Chapter Text
You Don’t Know Me Anymore (So stop pretending)-12
The group of 5 took a seat at a small table near the window, eating their food. They had Farah, Valeria, and Kyle’s plates in another bag. “Jeez, you guys just can’t wait?” Alex scrunched his nose as Rodolfo and Graves stuffed their mouths. Being the only one to order extra food, Alex sighed as the group had to wait for his order so they could all leave. Rodolfo was too hungry to wait and Graves just wanted to try the waffles which turned out to be ‘deliciously made’ according to him.
“Where does all that food go anyway?” Alejandro asked Rodolfo and the smaller man raised a brow before smirking. “My ass, duh.” He scoffed and went back to devouring his food. Graves nodded in agreement and popped the lid back over his, leaving one waffle. Alejandro snorted at the response and shook his head, resting his hand on his knee and looking to the side. “You sure it’s not clogging your brain?” Ghost hummed humorously and cocked his head at the hungry man. “Not funny.” Rodolfo frowned and also closed his empty plate.
“All you jerks do is judge as a collective.” He crossed his arms and leaned back, crossing his legs. “Especially you Ale. Don’t act like it didn’t take you 6 years to pick what kind of breakfast you wanted.” Rodolfo suddenly placed his hand under his chin and scratched it, mimicking Alejandro. “Uh, sorry miss, I don’t know if I want an egg and cheese burrito or the omelet smashed between the pancakes. Oh gee, it’s just sooo hard…” He made his voice deeper and folded his lips, the table broke out into laughter, except for Ghost who only chuckled.
“I did not do that. You’re exaggerating it.” Alejandro snorted and rolled his eyes.
“You took so long the waitress started humming a little tune. She even asked if you just wanted her to come back later.” Alex chimed in and continued laughing, his hand over his chest. “Alright, Alright fine. But can you blame me? The pictures made my mouth water and I only wanted one whole thing so I wouldn’t end up like Alex, y’know?” He winked and the light-brown haired man gave him a playful look. “I just struggle making decisions, that’s all.”
“We get it, don’t get your knickers in a twist.” Ghost says and Graves does his best to keep his hands off the table. There was a long peaceful pause between them all, this being the first time they all laughed together without the awkward or tense atmosphere that seemed to come and go. Rodolfo decided to contemplate on his half-blind ‘friend’ Kyle Gaz Garrick. He noticed that Kyle would rather ignore the fact that he might go blind instead of going to an eye doctor. It bothers him that Kyle didn’t want to take better care of himself.
Maybe he could be the one to do that.
To take care of Kyle…
“It’s finally here.” Ghost interrupts his thoughts as the waitress hands Alex a bag with 3 plates in it. “Thank you, ma’am.” He smiled and the waitress gushed before running off. “What was that?” Rodolfo questioned and Alex raised a brow. “What?”
“You just had the waitress kissing at your feet with a smile. Gosh, you’ve gotta open your eyes, man.” Graves points and nods his head at the waitress giggling to her coworker. “Can we go now? If Valeria’s food gets any colder she’s going to kill us.” Rodolfo stands up his face shows concern. “ You should chill out. The only one she’s killing is you pal.” Alejandro stands up and pats the other man's back, snickering.
“Very funny…”
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“Ugh…” Kyle rested his head against the table. He woke up and put on a dark green jacket and some black sweats with a black turtle neck. The weather got worse and while he was happy he wasn’t sweating down to his balls, being cold was no better. The workers had just turned the heat on, and it took a while to kick in.
Along with that, he was starving and he had a headache from last night. “Hang in there, bro, they’ll be back any second.” Farah sipped some coffee that she had fixed from the cafeteria while Valeria tapped her finger against the table impatiently.
“I’m worried they crashed the car. Does it usually take this long to get breakfast and come back? “ Valeria stared at the entrance, rubbing her temples now. “If they crashed the car I’m sure Ghost would’ve called. “ Her fiance reassured and Valeria relaxed. Kyle enjoyed watching the two interact as it was cute to see how quickly Valeria could switch up with just a few words of reassurance from Farah. “Fat ass!” They heard as the entrance doors slid open to reveal the five men. Rodolfo pointed at Ale’s bag and called him names while Alejandro laughed. Graves and Ghost walked behind the three, watching with interest. “Ah, you’re finally back!” Farah claps.
“Yes…let’s just say a certain someone was extra hungry…” Graves points at the bearded athlete and walks over to the table. “It was Alex wasn’t it?” Kyle yawned and Graves nodded, missing Kyle's smile. Back then everyone knew Alex could choke down loads of food and never gain weight. The man exercised almost every day and that’s probably why he was always in tip-top shape. “Some things never change…” He stretched as a plate was placed in front of him. He looked up to see Alex who only grinned before taking a seat on the left of Ghost. Alejandro slid into a chair on his right and breathed in the scent of his food.
Everyone was seated now and bickering amongst themselves.
Kyle opened his plate and creased his eyebrows. At least he knows who ordered his food now. “Uhh..” He started but closed his mouth. Should he say something? He didn’t want to complain as the group did go out of his way to get food for him while he was asleep. It’s his fault that Alex still believed he ate this stuff, he should’ve been awake. Alejandro turned to talk to Kyle but the man poked at his food. “Gaz?” He mumbled and Kyle turned to him surprised. “Uh, Yes? Something wrong?”
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” He gestured at Kyle's food and frowned. “Uh..oh..it’s just I don’t eat sausages anymore or um biscuits.” He started but noticed he sounded ungrateful. “But, it’s fine….I’ll just eat it. I don’t want it to go to waste.” Alejandro stared at him, deep in thought before poking at the pancake under the eggs and slipping on Kyle's plate before taking his biscuit and sausages. “Here, I wasn’t going to eat much anyway.” He shrugged and went back to talking with the others. Kyle was awe-struck and didn’t know what to say. He felt bad and wanted to give it back but he won’t say anything as it was Alejandro’s choice. “Thanks…” Kyle mumbled before eating. Kyle tried not to eat too fast, not wanting to embarrass himself. He was thankful that Alejandro gave him his food because eggs and yogurt would not cut it alone. When Kyle was younger sausages and biscuits together were a big thing for him but he doesn’t eat them anymore. Once he was satisfied he looked up while his friends and sister joked around and teased Alex for his greed. He zoned out for most of the conversation, opening and closing his eyes as he stared at the bag from the breakfast place, sitting in front of Alex. He couldn’t make out the words, his eyebrows pushing together. He didn’t understand, never in his life had he had problems with seeing. He barely uses much technology so what could be the sudden cause of his far sight?
“Jeez…” He mumbled and lowered his head.
“Kyle? Are you going to get that?” Graves's voice interrupted He looked up to see everyone staring at him. Wondering what they were looking at, he frantically looked around until a buzzing sound reached his ears. Patting down his pants, he pulled out his phone to see an unknown number calling him. “Oh, yeah…just a second.” He answered the phone and stood up, walking away from the table.
“Hello? Who is this…?”
“It’s me, Makarov.”
What?
How did he get his number? Kyle didn’t remember giving him his number as he did not need to. Makaraov gave him a card so how did he get his number? “Makarov?” He nervously questioned and turned back to see Farah and Ghost giving him a concerned look. He mouthed an apology and walked further away. “Uh…how did you get this number?” Crossing his arm over his chest, Kyle shuddered at the thought of this man hacking his phone or stalking him. Makarov seemed to always have money and time on his hands. “I have my ways…but I need to tell you something.” Kyle sighed as the man sounded distraught, his voice was horse and low. He almost felt bad for being creeped out by how he got his number. Gripping his phone Kyle folded his lips together before speaking. “I’m listening,”
Graves burned holes into Kyle's back, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. He was trying to listen in but the man was good at keeping his voice low. Farah had gone to the bathroom seconds ago to wash her hands. “Who do you think he’s talking to?” Alejandro uses his thumb to gesture towards Kyle. “Does it matter?” Ghost asks but Graves is curious too. Not every day you see Kyle talking to someone over the phone. Rodolfo raised a brow before clearing his throat. “I bet it’s that Makarov guy from yesterday.”
“Who?” Valeria looks up from her phone and groans.
That name sounded familiar.
“Makarov…He looked super rich and claimed to be a friend of Gaz’s dad.” Rodolfo shrugged. “He was kind of creepy.” The shorter male scratched his chin, eyes closed in deep thought. “That name sounds familiar,” Ghost spoke, legs crossed, his arm on the table. Valeria tried to remember where she heard that name from. “Jeez, I swear I heard that name before.” She pushed her hair back.
“I mean he looked like a celebrity. I don’t know what he was doing at a grocery store dressed the way he was but he took a liking to Gaz. Dad’s friend my ass .” Rodolfo scoffed. Graves didn’t like the sound of that, he already felt like he competed with the rest of them. Having some rich guy as the competition was not on his bingo card.
Alejandro didn’t say anything, he didn’t even have anything funny to say. “Dad’s friend?” Graves mumbled. “Wouldn’t it be weird if he took a liking to Gaz? I mean he was friends with his dad for how long?” The table agreed and stared at each other before frowning. “You don’t think…?” Alex started but Valeria cut him off. “Woah, woah, boys. We don’t know this guy so let’s not jump to conclusions.”
“How about we just ask Farah when she comes back?” Alex suggested, pointing at Farah’s seat, and Rodolfo nodded.“Good idea. If he was friends with their dad, she should know who he is. I mean it’s freaky enough that it might be him on the phone right now.” Graves continues to stare at Kyle, tapping his finger against the side of his face. “Besides it’s an ‘if’. There’s a possibility that it’s not even him.” Alex hums. Kyle walks back over, his head down. “Garrick, welcome back! Who was that? Your boyfriend?” Alejandro joked, trying to lighten the mood, and to his relief, Kyle laughed lightly. The other guys may have not found it as funny as Kyle did but it was enough to make him smile.
“No,” Kyle bit his bottom lip before taking a seat. “Just..an old friend.”
Rodolfo and Alejandro looked at each other knowingly until Alejandro suddenly wrapped his arms around Kyle’s shoulder and ruffled the man's hair with his fist. “Hey! Hey!” Kyle hissed, flaring his hands out. “Oh? What’s going on here?” Farah walked over, drying her hands with a paper towel. Alejandro continued to torture Kyle’s hair while Alex shrugged, making it to his last plate. “Graves! Help!” Kyle started snorting, his hands wrapped around Alejnadro’s wrist. Neither man even had the time to react as Kyle was suddenly lifted and snatched out of Alejandro’s hold.
“Uh-?” Farah and Valeria wheezed.
The room was silent, Kyle’s eyes widened, and gasped. Graves looked up at him, hands on his waist, arms trembling. Alejandro looked dumbfounded, staring at the two of them, his hand still forming into a fist where Kyle once was. “Uh….” Graves opened and closed his mouth, placing Kyle down. The blonde was quick to make an excuse, bowing his head and blushing. “Sorry, about that…you told me to help.” Rodolfo coughed, tugging at his collar and whistling while Alex blinked, trying to understand what just happened. Ghost was speechless, his expression dulled.
“I think he was joking, man…” Rodolfo snorted, though he didn’t find Grave’s hand placement to be funny.
“Ah?” Graves scratched the back of his head before turning to Farah. “About that party?”
Farah placed her hand on her chest and cleared her throat. “Oh right…um.. unfortunately we can’t go Christmas shopping but the parties still going.” She swallowed. “The reason it didn’t happen yesterday was that our parentscouldn’t make it. It was an emergency.” Farah explained and Kyle scrunched his nose. Why didn’t anyone tell him about the emergency? Were they okay? Should he say something about her not telling him? He wasn’t sure about saying anything. She could take it the wrong way and they’d end up arguing. Kyle could not handle being yelled at, even someone raising their tone at him in an irritated way made him want to cry. “What’s the point of a Christmas party without gift-giving?” Alex asks and Farah narrows her eyes at him. “Look, after the party me and Valeria’s gonna have to leave. So if you guys want to go Christmas shopping we can drop you off at some stores and you can walk back to the university or get an Uber.”
“No thanks. We’ll just shop on our own time.” Alex shook his head.
Farah smiled and nodded before slapping her hands together. “Enjoy your day! Remember tonight at 8.” She took Valeria’s hand and walked off the other woman complaining quietly. Kyle swallowed awkwardly before pointing at the elevator. “I’m going to go upstairs and…get ready, yeah…” He hurried off and the group watched him go. Graves was still flustered, covering his mouth. He didn’t know why he reacted that way when it was clear Kyle was just joking. The laughing should have been a hint.
“It’s not every day you see Gaz scurrying off.” Alex joked sarcastically, picking at the skin near his nails. He wondered when he would get a chance to make Kyle flustered and unable to speak. It seemed like Kyle only saw him as a friend but Farah told him Kyle liked him back in High School.
Why did things change for the worse?
Why didn’t he confess in time?
“And because of Graves at that,” Alejandro smirked, scratching the tip of his ear as he picked up his trash, along with Kyles, and threw it away.
“We forgot to ask Farah about Makarov.” Ghost casually states.
“Shit.”
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Kyle hugged his knees, sitting on the floor near the left side of the bed. He bit the inside of his mouth, shuddering. He didn’t know why it was bothering him so much, anyway. It was just Phillip Graves, the man was basically like his coach and partner. He only knew him because they played a sport together, they were on the same team and that was all.
That was not all…
“Kyle…?”
He jumped a the sound of Graves voice and turned to look at him on his knees. This was the man who plagued his thoughts. Graves looked just as nervous as he did and Kyle didn’t know how to feel about that. He knows that Graves had been smitten with him but what if it was a joke? What if he was just flirting with him for fun? “Yes?” Kyle’s jaw clenched, his arms tightening around his knees. “About earlier…I’m sorry.”
“Oh, uh, it’s fine! Accidents happen! You were just concerned for a friend…”
There was silence after that. Graves seemed to contemplate his words before sighing, his eyebrows knitted together in frustration and a pout took over his emotions. “You don’t see it, do you?” he asked with a calm tone, but he stopped when Kyle grimaced, his posture awkward. “Just give me time…I’m just…” Kyle tried to speak but he didn’t know what to say. He liked Graves but he was sacred. He was scared of rejection and humiliation. What if their friendship got ruined because of it? Kyle could end up being boring to him and Graves would regret liking him.
“It’s fine. You don’t have to explain yourself...I just want you to know that I’m always here, waiting.” Graves smiled and stood up. Kyle hesitated, looking up at him surprised before standing up himself and hugging Graves. The other man chuckled and hugged him back, patting Kyle’s back. “Alright, alright…” They stood there for a while. Graves basked in the scent of his curly-haired friend, tightening the hug. He regretted nothing, he knew that Ghost liked him too. It seemed he and Ghost were always after the same people, no matter which way the arrow shifted, theirs always met at a certain point.
Ghost may not remember her but Graves did.
He always won in the end.
He would make sure he got what belonged to him again.
No matter who’s arrow is at the point. His arrow would always be the last one in the end.
Kyle stepped back and nodded his head. Honestly, he was still mad at his parents for sending him off even if he did meet some nice people. He was still doing this for them because he wanted to show them that he was fully capable of something. Interactions in person can become overbearing and Kyle did not like the idea of something becoming too much for him to handle. He hated getting sick, he hated bad grades and he hated losing. He hated having to choose sides and he hated overthinking the most. Alex was one of the many people he found himself liking and in the end, he was disappointed.
When it came to comparison it was always about his sister. The kids in high school couldn’t help but compare him to her just because she was brave, intelligent, and knew what she wanted. Farah was someone he looked up to so he always gave in to the acid-fueled words, he could barely hold an argument. He even let chips soak in his mouth because some people said he chewed too loud. Things stuck to him like glue and it always will. Even his own family hid things from him, and didn’t trust him. He wanted to know why they only told Farah things, keeping him in the dark.
It wasn’t fair.
It wasn’t fair, he knew this. So why couldn’t he say anything about it? Why did he sit back and let them ignore him. Did any of them even consider him family?
Probably not.