Chapter Text
“So, how long has this been going on?” The cafe bustled around Ethan as he spoke.
“Since yesterday.”
Ethan’s eyes shot open wide. “You couldn’t keep a secret for one day?”
“Ethan, it’s going to be fine, we’ve got powers now.” Erica tried to smile reassuringly, but her smiles always came across as a little scary.
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” Ethan said.
Erica shrugged. “Well yeah.”
“What Erica is trying to say, is that we have things we can do to keep ourselves safe, should it happen that we’re in a scenario like yesterday.”
Some days it was hard to be friends with them. Ethan shook his head and looked around the cafe, it was a habit, to check if they were being watched. He always did it. Not out of fear, but not for any good reason.
Benny waltzed over, already writing down their orders on his little notepad.
“Anything different today?” Benny looked up from under the brim of his hat.
Rory leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head. “Could I get an order of shrimp in my smoothie?”
“No.” Benny shook his head, taking their menus from the table.
Rory fell back into his chair properly, glaring. “What? Why not?”
“That’s a waste of food.” Benny stopped for a second, his eyes narrowing in thought, “And I’m not sure how to clean shrimp out of a blender.”
Ethan laughed softly at the comment, and Benny turned to him at that. “What’s so funny?”
“It’s just- Since when do you not want to ruin a blender?”
Benny shook his head, tossing his notepad back in his pocket. “Since they started putting me on opening shifts, now I’m the one that has to clean all of the dumb shit the closers do.”
Ethan nodded and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. Getting up earlier was making Benny cranky. He watched as Benny left them.
“Does Benny seem different to you guys?”
“No? Not really?” Sarah said.
Ethan shook his head. “Maybe it’s just me then.”
Erica looked around impatiently, “So can you help us or not?”
“I have no idea. Can you guys take me out to Mako with you? You think it has to do with the volcanic tunnels, right?”
“Yeah, these spooky bubbles started popping up when we jumped in to escape.” Rory made little bubbling gestures with his hands.
“Bubbles?” Ethan said.
“It was more like how a jacuzzi makes bubbles.” Sarah leaned towards Ethan, elbows on the table.
“Surprisingly, that doesn’t help.” Ethan deadpanned.
Sarah scoffed. Benny returned with a full tray of drinks. They swung by often enough for Benny to memorize their orders. Which had taken a couple of months, but he still prided himself on the fact that he actually got it down. Ethan got a blueberry banana smoothie, Rory and Erica got strawberry pomegranate limeades, and Sarah got a mango slush. He set down the tray on the table and distributed the drinks in front of everyone.
“So, is everyone ready for the Evil Dead marathon tomorrow?”
Ethan scrunched up his face. “I didn’t know we were doing that.”
“Well yeah, I just told you.”
Benny and his wonderful planning skills.
“This should be no surprise, but I’m not going to waste my time watching that shit.” Erica unwrapped her straw by banging it on the table.
“Yes, because we all know that the dumb mermaid movie with Tom Hanks is so much better.”
Erica stood up at the table. “Splash is a cultural phenomenon, it’s more than ju-”
Sarah grabbed Erica’s arm and lowered her back down to her chair before she started screaming, and she would. Benny had a way of pushing her buttons.
“Alright, one down, three to go.” Benny did awkward finger guns.
“That’s not how that saying works,” Sarah rolled her eyes fondly, “And I can’t. I have to catsit.”
“Cats? Can I come?” Rory beamed.
“Dude.” Benny glared.
“Oh, right,” Rory nodded, “I can go. To the Evil Dead thing.”
“Me too, which is a good thing since you were probably planning on having it at my place.” Ethan snorted.
“About that…”
Ethan facepalmed. “Jesus christ, Benny, clean your room for once.”
“You know Grandma, it has to be spotless for friends over. I’m not going to waste my life trying to achieve the unachievable just for one night.”
Ethan rolled his eyes, “How do you think I feel? Having to pick up after you two?”
“It’s better than anything Evelyn could level at me, I promise you that.” Benny gave a tight smile and disappeared into the back with his tray.
Ethan watched him go, only turning back to the table when he was completely out of sight. Erica took a good long sip from her limeade.
“How are you still friends with him?”
Ethan leaned his head on his palm. “I have no idea.” He said fondly, looking down at the pink little umbrella sticking out of his drink.
“Well, you two are gonna have to figure out how to keep the secret during your boys night.” Sarah pointed between them, taking a deep sip from her slush.
“Oh that’ll be a piece of cake, right E?” said Rory.
Ethan nodded. “Right. As long as we’re not weird about it.”
Erica pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’re going to be weird about it, you nerds always are.”
“We’ll just pretend like nothing’s changed.” Ethan deflected.
“Yeah.” Rory agreed, “Like nothing has happened at all.”
“And what if he asks why you’re being so awkward?”
“Then it’s all Ethan’s fault.” Rory smirked, taking a sip of his limeade.
That earned him a solid smack on the side of the arm from Ethan. “That’s exactly what we’re not going to say.”
“That wouldn’t be the worst thing, I mean it takes the focus off of Rory, because, Ethan, you don’t have anything to hide.” Sarah gestured to Ethan in that way she did when she was the only one making any sense.
Ethan thought about it for a minute. Sure, he wasn’t a mermaid, but he did have his own secrets. His nightmares were getting worse. But that wasn’t anything he would want to hide, especially from Benny. They shared a bed most of the time for Christ’s sake, Benny was going to know about Ethan’s nightmares wether or not he told him. And there was other things, like how he kinda wished that Benny didn’t have to leave every morning. But he was pointedly trying not to think about that. “I mean, yeah, I guess.”
“Perfect. Then I think you two dorks have it handled.” Sarah began to get up, packing all of her stuff up, “Let us know when you want to head out to Mako.” She pulled Erica along with her, and the two were gone.