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The next morning unfolded like most Saturdays the three friends spent together did. They slowly woke up one by one, not putting much rush into their actions. As per usual, Josiah was the first to roll out of bed with his numerous small, frizzy curls matted flat against the side of his head.

Josiah grabbed a fresh, dark purple t-shirt from his dresser and silently walked out of his room with it in his hand. He quietly latched the door behind him so Ayden could continue sleeping. The blonde always slept in for as long as she could on the weekends, and Josiah didn't blame her.

If his body wasn't already trained to wake up early every day, he would love to actually stay in bed until at least eleven every once in a while. Just like today, the latest he could sleep was just before ten.

Yawning and with his shirt draped over a shoulder, Josiah gradually made his way out to the kitchen. He glanced to the couch, and as expected, Carson was still sleeping away. Josiah's lips quirked a little at the sight, but he kept walking past the living room.

Josiah ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to get the little curls to stick out normally. He didn't spend long trying to fix it, and once he stepped onto the cold kitchen tile with his bare feet, he let it go. Josiah flinched at the freezing floor at first, but he soon adjusted to the temperature and crossed over to the refrigerator.

The black-haired guy immediately began picking out the ingredients he knew he would need to make breakfast for the three of them. He knew from months of experience just how many eggs to make or how much pancake mix to poor into the bowl. Josiah loved cooking for his friends, and it had become routine over the last year that most Saturdays he made them all a big breakfast.

Josiah got everything ready and started to heat up the stove as he beat two eggs for Carson as he liked them scrambled. Josiah dropped the eggs in the frying pan and started to scramble them as he poured the pancake batter out onto the skillet in two circles.

As he cooked, the smell of cooking butter and frying eggs wafted up to him and caused his stomach to rumble.

Like normal, the delicious and taunting scent of the food, woke Carson up. He popped his indigo eyes open and his empty stomach flopped around, telling him how hungry he was.

The younger boy sat up on the couch and realized there was a blanket all tangled up in his legs. He stared for a second before he realized Josiah must have covered him up again. Carson knew Josiah always brought him a pillow and a blanket if he fell asleep before the others.

Carson rubbed at his eyes and then unsteadily got to his feet. Josiah heard his friend's footsteps, and turned to see Carson rubbing sleep from his eyes as he walked to the kitchen.

"Morning sleepyhead," Josiah said with a smile.

"Morning," Carson mumbled, voice thick from just waking up. He glanced at his friend and then raised his eyebrows. "Joe, why are you wearing your shirt like that?"

Josiah flipped the pancakes and looked down at himself, not sure what Carson meant. "Oh, shit," he said with a laugh. The purple fabric was still simply laying over his shoulder. "I forgot to put it on."

Carson rolled his eyes and laughed. He wasn't going to complain, though. Trying not to sound creepy or anything, but Carson couldn't deny that Josiah's sinewy muscles and lean, fit chest made his mouth water. Of course Carson knew he couldn't stare or anything, but there wasn't anything wrong with a little subtle looking every now and then.

"Car?"

The brunette shook his head and raised his eyebrows in question just as Josiah turned around. "What?"

Josiah held out a full plate of hot food. "I said, your breakfast just got done." The older boy smirked. "What, are you still sleeping over there? It's almost ten-thirty."

Carson reached for the plate and shook his head as he took it from Josiah's hand. Changing the subject to, in his opinion, a much safer one than his ridiculous attraction to the other boy, Carson said, "I think I'm going to break up with Gabriel today."

Josiah had moved on to cooking his own food, facing away from his friend, but when he heard what the younger guy said his shoulders tensed up slightly. Carson was oblivious to this as he put his breakfast on the table and walked back to the refrigerator for something to drink.

"How are you going to do it?" Josiah asked casually. He pulled open the cupboard closest to him and grabbed a cup off the shelf. Turning to Carson, he said, “Here.”

“Thanks.” Carson took the glass from his friend and tipped the carton of orange juice until the yellow liquid poured out. When he put the container back in the fridge, he leaned against the appliance and watched Josiah poach his eggs. “I know this is really stupid, but I think I’m gonna do it over the phone...”

Carson held his breath as he waited for Josiah to say something. The sage-eyed boy flipped a pancake as he considered what his friend had said. He wasn’t really sure what to say. It wasn’t that Josiah was condoning such a cowardly way to break up with someone, but he thought that maybe this method would be the best for the circumstances.

“It’s not necessarily stupid,” Josiah said, transferring his now-cooked food over to his plate with his spatula. When he was done, he set the plate aside, and grabbed his own glass to fill it with milk. Carson stepped aside so Josiah could get into the refrigerator. “I actually think it’s a good idea.”

Carson watched the dark-haired guy put the milk away. He was pretty surprised by what the other had said. “You do?”

Josiah nodded and retrieved his food before heading over to the table. Carson followed his friend and soon they were seated right across from each other. The brunette brought his glass up to his lips and took a little sip of his drink. Josiah slid a fork over to his friend, and took a bite of his eggs before he poured syrup over his pancakes.

“Yeah,” Josiah said around his mouthful of food. “I just don’t think you should be alone with Gabriel right now.”

Carson almost dropped his fork. The scrambled eggs slid right back onto his plate. “What?”

Josiah sighed and avoided looking at the younger boy. “Well, he’s a bit of a hot-head. I don’t trust him not to lash out.”

Carson was floored. He had never thought Josiah would say something like that. He knew his friend hadn’t been so fond of his latest boyfriend, but he didn’t think Josiah took it that seriously.

“If this is about me being gay...” Carson said quietly, trailing off. “Because I know we’ve never really talked about it or anything, and I know you’re supportive, but I’m not completely incapable of handling myself.”

Josiah nearly choked around his pancakes. Never once had he ever thought Carson wasn’t able to defend himself, and especially not because he was gay. Josiah couldn’t have cared less if the brunette were gay or straight or whatever else there was out there, he liked the younger guy as a person. His sexual preference didn’t change Josiah’s perception about him in the slightest. He actually thought it was pretty irrelevant.

Once he had air going smoothly through his windpipe, Josiah said, “That is so not what I meant, Carson. I know you’re not weak or anything like that. I’m just saying...” Josiah stopped talking to clear his throat. He looked at Carson who seemed stunned and curious. “Well, I don’t really know what I’m saying. I’m just worried about you because I don’t like the guy, and whether you’re gay or not, I still don’t want anything bad to happen to you. Does that even make sense?”

A pang went through Carson’s chest over and over again. It was that kind of hurt that you experienced when someone was making you feel too much. Josiah was doing that thing where he was being too nice without even realizing what he was doing to his friend--what he was making him feel. Not for the first time, Carson just wanted to hug him and be able to keep him. But he couldn’t, of course. Ayden was the only one who had that right, and the last thing Carson wanted to do was ruin any of their friendships because he couldn’t control his emotions.

Carson bit the inside of his cheek and didn’t let himself talk until he knew he wasn’t going to sound like an idiot.

“Uh, yeah. It makes sense. Sorry I jumped to conclusions, I know you’re not like that, I just wasn’t thinking.”

Josiah shrugged, but studied his friend. “It’s alright. I just don’t want you to think I’m underestimating you. I only said it because I care.”

“I know,” Carson said, maintaining eye contact with the older guy. “Thanks, man.”

Josiah smiled and went back to eating his food. With all this dawdling and talking, both boys’ food was beginning to cool down. It grew into a comfortable silence as the two of them ate. When they started talking again, they had moved onto easier topics like school and what they were thinking about graduation which was coming up sooner for Josiah than it was Carson.

Ayden eventually woke up and stumbled her way out to the living room and kitchen when her friends were all finished with their breakfast. Josiah gave her a small kiss before he started on her food. The curly-haired guy made her a fried egg, put it on toast, and then fried a few sausage patties for the blonde.

Ayden had only been in the room with the boys for a few minutes, before Carson’s phone started to ring. Josiah watched carefully as his friend took off for the living room to answer the incoming call. He couldn’t hear what Carson was saying, but he did notice that his stance was stiff and the expression on his face was less than enthused. Josiah was willing to bet everything he owned that it was Gabriel who called.

Ayden’s eyes followed her best friend as he left the room and then started talking on his phone. She only looked on for a moment before she lost interest and turned back to Josiah. He was staring right past her to the brunette, and when the smell of burning meat reached her nostrils, Ayden waved her arm and raised her eyebrows to get her boyfriend’s attention.

“Babe, you’re burning that,” Ayden pointed out.

Josiah jumped, and seemed to notice for the first time that he’d been neglecting what he had on the stove. He snapped his gaze away from Carson in the other room and took the frying pan off of the stove so he could salvage the slightly charred food.

“Shit,” the sage-eyed boy muttered.

“Am I missing something here? What did you and Carson talk about while I was sleeping?”

Josiah looked over at his girlfriend with a neutral expression on his face. “He’s breaking up with Gabriel.”

Ayden’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and she whipped her head around to stare at her best friend again. She honestly hadn’t thought that Carson was going to do this right away in the day, but even so, she was glad he was getting it over with.

*

Carson’s face darkened when he saw Gabriel’s number flash across his phone’s screen. He sighed and thought, Better now than later, I guess.

“What?” Carson asked gruffly, pressing the phone to his ear.

“You can’t just ignore me forever,” Gabriel said, sounding annoyed.

Carson crossed an arm over his chest and held onto his elbow with his hand. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“So now you want to talk? That’s convenient. Did you not get any of my texts last night?”

Carson bit his cheek to keep himself from yelling at his soon-to-be ex-boyfriend. “Oh, I got them, alright. You are such an asshole, Gabe. What the hell made you think it was alright for you to say those things to me?”

Instead of answering his question, Gabriel retorted with his own question. “What makes you think you can cheat on me?”

Carson’s jaw dropped open completely. He thought his eyes might bug out of his head. “Are you joking? Gabe, listen to yourself. You sound crazy!”

“So you’re denying it?”

Carson almost laughed, but he kept it in check. “There is nothing to deny! I’m not cheating on you. I would never do that.”

Gabriel snorted, and Carson frowned. The way the older guy was behaving was only making Carson more angry. Plus, he was baffled by this ridiculous theory that Gabriel had come up with.

“I’m not stupid. You spend all your time with Josiah. I know you’re hooking up with him.”

Carson wasn’t sure whether he wanted to throw up or laugh nervously. Nobody had ever asked him something like that. It was actually the first time anybody had ever even suggested Carson was interested in his best friend like that. Of course he was, but he had never had to admit it or discuss it.

“I am not,” Carson said slowly. “You have literally gone off the deep end. There is absolutely nothing going on with us.”

“What the fuck ever, Carson,” Gabriel snapped. He sounded cold. If it were possible, he seemed even more livid than he had been the previous night. “Fine, you wanna lie and pretend, then go ahead. But not at my expense. We’re over.”

“Excuse me?” Carson asked so loudly he was almost shouting into the phone.

“I’m breaking up with you!”

Angrily, Carson tightened his hold on his cell phone. “No you’re not! I’m breaking up with you. I can’t deal with your shit anymore. You are a nightmare and a complete douche. You may be good looking and totally fit, but you’re as dumb as a box of rocks. It’s amazing you even got into college.”

“You little--”

“Goodbye,” Carson stated harshly, separating the syllables clearly as he spoke the word.

The brunette ripped his phone away from his face and hit the button to end the call before Gabriel even had a chance to retaliate. As enraged as he was by the conversation he had just had, Carson felt a million times better. And even though it was a total cliche to say it, Carson felt like a heavy weight had just been lifted from his life.

Now, as long as he didn’t have to run into Gabriel again for a long time, Carson would be as happy panda with an endless supply of bamboo.

Still a little high off of his post-breakup energy, Carson rushed back to the kitchen. Ayden was now seated at the table, with her egg sandwich raised halfway up to her lips. Her green eyes were watching him carefully as he pulled the chair opposite her and next to Josiah out. The brunette sat down heavily and let out a relieved sigh.

Josiah rested an elbow on top of the table and set his chin on top of his fist. He looked at his girlfriend, they exchanged a look, and then they both looked back to Carson again.

“How did it--” Ayden started to ask.

“Great,” Carson said.

His friends weren’t really sure if he was being serious or not due to his voice not sounding completely sarcastic. But there was an undertone to it that had the couple questioning it. Taking the initiative, Josiah spoke.

“And by that, you mean...?”

Carson smiled at his black-haired friend. “It was peachy.” Carson saw the confusion pass over both Josiah’s and Ayden’s faces and he chuckled a little. “Well, yeah, it was difficult. Gabe kept yelling at me and saying...well, saying stupid shit. But I yelled back--”

“So we heard,” Ayden smirked.

“--anyway,” Carson continued with a little smile, “I feel so much better now that it’s over. I was sick of his behaviour. You can’t just scream at me all the time and expect me to be your best friend. Or keep dating you. I am a human being with feelings.”

Josiah laughed but clapped his friend over the shoulder. “That was beautiful, Car.”

Carson smirked, but it soon transformed into a smile as Ayden jumped in and started going on about the right way to treat a human being. Josiah and Carson humoured her for a while before they started teasing one another and arguing, before Ayden finally shut up and went back to eating her breakfast.

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