7:38pm

Will there be smut? I don't know yet! I start writing with no clear path - I literally plan nothing beforehand

Trigger warning: violence, blood, injuries, talk of past abuse

Ha, that's a no on the smut

Au
—

Logan finally had the chance to slip out from his house and go for a walk on the bright, summers day. The clock had just struck twelve, and he was heading to the busier part of town to go shopping for a few things he needed for school. The binders had completely filled up, and he was in desperate need of more lined paper and normal paper for his printer.

While walking through the suburbs, he turned a corner and spotted Deceit not too far away, holding his grey camera to his eye, snapping a picture of something behind a tree. Curiosity peaked, Logan made a turn in his travels, and headed to him instead. Anything to stay out the house for longer. "Salutations, Deceit" Logan spoke up, but not too loudly as to startle him.

Deceit didn't move as he replied, "Hello, Roman's butt-buddy" he murmured, natural, slick and smooth voice enough to make people swoon. "I hope you understand Roman and I are in a relationship, now"

Deceit hummed, moving the camera from his face to pick up the photo that printed out. "I do - please, don't spoil me with the details" Placing the camera back down around his neck, he dug around his bag and pulled out his album book, sliding his new few pictures into the free slots. Logan was able to catch a glimpse at a few, and was awestruck for a moment - only then did he realise Deceit was a marvellous photographer.

Deceit put his bag back on, ready to turn and leave when he stopped, straightened up, and narrowed his multicoloured eyes at the building in front of him in thought. "Logan.." he slowly glanced over at Logan with a gleam in his eye. Logan tensed a little at the look, wondering what the hell this darkly dressed boy with golden accents could be planning. "How good are you with secrets?"

Logan shrugged lightly and adjusted his tie. "I have never uttered a secret to anyone unless explicitly told so" He replied with a confident nod. Deceit chewed the inside of his cheek, swivelling his body to face the boy they were all slowly becoming friends with. "How good are you with helping people?"

"I suppose it depends on what it is" Logan watched Deceit take a step forward, their faces quite close to each other as Deceit stared deeply into his eyes, reading him, trying to detect anything that would tell him Logan was lying. "Could you help me with a little problem I have? I promise it won't take long...although, if you're planning to tell anyone, I guess it means you don't want to be apart of our group; can't imagine how upset Roman would be over it.." Deceit smirked wickedly, lifting one arm slightly, yellow-gloved fingers rubbing together mischievously.

Logan cocked his eyebrow, "Are you trying to blackmail me?"

"Think of it as a test" Deceit avoided, "pass this, you can join our clique, once you do, expect none of us to allow anyone to bully you ever again...although, from past experiences, I'm sure you're skilled in the manner of dealing with them" Logan swallowed, eying Deceit for a moment. If this involved anything too dangerous, or gave Logan an opportunity to go to prison, he wouldn't do it, not even for their friendship group, but Logan always liked a challenge, and hopefully this will drag through the day.

"What do you need help with?"

Fifteen minutes later, Logan and Deceit were standing in an alleyway between two houses. Deceit had explained the plan on the way - with him basically living with Remy now, he needed to collect a few things he left behind, but none of his friends would allow him to do so, but with Logan, he didn't know what happened in this house, so Deceit tricked him into helping, and Deceit was sure he would tell no one.

"I do not see why we must sneak in" Logan quietly whispered, hoisting himself up onto the wall. Deceit followed suit beside him, only replying with a harsh 'shush!'

They landed with soft thuds against the ground, ducking between the shrubbery as they looked up at the tall, two story house that was crumbling apart. Logan glanced over at Deceit, his eyes were set into an icy glare that scaled up the building, surveying it. In that moment, Logan understood something wasn't right about this house, but now he was here, he couldn't exactly back out now - besides, would it really be that dangerous? It's just his parents.

Deceit made a motion with his hands and the two crawled across the grass to the back door. Logan felt like he was about to rob the damn house. With that idea in mind, he felt a cold shiver run down his spine; what if they were actually robbing a house? Logan doesn't know if this is his parents home! Before him, Deceit slowly stood up and peeked through the glass attached into the door. When a smirk crawled across his face, Logan's shoulders deflated, even more so when Deceit slowly pushed open the door that stupidly wasn't locked.

"Follow me, and whatever you do" Deceit whispered, leaning close to his face. "Do not make a sound"

Logan nodded instantly, standing up straight, too, and leaving the door open agar like Deceit had requested. Inside, Logan had to cover his nose from the vile smell that attacked his nostrils. Eyes danced around the room, picking up on everything, and it was a pigsty! The dishes were stacked in the sink higher than he had ever seen anywhere before, so much so Logan guessed they never actually washed, and just bought new plates whenever they needed some. The rest of the room was stained, old, crusty, mouldy food everywhere he looked - the more he discovered in just the kitchen, the more Logan realised what type of parents these were.

Deceit didn't seem bothered, and walked straight to the door at the other end. He held up his hand to stop Logan, and looked down the hallway, silently nodding his head down. Logan nodded, still holding his shirt over his nose as he silently followed Deceit down the hallway that had half a carpet, the other half ripped off for reasons Logan didn't want to know. While climbing up the stairs, he noticed a few nails stuck out from the boards, and a shudder ran down his back. This felt like a death trap.

Once they reached the top floor, Logan's entire body froze when he heard the sound of a snore. The two slowly turned around to see two adults fast asleep on a bed. The room wafted out smells of what Logan assumed to be a mixture between weed and cheap booze. The bathroom beside it was an eyesore, and Logan felt close to vomiting if he stared for too long. He needed some fresh air, so the sooner this was over, the better. Deceit still looked indifferent, and headed across the small landing to the only room that had a closed door. Reaching up, he uncurled a necklace hidden under his clothes, and used the key attached to the silver chain to unlock the door and step inside. Logan quickly followed as quietly as possible, not closing the door behind him just in case.

The room was mostly bare, and tiny. They both stood, nearly touching, in the square foot of ground that wasn't covered by something. Beside him was a black closet that was missing a door, touching it was a single bed that looked worse for wear, and a shelf on the other wall that was snapped in the middle, everything that it held - which seemed to be a few books - scattered on the ground.

Deceit silently unzipped his bag and reached under the bed, pulling out an old, bent and ripped cardboard box. Lifting it into the bag, he slid it inside, and stood up. Logan was about to feel relief at the prospect of leaving this place, but with one realisation, the hairs on the back of his neck rose. What happened to the snoring...?

When Deceit turned to him, his eyes widened, and Logan felt his heart drop to his stomach. Before he could even look behind him, a strong hand gripped the back of his shirt, lifting him up from the air. He let out a strangled choke, desperately clawing at his neck to get air. Deceit wanted to help, but when his eyes met with his dad's, he froze on the spot, unable to move.

"Come back for more, heh?" He chuckled in a raspy, croaky voice. Logan wriggled around like a fish out of water, tears burning his eyes. The man who had him turned Logan to face him, eyes crinkling as a smile grew on his face, most of his matted beard covered it, though. "This time you brought a friend" Logan couldn't be more glad to be unable to breathe in that moment, because he was sure his breath smelt worse than the entire house, and that was saying something.

"Drop him before you kill him" a voice called from across the landing. It was a woman no taller than the man, her hair roughly tied into a bun, face shallow with bags. "Alright" the man marched across the landing, holding Logan above the staircase. He felt himself become lightheaded, his lungs burned, and his body slowly stopped moving. He needed oxygen, and if this man held him for any longer, he was sure to..to die. All for someone he barely knew!

His eyes almost shut all the way, but in that moment Deceit's body barrelled into the man, causing Logan to drop and tumble down the staircase, landing in a heap on the bottom floor. His vision was blurry, and he could feel blood dripping down his forehead. Somehow lifting his body up a little, he glanced down at the ground, finally realising why this section of the flooring didn't have any carpet.

"Up, up, up!" Deceit hissed in his ear, dragging Logan to his feet, the two stumbling out through the back door. Although the man was yelling, staggering with the alcohol sloshing around in his stomach, the boys didn't stop running until they were out of that section of the town, and safe in a populated area. They slumped on a bench, Logan closing his eyes, gritting his teeth together at the pain pounding in his head. Deceit glanced over, brushing his hair from his face to take a closer look at the gash across his forehead. It didn't seem deep, but they should clean the blood before anyone asks.

"Thanks" Deceit sighed out, finally able to wear his bag properly on his shoulders. "You owe me" Logan panted, "big time, you liar"

Deceit winced, "technically I didn't lie-"

"You did not tell me the full truth, either!" Logan exasperated, allowing Deceit to help him up. "This is why I have no friends" he muttered under his breath. Deceit winced again, sighing out. Now he can see why his friends warned him not to do this, but he needed that box, it's been on his mind for years. Deceit informed Logan that Remy and their parents were out, so they had the perfect opportunity to clean up without having to confess to anyone what they had done.

Logan sat on the bathroom counter, allowing Deceit to dab a warm rag against his forehead, wiping away the blood. "What will you tell people when they ask?" Deceit murmured, rinsing excess water from the rag, going back to his forehead afterwards. "I fell down the stairs" he responded flatly, eyes averted to the wall. Deceit sighed, leaning on the counter between his legs.

"As you probably realised, they abused me" Deceit drawled, lifting his hand to go back to the wound. "Throughout my childhood...I couldn't get away" Deceit slowly began to explain, his heart beating rapidly as he did. "It was worse than hell, for so long I wanted to..die" Logan's gaze softened, slowly traveling his eyes to Deceit who daren't meet his. "Then my lucky ass found Remy, we hit it off, told them and their friends about my less than ideal life..." Deceit washed the rag again, "and they came to my aid"

Logan nodded, swallowing in the thick silence. "I apologise, were they the cause of the scar?" Deceit tensed on the question, but this time he answered with a slight nod. "Did you tell anyone?"

"Adult wise? Too much work" Deceit excused, putting away the wash and pulling out a bandage. "I'm almost eighteen, no point now.." he drifted, fixing the bandage over the gash, avoiding the hairline. "All patched up" Deceit gave him a tight lipped smile and picked up the rag, throwing it into the hamper. Sliding down from the counter, Logan looked at himself in the mirror, thankful that really was the only injury he sustained.

"Thank you, Deceit" Logan spoke quietly, ready to leave and go home but Deceit stopped him. "Aren't you at all curious to what's in the box? No ones ever seen it before"

Now he was curious. Logan followed Deceit through the house to what he presumed was Remy and his room. They sat on the bed beside each other, Logan watching closely as Deceit slowly pulled off the lid, revealing a jumbled mess of Polaroids. The ones on the top were pictures of Remy - it didn't seem like they knew they were being taken, as all were from a distance, yet still captured the beauty of the scene so perfectly.

"I don't feel so bad about helping you, now" Logan sent him a small smile after gazing at the pictures closely. Deceit snorted, pushing a few to the side and pulling out a certain one that held a lens flare. It was of a tree, half the sun hidden behind it, the other half peeking around the side. "I wholeheartedly thank you for helping me" he spoke in that sultry voice that was hardly believable, but Logan knew that was his way of expressing his gratitude. He made small talk with the boy who moved to sit opposite him, pulling out his album of pictures to put the older ones inside. Once he had finished, it was full, apart from one space.

Deceit picked up the camera, looking at Logan who was gazing down at his phone with a smile. Roman had invited him over for a sleepover, which meant more time away from home. Deceit leaned closer and caught that beautifully soft smile that seemed so rare, forever. Logan blinked in surprise, looking up at Deceit who shrugged and smirked silently.

"I think your name suits you"

Deceit snorted, sliding in the picture of Logan into the last slot. "You're too kind" he grinned, "Logic"

Logan quirked an eyebrow, "Logic?"

"Suits you, hm?"

Logan shrugged, eyes twinkling. "Almost as if that's what I'm known for..."

Deceit shook his head and stood up, "don't go meta on me, I beg"

Logan laughed, watching him happily. "I won't, I promise"

—

Ya guy needs to S H I A T

8:43pm