"What the fuck!"

Mikaeel staggered into the lounge, wiping his eyes just to make sure he was actually awake and that he really was seeing a huge-assed bat perched happily on the broken heater while Faheem stood at the window with a cloth in his hand trying to pry open the window latch.

What the fuck.

"Jurre! I woke up and that fucker was right next to me on my fucking pillow!" Raees said from the counter on the furthest end of the lounge. All the boys had slowly trudged into the lounge in various stages of sleep-deprivation and each of them struggled to actually connect the bat on the heater to there actually being a bat in the room.

"Why is there a bat in the lounge?" Muhammad came strolling out of the kitchen, yawning widely as he scratched through the packet of sweets in his hand.

"How the fuck must I know?" Raees shouted at him, glaring at Fayaaz who seemed to have slept through the entire debacle without a care in the world.

"Don't bother." Faheem said, catching Raees's look. "He sleeps like a rock." He wrenched the stiff lever up before he pushed the glass forward.

"He slept through Raees's girly shriek too? That's a miracle right there." Talha laughed, stretching out the kinks in his neck as he watched Faheem move the thin voile over to the side. "What do they teach you in med school?" He was vaguely fascinated at Faheem's almost weirdly calm demeanour as he brushed right past the bat joining the others, waiting for him to fly out the window.

"They sent me to Limpopo for 2 months." He said casually as if it explained everything.

"So?"

"So if I had to scream like Raees every time I saw a bat, I'd have busted my voice box a long time ago."

Raees only gave him the finger before he skulked back to the sleeping couch.

"Why are you even going back to sleep?" Umar asked. "It's already Fajr time. We might as well pray our Salaah first." He gestured at Fayaaz, still fast asleep. "You'll need to wake that one up though to make Imaamat."

"Here wait," Mikaeel caught a faint trace of smoke as Riyaadh walked past him towards a dead-still Fayaaz. They all watched as Riyaadh leaned down and smacked his brother right across the ear.

"What!" Fayaaz bolted up. "I'm up. What happened?" He looked around, stopping short when he caught everyone's gaze on him. "What happened?"

"Nothing at all." Riyaadh replied drily. "It's Fajr time though."

"Oh... right." He yawned before he stumbled out of bed and shuffled past his cousins- completely ignoring the look of astonishment on their faces.

...

"Hey man." Riyaadh walked over to the wooden picnic bench with a cup of coffee in his hands.

"Hey." Mikaeel looked up from his phone to greet him back before he looked back down at his emails.

"I heard about your friend's wife." Riyaadh said quietly once Mikaeel pocketed his phone. "I'm sorry to hear about it." He moved his feet that were resting on the bench so that he could sit cross-legged in the table.

"I'm sorry too." Mikaeel mumbled. "You knew though, right? That she wouldn't make it." He asked, propping his feet up on the table as well.

"Ya." Riyaadh took a sip of his coffee. "How's your friend?"

"He's doing okay." Mikaeel replied though he didn't have a clue at all. He couldn't face going back to the hospital again. Not after that day. He didn't give a shit that Ihsaan was just projecting his own guilt onto him. He didn't need Ihsaan telling him anything. He still felt the guilt clawing through him as if it were an itch he couldn't scratch. It had lessened over the week but it was still a niggling sort of pain that clutched at the back of his mind and stayed with him no matter how much he tried to distract himself.

The air was cold and the wind still raced through all their layers of clothing but neither bothered to move from their place on the table, watching the little ripples of water that dotted the river every time a fish came up to greet the surface. The sun was only still inching its way over the treetops and neither had any inclination to go back to sleep like the others had chosen to do. It felt almost peaceful to just sit there. They were away from the traffic and the sirens and the people. They didn't have to worry about locking up the 10 different locks on the doors or driving with the windows closed. They were away from the stress of waiting for the robot to turn green so that they could drive away from the guys at the side of the road attempting to clean their windshields or having to walk past the beggars outside the restaurants. Away from the taxis that cut them off on the highways and the assholes that walked across the road as if their fathers owned it. They were just away from everything and everyone and it felt good to just...

Be.

...

"Talha." They had given up all illusions of even attempting to fish as they sat around the braai stand once again, claiming they were having a late brunch when in actual fact; most of them were just too bloody lazy to bother making breakfast at all.

"Ya." He replied, throwing in a huge chunk of blitz into the fire.

"You need to sit down. We need to talk to you my boy." Umar, the self proclaimed advice guru, beckoned him.

"Who's we?"

"Everyone except Muhammad, Fayaaz, Uthmaan and Raees." He replied candidly.

"And why the hell are we left out?" Raees asked, offended at the idea.

"Because the rest of us are or have been married."

"Guys I was only married for a few months..." Yaaseen said, though no one detected the slight hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Agh, put the fucking blitz down and sit." Ziyaad shouted, annoyed at just how much the lytie had been throwing into the fire.

"Yoh..." Talha's eyes widened, apparently shocked at Ziyaad's outburst. "Alright..." He sat the box down slowly before he made his way back to his chair. Mikaeel sat quietly, thankful that he never had to go through all that shit. His wedding happened too quickly for any of it to happen.  He assumed he would probably ram his head into a wall repeatedly if his cousins cornered him the way they cornered Talha.

The weekend before his wedding was actually much, much, much different...

The cement floors had been painted a fluorescent blue that seemed to glow under the black lighting of the club they were in. Roving blue and red lights shone all around them as they danced and moved within the metre high foam spread throughout the entire room. It was messy and dirty and wet and the foam itself seemed to have seeped through the material of his shorts and t-shirt.

He was standing right in front of the massive speakers and the loud beats seemed to reverberate right through his brain as his heart seemed to time itself with the music blasting through his ears. It was loud and fast and the girl dancing with him knew exactly how to pace herself to the heavy music. Her light pink top had become practically see-through allowing him to catch a glimpse of her dark pink bra beneath as well as intricate back tattoo that started from behind her ear and moved lower over her bronzed skin before disappearing into the waistband of her mini. He had never been into tattoos before but the woman in front of him made it look fucking amazing. It was as if her tattoo took on a life of its own as she swayed and twisted her body, practically screaming for him to touch it.

The tip of his thumb traced the celtic knot besides her bellybutton, moving along each fold and twist of it as he grabbed hold of her waist- diverting her attention away from the music as she looked down towards her belly. She looked back up at him, her white blonde hair a wet, soaked mess but damn- if she didn't look sexy as hell right then.

She caught hold of the loops of his shorts with her index fingers, walking backwards and pulling him along with her. He was unmindful of the crowd around him and he could give two fucks about Ihsaan and Shuayb and wherever it was they were. All he cared about was this siren in front of him as she beckoned him towards one of the darker corners besides the stage. Her back hit the wall with a thump but she barely even felt it as she took his hand in hers and began to whisper all sorts of things in his ears. Her husky voice tapped every nerve in his ear causing shivers to run straight through him as she moved his hand with her own under the damp material of her shirt and over the slick skin of her navel, allowing him to follow the series of complicated knots of her tattoo with his fingers. Their hands moved slowly- painfully so- over her skin up the contours of her waist. But her shirt was too wet trapping his arm between their bodies. His fingers barely grazed the lace edge of her bra before she grabbed onto the material of his t-shirt, fisting it in her hands, tugging him even closer till there were no gaps between them. They could only feel the wet cotton clinging to each other before he kissed her gently on her neck. He could taste the soapy, salty, fruity taste that lingered on even after he pressed his lips against hers.

Just lips on lips and the feel of his fingers against the lace edge of her dark pink bra... Nothing else.

"...tells you she wants to go to her mother's house for supper just don't even argue." Faheem said. He would know best from all of them considering he was married the longest. "And if she wants to stay over for the weekend then definitely don't argue."

"And if she wants to go every weekend?" Talha asked, aghast at the idea.

"You'd be a real shit husband if she wants to run away from you every weekend." He said pointedly.

"Right..."

"And for the first year, don't even think about complaining about her food."

"Ya shut up and take it like a man." Fayaaz laughed, thoroughly enjoying the look of horror etched on to Talha's face after all the advice. He felt like he was going to bloody war- not getting married. This was all tactical, strategic shit. He should have brought a hard cover book just to write it all down.

When are you coming back?

"Mickey Mouse? Anything to add?"

No.

"He's just keeping quiet so we all forget that he wormed his way out of the talk." Imraan grinned wolfishly at him- it was only fair to hurl him into the spotlight after the whole rooming spectacle he caused the day before.

"There was no time for any talk." Umar laughed. "We only heard about the wedding when this guy was on his honeymoon."

Later. Waiting up?

"What were you doing at the masjid for the nikaah?" Mikaeel asked.

"Coincidence. I was there by accident."

"Leave all that." Talha tossed a box of cards to Ziyaad. "Tannie or bullshit?"

"Tannie. Fayaaz cheats in bullshit." Riyaadh had no qualms about throwing his brother to the sharks, ignoring his cries of innocence entirely.

No.

...

"Guys, before we leave," Talha said by way of greeting, "I just want you to know that we blew through all the tobacco!" he grinned victoriously.

"Only you would be chuffed by that." Yaaseen said, casually chucking Raees's bag into the boot.

"Ya whatever..." He brushed off their less than enthusiastic response. "Thanks guys. I'll see you at the wedding next week."

"No," Uthmaan said picking up their last bag. "You'll only see Yusairah. We'll see you though." He teased.

"Fuck off." He grumbled before he closed his boot with a loud bang. "You're driving." He tossed his keys to his brother. "See you." He said, covering up his yawn as he got into the car.

Faheem's taillights were already lost in the fog by the time Mikaeel got into the driver's seat. Raees was too tired and Yaaseen was too inexperienced when it came to driving through such thick fog. He didn't really mind it though. Both of them were sleeping by the time he finally got off the dirt road leaving him to drive in peace. He lowered the volume of the radio as he tried to keep a steady pace behind Ziyaad's car. It was mindless driving really. They were on a long, straight stretch to Joburg and all he had to do was change his gears occasionally.

It must have been something past 11 by the time he got onto the N12 and if he was driving below 80 he would only reach home past 1 or so. The light snores seemed to fill the silence better than the radio host's nasally voice prompting him to switch off the radio and drive in silence...

Drive safely.

...

His footsteps upon the wooden floor of their makeshift bedroom seemed to echo under the high ceilings above him. The lampshade was still on, allowing him a view of the book that was still clutched in her hand even though she was fast asleep. He knelt down beside her to pry the book from her fingers but she only curled her hand, holding the book even tighter as her eyes opened slowly. She blinked sleepily before she turned her head to look up at him, breathing deeply as she still teetered precariously between dreams and reality.

"Hi." She mumbled. "When did you get back?" She could feel the damp skin of his arm that rested against her shoulder and the warmth that hugged his body after his shower before she turned to face him entirely.

"About half an hour ago." He said as he took the book from her hand. "I thought you weren't waiting up?" He turned book, glancing at the hearts strewn all over the cover.

"I wasn't." She replied, tugging the duvet to cover her arms.

"Really?" He stood up, depositing the book on the pedestal before he walked around to his side of the bed.

"Uhm hmm." She turned over, watching as he switched off the lamp before he lifted the covers. "Did you catch anything at all?"

"Lung cancer from all that fucking smoke..."

She laughed softly, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand as she looked at him. She was sure he had never even bothered with sunblock considering he was at least 10 shades darker than the day before.

"What?" He asked, catching her gaze as he looked at her.

"Nothing."

"Sure?"

"Ya."

He nodded his head, looking up at the darkened ceiling once again. "There was a bat in the lounge this morning." He said.

Her eyes widened in the darkness. "And what did you guys do?"

"Faheem opened the window and..."

And their soft, hushed voices echoed throughout the room till the sky had blackened and the moon went to sleep, awaiting the arrival of the white sun to bring with it a brand new day...