Chapter Text
It was pretty busy at the mall, for a random Monday afternoon. Sure, a lot of schools had the day off for Veteran’s day, but Fen was both surprised and annoyed at how popular the idea of heading out to buy new clothes was. Shouldn’t people be at home, honoring their relatives who served or something?
He didn’t like shopping much as it stood. Anything where he had to worry about money was stressful, really. Most of his big clothes shopping trips had been with new foster families, too, people he didn’t know at all watching his budget and questioning his choices. Laurie’s parents had decided that now they were his parents, technically, they ought to buy him some new winter clothes. So this trip to the mall followed the pattern the last several had: a family he wasn’t quite settled into yet, giving him a budget to buy whatever he wanted, except he knew he couldn’t really spend it all and he could only pick things they’d think were practical.
The biggest difference was Laurie, and shopping with her was almost enough fun to make things worth it. They’d been left alone for most of the day, and she liked his style of clothes a lot more than he figured her parents would. The crowds were less overwhelming, because Laurie loved people-watching, and she reassured him not to worry about money whenever he asked. With less to worry about, it was almost fun.
“Look at that coat,” Fen said. It was black leather, and looked like a very typical motorcycle jacket. Naturally, Fen was in love. “Isn’t it cool?”
“There’s no way mom would agree to a leather jacket,” Laurie said.
“I’m not saying I want it, I’m just saying it’s cool,” Fen argued. He pulled it off the coathanger. “It’ll be crazy expensive, too, if it’s real leather.”
“Try it on,” Laurie said. “We’ll do a photoshoot.”
“No way,” Fen said, laughing, but he put the jacket on anyway. It was big, but not too big. “How do I look?”
“You look like…” Laurie considered, giggling. “You look like the bad boy character in a teen movie.”
“Oh, shut up.” Fen glanced in a mirror. Privately, he didn’t think she was entirely wrong. They’d just seen Ten Things I Hate About You the night before and he was freshly familiar with the delinquent love interest trope.
“Oh my god, you look like Patrick Verona,” she said, like she’d read his mind. She laughed harder, almost keeling over. “Is that why you picked it up?”
“No!” Fen said, feeling himself turn red. “I swear, if you reference that movie one more time…”
“You do! Are you trying to be like him? I knew you liked the movie!”
“No! I mean…” Fen paused for a moment. Would it be more embarrassing to outright admit he sort of liked a rom-com, or to lie about it and have her figure it out later? “Maybe I liked the movie, but that doesn’t mean I’m trying to be the characters.”
“What movie?” Someone behind Fen asked. “Also, hello! Fancy meeting you here.” Fen turned. None other than Matt Thorsen was leaning against a rack of clothes like he’d posed there, and because he needed to be further embarrassed, Ray and Reyna Frietag followed close behind with shopping bags hanging off their arms.
“Hi, Matt!” Laurie waved to the twins. “Ten Things I Hate About You, have you seen it?”
Fen glared at Laurie. If she’d loved him, she would’ve said a superhero movie or something, but apparently there was no such thing as loyalty anymore. His saving grace was that Matt didn’t seem like the type to watch girly movies like that, so he probably hadn’t seen it.
“I watched it with Ashley once! You liked it?” Matt said, grinning. Fen wanted the earth to swallow him.
“I didn’t like it, like it, I just thought it wasn’t as gross as some of those other romance movies Laurie likes,” Fen said, stumbling over his words.
“I thought it was pretty good,” Matt said, charitably. “It’s based on a Shakespeare play, did you know that?”
“No, but of course you did. Geek.” Fen smirked. Reyna snorted.
“Why do you want him to think you’re cool so badly, Fen?” She asked, clearly faking innocence. She had a point to make, but Fen wasn’t sure what it was. He turned his glare back on.
“I don’t!” But he said it too quickly, too defensively. As soon as it came out of his mouth, both twins and Laurie laughed, and he knew he’d only made things worse.
“Hey, guys, don’t be mean,” Matt said. “Don’t make fun of him. He didn’t do anything wrong.” Matt offered Fen a friendly smile, and it felt like a knife to the gut. Fen rolled his eyes. It was a little late for playing it cool, but it couldn’t hurt.
“You don’t have to defend me, Thorsen.” Fen carefully walked the line between stony and friendly. He didn’t want to act all mushy and emotional, but he hated the idea of Matt thinking he was actually mad. He carefully returned the leather jacket to the hanger. “I need to get a pair of winter boots before I meet back up with my parents, or I’d stay and chat. It’s great to run into you, though, really. Especially Reyna.” Reyna stuck out her tongue. Fen flipped her the bird.
“That’s where Matt was headed too, wasn’t it?” Ray asked. “The shoe store. Unless you were just going to get them at Kohls.”
Because Fen’s luck was really showing its true colors today, he had not, in fact, been planning on getting boots at Kohls.
“No, I was just about to head over there. I have to pay for this stuff first, though.” Fen sighed.
“I’ll take it, I have to grab a couple more things here,” Laurie offered. “And then I’ll meet you guys over at the shoe store with the money.”
“Who are you two going with, her or us?” Matt asked the twins.
“Me, please,” Laurie said. “Don’t leave me alone.” She and Reyna exchanged a look they thought Fen didn’t see. He rolled his eyes and started walking slowly toward the exit.
“Alright, we’ll see you at the shoe store in, what, twenty minutes?” Matt asked quickly, looking down at his watch. “I have my phone, someone text me if that changes.”
Fen was in the central hallway of the mall by the time Matt caught up to him. He didn’t mind running into people, really. It was a little less annoying now that he was out of the suffocating crowd in the department store.
“Hey, I’m sorry if I made things worse back there,” Matt said, matching Fen’s stride. “When Reyna was teasing you, I mean. I didn’t mean to embarrass you, or insinuate that you couldn’t stick up for yourself.”
“You’re fine, Thorsen,” Fen said. “Your problem is that you like being the hero, but that’s just a character flaw I’m still getting used to.”
“I mean, if my major flaw is that I try to help my friends, I must be doing a pretty okay job as a person, right?” Matt grinned again, bright and sunny. Both turned into the shoe store.
“I said you like playing the hero, but okay,” Fen said, but he couldn’t stop a slight smile.
“Same difference.” Matt put a hand on Fen’s shoulder, casually, like it belonged there. “But seriously, if I overstep, or upset you, tell me? I don’t like not knowing.”
“Sure,” Fen said. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to shake Matt’s hand away.