“J-Jonathan?” Ryan stares wide-eyed at the boy in front of him.

Jonathan simply laughs as if nothing is wrong and slides into the seat across from him. “Yeah! It's me, bitch! Delirious is back from the dead!”

A second guy comes in- the one from the picture. He sits down besides Jonathan, waving casually at Ryan.

“Hey,” he says. “I'm Marcel. I was a dude on the side of the road. How you doing?”

Ryan nods at Marcel politely. “I'm Ryan. I'm hungry and worried about my dog, how about you?”

Marcel laughs softly and shrugs. “Eh. I'm good. Jon bought me some chips.”

“Hah! You guys are friends already, see? I told you'd fit in Marcel!” Seeming proud of himself, Jonathan leans back in his seat and stretches. He pauses mid stretch, however, and looks around curiously. "Where's Bryce, huh?"

Ryan feels himself tense up at the question. He laughs nervously, fiddling with the straw in his drink. "Bryce? He's uh... He didn't come. Said he was tired or some shit like that, I don't know."

"What did you do to him, huh Ohm?" Jonathan can see straight through Ryan. He narrows his eyes and leans forwards until his face is just inches from Ryan. " Did you guys break up? Is that what it is?"

Ryan chokes on his drink, sputtering and gasping as he moves away from Jonathan. "W- What? No! We're not even dating yet-" Ryan's eyes widen as he realizes his mistake, and he begins to cough harder-" We're just- just friends! It was the heat of the moment, I swear, I just- I felt awkward and hungry and I wanted-"

Marcel's laughter cuts him off. Jonathan reaches over and pats his back, a knowing  grin plastered on his face.

"Not yet, huh?" Marcel calms himself enough to smirk at Ryan. "I see how it is. Great first impression, by the way."

Jonathan smiles warmly, any signs of teasing gone completely. "It's okay Ohm. We're just teasing. But for real... Take us to Bryce. "

-

Ryan opens the door to the apartment, walking inside with Bryce's drink in hand. "Bryce? Brycey, where you at?"

"I'm over here! I just- oh gosh.... I'm here!" Bryce's voice rings out from somewhere else, followed by the sound of something falling to the ground with a loud thump. There was a small moment of silence before Bryce sighs faintly and whines, "Oh no... My phone..."

Ryan goes over to Bryce, Jon and Marcel right behind him. He goes into the bedroom to find Bryce staring sadly at his phone that is now covered in cracks. "I brought you your drink. And some friendship, because you need it."

Bryce looks up confused, only to gasp and stare at Jonathan in surprise. "J-Jonathan?"

Jonathan laughs and holds his arms out for a hug. "Yeah," he says. "It's me, Brycey! You gonna hug me or what?"

Bryce laughs giddily and runs straight into Jon's arms. "Oh, Jon... Thank goodness you're okay, I was- we were so worried..."

Marcel smiles awkwardly, and Ryan can't help but feel a bit bad for the guy. He looks like he's been through some shit.

Jon laughs again, this time holding an arm out to both Ryan and Marcel. "Come on guys... Come join us. That means you, Marcel. You like hugs, don't you?"

Marcel, apparently, does indeed like hugs. The four of them stand together in the middle of the room in one big group hug, relaxing in each others' embrace.

A few more introductions went between Bryce and Marcel, and then they were all left to talk about other things. Like how they all got here, or why they were even here in the first place.

"My friends fucking ditched me and Delirious saved me from being some homeless dude," Marcel says, picking lightly at some lint on his shirt.

Jonathan nods as if confirming Marcel's story. He then pats Bryce's back and wraps an arm around Bryce's waist. "So, Brycey, how did you get here, huh? Did your little boyfriend drag you up here?"

Ryan feels a twinge of jealousy come over him at Jonathan's actions, and the tiniest bit of anger as Bryce shifts uncomfortably.

He slides over to Bryce, easily pulling him away from Jonathan and wraps his own arm around Bryce tightly.

"It was my dumb idea to go find you and Luke," Ryan says firmly. "But Bryce talked me into jumping on an airplane and coming all the way over here."

"So you guys just got an apartment? Aww, you guys ran away to be in love. Ain't that the cutest Marcel?"

Marcel nods, grinning playfully. Bryce blushes besides Ryan, looking down at his hands.

Ryan huffs in frustration. "No, you dumbass. This is Brock's place. He left us though, so now it's just us here."

Jonathan's face scrunches up in what Ryan recognises as pure envy (or maybe hate). "Ew, Brock? Like the Brock that knew Luke?"

Ryan nods, and Jon looks like he's suddenly become disgusted with this entire building.

Marcel cuts him off before anything comes out of Jon's mouth. "You know Brock left for the same fuckholes that ditched me and left me for dead? I know I'm new here kinda, but is anyone else kinda getting a bad feeling here?"

There was an unexplainable moment of silence as they all waited for someone else to acknowledge the blatant lies they all seem to have been fed.

It is Bryce who finally breaks the silence, giving a bitter laugh and leaning back against Ryan's shoulder.

"You have no idea," he says. And though his words are said with a smile, the weariness in Bryce's eyes seem to tell Ryan everything.