Work Text:
Kevin made sure no one saw him as he snuck up the stairs. Sure, the music was pumping and people were busy making out and shit, but still—he got special permission.
Tears stung behind his eyes. At a damn party? After last night? He shook his head as his shoe almost got caught on the top step. “Crab nuggets!” He winced and stuck a hand out to catch his body.
He chose to ignore the slight ache in his hand on his way to the bathroom. Door’s broken, don’t close it. The boy crept into the room and was instantly hit with the smell of lavender fabreeze. His nose twitched and the door creaked when he closed it, leaving a crack so as to not get it stuck.
The mirror was the first thing he saw. Actually, his pathetic trembling lip was the first, but with a harsh swallow, it mostly went away. His hyperventilating breaths echoed in his ears while his body leaned against the sink.
Get it together, Fischer. Fuck! I can get any girl I want! She’s just a-
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted while he tried shaking his hands out. The signature varsity ring he’d worn to graduation earlier that day was not..on..his forefinger..
A gasp filled the small bathroom. Kevin lurched to grab the ring from the air but was met with a face full of marble countertop. “Unghh,” he groaned, his eyes most definitely letting tears fall after that.
The ring left a plopping sound as it fell right into the toilet bowl. Kevin’s squinted eyes opened wider when he heard that, his hand that was previously clutching his hurt forehead reaching for the dreaded counter again.
He pulled himself to standing and bent over the toilet. Why not? Ran out of dignity years ago. The boy winced and lined up his t-shirt clad shoulder to the toilet. The ring shone up to meet his gaze, mocking him.
After a deep breath, he reached his hand right in. Of course, the ring didn’t cooperate as he wanted and went deeper and deeper. The more he pushed his hand in, the further down the ring would go. Damn it!
Kevin huffed and hit the cabinet beside him. A second later, his mood rose, his fingers wrapping around the ring. “Yes..!” He tugged his hand to get it out of the water.
He tugged again. And again. His once satisfied expression slowly went sour. No fuckin’ way. The boy used his upper body to try and get his hand out of the toilet. Each sloshing sound made his blood boil a little more.
At this point, Kevin’s body was jerking side to side. The tears on his face had dried, leaving it sticky and uncomfortable. His breathing had become even stronger than it was before. “Come onnnnn!”
With one final tug, the jock’s hand released from its toilet prison, bringing the ring with it. That is, until he unlocked his grip in pure joy. The ring flew into the air almost in slow motion while he glared at it. His heart stopped; right down his loose collar it went.
In a panic, he shot up from his knees and started patting himself down. “Crap, crap, crap!” He felt as though his arms might’ve fallen right off. His left hand was conveniently still wet, leaving damp handprints all over his light blue top.
Oh, please no. The cold metal travelled downwards; his hands travelled with it. Kevin’s head tilted back and he shut his eyes. His body twitched as his hands reached his waistline, the metal tingling his lower abdomen.
The sound of the door creaking failed to stop his panting as his eyes tore open. The body of a certain photographer walked through the door quite quickly.
Wendy Christensen slipped inside the bathroom only to find someone already there. Never had she ever seen a boy in such a..compromising position. “Oh, fiddlesticks!” Her hand went straight to cover her eyes.
“Get out!” Kevin didn’t know what else to do but yell at the girl. The words of the homeowner suddenly came to mind, but it was too late. “Don’t shut the-! ..door,” he sighed deeply. She’d backed into the door and the click was heard throughout the room.
“I- what?” Wendy was hesitant to take her hand away from her eyes. But the boy wasn’t doing..whatever he was doing anymore. Or at least, it didn’t sound like he was.
He clenched his jaw and took his hands away from his body. The stench of lavender was still enough to make him sick, but at least he found his ring. “The door is busted.”
A panic filled the girl as her hand flew to the handle. She jiggled it aggressively, the noise piercing the ears of both of them.
Kevin tossed his ring onto the counter and walked himself over to the door. He straightened his back and placed his hand on the knob to replace Wendy’s. On his first try, the hunk of metal came right along with his fist. Shit.
“What the hell did you do?!” Wendy backed up and glared at the knob connected to the boy’s hand instead of the door.
“What did I do? You’re the one who shut it in the first place!”
“Well I wouldn’t have done that if you weren’t so..busy..in here!” Wendy sneered at Kevin in disgust. Her expression was met with a blank stare from him.
“Busy? What are you- oh..” The confusion was replaced with realization as he felt his cheeks heat up. “I swear it wasn’t what it looked like.”
Wendy scoffed and sat on the edge of the bathtub. “Sure it wasn’t,” her voice was enough to make Kevin want to lodge the knob he was still holding right into the top of her head.
There was a loud bang when Kevin’s hand dropped the metal to the floor. Wendy winced. He took note of her intent gaze on the counter in front of her.
“It wasn’t. I could get laid tonight if I wanted to, I’m not that desperate,” he tried to make his voice as arrogant as possible. Wendy found it to sound more like a middle schooler trying to defend his whiffed baseball shot, however.
She fiddled with her fingers a moment before speaking, “I don’t doubt that. You did come here with Carrie, didn’t you?”
His ears perked up at the girl’s words. Carrie. Do I tell her? “Yeah…Carrie. I di-..we did.” Kevin couldn’t stop his head from tilting down. Of all people…
The girl swallowed and brushed her bangs out of her face. It hadn’t taken long for the two to give up on getting out of that bathroom. Not that she wouldn’t have preferred getting stuck with anyone else, but there they were.
“So, your phone’s dead I’m guessing?”
“Hm? Oh, yeah. Dead. No juice..”
“Same,” Wendy nodded, watching the jock push the toilet seat down and sitting on it.
The pair sat in silence for at least two songs, the bass pumping at their feet the entire time. Finally, Kevin decided to speak up, “happy graduation.”
Her eyes stayed on the counter and her jaw tightened. “‘Happy graduation?’ That’s all you have to say?”
His body froze and his right hand rubbed the back of his neck, “uh, yeah?”
“Fine. Make it my responsibility to talk about it. I don’t know why I expected anything less from ‘Fischer.’” The air quotes she made were enough to lower Kevin’s expression to a scowl.
“What more do you want me to say, Wendy?”
“Oh, I dunno! How about ‘sorry?!’ Could you start there?!”
He huffed and crossed his arms across his chest, “alright, ‘sorry.’ Is that good enough, your highness?”
Wendy shook her head and scowled. The tingling behind her eyes made her feel weak and pathetic, the window suddenly feeling very appealing to her. She stared outside, not bothering to look at her trapped comrade, “you’re so full of it.”
As if my night wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows before.. “If this is about him then I have nothing to apologize for,” he said in his proudest voice. Thoughts of his best friend floated around in his mind as he too avoided looking at the girl in front of him.
“That’s such a you thing to say,” she seethed, “a hotshot football asswipe sucks up to you and suddenly-“
“Don’t you dare finish that,” he pointed directly at her and stood up. All at once, their gazes met and fire was passed from one set of eyes to the other.
“And suddenly your best friend is just a geek who takes pictures for fun and has no real friends.”
The words hung in the air. At that point, Wendy had gotten up and was staring directly into the boy’s pinkish eyes. She chose to ignore the tear streaks that still lined his cheeks.
Kevin’s silence was louder than the thumping music from down the stairs. She’s right. It’s all my fault.
“Not even a sorry to go with it..” Wendy’s eyes began to glisten while he continued to stare her down. Four years without speaking for that long. Four. Years.
The way her eyes shined under the dim bathroom light made his own follow suit. He shook his head and attempted to stop his jaw from trembling by speaking, “I’m sorry.” That’s not enough.
“It’s over, Kevin. You’re too late. Not like two words are enough anyway.” Her expression lost all the character it had before. There wasn’t any anger or sadness, just..resignation.
“Then I can say more!” Kevin’s arms suddenly shot out, his hands gripping her own arms. He ignored the shock that faced him, “I can say that I was an asshole. I knew you hated Jason and I talked to him anyway. I- I was a total dick to you for years and I didn’t face any consequences or anything. All those nights we spent watching old horror movies in eighth grade I..I tried to push down the drain but I couldn't. I can’t do it anymore.”
She felt a stream of liquid ride down her cheek at his words. She didn’t know how many times she’d pictured this night, his speech. A rush of satisfaction came over her but it wasn’t enough, “you can’t do what?”
Kevin released his grip and rubbed his eyes aggressively. His body travelled backwards until his back hit the wall. He clenched his fist beside him, “I can’t pretend like I haven’t thought about middle school every night since we stopped hanging out.”
“You mean, since you completely walked out on me?” Her correction stung but it was true.
He swallowed, “yeah.”
Wendy bit her bottom lip and blinked her tears away. Kevin did the same while he stuffed both hands in his jean pockets.
“I really am sorry, Wendy. You deserve better.”
Her vision cleared from the blur of tears. She watched the boy’s mannerisms shrink back further into the wall, “I know.”
He paused, moving his eyes back up to the girl. The half smile he caught on her lips tugged his brow down, “you..know?”
All she did was nod. Is she still saying I’m an asshole?
“Well, uh..it’s good we’re going off to college later then. You won’t have to put up with my shit anymore,” he meekly added.
Her hand touched his bare arm, catching him off guard. She ignored the flinch and spoke, “happy graduation,” her lip rose to a tilted smirk as she repeated his words back to him.
“Huh?”
“I accept your apology.”
“Really?”
At the eagerness in his eyes, she rolled her own, “yeah.”
It felt as though a weight was lifted off his chest. Despite his earlier hyperventilation, not one of his thoughts was trained on Carrie. It was like Wendy was the only person in the world to him.
“Thank you..I mean..” Has she always been this beautiful? Before he could rationalize, his lips were already darting for the ones in front of him.
Even though it came as a shock, both sides contributed to said kiss. Wendy’s fingers ran through his hair and his own hand grazed her cheek.
“I’m sorry about Carrie,” she whispered in between kisses, having figured out what was wrong with the boy about ten seconds after the doorknob came off.
He bit his lip but shrugged, “s’fine. I don’t..’Care-ee,’” he smirked to himself at the likely offensive joke.
In response, Wendy kissed his top lip in order to stop him from talking. Was she going to go further with this? No, of course not—she was Yale bound after all! But had she kissed someone in a while? Also no, and it felt good.
Lost in their embrace, neither noticed when a girl barged through the door. A girl with hair like she’d just been electrocuted and a dress with too many stains to count. They did notice, however, her screeching voice, “get the fuck out of my house!”
Startled, Wendy pushed off of Kevin and stared at the girl with a slack jaw. She grabbed Kevin’s hand on instinct and dragged him out the busted door and down the stairs.
“Oh- I-!” The boy failed to comprehend anything that had just happened and looked aimlessly at Wendy. “We’re free!”
“Nice investigating, Sherlock,” she shook her head and pulled him out of the front door. The lack of party not even phasing the pair.
After a moment of standing on the poor girl’s porch, he turned to Wendy, “so are we gonna talk ab-“
“Nope,” she pressed her lips together and shook her head, beginning to walk to her car, “what happened in the bathroom stays in the bathroom.”