Chapter Text
Ze flung his bag into the cab of the truck as the engine roared to life. Here he was back in Hawai'i, visiting family and hanging out with Mason. Yeah, he could've stayed with family, but the guest rooms were taken up by Phoebe and Ana, leaving him the couch. And he just felt more comfortable rooming with Mason in the guy's shitty little apartment anyway.
The passenger side door caught his attention as Mason pulled it open, "Dude, I'm still surprised your dad let you borrow his truck for the week--" jumping into the passenger side as he rambled, "didn't he practically beat you when you took it to sneak out that one time?"
Ze turned away, caught off guard by the memory. "Ehhhh- I wouldn't say he beat me, but I definitely learned a lesson."
"I mean, I definitely remember the gossip from my mom. It was a whole thing in our family group chat," Mason said playfully.
"What- your family put it in the group chat??" Ze's shot over to look at Mason.
"Yeah, hold on let me show you, I had it in my screenshots and everything-" Mason reached into the small backpack he brought for their trip out. Rummaging for his phone in what was clearly a packed and chaotic bag. His face changed, one look to another, he looked like a donkey in those old cartoons. Expression shifting rapidly, before he settled on disappointment. "Shit-"
"What?"
"I left it in my room."
Mason, forgetting his phone. That was something Ze had never seen before.
"Just go get it then."
There it was, a sheepish face, probably entailing some dumb request- "Awhh man, but dude, I just got comfy."
There it was.
"Oh my god, Mason."
"Dude- please?"
"I'm driving," for emphasis, he honked the horn. Trying to hide the tiny flinch it tore out of him.
"I'm letting you stay at my apartment. Plus, you'll be faster, my apartment's on the 3rd floor, and I'm wearing my binder."
Ze rolled his eyes, letting his shoulders drop exaggeratedly, "Fine." With that, he pulled his seatbelt off and popped open the door. Hopping out and ignoring Mason's laughing at his dramaticism. The climb up the stairs wasn't actually that bad anyways, and judging where Mason's phone would be-
He tapped on the window, watching it unroll just a sliver, "Mason, where's your phone?"
"On my desk, next to my laptop."
Ze just gave a thumbs-up and finally -- actually-- started his journey up towards the apartment.
Honestly, it was a stupidly quick journey, as he made his way up the stairs and to the apartment. Punching in the pin, 0430, and squirreling the door open. Ignoring the light switch, he made a beeline for Mason's room.
It was kinda nice. Sure, the apartment as a whole was about 3x the size of his shared dorm, but Mason's room in particular was nice. Cozy even in the dark. Finally, he flipped the switch, the wrong one. The fan came to life. Then, fiddling in the dark, he reached for the right one, helping him see everything.
Yeah, definitely cozy, to him it felt like a den. Mason's own little den. So much better decorated than his own room. Corkboard on the walls, with keychains and posters and merchandise-galore, spread all over. Ze had never been much one for merchandise, but even then, he could tell Mason's avid collector's nature was on full display.
Right!
No time to mess around, he had to find his bro's phone.
What had Mason said?
"On the- ... something?"
Whatever, full sweep, he'd just do a full sweep and find Mason's phone. Wherever he puts his phone when he's not using it. Next to Mason's bed was a small side table with a bit of clutter, and to his right was his desk, a proper desk that also harbored a mess of stuff. Sure, he could check the bookshelf Mason had, but who the hell would leave their phone on their shelves? He'd be more likely to head down to grab Mason for the guy to check his own bed before checking his bookshelf.
Turning to his left, he spotted Mason's side table. Small, made of shitty fake wood, and probably from a yard sale. He starts to dig around, opting not to check the drawer and just looking around. Cup, cup, more cups.
There was a tissue box and an old picture frame. One of him, Mason, and all of the two's siblings huddled together. It had been on a family camping trip, after everyone had gone fishing. He barely remembered the trip anymore; he couldn't have been more than 10 when it happened. He could clearly pick out his own sisters, next to each other on the left, looking as mad as they always did when they went fishing. Phoebe always told him that it was boring. Then, Mason's siblings on the right, he didn't know much about them. Though he did know that they weren't particularly close anymore, not since he came out. They looked happy. Then the dynamic duo themselves, he and Mason. He was dressed in those same stupid overalls, the ones his mother gifted him, that had his name embroidered on the front. It had been a family tradition by then for him to get overalls like that. Next to him, Mason, he looked relatively stupid. In an outfit consisting of his biggest shorts at the time, and a super baggy shirt. With long hair, which his mother never let him cut, pulled into a ponytail and covered by a ballcap.
He remembers very distinctly that even then, Mason loved pelting him with rocks. Obvious by the little bruises that snaked around his arms. Still in the photo, they were squished together like they liked each other.
The sound of a laptop fan whirring spikes his attention, but sometimes laptops were just weird like that. Plus, Mason defo was the type to leave his laptop on without resetting it or turning it off. The thing probably had heating issues on the regular. Digging around a little more, he came up empty-handed. Only really finding the plethora of keychains, personal notes, and a shit ton of old water cups at his bedside table.
Tearing his attention away from the photo, he deemed the search for Mason's phone on his side table a lost cause. His attention instead turned to Mason's desk, the only other real 'table' in the room. Also small, but just small for a work desk, with a sleek white finish worn down from years of use. The collection of old cups was even more severe here. Whatever, he just had to find Mason's phone and get out of here. Starting first, he surveyed the desk, not seeing the phone in plain sight. It was probably hidden somewhere in the clutter. So he started moving around the glasses, certain there was at least something over here.
The sound of the overhead fan died down, but Ze was oblivious to it. Meanwhile, the sound of the laptop's fans screaming even louder left Ze concerned.
"Jesus- what the fuck is Mason running on this thing?" He mutters.