"Hey... how are you?"

     Zachary wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but Leroy's voice sounded small—unsure. He seemed... nervous.

     But that couldn't be, could it? Leroy wasn't mostly full of life and a little too forward. At least from the little Zachary had learned of him. So why did he seem shy about talking back? Maybe he was just sleepy? A bit tired maybe? Fuck if Zach knew. He wasn't the best at reading social cues from just voice. He only ever spoke to medical professionals, delivery people, and his sister on the phone for the most part.

     "I'm doing okay," Zachary replied, folding his legs on the bed, and upsetting the cat that has taken refuge between them for the past hour or so.

     Leroy laughed.

     Zach raised a brow. "Did you hear that?"

     "Yeah, didn't sound like a very happy cat."

     "I just folded my legs," Zachary said, sighing, as he reached out to per the feline that was bod sitting at the edge of the bed. "I was in the same position for over an hour."

     "You're not supposed to move when cats sit on you."

     "Who said that? The pet police?"

     And just like the first time they spoke face to face, their first phone call was facilitated by talking about cats. It was a comfortable filler, where neither of them had to discuss what was bothering them too early or come off too strong when neither was sure of the lines of their friendship.

     "Hey, I was wondering if you'd like to see a movie—not soon, just sometime in the future if you're up for it. I was thinking about it yesterday when we were talking about movies. I haven't been to a cinema in ages," Leroy said, making Zachary hum. He didn't have the best experience with cinemas. There were only a few spots for wheelchairs and getting in was a whole other task on its own. People talking all the time made it hard to focus, and everyone moving writing to go to the bathroom deeply annoyed him.

     But.

     He didn't think he would mind it very much if he went with Leroy.

     "Sure, just let me know when," the older man said, feeling his insides curl with an emotion he didn't want to address now.

     Their conversation pivoted to the books they were currently reading. Zachary was the bigger bookworm of the two, so he carried the conversation, going on about the series he'd just started listening to.

     There was a knock on Zachary's door that made the man stop talking mid-sentence to look over at it.

     "Who's there?" His sister—Avery—said, knocking on the door again. Zachary sighed, covering the receiver of his cell.

     "I'm on the phone."

     "With who?"

     "I'm on the phone," Zachary repeated, and the person on the other end sighed after a withdrawn pause. There was a thud—probably a bag—then a couple of footsteps that grew progressively fainter, and then there was silence.

     When it was clear, there was no more knocking, Zach took his hand off the receiver. "I'm sorry about that," Zach said, running the fingers of his free hand through his hair.

     "Who's that?" Leroy asked as Zach adjusted his sitting position on the edge of his bed.

     "Hmm?" the older man said, blinking before looking away from the door. "My sister."

     "Oh."

     "Wasn't expecting her to be back until later this week," Zachary explained, and Leroy said 'oh' from the other end in a way that made Zach envision a head nod.

     "Well, I can leave you to it if you need to speak to her," Leroy said. Zach noted the hint of hesitance in his voice. It made him feel better because he'd been clawing at every reason not to end the call for hours.

     "It is getting late..." he trailed, noticing that it was a lot darker than when they'd started their call when he looked out his window. Gosh, they'd been talking for hours. What was it? Nine? "You don't have work tomorrow, do you?" Zachary said when Leroy did nothing but breathe from the other end.

     "Yeah, it's a Saturday."

     "We can talk on the phone tomorrow, maybe?" Zach asked, tapping his clothed thigh with the tips of his fingers. The noise was enough to distract him from the whirling feeling of shyness that was starting to take over him. "Whatever time you want. I don't know if you sleep in late," he added, hoping Leroy would save him from himself and say something.

     "I can call, sure," the younger man said. "But—" there was a pause, and Zach frowned, wondering if there was a caveat hidden there somewhere.

     "But what?" he asked, reaching out to touch the cat that was now nested between him and the headboard of the double bed.

     "Can't I just come over?"

     The question made Zachary's head go blank for a moment before it burst into haywire and fired multiple questions over the space of seconds.

     Holy shit. The basement's a mess. How am I going to clean that up before tomorrow?

     Is there anything in the fridge to drink?

     What about Avery? Do I have to tell her I have a guest over?

     "Hello?"

     The sound of Leroy's voice brought Zach back to the present.

     "Um—" he paused, scrambling for something to say. "My sister's home."

     "Is that a, no? I understand if it would be awkward—"

     "No, it's not a no, it's more of an 'I'm not sure. Let me ask'," Zachary clarified before Leroy could finish his sentence. "I'll text you before noon tomorrow. How's that?"

     There was a pause at the other end, before Leroy muttered, "That works, sure."

     They both seemed to be hesitant to end the call, but after a while, Leroy sighed and mumbled, "well, talk to you later."

     "Okay," Zachary hummed, and then the younger man hung up, leaving behind the clicking sound. Zachary stared at his phone for a bit, looking at the time. They'd really spoken for three hours, give or take, and it hadn't been about anything important, but that hadn't felt like it had mattered. He'd just enjoyed the sound of Leroy's voice.

     Zachary was smiling down at his phone when he heard another knock on his door.

     He looked up, frowning a bit. "What?" he asked as he cocked his head at the door. "You can come in, I'm done with the call," he said, and sure enough, his sister twisted the handle of the door and let herself in.

     Unlike Zachary, Avery didn't look racially ambiguous. Many people would pin her as black—or at least half-black. She had relatively curly, dark 4A hair, a broader nose, full lips, and darker skin than Zachary. She was standing by the door now with an inquisitive look on her face. The red lipstick she had on was a little smudged from her nibbling habit.

     "Who were you talking to?" She asked after a while of silence, moving away from the door before walking over to the bed. She didn't take a seat—she just hovered about before focusing her gaze on the cat on the bed.

     "A friend," Zachary mumbled, folding his legs. "We met when you were away."

     "Oh, I see," his sister said, nodding her head. She had on a sleeveless blouse and jean trousers head could only be described as 'mum jeans.'

     Avery looked so different from him. They'd been separated a few times as kids by teachers and coordinators because they simply didn't believe that they were siblings. It was also a headache for his parents, who coincidentally didn't look like either of them if you didn't look hard enough.

     They had the same parents, but funny things could happen when both your parents were mixed race. Zachary looked like he could pass as anything from Jewish, Romani, Indian, middle eastern, and depending on how far someone was going to stretch the definition of black—maybe that too.

     "Why are you home?"

     It felt weird to say, but he hadn't been expecting her to be back for another week or so. Heck, he'd been expecting her to make some excuse as to why she had to stay at her boyfriend's place some more. She didn't even send a text or anything, just appeared out of nowhere.

     Avery shrugged. "Mum asked me to come and check up on you..." she trailed. "Physically, not just call you," she mentioned, gesturing to herself. "I'll be here for a few days to make sure there's some stuff to eat and that you're okay."

     Zachary nodded. He hated the way his sister—well, everyone except Leroy spoke to him like an infant they were babysitting. He could be mad about it, but honestly, the most he felt these days was a dash of shame. He hated burdening them and needing all this attention at his age.

     "Okay, I'll be heading to my room now," his sister said, "and maybe you can tell me a bit about your friend later. How did you meet?"

     Zach bit his bottom lip. "He came to see the cats, then we got talking on the porch."

     "I see," his sister mumbled, nodding her head. She seemed to be contemplating if that was a good or bad thing.

     "Err, he might come over tomorrow," Zachary added. "To see the cats."

     "To see the cats?" she sounded doubtful.

     "Yes."

     "It's better you tell me if I need to not be here when he's here, because I assure you, I'll be hearing everything from my room." His sister sighed. "You know you're thirty years old, you don't need a reason to meet a hookup."

     Zachary felt all the blood run out of his face as his mouth hung open at his sister's words. "That's not—" he paused, blinking rapidly. "For fuck's sake, Avery, he's straight, don't make it weird."

     His sister laughed, raising her hands as she backed up to the door. "Whatever you say." She was the first person to figure out Zach was gay. Well, there wasn't much he could do to hide it since everyone around him was handling his affairs and they were constantly only a few clicks away from his photo album and search history. Zach was pretty sure the first few times he'd been 'caught' it had been questionable fanfiction artwork and search terms. However, he wondered if his sister genuinely thought he had any sex. It wasn't like he ever left the house or did anything to socialize. Well, he supposed he thought he could meet people on Grindr or something. She did meet her boyfriend on one of those dating apps.

     "It's good to see you. Call me if you need anything. I'm just upstairs," his sister said, opening the door before slipping out and leaving Zachary by himself.

     The man stared at the door a little too long after his sister left before looking down at his phone and texting Leroy the news.

     Message to: Leroy.

     You can come over tomorrow. I just confirmed.

     FRI, 9:46 PM.