Chapter 19 – A Trio no more

6:45pm, Saturday night, and Lukas lay on the couch flipping through the TV channels, the blue glow of the screen the only source of light in the living room. He'd been on the couch for a couple of hours and hadn't bothered to get up to put the light on after it had gone dark outside.

It was the first time Lukas had had the house all to himself in years; Tino was at Berwald's house where he'd spent every weekend for the past couple of weeks, and Emil had plans to watch a movie at the cinema with Leon tonight after work.

After cycling through all the channels and ending up back where he started, Lukas pressed the button on the remote and turned the TV off, the living room falling into darkness apart from the faint, burning red glow at the end of his cigarette as he took a drag.

With Tino not being home as much these days and Emil either at school, working, or holed up in his room studying, Lukas had been feeling lonelier than ever. He'd argued with Emil for not doing his share of the chores before he'd stormed out of the house earlier that afternoon and he couldn't help but now feel terrible about it. He loved Emil and only wanted what was best for him but also wanted to raise him in the best way that he could; and that was to be a responsible young adult with the world at his fingertips, prepared for anything.

Lately though Lukas felt that they were drifting apart a little as Emil now had a new found independence through his job and having his own income and wasn't at home as much to rely on him. They rarely argued, especially over something as trivial as doing his chores. Sighing as he sat up, Lukas fumbled in the darkness for the lamp on the side table beside the couch and flicked it on, blinking blearily for a moment until his eyes adjusted to the light before taking one final drag from his cigarette then stubbed it out in the ashtray.

He looked at the stack of books that he was half way through in front of the lamp on the table, then to the pile of sketches and drawings strewn on the coffee table that had remained unfinished for months. A couple of them now had coffee rings on them from where someone in the house had put a drink down on them. Now that the shop was a little busier, Lukas had thrown all of his time into it, working six days a week, sometimes seven, to keep it going, and despite business picking up he still couldn't really afford to employ anyone else, not while he still had a lot of debt.

Over the past couple of weeks however, even though he was usually too rushed off his feet to enjoy it, Matthias had made a habit of bringing lunch for Lukas from the café. A tuna toastie and a black coffee, always 'on the house' even when Lukas insisted he pay for it.

Matthias .

It had been a couple of weeks now since their date, and Matthias had made every opportunity to get Lukas to meet up with him again, but Lukas was either always working, or when he wasn't Matthias was busy.

Sitting back on the couch and digging his phone out from where it had fallen between the couch cushions, Lukas opened up his text messages.

SMS to Matthias: 'Want to meet for a drink?'

Watching the seconds tick by on the clock above the TV, Lukas set his phone down on the couch beside him and drummed his fingers on his knee while he waited for Matthias's reply. Then as his eyes wandered around the dimly lit room they stopped on the photographs on the wall. He looked at them for a moment before picking his phone up again,

SMS to Lillebror : ' Sorry for arguing with you before. You're balancing lots of things at the moment and just know that I'm proud of you. Enjoy your movie and we'll talk later. xx'

Just as he sent the text to Emil, his phone buzzed in his hand as Matthias's reply came through,

SMS from Matthias: Sorry I cant. Given up drinking…

Lukas stared at the screen for a moment, his eyes narrowed as they read over the words in front of him not believing the excuse,

SMS to Matthias: Seriously? Well just come here then instead. I have an empty house and a coffee machine.

He could see Matthias typing as he sent the reply, but as soon as it had been read the typing animation stopped.

Throwing his head back so that it was resting on the back of the couch, Lukas stared at the ceiling, a little irritated as how much his heart was hammering in his chest at the thought of Matthias; a feeling that he thought might go away after weeks of them texting and ever so subtly flirting.

His phone vibrated in his hand once more, and he sat himself forward to look at it. He was half expecting Matthias to blow him off after the first stupid excuse, and so his eyes widened when he opened the text,

SMS from Matthias: I was gonna say I was joking and that of course I would like a drink with u but now youve given me a better offer. I'll be half an hour. See u soon :P

Lukas read over the text again, scrutinising every word before he leapt up from the couch, putting his phone down on the coffee table as he stood in a slight frozen panic in the middle of the living room.

"Shit, shit, shit ," he muttered to himself as he hastily gathered up all of the scattered papers from the coffee table and put them in a neat pile by the letter rack, then picked up empty cups and glasses from around the room before hurrying through to the kitchen and dropping them into the sink. As he pulled on the rubber gloves and ran water into the sink to do the dishes Lukas was regretting sending that nice text to Emil now and wished that his brother had just done the goddamn dishes.

It didn't take him too long to get through them, and once he'd hastily piled them up on the draining board he ripped off the gloves and did one final sweep of the living room, fluffing up the couch cushions and picking up a pair of Tino's socks that were abandoned on the rug.

Then after eyeing the clock, Lukas made his way through the apartment and into his bedroom. He didn't have enough time for a shower, so instead he quickly changed out of his shorts and t-shirt and into a pair of jeans and a grey sweatshirt. He was just fixing his hair in the mirror when there was a knock at the door. Staring at his reflection for a moment, Lukas drew in a deep breath before padding down the hallway to open the door.

He found Matthias on the other side peering over the balcony, but once Lukas opened the door he turned to look at him, a huge grin breaking across his face.

"Hey, I parked in the spot next to your car. Hope that's okay?" Matthias said as Lukas stepped aside and held the door open for him.

"Yeah that's fine." Lukas mumbled as he watched Matthias wipe his feet and kick his shoes off.

"I brought a couple of beers and some wine, I'll put them in the fridge. Where's your kitchen?"

Matthias held up a canvas tote bag, the bottles clinking together as he did so, and Lukas raised his eyebrow,

"But you're driving, surely you shouldn't drink- oh." He began, then realised why Matthias was probably so quick to accept the offer to come over to his house, feeling his face flush furiously. Matthias lowered the bag, a look of embarrassment on his own red face,

"Sorry, I didn't think- I just assumed-" he stammered, putting the bag down next to his shoes.

"It's fine. You don't have to stay if you don't want to." Lukas said as casually as he could while still holding the door open.

"Nah course not, we can just hang out!" Matthias's smile returned as he looked around the apartment,

"Your house is really cool. It's a lot bigger up here than you'd think!" he said, wandering off down the hall as Lukas closed the door.

After about an hour, Lukas felt a lot more relaxed and the initial awkwardness between he and Matthias had subsided as they sat on the couch. However, there was still a little tension though, and Lukas noticed that Matthias had sat as far away from him as he could on the couch as they drank coffee and talked. They had ordered a take out not long ago, and the TV played quietly in the background. As much as Lukas wanted to pay attention to Matthias's story about his dog, he couldn't help but wonder how Matthias actually felt towards him. The fact that he'd come over with the intention to stay the night pretty much confirmed it, but Lukas was still questioning his own feelings,

"Can I ask you a question?" Lukas said, stopping Matthias just before he was going to go off on a tangent about puppies.

He stopped talking and glanced at Lukas, looking a little puzzled but still smiled nonetheless,

"Sure, what's up?"

Taking a sip of his coffee, Lukas eyed Matthias over the rim of his mug for a moment, trying to work out exactly how he wanted to phrase his question before he swallowed,

"If you did stay over tonight like you planned, how would the night have gone?" he said, and Matthias fidgeted, suddenly unable to hold eye contact with Lukas.

"I, uh, well, I'm not sure. I like you, Lukas, a lot. I guess I didn't really think too much about it, I just wanted to hang out with you." Matthias spoke quickly and Lukas couldn't help but smile. Over their texts Matthias had been nothing but kind and funny, and Lukas found that recently the best part of his day was when the bell chimed above the door to the shop at a couple minutes past 1pm and Matthias would come in, brown paper bag in hand.

Lukas was just about to tell Matthias that he liked him too, the words on the tip of his tongue when there was a light knock at the door.

Matthias exhaled sharply and laughed awkwardly,

"Saved by pizza." he said as Lukas sighed and dragged himself from the couch. As he walked through the hallway and to the door he eyed Matthias's bag on the floor still abandoned by his shoes and thought that beer and pizza might not be a bad combination after all. But when he opened the door his smile fell away,

"Leon, what are you doing here? Emil's not here, he's at work, aren't you meeting him at the cinema?"

"Well he didn't show up and he's not answering his phone so I thought he might be here." Leon said with a shrug, and Lukas opened the door wider for him to step inside.

"How long did you wait for him?" Lukas asked as he closed the door. Leon had been here more than enough times to feel comfortable around Lukas and he kicked his shoes off and hung his coat up straight away before heading down the hall.

"About half an hour. The movie had already started by the time I thought to come and check here- Oh, Hi." Leon began before he stopped in the doorway to the living room when he spotted Matthias on the couch,

"Hey," Matthias said as he scrambled up from the couch and stood in the middle of the living room looking between Leon and Lukas.

"Matthias, this is Leon." Lukas said as he pushed past Leon and picked up his phone from the coffee table. There was an uncomfortable silence building in the room as Lukas dialled Emil's number and listened to it ringing before it went to voicemail. He watched as Leon came into the room and sat gingerly on the very edge of the armchair as he re-dialled Emil, but this time it went straight to voicemail.

"You know what the most frustrating part is? He has exactly the same degree that I do! Who does he think he is?"

Tino shouted to Berwald across the kitchen from where he was sitting at the dining table while Berwald did the dishes. He had been colouring with Peter quite peacefully after they'd eaten dinner until Berwald made the mistake of asking about what Tino thought of the new freelancer at ICON - Ivan.

Over the past few weeks Tino had tried to be a civil as possible, but his patience was now wearing thin due to the fact that Ivan kept treating him as though he was his assistant; leaving files on his desk for him to copy or asking him to redirect his calls, and every time Tino would protest Ivan would say that ' Francis said you wouldn't mind '.

"Why don't ya speak to Francis if it's bothering you this much?" Berwald said, and Tino nearly snapped the pencil crayon that he was holding in half,

"I've tried, Ber! But Francis seems to think the sun shines out of Ivan's butt and just asks me to help him out and that it wouldn't be for long." he cried, slamming the crayon down onto the table before he stood up to walk over to Berwald.

"The sun can't shine out of someone's butt! It would hurt! Did you know that if you look at the sun too long it burns holes in your eyes? Zoey told that to me." Peter said, chatting away to himself as he continued colouring at the table.

Tino watched as Berwald smiled fondly at Peter before he turned to face him as he leaned against the counter beside him.

"You have to help me here Ber, or I'm going to lose it." Tino said with a sigh.

"You've already stormed out of yer job once, I don't know if it would go down well if ya did it a second time." Berwald said with a smirk, causing Tino to pick up the dish cloth and flick it at him,

"Ha Ha, very funny." Tino rolled his eyes, "Well that means you definitely have to help me, or I'm a gonner."

Berwald shook his head and laughed as he pulled the plug out of the sink and held his hand out to grab the dish cloth that Tino was holding to dry his hands, but Tino held it up and out of reach,

"Ah ah, if you want it you have to pay me," he said, puckering his lips and fluttering his eyelashes.

"Tino, not in front of Peter," Berwald said lowly, his expression unreadable, and Tino stopped teasing and handed him the dish cloth, watching as Berwald dried his sudsy hands on it and hung it up.

He was just about to ask Berwald what was wrong when his phone started ringing in his pocket. Pulling it out he pushed himself off the counter and brought it to his ear,

"Hey Lukas, what's up?"

Tino listened as Lukas rambled down the phone, growing more concerned with everything that he said.

"What do you mean? Leon's there? Lukas, slow down. I can't tell what you're saying." Tino shouted down the phone, causing Berwald to look over at him, his eyes narrowed,

"Okay, I'll be home soon. Don't panic, alright?" swallowing thickly and running a hand through his hair, Tino shoved his phone back into his pocket.

Berwald had a worried look on his face as Tino stood in the middle of the kitchen,

"It's Emil, he's gone missing."

Lukas paced the living room, his eyes glued to the screen of his phone, only looking up when he heard the front door slam signalling Tino's arrival back home.

"Any sign of him?" he said, feeling the panic rising in his voice as he took in Tino's strained expression.

"No, but we'll find him Lukas. I promise." Tino said, a little breathless, and Lukas returned his attention back to his phone. He'd called Emil several more times and left text messages, all of which had gone unanswered until he finally called the police. Matthias had eventually left, offering to drive Leon home, only setting off when he knew that Tino was on his way back home and that Lukas wouldn't be alone for too long. Lukas had promised to text him once Emil was back home and safe.

"We looked everywhere. We even drove to the cinema and I went in and asked the ticket office if Emil had come in and showed them a photo of him. Berwald is waiting in the car downstairs if there's anywhere else that you want to try?" Tino pressed, and Lukas racked his brains trying to think of anywhere that Emil might have gone. It was nearly 11pm now, and Emil's shift finished at 7:30pm, and the thought of Emil possibly being missing for hours now made him feel sick with worry.

"What about the store he works in?" he said, and Tino sighed,

"We drove past and it was all locked up. Oh! But what if his boss knows anything?" Tino exclaimed, pulling his phone out and Lukas watched as his fingers flew across the screen.

"It's called Venus, right? The store?" he looked up at Lukas and he nodded,

"I think so. Is there a number you can call?" Lukas said. He was clutching at straws now as he crossed the room to stand beside Tino, peering over his shoulder as he typed in the name of the store into Google, but every idea they had was worth trying..

"There's a mobile number attached to the store details," Tino said as he tapped the number and put the phone on loudspeaker. Lukas held his breath while they listened to the dialling tone, then grabbed Tino's arm when the dialling stopped and someone answered,

"Hello, this is Sadık speaking?"

Tino's eyes widened and a hopeful smile broke across his face as he shouted into the phone, causing Lukas to flinch,

"Hello! I'm Tino, we're calling about Emil, he works for you."

Lukas listened to the conversation as Tino told Sadık that Emil hadn't shown up to the cinema or come home, and Sadık mentioned that there was a club in the city that two of his employees, Caoimhe and Iakovos went to after work at the weekends sometimes.

"There's a possibility that Emil might have gone with them. I'll text you the address to this number. Let me know if you need anything else, okay?" Sadık said, and Tino thanked him profusely before hanging up.

The music coming from inside the club was booming as Berwald pulled up outside. Peter was wide awake in the back seat, thrilled at the fact he was still allowed to be up at nearly midnight as he pointed out the window at all the bright neon lights. Tino could tell that Berwald was less than thrilled, yet he was determined to help him and Lukas find Emil in any way that he could.

"Dad, why are we here? Are you going to a disco?" Peter asked, and Tino glanced at Berwald as he pinched the bridge of his nose and leant his head against the window,

"No Peter, we aren't going to a disco. Please be quiet for a minute." he said, and Tino reached over to squeeze his knee gently,

"I won't be long Ber. I hope that Emil is here for our sakes, but I wouldn't want to be him when I'm finished with him. I'll call you with an update." Tino smiled weakly as Berwald nodded before opening the car door and hauling himself out onto the busy street and watched Berwald drive away to park up around the corner.

Saturday nights were undoubtedly the busiest in this part of the city, and Tino dodged countless groups of revelers until he found the entrance to the club that Sadık had given them the address for. Emil was 17 and still underage to drink, and so as much as Tino hoped that he wouldn't be inside he knew that these days it was all too easy for teens to bag their way into a club, especially if they were with others who were over 18.

Looking up at the sign above the door reading 'Lebowski Bar' Tino shook his head before stepping up to the door only to be stopped by the doorman.

"ID please." he said, sticking his arm out to block Tino from entering.

"I don't have any ID on me, but I'm not going inside to drink, I just need to get someone!" Tino protested, growing even more irritated when the doorman laughed and firmly took hold of Tino' arm to move him aside as he left a group of girls in skimpy dresses inside.

"Hey, let me in! Look, there's possibly a minor in there, and you could get in serious trouble for letting them in!" Tino was yelling now, pointing angrily in the face of the doorman until he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He spun around, ready to have a go at whoever it was when he realised who it was.

"Mr Kirkland! What are you doing here?" Tino asked, watching as Arthur dropped his cigarette to the floor and smothered it beneath his shoe.

"I was just on my way to meet someone when I saw you shouting at this guy," Arthur said, jutting his chin in the direction of the doorman, "is everything alright?"

Now that they were out of the office, Tino was shocked at how different Mr Kirkland seemed without a suit and tie and instead in skinny jeans and an expensive looking leather jacket. He closed his gaping mouth and drew his shoulders back, looking up at Arthur as he nodded,

"I think my… uh, my nephew is in there. He's gone missing and we've been told that he might be here but this asshole won't let me in." Tino exhaled sharply then watched as Arthur stepped around him and went over to the doorman, leaning in close to him and saying something just out of earshot. The doorman turned bright red as Arthur turned to Tino and beckoned for him to follow. Tino didn't hesitate, slipping past the doorman and into the club.

"I'll stay here while you look," Arthur shouted above the music, moving to stand by the wall as Tino nodded and began to push himself through the crowd. The club was heaving, and Tino didn't even begin to know where to look. He was in the middle of the dancefloor, and narrowly avoided having a drink spilled on him as a guy carrying four beers bumped into him. Growing exasperated, Tino clenched his fist and pushed deeper into the crowd. He was just debating climbing up onto one of the tables so that he could see across the club when he spotted Emil through a gap in the bodies on the dancefloor for a split second.

Shoving past a giggling group of girls, Tino marched over to Emil where he stood with a red-haired girl with a drink in his hand.

"Emil. Emil!" he shouted, then watched the colour drain from Emil's face when he turned round and saw him.

"Tino! What are you doing here?" he spluttered, his eyes darting between Tino and the girl he was with.

Tino narrowed his eyes as he snatched the drink from Emil's hand and slammed it down onto a nearby table, ignoring the dirty looks he received from the group of people sat around it,

"I should be the one asking you that question. Emmie, we called the police! Your brother is at home worried sick, and there's people out looking for you!" Tino snapped, and Emil rolled his eyes,

"But I'm fine! Lukas needs to learn that I'm growing up. I'm not a kid anymore."

"Oh yeah? And is this how mature adults act? Turning their phone off to ditch their best friend and worry their family? Come on, we're leaving." Tino took hold of Emil's wrist and dragged him back through the crowd, elbowing people out of the way until he reached Arthur who'd stayed by the door like he'd said he would.

"So you found him then?" Arthur said, and Tino watched as Emil shrank a little beneath Arthur's gaze.

"Yeah I did, I can't thank you enough, Mr Kirkland." Tino wiped his brow, his hair growing damp from the closeness of the room.

"No need to thank me. Are you able to get home alright?" Arthur followed Tino and Emil out onto the street and Tino finally let go of Emil's wrist to dig his phone out. He flashed it at Arthur,

"Yep, Berwald is waiting for us somewhere, I just need to call him" he said, then clamped his hand over his mouth realising he'd let slip to Arthur that he was clearly on more than colleague to colleague terms with Berwald.

But instead of asking questions, Arthur simply smiled and patted Tino lightly on the back.

"I see. Well, get home safe and I'll see you on Monday." he said then turned on his heel and was gone into the hustle and bustle of the street.

Now that they were out in the cooler air, Tino was feeling much better as he sent a text to Berwald to let him know that he'd found Emil and they were outside, but when he turned to Emil to find that the colour hadn't returned to his face.

He raised an eyebrow, and was just about to ask Emil if he was alright and how much he'd had to drink when he doubled over and threw up all over the street and Tino' shoes.