o pass out. He’d only fallen asleep at dawn, and now the whole room was drowning in sunlight that sliced at his vision like sandpaper.

He cracked open his right eye and met the blurry image of Lucas in those weird shorts of his. Lucas was standing over his bed, arms crossed, glaring at the couch like it had personally offended him. Looked like it might catch fire any second now.

William gave Lucas a sleepy smile and waved at him before flopping back down and pulling the blanket over his head. There was no way his day was starting this early. But it seemed no one was in the mood to be merciful. A second later, a battle for the blanket broke out, which the half-asleep time traveler lost. Deciding to go on the offensive, he grabbed a pillow and threw it at Lucas.

"I won’t give up that easy!" William squeaked, swinging his sleep mask around like a whip and occasionally smacking Lucas on the arm with it. "I don’t wake up before ten! I’m Australian! Let me go!"

"William, it’s already one in the afternoon! What do you mean ten?! We thought you died or something!" Lucas yanked the weapon from his guest’s hands and started smacking him back while William yelled profanities. "We need to hit the store! Get you some clothes and a straightjacket! Stop squeaking like a bat! William! Aaaah!"

Lucas finally lost it and pounced on William, kicking off a full-on mock fight. They were both lanky and wiry, so soon the teeth came out. A second later, Lucas was swearing like a sailor and retaliating with untrimmed nails digging into William’s shoulders.

They rolled off the couch, gathering crumbs and dust as they hit the floor. The shouting brought Max in from the kitchen—shirtless, with a comb stuck in his hair. Laughing out loud, he jumped in to join the brawl. He still hadn’t forgiven Lucas for the jabs about cleaning the hallway and the groceries, so he chose William’s side.

That’s when their tangled mess of legs, arms, and nearly detached heads really started tearing the place apart: a board fell, toys scattered, the laundry basket flipped, and a chair toppled over. The chaos peaked when Max screamed and started kicking while shaking Lucas and yelling right in his face.

"Ow! That hurts! Let go!" Max yelled.

"I’m not touching you! You let go!" Lucas grabbed the other’s hair. "These are my hands! See? I’m not even holding you!"

"Then—"

"Oops," William squeaked, stopping mid-bite on Max’s thigh. There was a wet mark on his gray sweatpants. "I kinda got carried away… mixed things up a little…" He looked at Lucas. "You got lucky today!" he squinted. "All of you did."

"Yeah, lucky us," Lucas snorted. "What a great roommate. There’s a doghouse in the yard—wanna spend the night there? It’s dark, warm, and you can bite the other dogs."

"I love human flesh," William snapped his teeth.

"Which is why we need to go shopping! I’m not killing Max just to feed you," Lucas shot a look at his friend. "Although… if he doesn’t clean the hallway today, I might just roast his thigh in the oven!" He smacked Max on the leg and gave a wicked grin, and William clapped enthusiastically at the idea.

"Why are you taking his side?!" Max frowned. "That’s way too happy a reaction to me getting roasted!"

"Well, I’m hungry, what can I say?" William shrugged.

"Aaaand there it is," Max rolled his eyes. "Explains everything."

"Alright, enough messing around. Let’s go have some tea. We’re completely out of food, so we absolutely have to hit the store," Lucas flicked William on the forehead. "And we’ve gotta show William the mall."

"You might wanna tell me what a mall even is before showing it to me. Is it like a giant marketplace?" William sat cross-legged and stared at the guys. "You do realize that when I vanished, buildings taller than one story didn’t even exist in the city? Yesterday while I was wandering around, I saw skyscrapers!"

"You definitely didn’t wake up in your own time…" Lucas confirmed. "Doubt this’ll be solved that easily. If it even can be, it’s not something we’ll figure out in a day or two. I say we deal with problems as they come. Sound good?" He glanced at Max. "Rather than letting them pile up."

"I’ll pour gasoline on the hallway and burn everything to the ground," Max smiled sweetly. "Let this world burn!"

"Please do!" Lucas stood up and headed to the kitchen to make tea.

"You alright, William? You look wiped," Max said, as William rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Man, that mouth… I’m lucky you didn’t take a chunk out of me. Anyway, it really is one in the afternoon, and we’ve gotta get moving. School starts tomorrow, and we need to clean up and get ready. A trip to the mall’s gonna take at least three hours."

"Aaah, so that’s what a mall is," William said, jaw dropping. "Enough with these trendy words. Just call it a market, will ya?!"

"William, you’re literally a grandpa. Technically you’re seventy years old by the calendar right now, so you’re allowed to call the mall a market," Max got up and offered him a hand. "Come on, or Lucas is gonna start yelling again."

"I’m actually younger! You sure school’s doing you any good, kid?" William smirked. "And are you giving me your oversized rags? Or am I supposed to hit the market like this?"

"We found you some jeans that are only, like, two sizes too big and a not-too-huge T-shirt," Max scratched his cheek, embarrassed. "Wouldn’t say our sizes are that different, but I buy oversized stuff, and on you it looks like a blanket."

"I might just go like this," he tossed the blanket and pillow back onto the couch. "Let’s go find that stick-in-the-mud."

William’s day didn’t start out great, but Lucas’s tea was a saving grace for his splitting headache. His stomach growled unpleasantly, but a peek into the fridge confirmed there wasn’t even a crumb of food left. He had no money, no belongings, no documents, and not the slightest idea what to do. This world was unfamiliar and hostile. He had no clue how to get back to his own time, but the only thing really tugging at his heart was missing Noah and Grandpa. Back in ’71, he had… way too many problems. Even being technically homeless here, in the present, didn’t seem so bad in comparison.

While they had tea for lunch, William studied how the guys talked—the new slang, unfamiliar tech, and jokes. Luckily, he managed to sweep away the gloomy thoughts in his head with an imaginary broom and just enjoy the tasty tea, at least until Lucas started urging him to get dressed and ready.

"Alright, let’s go? Stick close, William, and try not to stare at everything, alright? Or people’ll think we kept you locked in a basement for twenty years," Lucas handed down the instructions. "And don’t be shy about asking questions—our mother hen cluck-cluck-cluck Max will be happy to give you a tour."

"Yes!" Max didn’t even react to Lucas’s jabs. "First thing, don’t forget to walk with swagger."

"This is why no one at school likes us," Lucas rolled his eyes. "Alright, everybody out! Otherwise, William’s gonna chew on Max’s right leg, and I’ll take the left."