Sorry for slow updates! I'm working like a maniac these days due to covid, I promise I will update more when I have more time ❤️

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"And then, there was this like explosion over the building and you couldn't see the chopper anymore, so-" Hunter keeps on his ramble about some random dream he apparently had, making sure to add a lot of unnecessary effects with his hands.

It's evening and Travis and Jason arrived home from school a few hours ago. They are now eating dinner and as usual, Hunter is the one to talk. Noah and Joshua are softly chatting by the end of the table, Simon is looking at his phone, Jimmy and Travis are being nice and listening to Hunter's story while Jason is just kind of sitting there, observing the others.

Not much has happened for him today. He told Joshua about the seizure Travis had and got praised for helping, even if he didn't really do anything.

Jason gently looks around at the different people, all of them being so mentally sick that their families didn't want to take responsibility for them anymore. With Jason's past, the chance of him ending up in such a place was pretty high too. Luckily, he has friends and a job to keep him going. So he wonders what happened to the others and why they ended up here.

Jason's eyes ever so softly moves to his right where he sees Travis from the corner. The boy is smiling very gently at Hunter who's still telling a story in his childish voice. Jason wonders why Travis has the energy to actually pay attention to that boy.

Nonetheless, it's a fascinating sight. It's not a 'real' smile, but it's still a nice fit on Travis's face. The boy normally goes around, looking like a total zombie. So a little glow, even if it isn't much, does a lot for his beauty.

"What?"

Jason almost falls out of his chair from the flinch that goes through him when Travis says that. Their eyes met and Jason was not ready for it. He cleares his throat and awkwardly looks forward.

"Nothing," he mumbles. He looks around and is thrilled to see that none of the other guys are paying attention to them.

Fuck. What are you doing Jason? So embarrassing.

Travis frowns and tilts his head a little, trying to get into Jason's vision. He has wondered why Jason keeps looking at him and they always get some weird, awkward eye contact. It's pretty strange.

Travis shrugs and turns back towards Hunter who's now speaking about aliens or something weird like that. Not that he minds though. Hunter has a smile on his face and somehow Travis feels a strong energy from the boy that he very much needs in his life.

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Jason feels himself turning around on the bed, trying various different positions to try and lie better. He hasn't been able to sleep so far, even if it's probably past 3 am already. And it's even a school night.

He hates these days where it's just impossible to fall asleep. He grumbles and opens his eyes, staring up at the grey ceiling he has started to find rather familiar.

With a loud sigh and takes his phone that was charging on the window sill and opens it up. If he can't sleep, he might as well check out social media for a while.

It's 3:45 am, so maybe he should go for a run? He guesses that could make him tired and some fresh air does sound very tempting right now. After looking through instagram for a good while, it gets boring and he settles on his latest idea.

With a nice, long stretch he gets up from the bed and heads for his wardrobe. Maybe he should run 7 kilometers today? Since he has such good time?

Jason yawns a little as he drags in a new pair of shorts and a shirt on. With a hoodie and some shoes, he's ready to head down. He doesn't know where the love for running track started, but he has been doing it for years. He even joined races in almost all school years and he plans on doing this year as well.

With slow steps, the boy gently sticks his head out of his door and sneaks his way outside the room. He doesn't want to wake the others up and this godforsaken house is so old everything creaks if you as much as look at it.

The hallway is covered in complete darkness and only the window by the end let's in a little bit of light from the moon.

Jason gently walks down the many steps, grimacing a little when he hits one that's extremely loud. What's up with this house? Is it from before this century or something?

He looks to the sides on each level down he goes, making sure there isn't a wild Hunter walking around and planning to jump on him or something. Sucks that Jason has to live on the top floor which makes it ten times harder getting out unseen.

However, he actually makes it to the end of the stairs without anyone waking up. Damn, what a ninja is what he is.

He stretches his body lightly again as he walks through the dinner room, wanting to hum to himself, but he holds himself back.

Just as he's about to walks for the entrance, he stops in his steps. He doesn't know if he just had a minor heart attack or if he's starting to see ghosts because that over there is definitely Travis and why is he looking at Jason like that?

"Fuck, I thought you wouldn't notice me," Travis mumbles. He's sitting on one of the couches in the living room in complete darkness.

Jason immediately holds a hand over his mouth and let's out a deep breath. Shit, he was so close to screaming his heart out! What's up with Travis sitting here alone in the darkness? It looked like he was obsessed by a demon or something. If Jason didn't know better, he would have believed he was in a horror movie right now.

"What the fuck are you doing? You scared the shit out of me," Jason whisper-shouts and let's his hand leave his mouth to run it through his black, curly locks.

"Well, I could ask you the same thing. It's like 4 in the morning," Travis fires back. Jason seems to have calmed down a little and walks closer to the living room. He leans against one the walls and looks at the other in a skeptical manner.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep. I was going to go for a run," Jason states. He observes as Travis looks him up and down with a hum before turning to look outside the window again as he was probably doing before Jason came down.

He does that a lot. Just staring out of the window.

"Then... what are you doing up?" Jason asks. Travis turns and looks at him, not really in a glaring way but still kinda in a glaring way.

"Couldn't sleep either."

Jason looks at him for a little while as he switches back and stares out at the night sky. Travis is fully dressed as he would be for the day and he's having a blanket wrapped around him.

He looks tired, but clearly not enough to sleep.

"Aren't you going to run?" Travis asks when Jason has been stuck there for a good few minutes.

Jason nods and walks away from him, heading towards the entrance as he originally planned to do. He pulls out his phone and takes time before stepping out of the house and down onto the street. All this time, his mind is trying to figure out how he didn't notice Travis before and even more how he didn't hear him leave the third floor as well.

He gently shrugs his shoulders before he sets off running. Travis must just have been light on his feet like younger was. 

Usually, Jason runs about one kilometer in about 4 minutes, so it won't be long before he can head back and hopefully go to bed. Maybe he'll be tired enough or the rest of the day will be a nightmare.

He runs along the empty streets and keeps track on his phone whenever he has to hold back for red light, even if there aren't any cars. He's keeping up with his usual speed, so that's good.

It doesn't take more than half an hour before he's back again.

With heavy breaths, the boy stands outside the familiar house for a little and stops his timer. He spends a while on stretching his legs and body, knowing it will be painful otherwise.

After that, he goes back inside and takes a glass of water in the kitchen.

Is Travis still here? Jason's curiosity leads him back to the living room where Travis is currently lying with a book, reading with only a small light behind him turned on. He looks over the edge as Jason appears.

"Had a good run?" he asks.

"Yeah," Jason says, keeping his eyes on the boy as he takes another sip of water. "Aren't you going to bed?"

Travis looks over the book again and shakes his head.

"Alright then, but I will," Jason says. Travis just ignores him and pays attention to his book again. It says 'science of interstellar'. Sounds like a total nerd book to be honest, but Jason doesn't comment on it. He just walks back to the kitchen to set his glass in the dishwasher.

Then he heads upstairs and tries to fall asleep again.

Let's just say he failed miserably.