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Sitting up, his head felt like someone drove an ice pick into it and he doubled over. “Ow, ow, ow,” he groaned, burying his face into the darkness of his knees and the holiday print blanket.
“Easy, Thomas,” a familiar voice said from over him. “Hangovers are shit on a good day, let alone when you weren’t planning for one.”
“S-Seong,” Thomas questioned, trying to look up but feeling the world spin and his stomach roll.
“That’s me,” Seong said almost playfully, his hand resting on Thomas’s shoulder and gently pressing him to lay back down. “Don’t try to open your eyes. Take this.” Something cold was placed in his hand and Thomas felt a straw press against his lips. “Drink it slow.”
Thomas did as he was told, and could have cried as the cold water that tasted of lemons and salt filled his mouth. He hadn’t noticed how dry and uncomfortable it had been but he had a better understanding of the phrase “cotton mouth.” He didn’t like swallowing it. His stomach seemed to revolt, clenching painfully on the sudden introduction of anything.
“Good boy,” Seong said gently. “Keep drinking it. I’m going to close the window shades.”
Thomas made himself take another drink as merciful darkness fell over his eyelids. He risked peeking again. There was, indeed, a large TV in front of him, not quite as large as the one that had been in the penthouse but the space didn’t really allow for it. Under the TV, every gaming system Thomas could think of was proudly displayed, not a speck of dust on any of them. The wall was green but Thomas could see it wasn’t bare even if he couldn’t bring himself to lift his head enough to look at what was framed above it. “Where am I,” he asked, glancing instead to the mug of water in his hands and the reusable straw sticking out of it.
“World’s Best Hacker” was printed on the side and he turned it to see an old video game printed on the other. This wasn’t something you could buy in a store. Thomas wondered if Seong had made it himself or if someone gifted it to him.
“My apartment,” Seong said, walking back over to the couch and sitting down on the floor in front of Thomas’s stomach. “Keep drinking that.”
Thomas obediently took another drink as he tried to remember what had happened. He could remember getting to the club but-
“Easy, Thomas,” Seong repeated, his hand lifting and resting on the top of Thomas’s head. “Take it slow. What do you remember?”
Thomas swallowed, not sure if he wanted to lean away from or into the fingers.
“You aren’t in trouble,” he said, his tone still gentle. “I just need to know what happened and I can try to fill in any blanks. Okay?”
Thomas closed his eyes against the throbbing of his head. It was so different from how he was used to made men acting. Even Jake who had never been violent, had been rough with him. He swallowed through a lump in his throat. “Okay,” he said softly. “I… It was supposed to be a sleepover weekend for one of the guys in the mentor program’s birthday. O’Hare will foot the bill for a milestone celebration. He was turning eighteen and wanted to have it at a hotel in no-man’s- the city center.” He swallowed as Seong gave him a small reassuring smile. Honest men didn’t call the areas outside of the territories of the Three Rings “no-man’s.” “They- uh, they all hang out with each other pretty regularly but I… I didn’t. I didn’t know they wanted me there. I-” He stopped again, his head throbbing. He didn’t want to drop all of his baggage on Seong again. He had done enough of that the other day at the cafe. Now Thomas was imposing on his space by being in his apartment and Thomas had no idea how he even got there. “Danny called me though and invited me to come. It was his birthday. He picked me up yesterday with his brother and we went to the mall at city center first. Sean, Danny’s brother, took our stuff to the hotel to set everything up while we hung out. It was fine at first. Until-”
Seong nudged the mug towards Thomas and he took another drink of the flavored water, feeling it cut through the lump in his throat.
“They figured out I was at the Pub,” he whispered, closing his eyes and squirming uncomfortably at the memory. “Issac had texted me. He’s texted me every day at exactly two-thirty since we traded phone numbers. I had assumed it was just coincidence, that one of his classes let out at the same time my school did and he texted then because it was convenient. But he said he was done with classes Thursday. I had asked him if he set an alarm or something for the time and he said perhaps. It made me laugh.”
A smile lifted Seong’s lips and Thomas’s heart sped up.
“W-well the guys,” he continued quickly, “have a rule about sharing if you laugh at your phone with everyone there and I- I didn’t know what to say so I just showed them my phone. Issac’s name is saved as his first name with a mouse emoji.” He swallowed thickly. “Kevin and Mark live with a Clover. I never met him but he’s close to O’Hare. They heard Issac’s name and what happened at the pub and when Kevin realized they were the same person-” his throat started to tighten. “H-h-he st-started asking m-me questions and I-I-I-”
Seong’s hand returned to Thomas’s head, this time not just resting on the top but stroking his hair the same way his aunts would when he wasn’t feeling good. It felt good. Better. Calming. “It’s alright, Thomas,” he murmured, his hand moving down to brush against Thomas’s cheek. “Deep breaths. However you reacted, it’s understandable.”
Thomas sucked in air, running a finger over the letters on the front of the cup. “Danny told them to drop it,” he whispered. “Kevin and Mark did, Kevin even apologized for pushing but Andy- Andy kept pushing for information. Kept trying to get details until Danny told him if he didn’t quit that he’d call Sean to get Andy’s stuff out. He was pissed.”
“Andy or Danny?” Seong asked, tilting his head to one side, his hand leaving Thomas’s cheek again.
The warmth rapidly ebbed away from Thomas’s skin where Seong’s hand had been. “… Yes, but I meant Andy. He hadn’t been particularly happy to see me when I showed up with Danny.”
“Hm, I don’t want to interrupt your story but I need to ask you something.” Thomas could feel Seong’s elbow on the cushion next to him, the heat gently radiating. “You said something last night about Andy ignoring you. What did you mean?”
Thomas looked away for a moment, chewing on his lip as he considered how to answer. It felt wrong to tell someone’s private business to anyone else but… this was Snake after all. If he really wanted to know Andy’s business nothing was going to stop him from finding out. “Andy’s… kind of like me,” he said finally. “He lost both his parents and got into trouble shortly after. It landed him in the mentor program with the understanding that he had to stay until he graduated high school. He got held back a year so he’s a year older than me. But his mentor is a cousin of his. Jake and Andy’s cousin didn’t like each other though Jake never said why. Just that I shouldn’t be alone with him. Andy just… he never really talked to me. If we were put at the same table, he’d talk to everyone else, including Jake, but never me. I don’t know why. He just… pretended like I wasn’t there.”
He frowned down at the cup in his hands. “He was still doing it when Issac texted me. I could feel him trying to push me out of the conversations but the others would pull me back in again. After- after Danny told him to shut up or leave, he went quiet then out of no where started hyping up this store.” His stomach twisted. “It was like he was making a point to talk to me, like he- I don’t know. It was like he went from doing everything to keep the spotlight off of me to shining it in my face. I didn’t like it but I had already caused an upset so I just ignored it. He insisted we had to check out the store. The- uh- the clothes in the store were- um-” His face grew warm as Seong’s eyebrow rose.
“Slutty,” he offered, seemingly amused and glancing back towards Thomas’s still blanket-covered form. “I recognize the brand of clothing. They are well aware of what clientele they are serving. So Andy was the one who wanted to go in there?”
“Yeah,” Thomas said, his face still uncomfortably hot. “But everyone else agreed to the idea pretty fast so I guess they wanted to go too. Andy was still acting weird though. He kept insisting I try things on. Everyone else had been trying things on all afternoon while we were shopping around but… He was pushing harder for me to put things on there.”
“What did the others say,” Seong asked. “Danny didn’t stop him?”
Thomas frowned. He hadn’t really thought about it before but- “Danny… Danny was never around when he was pushing particularly hard,” he realized. “But Mark must have noticed because he pulled me away from him at one point and started showing me some sweatshirt crop tops. He said that I didn’t have to do anything I was uncomfortable with but it was fun to try stuff on.”
Seong’s lips thinned but he nodded. “How did trying things on for fun turn into owning things?”
