AN:
Blah. I really dislike this chapter- i just had to post something up, though.
Thankyou to Error Author and NonAccount for their reviews- you guys rock my world
And people, please review! I need encouragment or my characters will strike P

Chapter 6

Kit woke feeling sluggish, his limbs over warm and heavy and his eyes itchy with sleep. There was drool on his pillow. He didn’t think that was a good thing. It took him a few moments of staring at the slight discolouration before he found the will to move, reaching out and flipping the pillow over with a gratifying fwump.

Less gratifying was the following, “I saw that,” from behind him.

Kit stole a glance at what his still drowsy mind told him was the source of the comment, and frowned. “You saw nothing. Conrad. My God,” he rubbed his eyes and leant back against the couch. “What time is it?”

“Two thirty, and you have drool on your cheek.”

“Yeah, well,” Kit stared at Conrad. Freshly washed, insultingly energetic Conrad. “You look like your nose got broken.” He reached a hand to the side of his mouth and scratched, fingernail dislodging the dried, white flakes that were evidence of his, well, drooling.

“It did- high school football. I was the full back.”

“I guess that explains why you’re so… muscly, then.” Kit frowned. “You look like a full back. Huge shoulders, no neck, broken nose-”

“Blue eyes, blonde hair and I’m missing one of my eye teeth, too,” Conrad grinned.

“You can’t really attribute that to sport, though- shit! Two thirty? My parents are gonna freak. Oh, hell. My life is over.”

Conrad laughed as Kit turned baleful eyes on him. “Don’t worry, kid. I called your folks-”

“You don’t have my number. I don’ t have my number.”

“Saul does, though. He went through the schools emergency contacts list during detention and found it,” the older boy shrugged. “He does stuff like that. Sometimes it comes in handy. Most of the time it just gets him caught.”

Kit blinked. “I have a stalker.”

“No, you don’t. If he was stalking you, I’d feel insecure. Anyway- as far as your folks know, we were tired last night so you and Saul stayed at my place, and this morning we took you on a tour of the towns sporting facilities.”

“The town has sporting facilities?”

“An oval, a swimming pool, a football ground and some courts over by the old Masonic hall. It was fascinating, and you really appreciate that we took time out of our busy schedules to get settled in.”

“Oh, of course,” Kit grinned. “They’re very impressive, these sports facilities.”

“Indeed. So. Get up- Lan’s providing lunch, and I’ll drive you home. There’s a shower at the end of the hall.”

“Shower. Okay.” Kit looked around the room and pushed himself to his feet. “If I’m not down in twenty minutes, send a search party. This place is huge.”

The bathroom was not difficult to find- it was indeed at the end of the hall. Unfortunately, Kit failed to notice the faintest hint of steam seeping out from between the door and the soft, carpeted floor. This, along with his current state of mind (that being “just woken up,”) goes some way in explaining why he simply opened the door, without knocking and without taking a moment to think about eight boys in one house with supposedly less than eight showers after a very long night and what that might mean for a closed bathroom door.

Once he’d opened the door, the sound of the shower and the movement of the shower curtain alerted him to his mistake.

“Oh, shit.”

Wet, blue hair flicked around the shower curtain. “What?”

“Um, I’m really sorry. I didn’t realise you were in here and I was just gonna use the shower and-”

“Yeah, well, if you’d close the door I could get out and you could have the shower.” Alex’s face followed his hair and Kit nodded, heat starting to flood his cheeks. He closed the door.

“Kit.”

“Yeah?”

“The whole idea of closing the door was that you’d be on the other side of it.”

Kit flushed. “Oh, fuck. Christ, I’m just-” He sighed. “I’m tired. Nothing’s making sense yet.”

“Ahuh. Pass me a towel.”

“No- it’s okay. I’m leaving the bathroom,” he nodded decisively to himself, guts twisting uncomfortably in embarrassment that was slowly turning to mortification, his head screaming for coffee.

“Stop talking and pass me the damned towel, okay?”

Kit obeyed, staring at the tiled floor, and Alex grunted. “Jesus. You were significantly more coherent last night.”

Kit shrugged. “I haven’t had coffee yet. I’m tired.”

“I see. Well, that can be fixed.” He stepped out of the shower, towel around his waist, and Kit found himself staring at the boys nails once again. This time, they were resting on his hip, where he happened to be holding up his towel…

Kit swallowed as naturally as he could and tore his eyes away. Alex looked like he was smirking. This was possibly very, very bad.

“The shower is all yours.”

“Uh, thanks.” Kit paused, waiting as Alex continued to stand in front of him. In a towel.

“Uh, are you-”

“What? Leaving? You’re the one who barged in on me in the shower in the first place. Deal with the consequences.”

“You’re a bastard.”

“And you are such a girl,” Alex laughed and started for the door. “Hurry up. Coffee will be waiting.”

The shower was good,- a hot, even spray and a large enough space that elbows weren’t in danger of being severely injured just by turning around. The experience, though, was somewhat hindered as Kit woke up enough to realise the enormity of what he’d just done. He’d walked in one Alex in the shower, and he hadn’t left the bathroom. He’d walked in on his new school’s resident maniac and his new friends boyfriends friends little brother… that was confusing.

He leant his forehead against the shower wall and stared at the water running into the drain.

He felt like shit.

But coffee was calling. Coffee might fix it. It would at least wake him up enough that further acts such as this one could be avoided.

He exited the shower, found a dry towel and after ridding himself of dampness, got dressed in the clothes he’d worn last night.

The hall was deserted, and as he made his way down the first flight of stairs he came to he prepared himself for human contact. Deep breaths, no blush, hands steads- there was sound coming from his right. He followed the noise and ended up in a large room he assumed was the kitchen. There were benches, pots hanging from the ceiling, and array of large and dangerous looking cutlery type items, a fridge, and a table supporting seven boys.

“Morning Kit,” Saul smiled at him. “Sleep well?”

“Ah, yeah. Thanks.”

Lan looked up from a bowel filled with what looked to be Nutregrain. “I hear you drooled all over my couch.”

“Oh, um, I’m sorry-”

“Don’t worry about, Kit, I’m just messing with you,” he grinned and Kit relaxed. He could do social interaction. “What do you want for breakfast?”

There were cereal packets on one of the benches along with an opened bottle of milk, a toaster, and thickly sliced, crusty bread. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Alex pointed at a mug next to him on the table. “Coffee.”

Kit melted. “Oh, thank God.”

“No, thank me. But God’s okay, too.”

He sat next to the other boy and wrapped his hands around the mug, nodding to the boy next to him before taking a first, glorious sip.

Okay. Now, he was good. Function like a normal human being: check.

Talk over the morning meal, or rather, afternoon meal, was quiet and subdued. It appeared Kit wasn’t the only one who had issues with waking up. George had taken out most of piercings the night before, and seeing him at the end of the table was something of a surreal experience. It was almost disappointing, somewhat akin, Kit thought, to seeing Superman as Clark Kent after you know he’s really Superman. Or, you know, Batman as Bruce Wayne. Whichever superhero you picked, the end result was the same.

He was staring moodily at his own bowl of unidentified cereal while Ferret munched on toast beside him, occasionally nodding along to what Saul was talking about. Conrad and Matthew were discussing the relative merits of Sega and, Kit thought he heard once or twice, tattoos of ‘Old Skool’ Nintendo controllers in various positions upon the human body.

He finished his coffee, drifting in and out of the conversations around him until Conrad stood up and clapped his hands together, the noise startlingly loud.

“So. We’re all fed and watered. Anyone needing a lift from me, we’re off. And Kit, that means you.”