Chapter Text
“I’m really sorry about all this. Surely you understand… yeah. That sounds good. Thanks, man. Sorry again about the project… yeah. Okay, bye,” he said, shutting the door.
Exer wished them safe travels on the way back, sending Jackson and Ron on their way along with everybody else. By then it was brisk out, and the sun had long since gone down.
Brenda sighed. “That’s a relief, it was getting a little crowded in here…”
Christine nodded, bent down in front of the couch to meet David at eye level. “David, baby…” she said, caressing his cheek. “Are you sure you don’t need anything else? Are you hungry? I could whip something up-“
“I’m not hungry.”
All the lights in the house felt dimmer. Even though physically, they couldn’t be. Where once was the sound of restless all nighters spent in front of the television, and the exhausted yet prideful regret that awaited in the morning, and the sweet serenade of the birds chirping on a warm summer morning; was now replaced with a new memory. That with the likeness of an unforgiving winter, and worst of all an unforgiving reality. But Exer knew it wasn’t the house that was dim, it wasn’t what was on the outside that made it seem that much colder. It was the occupants.
It was David.
Christine nodded, gently kissing the top of his head. “Okay…” she said softly, standing upright.
She turned her back to him, and as soon as she did so her bright and hopeful expression diminished to that of pure exhaustion. Her smile falling into a tight lipped frown, and her lips quivering ever so slightly.
She started to walk in Exer’s direction, her stride feigning confidence. He stood up straighter with his shoulders back, clearing his throat.
She stopped just in front of him, before grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him into a hug.
“Oomph!” He exclaimed.
She spoke under her breath, “thank you for showing up today. I’m sure it means the world to David.” She let him go.
“Yeah, of course. I wanna be here to support him.”
She nodded. “And I talked to your father and arrange for you to stay over, at least for the night…”
“Did you tell him… about…-“
She quickly shook her head. “Of course not. That’s up to you to do on your own terms, David said he hates that I had to find out this way. So I figured you the same as well.”
He smiled. “Yeah, something like that. Thank you… I’m just not quite ready to tell him yet. I kind of get the feeling he already knows… but thanks anyways.”
He shifted awkwardly. “So, I guess this means you know about us…”
She nodded again. “Yes. I do. Look, I’m just going to speak freely here,” she crossed her arms. “I know you, Ex. I’ve known you for a long time and I trust you. And honestly, if it had to be anyone…”
She put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad it’s you.” She smiled.
He lit up. “Oh man… wow. Thank you so much. You have no idea what that means to me. I promise, I really care about him. I’d never do anything to hurt him. You have my word.” He placed his hand over hers. “Thank you, really.”
“Of course.” They separated, and Christine walked over to where Brenda and David were sitting on the couch.
She wrapped her arm around Brenda’s shoulder. “Come on, baby. Time to get some sleep. She looked reluctant, turning back to look at David. But she conceded, covering her mouth with her hand as she let out a yawn.
Christine turned around, and gave Exer one last nod of approval before disappearing down the hallway.
It was just the two of them now.
He made sure to make his presence known, forcing his footsteps a little heavier than usual. He sat down on the couch opposite to him.
David sat crisscrossed with Lucy curled up at his at his side, he brushed her fur gently with the back of his hand.
“Uhm, hey.”
“Hi.”
The air between them stagnated.
“That looks like it hurts.”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
He had barely said a word these past few hours, instead looking down at the ground. A nod here and there.
David wouldn’t even look at him.
“I could make that go away for you…” He held out an open hand.
David shook his head. “No. I couldn’t explain that to mom.” He shook his blond hair out of his eyes.
“Surely we can come up with something, that looks like it really-“
“I said it’s fine. And anyway, you’re not supposed to be using your magic.”
“But I could-“
“Can you just drop it?”
Exer raised his eyebrows. “I’m… sorry.” He picked at his nails. “At least let me get you some ice or something,” he insisted, his voice cautious. “It’s the least I could do,” he said much softer.
David glanced at him from the side, still not quite looking at him before gently nodding.
Exer smiled in satisfaction. He got up and walked into the kitchen, creating a makeshift ice pack with a ziplock bag and a hand towel. Once he was done he went back to the living room where David was sitting.
“Here.” Exer sat back down next to him, reaching out his hand to hold his face. Then, almost as if instinctively, David smacked his hand away.
“Don’t-!” He let out a shuttering breath.
“…Don’t do that.”
Exer furrowed his brows.
His eyes watered, and his cheeks burned. But he forced it back.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. Here, do you wanna…”
Exer held it out to him, expecting for David to simply take it from him. But then he shakily grabbed his hand and put it to his face, using Exer’s hand to hold the ice in place.
“I…Oh,” he said, flustered.
“Is this okay?”
“Oh, no, yeah. This is okay. This is cool. Haha… cool. Like ice. You know because ice is…” David simply stared at him, with no discernible expression on his face.
Exer shook his head disapprovingly. “Sorry. I’m… It’s not really a good time to be joking.” He pulled his hand away.
“No… it was… funny. Ha.” David managed a weak smile.
“David, you don’t have to…”
“It’s late.” He stood up from where he was sitting, Lucy-Furr in hand.
“What? But I didn’t even get to tell you how it went with Jackson.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Today was a lot.”
“No… don’t be. It’s okay.” He stood up, unconsciously putting a hand on David’s shoulder.
He looked at his hand for a second, before brushing him off.
“I’m sure I have some pajamas you can use.” He walked away somewhere out of the room without saying anything else, his eyes down at the ground.
Exer stared at the back of his head as he walked away. All he could think of to do was to stand in place. Now there was nothing in the room except for him, and the soft whirring of the air conditioning.
He imagined that he was still there next to him, his hand resting on his shoulder like it had many times before. Even before they were what they were now, back when it wasn’t anything more than friendship. It felt like it belonged there, like they belonged together. But right here, right now, when he reached out for him… for the first time in his life Day left him hanging.
The room felt suddenly colder.
“Exer?”
He snapped back into reality, physically shaking off the thought as he inched closer towards the disembodied voice. David was still standing there at the end of the hallway, waiting for him.
“Are you..?”
“Yeah! Yeah. Sorry.” He hurriedly made his way down the hall, following David to his room.
•
“This is all my fault.”
It was still dark out, the 6:00 A.M sun barely peaking out the blinds into the living room. Lucy-Furr laid sprawled out on the couch, Exer wasn’t sure when she got out of David’s bedroom. Probably sometime after he woke up and left him to sleep. It wasn’t like David to sleep in so late, but given the circumstances and his behavior the night prior; it seemed like this morning he really needed it. So this morning he let him be.
“You can’t think like that. This was David’s dad. His fault. Nothing to do with you.” He said muffled through the phone speaker.
“It’s easy for you to say that, Ron.”
“David knew the risks.”
“That doesn’t make it any easier. If it weren’t for me… for us… none of this would have happened.” He held the telephone to his ear with his shoulder, turning up the gas on the stove.
He sighed. “I don’t know. I just can’t help but rethink all of it.” He cracked an egg over the pan. “Is it really…” he stopped himself.
“Really what?”
He bit his tongue. “Is it worth it? I know that’s terrible to say, but-“
He cut him off. “Do you care for David?”
“What?”
“Do you care? About David?”
“Yeah. Of course I do.” He nodded, even though Ron couldn’t see him.
“So Ron thinking it’s worth it.”
Exer poured some milk into the concoction of eggs, not caring about precision. “It’s not that simple. Sometimes Ron, if you care about someone you have to do what’s best for them. And…”
“David better with you than without. Always.”
He sprinkled some shredded cheese, applying it evenly onto the eggs flat surface. He let out a heavy sigh, but then he smiled to himself. “You really think so?”
“David not being able to get through this without you. You need each other,” he said, confidently. “But I don’t know. I am tired…”
Exer chuckled. “Yeah, sorry for calling so early. There’s just a really weird vibe around here, and nobody else is awake. I just needed someone to talk to.”
“That’s okay. Wasn’t sleeping anyway.”
“You’re freaked out about everything too?”
“Of course. David my friend. I’m worrying about him.”
He closed the fridge behind him “Me too, Ron. Me too.”
“Exer?”
He flinched at the sudden voice, he turned around to see who it was.
“Oh. Brenda,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “it’s just you. Sorry, you scared me.”
“Who’s that?” She asked.
He went back to what he was doing. “It’s Ronald.”
“Oh, well tell him I said hi.”
“What’s going on?”
“Hey, Ron. Brenda’s awake. I think I’m gonna let you go now. Try to get some sleep, okay?”
“Oh, yeah. Thank you for calling. I will try.”
“Bye now. Oh yeah, and Brenda says hi.”
He laughed softly.“Thanks. Tell her I say hi back. Talk to you later. Bye.”
“Bye.” He said, hanging the phone up.
“What are you doing?” She leaned with her arms over the counter that separated the living room from the kitchen. “What are you doing in the dark?”
“I’m just making some breakfast.”
“In the dark?” she said in a tired voice.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry.”
He walked over to where the light switch was and flicked it on. “I don’t really need it, I can see fine.”
“Oh. Because of… your powers.”
He shrugged. “Something like that.”
Brenda leaned over the counter to look at the stove.
“Are you hungry? I could make you some.”
“Oh, sure.”
Exer grabbed a spatula from off to the side and flipped the omelette over, placing it gently onto the plate.
He slid it over to her. “Here. You can have mine,” he said, handing her a fork.
“But what about you?” He shrugged.
“I wasn’t really hungry anyway.”
She furrowed her brows at him, scrunching up the bridge of her nose. “Then what did you make it for?”
He didn’t say anything else, he just grabbed all the used utensils and carried them to the sink.
He ran the faucet as quiet as he could. He rinsed the pan he was using. “So uh, how are you handling all of this? Are you… okay?”
Her fork clattered loudly against the plate, which made Exer grit his teeth.
“I’m just still processing it. It’s really just a lot is all. I just can’t believe dad could be capable of something like that…”
“Yeah, me neither. It feels like something changed along the way,” he said, putting the pan back where he found it. “For me, it’s like we were cool and then one day we just weren’t. I can’t explain it.”
Brenda shook her head. “I think the only explanation is that he was always like this, and we just never saw it until now. But that being said, he always was a little…”
“Tough?”
“Yeah. I guess you could call it that. All the signs were there but nobody wanted to believe it.”
“What do you mean?” He turned his head to look at her.
She picked at the omelette with her fork. “It’s the way that he always pushed him, you know he pressured him into joining football right?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Don’t get me wrong he loves it, and he loves the attention too.” She rolled her eyes. “But I can’t imagine always being under that kind of pressure, even if it was something I really liked. If mom pressured me like that to do cheerleading… it would just ruin it for me. I don’t know how he dealt with it for so long.”
“He’s really strong. It’s something I’ve always admired about him.”
“Really?”
He finished washing the last of the dishes and leaned his back against the sink. “He’s always had a thicker skin than I did, even as kids. While I’ve always had a short temper, nothing really gets to him. I think that’s why this is so hard for everyone. Just because of who he is, when someone usually so unaffected by the world around him is so suddenly...”
They both got really quiet.
Brenda nodded, pushing the plate away. “What happened last night after mom and I went to bed?”
He tried to shrug off the nagging feeling of how David had been acting. The way he flinched at his touch, and the way he brushed his hand off his shoulder. So on edge, so mentally preoccupied.
All he could think of to do was shake his head. “Nothing really.”
She blinked. “Hm.”
Brenda looked down at her plate for a long moment, before standing upright and walking back towards the hallway.
“Brenda? You didn’t even eat any of it.”
She turned her head to look back at him, she didn’t say anything else before walking back into her room and closing the door behind her.
The room felt suddenly colder.
He shivered.