Payt on Oaks ➳ Joey Birlem X Payton Moormeier

2

A/N; feel free to correct me if i misspell anything or if a sentence seems clunky. english isn't my first language. 😳😅 ( i wish it was haha )

It must've been his own grunts that had woken him up but as Payton pried his eyelids open and adjusted to his surroundings he found that he wasn't on the streets anymore. Instead, as it seemed, he was lying on a stiff mattress in a bleak room.

Panic flood his veins but he quickly told himself not to draw any conclusions yet. He remembered how he fainted against the guy from the streets seconds before everything went black, so with this memory in mind he must've been at Joeys place which was a rather reassuring thought.

His thoughts were momentarily hijacked by those kind eyes of his. No way could they have any mischievous plants hidden beyond that deep brown, it just didn't make any sense.

Because this brought him the most peace of mind Payton slowly pulled himself into a sitting position and stretched himself, acting as though he had just woken up at a friend's sleepover, which, in a way it was should his guess be correct.

Through his half-lidded eyes he scanned the room more thoroughly. It wasn't very big, about the size of a storage room and the only other object was a sturdy but old looking table located under a window frame, which held cement instead of glass.

The walls were plastered with a peeling white wallpaper which looked brownish because of the eggy light that shone down from the lightbulb and the lightbulb itself hung in the middle of the ceiling from a thick cord.

Admittedly, it wasn't the most cozy place he'd ever seen, it resembled a setting in a horror movie more than anything but this also didn't pay much into Payton's worries. He lied back down, felt himself getting dizzy from the flickering of the eggy light and soon he drifted back into a slumber.

The next time he woke up he was alone no longer.

Under the eggy gaze of the lightbulb Joey flickered between darkness and light. He was casually leaning against the wall, one leg angled up beside the other and a dark hood pulled over his head.

Creepy or not, Payton had to admit that this gangstery look suited him quite well.

'Hi,' Payton said weakly, propping himself up on his elbows. In the same moment Joey pushed himself from the wall and strolled towards him until he was close enough to sit on the other side of the mattress.

'Are you feeling better?' He asked, letting his eyes roam reassuringly over his face.

Payton didn't answer right away, he indulged himself in that pair of brown eyes that was mustering him reassuringly.

Finally Payton smiled. 'Yeah, a lot better. I don't know what came over me...' He trailed off as a thought struck him. 'Did you carry me all the way here by yourself, or...?'

Joey's head dipped down between his shoulders as he chuckled, shaking his head softly.

'No,' He said. 'I could've never managed that alone.'

Getting more curious, Payton sat up completely now. 'Then how did I get here?'

'My friends carried you.'

'Your...friend. Or friends, as in, two...?'

Joey nodded.

'What friends?'

For some reason Payton had to pull every answer out of Joey's ass since he wouldn't answer him comprehensively by himself.

'You probably didn't see them because it was so dark, but once you fainted I called them over and they agreed to carry you here.'

Payton gave this a thought and decided that he must be telling the truth. But he still wanted to know the names of them, after all they were nice enough to carry him over here and not abandon him on the streets like it was usual for guys around here to do. Payton's mom had to move to a worse neighbourhood once her paychecks weren't enough to cover the bills in L.A. So now he was condemned to live in New Jersey where crime was brushed off as just another 'Jersey thing'.

Having that said, Payton was glad Joey didn't pull a Jersey on him.

Payton's attention jumped back to Joey as he snipped over his shoulder. 'Bryce and Taylor. Usually you don't want them around for too long but if you keep the talk on the streets and end it once you close the door behind you it's all good.'

While Payton pulled his phone out to check for any messages he asked Joey more about those guys but he didn't seem too excited of this topic so all Payton figured out at the end was that nobody knew exactly where those guys lived, or what they did when they weren't hanging around in the sketchy parts of town ( Which at night, it was practically everywhere )

'Listen,' Payton blurted out after a long silence where Joey sat hunched over scratching some dirt from under his fingernails and Payton scrolled through all the messages sent by Anthony. 'It's gonna be hard to explain to my mom why I'm returning from Ant's in the middle of the night. Could I crash here? I'll be gone in the morning.'

There was an unreadable expression on Joey's face, but after a while he began to nod slowly. 'Sure.' He said.

'Great!'

Or not great? Joey didn't seem to share his excitement. His shoulder were still sunken forward and his lips looked strained. No, Payton decided, that's probably just a part of his gangster image.

'So, what is there to do here?' Payton asked in regard of the empty room. 'Why is there a table without a chair, for starters?'

'What tab—' Joey shifted around as he turned to look at the table he was referring to then dropped his confused expression. 'Oh, forgot that was here. I never chill around here, you see. We use that room for...I actually don't know what we use that room for.'

Payton laugher awkwardly. 'You're strange. Well, you're not living alone here then?'

'Do I look older than sixteen yet?'

'Kinda.'

'I'm sixteen.'

Payton was still smiling. 'Me too.' He said which seemed to shock Joey initially.

'Holly shit,' Joey breathed. 'You look way younger than that.'

'Yep, I get that a lot...' Payton had pulled himself onto his feet and started pacing the room. For some reason after Joey learned his actual age the look in his eyes changed...for better or for worse. At the end of his stroll around the room Payton came to a stop in front of the table then without much thought put into it he ducked into a light squat and shot himself in the air with a jump. He landed gracefully on the tabletop, almost cat-like.

He observed the room from a higher angle and noticed that Joey was watching him. When their eyes met he spoke up.

'I think I just got an idea of what we can do around here...'

Payton raised his eyebrows, Joey went on.

'Wait here. I'll be right back.'