Work Text:
Chapter Five
We walked into my house to find my mom sitting at the table, clutching a cup of coffee. “Oh, hello dear,” relief seemed to wash over her at the sight of me, and her eyes quickly snapped to Kenny. To my surprise, she smiled; she genuinely smiled, “Oh, Lucien, you could've just said you were hanging out with a friend, you could've stayed out.”
I heard my dad yell from the kitchen, “Is he home? Who's with him? I thought I told him-”
My mom spoke over his yelling, “Go on upstairs, I'll deal with your father. He's just not used to you being up before him and got nervous that something bad happened. I'll bring you boys something to eat in a little bit. Quesadillas okay?”
I nodded and headed up the stairs, Kenny responding to my mom with a “Hell yes!” before following me upstairs. It felt weird bringing Kenny up to my room. It'd been years since he'd stopped by last. Why was I feeling so nervous?
I could hear my dad getting into a yelling fit with my mom downstairs as I shut my door with a sigh. Sometimes I felt bad about not feeling guilty for killing him all those years ago. I took my jacket off and threw it in my hamper of dirty clothes next to my closet. I was mildly surprised my mom didn't say anything about me smelling like cigarettes again, but she probably had more things on her mind than that. Kenny sat on my bed, looking around at my room, “I see you haven't redecorated much since I was here last.”
“Aside from my desk you mean?”
“Well yeah,” he smirked, “I didn't want to seem too shocked over the wicked cool gaming chair you have now. I'm sure it's super comfy~”
He ended his sentence with a waggle of his brow and I tried to not smile at how stupid he looked. I sat down in my chair and pulled up my desktop screen. Kenny stretched out on my bed, “So what kind of game did you say you're making?”
I opened up the application that I'd been testing my beta in, “It's an RPG style game that's supposed to have a different approach to the whole heroes vs villains story line. You play a morally ambiguous character that could either turn into the worst bad guy in the whole game, or the ultimate hero depending on how you play. Only, you won't know exactly what side you stand on until the end.”
Kenny shot up on the bed, “Holy shit dude, that sounds awesome! Lemme see, lemme see!”
He ran over to my desk and watched over my shoulder as I started running through a couple different scenes. “There's hours of game play and side quests, and it's set up like an open world, so I don't think I'd be able to show you everything right now,” I explained, “but you can at least see a teaser of it.”
He leaned in closer to get a better look and I could feel my face heating up once more as his breath hit my ear. I readjusted in my seat after a moment and cleared my throat, trying to play it cool. The last thing I needed was for Kenny to see me getting flustered by his presence, but I swore I could still feel his lips pressed to mine. After about twenty minutes of me showing him different parts of the game and having him try out a couple side quests, he said he'd seen enough for now. “It's fun watching you play the game but I'm starting to get bored,” he stated before walking back over to my bed and flopping back down onto it. I turned the program off before turning in my chair to look at him, “So what do you want to do instead?”
That was a mistake, I thought, the possibilities flooding my mind and making my face turn red. Kenny raised an eyebrow at me and smirked, “I mean, if the look on your face says anything, I think you know what I want to do.”
Shit, fuck him. Literally and metaphorically. I waved off his teasing, “My parents are home, I don't think that'd be smart...”
I trailed off as I saw the red marks on my arms again, and cursed under my breath. I needed to change my shirt, if my mom came in I didn't want her to see these. I threw my shirt off and into the hamper – i'd been wearing it for a day or two now anyway so it was probably in my best interest to just change – and I heard Kenny let out a low whistle, “Hey hot stuff~”
My face I'm sure grew even redder than it already was and I couldn't bring myself to look him in the eye. I'd be lying if I said Kenny McCormick wasn't high on my list of “Guys I'd Be Down For A Hookup With” but actually hearing him confess was still something my reeling mind was trying to wrap around. God, why was it easier to just ignore things than actually work through them? I tried to ignore his laugh at my obvious flustered state and got up to grab a long sleeved shirt from my closet. Before I got it on though I felt arms wrap around my waist as the blonde peppered my shoulders in kisses. He laid his head on my shoulder, “I'm serious; I like you, and I only see you as a guy. But if you don't want this, I need you to say so.”
I wasn't sure what to say to him. It felt like everything I've been ignoring was starting to catch up to me all at once and the only thing that stood out in my mind as clear was how much I wanted to feel his kiss again. That seemed to be the only moment when everything in my head was silenced to utterly nothing. “You don't have to commit to this,” I heard him say, “but if you want to try...”
I was nodding before I really knew what was happening, and turned to look at him before he kissed me hungrily. I dropped my shirt as his hands snaked up my chest to wrap around my neck. I was unsure of what to do next but Kenny didn't seem to mind taking charge. He licked at my lips seeking permission and I easily complied. He didn't have to fight for dominance, my mind was a complete fog and it felt as though I was melting where I stood. Things moved rather quickly, though, and before I realized I was being pushed down onto my bed. I placed my hands on his sides, unsure of where to place them, as he straddled my form. His tongue danced around mine and I couldn't stop the whimper that left my throat as he softly sucked and bit at my lips. I felt one of his hands snake up into my hair and tug on it gently as the other rubbed over my chest. He sat up, breaking away from the kiss and smirked down at me devilishly before ducking next to my ear. His breath hit my skin and sent a shiver up my spine as he spoke in a low husky tone, “You have no idea how sexy you look right now.”
I felt feverish under his touch, and a sudden head rush hit me as he peppered kisses along my neck. He bit down on a spot that made me see stars, running his tongue over the mark to soothe the irritated skin, before a familiar but not pleasant knot started to form in my stomach. I tapped his side as my breath hitched in my throat when he sucked hard on a spot in the crook of my neck, “K-Kenny...”
He pulled off with a pop and looked down at me. His smirk quickly fell when he saw the panic forming in my expression and he instantly got off of me. “Hey, hey, shhh,” he spoke soothingly as he pulled me into a hug. I felt like a child needing to be reassured, but I wasn't sure why my anxiety started to flare up. It wasn't like I wasn't enjoying myself, but everything was just...too much.
Knock, knock.
The gentle knocking at my door made my heart jump up into my throat. “Honey?” I heard my mom call through the door, “May I come in? I brought some food for you and your friend.”
My eyes quickly darted around the room looking for the shirt I had dropped but Kenny moved faster than I could. He tossed it to me and as I threw it on over my head I managed to answer, “Y-yeah, mom, it's unlocked.”
She opened the door and stepped in carrying two plates of food with a soft smile on her face. I couldn't help but notice how tired she looked. Kenny took one of the plates from her, thanking her with a smile that looked way too innocent for what he'd just been doing, and she stepped over to my bed to hand me mine, “Here you go honey.”
She gave me kiss on the head before turning to leave, but stopped herself in the doorway, “Oh, I wanted to let you know that you're father and I might be out a bit late tonight. He's been really stressed and I'm going to try to take him on a date to take his mind off things. He'll be picking me up after work so you'll have the place to yourself,” she glanced over at Kenny then winked at me before adding, “Be safe!” and closed my door. If my face wasn't already bright red, it sure as hell was now.
Once the door shut Kenny couldn't seem to help himself as he busted out laughing, “I guess it's safe to say that we got her approval at least.”
“Shut up,” I mumbled out of embarrassment as I shoved my quesadilla into my mouth. Kenny came and sat next to me on my bed as we ate in silence. I set my plate on my nightstand and stretched; I was starting to feel exhausted but I wasn't about to admit that I was scared to fall asleep right in that moment. Kenny's voice broke me out of my thoughts before my mind started to race again, “Holy shit, Lucien, your mom makes one mean ass quesadilla!”
I stifled a laugh at his outburst, and nodded in agreement, “Yeah, she's always been a pretty good cook. I'd say maybe you could join us for dinner one of these days but who knows how my dad would react to that.”
“Mmh, yeah, I wouldn't want to make things worse for you by hanging around,” he leaned back on my bed. Things grew silent between us as we sat on my bed, and it almost was deafening for me. Before I could say anything to fill the quiet, though, Kenny spoke up, “I never told you why I wanted some company this morning.”
“Oh...” I was dumbfounded. I'd almost completely forgotten and that made me feel even worse, “What happened?”
He took a deep breath in before he spoke again, “He started drinking. He'd been trying to sober up for the past three months, and it sucked, but this morning he woke up in the middle of the night I guess and started drinking. I was kind of up when I heard something crash in the living room.”
The blonde teen stopped speaking for a moment and I felt like telling him he didn't have to share anything with me if he didn't want to, but it felt as though maybe he needed to talk. And that maybe I needed a distraction from my own life for a moment. I pulled my knees up close to my body as he started again, “My mom got up and saw he'd been drinking. I guess she got pissed at him, I didn't hear that part though. The crash I'd heard was him breaking a bottle on the table. It wasn't like they haven't fought like that before, just... The last time he did that I tried to step between him and my mom and he got me pretty good. Didn't take me to the hospital, just let me bleed out on the floor. Something about seeing the sea of shattered glass on the floor and the trickle of red streaming down my moms face made me...angry. I grabbed a piece of wood that'd been sitting in the hallway and swung at him. I almost missed, the lucky bastard, so I didn't kill him or anything but he tried coming after me. I heard Karen ask if everything was okay and I yelled at her to go back in her room and lock the door. She didn't need to see them when they got like this. Dad swung at me but I sidestepped and hit him in the gut. Mom didn't like that and started yelling at me. Told her not to let him touch her or I'd call the police...”
I looked down at my feet, we both came from two very different yet somehow similar shitty places. “What happened next?”
Kenny shrugged, trying to make it sound like what was just spoken wasn't a big deal, “I flipped them off and walked out. I didn't want to be there when he got up.”
“Were they home when you brought me to your room?” I asked, realizing he'd risked fighting with his dad just to make sure I was okay.
“Nah don't worry about that, I think he got dropped off at the free clinic before I snuck back in,” he flashed a smile at me. I wasn't really sure how to process what he just said. I'd forgotten what empathy felt like, I guess, because this emotion felt completely foreign to me. I didn't know what to say back to him, though I had a feeling that he didn't want me to say anything. The silence was broken by a yawn that I couldn't hold back anymore.
“Do you need to sleep some more?” he inquired. I shook my head, the last thing I needed was to sleep in front of him and have another nightmare. “Don't sleep well either, huh?”
I looked at him quizzically, “You too?”
Kenny chuckled, “Just when I think we can't get anymore alike...”
He shifted on my bed and stripped himself of his jeans. My face lit up at the sight, I wasn't sure what he was trying to do but I definitely was not in any sort of mood to fool around now. He snorted when he saw my face, “Y'know when we were kids it was so fucking hard to read you, but now you're like an open book Lucien. 'M not gonna try anything, I promise.”
The blonde crawled closer to me on the bed before laying down next to me, “I just want some sleep. C'mon, take a nap with me. That way if either of us have a nightmare we won't be alone.”
We won't be alone... his words echoed in my mind. For the first time in a long time I felt a wave of relief and what I assumed to be security wash over me. Not even my parents had ever offered to sleep with me when I first told them about the nightmares. I couldn't help my eyes from wandering down Kenny's bare torso, my face growing warmer as I had to tear my gaze away from his v muscle before it went any further.
“Wanna take a nap with me?” he asked again. I sheepishly nodded before I stripped out of my shirt and jeans and crawled under the blanket with him. Oh, he's the big spoon type, I thought as Kenny wrapped his arms around me. Normally I struggled to feel even remotely tired in the presence of other people, but in this instance I quickly felt exhaustion tugging my eyes closed. This might be the best rest I'd gotten in a long time...