Missing [ST]

One

"This was a huge mistake."

A short, and simple accusation was flown into the air of five young men, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had settled upon them.

The man who had delivered the obvious statement was the tallest of them all and had one foot flat against the side of the doorframe behind him, arms folded purposely across his lean chest, and a pair of murky blue eyes fixed on the peeling wallpaper directly ahead of him.

The other four men, who had very much heard the equal blame, were scattered around the small, damp room but remained in an agitated silence.

One slumped in a rickety chair by the only source of electrical light whilst slowly pressing the pads of his fingers across his extremely pronounced jaw line.

Two others stood by the only window in the room, heads down, and one of them nervously began tapping his foot.

The final guy stood in the dead centre beneath the naked bulb that hung precariously from the ceiling and he too was staring intensely, but at a different corner of the room, and under a dark mass of thick hair that fell over his eyes.

A scoff from the chair soon directed the blame.

"Yeah, you really fucked this one up, Tyler."

The snarky comment, which came from the centre man's left, had immediately turned his head. In fact, Tyler had broken his intense stare a split second before the man with the thick Bostonian accent had even started speaking, like he knew the shit he was about to receive.

"Fuck you, Joe."

Joe retaliated by standing up, and the sharp turn of his shoulder knocked the lamp into a teetering state. He wore a crooked smile that bared a couple of gleaming teeth, but it was far from pleasant.

"Yeah?" Joe only needed to take two paces forward before he was right up in Tyler's headspace. "Last time I checked, we didn't hurt people, let alone knock one out and then take them. Pretty sure those were your fuckin' rules."

Tyler straightened his posture, squaring his chest to give him an extra half inch of height, but he wasn't intimidated by the strong words.

In the poor light, he watched the irritating jut of Joe's chin lift and dark brown eyes wander past the side of his head, a reference to the final corner of the room which none of the five men occupied.

Tyler swallowed harshly which only accentuated his stiffened jaw. He knew exactly what Joe was motioning towards, but he did not flinch at the challenging nature of his partner in crime.

Sensing the rising tension between the two men, one of the remaining three decided to attempt a civil amends.

"Guys, come on. Not here, not now."

It was one of the two by the window, and he also looked over towards the tallest man for some sort of a reassurance sign, but it never came his way.

Then, rather reluctantly, the one who had been tapping his foot spoke up, hoping that something would ease the agitation.

"Joe, you can't just blame Steven for this."

Tyler, or Steven, felt smothered in appreciation and his confidence was boosted when it really didn't need to be. So much so, that a lazy smirk stretched from the left side of his mouth, imagining dark purple bruises and a black eye.

Joe, on the other hand, had to pinch his tongue between his teeth to refrain from calling Joey out because he didn't deserve it. Brad either. Or Tom. And the flicker of mischief he saw in Steven's eyes along with the shadow of his smirk that existed to mock him, just infuriated his patience that had already worn thin.