Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

A dark world aches for a splash of the sun

Reggie shivered as he squirmed in his seat, trying to make himself focus. Normally, calculus test day was one of his favorite days of the week, right up there with pizza day in the cafeteria. But today something wasn’t right. The numbers on the pages looked all fuzzy, his head felt like it was swollen up like a balloon and there was an awful tickle in the back of his throat. He felt all achy and way more tired than he usual was, but Reggie had chalked all that up to not sleeping well.

After all, how good of a night’s sleep could he expect to get sleeping under the pier?

To say this had been the worst week of his life would be an understatement. His dad was gone. His mom was gone. Reggie was gone. His mom left first, having never returned home from her shift at the grocery store three days ago. When Reggie desperately tried to call her, he found her phone had been disconnected and he realized…his mom was never coming back. She had gotten out and left him behind. His father had rounded on him, determined Reggie had helped her leave and there was nothing he could do to convince him he hadn’t. As though he’d ever choose to stay behind with his dad. The next morning, Reggie woke up with a cluster of new blue-black bruises, the house torn to shreds, and his father was gone too. Neither of his parents cared that Reggie was still just seventeen. They didn’t seem to notice he was left behind at all, but all Reggie knew was that he couldn’t be there if his father ever came home. Luke had already run away from home and was staying in Bobby’s garage, Alex was there most nights too and Bobby had his brothers to take care of so Reggie didn’t want to be a burden. So instead, he was sleeping the pier. Just for now, just until he figured out how to explain everything to the guys.

It wasn’t going too bad, until he woke up feeling a little icky this morning. He really did think it was just sleeping out in the open air, but now there was a tickle in his throat that would just not go away and soon a horrible sounding wet cough escaped him. He managed to cough into his arm and not the air, but it was like as soon as he started coughing he couldn’t stop. The whole class was looking at him, including Bobby, who was studying him with concern. He felt all hot and sweaty but at the same time he was shivering and it was miserable.

“Are you okay?” Bobby demanded as soon as the bell rang.

Reggie nodded, trying to fight the urge to cough again, and Bobby reached into his backpack for a water bottle. Maybe that’s what was wrong- maybe he was just dehydrated. He swallowed nearly half the bottle at once, and Bobby looked even more concerned.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Bobby demanded. “Cause you look like shit. And you sound like shit."

“Bobbert, I’m fine.”

“Don’t Bobbert me!” Bobby shot back. “I know how this goes. One of you idiots catches a cold that any regular old person would get over in a day or two with rest but because you dumbasses think you’re invincible, you push through it. Then it turns out the cold is a sinus infection, then you also get double ear infections and can’t talk for two weeks. Then you get a bad asthma attack and make me take you to the freaking hospital. Then it turns out all this was started by some virus that you spread to the rest of us and you’re all coughing up a lung in my garage. Nope. Not this time. You are going to the nurse.”

“Bobbers! That’s an Alex and Luke thing! Not a Reggie thing. I’m fine, I don't get sick!"

He sneezed, right into his friend’s face, and Bobby grabbed his shoulders, ushereed him out the door and right raced him right to the nurse’s station. Bobby patted his back, promised him he would be okay and to let him know what was wrong before giving him a small shove into the office to make him go inside. Reggie kicked at the ground in defeat, and was wondering how long Bobby would stalk the door to make sure he didn’t escape when he saw her.

The most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

She was sitting alone, wiping a tissue against her nose as she coughed, sounding almost just like he did. But even stopped up and sick, this girl was gorgeous. Her eyes were all shiny, and her smile sparkled when she looked up at him. Her long dreads towered over her shoulders and down her back, and even though she clearly didn’t feel well she had still put together a super cute outfit, wearing a red romper with a white and red short sleeve romper with a black cardigan thrown over it. He managed a smile back at her, even though it felt like his whole face hurt trying to.

“Are you here for a fever because you’re looking-"

Before he could say ‘hot’ he let out a round of horrible sounding wet coughs, and she only grimaced at him.

“Boys,” Flynn mumbled, shaking her head. “You sound terrible, and I’ve got a 100 degree fever, I feel like I’ve been hit by a freaking truck, and I can’t even go home and cuddle in my own dang bed so please, save the insulting pickup lines. I am not in the mood.”

Reggie’s face softened, feeling guilty once he realized that she too wasn’t feeling good and like him, for some reason she couldn’t go home.

“You can’t go home?” He asked her.

A pit fell in his stomach and sank down next to her. Flynn shook her head. As he sat by her, he noticed her wrists were full of friendship and pride bracelets, which made him smile.

“My dad’s away working on a movie and my mom is away in the army,” Flynn explained, “so in the meantime, I’m staying with my bestie. The Molina’s are like my second family anyway. Ray tried to get me to stay home today, but I really was feeling okay this morning…well, okayish. I figured with a bunch of caffeine and a power nap during lunch I’d be good as new. I was wrong. I should have known, Julie was just sick last week.”

“Thank you for your mom’s service,” he offered, “and sorry you’re sick.”

“Thanks!” She beamed. “What about you, what’s your story?"

She cut herself off with her own round of coughs, and like a contagious yawn his throat tickled too much too and he coughed back, making them both giggle.

“Man, we sound bad,” Flynn teased.

“I’m fine though,” Reggie insisted. “I think it’s just allergies.”

He sneezed- multiple times- as he said it. She wrinkled her nose in a way that could only be described as adorable.

“It’s January!” Flynn pointed out. “It’s cold and flu season, not allergies.”

"You sound like Bobby," he mumbled.

At that moment the nurse poked her head out of the office, her eyes narrowing in on Reggie right away.

“Another one?” She commented, as though kids dying with the flu had stumbled in and out of her office all day. “Well come on in, let’s see what ya got.”

Reggie genuinely couldn’t remember the last time he was in a doctor’s office, not that he thought the school nurse’s station counted. She pulled up his file, grunting in disproval when she saw it hadn’t been updated by his parents in two school years.

“First thing’s first,” the nurse announced as she turned back to him with a thermometer. It beeped a minute later and she sighed. “100.5. Did you feel this sick when you left the house this morning?”

“Um…no?”

It wasn’t exactly a lie- it wasn’t like he had left a house this morning. Suddenly he began to shiver and wrap his arms around himself- was the nurse’s station always this cold?

“I’m really fine,” Reggie insisted.

“I'm sorry, which one of us went to nursing school for four years?” She challenged, and he couldn’t argue with that. She took out a long stick to swab his nose. “Quick swab.”

He didn’t move a muscle as she swabbed his nose a few times and she raised an eyebrow, impressed.

“Most kids run for the hills when I need to do that,” she commented.

Getting swabbed in the nose is nothing like getting hit in the nose, he wanted to reply, but didn’t.

His glands were checked next, then his ears, nose and mouth.

“Do you mind taking your jacket and flannel off so I can take your blood pressure?” She asked. “Kind of hard to do with the layers.”

Reggie hesitated, knowing full well his forearms were still dotted with bruising. He’d managed to carefully hide that from the guys- mostly from avoiding them all week- but he didn’t know what would happen if the school saw them. Would they call the police? Would the police start asking about Luke?

“Mr. Peters?”

The more he hesitated, the more skeptical she would get. He could just lie, if she said anything at all.

Of course, as soon as he sighed and slipped off his layers, her eyes fell right to the bruising.

“What happened here?” She asked softly.

“Bike accident.”

The lie fell out of him easily, he had given the same one to the guys multiple times in the past. She raised an eyebrow but felt quiet, silently observing him as she took his blood pressure and checked his heart beat. He tugged his flannel and jacket back on the minute he got a chance, hoping she’d somehow forget what she saw. Then she checked whatever it is she had tested him for and sighed again.

“Positive for flu type A,” she informed him. “You need to go home and rest up until this fever goes away. Let me get your emergency contacts.”

He knew there was no way she could call either of his parents- for one, she would see his mom had disconnected her phone and was nowhere to be found. God only knew what his father would do if the school called him.

“You don’t need to call anyone, they’re out of town,” Reggie said quickly. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but the next part was. “I’m staying with my grandmother. She’s old and she can’t drive and she can’t hear so she probably won’t hear the phone. She can't walk that well either and doesn't have a cell phone so it's probably not good for her to get up to walk to the phone unless it's an emergency. It’s almost end of school, can’t I just stay here until then?”

The nurse looked like she was just done with kids and their parents today, and didn’t push it. Another hour, he thought, and he wouldn’t have to be her problem anymore.

“You can hang out here with Flynn until the end of the school day,” she agreed, glancing at her watch. “Which is in less than an hour. Oh, and pro tip Mr. Peters, no girl likes getting hit on when their sick.”

His cheeks went red at the comment and he nodded in understanding.

“Thanks,” he mumbled as he followed her out and took his seat next to Flynn.

Flynn waited until the small office was empty before she rounded on him.

“Okay, all of that was a bold-faced lie and you know it!”

She coughed at the effort of talking and reached for a pink water bottle she had with her. His eyes widened as he instinctively sat back, as though deep down for some reason his subconscious though she might actually hurt him.

“You heard me?” He squeaked.

Had she heard the remark about flirting too?

Flynn rolled her eyes and waved her hand toward the office door.

“You were literally right there. These walls are paper thin. You lied about your parents, didn’t you?”

He wondered briefly how Flynn knew that; it was like she was Bobby 2.0. She was good. He would have found it fascinated if he wasn’t so worried about her blowing his cover.

“I didn’t! They’re really out of town.”

“Where are they, then?”

“Tennessee!” It was the first place that crossed his mind. “Visiting my grandma.”

She raised an eyebrow, and he quickly realized his mistake.

“I thought you said you’re staying with your grandmother?”

“It’s my other grandmother! People have two grandmothers, you know.”

“And the bruises?”

“Bike accident.”

“Reggie…”

“Really! I’m-“

Flynn planted a hand over his mouth before he could say it.

“I swear if you claim you’re fine one more time!” She warned. “I don’t even know you, and I can tell you’re clearly not fine. You’re clearly in trouble. Why don’t you want them calling your parents?”

There was something about Flynn that made him feel like he could trust her. He was terrified to tell the guys the truth, terrified they’d lecture him for lying or would try to hunt down his father and get themselves hurt. Terrified he’d get called and then Luke would get caught and they’d all be in huge trouble. But…Flynn felt safe. He couldn’t explain why, she just did.

“My mom left,” he admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. “My dad went after her. I…I don’t think I want him to come back.”

“Oh sweetie.”

Her arms were around him without warning and his eyes blew wide with surprise. As he accepted her hug he let out a shaky breath, overwhelmed at how warm she felt. And not just because of the fever. He could have held onto her all day, but at last they broke apart and he was embarrassed to find he was almost in tears. Reggie was surprised how good it felt to get that off his chest, even though it scared him.

“You’re not really staying with your grandmother, are you?”

He shook his head and trembled as he wiped at his eyes with his wrist.

“Are you staying anywhere?” She asked

When he shook his head again she looked crestfallen, and he quickly pleaded:

“Please don’t tell anyone! I’m figuring it out, I just…I don’t want to tell my friends yet. They have so much going on.”

“It doesn’t matter, Reggie,” she promised, “if they love you, they’d want to know.”

Reggie bit his lip and looked away, wanting to disagree with her…but he knew he couldn’t. Bobby would let him sleep in a tent in the backyard before letting him stay at the pier.

“Everything’s just so, so messed up,” Reggie admitted quietly. “I don’t know why I haven’t told them, it’s just a lot and I probably just need sleep. I’m really okay.”

“You literally just tested positive for the flu!” Flynn exclaimed. “You don’t just need sleep, you need sleep and all the soups and liquids and pain medicine, you need someone taking care of you. Why don’t you come stay with me and my friend’s family for the weekend? They love having people to take care of, it’s like their thing.”

Reggie hadn’t had someone to take care of him since…well, since his grandmother. Back when they lived with her, she’d make him soup when he was sick and he’d stay home and watch Price Is Right with her and listen to her play the piano. His itchy eyes watered just at the memory. Flynn drew in a deep breath- and coughed at the effort and he winced, hearing her in pain. He placed a hand on her shoulder, appreciating that she felt like crap too.

“I know what it’s like for someone to be so scared and lost they can’t talk about,” Flynn told him gently. “My best friend lost her mom a year ago, and she’s been really struggling with it. She got kicked out of her music program because she was too traumatized to play, and so I left the program with her in protest. But I felt like the worst friend because I never could figure out how to help her.”

Shaking his head, his heart tore for Flynn, knowing exactly what it was like to feel that responsible for her friend.

“You couldn’t bring her mom back,” he pointed out. “She just needs to heal on her own time.”

“I know,” Flynn sighed, wiping at her nose with her tissue, “but it’s so hard.”

She looked as defeated as he felt, yet she was still trying to help him. Flynn was a complete stranger but she had already been kinder than most people in his life and she was gorgeous. Who was he to push her away? Suddenly the nurse’s station door opened and another girl walked in, wearing overalls and a sweater underneath; her hair was super long and curly and she greeted Reggie with a sweet smile.

“Oh, hi!”

“Speak of the devil!” Flynn greeted, making the girl’s eyes narrow. “This is Julie. Julie, Reggie. Reggie also has the flu, his parents suck and he can’t go home over the weekend and for some mysterious reason he’s hiding from his friends. Any chance we can secretly temporarily adopt him?”

Straightening up, Reggie threw on his best smile, feeling like a puppy at the pound. No where to go, no one he belonged to, hoping for the best, nicest family to come along and claim him.

“Kid who’s in need of a loving family, caring family, a place to stay and food to eat?” Julie asked, studying Reggie with interest. Her eyes lit up. “My dad will love him.”

“I thought so too!”

They hi-fived, and a sloppy smile fell across Reggie’s face, though he couldn’t bring himself to believe her. He couldn’t imagine anyone’s dad loving him. Alex’s parents alienated Alex and his friends as soon as they found out he was gay, Luke’s parents would hate him if they knew he had been helping to hide him, and his own…well…that was a given.

Flynn let out a nasty round of coughs suddenly, coughing right into Julie’s shoulder, and Julie looked away, disgusted even as she patted her friend’s head.

“Have I mentioned I’m sorry for giving you the flu?” Julie offered with a big, hopeful, grin.

Glaring at her, Flynn shot:

“You’re going to owe me such a nice birthday present after this.”

Rolling her eyes, Julie reached out for Reggie’s hand and offered him a reassuring smile.

“I know you don’t know us, but my dad really is amazing,” Julie promised. “You can’t stay home by yourself with the flu.”

He couldn’t be at home by himself, period, but he decided to leave that out; thankfully Flynn didn't tell her either.

“Okay,” Reggie finally agreed. “We just-"

“Can’t tell your friends or let your sucky parents know,” Julie repeated, “got it.”

He smiled back at her. It was strange, he thought, she didn’t seem super traumatized or sad, she seemed like a perfectly normal teenager. Then again, he realized this is what the guys must see when they looked at him. Happy on the outside, a mess on the inside. She was putting on a performance, just like he did and he wondered if Flynn was too.

At that very moment, his phone buzzed and he saw it was a text from Bobby.

What did the nurse say?

Biting his lip, Reggie hated himself as he typed back:

Allergies, told ya so! I’ll feel better by Mon.

There was a long pause before the reply came, and he all but sighed in relief when he saw Bobby’s response:

Ok. You better rest. Lemme know if you need anything.

I will, Reggie promised, knowing full well he wouldn’t. Hug Luke for me.

I won’t. Alex will.

He smirked; Bobby was not a big fan of physical contact, but touch was Luke’s love language. He wished more than anything he could see his best friend and give him the biggest hug- Reggie couldn’t imagine it had been easy this week for Luke, either. The guitarist was working himself to death at the diner, he had missing posters with his face up all over town. Reggie didn’t need to give Luke anything else to worry about, and he knew Alex had enough to worry about for the three of them combined.

“Reggie, you coming?” Julie asked. “I just texted my dad, he said it was fine.”

Flynn batted her eyes at him, holding her hands up in prayer as she silently pleaded for him to say yes. How could he say no to a beautiful girl who wanted him to be her sick day buddy all weekend? At last, Reggie sighed.

“Okay.”

The girls both linked arms with him, and as tight as his chest was Reggie let himself feel a small ray of hope. His friends’ lives were falling apart, his family was falling apart, he didn’t even have his home anymore. But at least he had a place to stay over the weekend. Maybe with the help of a couple of new friends and a lot of cough syrup, he would be able to figure out his life by the time he faced the guys again on Monday.