The light was dim in a small college dorm room. The only thing that stirred was a flickering desk light as the sole occupant of the room, Luna, sat bent over his Business and Finance textbook, trying to make heads or tails of the latest chapter that was covered in the recent lecture.
A sudden knock on the door made Luna jump in his seat. He rubbed his face to remove the sleep dirt from his eyes and looked at the time.
11:PM
Luna let out a groan of frustration as he knew there was only one person who could come knocking at his dorm room this late at night. For a moment he considered not getting up and opening the door, however, the guy did pay for his tuition fees so…
Luna disgruntled and annoyed, got up and shuffled towards the door.
"Lunnaaa~ I know you're in there~ Don't ignore me" the person on the other side of the door whined.
For a second Luna considered just grabbing his notes and textbook and making an escape via the fire escape, however, he then remembered the last time he did, it made so much noise, and he got caught and reprimanded by the Dorm leader within minutes of descending from the staircase.
With a heavy sigh, Luna grabbed and unlocked the door.
Before he could even fully open it, the door was pushed open, and into the room tumbled a blue-eyed blond boy with the biggest smile on his delicate features.
"Cuuuz~!!! What took you so long? Have you been studying all night again? You need to look up from your books once in a while or you might lose your eyesight" the boy said, confidently striding into Luna's room.
"What do you want Luka?" Luna snapped, closing the door and crossing his arms " Spit it out and then leave, I have the assignment to finish by Monday"
Luka spun around on his dainty little feet and clasped his hands together, looking at Luna pleadingly.
"Please sir, take me to go clubbing would you?" Luka asked sweetly.
Luna groaned and ran a hand through his hair " Dude you are a freaking 35-year-old millennial, take yourself to the club! Why do you keep asking me to do this shit with you? You are 16 years older than me! Take yourself to the club!"
" Yeah, but I don't wanna go alone ~ What if someone takes advantage of me? You're the only responsible person I know!" Luka pleaded pitifully " Also, you don't drink so you would be my ride home!" Luka whined, making his eyes as big as saucers. " Is that too much to ask on a lovely Friday night such as this?
To see those beautiful dazzling lights and all those sexy b-"
"OMG stop! Why do you have to be this level of cringe? I can't believe we are related" Luna cut in exasperated.
Luna walked past Luka grabbed his test schedule sheet and shoved it in Luka's face " I only have this weekend to cram half a textbook! As a professor yourself, don't you want your students to do well-"
Luka wrapped his hands around the wrist of the hand that was holding the test schedule and continued to make huge puppy eyes at Luna " Luna… don't you love me~ My job as a professor is so hard ~ I need to destress~ I need to see sexy meeen~ Take me clubbing Luna, please"
Luna let out a growl of outrage grabbed his cousin by the ear and dragged him to the door.
"Ow ow that huuurts~!! Lunaaa~!" Luka cried out as he was dragged across the room.
"Out~!! Out~!! No means no!!" Luna scolded as he shoved Luka out the door.
"But no one else wants to goo~" Luka continued to whine as he put his foot in the door, preventing Luna from closing the door.
"That's because this is finals weekend! No one is going to go partying the weekend before a major exam week!" Luna snapped as he pushed hard on the door and tried to kick Luka's foot out of the way.
"Please. I'll tell my mom that you can't make it for this weekend's family brunch because you are sick with the cold. Imagine, you could be spending this whole weekend finishing up your assignment without making the trip to my family house as well as no other disruptions…" Luka bargained tearfully.
Luna paused. It would be nice to be able to avoid seeing the family over the weekends. Coming from an elite family that lived in District 9, you would think Luna would be rich and snobbish, however as Luna was adopted by his aunt after losing both his parents in a freak accident, Luna was treated as a second-class citizen in his own home. What made matters worse was when he came out as gay at 18 during a family dinner, instead of the support he had expected to receive, Luna was immediately ostracized by his relatives and was forced to live an isolated life in his dorm. They even cut funding for his degree course and stopped sending him any allowance, leaving him stranded, and giving him a mandate that if he didn't turn "straight again", he would have to continue to live a life separated from his family.
Despite how much they seemed to hate him, his aunt still insisted that he was obligated to visit on weekends and was never allowed to speak out or refuse as it ran the risk of insulting the only relatives who took him in, despite how mean they treated him.
The only one who had any sway over Luna's aunt and uncle was their third child, Luka, who was dotted on like a baby even though he was already in his late thirties. Luke could get away with murder and their big billionaire dollars would pay the problem away. This is why he managed to talk his aunt into allowing Luka to "keep an eye on Luna" by taking up a job as a professor at the same university. Secretly Luka was using his earnings as a professor, to finance a long-term loan to help Luna cover his school fees. This secret was one that Luka hung over Luna's head every time Luna refused to give into Luka's demands, which made Luna end up agreeing to do things that he really didn't want to, but had to in order to appease his benefactor. It wasn't the best arrangement, but it was the only way that Luna could stay in school to finish his studies.
Why was Luka helping Luna out so much? Because Luka was secretly gay himself! However, he was deep in the closet and had no intention of coming out. He enjoyed the best of both worlds; being in his parents' good books, while being able to indulge in the worldly pleasures of sexy men without being found out. Now that he knew his little cousin was also gay, Luka took every opportunity he had to drag him along to enjoy his nightlife entertainment.
"You. You would do that for me?" Luna asked hesitantly. The thought of being able to stay in and complete his assignment in peace was very tempting.
Luka nodded eagerly, wiping away the big crocodile tears he had been squeezing out to try tugging on Luna's heartstrings.
"Ok fine, but only for 2 hours, then I have to get back to the dorm. The curfew is at 1 am ok?" Luna said.
"Yay thank you Luna baby~!!!" Luka said and pushed open the door again, dancing into the room in delight.
Luna and Luka were total opposites. As Luna grabbed a black hoodie, his wallet, and keys, Luka stood there waiting for him in his pastel pink satin dress shirt and tailor-fitted pants. He looked like one of those fairytale princes with his tousled blond hair and twinkling blue eyes. A small smirk of confidence tugged at the corner of his lip which he tried to suppress as he watched Luna get ready, loving these little victories that he won when it came to luring Luna out of his dark hole in the wall.
On the surface, Luka knew he came across as a party lover and a pest to Luna, however, Luka was concerned about how isolated and rejected his parents had made Luna. He had vowed early on after he heard that Luna had been kicked out and cut off from the family, that he would do everything in his power, to be the supportive parent that Luna needed in his life. Behind his smiles and his whines, was a stubborn desire to see his cousin happy, and he would do everything in his power, to make that happen, even if it meant going to extreme and unnecessary lengths to achieve it.
Luna, on the other hand, was a quiet contemplative Gen Z. He didn't think twice about being kicked out as he already knew before his aunt and uncle started yelling at him, how things were going to go down. He had hoped that not only would they kick him out, but they would also stop talking to him forever, however, they still kept him on a tight leash, even though they cut off his financial support, by holding onto his birth certificate and passport, and telling him that they would only grant him access to these items on his 21st birthday.
Luna was always taken back by how frequently Luka insisted on turning up to disturb him, however, he just took it as his closeted gay cousin was lonely, and took pity on the guy as he believed Luka was so deeply closeted that he agreed to go on multiple arranged marriage meetings, like a foolish sheep walking itself to the slaughterhouse.
Luna looked around the room one last time, making sure that the aircon was off and the window was locked, then he shooed his cousin out of the room and flicked off the desk lamp.
"To the club we goo~!!" Luka's voice rang out in the corridor outside as Luna locked his dorm room shut.
"Only two hours got it?" Luna warned once again as he slipped his room key into his hoodie's pocket.
"Yesh sir, let's go ~!" Luka replied, practically flying down the dorm corridor towards the lift.
Luna sighed and shook his head, resigning himself to the fact that it was going to be a long night.