Chapter Text
Bobbie stared at the wall, awaiting an arrival of a certain blonde. A school project... By just the two of them, they're gonna fail it for sure, they're both morons and they both know that. Kenny doesn't even know how to say the name of his own birth country in english. But there's always hope, right? Only if the said blonde even showed up. It's been over an hour after their scheduled time after all.
Usually Bobbie wouldn't have cared in the slightest. Kenny was always late after all, but he couldn't help but feel worried... Worried? No, Bobbie wasn't worried. He? He's not capable of such empathy. The only thing he worried about was him failing the class.
Yet this night felt different. Kenny was oddly distant the day before, and something inside of Bobbie's head told him to prepare. His instincts were always strong. Often right, sometimes wrong, but still strong. He grew up around gangs after all.
While he zoned out, stuck in his own head, silencing the background noises of Ruben and Rolando yelling at each other, he heard one specific sound that brought him out of his trance. A knock. A... weak, unsteady knock. As if someone was half asleep or didn't care. He shot up from the scratched and dirty couch and made his way to the door.
Upon opening, he was met with the blonde that invaded his head the whole day today. The blonde that could barely look at him. Although Bobbie was looking at him just fine, noticing the huge pupils in the others eyes.
"Bobbieee!" exclaimed Kenny, giggling about whatever came to his puzzling mind. His eyes were red, a view of which Bobbie has gotten used to.
"You're fucking fried again," Bobbie scoffed, and crossed his arms. "What the fuck, man!? We have a goddamn project to finish! How the fuck are we gonna do that with you being high as hell?!"
"Aawhh, don't act like we weren't just gonna smoke weed instead of working anywayss," he giggled once more, taking a step into the house.
Kenny held onto his project partner's strong arms, even though he felt just fine. He didn't know why he did so. Perhaps he liked to pretend to be weaker next to the strong scarred man, or maybe his knees naturally gave up at the sight of the brunette.
Bobbie shook his head, displeased. He firmly grabbed Kenny's arm and dragged him further into the house, closing the door behind him, practically digging his nails into his upper arm. Kenny felt himself enjoying the feisty approach of the other. A chuckle left his mouth once again. Perhaps the drug gave him decreased pain sensation.
"We're gonna fail this goddamn class this time," said Bobbie, his voice dripping with frustration and annoyance, as well as something else which neither of them could quite make out.
The two made it towards Bobbie's room. Or more so Bobbie helped Kenny get to the room without getting distracted with everything around.
"Ooh, where's your doggo?? Thorr! Thooorr!" Yelled Kenny in search of the Rottweiler, doing a wobbly spin to scan the area.
"Shut the fuck up," Bobbie brushed the other off, pushing him into his room and closing the door behind them as the other dropped himself onto the mattress.
Bobbie was clearly frustrated with the other. He knew Kenny probably takes drugs every single day, but today was important. Bobbie wanted to at least try to make a good project. He hated how stupid he was. He hated how he couldn't understand anything his teachers were saying, and he hated he wasn't able to pass class by himself. He hoped that Kenny would take this at least a bit more seriously.
He also knew he definitely shouldn't be judging, with how much drugs he actually steals from Kenny himself. But at least he knew where the limit was.
"Bobsss... How much weed do you have, project partner??" Kenny asked after a moment of silence, his voice seemingly laid back and relaxed. In response, Bobbie shot him a narrowed look, with his arms crossed once again. A pose he engaged in constantly, finding it the most masculine.
"None that you can take. You've already had enough," he coldly replied, looking away. "I was hoping you'd at least help me a bit for fucks sake."
"Bobbie come on! Why you so upset? It's nothin' I haven't done before! Go onnn, I know you've got something to smoke around here! Why don't ya join me??" he spoke, somehow able to form clear sentences, without messing up the English grammar. Or maybe he did, yet Bobbie was too used to it to catch any mistakes.
"I'm not giving you goddamn drugs. You're gonna stay here and try to sober up while I actually work on this project." The scarred man sat at his desk, trying his best to focus, cursing himself for not simply starting a few hours earlier, without waiting for the addict.
"Pff, 'sober up'... Sure..." Kenny laid his back on the mattress, staring at the ceiling which was full of color and texture. Except it wasn't. Kenny's eyes saw the world quite differently at the moment.
Kenny couldn't bear the silence. He just had to speak. He felt so alive and talkative, that he didn't even care about Bobbie seemingly trying to focus.
"Hey, Bobs.." He started.
"Shut up," the other replied, hearing a laugh from the mattress.
"Bobbie, Bobbie have I told you about that one situation with the cow??"
"You did. A lot."
"What abouttt... that one time in the park where a drunk guy tried-"
"Kenny for fucks sake, yes, I was there!" He cut the other off, to which the blonde laughed once again.
"You were-?" He asked. "Huh..." Kenny zoned off, staring into nothing.
Another few quiet minutes have passed. Kenny stopped bothering him for a moment, too busy trying to count how many fingers he had. Yet Bobbie seemed to get more and more frustrated.
But it wasn't Kenny's fault this time. He already knew he'd have to talk to Heather to get her delusional little boy toy to help him with the project again. And the thought of Stuart lecturing him on what he did wrong was making him want to punch a whole into the wall. Again.
"Hey Bobbie...." Kenny spoke again.
The other sighed in response, but not because of frustration towards the blonde, but because he knew he's not gonna finish this alone, especially not today with Kenny around. A sigh of defeat.
"What now?" He spinned around in his barely turning chair and looked at him.
"Man I wonder if Lola would be into me if I was more rugged... Bobbie how are you so tough all the time??" Kenny stared, eyes red, not even allowing the other to answer before continuing to ramble. "I like 'em feisty, and Lola can be so aggressive if she wants to... Did you see how far she can throw her damn shoe?? I bet if she's like that, she'd be into me if I matched her level... No, but Ben isn't rugged! That fucker is a little bitch, how is she into him??? Maann, so many questions... Bobbie do you think if I show her more of my sick moves she'll be mine before prom?? I already planned to sell alcohol there but like.. It'd be fun to have a date, right?"
Bobbie simply listened. He enjoyed when Kenny rambled while high, as he always had something laugh-worthy to say. And at least he wouldn't feel guilty laughing at something the other said, since he wouldn't even remember it and couldn't tease him about it. Yet he found himself.. frustrated. Frustrated at the mention of Lola Lane. Was it perhaps because he almost beat her up the other day? He never starts fights, but he would've gladly showed her not to mess with him or Kenny. But maybe it was something else? Jealousy perhaps? Why would he be jealous...
"Bobbie?" Kenny sat up from the mattress, his feet touching the rough carpet. It just made the other realize he's been zoning out, as if he was the high one here.
"Listen man, I'm pretty sure you ain't winning with Benjamin here, as much as I hate to say it. She sees something in him that we can't really see. And unless you wanna interrogate the guy, I doubt you're figuring that out any time soon, especially not before prom."
"Interrogate... Bobbie you're a genius! I-I gotta write that down!" Kenny said, standing up and laughing to himself. Bobbie felt instant regret.
"For fucks sake, I shouldn't have given you ideas.."
Kenny picked up a piece of paper from Bobbie's desk and started writing something, with the pen strangely placed in his hand. Bobbie managed to decipher "intro gatorade Riky, Lola♡ Abaut Lola. Ask. Haw is Ben hot??? His not. Ask him. Lola she so cul, rmembr". Once he was done, he proudly put the pen down and put the paper into his pocket.
Bobbie couldn't stop himself from laughing, which made Kenny look at him immediately.
"Aha! I made ya laugh again!! I'm so cool.. Right?? Right?? I am! Man your laugh is so cool... Laugh more" Kenny said before deciding to sit on the floor. Bobbie stopped laughing to look at him, feeling a warmth creep up his face. He suspected it's from embarrassment and annoyance.
"You like my laugh, huh? Well that's a first. I was sure you made fun of it cause you found it ridiculous."
"What?? No! No no, you're.. Your laugh is awesome, I feel like am actually cool when I get a laugh outta ya! It's just rare so I...." he zoned of for a moment, not finishing the sentence. Bobbie felt intrigued.
"Are you.. complementing me?"
"I am?" he blinked a few times, looking at Bobbie. "Hey, I am!" He laughed. "Hell yea I'm compel.. Complamin... Compelaiting.. Com- pelating.... Ya deserve it dude, am surprised you're still friends with me after all this time!"
"Well you kinda just stuck around, I didn't really get a saying in this." He crossed his arms and chuckled shortly.
"Cause you were cool, dude! And still are! I wanted you to like me so bad, I tried my hardest to speak English better just so you could understand me."
"That just sounds like you learned to speak English this fast just for me," he joked in response. Kenny laughed once again.
"Yea I mean, I kinda did! You seemed so annoyed with me at first that I wanted to be able to speak pore-proreply- p-properly, faster!" He giggled, finding everything funny in this state. Bobbie was taken aback.
"Pff, you're gonna tell me you love me next?" The man looked at the other with a teasing smirk, cringing at how wholesome their conversation got for a moment.
"I dunno man.. Don't say shit like that, I don't even know myself!" The blonde replied, laying down on the floor and staring into nothing. Bobbie's smirk quickly dropped.
"What-.. The fuck is that supposed to mean," the scarred man asked, caught off guard by the strange reply.
"It means I don't fuckin' know! You're super cool, but like- am not gay! I love Lola! Lola's awesome! But also some men are cool as hell... Like you... It's been messing with my fucking head, man." Kenny rambled, not paying attention to anything be said, trying to form proper sentences. Bobbie froze for a moment.
"What the fuck are you talking about..." Bobbie asked once again, not wanting to hear a reply
"I mean.. You're probably the only person to actually treat me deci- uh- decenitly-.. Diecin-.. Decently! Yeah! And you're also really fucking nice to look at, but when I say that it sounds so gay.. I'm not fucking gay! Women are attractive as hell, and I'm definitely in love with Lola! So like, I dunno man, it's confusing, I'm prolly just uh-.. appreciating you. I mean, it's not gay to enjoy your homies company right?? Cause-.." Kenny answered either way, his eyes wandering around the room. Yet he wasn't able to finish, as Bobbie cut him off.
"Kenny spell Mississippi," the other said, looking at his desk, thinking. He didn't want to hear any more of this nonsense, he needed to distract the other while he digested this.
"Oh yea, uh, M-I-S- uh.. was it Y? No.. M-I-S-E-S-.. E..? M-E-S-E, no, wait, what? M... M-I..." Kenny continued to struggle while Bobbie cancelled his voice as background noise, trying to focus on his own messy thoughts.
The dark haired man was shocked. He would've never suspected for Kenny out of all people to be homosexual, but he saw him making out with women before, and he was clearly gushing over Lola right now. It didn't make any sense. Can someone be into two genders? Bobbie had no idea.
He felt confused. Rather than be disgusted, he felt.. worried? Worried how that information is gonna affect his friend's life in school once someone finds out. The thought of Kenny getting the same treatment as Skeeter made him incredibly uncomfortable and frustrated. He didn't want that. Why didn't he want that? He hated gay people, but somehow couldn't get himself to feel disgusted with his friend being into him. Worst of all, he felt like he.. enjoyed that. Probably just because having someone be in love with you is quite the ego booster, and it doesn't have anything to do with actual feelings. At least that's what Bobbie was telling himself.
Yet if it was such a good ego booster, why did he feel so.. confused? He didn't understand what could Kenny see in him. The blonde out of everyone should know how pathetic Bobbie actually is. He saw him through his most vulnerable moments, and somehow he still managed to blush at the sight of that scarred face? It puzzled Bobbie deeply. So deeply, that he didn't even know what to think anymore. It seems quite obvious Kenny at least has a crush on him, but it also seems he himself isn't even aware of it yet.
He didn't know what to do, what to say, nor what to think. But he knew one thing for sure.
He wouldn't let anyone find this out.
He won't allow Kenny to be bullied. He won't allow Heather to find out, nor any other greaser. Nobody has to know.
He had time to sort his thoughts, he didn't have to rush. All he had to do was keep that information to himself, and try to come to terms with it alone.