Leo frowned, his brow furrowing, “What do you mean by that?”

Sky lowered his head, his normally carefully styled black hair messily hiding his face from view. “I can’t have contact with you anymore.”

“Huh?” Leo questioned, stubbornly.

“I’m sorry.” Sky didn’t look up. He seemed to wait for a moment, for what neither of them could be sure, before he turned to leave.

“Wait.” Leo grabbed Sky by the sleeve. Sky paused, one of his feet dangling over the step, the shoelaces of his black designer dress shoes untied and dragging on the ground. “Your dad said something, right? You’re 18 man, you gotta stop letting him tell you what to do all the time.”

Sky tilted his head up without looking back, his shoulders rising slightly as he took in a deep breath, “I have...” he sighed, “you wouldn’t understand.”

Leo scoffed, “I wouldn’t understand? Sky we’ve been best friends since kindergarten what wouldn’t I fucking understand.”

Sky said nothing, his foot still hovering over the step, his sleeve still in Leo’s hand.

Leo took a step forward, tugging at Sky’s sleeve again, “Sky, talk to me.”

“I have to go.” Finally, Sky put his foot down and pulled his sleeve out of Leo’s grasp. Not looking back once, he crossed the street and got into the backseat of a waiting car. A car that had never stopped running the entire time.

Leo stood rooted to the spot as he watched the car drive away. Behind him, the front door opened, “huh? Why did Sky leave already? Is everything okay?”

Leo watched the now empty street, “I don’t know.”

*

Sky got into the car. “Go.” He ordered the driver, slouching in his seat.

Sitting next to him in the backseat was an androgynous looking 20-something year old with unevenly chopped black hair and worn out clothes that looked out of place in the expensive luxury car. “What was that about?” they asked.

“I wanted to say bye to a friend.”

“Just a friend? Cause that looked fruity as-” Luka was cut off by Sky roughly grabbing their arm, his face paler than normal and light blue eyes filled with panic. For a few long seconds, Luka and Sky stared at each other in shocked silence. Then Sky’s shoulders untensed and he gradually loosened his hold on Luka’s arm. A detached calm took over his expression, “Leo is just a friend.” Sky whispered, before finally letting go of Luka’s arm. Sky leaned back in his seat wearily, resting his forehead against the window.

...

A few hours later, Sky returned to his penthouse apartment with Luka, who was nursing a few new bruises, towing behind him.

Sky’s father glanced up from the file on the coffee table in front of him, “Sky, come here.”

Sky made a beeline for his father, stopping a few feet away from the almost comically large, charcoal gray couch he sat alone in the center of. He flipped the file closed and crossed his legs, leaning back with his arms spread out across the back of the couch, “Where were you?”

Sky bowed, “I took Libra to the training grounds outside,” he answered calmly, his head lowered.

Sky’s father tilted his head to the side, bringing a fist close to his face so he could rest his chin on his knuckles, “When did it become so easy for you to lie to me?”

Without hesitation, Sky dropped to his knees, “I didn’t lie, Father.”

“Bullshit!” he snapped. Sky flinched, curling in on himself. Even Luka, who was poking around in the fridge in the next room, jumped. They peered around the corner of the kitchen to see him angrily get to his feet and kick a kneeling Sky.

“You went to see that boy.” He picked up the file on the coffee table and threw it at Sky. The corner of the file hit Sky on the head and the pictures inside scattered all over the floor in front of him. Sky didn't dare to look at them as he got back up into a kneel.

“I’m sorry, Father, but-” At the word ‘but’ Sky’s father gave him another kick, right to the stomach. Sky doubled over in pain, his forehead knocking against the floor.

“Do not allow yourself to be distracted. If you lose to Jade then you have no right to call yourself my son.”

“Yes, Father.” Sky answered weakly, his forehead still pressed against the floor.

Sky’s father stomped away. Luka ducked into the kitchen to hide as he went past, poking their head back out when his footsteps receded. They looked over at Sky and watched as he shuffled on his knees to pick up one of the pictures that had fluttered out. He picked it up and stared at it for a moment before hugging it to his chest. He once again curled in on himself in pain, pressing his forehead to the hardwood floor, his shoulders shaking in a silent sob.