#mystery guest

We did a good thing. But it is going to take some getting used to. So many more are active now. We still don’t know who everyone is. ✌️☝️… So sex is more awkward now. Oh… Fuckin… We’ll tag it with “TMI” or some shit. Right… DMT! I, Malice got us over our fear… Well THEIR fear. Not mine. That’s why I could do it when they couldn’t. Someone was pushing us really fucking hard to do DMT. We don’t know who. But We HAD to. We had no choice. The Gobos kept trying to front for whatever reason. Animal, Teen and I had to keep pulling them out. They were so scared But they were being so BRAVE! I, We want The Gobos to know that We, Animal, Teen and Malice are so very proud of you. You never have to do anything like that though. We will always protect you. No matter what happens. Okay? You brave little souls have no need to worry. You are completely protected from harm. Someone else is here with us. They seem to really care about The Gobos as well. So… Umm… See? You guys are safe!

“Hey, Jackson, did you invite Zach over?”

“What? No. Why?”

“Did Shane?”

“I dunno, I don’t think so. Seriously, what’s up?”

“Well, he’s on our couch.”

Rose held the door open for Jackson to enter the room after her. He peered over her shoulder at the couch, and there was Zach, curled up under his signature blanket, fast asleep.

“Oh. Huh.”

The main room was empty of Shane, as he was locked away in the bedroom to focus on his homework; he’d declined the offer to grab some food to try and catch up on this work. Rose set her bag behind the couch, which was full of school books as well, and glanced at Zach before walking to the bedroom.

“Hey,” she said quietly, opening the door and stepping inside, “did you invite Zach over here while we were gone?“

Shane had heard her open the door and was already looking in her direction, but his hands faltered in confusion. "I didn’t– no?”

Rose bit at the inside of her cheek and nodded, stepping into the room completely. Jackson was in the kitchen, probably, washing his hands or putting up leftovers.

“Well, he’s in the living room on the couch, ‘nd I’m not sure why.”

“What?” Shane asked, pushing the textbook off his lap and sitting up further. “Why’s he here, is he okay?" 

He was about to scoot off the bed to go see what was going on, but Rose interrupted with the downwards gesturing of her palms and a small "No, no, it’s fine”. This slowed him, but it didn’t stop the force of curiosity from making him stand up and take the few steps toward his girlfriend.

“He’s fine, dude,” Rose said again, resting her arms atop Shane’s shoulders and gently hooking her elbow behind his neck. “He’s just sleepin’– got his little blanket and everything.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek when he laughed at the thought of the well-used blanket and stepped back. “Yeah, and me 'n Jackson brought you back some fries. You can have some of my soda if you promise not to drink it all.”

He let her turn around before speaking. “Wait, hey, hey–” Rose stopped at the door, her eyebrows raised. “Don’t wake him up if he’s sleeping; let him come around by himself. He probably needs the sleep.”

“Got it.”

Thankfully, Jackson, seated in the living room, had gotten the hint not to wake the sleeping guest, because he was settled in the other chair with the TV on low volume. He looked up when Shane and Rose entered the living room, but didn’t say much until Shane had given him his hello-kiss as well.

“So he just walked in here and fell asleep?” Shane asked, not bothering too much with the whole ‘keeping quiet’ scheme.

“You didn’t ask him over? Hah, I guess so.”

“I, for one,” Rose grinned, “think it’s adorable.” She shimmied out of her jacket and draped it over the arm of the chair Jackson was sitting in. “How much homework did you get done, Shane?”

“Ugh, I don’t wanna talk about it.”

The three of them went on with their regular Saturday lives; Shane munched on his fries and promptly broke his promise, drinking nearly all of Rose’s soda when she wasn’t looking. Rose herself played videogames until a nagging headache stopped her—if it had anything to do with too much gaming, she wouldn’t admit. Jackson didn’t do much of anything, just the way he liked it. All while this happened, Zach was left to catch up on the sleep he probably really needed. The sun was dipping behind the buildings on the horizon by the time he stirred. His blanket was wrapped tightly across his left arm, which was tucked against chest; he was properly tangled up with himself. Wriggling out of his predicament, he let out a small, sleepy grunt and sat up.

“Finally up?” Jackson mused playfully. Zach rubbed at his face before flashing him a forced smile. “Mh.” He breathed in slowly and stretched before going loose-limbed again. Before he could remember to ask where everyone else was, Shane walked out of the bedroom and right up to him.

“Hey, dude,” he smiled, stopping beside him and stooping over to give him a kiss, just as he had to Jackson and Rose had to him. “How’d you sleep?”

“Uh, good. Too good, m’still fucking tired…”

Shane ruffled at his already messy hair and sat next to him on the couch. “It’s Saturday night, you can stay over if you want.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”