Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Do you um, want to sit down? This hard wall is starting to hurt my head.” She chuckled.

“Uh yeah, yeah sure. Uh,” he paused before continuing, “Im sorry. I just, I just need a minute.” He said before rushing into the bathroom. Walking over to the sink he began to run the water over his hands, swiping them over his face trying to calm down. He didn’t expect the panic to hit him so hard but he was stuck trying to breath in response to his rapid heart beat. Sighing again, he walked out as he put on a happy face. His nerves returned momentarily as he noticed Mia had moved back onto her bed clearly in a more comfortable position.

“Hey sorry I was just-”

“Okay what’s going on with you? Is it me? Am I not attractive to you, or whatever?”

“No. No, Mia.” He said as he sat down, “Look you're beautiful. You’re like, one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever seen.”

“Then what is it?” she asked, looking over at him. “What’s wrong?”

“The truth is. I’m,” he hesitated wondering if he should just say it. But his mouth moved before he could think any further and he found himself saying, “not ready,” in a solemn tone. Attempting to lighten the mood he continued, “I guess I’m just a little old fashioned” and let out a forced chuckle.

“Victor, I know you,” she paused, drawing out the silence. “That’s not all is it? You could have just talked to me if that was all. But that, just now?” She waved his hand over him, “That was more than just the usual fear Vic. That was… a lot.”

He looked up at her, and all he could see was concern in her eyes. Immediately he felt guilty. Here he was with this amazing girl who cared so much and he was blowing it. There was no way he could keep going with this. “No uh, yeah. Yeah you're right, I may have panicked a little bit.” He turned to her, getting more comfortable for the conversation.

“Victor you know you can tell me everything right?” She settled in after watching him. It was clear that they would be having a big conversation.

He winced and looked down at his hands. “Yeah I know. I just don’t want you to hate me. I don’t even know where to start.”

She chuckled nervously, “Well now that’s a little ominous but that probably won’t happen, and not to sound cliché, but maybe try starting from the beginning.”

“Well,” he started, still looking down at his hands, “as you know, we moved here from Texas and as much as Pilar hated the move, I realized I was actually excited. I didn’t have the greatest friends there, and the environment wasn’t very accepting overall” he said hesitantly. “Moving meant I got a fresh start, to be me and meet new people. And I did! I met you and Lake. Felix and Benji, got on the basketball team. I mean, here I was new to the school and you just welcomed me in. Honestly, you're probably my favorite part about moving here Mia, you're like, my favorite person. You are so incredible and you make me feel safe, made me feel like I belonged” He looked up at her and smiled sadly.

She smiled back “Aww you're my favorite too, just don’t tell Lake I said that,” she paused as her smile fell “But why do I feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming up?”

“Well, like I said, the people back in Texas weren’t very accepting. I had to deal with hearing a lot of stupid shit, I still do really. That made it really hard to be true to myself. Or even figure out what that meant. And while I was super psyched to do that here, I got scared.” He sighed, chancing a glance up at Mia before looking back down, “I realized a little while ago that I like boys. I just didn’t know what that meant or what to do with that and then I got here and met you, and you were just so amazing. I just got more confused.”

Understanding dawned on her “But you're not confused any more are you?”

He laughed wryly, “well I am. I’m confused about a lot of things. Just not about this anymore I guess. I just- Mia I don’t want you to think that any of this wasn’t real okay? I loved you this whole time, I still do. And you have made me the happiest I have ever been. My feelings for you will never change.” He paused again, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, “I guess they’re just more platonic than I realized”

“Oh Victor,” she said, causing him to look up. She reached over to bring him into a tight hug. “I, I am a little upset but I don’t hate you Vic. Thank you for telling me.” They pulled back and looked at each other “So you’re…” she trailed off.

“Gay?” His voice cracked as he said it out loud. “Yeah. I am.”

She took a deep breath, “Have you told anyone else?

He just shook his head in response.

“So I’m the first person you’ve told?”

He gave a nod this time, not meeting her eyes.

“I’m sorry Vic are you okay? How are you feeling?”

He forced another dry laugh, “Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You just found out your boyfriend is… gay” he said the last word quietly.

“Well like I said, I’m a little sad about it, but I get why you’ve played things out like this” she said slowly, as if thinking through every word, “I’m sad that we won’t have this anymore. But you still mean a lot to me and I still want to be here for you. This is a big thing Victor and I know it wasn’t easy for you” she put her hand over his and he looked up at her in surprise.

Much to his embarrassment he could feel himself tearing up as he whispered “I’m so scared Mia. I don’t know what to do.”

She couldn’t help but pull him into another hug, and this time he held on tight, the fear clear in his actions. “Well, you still have me. It’ll be okay. You don’t have to tell anyone if you don’t want to and I’m right here with you if you do want to.”

“You know I love you right?” He said.

She could feel the tears dripping onto her shoulder and she replied “Of course. I love you too.” She pulled back before smiling at him and straightening his shirt. “So any cute boys?”

He let out a wet chuckle, and rubbed his face. “Are you sure we’re there already?”

She smiled “Okay maybe not yet but soon I promise. I need a little bit of time to adjust, but I meant what I said, I’m here for you okay?”

“Okay, so how do you wanna do this? Please no Creek Secrets post” he joked.

“Maybe we just tell our friends, and let the rest assume what they want. If people ask we can tell them we that we thought we worked better as friends and leave it at that. No need for some great announcement when I’m sure they’ll spread it around enough for us anyway.”

“Yeah I guess you're right. Do you, do you need some space for a bit or anything? I really appreciate how amazing you're being but I know this can’t be easy on you.”

She shrugged “Nah I figured you were too good to be true anyway, plus,” she paused grabbing her pillow to smack him, “as dumb as it was bringing Felix over, you didn’t do anything stupid like cheat on me or anything. I can deal with things and be here for you at the same time. There’s no reason to bring more attention to the situation anyway” She looked down at her phone checking the time, “But it is actually getting late. Maybe you should head home? I’ll text you tomorrow, yeah? I am fully planning on milking this breakup thing and having ice cream and sleepovers with Lake though so we probably won’t see each other until Monday, but I promise I don’t hate you. And don’t worry I won’t tell Lake anything”

#

Dear Simon,
I told Mia. I realised today that I couldn’t take it to the “next level” and when I tried. I kind of failed. Spectacularly. By that I mean I completely panicked and Mia saw through my BS excuse. She immediately could tell something was wrong and it really showed me just how messed up the situation was. I mean here was this amazing girl who was so worried for me despite how I had made her feel. And I just couldn’t keep it in anymore. So I told her and she took it surprisingly well. Obviously we broke up but thankfully she was great about everything and we agreed to stay friends…. And I actually said the words out loud for the first time. Simon, I’m gay.

Hey Victor,
I know you really liked Mia, and you’ve been trying to figure out if you're attracted to her. It sounds like tonight you got your answer. And that’s okay! I’m so happy for you Victor, now you can figure out what you really want, without hurting anyone. I’m so proud of you, I know that must have been a tough conversation. Coming out always is.

#

He was walking back home, surprised to see the lights of Brasstown still on, and even more surprised to see Benji still there. He checked the door, thankful it was unlocked as it opened. The ring of the bell alerted Benji to his presence and he looked up in shock.

“What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” he replied as he walked over. “How did ‘Trattoria di Benji’ go?”

“Fine.” He said shortly, as he leaned against the counter. “So how was your big date?”

“Well we broke up.”

“Oh wow, not what I was expecting, are you okay? You look a little wrung out but surprisingly chill about it.”

“Yeah. We ended up deciding that we were better off as friends. So instead we spent most of the time talking, now we’re doing great and we ended on good terms. Honestly, I’m kinda glad we can just be friends without all the pressure now. But uh, enough about me, are you working on your latte art?” He said motioning over to the cup still on the counter.

Benji hesitated, searching Victor’s face for any sign of distress before letting him change the subject “Yup. I think I might actually be getting better.”

“Really?” He said skeptically.

“Mhmm, wanna try? The trick is to pour quickly, what do you wanna make?”

“How about… a meatball? So ugly but so delicious,” he joked.

They continued on discussing the latte art, and Victor couldn’t help his smiles as they joked easily, enjoying the banter they had. Life was nowhere near perfect but he felt like he was finally getting somewhere.

#

Meanwhile Mia was left scrolling through her pictures of both the recent and distant past, only to be interrupted by Lake as she went upstairs for an update, not expecting her door to be open or for Mia to be alone.

“Hey where’s Victor? I knew he was ridiculous for bringing Felix over but was he really that much of a jerk to leave you here?”

Mia sat up putting her phone down as she sighed. “We broke up.”

“What?” She yelled “That ass broke up with you? Oh he better watch out.”

“No Lake it’s fine. We talked it out and we both” she stressed the word “decided that we were better off as friends. We realized we were forcing something that wasn’t actually there. He was actually really great Lake I promise.”

“Hmm well he better have been. So I can’t kick his ass on Monday?”

“No buuuut we can still have fun with ice cream and movies this weekend. I’m not completely heartbroken or anything but it’ll still be a weird adjustment, and plus, who needs an excuse to have a girls weekend like this right?”

“Too true. Do you want me to stay over tonight or should I head home and prep for tomorrow?”

“You should go home tonight. Gather supplies and all that.”

“Sounds good. See you bright and early!” She said getting up “Well not too early. It is the weekend after all and I need my beauty rest.”

Mia couldn’t help but laugh. “Bye Lake.”

#

That Monday Victor walked over to Mia’s locker hesitantly leaning against the one next to hers. “Uh hey Mia.”

“Oh hey Victor, so glad you’re here!”

“Oh you are?” He looked at her surprised.

“Yes Victor. We’re good okay? Now chill out, I need my friend.” She said, closing her locker as they started walking.

“Yeah okay” he chuckled.

Mia shot him a smile before continuing “So I have a favor to ask you. My dad is hosting this university fundraiser Saturday. It’ll be super lame and boring-”

Victor cut in before she could keep going “I’d love to. On the condition that you make sure your dad doesn’t hate me before then.”

“Yeah yeah, don’t worry about that. It starts at 5 but the first few hours are just old people eating tiny quiches and bidding on a silent auction.”

“Are you kidding? I love tiny quiches and old people. And don’t even get me started on silent auctions. I’m always wishing regular auctions would-”

She interrupted him, knocking his shoulder with hers, “Okay I get it dork.” They both laughed. “Thank you though” she said leaning into him.

#

Victor was standing by the vending machine when he saw Felix walking over to him in the reflection.

“Dude I have some hot goss. Now I was gonna text, but I wanted to see your face when I told you” He took a deep breath to continue but Victor beat him to the punch.

“You and Lake hooked up.” He said with a smile.

“Oh my god, It’s already on Creek Secrets? I mean w-what are the kids calling us? Is it Fe-Lake? Or Lake-Lix? Please let it be Fe-Lake.” He rushed out.

“No, it’s not on Creek Secrets. I saw you both and you looked like two snakes trying to swallow each other.”

“Oh stop it,” he replied, batting his hand at Victor bashfully.

“I actually have news for you. I would have told you sooner but I got stuck doing chores all weekend. Mia and I broke up.”

Felix straightened as his smile fell “Wait really? She didn’t break up with you just cause of that ‘situation’ right? Cause I thought she was better than that.”

“No, of course not. I freaked out a bit and we both just realized we’re better off as friends. We ended on great terms and she even invited me to her dad’s fundraiser this Saturday.”

“Wow okay. Well, are you okay? Judging by the smile on your face you're doing good but.”

Victor laughed “Yeah Felix I’m actually pretty relieved. I love Mia but I am so glad we can get to know each other and get closer without the pressure of the relationship ya know?”

“I’m not gonna lie buddy, I don’t get it but I support you 100%. But since you’re doing great, I’m gonna leave you here, cause I see Lake and I’m going in.”

“Alright, good luck.” he said, patting his arm as he walked away.

#

Once he talked to Mia it was like the floodgates had opened. Now that he was no longer denying part of himself, it was all he could think of. What it meant to him, what would happen if he came out, what kind of gay he was. Of course just like many other closeted gay teens he had very few ways to express any of this and quickly turned to google. There he found a wide variety of websites ranging from informational, to full on porn- which he left quickly, he was not ready for that- and of course the classic quizzes. Having finished his homework, he said goodnight to his family, grabbed some water and his laptop, and got ready to do a deep dive into the internet.

He was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of information that popped up. Still too scared of the sites with the history, or personal accounts. He settled for an easy Am I Gay quiz instead. Of course his results weren’t anything surprising. But despite the fact that this stupid little quiz was obviously not deep or detailed, he couldn’t help but feel like this made it more real. Not only did he know, but someone else could know with just a few short questions. Of course, this leads to many other quizzes unsurprisingly sending him into a crisis. Thankfully he has just the person to ask about this.

Dear Simon,
I’m having a crisis. Well I have been having a crisis for a few years now. But now I can’t ignore it anymore. After telling you and Mia, it’s all I’ve been able to think about and I don’t know what to do. I may have resorted to google for a little bit. Did you know there's tons of gay quizzes out there? Surprise! They told me I’m gay. But theres also ‘types’ of gay people?? I didn’t know that. I still don’t know what type of gay I am but should I? Do you know? Is this part of finding myself? I didn’t know there were levels!
Sincerely,
A sleep deprived clueless gay kid
Sent at 12:32 a.m

He set his phone down with a sigh only to jump at the notification sound, not expecting the quick response that followed. He figured he might get a response tomorrow, not right in the middle of his crisis!

Hey Victor,
I see you found the quizzes. Don’t worry most of them are just for fun and are not serious in any way. Filling out the ‘am I gay quiz’ is practically a rite of passage at this point. For just about all queer teens honestly. And yes I know there are ‘types’ of gay people but again. Don’t take that too seriously, those are either just for fun jokes or stereotypes used by homophobes. You don’t need to be any ‘type’ Victor you just need to be you. Sure there are people with common interests but remember that happens with straight people too. There’s no specific way to be gay its all about how you are comfortable presenting yourself, and what you like to do. Some people get really into fashion and drag and others love iced coffee. There's so many things out there, it’s just like picking what style of clothes you like. Don’t stress to much, you can explore your options in and out of relationships.
Simon
Sent at 12:35 a.m

Wow,
I was not expecting a response that fast. I'm not gonna lie. But you're right. I guess I just got really caught up in it all. Honestly, I haven’t really given much thought to who I am. I know I like basketball. And I know I love my family and my friends but I’ve never really given myself the time for anything else. Like, I don’t think I’ve ever really had a chance to think about how I dress. Living in Texas meant following whatever trends were there, listening to my sister tell me I looked dumb in everything, and blindly agreeing to wear whatever my mom put me in. I didn’t even realize there were more options out there. Especially not any I would have ever thought to try. But I want to. Not that I’m trying to follow the whole ‘fashion gay’ stereotype or anything. I don’t think I could ever get that great with clothes anyway. I just want to figure out who I am, my clothes seem the easiest way to do that right now. Does that make sense?
Sent at 12:37 a.m

That makes perfect sense Victor.
Even if you weren’t gay, most people explore various styles as they figure out what they like. Being gay just adds another level too it. And sometimes it opens doors that straight dudes would never consider. But remember, there is no one way to look or be gay. Bram has a bunch of styles that he shuffles through depending on his mood, and I tend to stick with my hoodies and jeans. You're just you, no matter what that looks like on the outside okay? There's so much out there for you, just make sure you don’t close any doors before you get the chance to look inside. Now as much as I enjoy talking about this, we’ll have to continue in the morning. I already stayed up too late cramming for my next test.
Sent at 12:41 a.m

Victor put his phone down with a soft smile, before deciding to put his laptop away and go to bed. Feeling reassured by Simon’s words, he found himself getting excited at the prospect of trying new things. Things were so much better than they were in Texas and this was only the beginning. Yet, as he drifted off he couldn’t help but worry. Would his parents say anything, would they notice? How much would he have to hide from them? And finally, how would they react to him being gay? He fell asleep with the ghosts of his fathers comments replaying behind his eyes.

Chapter Text

After a completely uninteresting week of school full of too much homework and way too much information about his teachers, Victor was able to push his crisis down a little bit thanks to Simon. He was contemplating whether he should talk to Mia about it later as he walked into work, only to be bombarded by Sarah.

“Victor thank god you’re here, something terrible has happened.” 

His eyes drifted over to Benji, confusion clear on his face. “The espresso machine is busted. Sarah’s just being dramatic.”

“I am not being dramatic, Benji. Is that what you think of me? That I’m dramatic?” Victor and Benji made eye contact again holding in their laughs but they didn’t have a chance to talk before she continued. “Victor, you stay here and man the store, Benji, you and I are driving to the repair guy in Willacoochee.”

Victor nodded, heading over to start at the counter, only to be interrupted as Benji suggested “What if Victor and I went?”

“Okay fine, but don’t come back without that machine looking new, and ready to brew, Here take my car.” She said throwing her keys over. 

As she walked away, Victor finally got a word in after sighing. “Um, how far is Willacoochee cause I have a thing at Mia’s tonight that I can’t miss.”

Benji looked over, eyebrows raised, “I thought you guys…” he tailed off. 

“Yeah we did but she’s still one of my best friends and best friends don’t leave each other to attend boring fundraisers alone.” He joked. 

“Well it’s like a couple of hours. But if we leave now, get there by 10:00, get this thing fixed by lunch, we can have you back by 4:00.” 

“That’s cutting it close,” he said nervously. 

“Please Victor I, I can’t do another road trip with Sarah. Last time she made us stop at the Ann Taylor Outlet. Two hours of watching her try on irregular turtlenecks. She bought them all, Victor. All of them. You wouldn’t put me through that again would you?”

“Okay fine, I’ll go. I’ll let Mia know.”

“Great, you're driving. No license. I keep failing the test.” 

Victor stepped away to call Mia and thankfully she answered on the second ring. “Hey Victor what’s up?

“Well I came into work today and I’m being sent on a field trip to fix the Espresso machine. In Willacoochee.”

“Willacoochee? That’s a trek.” 

“But don’t worry, I’ll definitely be back in time.”

“Yeah okay. Keep me updated alright?” She paused as a mischievous smile arose, “Have fun with Benji, Vic.”

He stuttered in response, “Mia! What are you trying to say?”

She couldn’t help the laughter that burst out. “Oh my god Victor I wish I could see your face.”

“Mia he has a boyfriend,” he whispered frantically, willing the blush away. 

“I know, I know. Although he could do way better than him anyway.”

“I’m hanging up now Mia. See you later.” He hung up before she could respond and let his head drop to the wall behind him. Only to be startled as Benji walked over. 

“Ready to go? Woah hey is everything okay?”

The blush returned full force “Yup I’m ready. You just startled me, that's all.”

“Okay,” he said, drawing out the word. “Mia wasn’t upset was she?”

“No, no she was fine. She just has a lot of fun teasing me. Lead the way to the car oh wise Benji.”

Mia laughed again, turning off her phone as she turned to her dad. 

“Hi Mia, good to see you!” She said, pulling her into a hug. 

“Oh and we’re hugging. Hi Veronica.”

“Was that Victor on the phone? You still invited him? I thought you broke up?”

“Remember dad, I already told you we ended on great terms. We both decided we worked better as friends,” she said, fighting not to roll her eyes.

“Then why were you so upset? You and the lake had that whole ice cream sleepover.”

This time she lost the fight, rolling her eyes as she moved to walk past him, “I wasn’t upset dad. But it’s practically a requirement that we do that after a breakup”

“But-”

Veronica broke in before he could continue “It’s a girl thing don’t worry about it. Mia clearly has everything under control.”

“Fine but we’re talking about this tomorrow. And no funny business.” He turned to walk away before thinking again and saying “And I want to meet this Victor okay?”

“Sure dad, that's fine. He’ll be here later.”

As they left she saw Veronica turn back and mouth, “sorry.”

Mia couldn’t help but smile and mouth a quick “thank you” back. 

“God I love road trips. My dad and I used to road trip to Dollywood, like, twice a year.”

“Really” Victor laughed incredulously “I never would have pegged you as a Dolly Parton Stan.”

“What? Rude. Dolly is timeless.” He laughed back, looking out the window “Yeah, she’s one of the few things that gay sons and straight dads actually agree on.”

“Are you guys still close? Or…?” he glanced at Benji hesitantly. 

“You mean since I came out? Oh, we’re not estranged or anything. But it’s not the same as before.”

“Yeah, that’s really shitty.”

“Yeah, yeah it really is," He whispered looking away from the window he had been staring through.

Victor looked over, sending him a small smile to cheer him up. 

Before he could change the subject, Benji’s phone went off, Derek’s call popping up on the screen. They made eye contact before hastily turning away from each other. Surprisingly, he reached over to end the call. “I’m not gonna force you to road trip with me and then just talk to my boyfriend the whole time. Honestly we should be using this time wisely. I don’t think I even know your favorite color and we’ve been working together for a while now.” 

Victor raised his eyebrow at him, “Oh you think I’m gonna give up that information willingly? What do I get in return?” 

“Well I suppose I can tell you my favorite color.”

Victor paused debating how honest he wanted to be, “Okay but you can’t laugh." He stopped waiting for a confirmation from Benji who through his hands up innocently. It’s actually yellow.”

“Oh really? Is there a story behind it?” 

“Uh yeah actually, when I was younger I was really excited to be a big brother. It didn’t matter if I had a sister or a brother, I was just super excited to have someone to play with. Of course me and Pilar weren’t best friends to start. We were too little to really understand enough to be interested in each other. But I remember when I was probably around 4 and she was 2, she was at the store with my mom and she got me this yellow teddy bear. She got a matching pink one, but she was super excited to give it to me and I decided that yellow was my favorite after that.”

“Wow, that was surprisingly deep.”

Victor winced, “Sorry, too much?”

“Nah that was great. I do not have a story anywhere near that sweet. My favorite color is green because it was the color of one of my favorite superheroes as a kid.”

“Hey, that's still adorable! And it’s okay, not everyone can be as amazing as me anyway.”

“Oh really. Please ‘oh great one’ tell me more.”

“Well what do you want to know?” He said haughtily. 

Benji couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know, anything really. You’re kind of mysterious Victor. Let’s see all I know is you’re from Texas, you like basketball and your favorite color is yellow.” 

“Oh come on, I don’t know very much about you either! And there’s not really much to learn anyway. Let’s see, you know I like basketball, you like music and art?" 

“Yeah. My mom really enjoyed showing me music and doing crafts with me as a kid and I guess it stuck. What about you? How did you get into basketball?” He replied sheepishly.

Victor shrugged, “A bunch of friends convicted me back home and like you said. It just stuck.” They continued on, exchanging fun facts and little stories in between giving directions. Finally they arrived at the repair shop having to stand through the awkward spiel about the repairman’s wife. Somewhere in his rant he explained that it would take a while to repair. 

“Relax. You worrying isn’t gonna make him go any faster. If we get tight on time, you can always go straight to Mia’s.”

“Yeah not like this” he gestured down at his outfit. “Mia’s thing is super fancy.” He said worriedly.

“Okay, well, I saw a thrift shop on the way into town. And we have time to kill.” Benji smiles easily.

“Okay. Okay, fine. But I’m not wearing anything someone died in.” He conceded. 

“Yes! Let’s go!”

They walked in the door and Victor and Benji were immediately overwhelmed by the sheer amount of clothes and color. “Okay here’s the deal. First things first, we find you a decent outfit for Mia’s thing. And then if we have some time we can have some fun with a game. We can each pick out three outfits for the other person. They can be serious, or funny, and we only get one veto.”

“I’ll agree, but only if we can actually find something good.” With that they were off. Furiously browsing through the racks. At some point the journey to finding a good suit became a race and they couldn’t help but glance up at each other every now and then, checking the other’s progress. Victor looked over to see Benji holding two suits and he looked down at the bright blue one in his hands cursing quietly. There was no way he was gonna win that one. Soon enough they had looked through all the options in his size and he was left to try on the ones they gathered. The first two were a bust, they didn’t fit quite right and were tight in all the wrong areas. Thankfully they were the two hideous ones anyway. The bright blue was fun, but totally not the right shade. The next had a striped corduroy feel to it that was just not working. He buttoned up the vest to the last option and admired himself in the mirror. It was a simple black suit that he decided to show. With this one it was clear he was trying but without it being over the top. “Hey Benji, as much as it hurts to admit it, I think you did it.” He opened the curtain stepping out to show his friend. 

He looked up at Benji only to blush immediately. Benji had been scrolling through his phone when he was struck by the image of Victor in the suit. He didn’t realize he was staring until Victor spoke up, “Does it look okay?”

Benji cleared his throat, “Yeah, it looks great. I can’t believe that fits so well, I knew I was good but I didn’t realize I was that good.”

Victor chuckled, “well we still have quite some time to kill so onto your game?”

“Yeah sure.” Benji smiled. They kept their moods light and Victor found himself enjoying the time. A part of him was stressed about being late but he had been texting Mia updates, even sending a picture of the suit he found. She told him to relax and have fun in response so that’s what he did. They had tons of fun shooting jokes back and forth and finding increasingly ridiculous outfits for each other. He was even having fun just seeing the range of clothes they had. They had found costumes for cowboys, doctors and so many more, on top of creating “grandpa” outfits, and others mimicking celebrities. Initially Victor had been scared of angering the staff but the only one working was a teenager who was quick to reassure him. 

“Don’t even worry about it, you guys have been putting everything back where you found it and you guys are honestly making my day. Nothing this amusing ever happens.” She laughed. 

“That’s good to know, I didn’t want to make it any more stressful for you.” Victor smiled. 

“Hey Victor this is clearly your shirt. I mean it was meant to be” he held up a crop top that said ‘Call Me Maybe’. 

“Yeah yeah, did you pick the three outfits yet? I’ve been waiting for so long” he said, drawing out the last word.

“Yeah get over here. Remember you have a veto but you could totally rock this.”

“Please, you think I can’t step up to the challenge?” He said, grabbing the clothes from Benji, and disappearing behind the curtain. He ran through the first two outfits, making him look like an 80’s rock star, and an old track coach, before grabbing the baggy straight leg jeans and the crop top. As he stepped out he started joking. “Well I think I pull this off great don’t you think?”

“You know what, you really do. I think light pink is really your color.” He said laughing. “Honestly you're just missing the right shoes now. Maybe some converse?” 

“Hey, my vans are working just fine, okay, you're just hating.” Victor shoved him lightly. “I really need to send a pic to Mia, this is great. Here come pose with me, we’ll go full influencer and take a mirror pic.” 

“Yeah yeah.” He agreed before helping him get a good angle to send. 

TW SCENE: HOMOPHOBIA

In the process of changing and putting away clothes they didn’t notice an older guy walking in until he started muttering loud enough for them to hear. “Fucking fags. Doing that out in public.”

Both their smiles dropped as they looked at each other. “Just ignore him. We can pay for the suit and leave.”

“What, the sissies have nothing to say?” He said, picking up a nearby golf club, swinging it menacingly. 

Victor turned back before replying loudly “Look man we don’t want any trouble just drop it,” getting the attention of the worker. 

“‘Drop it’ he says. How can I ‘drop it’ when you guys are rubbing it all in our face.” Gesturing at them with the club still in his hand.

“The employee walked over, her phone in her hand, “Listen sir, I’m gonna have to ask you to put that down and leave before I call someone to make you.”

Thankfully the threat seemed to work making him head out, though not quietly, “Fucking queers, ruining this damn country. They deserve to rot in hell, and you have just lost a customer.” He looked back and spit on the flow before closing the door.

TW SCENE OVER

“The employee looked back at them apologetically, “I am so sorry you guys. Don’t listen to him, you look great she said looking over at Victor.”

He looked down, having forgotten what he was wearing for the moment. “Uh thanks, don't worry about it, it's not your fault.” He realized distantly that he was shaking, but he ignored that in favor of looking over at Benji, “Hey I’m just gonna change and then we should head out yeah?”

“Victor,” he paused “I am so sorry I shouldn’t have-“

“No it’s not your fault. He was a homophobe, he chose to say that shit. Not you, let's just drop it please.” He replied before heading back in to change. As he came out, Benji opened his mouth to keep talking but Victor was saved by the sound of his phone ringing. 

Benji looked down before showing Victor the phone. Sarah was calling. “I’m just gonna step out and take this okay?”

“Yeah I’ll put this away and pay. I’ll just meet you by car.” He looked away and got started on his task. After putting everything away he looked at the crop top in his hands and decided to buy it. It was only as few bucks and as much as it sucked for a moment they were having a lot of fun before that. Call him corny but he wanted the memories. Plus he knew Mia would get a kick out of it later. He walked over top the register and played for the suit, handing over the shirt as well, only to have it pushed back at him. 

“It’s on the house. No one deserves that kind of treatment. Just hand over the tag and don’t worry about it, yeah? You guys look great together, don’t let it ruin your day.” 

“Oh uh, thanks I guess.” He shot her a shaky smile before leaving. On his way out he got a call and was filled with relief as he learned that the machine was ready. Walking over to Benji he gave him the good news and they started heading over. After a silent trip and successfully retrieving the machine they were on their way back home. Victor handed his phone over to Benji unlocked to ask “Hey can you text Mia and let her know we’re on our way back and that I’ll make it for the second half?”

“Oh yeah totally,” he did as asked, glancing at the picture of them that he had sent her. Thankfully for Victor she hadn’t responded so he didn’t see anything embarrassing. Unfortunately, Benji was reminded of how bad he felt instead and couldn’t help but speak up, “Victor I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have made you try that shirt on or anything.”

Victor glanced over to see his face downcast. “No no no, Benji It wasn’t your fault. If I wasn’t comfortable with it I could have just vetoed it. You didn’t make him say any of that. I’m fine.” Benji looked over doubtfully, eyes falling over Victor’s tense muscles. “Okay," he conceded, "I will be fine eventually. I shouldn’t have let it affect me that much anyway.” He took a deep breath before asking “Are you okay though?”

“Yeah I’m okay, I think my worry for you kind of overrode everything else which was a welcome distraction let me tell you.” He chuckled dryly. “But you don’t have to worry about letting it affect you, it’s scary regardless of whether your straight or gay or something.”

“Can I tell you something?” 

“Yeah, of course.”

“I’m,” he hesitated. “Not straight” was all he could manage. 

Benji struggled to hold in his shock. That was the last thing he expected Victor to say, but he would be lying if a small part of him wasn't at least a little excited. Making sure not to let this show he replied, “Oh, thank you for telling me? I’m here if you ever need to talk.”

Victor sighed, that was more impulsive than he would have liked but thankfully it worked out okay, “Thanks.” The mood lightened considerably and they were able to relax a bit but they chose to continue the rest of the ride with only music between them. 

Chapter Text

Victor got to Brasstown, dropping off Benji and helping him bring in the machine. Sarah thanked them profusely and released them soon after. "Alright, I'm heading out. Sarah I will see you next shift, Benji I'll see you Monday?" 

Benji looked up from his phone and replied "oh yeah, good luck at Mia's Victor" 

"Thanks!" He smiled and walked outside. After walking a good distance away he paused to take a deep breath and pulled out his phone to text Mia letting her know he was on his way. As he started walking his thoughts turned to Simon. Maybe now would be a good time to message him.

Hey Simon,

I hope your test went well! I had a pretty boring week after that night but today was eventful. It started out okay, Benji and I had to drive to Willacoochee today to get the Espresso machine fixed and it was actually pretty fun! We went to a thrift store and I got a cool suit for cheap. We also ended up playing a game where we picked out some outfits for each other and It was pretty cool to see all the styles out there. Benji ended up choosing a crop top for me cause of an inside joke... But it kind of went downhill there. Some older guy had come into the store and I guess he didn't like seeing me in a crop top. It didn't help that we posed together for a picture. But he ended up saying some crappy stuff and I'm not really sure how to feel about it. I don't know if I even want to think about it. But I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of scary. I don't know if there's anything you can really do but I wanted to tell you about it.

Anyway, I'm heading over to Mia’s right now and I'll probably tell her too. I'm okay, just a little shaken. I just wish it didn’t have to be like this. Why couldn’t I be normal? I hate how hard it is to live like this and I hate that it doesn’t feel like it’s gonna get any easier. 

He turned off his phone and started his journey to Mia's. As much as he tried to ignore it he just kept getting worked up about what happened. He tried to keep it cool with Benji but it seemed like he had hit his limit. Thankfully he finally got to Mia's and sat down on her steps taking a deep breath before pulling out his phone to call Mia. 

"Hey Victor, I saw your messages, sorry I couldn't respond, I got caught up. Are you almost here?"

"Uh yeah I'm actually outside right now, sitting outside on your steps. Can you come out here?"  He replies shakily. 

"Yeah of course, are you okay?" He coulsn't see her but he could picture her brows furrowing in concern.

"Uh I think so." He tried to sound reassuring, but they could both tell he missed the mark by a mile.

"Okay be right there Vic." 

Mia turned to Andrew after hanging up "Look I love chatting but Victors here so I gotta go." 

"Yeah yeah. Run to your boyfriend." 

"Not that it's any of your business but we're just friends. Bye Andrew." She turned only to run into Veronica and her dad.  

"Hey where are you rushing to? Are you okay?" 

"Oh yeah," She shook her head trying to get around them.

"Woah Mia calm down." Her dad put out an arm to stop her. 

"I'm just going to go get Victor. He's outside but he sounded really shaken up. I promise you'll get to meet him, I just have to make sure he's okay." 

"Let us know if you need anything!" Veronica said, pulling her dad aside.  

"Thanks" She brushed past them and headed for the door. She opened it to see him sitting in the steps, head between his hands, his legs shaking. She sat down quickly putting a hand on his back "Hey Vick what happened?" 

"Oh uh hey Mia." He looked up trying to calm his legs. "I'm so sorry, I'm just a little shaky and I'm not sure how to stop." 

"Okay, well I'm here to help, what happened?" She asked as she moved to sit beside him.

"Remember that picture I sent you? With the crop top and Benji? Well, we didn't know at the time but a homophobe walked in right after." He replied staring off into the distance.

"Oh Victor," She said leaning into his side. "That sounds really hard and I'm so sorry. Do you wanna come inside and chill out? We can skip the whole party and just relax in my room if you want?" 

This finally got his attention forcing him to look at the girl next to him., "Won't your dad be mad?"

"Nah. You will have to meet him but we can just head up after." she said laying back against the step behind them, giving him a good look. "Not that you don't look great in this suit, but we can change and get comfortable anyway." 

Victor wasn't convinced, “I don’t think your dad would approve. Unless you told him I was gay, but I’m not sure telling him your ex is gay will go anywhere in making him like me.”

Mia rolled her eyes, leaning back on her elbows as she stared up to the sky, “I think I can get Veronica on our side surprisingly enough." she winced a little, considering her next words "Plus, I’m sorry Vic but you don’t look anywhere near able to ‘mess around’ anyway.”

“I look that bad?” He said, bringing a hand up to his face. 

She hesitated before saying, “You just look tired.” She pulled his hand down keeping it in hers, “come on.”

She pulled him inside, and they both stopped short, finding Veronica and her dad waiting for them. “Oh hello, I’m Victor.”

“Hi Victor, I’m Veronica, are you okay, do you need anything?” She said concerned.

Her dad stepped forward offering a hand to shake, “Hello Victor, I’m Harold.”

“Hello sir,” he replied, taking his hand, “your house is beautiful, thank you for inviting me.”

“Well he’s polite at least,” he paused as Veronica smacked his arm. “Welcome Victor.”

“Well now that you met we’re going upstairs, text if you need anything.” She started leading him over to the stairs but they were stopped short once again.

“Now hold on young lady, you guys said you were broken up but that doesn’t stop you from…” he trailed off waving his hand around instead. 

“Trust me, neither of us are interested in that dad.” She laughed. 

“Yeah that’s what they all say.”

Victor could do nothing but hang his head sheepishly as Veronica spoke up “Come on Harold the poor boy looks too tired anyway, let them handle it at least for today. I’ll even go up and check on them if you want.” 

“Fine. But only this time, got it?”

“Thanks dad,” She walked back to hug him briefly adding “You too Veronica” with a smile as she led Victor upstairs. 

“Well that wasn’t awkward at all. Are you sure we should change? What if they need us downstairs?” he questioned following her. 

“Yeah, they’ll forget all about us soon enough. This is usually when I sneak up here anyway. I’m assuming that bag has your clothes? Do you need to borrow anything?” she asked eyeing the bag.

“I’m okay thanks Mia, I’ll just head to the bathroom real quick” he pointed behind him. 

Soon enough they were both comfortable and sitting criss-cross on her bed facing each other, phones laying between them. “So what happened?”

“Well the day started out okay, and then we actually started having a lot of fun. He decided that we should have some fun making some crazy outfits for each other so that’s what I did. Towards the end, he found that crop top I sent you and I tried it on cause it was funny. One of the first closing shifts we did together we had a little moment with that song so I figured why not ya know?” 

She gasped, her hand flying up to her face, “Oh my god was that before Battle of the Bands?”

“Yeah actually, it was the night before. I didn’t know he was going to do that.” He smiled thinking back to that night. Sure, he could be making up the connection he had felt, but a guy could dream. 

Mia nearly squealed, “Victor, that's adorable! But we’ll get back to that”

He smiled before looking down at his hands as he picked at the hem of his shirt “Well we posed for the picture I sent and then this guy walked in. I guess the fact that we were so close, and I was wearing the top made him assume we were together. He started saying a bunch of crap I’m not gonna repeat, but he said some slurs and had picked up this golf club and was waving it around as he spoke. It was kinda scary, but the worker kicked him out and I got the call that the espresso machine was done anyway.”

“I’m sorry, at least it sounds like it was over quick.”

“Yeah. I’m just really bummed out. I know it wasn’t the first time I heard that stuff but it was the first time it was directed at me. And it really highlighted the fact that I’m gonna be dealing with that for a long time.” He paused before whispering “maybe even from my parents.”

“Oh Victor, she pulled him in for a hug, rubbing his back lightly, “It’ll be okay. We’ll make sure of it.”

They sat in the silence for a beat, breathing through the emotions befre he tried to shake them off, “Yeah. On a happier note, the worker ended up giving me the shirt for free, wanna see it?”

Mia let him switch gears, knowing he was nearing the end of his rope, “Duh! Of course! You looked good in that outfit Vic. You both looked pretty hot together” she said, smirking at him.

“Mia” he said, drawing out her name. “He has a boyfriend, remember?” He threw the shirt at her.

She caught it, much to his disappointment, “Yeah I do, Derek right?" she scoffed, "Please, you and Benji have much better chemistry anyway. Anyone could tell from a mile away.” 

He couldn’t hide his blush as he sat back down on the bed, “well there’s nothing we can do about it anyway.”

“But you don’t deny a crush?” She squealed before breaking down in giggles. “Oh I’m definitely going to enjoy having a gay best friend.”

He just shook his head in exasperation before flopping back onto her bed. “Well someone’s more giggly than normal”

Finally she calmed down before asking “Yeah I may have snuck a teensy bit of champagne earlier. But you guys had fun? Before that whole situation?”

“Yeah we talked and got to know each other better on the drive there. He made some ridiculous outfits, but to be fair, I think I dressed him as a cowboy at some point so it was even.” He smiled over at her “You’re right though, we did look hot together.”

“Sooo do you have a crush?”

He looked up at the ceiling with a smile, it was a relief to finally talk to someone about this. “Okay, maybe a little bit. But he has a boyfriend so I’m not gonna let myself fall into that. Plus I think I need to do a little more soul searching before I do anything.”

“I mean you're not wrong… But it’s also fun to just talk about cute guys.”

“He is really cute” he conceded, “I swear I could get lost in his eyes. I don’t know if working with him is a blessing or a curse honestly. We work great together but sometimes he’s just so distracting.” 

“There you go Victor! Let it all out.”

“I’m glad we got to go. Did you know his favorite color is green? I didn’t until today.”

“Well neither did I.” She laughed before holding up the shirt. “So are you ever going to wear this?”

“I don’t know. Probably not in public. This is still Georgia, and my parents might actually have a stroke. But it was fun while it lasted. It was so cool to see all the different styles, I don’t think I’ve ever actually chosen clothes that I was genuinely excited for.”

Mia perked up at this, “Oh my god does that mean we can go shopping together?”

He laughed “yes we can, but don’t expect me to wear anything too wild. Baby steps.”

“Yeah okay. Well, you can always wear it around here. If you do happen to go a little wild we can keep it here and you won’t have to worry about your parents seeing.” she said gently.

“Thanks Mia, you're a lifesaver!”

Mia grinned mischievously, “Ah, well I do have one condition, you let me borrow any of the clothes that fits me too.”

Victor rolled his eyes, “Of course, it’s the least I could do.”

Mia laughed before exclaiming, “Yes! Oh I can’t wait, I’m totally going to make you try as many aesthetics as I can.” Before they could continue they heard Victor's phone go off. “Hey, your phone went off.” She picked it up looking at him to check if it was okay, waiting until he nodded to check the message. “It’s from a Simon? On Instagram?" she paused, and Victor swore he could see the calculating gleam, "Wait, that’s not who I think it is, is it?”

“If you're thinking of Simon Spier, then yes, yes it is.”

A beat passed, but then it hit her, “Victor! What the heck?”

“I may have heard about his story from Ms. Albright, leading me to text him a slightly angry rant.” He said sheepishly. “We’ve been texting ever since and he’s been helping me a lot with advice.”

“Victor, that's amazing! You should open it!” she replied, nearly throwing the phone back at him.

“Yeah yeah, come on,” he said rolling onto his stomach before patting the bed beside him. She mimicked his position as he placed the phone where they could both see it. 

“Are you sure you want me to see this?”

“Yeah I mean you already know my darkest secret. What's a few texts? It’s all about stuff I already told you.”

Victor, 

It breaks my heart to hear you talk about this. You’re perfect, and the part of you that you wish you could cut out? That’s the part that makes you, you. If you could only see what my life is like in New York, you’d see that there is a bigger world out here, beyond high school, beyond Georgia, beyond your family. I wish you were here right now so I could give you a hug, and make you believe it. 

Love Simon. 

P.S I hope you're having fun with Mia

“Wait, did you tell him about me?”

He looked at her incredulously, “Duh, here I was questioning my sexuality when this beautiful girl comes along, making me love her. Remember when I literally told you that you confused me?”

She couldn’t help but laugh, “Fair enough.” They were silent for a moment before the champagne from earlier caught up with her again. “You know what? He had a great idea. You should go to New York! He can show you the world out there and help you out in person! That sounds fantastic, I’m sure he has loads of things to show you.”

“Mia, I can’t just go to New York. I don’t know If Simon would even agree, and I know my parents for sure wouldn’t.”

“Well we have that extra long weekend coming up… and you could always say it’s for basketball or something.”

“I guess I could probably convince them. But we don’t even know if Simon would be okay with that. Especially since I’m a minor, how would I even get there?”

“Well my family gets discounts or something, if we keep an eye on it I’m sure we can get you a plane ticket. My dad won’t even know, he has no idea how to track that stuff anyway. You should call Simon and ask! There's no point in worrying about the how until we get a yes.”

“You're so confident that he’ll say yes.”

“Of course he’ll say yes!” 

“Well I can’t just call him,” he paused, “ but I will text and ask if he can call. He probably isn't available right now anyway.”

Hey Simon, do you think we could FaceTime? I’m with Mia and she thinks we should call, no worries if you can’t. It’s not an emergency or anything 

He put his phone down before looking over at Mia. “There, happy now?”

Mia only had the chance to smile before she was stopped by Simon's call, popping up on the phone. “Victor he’s calling!”

He looked over at her in a panic saying “What do I do?”

“Answer you idiot!”

“I can’t!”

“Oh for god’s sake,” she muttered before reaching for the phone and answering it. There she saw the face of someone she had only seen a few times before, mostly on Creek Secrets. “Hey Simon!”

“Oh uh hey, you must be Mia,” he replied confused. “Is Victor there?”

“Yeah he’s right next to me. He’s just busy trying to become one with my sheets. She turned the phone to place him in frame, his head buried in his arms. 

A muffled “Hey Simon” was heard.

Simon just laughed before responding. “Hey Vic, how ya doing over there buddy?”

He finally looked up here, embarrassment clear on his face. “I’m okay. Mia is just trying to kill me through humiliation and insane plans.”

“No I’m not!” she interrupted. 

This went ignored by both as Victor continued “I told her about today though, and she knows basically everything so don’t worry about hiding anything.”

“That’s good, I’m glad you have someone to talk to. Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“No, I’m okay for now. Maybe another time but Mia helped sort me out.” 

“Yes I did. Anything for our Victor.”

“Thank you Mia for being there for him.”

“Of course! I could say the same to you. You were here first after all. Plus I got to hear him talk about Benji, you should totally ask him about that later. Ooh and ask about the picture he sent me too” she said with a smirk. 

Victor decided to cut in here “Aaanyway. Back to the point of this phone call. Mia had a crazy idea to pitch you and we would really appreciate your answer before she gets too far into this plan of hers.”

Simon looked very intrigued as he settled into the bed he was laying on. “Okay, not what I was expecting when you asked if I could call, but I’m ready. Hit me with it.”

“Well you mentioned hugging Victor in person and showing him everything you get to see in New York, and I think that would be really good for him. Especially after today.” She glanced over at Victor who had moved the phone so they were both in frame.  “And I was thinking, we have a long weekend coming up for that teacher's prep or some b.s and maybe he could head up to you for a few days? I can help him get good flights and maybe he could stay with you while he’s there?”

Simon looked interested and thoughtful, giving them hope for a possible yes. “You can obviously say no if you're not comfortable with it Simon, It’s just an idea.” Victor mentioned. 

“Well, It would definitely take some planning, we still have classes and work here but I think we could make it work,” he said slowly, working through the options in his head. “I would have to check with Bram and my roommates but you could totally crash on the pullout bed in the living room.”

“Wait really?” Victor said, perking up. He had been humoring Mia this whole time not expecting the trip to ever be possible. “You think we could pull it off?”

“Yeah, I think we could” 

Mia squealed, jumping onto Victor. “See I told you!” she yelled. “And you called me crazy,” she said looking down at him from her place on his back.

“I still have to talk to my roommates and, Victor, you would have to find a way to navigate around your parents but It's doable. Mia has a point, I think it would really be good for you. I know I would have loved to see this when I was at that point and some time away to explore would be great. We can plan and try to work out the details after I ask my friends.” He stopped here, his face getting more serious. “But before I do Victor, I have something to tell you. When you first started messaging me, I really didn’t want to mess anything up for you or say something wrong so I may have told my roommates so I could ask them for help.” Seeing Victors face fall he hurriedly continued “I didn’t expect us to get this close and I’m really sorry for telling them without asking you, but they are all queer and they love you already.” 

Victor let his head drop and Mia hugged him as she made eye contact with Simon, both wincing in sympathy. He sighed before looking up at Simon again “It’s okay. I get why you did it and I appreciate it. Saves me from making a fool of myself at least. Thank you for helping me so much Simon.” 

“It’s no problem. We all understand what you're going through and we wanna help where we can.” They heard someone calling for Simon in the background and he sighed.  “That was Bram, do you wanna say hello, before I have to go?”

 Both teens looked hesitant, but agreed. 

“Yeah babe I’m in here talking to Victor. You can come in and say hello if you want.” There was a pause of muffled dialogue before they heard Simon's reply, “Yeah, just you though.” They could hear more talking, this time slightly louder as a door opened and closed, Bram’s voice becoming more clear as he walked into the room. 

“They are all very disappointed that they couldn’t join us to meet him too.” Finally he came into frame dropping a kiss on Simon’s cheek as he sat down next to him. “Hey guys! It’s nice to finally put a face to your name Victor! Congrats on coming out for the first time! And you must be Mia, I’ve heard a lot about you guys.” 

“Hey Bram, It’s good to meet you!” Victor said. Mia just waved from her place still on top of Victor. 

“They were telling me about a crazy plan to bring Simon up here, give him a taste of freedom so to speak. He had a rough day, and I know we both could have used some help when we were at his point in life.”

Bram looked down at Simon, “Why does it sound like you're already trying to convince me?”

“Maybe because I am?” He said nervously. The two teens were watching in awe as they spoke back and forth, Simon recapping the conversation they just had.

“Yeah okay that could work” Bram conceded. “There's enough of us here that we wouldn’t have to leave him alone, and we could take him to some cool places, let him explore a little bit.” 

Mia looked at Victor and stage whispered, “Why does it feel like we just watched the cool parent convince the strict parent.” 

Simon immediately looked over, “Um I take offense to that, I am way too young to be a parent.”

“Aw that's so cute, babe you adopted a baby gay!” Bram said winking at the teens. 

“Hey hey hey, all of us did thank you very much, don’t leave me alone here!” Everyone broke into laughter at that. 

Eventually after some light chatting, Bram looked at the time. “As much as I loved talking to you guys, Si and I have to go. I hope you guys have fun at your party!”

“Yeah, we’ll let you know once we talk to the roommates, yeah?” 

“Yeah that works, we’ve got a few weeks until then anyway. Thank you guys for talking” Victor said, before they said their goodbyes and hung up.

Chapter Text

“Well that was successful.” Mia said, finally rolling off of Victor. 

“Yeah it actually was.”

“Please, don’t sound so surprised!”

“Oh yeah sorry, I’m forgetting you're an all knowing genius.” he said throwing his hand up.

“You should be!” They laughed at the absurdity of the situation for a few moments before calming down.

“But seriously though, thank you Mia. For being so cool about all this, and helping me even though I was late. You’ve done a lot for me.”

Mia propped her head up on one arm, turning to face Victor who had laid his head in his arms, “It’s not a problem Vic. Even without the whole dating aspect of it, I’m glad you were able to move here. You give me some variety and keep me on my toes” she joked, shoving him lightly. “It was getting pretty boring around here anyway and I’m sure you’ll be paying me back next time I need to rant about my problems.”

“Of course, whenever you need.” He said, smiling softly. “So how was the party before I got here?”

Mia looked away before flopping back onto her bed. “Well, Andrew was here, probably still is honestly. He used to come to these things with his dad all the time, but it happened less as he got more into basketball. We used to play this stupid game called ‘Daughter or Trophy Wife’ and we actually had a few laughs playing it earlier. But then he kind of ruined it.”

“So you’ve known him a while then? I mean I assumed so, but I wasn’t sure. What did he do?” 

“He brought you up actually. Apparently his ‘nice’ quota was used up so he asked about you. Of course he decided to be an asshole commenting on how you were late and stuff. He even had the audacity to bring up our history as if he had any right to!”

“Woah okay," he paused sitting up more to see her, "I’m not surprised but it looks like we’ve hit a nerve. Do you wanna talk about it?”

Mia let out a deep sigh, still not moving her view from the ceiling. “We used to be pretty close at one point. Believe it or not he actually used to be nice.”

Victor gasped dramatically, “You mean his default state isn’t douche? Could have fooled me.”

She couldn’t help but laugh, “yeah I can see why you would think that. But I swear he used to be so sweet. We used to spend these things hiding and eating grilled cheese that we had to sneak from the kitchen.” She sighed. “But that was before he joined the basketball team and decided being popular was more important. Once he realized he could get the laughs from everybody, he kinda ran with it.” 

“Well I’ll have to take your word for it. Maybe one day I’ll actually get to see it.” Unbeknownst to them both, Andrew had paused outside her door, hand on the handle as he happened upon their conversation. Thinking better of it, he turned away left with much to think about. 

“Do you wanna talk about the whole ‘history’ bit that you let slip?” 

She looked over at him with a small smile, “Maybe we can save that for another day.” 

They continued talking for a while after discussing classes and lightly brushing the topic of their parents but steering away from the heavy topics. Finally Victor looked down at his phone, seeing the late hour he sighed, “I guess I should get going now. I really don’t need to get grounded before I even get the chance to be a rebel.” 

“Okay, thank you for coming over Vic.” She pulled him into a tight hug, “I’ll walk you down right after I text my dad to let him know you're leaving.” Thankfully he decided to send a text rather than respond to them in person, but he did make them promise to bring Victor around another day so they could properly meet. 

#

Victor made his way back home, passing his sister in the kitchen and his parents in the living room.

“Woah what happened to you?” Pilar said, studying his face.

“Oh come on, you too? Do I really look that bad?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” she said with a smirk. 

He gave her a small smile, “I’m okay, don’t worry about it.”

She looked at him suspiciously, “Hey how was your work trip? Dad said one of the machines broke? Of course he knew nothing about which one.”

“It was fine,” he said looking away. “Just more driving than I’m used to.”

“Wait mijo, how did Mia’s party go?” Mis mom asked. 

Victor couldn’t help the wince as he remembered the fact that he had yet to tell his family about the breakup. Well at least he knew what he would be doing tomorrow. “I’ll tell you guys about it tomorrow, the trip really tired me out. Night guys!” 

“Night Victor!” his parents yelled. 

In his haste to escape to the safe haven of his room, he missed the calculating look Pilar was giving him. 

As he laid in bed, he thought back to the day he had, remembering the fun he had with Benji and the many ridiculous outfits they found. Then the party with Mia and the crazy plan they created. And lastly the pink crop top and ‘incident’ of the day. He honestly wasn’t sure what to feel about it anymore. He felt like he had used up all his fear earlier in the day and he was left strangely empty. As he thought about the many comments he’d heard in the past and the ones he was bound to hear in the future, he felt the all too familiar weight of anxiety fall over him. The sense of helplessness was nothing new, and the dark that came with it was almost familiar. Before he sank any further into his thoughts he heard his phone go off. Looking over he noticed the text from Benji. 

Hey, hope the party went well, I had a lot of fun today. We’ll have to hang out more often

Victor smiled as he typed out his reply.

I did too. The party was weird but pretty fun anyway. 

We totally should, hopefully without a broken espresso machine next time. We had enough of a panicked Sarah for a lifetime.

Agreed

Goodnight Victor 

Night Benji

#

The next morning Victor woke up early despite his desire to sleep in. It seemed his body had other plans and once he was awake, there was no turning back. Realizing he had no hope he decided to go make pancakes for everyone since he had the time, might as well soften the blow while he could. He sighed deeply, not even 10 minutes into the day and he was already stressed. Briefly he considered texting Simon but he figured this was not as big of a crisis and decided to text Mia instead, even if the chances of her being awake were slim.

Good morning, I may have realized that I messed up a little bit, and this text is to remind you of just how thankful I am for you, just in case I don’t survive.

Tell our friends I love them for me. 

RIP

Victor what? 

Mia why are you awake rn?

Are you really gonna question me after the text you sent? What did you do?

Fair point. I may have forgotten to tell my family that we broke up…

Victor It’s been over a week

I know, I told you I messed up. I just got distracted. I’m gonna tell them today though. 

Wait, really?

Not everything, just the break up.

Should I get the group on standby? 

No, it’s okay, I'm too tired to go out today. 

Oh that's good, Lake just texted me, apparently she's having a ‘fashion crisis’. 

Guess I know what I’ll be doing today

Good luck with that

You too Vic, keep me updated.

Victor put his phone down on the counter after turning on some music. It didn’t take long before his family started trickling out of their rooms. It started with Isabel, coming out with a sweet “Good morning” and a kiss to the forehead as she went to get some coffee. 

As she perked up a bit, his actions caught up to her and she exclaimed, “Oh Victor you didn’t need to make breakfast!’

“I know mami, but I wanted to. Plus I woke up early and had nothing better to do anyway.”

“Your brother is going to be so happy. He’s been wanting pancakes for a while, but we kept forgetting. You know how it is” she said with a laugh. 

He frowned to himself briefly as he flipped a pancake but didn’t say anything. As if summoned, the next one out happened to be none other than Adrian. 

Rubbing his eyes as he walked into the kitchen with a yawn, it took a second before the smell of food got to him. His eyes shot over to Victor as he asked “Victor are you making pancakes?”

“Yeah I am” he was interrupted as Adrian ran into him with his hug “woah buddy, careful, you don’t want to burn yourself.”

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” he yelled. 

Isabel looked on fondly as they heard a third voice enter the fray “Why is Adrian so worked up? Do I smell pancakes?” Armando walked in looking more put together than the kitchen's inhabitants. 

“Victor is making pancakes, can you believe that Mando?” 

“Thank you mijo, maybe Adrian will finally calm down for a while.”

“Yeah maybe,” he said. “Hey, do you know if Pilar is awake?”

“Yeah I heard her moving around in her room. I’m sure she’ll wait until she hears one of us say the food is ready before decides to bless us with her presence” Armando said sarcastically. 

“Sounds good, can you guys get some plates? I’m almost done and then I can go get her if she doesn’t come out before then.”

“Sure mijo, Adrian come help me” Isabel said. 

The morning continued with occasional chatter, a few laughs coming from Adrian as he watched cartoons. Finally, Victor finished the pancakes after sneaking in three special ones and he slipped them into the oven to keep them warm before heading over to Pilar’s room. He could hear faint music and some rustling so he figured it was safe to knock. Waiting for confirmation he gently opened the door spotting his sister on her bed. “Hey, I made pancakes. Do you wanna come eat?”

She looked up surprised, “You made breakfast?”

“Yeah! I even managed three special ones for us.” He said with a smile.

He could see she was holding back a smile as she replied “You didn’t!” Seeing his smile only grow wider she continued “Adrian is gonna freak when he sees them.” 

“Well I figured we have to keep the club alive! It’s been a while since the last time.” They smiled before wincing as the memory of Adrian scraping his knee came up, pancakes were the only thing that cheered him up. 

“Well come on, we don’t want to keep him waiting.” She said with a smirk. But, despite her best efforts to hide it, Victor could tell she was secretly excited for breakfast. 

Making their way out of her room, Victor went straight to the oven while Pilar got Adrian. Looking over he could see her whispering in his ear and he could tell the moment he understood by the look of surprise on his face. He didn’t make pancakes very often, and he made the special ones even less, so he understood his siblings' shock. He couldn't help but smile down at the tray in front of him as he began to dish out each pancake. When all three Salazar kids were younger, Pilar had a phase where she was obsessed with the idea of making their own club. So of course she made it happen, roping both brothers into it and declaring pancakes their club food. Truthfully there wasn’t anything spectacular about the pancakes other than adding some cinnamon but Adrian hadn’t caught on to that fact yet. 

With impeccable timing Pilar walked into the kitchen right as he started placing the plates on the table. “Hey P, can you grab the plates from the counter I already moved ours over here.”

“Sure,” she said.

Victor shot her a smile before turning to the living room. “Hey guys, breakfast is ready.” Before he could even finish his sentence Adrian was up and running to his spot, a smile clear on his face. Victor couldn’t help the fond chuckle that escaped him as he made eye contact with his sister, both familiar with his antics. Soon enough everyone had settled down with their plates, each one having their own preferred toppings and there was only silence as they enjoyed their food. 

Of course only until Adrian spoke up, “Victor these taste amazing!” He said with an exaggerated wink. They all hid their smiles as their parents pretended not to notice, Adrian still believed that it was their secret and no one was going to tell him differently. Victor was feeling pretty good, for once his parents weren’t fighting, his sister was eating peacefully, everyone was happy. 

“So Victor, how was the party last night?” 

Victor sighed before forcing a smile as he looked up at his mom, “It was great. Definitely a new experience but it was cool.”

“Oh come on you have to give us more than that mijo! I mean, did you meet her dad? What was it like?” She drew out the last word suggestively. 

“I did, but we didn’t talk very much. We spent most of the night upstairs anyway. I was pretty tired after the trip for work,” he paused, hesitating as the memories from the thrift shop came up before quickly continuing “and Mia was excited for the excuse to leave the stuffy party anyway.” He was looking down at his plate pushing his food around and missed the way Pilar’s eyes narrowed, she hadn’t missed his pause like the others had. 

Armando looked up in surprise. “Really? And her dad let you in her room? Just like that?”

Pilar couldn’t resist the urge to get a word in. “Some people are reasonable and trust their daughters,” she said, stabbing her food. 

“It’s the boys I don’t trust,” he replied, seriously waving his fork around. 

Victor cut in before Pilar could respond, trying to fight the inevitable argument from happening. “Mia and I actually broke up.”

“What when? What happened?” Isabel said sharply. 

Victor winced, “A little over a week ago. Nothing happened, we just talked it out and realized we were better as friends.” He looked down at his plate, not wanting to see his family's faces. 

“You didn’t hurt her did you?”

“Pilar!” Isabel admonished. 

Victor smiled as he remembered their conversations “No, well maybe a little bit, but it was just the situation. I promise I didn't do anything. You can ask her yourself.”

She paused as she looked at him searchingly, before continuing “Did she do anything?”

“No of course not, she’s amazing. I would have told you guys sooner but we’ve all been so busy.”

“So what happened? I mean you guys looked so good together!” His mom said. 

“We just talked through some stuff and realized we worked better as friends. We decided that keeping the friendship was worth more to us than having the pressure of the relationship.”

His parents made eye contact before deciding to put their utensils down and focus on the conversation. “Well that’s very mature of you,” she said with a small amount of confusion. “Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah Vic you're being super chill about this.”

He waved his hand to brush them off  “Yeah, I told you, we talked it out and we’re still really close friends. We’ve both come to terms with it.”

“Well I guess you guys were able to hang out at the party last night which goes to show how you guys are doing” his mom said with a smile. “Oh look at you being all grown up about this.”

Pilar couldn’t help but scoff under her breath, “If only you guys could have done the same.” Thankfully he was the only person who heard what she said and he was saved from saying anything as his dad spoke up. 

“Well there’s always other girls, you have time mijo.”

He looked away with a frown giving a soft “yeah” before looking back with a smile. “But that's enough about me, how have you guys been?”

Thankfully his parents were satisfied with that answer and decided to continue with their meal. “Oh that reminds me, Victor I have some news, I have decided to start teaching piano lessons again!”

Victor shared a quick look with Pilar but didn’t have a chance to say anything before Armando spoke up. “I already told her, there's no need for that” his tone forced, 

“Well, I’m sure it’ll work out.” Victor said, trying to brighten the mood. 

Isabel chose to ignore her husband and continued on, “While you were at the party last night I even confirmed with one of the moms in this building. I just ran into her and we got talking! Can you believe that?”

Victor tensed as his dad sighed before putting his fork down, more heavily than was strictly necessary. “You confirmed without talking to me about it?” 

“We did talk about it, and I decided it would be helpful.” 

He ran his hand down his face, “It’s unnecessary, I have everything handled.” 

Victor could see another fight brewing and hurried to stop it before it escalated, “Well, that sounds good, then mami can have something else to do right?” Luckily Adrian was distracted watching unboxing videos and hadn’t noticed.

“See Victor thinks it’s a good idea.” 

Thankfully his dad decided to stay silent, although his anger was clear as he stabbed at the rest of his food. 

He looked over at Pilar for a moment, as she rolled her eyes in response before continuing,“Well, besides that anything new?” 

“Nothing to note, really. Your sister here has a few new accessories though, have you seen them?” 

He looked over at her and he could see the satisfaction in her eyes as she turns to move her hair away from her ear. “Looks good P. Nice choice!”

Their mom chuckles before responding, “That’s not her only one, fess up Pilar.” 

Her smile grew before she stuck her tongue out. His eyes widened as he took in the implications, and he laughed nervously looking over at his parents. 

His dads face had softened slightly from the previous anger as exasperation took over. “Your mom decided it would be a good idea to send your sister back by herself.” he said, shaking his head. 

Victor stayed tense, but realized they must have already dealt with it and decided to secretly offer his sister a high five under the table. He could see her smirk out of the corner of his eye as she complied. “Well I think they look great on you, nice pick on the jewelry too.”

“Oh we also met some more people from church the other day, remember Mando,” she said, bringing the conversation back on track. “They also told us about a few other families who go to the church too. We’ll have to introduce ourselves next time.” 

“And by that you mean you were gossiping” Pilar stated. 

“No! We were just talking, we don’t gossip.” 

“You kind of do mom,” Victor said with a small laugh as he finished up his plate. Back in Texas, the moms for the church used to get together to share news on the other church goers. Usually to talk about anything they didn’t approve of. Looks like that was no different here. 

“No, we learned all sorts of lovely things about who to talk to and if they had any children your age!”

Armando cut in, “I was talking to the husband, did his wife tell you about the Mason’s kid? They said he was on the cheer team, and did all that sissy stuff. He’s probably one of those,” he trailed off waving his hand dismissively. 

Isabel started getting up grabbing plates to take to the sink, with Armando following her, “No she didn’t, I wonder how they're doing detailing with all that.” 

Both missed the way Victor tensed, nearly holding his breath as he went still. 

“I know, at least Victor plays basketball, we don’t have to worry there.” He said, passing by to pat Victor's shoulders on his way to the living room. 

“Dad really?” Pilar exclaimed as she looked worriedly at her brother. 

Armando ignored her making his way to the couch. Isabel came over instead, still chuckling, “If you guys are done you can be free. We don’t have any plans today so don’t worry about watching Adrian today. And thank you Victor for making breakfast, I’ll handle the dishes,” she kissed him on the head before continuing, “Just let me know before you go out.” 

“Well I’m gonna head to my room. Lots of homework to do.” he forced a chuckle.

“That’s probably a good idea, I’ll come with.” Pilar hurriedly got up to follow him, not stopping until she made it into his room. “Hey are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine, why?” He replied walking over to his bed, refusing to look at her. 

“Because you went out of your way to make pancakes and now you're all,” she paused trying to find the words, “quiet I guess.”

“Yeah I’m okay Pilar don’t worry about it. But since you're here, we should catch up! We haven’t been hanging out very much recently and I wanna hear about how school has been going. Or anything really.” He forced a smile on as he looked up at her. 

She could tell he wasn’t okay but she wasn’t used to seeing her normally composed brother so upset and wasn’t quite sure how to deal with it. Ultimately deciding that distracting him would be best she decided to move on. “So you're sure nothing happened between you and Mia?” 

“I promise. You can ask her yourself, we just realized we worked much better as friends. There was too much pressure pushing us together in ways that just aren't healthy for a relationship.” He responded as he flopped onto his bed.

Pilar climbed on, getting comfortable. “Fine, but I’ll be asking her just in case.”

“I would be more surprised if you didn’t. But enough of that, how did you get away with the tongue piercing?”

“Oh I didn’t. Dad is pissed about it but it was mom's attempt to get back in my good graces so she let me keep it.”

“Damn P that took balls.”

She shrugged. “It was so worth it,” she paused, “I kinda expected you to freak out about this more than you are.” 

“Nah, why would I?” he shrugged. “They look great, and you definitely deserve them after all this.”

“I dunno, you're perfect little Victor” 

“Yeah, perfect. That’s me!” he said under his breath before continuing. “You’ll have to show Mia at school, she’ll be stoked. Oh and speaking of, how is school going?”

“Oh I forgot to tell you! I made a few more friends. It’s hard not to meet people when you're stuck with them for hours on end” she said, distaste clear on her face.

Victor gasped dramatically “really?”

She couldn’t help but throw a pillow at him as he laughed. “Yeah, I mean it hasn’t been very long so we’re not very close, but there's this guy Rahim who's been super chill, and a few others that I talk to in class.”

“That's great Pilar, I’m super happy for you! Of course you're always welcome with my group, they all love you, but I’m sure it's nice to have your own.”

“Yeah, don’t get me wrong, I still hate our parents for doing this to us but I’m too cool to resist.” she says, trying to keep a straight face. 

He reached over to shove her shoulder as they fell into laughter. 

After talking more about how classes had been, commiserating over terrible homework, they began to hear shouting. Making eye contact they shared a tired look of exasperation. Of course they couldn’t last a morning without going at it. Soon enough Adrian knocked on the door coming in with his tablet. 

“Can I sit with you guys? They're shouting again.”

“Of course buddy, come on up and join us, maybe we should all watch a movie yeah?” he asked, looking over at Pilar. 

“Yeah that's a good idea.”

They got him set up in between them happily watching Frozen on Victor's laptop before looking at each other in concern, sharing a wordless conversation, both wondering if they should go out there. Pilar simply shrugged before snuggling in, and Victor too tired to do anything else followed, trying to ignore the familiar weight on his chest growing stronger.

Chapter Text

Monday came too soon, yet not soon enough and Victor was looking forward to catching up with his friends. With the drama of the past week and the issues with his parents, he felt like he neglected his friends. Thankfully he was able to talk to Felix on the way to school. Nothing important, just light conversation as they enjoyed each other's company. He hadn’t realized how much he needed that, and it was a good thing the day started off so well considering the less desirable aspects that were quick to show up. After dealing with a few boring classes, and some lingering whispers about his relationship with Mia there seemed to be a slight chance that the day could progress normally. 

Of course, the universe had to get him back for daring to think like that. The crew were sitting around recapping their weekends, full of clothes shopping for Lake and Mia, and homework for Felix. Before Victor could even think about what he would tell them, his luck struck yet again. 

“So, Victor, how bad did you have to mess up to lose Mia? I'm just curious.” Andrew said casually as he slipped onto the bench next to Mia, reaching over to pluck one of her fries. 

Mia rolled her eyes but didn’t have time to respond. “This may come as a shock to you Andrew, but some people are capable of holding healthy conversations” Lake said, coming to his defense, much to their surprise. “Not everyone makes bad decisions,” she drawled looking him up and down, implications clear in her tone. 

“Well, he doesn’t seem to have a good record does he, I mean just look at who he spends time with. Wouldn’t be surprised if he fucked up.” He glanced over at Felix. 

“Andrew!” Mia exclaimed. 

“Some of us are capable of making friends without being complete assholes. I mean come on Andrew, seems like you're overcompensating over there. My friends have actual personalities, whereas all you seem able to do is make fun of others. Look in a damn mirror Andrew, nobody gives a shit about what you have to say.” Victor cut in. 

Before he could respond, as he opened his mouth Mia sighed “Just leave Andrew.”

He looked over to see the disappointment on her face before glaring at Victor as he walked away.

Victor looked worriedly over at Mia as she covered her face, “I don’t know what happened to him.” 

“Well at least that was pretty tame for Andrew” Felix said, trying and failing to lighten the mood. Victor kicked him in response, telling him to shut up with just a look. 

Lake was up next with her efforts “It was all the stupid jocks he’s surrounded by.” 

Victor interrupted with a quick “hey” here, but Lake continued on with only a smile to acknowledge he said anything. 

“On the bright side, Victor here has us to stop him from becoming that.”

Mia caught her tone and decided to play along, “Oh of course, wouldn’t want his ego to get too big now do we” she said, throwing him a wink. 

“Wait, when did this turn into targeting me?” 

Felix clapped a hand on his shoulder, “I think you just have to concede here buddy, just admit they're right.” 

“You too? Come on man you're supposed to be on my side!”

“Exactly, which is why he’s helping us keep you grounded, it’s practically a full-time job.” Lake joked. 

Victor happened to spot Benji and reached out dramatically. “Benji help please, I'm being attacked!” 

Shaking his head at his antics, he made the detour to their table sliding in next to Victor. 

“Why are we attacking Victor?”

Lake spoke up “We’re making sure he doesn’t get too cocky hanging out with the jocks by making sure we keep him humble.”

Benji nodded solemnly “Ah yes, he should truly appreciate your efforts, clearly you're just being amazing friends, taking on such a hard job” he said before swiping some of Victor's food. 

“I brought you over to save me and now you're stealing my food?” Victor said, holding back laughter. 

“Okay enough of that, Mia and I were talking, and we decided we need to hang out this weekend. Her dad will be out for the weekend so we should really take advantage of the free house, but Mia said no parties. 

“Cleaning up was enough of a nightmare last time, so not dealing with that this time.” Mia paused before looking over at Benji, “You're invited as well Benji, we’ll probably just hang out and play board games.” 

Felix started to open his mouth, but Lake beat him to it, “we are not playing Settlers of Catan Felix.”

Mia looked over apologetically “Sorry sweety.” 

Victor was quick to come to his defense, “don't worry Felix, they’re just not cool enough to handle your games.” 

“Oh, thanks buddy,” Felix said, rolling his eyes. “You should totally come Benji, clearly we need more friends with better taste in games.”

“I’ll think about it, but I’ll let you know,” Benji smiled. 

“Oh yeah I’m sure Victor can help keep us updated and let you know if anything changes,” Mia winked at Victor, causing a slight blush. 

Victor coughed before replying “Oh yeah, I can send you the details later.”

“Sure, I’ll let Victor know if I can make it, but I gotta go, see you guys later!” He swiped another fry ignoring Victor's squawk as he walked away. 

“Well, that was interesting. So, board games and movies on Saturday?” Felix clarified. 

“Yup, feel free to bring snacks if you have specific preferences but otherwise, we should have enough.” 

“Sounds good, what time are we thinking?”

“Probably around 4, we can order a pizza for dinner at some point.” 

“Oh, and Victor, you can invite Pilar too if she's up for it.” Mia said, looking over at Victor. “If Benji comes it’ll be nice to have even numbers anyway. 

“I’ll ask, but no promises. I can’t always tell with her, but she's been meaning to talk to you anyway, so you’ll probably hear from her regardless.”

“Oh? Are those girls still giving her trouble?” Both Mia and Lake looked concerned at that, and he couldn't help but feel warmer as he realized how much they cared. 

“No, not that I know of, I know she's meeting more people, but I’ll check in about those girls. She just wants to confirm that we broke up on good terms, and make sure you're okay.” 

“Aw, that's so sweet!”

“And completely fair, I mean I heard the whole story from Mia, and I can barely believe it.” Lake said half joking. 

“Yeah, you guys are being remarkably mature about it, but we’re totally proud of you for it!” 

“Well thanks guys, but we promise we’re 100% okay. We’re probably closer now than we were before actually.”

“So does this mean you guys are ready to mingle?” Felix asked, while Lake reached for her phone.

“No” Mia said loudly, snatching the phone from Lake. “We both need some time to work ourselves out. No relationships for now.”

“But you’ll be the first to know if that changes” he smiles over at her. 

Lake side, “I guess I can respect that; I do love a good soul searching moment. Ooh maybe that should be the next post” she trailed off. 

The bell rang then, and they traded goodbyes, going their separate ways. 

#

Thankfully the rest of the day went by mostly normally, as did the following morning, peppered with his parents' fights as usual. Thankfully, as boring as his classes were, he was finally able to escape during his free period. Knowing Mia is usually in the art room during this time he made his way over there. Gently knocking on the door, he stuck his head in to see Mia at one of the desks sketching. 

“Hey M, can I come in?” 

She looked over and stood up to meet him. “Hey Vic, of course!” She pulled him into a hug seeing his tense posture. 

He couldn’t help but soften at the hug, and he let the stress melt away for the moment. “Thanks Mia.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Oh yeah, just my parents being ridiculous as usual.” 

“Damn, they're still fighting?”

Victor merely gave her a look as he sat down. “It’s no biggie, I’ll live. How are you doing?”

“Same as usual, nothing new since we talked yesterday,” she said sarcastically.

“Fair enough, what are you working on?”

Before she could respond Victor’s phone went off. “What was that?” 

He picked up his phone and opened the Instagram notification. “It’s Simon.”

“Omg really? Has he said anything about the trip?” she said, moving to his side of the table. 

“Nope, we haven’t talked too much since then though,” he paused as he read the message, angling the phone towards Mia so she could see. 

Hey Victor, 

I have an update on the New York trip, you have a free period right now, right? Let me know if you can call really quick. 

“Aw he knows you have a free period?”

“It may have come up once or twice when we were talking,” he blushed. “Do you mind if we call?”

“That's sweet, I don’t even think my dad knows I’m in art. But of course, you can call! I wanna see what the update is.”

“Yeah, Simon is great,” he said, smiling as he hit the video call button. 

Seeing his unsteady hand, Mia sighed dramatically as she grabbed the phone setting it against her cup where they were both in frame waiting as Simon answered. 

“Hey Victor, hey Mia,” He squinted, “are you guys in the art room?”

“Yup, I usually sit in here with Mia, beats sitting in the library.”

“Totally fair, how are you guys doing?”

“We’re okay, nothing new,” Mia interrupted, “sooo” she drew out the word, clearly fishing for news.

Simon and Victor laughed at her enthusiasm. “Okay I guess I can give you the news, but you have to update me later okay Vic?”

“Yeah of course he will, so what's the verdict?” Mia said quickly.

“Mia, you're not even the one going, how are you so excited?” Victor laughed.

“Victor, it’s New York, how are you not more excited? Plus, if you go then I can live vicariously through you.” She said with a hair flip. 

Victor merely rolled his eyes, looking back at Simon. “So, it took a sec to get everyone to sit down at the same time. But we talked and everyone is okay with you coming that weekend. If you fly in that Thursday, it gives us plenty of time to do stuff on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with you flying back on Monday. You guys have those days off, right? We still have class and work, but Justin actually has that week off anyway and we will all have some free time to hang out. You won’t be bored at all I promise.” 

Mia squealed, “That’s gonna be so cool!” 

“We already have a few things planned for when you get here, but I have been sworn to secrecy. Everyone is really excited to meet you by the way. Ivy is very psyched about ‘adopting a baby gay’” He rolled his eyes. 

“I’m really excited to meet everyone there too. Honestly, I could hang out at your apartment the whole time and be satisfied, thank you Si. I really appreciate you guys letting me come over. I know it’s a lot to ask, and I want you guys to know I’m not taking it lightly.” He looked down, hiding the emotion he couldn’t keep off his face, missing the look Simon and Mia exchanged. 

Mia pulled him into a side hug, laying her head on his shoulder as Simon responded, “We know Victor, and it’s not a bother at all. We all know what it’s like to be in your shoes and we just want to help. You deserve a break, and we want to show you how great it can be. So don’t worry about it okay?”

“Thank you, guys.” He rocked into Mia, “you too. Both of you, thank you for working this out.” 

“No problem, you have to make sure you send pictures though. Simon, please make sure he takes pictures, I don’t trust him not to forget.”

“Of course, I’m sure the others would be willing to send any pictures they take too.”

Victor groaned, turning to hide his head in Mia’s hair, “Why did that sound like a threat?” he asked, whining. 

“Oh, come on Victor, I promise we’ll only send some of the embarrassing ones. Gotta keep some for ourselves,” Simon teased. 

Victor let out a squawk before stumbling over his words, “That doesn’t make it any better!”

His friends only laughed in response before the conversation ended and turned to more mundane topics. 

#

Making his way to the locker room a sense of foreboding washed over him. He knew Andrew wouldn’t be able to let the events from earlier go. And this time he was sure to bring the rest of the guys into it. 

Sure enough, as he stood at his locker gathering what he needed, Andrew came strolling around the corner, “Don’t have your little friends here now do you? I mean come on Victor I just want an answer to my question that’s all.” He looked around knocking their teammate next to them “Hey did you hear? Victor fumbled hard and managed to lose Mia.” That brought the attention of a few of the other guys who came to see what was happening. 

“Damn you and Mia broke up?” asked one of the guys.

“How is this relevant to basketball?” Victor asked, trying to keep the peace. 

“Oh, you know, we just wanna make sure your head is still in the game. I mean if you fucked up with Mia who’s to say you won’t fuck up in the court?”

“Yeah man you gotta be messed up to let go of a girl like Mia.” The same teammate from earlier spoke. Victor looked over to realize it was Mike standing behind Andrew. 

“You’re acting like she was a possession to keep. If you’re curious we decided to stay friends. Now can we just go practice?” he said pleadingly. 

“I mean if that were me, I would have never let her go,” replied another teammate. 

“Yeah, and that’s exactly why you never had her in the first place, I can see why you all are single.” Vic said getting fed up. He started to turn, walking to the gym before he was stopped, blood running cold. 

“Nah man, you fucked up and you just won’t own up to it, or maybe you're one of those f*gs, would explain why you couldn’t last.” Mike laughed.

Victor whipped around to see Andrew turn and elbow Mike behind him. “Oh, fuck off Mike, we were just playing around dumbass.” 

While Victor was pleasantly surprised to see Andrew disagree and a few of his teammate’s frown at Mike, it did nothing to expel the fear that ran through him. He could only spare some thought to be grateful that everyone turned to Mike in surprise, missing his reaction. Thankfully, they were all saved from the situation when their coach banged on the door. 

“What are you all doing in there? Hustle! You’re wasting practice time.”

They paused for a moment before Andrew said, “Well you heard him, let's go play some ball.” On their way out, Andrew caught up to Victor, whispering as they went, “I’ll be reporting to him, I didn’t mean for things to go that far.” 

Victor could only scoff, “I appreciate it, but they shouldn’t have been started in the first place Andrew.” He jogged ahead, meeting the coach, leaving Andrew to think over his words once again. 

#

The bell rang above him as he walked into the coffee shop and Victor looked down for a moment, trying to gather himself. The walk over had made him feel worse as he thought over the events from practice. He wasn’t even out yet, and he still couldn’t avoid this shit. All he could think about was the fact that he knew it would only get worse. Despite his best efforts he couldn’t stop this spiral, and he now had around 5 minutes till his shift, and less than one before seeing Benji who was sure to question him. His attempts to keep a low profile failed as Benji called out to him as soon as he was spotted. 

“Hey V!”

Victor looked up trying to plaster a smile on his face, though by the concern on Benji’s it seemed like he had failed. “Hey Benji.”

Benji took off his apron following Victor to the break room. “Hey what’s going on, you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, no worries.” Victor replied, not turning from the shelf of aprons as he got ready. 

“No, I'm definitely worried, wanna talk about it?” 

“Nah it’s okay, practice just tired me out, I’ll shake it off.” He said before doing a dramatic shake of his arms. The smile on Benji’s face in reply allowed him to place a real one on himself this time. “See? All better.”

“Yeah alright fine, I’ll let it slide this time. But only because the espresso machine is calling your name.” He said laughing as they walked out. 

“Oh ha ha. I think it’s actually your name that I hear!”

“Well, you know what they say, baristas who pull shots together stay together” 

Victor couldn’t help the laugh that came next “Please Benji no one says that.” 

“Well, I just did so ha!” He bumped Victor as he walked over to take a customer’s order. This was then followed by a small rush of people and their conversation was paused as they worked together, requests and quick quips being the only commentary. As things slowed down again Benji turned to Victor, “So how was Mia’s party?” 

“Oh, it was great, we spent most of it joking around and making grand plans of adventure.” 

“Adventure you say. Sounds dangerous”

“Oh yeah, totally. Plans to escape under everyone’s nose, secret spy missions to New York.”

Benji nodded solemnly, “Ah yes the spy capital of the world obviously.” 

“See you get it! But yeah, it was fun. How was the rest of your weekend?”

“Oh, boring in comparison, I mean I had a band practice which was fun, and some chores. Not a single hint of espionage unfortunately.” 

“Oh no we have to fix that asap. And wow what a coincidence, game night this Saturday is the perfect place!” He joked before continuing, “Any news on that front?” 

“Man you're really selling this game night, are you saying you’ll let me into your spy plans?” 

“Only after an intense round of initiation. Us spy’s have to have top tier patience and the test is playing Catan with Felix.”

“Didn’t you guys say no Catan?” He said, smiling as he looked over.

“Okay, okay, fine you caught me. That was a cover for the real initiation, being my partner so I don’t get absolutely obliterated by everyone else.” He replied, lifting his hands in surrender.

“Ouch that’s a brutal one,” he paused. “No news yet though, I have to check with Derek. 

“Ah, well, we’ll be crossing our fingers for you to make it.” Victor said, turning to fiddle with things on the counter. 

“I should have an answer for you by our next shift. “What is that Wednesday?” 

“Shouldn’t you know this?” 

“Probably” he said with a laugh. 

The night continued on, with copious amounts of jokes, small brushes as they worked, and laughs to go along with it as they caught up and discussed their classes. 

#

Later that night as sat in bed, his thoughts were still racing as he thought about the events of the day. Shifting his eye caught the walkie-talkie and he realized he had just the solution. Walking over to grab it, he turned it on before speaking “Felix you there? Over.” 

There was a beat of silence before some static and a reply “Victor?”

“Duh who else?”

“What’s up buddy? Don’t forget to say over! Over.”

“You forgot first! I’m bored, wanna meet up on the stairs?” He paused before saying “Over.”

“Yeah sure, I’ve got an update for you anyway. Over” 

“Great see you there in 5?”

“Yup!” 

He placed the radio back on his desk before quietly leaving his room. Heading to the door he was stopped by the sight of his sister in the kitchen. 

“Hey where are you going? Are you finally sneaking out?”

“What? No! Well, yes, but only to talk to Felix.”

“Lame. I thought maybe you were finally gonna be cool and rebellious.”

Victor laughed, snarking under his breath “Yeah you have no idea” before continuing “Hey I actually wanted to talk to you, wanna come to Mia’s this Saturday for game night?”

“Who all is going?”

“The usual crew, me, Lake, Felix, Mia obviously, and maybe Benji.”

“I’ll think about it.” She said with a smile.

“What are we not cool enough for you?” He said jokingly. 

“Oh, definitely not, but maybe I’ll help you guys out. Having me there is bound to make the night better anyway.” she said dramatically. 

“Oh thanks, well let me know if you decide to grace us with your presence. It would actually be nice to hang out.”

“Yeah, yeah I’ll let you know. Now go talk to Felix and get back before mom and dad notice.” She said with a gentle shove.

“I’m going!” He laughed while walking out. Of course, Felix was already there sitting on his phone waiting. “Hey dude!”

Felix looked up at his friend, “Hey buddy everything okay?” 

“Yeah, I just wanted to chat” 

Felix looked at him with suspicion clear on his face, “A text wasn’t good enough?”

“Oh, come on Felix, where’s your sense of whimsy?” He teased sitting on the stair next to him. 

“Fair point” he said, “so how was work?” 

“Nuh uh you said you had an update? Is it about you and Lake?” Victor shuffled closer seeing his friend's face fall. 

“Yeah uh. Well, we had a conversation, and some stuff happened.”

Victor made an inquiring noise. 

“Well, you know how Lake is. I mean she’s amazing,” he paused starry eyed, “but she’s obviously out of my league and knows it.” 

Victor went to object, but Felix kept going, looking straight forward to avoid his friend’s eyes. “She wanted to keep it a secret, didn’t want anyone to know. She said it was to let us adjust but it was pretty clear she was scared of people’s reactions. I mean who would lower themselves to being with lone stone, ya know?” He said with a forced chuckle. 

“Hey, I would totally be seen with you, I mean say the word and I’ll sweep you off your feet.” Victor joked as he bumped their shoulders. 

“Aw thanks buddy,” he said looking up with a smile. “Anyway, I didn’t really feel like being her dirty little secret. So, I told her to let me know when she decides whether she actually wants to be with me. I mean I said it nicely of course, I just,” he paused, “What’s the point then. I don’t care about having other people know or not, It’s just.” He trailed off with a groan. 

“No, you’re right. It’s one thing to stay low-key or hide it for your sakes and a whole other when she just doesn’t want to be seen in whatever way she’s thinking. The focus is on some dumb social status bullshit and you deserve better than that. Because you’re amazing, okay Felix? She’s not ‘out of your league’ at all, and you deserve someone who will acknowledge how amazing you are. It’s her loss if she doesn’t recognize that.” He said, throwing an arm around his shoulders. 

“Thanks Vic I appreciate it. And for what it’s worth you deserve the world too, I’m sorry it didn’t work out with Mia,” he paused before continuing, “and I’ll sweep you off your feet too if you need it, us bros have to look out for each other.”

Victor retracted his arm before bumping his shoulder again. “Wow thanks, he said with a laugh, “I’m sure we’ll both find someone who’s right for us.” 

“You’re right, think I can find someone who will play Catan with me?”

They both laughed at that before continuing on. 

Felix looked down at his phone, “We’ve got a few more minutes before we should go, anything you wanted to talk about before then? How was practice? Work?”

Victor tried not to let his face fall too much, “oh you know the usual. Work was great! Benji and I had a lot of fun.”

Felix noticed the carefully avoided subject but decided to try regardless, “How was practice?”

Victor sighed, “well you know Andrew,” they shared a wince “he just made it bigger and dragged some of the other guys into it. It’s fine now they were just being dicks.”

“Well, you know I’m always here for you.” 

“Thanks Felix, it really wasn’t that big a deal though.”

“If you say so.” They continued on for a few more minutes talking about their days before deciding to go to bed.

Chapter Text

Before he knew it, another 2 school days had passed and he was back at work. They had been at it for a few hours when he looked up to see his friends walk in. He smiled before feeling a hand bruh his arm. Looking over he saw Benji walk by and his smile grew as they finished making the order. 

“You going on your break I’m assuming?” He asked with a subtle nod towards his friends. 

“If you don’t mind, that would be great.” Victor said sheepishly 

“Yeah that’s fine, buuut first help me with this order?”

Victor looked over to see Mia watching them with a small smile on her face. He blushed as she looked between them pointedly. As they started making her order she asked “So Benji, any news about Saturday?”

“Oh yeah I can’t believe I hadn’t asked before this!” Victor exclaimed. 

Benji’s smile tightened and his voice grew strained for a moment as he replied, “Well I checked and I definitely don’t have other plans this weekend,” he turned away. 

Victor made sure to catch his eye, a question clear on his face only to receive a small shake of the head. 

Mia cleared her throat, “Well that means we get you all to ourselves, plus Pilar is coming which means Victor needs a teammate.”

“Pilar is coming? Since when?” Victor asked, surprised.

“Oh she stopped me after school today, she had some questions to ask but I’ll tell you about that later. She made sure to let me know she would be coming before she left though.”

“Damn, my own sister couldn’t even tell me and I live with her.”

Mia rolled her eyes, “are you really that surprised?” 

“Nah, but hey how do you know she wouldn’t be on my team?” His voice trailed off as he looked at Mia’s deadpanned face. “Okay yeah you have a point.” He turned to Benji who had been watching their exchange, “Would you do me the honor of being on my team?”

“I don’t know man, I’m pretty competitive, think you can keep up?”

“Oh please B, prepare to be amazed by my skills.” He said with a cocky grin on his face. 

“Good, now go take your break so I can take mine after,” Benji passed him, lightly hitting Victor with the towel in his hand before handing Mia her drink. 

“I’m going, I’m going. I'll be right back, don’t miss me too much!” Victor stashed his apron under the counter before walking around to meet Mia on the other side. 

Mia bumped his shoulder with hers as they started walking to the table holding Lake and Felix. “Soooo, what was that back there?” 

Victor rolled his eyes, “what do you mean?”

“Oh come on Vic you guys were clearly flirting!” 

“Oh no we weren’t, that could barely be considered flirting. And if I were to flirt, I’d like to think I would do a little better, thank you very much.”

Mia laughed, “Just be glad you’re pretty,” she said, patting his shoulder.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well I certainly didn’t fall for your way with words.” She joked. 

“Ouch Mia, that hurts,” he said in fake despair. They had finally made it to the table so he turned to his friends, “I can be flirty right guys?”

Felix, always quick to defend his bestie, spoke up first, “Yeah man, you’ve got mad skills no doubt.” 

Lake and Mia made eye contact before laughing, “Felix sweetie, you’re amazing but I don’t think you’re the best judge for that.” Lake said lightly. 

Victor looked over at Felix, “Can you believe that Felix? They’ve turned on us!”

Felix looked back solemnly and nodded, “we always knew this would happen, It’s just us now buddy. You and me.” They paused to do a quick handshake ending with a final nod. 

Mia and lake just watched in awe. “Wow we really picked some good ones huh Mia,” Lake said. 

Mia sighed in resignation, “Yeah and we love them for it too.”

Victor rolled his eyes, “Anyway, game night, everyone has confirmed so what’s the game plan?”

“Ooh is Benji coming?” Lake asked, perking up. 

“Yup he just confirmed.”

“Hell yeah that’ll up our hotness meter for sure.” Lake joked.

“So what games are we playing?” Felix laughed before asking. 

“The usual, I’m bringing monopoly and life. Mia has scrabble, uno, and a bunch of cards so we can figure something out when we get there.” 

“Nice, I would offer to bring something but I’m pretty sure Candy Land is the only game that survived the move,” Victor paused to think, “maybe loteria survived but I have no clue where it is.”

“Too bad none of us have a switch, I would kill to play some Mario Party.” Felix added

“Oooh can you guys imagine playing Mario Kart? That would be cool.” 

“Maybe Benji has one?”

“I’ll go check,” Victor got up before making his way to the counter, thankfully they were in a lull and no one had been at the counter for a while. “Hey B we’ve got a question.”

Benji looked up from where he was restocking supplies and walked to Victor’s section of the counter “Okay shoot.”

“Any chance you have a switch we could use on Saturday?”

“Yeah actually, I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of that. I can definitely bring it if you want. I’ll bring all the games and extra controllers.”

“Does Mario Kart happen to be one of those games?”

“Yup my grandparents tend to skip a few Christmases to save up and get us bigger things, so they got me a Switch and a bunch of Mario games.” 

“Nice okay I’ll let them know, be back in a few.” With that he walked back to their table, Benji shaking his head with a chuckle behind him. 

Before he could start talking, Lake spoke up, a dreamy look on her face, “Man we should really rebrand as the hottest friend group. Too bad you’re straight Victor, you and Benji are so hot together.” 

Both Mia and Victor choked at that, “Lake, Benji has a boyfriend!”

“So? A girl can daydream!”

“Okay” Felix said drawing the word out, “back to game night people! And away from Lake daydreaming about other dudes.”

“Well, we’re in luck, he has a Switch and some Mario Games so we’ll be good to go on that.” 

Mia just looked at Victor, eyebrows raised, as he shrugged in response. “Well, does that mean we’re good? Did we decide on a time?”

“Depends on whether we wanna do dinner, or just snacks.”

“Ooh I vote pizza!”

“I’m good with whatever but dinner would be nice.”

“Then we’ll say 6? Is that enough time to eat and play?” 

“Yup, since we got that figured out I just wanted to let you guys know I’ll be out with my mom, she’s dragging me out.”

“I thought we were gonna hang out that day?” Mia asked

“Whoops sorry Mia but that new movie just came out, can we reschedule?”

Seeing his oppurtunity, Felix spoke up, “Is this a bad time to say I also won’t be available on Sunday?”

“Well damn, thanks guys. Hey Vic wanna come over since somebody abandoned me?” They spent some more time discussing plans before his break was over and he got back to work. 

As he got ready to switch with Benji he thought back to the way Benji had reacted earlier. After looking to make sure they had no customers he turned to Benji, “Hey B, is everything okay?”

Benji looked over in surprise, “ Yeah why did you ask?”

“Well you seemed a little upset earlier, I just wanted to check in. You don’t have to come to game night if you don't want to, we won't be offended.” Victor said, his joking tone unable to completely hide the concern. 

Benji sighed brushing his hair back away “I’m okay sorry Vic. I definitely want to be there, can’t leave you without a partner!” he said lightly. 

“B?”

“Sorry, sorry. I am fine, I just had an argument with Derek.”

“What happened, do you wanna talk about it?”

“Nah just the usual. He had some other show he wanted to go to, made the stupid joke about game night being immature. But it doesn’t matter cause I’m coming anyway. It’ll be fun!”

Seeing the deflection and not wanting to push any farther Victor continued, “You're right, he doesn't know what he's missing. And really I should be thanking him, now we have an unstoppable team.”

Benji smirked, “oh yeah?”

“Definitely, now go take your break. I need you all rested so we can kick ass this weekend.” He replied, throwing a towel at Benji. 

“Yeah yeah, I’m going, see you in 15” he said going to the back. 

Victor smiled, turning back to the counter. Only to drop it immediately clutching his chest as he found Mia behind him. “Mia!”

“Oh come on, how did you not hear me walk up? Somebody is a little preoccupied.” she said with a smirk. 

“Did you need something or did you just want to give me a heart attack?” 

“Wow, I see how it is. Wait, stop changing the subject, how is it going with Benji?”

Victor stopped cleaning to give her a pointed look.

“I know, I know, he's dating someone you're tragically closeted, but that doesn't mean you can’t look! You guys work so well together! And don’t get me started on the heart eyes every time you look at him”

“Mia what the hell?”

“Please, you know you can’t deny it.”

“Yes I can and I will! There are no ‘heart eyes’ here, God Mia.” He says exasperated, before turning somber. “I can’t afford that right now anyway.”

Mia’s eyes softened and she reached over to grab his hand, “Hey there's no harm in a bit of fun but I get it. You doing okay Vic? How have your parents been?”

He looks down avoiding eye contact, “Yeah, yeah I’m good. They’re doing their usual I guess. But that's not important, it’s whatever,” he paused, shaking his head as if to clear the thoughts away, “so what was up with Pilar?”

“It is important but I will let you change the topic anyway, we’ll have time to talk on Sunday. And the conversation went exactly like you would expect. It was probably the most respectful interrogation I’ve ever seen. She started by making sure I was okay and that it was mutual, then moved on to making sure I didn’t hurt you, which was adorable by the way.” she smiled up at Victor getting a laugh out of him. “I’m serious! I’m glad we’re on good terms cause I think she would have absolutely taken me out in a heartbeat if I said otherwise.” They laughed more before she continued. “She just wanted to check in on us and said you had refused to give her more details. She seemed to give in though when she realized I didn’t have more to give her and just let me know she was coming to game night before we moved on. Her new piercings are great by the way.”

Victor rolled his eyes, “Yeah that sounds right for Pilar. Did she tell you how she got them? I was impressed. I’ll check in with her later anyway.” 

“Keep me updated if anything changes,” she paused suddenly remembering “Hey, have you talked to Simon lately?” 

“Yeah, just a few convos here and there. Nothing big. You know I would text you if anything about the trip came up.”

“Good. I will let you get back to it but don’t forget to take care of yourself okay? And remember, a little harmless flirting never hurt anyone.” She laughed walking off before he could reply, leaving him to shake his head fondly before turning to the counter. 

#

Later that night he walked up the steps to his apartment, ready to take a breather. It was only Wednesday but it had already felt like a long week. As he walked up to the door he paused to pull his keys out. Hearing the faint yelling he couldn’t help but lay his head on the door contemplating whether the steps would be more comfortable. With a sigh he unblocked the door and walked into the fight. He thought about trying to intervene for a moment before remembering that both his siblings were home and decided instead to check on them. Thankfully Adrian was sleeping in his bed with the speaker Victor got him playing disney music just loud enough to cover most of the noise from the kitchen. Closing the door gently he took a detour into his room dropping his bag and changing into his sleep clothes before heading across the hall.

After knocking he heard a brief “come in”. He popped his head in nodding over to her bed asking for permission. Pilar looked over from her desk nodding at him after seeing the look in his eyes and hearing the fight from the kitchen get louder as he walked through her door. He closed it softly before slumping down into her pillows staring at the ceiling. 

“Adrian is asleep with his music on,” he turned his head slightly to see her and continued “How long have they been at it? Are you okay?”

“As long as you’d expect, and I’m fine I just turned up my music as usual, how are you doing?” 

He looked away again, “Oh you know, ready for bed honestly, I hate these late shifts.”

Pilar hesitated, wondering if she should give into his obvious segue “How was work?

“Nothing new really. But Mia told me you guys talked, do you feel better?” he said sitting up slightly. 

Pilar rolled her eyes as she moved to sit next to him on her bed, “Yeah I’m good. I just wanted to double check. Neither of you are willing to give up any details though” she said with a light shove. 

Victor chuckled, “There's no other details to give P. I told you we just decided we were better off as friends, and you can’t even say that's a lie after that conversation.”

She looked at him skeptically, “There’s no way that's it, I’ll get it out of you someday”

He just shook his head slightly surprised at her perceptiveness, “well believe what you want but I don't know what else you expect to hear. How has school been?”

“Math is kicking my ass,” she stated flopping back onto her bed.

“Do you want some help?” 

Pilar groaned before getting up to grab her homework, mumbling a quiet “yes please” under her breath. The rest of the night was full of questions, teasing and the occasional smack. As he walked out the door she called out to him, “Hey Vic?” she paused as he turned, “Thank you for the help, just I’m here for you too okay?”

Victor stayed quiet searching her face, for a moment he considered spilling to her right then until a door slam from his parents pulled him back to the present. He smiled up at her before replying, “Thanks P, goodnight.” He left her staring after him as he closed her door heading back to his room. 

#

The next day Victor walked into the apartment ready to lay down for a bit before he had to get ready for another shift at Brasstown. As he moved to drop his backpack on a chair, he was distracted at the sight of his mom squinting at a songbook at the piano bench. “Hey Mami, are you okay?”

She gave him a quick glance, “Oh hey mijo, yeah I’m okay” she said distractedly before waving him off.

Victor stopped considering whether he should ask more but decided to take the out, “Okay, I’ll be in my room then,” he replied. Yet as he started to walk down the hall, he heard his mom call out to him.

”Actually Victor can you come help me real quick?” 

Victor stopped, looking up at the ceiling as played back the last few moments.. and all the ways he could have avoided this moment. “Sure, what's up,” he asked, trying to hide the reluctance in his voice. 

She started waving him over, not bothering to take her eyes off the book in front of her. “I need your help with this song.”

His steps faltered as her words registered. “My help? Would Pilar or even Adrian be better?” 

She rolled her eyes, finally looking up at him, “They’re not here right now, Adrian begged to go to the park. And I taught you myself, so I know you can do this one. You did piano longer than either of them did, now come sit.” She pat the bench next to her. 

“Mami, it’s still been years since I’ve played.” He replied as he sat. 

“Yes I know, but it’s just like riding a bike now come on. It’s been a minute since I’ve taught anyone, and I need someone to run through this song that I’m planning for one of the kids upstairs.” 

Victor let out a sigh before reaching for the book. “Fine, hand it over, I'll give it a shot.” 

“Aw Victor thank you! I knew I could rely on you,” She exclaimed, throwing an arm over his shoulders, missing the wince he gave at her words. “This is just like the old days, I can’t believe you stopped playing! You were so good mijo, I miss it!” 

Victor paused for a moment, making sure not to take his eyes off the book in front of him. As he thought about his mom’s words he tried to remember why he had stopped. He knew he had enjoyed it before, loving the chance to sit with his mom, and get praise from both parents. But as Pilar needed more help, and Adrian came a long, their sessions started getting cut short so he had just given in and started helping more then. The praise still continued which was nice, just changed the circumstances. He shook off the memories, forcing a chuckle, “Yeah I guess we just got busy huh?” 

“I guess we did. And you turned into a little basketball star didn’t you? Too cool for your mom these days,” she replied with a sigh. 

Victor rolled his eyes, “okay so what did you need me to do exactly?”

“I just need you to play the song, so that I can hear it, and think of tricks to make it easier. Maybe give me an idea of what the corrections may look like.” 

“Oh wow mom, are you saying I play like a kid?”

“Victor! You know I don’t mean that!” 

Her reaction got a real laugh from Victor and he relaxed slightly, “I know mom, I’m just teasing. I’ll try it but you can’t laugh okay!”

Isabel slapped his arm slightly, “Victor”

Before she could continue he placed the book on the stand and chuckled. Looking down at the keys he could hear the spirit of past songs drifting through his mind. His own hands accompanied by his mothers ghosted across the keys in front him the smaller size highlighting  the time that has passed. Finally he brought his hands to hover above the keys, taking a deep breath, he had a brief moment to mentally thank his mom for giving him a minute before he started to play. It was clear that he hadn’t played in years. His hands hesitated, throwing off the beat a few times, and the tempo was not where it needed to be, but as the song continued he missed fewer notes. 

Once it had ended a beat of silence passed before his mom spoke, “that was beautiful Victor.” 

He scoffed “that’s the worst I’ve ever played it, child me would have made fun of that.” 

She laughed “you just need practice, child you had to play it an unfortunate amount of times to get it right if I remember correctly.” She took the time to give him a few pointers and corrections, making sure to get his feedback on the harder parts of the song in hopes of making it easier to teach her student later. He played a few more times until she seemed satisfied with his performance. “You should play more often mijo, you’ve still got it, you should use it. You don’t want to risk losing it after all! I’d be happy to keep helping you, you know that!” Had she been looking at him she would have seen the bittersweet smile he couldn’t hide. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on who you’d ask, she was already distracted looking at the time “Ay dios! I’m gonna be late, thank you Victor” she kiss on the head before rushing out the door. 

Victor watched her go before staring down at the keys in front of him. as Much as he hated to admit it, it had been nice to play again. It had really been so long since last time and yet he couldn't decide how he felt. On one hand hoa mom was right. He didn't want to lose the skill, it was fun and could make for a cool party trick if he bothered to learn pop songs. But  he couldn't shake the feelings it had brought up. As much as he loved it as a kid, it came with a twinge of hurt remembering the way it fizzled out of his life. Even after Pilar and Adrian started learning, she never really played with him anymore. He knew they were a handful and he couldn't bring himself to blame her for that, but it didn't make it any easier on him. 

Yet despite that, he couldn't stop his hand from laying back on the keys softly. And before he knew it he was working through what used to be his favorite song to play. It wasn't easy without the notes and it took a lot of trial and error before he could iron out the kinks playing by ear. But that didn't stop him from playing as his eyes fell closed. A gentle peace fell over him relaxing his shoulders and calming his mind. He was so preoccupied that he didn't hear Pilar and Adrian racing up the stairs outside. Luckily, Pilar heard the piano on time and held an arm out to stop Adrian. Holding a finger up to her mouth to keep him quiet they started creeping towards the door. She looked down at her phone to check the time and knew the only person that could be in the house was Victor. As she looked over she could tell Adrian had come to the same conclusion. As one they decided to see how long they could get away with listening.

Realizing he must be somewhere around the middle of the song she quietly turned the lock in the key, motioning for Adrian to get low, and crawl through the crack she had made. They managed to creep inside without alerting their big brother and She gently closed the door making sure to hold On to the nob so he couldn't hear the click. The two siblings looked at each other hands over their mouths in disbelief that they had gotten away with that. They sat there for a few minutes as Victor continued to work through the song occasionally testing his memory with other random songs unaware of his audience. Finally, he remembered he had a shift soon and resisted the urge to try just one more. Electing instead to stare down at the piano In front of him as he thought. 

Pilar noticing rhat he was lost in his head waved Adrian to his room. He didn't quite understand what was happening but he know it was a big deal. Pilar watched him close his door slowly before looking back at her big brother. She thought for a moment but wasn't sure how to approach the situation and decided to go with her usual. Speaking softly to try avoid spooking him she teased lightly, “so did mom manage to rope you into helping her?” 

“Ay Pilar! He exclaimed, “me asustaste!” 

“Sorry!” She replied only partly lying. “But did she get you? Adrian and I managed to escape before she could convince us. 

Victor rolled his eyes “Yeah, i can't believe you left me in her clutches. Some siblings you are” he joked. 

“Hey it's survival of the fittest out here!”

They laughed before falling silent. “Well I have to get ready for work, but don't forget you're getting crushed this weekend at game night” 

“Oh yeah sure.” She scoffed, “as if.” Pilar watched as he go up pausing to look down at the piano one more time before walking to his room. Before she reached the door she spoke up softly “you should play more Victor.” The unspoken “we miss it” hung in the air. While his memories of piano were twisted with the guilt and mourning he felt surrounding the relationship with his parents, Pilar and Adrian had been left with a different opinion. Instead they had missed the sound of his playing. The only way their mom had gotten them to learn at all was using the fact that Victor had known and Isabel knew this. 

Victor though, had no way of knowing this, and only just found the memory of playing for his siblings. He used to play to calm them down when their parents were off doing who knows what, until he found other methods of occupying them. Between that and the emotions he'd seen on Pilar's face he had enough to consider maybe reframing it for them. Just as softly as she had released the words, he replied “I'll think about it” before entering his room and flopping onto the bed. Rolling over to his back he pulled up Instagram and opened his messages with Simon. 

Hey Simon. How are you guys doing? I'm not sure why I'm texting but it felt right I guess. 

Idk. I played piano for the first time in a while. Surprise! I know an instrument. Crazy right? I'm not great at it anymore since I stopped practicing, but my mom managed to convince me to play again so she could teach a song better or something. And I remembered how fun it could be. For a little while I finally felt relaxed, which is rare in this house. But it felt so weird. It's hard to enjoy it when it makes me think of my parents, you know? These days they're non stop fighting, and I know once I come out nothing is gonna be the same. It's hard. I don't even know where I'm going with this. 

But I hope everyone is doing okay, I can't wait to see you all!

He laid there for a moment before deciding to go get ready. Soon he heard the ding, signaling Simon had responded.

Hey Vic,

It's always good to hear from you! I'm glad you were able to chill for a while even if it is feeling a little mixed up. I'm not sure there's a lot I could do here, but would it be possible for you to reclaim it? 

I know you've got a lot on your plate and having something to keep you chill can be really helpful. Maybe you can turn this into something you're doing for yourself, especially as you figure out who that is. Ivy used to play violin as a kid, but it wasn't until she grew up and got to play whichever songs she wanted that she started enjoying playing alone. 

And we’re all good thank you for asking! Everyone here is excited to meet you, they’re still mad they couldn’t join the last two calls.  

Victor stopped and considered his words. Maybe it could be his, or maybe he'd forget about this and never touch the piano again. But for now, he was done thinking about it. As he finished getting ready for work, he continued texting back and forth with Simon until finally it was time to go