TW: Language

Levi stood under the awning, watching the rainfall. He was done with this week, and it was only Monday. His mom had texted him, letting him know that Michael would be in town today. A week after, he said he’d be here. Which means his mom would try to get them together alone to talk. He sighed and made his way slowly to a bench when someone bumped into his shoulder. Levi let out a swear as he stumbled. He dropped his crutch to catch himself on his good leg. With a grumble, he glanced over his shoulder to find who bumped into him and saw the group of people further ahead laughing and shoving each other.

With a huff, he limped over to the bench, letting his bag drop onto the cold metal before flopping down. Levi reached out with his other crutch to try and pull the one he dropped closer. It was on his third try that someone walked over, an umbrella dripping rainwater. He looked up to watch as a short man with short blond hair stooped down and picked up the crutch. When he held the crutch out, he asked, “Levi?”

Levi gave him a suspicious look. “Who’s asking?”

The man’s mouth gave a slight twitch as if he wanted to smile. “Michael asked me to get you.”

“You must think I’m stupid if I’m going to go anywhere with you.”

“Fair. We can wait. I walked here anyway.” The man sat down on the bench next to Levi. Levi side-eyed him and moved to the opposite side of the bench. “I met you once. Just once, you were smaller.”

“Couldn’t have been that much smaller compared to you.”

The man turned and looked at him. His gray eyes, like his face, held no emotion, and Levi felt his back tense up. Then, when the blond man let out a huff of a laugh, Levi felt himself relax. “You were a kid back then.” The man hummed as he leaned back. “It needs to rain more.”

Levi looked out at the falling rain.

“You know Michael didn’t want to keep everything from you.”

He shot the man a dark look. “I’m not talking about it.”

The man shrugged his shoulders, “Fair.”

“Who are you anyways? And how do you know Michael?”

When gray eyes landed on him again, Levi was still put off by how closed off they were. “Cain. I’m stuck working with him. Mostly against my will.” Levi looked away and out to the main school road. There was a sound from Cain’s direction. “Michael is on his way.”

Levi frowned and gave an aggravated sigh. “What made you guys so late anyways?”

Cain stood up from the bench. “Work, we had to look into something before leaving.” He stood by as Levi pulled himself up off the bench.

“And why should I trust you?” Levi went to snag his bag, but Cain grabbed it. “In the past year, I’ve been jumped and nearly killed and now chased through the woods.”

Cain looked at Levi with narrowed eyes. “And what chased you?”

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

“Try me.” Cain’s attention was pulled from Levi. “Michael is here.” Levi looked over to find Michael standing next to a car waving. His bag was pressed against his chest. “I find lying exhausting.”

“And how do I know you’re not lying?” Levi took his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

Cain shrugged, “Up to you.” He started to walk away before pausing and holding out the umbrella. “You need this?”

Levi motioned to his crutches, and Cain shrugged his shoulders.

Michael watched as Cain and Levi headed towards him. Cain reached him first to mutter under his breath. “He said he was chased.”

“That’s not good. Once we’re done here, we’ll find out what happened. We need to introduce ourselves to Kevin first.” Cain made a face, and Michael shot him a disapproving look. “Behave. Levi’s safety is on the line.” He muttered something under his breath, causing Michael to catch his upper arm. “I mean it, Cain. If we want to figure this out, we need Kevin on our side.”

Levi cleared his throat. When they looked at him, he asked, “Is everything okay?”

Cain looked at Michael’s hand before leveling a stern glare at him. “Let go.”

Michael released him and opened the back door. “We need to hurry if we want to make it back to the house in time for dinner.”

Levi tossed his bag into the car and started the painful process of climbing into the car. “Mom said something about picking up my truck.” He was leaning on one crutch, the other already tossed into the car.

“Yeah, we’re heading that way.” Michael went to help Levi, but he slapped his hand away.

“I can do it myself. I’m not a child.”

Cain gave a laugh as he climbed into the passenger’s seat. Michael looked up at the gray sky. He needed the strength to put up with Levi’s anger.

Michael pulled up to the only auto shop in town. He turned the car off and looked at Cain. “You good with driving the car back?”

Cain nodded, “Yeah. So long as no one jumps in front of me while I’m driving.”

Michael frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You worry me.” He looked back to see Levi already climbing out of the car. “We’ll meet you inside.” Instead of answering, Levi shut the door, and Michael slumped against his seat.

Cain gave a low whistle. “Man, he’s pissed.”

Michael covered his face and gave a low scream.

“Mature.”

“Fuck off.”

“This is why I don’t like lying.”

“No, you just stay silent until the problem goes away.”

“If it works, it works.”

Michael looked at him with a flat look. “How’s the secret relationship you have going?”

Cain matched Michael’s flat look with one of his own. “Oh, look, if we don’t hurry, we’ll be late for dinner.” Then he was ducking out the car door.

Michael quickly scrambled out of the car and yelled. “That’s as much an answer, Cain! You can’t keep having one-night stands, Cain!”

“Fuck you!”

“Boys.” Both young men looked at the garage door to the auto shop. Kevin was standing with his hands on his hips. “I’m trying to run a business, not scare away customers.” They looked at the startled woman standing next to Kevin, who was covering the ears of her child.

Michael gave a sheepish laugh. “Sorry.”

“As soon as I’m done here, I’ll be right inside.”

Michael let his head drop onto the roof of the car. Great, he just embarrassed himself in front of Kevin.