((Chapter Five! I am so thankful to all of you guys for reading and supporting my story. It shocked me, to say the least, when I opened up the app for the first time after two days and the views had basically doubled in number. You have NO idea how happy that makes me. And the few comments that have been posted make it even better! Thank you guys so much and happy reading! Oh, and trigger warning: alcoholism and mild physical abuse - Wolfie))

The driveway to Keith's house was empty, thankfully. That meant his dad had probably already gone out with his friends on their weekly bar spree. Every Friday his father would drive downtown to the pier and meet up with his friends so they could visit every bar, drinking until they couldn't see straight and end up passing out on a park bench. 

Keith parked his bike in the front of the garage, leaving his helmet clipped on the handlebars. His father lived on the outskirts of town, about five minutes away from any other buildings. Though small, the house was cozy with two bedrooms and one bathroom. Years ago, before Keith's mom had left, they had owned an assortment of farm animals. They had a cow, some chickens, two goats, a pig, three horses, and a sheep. Sometimes, on special occasions, his mother would make fresh scrambled eggs with homemade cheese and serve it with a glass of cold milk from their cow. They had also had a garden in the backyard at one point. All that remained were tangles of vines and broken trellises. Whenever Keith looked out his bedroom window he could see the brown garden. He knew that there had been better days in his house, but he couldn't remember most of them. He barely remembered his mother's face. The only things he did remember were the fights and the meals. 

"Nope! Stop it. Not thinking about that!" Keith scolded himself, slapping his palms onto his cheeks to clear his head. He took his keys and unlocked the door, scrunching up his nose at the smell of rancid alcohol that came in an unsettling warm wave out of the house. "Oh, boy. I get to clean up his mess."

He stomped up the stairs, not looking forward to having to clean up the entire house for his father. Every time he came back from practice or school, his dad expected him to clean and cook, not caring if his son had homework. "If I have to have an omega for a son, he's going to work like every omega should!" Was his dad's excuse for not cleaning the house. Keith tossed his bags onto the floor of his room, kicking off his boots. 

In contrast to his room at Shiro's, the walls had posters of bands, animes, and movies taped up all around, covering up the hideous orange color that he'd wanted to paint it when he was three. Though the walls had been decorated, mostly everything else had been moved over to his brother's apartment. He took off his jacket and gloves, shoving the bandanna up onto his head to keep his hair out of his eyes while he cleaned. He also changed into a pair of grey sweatpants that had been stained with paint over the years. 

Back downstairs, he had his phone plugged in to a speaker so he could watch movies while he cleaned. After a few minutes of scrolling through Netflix, he finally decided on restarting Supernatural for the fifteenth time. Pressing play, Keith started his chore in the kitchen. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three hours. Three hours of work and now the house was spotless. Everything in order and in its' proper place. He'd lugged at least five bags worth of trash down the road a few yards to the dumpster. He'd also gotten himself covered in warm beer and old pizza sauce. The only two rooms that Keith hadn't touched were his own and his dad's. He'd found out the hard way what would happen if he'd gone into his dad's room without permission when he was ten. All he'd wanted was to surprise his father with breakfast in bed for Father's Day. Instead what he got was ceramic slivers embedded in his feet and hands and severe burns on his forearms from the coffee that had been flung at him. It had taken half an hour for Shiro to get all of the chunks of ceramic out of Keith's skin, plus another to properly clean and dress the burns. 

The chime from his phone nearly made him jump out of his skin as he walked back up the stairs to his room. Fumbling with his pocket, he managed to get it out and open up the notification. It was Loverboy. Of course it was. 

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: What is up, my dude?

EmoSamurai: Never say that to me again

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: From that response I assume you're in a shitty mood?

EmoSamurai: What gave you the hint?

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: Is your dad home? Did he do anything?

EmoSamurai: no. he's not home, thankfully. It's Friday so he's out with his friends. But I had to clean the house for him or else he'll come home tomorrow morning hungover AND pissed. Two things you don't want him to be

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: I guessed as much. But you won't be around much tomorrow, right? 

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: Because of the party

EmoSamurai: Yeah. Even though the party starts around like six or some shit

EmoSamurai: I'll make up an excuse about how I have to go clothes shopping or I'm going to see Shiro

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: Solid plan

EmoSamurai: Haha thanks. 

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: other than you being in a bitchy mood, what else is new?

EmoSamurai: well.......

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: What? What? Spill the motherfucking tea

EmoSamurai: Whoa! cool your jets man! It's not that big a deal

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: I most definitely will NOT cool my jets and I will be the judge of whether this is a big deal or not

EmoSamurai: so you know the boy I sort of hate but like at the same time?

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: mhmmmmmmm

EmoSamurai: he asked me to eat lunch with him and his friends

EmoSamurai: and when he realized I didn't have food he gave me his goddamn sandwich. I CANT DEAL WITH THESE FUCKING EMOTIONS

EmoSamurai: Oh! Oh! AND he came up with a nickname for me!!!! A fucking NICKNAME

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: What is it????

EmoSamurai: he's fucking calling me honeybadger now. 

EmoSamurai: AND AND AND HE ASKED FOR MY NUMBER AND GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!

EmoSamurai: I FUCKING GAVE IT TO HIM 

EmoSamurai: WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME 

EmoSamurai: GODDAMN FUCKING PHEROMONES AND ALPHAS AND SHIT 

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: wait. He calls you honeybadger?

EmoSamurai: Yeah?

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: I thought I was the only one who called people that. I guess not, haha! Just a weird coincidence, I guess

EmoSamurai: Huh. Yeah. Weird

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: Well anyway, has he texted you yet?

EmoSamurai: No

EmoSamurai: is it bad that I want him to though?

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: nah. 

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: Anyway, sorry for leaving so soon, but I have to babysit my niece and nephew Bleghhhhh >:P 

EmoSamurai: Eh, it's okay. I should probably do my homework 

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: Gotta keep those grades up!!!

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: Nerd

EmoSamurai: Dork

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: Weirdo

EmoSamurai: Dweeb

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: Nutjob

EmoSamurai: Twerp

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: Basket Case

EmoSamurai: Hoe

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: I mean... You ain't wrong

EmoSamurai: I know I ain't!!!! It's in your username!

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: Honey it don't say I'm a hoe anywhere in my username

EmoSamurai: it says loverboy. Close enough

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: True

EmoSamurai:  damn... we just got real gay just then

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: could be gayer

EmoSamurai: how? in pink frilly tutus, unicorns that shit rainbows, and hardcore drag makeup?

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: maybe not that far, but pretty close

EmoSamurai: go babysit. You're distracting me!

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: If only I could in person ;)

EmoSamurai: Hah! You wish. I need to do homework...

EmoSamurai: Loverboy

Keith shut off his phone and put it back into his pocket, going to his room to begin his homework. Before he started, he changed into clean clothes. He wore a pair of red flannel pants and a baggy red and white baseball tee. Curling up against his velvety soft dark red Study Buddy shoved in the corner of his room, he grabbed his laptop to finish up the essay for English. He sang along to his music as he worked, the lyrics mixed in with the light tapping of his fingers on the keys soothed him as his eyes watched the little black letters appear on the backdrop of white. 

As he typed, he began to doze off, tired from all the cleaning. He knew he should take a shower, but that could wait until the morning. Before he completely drifted off, his phone buzzed on his nightstand. He glanced over at the lit up screen, eyelids heavy and drooping. A single message showed on the screen, small black font against a translucent white rectangle:

Loverboy_Sharpshooter: Goodnight, honeybadger

((I know this one is kind of short, but mostly it's just a filler until the party chapter. That will start in the next chapter and continue through probably both chapters seven and eight.  Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the witty banter between our boys! Thanks again for the support and I will post again as soon as I can! - Wolfie))