at the bowl waiting for him. It was, as he had said, soup. A thick rice soup, to be exact. Mixed into the breakfast was diced, preserved cabbage.

"Laurance, what the hell is this?" Zane asked with a yawn, picking up his spoon.

"I don't know really, Garroth asked me to make it this morning." The brunette shrugged, glancing at the blonde. "What did you say it was called?"

"Kawaii~Chan called it jook." Garroth answered, emphasizing the name. "It's a breakfast soup."

"Jook?" Zane questioned, raising an eyebrow.

He had never heard of the name before, or even having soup for breakfast. Then again, Kawaii~Chan was the one to suggest it to his brother, who had told Laurance to make it. The pink haired Meif'wa knew about all sorts of dishes, mostly sweet pastries and desserts. Not to be rude or anything, but Zane was surprised she hadn't gotten diabetes yet.

"So.... any plans for today?" Garroth asked, but it was mostly directed to Laurance.

"Not really." Laurance sighed, stirring the jook with his spoon. "I could really use some more time to sleep."

"You have the same sleeping problem as Zane most of the time, that's why I don't let you sleep in except for on Saturdays." He said in a know-it-all voice.

Zane always did find amusement whenever Garroth used that tone or voice. He acted like he knew oh so much, when he couldn't even properly work a dishwasher without some assistance. More than half of the time that assistance was Laurance. On rare occasion would Zane ever help him out with anything, usually when Laurance wasn't around, was too stressed, or sick.

"Name one time I've slept past eight." The brunette huffed, crossing his arms.

"I have a whole calendar marked for that." The blonde grinned, knowing he had the upper hand. "Do you really want me to name one?"

"Yes, actually." He said, putting his elbows on the table.

"Elbows off my table!" He snapped, smacking Laurance's arm gently.

"Is that how you smack him behind closed doors?" Zane asked, smirking underneath his mask.

Immediately the two quieted down, blushing bright red shades. Garroth was glaring at him from across the table, while Laurance just stared down at his bowl of the breakfast soup-- jook. Zane batted his eyelid innocently, putting on a bit of a sad puppy eye look. Garroth sighed, easily defeated by his younger brother.

"Whatever. Just don't be late to work today, you two." Garroth said to them, standing up and leaving. "Love you baby brother! Oh! You too, Honey Bear~!"

Zane snickered at the nickname that his brother used for Laurance. He had to admit it was different from most nicknames he had heard be used, plus it made the brunette blush. While he did respect that his brother was dating him, Zane couldn't help but find Laurance to be cute when blushing.

His smirk disappeared when he remembered he still had work today. That wasn't anything new, he always had work unless he was sick or dying. He had wanted the job, since not only had Aphmau needed workers, but also because he was in dire need of a job himself. The only issues he had with that place, other than dressing up as a butler (who was probably based off of an anime), and the loud and ignorant customers, was Gene Charleston.

Gene Charleston... Zane didn't have a good history with him. He hated to go into detail about it, but there was much more to it than just that stupid gang of his and his looks. He hated to even think about their past together, whether it be from as far back as higgh school or as simple as yesterday.

"He didn't even put his bowl in the sink...." Laurance sighed, his gaze going to the bowl.

"When does he ever do anything?" Zane asked with a huff, raising his visible eyebrow.

"True...." He yawned, blinking slowly.

Getting up from the table, Zane went to the kitchen to put his bowl in the sink. The sound of something splashing made him go back to the table, where he saw that Laurance had fallen asleep again.

Taking a quick photo of it, Zane snickered at the fact that Laurance had dropped the spoon on the floor, and got his head in the bowl. He frowned at the mess on the floor by the spoon, but quickly brushed it off of his shoulders. Laurance made the mess, so he would be the one to clean it too.

He was the Dishwasher Fairy, after all.