"Hey, G? You still awake?"
Fourteen years old and not-too-happy at being bothered just at the moment he was going to fall asleep, Gallagher rolled onto his side and blearily looked over the edge of his bed. It was dark in his room, but with the moonlight coming in through the window he could see the slight shine of his friend's eyes from where he was mostly wrapped up in an old sleeping bag.
"I am now."
"Sorry." Kain shifted a bit in his sleeping bag. "I forgot to tell you after dinner, but…"
Gallagher made a sleepy hmm sound.
"Tieve and Clodagh got adopted by this old guy and his wife awhile ago. Keaghan and Marrec's been…" Kain's pause indicated that he was looking for the appropriate words, but then he shrugged when he couldn't find any. "They're getting' worse."
"Just let 'em fight it out."
"Yeah, but Father Torrin's been makin' me get in the middle of all of it. All I could do was take a few punches from Marrec so Keaghan wouldn't get hit too much, 'cause y'know he doesn't like getting into fights."
Gallagher sat up immediately. "Wait, so that shiner wasn't—"
"No, it wasn't the doorknob. Sorry I lied about that." Kain's sleeping bag unzipped quietly and he sat up as well.
Gallagher exhaled slowly, his breathing loud in the silence.
"So that's why you asked me if I didn't mind you sleepin' over for the weekends."
"Yep. Sorry for that, too."
"Stop apologizin', dumbass." Gallagher flopped back down on his bed. "Y'know you're welcome anytime. Just don't lie to me about those twat-faces givin' you black eyes, alright?"
"Yeah." Kain slid back down into his sleeping bag.
Just as Gallagher was drifting off into sleep once more, he could've sworn that he heard the other teen whisper faintly, "I didn't want y'to worry."