Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jonesy was over the moon. He had his best friend back and he had a wonderful boyfriend and everyone got along for the most part and he just woke up with a smile every day. Everything was going well and not even Shoresy was getting under his skin anymore.

Things were going so well he almost didn’t notice when it all started shifting. He and Adrien had been openly together for a few months when The Talk started. It was small at first, nothing to be concerned about, but it still didn’t sit right with him. Adrien leaving real estate quotes up on his laptop and mentioning Senior League teams in the city didn’t freak Jonesy out too much until he started talking about when instead of if . Not hey if we’re still together this place comes with a hot tub, but when we get serious how about this place? Jonesy didn’t like that. Not right now.

First of all, pre-season would be starting in a few weeks and he couldn’t leave the gir- WOMEN hanging because he was busy packing up. Oh, and then there was the small matter of only being out for a few months and still getting used to McMurray’s awkward acceptance of things and Ronsy and Daxy giving him Looks. And he really just was Not Ready for that level yet. Of course, it was only little things so maybe he didn’t have to rock the boat just yet and he could just start driving up to see him more as a small compromise. No need for confrontation just yet.

Reilly noticed the little things too, though to him they were a lot bigger. Part of him was glad Adrien was spending less time at their place, but that meant Jonesy was spending more nights in the city and he didn’t like that one bit. He also didn’t like the way Adrien kept trying to pull Jonesy farther away, talking about new apartments and furniture sales. First of all, they’d only been together for a year or so, so it didn’t make a lot of sense to rush into the seriousness like that. Second, he could see how uncomfortable Jonesy was getting and how hard he tried to change the subject, yet Adrien seemed completely blind to all this and seemed just happy living in denial about it. Fuck that guy.

Jonesy didn’t say anything to Adrien about it until they were at a friend’s party. Everyone was drinking and having a good time, and maybe he’d downed a few more drinks than he should, but he doubted that’s why he heard people congratulate them on their engagement. He pulled Adrien into the coat room for a quick what the actual fuck was that?

“Seriously?! I’m your fiance now? Since when? I don’t remember agreeing to a proposal!”

“Babe, keep your voice down! Look, things are going really well right now and we practically live together so I figured we were almost there. What’s the big deal?”

“What-WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?! The big deal is I only just came out to everyone I know and I’m not even near ready to move in with you! Let alone get married! I love you and all that but you've been pushing this all month and it's getting on my nerves!” Yeah, he’d had a little too much to drink.

“Okay, okay, keep it down! They don’t need to hear this.” Adrien sighed and gently held his hands. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t think about that. Let’s just go back out and enjoy the party and forget about all that stuff for now, okay?”

Jonesy shook his head. “I’m serious. I’m just not there yet. Can you understand that?”

“Absolutely. I should’ve thought about all that before. I won’t bring it up again until you do, okay?”

Jonesy nodded and they shared a quick kiss before rejoining the party.

Jonesy thought that was that. Adrien would let things be the way they were and it wouldn’t come up again. And he was right.

For a while.

But after a few months, they were in the middle of the season and Adrien was coming down to him a lot more and it all started coming up again. It was starting to get on his nerves.

“Look at this one, babe. It’s right next to the rink where all the Beer Leagues play.”

“Mhmm.” Jonesy rolled over and pulled a pillow over his head. It was too early and he was too tired.

“Come on, you aren’t even looking.”

“Don’ wanna. Lemme sleep.”

“Babe, it’s almost ten.”

“And I don’t have to be anywhere until noon for praccy. Look, we ran late yesterday and then I entertained you until about midnight. Just ‘cause I’m not skating anymore doesn’t mean I don’t put in the work. Just... leave me alone for a bit.”

“Come on! We’ll never find a good place if you don’t help me look.” Adrien pouted. “We can’t keep doing the whole back-and-forth thing forever.”

Jonesy sat up and glared at him. “I thought we weren’t doing that yet. You said you understood.”

“And I do. But it’s been a while and I figured you’d be more comfortable with it. Come on, at least look,” he pleaded, showing Jonesy the pages on his phone.

“No.” Jonesy got out of bed and got ready for a shower. “I told you, I’m not ready for that yet. Besides, I’m in the middle of the season. I can’t just abandon the team because my boyfriend wants to move. Look, I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”

“And when is that going to be?” Adrien snapped back. “You always just say you need more time and I give it to you and then you act like I’m pressuring you!”

“Well maybe if you actually gave me the time I asked for, I wouldn’t feel that way! When I’m ready to move in with you, I’ll look up apartments myself. Just give me a little more time.”

Adrien didn’t say anything for a second and Jonesy worried he may have fucked up. “... You promise we’ll talk about it? It’s not gonna keep sliding away from us?”

“Absolutely promise. Just give me another month and we’ll circle back, okay?” Jonesy sat back on the bed and gently kissed his forehead.

Adrien sighed and kissed his cheek. "Alright, another month. I'm holding you to that though," he said seriously.

"Yeah, yeah," Jonesy chuckled and headed for the bathroom. "Now come on, you showering with me or not?"

Adrien smirked and hopped out of bed. "I'm coming…."

Chapter Text

A month came and went a lot faster than Jonesy would have liked and Adrien did, in fact, hold him to going apartment hunting in that time. He reluctantly agreed to the activity, provided it worked around his hockey schedule, which suddenly got very busy even though they were heading into the off-season. Jonesy just had to be at the gym to make sure the team was keeping up with their routines and sure Reilly would be there but it’s better to have a united front on these things.

But he couldn’t keep it up forever and with Adrien constantly reminding him of his promise, it’d be less of a headache for him to just do it. Once a week, he’d drive up and meet Adrien with whatever real estate agent he’d found and talk about what sort of place they were looking for. He usually let Adrien do the talking since this was all his idea anyway and he seemed to have a more concrete idea of what he wanted. The only point he bothered butting in on was the location. He would not move anywhere more than an hour's drive away from home. He didn’t care how nice the view was or how close it was to the rink, he needed time at home and no amount of kicks under the table would make him budge. He figured he’d just know the right place when he saw it, and if the price-tag was right they’d sign the papers and that would be it.

Simple. Quick. Easy. Nothing left to be done about it. She’s bought and paid for.

He didn’t know why that left such a bad taste in his mouth.

Once they’d finally settled on a geographic area on the outskirts of the city, they started looking at individual places. In the beginning, it was easy for Jonesy to say no to a place because Adrien had a problem with it. Overpriced, not enough open floor space, too much work, crown moldings are overrated, and so on. Jonesy just agreed with whatever he said then went home, knocked back a few Puppers, and played ‘chel until he fell asleep. Secretly, he hoped Adrien would give up on the idea. They could just move into his apartment in the city or to Jonesy’s house in Letterkenny. But Adrien was adamant that they have a place that was distinctly theirs. No exes hiding in the shadows and that sort of thing. It made sense, in a way, but JESUS was it time-consuming. At least once a week, he’d ask why they needed to move to the city specifically. Adrien didn’t really have that many ties there; he worked from home and didn’t even have that many friends he cared about. Meanwhile, property value in Letterkenny was a lot fairer; they could have a whole house for the price of a tiny apartment! Not to mention Jonesy’s work, friends, favorite bar, and basically his entire life was there. Just logically speaking, if anyone should be uprooting their life, it should be the one with less of a life to uproot. Just saying.

But no. Adrien didn’t want to move to Letterkenny. There was nothing to do and the wifi was mediocre at best. Why bother with a whole house when an apartment would be a lot less work to clean? Plus, they could get a cute little corgi in an apartment! If you have a house, people expect a labrador or a German shepherd or some other unreasonably large dog. At least once every couple weeks they’d have the same discussion and every time Adrien would get pissed off sooner and Jonesy would just back off. Nevermind, everything’s fine, where are we looking next?

Eventually, Adrien found something that suited his desires. Plenty of floor space, the price was right, needed a coat of paint but that’s a fun couple activity, right? Jonesy couldn’t find much to complain about either. It had a nice view and was only a half-hour drive from home and just an hour away from the rink. There was even an extra room Reilly could stay in when he visited! Sure, it wouldn’t be Letterkenny but he could live with this, right? It made Adrien happy and couples were all about compromising, right?

Adrien came up and hugged him from behind in the spare room. “Nice place, huh?”

“Yeah, real nice.” He smiled and pecked his cheek. “Do you think Reilly’d like this room? It’s a little small but he packs light so it shouldn’t be much of a problem…”

“Reilly? Babe, I was thinking of using this room as a workspace. You know how much room my equipment takes up.” Adrien’s smile tightened a bit.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Well, I guess he could just sleep on the couch then, but he’d have to bring his own sheets…”

Jonesy found himself being pulled out of the room. “Honey, remember how we talked about having a place just for us?” Adrien asked gently.

“Well, yeah, sure I do.” What did that have to do with where Reilly slept?

“Well, it won’t really be our place if part of it is for someone else, right?”

“...What do you mean? Reilly’s not ‘someone else’. He’s Reilly! My bro, my buddy, my best friend. What, you think I’m gonna move out and never speak to him again?”

“Of course not! But, you know, he doesn’t exactly have to have a place here. I mean, I don’t mind him coming over if you guys are gonna see a game, but him having a room in our place seems a bit unnecessary.”

It finally hit why this whole thing never felt right. Moving away from Letterkenny meant moving away from Reilly. No more ‘chel tourneys that lasted past midnight. No more bedtime cuddles because Reilly had night terrors sometimes. No more midnight dollar store trips because they ran out of Puppers and if they made it before 11:59 the store would still be allowed to sell beer. Just him and Adrien sitting on the couch reading books or something and having parties with people he didn’t like all that much and drinking fruity cocktails that he could only stomach for the alcohol content. Just long commutes and early bedtimes. Just talking to Reilly and work and maybe midnight skypes. He was leaving home, leaving Reilly , something he never imagined himself doing and still couldn’t really picture himself doing now.

Of course, he couldn’t exactly say any of that, not to Adrien’s face anyhow. He really didn’t want to get into this whole Reilly v Adrien dilemma with him right now. Despite their best efforts to keep him out of the loop, he knew they didn’t like each other and tried to smooth the waters out when he could. “Yeah… I guess that makes sense…”

Adrien smiled and kissed him. “Of course it does. Now come on, the furniture store is still open and that fireplace is just begging for an ornate clock to hang over it, not to mention we still have to decide on color schemes and paints and curtains and….”

Jonesy let him ramble on, numbly putting on his jacket and following him. He tried to engage with his boyfriend, after all it was their place and he’d be damned if Adrien was going to cover the place in pastels and throw rugs without a fight, but he wasn’t completely into it. Too many questions plagued his mind. What did it matter if he wasn’t going to share it with the most important person in his life? Could he really handle Reilly being just a visitor? An invader in a space he didn’t belong in? Could he exist in a space Reilly didn’t belong in? He needed a Puppers, badly.

Thankfully, Adrien seemed to get the hint that he wasn’t really feeling it that night and let him go home without much fanfare. “If the owners like our offer, we should be signing papers in a few months. Oh, just in time for our anniversary too! Won’t that be great?”

“Yeah… great. See you tomorrow, babe.” Jonesy lightly kissed his cheek and started the drive back home. He had a lot to think about and there’s probably only one person on the planet he could talk to. He needed a little bro-therapy, a little Ry-chiatry.

Chapter Text

Reilly knew something was up as soon as Jonesy walked in the door. Usually, after an apartment hunt, he’d have some sort of complaint about the places he saw that day or how ridiculous Adrien was being about the whole thing. However, today he was silent. Silent Jonesy was never a good thing.

“How’d it go? Find anything good or were the counters too green?” Start off with a joke, get him talking.

“We…. We found a place. It’s not far from Letterkenny or the rink, just needs a coat of paint and new furniture and should be good to go. It’s popular though so there’ll be some time before we can sign the papers,” Jonesy answered in uncharacteristic monotone. "If all goes well, we'll be ready to move in by our anniversary. Isn't that great?" He got a puppers out of the fridge and downed half the bottle in one go. Christ, he’d needed that.

Reilly didn’t like the sound of that. It was bad enough they’d actually agreed on a place but Jonesy being unhappy about it just made it worse. "Sounds like you two are just about settled then, huh buddy?" He knew Jonesy wasn't quite there yet, they'd had more than a few arguments about that before Adrien forced the issue. But if his buddy was willing to take the plunge, he wouldn't stop him.

Jonesy nodded and gave him a tight smile. "Yep, totally ready. Didn't think I would be but I'm so glad we're finally doing this!" Liar liar, pants on fucking fire…. He moved over to the couch and sat down, chugging more beer as he did.

Reilly leaned on the counter and watched him closely. Stage 1: denial; keep him talking…. "Well, tell me about it. What's the place like? It's gotta be pretty good to meet Adrien's standards."

"Yeah, it's great, bro. It's got lots of room for parties, floor to ceiling windows, a fireplace, even an extra room for Adrien to work in…. It's at a great price too, but lots of people are interested in it so who even knows if we'll get it."

Reilly let out a low whistle and opened up a beer for himself. “Sounds real nice, buddy. I bet you’ll get it. Adrien’s really persistent.”

“Yeah, sure is. He knows what he wants and what to say to get it…. You know, I was thinking about using that extra room for you, buddy. For whenever you wanted to come over for a ‘chel tourney or just to chill. But Adrien thought it would be better as a workspace since his equipment takes up so much room. Guess the rent was too much for that office space he was looking at two months ago,” he said with false humor in his voice. He had a feeling it had more to do with how much Adrien hated Reilly than any price tag but he couldn’t bring himself to care about the specifics. All he could think about was that he would be almost completely shutting Reilly out of his life with the move.

Reilly smiled a bit knowing Jonesy tried to make a space for him in all this. At least his buddy wasn’t completely gone. But more importantly, he was getting closer to being honest with himself and that’s the goal here. Stage 2: salt. “Thanks for trying, buddy. But I don’t think Adrien likes me too much, probably better if I stayed out of it.”

Jonesy gave him a look and patted the cushion next to him. “I think his feelings there are a little stronger than dislike, buddy. And I know you don’t like him too much either. ‘M not that dumb,” he murmured, reaching for another bottle.

Reilly nodded and sat next to him, setting a few more bottles on the table. “I know you’re not buddy. And we did try to get along, at least I did, but it just didn’t work. We just didn’t want you to feel bad about it so we acted like it wasn’t there,” he said softly.

“Yeah, I know, buddy.” Jonesy scooted a little closer and rested his head on Reilly’s shoulder. “I just…. I wish he didn’t want me to move. Like, he’s got almost nothing holding him to the city and I’ve got my entire fucking life here, ya know? If one of us is gonna uproot his life and go somewhere else, should probably be the guy who has less of a life to uproot, right?”

“Makes sense to me, buddy. Did you tell him that?”

“Yeah, of course, but he won’t budge. He keeps talking about shitty wifi and the distance to his social life and how’s he supposed to sleep without the white noise of the city or whatever new excuse he has. I’m tired of fighting it, you know? Besides, relationships are about compromise… right?”

Reilly shook his head. “I hate to tell you this buddy, but this isn’t compromise. This is him doing all the talking and not letting you get a word in edgewise. He’d just doing what he wants and arguing with you enough to get you to quit fighting for your side. Compromise would be him agreeing to move to Letterkenny for a bit to see if he liked it or something and vice versa.”

Jonesy pondered that for a second. Was he really just caving to whatever his boyfriend wanted? In hindsight, it sure seemed that way but in the moment it always felt like Adrien listened to him at least a little bit. They’d managed to agree on distance at least but the more he thought about it, the more it looked like Adrien had way too much control over this ride.

“...What do I do then? I don’t want to move but he’ll just throw a fit and talk about how I promised him we’d do this.”

Reilly shrugged and took another sip of his beer. “You could try working it out with him. But if that doesn’t work… There’s always the Alternative.”

The Alternative. The Break up. Ending it. Breaking things off. Plain and simple. Could he really do that? Would that just be him running away from his problems?

“I dunno, buddy. I like Adrien, I really do. It’s just….”

“He’s pushing too far too fast? He’s not listening to you? He wants you to be something you’re not? I know you like him but no one is worth changing yourself for.” He wouldn’t normally be this harsh but Adiren was still a touchy subject for him, especially when Jonesy was involved.

“I wouldn’t really be changing myself,” Jonesy countered. “I’m still Jonesy, just…”

“Lonely? Tired? Unheard? Doing something you’d never want to do in a million years?” Reilly’s not letting Jonesy get himself hurt just because some asshat won’t listen, not again. “Buddy, you can do what you want and if this is what you really want, I won’t stop you. But from where I’m standing, you don’t look too happy about all this. Are you happy?”

Jonesy started to say that of course he was happy, why wouldn’t he be. This is what they wanted. But he thought about it. No, he wasn’t happy. This wasn’t what he wanted. He never wanted to leave Letterkenny to live in an apartment with ornate clocks over the fireplace and the best living room for cocktail parties. He wanted to stay here, stay home, with Reilly, and keep everything the way it’s always been. He doesn’t want to lose his buddy again, never again.

“No… No, I don’t think I am…. What do I do?”

Reilly shrugged. “I dunno buddy. If it was me, I’d just leave. Then again, I don’t like him that much and you’re really into him. If you wanna try to work it out, then you should. Who knows, maybe he really will change his mind.”

“You really think so buddy? He hasn’t been super receptive to the idea before….”

Reilly shrugged. “It’s hard to say. Maybe if you just pushed a little harder? He may be resisting because he thinks you just wanna stall longer. Maybe if you lean on how much you do wanna move in with him, then he’ll give it a shot.”

“Okay…. I’ll try talking to him tomorrow, see if we can’t work something out. Maybe I can talk him into giving Letterkenny a try? I bet he’d love it if he stayed here for more than a night….”

Reilly smiled and handed him another beer. “I’m sure you’re right, buddy. For now, how about a little ‘chel to take our minds off this?”

Jonesy smiled and tapped their fists together. “Fuck yeah, buddy. Little online ‘chel, show those dusters what’s up?”

“Hell yeah, bro. They won’t know what hit them!”

With Jonesy on snack patrol and Reilly leading the chirping campaign, they played long into the night, probably losing more games than they won. They weren’t really paying attention to the scores. By about one a.m., Jonesy was about to tap out, so Reilly signed them off and started getting ready for bed.

“Where you goin’ buddy?” Jonesy asked quietly, rubbing his eyes as he watched Reilly clean up.

“Gettin’ ready to hit the sheets buddy. Why?”

“...Could we sleep here, buddy?” Jonesy asked hesitantly. “ ‘M too tired to go back to my room.”

“Sure, buddy.” Reilly answer with a smile. He grabbed some blankets from the hall closet and they cuddled up together, Jonesy resting his head right over Reilly’s heart.

“Night buddy,” Jonesy mumbled with a big yawn.

“Night bro,” Reilly whispered, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead before settling in for a good night’s sleep.

Tomorrow was gonna be a big day.

Chapter Text

The next day, Jonesy woke up feeling better than he had in a long time. Some downtime with his bro always did him some good when he was a little bummed.

But now it was showtime. He was going to have a civil talk with Adrien about the move, mostly about why they shouldn't. Hopefully all would go well... He just had to try. He drove up to their favorite overpriced hipster cafe and took their usual table by the window. It was quiet, no one would bother them over here.

Adrien came in not long after and sat across from him with a smile. “You wanted to talk, babe? What’s up?”

Here goes nothing... “Oh, not much. I was just thinking, before everything is final with the new place... Would you give Letterkenny a shot? Just for a month or so?”

Adrien’s good mood quickly faded. “Babe, I already told you why I don’t want to do that.”

“I know, I know. It’s just... I’d be completely uprooting my life, you know? My mum, the ladies, Reilly, all that? That’s my life. It’s hard for me to just up and leave it, and you might even like it there. We could work it out with the wifi and MoD3an’s has better company than a lot of the bars we go to here anyhow. I’m not saying you have to like it but maybe you could if you gave it a try?”

"Yeah, I'm sure I'll just fall in love with the shitty wifi and nothing fun happening at any given time." Adrien put down his coffee with a sigh.

"Look, I get where you're coming from and I respect it but Letterkenny and I just don't mix. I'm sure Reilly would understand. And it's not like you two couldn't visit each other." He knew that was the real root of the issue. Reilly was always the root of the issue.

"Wh- Look, this isn't about Reilly," Jonesy protested a little louder than he intended. "This is about me being happy where I am. I like the way things are now and I don't get why you're in such a rush to move things forward. You won't even give Letterkenny a real shot but I'm just supposed to go along with you? Letterkenny isn't perfect but it's not like the city's a fucking rose garden!" Jonesy took a deep breath before he could say anything else and tried to relax. "I'm just saying-"

"You're just stalling," Adrien snapped, getting up from his seat. "Look, if you don't want to go through with this, just tell me. But be honest. I don't wanna waste my time here. Call me when you figure it out." He settled their bill and left, leaving behind a very conflicted Jonesy. 

What did he want? He wanted to stay in Letterkenny, or close to it at least. He wanted to stay with Reilly and of course he wanted to be with Adrien but... It seemed no matter what he tried, he couldn't have all of them. He had to choose. 

Thing is, he'd always pictured himself in Letterkenny, always knew Reilly was his ride-or-die bro. He just had a hard time picturing any of that with Adrien. Every time he tried, it just felt so… fake. Like a picture out of those bodybuilding magazines that Reilly made him quit when he got too obsessed with them. It looked good but going for it didn't feel right.

Jonesy had made his decision by the time he got back home. He and Adrien were going out to dinner next week. He would end it then, face-to-face, the best way to do it. He just had to be ready for the backlash. Adrien could be melodramatic sometimes. Luckily, he had his buddy to help him out.

Reilly was already there and waiting with a couple Puppers. He’d had a feeling their talk wasn’t going to go too well and he wanted to be prepared. “Hey, buddy. How’d it go?”

Jonesy shrugged and sat next to him, reaching for a drink a little too fast. “It was okay, I guess. Adrien wasn’t really in the mood to talk though. Just walked out towards the end there.”

Reilly nodded and took a drink himself, scooting closer to Jonesy. “Do you know what you’re gonna do now, buddy? Or did he leave too soon for that?”

"Yeah... Yeah, I think I do buddy. I'm gonna break it off. It's just not working anymore... " It sucked to admit it but it needed to be said. He couldn't keep going down a road he hated.

Reilly kept his euphoria over getting rid of Adrien for good to himself and just smiled in support. "Good for you buddy. I know that wasn't easy for you... "

“No... No it was not. I thought he was... ” Jonesy sighed and leaned on Reilly’s shoulder. “God, it sounds stupid now but I just thought he might’ve been something real, buddy. Not like the puck bunnies or those girls back home for the holidays. Just... Something real.”

“That’s not stupid, buddy. I get it.” Reilly understood the feeling of being a little lost in a world of revolving-door sex. “And I’m sure you’ll find it one day, buddy. You deserve it.” Jonesy would find his Reilly-approved life partner one day, he just knew it. 

They sat there in silence for a few moments, Jonesy cuddling so close to Reilly he may as well have been sitting in his lap and Reilly holding him almost protectively in his arms. It couldn’t last forever, they preferred pajamas if they were really going for cuddle time and they had praccy in a couple hours anyway, and Reilly felt that something else needed to be said. “When are you gonna do it? And how?”

“I dunno buddy... Soon, I guess. Before our anniversary; I couldn’t do that to him. Think I might keep it private in case he makes a scene. The last thing I need is public hatred... ”

“Good call buddy. Keep it simple, no loose ends... ” Reilly strokes his hair as Jonesy sits up with a small yawn. 

“I’ll figure it out after praccy. Right now: nap time.”

“Naptime, ferda.”

Chapter Text

Jonesy spent the rest of the day and most of the next day trying to figure out the right way to break up with Adrien. The only problem was, he wasn’t great at breaking up with people. He’d never really been on that side of the relationship; it was always someone breaking up with him.

He would ask Reilly, but his buddy had the same problem. Neither of them had ever initiated the end of the relationship. So, he decided to go to someone who had experience in that area.

Katy raised her eyebrows as the boys pulled up in their jeep. “Well. What has yous two so vexed you’re coming down for a physical visit?”

“I want to break up with my boyfriend.”

“Okay. So do it.”

“Yeah…’bout that….”

Katy groaned and sat up in her chair. “Please don’t tell me you’ve never broken up with someone before.”

“Wish I could.”

“Fuck’s sake,” Wayne grumbled, grabbing a Puppers from the cooler before making a swift getaway.

Katy sighed and stood up. “Alright, let’s go then. We’re almost out of Puppers here and I can tell I’m gonna need a few to get through this.”

“Where’re we going, Katy Kat?”

“Your place. I’m assuming you have Puppers and Gus n’ Bru?”

“Somewhere between all the lite beer,” Reilly grumbled, starting up the Jeep.

“Who’s drinking lite beer?”

“The boyfriend,” Reilly pouted, ignoring the little slap on the arm from Jonesy.

“Fuck’s sake, Jonesy. You sure know how to pick ‘em….”

--------------------

“Okay, so first things first, you want to be direct. State that you’re ending the relationship and why and do it as quickly as you can,” Katy started. “Don’t spend a lot of time beating around the bush; if you do that, you’ll never get to it.”

Jonesy nodded, worrying his bottom lip. “So… Hey, I’m breaking up with you because you’re trying to push my best friend out of my life?”

“That’s a good start. But if you want to come away from this without too much emotional damage, you want to cushion the blow a bit. Something like: ‘Hey, things have hit an impasse lately and I don’t want to make things worse for any of us so I think we should cut this off’.”

They workshopped the breakup for a few hours. Jonesy slowly got more confident in actually saying the words but the nervous edge was still there. Katy figured there probably wasn’t much she could do about that; breakups are never easy, even if you’ve done them a million times. It was getting late anyhow and she had to start dinner or Wayne would just have another reason to be annoyed with the boys.

Jonesy stared at nothing out the window after they dropped Katy off at the farm. He did feel a bit better about the breakup now that he had an idea of what he needed to do and say but that didn’t calm all of his nerves. Adrien was his first real relationship and he was a little scared by the idea that it was ending. Would he feel like that with anyone again? Would it all go downhill like this if he did? It was more than a little scary.

Reilly kept waiting for him to say something on the way back home but nothing came out. So, he made a little detour to an old haunt from their slightly-dumber younger years: an old arcade that somehow survived all these years later. It had been a great way for both of them to kill time between school and hockey and their mums being able to pick them up. Jonesy just needed a little distraction-pick me up-combo.

It took Jonesy approximately five minutes to figure out where they were going and Reilly couldn’t help but smile to himself when a little light came back into his eyes. 

“Think we can beat our old high scores, buddy?”

“I know I can beat yours, buddy.”

“That a challenge?”

“You know it!”

“You’re on.”

Part of Jonesy felt bad for doing this. Running away from his problems hadn’t done any good before and right now he had a big problem that he needed to solve quickly. The much bigger part of himself shut that part up and focused on kicking Reilly’s ass at Dance Dance Revolution.

Reilly was just happy to see him smiling. Even if breaking up with Adrien was the best idea right now, he knew it was gonna bring his buddy down a lot. Like, a lot . But he’d be there for him. He was always there for his buddy. It won’t always be as easy as a trip to an arcade but he’d figure it out.

They stuck around until the arcade closed and made their way to MoDean’s to close out the day. As they drank and laughed, Jonesy felt happier than he had in months. Maybe it wouldn’t last, but he’d have his buddy to pick him up. He’d always have Reilly.

And Reilly would always have him. Always .