Chapter Text
If you told Steve Palchuck a couple of months ago that he'd be letting Eli Pepperjack sit on his lap while they played video games and studied trollish text in secret, he'd probably laugh in your face and then shove you into a locker. However, that's exactly what they are doing right now. Physical touch helped him remind himself that he was real, and Eli was just clingy, so it kind of worked out. Not that Steve would admit that—not in a million years.
"Wwwooohooo" Eli made a little jump movement with a wide grin on his face, causing them both to stumble and forcing Steve to hold him tighter. "What the fuck, pepperjack?!" Eli looked up at him with a sh*t-eating grin before holding out his phone for Steve to see. Steve squinted and said, "Is that book—" Eli nodded, unable to contain his excitement. "It's in trollish! And the best part is that it's right in our local museum! " There was a short pause to catch his breath since he had been speaking so quickly without pausing. "Apparently people have tried and failed to translate the text for a while." He turned around on his lap to face Steve.
Steve adjusted accordingly, almost out of instinct since they did this so often, before raising his eyebrows and tilting his head in confusion. "And you think we can?" He paused, searching for words, not wanting to seem dismissive of Eli's idea. "In case you haven't noticed, both of us have a barely basic understanding of that stuff." Eli nodded his head in agreement. "We definitely have no idea what we are doing, but I know someone who does!" His voice went slightly higher in pitch due to excitement. one of Eli's habits that Steve thought was adorable just because it was him—not that he would ever admit that to anyone.
Steve tilted his head. "What do you mean by that?" Eli smiled at him, giving him a look until his eyes widened in realization, and he pulled Pepperjack even closer as if trying to protect him from an invisible force. "Nope, nope, nope." The words left his mouth quickly, out of a slight panic. He'd promised himself he'd never talk to Claire or Jim again. He also intended to keep that promise; he had treated them badly, sure, but treating Eli like an outcast even after everything was too far even for him.
Eli frowned and said, "Loosen up; you're literally crushing me." Steve sighed and let his arms relax. Eli adjusted, loosening up now that he wasn't being crushed to death. "Listen, nerd, as much as I like feeding your curiosity, I absolutely refuse to interact with either of them, and you know exactly why." Eli nodded in understanding; he knew why Steve felt this way but wasn't willing to give up on this subject.
"I doubt they want to talk to you either." There was a small pause in his speech as he searched for the right words. "Or me, for that matter, since they found out we're friends." Another short pause "But I do think that they'll like to know about that book, and though I don't care about what they'd enjoy, it might be best for Arcadia." And he meant it because if there was something important in that book, he didn't want to risk the safety of the entire place due to a petty grudge.
The grudge started not that long ago, right when Eli and Steve started being open about their friendship. Here's the thing: in the past few months, Eli had gotten more confident with his identity, and so had Steve. After a bit of discussion and a bit of arguing, they stopped trying to cover up their friendship, causing Eli to befriend the jocks (and figure out most of them aren't as bad as they project; they were mainly just scared kids) and lose all of his other friends in the process.
Not that he really cared; maybe at first he felt bad and considered leaving Steve, but then he realized most of those friends he had saw him as the background friend, and when he became friends with the jocks because of Steve, though they bullied him at first, the moment they warmed up to him, he was included in literally everything that included hangouts, sitting together at lunch, and they sometimes invited him to watch their games.
He was also protected since he was the smallest in the group. It might have been annoying at first, but then he realized it was much better than the old crowd that had let him be bullied out of fear. At least Steve and his friends were apologetic about what they had done, trying their best to make it up to him and working hard to be nicer to others, even if they were a bit disrespectful to people outside of their group.
That's what messed him up the most; no one else seemed to care how they affected him. In fact, he had a bunch of people, especially old friends, question his friendship with Steve and say some really offensive and even ableist sh*t about Steve. Due to that, he was able to get over everyone pretty quickly due to the fact that they had revealed their true colors just because Eli forgave his bully.
Eli wasn't even aware that he was lost in thought until Steve spoke up. "I doubt this is a good idea; it's probably a terrible idea, but whatever, we'll do this as long as you avoid all attachments to them." Eli nodded to anyone else who might've seemed weird and a bit possessive, but Eli knew that Steve just wanted to protect him. "Don't worry about that." He smiled innocently. He wasn't innocent at all, and he knew it.
"If I have to pretend to be their friend to protect Arcadia, I will, but it'll all be an act." He spoke the truth; he had lost any emotional attachment to Jim and his friends at this point. The only people he liked being around were Steve and his friends, because they actually gave a fuck about him and his well-being. His only problem was that, even though they could protect him due to his size and lack of strength, he wasn't able to return the favor every time he brought it up. Steve told him it was fine and he didn't have to worry about it, but he still did.
He was again startled out of his thoughts by Steve, who was trying to come up with different ways they could go about this and what they should do.
The next day, Jim stared at Eli, who wore a deceivingly innocent smile while he talked excitedly to Steve across the hallway about something probably about mythology or Legos—who knows? Honestly, a couple of months ago, Jim might've believed that Eli was innocent and maybe even a little weak, but since he had been hanging around a certain crowd, he very much doubted that he had actually known anything about Eli. especially since he now noticed the eerily empty look he wore whenever he disliked people—a look that Jim never knew he was capable of—and it looked like Eli was no longer afraid of showing it.
The innocence from a few months ago was clearly reserved for Steve and his friends. He'd probably try to investigate if he wasn't so distracted by his troll hunter duties. "What are you looking at?" Jim practically jumped, remembering that Toby was next to him. Toby followed his gaze and furrowed his eyebrows in curiosity. "Yeah, Pepperjack has been acting odd lately, hasn't he?" Toby said he seemed uncharacteristically tired.
Jim nodded slowly. "Yeah..." His stomach flipped when Eli's eyes met his. Eli gave him a small smile, but it seemed detached, devoid of any positive emotion he might have had before for Jim and his friends. What had Steve done to him? Jim looked away from him and over to Toby, who was preoccupied with his chocolate granola bar. Toby looked up at him with a grin.
"Do you wanna figure out what's going on?" The shorter asked. Jim sighed. "We could, but it could just be a distraction; we don't know for sure what is happening right now." He clenched his fists. "And we also have to focus on making sure Gunmar doesn't escape." Toby nodded, jumping up and down anxiously. "But we never know what is happening; something could be seriously wrong!" Jim opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by the bell. Right now, class is more important, and since the new kids were here, he had to make sure they weren't Changlings or something, since there are rarely ever new kids at this school. A lot is happening at once. He'd figure out what was happening later, but for now, school was his priority. Maybe later he can figure something out, but for now he doesn't have time.
Eli frowned while he opened his locker door. The new boy was interesting, but the new girl agitated him for some reason. Literally everyone liked her except for Eli and his friend group. That was mainly because the jocks don't really like anyone outside of their little circle, which was fair since Eli really didn't either. That wasn't his problem; what bothered him was that Aja would practically cling to Steve, and Steve was way too oblivious to even notice that she liked him. Eli grinned to himself, his bad mood completely erased at the thought of Steve's tendency to be a bit oblivious and cute at times.
Honestly, if Steve was happy, he was too. He just wanted to make sure he was safe because something seemed off about the two new kids. He also didn't want to seem like a jerk either. even though he probably was, and that was a debatable topic. He chuckled to himself at the thought. He flinched when he felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned around to see one of the new students. He was pretty sure his name was Krel or something.
Eli frowned, still a bit startled by the sudden touch. "Please don't touch me." He mumbled, he was trying his best to be polite about it without seeming robotic. The new kid nodded apologetically. "My apologies; I didn't mean to cause any discomfort." Eli smiled nervously, pushing up his glasses out of habit. "It's fine, you just startled me for a second there." Eli fumbled with his notebook nervously. "Uh, is there something you need?" The new boy shook his head.
"Nothing important, but." The new kid chuckled a bit awkwardly. "Uh, I just saw your sketches and notes and thought you were pretty smart." He looks away, feeling a bit nervous. Eli tilted his head, not realizing what a big compliment that was coming from Krel.
Before Krel had time to panic, Eli smiled up at him (Krel was about a foot taller) and spoke, "Thanks!" He said it with a genuine smile. "Your name is Krel, correct?" Eli asked. Krel nodded, seeming a bit nervous. "My name is Eli can I have your phone number?" Eli asked. The poor kid seemed like he needed a friend his sister seemed to be able to make friends so much easier then him and Eli knows how that feels. Krel nodded quickly before handing Eli his phone so they could exchange numbers.
Eli smiled at him after the exchange before remembering that Steve and he had to tell Jim about the book that they had found. "Uh, I have to go." I'll see you tomorrow at lunch?" He asked already, rushing off. Krel nodded with a small smile. Almost as an afterthought, Eli noted to himself that Krel didn't seem to speak much.
Aja had heard rumors about the Eli boy; apparently, he was a good kid and still kind of is, but now he hangs around a bunch of bullies and, just in general, a bad crowd. She saw proof of that when one of the boys he talked to started being rude to one of the smaller kids when Eli left before she had to intervene. And while she didn't believe rumors (she was still unsure if that was Eli's friend or someone he just talked to occasionally), she was still surprised (and a bit worried) when her little brother walked up to him and had a conversation with him. and it was unlikely that Krel would try to have conversations with anyone unprompted, and if it was literally anyone else, she'd be so proud.
When they arrived at the mother ship, Krel headed straight to his room with an uncharacteristic smile on his face. Maybe Eli wasn't so bad. She followed him down to his room and knocked on the door. "Little brother?
She shouted, jumping up and down in place with her upper arms crossed and the lower arms behind her back she was back in her Akiridion form. Krel opened the door with a sigh. "I'm working on something, Aja." He crossed his arms, still in his human disguise for some reason she brushed it off it probably wasn't important. "Is there something you need?" Aja suddenly realized she didn't know how to go about this, so she started with a question. "What were you doing with that Eli boy?" she asked, tilting her head, trying her very best not to seem too protective. However she wasn't really good at hiding tone and her brother stared at her seeming tired.
"Are you going to give me the same bullcrap other random people gave me?" He rolled his eyes. "No, he isn't bad; he's not a bully, and if anything, he is exceptionally smart for a human, and I think people are threatened by that."
Aja's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "Are you friends with him?" she exclaimed. That was the highest compliment anyone could receive from Krel. Krel shook his head and said, "Not yet." He sighed "Maybe in time." Aja decided maybe Eli wasn't so bad.
(A half hour before except in Krel Pov)
Krel just stared after Eli for a good few seconds. He took a huge risk with that because he wasn't sure what to say and was worried he might've messed up. He had decided to talk to Eli out of pure curiosity and didn't think of the consequences. Snapping out of his thoughts, he turned around, ready to head back to the ship. It was going to be a long day tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that.
"Hey! Someone called out to him. Krel rolled his eyes before turning around warily. In front of him was a girl with pastel pink hair, doe eyes, and an excessive amount of hair clips. She seemed a little energetic, constantly tapping her feet or messing around with her bracelets.
She gave him a worried look, so he knew nothing good would come out of this conversation. He forced himself to remain calm and not get angry. He hated that everyone in this school, within a few seconds of meeting him, treated him like glass just because he isn't like his sister Eli was the only one who didn't talk to him like he was a scared animal. "Is something wrong? Because if it isn't, I have to head home." It was weird calling somewhere on this planet home. "Uh, I wanted you to know that the guy you were talking to isn't really a good person." Krel raised his eyebrows; that was news to him he seemed nice enough.
He shrugged: "He seemed fine when I talked to him." He paused in confusion. "What's wrong with him?" The girl shook her head. "Well, it isn't really him as much as the people he hangs out with." Krel still didn't understand. The girl sighed, "He and Steve are like best friends, and Steve used to be the biggest bully in this school." Krel wanted to laugh. "I think the key word there is used to be." He grinned sarcastically: "If someone as intelligent as Eli is talking to someone like that, it's for a reason."
The pink-haired girl frowned. "But he has also been acting differently; he seems more shut off." Krel raised an eyebrow and said, "Yeah and?" He said he was still not understanding her worry the company that Eli keeps wasn't any of her business. "People change all the time." He sighed, not wanting to seem rude. "But since you seem so worried that something is wrong, I'll tell you if there is." He added quickly. The girl seemed to notice that Krel was done with the conversation and nodded before walking off. He sighed before heading to the ship.