Replay {Skephalo}

19 | 3am

^The song above was inspiration for this chapter. Not sure why as it is about a breakup, but the chorus and last verse are cute.

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. * ~.I don't ever wanna go to sleep... . * ~.

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-Zak's POV-

Sleeping hasn't ever been my strong point. That's probably a problem I've caused myself to be honest. I never had a good sleep schedule as it was, due to staying out with Vincent at least three times a week from about 2 am until 5 am. I'd stop myself from going to bed some nights from the pain I'd cause myself. My schedule has just been even worse recently due to stress.

That and Darryl seems to be nocturnal.

He sleeps from 6 pm until about midnight, and is up the rest of the time. This makes me feel kinda bad when I'm here, as he stays up for me and sleeps a maximum of three hours at best on those days. That's most days by this point. I spend more time at Darryl's now than I do at my own house, and I'm not complaining.

This does however mean it's 2:30 am and we're both awake. Darryl's been awake for who knows how long, he was scrolling through his phone when I woke up, still beside me.

"Oh! Hi muffin! What're you doing awake?" I rub the sleep from my eyes. I'm not even tired and I've literally been asleep for an hour. "I could ask you the same" I reply groggily.

I sit up slowly, before heavily collapsing back into the pillow. "I'm not even tired..." I groan. Darryl looks at me over his glasses. "No me neither. But you've only been asleep for an hour, are you sure you're ok?"

My stomach rumbles extremely loudly. That's when I realise I haven't actually eaten since 11 am yesterday. It's at that point where you haven't eaten in so long that your stomach actually hurts.

I pout at the ceiling, clutching my stomach with one arm. Darryl looks alarmed. "Zak when did you last eat..." He already knows that I don't eat a lot, and that's generally not my own fault.

We're so tight for money at there generally isn't anything to eat at home, it's like my mom forgets about me sometimes. That'd probably explain why I'm so small.

I stare in panic at the ceiling, eyes widening knowing that he can tell when I lie. "Um.... I don't remember actually?"

Maybe being obscure will help me...

He only looks more alarmed. "How can you not remember? Has it been that long?"

Or not.

I scrunch my eyes, desperately wanting to go back to sleep all of a sudden. "Uh..." Suddenly I'm pulled into a hug. I immediately hug back, wrapping my arms around Darryl's waist and burying my face in his hoodie.

He runs a hand through my hair. "I'm sorry for raising my voice Zak, I'm just worried about you." The tone in his voice is sad, he seems to feel awful for innocently asking a question.

Yeah, he did raise his voice and it freaked me out, but I know he's only asking because he cares.

"It's fine, I know you only ask out of concern" I say, my voice muffled as I'm speaking into his hoodie. He can read me so well. "How about we go get something to eat? I'm pretty hungry too. My treat, I still feel awful for frightening you."

I don't deserve him.

"Ok.." I find myself saying, too hungry to refuse. Darryl smiles at me sweetly. "Prefect! There's an iHop still open a 15 minute walk away if you wanna go there?"
My eyes light up. I've never been to iHop, but I've heard how amazing the food is. "Yeah! I love pancakes!" I shriek sort of childishly, like some kid in a candy store.
"Ok. That's sorted then. Come on, let's go."