Chapter Text
Aiden clutched his gun tight and took a deep breath. They've cleared dozens of places before, but this time it felt eerie. Plus if there were cultists or super zombies then it'd be harder to get away considering they were in the middle of fucking nowhere. His hand came up and in a shaky motion and pushed the door open with a loud creak. He immediately brought up his weapon and peered inside. The flashlight that Lukas was holding shined its way into the bedroom.
Nothing.
"Is there really only one gun in your backpack? I feel pretty useless holding this flashlight.” Lukas sighed and took light steps in order to keep the floor creaking to a minimum. His body was close to Aiden’s. Close enough in fact the two were touching.
"Sight is kind of essential." The old him might have been bouncing off the walls by how close Lukas was to him, but now it was normal. Their team always stayed extra close to one another. It's the only thing that felt safe in this fucked up world they lived in. He slowly moved into the bedroom. A thick layer of dust coated everything. "I think it's okay."
"I guess you're right.” Lukas scanned his flashlight across the abandoned room. Aiden took a step ahead inside as he pushed open the squeaky door. Lukas followed close behind and shut the once-white door behind them. The closet was busted with one door hanging off the side.
"Maybe we should look in the drawers. Sometimes people keep guns by their beds.”
"You start up on that. I'm gonna check out the bathroom." Aiden saw his friend tense, "I'll be close. It's just a bathroom." He continued to walk to the other door near a dresser. The door was jammed. Like something was pushing against it. He gave a shove and there was just enough room for him to squeeze in. A broken cabinet laid against the entrance, and a foul smell came out of the room. The brunet saw a body through the shower curtain. He held up his gun and yanked the fabric back. A dead man was in the bathtub with bloody water surrounding him. He must've finally had enough of the world and decided to end it. Aiden tried not to hurl and closed the curtain. He began to check around the room, opening the cabinet above the sink. There were a few pill bottles that contained Ibuprofen and something Aiden didn't recognize the name of. He hefted his backpack on the sink and tossed the bottles in.
Aiden closed the cabinet and looked down at the dirty sink. He reached a handout and turned the handle. The faucet creaked but eventually water gushed out. It was nice clear water too, not yucky brown stuff like they had been running into lately.
Lukas hesitantly shined his light inside the wooden drawer as he pulled it out. In the first compartment were a few miscellaneous items similar to a junk drawer. A small screwdriver, receipts, gum wrappers, nothing important.
The blond crouched down to the lower drawer and pulled it open. The first thing that caught Lukas' eye was a photo. It was a family of three, two dads and a kid in the middle. One had long brown hair with matching brown eyes. The other was more masculine with a beard and short jet-black hair. The kid in the middle was sort of a dirty blond, it was hard to tell with all the grime built up on the photo. He eyed the happy family. Were any of them still alive? Probably not.
Lukas set it back down and picked up a thick envelope next to the picture. He didn’t want to bend it so he was sure to be careful. Pulling out the folded-up piece of paper he noticed there were many other multicolored pages in the envelope. He unfolded the first paper. It read, "To my dearest love," and he immediately crushed the paper out of panic, stuffing it back into the envelope. So much for being careful. Lukas had no business snooping around in someone's love life, even if they were probably dead.
Aiden came out of the bathroom and made sure to shut the door behind him. His friend didn't need to see something like that. "Find anything?" He noticed the blond standing by a nightstand.
"Nothing useful." Lukas paused. "But I did find someone's family photo." He went to go sit on the bed but then remembered how gross the bed was, so instead he just put his hands on his face. The air was circulating from when Aiden closed the door shut, and he got a whiff of a familiar rotten scent. He put his flashlight on the nightstand. "That's one of them. Isn't it?" He said blandly.
Aiden sighed, "Yeah... I did find some painkillers though." He walked over to Lukas, "Maya gets really bad cramps on her period, so hopefully with these, she won't go all Godzilla." He tried to joke and lighten the mood.
Lukas gave a fake chuckle. "Yeah, must suck." He knew Aiden wanted to cheer him up, but truth was, he was just sick of this world as anyone else was. Every corner he turned he faced death and sadness. Even with Aiden there, he could barely tolerate it. He was only one of the reasons he kept fighting.
The brunet hesitantly crept towards the other, "At least we didn't run into anything. Well, anything trying to kill us." He solemnly looked at the gun he was holding. His head perked when loud thunder boomed outside. Barely a second later the heavens opened up and rain poured down.
Lukas shook at the thunderous noise. "Even if something was in here, seems like we're stuck here for the night. I'm sure everybody has someplace to sleep in this mansion.”
"Yeah, this place is fucking huge. Wonder what the people who lived here did for work. Probably ran a business or something." Aiden turned to the bed and patted it down. Dust flew up as he shook the blanket out. Sure the room was dirty, but it wasn't unlivable by any means.
After the dust had been pushed out of its home Aiden sat on the bed. "We should all still bunk with at least one person."
The blond coughed from the dust, covering his nose. The bed wasn't big, but it could definitely fit the two of them. "That'd probably be the safest."
He wouldn't want to sleep alone even if he could, he felt the safest when he was around Aiden. And it wasn't only because he had a gun, he was always braver than him.
When Aiden was done tidying the bed up then Lukas sat on the edge of it. He put his backpack on the floor and pulled out his brown leather journal with a pencil. He began to write about the family photo he saw but stopped rather quickly. He was too distraught.
Aiden sat the gun down next to him on the bed. He liked being able to grab it quickly in case of an emergency. Looking over he saw Lukas with his signature journal out. He always wrote in that thing, even in high school. It was like his safe haven throughout this whole ordeal. "Whatchu writing about?"
Lukas gave a smirk, "Just writing about how stupid you are." He joked.
Aiden playfully gasped at the statement, "Well I learn it from you. Make sure to jot that down."
Lukas might of been messing around but truth be told he had written about Aiden before in his journals. He never let anyone else see them since it was practically his diary now that the world turned to shit. "Maybe you should pick up writing. Not many hobbies you can have in an apocalypse."
Aiden watched as his friend put the sacred book away and let himself fall back onto the bed, tossing his own backpack aside. It was surprisingly comfortable. Sure – a little stiff, but hey he's used to sleeping on the ground so any mattress is an upgrade. "I have hobbies. Like..." He thought back to everything he did before the apocalypse: Video games, TV, skateboarding, all of which are impossible now. "Damn. Everything I used to do kinda isn't a thing anymore."
He reminisced of him and Aiden doing things together, like going to the movies and playing video games when they were younger. "I guess you gotta improvise. I know you aren't the most crafty person.” He found a loose sheet of paper in his bag as he ruffled it around. "Try making something." He tossed him a pencil with a half-used eraser.
Aiden sat back up, "Seriously? I mean okay." He turned and pressed the paper onto the headboard of the bed. He held the pencil and thought for a moment. He drew long lines and scratchy circles. It brought back memories of when he almost failed art class, yes he almost failed one of the easiest classes in high school. After making the finishing details he dramatically flipped the paper around and showed Lukas. It was rough, but there was a set of monkey bars, a basketball, and a cat.
Lukas busted out laughing. "Oh my god Aiden! Why does your cat have three legs!" He wiped a tear that fell from his eye. "I knew you were bad but I didn't know it was this bad. I'll never give you another piece of paper again!" Lukas turned his head and looked from the corner of his eye, making sure Aiden take the words too harshly.
"Fucker, you asked me to draw! This is some Leonardo Da Vinci shit right here." He brought the paper down smiling. "I used to always play on the monkey bars in elementary school. I'd try to do that thing where you hang upside by your feet. Yeah, I fell and broke my arm." His smile grew softer.
Lukas went wide-eyed. "How come you've never told me that?" He chuckled. "We've been friends for so long."
Aiden smiled, "I dunno. I was thinking about when I didn't have technology and that's something I enjoyed doing. The playground. It was after school so nobody was really around. My dad was late to pick me up so I just sat there on the playground and cried for like half an hour. Then this cat came up. Probably thought I was dying from how much I was crying. It kept me company until my dad did eventually pick me up." Aiden cleared his throat, "Uh, anyways," He handed the pencil and paper back, "Here."
Lukas took the paper. "I suppose that means you like cats then, you liar." He punched his arm playfully but ended up just hurting his hand. He rubbed on it comfortingly.
Lukas’ weak punch felt like nothing on his multiple layers of clothing. He noticed the blond rubbing his hand, "Did you seriously just injure yourself?" He chuckled, "No wonder," Aiden flexed, "I am pretty strong."
Lukas flushed slightly, "S-shut up!" He realized he raised his voice at the comment and cursed at himself in his head. The blond stopped rubbing his knuckles. "Im just as strong as you. At least I don't break my arm playing on monkey bars." He smirked.
"Hey, I was a kid! But you," The male placed his hand on Lukas' shoulder, "You're a grown-ass man." The thunder boomed again outside.
"You're so annoying." He rolled his eyes. Lukas allowed himself to lay back into the bed, his side slightly touching Aiden's. There was nowhere to scoot. The two were gonna be sleeping close tonight. "Besides the dead body in the bathroom, this isn't so bad, I guess. Maybe we should do something about that. Or not.”
Aiden laid down beside him, "I guess we could bury him, but isn't it wrong to move the dead? Or is that just mummies?"
"Uhh, I don't know. It's probably better to get buried than rot." He put his hands up in the air, staring at the ceiling blankly. "I wish I could get my hands on a book or something."
Aiden hefted himself off the bed, grabbed the flashlight, and walked over to the room's closet. He was careful to not touch the broken-off door. He shined the light inside. There were a few shirts hung up. But what caught his eye was a cardboard box at the bottom of the closet. He tried lifting it, but it was heavy. So he put the flashlight in his mouth and used both hands to lift it out of the space it was crammed into. He walked it a few steps before setting it down. The box read "To Donate".
"What's in there?" Lukas felt totally stupid that he forgot to search the closet. The room had freaked him out when he first walked in.
"Hmm," Aiden squatted down next to the box. The first item on top were a couple of jackets and pants, "Clothes. Could be useful." He pulled the items out. There were some movies and a stuffed animal, he pulled those out as well. Then something caught his eye, "There's a board game."
"A board game? What kind?" He honestly had forgotten board games even existed. He was a little excited at the idea of playing a silly game with Aiden.
"Sorry." He pulled out the game.
“Oh it’s okay. We don’t have to play.”
Aiden glanced at him, “What? No – the game Sorry.”
"Oh. Then we should play it!" He blurted out but instantly regretted it. He didn't want Aiden thinking he was a kid. You could tell whoever lived here had played this a lot. It was surely loved back in it's hay day.
Aiden looked up at him and grinned, "Wow. You really are bored." He stood with the game in his hands and brought it over to the bed. He set it down and hopped on the mattress himself.
"So… Any idea how to play? It's been a while." He said embarrassed. The cover looked to be a newer version. Right before all hell broke loose.
Aiden took the lid off and unfolded the board, "You pick your pieces," He threw the little bag of the colorful pieces to Lukas, "Then draw a card and follows what it says." He explained while shuffling the deck.
"Hm. Okay," Lukas picked up the red pieces and pushed the box toward Aiden. He put his pieces on the faded 'start'. "Man, when's the last time we've done something so simple?"
Aiden put the cards down and picked out the blue pieces, "Well, everyone showered... A month ago, I think? Speaking of, there's other bathrooms so we should definitely check if the water works in the other rooms later." He set the last piece down, "You can go first."
Lukas picked up a card, “Thanks!”
“I meant the shower but okay.” He chuckled.
"Oh. Right." Lukas looked down at the card. He moved a red piece forward two spots.
After an epic battle, Lukas was on the verge of winning. All he had to do was get a one and he’d be set. However, card after card showed him nothing but bad luck. Aiden had gotten caught back up quickly. The brunet had got the ‘Sorry’ card and sent Lukas’ last pawn back to the start. And before Lukas could go around the board again, Aiden slid all four of his blue pawns into home. There was a lot of gloating from Aiden and a lot of curse words from Lukas.
Aiden laughed, “I guess the better man won.”
“Fuck you.”
Aiden collected the pawns from off the floor – from when Lukas had thrown them – and put them back in the box. “You can try to beat me. But I think we should shower first. You know, let your sore loserness simmer down some.”
“Oh shut up. Don’t think I don’t remember when you broke your Wii cause I won at Mario Kart.”
“HEY. That’s not fair! You were playing as Princess Peach, and you know I was trying to see up her dress!”
“Didn’t mean you had to wreck the Wii.”
Aiden folded his arms and rolled his eyes, “Whatever man. Go take your shower.”
“Uh,” Lukas looked around, “Why don’t we see if they have any more games in the closet instead? Maybe they have a card deck or something.”
“I’ll check while you’re in there.”
“But uh, you know what? Why don’t we play… Hide and seek?”
“The fuck? In the bedroom? Go take your shower cause I wanna take mine.”
Lukas tensed. He was now aware again he was in a dead couple’s house in the middle of the apocalypse and not just having a sleepover with a friend. "I don't really feel safe going alone." He beat himself up for being a coward. Why couldn't he just leave Aiden for 20 minutes?
Aiden understood the concern. In all honesty he wasn't the biggest fan of being alone anymore, but he did what he needed to do. “You could leave the bathroom door open and I can wait outside. If it makes you feel safer.”
"Do you think… You could be in the room with me?" He gulped asking the question. What kind of request was that? It wasn't Aiden's responsibility to keep him safe.
Aiden readjusted himself on the bed ever so slightly, "Yeah. Course." He scolded himself for thinking of Lukas in any other way than just a friend. He could not under any circumstances be happy or excited about being in the same room while the blond showered.
Lukas couldn't even think. His face flushed red with a mix of emotions. I mean, it was weird having your friend in the same room with you as you showered but was that all he was feeling? He cleared his throat. "I'm not too sure where it's at." He stood up to grab the flashlight.
"The shower would be in the bathroom." Aiden watched the blond walk to the other side of the room.
"Thanks captain obvious.” He went beside Aiden, not wanting to open the door first.
Aiden got off the bed. He had almost forgotten his gun, but at the last minute remembered. He walked to the bedroom door with Lukas close and opened it, "I'm sure there's one 'round here somewhere."
The two walked down the hall for a bit, checking each door but no luck on a bathroom. Lukas heard a rattling noise coming from one of the doors. Clearly Aiden heard it too because he cocked his head and put up the gun.
The brunet kicked down the door ready to fire. Lukas shined his light around, he didn't see anything until a lone box tipped over. A ball of fur ran across the room. "Wait! It's an animal!" He hoped Aiden wouldn't mindlessly shoot at the poor thing.
Aiden jerked from Lukas' plea. He was so on edge he almost pulled the trigger. After a second of calming his breath he spoke, "Gave me a heart attack."
"Me too." He unknowingly clung to Aiden's arm for comfort. He breathed heavily from the anxiety in his chest. Once Lukas was aware of the action he practically jumped away from him. "I..." He rasped out, but he didn't finish his sentence.
The idea of your crush clinging to you in danger is cute, in theory. But when it's actually happening it's terrifying. Aiden didn't want Lukas anywhere near danger and if that was actually a threat then the blond would've been in potential harm. The male turned to his friend, "Are you... okay? I know that was kinda scary, but it was just an animal."
"It's nothing. I'm sorry." Maybe Lukas was just the damsel in distress. "Let's just find the bathroom."
"Um, alright." Aiden walked next to the other as they strolled down the hallway. He noticed Lukas standing a little farther away than before, "I'm not really the best with uh- feelings, but if you need to talk about something you can."
"Oh." A million thoughts went through Lukas' mind. Maybe he should say something. Or maybe he could think about it in the hopefully working shower.