By five, the Egberts were unpacked, and sat on the couch, tired. "At least I had some friends bring most of the furniture, or we wouldn't even have beds." John's father chuckled, patting his son on the shoulder, looking pleased with himself. Dave had left once everything was inside. John smiled thinking back at their conversation. He'd learned about Dave's favorite color, and his obsession with apple juice. He learned about Dave's comic: SJHB and had even taken a break to read some of it on Dave's phone. It had been a little stupid, but part of him kind of enjoyed the fact that Dave, Mr. 'I wear shades indoors coolkid' was a serious dork.
A knock on the door summoned John's father, revealing two men who looked very much similar, and Dave, who was right next to them. "This is my bro, and my other brother, Dirk. We made you a cake and shit, to welcome you to the complex." Dave said, looking humiliated.
It appeared to be regular vanilla cake, covered in pink frosting, with a weird fabric ornament on top of it. John couldn't tell what it is, but when his father asked, the eldest, 'Bro' was happy to explain that it was a smuppet. Whatever that was.
"By the way, Bro made dinner, and we were wondering if you wanted to come over and eat with us." Dirk spoke up, winking at John. He cringed, and looked at his father, who exchanged a nervous glance with him.
"No thank you, but John would be happy to, right?" he said, not looking at his son's betrayed stare. "R-right." John finally said, Dave seeming to perk up a little. "Cool." Bro said approvingly, gesturing for John to follow them as they walked next door, the fifteen year old glaring back at his father. He just waved and closed the door.
"Dave's probably the only one with any idea on how to cook, but he just got out of school so we made Beefaroni. Nothing goes better together than macaroni and cheese with ground beef. It's awesome." Dirk bragged, walking next to John. "Sounds good."John replied, nodding. "I won't lie, Bro's Beefaroni is pretty great." Dave added.
John was led inside the apartment, which for the most part looked pretty normal. Another man with sunkissed skin and dark brown hair sat at the table, his green eyes lighting up when he saw Dirk.
"So you managed to get one of them over, I see." a smooth accent followed his words, and Dirk nodded, sitting next to him. He pressed a kiss to his forehead, and looked over at John and Dave. "This is Jake, my boyfriend." he said, Jake waving at the two of them.
John sat next to Dave, thanking Dave's Bro when he set down a plate of the mac and beef in front of him.
"So I was gonna go down to the lake tomorrow, you wanna come?" Dave asked, looking over at John. "Dirk and Jake will be there too." John took a bite of his food, and shrugged, chewing slowly. It wasn't bad, actually. Needed salt, but not bad at all. He swallowed, and looked back up. "I guess so, I don't think dad would mind." he mumbled. "Sweet, you'll have to bring your own food money though." Dave added, wrinkling his nose. "No problem. Just come to my door when you're ready to go." John said, smiling.
The group spent the next two hours talking and eating. John stayed a while after they finished to help Dave with the dishes, and longer after that, talking to each other, talking about their old homes. How they grew up, even about their pet peeves. John left at almost ten at night, walking down the hallway, unlocking the apartment door. He passed his father, who had his laptop open, looking for a job, but had fallen asleep on the couch.
He moved to his room, and fell onto his bed, content, closing his eyes, and dozing off.