Work Text:
Scanlan knows exactly the kind of people that he works for so this shouldn’t be as surprising as it is. But he’d thought for just a minute that two years of work would maybe soften them up a bit... but no.
The Briarwoods remain the shitlords that he’s always known them to be.
"That's my prom night," he protests even though he knows that it's about as futile as when he tried to beg the night off to go see his mother when she was in the hospital.
Delilah gives him a pitying look. If it weren't for the creases at her eyes that let him know exactly how hard it is for her to not just laugh in his face, Scanlan might believe her.
"Was prom night that night?" she asks as if Scanlan hadn't put in the request for that night off continuously for the last few weeks. The corner of her lips quirk into a small satisfied smirk. "I'm sorry, Scanlan. If I would've known then I never would’ve booked you for that night, but it's too late to go back on that order now and we don’t have anybody else to work that night."
It's not true and they both know it. Max - whose girlfriend is about to have their first baby - has been begging for more time since two months ago. He would jump at this opportunity to get that extra 100 in his paycheck to help pay for a crib.
But instead, Scanlan is going to be cleaning some rich old fuck's house and miss his fucking prom and his final chance to tell Pike how he feels about her.
"Could I go in for half of the shift-" Scanlan tries to negotiate.
Sylas appears from behind his wife’s shoulder like the creep he is. "I'm sorry, Scanlan," he rumbles, sounding apologetic. It'd be more convincing if Scanlan didn't know that the fuck would push him out in front of traffic just to see what the blood smear would look like. "You know the rules, if you don't come for the full shift then we'll have to let you go. After that you can try your hand at finding another job that would take you on after that… unfortunate night."
"I've been clean for months," Scanlan forces out around clenched teeth.
Delilah lets out a small chiming laugh. “I’m sure that your next employers would believe that one, dear.”
Scanlan gives them one last furious glare before storming out to his beat-up bicycle and starting the long trek back to the old shitty apartment he and his mother share. He's already resolved to not tell Juniper, but the second that he opens the door his mother looks at him from her recliner and narrows her eyes.
"Well, what did they do this time?" she asks, already used to the way that he comes home and badmouths the Briarwoods like there's no tomorrow.
Scanlan immediately forgets the lie he’d prepared and before he thinks better of it he’s telling the truth, "It looks like I can't go to prom this year, either.”
His mother makes a sound of outrage as if she’d just been told that that the Briarwoods themselves had killed Elvis Presley and covered it up. “They can’t do that!”
“They already have.” Scanlan shrugs off his coat and tosses it somewhere near the front door and settles down onto the couch and gives her a winning smile. “It’s fine, Mama.”
“It’s not,” Mama wheezes, her last outburst enough that she has to take a few deep breaths. Scanlan worriedly starts to move around to double check her tubing and she waves her hand at him until he takes the hint and takes her hand. “It’s not fine, baby,” she finally sighs after she’s caught her breath.
“It’s what we have.” Scanlan shrugs. “This job is the only thing keeping us afloat.”
Mama gives him a withering glare. “I know that. The cancer’s taking my lungs not my brain.” She softens immediately when it makes Scanlan flinch. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m just so angry. They have-” She takes a deep breath. “-no right to take advantage of you like this.”
“They do it anyway, doesn’t matter if it’s right or not,” Scanlan says needlessly. Both him and Juniper know what cards they’ve been dealt in life. Mama squeezes his hand and they sit in silence for a few minutes before Scanlan shakes himself.
“Well, the day is still young,” he says, trying out his favorite performer voice. “How about some music?”
“I’d love nothing more,” Mama agrees with a grin, and Scanlan scampers back into his room to grab his guitar.
Even if the Briarwoods have, are, and always will be complete asshats Scanlan will never regret the reason that he stays with that job.
*
Scanlan spends most of the day at school dodging his friends. It’s not easy considering that he shares all of his classes with at least one of them but his gameplan of slip in just before the bell and then and leave as soon as the bell rings works in his favor until sixth hour.
That hour he happens to be squished in between Vex and Vax with Percy on one side. It had been a good idea when he wasn’t trying to avoid them and needed somebody to give him a buffer between him and Mrs. Bryon who always wanted to get him in trouble for something. Scanlan thinks it might maybe have something to do with the whole being found with her daughter at midnight kissing thing.
Either that or the way that Scanlan has managed to be a nuisance every single day since she had told him that “Poverty was a choice, not a punishment.” Either way, Scanlan didn’t care much about it except that it was her that had made his friends make a circle around him and it was cramping his choices now.
He checks the clock hanging above her head and gets ready to jump up from his seat for the fastest run he’s ever attempted as the clock slowly ticks over to “2:45”.
The bell rings and Scanlan launches forward only to be caught by the collar by a calloused hand. “Fuck,” he hisses under his breath.
Percy lets out a huff of air and let’s go as the Terror Twins throw their arms over his shoulders and start casually directing him out and towards the end of the hallway. The heavy sigh behind them let’s him know that Percy is barely more than a step behind them. People take one look at them and then scatter to get out of their way. It’d be gratifying any other time but now it’s mostly just annoying. Halfway down the hallway he see the rest of their friends- minus Pike who always goes to the temple of Sarenrae after her sixth hour- are all gathered around the back door.
“Are you serious?” Scanlan asks, half touched, half annoyed. “This seems like overkill.”
“Overkill is running away from friends every hour with no explanation,” Percy says, dryly. “This is concern for your well-being.”
“Why do you always talk like you've stepped out of a dictionary?” Scanlan mutters under his breath.
“Why do you always try to deflect on other people when you feel defensive?” Percy snaps.
Scanlan decides that maybe this is a good time to try and make an escape attempt because this shit is ridiculous and he’s furious because the second they get him past that door he is going to tell the truth and Scanlan doesn’t want to. So with a sigh that could be mistaken for surrender he relaxes.
After another few steps Vax and Vex both relax and that’s going to have to be enough even with the feeling of Percy’s harsh glare on the back of his neck.
He goes limp.
“Fuck!” the twins yell in unison and Scanlan is scrambling under them, past Percy and then and runs for his life as if the cops were on him instead of it being his best friends.
Lockers and poster boards and more blur beside him as he races towards another one of the doors that lead to the outside. “Get him!” Grog yells and there’s a stampede after him. None of them go for a flank though so he keeps going for the door that will lead him to where he’d park his bike that morning.
He bursts out of the air-conditioned building into the sticky summer heat and makes a run for his bike and doesn’t even bother to put on his helmet before he’s pushing off and pedaling like his life depends on it.
“WHAT THE FUCK, SHORTHALT?!” Keyleth yells from behind him before he’s turning the corner.
On the way home the guilt about the whole running away from his friends thing catches up to him. Their only fault is being stupid enough to care about him, after all. But along the same vein he mostly just feels kind of glad at being able to keep his silence for a little bit longer.
Plus, he didn't want to have to explain that he had been looking forward to prom this whole year so he could finally, finally fucking talk to Pike about his feelings in a way that maybe she wouldn't brush off as another joke. Instead, he'd be cleaning out a fireplace and doing laundry and- Scanlan shuts off the thought before he can get even more depressed than he already is.
He makes it back to the apartment building about an hour earlier than he usually does. After school, usually all of VM hung around, shared homework - it wasn’t cheating it was being efficient - and just fucked around before heading out.
"Hey," a gruff voice says and Scanlan stops before turning around to find a tall buff man wearing a white suit hanging out in the stairwell. He has a cigarette that he stomps out under his heel. "Yeah, you. You the kid who lives in 341?"
"Why?" Scanlan asks, having learned better than to just answer questions like that for free.
The man gives him a long look before chuckling to himself. "Good question. I live in 241 and I've noticed that you sing all the damn time."
"Yeah, not sorry about that," Scanlan says, giving the man a bland smile. "If you have a problem you can talk to the landlord."
Darren had been an old flame of Juniper, a fan of Scanlan’s lack of morals, and is willing to let them live there for cheap and lets the singing go as long as it’s not in the dead of night.
The man looks startled before shaking his head and taking a step closer, "No, what I was gonna say-"
Scanlan pretends that he hears something, "Sorry. That's my mother, I'll have to talk to you later, Mister-?"
"Dr. Dranzel," the man introduces himself.
Scanlan pauses, the name sparking something familiar in his mind before he shakes it off.
"Well, Dr. Dranzel." He makes sure to add just a hint of derision. "Have a good day."
"Wait, kid!" the man's voice carries towards him as he darts up towards his apartment and slams the door behind him.
His mother startles from where she'd been sleeping. "What?" she gasps before she starts coughing.
Scanlan swears at himself and goes over to her and fluffs her pillow behind her. Counts carefully with her breaths until both of them are more steady and can breathe slightly easier.
"Sorry, Mama," Scanlan apologizes. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"It's alright, baby." Juniper sighs as she runs a shaking hand through his hair before coming down to cup his face. She takes another deep breath before giving him a smile and settling her hand back into her lap. "So how was school?"
Scanlan doesn’t hide his expression of panic fast enough.
HIs mother gives him a long look but keeps running her hand through his hair until Scanlan pulls away, letting her hand drop to her side. "Did something happen?" she asks after a long moment.
"Nothing you need to worry about," Scanlan reassures her.
She doesn't look reassured. "Sweetheart," she starts, before Scanlan says, "Mama, please drop it. Just got into a fight with the group.”
She looks more reassured now that Scanlan has at least told her something. "Alright, baby, I trust you. Do you wanna talk about why you guys got into a fight?"
"Not really," Scanlan sighs as he drags himself to his feet exhaustion hitting him right between the shoulder blades. "Do you know what you want for dinner?"
Mama pulls a face- she hasn't been hungry in a long time- and Scanlan nods. "I'll make some grilled cheese and tomato soup then." Two of the few foods that he knew that she'd at least eat half of.
He's dead on his feet by the time he hands her the tray that holds her food. "Thank you, baby," she says.
Scanlan gives her a smile and settles down onto the couch and sets his own tray to the side lays his head down for just a second and then wakes up several hours later with a jolt.
Juniper gives him a smile. "Hi," she whispers, portable oxygen tank wheels squeaking on the floor as she leans down towards him. "Might wanna head to bed, sweetheart."
Scanlan nods, standing up with a groan. "Alright," he yawns into the back of his hand. "Just-"
"Go to sleep, Scanlan," she says, wobbling unsteadily towards the bathroom.
Scanlan waits until she's settled back down in her chair before he salutes her and goes towards his room with its twin bed with purple sheets, two posters, guitar, and digital keyboard and is back asleep before his head even hits the pillow.
*
He wakes up to sunshine peeking in through his window, and his mother snoring in the next room. He stretches until he hears a satisfying pop and then thinks long and hard about what he needs to do regarding this Thing.
After thirty minutes he has two plans. The first plan is to confess to his friends about why he'd been so weird, tell them and his mother his plan about Pike that was now null and void. He imagines his friends’ pity and his mother's guilty face and hurries his thoughts towards his second plan.
His second plan is far easier to pull off. Not go to School till Monday next week which won't be too bad considering that Prom is tomorrow and they let Seniors skip that day. So the only day that'd he'd actually be skipping would be today so that wouldn't be too heavy a hit against his attendance and then after the weekend he could go back to acting like he always had and nobody would be the wiser.
Scanlan will admit that he's never been too brilliant in his plans, but he can't help but feel proud of this one. It’s Scanlan-proof and all he has to do is keep his mouth shut until Monday and then apologize and then everything will be fine.
He lazes about in his bed until his phone alarm goes off and then he walks into the living room.
"Morning, baby," Mama answers, eyes intent on the morning news. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"
Scanlan shrugs, feet slapping against the tiled floor as he gets some cereal. "I'm not going today." He sits down on the couch and hums trying to ignore the way that Juniper is trying to stare a hole in his cheek.
"Will this affect your scholarship?" she asks after a long moment.
"Nope," Scanlan answers. "I've only missed 2 days the last three years. One more is fine."
"Alright," Juniper says, before pausing. "Do you want to talk about why you're not going to school and hanging out with your friends and are instead going to spend it with your crippled mother?"
"You're not crippled," Scanlan argues on reflex. "And I'm fine Mama. I just- I'm taking a mental health day."
"I love you very much, Scanlan," Juniper says with a no-nonsense type of voice, "but you are the least mentally healthy individual I know."
"Don't pull your punches, Mama, please."
Juniper sighs and pulls herself to standing and makes the tedious walk over to where he's standing in front of the refrigerator. Her dark brown eyes feel like they're staring a hole in his forehead. "Honey, all I'm asking is you tell me the truth. Is that so hard?"
'I wish it wasn't,' is Scanlan's first thought but he swallows around the words and plasters a smile on his face. "I'm thinking eggs and bacon for breakfast?" he says instead and feels like shit when Juniper's face falls.
"Sure, honey," she agrees making a valiant effort at a smile. "If that's what you want."
She starts her long trek back to her recliner and Scanlan starts breakfast.
The day after that goes by in haze of idleness that Scanlan hasn’t had in a very long time and he enjoys it to the extent of his abilities. He plays on his piano after getting off the layer of dust on top of it, ignores the texts from his friends. He writes down the vague stirrings of a song, ignores the calls from his friends, plays go fish with his mother and before he knows it his mother is snoring in her recliner.
He stares at the ceiling of their living room for a long time that night.
*
He wakes up to the feeling of Juniper pulling a blanket over top of him. “Love you, Mama,” he mumbles and Juniper lays a kiss on his forehead.
“I love you too, chickadee Now go back to sleep.”
It feels like it’s been maybe five seconds before the alarm on his phone is ringing and he’s stretching with a content sigh.
“Good afternoon, sleeping beauty,” Juniper says, glasses perched on her nose with her notebook in front of our. “It’s time to get ready for work.”
Scanlan bolts up in a panic, “What? Ma! You should’ve woken me up earlier!”
She gives him a mild look that makes him blanch. “I could’ve,” she agrees. “I thought that maybe you sleeping was a little more important.”
Scanlan tilts his head in thought. “That’s probably fair,” he decides after a moment of consideration.
Juniper snorts before her voice turns slightly guilty. “You haven’t slept more than six hours in God knows how long, baby. It’s not good for a growing boy.”
Scanlan pulls his hand to his chest. “Is that a short joke from a 4 feet 8 inch when in 2 inch heels woman?” he asks, mock wounded. Juniper laughs before discreetly moving the oxygen tubing back into her nose.
“Get ready for work baby,” she says and good mood dampened Scanlan heads his way back towards his closet.
His work outfit is what the picture is next to phrase “Trying too Hard to seem like a Legitimate Business”. It's a blue top with black pants and his apron has BCS (Briarwoods Cleaning Services) emblazoned in gold on the front. Scanlan hates it with a passion. Finishing off with the cap that declares him a “Housekeeper Extraordinaire” he gives himself a glance in the mirror and starts to head out to his bike.
"Don't forget your phone, baby," Juniper says, holding it out to him. Scanlan gives her a grateful kiss on the check and mentally prepares himself for having to stop by the HQ where he’ll have to grab a company car. With a sigh he makes his way that way and entertains himself with all the things he’d say to his employers if he could quit and walk out.
That always keeps his stress level down.
There are more cars in front of the HQ then there usually is but to be frank Scanlan doesn’t give a shit about that. Instead, he comes in and signs a car out and leaves.
Finally, he pulls up to the house, or rather, Mansion and tries not to groan. This seems like one of those people who don’t understand that a cleaner can only do so much by themselves and give shit surveys when they get asked. Pulling in, he rearranges his face to his “I’m so neutral but pleased about everything” look and gets out.
He walks up, rings the doorbell, and prepares himself.
A huge man with muscles bigger than Scanlan’s fucking head answers the door. "You're the boy from the Briarwoods cleaning service?"
Scanlan clears his throat, "Yes, sir, if you make a mess then we're here to help clean it. Secrets are-" he gives a wink "-guaranteed."
The man frowns at him, "Yes. I left a list of things on my kitchen table for you to clean. Be finished by 12 and-" the man's gaze sharpens, "-be aware that I have an extensive inventory of everything in this house. If any of it is missing then we settle it."
Scanlan swallows, playing up the scared act so the man looks satisfied, "Of course, sir," he squeaks. "Everything done by 12."
The man nods, looking immensely pleased at having scared the shit out of a teenager. Most of the Briarwoods’ clients are. "I'll be back at 12:15 to review your performance." He shoves past Scanlan and towards his car with a grumble.
Scanlan moves into the house and rolls his eyes while he walks to the kitchen table. He does a quick rundown of the list and nearly chokes on his own spit.
The list is three pages long with most of them taking at least 20 minutes with just him. God, he was fucked. There was no way he could even do this in the next 3 hours.
His heart sinks even farther as he realizes that his half concocted plan to just… leave when he was finished and sneak in before the customer got back home just went scattered to the wind. Numbly he sets the list back on the table, grabs his cleaning bucket and decides to start at the kitchen since he's already here.
He’s halfway through cleaning the counter when the doorbell rings and Scanlan freezes before he mumbles to himself, "Well, fuck it. No way this day could get worse."
He opens the door and his mouth drops open in shock. "What-?" is all he manages to get out before Vex's arms are around him.
"We're here to be your fairy god...family?" she whispers next to his ear, and Scanlan stares in shock at the rest of his friends who are all looking at him in various states of grinning. After a second he gently pushes Vex away.
"I can't say I'm not grateful but-"
"We followed you here," Taryon states because despite the fact that they don’t like each other much they still have this weird understanding going on.
Keyleth nods, "Your mom texted us and told us that you were acting super weird and could there be any reason for that? And then Pike mentioned that you didn't ask her to prom like you always do and well." She shrugs one freckled shoulder. "We figured it out from there."
“It was either this or the drugs again,” Percy agrees.
Scanlan ignores that last bit for the sake of personal dignity. "So what you guys are going to spend your prom here. That's not fair."
"You haven't got to go to a single prom," Vex says. "We can live with missing one for a good cause."
Scanlan doesn't know what he did to deserve friends like this. "That sounds-" he starts before he looks down and winces. "I don't have anything to wear."
"Already covered," Percy states, shouldering past Scanlan and snagging him by the shoulder, Taryon trailing them like the poor love-struck puppy he is. The black bag in Percy’s hand seems quite ominous but considering that they had gone to all this work, Scanlan’s going to assume that it wasn't just a ploy to embarrass him. They go down the hallway to the first nondescript bedroom that they find and Percy pushes the suit in his hand. "Try not to ruin it. Taryon and I had to pull some favors for that."
"Uh," Scanlan says as Percy strides towards the door. "Thanks."
"I've been waiting for you two to pull your head out of your asses for three years. This is solely to help preserve my sanity." He closes the door behind him and then pokes his head back in and points a finger. "If you break her heart, Scanlan, then you're dead. And that's before I even get to you." With that he closes the door again with a satisfied nod.
Scanlan stares at the door with the icy feeling of dread curling in his stomach before he shakes himself and unzips the bag.
He stares at it for a minute before laughing as he runs his hand along the purple silk.
*
"Oh look at you!" Vex cries from where’s she’s dusting the bookshelves when Scanlan comes out of the room with a hesitant smile on his face. The rest of their friends all stop what they’re doing and let out either small gasps and whoops of encouragement.
"Shake what your mama gave you!” Vax yells immediately afterward from his spot.
Scanlan laughs, puts on a duckface and strides up and down the hall to the mixed sound of cheering and yells of protest. Finally once he’s laughing so hard it’s a struggle to stand up, Keyleth grabs something from her purse.
“The mask!” Keyleth says, darting forward and tieing the mask behind his head with a small squeal of excitement.
Scanlan stares at her in confusion for a second before Percy says, “The Briarwoods have agreed to chaperone tonight.”
“Are you fucking serious?” Scanlan demands. “They’re letting them around a whole group of teenagers?"
“Yep,” Vex pops the p with the disdain only she can muster. “Plus, it’s a masquerade.”
Scanlan decides to ignore this new piece of information. "Okay, so next question. How am I going to get there?"
"I'm going to drive you, darling," Vex says, raising a hand. "Then, I'm coming back and we're going to get this house spotless by the time you get back."
Scanlan nods, wiping his suddenly sweating hands on his pants. "Alright, then let's go."
"This fits with your aesthetic," Vax says, clicking his smartphone to check the time. "You're fashionably late. It's already 20 past 10."
"Oh well fuck," Scanlan says, rubbing his hands together nervously. "Well then, let's go."
They all give him various versions of amusement and exasperation as he nearly bounces out of his skin on the way up to the car that their dad had given the twins after he'd missed their 16th birthday. For an apology gift, Scanlan can't help but think that it's shitty but practical.
The ride over to the gym where they're hosting prom is filled with Scanlan's nervous chatter because Vex is too busy paying attention in Emon's terrible traffic to offer him anything back beside the occasional hum of agreement or outraged noise.
Finally, after what felt like forever they finally got to the entrance. "Go get her, tiger!" Vex yells after him as he walks to the front door.
He looks back and she gives him a thumbs up.
With a deep breath, he opens the door before he can think better of it. The theme, if he remembers right, had been "A Night Beneath the Stars" and the student council had gone above and beyond with their wanting to play up to that goal.
The entire room is covered in dark blue wallpaper, silver fairy lights that twinkle softly and the song is a slow song that makes Scanlan want to find Pike so he can slow dance with her.
He looks across the room searching for the dyed-white hair that was sure to show up and he lets out a sigh of relief as he approaches her only to freeze when he realizes who's next to her.
Grog is his best friend in the entire world but he’s absolutely terrifying. With a stutter step, Scanlan thinks about running back out and catching Vex before she gets too far gone.
Pike laughs, her face hidden behind a golden mask embezzled with white beads and glitter. Scanlan stares at them for a few seconds before shaking himself. "You have one shot, Shorthalt." he reminds himself. "Don't fuck up."
"Hey, guys!" he greets as he gets closer.
"Scanlan!" Pike says sounding relieved. "Do you know where the others are?"
His bubble pops just a little and he deflates a little before getting shrugging, "I think they said that they didn't want to come today. They were going to go do something else." Not his best lie but considering the circumstances he can't help but feel that maybe he can be forgiven.
Her face twists a little in disappointment, "Oh," she says, her shoulders slumping.
"They're missing out on all the fun anyway," Scanlan says. "After all everybody knows that there is no party like a Scanlan, Pike and Grog party."
Pike nods, and they're left there in silence before Grog awkwardly clears his throat.
"I'm gonna just-" he gestures behind him erratically, "Go?”
“You don’t have to go, Grog,” Pike says, and Scanlan turns and scans the room for the Briarwoods. It’s too fucking crowded, though, so after a moment he turns back to look at Pike.
"Do you want to dance with me?" he asks before he can think better of it.
Her smile is a bit cautious. "I'd love to, Scanlan," she answers softly.
“Are you sure?” Scanlan checks, kicking himself. “Because if you don’t then we don’t have to-”
Pike’s smile grows wider, and she grabs his hand. “This our senior prom, Scanlan. We’re going to dance.”
"This is Honeybee by the Steam Powered Giraffe," The DJ announces as they settle themselves into the middle of the slowly swaying crowd.
"So," Pike says, conversationally, "Where are the rest of our friends?"
The question doesn't compute for a second before Scanlan lets out a nervous laugh. "I- uh- don't know?" He winces.
Why he can't lie to Pike convincingly is a problem that he's torn between letting slide or solving.
She gives him a patient look. "Scanlan, I know our friends and I know that you had work tonight. I just want to make sure that we're not gonna have a problem on our hands.
"We always have a problem on our hands," Scanlan mutters and Pike shrugs.
"That's very true," she agrees, with a small smile. "Usually though our problems involve Police involvement-" She pauses as Scanlan gives her an incredulous look. “And I just wanted to make sure that we don’t have to worry about that tonight."
Scanlan laughs a little before pausing. "What do you mean that you all knew I had work today?"
"Oh, uh," Pike's turn to be flustered it appears. "Your mom texted us?"
"She doesn't have your numbers?"
"Using your phone."
Scanlan groans and drops his head. "Of course, she did," he mutters.
"Try not to be mad at her?" Pike says. "She’s just worried."
Scanlan doesn't answer her and they keep slowly turning in a circle. His mood has officially dropped but it does feel slightly warmer when Pike had explained.
Juniper was always worried despite Scanlan's best efforts so it made sense why she was worried about the fact that Scanlan hadn't been talking, had been exhausted, and shutting her out. Last time he had done that he had nearly gotten himself killed.
"Pike," Scanlan says after the third song that they've danced to that includes 'turn down for what', which was a barrel of laughs. "You do know that I love you, right?"
"Of course, I do, Scanlan," Pike says with a smile, "I love you, too."
"No, I uh- I love - love you Pike," Scanlan says earnestly, staring into her blue eyes.
Pike's eyes go wide and the idea of the blush under her mask makes his heart constrict.
“Scanlan, I-”
"Alright, everybody!" The DJ announces. "It's ten minute ‘til we crown our Prom King and Queen! Until then enjoy I Wanna Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston!"
Scanlan frowns, something about that setting the alarm bells off in his mind. "Hey, Pikey," he says. "What time do they crown the Prom King and Queen?"
"At midnight," she says and Scanlan's heart skips several beats. "Scanlan? What's wrong?"
"I gotta go," he tears himself away and runs towards the exit, praying and hoping that Vex or somebody is waiting for him. “I LOVE YOU!”
"Wait? What?" Pike yells after him, and Scanlan curses as his mask comes untied and flutters to the ground.
The door slams behind him with a finality that Scanlan is firmly ignoring. Vex has her head above the roof of her car and she waves at him frantically as he races towards her car.
"We're fucked," Scanlan gasps as tires screech on the gravel as they make their way out of the parking lot. "Oh god, we're fucked."
"Not yet," Vex says, her foot nearly hitting the floor. Scanlan takes a chance and peeks at her speed and then promptly decides that when they get pulled over that he needs to pretend that'd he’s been kidnapped.
Scanlan chokes on a panic attack, "Oh god, I don't even have my stupid fucking work outfit on."
"Backseat," Vex grits out as they nearly flip when she takes a turn a little too sharply.
"Umm, I'm flattered that you want to see me naked," Scanlan starts before Vex turns to look at him. "Tree! Tree!" Scanlan shrieks.
"Put the damn suit on!" Vex commands.
"WATCH THE ROAD!" Scanlan yells back even as he tugs the purple suit jacket off and the white button-up underneath it off and throws it the backseat.
Vex glances at the dash clock and swears under her breath, while Scanlan yanks his blue shirt over his head, "Did you finish-"
"Cleaning, yes." Scanlan lets out a grateful sigh and stares down at his purple pants before glancing back at Vex.
"Dear god, man, this isn't the time to get shy," she growls, and Scanlan takes that as the invitation that it is and wiggles his pants down and works his black pants back on. Finally just as they tear down the neighborhood he yanks his stupid fucking cap back on and is out and racing towards the house before the car even stops.
He slips into the door and straightens by the front door with a heaving breath. "Fuck," he whispers to himself.
The sound of gravel shifting outside makes him cringe and do one last visual sweep of the house before he calms himself down. The number one rule of lying is to believe in yourself first, his dad had taught him that one.
The door opens a few moments later and the hulking figure of the client walks in. "Well," he says, after taking a look around the house. "Good. Now get the fuck out."
Scanlan gratefully nods and scampers out to the company car, where he lets out a whoop of victory.
I don’t deserve u guys he texts.
There’s a rush of text messages back from everybody and there’s a little feeling of disappointment when Pike doesn’t text anything back. He’s making his leisurely way back to the HQ with a strange feeling of adrenaline and love and disappointment when his phone pings again.
Are you free tonight? -Pike
4 u pikey? always . - Scanlan texts back.
Can you meet me at Crazy Carls?
Give me twenty minutes.
Scanlan has never raced to get back to the Briarwoods in his life but he’s got something to look forward to this time and that makes it a little easier.
Slipping into the front office he sets the keys in the basket for that exact purpose, signs his sheet with an illegible scrawl and climbs on to his bicycle and heads towards the restaurant like a bat out of hell, only stopping to do a wheelie out of pure joy.
When he sees the restaurant's sign in front of him, he barely even checks to make sure that no cars are coming before he's riding across the street and it takes a force of will to stop to chain it to the bike rack in front. He’s about to open the door before he goes and checks his reflection in the window to check if he looks as nervous and anxious and happy as he feels.
He glances in the window and winces. Well, at least the whole windswept curls are working for him even if his nerves are showing so plainly that even Vax would be able to see the fact that he's ready to run for the hills.
Instead of the very tempting thought of getting back on his bike and heading home, he squares his shoulders and walks into the restaurant.
"Scanlan," Pike says, and she's still in her dress but her hair is down and in disarray and all of her makeup is off. She, if possible, looks even more beautiful without it on then with it on. "I think you forgot this?"
She's holding a pink and purple mask in her hand and Scanlan instinctively reaches up a hand towards his face that makes her raise an eyebrow., "Mind telling me why you left in such a hurry?”
“Uhh-” Scanlan starts, eyes darting around the room as he tried to think of some plausible lie.
"The truth, Scanlan," she demands. Her eyes narrowed.
Scanlan wilts a little. "I needed to be back at the client's house by midnight, tonight. So, when the DJ said that it was just- I needed to go.”
"Oh." That seems to take the wind out of Pike's sails. She picks at her fingernail for an awkward moment. "I thought that maybe-" she mumbles something under her breath. Scanlan leans forward to hear her.
"What?"
"I thought that maybe you-" Mumbling again.
Scanlan leans in even closer. "I'm sorry?"
"I SAID THAT I THOUGHT YOU WERE JUST SAYING THAT YOU LOVED ME AND YOU DIDN’T REALLY MEAN IT AND THAT’S WHY YOU LEFT!”
The half full restaurant goes quiet. Even the music seems to dim. Pike’s cheeks slowly turn pink but her eyes are focused on his.
Scanlan blinks at her. "Didn’t you want me to not love you anymore last year?" he tests the water.
"Well- I mean- I did but then this last year... You've grown up a lot and I think that you... well- you know."
Scanlan does know.
In the last months or so he's been careful to tune it back as much as possible. The whole huge overturns and big fanciful gestures that were a lot of show with little to no feeling besides Scanlan's show boatings and feelings of infatuation that he had confused with love.
He'd been more in love with the idea of salvation and forgiveness than he was in love with Pike.
In the last few months though he’s been falling in love with Pike, the person. Her dirty humor, the fist fights she always won, the fact that she held her head high and smiled even when the world was dark. The way that she smiled when one of her friends laughed, the way that she yelled when she was pissed, the way she looked when she laughed so hard she got the hiccups-
“Pike,” Scanlan says, more serious than he’s ever been. “I don’t think I could not love- like you ever.”
“Oh.” She smoothes her blue dress out with a pleased smile. “Well then, now that’s settled.” There’s a heavy silence as she looks at him. Then, after a few seconds, she takes a deep breath. “Doyouwannagoonadatewithme?”
Scanlan blinks at her.
“I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to but I thought that maybe if you wanted then it’d be-”
Scanlan grabs the hand on the table and stares at her as her words trickle off until they’re sitting back in silence. “I was actually about to ask you the same thing.”
Her smile is so bright that it blinds him.
“THERE THEY ARE!” Grog’s voice shakes him out of his stupor as their friends make their way in.
With a laugh, Pike takes his hand and doesn’t let go for the rest of the night.
*
Scanlan wakes up the next morning to the sound of his phone buzzing over and over again. With a groan, he paws around for it and finally grabs it.
15 unread messages , his phone says cheerfully.
Scanlan unlocks it.
OMG SCANLAN HAVE YOU READ THE NEWS
READ THE NEWS AND THEN TEXT US from Vex
DID U KNOW SHORTHALT?
actually ofc u didn’t sry
talk 2 us when u wake up from Vax
And more from his friends that make him more and more worried until finally a simple, Good Morning! <3 from Pike settles his nerves.
He opens the news app on his phone and his jaw drops to the floor.
Cleaning Service as a Front for a Cult!
A Cleaning Service in Emon Busted for being the front for a Cult?
“Oh fuck,” Scanlan breathes, right before there’s a knock at the front door of the apartment. His mother's recliner squeaks on the floor as she gets up.
Scanlan presses ‘text all’ and quickly types out, ‘ I always fucking knew that there was something fucking wrong with them.’
“Scanlan,” his mother yells, voice shaking. “There are some nice policemen at the door.”
“Coming, Mama,” Scanlan calls back and braces himself for the rest of the day.
*
Ater two and half hours at the station where he’s questioned extensively about stuff that had been happening right under his nose that he hadn’t noticed at all. He gets released back out into the wild now officially jobless but not in jail so he’ll count that as a win, maybe.
“On your way out, get your friends,” the police officer says as she stops before the door to the front. Her lips curl into a smile. “They’ve been pleading your innocence for the last two hours.”
“Yeah,” Scanlan says fondly, “They’re like that.”
He opens the door and immediately has his arms full of Pike her strawberry shampoo identifying her before he sees the white of her hair. The rest of VM all rush towards him with a thousand questions.
“My father has great influence in this- Oh!” he faintly hears Tary in the distance. “Well, thank you very much...have a good day.”
“Are they letting you leave?” Keyleth calls out. “Dad, no it’s okay. I don’t think we need a lawyer anymore.”
Scanlan laughs. “Yeah, turns out they know what a crazy cultist looks like and I’m not one.”
“Did they hurt you?” Grog rumbles.
“Nah, big guy, we’re good.” Scanlan says. Grog gives him a slow nod.
“Come on everybody! Ice cream on Tary!” Vax calls out, before the door bangs open and a familiar man walks into the station.
“Is Scanlan Shorthalt still in prison?” Dr. Dranzel calls out.
Pike and Grog not so discreetly slide in front of him to hide him from view.
“What’s it to you, friend?” Vax asks, voice taking on the silken edge that he had learned from Slydor.
From the small crack, he can see through in between Pike and Grog he sees Dr. Dranzel pull a face. “I run a small show and I was wondering if- well since he’s not longer got a job- if he’d liked a place in my performing troupe.”
Scanlan pushes at Grog until he lets out a sigh and takes a step aside.
“Dad, I think we might need that lawyer anyway,” Keyleth whispers into the phone.
“I can’t say yes right now, not without knowing the terms,” Scanlan says slowly. “But, I’m willing to listen.” Dr. Dranzel’s face lights up and Scanlan raises a hand. “After me and my friends go get some ice cream.”
Walking out of the police station into the light with Pike’s hand in his, a job offer on the way, and his mother’s number ringing on his phone...
Well Scanlan’s a lot happier than he’s been in a long time.