Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dave is late to school.

He doesn’t mind, not really, not with the way his morning went. He knows that he has a stupid smile on his face that simply won’t go away. He doesn’t mind that either.

He’s completely unsuccessful at sneaking into class late and the teacher gives him a look along with a sarcastic, “Good morning Mr. Hodgman. Nice of you to join us.” Dave’s smile widens at that.

He slips into his chair, pulling out a paper and pencil. Simon and Big Corporation are looking at him. He gives them a thumbs up and a huge grin. They smile back, Dave knows that they are happy for him too.

This is going to be a great day.

Chapter Text

Aubrey’s parent’s look at the front door as they hear a sudden exclamation. Exchanging a glance with his wife, Howard goes to check it out.

“Honey!” comes a loud whisper, “Come quick!”

Curious, Julie goes to meet her husband by the window. Looking out, they watch their daughter with the strange boy on their driveway. The boy seems to be earnestly trying to convince Aubrey of something.

They look at each other, wondering if this is the “really good one” from earlier.

They watch Aubrey bypass him with a shrug only to stop, turn around, and listen to what he says.

“I wish we could hear them” Howard says, followed by Julie’s murmur of assent.

Aubrey seems to be at a loss for words for a second, before saying something to the boy. They watch his posture change, loosen with disappointment, before he makes to walk around Aubrey. Julie’s hand tightens on her husband’s.

Aubrey steps into the boy’s path, stopping him from walking away.

They both scream ‘awkward teenage vibes’ but the moment seems to pass before the boy heads towards a car parked across the street. As he turns away Aubrey cracks a wide smile, pressing her hands to her chest before composing her features and following him to the car, climbing in the passenger side.

Julie and Howard look at each other. “I guess she didn’t drive him away after all” Howard says with a small grin. “I like persistence in a teenager.”

They give each other wide smiles, “I hope this boy comes to dinner someday.”

Chapter Text

Jane slides in next to Dave during lunch. “Where did you go Saturday night? I wanted to talk to you.”

Dave looks at her, not exactly sure how to answer. Simon doesn’t have that problem.

“My man Dave here spent the night driving around with his new lady love.”

Jane looks taken aback for a second before looking at Dave with curiosity.

“Um, yeah." Dave shrugs awkwardly, responding to her curiosity with a small grin, "I wouldn’t exactly call it that. I picked Aubrey up and we drove around for a bit.”

“Aubrey from the party? Didn’t she have a boyfriend?”

Dave is unsure how to explain what happened. “Yeah, they broke up, I guess.” He’s glad, Ronny was a dickwad anyway.

Chapter Text

Howard looked across the table at his wife who was giving him significant glances. He sighed internally before saying to his daughter, “So, I uh, guess you didn’t feel like taking the school bus today after all.”

Aubrey looked up, “you saw that, huh.”

“Yep. And your school called reporting that you were late for class because you were kissing a boy in the parking lot.”

“Oh.”

Julie jumps in, “may we assume this is the same boy you mentioned this morning? It seems like you fixed things after all.”

Aubrey smiled slightly, “yeah, he surprised me.”

“Tell us about him” Howard requests, “for example, his name.” It's not really a request.

“His name is Dave. I met him on Friday in an alley. He walked me home.” She paused for a second, “He uh, called. Here, I mean, asked me to the movies on Saturday. As a friend! Because, you know, I was kinda with Ronny.”

“Yeah, honey,” Julie asks, “what happened to Ronny? All I know is that you called it off.”

Aubrey looks down and plays with the corn on her plate for a moment before looking up. “Ronny got into a fight with Dave on Saturday after the movies. We were invited to a girl’s house and Ronny was drinking and was being obnoxious. Dave offered to drive me home instead and Ronnie pushed him down. Dave hit his head on the table.” She looks away, “I think Ronny was partly jealous because he knew that I liked Dave so he picked a fight with him. We left after that.”

“Well, to be honest honey, Ronny was a bit of an ass. I don’t think it's the slightest bit unusual to like someone else more.”

“Howard!” Julie chastises. “Aubrey, you are not responsible for any of Ronny’s actions. That being said, you are way out of Ronny’s league.”

Aubrey smiles wryly at the two of them, “I must admit, he wasn’t my favourite person either.”

“So is that where you were Sunday, with Dave?”

“Yeah, he invited me to the park with his sister.” She smiles absently for a second, “He’s worried because he’s going away to college in the fall and he doesn’t want his sister to think that he won’t come back.”

“How old is his sister?”

“She’s five. She wants to ride on a roller coaster. Dave says that he’s going to take her for her birthday next month.”

Howard interjects with a question, “Where is he going?”

“New York. He says he’ll be back all the time though. If only for his sister.”

Julie smiles at her daughter, “he sounds like a nice boy. We can’t wait to meet him.”

“Meet him?! Mom, no” Aubrey objects, “I just met him! Can’t we wait a week or two first? You don’t really want to sit him down for intimidation talks do you?”

“Honestly,” Howard replies seriously, “Yes. I’ve been planning this speech since you were three.”

“Oh, dear”