Paper Hearts

ℍ𝕠𝕡𝕖 𝕌𝕣 𝕆𝕂

Chapter 1: Hope Ur OK

He had holed himself in his room for weeks, staring at the empty walls. The place was dark and messy. His eyes were puffy, and he probably gained a lot of weight eating pizza and nothing but. He couldn't actually tell since he avoided mirrors like the plague, even when taking a shower. His anxiety had become worse, so much so that he'd ask the delivery man/woman to leave the pizza on their doorstep and waited until the guy/girl was long gone before he fetched his food.

It was already cold by then.

His sister and her husband would -almost every day- knock on his door to try and coax him into leaving his bedroom. But even so, he never left the confines of the messy place. He knew he was being ungrateful and stupid, but at the time, he just wanted to sulk in peace. Plus, his grades wouldn't suffer.

He was always updated.

Out of nowhere, his phone rang. He searched for the damaged device among his many pillows and Black Clover plushies until he found it under his blanket. He picked it up without looking at the caller I.D. "Dude, I discovered this app you can use. You can find your match."

Lex rolled his eyes, busying himself by rearranging the pillows and plushies on his bed. "I'm not that desperate."

There was a pause. Both sides of the line seemed to know better. And then-

"Are you sure?"

. . .

"I'm coming."

He had pulled on a plain white t-shirt and black joggers, a black baseball cap resting on his head. Lauv was singing in his ears, his left hand clutching his phone, both hands shoved deep into his pockets.

He trudged forward, his eyes searching for anyone who was watching his uncertain steps, anyone who was judging him, but he found no one. Everyone was minding their business, too busy in their own worlds to notice him walk by them. He sighed and walked on.

He reached the tall apartment building, walking into the lobby and greeting the receptionist and security guard who were having a conversation. He walked to the elevator, pressing the 'up' arrow and waited. The elevator dinged seconds later, the metal doors sliding open.

He stepped in, another male walking in after. He waited for the man to a press a button to the floor he wanted to go to, but when the man made no move, he pressed the button to the fourth floor hesitantly. He put the volume to his music down a bit and stared at his reflection in the mirror, ignoring the feeling of his organs floating as the elevator moved.

He was wrong. He hadn't gained any weight. Screw his metabolism. He couldn't even do something as simple as gain weight. He shook his head. His eyes held the tiredness he'd try to overlook the past few weeks with dark stress bags under them. He would've found his slim face unhealthy, but that was normal. He sighed again and looked down at his worn-out sneakers.

The man beside him pressed the button to the sixth floor and a while after, Lex was leaving the elevator and walking down a hallway until he found door 75D. He knocked softly on the door, pulling his earphones out of his ear, pausing his music and waiting in the cold, empty hallway.

A while after, the sound of the door being unlocked reached his ears and the door opened after. Lex's best friend was at the door, his blond hair sticking up in different directions. "Dude, what took you so long?" And he was pulled into the apartment. It was a rhetorical question, so he didn't answer as he walked past the kitchen and to the living room where his mother always sat.

"Hi, Mrs T." The woman addressed looked up with a smile as he sat beside her. She started tearing up, pulling Lex into a hug. He heard her sniffle, so he hugged her tighter. "Don't cry." He pulled away and kissed her cheek, smiling sweetly.

"Where have you been, L? Why haven't you come to visit me, huh?" Her hands wandered his face, arms and hands, checking if his was okay. "I missed my favourite boy." She kissed his forehead.

"Mom, I swear. He's okay, and I'm supposed to be your favourite boy." Sam sounded jealous, but they all knew he was joking.

"Samuel June Thomasson. Respect yourself."

"I swear, by the end of this, you'll be head-over-hills for someone, and they'd screw you senseless."

"Relationships aren't always about sex, love." Sam's boyfriend spoke up from behind him. The two were on the bed, Sam between Skyler's legs. Their girlfriend was working the night shift, so she couldn't join their pity party for Lex.

"I know, Sky, but Lex seems to need it."

Lex groaned. "I hate you."

"Sure." Sam smiled and played with Sky's finger, his black painted nails shining in the lighting of Sam's room. Lex was on the floor on his back, a pillow propping up his head as he stared at the couple.

"I didn't come here to stare at you two act lovey-dovey." He said, averting his gaze to stare at the popcorn ceiling.

"Right." The sheets rustled on Sam's bed as he moved from between Sky's legs and walked to his desk, sitting in his desk chair. He clicked a few times with his mouse, typing something in before getting up and pulling Lex up with him.

He pushed him into the chair and rolled it closer to the desk, leaning over his shoulder. More rustling of the sheets. Skyler now stood behind Samuel, arms wrapped around his torso. "You can get this on mobile, but I wanted to show you this on a bigger screen."

He clicked on something on the screen. "I actually did my research and this site is actually legal. No viruses and trackers either. Anyway, it works similar to a dating site with just a few more things you'll figure out on you own. I'll let you make your own profile," he clicked around the site, showing a few details that piqued his interest. "And that's all. You got it?"

Lex nodded. "Yeah, thanks. I'll let you know if I actually want to use it, though."

"Great," he pulled Lex up by his arm. "You know the name, you can download the app. Now," Sam pushed Lex towards the door, "Please, leave. I have a bratt to deal with."

Lex laughed but nodded, looking between them one last time and chuckling at the faux annoyance on Sam's face and Sky's smirk before slipping out the door, closing it and giving Sam's mother a kiss on the cheek on his way out.

He pulled his earphones out of his pocket, planning on listening to music, but the damn thing had tangled in on itself. How did that even happen?!

He sighed and started to untangle the wire, being careful not to break his earphones in the process. When he finally got it to untangle, he was in the lobby, leaving the building after looking in Sam's mailbox. Some of his mail was sent to their address for the sole reason that his sister wanted to know every single aspect of his and was nosy enough to look through his mail. In some instances, that could be very bad.

Humming along to the music in his ears, he trudged home.