He's Been Damaged, He's Been Misused

Chris is at home, locked in his room after his mom had found out about his being banned from Walmart, but he was fortunate enough to keep the privilege of his phone. It’s around eight pm now, and his phone rings. Chris notices that it’s Ricky, and he immediately answers the call, holding it to his ear.

“Hey, Ricks. How’d it go?” Chris asks.

“It went great,” Ricky answers happily, making Chris smile. “Can I come over?”

“Sure.”

“Kay, see you in a bit,” Ricky says before hanging up the phone. Chris’s mom wasn’t here at the moment, so he could sneak downstairs then sneak Ricky upstairs and they could have a sleepover without his mom knowing.

A few minutes later, there’s a knock at the door. Chris leaps from his bed and jogs downstairs, opening the door to reveal Ricky Olson. Chris leads him up to his room, locking the door behind him. Ricky sits on Chris’s bed and Chris sits next to him.

“So, do ya like Carter?” Chris asks his younger friend, who blushes slightly.

“Yeah, he’s amazing,” Ricky smiles at the mention of his now boyfriend, getting into a comfier position on Chris’s bed.

“I told you you’d like him,” Chris says proudly. “I’m a great match maker.”

"I guess you are. So I heard from Kevin that you're not allowed to go to Walmart anymore..."

Chris smiles at the mention of their mischief. "Yeah, we turned that place into hell."

"What do you mean?" Ricky smirks, proud of his friends- if Kevin even is his friend.

"We did everything in our power to terrorize those motherfuckers. Fuck, this old hag tried to call the fucking cops on us. We even got a couple other kids to join us. Got their numbers too, but they live all the way in fucking California. Guess they were visiting or something..."

Chris kept rambling on and in, but Ricky didn't mind too much. He just sat and listened about all the mischief at Walmart.

The two talked until they both got tired. They got comfortable wherever they planned to sleep, laying there until they peacefully drifted to their dreams.

<><><>

When Chris woke the next morning, Ricky was sitting next to him, texting. He assumed it was Carter since he's smiling with a small blush coloring his cheeks. Chris smiles. He likes seeing his younger friend happy. His happiness soon fades though as he gets bored.

“Morning, Ricky,” Chris speaks loudly, making Ricky flinch. Chris smirks, amused by the fact that he just scared his friend. Ricky scowls when he notices his friend’s look.

“Fuck you, Chris,” he snaps, somewhat playfully. Chris only laughs at him again, giving Ricky the right to roll his eyes before going back to texting Carter. It’s Chris’s turn to frown. Chris wanted Ricky to talk to him, but no, of course Carter had to get to him first.

“Ricky, talk to me!” Chris whines like a little child, and it kinda irritates Ricky, but he gives his friend his full attention anyway.

“I’m talking to you…”

“What do you wanna do?” Chris asks with a smile, but Ricky shrugs.

“You’re grounded, there’s not much to do,” Ricky says as his phone vibrates in his hand, alerting him of another text. The phone receives all of Ricky’s attention, putting a scowl back on Chris’s face. Chris couldn’t help but feel left out and betrayed, even. Ricky’s not talking to him because he’s too busy talking to Carter, in his house. Why couldn’t Ricky wait until he got home to talk to his boyfriend?

And as if on cue, Ricky turns his phone off and slides it into his pocket. Chris almost smiles, Ricky’s finally gonna pay attention to him, but no.

“Carter wants me to meet his friends,” Ricky tells him as he gets up off of his friend’s bed. “Thanks for inviting me over, I had fun.”

Chris wants so badly to roll his fucking eyes at Ricky, but fakes a smile anyway.

“I did too,” Chris lies. “Bye.”

Ricky waves, and just like that, he’s out of the house and on his way to Carter’s.

Chris felt lonely and bored again, but there’s pretty much nothing he can do about it. He knows Kevin well enough to know that he’s gonna be in bed sleeping until around three, Ricky’s obviously not gonna talk to him, and it’s Carter’s fault that Ricky’s not gonna talk to him, and the rest of the contacts on his phone are family.

Then Chris suddenly remembers. He got those kids’ numbers yesterday before they parted ways.

But would they even wanna talk to him?

Chris decided to just leave them alone and went back to sleep.