Chapter Text
Get it together Diaz. It’s not a fucking trial.
“-the best in the country… Are you even listening to me? Am I talking into a void?” Shannon’s heated tone cut through his musings like a knife. It was always like that: no matter how hard Eddie tried, he could never effectively block her out. Maybe that had been his parents’ plan all along- set him up with his dad’s coworker’s daughter who absolutely despised being ignored and get her to get him out of his fucking head.
The answer, of course, was no; he had not been listening to her. He had zoned out of the conversation the second his foot had left the relative comfort of his parent’s aged Toyota. How that thing made the drive from El Paso to Los Angeles, he didn’t think he’d ever understand. Eddie was so out of it that he didn’t even hear the hollered “Goodbye”s and “Good Luck”s from the car as it drove away, tires screeching on the asphalt. His dad had never been a safe driver. It felt like he was a passenger in his own body rather than the driver. His foot had hit the cracked pavement leading to the front doors of his new prison and that was it for him.
Ok, maybe that was a little dramatic. It’s only a new school, not a trial or a prison or, god forbid, an execution. Northride High looked exactly like every other school he had ever seen- nothing remarkable about it at all. The same pattern of rectangles and squares, some nauseatingly bright colours thrown in amongst the blacks, whites and inbetweens. He could even see the football and soccer fields off to the side, the bleachers littered with students. Even the obnoxious number of banners cheering on the ‘coyotes’ was familiar. Their old school had been just like that. Why Eddie couldn’t make his brain understand that was beyond him.
Realising he still hadn’t answered her, Eddie used his voice for what felt like the first time all day, “Sorry Shannon, must have got lost in my head.” It had come out rough and quiet but at least it had come out. Eddie eyed her sideways, catching the downward turn of her mouth and internally sighed. He knew he must be hurting her with his inability to carry a conversation with her- or anyone really lately-her shoulders were tense and her mouth was tight, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to blame the nerves even though he knew it ran deeper than that. Nerves worked as an excuse though because Shannon could never, would never understand them. She had always been an extrovert - can he really say always when he’s only known her a year?- a people person who appeared completely unafraid of everything. She was the complete antithesis of Eddie but, because his luck sucked and he couldn’t escape the memories no matter how hard he tried, an exact copy of…
“What were you saying? I swear I’m listening now.” Eddie cupped one of his hands behind his ear and turned towards her, “See, all ears.” No matter how little Eddie actually wanted to have a conversation, anything was better than following the track his thoughts were about to go down. Shannon chuckled, the way Eddie knew she would, and he watched the tension leave her shoulders.
“I was saying that we are finally Seniors Eddie!” She reached over and shook his arm before sliding her hand down to link their fingers “This is huge! It’s my last chance to make my mark. I mean, their show choir is literally the best in the country!”
Ah. Of course. The show choir. It was all Shannon had talked about since they found out they were moving to LA; abandoning their simple (ha!) Texan life for the craziness of Los Angeles, California. Shannon was extra enthusiastic when she found out what school their parents had enrolled them in (because god forbid if Eddie got a say in his own life right?). The show choir of Northride High were the reigning National Champions and Shannon felt that they had stolen the title that should have been hers. Eddie knew this because he had been the ear Shannon spewed her vehement rants to everytime she was reminded of their victory, which, due to her parents, was often. He could understand why she was upset: show choir had been Shannon’s life practically since she was born. She was raised on recordings of her mother and father’s performances and began creating her own as early as she could. Eddie thought her hope of taking the role of female lead of the New Directions away from its current holder was far fetched but it’s not like he was going to tell her that. She would give him the silent treatment for days and he really couldn’t afford to lose his only ally right now.
“You know, if you want in with the show choir… I could probably pull some strings” The new voice came from a girl walking towards them who had obviously caught, at least, the tail end of their conversation. Her red hair clashed almost blindingly with her orange cheerleading uniform and Eddie had to force himself not to dart his eyes away and instead drew them to her face. Her mouth was pinched into a smile so obviously fake that it was almost astounding but Shannon appeared to be none the wiser.
“Taylor Kelley.” The girl reached her hand out for Shannon’s, “Cheer captain”. Shannon shook her hand eagerly, the gleam in her eye indicating to Eddie that she was going to milk Taylor’s offer for all it was worth.
“I’m Shannon Brooks and this is my boyfriend Eddie Diaz. We’re -"
“New? Yeah, I got that. I never forget a face.” She winked and that, frankly terrifying, smile seemed to get even more predatory. Taylor was like a shark following the taste of blood. The comparison was apt in Eddie’s opinion, especially given the sharp row of teeth on display.
“The trick to getting in with the New Directions is to crash one of their rehearsals.” Shannon and Eddie both opened their mouths to comment but Taylor silenced them with a raised hand. Eddie was actually quite impressed, against his will, at the authority this girl seemed to bleed from every inch of her frame.
“No, I’m serious. They are the nicest people around but not always the most observant. You have to make your interest known and make it known early. Funnily enough, the current leads were caught sneaking into the choir room during a lunch their first week here and were welcomed straight into the fold. There are auditions sure, but they don’t mean much. Everyone who auditions get in, it’s like their one rule - personally, I think it’s dumb but show choir isn’t my thing so why would I care? Point is, if you want a lead role, the display of enthusiasm matters a whole lot. They’ll still want to hear you sing obviously but it’s at least one foot in the door. And trust me, if you want to take on Emma for the lead, you’re gonna need all the feet you can possibly fit in that door.” With that slightly ominous end, Taylor turned face and bounded away with a slightly patronising wave and- in Eddie’s opinion- way too much energy for 8:00 am on a Monday morning, especially the first Monday of the year.
The look on Shannon’s face when Eddie turned to look at her indicated that he was in for a long planning session the second lunch hit but, before his fear could be confirmed, the bell rang signalling that they needed to move lest they want detention on their very first day. Or to get trampled in a student stampede. What a great first impression that would be.
〜∗〜
The hallways were crowded with students of all grades rushing to lockers and classes when Eddie and Shannon finally breached the doors and entered the blessing of an air-conditioned room. While LA wasn’t Texas hot, it was still fucking hot. He supposed August would do that. Eddie didn’t know why he expected anything less than crowd upon crowd, didn’t know why he hadn’t prepared better for this exact situation. He should have because since… well since that, Eddie had struggled with crowds. He was convinced it was because he was missing his tether, his comfort and could not handle the claustrophobic feeling that came with a horde of people. It probably wasn’t helped by his newfound lack of desire for conversation and subsequent visceral need to avoid people at all costs, which he was convinced was one of the many symptoms of his depression. Not that he would ever say that because, “Diaz men do not get depressed Edmundo. Don’t be ridiculous, now stop with all this therapy talk, you’re distressing your mother.”
Eddie shook his head to clear his father’s voice from his thoughts and tightened his - already deathly tight- grip on Shannon’s hand as she led him bodily through the hall. They pulled to a stop in front of their assigned lockers and Eddie had to do a double take when his eye caught on the locker only three doors down from his own. It couldn’t be. But it was.
In the top right corner of the locker door was a laminated sticker of Tod and Copper from ‘The Fox and the Hound’, a sticker Eddie recognised. How could he not? He had given it, or to be more realistic, an exact copy of it, to his fox over a decade ago now.
Shannon’s fingers clicking in front of his face tore his eyes away from the sticker and over to her. She did not look impressed. At all. Eddie noticed that her locker was already sorted and that he had not even opened his yet.
“You did it again. The zoning out thing.” Eddie opened his mouth to defend himself but she cut him off. “I know you don’t mean it but you need to cut it out. I will not have my chances at this school squandered because my boyfriend can’t pay attention to conversations or behave like a normal, fully functioning human.” She punctuated her statement by slamming the door of her locker shut. The reverberations matched the pounding of Eddie’s heart against his ribcage. He knew she didn’t mean it, that she was just stressed, but that didn’t take the bite out of her words. A knife to the gut would have hurt less. She knew how self-conscious he was about the idea of being ‘normal’ and how even the mention of the word made his breaths come quick and shallow.
“Normal is overrated anyway. Where’s the fun in normal?”
This time the voice in his head sounded less like his father and more like his salvation. With newfound strength, Eddie turned to Shannon, smiled at her and took her hand. Apparently his apology was successfully conveyed because when they took off down the hall to their class this time, she was looking at him with his favourite grin of hers, the one that made her eyes crinkle and her dimples show. The one that reminded him why he loved her. He was getting concerned about the number of reminders for that fact he needed now.
For once, Eddie was actually paying Shannon enough attention that the sound of the Spice Girls’ ‘Wannabe’ suddenly blasting through the hall nearly sent him careening into a crowd of freshmen who themselves nearly collided with the lockers they were walking past. Only Eddie, Shannon and the Freshmen he could see seemed to be surprised by this and as Eddie caught a glimpse of the placard outside the room they were opposite and read ‘Choir Room’ everything made a lot more sense. With a gasp, Shannon pulled herself and, by extension, him up close to the door so they could peek through the narrow window.
The room resembled a college lecture hall more than a classroom. There was a line of tiered benches along the length of the right hand wall with a collection of filled trophy cases opposite. Eddie felt his eyes widen at the number of trophies while Shannon started practically vibrating with excitement next to him. Closest to the door was a piano and an area where, Eddie supposed, any additional instruments would be stored and played. A giant purple banner reading ‘Welcome Back New Directions’ was plastered over the back wall which seemed to be entirely window. Through the available bottom of which the lush green outdoor lunch area could be seen. So lunch and a show. Interesting.
Upon landing his eyes on the fourteen people inside the room, Eddie was convinced he had examined the room so thoroughly first as a subconscious effort to keep him away from the realisation that was about to send him spiralling. Right there, in the middle of the room, surrounded by dancing show choir members, obviously singing their heart out was the person Eddie thought he would never see again.
Shit, even the way he danced was familiar from all the kitchen dance sessions they had shared when partaking in culinary adventures of varying success as they grew up. Eddie drew his eyes slowly up the form of the fox to his hound. Those familiar long legs, more muscular now than he remembered, tapered to a waist that no doubt still held those abs Eddie used to lay on like a pillow. His chest and shoulders were broader now and his shirt was straining at biceps he definitely didn’t have a year ago but for all that his body had changed his face had remained the same. He still had those same plump, soft lips that Eddie used to kiss a pout off whenever a video game competition didn’t go his way, that same sharp nose and those eyes. Fuck those eyes. They were a shade of blue Eddie had never been able to match to anything else he’d ever seen and so, so expressive. You could read feelings in those eyes before those lips ever uttered them. Eddie eyed the blonde hair on his head and found himself missing the curls he used to run his fingers through to bring on sleep for them both. But most of all, it was the fucking birthmark above his left eye that confirmed it. Two perfect pink splotches that Eddie used to use as a target for his kisses, something that would, without fail, elicit the giggle that was Eddie’s favourite sound in the world for years.
“Evan?”