Patterns of Blues

Chapter 15

Liam woke up in a room that smelt like sweat and old socks had been fermenting together for months, and frowned in confusion when he realized he was elevated on a bunk bed. Then everything clicked back together, and he gasped quietly before carefully climbing down the latter of the bunk and looking into the bed beneath his, squinting in the half-light for his brother's sleeping body. He breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw Harry shift around under his covers, breathing still shallow and calm. He didn't wake him, knowing how much he needed the rest, and instead went to the dresser on their side of the room and grabbed an outfit from his drawer at random, quickly changing into whatever Kelly had brought up for him the evening before.

He then crept out of the room, careful not to wake Charlie or Sully in the process, and snuck down the hall, pausing in front of the room where Nate and the rest of the boys slept, and heard a very calm and quiet conversation being held on the other side of the door, confirming that he wasn't the only one awake. He decided to tap on the door hesitantly, remembering that Nate had told him to find him if he needed anything, and he had no idea how their morning routine was meant to go. The conversation cut off instantly, and he heard some scrambling on the other side before the door swung open, a slightly panicked-looking Silvio stood before him,

"Oh, it's just you." He was very shirtless, and Liam couldn't help but notice the stripes along his chest, long scars a delicate reminder of some past trauma.

"Who?" Nate's voice sounded from deeper into the room, a bit out of breath.

"New kid. Lucas, or something," Silvio supplied, opening it further, and Liam saw Nate's head peek over to get a better look,

"Huh, I thought his name was Leeland."

"It's Liam," he grumbled, slightly offended, "You said to come find you if I had any questions."

"Okay, but I didn't mean at five in the freakin' morning, dude," Nate said with a half-hearted laugh, slipping a red shirt on, "What do you need?" Silvio rolled his eyes before making space for Liam to enter the room,

"Nothing important's my guess." Liam thought about sending him a dirty look, but then decided he didn't want to get on this guy's bad side and also reckoned that he was being a bother,

"I just wanted to know what the daily routine here is."

"Well after a couple of days, I guess you'll find out, eh?" Nate suggested unhelpfully, his sly grin making its reappearance. He paused for a minute, sharing a silent conversation with Silvio before sighing, "Yeah, well, wake up's at six, breakfast at six-fifteen, clean up for school, Peter'll take us there, school's a buggin' waste of time so I won't get into that, Johnny'll pick us up, homework, dinner, free-time, sleep. That's a day in a nutshell."

"Yeah, we're all just lazy hunks of lard," Silvio added, "We don't do anything exciting. 'Cept for Lucian," he finished with the first smile Liam had seen from him, and Nate's eyes widened as he reached over to smack the back of his head,

"Shut up, idiot."

"What?" Silvio asked innocently, dodging the next hit before it came, "They're all bound to find out anyways."

"Yeah, well not for another hour or so."

"You act like it'll make a difference," Silvio scoffed, glancing over to one of the bunk beds. Liam saw the back of Asher's head on the bottom one, blanket tucked up to his chin and eyes facing the wall, and he raised an eyebrow curiously when he noticed the top bunk was empty,

"He's not here, is he?" Liam asked, unsure if he'd ever meet the elusive creature named 'Lucian'.

"You catch on quick," Silvio muttered sarcastically, and caught Nate's wrist as he aimed for another smack, chuckling under his breath, "Too slow."