Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

     “Less than a year ago you made the promise that you’d be here! That you’d never make me go at this alone! So what the fuck do you call this?! Huh? What happened?! What fuckin’ changed?! Did you finally start questioning what was keeping you here? Was I not enough?! Answer me!”

     Unable to formulate a response, Davey was frozen where he stood, alone in his dorm with his phone pressed against his ear and all life drained from his face. The knot in his stomach growing by the second.

     He began to stutter and stumble his way towards a coherent sentence before an abrupt bang on the front door pulled him out. “I’m... I’ve... there’s someone... I gotta go.” Without hesitation he hung up and threw his phone onto the bed.

     “Coming!” He’d only made it to his accommodation 10 minutes ago so was still trying to come to terms with both the layout and the concept of actually having his own place. Grabbing his room key from the desk he bolted down the stairs just in time to see the front door swing open and 4 complete strangers tumble inside. The ragtag group were all yelling and gesturing wildly at each other and despite how well they appeared to get along none of them quite seemed to fit together.

     “Erm... hi?” He waved over to the heap of barely-adults as they started to untangle themselves and stand up, uncomfortably aware of the presence his left arm he shoved it behind his back and hoped nobody would notice (cause, come on, what are you supposed to do with your other arm when you wave at someone?!).

     “Oh shit! Hey!” The tallest spoke first, still sort of flapping his hands around though it seemed more calculated then just random waggling but Davey tried his best to ignore it.

     “Who- I’m sorry. Who are you? Why are you here? And how did you get in? I thought I heard a knock.”

     One of the others nudged the tallest, his face contorted to the most confused look of the group, very closely mirroring Davey’s, prompting the tallest to turn and both with added gesturing and much slower then Davey’s ramble explain, “He wants to know who we are.”

     Turning back to face Davey, still beaming he took a step to the side and began introductions, “I’m Race, and that,” he pointed to the previously confused guy next to him, “is my brother Jack,” Jack waves at Davey and mouthed what Davey assumes was a ‘hi’, “and I guess we’re gonna be sharing this place with you for the next year!”

     “... right. And those two?” Pointed towards the guy that looked like he spent every minute he wasn’t in class at the gym, and the taller but slightly drunk looking girl that was leaning against the doorway (probably for balance).

     “Oh yeah, sorry. That’s Kath,” at which point presumably-Kath nodded to Davey, “she’s my uni-dad, and this is Spot, he’s my uni-mum.” Spot scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Have you met yours yet?!”

     “Ah, no. I mean, I didn’t sign up for the uni-parents programme.” He shuffled his feet and looked at ground, “Honestly I hadn’t expected to actually be here.”

     The five of them stood around in awkward silence just long enough time for Davey to reconsider every life choice he’d ever made before Kath demanded access to the fridge, apparently she was deeply concerned that her beer was getting warm, or worse... flat.
As they trudged over to what they assumed must be the kitchen Spot pulled Davey aside.

     “Dude, are you alright? You look seriously pale.”  Davey managed a shaky half nod before Spot added, “We might be uni-parents to those two morons but I definitely am, and I’m sure Kath would be thrilled too to adopt you into our little gang of weirdos, you can be the quiet awkward middle child or if you’d prefer just the distant cousin-”

     “What about the gay cousin?” Davey blurted out before the words had even had a chance to make it to his brain.

     “Yeah, sure. If you’d like!” He said through a small laugh before turning to try find the others.

     “Oh! Spot, I was meaning to ask,” Spot turned back, “How come you’re the mum and Kath is the dad?”

     “She reckoned she’d make a better dad than me and I learnt very early on not to try win and argument against Katherine Pulitzer!” And with that he headed towards the probably-a-kitchen

     Katherine Pulitzer. As in Katherine Pulitzer of The Pulitzers, the castle owning almost billionaire Pulitzers. Fuck. Davey reached for his pocket to google her only to remember he left his phone upstairs. Bollocks

     Race stuck his head out of the almost-certainly-a-kitchen door to check on him, “Hey dude, you joining us or what? If we’re gonna be living together I need to know if I can handle drunk you.”

     “Gimme thirty seconds I’ve just gotta grab something from upstairs.” He rushed upstairs and went to swipe his phone of the bed. Fuck. Fuckfuck fuckidity fuck. He worked to slow his breathing and calm himself a bit more before making his way back down to the others.

     “Hey, would any of you be able to phone me?” He tried to suppress his fidgeting but it was not working. “It’s probably just in my room, but I sort of lost my phone.”

     Race chimed in first, “Of course, what’s your number? Actually, you know what, we should all get each other’s numbers. And sooner rather than later probably.” he handed his phone over to Davey and as he was typing his number in, as best he could with his hands shaking, Race quickly added, “Oh my God I’m so sorry, I’ve completely forgotten, what did you say your name was again?”

     “David, or erm… Davey, if you want? Sorry.”

     He hit call and rushed back upstairs to try find the buzzing.

     Less than a minute later he was back muttering ‘fuck’ under his breath all the while. He had his phone clutched in both his hands but there was a massive web of cracks coming from the top corner down through the home button.

     Race had rejoined the others in the corner, each with a bottle and Kath was the first to respond to Davey’s re-arrival, “Fuck man, that’s not good.”

     “There’s no way I can afford to get a new screen, fuhhh! Anyone got any tape?”

     “Shit!” Without any explanation Race had legged it down the corridor back to the front door, a moment later Jack too seemed to have had the same epiphany cause he was off as well.

     Spot, Kath and Davey poked their heads round the corner to check out all the commotion.

     They’d forgotten all their stuff, their bags, boxes and other miscellaneous crap was all still lying outside the door. Fuckin’ idiots.

     While the Race, Jack and Spot did their best to haul all the bags into the corridor Kath and Davey stood in the doorway to watch the mildly amusing show. Kath nudged Davey just below his ribs, “You can get a replacement screen for a tenner off eBay.”

     “I’m sort of strapped for cash at the moment. Maybe next month, if I can even find a job.”

     “Spot can probably hook you up with something, he’s very close with a few of the part time bartenders and I think there’s a couple openings. And I can get you a new screening if it’s that desperate, are you gonna be ok for food?”

     “Oh. Oh my god. Thank you. For the job advice. Omg. But it’s alright on the screen front. It’s not that urgent. I sort of need to save for books and clothes… and pots and pans and whatever else it is you need to ‘adult’, a maintenance loan only goes so far when you’re rationing for food.”

     “Clothes? Why would you need clothes, it’s the first day. And didn’t you bring cooking things?”

     “My family wasn’t exactly onboard with me coming here. I have my backpack, a longboard and a school bag. There's maybe two days of clothes and a single saucepan.”

     “Shit! How did you even get here?!”

     “Train.”

     “That’s it! Tomorrow we’re goin’ shopping: clothes, books, kitchenware and whatever else you might need. Don’t worry, Daddy’s footing the bill!” She smirked and pushed off the wall to go check on the others, it was clearly not up for debate.

Chapter Text

     After Race and Jack had finally loaded their stuff into their own rooms and given the place a quick once over they flopped down in the common room with Davey. Kath and Spot had gone to go set themselves up but they’d kindly left the remaining beer as a welcoming gift.

     “So… numbers?” Davey couldn’t stand the silence any longer.

     “Shit, yeah. Let’s do that. Hand me your phone I’ll add Jack and me.”

     Davey lent over the coffee table to Race. Jack was typing away on his laptop so Race took the liberty of giving Davey his phone as well.

     “Just remember though, if you wanna talk to Jackie you’re gonna need to text!”

     “Sure.” Honestly, who actually enjoys speaking over the phone? Ew!

     After a short lull, Race chimed in again, “Hey, Dave. You wouldn’t mind if I set up our DVD player on the TV, would you? I’m really not in the mood for anything other than Legally Blonde right now.”

     “Yeah, sure. I’ve never seen it.”

     “You’ve never-! How?! You have no idea what you’re missing! Cancel all your plans! We’re educating you!”

     Davey laughed at how much he’d managed to rile up Race, he was squatting on the edge of the sofa very precariously as he yelled.

     When Race leapt off and made a mad dash down to his room Jack finally looked up from his screen and over to where Race had vanished.

     Heh. He must be so used to it by now that he’s just become immune.

     Race was back moments later with a worryingly large cardboard box that he claimed contained his ‘teaching tools’. He began to unpack. First connecting up the DVD player, then, lining up the DVDs along the bottom of the shelf and once he’d run out of space, stacking them to the side.

     Jack put down his laptop and when Race looked back to him, he spun his finger in the air besides his shoulder. Race ran over to his brother and pointed over to Davey then proceeded to move his hands around far too quickly for Davey to make out any of the individual motions. Neither of them said anything but Davey had a strong suspicion they were discussing him. Once Race had stopped moving Jack gasped, a lot louder than Davey had expected, it was quite jarring in the silence.

     “You ready?”

     “I guess it’s too late to say no?”

     “You bet your arse it is!”

     Race reached for the remote just as the front door closed. Omg. I am so not ready to be murdered! Davey and Race switched between looking at each other and the direction of the door a second more than was comfortable for either before standing and trying to find the closest thing that could be used as a weapon

     “Are you expecting any visitors? ...that have a key?!” Davey whispered once he’d grabbed one of the guys’ frying pans.

     “Not unless it’s Kath and Spot being incredibly nosy.”

     On Race’s signal, the three of them tried unsuccessfully to sneak down the stairs to the ground floor where they saw a short girl in a flannel and jeans

     Jack screamed. Probably before her appearance had really sunk in. Race screamed. Almost certainly at Jack’s scream.

     “Who the fuck are you?!”

     “Yeah! And how the hell did you get in?!” Davey attempted to backup Race’s inquiries.

     “… With the key. Why are you carrying an iron?!” She had a very thick Scottish accent, far thicker than Davey would ever have predicted could come out of such a diminutive frame.

     Davey and Race looked at each other again, then at Jack, who still looked slightly spooked but it had started to mix with his signature face of confusion.

     “Hey! We’re the ones askin’ the questions here!”

     “Ack, fine! You can call me Buttons. I’m doin’ Computer Science and Philosophy. I’m apparently gonna be spendin’ the next year livin’ with you three, who’s first line of defence is an iron, a fryin’ pan and…” she tried to peer past Race to see what Jack was wielding, “What ‘ave you got?” Race took a step to the side “Ah, a TV remote. Think of the damage you could have inflicted! Think of the children!”

     “Oi! We were in a panic!”

     I mean, I’m always in at least a mild panic but this time it was a collective panic!

     “Sure… anyway, how many more are we waitin’ on?”

     “How the fuck should we know?!” Race sounded far more offended than Davey thought he should.

     “Well did ya think of countin’ the rooms?” Race opened his mouth to retort but the only sound that emerged was a croak, “I’ll take that as no then, well there’s three down here, how many upstairs?”

     “...two. I think.” Davey’d managed to end up with one of the upstairs rooms by the common room, while Race and Jack were downstairs with the kitchen.

     “Just the one then. Cool.” And with that, she turned and started to pack her stuff into the last downstairs room. “Oh, one last thing, what are plans for eating tonight?”

     “Fuck, I’d completely forgotten food was a thing! I have some pot noodles if you want. Or… we could wait until the last person gets here and order something? I could ask Spot and Kath what they’d recommend. I dunno. Someone please start talking or I’m not gonna stop!”

     “Let’s wait for our 5th, besides I was starting to look forward to Legally Blonde.” Davey shrugged.

     “Awesome!”

     Back upstairs, the three assumed their earlier positions on the couch and Race hit play.

     From the first frame, Race started mumbling something under his breath and even Jack looked excited, “Just how many times have you seen this?” Davey asked them.

     “Not sure. Probably upwards of 12 though. But you’ll see why soon!”

     “Wow!”

     “Oh God, you’re not one of those people that only watches a movie once then that’s it, are you? Cause that could really put a damper on this friendship.”

     “Nah, but I usually stick to TV and box sets.”

     “We can work with that!” Race leant into Jack, “Everyone shut up! It’s Elle.”

     ‘What? Like it’s hard’, “Yes girl!”

     “Enjoying yourself Dave?”

     “Shh!”

     “Oh man! You are so not ready for the musical, which by the way I will be playing in the kitchen for the rest of the week!” Race assured him

     “There’s a musical?!”

     “Have you been living under a rock?! It’s amazing, even Jack doesn’t mind it!”

     About an hour into Legally Blonde, Buttons had jumped onto the sofa next to Jack and spent the rest of the film bobbing up and down

     But at 8.50 their final flatmate showed up. This time they didn’t bother bombarding them but shouted down the stairs at them to come join the movie fest, they heard the bags and boxes being lugged up the narrow staircase and shoved into the last available room. “Wanna join?! It’s the last 10 minutes of Legally Blonde!”

     “Nah, we’re ok!” Came the shout from the end of the hallway. “Just gonna try make myself at home!”

     At 9.10 they at last all sat around together, Davey, Race, Jack, Buttons, Ike and his twin brother Mike, who’d decided to help him move in, they’d already done Mike’s place apparently, hence the late hour.

     “Well, who’s up for pizza?” He was met with instant cheers from their new… well, friends might be pushing it… not enemies? “Cool, I’ll go find a number. Should I see if Kath and Spot want any?”

     “Yeah, it might be interesting to hear about where they’re staying, I’m sure it’s nicer than this tiny place.”

     Spot and Kath came strolling in less than half an hour later, pizzas in hand, “I bumped into the delivery guy outside. Figured I might treat my favourite sons to pizza on their first night”

     “I told you you’d make a great mum!” Katherine called after him.

     “Hey, do you guys wanna go set up in the common room,” Davey nodded towards the stairs, “Race and I’ll grab drinks for everyone.”

     “Eight, right?”

     “Yeah, eight. Omg. I am having dinner with seven people. Seven people I only met today. Fuck.”

     Race swung his arm round Davey’s shoulder, “Am I just another person to you?” He looked away and when he turned back, he somehow had tears in his eyes, “I thought we were friends!”

     “Shove off.” Davey shrugged him loose and went about arranging the cans and bottles on the counter, “There was something I meant to ask earlier,” Race nodded for him to continue, “It’s about Jack.”

     Race took a deep breath, “Shoot.”

     “Does he… ever talk?” Davey rushed to try justify himself, “’cause he seemed happy but he’s been really quiet since he got here, I think I was just kinda worried. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have-”

     Race put his hand on Davey’s shoulder, “Dude, chill. It is ok to ask. And it’s kinda on me. I forgot to mention it then when I realised it felt too awkward to bring up.” Davey raised an eyebrow, “I’m sorry. Yeah. I mean no, well sometimes. When Jackie was little he was kind of tossed around, from foster place to foster place, he wasn’t a bad kid. Just loud and really curious,” Race smiled a little, “He stood up for what he believed… even if he was only 5 and that happened to be the superiority of flying saucers over strawberry laces. Lots of the careers just weren’t up for it. But there was this one place… They called it The Refuge. The man that ran it was fostering kids as a job; he didn’t care about them at all. Think Annie but darker and dingier and with a lot less singing.”

     “Oh God.”

     “He was there for just shy of 3 years. He still hasn’t really told me what happened beyond: that Snyder, the boss man, had them all sleeping in two rooms, eleven kids, two or three to a bed and rats everywhere. He was a real piece of work, one day Jack tried to stand up for one of the little ‘uns in there and he lashed out. Fucked something up in Jack’s head, and he lost his hearing. He was too afraid to get help while he was there, no one knew until almost 6 months later… when the police showed up and dragged Snyder away. They had a few nurses looking over all the kids, there were a few badly healed broken bones… and there was Jack. He’s been through some serious shit but he is so much more than his time at The Refuge. He’s my brother,” Race smiled again, “and now he’s got 6 siblings and the greatest foster mum on earth!”

     Davey stood speechless. Shit. “When…?”

     “No one’s entirely sure and Jack doesn’t exactly like to talk about it but the guesses are about 10 years ago.

     8?! He was 8 years old!  He wasn’t sure what there even was left to say. Race clearly picked up on his discomfort, “He usually wears his hearing aid but it really doesn’t help that much. Just lets him know when people are behind him. He’s pretty good at lip reading but if you know any BSL even just a little bit it can really help.”

     “BSL?”

     “British Sign Language, it’s not too hard to pick up and there’s a bunch of apps that can help. Oh, before we go back, his sign name is this,” Race made finger guns with both hands and moved them in forward circles, “It means ‘cowboy’ but it’s kinda close to bi. We don’t really know that many deaf people so we had to come up with it together. Anyway, that’s enough tragic backstory for a first day, let go get this up to the others!”

Chapter Text

     “So Dave, Kath tells me you’re looking for a job.” Spot stepped over Race, snatching his almost-full beer bottle in the process. Race stuck his tongue out in response and Jack tried to suppress his laugh as Spot turned to glare at him.

     “Um… Yeah.”

     “Cool! I think Crutchie said that a couple o’ the others down at Jacobi’s are quittin’ soon so I can see if I can find you something… if you’re ok working at a bar? You are 18, right?!”

     “Yeah, I’m 18. Are you serious? That would be amazing!”

     “Dave buddy, ‘amazing’ is what I do best.” He took a little bow as he reached over for another slice of pizza. “What the fuck was that for?!”

     “You know it’s my job to keep you humble. Or why else am I here?”

     “You’re right, you’re right. Can’t have everyone ‘round here knowing what a genius I am.” Spot smirked and downed the remnants of Race’s beer.

     After all the pizza was gone and they’d run through all Race’s movie options, Mike and Ike bid their goodnights, Mike went back to his flat and Ike went to his room for the night.

     “Well, they seemed… nice.” After a couple beers, Buttons had really loosened up a bit and no longer terrified a Davey to his core, “I ought to hit the hay, see ya tomorrow. During which we really should go food shoppin’ cause unlike you, Race, I don’t fancy livin’ off takeaways for the next year!”

     “Ok! Ok. I get it. Tomorrow. Good night!” He yelled after her but she’d already rounded the corner of the stairs.

     “And then there were five.” Davey sighed.

     “Indeed.” Kath reached for another beer only to find nothing but empty bottles, “Alright, Davey, you’d better remind me on our shopping spree to grab some more beer. I cannot have you being out on your second day!”

     “Ooh, a shopping spree! Can Jack and I join?!” Race shot up with excitement.

     “Up to you Dave. If you wanna spend another day with these two buffoons I won’t object but if not, I will congratulate you.”

     “Only if Spot tags along to babysit.” Rave and Jack turned their pleading faces from Davey to Spot. Spot let out the most exasperated groan Davey’d ever heard. “Sorry mate.” Davey whispered back.

     “It could be worse. And hey, I can take you over to Jacobi’s after. Introduce you to everyone.”

     Race stood to announce his departure and about later 10 minutes Jack went off to bed too, leaving Kath, Spot and Davey with the debris of their impromptu pizza party.

     “So you two have been in our place, when are we gonna get a chance to check out your places?” Davey asked

     “Place.” Spot corrected him, “Singular, we’re in the same house.”

     “Yeah, mine!” She tried to nudge Spot but having had one… or maybe four too many drinks she just sort of fell onto him.

     “Get off!” He said as he shoved her back upright. “But yeah, her Dad bought her a house just off campus beginning of first year, a whole fuckin’ house, so a couple of the guys and I rent out rooms-”

     “No they don’t,” Kath cut him off, “You do. I told you not to pay rent!”

     “I’m not gonna be some charity case!” This was the first time Davey had seen Spot genuinely angry since meeting him and it scared him. It scared him more than meeting Buttons. Why do all the tiny ones have to be so terrifying?!

     “We should probably head back, let you get some sleep. See ya tomorrow Dave.” Kath smiled as she was herded out of the flat with Spot.

     “Night!”

     Omg, it’s over… and breathe! He went to check the time only to remember the state of his phone. Fuck.  He hurried over to the kitchen to retrieve it and rummaged for well over 10 minutes in a growing panic for tape until his fingers were numb and his breath ragged. Clearly, the commotion had woken Race as he came stumbling in, bleary-eyed to see what was going on, “Shhhh!”

     “Fuck, I’m sorry. I’m just- I’m lookin’-”

     “Davey. Dave! Breath.”

     “I’m sorry. I just, erm… tape.”

     “Ok dude. You’re gonna sit down here,” He pulled out a chair, “and I’m gonna go grab some tape from my bag. Just chill and breath, alright? That’s the important one right now, breath.”

     This is stupid. You’re being so stupid right now. It’s just tape. What the hell Davey. And now Race thinks you’re a right moron. Why-?

     Race ran back into the kitchen, big roll of clear packing tape in hand. “It may not be perfect but this should do in the meantime.” He gave Davey a little half smile, but it felt genuine.

     “Omg, this is perfect. Thank you so much. I’m sorry.” He set about trying to cover the screen with a wide strip of tape but his shaking fingers were making it tricky.

     “Hey,” He felt a hand on his shoulder, “Do you want me to…”

     “No! I’m sorry… thank you, but I can do it. It’s alright. I’m sorry for waking you up.”

     “You know, there’s no shame in asking for help. Hell, we’ve all had our own 2am meltdown over something small. And you really need to stop apologising, you’ve done nothing wrong. Dave. Look at me, you’ve got nothing to be sorry about.” He smiled. It was a warm sort of a smile. The type that makes you feel safe when that’s the last thing you think you are.

     “I’m sor-

     Yeah. Can you help? Thanks. You’re a good friend.”

     “Oh, so I’ve been promoted to friend now, have I? Nice!”

     He got to work laying the tape over the full screen without any bubbles or creases, “So,” he had his tongue slightly sticking out as he focussed, “What… have you…” he looked up, “decided to spend the next 3 years suffering through?” he handed Davey’s phone back to him.

     “Wha?”

     “Course. What course are you here for?”

     “Oh, sorry. Law. And, thanks, by the way… for the phone… and the pep talk.” He attempted the same warm smile Race gave him earlier but it just came across kinda sad, “What about you? ...and Jack?”

     “Jackie is doing Chemistry and Maths… joint honours, he also wants to try take an art module but we don’t think he can until next year which is sucky. And I, cause I am not a nerd, am taking Primary Education.”

     Davey wasn’t able to cover his face fast enough to stop himself laughing.

     “Oi! I’d make an amazing teacher!”

     “Sure. Of course you would.” He was really trying to not laugh, “You do know that you can’t swear around little kids, right?

     Race stuck his tongue out at Davey as he left the kitchen, he took this as his cue to head upstairs and finally sleep. After all it is... 'Please Charge Your Device' Fuck. And no charger, fuckin' great. Oh well. He slapped it down onto his desk, what more damage can that possibly do it, before flopping onto his bed