Hard To See (Gawsten)

twenty-four

"Hey, Aws, it's time to get up."

The blond boy hears Geoff waking him up. All thoughts of the night before have completely slipped his mind.

Geoff would usually push his hair back and rub his thumb over his cheek to wake him up, but this time he's softly shaking his shoulder.

The blond boy opens his eyes to find a tired Alex looking at him with an easy-going smile. "I'm not going to school today- are you? If you are, you gotta get up now."

It was a dream. He's disappointed, but he tries to not let it show. He misses the way Geoff used to wake him up.

"I don't think so. 'M sorry I had you out so late last night."

Alex shakes his head. "Don't worry about it. Go back to sleep. I'll wake you up again in a few hours and we'll have breakfast."

Four hours later, Alex does just that. Awsten knows it's Alex this time, and wakes up immediately.

The older boy makes waffles, admitting that he'd been looking for a good time to try out his new waffle iron.

Both boys are mostly silent, as they're still not fully awake yet.

Alex's kitchen has a slightly chilling draft, but the sun coming in through the window fights it off. The boys can vaguely hear some of the people in the surrounding apartments, although mostly everyone is either at school or work. It's peaceful. It reminds the blond boy of what Otto's house felt like for the short time that he was there.

"You know, those boys are probably running all over school trying to find you, but I get the feeling that they wouldn't find you even if you were there," Alex says as he hands Awsten his plate.

"Probably," Awsten answers, knowing very well that Alex is right.

***

"Anything? Anything at all?" Geoff asks, tiredness and worry showing openly in his eyes.

"Nothing. I even had my science lab partner, Jasey, call the office and pretended to be his mom. When she asked if he's here, they said he hadn't been to any classes so far according to the attendance roster," Jawn says sleepily, searching the crowded hallway for Otto.

Geoff sighs just as the curly-haired boy comes into view.

"Find him?" Otto immediately asks.

Jawn shakes his head and sighs. "Where's Kellin- I haven't seen him today. Isn't he supposed to be helping us?"

"He's skipping school to sleep in. He texted me this morning and said that we could come hang out at the coffee shop after school, and after his shift is over he'll show us where Alex lives," Geoff responds.

"Geoff, maybe we should listen to what he said in his text. Maybe we should just give him space-" Otto begins, but Geoff cuts him off.

"I just want to see him- just to make sure he's okay."

A moment of silence passes, allowing each of the boys to feel their sleep deprivation.

"Kellin's got the right idea. Sleeping sounds so nice right now," Jawn comments.

"Aws could've been here- we had to come," Geoff reminds the red-haired boy.

Jawn nods in understanding. "Well, he's not here. Wanna skip the next period and find a place to nap?"

"Let's skip the rest of school today and find a place to nap," Otto mumbles.

Geoff nods, and the three boys head toward the stairwell.