Banana Thief
Expansive windows of a luxury high rise apartment frame the city skyline, aglow at night. Inside the apartment, a flickering TV meshes with the city lights creating dancing color and light.
Daniel lounges on the couch, early twenties, tall, dark, slender and strikingly handsome. His long arms drape across the backrest as he watches a pop music video—his own.
His stomach growls as he leans forward, eyes locked on his performance.
DING DONG
The doorbell breaks Daniel's focus. He rises and slowly zigs-zags around a lot of clutter, in the open concept apartment.
Daniel opens the door to a small, slender and very cute young man in his early 20s with a bright smile and luggage standing before him.
"Hello Daniel. I'm Lucas Lee. From Vanguard Entertainment."
Daniel tilts his head. "You're the sitter?"
"Assistant", Lucas insists.
After an unsure pause, Daniel steps aside, allowing Lucas to enter with his luggage rolling behind. The two stand in the entry way as Lucas surveys the apartment.
A small bar area with barstools is right off the entry, facing into the kitchen. Between the kitchen and and living area is a central walkway that divides the space. The walkway leads back to a guest bedroom and main bathroom.
Opposite the kitchen, is the open living area with floor-to-ceiling windows that span the wall, offering sweeping views of the city skyline and open sky. Just off the living area, is the master bedroom.
The apartment would be breath-taking, were it not so cluttered and dirty. The kitchen and sink are filled with dirty pans and dishes. The living room is filled with boxes, clothes, and general clutter.
"Haven't had help for a week," Daniel mumbles.
"Just a week?" Lucas asks.
Daniel clears his throat, gesturing down the walkway. "Your room's down there."
---
Lucas steps into his small room. A twin bed by a window, with a bedside table, and a dresser by the door. He tosses his luggage on the bed and unzips it.
Lucas follows Daniel's eyes, which have locked onto a bright yellow bushel of bananas within Lucas' luggage.
"Aren't they beautiful?" he says, lifting the bushel up into the air.
Daniel licks his lips, "Yeah".
"Got them from the market downstairs." He sets them on the dresser.
"I'll let you unpack" Daniel says as he exits, wandering to and opening the fridge: Moldy cheese, mustard packets and a white box.
He grabs the box and slips them in his pocket - but he has no pockets. The box crashes to the ground as Lucas cheerfully enters the kitchen.
"I'll get it!" Lucas says, picking it up and reading the label.
"Your suppositories, Daniel." Lucas says, offering them.
Daniel snatches the box, tosses it back in the fridge.
"My ex's," he mutters.
Daniel notices something long and hard in Lucas shorts.
"Oh!" Lucas exclaims, pulling out a banana, snapping it open, taking a bite and examining the fridge.
"Need me to go to the market tomorrow?" Lucas asks.
Daniel closes the fridge, "Yeah, can't live on suppositories alone".
Lucas moves to the sink and turns on the faucet.
"You don't have to do that tonight", Daniel says.
"I can't sleep with this mess—AHH!" Lucas shrieks, leaping into Daniel's arms.
"What!" Daniel asks
Lucas points - "They're huge!"
Large, thick and juicy cockroaches scurry out from the dishes.
"I haven't had help for a week!" Daniel exclaims.
Lucas eyes him suspiciously. "This takes longer than a week, Daniel."
---
That night, Lucas sleeps soundly in bed.
His phone charges on the bedside table.
Moonlight casts divine spotlight upon the bright yellow bananas.
The door creaks. A hand reaches out.
SNAP
A banana breaks off the bunch.
Lucas stirs, turning toward the sound.
Daniel freezes, mid-snap, crouched like a thief.
Lucas doesn't wake.
Daniel slips out.
---
In the dark living room, smacking sounds echo as Daniel devours his stolen delight.
After a pause - "Where's the peel?" he mutters.
---
Morning sunlight beams in as Lucas' phone alarm blares.
He stretches, yawns, and bounces out of bed, immediately stopping the alarm and playing pop music.
With a bright, sleepy smile, he looks out the window with a big sigh, ready for his first day.
He dances to the dresser, and stops.
The bananas catch his eye.
He counts them, frowning.
Shrugs and returns to dancing toward the door.
---
Fully dressed, Lucas delicately enters Daniel's bedroom.
Asleep in bed, Daniel lies shirtless, face down.
Lucas checks his phone for the time, then sits on the bed next to Daniel hoping to wake him gently.
"Daniel you have your first practice today", Lucas says in a very gentle voice.
Daniel, gaining awareness, asks "How do you know I have practice?"
"I have your schedule." Lucas says, rising and opening the curtains and ushering in a tsunami of blinding light.
---
The kitchen shows impressive progress—cleaner, organized and tidy. Lucas, in a bright yellow apron, plates a beautiful breakfast and places it a spot on the eat-in kitchen bar. Daniel, now fully showered and dressed, is ready to take on the day. He sits on the couch in the still messy living area.
"Breakfast is ready!" Lucas beams. Daniel jumps from the couch making his way to the kitchen. As he nears the hard flooring, one foot slips forward but the other does not, causing him to do the splits and
CRASH
"AHHH!"
Lucas rushes over. "On no Daniel, did you slip on a suppository?!"
"No!" Daniel groans.
Lucas picks up a banana peel. "Oh."
DING DONG
"Just a minute!" Lucas yells toward the door, tossing the peel up in the air which lands directly on Daniel's crotch. Daniel lets out another yelp. Lucas, now torn between the door and Daniel's pain, whips his head back and forth, eventually settling on helping Daniel to the couch.
Daniel lies flat, groaning.
"Get the door," Daniel says.
Lucas opens it to a cheerful older man.
"You must be the new sit—"
"Assistant," Lucas insists.
"I'm Jang! Daniel's father!"
He shakes Lucas' hand so hard Lucas grabs his shoulder.
"It's still attached".
Jang enters the apartment.
"Daniel?" he calls out.
"Over here," emanates a voice from the apartment.
Jang peers around. "Where!"
Lucas, still rubbing his shoulder, karate-kicks a stack of boxes parting the sea and revealing Daniel frozen on the couch, locked on the ceiling.
"I'm afraid to move," he mutters.
Jang rushes over. Lucas kneels beside Daniel, worry in his little eyes.
"I think practice is off", Daniel says.
---
Jang pulls a pen from his pocket and snatches a scrap of paper from the kitchen counter.
He scribbles rapidly, eyes flicking toward Daniel on the couch.
"Lucas, take this," he says, pressing the list into Lucas's hand.
"Pain relievers and muscle relaxers. Get these—fast."
Lucas nods, folding the paper carefully.
Jang straightens, glancing at the clock on his phone.
"I've got to get back. If I'm gone longer than an hour, my wife starts thinking I've got a girlfriend."
---
At a market Lucas races with a small buggy through aisles. He grabs several different pain relievers, and tosses them in the buggy. He notices suppositories, but ignores them.
Now in the produce section, Lucas pulls out his phone and Face Time's Daniel.
"Daniel, which fruit won't injure you"?
After a pause and ever so slight chuckle, Daniel says "Apples".
"I'm on it", Lucas proclaims.
Nearby, a single remaining bag of sparkling red apples catches his eye. He reaches for the bag—just as an older woman does.
With Face Time still recording, Lucas grits his teeth. "Let go!"
"Never!" the woman snaps.
They wrestle.
Lucas' phone flies out of his hand, skids across the floor, and disconnects the call.
Daniel sighs, eyes still fixed on the ceiling. "What a day."
His stomach grumbles. The kind of grumble which means only one thing - "Oh no."
He strains, inching off the couch.
Trembling, he's on the ground.
Crawling down the hallway, toward the bathroom.
He's able to drag himself to the base of the toilet, but not up on it.
He flops over on his back, resigned to his defeat.
Watery-gas sounds rip. "That's, that".
After a moment he glances around the bathroom floor.
"I really need to clean down here."
His phone rings as Lucas appears on Face Time.
Lucas has a black eye, bloody lip, his clothes are ripped, hair is tasseled.
"Daniel I got your apples, medicine and some food, I'll be back shortly" Just before the Face Time ends the old lady reappears on the edge of the video reaching for the apples.
Daniel, laughs. Slowly at first, but growing to the surface.
His laugh abruptly ends as he turns his head, coming eye to eye with a thick, juicy roach.
----
The apartment is quiet as Lucas steps inside.
"Daniel?" he calls out.
No answer. Just the faint hum of the fridge.
He frowns, walking through the still-cluttered living room. No Daniel.
"Daniel!"
Still nothing. He checks the bedroom—no sign of him.
"Daniel!" he calls again, louder now, voice edged with worry.
This time, a faint, muffled sound echoes from somewhere deeper in the apartment.
Lucas freezes. The voice comes again—low, strained, almost panicked.
Lucas races down the hallway, feet slapping the floor, heart pounding. Something's wrong. He skids into the bathroom—and freezes.
Daniel lies sprawled on the cold bathroom tile, face up, arms limp. A roach sits proudly on Daniel's nose like it owns the place.
"Daniel, don't move," Lucas says, eyes narrowing.
"No problem," Daniel mutters, staring cross-eyed at the bug.
Lucas spots the fly swatter dangling from the bathroom door handle. He grabs it. Daniel sees it too—his pupils dilate, breath catches.
"Lucas—wait—"
Lucas roars like a man possessed and brings the swatter down in a mighty arc.
SPLAT
The cockroach detonates, jettisoning a warm burst of roach juice into Daniel's mouth.
"Oh Guh—mmrghff—it's in my mouff!" he sputters, lips slick with insect innards.
Lucas stands over him, chest heaving, swatter dripping.
"You're welcome," he says, dead serious.
After a moment - "What is that smell?" Lucas asks.
Daniel continues spitting, and mutters, "I didn't make it".
----
Daniel sits on the closed toilet lid, shirt damp and clinging.
Lucas kneels beside him, pulling two pain relievers and a bottle of water from a bag by the sink.
Daniel swallows the pills, then takes a long sip of water and swallows the pills.
He takes another sip of water, gargles, and spits into the basin as Lucas flashes a perplexed look.
"Still taste roach"
---
The bathtub fills up with hot steaming water.
Daniel tries to stand but winces, gripping the edge of the sink.
Lucas steps behind him, steadying his shoulders, readying to enter the tub.
Daniel comes to a stop. "I never called CEO Lee!" Daniel remembers.
Lucas shakes his head. "I already did."
Daniel nods, relaxing, and carefully lowers himself into the warm water, wincing as he settles in.
Lucas kneels beside the tub, rolling up his sleeves.
He dips his hands in the water and wets Daniels hair, and then squirts shampoo into his hand.
Lucas lifts Daniel's head, working the shampoo in.
Lucas rinses the shampoo gently, water trickling down Daniel's neck and shoulders.
Lucas grabs a washcloth, soaks it, adds soap.
Lucas starts at Daniel's shoulders, wiping slowly and carefully.
Daniel keeps his eyes closed, breath steady.
Lucas moves the cloth down Daniel's arms, chest, and back with deliberate care.
Daniel's skin glistens in the steam, flushed from the warmth and Lucas's touch.
Lucas's hands move quietly — neither hurried nor lingering.
When he finishes, he hands Daniel the washcloth. "Here".
Daniel takes it weakly, and looks at Lucas busted lip, tasseled hair.
A laugh bubbles to the surface - Lucas flashes an inquisitive look.
"You fought an old lady for apples today".
A smile spreads across Lucas's face before laughter bubbles up, joining Daniel's.
----
Later, Daniel sits on the couch, muscles still stiff but moving better.
Lucas carries a steaming bowl of soup, careful but distracted.
He trips over a box left smack in the middle of the floor—
SPLASH
The hot soup spills across Daniel, steaming and burning through his soaked shirt.
Daniel jumps up, his voice filled with rage and pain.
"Idiot!" he snaps.
Lucas's eyes water, lips tremble.
"Banana thief!" he yells, voice cracking.
Lucas storms off toward his room, slamming the door shut.
---
Night.
Lucas sits at a lonely bus stop in front of the apartment complex. His luggage beside him.
The once beautiful banana bushel, now reduced to just a single banana.
He stares down the street. Empty.
Daniel appears, sheepishly.
He walks up, pauses, then sits beside Lucas.
After a long silence - "Sorry."
Lucas blinks. His eyes shine, but he doesn't wipe them. He sighs heavily.
"The last bus already ran anyway," he says quietly.
They sit in silence.
Then they both stand.
Daniel rolls his luggage for him as the two walk side by side away from the bus stop.
Lucas: "Daniel?"
Daniel: "Yeah?"
Lucas: "You owe me for the groceries."
Daniel laughs. "Okay."
---
Back in the apartment. The boxes are gone.
The TV murmurs in the background.
Low light from the screen flickers across the room.
Daniel lies face-down on the couch, shirt off, but with shorts on.
Lucas kneels beside him, massaging his back in slow, careful movements.
Daniel exhales. "You didn't have to do this."
Lucas keeps massaging. "I don't mind"
Daniel is quiet. Breath steady. Shoulders stiff under Lucas's hands.
Lucas moves onto the couch, straddling Daniel for better massage positioning.
Lucas leans in, lowers his voice. "This okay?"
Daniel nods, almost imperceptibly.
Lucas works a knot at the base of his neck.
"You're wound tight."
Daniel half-smiles into the cushion. "Can't imagine why."
Laughter bubbles up from Lucas.
"What's so funny?" Daniel mutters.
"You stole my banana in the middle of the night."
The two let out a hearty laugh.
"I was starving," Daniel admits, joining the laughter fully now.
As their laughter fills the room, two small, beady eyes blink slowly from the darkness of a floor vent.
Watching.
Waiting.
---
CHAPTER 2: THE MOUSE
Coming Soon