Chapter Text
“When things get too hot, you’ve got me to blame” - Running From Lions, All Time Low
March 1991
When he was younger, Bobby got into a lot of fights. They were almost always someone else's fault. How could he be blamed for sticking up for himself or some other kid? Most teachers didn’t care how or why a fight started, just how it ended, and if it ended with Bobby’s fist knocking some “poor, defenseless” kid’s front teeth out, then he was the one that would be punished for it. That’s how he ended up transferring from seven different schools in less than five years.
It’s also how he ended up staying with his grandparents when he was thirteen. Only after moving from his parents, three separate aunts, a cousin, and his mother’s estranged brother. No one wanted him for long. He wasn’t
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“Ungrateful!? How am I being ungrateful, mom? They broke Brandon Everett’s wrist!”
“And you broke Jack Whitney’s nose!” She hisses through the phone.
“So I’m supposed to just sit there and watch while they torture this kid for no reason , you want me to just ignore it?”
“When you paying attention to it ends up with you being expelled for the fifth time, yes! I want you to sit there and do nothing.”
“I can’t do that,” he pleads. She should know him better than to ask that.
“If you get expelled from another school, the state is going to remove you from our care. You’ll have to leave Lolo and Lola, is that what you want, Bobby? Do you want them to take you from us?”
The reciever hitting the wall is the last he hears from his mother for two months.
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He’d been kicked out of two schools for fighting the year he moved in with them. It wasn’t right that someone could just wake up one day and decide to make someone else’s life miserable. His grandparents, at least, understood that, and more importantly they didn’t blame him. In fact, they’d made it very clear that they were supportive, and even proud of him for doing what’s right. That in itself still confused him, but he wasn’t gonna question a good thing too much. Living with them was the best thing that could have possibly happened to him, for several reasons. They understood his righteous energy, but they also begged him to please make this new school last as they were running out of options, and he knew what would happen if he screwed up again.
So, he promised them, and himself, no more fights in school.
Unfortunately for him, he didn’t even make it three steps onto school property before he was sure that that promise was going right out the window. He sent a silent apology to his poor, long suffering grandparents for what he was about to do and charged around the staircase. The sounds of a scuffle, and casually thrown slurs were getting louder as he rounded the corner. Surveying the situation, he started weighing his odds. There were three older boys, probably ninth graders or so, surrounding a boy that looked closer to Bobby’s age, maybe even younger.
The first thing he noticed was how small the younger boy looked, and honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that he was shielding his face with a history textbook that Bobby knew was part of the standard eighth grade class (he’d been in two before and the textbook had stayed constant), he would have thought the kid was a sixth grader. The older boys were fairly scrawny too, the middle one was only slightly taller than Bobby, and brunette. The one on his left was a little shorter but stronger looking than the first boy, while the one on the right was blonde and painfully average looking. Bobby was confident he could subdue them if he had to. He decided that he would attempt to get them to back off with words, and only start swinging if one of them tried to hit him first.
“Hey assholes!” He shouts, trying to shift the attention from the boy on the ground to himself.
The three boys whip their heads around, looking for a teacher probably, but their faces relax into casual smirks when they realize it’s another student. The one in the middle, presumably the ringleader, steps forward looking Bobby up and down.
“Yeah, what the fuck do you want?”
Bobby bristles at his bored tone and steps closer himself.
“I wanna know what the hell is going on here.” he spits angrily, gesturing at the scene in front of him.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business, kid ,” he says, as if Bobby being younger than him is some grave misstep, then continues. “Besides, what would you even do about it if it was?” he challenges.
Bobby almost breaks his promise -and the kid’s nose- right there, but manages to keep himself under control. He sets his jaw and stares daggers into the other boy’s eyes.
“I think that you three should leave,” he grits out, measured and deathly calm.
Sensing the threat, the boy on the left moves to flank the leader.
“He told you to get lost, kid. Who the fuck do you think you are?”
“I don’t think I’m anyone, but I know that you three are about to be scraping each other off of the sidewalk if you don’t start hauling ass soon,” he responds with a dangerous grin.
He makes eye contact with the blonde one, the only one who hadn’t moved yet, and sees his expression shift like he’d just solved a big mystery.
“You’re the Wilson kid, aren’t you?” blondie asks, stepping back cautiously.
“Huh?” the grin on Bobby’s face falters for a second, in confusion. Why would this guy know him?
“I heard what you did to that kid at Paramount, and the ones from Hawthorne,” he states. Looking to his friends, he warns, “I’m not getting fucked up by an eight grader for some little fairy, it’s not worth it.”
Bobby didn’t like remembering what happened at his other schools once he left them, but it was for a good cause this time. He could probably get them to back off without fighting. The way that the kid on the floor was shaking and flinched every time someone moved made him nervous to see what would happen if a real fight broke out.
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He’s expecting it, he got into another fight. Bobby knows it’s bad when his dad comes to pick him up instead of Tia Rosa. They’re gonna move him again, just like last time. The ride home is silent, the screaming starts when they get home.
He doesn’t feel the impact, only hears the resounding crack that echoes through the room.
It doesn’t hurt much, but his eyes water anyway, just a reflex. That’s what he tells himself.
He’s had worse, why does it hurt so much this time?
“Dad?” His voice is small as his hand cradles his face.
“Just go, Bobby. I called Tiya Althea, and she’ll be here soon. Don’t keep her waiting.”
He never bothered to unpack, so he waits on the front steps and doesn’t say goodbye. It’s the first and last time his father ever hit him. He has no idea how he’s supposed to feel.
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He knew what those reactions alluded to, and if he could get out of the situation without traumatizing the guy anymore he’d sure as hell try.
“I’d suggest,” the easy grin settles back on his features as he pushes into their space, “That if you don’t want to end up being ‘those kids from Los Feliz who got their shit rocked by the Wilson kid’, you Get. The fuck. Out of here.” he says the last part very slowly and quietly. He knows they can hear him by the way they shiver when he steps back.
He tries not to laugh too much at the way they fall over each other to run past him.
As soon as they turn the corner, Bobby’s focus snaps back to the boy on the floor. He looks even smaller like this, scrapes on his face and breathing ragged, even though the sources of the conflict are gone. Bobby selfishly wishes he would have gotten the chance to knock their teeth in for all they put this kid through. He approaches slowly, and tries to exude a calming aura while he holds his hand out to the boy, even if he’s feeling everything but calm.
“Need a hand?” he grins.
The boy looks almost shocked that someone is offering him help, and it takes all the self-control that Bobby has to not go tearing off in the direction of the bullies and make them regret even looking at this kid. He knows that this boy's reactions aren’t the sole fault of a few middle school bullies, no, it takes years of that kind of treatment for someone to react this way, and that only fuels the fire in Bobby’s soul.
The boy takes his hand and lets Bobby pull him to his feet, breathing out a small thanks . Now that he’s standing, Bobby notices that the kid has at least four inches on him, he’s still scrawny as hell though.
“It’s no problem, man. No one deserves that.” Bobby shrugs, the boy looks at him with a curious expression, like he’s trying to figure out if he’s joking or not.
“Anyway, I’m Bobby,” he says, hoping to gain the boy’s trust.
“Most people call me Peter. I haven’t seen you around here before,” the kid, Peter, says quickly, looking so flustered that the freckles on his face almost disappear with how red he is. Bobby figured that he hadn’t meant to say it so bluntly, or out loud for that matter.
“Yeah, I just transferred from Hawthorne. Today’s my first day,” he explains easily.
Peter seems a bit more at ease with Bobby, and smiles at him shyly.
“That’s sick, do you have your schedule? Maybe we have some classes,”
“Yeah, just gimme one sec.” he says, fishing out the crumpled paper from his mess of a backpack. He never claimed to be organized.
He brandishes the paper like a sacred flag and passes it to Peter, who scans it quickly.
“Oh hell yeah! Looks like we have Math, French, Lunch, History, and English together!” he lists enthusiastically. “You seem really dope, come find me at lunch. You can sit with me and my friends, I’m sure they’ll love you.”
The warning bell rings and Peter hands Bobby’s schedule back to him before turning to run down the hall, wiping frantically at the cuts on his face with his shirt sleeve. He gets about five feet away before stopping in his tracks and turning back to face Bobby.
“Sorry, I really gotta run, I can’t be late to Robotics again. Ms. Hansen’ll kill me, or worse, give me detention and make me late to rehearsal and then Luke will kill me. Find me at lunch, see you later!!” and in a whirlwind, he spins and takes off down the hall, leaving Bobby slightly stunned at Peter’s sudden change in attitude.
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Bobby takes a minute to calm the adrenaline that’s still coursing through his veins and haphazardly slips his schedule into his pocket. As soon as he feels like he’s not gonna fly off the handle at any given moment, he heads to the guidance office, using the directions that he’d memorized the night before so he wouldn’t look like a dork .
Pulling the heavy door open, he’s hit with the smell of aloe lotion, hand sanitizer, and printer ink, the same as every other guidance office in the district, apparently. He makes his way up to the front desk, where an older curly-haired woman sits, talking with two other women behind her. The nameplate in front of her reads Marian Bennet, she notices him standing and motions for him to wait.
After a few awkward seconds, she swivels in her chair and looks up to smile at him.
“Hey, Sugar! What can I help you with?” she asks in a warm tone.
Bobby relaxes slightly, “It’s my first day, ma’am, and the letter said that I was supposed to come here to get my ID and guide,”
“You must be Robert Wilson then? None of that ‘ma’am’ nonsense, you’ll make me feel old. Just call me Miss Mary, sweetheart.”
“Okay then, Miss Mary. You can call me Bobby, almost everyone does.”
“That’s much better! I’ll have your ID ready for you in a jiffy, and Alexander should be here soon. He’s a very nice young man, I’m sure you two will get along just fine,” turning to face one of the women she was previously talking to she says, “Joanne, won’t you take a look at him? He’s so handsome, and polite too!”
She reminds him of his favorite aunt
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“Look at your boy, Eduardo! So strong, and he has good manners. No thanks to you, I know. Noemi did a wonderful job with my Robertito. When are you finally going to buck up and marry that girl? She deserves that,”
His father looks mildly uncomfortable, but Tia Zeda just glares up at him.
“Thank you, Titi, but I don’t think marriage is really on the table for either of us right now,”
“Nonsense niño, if you love that girl then God will bless your union and you’ll live happy with your son. And maybe give this family a girl soon,” she adds slyly.
Bobby always loved how Tia Zeda would command his father’s attention. He likes the warm feeling in his chest whenever she praised him, and how she was always respectful and defensive of his mother. Especially when it was at his father’s expense. He loves his father, but it’s funny to watch him sweat under the older woman’s gaze every year.
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He flushes a bit at the compliment.
“T-thank you, Miss.”
“Don’t be silly, Robert. Just stay out of trouble for me, okay? We wanna see your handsome face in here for a few more years at least,” she winks conspiratorially at him.
He doesn’t know what else to say, so he settles for a quiet “I’ll try my best,”
Mary nods at him, seemingly satisfied with his answer, “That’s what I like to hear. You can go take a seat over there and wait for Alexander while I get your ID ready, okay Hon?” she motions over to a wall of plastic chairs.
He stumbles over to the first chair and sits down heavily, dropping his backpack on the ground at his feet. He’s never had an adult that wasn’t related to him treat him like that before. At least, not after finding out about his past. Most of them just assumed that he was headed for juvie, and wrote him off without a second thought. Mary’s attitude makes the uncomfortably cold air in the office feel less oppressive, somehow. It makes him feel a little better about starting over, that and the promise of sitting with Peter at lunch. Maybe he’ll actually make some friends here.
His thoughts are interrupted by the door to the guidance office being flung open, and the sight of a blonde boy running in looking slightly disheveled. His shoes are untied, his hair is messy, and he’s trying to shrug his jacket on while simultaneously trying to clip a fanny pack over his chest and balance his backpack over his left shoulder as it keeps shifting positions.
“I’m sorry Miss Mary, I know I’m late. I missed my alarm and Mark and Amanda left without me so I had to run here!” he rushes out.
“You know that’s no excuse, Alexander,” the older woman says sternly, and for a second Bobby thinks she’s serious, but then her face morphs into a humorous smile. She offers Alexander an apple out of seemingly nowhere and he grabs it gratefully. “Tell Mark that the next time he leaves you behind, he’ll be dealing with me. And fix your hair, darling, you look a mess,”
The boy quickly fixes his hair, how he does it so perfectly without a mirror Bobby doesn’t know, and turns back to Mary.
“Is the new kid here yet?”
“If you paid any attention at all to your surroundings, Alexander, you’d notice that he’s sitting right behind you,” she teases.
Alexander startles slightly, and turns his attention to Bobby.
“Oh, hey! I’m Alex, and I’m gonna be your, uh, guide for the next few weeks while you adjust,” his introduction seems carefully rehearsed, and a little stiff, as if he’s nervous.
He carefully stands up and sticks his hand out in greeting.
“I really appreciate it, man. I’m Bobby,” he tries to radiate calm, the same way he had with Peter, in hopes to help Alex relax, the kid seems a little tightly wound.
Alex tentatively grabs his hand, and Bobby notices that he’s shaking a bit.
“Uh, so, the counselor said that our schedules are supposed to be pretty similar? So I can, like, help you settle in?” he trails off as if he’s questioning himself, and drops Bobby’s hand.
Bobby fishes the crumpled schedule out of his pocket.
“Here, so we can see what we have,” he offers the paper to Alex.
The blonde skims over the page, making small noises of confirmation every few seconds.
“Okay so it looks like we have 5 periods together. You have a few different classes from me, but I think that Reggie’s in the same math period as you, and Luke definitely has the same guitar class.” he rambles. “Luke’s a bit much, but I’m sure you’ll get along, and Reg is a certified genius, so try to pair up with him if you can. Oh! And if you happen to meet a girl named Amanda in your French class, just avoid her. She’s the literal worst ,” he finishes with a wide grin.
“I- Okay then. Thank you?” He's more than a little overwhelmed by the influx of advice. He remembers something that Peter said, not ten minutes ago about a Luke, but it’s a pretty common name so he doubts it’s the same one.
Before he can say anything else, Miss Mary is calling him over to get his new ID.
“Here you go, doll! Now, both of you get to class, I don’t wanna see any tardy’s on your record, young man.” she raises her eyebrows at him, then turns her attention to Alex, “You either, Blondie. Keep that record clean or I’ll eat you for lunch,”
They both nod enthusiastically, barking out “Yes, Ma’am’s,” as they grab their stuff and zip out of the office. The last thing they hear as the door shuts, is Mary calling after them,
“That’s ‘ Miss’ to you boys!”
As soon as they’re out of earshot, Alex turns to him.
“I love Mary, but she can be straight up terrifying when she wants to.”
Alex seems a lot more relaxed as they both burst out laughing, making their way to study hall.
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They run through the classroom door just as the bell rings, but the teacher isn’t in yet.
He expects Alex to pair off and find his friends, but because Alex is fifteen different shades of unpredictable, he does the opposite. He looks around the room, before settling on a shaggy-haired boy in a beanie and glasses, sitting near a window at the back of the class. There’s a notebook open on the desk in front of him, and he’s chewing on a pen cap while frantically scribbling something. Alex’s eyes brighten when he sees him, and he grabs Bobby’s hand tightly, leading him to the other boy.
“Ayo, Lucas! Look what I found, can we keep it? Pretty please?”
The kids head shoots up at the sound of Alex’s shouting. He looks Bobby up and down, before smirking at Alex.
“Picked up another stray, have ya, Lex?” he asks, pulling the pen cap out of his mouth and twirling it in his hands.
“Looks like it,” he nods.
For a second, Bobby’s worried that Luke is gonna laugh in his face, but his anxieties are dashed when he fixes Bobby with a megawatt smile.
“Wicked! I’m Luke, only losers call me Lucas,” he directs the last part at Alex, who bristles and reaches over to cuff him over the head.
“I resent that, Lucas ,”
“I resent you , Alexander,”
“No you don’t, you love me and you know it,” he responds smugly. “ Anyway , this is Bobby, and today’s his first day. So be nice to him, or I’ll cut the strings off of your guitar,” he says, with a sugary sweet smile that Bobby definitely isn’t terrified of who said that .
Luke squints his eyes behind his glasses. “You wouldn’t,”
“Try me, Patterson,”
Bobby watches their rally for a tense minute, marvelling at how different Alex is around Luke. They seem like the kind of friends you only see in movies, and he’s almost jealous, but it really just makes him happy to see a friendship like this in real life. He hopes that he’ll have something like that one day.
Then Alex has Luke in a headlock, leaning over the side of the desk, with Luke’s hand pushing Alex’s face away, and the teacher finally decides to walk in. They don’t notice, over their squabbling, until the teacher drops his bag on the floor beside his desk.
“Mercer! Patterson! Keep the horseplay out of my classroom, or get out.”
They both freeze, and slowly lift their heads to look at the teacher, then at each other, before scrambling to untangle their limbs and mumble a “Yes, Sir,” as they sit at the closest desks.
Bobby ends up sitting behind Alex, and across from Luke.
The rest of the period is less eventful after that. The teacher takes attendance, and Alex and Luke keep a steady stream of conversation, even if he’s not really following every reference, he appreciates them trying so hard to include him. He can’t help but pick up on their mannerisms. Alex is always tapping, sometimes simple rhythms, but other times he taps out drum lines that Bobby recognizes from his cassette collection. Luke, on the other hand, is always humming, and he more often than not has something in his mouth, a pen cap, his fingernails, and when Alex gets annoyed and snaps, a piece of gum that he shoves into Luke’s hand.
He notices that when the conversation lags halfway through the period, Alex slips on a set of headphones, connected to the discman in his backpack, and taps along to an invisible beat. Notices that Luke has gone back scribbling away in his notebook, he hides the pages behind his arm so Bobby reasons that it must be important to him. They’re not interacting anymore, but Bobby doesn’t feel awkward or out of place.
Alex lets him know when the bell’s about to ring, and gives him directions to his next class while they’re packing up.
“Like I said before, see if you can find Reg, he’s super sweet and an actual genius,”
“So he’s in the smart class with Racer?” Luke asks as the bell rings. “Alley-Cat and I are stuck in regular math, like the mere mortals we are. Good on you for being a nerd though,” he says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and winking.
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They split off in opposite directions with a wave, and Alex’s instructions are easy to follow, so he gets to his next class before the next bell rings. As he walks in, he realizes that he has no idea what Reggie looks like, so he just takes a seat in the front corner next to the window.
Math isn’t his favorite subject, but it is one of his best, besides English. The only reason he hadn’t qualified for advanced English was that he kept missing the first period class, and his attendance affected his grade, but it wasn’t his fault that the eighth graders always decided to harass the younger kids right before first period. He was lucky that he was able to avoid a fight this morning, for more than one reason.
The bell rings and the teacher, a sharp looking woman who’s name he hasn’t bothered to learn, locks the door and makes her way to the front of the room. She opens her mouth to begin the lesson, but is interrupted by loud knocking and a boy's voice from the hall.
“C’mon, Pierce! Lemme in, I was barely late,”
Mrs. Pierce walks over, unlocks the door, and swings it open dramatically.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t send you to the office right now. This is the third time you’ve been late to my class this week.”
The boy, who he now realizes is Peter, pushes his way in, and makes his way across the room, smiling innocently. He looks out of breath, and a little rumpled in a way that makes Bobby’s blood pressure spike.
“If you send me to the office now, then who’s gonna participate? This guy?” he motions to Bobby.
“Better him participating than you disrupting my workflow,” she dismisses.
“Okay but I was barely late, and if you didn’t insist on locking the door I could have just walked in quietly instead of ‘disrupting your workflow’,”
“Just sit down and let me teach, Peters,”
He takes the open seat next to Bobby, and flashes him a wide grin.
“She loves me,” he offers, at Bobby’s questioning look.
Mrs. Pierce gives the class two worksheets to do, and tells them to pair up with the person next to them. He almost asks Peter why he was late, but gets the vibe that he might not answer if he does. After about five minutes of silence, Peter speaks up.
“So, Bobby, why’d you come to Costa Mesa?” He asks, casually.
Bobby doesn’t want to scare the guy off, but he also feels like he can trust him with the truth.
“I actually got kicked out of Hawthorne,” he begins carefully, “For fighting,”
“Ah, so that’s why Chris and his goons ran away so quick this morning.”
“I mean, I guess they might have heard something about me? I’ve never like, fought someone that wasn’t picking on someone else though,”
“So you’re a vigilante? Like Spider-Man!?” Peter asks excitedly.
“I wouldn’t go that far, I just can’t stand the idea that someone can just decide to bully someone else for no reason and no one does anything about it,”
“C’mon man, you’re totally a vigilante. You have your own moral code and everything. Plus you totally saved my ass, thanks again for that, by the way,”
“Like I said, it’s no problem. Just let me know if anyone’s messing with you still, I don’t stand for that shit,”
“It’s no big deal, I’ve got it all under control,” he smiles easily.
If Bobby hadn’t seen how scared he looked earlier, he might’ve actually believed him, but he decides to let the conversation drop for now.
“Alright then, uh,” he says turning back to the worksheet, “What’d you get for number four?”
“On which sheet?”
It’s then that he notices that Peter has one sheet already finished and set to the side while he works on the other one.
“The first one, I guess?” He shows Peter the problem he’s working on.
The questions aren’t particularly hard, they’re just tedious and it’s easy for him to get distracted and lose his place.
“Ah, I got ya. These calculations are a bitch to work out. Do you want me to walk you through it, or would you rather just copy the answer and move on?”
“Would you mind? Walking me through it, that is? I know it but I keep losing my place and having to start over,”
“Yeah, yeah! No worries, Bobbit. C’mere,”
The nickname startles him a bit, and makes him feel warm all over. He doesn’t hate it as much as he might if it were someone else. It feels natural, like Peter’s been calling him the name forever, and he doesn’t know how to feel about it.
They work through the rest of the problems together, and Bobby finds that Peter is really good at explaining the calculation in a way that doesn’t make his brain melt, so he counts the whole thing as a win. He’s almost sad when the bell rings.
As they’re packing up, Peter turns to him.
“I know I said we had French together, but I have a lesson today, so I won’t be there,”
“It’s cool, do you think you could just give me a few directions? So I’m not insanely late?”
“Oh totally! It’s actually not that far from here, just two halls down and to the left. You know the room number right?”
“Yeah, it’s on my schedule, thanks Pete,” the nickname slips out involuntarily, but Peter’s face just brightens when he hears it, so he figures it was the right move.
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The halls are crowded as he leaves the math classroom. He watches Peter book it down the hallway, like someone’s chasing him, and he tries not to think about it too hard.
He catches the sight of a familiar beanie and spots Luke turning the corner. When they make eye contact, Luke waves him over and Bobby notices a blonde girl walking next to him.
“Look who it is, Peaches, Sir Bobby The Mathematical! Back from the war!” he crows, throwing an arm over Bobby’s shoulder.
Bobby’s nose scrunches at the nickname, but he doesn’t move to shrug Luke’s arm away.
“For the last time, dipshit, my name is not Peaches. Call me that again, and I’ll shred your favorite flannel,” the blonde levels Luke with a look that reminds him of Alex.
“Aw but I thought I was your favorite, Manda,” he pouts.
“Everyone knows that Racer’s my favorite, so put that face away and behave, Lucas, ” she says as she reaches up and pulls his hat down over his face.
Luke squawks indignantly, catching the attention of the security guard.
“Patterson! What’d I say about the hats in school?”
“Oh c’mon Bill, you’re literally wearing a hat right now,”
The security guard lets out a long suffering sigh.
“I get paid to wear this hat, it’s part of my uniform and you know that. Take the hat off before Schwinn sees it and we both get in trouble,”
“Alright, alright, just for you, Bill,” he laughs, sticking the beanie in his pocket.
When they’re a few feet away from Bill, the blonde girl punches Luke in the shoulder.
“How come you haven’t introduced me to your friend, you’re so rude Luke,”
“Ow! Hey, lay off! Damn Mercers always abusing me. I was getting around to it before you got me in trouble with Bill,” he glares at her, but there’s no heat behind it, “Anyway, Bobby, this is Amanda. Manda, this is Bobby,”
“Wait, this is the Amanda that Alex told me to avoid at all costs?”
“Of course he would,” she mutters, “ I’m so sorry that you met my idiot brother before me. He was dropped on his head as a child and never recovered, bless his heart. You can call me Mandy,”
Luke cackles at her words, and it makes Bobby smile.
“He honestly scared me a bit, but you seem nice,” he offers
“He’s just like that,” she says simply, as if it explains everything. “So where’re you headed?”
“Oh, I have French this period, Alex mentioned that we were both in this class, actually,”
“Hey! I’m in this class too, did he say anything about that?” Luke bristles.
“No, but he did say that we have the same guitar class?”
“You’re taking guitar too? Wicked! When did you start playing? Wait, who’s your favorite artist? No, no wait, Cobain or Armstrong? Nevermind, there’s no right answer to that, they’re both basically gods,” he spits, rapidfire, completely forgetting about being mad at Alex.
Bobby turns to look at Mandy, “Is this what Alex meant by Luke being ‘A bit much,’?”
“This would be that, yeah,” she deadpans.
Luke keeps talking while they laugh, paying them no attention, as they walk into the French room.
They settle into seats towards the middle of the room. Luke and Mandy both let out sighs of relief, and let him know that their teacher, M. Asteir is absent. The sub is an older man who looks half-asleep over the crossword he’s doing, so they spend the period hanging out and talking.
“Wait, you said you and Alex are siblings right? So you’re like twins?” He asks Mandy after a while.
“Yeah, unfortunately, we’re womb-mates,”
“Huh, I can’t say I’ve ever heard that one before,” he laughs, “I bet you get this a lot, but who’s older?”
“You’d be right, I hear that all the time,” she pauses for a minute, before slamming her hand on the desk, “If you can guess which one of us is older, I’ll give you a coupon for one free embarrassing Alex story!” She challenges, her eyes shining with mischief.
“That sounds like a pretty good deal, I’m in!”
He thinks about it for a minute, and his first thought is that Mandy’s older, but it’s kind of the obvious answer. Alex doesn’t scream older sibling, but he can kinda see it in the way he acts with Luke.
“Alright I’m pretty confident that I’ve got the right answer,”
“Take your best shot, Bug-Boy,” she says, levelling him with a challenging stare.
“I think that you’re younger,”
“Holy shit,” Luke says, eyes wide.
“What the fuck Bobby! What species are you even? I’ve never met a real human person that’s guessed that right in all my thirteen years of life,”
“I saw Alex grab Luke in a full headlock this morning, it was almost professional form,” he explains, “It reminded me of my cousin, who’s the oldest of three,”
“Damn, Bug. I’m impressed. Most people see Lex’s lack of impulse control around the boys as a point for being a younger sibling, but anyone with siblings knows that it’s the truest sign of the Cain instinct,” she nods sagely, as if she’s sharing some mystical knowledge.
“You do have the vibe of an older sibling though,” he offers.
“Correct again! I have three younger siblings, but I’m the middle of six, two older brothers, two younger sisters, and our babiest brother.”
“I always wanted a big family like that, I’m an only child,”
“If you’re an only child that just means that you’re automatically the favorite though!” Luke interjects proudly.
“You’ll never be Emily’s favorite while Racer’s still around, Lucky,”
“I wouldn’t really know either way, my mom’s favorite is my cousin Alicia,” he shrugs nonchalantly.
“Don’t worry, Bug. You can be our favorite,” Mandy says, ruffling his hair.
“Yeah! You can share with Reggie, seems like you could both use a little more appreciation,” Luke smiles.
The sincerity in their voices makes him feel warm all over, and he struggles to swallow past the lump in his throat.
“I guess I could manage to share with Reggie, even if i’ve never met him,” he manages to choke out, hoping that it sounds casual.
“You didn’t see him in math? Maybe he had a lesson today, I never know when the cello one’s are, I only memorize the violin one rotation,” Luke mutters, “Either way, you’ll meet him next period! We’re all in the same lunch block, besides sweet Peaches over here. She had to go and take an art class for whatever reason,” he sticks his tongue out at Mandy.
“I’m taking sculpting because I like it, fucker, and if you don’t put that tongue back in your mouth where it belongs, I will remove it from your face,”
“What is it with you Mercers and threatening me today? You’re setting a bad example for the baby,”
“My bad, Lucky. I’ll try to tone it down, can’t be a bad influence on our son,” she says, smiling sharply.
“As long as we’re in agreement, dear,”
“Wait, what the fuck just happened? What baby?” Bobby questions.
“Aw look honey, he sounds just like you!” Luke coos.
“Obviously, since you’re sharing the role of favorite with Racer, we’ve adopted you. You’re like, our son now.” Mandy explains slowly.
“I dunno if I trust Luke to be my parent,”
“Hey! I’d be a great dad,” Luke says with a pout.
“No, no. He has a point, you’re too impulsive and chaotic to be a dad,” she shushes him, “Sorry, babe. But I don’t think this partnership is long-term, I want a divorce, and I’m taking the kids,” she delivers the line bluntly, and they’re drawing a crowd at this point which obviously means that Luke has to up the dramatics.
“But what about our vows, Amanda?! What ever happened to ‘till death do us part’?” he slams his hand on the desk, and stands up from his seat. The onlookers ‘ooh’, and the tears in his eyes are really selling it. Bobby is about three seconds away from telling him to be an actor.
“What happened to loving and cherishing, Lucas? Where was that when you decided to sleep with my sister!?” she pushes her seat out and stands up in one swift motion. There’s a unanimous gasp from their classmates, and even Bobby is hooked on the story they’re delivering.
“How’d you find out about Katy and I?” he can’t keep a straight face on this line, and dissolves into gasps and giggles, slouching back into his seat. He sets off Mandy, and the rest of the class, until they’re all laughing uncontrollably. It’s the hardest Bobby’s laughed in a long time, and he’s clutching his stomach and wiping tears from his eyes by the time that he settles down enough to get a sentence out.
“Oh,” another laugh bubbles up, “My god. That was insane, how’d you even think of that? The way you guys just... kept going? I thought I was living in a soap opera!” He giggles.
Mandy looks at Luke, both still laughing, and they stand up and bow theatrically. A few people clap, but most are too busy laughing.
“You looked like you needed a good laugh, and the sub is drooling on his crossword anyway,” Luke shrugs
“It was mostly a joke, but I will be claiming you as one of my boys now, Buggy. There’s no escaping it!” Mandy lightly punches him on the arm.
“Yeah, there’s really no way out, believe me I’ve tried!”
“Watch it, Lucas,”
“Not a chance, Peaches,”
Before they can get into a real fight this time, Bobby interrupts.
“Can I just ask one more thing,” he looks at Mandy.
“Shoot,” she replies.
“What’s with the ‘Bug’ thing? You’ve called me that like six times already,”
“That’s your nickname now! Luke’s got Lucky and Luca, Alex has Alley-Cat and Lex, Reggie has Racer and Reg, I have Peaches and Manda, and now you have Bug! We’ll figure out more for you later, but a stupid nickname is pretty much a requirement for joining the group.”
His confusion must have shown on his face, because Luke turns to him.
“Don’t look so surprised! Lex asked to keep you, and we think you’re cool. All you have to do is get along with Racer, which I’m sure you will, and then you’ll never get rid of us,”
The nicknames will take some time to get used to, but he doesn’t hate them, and it’s worth it if he gets to keep them in his life for a little longer.
The bell rings and they file out of the classroom in record time, Mandy practically running out the door with a shout of “See you boys later!”. Bobby and Luke are nearly matching her pace, in the opposite direction, eager to get to lunch.
______________________________________________________________________
Bobby almost loses sight of Luke in the crowded hall with the way the shorter boy ducks and weaves through the crowd, until Luke grabs his wrist. They make it to the cafeteria with two minutes to spare, and Luke doesn’t let go of him until they’re both seated at what Bobby assumes in their regular table. He hopes that Luke and Alex won’t mind if he sits with Peter, when he finally finds him, after all he’d promised. He spots Alex’s halo of hair through the small crowd, and Luke waves him over.
“I thought you said that I should avoid Amanda at all costs?” is the first thing that Bobby says to him.
“Ah so you’ve met the she-demon, have you?”
“Yes, and she was perfectly nice to me,” he says, lightly shoving Alex.
“That’s how she gets ya,” he shrugs. “Besides, it’s my god given right to bully her, she’s my baby sister,”
He can’t really argue that. He has no experience with having siblings.
“So, how was French with the chaos kids?” Alex asks.
“It was… interesting to say the least,” he starts. Before he can tell the story, Luke shoots up out of his seat.
“Racer!! Look what Lex brought home!”
Bobby follows his eyeline, looking for Reggie, but sees Peter instead, so he waves, figuring that he’ll meet Reggie in a few minutes anyway..
“Hey Peter, how were your lessons?”
“They were alright, Bobbit! I see you’ve been kidnapped by Luke and Alex, I told you that you’d get along,”
“I actually didn’t realize that this was the same Luke, we don’t have guitar today,”
Alex clears his throat quietly, “I didn’t realize you guys already knew each other?”
Peter flushes, “Yeah, Bobby helped me get to class on time today,”
Luke’s face darkens, “Were Chris and his friends bothering you again?”
“It’s not really that serious, and as soon as they saw Bobbit, they ran away,”
“I thought you said that they weren’t messing with you anymore,” Alex adds, voice hard.
“Well, they’re not really, and I don’t think it’ll happen again after this morning,”
Bobby looked between them, wondering if he should say anything.
“Reg, you know that you don’t have to deal with those assholes all alone,” Luke says passionately, fists clenched at his sides.
“I know, I just don’t want you guys to get hurt because I can’t stand up for myself,”
“That’s what best friends are for, Reginald,” Alex says, clearly swallowing some harsher words.
Luke makes no effort.
“You’re so lucky you can play bass, dumbass. When are you gonna realize that we want to help you?”
A heavy look is passed between the three boys. Peter looks sufficiently scolded, and shoves Luke and Alex back into their seats, nodding.
It takes Bobby an embarrassingly long few seconds to connect the dots.
“Wait,” he says dumbly. “This is the Reggie you guys have been talking about this whole time?”
Luke and Alex nod slowly.
He whirls around to look at the scrawny boy.
“Why’d you tell me that your name is Peter?”
“My last name is Peters, and Reginald isn’t really a cool name to give to the guy who just sent three highschoolers running without even throwing a punch,”
“Well, I think it’s a better name than Robert, god can you imagine having that as a name? Imagine being named Robert Ariel Wilson, I think I’d die.” he says dramatically.
It takes about thirty seconds of sustained silence for the three boys to start laughing, which is longer than most, so Bobby’s impressed. As embarrassing as his middle name is (even if he secretly loves it), it’s worth it to see the tears of laughter roll down Reggie’s face, a serious look nowhere to be found.
“Hey Bobby,” Alex starts, still giggling. “Do you have a favorite Disney princess? Just out of curiosity,”
“I’m gonna tell Manda that you’re bullying me, she claimed me as one of her boys,” he responds smugly.
“Ooh that’s low, Bug-Boy,” Luke laughs.
“Excluding the Ariel part, Bobby Wilson kinda sounds like a superhero name! Ya know, like Sam Wilson?” Reggie tacks on, trying to hold in another bout of giggles. “It fits with your whole vigilante thing! Plus, The Falcon is fuckin’ wicked!”
“If my name sounds like a superhero one, you’re definitely my evil arch enemy, Reginald,” he responds playfully.
“Oh my God, he’s right, that’s such a villain name,” Alex crows.
“Yeah, and Alexander Mercer is really any better. It sounds like the name of some evil old rich dude. Do you think your dad is a secret supervillain, ‘Lex?”
Alex looks like he’s gone through this conversation a hundred times, so instead of enabling Luke’s train of thought with a straight answer, he responds
“Hey, did you know that Bobby’s in your guitar class?”
“Fuck yeah! He told me before but I got distracted by Kurt Cobain,” his eyes sparkle at the guitarist’s name, and he turns to Bobby. “Are you any good, Bug-Boy?”
“I wish you wouldn’t call me that,” he says automatically, even if it secretly makes him feel warm. “I mean, I’m no Hendrix, but I know my way around a few songs. I prefer playing rhythm though,”
Luke shares a pointed look with Alex and Reggie.
“Sidebar!” He yells, as he pulls the other boys away from the table, leaving a confused Bobby in their wake.
They seem to go back and forth for around thirty seconds, Luke’s arms flailing wildly, before nodding at each other and making their way back to the table.
They circle him, Alex and Reggie slinging their arms around his shoulders, keeping him in place. Luke, even as short as he is, looks down at him.
“So Robert, how passionate are you about music, on a scale of one to ten?”
“Uhh, probably like an eight?”
“Is that a question or an answer?”
Alex leans over and cuffs the back of Luke’s head, “Be nice, Lucas,”
“Geez, fine! Theater is dead and Alex killed it. Anyway, Bobby,” he stops glaring at Alex and focuses back on the task, “How would you like to join us for band rehearsal today!” A wide grin stretches across his face.
“We just wanna see if you’re a good fit with our sound before we invite you to join the band,” Alex explains.
“Yeah, but you have pretty much everything we’re looking for, and you’re really cool, so as long as you can play decently well you’ll have a spot in the best band ever!!” Reggie adds.
“Does the best band ever have a name?”
“Uh, no. Not yet at least! We wanted to complete our sound before picking a name, it just makes more sense that way,”
“I guess I could stop by for an hour or so,” he offers, hoping it sounds a hundred times more chill than he feels.
“A little bit of an underwhelming response, but it wasn’t a no. We can work on that!” Luke beams.
“If it’s okay with your parents, my brother can drive us? Someone might have to sit in the trunk though, because the art club meeting got cancelled so Amanda’s riding with us,” Alex offers.
“What about Katie?” Reggie asks, adding the numbers.
“She has girl scouts after school, so she’s not coming home with us,”
“Who’s gonna take the trunk then?” Luke points out.
There’s a flash of a look between the boys.
“Not me!”
“Not it!”
“Nope!”
“Damnit, every time!” Luke pouts.
“You’re the smallest, plus Bobby’s new, he shouldn’t have to risk his life the first time he drives with us. Next time he’s really in the running though,”
They dissolve into laughter at Luke’s overdramatic attitude, and spend the rest of the period joking and eating. Bobby hasn’t felt this light in a long time. He hopes it lasts.