Downstairs
Ethan was, as usual, extremely bored. Lucas less so, since he actually liked reading, but Ethan had exhausted his entire stack of comics and didn't quite feel like going outside to get more. So instead he was sitting on his bed, staring at the window, sighing absently while wishing Blake was still his roommate. Lucas didn't provide nearly as much entertainment; he had no comics to steal, no cool clothes to steal, and no crazy CDs to listen to. Not that he hated Lucas or anything, and not that it wasn't honetly a bit better than Blake in a way because Lucas wasn't shameless in terms of hanging around in his drawers all day, but on days like today Ethan was sorely tempted to take off on another journey just so he had something to do.
Hell, he was considering doing his laundry for the sake of something to do.
Then he heard it: the familiar calls of a girl somewhere else in the house. He sunk a little deeper into his pillow, fuming slightly. This was why the room rearrange had happened to begin with, to let the other guys get laid more often. That's what it boiled down to. And he and Lucas had been shoved together solely because they were single. No other reason. They hadn't even had a say in it, not really.
He glanced over at Lucas, who was slightly pink as he was reading his book. So he'd heard it too. Ethan smirked.
“Whatcha reading?”
The boy nearly fell out of his bed in surprise, and Ethan laughed victoriously, sitting up. “What, not used to the noise? Or not used to anyone knowing you're listenin'.”
“I'm trying really hard not to listen, thank you very much,” he whined, his voice wavering.
“Why? It's just Winnie. I'm pretty sure she likes it when we listen.”
Lucas turned a little redder, sinking lower in his corner. “Winnie and Blake are back in Unova right now, remember?”
Ethan blinked a couple times, straightening his hood as he looked at the wall in confusion. It wasn't coming from the right direction, now that he thought about it. “Well it ain't May either, I don't think.”
Lucas just shook his head, then jumped a few inches again when suddenly the ceiling creaked. “...Can I borrow your headphones?”
“The fuck?” Ethan complained, too distracted to answer his friend's question. “Upstairs? The girls' room?” Now it was him blushing as he worried for a moment that it was his best friend getting pounded above them. “That fucking better not be Lyra,” he growled, standing up on his bed and glaring at the ceiling. “There's no man alive crazy enough to fuck her, and I sure as hell ain't letting her lose her virginity before ME.”
The slightly older boy managed to hide the smile he cracked at his roommate's tirade, but when he tried to mumble a defense, it wasn't loud enough for him to hear. Lucas sighed when Ethan just continued glaring at the ceiling, then cleared his throat again, barely managing, “N-no, I don't think that's her...”
The ceiling squeaked again, and suddenly Ethan was standing on top of Lucas's bed, making it there in three bounds. “It's right over your bed! Haha, awesome.”
“Can I go sit on your bed, then?” he asked, pulling his legs closer to him and out of the path of Ethan's feet.
“You really don't want to be listening to this? This is free entertainment.”
Lucas just turned redder, turning to look out the window. “I... Dawn and Barry went up there a while ago.”
“Barry?!” Ethan snapped, staring at the quieter boy in shock.
He winced, nodding a bit. “Shh... they might hear you...” he said, waving his hands downward.
“They don't seem to care so why should we?” he grinned, the same line he used any time the door was left open on Blake's new room. Lucas sighed, rubbing his neck as he stood up and walked over to sit on his roommate's bed instead.
“Where do you keep your headphones?”
“Huh?” he glanced over, shrugging. “Oh, they're there somewhere man. Check my coat.” He turned his attention back toward the ceiling, some mix of fascination and irritartion on his face. “Fuckin' A.... Barry, really? That fruitbag's getting laid before me? That ain't right...”
Lucas just grunted, carefully picking up a pair of Ethan's boxers with the edge of his book and flicking them to the ground. Ethan's coat was somewhere in the pile, on his bed, but where exactly was the better question.
“Lucky though. Dawn's getting pretty hot. A bit flat for my tastes, but her legs are nice... And that face!”
There was a slight growl from his usual side of the room, and Lucas was staring him down. “That's my...” he stumbled over the words “ex-girlfriend“ mentally, then settled on, “my friend you're talking about!”
It was Ethan's turn to blink. “So? You're telling me you wouldn't have hit that if you had the chance?”
“I-” Lucas felt like his face was on fire, and he turned to look away from Ethan, staring at his dirty clothes instead. He'd been dating her, hadn't he? So of course he'd planned on having sex with her eventually, right? But he'd also never really thought about it. In the end that lack of thought was sort of why he'd lost her, wasn't it? He took a deep breath, trying to force down the blush or at least turn it into rage instead. “What the fuck, man?!” he snapped, the curse feeling unnatural on his tongue. “What if I said something like that about Lyra?!”
“Well that'd just mean you're nuts,” Ethan answered quickly, his tongue stuck out in disgust. “Really, why would you say something like that.”
Lucas groaned, grabbing the boy's coat off the bed. “Nevermind. I'm just not a pervert like you.”
“They've got a word for people like you, you know.”
He narrowed his eyes at his roommate. He'd heard “prude” spat at him one too many times, and he was starting to think Sinnoh was the only place on the planet that still taught people anything about respecting women. Or maybe it was just the only place where teenagers had anything better to do with their time than jack off.
“Gay,” Ethan announced, then jumped up and punched the ceiling.
“Whaaaat?!” Lucas shouted back, stunned by the accusation, then, “Knock that off!” scrambling across the room.
“What? They've gone quiet, it's boring.”
“Don't jump on my bed!” he snapped, trying to grab at his roomie's arm. “Please!”
“See? Gay. Real man would have just thrown me off of here by now.”
“Just because I'm not an asshole doesn't mean I'm gay!” He grabbed at him again, and Ethan evaded and snatched his hat in one motion. Lucas whined slightly, covering his hair with both hands in a late attempt to grab the hat. “And even if I was it wouldn't matter.”
“Deniiiial! Keep telling yourself that,” he chuckled, setting his friend's hat atop his own. “Man, I can't believe the show is already over.”
“Well I'm glad,” Lucas sneered, trying to hide his pout. What was with people and his hat lately.
Just then a scream, muffled by the plaster between them, but still clear and clearly Dawn's voice, filled the room for several seconds. Lucas went pale, hiding his face in his hands a few seconds later when Ethan whistled appreciatively.
“DAMN. That girl has some lungs. How'd you let that get away?”
“Please just shut up,” he mumbled into his palms, turning to sit down on the edge of his bed.
The only noise for the next minute or so was a pair of golf claps from the younger boy. Lucas groaned in relief at about the same moment that Ethan sighed. “Yeah, guess they really are done now.” He hopped off the bed and sat down, patting his friend on the back. “You want to go congratulate him?”
“Whaaaaat?!”
Ethan laughed at his sustained protest. “That's not bad. Keep it up and you can scream just like her.”
Lucas was trying really hard to cry, because honestly, that would only make the taunting worse. He really missed Brendan right about now; he might have made a joke or two, sure, but he had the sensetivity to know when his friend needed support. “This isn't funny,” he grumbled finally, sniffing back the couple of tears that had managed to escape.
Ethan watched him for a second, then sighed, hooking his arms behind his head. “Aww, I'm sorry man.”
His head jerked up to look at his roommate, surprised that he actually sounded sympathetic. “You.... are?”
“Yeah. I keep forgetting that that coulda been you up there. It ain't right for me to be going on about it. I'm sure losing a girl like that hurts.”
Lucas started to smile, moreso after his hat was handed back to him. “Thanks,” he whispered, brushing it off before putting it back on his head. “Is that what happened with you and Lyra?” He asked as he straightened it.
“...What?!” Ethan gagged, sounding a bit like he was going to puke from the notion. “What are you on?!”
He froze with both hands still on his hat, then got them up defensively as quickly as he could. “Nothing! Just you always talk about her with such annoyance, and her and Silver-”
“Her and the pansy is her problem, not mine. There is nothing between me and her. That is just... nasty,” he shivered, sticking his tongue out. “Why would you even... Ewww...”
“Sorry, sorry!” Lucas spouted, scooting back a couple inches. “Just you two've known each other so long, like Dawn and I have, so I just thought-”
“Yeah, but Dawn is cute. Lyra's just crazy. Maybe if she was more like her sister, then sure, I'd think about it, but...”
Lucas thought about making a comment about who was really in denial in the situation as Ethan continued to rant. “Okay, okay, I get it. I'm sorry,” he sighed once it was clear Ethan wasn't going to shut up any time soon. “I just made a mistake. I mean, not everyone's gonna fall for someone just because they went to school with them forever, right?”
“Exactly. I like older women, anyway,” Ethan assured him, smirking. “...But not like, milfs or whatever, that's just creepy. Just like, Kris and Winnie, and I guess Leaf's pretty hot but it's not the same.”
He just shook his head, feeling a little better just out amusement at Ethan's rambling. “I kinda get you.”
The next moment was silent, while Ethan made a couple of motions about boobs but otherwise just sat staring at the wall.
“...Okay, I'm bored again. Let's go play something.”
Lucas took a second to process what he'd just been asked. “Really?” Ethan never asked him to play anything.
“Yeah, or let's go train or something.” He stood up, stretching his back exaggerat ively, then turned back to grin at his roomie. “I'd challenge you to a battle, but we both know who'd win that.”
Lucas laughed. “I wouldn't be so sure on that one, but it's a bit late for a battle.” It was true that Blake not being in town gave Ethan less options for people to hang out with, but he still had a feeling this was his friend's way of apologizing for being insensitive. That, of course, assumed he really understood that he'd been hurtful, and Lucas could never be sure if something like that was giving the boy too much credit or not.
“Then the Wii it is!” he announced, adjusting his hat and dashing for the door.
He stopped mid-step when there was suddenly another very feminine squeak, turning back to look at Lucas. “Was that you?”
“What? No!” he complained, his tone of voice completely failing to disprove the accusation. “I think-”
They heard it again, and Ethan's hand quickly fell away from the doorknob as he started at the ceiling. “Damn, round two?” he said, whistling as he shook his head slightly. “Looks like I owe him some credit.”
Lucas was bright red again; while the first time, there had only been a few, spread-out moans, this time the noise was persistent. He reached up to cover his ears without even thinking about it, eyes squeezing shut as well. It was one thing to have heard something so passing, even if her scream had sunk into his soul uncomfortably... He was used to noise from the rooms on either side of his own, and was more than capable of sleeping straight through it. But when he chanced uncovering his ear, she had only gotten louder.
“I didn't think he could last this long,” Ethan thought aloud, glancing at Lucas as if to ask if he expected this out of his friend. He just whimpered, pressing his palms tighter to his ears. “They've been at it for what, half an hour?”
“Shut up!” Lucas shot back, palms still pressed to his ears.
“You shut up, I'm trying to listen.”
It looked like Lucas's eyes were going to fall out of his head from how wide they went as he stared in his roommate in horror. Ethan's tendency to eavesdrop when it was easy was no secret – he'd caught him and Lyra crouched outside of Brendan and May's room, giggling, at least once, and seen him with his ear pressed to the wall they shared with Blake and Winnie frequently – but somehow it was different in this case. A lot of it was because this was his best friends Ethan was listening to; that fact alone disgusted Lucas. But at least part of it was that Barry and Dawn were just so G rated in public, unlike the other couples. He was pretty sure he'd never seen them kiss in public outside of “hello” and “goodbye”, unlike the couch hoggers who treated PDA like a religion. Spying on people who were normally so chaste was just so wrong.
“Come on, let's go play,” he urged, heading for the door quickly. Maybe downstairs they wouldn't be able to hear them; two floors away seemed like far enough.
“And miss this? Hell no.” Then he grinned. “Do you know how much shit I get to give him later over this?”
Lucas had had enough. “Over what, him losing his virginity before you?”
That clearly struck a chord in the younger boy, who stuck his lip out and then went back to examining the ceiling. "You can run off if you want, I'm not missing the show," he grumbled, ignoring Lucas entirely.
He sighed, shaking his head as he turned to leave, only to wince at another loud thud. He thought maybe it had been something upstairs, but Ethan was still bouncing slightly from jumping to hit the ceiling again. "Don't do that!"
"Why?" he asked, though he jumped back down with a thump that was only lesser from the carpet.
"Because-" he faltered, feeling flustered. It was obviously an awful thing to do, why did he even question it? "Because it's a dick move, that's why," he explained, standing up straighter to emphasize the inch of height he had over Ethan.
"Man, you are such a wet blanket," he complained, traipsing across the room and dropping to his knees by his own bed.
"No, I'm practical," Lucas mumbled, deflating slightly. "Someone in this house has to be not wild."
Ethan laughed once, still digging around under his bed, then sliding his skateboard out before hopping to his feet. "Same difference. And Red's plenty 'not wild', so you can loosen up some, y'know."
Lucas felt his eye twitch a little as he tried to decide between retaliating and just leaving. This was beyond obnoxious in his mind, like Ethan was just trying to bait him by now, which he probably WAS if he thought about it. Just as he opened his mouth, the ceiling saved him from the humiliation of having no idea what to say by thunking fairly loudly. And this time Ethan's fist was nowhere near the plaster, not that it was capable of producing the creaking noises that followed.
And that didn't stop.
"Squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak," Ethan cackled, nodding his head to the rhythm and then jumping up onto Lucas's bed again, nearly thwacking him with his skateboard as he sped by.
"You are so SICK!" Lucas shouted, spinning around to keep his gaze on his roommate. "Most people don't listen to their friends have sex!"
"Now who's so loud they're gonna hear us?" he laughed. "Not that either of them would probably notice," he added, sticking his tongue out. "They're really into it."
Lucas's brow furrowed hard, his hand balling into a fist as rage started winning over embarrassment. Ethan bounced slightly on the bed again, then brought his skateboard over his head and smacked it into the ceiling hard enough to leave a small black mark. The older boy sputtered helplessly, charging for his bed and grabbing at Ethan, “Knock it off!”
Ethan just continued to laugh, knocking on the ceiling again and cheering.
“Barry wouldn't do this to you!” Lucas protested, pulling harder at his friend's hoodie.
“His loss. If he gets to have fun, so should I!”
Something inside of Lucas snapped in that moment. Most of him was still wanting to go cry in the corner from the conflicting emotions of missing Dawn and knowing his friends were off upstairs without him paired with him wanting to be happy for them. The rest wanted to just be embarrassed for them for how loud they were being about it, and for himself for being the teensiest bit aroused by hearing his ex's moans.
But everything he wanted to be feeling, all the emotions he wanted to deal with, were being shoved to the wayside because of Ethan's rampant dumbass-ary. For the second time that month, an unfamiliar rage was boiling within the normally level-headed boy.
“FUCK YOU!” he roared, the back of his arm colliding with Ethan's side and slamming him clean off the bed, to go tumbling to the floor. Lucas stumbled back too, from the force of the impact, then just stood there shaking, glaring down at his roommate.
The younger boy stared back up at him in shock, and for a few seconds the room itself was quiet, leaving every single groan from upstairs clear as day.
“What the hell, man?!” Ethan shouted back, grabbing his skateboard and holding it as a shield as he sat up.
Lucas lowered the arm he had raised, ready to lean down and punch Ethan, then a split second later kicked him in the calf instead. The younger boy's snarl of pain drowned out the background for a moment, one hand gripping his calf while the other still gripped the skateboard. “Knock it off!”
“You won't, why should I?” he snapped, his arm cocking again. “Or are you too much of a... a pussy to take your own SHIT?!” Lucas was screaming now, his hand latching onto the top of the skateboard, ready to rip it away.
“Yeah, but I'm not trying to hurt anybody!” Ethan defended, tightening his own grip. “It's all just a joke man!”
Lucas's sneer faltered for a second. Yeah, Ethan talked big, but he never actually did any of the shit he said... And he'd only seen him get in a physical fight with anyone once, and that someone was Silver. “Well-” he started, his mind racing.
Above them, Dawn screamed again, and Lucas looked away, unable to meet Ethan's eyes.
“Well?” Ethan spat after a second, pulling his skateboard free of Lucas's hand.
He squeezed back his tears, then stomped on the ground just an inch from the younger boy's leg, hissing, “Well, don't joke about my friends.”
“Alright man, I'm sorry. Yeesh. You're such a wet bl-”
Lucas swung again, only to be blocked by the skateboard. “You want to keep going, Ethan? Then we'll settle this right. A pokemon battle. Tomorrow, first thing.” He had his eyes narrowed, staring straight into Ethan.
He let go of the skateboard, and only then did Ethan realize he'd swing intending to catch the board, not trying to actually hit him. Lucas backed up slightly, still glaring at his roommate as he took another deep breath, then holding out his right hand to help Ethan up.
Ethan's face lit up as he finally saw a cue to react. “Now we're talking!” he cheered, slapping his hand into Lucas's and pulling himself to his feet. “It's about time something interesting happened around here!”
Lucas tried to keep scowling, but as Ethan grinned and shook his hand, he couldn't help but flash a slight smile. It was true; this was going to be interesting.
Hell, he was considering doing his laundry for the sake of something to do.
Then he heard it: the familiar calls of a girl somewhere else in the house. He sunk a little deeper into his pillow, fuming slightly. This was why the room rearrange had happened to begin with, to let the other guys get laid more often. That's what it boiled down to. And he and Lucas had been shoved together solely because they were single. No other reason. They hadn't even had a say in it, not really.
He glanced over at Lucas, who was slightly pink as he was reading his book. So he'd heard it too. Ethan smirked.
“Whatcha reading?”
The boy nearly fell out of his bed in surprise, and Ethan laughed victoriously, sitting up. “What, not used to the noise? Or not used to anyone knowing you're listenin'.”
“I'm trying really hard not to listen, thank you very much,” he whined, his voice wavering.
“Why? It's just Winnie. I'm pretty sure she likes it when we listen.”
Lucas turned a little redder, sinking lower in his corner. “Winnie and Blake are back in Unova right now, remember?”
Ethan blinked a couple times, straightening his hood as he looked at the wall in confusion. It wasn't coming from the right direction, now that he thought about it. “Well it ain't May either, I don't think.”
Lucas just shook his head, then jumped a few inches again when suddenly the ceiling creaked. “...Can I borrow your headphones?”
“The fuck?” Ethan complained, too distracted to answer his friend's question. “Upstairs? The girls' room?” Now it was him blushing as he worried for a moment that it was his best friend getting pounded above them. “That fucking better not be Lyra,” he growled, standing up on his bed and glaring at the ceiling. “There's no man alive crazy enough to fuck her, and I sure as hell ain't letting her lose her virginity before ME.”
The slightly older boy managed to hide the smile he cracked at his roommate's tirade, but when he tried to mumble a defense, it wasn't loud enough for him to hear. Lucas sighed when Ethan just continued glaring at the ceiling, then cleared his throat again, barely managing, “N-no, I don't think that's her...”
The ceiling squeaked again, and suddenly Ethan was standing on top of Lucas's bed, making it there in three bounds. “It's right over your bed! Haha, awesome.”
“Can I go sit on your bed, then?” he asked, pulling his legs closer to him and out of the path of Ethan's feet.
“You really don't want to be listening to this? This is free entertainment.”
Lucas just turned redder, turning to look out the window. “I... Dawn and Barry went up there a while ago.”
“Barry?!” Ethan snapped, staring at the quieter boy in shock.
He winced, nodding a bit. “Shh... they might hear you...” he said, waving his hands downward.
“They don't seem to care so why should we?” he grinned, the same line he used any time the door was left open on Blake's new room. Lucas sighed, rubbing his neck as he stood up and walked over to sit on his roommate's bed instead.
“Where do you keep your headphones?”
“Huh?” he glanced over, shrugging. “Oh, they're there somewhere man. Check my coat.” He turned his attention back toward the ceiling, some mix of fascination and irritartion on his face. “Fuckin' A.... Barry, really? That fruitbag's getting laid before me? That ain't right...”
Lucas just grunted, carefully picking up a pair of Ethan's boxers with the edge of his book and flicking them to the ground. Ethan's coat was somewhere in the pile, on his bed, but where exactly was the better question.
“Lucky though. Dawn's getting pretty hot. A bit flat for my tastes, but her legs are nice... And that face!”
There was a slight growl from his usual side of the room, and Lucas was staring him down. “That's my...” he stumbled over the words “ex-girlfriend“ mentally, then settled on, “my friend you're talking about!”
It was Ethan's turn to blink. “So? You're telling me you wouldn't have hit that if you had the chance?”
“I-” Lucas felt like his face was on fire, and he turned to look away from Ethan, staring at his dirty clothes instead. He'd been dating her, hadn't he? So of course he'd planned on having sex with her eventually, right? But he'd also never really thought about it. In the end that lack of thought was sort of why he'd lost her, wasn't it? He took a deep breath, trying to force down the blush or at least turn it into rage instead. “What the fuck, man?!” he snapped, the curse feeling unnatural on his tongue. “What if I said something like that about Lyra?!”
“Well that'd just mean you're nuts,” Ethan answered quickly, his tongue stuck out in disgust. “Really, why would you say something like that.”
Lucas groaned, grabbing the boy's coat off the bed. “Nevermind. I'm just not a pervert like you.”
“They've got a word for people like you, you know.”
He narrowed his eyes at his roommate. He'd heard “prude” spat at him one too many times, and he was starting to think Sinnoh was the only place on the planet that still taught people anything about respecting women. Or maybe it was just the only place where teenagers had anything better to do with their time than jack off.
“Gay,” Ethan announced, then jumped up and punched the ceiling.
“Whaaaat?!” Lucas shouted back, stunned by the accusation, then, “Knock that off!” scrambling across the room.
“What? They've gone quiet, it's boring.”
“Don't jump on my bed!” he snapped, trying to grab at his roomie's arm. “Please!”
“See? Gay. Real man would have just thrown me off of here by now.”
“Just because I'm not an asshole doesn't mean I'm gay!” He grabbed at him again, and Ethan evaded and snatched his hat in one motion. Lucas whined slightly, covering his hair with both hands in a late attempt to grab the hat. “And even if I was it wouldn't matter.”
“Deniiiial! Keep telling yourself that,” he chuckled, setting his friend's hat atop his own. “Man, I can't believe the show is already over.”
“Well I'm glad,” Lucas sneered, trying to hide his pout. What was with people and his hat lately.
Just then a scream, muffled by the plaster between them, but still clear and clearly Dawn's voice, filled the room for several seconds. Lucas went pale, hiding his face in his hands a few seconds later when Ethan whistled appreciatively.
“DAMN. That girl has some lungs. How'd you let that get away?”
“Please just shut up,” he mumbled into his palms, turning to sit down on the edge of his bed.
The only noise for the next minute or so was a pair of golf claps from the younger boy. Lucas groaned in relief at about the same moment that Ethan sighed. “Yeah, guess they really are done now.” He hopped off the bed and sat down, patting his friend on the back. “You want to go congratulate him?”
“Whaaaaat?!”
Ethan laughed at his sustained protest. “That's not bad. Keep it up and you can scream just like her.”
Lucas was trying really hard to cry, because honestly, that would only make the taunting worse. He really missed Brendan right about now; he might have made a joke or two, sure, but he had the sensetivity to know when his friend needed support. “This isn't funny,” he grumbled finally, sniffing back the couple of tears that had managed to escape.
Ethan watched him for a second, then sighed, hooking his arms behind his head. “Aww, I'm sorry man.”
His head jerked up to look at his roommate, surprised that he actually sounded sympathetic. “You.... are?”
“Yeah. I keep forgetting that that coulda been you up there. It ain't right for me to be going on about it. I'm sure losing a girl like that hurts.”
Lucas started to smile, moreso after his hat was handed back to him. “Thanks,” he whispered, brushing it off before putting it back on his head. “Is that what happened with you and Lyra?” He asked as he straightened it.
“...What?!” Ethan gagged, sounding a bit like he was going to puke from the notion. “What are you on?!”
He froze with both hands still on his hat, then got them up defensively as quickly as he could. “Nothing! Just you always talk about her with such annoyance, and her and Silver-”
“Her and the pansy is her problem, not mine. There is nothing between me and her. That is just... nasty,” he shivered, sticking his tongue out. “Why would you even... Ewww...”
“Sorry, sorry!” Lucas spouted, scooting back a couple inches. “Just you two've known each other so long, like Dawn and I have, so I just thought-”
“Yeah, but Dawn is cute. Lyra's just crazy. Maybe if she was more like her sister, then sure, I'd think about it, but...”
Lucas thought about making a comment about who was really in denial in the situation as Ethan continued to rant. “Okay, okay, I get it. I'm sorry,” he sighed once it was clear Ethan wasn't going to shut up any time soon. “I just made a mistake. I mean, not everyone's gonna fall for someone just because they went to school with them forever, right?”
“Exactly. I like older women, anyway,” Ethan assured him, smirking. “...But not like, milfs or whatever, that's just creepy. Just like, Kris and Winnie, and I guess Leaf's pretty hot but it's not the same.”
He just shook his head, feeling a little better just out amusement at Ethan's rambling. “I kinda get you.”
The next moment was silent, while Ethan made a couple of motions about boobs but otherwise just sat staring at the wall.
“...Okay, I'm bored again. Let's go play something.”
Lucas took a second to process what he'd just been asked. “Really?” Ethan never asked him to play anything.
“Yeah, or let's go train or something.” He stood up, stretching his back exaggerat ively, then turned back to grin at his roomie. “I'd challenge you to a battle, but we both know who'd win that.”
Lucas laughed. “I wouldn't be so sure on that one, but it's a bit late for a battle.” It was true that Blake not being in town gave Ethan less options for people to hang out with, but he still had a feeling this was his friend's way of apologizing for being insensitive. That, of course, assumed he really understood that he'd been hurtful, and Lucas could never be sure if something like that was giving the boy too much credit or not.
“Then the Wii it is!” he announced, adjusting his hat and dashing for the door.
He stopped mid-step when there was suddenly another very feminine squeak, turning back to look at Lucas. “Was that you?”
“What? No!” he complained, his tone of voice completely failing to disprove the accusation. “I think-”
They heard it again, and Ethan's hand quickly fell away from the doorknob as he started at the ceiling. “Damn, round two?” he said, whistling as he shook his head slightly. “Looks like I owe him some credit.”
Lucas was bright red again; while the first time, there had only been a few, spread-out moans, this time the noise was persistent. He reached up to cover his ears without even thinking about it, eyes squeezing shut as well. It was one thing to have heard something so passing, even if her scream had sunk into his soul uncomfortably... He was used to noise from the rooms on either side of his own, and was more than capable of sleeping straight through it. But when he chanced uncovering his ear, she had only gotten louder.
“I didn't think he could last this long,” Ethan thought aloud, glancing at Lucas as if to ask if he expected this out of his friend. He just whimpered, pressing his palms tighter to his ears. “They've been at it for what, half an hour?”
“Shut up!” Lucas shot back, palms still pressed to his ears.
“You shut up, I'm trying to listen.”
It looked like Lucas's eyes were going to fall out of his head from how wide they went as he stared in his roommate in horror. Ethan's tendency to eavesdrop when it was easy was no secret – he'd caught him and Lyra crouched outside of Brendan and May's room, giggling, at least once, and seen him with his ear pressed to the wall they shared with Blake and Winnie frequently – but somehow it was different in this case. A lot of it was because this was his best friends Ethan was listening to; that fact alone disgusted Lucas. But at least part of it was that Barry and Dawn were just so G rated in public, unlike the other couples. He was pretty sure he'd never seen them kiss in public outside of “hello” and “goodbye”, unlike the couch hoggers who treated PDA like a religion. Spying on people who were normally so chaste was just so wrong.
“Come on, let's go play,” he urged, heading for the door quickly. Maybe downstairs they wouldn't be able to hear them; two floors away seemed like far enough.
“And miss this? Hell no.” Then he grinned. “Do you know how much shit I get to give him later over this?”
Lucas had had enough. “Over what, him losing his virginity before you?”
That clearly struck a chord in the younger boy, who stuck his lip out and then went back to examining the ceiling. "You can run off if you want, I'm not missing the show," he grumbled, ignoring Lucas entirely.
He sighed, shaking his head as he turned to leave, only to wince at another loud thud. He thought maybe it had been something upstairs, but Ethan was still bouncing slightly from jumping to hit the ceiling again. "Don't do that!"
"Why?" he asked, though he jumped back down with a thump that was only lesser from the carpet.
"Because-" he faltered, feeling flustered. It was obviously an awful thing to do, why did he even question it? "Because it's a dick move, that's why," he explained, standing up straighter to emphasize the inch of height he had over Ethan.
"Man, you are such a wet blanket," he complained, traipsing across the room and dropping to his knees by his own bed.
"No, I'm practical," Lucas mumbled, deflating slightly. "Someone in this house has to be not wild."
Ethan laughed once, still digging around under his bed, then sliding his skateboard out before hopping to his feet. "Same difference. And Red's plenty 'not wild', so you can loosen up some, y'know."
Lucas felt his eye twitch a little as he tried to decide between retaliating and just leaving. This was beyond obnoxious in his mind, like Ethan was just trying to bait him by now, which he probably WAS if he thought about it. Just as he opened his mouth, the ceiling saved him from the humiliation of having no idea what to say by thunking fairly loudly. And this time Ethan's fist was nowhere near the plaster, not that it was capable of producing the creaking noises that followed.
And that didn't stop.
"Squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak," Ethan cackled, nodding his head to the rhythm and then jumping up onto Lucas's bed again, nearly thwacking him with his skateboard as he sped by.
"You are so SICK!" Lucas shouted, spinning around to keep his gaze on his roommate. "Most people don't listen to their friends have sex!"
"Now who's so loud they're gonna hear us?" he laughed. "Not that either of them would probably notice," he added, sticking his tongue out. "They're really into it."
Lucas's brow furrowed hard, his hand balling into a fist as rage started winning over embarrassment. Ethan bounced slightly on the bed again, then brought his skateboard over his head and smacked it into the ceiling hard enough to leave a small black mark. The older boy sputtered helplessly, charging for his bed and grabbing at Ethan, “Knock it off!”
Ethan just continued to laugh, knocking on the ceiling again and cheering.
“Barry wouldn't do this to you!” Lucas protested, pulling harder at his friend's hoodie.
“His loss. If he gets to have fun, so should I!”
Something inside of Lucas snapped in that moment. Most of him was still wanting to go cry in the corner from the conflicting emotions of missing Dawn and knowing his friends were off upstairs without him paired with him wanting to be happy for them. The rest wanted to just be embarrassed for them for how loud they were being about it, and for himself for being the teensiest bit aroused by hearing his ex's moans.
But everything he wanted to be feeling, all the emotions he wanted to deal with, were being shoved to the wayside because of Ethan's rampant dumbass-ary. For the second time that month, an unfamiliar rage was boiling within the normally level-headed boy.
“FUCK YOU!” he roared, the back of his arm colliding with Ethan's side and slamming him clean off the bed, to go tumbling to the floor. Lucas stumbled back too, from the force of the impact, then just stood there shaking, glaring down at his roommate.
The younger boy stared back up at him in shock, and for a few seconds the room itself was quiet, leaving every single groan from upstairs clear as day.
“What the hell, man?!” Ethan shouted back, grabbing his skateboard and holding it as a shield as he sat up.
Lucas lowered the arm he had raised, ready to lean down and punch Ethan, then a split second later kicked him in the calf instead. The younger boy's snarl of pain drowned out the background for a moment, one hand gripping his calf while the other still gripped the skateboard. “Knock it off!”
“You won't, why should I?” he snapped, his arm cocking again. “Or are you too much of a... a pussy to take your own SHIT?!” Lucas was screaming now, his hand latching onto the top of the skateboard, ready to rip it away.
“Yeah, but I'm not trying to hurt anybody!” Ethan defended, tightening his own grip. “It's all just a joke man!”
Lucas's sneer faltered for a second. Yeah, Ethan talked big, but he never actually did any of the shit he said... And he'd only seen him get in a physical fight with anyone once, and that someone was Silver. “Well-” he started, his mind racing.
Above them, Dawn screamed again, and Lucas looked away, unable to meet Ethan's eyes.
“Well?” Ethan spat after a second, pulling his skateboard free of Lucas's hand.
He squeezed back his tears, then stomped on the ground just an inch from the younger boy's leg, hissing, “Well, don't joke about my friends.”
“Alright man, I'm sorry. Yeesh. You're such a wet bl-”
Lucas swung again, only to be blocked by the skateboard. “You want to keep going, Ethan? Then we'll settle this right. A pokemon battle. Tomorrow, first thing.” He had his eyes narrowed, staring straight into Ethan.
He let go of the skateboard, and only then did Ethan realize he'd swing intending to catch the board, not trying to actually hit him. Lucas backed up slightly, still glaring at his roommate as he took another deep breath, then holding out his right hand to help Ethan up.
Ethan's face lit up as he finally saw a cue to react. “Now we're talking!” he cheered, slapping his hand into Lucas's and pulling himself to his feet. “It's about time something interesting happened around here!”
Lucas tried to keep scowling, but as Ethan grinned and shook his hand, he couldn't help but flash a slight smile. It was true; this was going to be interesting.