When Saive woke up he was shocked to see Drakke still asleep. He couldn't even recall if he had ever seen Drakke actually sleeping this late in the morning since he had been in captivity. When he thought about it, he never recalled even seeing him sleeping when he and Roenan used to do morning runs during the time before he'd moved in to their dorm. Drakke was almost always absent back then.
They had made plans for the morning so that they go over the steps of his and Roenan's escape in order to time how things would go down. He had expected Drakke to be awake and looking over their drafts on the coffee table, especially with his desperation to get Roenan back. Or he had half-expected him to be chain smoking cigarettes with how on edge he had been acting the past couple of days.
"Hey." Saive said loudly, over in his direction. "Hey!"
Drakke didn't stir and Saive grabbed his pillow to toss it heavily at him, "Hey, asshole!"
The pillow landed on top of his sleeping form and settled. Drakke still didn't stir and he felt himself beginning to get pissed off. Where did he get the nerve to be messing with him after everything they'd been through?
"Motherf-..." Saive hopped down from his bunk and moved around Drakke's bed to climb up his. He crawled up to the bed and moved the pillow away. Drakke's face was soft in his sleep and his breathing seemed to be slow and even. Saive's eyebrows knitted together and he slapped his hands down on Drakke's back, shaking him violently as he shouted, "Wake the hell up!"
"Mmn..." Drakke mumbled, weakly brushing at his arms out to push him away before lazily rolling over onto his back. His eyes were half-opening then closing heavily; they looked unfocused. He settled his back into his mattress and closed them again, his breathing pacing out.
"Are you fucking kidding me...?" Saive hissed as he shook at him roughly again. Drakke's eyes finally snapped opened, alertness stiffening his posture as his gaze shifted to focus on him.
"What are you doing?" He rasped.
"Trying to wake you up! Did you die for a minute? What even was that?" Saive exclaimed.
Drakke relaxed before he slowly stretched his limbs out and gave a loud yawn. He froze mid-stretch and quirked his eyebrows as he looked Saive up and down from where he sat on top of his legs, "Are you coming on to me?"
Saive's face scrunched in disgust.
"Who's coming on to what?" He spat. "And don't try to joke with me. I'm still revolted that you've brainwashed my cousin. We're not friends."
Drakke hummed and closed his eyes. "Whatever... just get off."
Saive pushed away and crawled back onto the steps, before dropping to the floor. "I thought we had plans today. Are we still doing this or what?"
"Yeah..." He heard Drakke croak. "Just calm down for a minute. I don't ever get a break around here and I'm having a slow morning."
"I'll fucking say." Saive mumbled as he moved to his space to change into his sweats.
He heard the front door open and close. He was tugging on his shoes when he looked up to see Zykk walk into the room.
"Hey, kiddo! You goin' for a run?"
"No. We're going to go through the motions of the plan to get a better idea about the timing."
"You and who?"
"Who do you think? Me and that waste of space and time." Saive threw his hand up toward Drakke's bed and Zykk glanced up with raised eyebrows.
"D? You up there?"
"Mmhm."
Zykk's cheeky grin spread across his face and he rushed over to the ladder, pulling himself up in one swift motion before launching on top of Drakke's body. Drakke released a grunt and the squeaking of the mattress settled down after a few seconds, followed by a short silence.
"This feels nice." Drakke's voice cut in, muffled something.
"That's right. It does feel nice, don't it? But the pup has been denyin' me affection from the start. I'm glad yer back."
"Leave me out of this." Saive said shaking his head as he continued to put on his shoes.
"I missed ya D, things would've been so borin' around here if the pup didn't start to like me."
"I don't like you."
"Alright. I can't breath, get off of me." Drakke's voice cut in again, followed by the sounds of shifting. Zykk landed back onto the floor and walked around to Saive's bed and leaned against his post.
"So, ya'll countin' me in on this plan or what? I'm off for the rest of the day, anyway, and I'm already bored thinkin' about it. I got my part in all this too. Don't you forget it."
"I haven't." Saive responded. "But what we're doing takes place after your portion. So you don't need to be there."
"Ahh... come on. Yer always tryin' ta leave me out."
"You're lucky I even talk to you." Saive muttered back.
"Ah, I get it... you're gonna be all feisty this mornin', huh? Nevermind then, have fun with this kid, D."
"Oh, I'm sure I will." Drakke sat up and cracked his neck.
"Damn. Yer lookin' all puffy and shit. You drink last night?"
"No, I'm just groggy."
"How are ya always sneakin' off to drink? And why don't ya ever invite me?" Zykk exclaimed.
"It's not that." Drakke responded.
"Then why are ya-"
"Gods, enough already! Can we get this thing going? There's stuff I'd rather do than spend the whole day with you guys." Saive snapped, finally losing his patience.
Drakke looked down at him with a blank expression and he glared right back up at him. Zykk was right, he did look puffy.
"Roenan comes back later so, lucky for you, I don't want to spend my whole day with you either. And speaking of that, I think Zykk should come with us for this. He can stand in as Roenan. Having him there will help us time thing since we'll be dealing with both of you."
"You want me to be Roenan for ya, eh?" Zykk asked, wiggling his eyebrows. "Never thought ya'd ask."
Saive rolled his eyes and shut them, bringing his fingers up to his temple, "That's about all my stomach can handle for the decade; I'll be in the living room. And hurry the hell up!" He exclaimed just before hearing Zykk and Drakke start to laugh as he stormed toward the kitchen to make something quick to eat.
While he was cooking, they both slowly made their way into the living room. Zykk sat down on the bar stool as Drakke moved around to enter the kitchen too. He was chatting away idly while Drakke reached into one of the cabinets to pull out a bottle containing painkillers; answering back to the excited chattering with mumbles or short noises. He seemed to hide away from Zyyk as he took two of them before shifting over to the coffee maker to start up a pot.
Saive was aware Drakke had previously had a pill problem, but painkillers never seemed to be an issue with him. Even Levvin never mentioned anything about having them there, since all the roommates had used them at one point or another. Plus, there didn't seem to be harm in two. But, why was he looking like he'd been hit by a train during the night? It was clear he had some type of hangover.
"Headache?" Saive quietly muttered in Jaedan as Drakke reached in the cabinet next to him to grab a mug.
"My fingers." He responded back in Jaedan with a curt tone. Saive's eyes narrowed and Drakke glanced down at him with a face that seemed to show him that it wasn't his business anyway.
"What are you getting all defensive for? It was just a question."
Drakke was closing the cabinet but froze, as he responded, "And that was just an answer."
Saive's distaste for him just never seemed to waiver. If anything, it grew more passionate. He could not believe that Roenan actually liked a guy like this.
"You are so incredibly unbeara-"
"Hey! None a that foreign language stuff today. I'm just gonna feel all awkward and shit."
Saive glanced over at Zykk and he actually looked a little hurt. It made him a little feel bad and he hated that. Since when did this guy grow on him so much? And why couldn't he be the one Vernajjian Roenan felt something for?
"We won't. And as much as it pains me to admit this, I'm glad that you're tagging along today. So just hurry up and eat something so we can go."
Zykk's face lit up as he threw a beaming smile at him and Saive glanced uncomfortably down at his pan.
"Kid... I'm never gonna forget this moment fer the rest of my life."
"Z, hurry up." Drakke said, walking toward the living room with his plate. He sat down at the couch to look down at the map they had created.
Zykk stood up to moved around the bar, walking all the way until he was standing next to Saive with his smile still on his face. He leaned against the counter and picked a piece of potato out of Saive's pan and popped it in his mouth with a wink before pushing away to head into the living room.
Saive shook his head and forced down a smile that tried to form as he was getting his plate together, just before he moved into the living room to start eating.
When they had finished their meals, they circled around the coffee table to look at the map that they had all worked on sketching out. Drakke's fingers slid around lightly on the surface as he discussed each point they would be at, what they were to do at those locations, and what actions would follow.
"And I think you should be the first one to scale the fence before we send Roenan up. Just know that there will be some wiring you might need to help your men finish cutting for both yourself and Roenan to fit through in order to make it fully over."
"No." Saive said firmly. "We send him over first. We can't risk him being stuck behind if we can't make the timing while the gate's electricity is shut down."
Zykk sat back quietly as they spoke, chewing on his thumbnail while studying the map with a focused stare.
"Hear me out..." Drakke responded patiently. "You were the one who was the main part of this deal and you'll be the first one that they expect to receive. If I send Roenan over there to them, and something happened that kept you behind, who knows what they'd end up doing with him. They'd probably keep him as a prisoner in retaliation since they're having trouble understanding his Jaedan history, anyway. But if you're there with him, you can keep an eye on him and you can begin to create comradery between everyone. You can be a type of witness for him and can help him unearth the proof he has to have from living in Jaeda and that you're both related. They're going to want that."
Saive sighed and sat back heavily against the couch. He put his face in his hands and rubbed at his eyes. "I don't like this. Going ahead of him feels too wrong..."
"But, you get what I'm saying right? It has to be you first."
A sense of dread began sinking into the pit of Saive's stomach. Though, to his great dismay, he couldn't deny the truth to Drakke's words.
"Fine. But if something goes wrong and he's left behind... I..."
"Saive." Drakke said, turning his head to look up into his eyes. It was an intense stare and Saive's eyes fluttered away momentarily before looking back. "I'll work with you until the end. I'll get him back no matter what happens, even if it costs me my life. I owe you that."
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