Revenge, Thy Name is Hat
There were several things that disturbed Brendan when he thought about finding Lucas that morning, and his nudity was not the first of them (though it was still on the list). The biggest issue, that nothing could even compare to in terms of offensiveness, was that he'd apparently been jacking off to thoughts of May, who was most definitely *his* girlfriend, not Lucas's, last he'd checked. Following that was that he'd actually used an article of her clothing to do so, nevermind that it was one Brendan had stolen himself ages before. Somewhere mixed in with point two was point three, that the bandana hadn't been washed since the last time Brendan had used it for the same, so that meant all sorts of nasty implications that made him uncomfortable to consider, that were summed up by him screaming “Gay!” at Lucas suddenly over dinner. Then there was the fact he'd stolen it from him to begin with, which meant he'd gone through his drawers, and who knew what else he'd found in there.
A little part of him also wanted to be offended that Lucas had clearly been jacking off while he was in the room, though likely sleeping, but he'd been guilty of that enough that he left that off the list. He'd make sure to bring it up the next time he needed to insult his roommate, though.
All these items of rage, along with a hint of sadness at a “friend” lost, were tumbling through Brendan's mind as he crouched in the back yard, carefully holding one corner of the bandana he'd just had Numel set on fire. As the flames came closer to his hand, he let it fall to the ground, watching it burn into shreds.
“What was that all about?” Ethan asked as he walked in the back door. “Burning the gloves you touched Lucas with?”
He laughed falsely. “No, but I might have to, now that you made me think about it. I don't want to talk about it.” He didn't. He just wanted to go tackle his girlfriend, remind himself that she was his and Lucas wasn't going to touch her, and steal another bandana.
Ethan, meanwhile, laughed, knowing exactly what it must have been just from the awkwardness in her friend's voice. “Yeah... Part of me thinks that he was punished enough for that bullshit just by having his junk seen by half the apartment.” Brendan looked at him with an eyebrow raised, wondering what his point was, as he didn't know “enough” was in Ethan's vocabulary. “Thing is though... I think you deserve any scrap of revenge you can think of, dude.”
“Revenge, huh?”
He knew how well that had turned out last time, but wasn't above evening the odds, not by any means.
His plan took a few days of preparation to do right, though they were certainly difficult days as a result. But finally the night came for his plans to come to fruition, and he stole his roommate's hat as he slept, sneaking off to the closet with it, then leaving to spend the night in May's room.
Lucas woke up the next morning to find Brendan absent, but he wasn't surprised, since it'd been a few days since he'd been to May's room or kicked him out to use theirs. He sat up and went about his morning, carefully styling his hair and straightening his clothes before heading down to breakfast.
The finishing touch, of course, was his trademark hat, which he put on without even glancing at.
It was a mistake he'd never make again.
At first he just wondered why his hat felt heavier than normal on his hair, but he figured it just meant he needed a haircut. Soon, though, he realized there was a wetness to his scalp, dripping down the side of his head and forehead, despite his hair being completely dry last he'd checked.
A salty scent caught his nose, and he cringed for a moment, then his eyes started to tear as he started to understand. He was terrified to take off his hat and actually be sure, instead marching straight back to the bathroom for another shower, crying silently in distress.