Work Text:
When Rowley's parents had invited a family over for a dinner party, he'd been tasked with entertaining their little girl. He was dressed in a nice dress suit and pants, while she was in a nice red dress. Around about six years old, she'd reached into his drawer (without his permission!) and taken out two little lockets.
"What's this?" she asked.
"These are friendship necklaces!" Rowley answered, a friendly smile on his face. He walked towards her, holding the bracelet up to show her the small lettering. Two lockets, split to create a full heart together. The words "Best Friends" were etched across them in gold.
"You wear a half, and your best friend wears the other half. It fits together to make a heart, see?" He explained.
"Ohhhhhh, I've seen some of my friends with those" The girl said, looking up at him with her blinking eyes. "But why do you have one?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, aren't those only for girls?"
Rowley's big smile had turned into a small frown, as he looked down at the lockets in his hand. "...Well, why can't boys wear them too?" he asked.
"Because it's just weird." She said, spinning around his room. "My mommy said that girl stuff is for girls, and boy stuff is for boys, and that, it should stay that way. And my daddy said that if he ever had a son who wore a dress, he would be disowned. Whatever that means. Also, do you have any candy?"
Rowley just looked at the ground near his feet, feeling his heart sinking to the ground. "No, I'm not allowed candy in my room." he said quietly.
"Oh. Bummer. Also I need to pee. The toilet is across the hallway right?"
"Yeah."
She'd left the room and Rowley had sat on his bed, staring at the lockets in his hand.
Greg and Rowley were playing video games, as what they usually did. Hollering, laughing, and clicking away at their buttons, Rowley always felt really happy during these moments. Like he was reminded of why he liked being best friends with Greg so much.
Which... that reminded him- after the game ended, Greg had been about to start the new one when Rowley had put down his controller to shuffle into his backpack.
"...Rowley? What are you doing?" Greg asked.
"I forgot that there was something I wanted to give to you!" Rowley said cheerfully, taking out the bracelets. He held them out in front of Greg.
"See? They're friendship necklaces!" Rowley announced. "One half for you, one half for me!"
It was silent before Greg had suddenly began to laugh; the awful, long cackle that Rowley had heard from Greg's older brother countless times.
"Oh Rowley, you're hilarious!" He said, clutching his stomach.
"Greg! I'm not joking!" Rowley said.
Greg's face turned from laughter to an expression Rowley was all too familiar with.
"Wha- you can't be serious!" Greg spluttered.
"Well- why not?"
Greg looked at him, holding the charms in his hand- and Rowley turned pink.
"Rowley, you know why." Greg explained. "We would never have a good reputation- let alone a reputation again! And if my brother saw me wearing something that embarrassing, he would never let me live it down! What if- what if people think we're like, weirdos or something?"
"But..." Rowley said, but he faltered, because a part of him knew that Greg was right. But it didn't hurt any less.
"I just... I wanted to, you know..." Rowley started.
"To what?" Greg said.
"Now that we've been best friends for some time, I wanted to make our best friendship- you know! Official!" Rowley said, playing with the lockets in his hand while staring at his lap.
"But Rowley, no one cares about that stuff! And we know that we're best friends, right?" Greg explained.
"...Yeah, right."
"And besides, those things are for girls anyway."
Rowley clenched the bracelets sadly in his hand and shoved them back into his backpack.
Honestly- it wasn't the locket itself that Rowley had wanted so much. It was the declaration to everyone else, that Greg was his best friend and he was his- something so meaningful and wholesome, that they could walk into school together and everyone would see it and just know. While Rowley knew that Greg was his best friend, it still felt nice when Greg said it out loud. Like he was making it more real.
When the little girl and her parents had left their house, and Rowley had walked into the dining room to help his parents clean the table, he still felt a bit depressed.
And usually, when he felt sad, he would go straight to his parents for comfort or advice. His parents were always the first people he went to when he was sad; they always knew the right thing to say. But... he knew that if he told them about the friendship locket incident including Greg, they would probably say the usual:
"Rowley, why don't you try to find new friends to play with instead of that boy? He always puts you down!" "I told you that all that boy does is hurt you! Why don't you have a playdate with some other kid instead?" "Rowley... I seriously think you need to stop being friends with him."
And every time they tried to talk him through it, every time they told him about how bad Greg was- he always felt very sad. He... he knows that Greg isn't an inherently bad person. He knows that he's just trying to look out for them...
Rowley sadly scrubbed the dishes as he forced a smile for his dad, who smiled back at him.