Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

John had only been at his new school for a week when he found himself with a very big problem—or several problems, depending on how you looked at it.

            It started on Friday afternoon. John had been searching all week for a prank he could pull. Pranks were one thing John did really well. He thought that maybe the other kids would think he was funny if he pulled a really great one. Maybe this year he wouldn’t be alone. Not that he’d ever minded that before. No, he was fine, really.

            Things were going pretty that day thus far. The highlight was when one of his later classes had been let out ten minutes early. John was walking down a deserted hallway to his next class when he came across an unattended bucket of used mop water sitting by a door that was slightly ajar.

            Oh, man. This was too classic—there was no way he could pass this up!

            John got the bucket on top of the door and ran to hide around the corner. But as he waited for a victim, he started to wonder if dumping a bucket of dirty water on someone was too mean. After a minute of deliberation, he decided it was and went back to take the bucket down; he would wait until he could pull a nicer prank.

            But just as he got back up on the chair he had used to set up the prank in the first place, the door shot open and the bucket of water sloshed backward and came crashing down on the unsuspecting head of the worst person it could have fallen on.

            His identity was confirmed by the name on the red letterman jacket he always wore: Miller. As in Rob Miller, the biggest, burliest guy John had seen at this school.

            Oh fuck. John was so appalled; all he could do was stare in horror while the students who had crowded behind Miller in the classroom to leave gasped as the jock spluttered furiously. He quickly pulled the bucket off his head, tossing it aside to whip his head in search for who did it. It didn’t take him long.

            He grabbed John by the shoulders, surprising him by picking him up easily. Add that to the list of consequences of being small and short. Miller was absolutely livid.

            “I’m sorry!” John blurted. He tried to stay calm. Miller couldn’t do anything to him, not in the middle of school. “I didn’t mean for it to fall on you, I was trying to take it down.”

            “Well I got news for you, runt,” Miller said through his teeth. “You weren’t fast enough!”

            Without warning, he dropped John, letting him fall to the ground painfully. Miller pointed at him threateningly.

            “I’ll deal with you after school.” He walked off, before any teachers could see the exchange. Two more guys wearing the same red letterman jackets pushed through the crowd to flank him as he left.

            John picked himself up once Miller was out of sight, trying and probably failing to not look like a loser in front of the crowd of juniors and seniors that had been there to witness it all. He tugged at his thin blue jacket to try to cover up the stain on his pants from being dropped in the puddle of water his prank had left.

            As he walked to his last class, he tried to put the whole thing out of his mind. It had to be a bluff, right? Yeah, of course it was. Someone would notice if they gave him a hard time after school. A teacher would obviously help him if they tried anything. John would be fine.

            Just to be sure though, he would try to keep his head down, lay low. But of course, that didn’t work. Not long after he was outside, he was surrounded by about five or six of them, all almost as big and beefy as Miller. John figured they were all jocks as well, because they all wore the same letterman jackets.

            Well no; on second thought, just five of them were Miller clones and circling him. The sixth guy—who was much lankier, one of the tallest among them—was hanging back a little, with two black cords snaking from his ears to his pocket and sunglasses that hid most of his blank expression. But if his own letterman’s jacket said anything, it was that he was with the others.

            “Hey, pipsqueak.” Miller said. “How about you come along with us?”

            “Actually, I should really go home.” John said, trying to sound brave. He looked around him casually trying to find a way out. “I mean, it would suck if I missed my bus or something. And I have a lot homewo—”

            But then, two of the other guys grabbed John’s arms and started leading him around the side of the building.

            “Well the thing is, kiddo, you don’t have a choice.”

            John tried to pull himself out of their clutches but they were unbreakable, at least to his pathetic strength. He thought about calling for help, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he tried to beg, with as much dignity as he could manage.

            “Oh, c’mon, guys, it was just a prank. I know I went a little overboard, but I really am sorry. Are you really still that mad about it?” He asked, directing the question to Miller himself.

            To answer his question, John got a punch to the gut. With the wind knocked out of him, he doubled over, holding his stomach and trying to breathe. Long before he could have recovered, he was knocked sideways to the ground from a blow to the shoulder.

            Miller and his friends continued to wail on him. John tried to take it in silence, figuring he shouldn’t give them the satisfaction, but after the first couple minutes he couldn’t stop himself from crying out. Eventually after about five or ten minutes, with one last kick to the leg, they laughed and started leaving.

            “That was fun,” her heard one of them say as they left. “We should really do this again sometime!”

            Slowly, John got up. He winced from the pain, but he could push through it. The last thing he wanted to do was be a baby about.

            He thought about telling a teacher what happened. But he was tired and sore; he just wanted to go home, lie down, and forget this ever happened. Besides, they were done with him now. He simply didn’t care enough to kick up a fuss about one episode of getting beat up.

            The second time John got beat up, the following Monday, he still didn’t want to tell anyone. He got on his bus, trying to twist his glasses back the right way and was barely managing to ignore the pain in his side, telling himself they would stop soon. They’d taken him by surprise this time, but now that he knew they weren’t letting this go, John would be more vigilant.

            John got beat up again Wednesday afternoon, and on Thursday as well. And when they saw him around the school they would do their best to taunt him verbally, or try to trip him or knock his books out of his hands and make it look like an accident.

            On Friday, they found John again. He had been trying to wait them out, hoping they would get bored and leave if they didn’t see him. But that didn’t work eitherin fact, it made it worse, since now everyone was gone and the teachers had gone back inside, so no one would hear him yelling. And this time, they held him down.

            He started to get snippy with them when he was shoved against the side of the school building, trying to show them that he still wasn’t scared. He was of course, but he didn’t want to make it obvious.

            “Oh, yeah, that’s really impressive. I’m half your guy’s size and now you’re going to hold—” He was saying, when he was cut off by a fist that connected with his jaw and cut him off. John wasn’t sure what had happened to his mouth, but he could taste blood. How perfect would it be if he had lost a tooth? As if the dental industry didn’t already make enough money off him trying to fix his overbite.

            It wasn’t the first time during this whole getting-beat-up routine that John began to tear up—not real crying, but you try having to suffer pain without having a physical reaction once in a while. But the bullies just took the opportunity to call him on it.

            “Awww, look at that, we made him cry,” one of them said; the one who hit him. They all laughed loudly.

            John was so sick of this; he hated being so defenseless, damn it. Why couldn’t he just do something? So for once, John was just too pissed to take it lying down. He kicked the guy in the groin as hard as he could.

            The guy groaned, and the other jocks were so stunned that they released their hold on John. But John didn’t take the time to appreciate the looks on their dumb faces. He was too busy booking it, hoping to any god that would listen that he could outrun them.

            “You ‘tards!” He heard Miller say after a few seconds. “Get him!”

            John forced himself to keep his thoughts off his pursuers and focus on running running running as fast as he could; He couldn’t stop, he couldn’t rest. He ran into the suburbs, hoping to lose them in the maze of houses. He twisted and turned through the side streets, thankful that the bullies didn’t seem to have the brains to split up. Finally, John realized he had lost them. He stopped to catch his breath . . . and to figure out where he was.

            Thinking back, John realized that after he’d gotten out of the school parking lot, he’d gone in the complete opposite direction of his bus stop. This combined with waiting so long after school, there was no way his bus wasn’t already gone. He’d have to wait for the next one, if he could even find his way back. Spectacular. So having no clue which was he had come from, so he decided to just pick a direction he didn’t think the bullies would be.

            Now that he was safe, he got angry again. This whole thing was stupid. The jocks on the stupid football team who were terrorizing him—Miller himself was the Quarterback. How fucking typical. John knew he was stupid too, for not telling anyone about this. He just didn’t want to feel like even more of a pathetic loser than he already did. And it was stupid that had to move to dumb Texas in the first place. He wanted to go back to Washington. Being alone was way better than this.

            It wasn’t until John saw a sign in the near distance that directed the way to some cushy gated community that he realized he wasn’t on the right path at all. He sighed, and turned around . . . just in time to see his the meatheads come around the corner several blocks down from the way he’d come, and spot him. There were only four of them. The guy John kicked and the tall skinnier guy must have stayed behind.

            John spun back around; he ran the way the sign pointed him, hoping maybe someone would let him in if they saw he was being chased.

            As John rounded the corner, he crashed right into someone he hadn’t seen over a tall fence of shrubbery. The impact caused John to fall into, of all things, a mud puddle. He rolled out of the water quickly and looked up at who he had run into.

            He looked about John’s age (only he actually looked his age), tall, sort of tan; his black hair, glasses and overbite would remind John of his own, later, when he had time to think about the incident and wasn’t in fear of his life. He wore the mark of a jock: a letterman jacket. But his was green instead of the red John was used to.

            “Whoa there, pal!” The guy said. “What’s got you in such a hurry?” He reached down and grabbed John’s hand, pulling him to his feet on one smooth movement.

            “Mother of pearl, just look at you! Are you alright?”

            “Oh, uh, yeah.” John wiped at his mouth, which was still bleeding a little bit. He also realized his jacket was kind of messed up from the bushes he’d run through, plus the mud he’d just gotten all over himself.

            John started backing away from him, toward the gates he could see at the end of the block. “Look, I kind of have to go, there are these guy’s following me and—”

            Right on cue, the bullies turned the corner and almost ran into the guy, too. Miller saw John standing behind him, and tried to shove the guy out of the way. But the guy just stopped him by grabbing his arm and turned around to look at them. John saw the name on the back of his jacket: English.

            “Can I help you gentlemen?” He asked sternly. John thought he sounded sort of ridiculous, calling guys about his own age ‘gentlemen,’ but if he was going to stall them, John hardly cared. He kept backing away slowly.

            “Yeah, nerd, you can help by getting the hell out of our way. We got business to take care of.”

            “Is that so?” the English kid asked, brushing his jacket back to put his hands on his sides. For some reason, Miller’s eyes suddenly widen with fear.

            “Are those guns?” He asked, pointing. Astonished, John looked down slightly and saw that yes, the guy was wearing a holster complete with shiny twin pistols just under his hands.

            The guy looked down as well, slightly surprised, as if only just noticing he was armed. “Why yes, as a matter a fact, they are. Anyway, I think you should leave my friend here alone, before I call security.”

            Miller and co. clearly did not want to mess with a dude who carried around guns.

            “Whatever,” Miller said, backing off, with his posse following suit. “See you back at school on Monday, small fry.” And they left. The English guy turned around to look at John.

            “Well, it seems you really can get more done with a smile and a gun than with a smile alone. Now, realize I just asked, but are you sure you’re okay, kiddo? You look like you’ve been put through the ringer.”

            “I’m fifteen,” John corrected him flatly. “I can’t be much younger than you are.”

            “Oh! Golly, my mistake. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

            Okay, yeah, he was too nice to stay mad at for long.

            “No, it’s okay. A . . .  a lot of people make that mistake.

            “Um. I guess I should thank you for saving my ass, there. I owe you one, dude.” John heard how awestruck his voice was but it probably wasn’t detectable. He couldn’t help himself—the guy was John’s hero.

            “Oh, it was nothing at all. I hate people like those scumbags; I bet they think they’re hot stuff for ganging up on someone . . . you.” John guessed the missing words there were ‘as little as.’

            “Anyway, it’s not like I could have just stood by and let them have you, could I?”

            “Most people probably would,” John pointed out.

            “Well! I’m not most people. My name’s Jake, by the way.” He held out a hand. John took his hand and shook it.

            “I’m . . . John.” He couldn’t help smiling at the absurdity of Jake’s mannerisms. Before this, he’d only shaken the hands of a couple of his past teachers. But whatever, John kind of liked it.

            “Ah, there’s a smile! So John, do you live around here?”

            “No, I . . . I don’t. Actually, I’m kind of lost. Do you know how to get back to the main road? My bus isn’t coming for a while, but I should probably be there when it shows up.”

            “Well, yes I do, of course. But, to be quite honest, I’m not sure I should let you go on your own; those simpletons are still on the loose, after all.” Jake suddenly looked angry. “I don’t know why I let them run off, actually. They should have been reprimanded.”

            Now that he mentioned it, John wasn’t sure he wanted to go alone either. “Well, that’s a good point,” John said slowly.

            “Hey, here’s an idea: since you have a bit of time to kill anyway, how’s about I take you to my house? At the very least you could get cleaned up.”

            “Um.” John hesitated. His first instinct was to say no. He had only known the guy for about five minutes. But then again, something about Jake made John want to trust him.

            “Okay, I guess that would be fine. Where do you live?”

            “Just a couple blocks away, in there.” Jake pointed to the gates behind them. “Of course ‘blocks’ in there are larger than the ones out here, but all the same, it’s not far.”

            “Oh. Okay.” He followed Jake through the gates.

            John’s family had money, but he’d never been in a place as nice as the Island Oasis Housing Community. He and Jake walked together through the winding streets and the fancy mansions. The place even had palm trees. John tried to take it all in.

            “You know, I’ve never really understood why my grandma wanted to move in here,” Jake blurted. “It never really seemed her style, and it certainly isn’t mine.” He sounded almost embarrassed. Maybe he was trying to explain himself so John wouldn’t think he was some bratty snob. John certainly didn’t think that at all.

            “Well, there are worse places to live.”

            “Ha, true. And to be honest, I think the neighbors wouldn’t mind if we moved to one of those places.”

            “Why?” If Jake’s family was as nice as he was, who would want them out?

            They came around the corner then, and in front of them, was a house as nice as any of the others. But the lawn? Overgrown grass, weeds and wildflowers from the street to the house. It was as jungle-like a front lawn would get.

            “We don’t exactly fit in with the other residents.” Jake answered smiling.

            A path to the door had already been bushwhacked from daily traffic, and moments later they were standing in the foyer of the biggest house John had ever been in.

            “Here, let me take your jacket; it’s covered with mud. It’ll probably get ruined if it doesn’t get washed soon.”

            “Uh, okay. If you want.” John put down his backpack and shrugged it off. “I’m kind of surprised you care. It’s just a jacket.”

            Jake cleared his throat as he took it, as well as turned a little pink.

            “I guess my upbringing has kind of left me with a bit of a soft side.” He confessed. “I’ll just be a moment.” He headed off down a hallway. John was pretty sure he should stay put, but the view of the living room from the entranceway drew him out.

            There was antique looking-furniture contrasting with large metallic structures that John couldn’t hope identify. It was interesting, to say the least. John wanted to take a closer look, but he didn’t want to be nosey.

            Jake came back after a few minutes. He must noticed John’s interest.

            “My grandmother’s a scientist. A pretty good one, I’ve gathered. Sometimes she brings her word home with her. She’s working now, as a matter of fact.”

            “What about your parents?” John asked.

            Jake’s smile faltered for just a second.

            “It’s just me and my grandmother.” He said.

            “Oh.” John realized what Jake wasn’t saying. “I’m sorry.”

            Jake shook his head and smiled in earnest. “No worries. If you wanted to get yourself cleaned up, I can show you to the bathroom.”

            “Can I ask you something first? Before I forget?” John asked.

            “Shoot.” Jake said.

            John couldn’t help smiling.

            “Are those seriously real guns?” He asked, pointing at Jake’s waist.

            Jake laughed. “Yes, but they aren’t loaded, so there’s no need to be skittish. I hardly ever get to use them, to tell you the truth. It’ll sound silly, but I like carrying them around when I can.”

            “I don’t think that’s silly. They’re kind of cool.”

            “Thanks. Right, so the bathroom is this way . . . How hurt are you? Should I get the first aid kit?”

            John followed him through the first floor of the house, surprised by how comfortable he felt. He blamed it on Jake, who had this very simplistic vibe about him; he was just so unabashedly honest. John knew he should probably have kept his guard up, but he felt perfectly safe in Jake’s presence.

            “I’m not sure,” John answered. “I’m mostly just kind of sore, but I guess you should get it just in case.”

            At the end of the hall, Jake reached in a doorway on the right and turned on the light. Inside John could see it was the bathroom, which was more modest than he was expecting.

            “Here we are. And don’t be shy to dirty up the towels—we like to be environmentally friendly, so we try to stick to using the reusable as much as possible.”

            John stepped inside and saw his reflection for the first time since before he left school. His hair was even more of a mess than usual. There were flecks of mud dotted and smeared on one side of his face. His mouth had almost stopped bleeding, but the blood had been smeared across his lips and the other side of his face, as well as where it ran down his chin and neck.

            “Holy shit, no wonder you thought I should come over here. I look five times worse than I feel.” John grabbed a washcloth off the rack next to the sink and got started.

            As he was cleaning up, he heard Jake’s voice come from the hallway; it was close and came from somewhere close to the floor, so John guessed he was sitting just outside the door.

            “It probably isn’t any of my business, but why were those morons chasing you?”

            John didn’t say anything at first. Did he really want to get into this?

            “Is this the first time this has happened?” Jake persisted after a moment.

            It was a secret John had been keeping all week. But then, that was only because there was no one else he could tell, who would go over his head and put a stop to it for him while he stood back quietly like the wimp he was. In truth, he was dying to tell someone, just to get it off his chest.

            John took a deep breath quietly told him how this had started. Jake commented a couple times, but mostly he just let John talk. He seemed more upset than necessary about the situation, for someone who had only just met the victim at least.

            “It’s not that big of a deal,” John murmured while he double checked his mouth for damage. Thankfully he hadn’t lost any teeth from the sucker punch earlier; no damage he would have to find a way to explain to his dad. “This happens to tons of people.” Didn’t it? It always happened in the movies and on TV at least.

            “Well it’s never happened to someone I’ve met!” Jake said. “I feel like I should help somehow.”

            “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

            “You should at least tell someone.”

            “Maybe I will. But it’s my problem and my decision if I want to tell anyone else. I think I’ve done everything I can in here.” John added, finally having gotten the last twig out of his hair.

            “Oh. So you don’t need this then?” John left the bathroom and saw Jake where he suspected he was: on the floor. And he was holding the first-aid kit on his lap.

            “No, thanks, I’m good.”

            They went back to the living room. John wasn’t sure what to do with himself.

            “Uh, I don’t think your jacket is finished getting cleaned yet,” Jake pointed out. “If you aren’t in a hurry, you’re more than welcome to stay for a while. I don’t have any plans or anything.”

            John still had plenty of time to get to his bus stop, so he agreed to hang out. They pretty much just sat in the living room and chatted. Jake offered him something to eat, but John politely declined. John found out Jake was fifteen too, and went to the private school within the gated community. When they found out they were both into movies, they spend quite a while just talking about them when John realized how late it was getting.

            “Oh, crap. I think I should get going if I’m going to make it back to my bus. Those guys are probably long gone by now, so I don’t think we have to worry.”

            “Hmm. I suppose you’re right about that. But, I still can’t help but worry. Maybe you could give me your cell phone number, in case anything happens?”

            John was perfectly okay with giving Jake his number, but not because he was worried about the bullies trying to go after him again that day.

            “Awesome. I’ll just show you the way back then . . . Oh, hold on; we’ve almost forgotten your jacket!” Jake left the room and came back with the jacket in his arms.

            “It’s still pretty wet.” He said apologetically.

            “That’s fine; I’ll just stuff it in my backpack.”

            “But won’t your things get wet?”

            “Oh. I guess you're right. I can just carry it then.”

            Jake suddenly grinned. “Wait a moment; I have an idea. You can leave it here with me, and I’ll personally make sure it gets dried for you. And for a bit of collateral,” He went over to the couch and picked up his letterman’s jacket. “You can take mine.”

            “What? No, I can’t take your jacket, Jake.”

            “Sure you can! And maybe you could even wear it once in a while; it might remind those bullies that you have a friend looking out for you now. I’ll get yours back to you before you know it, of course.”

            A friend. That was nice to hear.

            “Are you sure?” John wasn’t exactly sure how one got a letterman’s jacket, but he thought it was something special. It was more like a wearable trophy than a piece of clothing. Jake just kept smiling and nodded. No trace of regret. John wasn’t sure what to say.

            “Well, wow. Thanks, Jake. For . . . everything.”

            John left the house soon after, feeling very warm as he walked to his bus. But it didn’t have anything to do with the sunny weather.

Chapter Text

Yeah, Jake’s jacket didn’t really do much to deter the bullies. He wore it the next Monday and all it got him was teased. Miller and a couple off his favorite assholes bumped into him in the hallway, with enough force to knock him down. And as usual, none of the teachers were around to see.

“Nice jacket you got there, squirt.” Miller taunted. “Your boyfriend give it to you?”

            Ugh, this was the last thing John needed them to be thinking. But before he could deny it, they left John in the wake of their laughter. And after school, the usual five surrounded him again. John barely had time to register the sixth, standing off to the side before he started getting shoved around between them all.

            “H-Hey!” He protested. Not that they listened to him; it escalated fairly quickly from there. The guy who John had kicked the week before was allowed a few extra hits in for revenge, and John was pretty sure he spit on him before they left. It landed on the back of his jacket, so he rolled offer to wipe it off on the grass.

            John could have given the jacket back that very day. But he kind of liked wearing it, so he figured he’d hang on to it for a little longer, since Jake hadn’t asked for it back yet.

            Since that first day, John and Jake talked a lot, mostly through texts, the occasional call, and soon Pesterchum. John went over Jake’s house almost every time he got his ass kicked, which was becoming a once-or-twice-a-week occurrence. And even when his abuse had only been verbal that day, it cheered him up to have somewhere to go, a concerned, friendly face to see.

            Jake did not react well as John continued get beat down. He felt incredibly helpless—maybe even more than John himself. At least John had him as an outlet.

            Every time John came to him with new bruises and aches, Jake tried to convince him to tell someone what was happening. It was tempting, but John refused over and over again.

            One of their worst arguments about this happened a couple weeks after they’d met, when Jake decided to surprise John by going to meet up with him after school, only to find him just in time to see John picking himself off the ground, looking (and feeling) like absolute hell.

            When John saw him, he laughed weakly. He was wearing John’s forgotten jacket, which had been comfortable loose on himself but comically snug on Jake. It was nice to have something to cheer him up.

            “What are you wearing that for?” John asked weakly through his giggle once Jake had jogged into earshot.

            “Oh, uh. Well, I just—wait, no, that’s not important right now! Are you okay?”

            “Mostly. I’ll be fine. I should go; unless you want to hang out at your house again?” He scanned the ground for his backpack and scooped it up. “If not, I want to get home before my Dad does so he doesn’t see all this.”

            “John, please,” Jake pleaded. “I can’t just let you go home like that. Will you at least let me take you to the nurse’s office?”

            John repressed a sigh.

            “Jake, it’s okay, really. I’ll just get cleaned up at home, like usual. If I went to the nurses’ office, I might as well sing at the top of my lungs about the fact that I’m getting beat up all the time.”

            “Well, have you considered, maybe that would be a good thing John!?” Jake raised his voice at him. After a beat of silence, he back-peddled a bit.

            “Well, not the singing part . . . but you should tell the school. You said you were going to!”

            “Eventually,” John reminded him.

            “This is getting out of hand!”

            “I can handle it, Jake. I’m going home.”

            John made to step around Jake, but Jake surprised him by stepping back into his path, holding out his arms and looking positively determined.

            “No!” He said. “I won’t allow it.”

            John was thrown off for a moment before recovering and giving Jake a disbelieving look.

            “Won’t allow it, huh?” He asked.

            “Absolutely not.”

            There was a beat of silence as they stared at one another. 

“Good luck with that,” John told him, suddenly ducking under one of Jake’s arms and behind him. “Mister ‘won’t allow it.’”

            They both looked around each other, Jake to look at John in infuriated surprised, and John to stick his tongue out at him as he walked backwards toward the school’s exit. As John turned to walk forward, Jake quickly caught up with him. He didn’t try to block John again, but instead fell in line beside him.

            “I just don’t think you’re really taking this seriously. You should see yourself! Do you know how worried sick I am that they’re going to put you in a hospital one of these days?”

            The image of himself in a hospital bed was scary, but John was sure it wouldn’t escalate that far, not when the bullies were just pounding on him for fun—he guessed Miller was over the prank by now, so that was the only explanation for they continued to give John trouble.

            “I know you’re worried, and I’m sorry I make you worry. I appreciate it.”

            Jake scoffed. “’Nice of me.’ As if it isn’t a natural reaction!”

            John smiled. He was so sweet.

            “I’ll be fine. I promise.”

            “I’d rather you not make promises you can’t keep, John.”

            “Oh, lighten up. I’m okay, okay? I’m gonna keep being okay. And I’ll be better than okay as long as we’re friends.” After a pause, he added, “And that was pretty sappy, but whatever.”

            Jake sighed. “I’ll let it go for today. Let’s just . . . get you home.” He then proceeded to talk John to the bus stop.

            After a few minutes of walking, John glanced at Jake and laughed again.

            “But seriously, why are you wearing that?” He poked Jake in the sleeve of his jacket, which only came down to cover half of his forearms.

            “I. Don’t really know, to be honest.” He laughed sheepishly. “It’s been sitting in my room forever now, and for kicks I thought I’d try it on, since you’ve been wearing mine. I kind of like it, to tell you the truth.”

            “It’s not too small?”

            “Nope. But this is ridiculous—here, I’m sure you want it back.”

            “I haven’t missed it, actually.” John told him. “If you want to hang onto it for a while, go ahead. As long as I get to keep yours until you give it back.”

            “That sounds fair to me.”

            John glanced up at him again, wondering if Jake knew how silly John’s little jacket. No, probably not. Or if he did, he didn’t care.

            John smiled widely behind his hand at Jake so he wouldn’t see him—when suddenly a thought flew through his head that surprised him to sobriety. It was just a dumb little unconscious thought that he had no control over, he told himself. He quickly pushed it away and focused on being coherent.

            About a month and a half into his first semester at General Eric Private School, It seemed like John was finally going to catch a break. It was a clear, windy morning; John’s favorite kind of day.

            And it got even better when he got to school. For weeks, just about everyone was talking about the football game taking place that afternoon; the first of the year. And you know. Homecoming was the next day. John wasn’t planning on going to either of them.

            What this meant for John was that the football team was too busy hanging out in the limelight to mess with him all day, and before school was even out they would be leaving to go play. For once he wouldn’t have to tiptoe around, and skip the suspense of trying to walk to his bus stop while praying they wouldn’t go after him

            But at the end of the day, John’s luck finally bottomed out. The wind that morning had brought in storm clouds and it was raining hard. He watched the rest of the students rush to the warm safety of their cars and sighed. Jake’s lettermen jacket seemed pretty water-resistant, but it didn’t have a hood and it wasn’t going to be fun getting the rest of him soaked in icy rain.

            He stood outside under the eaves of the roof and tried to come up with a way that he could walk to the bus stop without getting drenched . . . when someone in a red letterman’s jacket approached him.

            Startled, John skittered back against the wall building. Oh, great, now he was trapped! Smart move, Egbert! He berated himself internally.

            John stared at the guy who was now standing in front of him. He recognized him as one of the guys who hung out with Miller, the one with the shades that for some reason he was allowed to wear during school. John had only picked up on his last name by this point: Strider.

            “Whoa, hey, chill out.” Strider said. He reached up to remove his ever-present earbuds and stuffed them in his pocket.

            Chill out? Not likely. John was panicking, wondering what the Strider guy was going to do to him. Not that he’d done anything before, not even said a word before now. John never knew why. His best guess was that there just wasn’t much left for him to beat the pulp out of once the other guys were done with John. But even alone and lean as he looked under his jacket he’d probably manage to do some damage.

            Not a second had past, and John was trying to decide if he should run for it before the others showed up when Strider continued speaking. Sort of.

            “Uh,” He cleared his throat. “Hi.”

            John stayed silent, so he went on.

            “So, I can’t say we’ve ever been introduced. I mean, I’m sure you’ve seen me around but .  . . yeah, so, my name’s Dave.”

            John just stared, abruptly much more confused than scared. What was going on?

            “Look, John, could you do me a solid and quit cowering like that? It’s John, right? I’m not gonna hurt you or anything. Ain’t gonna lay a finger on you at all—cross my heart.” And he actually did draw an X over his heart with his finger. “I just wanted to say I’m . . . sorry. Like, really; shit, that didn’t sound like I meant it, but I really do, seriously. And I guess I should be apologizing on behalf of the other guys, too, but I’m, pretty sure they give a shit. It’s nothing personal. They're just assholes.”

            This was extremely weird.

            “So. Are you gonna say anything or what?”

            John wasn’t sure how to respond. But he made an attempt.

            “You . . . aren’t going to beat me up?” He finally squeaked, annoying the hell out of himself.

            “No, just . . . here to apologize; giving my conscience a good cleaning. Getting out the disinfectant and everything for this one. Maybe spray some of that new car smell stuff in there too.”

            “What?”

            “Never mind. But, uh, yeah, I guess that’s about it. Wish I could do something more for you but my hands are pretty tied . . . Unless . . . I mean, you’re probably gonna say no, but I couldn’t help but notice that you fidgeting before I came over. You don’t have an umbrella do you?”

            John hesitated, but shook his head.

            “Well, hey,” Dave revealed that he was holding behind his back to be holding a red collapsible umbrella. “Look what I just happen to have.”

            John didn’t say anything.

            “So, I could walk you to your bus stop. Or wherever you were planning on walking to. That sound okay?”

            John didn’t know what to do. What if this was a trick, to lure him away from the school before beating him up? He wanted to go to Jake’s, but he had soccer practice that day. His grandmother was really nice and would probably let him come in, but if she wasn’t home yet either, he’d be trapped and caught in a lie about where he lived and that might get him beat up, too.

            After considering his options, John nodded and found the courage to peel himself off the wall. If he was going to get beat up, being uncooperative usually only got himself beat worse. He would just have to hope Dave was telling the truth. As weird as that would be.

            Dave smiled slightly and opened up the umbrella, holding it out for John to join him under it. It was big enough for both of them, but they still had to be pretty close to stay out of the rain.

            John tugged nervously at the cuff of his/Jake’s jacket as he and Dave walked away from the school together. Being next to Dave made John feel even smaller than usual; dude seemed like he was almost twice John’s size. He had to crane his neck in order so see Dave’s face—it made it very hard to pretend he wasn’t looking when Dave glanced down at him.

            After a few minutes, John’s curiosity got the better of him.

            “How did you know I take the bus?” What was John doing with this guy? Was he allowed to ask questions? But Dave didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed significantly happier than he usually did.

            “I didn’t exactly? I just didn’t think you had a ride to or from school, since I see you sneak out of the parking lot all the time. Two and two aren’t hard to add up.”

            “You saw me leave? And you just let me go?”

            “Yup.”

            Well. That was a surprise.

            “Where are the others?” John asked, continuing with his list of questions.

            “The game. I thought everyone knew about it.”

            “Well, I did. I mean I do. But, why aren’t you there? Shouldn’t you be playing or—”

            Dave laughed once. “No, I don’t play football. And I don’t really like it either. I guess I could go just to hang out with people there, but I have better things I can do with my time. I’m not really a sports kind of guy.”

            “So . . . if you don’t play football, what’s with the jacket?”

            “I, uh. Play basketball. My fri— . . .well, the guys. You’ve met, right? When I started hanging out with them last year they thought I should get on a team. I figured I trying out for basketball wouldn’t be too excruciating. And apparently I was pretty good.”

            “Sounds kind of ironic.” John said.

            “I like to see it that way. One of the few perks.”

            John didn’t have anything else to say, so they went silent. It dawned on him that he was having a perfectly civil conversation with one of the assholes who picked on him—er, their friend at least. And Dave must have been alone, since the others wouldn’t miss the big game. So what was going on here?

            “So why are you doing this? Walking me to the bus stop, I mean.”

            “I’m trying to be nice, like I said. It’s the least I can do.”

            “If you’re really trying to be nice, maybe you could, I don’t know, tell them to stop?”

            Dave shook his head. “Can’t. Miller does whatever he wants. He kind of has some power over people. And now that I mention it, do you think you could do something nice for me? And you know, not tell anyone at school about this?”

            “I wasn’t planning to. But why not?”

            “I don’t want word getting back to the guys about this. Or anyone else, really. I got an image to uphold.”

            “Wow, you do seem like a nice guy.”

            “I am. I’m just also a little bit of an asshole.”

            “Is that way you’re hanging out with bigger assholes?”

            “I guess.”

            “So if you agree that they’re assholes, and that you’re going to get in trouble if they know you’re hanging out with me, then why do you care about making it up to me?”

            “Maybe it’s because I’m not the kind of asshole who thinks it’s cool to beat up people half my size for no good reason.” Dave said, looking away from John. “But, you know. Don’t tell anyone else that.”

            John realized they had gotten to the bus stop. Unfortunately, the bus was nowhere in sight.

            “So. What now?” John asked.

            Dave looked down at him. John could just barely see one of his eyebrows raised above his shades.

            “I guess we’re waiting for your bus to come?”

            “Oh. Yeah. So . . . you’re staying until then?”

            Dave looked at him more directly. “It’s still raining. What, did you think I going to take my umbrella back and just leave you?”

            “Well. I guess I thought you might be pulling a prank on me or something. It would be a good one if it was.”

            “Are you saying you want me to let you get drenched, dude? Would be a pretty dick move after everything I just said.”

            “I was just saying, okay? Now don’t go anywhere.” Oh God, what were these words that were coming out of John’s mouth?

            “Whatever you say.”

            They didn’t talk much after that. The bus pulled up about five minutes later.

            “Well, there you go.”

            John bolted from under the umbrella and though the folding door, glad to escape. He punched his bus pass in the till and hurried to take his seat.

            After a moment, he looked out the window and saw Dave still standing there. He raised his hand a little at John as the bus passed him. When he was gone, John tore his eyes away from the window and stared at the back of the seat in front of him, wondering what the hell had just happened.

Chapter Text

John had plans with Jake the following day. Some movie Jake was dying to see started came out recently, so they met up at a theater somewhere between their houses to check it out.

            John thought the movie had been pretty good, but Jake wouldn’t shut up about it. He kept gushing ceaselessly afterwards while they walked the few blocks to somewhere they could get lunch.

            “That explosion near the end was the coolest thing ever! Everyone was running and then it was all, kablam! I couldn’t believe it when that blonde hostage girl turned out to be working for the bad guys! Could you believe it? And remember that one part, where . . . Oh, what was his name? Well I’m sure you’ll remember—where the one guy ran over and clobbered those two guys when they weren’t even looking? That part was so cool!”

            He was like a little kid. John found it very amusing.

            “What was your favorite part?” John asked, grinning, already guessing what the answer would be.

            “All of it! The whole shabang was top notch!”

            John laughed at him. “I’m pretty sure you’ve said almost the same thing about every movie we’ve seen or talked about, dude. Are there any movies you don’t like?”

            “Well. No, I can’t say there is. Is that such a bad thing though, to find something I like about every movie I see?”

            “I guess not,” John admitted.

            “Glad to hear you see it my way. Now come on, you, this is the place I was talking about.” Jake grabbed John’s hand, causing thrills to shoot through his stomach, to lead John across the street.

            John was a little surprised, and to be honest, a little embarrassed. But he found it hard to say anything. Jake was just so . . . simple-minded. Not to say he was stupid of course, but things were so much less complex for him. Jake saw nothing wrong with casually holding hands with a friend, girl or guy. It didn’t mean anything weird to him—Jake was just a touch-happy kind of person. And John thought he might hurt Jake’s feelings if he pulled away, so he chose to just suck it up and hope no one noticed.

            The place looked kind of cool. It was a fifties-style dinner, with black-and-white tile and chrome everywhere.

            “This place is so spiffy,” Jake said once they seated themselves. “And they have really great food. Some of the best I’ve had since Gran and I moved here.”

            John’s response was delayed a moment as a waitress on roller-skates brought them menus and took their drink orders.

            “When did you move here?” It never occurred to John that Jake might have lived somewhere before.

            “Sheesh, how long was it? I guess about since the summer before I started seventh grade. I was homeschooled all my adolescence before that; my grandma was stationed to do research on this little island out in the Pacific since I was in diapers. It was just us and a few of her colleagues, so it was a bit like having our own private island.”

            “Really?” John asked. “Wow. What was it like growing up on an island?”

            Jake smiled. “Oh, it was the best, you can bet your bottom dollar. A beautiful ocean to swim in, lush jungle to explore, exotic creatures to use for target practice—”

            “Wait, what?”

            Jake paused for a moment, maybe realizing what he had just said.

            “Oh. Ha! It wasn’t quite what you’re probably thinking. I mean, I killed a couple squirrels when I was just learning to shoot. But, you know, after my grandma explained that this wasn’t a nice thing to do, I tried using my skills for good. I saved a bunch of critters from getting eaten by wounding their attackers. But of course when she caught me, Gran told me to knock that off as well. Said she knew I had my heart in the right place, but I shouldn’t be messing with nature like that. It was discouraging at the time, but of course I see her point now.”

            Their drinks came then and after their waitress had skated off with the rest of their order.

            “Well, I guess that’s better than. I don’t know, making stuffed trophies or something out of them or something.”

            Jake had a very guilty look on his face while he sipped his soda.

            “What?”

            “ . . . Those squirrels I mentioned . . .”

            “Oh, you can’t be serious!”

            “Well!” Jake put his hands up in a sort of defensive half shrug. “I mean, my gran was sad that I’d killed them, but on another level, she was also sort of proud? So, she just sort of. You know. They’re probably stashed in the basement somewhere.”

            “That is so gross. How am I supposed to eat now?”

            “I’m sure you’ll find a way.” Jake sighed. “So, as I was saying. Living on that island was basically the best place a young lad with an unwavering thirst for adventure could hope to live.”

            He sounded homesick. John felt bad for him. “You miss it?”

            Jake shrugged. “Yeah, if I was going to be completely honest, I’d have to say I do.” He said into his drink. “Maybe not as much as I used to but I’d still love to go back someday. Or somewhere like it.”

            John was worried that the light post-movie mood was ruined, until Jake smiled at him.

            “But it’s not as if I’m prepared to go running off at the drop of a hat. I’d be leaving way too much behind if I left now.”

            John wasn’t sure, but he hoped he was included in that.

            After they were finished eating, John and Jake left with milkshakes to go; Jake offered to walk John to his bus stop.

            As they were walking, John remembered what happened the day before.

            “Oh yeah,” he said, pulling the straw out of his mouth. “Something happened yesterday. I was going to tell you last night, but you never got online.”

            “Sorry. Practice was completely brutal. You would think the rain would have gotten us a free pass for the day, but you would be mistaken. When I got home and I barely dragged myself to my room before I was out like a light.”

            John rolled his eyes at this. It was probably an exaggeration. In any case he hadn’t minded. Too much.

            “Anyway, I wanted to tell you about something that happened after school.”

            Jake stopped in his tracks. “Was it those boneheads, giving you a hard time again?” he asked, visibly angry. “You know I’ve just about had it up to here with those idiots; I know you keep saying it’s your battle to fight, but I’m starting to think you don’t realize how outnumbered you are!”

            “No, no, it isn’t what you think. No one hurt me, I’m fine. But it was weird . . .” John trailed off as he recalled the experience.

            “Well out with it, man. Spill me these mysterious beans already.”

            “Well . . . one of the bullies, or I guess he’d just this guy who hangs around with them all the time—he came up to me after school. I thought he was going to, you know, beat me up. But instead, he . . . said he was sorry about what his friends were doing? And then, he walked me to the bus stop. And he was actually kind of nice while he was talking to me? Like I said, it was weird.”

            “I’m pretty perplexed by it as well . . . did he say why he was doing it?”

            “He said he was trying to be nice. Maybe he was trying to make up for standing by and watching his friends mess with me all the time?”

            Jake scoffed. “If that’s really what he was doing, which I doubt, it seems too little, too late to me.”

            “Yeah. But I think his point was that he was trying. Even if it was a shitty attempt.”

            “Hmph. I don’t think I quite this guy’s story. What did you say his name was?”

            “Dave, I think. Strider.”

            “I don’t think I trust this Strider fellow any further than I could throw him. Quite less than that, I’d wager, as I’d like to throw him quite far.” Jake had balled up his fist, the one that wasn’t currently holding a strawberry milkshake with a happy face on the cup.

            “Okay, settle down, killer.” John soothed. “I’m not ready to trust him either, but I don’t think we really need to worry about him.”

            “And why the friggin' devil not? He’s one of them!”

            “Yeah, but he wants to help me.”

            “And who told you this, John? He did! He was probably just trying to find out where you live, so he can lead his buddies to your home and terrorize you there as well!”

             John sighed. He had thought about that. But it seemed somewhat unlikely they never had a problem with just beating John up at school.

            “I think it will be fine.” He said.

            “But how can you be sure? I’m not letting you get hurt again, John, and that’s final.”

            “’And that’s final.’” John mocked. “Okay then, what do you want me to do about it?”

            “I just think we should be more careful about this. What if I met with you after school and personally escorted you home?”

            “Aw, Jake,” John whined. He was going to feel like a little kid walking home with his nanny.

            “Please, John? Could you at least humor me? At least let me take you to your bus stop.”

            “One question: if they do show up and try to hurt me, what are you going to do? You said you can handle yourself in a fair fight,” Not that John was entirely convinced of this, “but there’s like five of them.”

            “I’ll go down swinging if I have to. But I gave them quite a scare last time, so I bet they’ll think twice about messing with me.”

            John smiled at his confidence. “Fine—whatever makes you happy.” John was confident too. Nothing bad would happen on his way home.

            So Jake was there, Monday afternoon, waiting for John right outside the front doors, grinning when he saw him.

            “If you see any of them John, you tell me straight away,” Jake said in an undertone as he scanned the area for threats, as if someone would overhear him. He put his arm around John’s shoulder protectivly, and John tried to think of a way to make his face less red. Again, he hoped no one would pay attention to them.

            It must have worked because no one bothered them at any point from the school parking lot to the bus stop.

            At the end of their walk, Jake didn’t seem convinced, but he let John get away with keeping his normal routine.

            “But John, I want you to know that I’m through with this. You can bet everything you own, that if any of them puts a single hair of yours out of place just once more, I won’t be able to take it sitting down any longer.”

            “Okay, sure.”

            John’s bus arrived shortly after, and with a promise to talk when they both got home, they said their goodbyes.

            Tuesday, John was cautious, but nothing bad happened all day. It probably should have made him suspicious, but John just left school with a smile.

            But the day after that, John strode almost confidently out of school and walked right into them—causing him to fall down and causing most of them to laugh at him.

            “Hey, squirt—you miss us?” Miller asked, wearing his usual menacing grin. He hoisted John up by his backpack and set him on his feet. Then, he threw his arm around John’s shoulder in a way that probably looked harmless to the teachers stationed around the crowd, to steer him to the more secluded spot around the corner of the building.

            John tried to squirm out of his hold, but it was unbreakable and the others were surrounding him. When they must have been out of sight of the crowd out front, Miller shoved John against the rough brick wall without warning. John glanced around them and saw that they were all there—including Dave in his usual spot near the back. He didn’t say a word, or even looked all that bothered by the turn of events.

            “’Hope my favorite punching bag has been drinking his milk, because you’ll need to be strong to get through this one,” Miller said. A couple of his bigger goons stepped forward, and before John could react, they were pushing him down. John looked to Dave again. He was still silent; he looked almost bored.

            Just as Miller was getting ready to start the beating, and John couldn’t help himself.

            “Help me!” He shouted at Dave. It was pointless, but John was looking for any means of escape.

            And then, Dave finally did something that hurt him; He snorted. He smirked. And he said:

            “I think you’re mistaking me for someone else here, kid. You aren’t getting any help from me.”

            When it was over and John was once again lying on the ground trying to push the pain away, he just barely registered Dave hanging back as the rest of his friends were leaving, looking back at John.

            “You coming, Strider?” one of them shouted.

            After one last glance, Dave started following them.

            “Yeah, man, calm down.” He called back, sounding perfectly at ease.

            After several minutes, John finally pulled himself up and called Jake to meet him. He didn’t feel like walking. John had a while to stew in his thoughts while he waited.

            Why am I so stupid? He wondered to himself. Why did he feel so . . . betrayed? He finally realized what he had been doing over the past few days: he had been nurturing a seed of hope. He wanted so badly to believe there would be an easy end to this.

            But mostly, he felt stupid for asking Dave for help. Did John really think anything was different? That one rainy day had changed anything? John was still on Miller’s shit list, Miller’s friends still backed him up, and Dave was still one of them.

            When Jake arrived, John just nodded along with whatever Jake was saying about telling the school. He didn’t care about feeling weak or stupid anymore. The names, the teasing—they were almost easy to ignore. Physical pain, he had been able to take quietly enough. But this pain, the stupid, ridiculous betrayal John felt, broke his resolve.

            He didn’t mind when Jake hugged him and told him everything was going to be okay. On the contrary, it was comforting, and very nice. John just hugged him back, though he couldn’t make himself do it with much enthusiasm. Still, Jake made John feel a little better. Jake made him feel a little hopeful again.

            They went right to the vice principal and John explained how he had getting beat up for weeks now. He didn’t get into the verbal teasing. Vice Principal Brown wanted to bring John’s dad into it, but John talked him out of it.

            When asked why he didn’t tell anyone sooner, John just shrugged. Eventually Mr. Brown let them go and said it would be taken care of.

            The bullies were suspended. John didn’t see a single one of them around school at all for the rest of the week and the week after that. He let himself feel a little relieved for the time being. He fantasized in class that they had even gotten expelled. Sure, people who liked them were giving John dirty looks in the halls. But John was so elated by his current state of security, he hardly cared.

            John was still feeling pretty good by the second week of the bullies’ absence—until Thursday morning, when he saw most of them hanging outside the gym.

            He tried to sneak by unnoticed, but it was no use; they saw him. John gulped and hurried to class, leaving them glaring daggers at his back.

            John spent a lot of his first class that day wondering what to do.  When his second class was over, he broke down and sent a text to Jake, asking if it would be okay to call him at lunch. Jake replied not long after, saying that would be fine.

            When his lunch period came, John only grabbed a couple things from a vending machine outside the cafeteria and slid into a bathroom just as his phone started vibrating. He set his meager meal down on a sink and answered it.

            “H-hey Jake,” John answered, not bothering to hide his tension.

            “John? What’s the hubbub? Did something happen?”

            John wanted to sigh with relief just from hearing Jake’s voice.

            “Not yet, but . . . they’re back. I know I sound like a complete wimp, but do you think you could, like, meet me after school,? I mean, since we were going to hang out anyway?” John played nervously with the bit of his hair that always stood up in the back.

            “Why of course I can, John, I’d do it in half a heartbeat. But do you really think they would pull something again? Especially right when they’ve gotten off suspension?”

            “I don’t know. I guess I just panicked. Never mind, you don’t have to come.”

            “Nonsense,” Jake argued. “Like you said, we have plans anyway. If it would make you feel safer for me to be there, of course I will be. What are friends for? And I don’t think you sound like a wimp, by the way.”

            “Heh. Thanks, Jake. I owe you another one. Even though you’re probably lying about thinking I’m not a huge baby for asking you to do this.”

            “Pshaw, why would I do that?” John ignored the question and continued on.

            “Uhm, and just in case I see them before I see you, could you meet me behind the main building? Like, just go right around the side, you’ll find me.”

            “Roger that. I just hope I don’t get nabbed up for trespassing or something.”

            “Yeah, me too.” Wouldn’t that just be perfect? “I’ll see you then.”

            John tried to remain calm the rest of the day; he had to focus or he’d fall behind in class. On top of everything else, that was the last thing he needed. He would be fine. Jake would be there.

            One of the hardest classes John found it hard to focus in was one of his last. It was the only class he had with Dave, and a lot of the hour that day was trying not to look at Dave; a surprisingly difficult task despite John being in front of him by a couple rows and a few seats.

            Well, looking at him more than usual, that is. When John noticed Dave in that class before, weeks ago, he’d snuck peeks at him now and then. John didn’t even know why—maybe he was just paranoid, but he could swear he felt the guy looking at him all the time. And that day they got back was no different. But if Dave was staring at him, John refused to look back.

            John waited where he said he would be after school. He expected Jake to come from the left so he kept staring in that direction. So he was caught off-guard when someone to his right said, “Please don’t run.”

            John was startled by Dave’s sudden appearance; running was exactly what he tried to do, for once. But Dave’s quick reflexes stopped him by grabbing the sleeve of his jacket.

            “Oh come on, man,” he said. John was still faced the other way, but Dave sounded like he was frustrated. “What I just say?” Before he knew it, Dave had him pinned to the wall.

            “Let me go,” John told him. He tried not to sound scared, but it rang clear in his voice.

            “No, I got something to tell you—”

            “I don’t care!”

            “Hey, I’m sorry, okay?” Dave nearly shouted, not bothering to hide his irritation. “It was shitty what I did a few weeks ago, I get that—”

            “Oh, well good for you!” John spit at him. “You actually realize you made a mistake! But guess what? Saying you’re sorry doesn’t change the fact that you just stood there and did nothing! You laughed when I asked for help!” As he continued, his voice kept rising until he was screaming—at a guy who was much bigger than him—or much taller at least—and whom John still wasn’t entirely sure wouldn’t beat him up if he wanted to. John didn’t care. Seeing him again, trying to act like he was really a good guy, pushed him over the edge.

            “You’re just as much of an asshole as the rest of them! In fact, I think you might be even worse! They beat me up and talk shit about me because they think it’s funny, because they don’t care that it’s a shitty way to treat a person. But if you know better, if you know it’s wrong, why do you hang out with them and laugh at me anyway? Is it just because you just want to be popular? Because you think hanging out with those douchebags makes you cool? Well I think it makes you an idiot! But hey, when do you care what I think? Certainly not a few weeks ago when I needed your help! Now leave! Me! Alone!”

            “Okay, that’s great, you got that out of your system—can I finish apologizing now?”

            “No! Let me go!”

            “Ugh!” Dave finally lifted his hands away, but they came back almost instantly as fists. John flinched away. But instead of hitting him, Dave had hit the wall behind him. John still had his hands shielding his face defensively when he heard Dave start talking again.

            “Okay. Fuck, that was dumb. My bad. You’re just a pretty stubborn dude, you know?” He sounded perfectly at ease again. He even laughed at the end of his sentence.

            “I’ll back off in a minute, but just listen for a sec’. I really am sorry. And . . . you’re right about everything you just said. I’m a shallow, selfish piece of shit, an awful excuse for a human being—I completely agree with you there, all the way. And maybe sone of these days I’ll actually have the balls to tell those guys to fuck off and pick on someone their own size for once. But in the meantime . . . well, anyway, I’m sorry.”

            John didn’t respond. He was too busy keeping the defensive position he’d taken and trying to be quiet.

            “Yo, shortcake, will you at least look at me while I’m pouring my soul out on the grass here?”

            No response.

            “John?” He felt Dave touch him very lightly on the arm. John still flinched.

            “Aw, c’mon, don’t be like that. You know I’m not gonna hurt you.”

            John just shook his head. And then, hard as he had been trying not to, a sob escaped him. God fucking dammit.

            Dave sounded very worried now. “John?” he repeated.

            This time, John let him pull his hands away from his face, which was wet with tears and flushed as a tomato. John didn’t know what had come over him, but he had just been so surprised and scared when he thought Dave was going to hit him he just . . .

            He looked up at Dave, waiting for him to scoff—or worse—laugh again. But Dave only looked shocked.

            “Oh shit.” Dave finally took his hands away from the wall and held them in front of him helplessly. “Shit, no, stop the waterworks man, fuck . . .” He just stared at John, searching for a way to help, and John just stared helplessly back, sniffling.

            “John, please stop, it’s okay, I’m sorry, okay? Fuck, just please . . .”

            Dave lifted his hand and patted John on the head, as if to comfort him. John didn’t really find it comforting, but he didn’t do anything to stop him either.

            Then suddenly, Dave was jumping away from John to clutch his side, cussing as he did so. Jake was standing behind him, shaking his hand a bit, and glowering at the back of Dave’s head.

            “Is this fellow giving you trouble, John?” Jake asked calmly, not taking his eyes off Dave. John smiled at last. He quickly stepped over to stand by Jake’s side as Dave was straightening up again.

            “A little,” John answered. His voice broke and Jake took his eyes off Dave to look at him.

            “Have you been crying?” He sounded as horrified as Dave had been.

            “No,” John lied. He tried to discreetly wipe his tears.

            “What the hell was that for?” Dave interjected. “I was just trying to talk to him, Christ.”

            “Oh I’ll give you talking!” Jake exploded. He actually grabbed Dave by the shirt, not intimidated at all by the height advantage Dave had on him. “Tell me what you did to him, now!”

            Judging by his lack of reaction to any of this, Dave didn’t seem very intimidated by Jake either.

            “Chill out, man, hardly touched him. The only time I did was when I was trying to calm him down, just before you punched me in the kidney.”

            “And why exactly did he need to be called down, hmm?”

            “He scared me.” John cut in. “I’m okay.”

            “See? I told you so.” Dave said. John didn’t think it was very wise of him, but if he wanted to continue to test Jake, he could go right ahead.

            “Listen here, Strider. If I ever hear that you’re giving John any sort of trouble again, if you so much as look at him the wrong way, you’ll have me to answer to me, capish? Just see what will happen if you do. Go ahead. Make my day.”

            “Okay I’m pretty sure you stole that last line from a movie.”

            “I strongly suggest you shake a leg, before I hurt you so bad that your children will be born bruised.”

            “Nah.”

            Dave didn’t even flinch while Jake’s face grew impossibly more angry. John was waiting for a punch to be thrown, but with a huff of resignation, Jake simply shoved Dave away. Not expecting any retaliation (and not getting one. Dave just resumed his usual lazy posture) he turned back to John.

            “If it’s alright with you, I’d like to get going. Shall we?”

            John nodded and followed him. Just before they turned to corner, John glanced back at Dave. He was right where they left him, watching them go.

            “Sorry I took so long to get here,” Jake apologized a few seconds later. He stopped to say it, so John stopped too. “My last class was held late. Are you okay?” He took John by the shoulders and started looking him over. “He really didn’t hurt you?”

            “I’m fine,” John said again. “Let’s forget about him and go watch movies while stuffing ourselves with junk food at your house.”

            Jake grinned. “I think I like the sound of that idea. Let’s head off, then.” He put his arm around John’s waist to lead him away. The connection caused John’s face heat up, but he didn’t mind one bit.

Chapter Text

                The next day there was another football game, and another day John would be able to avoid getting his ass handed to him afterschool. He would still probably get harassed at some point, but John was still fairly optimistic that it would be okay. And his good mood lasted until lunch, when a red jacket approached his table. It was Dave, but that was hardly better than any of the others.

            John was eating alone at one of the many hexagon-shaped tables that filled the cafeteria, as usual, when Dave pulled up the chair across from him without asking for an invitation.

            “I told you to leave me alone,” John grumbled. In the middle of the crowded lunchroom, he felt a little safer to be snippy. No one would try anything bad in here.

            “Yeah, I know. But I wasn’t done talking to you yesterday.”

            “I thought being seeing with me was ‘bad for your image.’”

            “I’ll risk it. I got something to say.”

            “Well I don’t want to hear it, so go away. I still haven’t accepted your apology, you know.” John reminded him before taking another bite of his sandwich. Dave’s utter disregard for everything he said was wearing on his patience.

            “No shit. Now shut up, I’m trying to give you a warning here.” He said it calmly, but John still had to focus to not choke on his food.

            “Warn me about what?” He asked when his mouth was cleared.

            “Actually, let me start with the good news, which is you’re probably not going to get your ass kicked anymore. I don’t think even Miller thinks you’re worth the consequences.

            “The vice principal called us into his office a couple weeks ago—I guess you finally squealed. I was wondering what was taking you so long. And you probably realized we all got suspended. But what you might not have heard, is that if any of ‘us’ are caught giving you a hard time again, we get kicked off our teams. Kinda an empty threat in my case. I mean, I’m pretty much the best player on the b-ball team. Other people might not say that, but it’s just because I already have all this mad popularity going on, so most people probably don’t think it’s fair to bump me up any higher.”

            Wow this guy could talk.

            “Well, uh. That’s great.” John managed. “No more black-eyes for me then, I guess. So what’s the bad news?”

            “You kinda pissed them off. Maybe not the whole hive-mind, but definitely the queen bee. Miller wants your blood. Not literally,” Dave added when he must have noticed John’s eyes widen. “I don’t think.”

            “That’s so reassuring, thank you. But it’s not my fault! He should be—”

            “I’m just telling you how he sees it, dude. Anyway, I’m not sure what he has planned for you in that salted loaf of Christmas ham he thinks is a head—” John had to cover up his giggle with a cough—“but it’s probably not going to be pretty. I’ll do what I can, but you gotta watch your step a little more carefully from now on.”

            John didn’t like the sound of this. The bullies trying to come up with more subtle ways to torture him didn’t seem much better than being held down and tenderized like a cheap steak. And if they were sneaky enough, the school might not be able to get enough evidence on them to get them caught.

            As John considered this, Dave surprised him by pushing himself up from the table.

            “And now, even though I would love to stay and chat, it’d be better if I left.” As he stood up, his shades slid down his nose a little and gave John a glimpse at his eyes for the first time. John was startled by them, but Dave didn’t seem to register his reaction.

            “If I stay any longer, people might start to talk.” John barely caught the wink Dave used to punctuate his sentence before he pushed his shades back up and left.

            John now thought he knew why Dave was allowed to wear his shades in school. Blood red eyes like his were probably distracting for just about anyone who saw them. John wondered idly if Dave had ever gotten teased for them, before remembering he wasn’t supposed to care about the dumb, freakishly tall backstabber.

            After school, John was deciding between going home and going to watch Jake at soccer practice. But his decision was delayed when not ten feet from the front doors, the toe of his shoe caught the cement the wrong way and he went crashing onto a pile of rocks—broken pavement from some kind of repair work the school was doing.

            John struggled to find a place to put his hands that wasn’t sharp or hard while he also began to notice a correlation between game days and days he had bad luck.

            “Hey, you okay?” asked an all-too-familiar voice behind him. Suddenly, John felt a tug on his backpack and he was drawn backwards to his feet. As he regained his balance, Dave leaned around to look at him.

            After a long moment, John was going to ask what he was looking at, when Dave gingerly took his wrist and started pulling him back toward the school doors.

            “C’mon.” he said.

            “W-wait, what?” John had his guard up at once. Dave moved his head a little, in a way that John guess he was glancing down at him.

            “You don’t have to look so freaked out you know. Your face is all cut up; you should get the nurse to clean you up. Stop with the look of pure terror already.”

            “I’m not scared of you,” John said indignantly. But it might have been a lie, since he knew how scared he must have looked seconds earlier. “And I don’t need to go to the office, I’ll just clean up when I get home.”

            “Why not just take care of it now? You’re gonna end up getting blood all over your seat.”

            “I can’t be bleeding that much.” John touched his face, and just as he thought, it only came away with a little blood.

            “Are you always this stubborn? It’ll just take a minute; you might as well just do it.”

            “Fine, whatever.” John wasn’t happy to have Dave lead him back inside, but he didn’t want to waste time and miss his bus by arguing. It wasn’t until they were outside the office that it occurred to John that Dave was still with him, holding his wrist.

            “Wait, why do you have to come with me?” He tried to get his wrist back, but Dave wasn’t letting go.

            “I wanna make sure you get taken care of.”

            Before John could argue with him anymore, Dave opened the door and John shut his mouth.

            The nurse, a nice looking middle-aged woman with strawberry-blonde hair, was instantly suspicious when she saw them walk in to her office.

            “Aren’t you one of those boys who just got in trouble for this sort of thing?” She asked Dave.

            “No offence, ma’am, but do you really think that if I had anything to do with this, I’d be escorting the kid in myself?” He let go of John’s wrist and used the same hand to nudge him in the back toward the examination table.

            John was annoyed by the kid comment, but he went over and tried to climb up by himself. When he couldn’t, Dave stepped over and helped him up.

            “So how did this happen then?” The nurse asked while she started checking him out. John opened his mouth to answer, but Dave beat him to it.

            “He tripped and fell on that pile of gravel outside. I’m pretty sure that’s a lawsuit waiting to happen; what kind of place is this faculty running? I thought this district was supposed to be high-end. John here is probably going to want to sue for the damaged, I’m warning you now.”

            John worked really hard not to crack a smile, and failed miserably.

            “Alright, Mr. Strider, that will do.” They were all quiet after that as she continued to clean up John’s face.

            When John was all patched up, he thanked the nurse and left her office. Dave followed him back outside. And he was still walking right behind him when John was about to leave the school parking lot. John stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at him, which made Dave stop, too.

            “Why are you following me?”

            “Oh. My bad. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

            “Okay well, you can go now.” John started walking away again. And after several seconds, he heard footsteps behind him again.

            “Uh, it’s kind of a walk to your bus stop, and I’m not really busy or anything right now. Maybe you could use someone to walk with?”

            John stopped and turned to look at him again.

            “Okay, what are you doing?” He asked.

            “What?”

            “Look, can you just go away? Are you still trying to get me to forgive you? Is that what this is about? Because it isn’t going to work.”

            Dave could try to prove he wasn’t a complete asshole by doing little nice things for him until he was blue in the face, but it fell on deaf ears. All he was doing was being a pest.

            After a pause, Dave kind of shrugged.

            “Just thought I’d offer. If I’m bugging you that much I guess I’ll keep out of your hair . . . to an extent.” And with that, he turned back and walked back to the school.

            “What is that supposed to mean?” John called to him But Dave didn’t respond. So with a huff, John decided to just skip Jake’s practice and just head home. He was hanging out with Jake sometime over the weekend anyway.

            Jake was very alarmed to see John’s face bandaged the next day.

            “I just fell, that’s all,” John said quickly, before he could jump to any conclusions.

            “On your face? What in blazes did you fall on, a pile of rocks?”

            “Yes.”

            “John,” Jake groaned. “Will you please be more careful with yourself?”

            “I’m fine. It’s nothing, just forget about it.”

            “Well, I guess it’s better than it could have been, I sure hope after getting kicked out of school for three weeks will keep those scoundrels off your tail.”

            “Actually, now that you mention it . . .”

            John repeated to Jake what Dave told him at lunch. He could almost see the gears in Jake’s head turning as he tried to think of something he could do about it. But he admitted he couldn’t—aside from the direct approach.

            “Okay first of all, you can’t take all of those idiots by yourself.” John said, poking Jake’s arm. He really wasn’t much less scrawny than John was.

            “It could certainly be fun to give it a shot,” Jake said wistfully. John ignored him and continued.

            “And second of all, even if you just went after one of them, like Miller I guess, and let’s say, by some sort of miracle you don’t get killed—what if he went to your school and told them about it?”

            “Oh please. If you refused to tell anyone for weeks while being completely outnumbered, I’m sure he would be even less likely to go telling anyone about it.”

            “Well it’s still stupid to risk it. And since it’s a different school, they might skip the suspension and go straight to taking you out of soccer.”

            “Soccer really isn’t the most important thing to me in the world, John.”

            “Okay but what about the third thing?”

            “What’s the third thing?”

            “Your grandma would probably kick your ass harder than any of those jerks if she ever found out you were fighting in school.”
            Okay, now Jake looked worried.

            “Well, uh, those are all very good points you’ve made John. Maybe I shouldn’t get involved.”

            “Good idea.” John didn’t want Jake getting hurt either.

            Jake glanced at him and ruffled his hair. “Just be careful, will you?”

            John tried not to smile. He wanted to complain about how much Jake worried about him, but at the same time, he liked it.

            “I’m sure I’ll be able to handle it.” What was the worse they could do?

            “Perhaps.” Jake said. Then he frowned. “And I guess we should hope Strider will make good on his promise of trying to be helpful.”

            “Yeah.” John said. Not that he really believed him anymore.

            Over the weekend, John’s confidence in his well-being crumbled as he imagined all the things the bullies could have planned for him. By Monday morning, he was expecting hell. What he got was a note in his locker.

            Watch where you sit

                                    —D

            John wasn’t sure what it was about, but he stuffed the slip of paper in his pocket and kept the advice in mind.

            As he neared the door of his first class, John saw two of Miller’s goons walk out of it. But they turned in the same direction as John was headed, so they didn’t see him.

            And even thought John had seen them, without Dave’s note he wouldn’t have suspected anything. He wouldn’t have checked his chair before sitting down. The super glue on it would not have been fun to deal with after an hour.

            A prank; and an amateur one at that. It was sad, really. These guys didn’t know who they were dealing with.

            All day long John continued to be cautious of where he sat, but he didn’t find any seat trouble for the rest of the day. But he did, however, find himself in an unpleasant situation in his history class the next day. It was the one class he shared with Dave.

            Their history teacher assigned a project, that was due in two weeks, and to be worked on in pairs—and the pairings would be decided for them.

            And of course, because Fate has such a great sense of humor, John ended up with Dave. He shouldn’t have been surprised.

            Once everyone was paired off, most people moved to get started on goofing off for the rest of the period.

            John didn’t move. He really didn’t want to do this. Why couldn’t they just have picked their own partners? Anyone would have been better than having to work with Dave.

            But before John had a chance to get up and beg for a way out of this, his partner appeared at his side.

            “Hey.”

            John sighed loudly.

            “Whoa, try to contain your overwhelming enthusiasm, man. I know everyone is dying to get the opportunity to work with me, but I don’t want you embarrassing yourself.”

            “You’re not funny.”

            “I totally am and you know it.” He sat down backwards in the chair on the other side of John’s desk so he could face him. “So do you have any ideas for what we’re doing, or do I have to carry your munchkin ass through this whole project myself?”

            “You don’t have to do anything for me, because I’m going to go ask to do this by myself.”

            “Why would you wanna do that for when you got the best partner?”

            “Because I don’t. I’m sure you would rather not work with me either, so why don’t we both go up there and explain that we’d rather work alone?”

            “I’m not complaining. I’m totally okay with this.”

            “But you don’t even like me.”                  

            Dave shrugged. “I hardly even know you.”

            “And you’re not going to.” John got up from his desk.

            “He’s gonna say no.” Dave informed him, talking about the teacher. “I’ve had him before. He’s going to say that he put you with me, so you’re with me.”

            John hesitated before sighing loudly again and sitting back down.

            “And here I thought I was going to get rid of you.”

            “I haven’t heard you complaining about the note I left yesterday. Or a thank you, either.”

            “Oh please, I didn’t need your little note. I saw that dumb trick from a mile away. Maybe you guys don’t realize you’re dealing with a pranking master here.”

            “Yeah, okay. I’ll keep that in mind for next time then.”

            John wasn’t sure if he regretted all that boasting now. “Well, if you’re going to be like that about it, I guess I can say that I appreciate that you tried to help me for once.”

            “You’re welcome.”

            “Okay, if we really have to do this together, I want it don’t as soon as possible. Let’s stop talking about anything except the project, okay? I know what you said, but I’m sure you’re not any happier about this than you are.”

            “Are you kidding? I have a nerd to do all the work for me.” Dave leaned back, resting his head on his arms. After a few seconds of John glaring at him, Dave sat forward again. He looked John—presumably—in the eye and said slowly, “It was a joke. A really stupid joke. For a ‘pranking master’ you sure don’t seem to have a sense of humor.”

            “Hey, I have a great sense of humor.”

            “I’ll believe it when I see it. And how good can it be if you don’t think I’m funny?”

            “It was a really stupid joke.”

            “Sorry, but you do fit the mold pretty well: the glasses, the poor orthodontics, your clothes.”

            “Are you almost done backing fun of how I look?” John tried not to let it get to him.

            “I’m not making fun of how you look—a lot of chicks dig the whole nerdy thing—I’m really just making fun of your clothes. I’m trying to help you here.”

            “What’s wrong with my clothes?”

            “Dude. You’re wearing plaid skinny jeans.”

            “There’s nothing wrong with plaid. And they aren’t skinny jeans. Well, I guess they are, but they’re not even that small on me . . . Okay, stop talking, you’re wasting my time. We need to get to work.”

            Somehow between arguing, making fun of each other and Dave’s rambling monologues, they managed to get a good start on the assignment.

            John tried his best to keep the air between them icy—but he found it surprisingly difficult.

            When the bell rand and they parted ways, John was beginning to worry that he would end up liking Dave by the end of it.

            As the week continued, John found himself on a sort of seesaw with his opinion of Dave. Their time together in class was forced, but it was also during this time when John almost thought he could like him.

            But then that almost-thought was shoved away the next time they would see each other, with Dave standing alongside the rest of the bullies, saying nothing as John was tripped or had his books dumped from his arms. If one of the others looked, he would smirk or snicker like he always did. If they turned to him for a comment, Dave didn’t even appear to hold back the worst things he could think to say. John was never sure if he could believe him or not when Dave would apologize at the first chance he got.

            One thing John could tell for sure was that Dave was a very good actor. John just needed to figure out what part of him was the act, and what was the truth. Maybe it was both. Maybe it was neither. When John tried to think about it, all of the confusing mind games just made him dizzy.

            After a week, John decided to just ask flat out while they worked in class.

            “Okay, you know what? I’m sick of this.”

            “I know, right?” Dave said before John could finish speaking. “I think I know more about the history of Argentina than anyone—even the people living there—have any need to.”

            “No, I’m talking about you, and all this slip-flopping back and forth. You’re nice to me, then you’re mean to me; you act like you don’t hate me in here, but out there, you treat me like shit. Whose side are you on? Honestly—if you’re capable of being honest.”

            Dave didn’t answer at first. He just stared down at the text book in front of him. Or many he was staring at John, or some girl across the room—his shades were so dark, he could have been looking at anything.

            “Yours.” He said at last. “I really am sorry. I’ve told you that already. Like, a hundred times.”

            “If you really meant it, you’d stop.” John countered.

            “No, but that’s the thing, I can’t. Yeah, I know it’s shallow, but I gotta stay friends with them, so I can stay friends with everyone else. It basically means being Miller’s bitch, but this is my In, and without them, I’m out. Get it?”

            “That’s so stupid.” John said.

            “Yeah. But that’s how it works.”

            “If you know it’s stupid why do you do it?”

            “Let me prove I can be honest by telling you the truth: I’m kind of an attention whore. I wanna quit the spotlight, but it’s like a drug. I’m too addicted, if I quit it now, I’d only make myself sick. Do you want me to start puking all over the halls, John?”

            “Have you ever considered the drama club? I think they’re holding auditions for some Shakespeare thing.”

            “Yes, in fact I was not only considering trying out, but I was stoked as all fuck to get my ass in some tights and run around on stage. But it got canceled a couple days ago. Almost no one else wanted in.”

            “Oh, what a shame, then.” John said, almost sincerely.

            “A true Shakespearean tragedy.”

            “Maybe I should just tell them you’re on my side.” John suggested, abruptly bringing the conversation back down to Earth.

            Dave sighed. “Couldn’t blame you if you did.”

            Dammit, he actually sounded worried. He was trying to hide it, but John could tell.

            Whatever. John didn’t have to run off to tattle on him just yet. For now, he let the subject drop.

                        “Can I ask you something,” Dave asked after a minute of silence, “since we’re being honest?”

            “I guess. It depends on what you want to know.”

            “Is that English guy your cousin or your boyfriend? Like, that’s cool if he is; I was just wondering.”

            “How did you know his name?” Was, stupidly, the first thing out of John’s mouth.

            “I assumed that’s his jacket you’re wearing,” Dave said, pointing. Oh, right, the jacket. John was so used to wearing it, he forgot he was.

            “My money is on the boyfriend thing, since giving someone your jacket to wear is kind of a classic boyfriend move. But, hey, maybe it’s just like a hand-me-down or something—”

            “It’s neither,” John snapped. Dave’s eyebrows appeared over his shades.

            “Alright, sorry I asked. I just figured it was one or the other.”

            “Why would you even think that? I mean, the . . . . boyfriend thing.” John blurted in a rush. “I’ve kind of noticed the other thing . . . I mean, just thinking that with the jacket alone? That seems like a big assumption.”

            “Well, it wasn’t just that. He just seems . . . I don’t know, a little more protective of you than what would usually be necessary in a platonic friendship.”

            “Well it’s not like that, at all. We’re only friends, okay?” John deliberately went back to his part of the project.

            But Dave was really fucking nosey.

            “You seem kind of defensive about it. But fine, I believe you/ You guys aren’t dating. But I’m guessing that’s not how you want it?”

            “Will you shut up and work on your half?” John snapped again.

            Dave didn’t say anything else, but that could have been because John had pretty much answered his question.

            That afternoon, Jake had practice again. And since John had nothing else to do, he thought he would go watch this time. He didn’t think soccer was that interesting, and especially not the practices, but Jake would be happy to see him there and John was happy to watch him run around like the overexcited puppy he was when let off his leash.

            John was walking through the halls to leave school when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He was half expecting it to be a text from Jake, maybe saying practice was canceled. But instead, it was a text from a number John didn’t recognize. Curious, he opened it.

            you might want to avoid the front entrance today. miller has something for you. spoiler you wont like it –D

            What the hell?

            how the hell did you get my number?? John sent back. Dave’s reply came back about fifteen seconds later.

            swiped your phone when you wernt looking and put it back before you noticed. Anyway just do what i say k?

            Ugh. He was so annoying, so . . . cocky; that was the best word to describe him.

            But unfortunately, John thought as he headed to the side exit, I have to trust him.

            John had no problems getting away from school thanks to Dave’s advice. John considered thanking him but . . . eh. Maybe later, if he remembered.

            As expected, Jake looked very happy to see John sitting up in the empty bleachers. He waved and John waved back, glad to be the only one who knew about his change in heart rate.

            Jake went back to whatever the team was practicing on and John sighed.

            His crush on Jake had been a surprise, to say the least. He was in fact John’s first crush, on anyone, so it had taken John a while to recognize it for what it was. He became aware of his feelings about a week before the bullies came back from suspension.

            John had gone so long without falling for anyone, while the other kids started dating all the way back in elementary school, he had begun to think it would never happen. So that was the first part of the surprise.

            The second was that his first crush was on a guy. John had nothing against gay people at all, of course. But he never imagined that he would turn out to be one. And honestly, he was a little upset about it for the first few days. But it was mostly because he would probably have to put up  with a lot of shit for it if anyone found out, especially while he was living in one of the most conservative places in the United States. But he came to embrace it. You know, quietly, alone in his room.

            John probably should have figured out what to do about it by this point. But he had not. He was actually kind of ashamed of himself. He always imagined it being so simple, when he finally met someone he liked. John was an honest person, and never saw a reason to hide how he felt about anything. He should just tell Jake the truth and hope for the best.

            But John hadn’t said a word about it at all. Because he was scared. Now that it was actually happening, he was too afraid to admit how he felt. Oh sure, Jake would be nice about it, of course. Jake would be cool about the whole gay thing, and they would still be friends. But then again, Jake was also not the most socially capable people. And if he was uncomfortable with any of it, it would be bright and clear before he started hastily covering it up.

            John took out his homework and forced himself to focus on it. But wait, he didn’t want Jake to think he was bored . . . did he? Maybe John should act disinterested, to make sure Jake didn’t suspect anything? God, John didn’t even know.     

            Why was this school year suddenly the most complicated thing ever? John wondered to himself. Bullies, crushes; he never had to deal with these things back in Washington.

            John started daydreaming about the other things he missed about home—the weather, the familiar students he had grown up with, the house he’s grown up in—when he came back to Earth and realized that he had been following Jake all over the field with his eyes.

            Ugh. John leaned back to hit his head on the benches behind him.

            John decided he was done with worrying right now. Instead he allowed himself a dose of mental pain-killer and pretended he didn’t have any problems until he set foot in his house again.

Chapter Text

            It was weird how, once John had decided he was telling the truth about being on his side, he found Dave became easier to like. They weren’t instantly best friends, but as the days went by, it became increasingly more difficult to stay annoyed with him for extended lengths of time.

            Maybe it was because they had a common enemy. Dave complained about his so-called friends more often than almost anything else. He seemed to hate them as much as John. And then, he would casually remind John not to say anything about it to them, to the point that John was starting to wonder if the only thing Dave was afraid of was losing his popularity.

            John never promised him anything, but he hadn’t told anyone at school yet. At first he didn’t know why Dave was saying all of these incriminating things if he was even a little worried it would get back to Miller. But then it occurred to him that he didn’t have anyone else to complain about them to.

            But while they were finding their way to being on better terms, Jake wasn’t following John’s example in the slightest. This was fine with John; he thought it was for the best that he had someone to keep him on the right track. That was the theory, but not the result. Even though most of their interactions consisted to of being jerks to each other, by the end of the project, John could tell they were closer to being friends than enemies.

            The second to last day John and Dave had to work on their project before present came sooner than expected. In a day or two, they would do their presentation, and they would never have to talk to each other again. And John felt . . . a pang of sadness. Dammit. This was so stupid; he shouldn’t have felt like he was going to miss talking to Dave almost every day. Well, he would just have to get over it.

            But Dave had other ideas. Probably seeing the end in sight as well, he made a crazy suggestion.

            “Do you wanna hang out some time?”

            “Aren’t you worried about getting in trouble?”

            “It doesn’t have to be public or anything. I just thought after all of this, we were kind of starting to have something almost friendly going on.”

            “Because we were being forced to be near each other.” John reminded him. “I think you misinterpreted the last two weeks.” John couldn’t help himself. He realized he was being stubborn, but it was just his natural reaction to snub Dave at every opportunity.

            “Are you always this friendly and forgiving?”

            Well, if he was going to be called out on it. No, he was usually a lot friendlier. He might have been holding a grudge. He lowered the defenses a little.

            “I don’t know—to answer your first question.”

            Dave thought about that. “Okay, that’s fine. Maybe that is a little too much to ask right now. Just thought I’d throw the suggestion out there. How about I take it a step back and throw out a different one: Maybe we could talk outside of school for once?”

            He took John’s notebook and scrawled in the corner what could only be a Pesterchum handle. He pushed the notebook back to John.

            “If you message me, that’s cool. If you don’t that’s cool too.”

            John made a show of rolling his eyes but he didn’t make any further comment about it.

            Later that day, John and Jake went to the park. They were lying next to each other on the grass, enjoying the sunny afternoon at the park since Jake’s practice was unexpectedly canceled. It was one of their favorite things to do when they were sick of being inside.

            Jake asked how the bully situation was going. John had a few minor items to report.

            “They put gum in your hair?” Jake repeated. “That seems more than a tad petty, don’t you think?”

            “Yeah, but being petty is kind of their thing. And it wasn’t a big deal. I figured out how to get it out without scissors. It turns out peanut butter has more uses than just putting me in a hospital.” Not that anything like that had happened since he was little.

            Jake laughed. “Well, that’s one consolation. But I thought Strider promised you he would keep you out of trouble. Where was he when this happened?”

            “‘Try’ is the key word. He does what he can,” John said, surprised to find himself defending the guy.

            “I think he does a lot less than that, to be frank.”

            “I’d rather you just be Jake,” John joked lightly. Jake chuckled in response.

            “It’s really not as bad as it used to be. They still give me shit in the halls, and keep trying to pull their dumb pranks. But why should I care about what stupid Miller and his Jackets think of me?”

            “Jackets?”

            “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been calling them lately. ‘The Jackets.’ Because they all wear those red . . . you know.”

            “Oh, that’s such a great name!”

            “Yeah, that’s what I told Dave! But he said it was dumb.”

            “Phooey. I think it’s super. Make’s you sound like the underdog hero that’s going to overcome the stupid bullies and show them what you’re made of!”

            “Yeah! But uh, maybe it would be safer to just lay low and hope they get bored of me.”

            “Oh. Yeah, good point. I wouldn’t want you getting yourself hurt again. Not that—well, actually, to be completely honest, I don’t think you can handle yourself, but—”

            “Jake?”

            “Yes?”

            “Shut up.”

            “Right, sorry.” After a short pause, he went right on again. “Anyway, I bet you’re glad to be off the hook of having to speak to that Strider twit, eh?” Jake had heard all about the project over the last weeks.

            “Um. Yeah, so glad.” Would Jake notice his tone? John changed the subject just to be safe.

            “So, uh, how’s things with you at your school? Still being voted Mr. Congeniality?” On the few occasions he had gone to meet Jake at his own institute of higher learning, John gathered from the people they came across on the way out that Jake was pretty well liked. Jake, however, always denied the accusation that he was ‘popular.’

            “Ah, I guess so. By most people, at least.”

            “Is Suzie giving you trouble again?” She was the girl Jake had broken up with a little while after the school year started.

            “Sort of. I can understand that she’s upset about how things ended with us, but . . .” Jake sighed. “I also sort of wish she would get over it. It’s been weeks now. Months!”

            “I wish she would, too. That way I don’t have to hear about her anymore. Were any of your . . . other girlfriends this bad when it ended?”

            Over weeks of conversation, John had learned that Jake has had a string of girlfriends since he had moved there.

            Jake exhaled a long sigh. “No. A couple of them come close, but most of them were much more understanding.”

            “. . . How many girls have you dated again?”

            “Uhm. About, uh, three or four every year since I moved here?” He laughed sheepishly. “Not that practice seems to have made me very good at it. After all, they never lasted all that long.”

            “Why not?”

            “It’s been different things with different girls. But in every case so far, we just weren’t getting what we were looking for. In the case of Suzie, well. I started to sense she was looking for something I wasn’t ready to provide for her. So instead of letting her continue to think she might get it, I nipped it in the bug. That’s one thing I’ve learned at least, when to break it off.”

            “What did she want?” John wondered.

            “I’d rather not, uh, go into detail, if you don’t mind.”

            “Oh. Yeah, sorry.”

            “Not at all.” Jake didn’t have anything to say after that, and neither did John. So they lapsed back into compatible silence.

            John adjusted his position on the ground, and was reminded of the balled up jacket under his head that he was using for a pillow. His/Jake’s jacket. This, after a minute, reminded him of Dave’s assumption a few weeks ago.

            John was debating whether to say anything about it to Jake when the words were suddenly coming out of his mouth.

            “Thanks again for letting me barrow your jacket, by the way. Let me know when you want it back.”

            “I’m not missing it yet. Personally, I think it looks better on you than it did on me anyway.”

            John didn’t think that was true. It was almost the same green as Jake’s eyes, and therefore suited him better . . . ugh, what a dumb thing to notice. He almost gave up, but since he had approached the subject, he thought he might as well just go for it.

            “If you’re sure. I mean, I like it; I just hope Dave doesn’t tease me about it again.” He tried the made the last part sound light and joking.

            “He was teasing you?” Jake said, sounding upset about it anyway. John smiled, expecting it, really. He enjoyed Jake’s reaction, and pretended it meant something more than just a friend’s concerned.

            “Not really.” John said. “This is probably going to sound weird but, uh, he asked me if you gave it to me because you were like—my boyfriend of something.” John was glad they weren’t looking at each other. Just saying the words out loud gave him butterflies and it was probably showing on his face. “At first, he was teasing, like I said; but then he said it was a serious question. I had no idea what he was talking about, ha-ha. When I asked him, he said he also thought that because you seemed—I think his words were—‘a little more protective of me than what would usually be necessary in a platonic friendship.’”

            Jake didn’t say anything.

            “It was so dumb,” John babbled on. “I can’t believe he actually thought we . . . I mean, you’re my friend. Of course you don’t want me to get hurt. It’s not like I mind if you get enthusiastic about the job.” John laughed, if a little nervously. “And the jacket is just a gift. Not even a gift, just a loan. It’s not like you gave it to me, or act like you do with me, because you like me like that or something.”

            The words were falling out forced and awkwardly. John was starting to remind himself of Dave. He finally got himself to shut up and waited for Jake to respond to any of that. But he was still quiet. Every second the tension had John more freaked than the last.

            “Jake?”

            “Huh? Oh, sorry about that, John. I was just thinking. But, yeah, that is such a ridiculous conclusion for him to draw.”

            John held back a sigh while he silently berated himself. He didn’t know why he even brought it up.

            The next afternoon was a lot less sunny, but Jake’s coach was making the team come to an extra practice anyway to make up for the day lost before. Jake had to cancel the plans he had made with John. John was disappointed, but he didn’t make a big deal about it.

            “We’re still on for next week, right?” Jake asked when he called to break the news.

            “Well, duh! I wouldn’t miss your birthday, dude.”

            “Just checking. I’ll talk to you later, I promise!”

            So now John had nothing to do all afternoon. He was sitting in front of his computer with Pesterchum open. Once upon a time he had a handful of people on his chumroll; a few acquaintances from his last school, a couple people he had met online and since lost contact with. Now, it was just Jake, who was obviously not online.

            John picked up the scrap of paper he’d torn out of his notebook and looked at it again.

            He was bored and had no one else to talk to; what was the harm in just messaging him? He didn’t even have to be friendly; he could be mean to Dave, just to cheer himself up. John added his handle and opened up the pesterlog window. At least Dave had the decency to be online at the moment. John took a minute to figure out how to begin.

EB: so what is a guy as ‘popular’ as you doing sitting home on his computer?
TG: oh hey sup
TG: honestly kind of surprised you decided to show
TG: and who said I was at home
TG: I could be on my phone at some sweet party for all you know
EB: sounds like a pretty shitty party if you are on your phone.
TG: f u
TG: whatever fine im at home
TG: happy now?
EB: haha, i knew it!
TG: yeah congratulations you won the big prize
TG: but dont be mistaken if there was a party tonight i would be at the top of the vip list
EB: yes, i absolutely believe that.
TG: its not like you arnt sitting at home on your computer too
TG: i figured you would be hanging out with your bodyguard since you two are so tight
TG: what happened did he stand you up

            John was trying not to think of it that way.

EB: he had to go to practice.
TG: and left you with nothing to do but talk to some cool jerk
TG: doesnt sound like boyfriend material if you ask me
EB: well no one asked you!
EB: and he said he was sorry. he didn’t know he had to go.
EB: also shut up, i told you already that he is not my boyfriend.
TG: you dont have to get defensive
TG: i was just messing with you
EB: right, okay.
TG: what does he play
EB: …why do you care about this again?
TG: what am not allowed to be curious

            John massaged his forehead in frustration.

EB: soccer, if you must know.
TG: at least it aint football
TG: football guys are usually huge assholes did you know
TG: but basketball guys
TG: those guys are pretty cool if you ask me
EB: /ROLLS EYES
TG: the worst thing can remember basketball player doing is trying out for musical when he clearly could not
TG: i dont care how cute vanessa hudgens was
TG: high school musical caused me physical trama
TG: i should sue disney
TG: the company
TG: i dont think you can sue a dead guy
TG: mean even if dont get any money the publicity would still bebr />
EB: i don’t know. i thought zac efron was a pretty good singer.
TG: oh my god
TG: is this a joke
TG: cause im not laughing
EB: what?
TG: dude just
TG: no
TG: jesus need to educate you on what is actually good music right fucking
TG: hang on

            A minute later Dave sent john a link to a short playlist

EB: oh boy.

            This should be interesting. John hit play and started listening. It was only five songs, so he decided to wait until he’d listened to the whole thing before telling Dave what he thought. By the time John clicked back to pesterchum, he was horrified to find Dave, the unstoppable force of going on about nothing, had not stopped messaging john for more than fifteen seconds at a time. John hardly skimmed it.

EB: do you always have to talk so much?
TG: hey have lot of fascinating things to say
TG: so come on what did you think
TG: way better than mainstream shit
EB: …mainstream?
TG: yeah you know like the terrible shit you hear played over and over on the radio
EB: you sound like a hipster.
TG: excuse you
TG: im so not
EB: i will take that as a ‘yes, but i am unwilling to admit it.’
TG: wow you suck
EB: hehehe
EB: i guess those songs were pretty okay.
EB: but for now i think i am going to stick with ‘mainstream shit’, though.
TG: fine more for me
TG: so
TG: what are you doing
EB: nothing, really.

            His homework was already finished in anticipation to hanging out with Jake. He could be reading, or playing a game or whatever, but none of that seemed interesting just then. Not that Dave was much more interesting, but still.

EB: what about you?
TG: just working on the most fucking awesome song in history of undiscovered artists
TG: which turns out has no history whatsoever but you know what i mean
EB: song?
TG: i dont just listen to music i make it too

            Being an intermediate pianist, John’s interest couldn’t help but be sparked by the topic of making music.

TG: downloaded this program about year
TG: im mostly just messing around with it but i got some pretty sick tracks so far
EB: oh.
EB: i thought you meant real music.
TG: fuck you man this is real music
TG: and dont even tell me its easy because im using a computer
EB: sorry! geeze.
EB: if  you are so busy, maybe i should just leave you alone.
TG: nah its cool
TG: but i hope ive enlightened you now
EB: i guess.
EB: I play piano, myself.
TG: are you actually any good
TG: or is twinkle twinkle little star your big number
TG: or maybe smoke on the water
TG: smoke on the water can be played on piano right
EB: my dad has been teaching me since i could stand up by myself. so yeah, i guess im pretty good.
TG: huh
TG: think ima need some proof of that
EB: well…
EB: i DO have a recording of me playing something. it’s not really a big deal, but it’s what I have.
TG: let me see
TG: hear whatever
TG: just send it

            After moment of John send him the audio file.

EB: here, knock yourself out.

            Suddenly, John had a moment of clarity: he was having a perfectly civil conversation with Dave, someone he was trying to hate. And then he wondered if that was so bad. Yes, Dave had been pretty awful to him in the past—and he still pretended to be awful to John when he was around the Jackets—but when it was just the two of them, he wasn’t that bad at all.

            Once again, just couldn’t deny that he was holding a grudge. Maybe he could try to leet it go and judge Dave for who he was and not who he pretended to be.

EB: hey. can i ask you why you gave me your pesterchum handle?
EB: are you still trying to get me to forgive you?
EB: or maybe you just thought i would be dying to talk to mister popular cool guy even more.
TG: pretty much the latter
TG: you should be thanking me for making it so easy on you dude
TG: could have made you beg for this golden piece of information
EB: uh huh. sure.
TG: nah okay seriously though gave you my handle because
TG: wait for it
TG: just wait
TG: this is going to blow your mind
TG: because wanted to keep talking to you

            It made sense. But it also didn't

EB: really?
TG: i think youre pretty okay
TG: is that so weird
EB: i guess not
TG: cool now that were done talking about that
TG: classical music isnt exactly my strong point
TG:but i dont know think youre pretty good
EB: thanks.
TG: you ever write anything yourself
EB: hah. not really. i have tried a couple times but it never really worked out.
TG: maybe could help you out with that
TG: if you want
EB: you could?
TG: you got a talented musical expert in your chumroll now
EB: i do?
EB: who would that be? I have no idea.
EB: seriously dave, help me out here.
TG: cute
TG: no really youre hilarious

            John and kept messaging Dave for way longer than he would had John even close to ready to trusting But maybe he was worth a chance.

Chapter Text

                Jake’s birthday was celebrated very casually. No big party or anything. His grandmother simply took him, John, and a few of Jake’s friends from his team to dinner at a nice restaurant. John left with them afterwards.

            “Thanks again for letting me stay the night, Ms. Harley.”

            “John, I have told you so many times already! You can just call me Jade.”

            “Hehe, oops. Sorry. I guess I’m still getting used to that.”

            “And your welcome. It is kind of a special occasion, after all.” She looked up in the rear-view mirror to wink at Jake, who was sitting next to John in the back seat.

            “I’m kind of surprised I’m the only one staying, though. What about everyone else?” The question was directed at Jake, but Jade spoke first.

            “I told him I wasn’t having a bunch of teenaged boys running around my house,” she explained. “I have a lot of delicate, expensive equipment in the house—it’s hard enough to keep this one from breaking something. I can only imagine what would happen if I had a handful of you soccer boys horsing around in there.”

            “I’m sure they could have behaved themselves if you had given them a chance, Gran.”

            “Well . . . maybe I could have. And Maybe I will. Next time.”

            “Next time? As in my next birthday? By then I probably won’t even want to have them stay over.”

            John smiled as he listened to them. They were obviously very close, which wasn’t a big surprise. She was one of the sweetest people John had ever met.

            “Anyway,” she continued explain at last, “I told Jake he could have just one friend stay over. I guess he chose you.”

            “Oh.” John grinned, hoping it didn’t give away too much. “Cool,” he managed to say.

            When they got back to the house, the first thing Jake did when they got out of the car was ask for John’s present.

            “I’ve been made to wait all through dinner; I simply can’t take the suspense any longer!”

            “I think you can wait until we’re actually inside.”

            Jake whined some more, but John just ignored him and followed Jade up to the house.

            “Okay, now?” Jake asked, walking in behind him.

            “Yes.” John handed him the medium-sized box he was carrying. “Happy birthday, you big dork.”

            “Yes!” Jake cheered, snatching it from him. He set it down on the dining room table to unwrap it. It was a high-end virtual reality game that was contained in a green helmet, which was made to look like a skull. The game was billed as ‘action-adventure themed,’ so it seemed right up Jake’s ally.

            Jake was very excited about it He turned to John, who had hovered closer while he was unwrapping, to give him a hug.       

            “Thanks, John, this is so cool! You’re the best!”

            John laughed, surprised but happy with this development.

            “You’re welcome. I’m glad I managed to find something you like. You’ll probably look pretty dumb wearing it though.”

            “No way, I bet it’ll look awesome as all get out. But I’ll save the test run for another time, when I’m not entertaining a guest.”

            “Okay. So what’s on the schedule tonight? Because I’m thinking about taking a wild guess and saying that you probably have a bunch of movies picked out.”

            “Indeed, I do! But I have a feeling we should put those on hold as well. For a few hours at least.” Jake glances behind him, almost absentmindedly.

            “Why?” John asked.

            Jake rolled his eyes overdramatically, which made John laugh quietly, and put his hand between his face and the kitchen to stage-whisper to John.

            “My grandma has been giving me a bit of a hard time about my movie watching habits lately—”

            “Well you watch movies more than you do just about anything else, Jake,” Jade interrupted. She came back from the kitchen carrying a tray with cupcakes on it, each with a small lit candle.

            “I know you love them and all; I just get worried sometimes, okay? Who knows, you might start putting down roots, living with someone with thumbs this green.”

            Jade lifted her thumbs off the tray to reveal that they really were green—likely from the green dye in the frosting. John laughed while Jake blew the candles out.

            “I think you fuss too much over me.”

            “That’s my job, kiddo.”

            “Yeah, I know. Just don’t try to rope me into gardening with you as a movie alternative—I like my thumbs the color they are.”

            Jade smiled. “Fair enough. Now take a cupcake already.”

            They obeyed. When John bit into it, he thought it tasted familiar.

            “Did you make this from a box?” he asked Jade.

            “Nope, all from scratch—secret family recipe, so don’t bother asking.”

            “Oh. I thought . . . well, it doesn’t matter. I didn’t know you could bake.”

            “I guess I can—I just don’t care for it very much.” She set the tray down on the dining table. “But obviously I have to whip something up for days like this.”

            She smiled in Jake’s direction before heading back to the kitchen, leaving them alone again.

            John looked to Jake, who had paused with a thoughtful look on his face while still in the middle of eating his cupcake. When he went to take another bite, John decided to take advantage of his distraction. He bumped Jake’s arm, causing Jake to get the tip of his noes covered in frosting.

            “Oh!” Jake exclaimed while John cracked up at the shocked look on his face.

            “Nice, John. Okay, you got me good, I have to admit it.”

            John took a bow. “The pranking mater, at your service.”

            “Okay, okay.” Jake wiped his face off with his sleeve. “I suppose we should start looking for something to do with ourselves.”

            They sort of wondered about the house for several minutes before ending up in the rec. room, where all the board games, video games and other various means of entertainment were kept. For Jade’s sake, they ignored the big-screen television in favor of the pool table.

            Jake whipped the table with John in the first game, since he was more practiced at it, but John felt he was on his way to a comeback in the second.

            It just takes a little math. Or that’s what I’ve heard, at least,” Jake told him, trying to be a good sport by giving him tips. “I’m just relying on practiced skill, myself.” He laughed triumphantly as he sunk another ball.

            “Math,” John repeated absently. It was his turn, but he was starting to day dream a little. After several more seconds, Jake noticed.

            “Still with us here on Earth, John?” Jake asked, nudging him.

            “What? Oh, yeah. I was just thinking.” He lined up his shot.

            “It does look pretty tricky, but I’m sure do fine.” Jake encouraged, assuming John was thinking about his move. He had actually been thinking about Dave. Not that there was any chance he was going to admit that.

            John took his shot; he just missed the corner pocket this time. But he ended up winning two of the three games—the second he won fairly, but the third he won by default because Jake messed up and sunk the eight ball too soon.

            The whole of the evening was pretty uneventful. After Jake’s tragic loss, they moved on the shelf of board games. They tried a couple of those, but nothing kept their attention for more than ten minutes. But then, after rooting around in the video games, they found a couple of working Game-Boys and Pokémon cartridges for each of them. They spent a few hours playing that, and it was mindless enough for them to talk idly the whole time. It was strangely relaxing.

            And after they had put of their games, agreeing to pick it up the next time John came over, they finally got to the movies. It was getting late, but they were still planning to watch all of them.

            John had just enough time to scramble back his makeshift bed on the floor next to Jake’s before Jake got back from brushing his teeth. Not that trying to play innocent would matter, after what was about to happen.

            Jake opened the door, tripping the string John had just set up, dumping about two spoonfuls of glitter on his head.

            “What the—? Oh, for Pete’s sake, John!”

            John fell over as he dissolved into laughter. Jake sighed and brushed off as much as he could.

            “I guess it could have been worse.” Then, he had an idea. He walked over to John and started shaking his hair out at him.

            “Haha, hey!” John protested.

            “Nuh-uh. It’s about time you had a taste of your own tomfoolery.”

            “Trust me, I get plenty enough already.” John said, mostly to himself. “C’mon, we have movies to watch.”

            And so, they turned off the lights and turned on the first movie, Which they both loved. And John thought the second movie was even better. He commented now and then about it, whispering so Jade wouldn’t come to make them go to sleep. Jake responded a couple times, but otherwise he was quiet.

            When it was over, John was surprised Jake didn’t have anything to say—he was usually raving before the credits had a chance to start rolling.

            “What’s the matter, Jake? Have we actually found a movie you aren’t that into?” John asked. But the only response he got was the soft sound of snoring. John turned around to look at him.

            Jake was asleep. How that happened, John had no idea. He must have been more tired than John realized. His head was turned facing the screen, his lips slightly parted and his glasses still on. John could see a couple specks of glitter on his face in the glow of the television.

            So much for staying up with watching movies all night, John thought. But he didn’t really mind—he was getting tired, too.

            Suddenly he realized he was still staring at Jake and instantly felt like a huge creep. John touched his own scrunched-up forehead, frustrated again with his infatuation.

            Why did Jake have to be so fucking cute? Why did John have to fall for his best friend, who had enough past girlfriends to make his preferences clear? Maybe part of him didn’t want to let go of this, because this was the first sign of something, some indication of having hormones like a normal person after they had been in hibernation for so damn long.

            John sighed silently to himself, and gently removed Jake’s glasses from his face to set them on the table next to his bed.

            “Night, Jake.” John whispered. He turned off the television and laid down as well.

Chapter Text

            In the beginning of their quasi-friendship, John and Dave didn’t see much of each other outside of school. Keeping it all online was best, for both sides. Dave, as a B-minus-list celebrity had actually-existent parties to go to and an appearance to keep up; even if John’s pariah status had nothing to do with Miller and co., it wouldn’t be good for anyone at school to be seen with him.

            And John was too busy spending his free time with Jake, who had no idea he was still speaking to Dave. John knew he should probably tell him, but he also knew how he would react to it. So he kept putting it off. After two weeks, however, the truth came out.

            John and Dave were finally meeting outside of their computers to do something together. Dave wanted to hang out downtown, in an area he seemed sure they would be unlikely to run into anyone from school. John was nervous, but he was pretty sure by this point that Dave wouldn’t hurt him. Physically, at least.

            On the bus ride there, John worried a little bit about walking around an unfamiliar city. What if he got mugged or something?

            It made him feel better to see Dave waiting for him at the bus stop. At least he wouldn’t get lost.

            “Didn’t want you getting kidnapped or something.” Dave said when John stepped onto the curb. “Not that that kind of thing would happen but. Yeah.” He started walking and John stepped quickly to fall in line next to him.

            “I don’t think I’m at a very high risk of that happening anyway—even though my dad seems kind of worried about it sometimes.”

            “Can’t say I blame him. Unless you got some pepper-spray on you I don’t think you’d give anyone much of a fight.”

            “It’s not because I’m small, stupid. It’s—” Well. Actually, now that he mentioned it, that might be a contributing factor.

            “Then what’s got him stressed about it?”

            John started to wish he hadn’t brought it up in the first place. This was going to sound ridiculous.

            “Well . . . you know how you have to have a bunch of money to go to our school? My family must have money too, right? And that money has to come from somewhere?”

            “This is starting off pretty sinister. Are you about to tell me your dad is in the Mob or something?”

            John laughed. “No, but . . . okay, my family sort of owns the Better Crocker company.”

            “Oh. No shit?”

            “Nope.”

            “I didn’t realize it was a family business.” Dave sounded a little skeptical, but John couldn’t blame him.

            “At the top, it is. That’s actually why my dad and I moved. Apparently they’re building a new factory down here, and they asked him to oversee it or  . . .something. I don’t know. I’ve never really paid attention to what it is he does.”

            “So, what does that make you? Like, the heir to the Betty Crocker thrown?”

            John snorted. It sounded even more stupid when it was said like that. “I guess toy could call it that. But I don’t think I’m interesting in a career in cakes.”

            “You should have told me about this sooner. Had no idea I was hanging out with confectionary royalty.”

            “Yeah, whatever. So what are we doing here anyway?”

            Dave sort of half shrugged. “Hanging out.”

            “That’s it?”

            “What more do you want? How does hanging out with me not sound like the best damn time you’ve ever had.”

            “I don’t know. But this is fine, I guess.”

            “Okay, fine. You want something specific? This way.” He started heading across the street and John hurried to catch up.

            “Where are we going?” John asked.

            “This place I know. Also known as the best place ever.”

            John wanted a little more explanation than that, but he decided to just wait and see. He followed Dave through all of his twist and turns through the streets.

            After walking several blocks, Dave turned a corner and stopped abruptly and John almost walked into him.

            “Allow me to present the greatest music store in existence.” He was gesturing to the place across the street. The sign on top said Spin Cycle in large letters. Even though it had Music and Instruments under that in smaller letters, John couldn’t help picturing washing machines.

            “Are you sure it’s not a Laundromat?” he asked smiling.

            “John, I’m only going to ask you nicely once: please don’t mock my place of worship.” They walked across the street and went in.

            The place was clean, and the décor was basic and timeless, but it still had a bit of a dusty smell that gave away its age. It was actually a pretty big place. Guitars and basses were hung up on the walls, leading to the back of the store where the rest of the instruments were. And the space between those and the frond of the store was filled with racks, which were filled with musical media.

            Dave seemed to be waiting for John to say something.

            “It’s nice,” John said. He tried to sound enthusiastic, but he wasn’t sure if he pulled it off.

            Dave shrugged, but didn’t show any sign of disappointment. He probably didn’t even care if John approved or not.

            “I guess it’s kind of hard for me to get excited about this stuff,” John explained. “You’re the music guy, not me.”

            “Hey, you’re a music guy too, you’re even starting to write your own.” Dave was walking down an aisle and John followed closely.

            “Yeah, but that’s not really the same thing. I just play piano for fun. You’re the one who doesn’t go anywhere without something to listen to.”

            “Well, I think it’s time to change that. I am officially taking you under my wing.” He put his arm around John’s shoulder to emphasize the statement. “I will teach you the ways of the indie music connoisseur.”

            “I’m not sure I’m cut out for that lifestyle.”

            Dave let go of him to flip through rows of CDs. “You can’t get rid of me that easily, Egbert. I’m gonna find some stuff around here, add some stuff I have at home, and make you your own mix. Love it or your money back guaranteed.”

            “You  don’t have to do that.”

            “I want to. It’ll be fun.”

            “Well, if you’re going to, I should at least pay for the CDs.” John wasn’t sure how much they would cost, but he was guessing it was going to burn up most of the fifteen dollars he had on him.

            “Nah, I got this. Call it an early Christmas present.”

            “I . . . really? I mean, are you sure?”

            “Anything to further your musical education.”

            John laughed. “Okay, if you think so.”
            They continued to wander around the store together while Dave tried to find the perfect selections for John. And the more John saw, the more he started to kind of like the place.

            After several minutes, John realized how quiet it seemed, despite the classic rock being played over the speakers. It took him a second to realize it was because Dave had actually stopped babbling for more than twenty seconds. Maybe this was the reason John found himself being the one to make conversation. Awkwardly.

            “So, you really like this place, huh?”

            “Yep.”

            Silence again.

            “What do you like about it?”

            Dave didn’t say anything else at first. John was starting to think he should have just kept his mouth shut, but then he got an answer.

            “Well, I guess it’s just cool to be in a store full of something I’m into. I mean, there’s a lot of history in here, and I think it’s interesting. And, also, it sort of restores my faith in humanity, that a music store can still even exists when most people are going digital.”

            “And you haven’t?”

            “Nah. I tried having an iPod, when I was like eleven. Got bored of it after a couple months.”

            “How come?”

            “Do you know how fucking limiting that is? I only got the same five-hundred songs to listen to all day, every day. I gotta constantly be rotating the songs I listen to or I get sick of them. Having an old Walkman and an extensive CD collection works a lot better.”

            “Huh.”

            “Besides, this is how music is meant to be listened to.” He held up the CD he had been looking at as an example. “In a specific sequence, not cut up and shuffled around.”

            “I guess you have a point.” John didn’t really know what to say anymore. But that was fine, because the silence recommenced soon, and this time he left it alone.

            When they were near the back of the store, John noticed what he assumed was some kind of DJ booth, set up on a raised platform. It was all lit up and there was an employee sitting behind it, a guy who might have been in his mid-twenties, reading a magazine. This must have been the source of the music that was filling the store.

            When the guy saw Dave approaching, he smiled and pulled off the headphones he was wearing. This made John wonder why he was wearing headphones at all when he could  hear the music just fine without them. It must have been a DJ thing.

            While John pondered this mystery, he realized the DJ guy was walking away and Dave was stepping behind his equipment. John scurried to the side of the set-up.

            “Are, uh, customers allowed to be messing with that stuff?”

            “Most aren’t. But I have special privileges.”

            John was pretty sure Dave was just trying to show off by breaking rules. He hoped they wouldn’t get kicked out.

            “Dude, relax,” Dave said, seeing the look on John’s face. “I’m just covering for the guy for a few minutes. He lets me do this all the time.”

            John relaxed. Oh, okay. He was still pretty sure Dave was intentionally showing off, but at least they wouldn’t get in trouble.

            He had no idea what Dave was doing back there, but judging by all of the knobs he was turning and switches he was flipping, Dave obviously did. After a few more button pushes and disk exchanges, there was suddenly completely different music coming out of the speakers. And it was actually pretty good.

            John had seen Dave smile before, tons of times—but this was the first time he really looked happy. Not smug or amused; he was just at peace. It made John smile too.

            Just as the song was sounding like it was about to finish, the DJ guy reappeared. He made a joke about how Dave needed to get out of there and stop making him look bad, and after doing so, he and John moved on.

            “I think we can get out of here now. Pretty sure I got what I need. Or what you need, should we say?” He held up two CD cases he’d picked out.

            “They look weird.”

            “Well they sound great. You’ll see.”

            A few minutes later, with the CDs paid for, they decided to seek out lunch. They ended up at this place called Riley’s, one of the last of a small and almost extinct fast food chain.

            After placing their orders, Dave handed over a plastic card and John counted out his singles and change to make sure he paid the right amount.

            “I’m not sharing my food if you don’t have enough.” Dave said, watching him. “And I only pay for dates.”

            “Shut up.” John told him.

            “Of course, I could consider paying for you.” Dave continued on anyway, like usual. “If you want to consider this our first date.”

            John laughed dryly and handed the cashier the money.

            “Yeah, that is not happening. Ever.”

            “I don’t know, man. I can be pretty charming when I want to be. You might change your mind.”

            Now John was getting confused. Dave had made jokes like this before, once or twice, nit it was always clear he was kidding. But this time he seemed to be taking it further than before.

            Then, the cashier came back with their food on two separate trays.

            Dave stepped up and took his, which was when he noticed the look John was giving him.

            “What?” he said, before turning around and leaving the little building, not bothering to wait for John.

            John hesitated a moment more before picking up his own tray, berating himself for being dumb enough to think Dave might . . . Haha, like that would ever happen. Ever, John told himself. He went to catch up with Dave.

            The only tables were outside. John had just sat down at one of them across from Dave when he heard someone several yards behind him calling his name. Surprised, John turned around to see it was Jake, quickly walking toward them.

            And Jake seemed even more surprised to see John. Or more likely, who John was with. His expression was really priceless—John covered his mouth to keep from laughing. Maybe Dave noticed too, because John heard the amused noise he made.

            “Jake? What are you doing here?” John asked when he was close enough.

            “I was just on my way back from this gardening store for Gran, and I . . . happened to see you over here.” He glanced at Dave, who wasn’t making any effort to pretend he wasn’t listening.

            Jake turned back to John, and said to him in an aside, “John, could we take this conversation elsewhere? I’d hate for someone to eavesdrop.” He was silting his head in Dave’s general direction, as if he was fooling anyone.

            John sighed. He wanted to eat. And he knew he wasn’t going to enjoy having this conversation. But he got up and followed Jake several yards down the block.

            “John, would you kindly explain what the devil fucking dickens is going on here?”

            “I’m hanging out with Dave. Do you have a problem with that?”

            “Why on Earth would you want to hang out with him for? I thought you hated him!”

            “I did. But I’m getting to know him a little better now.”

            “So you’re just going to—to up and forgive him? After everything he did to you, just like that!?”

            “No, of course not ‘just like that,’” John said irritably. “I’m not saying we’re best friends now—I just . . . I don’t know, we were talking a lot while we were doing that project together and I’m pretty sure he’s telling the truth about being on my side. I just thought I  should give him a chance to prove he’s not as much of a dick as I think he is. He hasn’t blown that chance yet, maybe you should give him a little credit.” John thought he could get some credit too. He could take care of himself better than Jake seemed to remember.

            “Well I don’t know about that . . . And I can’t say I think this is the keenest idea. But I suppose I shouldn’t stand in the way of you making your own decisions.”

            “Thank you. And now, I am making the decision to go eat my food before it gets cold.” He turned back and went back to the restaurant patio. Jake trailed behind hesitantly.

            “So did you really find him by accident?” Dave asked when they were back at the table, through a mouthful of food, no less. “Or did you have some kind of homing chip implanted under your skin so you could keep track of him?”

            Jake seemed sort of indignant that Dave had the nerve to speak to him at all.

            “Maybe it’s a good thing I ran into the two of you. Who knows what you could be getting him into?”

            “Well I was planning on taking it easy today. But hey, next weekend, what do you think, John? We could score some drugs, rob a few banks—maybe English here could lend us those guns I heard he has and we could gun down some school children. You know, make a day of it.”

            John laughed, but Jake didn’t think it was funny.

            “You didn’t answer the question, English,” Dave reminded him. “You hiding something? Do I need to run John through a metal detector?”

            Jake huffed irritably before answering. “If you must know, I did in fact come across the two of you by chance. But it certainly would have been nice to have known about this sooner. I think I nearly had a heart attack back there.”

            “I’m sorry, but why is it any of your business? Are you his mother or something?”

            “Sometimes I think that’s what exactly what he thinks,” John said, rolling his eyes.

            Jake probably wouldn’t have cared if it was just Dave saying these things, but when John joined in on the teasing, he was clearly put out.

            “Well, excuse me for caring,” he said, crossing his arms.

            “Aw, Jake, you know I’m just kidding.” John assured him. “Even if you do butt-in too much now and then,” he added pointedly.

            Jake’s pout turned guilty. “Sorry.”

            “It’s alright.”

            John stood there awkwardly next to the table for a moment before clearing his throat loudly.

            “So!” Jake sat down right next to John, which was a little surprising, but it made definitely made him happy. “Since I’m here and I’m in no rush to go anywhere, do you think I could tag along with you?”

            He was giving John this look that could best be described as ‘puppy eyes.’ It wasn’t even that intense, but John was still very effected by it.

            “Uh, yeah, sure! That sounds great.” John was surprised Jake even wanted to, since it would mean hanging out with Dave. But John wasn’t complaining.

            “Deluxe,” Jake replied happily. Dave snorted quietly from his side of the table.

            John rolled his eyes again. “Just ignore him,” he stage whispered to Jake.

            “Oh, believe me, I try.”

            “Sorry,” Dave said. I know I can be a distraction to most people.” Then, after a second, “Wait, no—I’m not sorry at all.”

            “Well, actually,” Jake said, “That dirt on your face is rather distracting.”

            “What?” Dave put down his food for a second to wipe off his cheek. “Where?”

            “Just there, on the other side,” Jake said, pointing. “Have you been walking about like that all day?”

            “I don’t know, have I?” Dave asked, turning to John, who was trying not to smile too widely.

            “I don’t know, dude, maybe! This is the first time I’m noticing it, though.”

            “I can’t see how you couldn’t have!” Jake exclaimed. “It seems very obvious to me.”

            “Whatever.” Dave was still trying to scrub his cheek. “Did I get it all?”

            “Almost.” Jake told him. “Just a bit more, higher . . .” Dave kept trying to clean his face, and finally John lost it. He turned to the side of his seat so he could double over in quiet giggles.
            “What?” Dave asked him. Then, finally, he got it. He put his hand down. “There’s nothing on my face, is there.” It wasn’t even a question. John shook his head, laughing more loudly. He sat up straight again.

            “Oh, man, that was so great!” John raised his hand and Jake, who was laughing quietly too, high-fived him. “I don’t know how you weren’t dying like I was!”

            “I’ll be honest, it took a lot of determination.”

            The rest of the afternoon continued in a similar fashion. Most of the time was passed through Jake and Dave making fun of each other while the three of them wandered the streets doing a lot of window shopping and people watching, and a lot of general bumming around. John almost thought he should try to mediate between them. But it way too entertaining. As long as they were just keeping it verbal, he would allow it.

            Eventually, John said he had to go—his dad wanted him home before dark. Dave offered to drove him home. Jake said he could have also given him a ride . . . if he had gone to get his license yet. And if he had a car. But John’s bus was dude any minute anyway, so they just escorted him to the stop. It was unnecessary, but they both insisted.

            Overall, John thought it was a pretty good day. He hung out with Dave and nothing went wrong, and he got to hang out with Jake, which was always a plus for him.

            He watched the sun’s slow decent on the horizon while the bus rumbled forward, hoping he wouldn’t be late.

Chapter Text

            It took a little less than a month after their project was over for John to honestly say he was ready to trust Dave, and maybe even forgive him. It might have taken longer with someone else, but their friendship was just too natural to be repressed.

            John kept Jake updated on their progress. At first he never seemed very interested, so John decided to keep it to himself. But then when he wasn’t saying anything Jake started asking. So John kept him in the loop again.

            December had come with some changes. Class changes, for one. John had more classes with Dave this term, which was cool. Less cool was that he was also in some with Miller. At least none of those classes were P.E. The last thing John needed was to be in a situation with any of the Jackets where they would be encouraged to throw rubber balls at him.

            Another change was football season ending and basketball season beginning. Which meant seeing a lot more of the Jackets and less of Dave, since he was the one going to practice now. Now Dave would hardly ever be there to make fun of the others when they had their back turned and to check on John after their terrorizing sessions when he could. But since the Jackets went to support their friends on other teams, game days would still be less stressful. John enjoyed watching Dave’s first game way more than he thought he would. In his uniform, you could just how skinny Dave really was; and John could also see that Dave had been lying through his teeth all of those times he said he was good at basketball. When he wasn’t benched, he barely kept up with everyone else.

            One thing that did not change much, however, was the weather. It got a little chiller, sure, but it left John feeling homesick for Washington snow days. On the afternoon of the last day of school before winter break, John complained about this to Dave while he walked him to Jake’s house. The hostility between the two of them hadn’t changed either, but John wasn’t worried. He kind of wished they could all spend the afternoon together like they did the one time a couple weeks ago, but he let it go. Dave had a party to go to that evening anyway.

            “It doesn’t really feel like winter,” John told him. “And I think what’s missing is snow.”

            “I don’t really see the appeal in snow.” Dave said. “Like, what’s even the point of snow? Isn’t it mostly just a big pain in the ass? Just a bunch of cold shit that covers everything and everyone outside. And then by the time you back inside, you’re all numb and you forget about it and then oh hey, now you have frostbite, congratulations on the permanent loss of feeling in your ears and nose.

            “Anything you can do in snow, you can do without snow. Snowmen? Go to the fucking beach and build a sandcastle kid, or get some Play-doh like a normal person, save yourself the hypothermia. Igloos? Yeah, that’s cool, sit in your little snow fort, junior; but let me ask you this: what else are you gonna use it for besides just sitting in? Are you getting some kind of secret snow internet connection, or snow video games? And sledding? If you want to go speeding out of control down a hill and break your neck, you can do that any time of the year. Snowboarding isn’t much of a step up from that. How about you get a skateboard and make a poor attempt to look like less of a douche. And c’mon, how fucking pretentious is skiing? Who even goes skiing besides rich assholes? I mean, we’re rich assholes too, but you know. Of a different variety. Please tell me you’ve never gone skiing, John.”

            John was smiling as he listened to Dave’s ridiculous monolog. He could have interrupted him at any time, but John was beginning to enjoy letting him go off on tangents—it could be surprisingly entertaining.

            “No, I’ve never gone skiing. And you’re being really dumb. Snow is better than you think it is. How would you even know? I bet you’ve never even seen snow in person.”

            “It snowed once, when I was a kid. Got lucky enough that it melted as soon as that shit touched the ground. Coldest fucking day I can remember.”

            “You weren’t disappointed that it didn’t stick?” John asked incredulously. “The first time a kid sees snow, I would have thought you would be excited.”

            “Nope. I guess I’ve always been too cool for stupid little things like that.”

            “Bullshit.”

            Dave didn’t respond to the remark, so John continued. “I think you try too hard to look cool sometimes.”

            “Are you doubting my natural-born ability to be the most awesome jet on the planet?”

            John snorted loudly. “After that statement? Especially.”

            “Whatever.”

            “Look, I’ll admit that sometimes you’re kind of cool.”

            “Sometimes? Kind of?” Dave repeated, sounding highly offended. John ignored him.

            “It’s just sometimes it seems like you’re going out of your way to try and act like that.”

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Dave said. John glanced up at him, and saw he was wearing his usual poker face.

            “I’m just saying, I think you should just try to be yourself.”

            “Yeah, be myself. I’ll remember that while I ‘keep hanging in there’ and ‘always eat my vegetables.’”

            John had to laugh. “I mean it,” he insisted.

            Dave didn’t respond again, so John let it go and they walked quietly for a minute.

            “Well, maybe snow could have some benefits.” Dave amended. “You’d probably look pretty cute in a sweater; oversized with the sleeves covering your hands and all.”

            “Okay that’s it,” John announced, hoping the warm feeling he got wasn’t showing on his face. “You need to tell me what you mean when you say things like that.”

            For weeks, Dave would drop little comments like this in conversation, and they got more and more direct as time went on.

            “I mean, I’m almost starting to think you aren’t joking,” John went on.

            “I’m not joking—I’m flirting.”

            Whoa. Okay, this flipped everything upside-down.

            “You’re . . . flirting . . . with me?” John was pretty sure this was the first time this had ever happened to him. It was kind of mind-blowing. And pleasing, if he was being honest, especially after those new dumb thoughts he was having lately.

            “Sure. I flirt with all the choice cuties I can get away with.”

            “Oh. I didn’t know you were . . .”

            “Bi? Yeah, well. I don’t usually go around advertising it so that’s good news. You can guess how well that kind of info would be received around here.”

            “Heh, yeah.” Yes, John was very aware. “This is weird. I mean! It’s not weird; I guess it’s just, a surprise? You know, all this time, I never thought . . .” John desperately searched for a way to stop digging himself deeper.

            “Nah, I get what you mean. We’re cool.”

            “Okay. Cool.”

            “It’s really lame though, being in this position, because it means I’ve never gotten to have a boyfriend, which I kind of want to try doing at some point.”

            “Yeah, that must suck.”

            “It totally does. But I have to try to save myself the trouble, you know? But yeah, of course you know.”

            John tried to sound natural when he responded. “What do you mean?”

            “What do you mean what do I mean.”

            “Don’t do that.”

            “John, you know what I mean.”

            “I really don’t.”

            “Please just stop playing dumb. You aren’t good at hiding things, like at all. You already know I know.”

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about! And I don’t think you know either; you’re just trying to annoy me by talking in circles.” They weren’t that far from the gates to Jake’s neighborhood. Maybe if John walked a little faster he could leave this conversation behind . . .

            “Your crush on English?”

            “You’re still on that? I told you forever ago that it’s not like that.”

            “You said he wasn’t your boyfriend, not that you didn’t have a crush on him. I mean, I’m sure it’s not as painfully obvious to anyone who doesn’t spend a lot of time with you. Except maybe the guy himself—he’s either way better at acting oblivious than I gave him credit for, or fucking blind.”

            “Oh God, fine.” The jig was up. John felt his face get warmer, and of course Dave noticed and laughed.

            “Ha, that’s really cute.” God, that only made it worse. “At least now you admit it.”

            “Yeah, fine, whatever. I like him.”

            “And you haven’t said anything to him.”

            “No, and you better not either.”

            “Trust me, I’m not. But . . . why haven’t you? It’s not like he could turn you down.”

            “Are you kidding? Of course he could, and he probably would.” They were almost at the end of their walk, but now that John was talking, he might as well keep going. “He’s a nice, funny, seriously great person, who’s had like, a hundred girlfriends, and I’m just . . .”

            “I’m not kidding,” Dave said. “He’d be stupid to pass you up.”

            “Thanks.” John was pretty sure he was just being nice. “But he still never think of me like . . . that.”

            Dave didn’t respond right away. And when he did, it wasn’t to reassure John again.

            “Hey, listen. Just . . . to be sure I’m making myself clear here—or more clear than usual—if you ever get up the nerve to tell him and he does say no . . . or you get tired of waiting around to notice you? You have other options.”

            “Yeah? Like who,” John asked as he punched in the passcode to open the gate.

            “You’re still not getting it? Jesus, did you catch something from English? Am I gonna get bit with this obliviousness bug too?”

            John realized what he was getting at.

            “Are you saying . . . you—”

            “Yeah, sure. I mean, I guess.”

            “. . .  Huh.” John didn’t really know what to say. And it was such an anticlimactic confession.

            “I think I’m going to just let you chew on that and let you go—think you’ll be okay from here?”

            Jake’s house was only a few blocks away, past a bunch of security guards. “Yeah, I think I’ll make it.”

            “Sweet. Catch you later.”

            After that day, the next time John saw Jake was two days before Christmas. How John managed to convince his dad to let him stop helping with the baking so they could hang out, he might never know.

            When he got to Jake’s house, John was surprised to see the grass trimmed and tidied. There were also some kind of translucent green covering over the flower patches.

            There was also at least twice as much decorating as the last time John was over, yet Jake was still up on a ladder leaning against the house, hanging up a giant light-up wreath as his grandmother directed him from the ground.

            “A little to the left!” Jade shouted.

            “Hey Jade. How’s it going?” John asked when he was close enough. “And what happened to the lawn?”

            “Oh, hi John! I’m doing great. And the lawn? Well, something had to be done with it at some point. Anyway, we’re just putting on the finishing touches. Jake will be down in a second.”

            “How’s that look, Gran?” Jake called down.

            “Perfect! Come on down, your guest is here!”

            “You guys really go all out, don’t you?” John commented while he waited for Jake to get back on the ground.

            “Yep! Wouldn’t be as fun if we didn’t,” Jade said.

            Jake jumped the last couple feet off the ladder.

            “Hey there, John! So, what do you think?” Jake gestured to the house. “The place cleans up pretty nice, eh?”

            “Yeah, it looks great,” John assured them both. And it did: colored lights in all shaped and sizes were strung everywhere. Tons of decorations littered the lawn. Some of it was a little tacky, but Christmas wasn’t about taste—it was about having fun. And clearly, that’s what Jake and his grandmother were doing.

            “It would look even better with snow,” John said. “But it’s still great without it.”

            “Ohhh, you never know.” Jade said mysteriously. “We could get some snow before Christmas is over.” With that, she headed back inside.

            John turned to Jake, who was taking down the ladder. “What did she mean?”

            “I haven’t a clue,” Jake said in an exaggerated tone. He was clearly in on the secret. “Maybe we’ll find out tomorrow evening. Are you and your dad still coming over for dinner?”

            “Yeah, along with a truck load of baked goods.”

            “Ah, capital; his sugar cookies are the best!” Jake took the ladder and started walking around the house to return it to the shed out back.

            “I’m not kidding!” John shouted at his back. “There is a good chance of us rolling up with a trailer attached to the car!” Jake’s retreating laugh was his only response.

            The next day, while it was still early, John went to take Dave his present. It wasn’t much; just a plastic container of cupcakes. But John thought he should give Dave something in return for his mixed CD—which as it turned out, he had liked quite a lot.

            Dave met him outside of his apartment building, off to the side so they wouldn’t be mowed down by the bustling last-minute shoppers. For some reason, he didn’t want John coming up to see his apartment, even though Dave had been over John’s house multiple times.

            “What are you hiding up there?” John asked, handing over the confectionaries.

            “Nothing,” Dave said . . . almost too quickly. “It’s just . . . kind of a mess.”

            “It can’t be much worse than Jake’s room—DVD cases, dirty clothes, and food wrappers everywhere, it’s ridiculous.”

            “I’ll invite you over eventually, ‘kay? Just gotta be patient.”

            “I don’t know if I can hold out any longer, but I’ll try.” John said sarcastically. “Anyway, I guess I’ll see you around.” He turned to leave.

            “Yeah . . . hey, John?”

            John turned back to see what he wanted, and noticed Dave was now holding a little sprig of green. Dave quickly leaned down and kissed the top of John’s head.

            “Merry Christmas.” Without waiting for John to respond, he walked away, back inside his building.

            John was stunned. He put the hood of his jacket up in an attempt to hide his face, and started walking quickly in the wrong direction and hoping no one had seen.

            John wasn’t sure how to handle this, even if it was just a casual little peck. Dave was just flirting with him again. Only a little more forwardly than usual. It was fine, no big deal.

            Still, a grin slowly crept onto John’s face. He had to admit to himself—and no one else—that he was starting to like Dave way more than he ever thought he would.

            Later that evening, John and his dad went to visit the English residence, just like they said they would. They hadn’t actually brought a trailer, but the cakes, pies, cookies and other assorted treats they had with them took up most of the trunk and the entire back seat of the car.

            The inside of the big house was done up as much as the outside. There was even Christmas music playing softly in the background. It was a lot, but it was nice.

            The Egbert’s were the only ones invited—Jake and his grandmother didn’t have any family besides each other. And one of the reasons John and his dad where there was because they didn’t have anyone besides each other either. So it was almost like this weird special bond they all had that brought them a little closer together.

            John and Jake didn’t have a lot of time to spend together; they were both enlisted to help the adults in the kitchen. They were both find with this, but John hoped he could find some time alone with Jake before the night was over. If John didn’t tell him everything tonight, he was at least going to tell him something.

            About five minutes to seven, Jade announced dinner would be ready shortly.

            “But before we eat, Jake and I thought you might like to come outside with us for a minute, to get a look at the lights we worked so hard on.”

            So the Egberts followed Jade to the front yard while Jake went to flip the switch. It was properly dark out now, wish the streetlights on to give it glow, as well as a couple of the other houses nearby, which were lit up significantly more simply. The three of them waited in anticipation at the front of the lawn. And while they waited, John thought he heard some kind of machine start up, but the lights came on only a moment later, so he forgot about it.

            Jake came running from the backyard sporting a huge grin a moment later and they all exchanged ‘Oos’ and ‘Ahhs.’ It was all very nice and pretty. John was just thinking again how much better it would look with the right weather . . . when it began to snow.

            “What?” John was surprised to say the least.

            “Oh, well, would you look at that!” Jake said, not sounding very surprised at all.

            “What did I tell you, John?” Jade said. “You should never doubt the magic of Christmas.”

            John reached out to try to catch some of it. It was cold and melted in his hand, so it must have been real. But it wasn’t even cloudy . . . He squinted above the house to figure out where it was coming from. Sure enough, it looked like it was coming from the sky but from the backyard. This was also about the time John realized the snowfall was limited to just one house.

            “Snow machine?” John asked.

            “You guessed it,” Jake confirmed. “It’ll probably only stick until noon tomorrow, but it’s better than nothing, don’t you think?”

            “Yeah,” John agreed, “it is.”

            “Well, come on!” Jade said. “There’s a kitchen full of food waiting—who’s hungry?”

            Dinner was great. And the snowfall in the window only made it better. John only have a couple of cookies for dessert, but he was pretty sure Jake somehow managed to put away at least a little of everything John and his dad had brought.

            Jade was in no hurry to kick anyone out after they had finished eating, so Jake made hot chocolate for himself and John, and they went off to hang out by themselves. They went upstairs and sat on the floor of the dark hallway next to a large window to watch the snow fall.

            “You’re probably used to seeing it, but It’s still pretty unfamiliar to me,” Jake said apologetically. “So you’ll have to forgive me for still being a little enamored with it.”

            “No, I like watching it, too. I’ve been missing it lately, actually. So this is nice.”

            “Feeling homesick, have you?”

            “A little,” John admitted. “Mostly just now, when it’s not as cold as it’s supposed to be. But I don’t want to go back, not yet. I’m actually pretty glad my dad and I moved here. There are lots of things I would have missed out on if we didn’t.”

            Jake game him a funny look. “Like getting bullied?”

            John chuckled. “Well, it’s the only reason I met you, so I guess it was worth it.”

            “Oh. You think so?”

            Figuring this was the best opportunity he was going to get, John jumped on his chance.

            “I do. You’re a really great friend, Jake. The best I ever had.”

            “Wowie-dowie, you sure know how to flatter. I think you’re a bang-up pal, too.”

            Suddenly, John lost his nerve. He shut up for a minute to sip his coco before trying again.

            “And . . . as my best friend, I think there is something I should tell you.”

            “What’s on your mind?”

            “It’s something I probably should have told you a while ago, but . . . I don’t know,” John laughed nervously. “I guess these things are kind of hard to talk about sometimes.”

            Jake was starting to get concerned. “What is it?”

            “Jake, I.” John took a deep breath. “I think I might be—I mean I’m pretty sure I am . . . I like guys,” He blurted finally.

            A long moment passed.

            “Oh. I see.”

            “You’re not weirded out or anything are you?”

            “Oh, no,  of course not! No, I guess . . .” Jake laughed. “I didn’t know what to expect but it wasn’t that. I’m glad you told me, though.”

            “So . . . we’re still cool and stuff?”

            “Absolutely! Why wouldn’t we be?”

            John smiled and sighed in relief. “I had to ask.” Then he laughed. “Oh man, I’m glad I finally told you.”

            “Just how long have you been keeping this from me?”

            Ah, crap. “Um. A couple months,” John admitted. “I’m sorry. I was just being dumb, really. I knew you would probably be cool about it, but I still worried about the tiny chance that you wouldn’t. It was stupid.”

            “No, I understand. You have nothing to be sorry for. Again, I’m glad you decided to let me know.”

            John simply nodded in response. His hot chocolate was just about gone when Jake spoke up again.

            “You know, I think my curiosity is going to get me in trouble one of these days.” John was about to ask what he meant, but he continued on without pause. “But I’m wondering . . . how did you come to this conclusion?”

            John didn’t answer right away.

            “Is there . . . someone . . . ?”

            John figured this might happen. He had two answers prepared. The truth way, or the chickening-out path. Go on, guess which one he picked.

            “Yes.” He answered carefully. After a second—

            “What’s his name?”

            John smiled and made his answer sound teasing. “Why? Do you think you would know him?”

            “Oh. No, I guess I probably wouldn’t.” Then, a suspicious look crossed Jake’s face. “Unless it’s St—”

            “It’s not Dave, okay? Sheesh.” Nope, Dave wasn’t even a crush, nope nope nope.

            “Sorry.” Jake sounded sincere. “I guess I couldn’t help suspecting.”

            They were quiet again for long enough for John to think the subject had been dropped and he could relax. But he was wrong, of course.

            “Is . . . whoever-he-is, aware of your feelings?”

            “God, no.” John relaxed a little when he answered, feeling secure that Jake wouldn’t guess who anymore. “And I’m almost completely sure he wouldn’t be interested if I told him.”

            “Oh, you shouldn’t think like that. You never know unless you try. Besides, only a fool would turn you down.”

            “It would be nice if it worked like that, wouldn’t it? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll tell him eventually. If I ever think the time is right. And trust me, if anything ever does happen with him—” he glanced at Jake and couldn’t keep his smile down. “—you’ll be the first to know.”

            A moment later, John realized All I Want For Christmas Is You was playing downstairs. He managed not to sigh wistfully when he looked at Jake again, out of the corner of his eye this time.

            If only.

Chapter Text

John and Dave’s school was pretty lax about its holiday breaks. Its students got to enjoy a full two weeks off. On the first day of the year, John, knowing Dave had gone to a party the night before and had likely stayed up very late, called him at about nine in the morning—just to give him a hard time.

                John thought the call would end up going to voicemail, but Dave picked up on the last ring.

            “Hey.” Dave sounded very tired. John laughed.

            “Good morning,” John said brightly in a sing-song voice. “Sleep well?”

            “Not really, no.”

            “Aww, that’s too bad,” John said with mock sympathy. “Have too much fun last night?”

            “No, I didn’t. Last night was pretty fucking shitty to be honest.”

            John’s teasing mood dropped like a rock, right into his stomach.

            “What happened?” He asked seriously. Dave didn’t answer at first.

            “ . . . You think I could come over your place and tell you? I feel like having cake for breakfast and I know you guys must have at least three or four lying around.”

            “Yeah, sure, if you want to.”

            “Awesome,” he said flatly. “I’ll be there in ten.”

            Ten minutes later, the Egbert’s doorbell rang. John had been waiting in the living room and jumped up to answer it.

            For the first time John had ever witnessed, Dave was not wearing his shades; they were perched on top of his head. John hardly registered it; he was too caught up with the bandages and bruises he wore instead.

            “Holy shit; what happened to you?”

            “Cake first, story second.” John stepped back to let him in, and Dave ambled right on past him toward the kitchen. Without even waiting for John, he helped himself to a large slice of the chocolate cake that was sitting on the counter and a glass of apple juice before sitting down at the kitchen table.

            John let him get one bite in before asking again.

            “What the hell happened to you?”

            Dave took a deep breath, then used it to blow up the front of his hair.

            “I was at the party, it was almost eleven, everything was fine. I was talking to some people, when Miller, Jones and Smith . . . two of his meathead lackeys,” Dave explained when John’s brow furrowed at the unfamiliar names, “came over, already drunk of course, and shoved me from behind.

            “So obviously, I ask them, ‘What the hell was that for?’

            “They said someone—I wish I fucking knew who—told them they saw us hanging out . . . you and me, I mean.”

            John was surprised, but Dave was still talking, so he kept listening.

            “And by the sound of it, they had managed to work it out between themselves that I was probably the one helping you out when they tried to pull shit on you and whatever. So yeah,, you might say they were a little peeved at me.

            “So basically, they took me outside, kicked my ass, and told me I could hang out with you whenever I want now without sneaking around to do it. I managed to get a few words in about how I think they’re assholes anyway before they shut the door on me. But it probably sounded totally pathetic at the time. ‘Who needs you jerks anyway; I have a real friend now.’ I’m sure they were really impressed by that.”

            After a second, he went back to eating his cake.

            “I’m sorry you got your ass beat,” John offered.

            “Nah. I earned it for not stopping them from doing it to you sooner. I mean, my bro’s kicked my ass plenty of times, but nothing like this. And you got it twice a week.”

            John thought about it, remembering. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. It pretty much completely sucked.”

            “Did you always feel this shitty the day after?”

            “Pretty much. But it hasn’t even been twelve hours for you. You’ll probably feel a lot better by tomorrow.”

            Dave took another bite of cake, and John asked, “Does . . . this mean you aren’t part of the . . . popular crowd or whatever now?”

            “Hard to say. I’m not as high on the ladder as I was last week, that’s for sure. There’ll probably be people who will still be willing to hang out with me, but to almost everyone else? I’m dead.”

            “Sorry. I know it meant a lot to you.”

            Dave cracked a smile. “You hang out with English too much, man, he’s starting to rub off on you. You’re being way too nice.”

            John smiled then too. “I am, aren’t I? Here, let me try again: You’re a fucking asshole and you totally deserve it.”

            “I really do,” Dave agreed. Another bite. “Worth it though. Popularity is looking kind of overrated now. Plus I won’t have to pretend to like those idiots anymore.”

            “What will you do now that you don’t have parties to go to and cool kids to hang out with?”

            “Dunno. What are you doing today?”

            John shrugged. “Nothing much. You want to hang out for a while? We could  play video games or something.”

            “Yeah, sure.”

            “Let me just clean those dishes first.” John took Dave’s empty plate and glass to the sink to wash them. When he was finishing up, he heard the plinking of piano keys from a few rooms away. John hurriedly put them away and rushed to his dad’s study.

            “You shouldn’t be in here,” He told Dave. The study was off limits.

            “Sorry. I was just looking around.” He pointed a thumb at the piano. “Think your dad would mind if we hung out in here long enough for me to hear you play something in person for once?”

            John shook his head and grinned. “Let’s go upstairs instead.”

            “Why John, this is so sudden,” Dave said.

            John snorted. “My dad got me my own piano for my room, remember?”

            “Oh yeah. Well, that isn’t nearly as exciting.”

            “Maybe for you. It’s awesome for me.” He walked out of the room to go upstairs, and Dave was right behind him.

            “It’s not a baby grand,” Dave said when they got to John’s room. “But I guess she’ll do.”

            “No knocking my piano,” John warned him. He went to sit down at the upright piano that was a lot like the one in his dad’s study. He played through a quick scale to get his head in the right place.

            “So . . . any requests?” John hadn’t played in front of anyone but his dad since he was nine, at his last recital. Crowds didn’t bother him at all, but playing for just Dave was giving him pangs of stage fright.

            “How about that song you were working on? I thought you said the other day that you finished it?”

            “Uh, kind of. It’s more of a rough draft.”

            “Better than nothing. Go for it.”

            John’s fingers hesitated a moment before they started to work themselves over the keys and through the measures, and forced himself to relax, as if he was alone while he made a bunch of nice music.

            After about a few minutes, the piece was over and John waited impatiently for Dave’s opinion.

            “That was pretty good. Like, seriously.”

            “You think so? I’m not sure I’m even happy with it yet.”

            “Yeah. But I mean, work on it as much as you want. I’m just saying I like how it’s coming. It was interesting.”

            “Interesting?”

            “Yeah. Can I ask what you were going for with it?”

            “Uhm. Actually, I would like it better if you didn’t.”

            “Got it.” And Dave let the subject drop. “So did I hear you say something about video games?”

            Dave’s schedule opened up by quite a lot once the secret was out. His prediction had come true: there were still a handful of people who hadn’t shunned him like everyone else had. But he was still with John very often in and out of school.

            Dave also became much more helpful to the effort to keep John out of trouble with the bullies. He could often be found casually breaking into their verbal attacks on John and whisking him away. It did however leave them in the dark about any tricks they would play on both of them. But they managed to get around most of them anyway.

            John’s opinion of Dave was quickly climbing the charts, but—no surprise—Jake still looked more than a little unhappy to see Dave walking with John after school at the end of their first week back.

            “Good afternoon, John,” Jake said when they got to the end of the sidewalk where he was standing.

            “Aw, what, no hello for me?” Dave asked, pretending to be hurt. Jake merely rolled his eyes.

            “John, your best friend is very rude.” Dave reported.

            “Yeah, I know—but which one do you mean?” John asked.

            But John’s smile faltered when he caught Jake’s expression.

            “You two are ‘best friends’ now?” Jake asked.

            John shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

            Jake’s face fell.

            “Ugh, Jake, I’m going to punch you if you don’t stop with the kicked puppy face right now.”

            “Yeah, English, chill out. You scared I’m going to steal him away from you?”

            “I’d like to see you try.”

            “I wouldn’t even have to try.”

            Now it was John’s turn to roll his eyes.

            “You ready to go, Jake?” John asked, almost feeling like he had to remind them he was still there. “We have that movie to go see, remember?”

            Jake broke his angry glare at Dave to look back at John, and his face relaxed and he smiled easily again.

            “I’ve been ready all day. Let’s go.”

            “You two have fun now,” Dave said as they walked off.

            John debated with himself for a moment over whether or not he should say anything while they walked through the parking lot. But he opted to let it go. He didn’t need to make a big deal about the two of them. They would come around eventually.

            Once he was away from Dave, Jake was as cheerful as ever; maybe even more than usual, since they were on their way to see a somewhat cruddy action flick. Not that either of them would describe it as cruddy, but, all the same.

            “I hope you’re ready for an action-packed evening,” Jake was saying as they climbed into the jeep his grandmother had given him for Christmas.

            “Totally!” John said.

            “Yeah!” Jake cheered.

            “Yeah!”

            They chattered along about how great the terrible movie was going to be, when Jake pulled over about halfway to the theater to take a phone call.

            “It’s probably just gran, making sure I got my chores done before I left school this morning.” He answered the call without checking it first.

            “Hello?” John couldn’t hear the voice on the other end, but the sound of it made Jake’s eyes go wide.

            “Oh! Molly, hi. What can I do for you?”

            John held back a sigh. It’s fine, he told himself, it’s just a call that happens to be with a girl. You’re the one he’s with today.

            As the girl on the other end of the call continued speaking, Jake’s eyes got really wide and alarmed.

            “Oh! Right, of course! I am . . . ” John saw Jake glance at him out of the corner of his eye. “. . . going to have to call you back, I’m kind of in the middle of something just at this moment. Uh, in the meantime, you just relax, kick back and I’ll call you back in just a jiffy. Bye!”

            Jake quickly pulled the phone away from his ear and turned it off, probably before the girl could respond.

            He just stared at the steering wheel for several seconds before John spoke up.

            “Something wrong, Jake?”

            “Oh, John,” Jake half moaned. “I feel just terrible about this.”

            “Why? What happened?”

            “Well, you see, I sort of forgot I had already made plans for tonight . . .”

            “Oh.”

            “I can’t believe I managed to do something so brainless! How could I do this, to either of you?”

            John didn’t know what to say. Jake kept talking.

            “And I. I don’t know what to do. It would only be right to keep my first plans, but I can’t leave you out all high and dry like that . . .”

            “It’s okay, Jake.”

            “Oh, really? You don’t mind?” He sounded relieved. Great.

            “Yeah, it’s fine. We’ll see the movie some other time.”

            “Oh, John, thank you so much. I swear I’ll make it up to you, I really will.”

            “Sure, Jake. Do you have time to drop me off at home?”

            “Of course! What kind of inconsiderate jerk do you take me for? It’s least I can do, after all.”

            About ten minutes later, they pulled up in front of John’s house. The driveway was empty, as expected; John’s dad was probably still at work.

            “Thanks again, John, for being so understanding.” Jake said once John was out of the jeep. “You’re a really great friend.”

            “Don’t mention it.”

            And then Jake drove off. To go pick up his date. Leaving his great friend John standing alone in his driveway staring after him.

            John figured he should let his dad know he was home. But since he didn’t feel like talking, he just sent a text.

            plans with jake didn’t work out, so im home. i will just make a sandwich or something for dinner, so don’t worry.

            John went up to his room and turned on his computer, changing into pajamas while it booted up, thinking that if he was going to mope, he was going to do it comfortably.

            When he went back to the computer, Pesterchum had opened up automatically, and naturally, Dave was already messaging him.

TG: oh hey
TG: what are you doing home so soon
EB: oh, dammit.
EB: nothing, i do not want to talk about it.
TG: it must have been something bad
TG: common egbert spill what did english do to fuck up your date after
TG: how long has it even been like half an hour
EB: it was not a date. you know it wasn’t.
TG: touchy
TG: okay so how did this not date go down the toilet already
TG: did you throw up on him or what
EB: ugh. gross, dude. no.
EB: he just forgot he had something else he needed to do, okay?
EB: now stop asking about it!
TG: oh
TG: sorry about that man
EB: its fine. I don’t really care.
TG: well i know THATS bullshit
EB: is not!
TG: hey you want me to come over and hang out for a while
TG: ill bring food
EB: uh.
EB: no, that’s okay. im fine, really. im just going to find something to read. and maybe do some studying.
TG: k if you say so

            John was about six chapters into a manga he had bookmarked on his computer at some point earlier when the doorbell rang. John sighed and got up to answer it. He hadn’t really been into the story anyway.

            Too short to see out of the peep hole, John went over to the window to see who it was; and when he did, he wasn’t sure whether to be happy or upset.

            “What are you doing here?” John asked as he opened the door. “I told you I was fine.”

            “And I told you that was bullshit.” Dave had a pizza box under one arm and a grocery bag in his other hand, in which John spotted cans of soda and a container of ice cream. “But hey, if you don’t want some of this hot, delicious pizza, I can go eat it by myself.”

            “No, come in . . . thanks,” he added as Dave walked past him, toward the kitchen.

            “It’s not like I was doing anything else; I figure if I was aiming to get brownie points, this would be the time to get ‘em.”

            “Heh,” John laughed weakly. He still felt kind of pathetic about the whole Jake thing, but having Dave there was already starting to cheer him up.

            They were halfway through their pizza when Dave said he had a question. Given the nature of the visit, John expected it to be something related to Jake. So he was surprised when he asked, “Why are you wearing that shirt?”

            John hadn’t been paying attention to the pajama shirt he’d thrown on, so he had to look down to remember.

            Oh, no. John was wearing a shirt that hadn’t always been his.

            It was from weeks ago, when the bullies were pulling another of their pranks. They got the bright idea to take John’s clothes from his locker while he was in Gym. John had even seen one of them go into the locker rooms while his class was doing warm-ups. At the time, he had sighed and resigned himself to wearing his gym uniform for the rest of the day. But when he got back to his locker, hoping that they had at least left his backpack, he’d found new clothes there, with a note.

            okay so these arent your clothes. the guys took yours, but i figured these might fit you. You can dump them when you get home, i don’t need them back.

            Dave’s T-shirt and jeans had been very big on John and probably made him look even smaller than usual, but they were better than nothing. At the end of the day, they had ended up on John’s floor, and eventually ended up with his pajamas.

            Now, back in the present, Dave openly smiling.

            “I just felt like it, okay?” John answered him, annoyed by Dave’s smugness. “It’s a perfectly good shirt.”

            “No, it’s cool, I don’t mind or anything. You look cute.” He said it with a bubble of a laugh, and John felt his face heat up.

            “Oh shut up.” John was determined not to be embarrassed (any further at least).

            “Okay, but just one more question.”

            “Ugh.”

            “You are wearing shorts under there, right?”

            John’s face heated up even further. “Of course I am! The shirt is just . . . deceptive.”

            Dave did as he was told and for once actually did shut up. About the shirt at least. And the two of them ended up having a pretty enjoyable evening.

            Sooner than expected, it was getting pretty late, and both of them were getting pretty tired. Dave asked John if he wanted him to spend the night.

            “No, that’s okay. You go home.”

            “Kay, see ya.” And he was out the door.

            John went back to his room, glad that Dave ignored him and came over anyway, and wondering if Jake was still on his date.

Chapter Text

A couple weeks later, John had concluded that it was about time that he pulled a nice, school-wide prank. Nothing too extreme, but he had something very affective in mind.

            John had hatched a very simple, very evil scheme: he would enlist a little help, sneak into school after hours and hide alarm clocks everywhere they could, all set for different times. The next day, madness was sure to ensue.

            He asked both of his best friends for help, but only Dave could make it.

            At about sunset, after the last of the staff had left, the two of them got in through a door John had propped open just enough to go unnoticed. They slipped in easily.

            One thing John had been worried about was the security cameras around the school. But, as it turned out, the only ones outside were on the front of the building and near the dumpsters (solving the mystery of how John got beat on for so long without the staff finding out), and the ones inside, according to Dave, were only on during the day. Since they weren’t standing out front or near the garbage, he promised they could be in and out without anyone seeing.

            “You’re sure about the cameras, right?” John asked as they went inside. They both had garbage bags over their shoulders like burglars. Only instead of being filled, they would be emptied.

            “Yes, I’m sure.” He took off his shades and put them in his pocket, because it would have been really stupid to try to move around in the dark school with them on. “Trust me, I wouldn’t be risking my ass for you if I wasn’t. My bro says he will literally kick the shit out of me if I get suspended again.”

            “Why are you helping me then?”

            “Isn’t it obvious? I’m the cool guy, laughing in the face of danger, living on the edge and being the envy of my peers. It’s my civic duty to pull shit like this.”

            “Well, I’m not complaining. Let’s do this.”

            Together they went through all of the more scenic venues and spread their alarm clocks like a couple of underhanded Easter bunnies. Behind toilets, in desks, under chairs, behind books—every place they could think of. It took them a good forty-five minutes to set and hide all them all. By the time they were done, they were both pretty antsy and ready to get out.

            “They’re probably going to beef up security now,” Dave said while they started heading toward their exit. “No more opportunities for breaking into this fine educational establishment. They’ll probably even hire guards; bring in big dogs, put up barbed wire. Which, to be honest, they should have already. We’re doing them a favor, alerting them of their gaps in security. If they do find us, it will probably be to thank us.”

            “I don’t really think that’s going to happen. Them thanking us, I mean.” John said. “But that’s okay, about the other stuff. It just gives me a reason to get more creative.” Dave laughed quietly.

            Just then, they heard another sound: sirens in the distance.

            The two of them frozen the middle of the hallway, and turned to look at each other with wide-eyes. They were both probably thinking the same thing: that it was just a coincidence. They had been so careful; no one should have seen them . . .

            Then the sirens were gone, but neither of them moved. It wasn’t like the noise faded away, but as if it had been turned off.

            “Uh. I think we should go.” John whispered.

            A door opened at the end of the hall. John didn’t see the person coming out of it, because Dave had grabbed his wrist and they had started booking it. There was shouting behind them and John was sure he was slowing them both down.

            They turned into the room they had entered through and locked the door behind them. They didn’t slow down even then, and continued running at full speed out the back door. Luckily for them, there was trees surrounding most of the building, and that’s exactly where they headed. By the time the cops were outside, they were well within cover.

            They tried to keep running, but they couldn’t see where they were going, since they both dropped their flashlights back at the school. And even if they still had them, it would have been better not to risk it, in case they were being searched for. So they had to move carefully just so they wouldn’t walk into a tree.

            Dave was still holding on to John, by the hand now. It probably wasn’t necessary—it wasn’t as if a foot or two of distance was going to separate them as they made their way through the darkened forest. It was hard not to be aware of the connection. John wondered if Dave was just as aware, or if he was pretending not to be. But either way, John didn’t mind in the slightest, so he didn’t let go.

            He thought a lot about what Dave said to him before Christmas break. John kept wondering how serious he had been about his offer. And now he was thinking about it again.

            I mean, he was almost certain Dave had a crush on him. Even if it was a small one. And to tell the truth—which he wouldn’t out loud—John pretty much felt the same way. It wasn’t quite as bad as his crush on Jake. Yet.

            John finally told his brain to shut up and stop thinking about it. He should probably be focusing on not tripping over rocks or getting hit in the face with branches. But only twenty seconds later, this whole situation caught up with him, and he started laughing.

            “What?” Dave asked.

            “I just can’t believe that that just happened. Running away from the cops. And now we’re sneaking around in the woods trying to avoid them.”

            “Yeah, I didn’t think your prank idea would end with us on the lam. Do you think they’ve started putting up posters with our faces on them? I’m sure we’ll be wanted dead or alive, seeing as we’re hardened criminals.”

            “When did we become hardened criminals?” John asked.

            “Well, I mean. We’ve got breaking an’ entering, first of all. And then fleeing a crime scene and resisting arrest. That stuff has to count for something on a criminal record.”

            “True, we do have some pretty heavy stuff under our belts.” John decided it might just be easier to play along.

            “You’re telling me. We might have to leave the country, change our names.”

            “Are we almost back at your car yet? I’m getting tired.”

            “I could carry you, if you want. Princess Style or over the shoulder?”

            “No!” John could think of few more embarrassing things than being carried.

            “Easy, man. It was just an offer.”

            “Are we almost there or what?”

            “I don’t know, it’s dark. We could be a mile away for all I know.”

            “If you didn’t know which way to go, why are you leading?”

            “Because I obviously make good decisions.”

            John was about to point out that this wasn’t the case if Dave had gotten them lost, but they came out of the woods them, about a block where they had left the car.

            “Oh. Good.” He said instead.

            “Yeah, see, I knew exactly where we were going.”

            “Yeah, right. We just got lucky.”

            John wasn’t sure if he should let go of Dave’s hand then . .  . so he just didn’t. And neither did Dave. But then they got to the car and wordlessly let go so they could get in.

            “So, tell me again why English bailed? What, was he too busy wrestling a grizzly bear to sneak around hiding alarm clocks?”

            “Um, no. He had a date.”

            “Weak. Chick or no chick, no one should ever be too busy to do some good ole' fashion fuckin’ with people.”

            “Haha, yeah.”

            There was a few seconds of silence.

            “You okay?” Dave asked.

            “Yeah. Yeah, I am. I’m becoming more and more okay with it.” Jake and that Molly girl had been seeing each other more often than he had expected since their first date. But for whatever reason, it didn’t seem as big of a deal to John as it might have been a few months ago.

            “Cool.”

            John looked over at Dave out of the corner of his eye. The yellow street lights passing over his face made everything seemed so surreal. John quickly looked back out his own window.

            He was suddenly a little angry with himself. He was starting to think he couldn’t make friends at all without wanting to make out with them at some point.

            John tried not to worry about all of it too much. It would probably drive him crazy if he did.

           After two more weeks, it seemed clear that John was going to have to force his way back into Jake’s social calendar if he ever wanted to see him again. Tuesday afternoon, he called Jake to ask if he had plans that day. But he didn’t answer. So he called his grandma instead to see where he was.

            “Oh, he’s home alright. Upstairs in his room—”

            “Great,” John interrupted hastily. “I’ll be right over.”

            He went straight to Jake’s house, and Jade answered the door.

            “Hello, John.” She said. She didn’t let him in right away, which was weird.

            “Hi, Jade. Uh, can I come in?”

            “I’m not sure. I know you came to see Jake, but I’m afraid he’s sick, poor little guy.”

            “Oh. That sucks. Can’t I go up and see him?”

            “Well, that depends: have you had the chicken pox before?”

            John stood outside Jake’s room, not sure if he should knock first, but figured Jake wouldn’t care if he let himself in.

            John was going to announce himself as he opened the door, but first he heard his ‘poor’ bedridden friend yelling about something. John grinned silently when he saw what the commotion was about.

            Jake was wearing the skull-top thing John had gotten him and yes, he did look pretty silly in it. And even more amusing was his hands. His grandmother had given him the oven mitt treatment—one was firmly duct-taped to each arm, so he wouldn’t scratch. Jake must not have heard his door open, because he was still talking to the game.

            “Yeah, take that, you fiend!” Jake said, speaking to the game, John guessed. He turned his head slightly. “Oh, would you like some too, then? Well, be my guest! Pow!”

            “Having fun, Jake?” He asked loudly. He laughed again when Jake jumped in surprise. Then he quickly pulled the helmet off his head.

            “John! I uh, didn’t hear you come in . . .” He hung the skull-top up clumsily on one of the bedposts next to him.

            “Sorry. But shouldn’t you be lying down? Resting and getting plenty of fluids or whatever?”

            “I guess, but I’ll go bonkers if I don’t have some way to entertain myself. And I don’t even feel that crummy anyway. Gran said I just have to keep to my bed. And not scratch. As you can see,” He held up his arms to show off his new plushy paws. “She’s taken a bit of an extreme measure so as not to let that happen again.”

            John laughed and pulled over Jake’s seldom used desk chair (For all John knew, Jake’s laptop had never even touched the desk it was meant for. It was sitting in front of Jake on his bed, like usual), seating himself next to the bed.

            “Well at least you don’t feel gross.” Jake looked pretty well, too. He didn’t have the angry red bumps you saw on cartoons. He just looked like he had a bad case of acne.

            “How long have you been like this?”

            “About a week now.”

            Well that was a surprise. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

            Jake looked uncomfortable. “I . . . I don’t really know.” He said. He pouted a little. “It isn’t as if you’ve spoken to me lately, either.”

            John winced mentally. He was just as guilty. “Sorry, I . . . I was just trying to stay out of your way.” He forced a smile. “I didn’t think you wanted me around while you’re trying to hang out with your new girlfriend.”

            Jake’s forehead scrunched up. “That’s ridiculous; of course I want you around, always. Molly is, uh, nice and all, but you’re still first in my book.”

            If you say so, John thought.

            “But it’s not all on you, I should have called, too. I—” He hesitated, “figured you were just busy with . . . someone else.”

            “Dave?”

            “It might have crossed my mind that I might have been getting replaced.”

            “If you weren’t sick I would hit you. I wouldn’t do that.”

            “I know, I know. I didn’t even really think . . . just a bit of paranoia I guess.”

            “Okay, so I guess we were just both being dumb.”

            “Seems like it.”

            “So. Are you expecting her to come visit at some point?”

            “She hasn’t had the pleasure of having the chicken pox yet,” Jake explained. He was rubbing his arm absently. “And she’s not eager to make its acquaintance. A perfectly reasonable thing to want, of course. I’d feel really bad if I got her sick.”

            John was relieved. He didn’t really want to meet her either.

            Jake suddenly was scrubbing at his arm more frantically, but apparently it wasn’t helping.

            “Blasted things!”

            “Hey, quit it, you’re going to give yourself scars.”

            “I couldn’t care less at this point!” He kept trying to relieve his itch.

            Jade happened to come in just then, and Jake stopped immediately.

            “Soup’s on!” She was actually carrying a tray with a bowl of soup on it. She set it in front of Jake.

            “I guess you’ll need those taken off so you can eat.” Jade said, indicating Jake’s mitts. She sounded reluctant about it.

            “Actually, they’re rather comfortable.” Jake told her stubbornly. “I could keep them on all day and night.” It was clear that he was a little upset with his grandmother for not trusting him to keep from scratching and making him wear them.

            Jade just smiled. “Well, if you’re sure.” She started to leave. “I’m sure John will be happy to help if you need him.”

            Jake made a face at his tray, and John sat forward in his chair, eager to watch Jake try to eat by himself.

            It took him several seconds to get a hold of the spoon between the thumb and the rest of the fingers. Then he dropped it, making a small splash onto the tray and the blanket. He tried again, and he got it this time, but the spoon was at a weird angle, so he had to twist his arm to get it to his mouth.

            “It’s going to get cold if you keep this up,” John pointed out. Jake sighed put the spoon back down in the bowl.

            “Yeah,” he admitted. “I was just being difficult before, but now that I think about it, I want to postpone trying to get this tape off.”

            “Here,” John said, picking up the spoon.

            Jake crossed his arms in protest and gave John a look that was asking him if he was serious.

            “Do you want your soup or not? Now open up for the train. Choo-choo!”

            Jake didn’t uncross his arms, but he cracked a smile. He finally gave in and leaned forward to let John spoon-feed him soup. “So. We haven’t really talked much in a while,” John started after a minute. “How are things going?” Jake had to swallow the bit of soup he’d just been given before he could answer.

            “Fine, I guess. Other than coming down with the pox.”

            “Good.” John gave him another spoonful. “Things going . . . good with Molly then?”

            “Yes, it’s going fine with her.” Jake said after he swallowed. John just nodded and got another spoonful ready.

            “You haven’t told me much about her.” John partially felt obliged to ask about her. But he was also curious. “Is she nice?”

            “Y-yeah, she’s . . . very nice. Though she can be a bit . . .  sensitive, at times. But, nothing I can’t understandable about, of course.” John just nodded and kept feeding.

            “Pretty?” He almost didn’t have it in him, but he managed.

            Jake nodded. “As a picture.”

            “Well. I’m happy for you, dude.” It was true enough. Whatever made Jake happy was okay by him.

            “Thanks, chum. So, what about you then? What have you been up to lately? Have those bullies still been bothering you?”

            “Yeah, they’re still at it. But there’s nothing I can really do about that.” John said in answer to the last questions. “There’s usually someone around to get rid of them.”

            “Let me guess: Strider?”

            John smiled at his tone. “Yeah.” He admitted. Jake sighed.

            “Why do you have this personal vendetta against him anyway?” John asked. “I mean, you don’t seem like you hate the bullies as much as you hate Dave, even now that he’s not friends with them anymore.”

            “I don’t know. I guess I’ve just never gotten over how upset you looked after that last time. Before that, you just brushed it all off and pretended to be fine. But when I came to get you, you actually looked broken for once. I could only assume he made that difference.”

            John nodded.

            “He also seems like kind of a prick to me.”

            John laughed loudly. “He kind of is. A little. But maybe one day you should give him a chance. He’s actually really cool. Well, not cool cool, like he thinks he is. But I wouldn’t be friends with him if he was all that terrible.”

            “One day. Maybe.” Jake had uncrossed his arms while he was eating, but now he crossed them again. “At the least, I can admit he’s been helpful in keeping your hide untanned.” He allowed. “Don’t tell him I said that.”

            “No promises.”

            “You’re impossible.”

            John just giggled and gave him another spoon of soup. “So, hey, how much longer are you going to be laid up for?”

            “Gran think’s it’s on its way out. So just a few more days. She says if I’m not better by Monday she’ll make me go to school anyway.”

            “Well then, I’ll be here until then.”

            “Really? I mean, if you’re sure. I can’t imagine I’ll be much fun to be around the next few days.”

            “You’re always fun to be around, Jake.”

            “Well, if you’re insisting, I won’t argue . . .”

            Dave didn’t make much commentary when John told him at lunch the next day that he couldn’t do anything with him for the rest of the week.

            “I mean, he’s sick, and you know, he only has his grandmother to take care of him. Plus he’s been bored out of his mind.”

            “No, that’s cool. You go ahead and do the good friend thing.”

            “I’d do the same for you.”

            “That would only happen if I ever got sick, which Striders don’t do.”

            “Oh, no, of course not.”

            “So is he covered in scars or what? Fifty bucks says that guy doesn’t have enough discipline to stop scratching for five minutes if he tried.”

            “No, I don’t think so. I didn’t see any scars when I saw him yesterday . . .” John decided it would be better not to mention the mitts.

            Dave didn’t say anything else at first, so John started eating again. But we all know how long that could last.

            “So is this an all-day-everyday thing, or can I ask you out Saturday night?”

            The wording, ‘ask you out’ stupefied John for several seconds

            “Ask me out?” He repeated for clarification.

            “Well, I mean, if you don’t want it to be, it doesn’t have to be a date or anything.”

            “You’re trying to ask me out on a date?”

            “Yes?”

            “I. Um. Wow.”

            “Is that a no?”

            “No! I mean. Sure. Date. That sounds cool.”

            “Seriously?”

            “Yes.” John said slowly.

            “You don’t sound sure. You’re not trying to make this into a pity date are you?”

            “Please. I’m just nervous about the idea. I’ve . . . never been on a date before.”

            This information sat in the air for a few seconds.

            “I feel like I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am.”

            “Thanks, I think?”

            “So you didn’t leave any broken hearts back in eskimo land?”

            “It’s called Washington, and no.” Seventh grade didn’t count.

            “Well then, I guess I’ll have to pull out all the stops for this one if it’s your first.”

            “Oh, god no, you don’t have to do that at all. Can we just hang out like we usually do?”

            “Do I get to buy you dinner?”

            “If it will make you happy, just this once.”

            “Score. Pick you up at six on Saturday?”

            “Yeah. That sounds fine.” John tried to sound calm. Holy shit, his first date. He wasn’t sure how he was going to hold himself together until then.

            “Make sure to wear something cute. Pro tip: I’m a fan of mini-skirts.”

            John rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”

            “And I’ll take that to mean, ‘Wow, Dave, you are so hot. Please make-out with me under the bleachers after class.’”

            John snorted. “Nice try.” He got up to get rid of his tray to hide the fact his face was turning pink.

            By Friday, Jake was looking almost normal again. When John went to see him, he even had his hands free of mitts.

            “Yep!” Jake said when John commented on this. “No need for them anymore—no more itch.” Jake started to touch his own face, but he stopped himself.

            “Just have to keep from picking at the scabs now. I’ve been needing to keep my hands busy.” He held up a portable game system to demonstrate.

            Most of Friday consisted of playing Pokémon again and watching movies together. It was a very laid back kind of day for both of them.

            When it was time for John to go home, he yawned and stretched. He’d been lounging on the floor for a while by that point.

            “Hey, you don’t have to come over tomorrow, if you don’t want to.”

            “Of course I want to,” John laughed. “I’m not totally sick of you just yet.”

            “I’m not sure how that’s possible,” Jake said, laughing as well. “But really, I’m sure I’ll be up and about again by tomorrow.”

            “Well, if you really don’t want me to come over.”

            “Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that—curse my thoughtless yap . . .”

            “I’m just kidding, it’s cool. I guess I do have some homework to catch up. And, uh, I guess you’ll be wanting to see Missy again—”

            “Molly,” Jake corrected.

            “Right. I bet she’ll be glad to hear you’re feeling better.”

            “Oh. Yes. I’m sure she will.”

            “I’ll talk to you later.” John asked as he backed toward the door.

            “I’m looking forward to it!” Jake waved goodbye as John left.

Chapter Text

It was ten minutes to six on Saturday, and John was freaking out a little bit. A couple times that day he almost messaged Dave to call it off, but he kept reminding himself that it wasn’t a big deal. And if Dave was planning on embarrassing him by doing something stupid, like taking him to a fancy restaurant, John could at least order something expensive.

            Dave showed up at his house right on time. He didn’t bother getting out of his car—he just beeped incessantly until he saw John open the front door.

            John took a deep breath, that didn’t do anything to calm him, before going out to meet him. Everything was going to be fine.

            They didn’t do anything special, just like John had requested. They went to the mall, just to hang out for a while. The first thing they did was visit one of the restaurants available, where Dave paid for their dinner.

            “I think it says something about this country that you can get Taco-Bell anywhere you go—even a mall.” He examined one of the wrapped-up bundles that lay on their table, trying to figure out which ones were his. “I’m just not sure what it says.”

            “You know what I say about it? God bless America.”

            “Can’t disagree with that.”

            Once they were filled up on ground beef and whatever else goes into Taco-Bell food, they headed off to find something to entertain themselves for the next few hours.

            Not long after they started walking around, John was confused to see Dave had started turning toward a department store. He asked what he wanted to go in there for.

            “One of the first rules of going on dates, John,” Dave explained, “is that sometimes you have to be creative.” So into the department store they went.

            Since it is impossible for one to pass the mattress section of a store without laying down on at least one, that’s what ended up happening. Both of them, without a word to the other, naturally gravitated to a separate bed and flopped down on them.

            At once, they decided a contest was to be had. They would try out all of the mattresses and judge which of them was best. Starting at opposite sides of the area, they tested each bed in turn. Fluffy mattresses, hard mattresses; pillow tops, foam-filled, and a single water bed.

            Eventually they met in the middle, on a king-sized bed at the back. Dave was already laying on it when John climbed up on the other side.

            “You know, I’m surprised it was this easy to get you into bed with me,” Dave commented.

            “Hilarious. How’s the competition?”

            “I gotta say man, it’s pretty tight. Got some heavy contenders. But so far, this one is the crowd favorite.” He lifted the hand that was between them, and John thought it was to give the mattress and appreciative pat; so he was surprised when it came down to grasp John’s own hand.

            John gave him a panicked, questioning look. There was no way he was really going to try something stupid, was he?

            But Dave just smirked, let go of John’s hand and got up, moving on to the next bed.

            “Quit lying around, John, these mattresses ain’t gonna test themselves.” John rolled his eyes and rolled back off the bed.

            Sadly, they did not get a chance to crown a winner. During the elimination round, a store employee told them if they weren’t buying they needed to get out. Dave started to say he would be happy to buy a mattress if he let them finish, but John managed to drag him away and they continued on their adventure.

            They ambled around the store until found themselves in the part of the store that sold lawnmowers and power tools.

            “I got an idea,” Dave said under his breath. “Just go with it.” They stopped as Dave started to look at small power saws. Before John could ask what he was doing, Dave turned to an employee who was standing nearby.

            “Hey man; this thing’s got a lot of power, right?”

            The employee was on the younger side, mid-twenties. Clearly the eager, I-actually-like-this-cruddy-job, I’d-be-glad-to-help-you type. The fact that a couple of teenagers were shopping for power tools didn’t even make him hesitate.

            “Well, it has a four-Amp motor, so would say it’s pretty powerful. But power alone isn’t always enough to cut it, if you’ll excuse the pun.” He paused to chuckle at his own joke. John wondered how long he’d been working on that one.

            “This should be fine for just cutting wood, but if you’re looking to cut something stronger, like metal, you’ll need something with a sharper blade.”

            “Oh, then yeah, then I’ll need something way sharper. Can you hook me up?”

            “Well, let me just get something that might suit you better.” He walked down the aisle to get a different saw, and John turned to raise an eyebrow at Dave.

            Dave made a silencing motion with his hand. “Just stay with me on this.” He whispered. The employee came back with another saw.

            “This might be closer to what you need—this should be sharp enough to cut through anything you need.”

            “Right, cool. So, like, about that. Let’s say, for example, I dropped this thing by accident, while it was running, on someone’s arm. Do you think it would cut all the way through, or what?”

            The guy was finally fazed, and John finally guessed where Dave was going with all of this, and tried not to smile and give it away.

            “Uh, that shouldn’t happen if you make sure to take the right safety precautions.”

            “Oh, of course. I’m just wondering how . . . effective this thing will be. Gotta make sure I’m getting some high-quality equipment here.”

            “Well, This equipment don’t really get . . . tested for situations like—”

            “What? Man, that is such a rip off. How is anyone supposed to know if a power saw can cut through a guy’s arm if no one thinks to test it?”

            “I'm sorry, sir?”

            John thought this would be a good time to jump in and play along.

            “Hey, I have a question about these drills over here,” He told the guy.

            “Um, sure! What is it?”

            “I was wondering if any of these have any special attachments. It would be really great if I could get something that can cut out chunks of . . . well, you know, anything I might have around the house.”

            “Uh.” John had to hand it to the guy. Somehow he was still being professional. “N-no, you would have to buy that separately.”

            “Oh, okay. That’s fine. Could you show me where I could find those?”

            “Uh . . .”

            “Oh, hey,” Dave jumped in again. “Aren’t we gonna need a big axe, too?”

            “Oh, yeah, we do!” John said. He turned back to the employee again. “Can you show us where those are?”

            “Uh . . . Are you boys working on a project for school or something?”

            “Well . . . sort of.” Dave said.

            “It’s not really for school though,” John clarified. “It’s more of an afterschool project.”

            “Oh,” the sales guy said nervously. “And that would be . . .?”

            John and Dave shared a conspiring look.

            “Nothing.” Dave answered.

            “Oh. Alrighty then.” He said, trying not to sound panicked.  “Well, uh, let me just get someone else over here, to help you get everything you need.” The guy turned around and started power walking to another area. He was barely out of earshot when the two of them started cracking up.

            “Fucking Christ, that was amazing,” Dave laughed.

            “He looked so freaked out!” John said, astounded. “God, we should get out of here, he could be calling the cops or something.”

            “Nah; but I think that is our cue to go.” He was pointing discreetly at something behind John, who followed his gaze to see the guy had went and told the same guy who kicked them out of the mattress section, who was leading the way back to them and looking very unamused.

            They snuck out of the other side, almost running to get away. They were still snickering when they left the store a few minutes later and went back to wandering around the mall.

            One would think that arcades could no longer be found outside of Chuck-E-Cheeses. But amazingly, this mall had one. It was kind of small and the selection was a bit dated, but they spent a whole hour there nonetheless challenging each other to Mortal Kombat II and Punch-A-Duck.

            And much like Chuck-E-Cheese, many of the machines spit out tickets. They spent all their quarters at slightly different times, and ended up cashing in their tickets separately, meeting up again near the entrance.

            “Why do these kinds of places always have shitty prizes?” Dave complained when they were leaving. “We slave over a hot Skee-Ball machine for over an hour; put in our blood, sweat and tears, and this is the best thing it’ll get me?” He held up a little stuffed bunny.

            “Yeah, there really wasn’t much.” John agreed. He held up the red yo-yo and heart-shaped sunglasses he had settled on.

            “Trade you.”

            “Okay.”

            John stashed the bunny in his pocket for later; Dave perched the sunglasses on top of his head and started playing with the yo-yo immediately.

            After walking around a bit more, they approached a coffee shop. John asked if hot chocolate counted as part of dinner.

            “Dinner, videogames, now this? You’re turning out to be a surprisingly expensive date.”

            “It turns out having someone buy everything for you isn’t a hard concept to get used to.”

            They went inside John picked out a booth that faced out to the rest of the mall and Dave went to get their orders. While he was waiting, John got a call. It was Jake. John hesitated.

            He checked where Dave was in line—there were still two people ahead of him before he answered.

            “Uh, hey, Jake.”

            “Ahoy, John! How are you this evening?”

            “Oh, I’m fine. Great! How are you feeling?”

            “Fit as a fiddle! I’d say I’ve made a full recovery.”

            “That’s great.” One more person before Dave in line. “I bet, uh, Molly will be happy to hear that.”

            Jake sighed. “I’ve spoken to her already, actually. She’s worried I’m still contagious and declined my request to see her tonight. So I was wondering, if you aren’t tired of me after this week, if you had any plans tonight?”

            “Kind of.” Dave was at the counter now. “I’m at the mall right now, actually.”

            “I don’t suppose you would mind if I drove over to join you?”

            One of the drinks was on the counter. “Actually Jake? I’m kind of busy, right now, I’m, doing a thing.”

            “A thing?”

            The other drink was down. Dave was picking them up and walking back now.

            “Yeah, so I gotta go, bye!” John quickly hung up, but he couldn’t put his phone away before Dave saw it.

            “Dude, what model is that?”

            “What? Oh. I don’t know.” He brought it back out. It was just a basic little cell phone. Nothing special.

            “Kind of pathetic if you ask me.”

            “I didn’t.”

            John’s phone rang again. He hesitated a second before setting it to silent and putting it in his pocket. Dave didn’t comment.

            While they slowly sipped their drinks, they people watched. They started by just making fun of people passing by; the girls wearing daisy-dukes despite in the middle of February, the parents who were having problems keeping their kids in check. But it soon turned into a game of picking out people in the crowd and making up background stories for them. Dave was much better at it than John, since he had a natural tendency to fabricate ridiculous scenarios. It was very relaxing.

            John hadn’t even realized they had started leaning against each other slightly at some point—until an older woman in a store apron came over to their table with her arms crossed, asking if they were almost finished with their drinks. John sat up sheepishly, sure by the woman’s tone that they had been caught, but Dave got defensive.

            “Almost. Why are you asking?”

            “We don’t appreciate loitering around here.”

            “Oh, I thought it was because you thought we were a couple because our shoulders were touching for an extended period of time without anyone jumping up to say ‘no homo,’ and you were discriminating against us because of your retarded personal opinions. Guess I had you completely wrong, didn’t I?”

            The woman set her jaw. She didn’t like being called out. “Just hurry up and get out.” She said shortly. “We’re closing soon.”

            Dave waited until she walked away before saying anything to John.

            “I’m thinking of taking this to go.” He indicated his almost-finished drink. “You wanna get out of here?”

            “Yeah, sure.” They got up and left. John lagged behind for a few seconds to check the hours sign. The coffee shop wasn’t supposed to close for another few hours.

            John kind of wanted to say something about Dave’s speech, but he didn’t know how to bring it up. Luckily, Dave brought it up himself.

            “It’s just annoying as shit, you know? It’d be nice if I could just go on a fucking date with a guy without someone deciding to get out the torches and pitchforks.”

            “Yeah. That would be nice.” And then something got John stupidly distracted by something. “So . . . how many of these dates with a guy have you had?”

            Dave smiled slightly. “This is the first one. Like I said, no one else has really been worth the attempt.”

            John smiled too.

            They were meandering back the way they had come when something horribly unexpected happened.

            “John?”

            John’s heart sank and fluttered at the same time as he turned to the voice that had called his name.

            It was Jake. Of course it was Jake. He jogged over to them, not even realizing what he was ruining everything.

            “Homeing chip,” Dave sing-songed quietly. John mostly ignored him, but he was also honestly starting to wonder.

            “What are you doing here?” John complained. Jake was taken aback a bit; this was the first time John wasn’t happy to see him.

            “I—I was worried about you. You were acting awful oddly on the phone, and then you stopped answering my calls. I thought something bad might have happened to you.”

            “So you decided the thing to do was to come find me?”

            Jake looked really hurt by John’s reaction, so John eased up a little.

            “I’m just fine, okay, Jake? So you can go home now.” John tried to walk away from him, but Jake cut him off.

            “Well, wait, why were you acting so evasive when I called you?”

            “It’s none of your business, Jake!”

            Jake then looked back and forth between John and Dave, and put two and two together.

            “Are you two . . . on a date?”

            John didn’t say anything. He just continued to stare at Jake angrily.

            “Well?”

            “Jake, can I talk to you alone?”

            “I don’t know, are you sure your date would be okay with that?” Jake actually had the nerve to act like he was upset by this.

            “It’s cool with me.” Dave offered.

            “I’ll be right back,” John told him apologetically. “Alone, I hope.” John grabbed Jake by the jacket sleeve and pulled him to the nearest exit.

            John had been surprised in the recent weeks how cold it could get in Texas, especially at night. It had to be below fifty degrees. At least this meant they were alone outside, thankfully.

            “What the hell made you think you needed to track me down like this?” John said, raising his voice. “Do you really think I’m that helpless?”

            “I told you I was worried! Maybe you should have just told me the truth!”

            “Oh, sure!” John said. “Because you would totally haveapproved if I did!”

            “You wouldn’t know, would you, since you didn’t bother to even try me!” Suddenly, Jake must have realized he was yelling at his best friend, because he stopped and started again with a calmer tone. “I’m just hurt. I can’t believe you lied to me; you told me your crush wasn’t on him.”

            “That wasn’t a lie,” John said defensively. It was the truth. He was allowed to get new crushes if he wanted to.

            “Honestly John, there’s no point in trying to deny it.”

            “I’m telling the truth!”

            Jake started to get annoyed again. “Well if it wasn’t him you were talking about, who is it?”

            “It’s you!” John screamed.

            Jake was startled. “What?” He whispered.

            And with that little outburst, the fight in John had flooded out of him. He couldn’t believe what he had just said.

            John turned around and rushed back through the doors. He nearly ran back to Dave.

            “Can—can you take me home?” John asked hurriedly.

            “Why, what I miss?”

            John chanced a glance behind him to see if Jake had followed. No. He could still see Jake was outside, leaning on the glass door and staring at him. John couldn’t read his expression clearly from that far away and he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

            “I’ll tell you in the car. Just . . . please?”

            “Sure; let’s go.”

            When they got outside, John shivered. Dave noticed and offered his jacket. John tried to deny it, but Dave insisted.

            “C’mon, just let me have this. It’ll probably be the only time I let you wear it anyway.”

            “Well, okay, if it’s a one-time offer.” Once it was on, john appreciated it much more. It was nice and warm and smelled like it’s owner.

            As promised, John explained what happened.

            “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I was just so mad, and it slipped out . . .”

            “It was gonna happen at some point.”

            “At this point? I was hoping it would stop being an issue.” John could still remember the feeling he got when he saw Jake only twenty minutes earlier. Pictured his face, and even then he felt a pang of affection, hopeless and pain.

            He glanced at Dave and felt a similar pang, almost as strong, and without the pain and hopelessness.

            It all sucked.

            “It can’t be as bad as you think it’ll be.” Dave said. “You said he looked surprised? That’s better than grossed out, right?”

            John snorted. “Yeah, I guess.”

            “Give him a few days. It’ll be fine.”

            “You’re being surprisingly helpful. I haven’t given you enough credit.”

            “Apparently not. I’m offended, actually. I don’t think I’ll be speaking to you until you apologize to me.”

            “Sorry.”

            “Thank you. But you know, nothing says I’m sorry like tonsil hockey.”

            “You’re unbelievable.”

            “You would know how true that was if you actually took me up on one of these offers.”

            “I’m taking back my apology.”

            “Fair enough.” He let it drop.

            After several silent seconds, John spoke up.

            “It’ll take a little while. This stuff is still all new for me, and kind of confusing.”       

            “I get that. Seriously. I’m just stupid sometimes.”

            They were getting close to John’s house now. John wanted to make some kind of move or gesture, even a small one, but he was too chicken.

            “Sorry I ended our date early.” He said. “And about him.”

            “It’s cool. We were running out of mall anyway.”

            “I had a lot of fun.”

            “Me too.”

            Dave dropped John off in front of his house a few minutes later. He let himself inside and spent the night almost too happy about his date to worry about Jake at all. Almost. He didn’t hear from Jake again that night.

Chapter Text

John didn’t talk to Jake the next day either. Or the next day. John was too chicken to call him himself. What if Jake wasn’t calling because he was trying to figure out how to tell John he didn’t want to see him anymore? It was one thing to not have his feelings returned, but another entirely if Jake wanted to get rid of him altogether.

            Dave asked John if he wanted to hang out Wednesday after school, but John told him he wasn’t feeling good. This was true enough. The suspense was making him sick.

            Finally, the clouds parted and John received a text that same afternoon.

            I’d like to talk. in person, if you wouldn’t mind. may I come over?

            John almost didn’t want to talk at this point. He had convinced himself Jake could only be bringing the worst news. But he had to face the music.

            sure.

            John waited very impatiently. He was checking the window every few minutes. And Jake still caught him off-guard. The doorbell rang without warning.

            “I got it, Dad!” John called, wanting to keep his father in the kitchen. He answered the door nervously.

            Jake was standing on the porch with his hands behind his back. John didn’t want his dad coming to investigate, so he stepped outside and shut the door behind him.

            “. . . Hey.”

            “Hi . . .”

            Neither of them said anything else right away.

            “So. You wanted to talk?”

            “Yes, I did. I mean, I do.” Jake smiled. Not to his full wattage, but still. He seemed nervous. “I’ve been thinking a lot and I think I have some things that I think I need to say.”

            “Sounds like you’ve been thinking too much.” John managed to joke. “You really don’t have to say anything, Jake. You aren’t interested, I know. I understand.”

            “Please, John, can I say what I came here to?”

            John sighed. “Fine. Go ahead.”

            “Well, first and foremost, I’d like to free up my hands and give you something. Here—”

            Jake brought his hands out from behind his back, and held up a little half bouquet of roses and a little box of chocolate.

            John didn’t know what to think. “Valentine’s day isn’t until tomorrow, Jake. And if this is your way of trying to make it to me for not liking me back—”

            “I know,” Jake interrupted. “And it’s not. I know it’s dumb, but it’s traditional and whatnot, and I thought it would be a decent gesture to compliment what I wanted to say.”

            He was still holding the gifts out to John, who grudgingly accepted them.

            “So what did you want to say?” John asked.

            “Well, I want to begin by apologizing for Saturday evening. It took me no time at all to realize I was completely out of line. I shouldn’t have burst in and disrupted your . . . date, just to satisfy my worries.”

            “It’s okay, I know you meant well. And I was right, but I’m sorry for yelling at you anyway.”

            “You’re already forgiven. Now, after what you told me, it took some time for me to process it. I guess that’s another apology I owe you, for not calling sooner.”

            “Can we please get on with this, Jake?”

            “Right. Okay. So, afterwards, it took an hour or two alone for it to really sink in. To remember what you told me—at Christmas, John!” He seemed very distressed by this. “We sat in my house drinking hot chocolate while you told me there was someone you liked and it was me the whole time! And months before that! And I had no clue.” He was still marveling over it.

            “Was there a point in you coming over here, Jake, or did you just want to remind me how pathetic I am in person?”

            “No, sorry; I guess I wandered off onto a tangent.

            “You’ve been honest with me, John, and it’s my turn to be honest with you. You’re my best friend of almost five months now, and I think the world of you . . .”

            Shit, this was it. John braced himself.

            “ . . . Which is why I imagine I was a little befuddled when, from time to time, I would think of you a little more fondly than a best pal usually would.”

What?

“Oh, I tried to deny it; told myself it was errant thoughts, meaningless silliness my noggin had come up with on its own. I’ve been determined to convince myself that how I feel about you is totally platonic. But recently, it’s been more or less futile, and I’m not sure how I managed to keep myself in the dark for so long. I mean, how thick can one person be? I think I break the previous record.

            “And what you told me, about how you felt, was the kick in the pants I needed to finally get me to open my eyes. I was happy. Shocked, but happy to know you felt that way about me.”

            “You were?” John had to be dreaming.

            “I was. And I hope you don’t think me too bold—I’m not very good at these sorts of things, if you couldn’t tell—But I’ll come right out and say it. I like you very much, John. More than anyone I’ve ever met.”

            “But . . . what about your girlfriend?”

            “Ah, and another truth comes out. I was never that keen with her, really. I’ve already broken up with her. She was alright, if a little pushy. We only dated because she asked me. That’s . . . sort of how a lot of my relationships have started, now that I think about it. But you, John? I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

            John couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was ecstatic.

            “But of course, I’m not foolish enough to think that train hasn’t already left the station . . .” Jake continued. “Give it to me straight, John: Have I missed my chance? Am I too late?”

            “What do you mean?”

            “You and Strider? I wouldn’t know what it is you see in him, but it seems you two have become pretty close.”

            “Oh. Right.” In that moment, John had forgotten all about Dave. He felt really bad about that. “Well, I mean. We’ve only been on one date. It’s not like we’re engaged.”

            “So there’s still a chance?” Jake asked hopefully.

            John didn’t know what to do. But he knew he had to be honest.

            “I think so. But I mean, I like him a lot now, too. I’ve liked you for longer, but that doesn’t seem like a fair reason to ditch him.”

            Jake nodded slowly. “Yes, I see your point.” He didn’t seem happy to admit it.

            “I guess what I’m saying is . . . you have a chance,” John smiled for a second. He could hardly believe he was saying this, assuring Jake that he had a chance with John, after he had daydreamed countless times about the opposite scenario. The smile faded as he continued. “I have a lot to think about.”

            Jake nodded again, but he didn’t say anything this time, not at first.

            “I guess I shouldn’t overstay my welcome.” He started to leave.

            “Uh, no, hang on! Just a second, wait here.” John went back inside. After a few minutes, he came back to give Jake a bag of red and pink cookies. His Dad had made almost a hundred, just for the hell of it. This one wouldn’t be missed.

            Jake smiled and thanked him. And he left.

            The next day at school, John saw Dave before classes even started.

            “Do you even use your locker?” John asked him as he twisted the dial on the door of his own. It seemed like Dave spent all his free time where he thought John would be now that he could do it freely. Now all he got was harassed by them.

            Dave ignored the question and asked his own. “Where are my cookies?”

            “How are you so sure I even have cookies for you?”

            “Because your Dad makes so much you guys can’t dump them on people fast enough.”

            John pulled out a bag of cookies identical to the one he gave Jake, but withheld it.

            “What’s the magic word?”

            “Oral.”

            “Oh my god, no.”

            “Please?”

            John handed over the goods and shut his locker door. He started walking, and Dave started following him. John thought he might as well take the opportunity.

            “So, I finally talked to Jake yesterday . . .”

            “Oh. What he say about . . . you know.”

            “It turns out . . . he feels the same way about me.”

            “Oh.”

            “Yeah.”

            There was several beats of silence.

            “Well, this sucks for me. Let him know when you see him that he’s an asshole for making me look bad. At least he got you something you wanted.” Dave reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, mostly flat box with a red ribbon tied around it.

            John took the box. It was about the size for a necklace or something. It better not be a necklace, or John was going to high-kick him in the shin. He opened it, and inside he found a cell phone. A shiny new iPhone, it said on the back.

            “With two years of service prepaid for,” Dave provided. “Happy V-day. You needed it.”

            “Wow, I didn’t, but thank you. It’s very nice.”

            “So . . . are you and English gonna be a thing now or what? I mean, I’m just asking so I’m not over here trying to be mackin’ on another guy’s guy. Gotta uphold Dude Code after all.”

            They got to John’s class just as the warning bell rang.

            “Not yet; but we’ll talk more later.” He left Dave then to attend his first class.

Once it ended, John didn’t see Dave waiting for him, so John shrugged and walked to his next class alone.

            John was the first to arrive to the gym—even before Coach Payne, so the doors were still locked. It wasn’t uncommon for the coach to be running late now and then since it was the first class he taught in the mornings.

            Since the school’s phone policy was fairly lax and students were allowed to use their phones as much as they wanted outside of class, John took out his new iPhone to play with while he waited for the rest of the class to show up. He found the power button, and smiled when the screen lit up and he saw that Dave had taken the liberty of setting the background to one of his very terrible Paint drawings. It was a blob-like figure with light hair and shades inside a poorly drawn heart with the words ‘Jonh’s Futer Boyfren’ below it.

            He was playing with the settings when the phone was suddenly wrenched out of his hand.

            “Hey!” he said as he turned to see who it was. And acute fear came flooding to the surface when he found himself face to torso (stupid height deficiency) with Miller and a few of his favorite losers, starting to surround him and trapping him next to the wall.

            “Look guys—the pipsqueak’s got a new toy for me.” He held it up for them to examine. Laughing when they saw what the wallpaper was set to.

            “You draw this yourself, loser?” One of them guffawed. “Looks like someone has a crush,” Another sang. John wasn’t ashamed, but he was embarrassed. And worried. A few people had joined them in the hallway outside of the gym and watched the scene curiously. He blushed and tried to come up with something to say, but he was drawing blanks.

            “Give it back to him.” John was surprised to notice Dave had arrived on the scene. His tone was calm, but you could easily hear the warning in it. Or maybe it was a dare. Miller and co. just laughed stupidly.

            John was scared stiff. He knew it was stupid, but it was like a subconscious reaction to have them cornering him again. Nothing, not even the most logical part of his brain that told him there was no way they’d do anything physical to him, did anything to calm him down. Until Dave stepped in front of him, putting himself between them and John like a shield. It was then he could finally breathe half-way normally.

            “Hey, asshole: I said give it back to him.” Dave repeated slowly, as if he was talking to a small child. And he might as well have.

            “Yeah?” Miller laughed. “Wha’chu gon’ do if I don’, twig-boy?” He flicked Dave’s shoulder; Dave didn’t even flinch. “Beat me up?” His friends thought that was funny. “And get yourself kicked off your cushy little spot on the basketball team?”

            Dave shrugged casually. “Maybe. But I don’t really give a shit about being on the team. Now, if you guys get kicked off football, well that’s pretty much it for you, isn’t it?

            “Fuck off.”

            “Whoa there, man, you wouldn’t want to do something you’d regret. You don’t have a chance at higher education after all. You’re not smart, you’re not creative—football is all you got. So back off before you lose the one chance you have at a future where not everyone knows how pathetic you are.”

            The beefy group of jocks no longer looked amused. But before anything else could be said or done, Coach Payne arrived and saw that something was going on.

            “Everything okay over here, boys?” he asked. Seeing an authority figure of any kind had the bullies backing off.

            “He took my friend’s phone, sir,” Dave told him.

            “I was just looking at it, sir,” Miller protested.

            “Miller, give the kid back his phone, and get to your own classes before you’re late.”

            Miller obeyed and shoved it back at John, who scrambled to get a hold on it before it could fall to the ground. He shoved it in his pocket and tried to thank the coach without sounding annoyed by being called ‘kid’.

            John wanted to say something to get them in trouble, but what? ‘He flicked my friend?’ Yeah, that was going to get the bullies in trouble and so not make either he or Dave look like idiots. Besides, Coach Payne would probably ignore a lot worse things to keep his prized football players out of trouble.

            This was one of the classes Dave shared with John. They straggled behind the rest of the crowd that was headed for the locker rooms.

            “At least they probably won’t bug me anymore today. Or for a few hours.”

            “I’m still going on escort duty after class. I’m not letting them find you alone.”

            “You baby me too much,” John complained.

            Dave didn’t say anything for a moment. John thought he was thinking of a joke to make, but then—

            “I already let them fuck with you too many times, dude. I want to keep it from happening if I can.” He ran his hand over John’s head faster than John could protest.

            Even though John wouldn’t admit it out loud, he remembered how he felt facing those guys alone, and knew he’d feel better with Dave looking out for him.

            They hadn’t really had a chance to talk in gym class between running laps and playing volleyball. Conversation had to be saved for their lunch period. They both got the heart-shaped personal pizzas the cafeteria was giving out. John tried to pass on the conversation hearts but the lunch lady insisted. Dave however did not need convincing.

            “I don’t know why you wanted those things,” John said to him at the table. “They’re nasty.”

            “I have no idea what you’re talking about; these things are hella tasty.”

            “Whatever. Just keep them away from me.”

            “Like I would share.” He actually ate one of the little chalky hearts and kept a straight face. Then he tossed one at John, who batted it away.”

            “You were supposed to read it.”

            “Oh. What did it say?”

            “Nothing. So, you were saying that you and English aren’t a thing yet?”

            “Well. Jake likes me. And I like him. I also like you, and you like me, right?”

            Dave responded by tossing another heart at him. John somehow managed to catch it this time and read it. It said ‘I DO.’ He smiled.

            “So it seems like a problem, right? But I was thinking . . . and tell me if this is dumb, since Jake probably wouldn’t, but what’s the rush? Why do I have to pick right now? If it’s okay with you, I’d kind of like it if I could spend some more time with both of you guys, and maybe make a decision at some point in the future, when I really know who I’d rather be with.”

            “Yeah. Yeah, that sounds cool to me. I’m not ready to settle down yet anyway.”

            “Yes. No one could hope to capture your free spirit, Dave.”

            “I’m glad you understand.”

            John laughed.

            Jake didn’t feel much different about this plan it was ran by him, so it looked like John had found a way to put off the decision for a while.

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe it’s taken this long just for me to see your dumb apartment. This is so not going to live up to my expectations.” John said as they rode the elevator in the high-rise apartment building. Dave and his brother had the entire top floor to themselves.

        “Yeah, probably not.” Dave replied.

        It was a little more a week after Valentine’s Day, and Dave had finally invited John to not only visit, but to spend Saturday night at his loft.

        “You’ve been bugging me for months to invite you over,” Dave said over the phone. “So I figured you’d better get a good look at the place while I have to place to myself.”

        The elevator doors opened and they stepped into a small vestibule with just one white door on the other side.

        “I feel like this should be more ceremonious,” John said as Dave unlocked the door.

        “I could carry you over the threshold, if you think that would make this more formal.” Dave said casually while he dug his key out of his pocket. “Actually, I probably seriously could—what do you weigh, like. Ten pounds?”

        “Yeah, plus about eighty or ninety more.”

        “Cake.”

        Dave made a move toward John as if he was really going to try to pick him up. Horrified by the idea that he might be able to, John took a step back and glared at him.

        Dave just laughed and turned back and opened the door.

        “I’ll let you off the hook this time. I’d hate to start off my very first sleepover on the wrong foot.”

        Dave went in ahead of John to disarm the security system. John followed him. He paused just inside the doorway to look around.

        The late afternoon sun was just begging to make its way to setting, and it lit up the wide-open space of the adjoined living room and kitchen of the apartment perfectly. There was a huge television against the wall John was facing, sitting on a cabinet thing with several different game consoles hooked up to it. Facing it was shabby, mismatched chairs and a couch, with a beat up coffee table in the middle of them. The walls were mostly bare; just some posters of robots and some weapon displays. None of it was nearly as extravagant as John was expecting.

        “I guess spending money doesn’t run in the family.”

        “Believe it or not, this is actually a step up from what we had just a few years back. We actually have more than one bedroom and bathroom now, so in comparison, it’s like living in a mansion.”

        Something Dave said a minute ago caught up with John just then.

        “Did you say ‘first sleepover’?”

        “Yeah. I thought sleepovers were kind of lame when I was a kid.”

        “And now you’ve changed your mind?”

        “Not really. But I figured since this is a very rare opportunity, I should get at least one in before it’s too late. What if I have a mid-life crisis when I’m thirty, and I suddenly wish I could have had just one stupid sleepover? Then I’ll try to invite the other guys from the office over to spend the night in a last-ditch attempt to regain my childhood, but everyone just thinks it’s creepy and they stop inviting me to executive dinners and shit like that until my career’s down the toilet and I’m living on the street rapping for pocket change. You staying over tonight is preventing all that.”

        “Yeah, sure it is. So why is this the first time you could have me over in the three months we’ve been friends?”

        “My bro’s out of town for the weekend.”

        “Oh.” Dave spoke of his brother highly enough, but John wasn’t sure if he was disappointed that he wouldn’t be finally meeting him on this visit. “Where did he go?”

        “I think he said Arizona? Or maybe Alabama. I don’t remember, I just know he had a gig.”

        “Gig?”

        “Yeah, he has this thing he does. It’s kind of a hobby of his, something he did before his website took off. It’s kind of hard to explain though.”

        “Try?”

        “Ventriloquism rap.”

        John laughed. “What?”

        Dave tried to explain, but John was laughing too much to hear most of it.

        “Oh my god,” He leaned on the back of the couch for support while Dave grabbed his bag and took it down the hallway past the kitchen. When he came back, John was still trying to sober himself.

        “Are you almost done?”

        “Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry,” John took a deep breath and made himself calm down. “Okay. I’m good now.”

        He walked around the couch and tested it out. It was even more comfortable than it looked.

        “So . . . why does he do that?” John was still very incredulous.

        “Like I said, it’s a hobby.” Dave was in the kitchen, leaning on the island countertop while he explained. “An excuse to take a short break from the perils of trying to raise a teenager.”

        “No, but—”

        “He’s got this Thing with puppets. Can’t really blame him—he’s had that one he takes on gigs since he was like, a baby. Creepy-ass present to give a newborn if you ask me, but oh well. Damage is done now.

        “Anyway, he’s supposed to be back sometime between Sunday afternoon and really early Monday morning. But I’m not running the risk of him deciding to surprise me by coming him coming home early to find you sleeping on the couch, so please don’t take it the wrong way when I suggest you sleep in my room.”

        “Why? What do you think he would do if he did find me?”

        “I don’t even know, to be honest. I guess years of living with the guy have just made me paranoid. But humor me, please? You can even have the bed if you want.”

        “There’s not a guest room around here?”

        “Uh, that one’s kind of out of commission right now.”

        “How come?”

        “Well . . . okay, so the place is usually a lot less clean than this. I had to do some major cleaning before you came over. Had to shove a bunch of my bro’s stuff in there.”

        “Why not put it in his room?”

        “No can do; we have a mutual respect thing going on. He doesn’t go in my room, I don’t go in his.”

        While John considered this, Dave headed toward the kitchen.

        “So, I’m fucking hungry,” Dave said, going to the fridge. “Are you fucking hungry?”

        “Yeah, I’m pretty hungry.” John got up from the couch; it seemed like a good time to get a closer look at the kitchen, which was the only really nice part of the room. Nice marble countertops and stainless-steel everything.

        “So does pizza sound good or what?” Before John even answered, Dave started pulling it out of the fridge.

        “Sure.” John walked up behind him. And then he saw the inside of the freezer. “Holy shit, dude.”

        It was packed—absolutely stuffed—with microwave dinners, bags of various dump-and-bake foods, waffles, ice cream and frozen meals.

        “Is this all you guys eat?”

        “No. We got cereal, too. And bread and stuff.”

        John took the liberty of opening some of the cabinets while Dave tried to wrestle out a single pizza.

        “Oh my god.” Two boxes of every kind of kid-friendly cereal. Microwave soup and macaroni; an entire cabinet full of instant ramen. And half a loaf of white bread next to a lonely jar of peanut butter. Note to stay away from that.

        “So do you guys just not know how to make real food?”

        “We could if we wanted to. I mean, if we had the stuff, I could cook you a wicked decent meal if. But most of the time we don’t bother.”

        “Ugh.”

        “You are insane if you don’t think this heaven.”

        “I’m just used to my dad cooking for me, I guess.” Mr. Egbert made home-cooked meals, all from scratch almost every night.

        “Do you want this pizza or not? Say you do because I finally got it out and I don’t feel like wedging it back in.”

        “Yes.”

        “Then set the oven for 350.” Dave told him as he messily ripped open the box.

        John did so, and then continued to look around. He decided to ask about all the weapons hanging around.

        “Are those real?” He asked, pointing.

        Katanas and nunchucks and throwing stars all arranged together on several displays. John went over to get a better look.

        “Yup. One-hundred percent gen-u-ine.” Dave confirmed as he shut the oven door. “And they aren’t just for show. I mean, they usually are. But if some idiot tried to break in, well—we only use the alarm system when neither of us is home, if you get what I mean.”

        “Funny.”

        “Not even joking. We be so Ninja Gaiden up in here, it’s insane.”

        “I’m probably not actually going to believe that unless I see it.”

        “Are you asking me to show off my arsenal of incredible and deadly skills? Because I can do that. But there’s a catch.”

        “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

        “I need someone to spar with. Think you’re up to it?”

        “Deal,” John said, calling what he was sure was a bluff. “Show me your moves, karate kid.”

        “Are you sure, man? I don’t want you getting hurt.”

        “I’m so sure. Unless, you know, you’re scared.”

        “Well, since you insist. We got half an hour to kill before this things ready anyway. Come on.” Dave headed down the hallway he went town before. John jogged to catch up.

        “Where are we going?”

        “The roof.”

        “The roof?” John was suddenly worried.

        “Is it safe to be up here?” John asked. The only thing keeping them from falling thirty stories down was a waist-high wall.

        “Well, me and my bro have basically been using rooftops as our training space my whole life. Neither of us has fallen off, obviously. So I guess it’s safe enough. Just stay away from the edge.”

        Dave went over to a little shed that was standing against some huge metal thing on the corner of the roof and started rummaging in it. John was starting to get nervous.

        “Hey, uh. We aren’t using real swords, right?”

        “No, as it turns out, I’d rather not cut you to ribbons.” Dave held up what he’d been looking for: two katanas, made of foam.

        “They don’t look like much, but they’re pretty sturdy.” He handed one to John, who weighed it in his hand. It was a little heavier than he expected. The foam must have only been cushioning whatever was inside.

        “So are you ready to do this or what, man?”

        “Yeah, sure.” John tried to remember sword fighting techniques from movies he had seen. He wasn’t actually sure he knew what he was doing, but he was sure Dave didn’t either, so how bad could this go?

        They took their positions a couple yards away from each other. Dave pulled a quarter out of his pocket.

        “First one to disarm the other wins. When it hits the ground, we go, ‘kay?”

        “I got it! Common already, I’m ready to kick your butt!”

        Dave smiled and tossed the coin in the air.

        When it landed they ran toward each other. John got the first swing in, but Dave caught it easily with his own blade and pushed it off. He twisted his sword the other way and took a couple hits to John’s, who struggled to keep it in his hands. John tried to block him while he tried to figure out how to fight back, but Dave continued coming at him, driving him back with strike after strike.

        Then John saw an opening. He took it gratefully. Now he was the one pushing Dave back. John would have gone on believing that he was naturally talented at sword fighting, but then Dave started fighting back again. Hacks and slashes came at John from every direction; he could barely keep up his defense.

        Finally, it ended after a pause in Dave’s relentless attacking when John took a moment to readjust his grip and Dave took the opportunity to smack the sword out of his hand and across the rooftop.

        John was stunned silent.

        “Well?” Dave asked as the dust they had kicked up settled.

        “Wow. Okay, that was impressive. You can officially color me impressed.”

        Dave smiled in spite of himself.

        “So are all of these awesome ninja skills all part of some hidden agenda to impress me and win me over?”

        “Hey, man, you asked for it. Begged, really. But you can go ahead and start swooning if you want, I’ll be here to catch you.”

        “Maybe some other time. Can we go back inside now? Being up here is starting to freak me out.”

        “Yeah, Come on; let’s see if the pizza’s burning yet.”

        As they made their way back to the loft, John thought of something.

        “So, if you can do all that crazy stuff, why did you get your ass handed to you on New Year’s?”

        “I there were four of them. And I was caught off-guard. And unarmed.”

        “So what you’re saying is you’re useless without a sword.”

        “What? No way, I could totally put the hurt on a guy if I wanted. Like I said, I was outnumbered.”

        “Right.”

        “Do you remember what happened a minute ago when you doubted me?”

        John smiled and let it go.

        They ate their pizza in the living room, Dave lounging on the couch and John at the coffee table because he was too worried about getting something on the furniture.

        “So like, are there any special slumber party rules we’re supposed to be adhering to?”

        John raised an eyebrow at him. “Like what?”

        “Like, is it required that we have a pillow fight at some point this evening?”

        “I think that little strife on the roof let us off the hook for that one.”

        “Okay. And I guess your hair is too short to make you let me braid it.”

        John laughed. “Let me know when you find something on this list of clichés you’re going down that isn’t ridiculous.”

        Dave was quiet while he thought about it.

        “Hey, John?”

        “Yeah?”

        “Truth or Dare?”

        John gave him a disbelieving look. “Are you serious?”

        “Sure, why not?”

        John sighed. “Truth.”

        “Why are you so into English?”

        “What? Why?”

        “I’m killing another bird with this stone: talking about boys.”

        “You’re so dumb.”

        “Answer the question. I'm not giving you thr third degree of anything. I’m just curious.”

        “I don’t know . . . he’s nice, I guess. And he likes all the movies I like.” And then some. “He’s fun to be around. Not to mention he saved my butt when Miller and those two other guys tried to chase me down.”

        “Oh, man, I never got to thank you for that day. That was goddamn hilarious what you did to Jones. You must have put a lot into that kick.”

        John smiled weakly, remembering the day. Before he could feel too melancholy, he continued the game. “Truth or Dare?”

        “Dare. Hit me with your best shot, Egbert.”

        John tried to think of something good to make him do. Most of his ideas were dumb/ridiculous/childish—drink toilet water, lick the bottom of a shoe, eat dirt. He stared at Dave while he tried to come up with something that wasn’t stupid, when inspiration struck. It was still a little stupid, not to mention tame, but it was something he wanted.

        “I dare you . . . to take off your shades.”

        “Oo, that’s a tough one.” He took them off without making a big deal about it, besides squinting a little, and John had to remind himself not to stare. All the other times they weren’t covered, it was dark, so this was John’s first good look at them. As crimson as he remembered; they were strangely pretty.

        “You should probably not pick dare from now on if we’re allowed to dare each other to take off items of clothing.”

        “Why do you wear them all the time anyway?”

        Dave shrugged. “I just like them. And my eyes are kind of . . . sensitive, you know, being a light color and all. Makes it easier for me to keep ‘em covered.”

        Oh. John suddenly felt ridiculous for thinking there was a deeper reason for it.

        “My turn.” Dave said, interrupting his thought. “Truth or Dare.”

        “Truth.”

        “Why do you like me?”

        John tried to protest, but Dave cut him off. “Would you rather take the dare?” He challenged.

        John withheld his sigh. Dave probably wouldn’t make him take anything off, but he decided not to test him anyway.

        “No. Fine. But . . . I don’t really know. You’re not exactly sweet like Jake is,” He teased. “But, we get along good. And I like hanging out with you. You’re fun.”

        “Am I funny?”

        John cracked a grin. “Yeah, fine,  you’re funny, I guess.”

        “Thank you.”

        “Your turn.”

        “Truth.”

        “How long did you have a crush on me?”

        “Uhhh .  . .”

        John raised his eyebrows. “That long?”

        “Shit. Okay, I guess I have to answer now. Um. I guess it started . . . a little while after . . . we met. Informally.”

        “Whoa.”

        “Yeah, okay, T or D, dude.” It might have been John’s imagination, but it looked like Dave was starting to turn pink.

        “Dare .  . .” John decided to risk it. It would probably prove to be a mistake, since he was still pretty sure Dave was actually an evil genius who could think of something completely terrible for him to do with all of his clothes on.

        This theory only gained strength when John saw Dave’s face crack open into a wide grin.

        Two minutes later, they were back in the kitchen and Dave was handing him a tablespoon of light green paste. John took it reluctantly.

        “Oh, wait hold on I’ll be right back.” Dave ran down the hallway. He came back after about twenty seconds with a little video camera. “Just in case this ends up being internet-sensation material.” He explained, aiming it at John.

        “It’s not going to be that bad, right?” John never even had sushi before, but he knew wasabi was supposed to be pretty . . . overwhelming.

        “I don’t know. But we’re about to find out either way.”

        John made a face and tried to ignore the camera. Okay, he just had to get it over with quickly. He steeled himself, took a deep breath, and jammed the spoon in his mouth.

        It wasn’t instantaneous. But after only seconds, it all hit him at once. Not only did his mouth burn, but it was in his nose, too. His eyes stung and watered, he couldn’t breathe—

        And then it was over. John gasped and leaned on the kitchen counter for support. His trip to hell had probably only taken twenty seconds, tops.

        Dave was snickering behind the camera. John was feeling a little sick to his stomach but he figured it would dissipate. He forced a smile at Dave and his camera and said, “Easy.”

Chapter Text

They spent half an hour going back and forth like that, asking each other stupid shit and making each other do stupid shit. Eventually they agreed that they should do something else after one more turn for Dave to choose.

        “Truth.”

        At this point, they had both begun to run out of material. John couldn’t think of another good question, so he just asked the first one that came to mind.

        “Why did you clean up anyway? Do you really think I would have cared if it was a mess?”

        “No, I mean, I guess not, I just . . .”

        John could hear Dave stalling, and that piqued his curiosity.

        “Don’t forget to be honest,” John reminded him.

        “No, I know. Shut up. I just didn’t think you’d want to see . . . Hey, is it too late to switch to dare?”

        “No, as long as you understand that you can’t switch back again.”

        “Yeah, sure. Go ahead and make me do anything you want. Don’t hold back, man, this is your last chance, your final opportunity to tell me to do anything you want me to and I have to do it. I mean, that’s just a scary amount of power, but I’ll be honest with you, I trust you to do something wise with it, because that’s the kind of guy you are, John, the kind of guy who doesn’t waste a great chance when he has it.”

        John knew what he was trying to do, and it wasn’t going to work. Now that he saw Dave was working so hard to get him not to dare him to do the obvious, John had to know.

        “Show me what’s in the guest room.” John requested.

        John was right about what he said before, a long time—Dave was a very good actor. He didn’t look defeated, but confused.

        “What? I told you what’s in there already: a spare bed and some of my bro’s stuff.”

        “Show me anyway.”

        Dave’s shadeless face betrayed reluctance. But he got up from the armchair where he’d been sitting.

        “How about, I just go get a sample? Will that be good enough?”

        John thought it over. “Fine.”

        So Dave left the room, and a minute later came back with . . . some kind of orange plush toy thing.

        “What is that?”

        Dave sighed, holding whatever it was by the foot with two fingers.

        “It um. It’s a smuppet.” Dave signed again in resignation. “This is what my bro’s website is for, more or less. He makes them and people buy them.”

        “I see . . . Uh, no offence—really—but why would anyone buy one of those?”

        “Personally, I don’t like to think about it. Let’s just say they uh, sort of have an intended use.”

        “What do you mean?”

        Dave explained, and John was slightly repulsed.

        “But please don’t let this give you the wrong idea of my bro. He’s really cool, if you ever meet him. He’s an entrepreneur. He saw an opportunity, and he took it. That’s all there is to it”

        “So what you’re saying is,” John summarized. “You guys live off porn money.”

        “Okay, like—”

        “Everything you own, and everything in this apartment, and even the clothes you’re wearing and the food in the fridge—”

        “Hey, you know what? You haven’t even seen my room yet, you wanna go see my room?”

        John laughed at his attempts to change the subject. “Yeah, sure, why not?”

        Dave’s room was in many ways what John expected. There were posters all over the walls, as well as yet another, much smaller, sword display. His unmade bed was just a couple of mattresses stacked together in the corner, and the cords from all his various electronics crisscrossed the ground. One thing that stood out the most was the set of turntables—the old school kind that played records. Dave had made a few makeshift tables out of cinder blocks and plywood, on which sat his computer and other little electronic things that John couldn’t identify.

        John barely registered his own bag leaning against the foot of the bed while he was looking around at everything else. And there was a lot to see. For instance, Dave had a lot of CDs. No seriously. He had this bookshelf that had a few books on the top shelf—biographies and memoirs of musicians he must have liked—, the toy sunglasses and yo-yo from their mall date, and some weird looking things in jars (“Leftovers of a collection I had when I was a kid.” Dave explained when John pointed them out). And the other four shelves, Dave told him, were packed with rows of CDs. Two rows high and three rows deep.

        “Jeez. You weren’t kidding about having an extensive CD collection.”

        “Nope.” Dave replied. He sat at his computer while John poked around, apparently unconcerned about him finding anything compromising.

        “What’s with these pictures?” John asked. It was hard not to notice the clothesline that was strung from the same corner as the bed to the wall on the other side of the room, only instead of clothes, it was black and white pictures pinned to it.

        “I used to be into photography. I guess I kind of fell out of the habit of it at some point in the last couple years.”

        John looked at all the ones on display. And tried not to laugh when he asked, “Do you have any pictures that aren’t of yourself?” All of the ones on the string were of Dave’s slightly younger face at different angles.

        “Oh. Yeah, hang on.” He got up from the computer and went over to the open closet, disappearing inside. It must have been a walk-in. He came back out half a minute later with a photo album and handed it to John, who sat on the bed to look at them while Dave went back to the computer.

        There were still a few of selfies mixed in, but there was also a lot of scenery and still life that were actually pretty nice.

        “A lot of these are actually pretty good,” John told him.

        “You think so?”

        “Yeah, I do.”

        Dave didn’t say thank you, but John guessed he was thinking it, so he finished looking at the album and went back to looking around. But there wasn’t too much left to look at.

        Just as John was about to ask what Dave was doing on the computer, Dave got off and asked him if he wanted to play some video game that came out the previous month that John had only heard about, but hadn’t been able to play for lack of console. John said sure. So that’s what they spent the rest of the evening doing.

        It had to have been hours later that they finally decided to call it a night and go to sleep. With their pajamas changed into long before, they took to their beds. Dave offered his bed to John again, but he declined.

        “I’m good on the floor, I promise. It’s really not any worse than a bed.” And John had a lot of luck with being able to sleep in weird places when he wanted to. Jake had even joked before that John must have been part cat.

        “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t try.”

        The next morning, John wasn’t sure what time it was when he slowly came back to consciousness. There was only a little light on his almost closed eyelids, and he wondered what time it was. Dave probably wasn’t up yet, so he would just—

        When John was about to check if Dave was still in bed up above him, he realized there was something a little too warm in his hand. He looked over and saw the fuzzy outline of his hand connected to the one attached to the arm that was hanging down from Dave’s bed.

        Oh god. He must have grabbed Dave’s hand in his sleep. Shit, this was so embarrassing. John wanted to free his hand, but he wasn’t sure if he could do it without waking Dave.

        Suddenly there was a voice calling from the hallway.

        “Dave?”

        “Shhh!” Dave replied, sounding completely conscious, as the door creaked open. John tried to look like he was asleep.

        “You’re gonna wake him up,” Dave whispered.

        “And you aren’t going to do that by holding his hand?” The voice whispered back. John guessed this was the famous bro he kept hearing so much about.

        “No, he—he did that. Must have done it in his sleep or something. Poor kid’s just got it for me bad I guess.”

        “Sure he did. It’s after ten, you know.”

        “And?”

There was a pause.

        “Would you mind coming out here so I can actually talk to you at a normal volume?”

        “Uh. Sure.” Dave gently removed his hand from John’s and got John heard him climb off the bed from the foot. Dave left the door open and John heard their footsteps move towards the living room/kitchen.

        “What did you do with all my shit that was out here?”

        “Well, I thought since I was having someone over I should clean up. I didn’t want to give him the wrong impression.”

        “There are posters missing off the walls.”

        “Maybe I thought an overdose of puppet paraphilia might scare him off.”

        “If my stuff embarrasses you, you could have just asked me to move it to my room.”

        “No, it’s not that. Look, I’m sorry, I just wanted to, you know, ease him in slowly the first time. Need I remind you of the last time I tried to have someone over?”

        “Yeah. But you still should have just asked. I would have been cool with it.”

        “Sorry. I just didn’t know how to bring it up without sounding like a dick.”

        John was starting to wonder if he should get up now, but then he heard Dave padding back in the room and pretended to be asleep again. He felt something—Dave’s foot probably—nudging him on the side.

        “Yo, John. Time to get up, dude.”

        “Hmm?” John pretended to wake up. “What?” He tried to sound like he wasn’t totally awake already.

        “I said it’s time to get up. I’d love to be a useless loser and stay in bed all day too, but I think we gotta become functioning members of society sooner or later. Besides, my bro’s dying to meet you.”

        John yawned. He didn’t have to fake it this time. “Oh. Okay. That sounds cool.” He felt around for his glasses and smiled as he asked jokingly, “Hey, do you have any cereal?”

        Hardly anything had changed between John and Jake since Valentine’s Day. If anything, Jake was just a little more shy around John from time to time. And a little more polite, in spite of John’s protest that he didn’t have to go out of his way to hold open doors and things for him.

        And eventually, in about the middle of March, Jake couldn’t resist any longer. He called John after school during the week with a request.

        “I was wondering if you might want to accompany me to dinner and a movie this Friday evening.”

        It was hard to tell, but Jake was being more formal than usual. John suspected why he was doing it, and told him it was unnecessary.

        “It’s just me over here, Jake. It’s not like you really try to go out of your way to impress me.”

        “Blast it, John, will you just let me have my moment?”

        “Yes, fine. So, you mean like . . . a date?”

        “That was what I would like to call it, yes.”

        John tried not to sound too excited when he responded.

        “I think I would like that.”

        “Great! I’ll pick you up at five-thirty; You might want to find something nice to wear. Not, I mean, to say you don’t usually dress—”

        “Can it, Jake.”

        “Can do.”

        They hung up soon after that and John realized that in the excitement he forgot to voice his concern about dressing up. It sounded nice but . . . well, Jake went overboard with things. Especially things he was excited about.

        John got himself not to worry about it, focusing on the positive instead—he was going out on a date with Jake, and it was going to be great.

        When Friday afternoon came, John couldn’t figure out what to wear. He wasn’t sure how dressed up he should get, and he didn’t have much to choose from in his closet anyway.

        And it wasn’t as if he was going to ask his dad to take him shopping for his date. John’s dad didn’t even know about everything going on between him, Dave and Jake. And it probably wasn’t going to be much longer until he found out either. He didn’t question John’s claim that he and Jake were just dressing up for fun, for no special reason, but John wasn’t sure he bought it.

        John ended up in a dark blue sweater and his nicest pair of jeans. He stood in the bathroom trying to make his hair look a little less messy, but it really was no use.

        “You look nice,” Jake told him when he came up pick John up at five-thirty on the dot.

        “So do you,” John said. Jake was in a dress shirt/sweater vest combo and slacks. It wasn’t cool, but it was Jake, and it was cute.

        “So where are we going?” John asked when they got in Jake’s jeep.

        “I was hoping to keep it a surprise. It’s nowhere too over the top, but I think it will fit the bill.”

        John let out a slow breath and tried not to be anxious. At this point, he wasn’t really worried about where they were going as much as the date itself.

        They pulled up to a nice restaurant, but not nice enough that John felt underdressed. Jake insisted he open John’s door for him, so John rolled his eyes and let him.

        “How am I doing so far?” Jake asked as he needlessly held John’s hand as he got out of the cab.

        “Fine. So far.” John teased. “You act like you haven’t done this a hundred times before.”

        “Well, those times weren’t nearly as important as this time.”

        Ahh, that felt good.

        They went inside. It was quieter than most of the restaurants John had been to before.

        “Could we get a table for two, please?” Jake asked the maître d'.

        The middle-aged guy stationed at the podium seemed almost surprised. “Just the two of you?”

        “There’s only two of us standing here, isn’t there?” John asked.

        The guy shrugged with one shoulder, not actually caring that much, and wrote down whatever it was that would get them a table. In the meantime, Jake hit John lightly on the arm for his laps in manners and John grinned, trying not to laugh.

        The maître d' took them to a booth near the back of the restaurant. They sat down across from each other and were told their server would be with them soon, and they were left alone.

        “Well . . .” John said. “Here we are.”

        “Yes, we’re here. In the flesh. On a date.”

        After a long moment, John laughed. “Okay, why am I even nervous about this?” He asked.

        “That’s a good question,” Jake nodded. “One I think I should ask myself.”

        “Okay, so let’s stop being dumb and just have fun.”

        “An excellent plan of action, yes.”

        “So, why did you want to do this anyway?” John asked.

        “Why not? I’ve wanted to take you out for some time now. I thought it was about time I manned up and bit the bullet, so to speak. Besides, Strider got his turn; I wanted mine.”

        John laughed. “Fair enough.” Their waitress turned up then; a friendly, redheaded college-aged girl.

        “Hey, how y’all doing tonight?”

        “Just wonderful, thank you,” Jake answered brightly. John only nodded in agreement, slightly worried she would guess the nature of their being there. But if she did, she didn’t let on.

        “Good! I’m Sam, I’ll be your waitress tonight. Can I get you boys something to drink, maybe an appetizer to start with?”

        “I’ll just have a root beer, please,” Jake told her. He returned his attention to John, who had been busy looking at Jake.

        “Oh, uh. A coke, I guess.”

        “Well, if that’s all, I’ll be back with those in a few.” And she left them alone again.

        They basically talked about whatever the whole time they were waiting on their food. Jake told John about some movies he’d watched that week, describing his favorite scenes from them animatedly. Some of them sounded like John would be interested in.

        “We can watch them next time you come over then.” It was funny how Jake seemed set on watching every movie in existence, but he was always willing to rewatch the ones John wanted to see.

        John told him about the new song he had been working on. He quietly threw away the first one. It was just really . . . not something he wanted to follow through with anymore.

        “I  never thought I would like composing this much, but it’s really fun.” It was probably because Dave was helping him with it, but John didn’t want to mention him while he was with Jake.

        John went on to go on about problems he was having with parts of it and make it sound right. He knew Jake didn’t know anything about music, but he didn’t look bored at all and listened to everything John had to say.

        John listened just as interestedly to Jake’s absolutely gripping tale of his ‘adventure’ exploring the wooded area just outside of his neighborhood.

        “So, there I was—I had to be about forty feet up into that tree—when I reached up to grab a hold of the branch above me, and wouldn’t you know it, I nearly grab a handful of a birds nest. And it was full of eggs, too!”

        “But you didn’t right?” John asked. He was now worried for the little unhatched chicks. “They’re okay?”

        “They were when I left them. I sat there for ten minutes, hoping I’d be lucky enough to get to see them hatch right then, but after a while I guessed I was keeping them from their mother, so I climbed down a bit to give them space.”

        “That was probably the right thing to do.”

        “So, then, now that I had my bearings again, I . . .”

        It was a long story, but Jake was so excited to tell it, so John was happy to listen

        After they were finished eating, they declined Sam’s offer to get them something for dessert—if they didn’t leave soon they would be late for the movie.

        As they were leaving the restaurant, John was still wondering if their waitress had figured out that they were on a date, when it occurred to John that she may have, in fact, had a completely different interpretation of their relationship. Ugh. The ‘we look like we could be related’ was getting very old very quickly. But if people were less likely to question them doing things like going to nice restaurants alone because of it then maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.

        Jake went to open John’s door for him again. John tried to tell him he didn’t have to, but he never listened.

        They got to the theater with just enough time to get their tickets and popcorn and into their seats before the previews started. The movie itself was the sort of affair that they both typically enjoyed, so naturally it wasn’t very crowded. As usual, they put up the armrest dividing them so they could access the popcorn more easily. John ended up taking advantage of this a little bit. Since it was dark and they were in the back row, no one would see if he gradually, a little bit, leaned against Jake’s side. And maybe, ever so casually, rested his head on Jake’s shoulder. Jake didn’t protest, or even say anything, so John guessed it was okay. He, Jake, didn’t really move much after that, though.

        John was a little disappointed to have to get up when they movie was over, but he did so willingly enough. They talked about the movie the whole ride back to John’s house.

        When they got back, Jake insisted he walk John to the door.

        “Jake, it’s twenty feet.”

        “It’s also traditional. Please?”

        “Oh alright, if it will make you happy. Just this once.”

        They didn’t say much while they walked together. John was suddenly nervous that something was supposed to happen when they arrived at the door.

        They got to the door and stood apart from each other awkwardly. Jake looked fidgety and John wasn’t sure what he should say, until he realized he was being ridiculous again.

        “We really need to stop being dumb about this stuff,” He said. That worked to break the ice a bit; Jake laughed sheepishly.

        Most people probably kissed or something on the first date, but neither of them were anywhere close to ready for that. Instead John stepped forward to give Jake a hug. Jake seemed surprised, but after a second John felt Jake’s arms wrap uncertainly around him.

        “Thank you for this.” John told him. “It was a very nice date.”

        “I’m glad. I had a nice time, too.”

        John was probably blushing a little bit. So when he looked up at Jake after they let go of each other, he felt a little better to see that Jake was probably even redder than he was.

        “So, I’ll talk to you tomorrow?” Jake asked.

        “Yes, I think I can fit that into my schedule. Night, Jake.”

        “Goodnight, John.” And Jake finally went back to his jeep, and John went inside, grinning. He did a little fist pump while he stood there in the dark, when the light came on.

        John looked around to see what happened and saw his Dad standing in the kitchen doorway, giving him a questioning look.

        John smiled nervously. “Hey Dad.”

        Before his dad could ask why John was celebrating, John ran up the stairs to his room and shut the door behind him. He felt kind of guilty when he got there. He promised himself he would tell his Dad about what was going on, soon. He just needed to do a little mental preparation.

        But in reality, John was probably worrying for nothing. His Dad always told him how proud he was of him—dating dudes wouldn’t do anything to change that.

        John flopped on his bed and laid there for a while, replaying the evening in his head a few time, rewinding and repeating his favorite parts.

Chapter Text

The next week was spring break. Houston wasn’t the biggest hot spot for college students to flock to during this time, but John still saw a bunch of them around, always in shorts and swimsuits with drinks in their hands at all times of the day.

        On the last day before they had to go back to school, John was hanging out at Jake’s house. They hadn’t been doing much—just talking, playing Pokémon, whatever—when Jake remembered that there was a movie he wanted to show John. But when he named it, John groaned.

        “That one? I mean I don’t want to say no but it looked so lame in the trailer.” He complained.

        “Oh, give it a chance, would you! I think it’s really great—”

        “Of course you do.” John teased lightly. Jake made a face at him.

        “All I’m saying is it might surprise you.”

        John was about to respond, when his phone rang. It was a text from Dave.

        hey you wanna come over my place and hang out for a while

        Well, that was one way out of the movie. But John knew it would be so completely shitty of him to ditch Jake just like that because Dave asked.

        And then, a potentially terrible or potentially perfect solution occurred to him. He texted Dave back.

        i am hanging out with jake right now. can I bring him with me?

        Dave’s answering text didn’t read very enthusiastically, but he said it was okay. Jake wasn’t thrilled with the idea either—he was certainly disappointed they were skipping his movie. But he got over it quickly enough when they were riding the elevator to the lost and his curiosity took over.

        “I bet he’s got himself sitting real pretty up there in his fancy little apartment. Well, not little at all actually! Who needs a whole floor of a building to themselves?”

        “Jake, you live in a huge house, with multiple floors.”

        “Oh. Uh, point taken. But still, Strider’s a big spender—I imagine his brother is just the same and they’ve got the place filled with needless little doodads and gadgets.”

        “Says the guy whose grandmother rented a snow machine  just so you guys can have a white Christmas.”

        “Well. I mean, that’s just—”

        “Jake just stop. You’re really bad at trying to make fun of people.”

        They got to the top floor and knocked on the door. Dave answered it several seconds later.

        The apartment was a little messier than the first time John was there. He’d been over once or twice between then and now, and Dave stopped bothering to clean up, now that John knew about his brother’s, uh, business. Apparently Dave didn’t care if Jake knew too, because there were colorful smuppets hanging out all over.

        Jake’s reaction to them was simply, “Uhhh.”

        “Yep. Feel free to throw ‘em across the room if they get in your way.”

        “What exactly . . . are—” Jake started to ask when Dave cut him off.

        “Nope, I’m not explaining again. You can figure it out on your own, dude.”

        Jake looked to John, who just shrugged. Jake kept looking around.

        “So, where’s your brother?” John asked.

        “Out for the night.”

        John turned around when he heard Jake’s low whistle across the room. He was looking at the sword displays.

        “Someone around here must be quite the weaponry fan, eh?”

        Dave gave him the same boasting spiel about his sword skills. Jake was even less impressed than John was at first, but for different reasons.

        “Well, I can’t imagine it would be that hard to combat someone when you’ve got a whopping blade in your hand. I like to think I wouldn’t need weapons to defend myself from another man.”

        “Says the guy who brings guns with him almost wherever he goes.”

        “That’s just for fun! I would never dream of shooting a person unless it was a life or death situation—and I’d have to be pretty desperate at that point! No, sir, I pride myself on being able to hold my own with just these.” He put up his fists like a boxer and threw a couple little punches in Dave’s direction.

        “What do you say, Strider? Care to have a go?”

        “Wait what?”

        “He’s trying to get you to wrestle with him,” John explained. He was watching the exchange while kneeling backwards on the couch.

        “Uh, no, I’ll pass.”

        “Oh, come now; are you worried you won’t fare well without your fancy swords?”

        “No, I’m just . . . not really thrilled by the idea of rolling around on the floor with you, man.”

        “You’re going to have to work harder than that to talk him out of it.” John said. “He’s very persistent when it comes to ‘fisticuffs’. I actually don’t know why he didn’t want to go out for the wrestling team instead of soccer.”

        “The uniforms.” Jake reminded him.

        “Oh yeah.”

        “He ever get you to . . . wrestle with him?” Dave wasn’t able to keep from laughing.

        John cringed. “Yes, once. Not long after I met him. It was very awkward.” It hadn’t happened since then because Jake had been worried about hurting him. John would have probably protested in any other situation that he would be fine, but he was more than happy to be off the hook.

        “Come on, Strider, quit your gawking and let’s get down to it.” Jake said, still trying to bait him in. “We almost got into a few months back—”

        “You pinned my arms behind me how the hell else was I supposed to respond?

        ”Well what’s keeping you from trying now? Who knows, you might even enjoy it.”

        “That’s the main thing I’m worried about. How about we do something that isn’t potentially homoerotic. Please?”

        Dave walked over to the living room area.

        “Gentlemen, clearly what needs to happen here is a Mario Kart Battle Royale.” He turned on the TV to reveal the game’s opening screen.

        “Just one catch though: I only got two controllers.”

        “So I’m guessing you’re going to make Jake sit out?” John said.

        “What? No. If I did that I wouldn’t get the chance to kick his ass.” But he still handed the second controller to John.

        “We’ll play first,” He explained. “And English can play the winner. Loser sits out and plays the winner of the next game.”

        “That . . . is actually incredibly fair, given the circumstances.” Jake said. “I’m impressed.”

        “That’s great,” Dave said, flopping onto the couch Next to John. “Now go grab a bag of chips off the fridge for me.”

        And with that, Jake went back to being annoyed. “Oh, I’m so glad to see you mind your manners. Such a wonderful host! Let me just get that for you then.”

        John giggled and focused on picking a character to race as.

        “Crimety!” Jake called after he had reached the kitchen. “There are no less than ten different varieties up here! Which one did you want?”

        “I don’t care, pick one!” Dave called back. He and John were at the starting line. Jake came back with three bags.

        John won the first race, Dave passed the controller to Jake.

        John won the second race, Jake passed the controller back to Dave. Dave won the next race . . .

        They continued with their arrangement with surprisingly little hostility, just a little friendly trash talk here and there. It was a lot of fun—until . . .

        “Haha! Take that, Strider!”

        “Wait, no, I fell off the track; rematch.”

        “Excuse me? I think John would like a turn, don’t you?”

        “I can wait,” John said. “I should wash my hands first anyway.” They were covered with cheese-puff dust.

        So Jake and Dave raced again, and this time—

        “Wait, no, that’s not fair!” Jake was protesting this time. “I sneezed! I had to let go of my controller, and you took advantage of me. I want another do-over!”

        “John?” Dave asked.

        “Oh, fine.”

        And again.

        “Wait, hold up,” Dave said during he and Jake’s third consecutive match, realizing his controller had stopped working. “Rematch again.”

        Frustrated, John stood up.

        “Dave, give me forty dollars.”

        Dave got out his debit card instead. “What for?”

        “So I can go buy another damn controller while you guys stay here fighting about it.”

        “I could go instead, if you wanna stay here and play,” Dave offered. “Or we could send English; fresh air might be good for those active sinuses of his.”

        “No, it’s fine, I’ll just go.” John didn’t want to make Jake leave, and regardless of the smuppets he thought it would be weird being in Dave’s apartment without Dave in it.

        “Be careful, John,” Jake told him when he was headed out the door.

        “I will, mom,” John teased.

        There was a store that sold game stuff only five blocks away from Dave’s building, so it only took about ten minutes to walk there. When John left the store with his overpriced game controller in tow, he realized how close it was to getting dark out.

        John hurried to walk back, telling himself it was silly to worry about anything happening to him. There was still plenty of light, and lots of people around, including some of the staggering college kids, drinks in hand as always. John was surprised there were people still hanging out so close to school being back in. Maybe they were local.

        John was headed right for one of the roaming partiers on his way back. They were taking up most of the sidewalk, so John was considering stepping into the street a bit to get out of there way. When he realized that he recognized them and froze.

        “Ohhhhh, well look who it is!” Miller called, recognizing John as well. John started walking backwards, not sure whether to run. No, he should run, definitely—but where? He didn’t know this area very well, and it was dark enough that the streetlights were starting to come on. If he got himself lost now, it might be more trouble than what the bullies could give him.

        “We came lookin’ fer Strider and we foun’ som’in even beder.” It was clear he, and his friends, were all drunk—or maybe just buzzed; John really didn’t know the difference, but they couldn't have been sober. A couple of the other guys grabbed him to keep him from running away, as per usual back when . . .

“Let me go!” John told them. “You can’t hurt me, remember? You’ll get in trouble!”

        “Nawwww,” Miller drawled. “See, I go’ et werked out. Das jus’ at school! Bu’ lookit—we ain’t in school. Youse fair game now.”

        “No!” John said as they laughed and shoved him down an ally. “Help! Hel—” someone put a hand over his mouth. And the rest of them beat him. Beat him even worse than they ever did before. It was horrible.

        Eventually John tried to stop moving too much, thinking it might make them decide they had kicked his ass thoroughly enough. And it seemed to work. After about ten more seconds, they let him drop limply to the ground, laughing as they left him alone.

        John laid there in a daze for a few minutes, just breathing to make sure he still could. But it wasn’t without immense pain. He slowly got out his phone. He went to his contacts. He had to hold it close to his face because his glasses were gone; knocked onto the ground somewhere nearby when he got hit in the face.

        Since Dave was listed before Jake, that’s who he called. He put it under his head so he wouldn’t have to hold it.

        “Hey, what’s taking so long, I thought you’d be back by now.”

        “Help.” John whispered. His voice was barely audible.

        “What?”

        “Help,” he said more loudly. “Ally. Few blocks away.”

        “What happened?” Dave demanded.

        “Just come.”

        “Uh. Okay, we’ll be right there. Just hang on.”

        John nodded, not wanting to say anything else.

        “John?” It was Jake now. Dave must have let him on. “Are you okay?”

        “Mm-mm.” He answered weakly. Jake sounded like he understood he meant ‘no.’

        “We’re almost outside. We’ll be there before you know it. I promise.”

        “Mmm.” This made him feel a little better. John heard the call end, but he didn’t move to put his phone away.

        He was facing the mouth of the ally, so he saw Dave and Jake’s blurry shapes when they arrived on the scene.

        “John, is that you?” Jake asked.

        “Hey.”

        They rushed over to him. Dave started to lift him up but Jake stopped him. “You shouldn’t move him untill we know what happened.”

        “Okay,” Dave said impatiently, turning back to John. “What the hell happened to you?” Dave asked as he and Jake started checking the damage.

        “Miller plus friends.” John told them how he had almost walked right into them and what he could remember about what happened next.

        Jake was furious. “I can’t believe this happened again! I thought we were through will all of this? I swear, if those . . . those assholes, don’t get expelled this time, I don’t know what I’ll do!”

        “Yeah, that would be nice,” John said.

        “I think we should take you to the hospital, man.” Dave said. “I can already see two cuts that should get stitches, you probably have a concussion—does anything feel broken?”

        “I don’t know,” John said. “My wrist feels pretty bad, I guess.” He lifted his left arm gingerly and winced.

        “Hospital.” Dave repeated.

        “Okay.”

        “Your car or mine?” Jake asked.

“Mine. I’ll be right back with it.” Dave got up and started jogging away.

        “Bring back something for his head, would you?”Jake yelled at him before he left. It made John wince again.

        “Sorry, pal. Are you up for ringing your dad or would you like me to do it for you?”

        “Can you do it? My head is starting to hurt.”

        “Alright. Try not to move more than you have to.” Jake took John’s phone out from under his head and made the call. He would meet them at the hospital. On the ride to the hospital, Jake asked Dave to drive so he could sit in the back with John. They both kept asking him simple questions the whole way.

        They got John checked into the emergency room twenty minutes later and he was being examined about half an hour after that. His dad showed up just before someone took him to get looked at. His dad asked John if he wanted him to come with him, but John declined.

        “No, I’ll be fine.” He figured he was old enough to handle this kind of thing on his own.

        The nurses asked what happened to him, and put him through a bunch of machines.

        It turned out he had a little internal bleeding, but nothing they were worried about. He would just be a little colorful for a few weeks. He had a very mild concussion, but he would be fine as long as his dad woke him up periodically that night. And his wrist was broken. He would need a cast on it for several weeks.

        John walked out with a recommendation for pain medication and a light blue cast that covered most of his left forearm which Dave and Jake insisted on signing immediately—they had already bought markers in the gift shop in their favorite colors when they heard about the broken wrist. While they did so, John found out they had all been busy while he was gone.

        The bullies, who had thought they weren’t going to get in trouble were really, really stupid. If they had just beat John up again at school, the police probably would not have gotten involved. Dave had very helpfully provided their names and addresses. At the very least, they would all be suspended from school until further notice. And they were definitely banned from all extracurricular activities, including football.

        After his friends were done writing their names on John’s cast, his dad took him home after that to rest up, leaving Jake to take Dave home. They both seemed a little wary of the arrangement, but they didn’t have much choice.

        In the car, John’s dad asked him why John never told him about the bullies.

        “I thought I could handle it,” John defended himself. “I was handling it pretty well until now.”

        “You should have told me anyway. I could have helped.”

        “I know, I guess I should have. If it happens again, I’ll tell you.”

        John looked at his cast again. It was going to get in the way of piano practice and stuff for a while, but he kind of liked it. He smiled as he examined Dave and Jake’s signatures. Dave had added his stupid, intentionally bad doodles around his name, and Jake had added little skulls around his own. There were also a few tiny dots that looked like they could have been hearts, but it was too dark in the car to tell what color they were.

        “Hey, Dad? Is . . . this a good time to tell you about something else that’s been going on lately? I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while...”

Chapter Text

The story got around school quickly, and for whatever reason, many people took John’s side this time around. Maybe it was because this time he had a cast and black eye to prove he wasn’t just trying to get attention, or the Jackets in trouble for no reason. He never really knew what was said last Fall to make everyone start snubbing him, but they were stopping now. It seemed everyone was starting to realize how awful the Jackets really were.

        John was happy to be rid of them, even if they were probably going to come back eventually. He let himself relax. He had more pressing issues to deal with anyway.

        “So are you actually going to end up doing something for your birthday or are you actually going to let your sweet-sixteen fly by without even looking up from your chem’ book?” Dave asked him the week before the big day. They were waiting to get out of their class. The schedules had changed again, and now this was the only period they had together besides lunch.

        “I’ll think of something,” John told him, not looking up from his chemistry book. He was falling behind in that class. “I just have to think of something really good.”

        “I’m telling you, you should put me in charge. I could throw a great party for you.”

        “Have you ever thrown a party before?”

        “No, but I’ve been to like, a thousand or something, I mean isn’t that the same thing?”

        “I will begrudgingly admit that you have some secondhand party experience. But I’m not sure I even want a big party.” John glanced up at him for a second. “I mean, who would I even invite besides you and Jake?”

        “Uh, how about your new adoring fans?”

        “I don’t think I have more than two, and they aren’t new at all. I’m just not a big party kind of person, I think. Now stop bugging me about it.”

        “Okay fine, whatever, but can you at least give me an idea of what I should get you?”

        “That’s no fun; think of something on your own.”

        “Okay fine, who needs you, I don’t need your help, I can come up with a great present.”

        “Good. I can’t wait to see what it is.”

        The bell rang then and their teacher let them go, and the two of them parted ways.

        John went to his chemistry class next. He kind of dreaded going to it because while he was usually pretty good at science, he was having trouble in that class. To make things worse, he didn’t have a partner. Everyone had paired up at the beginning of the term back in the middle of March, but there were an odd number of students. Being a bit of an outcast at the time, no one had wanted to take pity on him at the time.

        John sat at his lab table alone while he waited for class to start, rereading the current chapter in his textbook to try to get a better handle on what he was supposed to be learning.

        While the class was slowly filling, a girl John had never seen before walked into class. Mildly interested in what she was there for, he watched her go up to the teacher and give him a note. He said something to her and pointed at . . . John.

        John panicked a little. What did he have to do with anything?

        The girl looked over at him, and John pretended he hadn’t been looking. He glanced up slightly a few seconds later to see that she was walking over to him. She had a short, light hair held back with a headband. She wearing a white skirt, a short-sleeved knitted sweater, and little bit of dark make-up—black lips, heavy eyeliner. Not that she needed anything extra to improve her looks.

        “Hello,” she said. “My name is Rose. It looks like we’re going to be lab partners.”

        “Oh,” John said. “Great! I thought I would be stuck on my own this whole term. Uh, I’m John.”

        “Nice to meet you, John.” She sat down next to him.

        “So, did they switch you out of another class or something?”

        “No, I just moved here.”

        “Oh. Wow, kind of a weird time to move—school is going to be over in just a couple months.”

        “Yes, I’m aware. My mother has a tendency to make . . . erratic decisions.”

        “Well, you don’t sound very happy about it. But I hope you like it here anyway.”

        “Thank you; making the best of the situation is pretty much the plan at this point.”

        The bell rang then to mark the beginning of class and the teacher told everyone to quiet down.

        Rose, as it turned out, was very smart, and actually quite capable at chemistry. John felt very lucky to have her as a partner. They talked more while they were running their small lab experiment.

        “So, where did you move from?” John asked.

        “Upstate New York.” Rose said, keeping an eye on the thermometer in the test tube they were heating up.

        “Oh wow. That’s pretty far.”

        “Yeah.” Rose agreed. “And I’m still not completely sure why my mother decided to move us down here, or how long she plans for us to stay; she’s been very vague about the whole subject.

        “But I don’t want to talk about me this whole hour,” She said. “I’m curious about you; about your cast in particular.”

        “Oh, uh. I was kind of in a fight.”

        Rose smiled. “I hate doubt you, but that sounds like the kind of thing a guy would say just to try and impress a pretty girl he just met.”

        John laughed. “Well, okay. I guess it just sounds a little better than saying a bunch of guys beat the hell out of me last weekend.”

        Rose’s face dropped to concern.

        “Really? That’s terrible.”

        “Yeah, it sucked. They were doing that kind of stuff for months now. But they’re gone now.” John told her smiling. “If I’m lucky, I’ll never have to see them again.”

        “Well then, for your sake I hope you’re lucky.”

        And John was lucky, in that respect. He never saw them again. But he wouldn’t know for certain until more than a week later.

        John was going to lunch with Dave two Fridays later.

        “So tomorrow’s the big day, big one-six.”

        “Yep! I’m glad I’m finally catching up to you and Jake. It sucks being the last one to turn sixteen. Or any other age.”

        “So is your dad gonna splurge and get you some wheels?”

        “We’ve talked about it. We’re discussing terms right now.”

        “Terms?” Dave opened the cafeteria door for them. “What, is he holding your new ride for ransom? Let me guess: he’s decided that it’s time you improved your terrible taste in movies and making you give up your DVD collection.”

        “No, dummy.” John had his own bagged lunch in hand, but he got in the line along with Dave so they could keep talking. “He just thinks that it would be better for me if he didn’t just give me a car. And I would rather pay for my own car anyway. But we’re working out a deal—we’ll find an affordable car, he’ll pay for half of it, and I‘ll pay the other half.”

        “Your dad teaches you way too many positive morals, man.”

        “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

        “At least I won’t have to cart your ass around anymore. I’m cutting you off your free rides.”

        “I don’t think I’ve ever asked you for a ride once. You’ve offered plenty of times, and sometimes I take you up on those offers, but that’s it.”

        John felt his stomach grumble. He wished the line would hurry up.

        “So are you still set on dragging me out to that lame park tomorrow?”

        “Don’t even try to pretend you aren’t going to have fun.” John had finally decided that he wanted them to go to this amusement park that was about an hour’s drive away. It wasn’t huge or anything, but John had looked around the website and it had plenty of rides, plenty of games, and it looked like plenty of fun.

        “Whatever. Just make sure that if we go on anything that will make you toss your cookies, do it on English and not me, please?”

        “Gross, dude. Trust me, I won’t; I don’t have a weak stomach like that.”

        Dave paid for his food and they went to sit at their usual table.

        “Okay but what about English? Something about that kid strikes me someone who would—”

        “Okay, no, stop. No gross talk when I’m about to eat, okay?”

        “I thought you didn’t have a weak stomach.”

        “Well, not when it comes to roller-coasters or flying through the air. But can we talk about something else now?”

        “Fine, I’ll lay off that topic if you really want. I have plenty more.”

        Dave started telling him about something that happened in his previous class while John took out his food. Dave was repeating something he had said when John took a bite of his sandwich . . . and felt his stomach drop when he tasted something very wrong with it. There was lunchmeat, cheese, whatever his dad usually put on his sandwiches. But there was also something grossly sweet. Something he’d never tasted, but he still recognized it from the smell.

        Panic-stricken, John pulled apart the bread to confirm it; large glob of light-brown gunk was in the middle of his sandwich. Peanut butter.

        “Hey, are you okay?” Dave asked, noticing John’s change in expression. John tried to stay calm.

        “I think you to go get a teacher or something,” he said, getting up and trying to get his nervous hand into his pocket.

        “What for?”

       John managed to find what he was looking for and pulled the plastic tube out. “Because I just ate a mouthful of peanut butter and even if this doesn't work I’m going to need to go to the hospital.”

       John had practiced doing this before, but he fumbled a little to get the plastic pin off the end because of his cast. He took just two seconds to think about how much this would suck, but he could feel his throat closing already. He didn’t have time to wait or be scared.

       Screwing up his face, he used the tube to stab himself in the leg. He cried out loudly, probably earning him a bunch of attention from the tables nearby. But he wasn’t even thinking about that, and he barely registered Dave calling for a teacher; he just kept concentrating on keeping the needle in for seven, eight, nine . . .

       He pulled the EpiPen out again; He tried to fall back into his chair but he missed by a little and ended up sliding off in onto the ground. But already he could feel his throat opening again and breathed heavily in relief.

       Dave, as well as a few female teachers rushed over to kneel next to him. They were all asking if he was okay.

       “I think so . . .” he said. He felt pretty okay, but he wasn’t entirely sure.

       “I’ll go call an ambulance.” One of the teachers said, getting up and running off. Aw geeze, a whole ambulance for this? But it was the only way so John didn’t say anything.

       It was suggested that John wait outside with a teacher for his ride to the hospital to come. Dave asked if he wait with John instead, and if he could go with him. They tried to turn him down, but he convinced them by exaggerating how distracted from his classes he would be while he worried about how John was doing and okay, Mr. Strider, you can go with him. One of the teachers asked if he could stand.

       “Ummm.” John felt kind of weak and jittery. He didn’t entirely trust his limbs to get himself off the floor.

       “I got this one, ladies.” Dave stepped around them and started to pull John off the floor.

       “C’mon, man, we’re gonna make this happen.”

       Dave had him in what was almost a standing position, and John thought that would be it. But then he put one of John’s arms over his shoulder. And then he bent down to grab John’s legs and—

       Well. At least a fireman’s carry was a little more dignified than princess style. Having just gone through a near-death experience John really didn’t even care, even if that the now silent cafeteria was watching them leave. No one was following them, so John was assuming the teachers were going to explain what happened to the office, in case someone came to question them about what they were doing out of class.

       “Told you I’d get my chance.” Dave said quietly to him. “Are you okay?”

       “Yeah, I’m pretty okay. I think you’re showing off, though.”

       “You want me to put you down?”

       John didn’t answer; he just buried his face where it was laying against Dave’s shoulder, and felt Dave laugh silently in response.

       There was a bench outside, near the end of the building. Dave laid John down on it. John tried to sit up but Dave pushed him back down and told him to just take it easy. John just shrugged and obeyed.

       The ambulance arrived only moments later and off to the hospital they headed. It was obvious that John was going to be okay but Dave still held his hand the whole ride while John texted Jake about what happened with the other.

       John didn’t get a room with a bed, but he didn’t really need one. Just a normal-looking examination room. Since this was probably going to be quicker than John’s last visit he didn’t leave Dave in the waiting room. While they were sitting there waiting for a doctor to come in, John caught a familiar figure run past the open door.

       “Jake?” John called out. And a moment later Jake was back, poking his head in the door before rushing to John’s side.

       “I came as soon as I could; Are you hurt, do you feel alright? Have you been seen yet?”

       “I’m fine, Jake I told you in my text.” John knew this would happen as soon as he started writing the text to Jake earlier. But he would have felt worse not letting Jake know as soon as he could. “And no, no one has come in to look at me yet. It should be any minute now.”

       Jake moved on to his next question. “How the shit-kicking christ did this happen?”

       “You just missed the meeting on that one.” Dave said, almost bored. He was sitting across the room, picking at his fingernails. “Maybe you should have got here sooner.”

       Jake gave him a dirty look that he didn’t see, and John just pat his hand to try and sooth him.

       “Dave says he thinks the Jackets—”

       “You’re still using that dumbass name for them?” Dave interrupted.

       “Yes I am, now shut up. Anyway, he thinks they had one of their friends break into my locker and fuck with my food.”

       “You really think they would try to . . . kill you?” Jake asked. “That seems like a long jump from petty bullying!”

       “I don’t really know weather I would put it past them or not,” Dave spoke up again. “But this wasn’t a mistake. And who else would even think about doing this?”

       John took a deep breath, just to remind himself he could, before continuing to get Jake caught up.“Dave just got off the phone with the school. They’re supposed to be looking into it right now.”

       A doctor came in just then. Jake moved aside so John could be examined. After only a few minutes and a shot, he was deemed perfectly fine. The doctor only suggested that he take it easy the rest of the day just as a precaution, and he would be just fine. His dad was already waiting in the lobby to take him home.

       By the end of the school day, John’s dad had gotten a call about the investigation. As soon as they were both online, John  got a video call going so he could tell them everything about it.

       Dave’s suspicion was right. He’d given names of a few people he thought might have done it, and the teachers pulled them all one by one until one confessed everything. Apparently the guy was not very good under the pressure and made a very unconvincing plea of innocence. After that they brought the other guys to talk to them too, and one of them ended up confessing for the whole group. Apparently they had ‘found out’—Dave said they probably snuck a look at his records—about John’s allergy, but hadn’t realized it was as lethal as it was. They were only trying to make him sick.

       “The vice principal said there was no choice but to expel them.” John told them cheerfully.

       “Top shelf!” Jake shouted. “And good riddance!”

        “Yeah,” Dave agreed.

        “I’m pretty happy about it too,” John laughed.

        “I guess tomorrow we’ll have one more thing to celebrate.”

        “Yeah, totes; break out the good stuff for this one. Hell, why not go all out and throw an actually party. Hey, yeah, that’s a great idea, I’m glad I thought of it, come on John, what do you say? I’ll even pitch in for balloons, drinks, the works.”

        “Nope. We’re going to the amusement park and that’s final.”

        And it was a very, very good birthday.

        After a couple more weeks, John was starting to really enjoy his chemistry class, and it mostly had to do with Rose. She was really cool, and the two of them were getting to be pretty good friends really quickly.

        Like a lot of days, Dave dropped John off at the class before going to his own a couple weeks after Rose had enrolled. John said goodbye to him at the door and went to sit down next to Rose at their table. She looked thoughtful, but John didn’t pick up on it at first.

        “Hi, Rose.”

        “Good afternoon, John. I thought you said Dave wouldn’t have to walk you to class anymore now that you didn’t have to worry about being picked on?”

        “Oh, yeah.” He really didn’t now that the bullies were gone, but if Dave still wanted to follow John around wherever he went, John wasn’t going to complain. “Uh, you know, we still like to talk and stuff.”

        “I see.”

        After class, she asked him if there were any coffee shops nearby.

        “Uh, yeah, I think there’s one a couple blocks away.”

        “Have you ever been there before?”

        “No, but how bad could it be?”

        “Would you like to come with me and see? Sitting around in a coffee shop isn’t as fun alone.”

        John already had plans with Jake later that afternoon. But he knew Jake wouldn't mind waiting a little longer to pick him up. So, why not?

        “Yeah, sure. That sounds cool.”

        “Are you sure you don’t want to try some tea?” Rose asked when they were ordering their drinks. “It can be very nice if you order it right.”

        “No thanks, I’m good.” John said, paying for his little decaf coffee.

        Rose shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

        They sat down at a table near the back. It was surprisingly crowded for three thirty in the afternoon, but the buzz of conversation blended together and made it impossible to eavesdrop.

        “This is actually my second time in a coffee shop, so I’m not sure how this one stacks up,” John admitted.

        “It’s not bad, by my standards.” Rose said. “At least it’s a good place to talk. As if we don’t already do enough of that in class.”

        “Yeah, but I like talking to you,” John said honestly.

        “I like talking to you, too. You’re easily the nicest person I’ve met since moving here.”

        “Wow, really? I guess I shouldn’t introduce you to Jake then, if I want to keep that title.”

        “If he’s a friend of yours I certainly wouln’t mind meeting him. I think you mentioned him before actually.”

        “Yeah, well, I probably have. He and Dave are pretty much my best friends. But don’t feel bad, you’re not too far behind them.”

        “Actually, now that you mention Dave, I’ve been . . . wondering something for a while.”

        “Yeah?”

        “I probably shouldn’t even be asking, it’s very prying . . .”

        “I don’t mind. Go ahead.”

        “Are you two only friends or is there something more going on?”

        John almost choked on his drink.

        “Are you alright?” She lifted one of her hands reactively, as if to try to help him. John coughed a couple more times before answering.

        “Yeah, I’m fine I’m just . . . surprised you think that.”

        “So I guess that’s a no then? Not that I would have disapproved or anything. I was just curious.”

        John wasn’t sure what to say. But on a whim, he decided to trust her. She was nice, and cool. Why not?

        “I . . . guess I never realized how obvious it was.”

        Rose’s eyes lit up with interest.

        John told her . . . everything. Or, all of the important parts anyway. Moving to Texas at the end of the summer, getting bullied, meeting Jake and Dave, falling in love with them each in turn and finding out they had as well. He stopped after Valentine’s Day and the temporary agreement the three of them had settled on.

        “Heh, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. It’s probably really boring to listen to.”

        “Not at all, I think it’s very interesting. I wish I had so much to tell you about myself; I’m starting to feel a bit selfish actually.”

        “Well, maybe you could tell me about New York. I’ve never been there before.”

        “Well, I didn’t live near the city; or any city, really. But our home still had a very lovely view of the forests and waterfall. It was a little quite, but I liked it.”

        “That sounds nice. Did you ever find out why your mom made you move?”

        “All I’ve gotten out of her so far was that ‘it was for a career opportunity.’ She isn’t getting a raise or anything. It’s just for the ‘experience.’ When I tried to point out to her that I was uprooted from the only life I had ever known for this ‘experience’, she just asked me where my sense of adventure was.”

        “I’m sorry.” John said sympathetically.

        “It’s alright. It hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be, living here.”

        “Oh, well that’s good! I mean, if you’re getting used to it here, I hope you stay for awhile, at least.”

        “It’s looking increasingly like I will be, so you’ll probably get that wish.”

       They kept talking until their drinks we’re long gone, and eventually John got a text from Jake saying he was waiting outside for him, so he and Rose parted ways, a little closer than they were before. John realized as he left the coffee shop that he was actually really happy he told Rose about the whole Jake and Dave thing. It was nice talking about it for once. It would be nice to have a friend who was just a friend he could talk about stuff with.

Chapter Text

To help pay for his car, John got a part time job. It wasn’t a bad job either. He was being paid to help out around a magic shop, which also sold an array of gags and pranks and things like that. Actually, they had to do that just to keep their head above the water, since not a lot of people were into magic these days. John, however, would change that.

        Since there were a lot of unsold props lying around collecting dust, John started to put them to use. He could remember a few simple tricks from his magic phase when he was younger, which he liked to perform for the younger kids who occasionally dragged their parents into the shop. John was an absolute hit with them, and they must have been telling their friends, because it wasn’t long before twice as many people were showing up at the shop than before. The management took notice and gave John a nice bonus for his efforts, but he was just happy to provide a little entertainment now and then for the customers.

        It was a lot easier to perform said tricks once his cast was off. John had the cast on for about five weeks before the doctor said his wrist was healed enough. He would have to do little strength exercises for a few more weeks before he would be piano-ready again, but it was still a large improvement.

        John was working on the second Saturday of May, sweeping up the aisles, when the bell above the door tinkled. He looked up, expecting to see a customer, but it was just Jake. Jake scanned the store and rushed over to him.

        “There you are, John! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

        “Shhh,” John told him. He glanced behind him at the guy working at the front counter. He was the owners’ son, who really didn’t like John’s friends coming for social visits. He was watching them with mild irritation, but he didn’t say anything yet.

        “You know I work almost every Saturday.” John kept sweeping to keep up appearences. “Why didn’t you come here first?”

“I almost did. I came here second. Your house was my first stop.”

“So when you said you were looking everywhere for me, you mean my house and here?”

“Precisely. And look, I found you!” He punched John lightly on the arm to prove it.

“Congratulations, you did it.” John chuckled. “What’s up?”

        “Hang up your apron and set aside your broom—there’s somewhere I’ve been itching to take you!”

        “Jake, I still have an hour left on my shift.” John reminded him.

        “Oh. Is it only noon?” Jake looked at his watch. He was the only person John knew, other than his dad, who wore one.

        “Yes. So you’ll have to wait a while before I can go anywhere with you.”

        “Oh, that’s alright! I don’t mind at all.”

        “I know you don’t,” John laughed. Jake would sort of be in the way, but his company was still nice to have.

        For the next hour Jake proceeded to play customer, while John played employee. They weren’t fooling anyone, but they were given less trouble when they pretended to be professional. Jake browsed the store’s merchandise, asking John about this or that, and John would answer his questions, and even called him ‘sir,’ which never failed to cause Jake to put his hand to his mouth to cover his amused snort. And of course, Jake talked John up to the other employees (all three of them), going out of his way to compliment John’s work, and suggesting he should get a raise. This was when John broke the act to tell him to shut up.

        When John’s shift was finally up, he and Jake left the store with Jake’s handful of purchases, which would most likely end up in John’s possession. This was the usual custom, since Jake, and Dave for that matter, would be kicked out pretty quickly if they never bought anything, and John had much more interest than they did in that stuff. John didn’t usually like accepting tons of gifts for no reason, but he allowed it this time since it was helping him learn new tricks for the customers.

        “So where are we going?” John asked once they threw the stuff in the back seat of Jake’s Jeep.

        “You’ll see when we get there!”

        “Oh boy. This should be good. Or bad.”

        “I think it’s pretty good.”

        “So is it somewhere I’ve been before?”

        “No, and no questions! You’ll ruin the surprise.”

        “Fine, Mr. Bossy-shorts.”

        They drove for about fifteen minutes before turning down a road that was surrounded by forest on both sides, leading up to a clearing that contained a lot of small buildings with one larger building in the middle. The sound of shots rang all around.

        “Here we are!”

        They drove past a sign that read Top Shot Shooting Range.

        “Oh.” John said. “Okay. Cool.” This should be interesting.

        “Oh, come now, you can show a little more enthusiasm than that, can’t you?”

        “Yeah! Shooting range! Woo! . . . Is that better?”

        Jake laughed. “Yeah, I think that’ll do.”

        Jake got a couple cases out of the back while John stood off to the side and watched him.

        “I really can’t believe I didn’t think to do this before now. It’s so perfect; pretty thick of me not to bring you here sooner, eh? “Here, you’ll need this.” Jake handed him a pair of safety goggles and earmuffs.”

        “Yeah, sure.” Watching Jake shoot at targets for an hour or so had to be at least mildly entertaining.

        They went inside and Jake talked to the guy behind the counter, who seemed to recognize him. While got them set up or whatever he was doing, John looked at all of the safety posters that plastered the walls, warning all the patrons to remember their safety gear and follow all of the many protocols. It was enough to make John a little edgy, but . . . Jake knew what he was doing. He had to, right, with how often he must have come here?

        John’s focus turned back to Jake and the counter guy when they mentioned him.

        “Your friend knows the rules, right?” He asked Jake.

        “Oh, sure,” Jake fibbed breezily, to John’s surprise.

        “Well, alright then. If you boys don’t need anything from the shop, I’ll take you down to your stall.”

        They were escorted down a series of hallways, which went through not one but two metal detectors. At the end, they were outside again, standing in a little half-circle area, enclosed with a chest-high Plexiglas wall.

        When the guy left them, John turned to Jake.

        “Why did you tell him—”

        “Oh, that was no big deal,” Jake said, waving him off. “Just a few safety protocols for rookies like you. You’ll be perfectly fine with me around!”

        “I better be,” John warned him.

        There was a bench on the back wall of the stall, so John sat on it while he watched Jake get his guns out and load them. He knew he could trust Jake, but once again he felt himself getting slightly edgy with all the guns in the proximity.

        “So, how does this work?”

        “You’re about to see—I’d put that gear on right about now if I were you.”

        “Oh, yeah. What is this stuff for, anyway?”

        “The ‘muffs just make things easier on your ears. These pups can get pretty loud,” He said, waving one of the guns a little, oh so casually, like he wasn’t holding a deadly weapon. “And the goggles are in case something goes wrong and shrapnel comes flying out at you. Wouldn’t want to lose an eye, now, would you?”

        “Um. Could that really happen?”

        “It’s not very likely. It’s just to help cover all the bases and all. Like having lifeboats on a ship.”

        “Okay.” John made sure both devices were on securely.

        “Come on, John, you’re going to miss all the action if you stay back there. Stand over here.” Jake waved him toward the window from next to him. It looked far enough away that he wouldn’t get hit by flying shrapnel, so he—hesitantly—stepped forward to look at the field in front of them while Jake finished loading up his favorite twin pistols.

        “Are you going to shoot those things?” John asked, indicating the foam targets set up at different distances.

        “To start with.” Jake shot each one of them, taking turns with each gun, hitting each target dead center in order.

        “Wow, that was great,” John congratulated.

        Jake shrugged. “I guess. But I have something slightly less remedial in mind now.”

        John glanced at Jake in time to see him press a button to his left before turning back to the field. Without warning, there was loud crack came from somewhere behind and above them that startled John. Then, back in front of them, there were now several blurs flying through the air.

        Bang, bang, bang! Jake picked them all off, two at a time.

        “Whoa.”

        “Now that was way more superb, wouldn’t you say?” Jake asked him.

        John laughed. “No. But I’ll say that was pretty cool.”

        “Would you like to give it a go now?”

        John was startled again. “What? Me?”

        “Of course! You didn’t think I took you out here just to watch me show off, did you?” Jake picked up another of his cases.

        “Well. I guess not . . .”

        “Not even close! I’m going to show you the ropes. Under my wings, you’ll be a sharpshooter in no time! Here, why don’t you try this one on for size?”

        Jake pulled out . . . well, John didn’t know what kind of gun it was, but it was pretty big. It had a scope thing on it, and John would have sworn it had three separate muzzles.

        Jake, to John’s dismay, loaded it up in moments and pushed it into John’s arms.

        “Uh, it’s kinda heavy.”

        “You’ll get used to it.” Jake corrected his posture and helped him position it right.

        “Are you sure this is safe?”

        “Of course it’s safe! I would never do anything to endanger you.”

        “Couldn’t I start with something a little . . . smaller?” And less intimidating. But Jake didn’t seem to notice the slightly panicked expression on John’s face.

        “Well, if you’re going to learn how to shoot, I figure you might as well start off with something on the hefty side, straight off the racket!”

        “Off the bat.” John corrected nervously.

        “Off the bat!” Jake agreed. “Now, just aim by looking down the sights; it will be forced back a bit when you fire, so keep the back end against your shoulder to keep it from kicking you too much. Keep your hand away from the trigger until you’re ready; don’t shoot any critters, and you should be just fine!”

        “Yeah, sure.” John tried to pretend it was just an oversized paintball gun to keep himself calm. He took aim at one of the closer targets and went for the trigger . . .

        Bang! When he pulled the trigger, the gun kicked back like Jake said it would—keeping it against his shoulder didn’t really help a lot, but it would have been worse if he hadn’t. He looked to see if he had even hit the target at all. It looked like it barely grazed the edge.

        “Ah, that’s alright. You may want to take the wind into account when taking your next shot.”

        “Does wind really have that much effect?”

        “Ohh, you’d be surprised. A bit of wind can end up helping you even, when it decides it’s not going to be tricky.”

        “Okay, wind. Got it.” He tried again, looking down the sights to take another shot.

He hit it! It was in one of the middle rings, but John still managed to hit a target.

        “Well look at you! Nice shot!” Jake praised.

“Hehe, thanks.” He lined up another shot.

        John kept shooting until he ran out of bullets. He only missed the target completely once more, and he came pretty close to a bull’s-eye a couple of times.

        After that, Jake took another turn of his own. This time, he only hit one target in the middle—to make the nose for the smiley face he had made with his other shots.

        “Show off,” John complained lightly. Jake only winked at him.

        They took turns like that for a while, until eventually Jake was doing another skeet shooting thing and accidentally nicked a bird and it was suggested that they leave. So they packed up and Jake drove John back to the magic shop so he could get his car.

        “Well, that could have ended on a better note.” Jake conceded back in the jeep. “But was that a blast and a half or what?”

        “It was fun,” John agreed. A little nerve-wracking, but that had passed quickly enough.

        “You don’t sound like you enjoyed it as much as I did,” Jake noted with just a touch of sadness.

        “Because you’re the gun guy, it’s your thing; I’m telling you, I had fun.” John insisted.

        “I suppose you might have enjoyed it more if Strider had been around as well?” John almost argued, but Jake continued. “Maybe I would have, too.”

        “Really?” Jake and Dave hadn’t been fighting as much as of late, but it was still pretty unusual of Jake to say something like this.

        “I don’t see why not. Just us, alone with a bunch of loaded weapons. In fact, the more I think about the idea, the more I like it!”

        John laughed, in spite of himself. He knew Jake was joking, of course, but it made John feel a little better when he started laughing with him.

Chapter Text

        “John.”

        “Yeah, Dave?”

        “It’s really fucking hot, John.”

        “I know it is.”

        It was around the beginning of July. School had been out for about a month now, and it was shaping up to be one of the best summers John could remember having in a long time. But now, he had gone to hang out with Dave at his apartment to find out the air conditioning was broken. If you remember the fact that heat rises, you should be able to imagine how hot it was in the top floor of that apartment.

        “John, I think we’re going to die. I think we are going to be baked alive right here on the floor in living room, in front of this stupid fucking useless, pathetic excuse of a fan.”

        Apparently this was the first time the AC had broken down, and the Striders only had one small oscillating  fan. They were lying on the floor next to each other taking turns as it moved back and forth. Dave was down to just shorts and John, who was choosing to risk heatstroke for the sake of modesty, was pretending not to be acutely aware of this.

        “How long have you lived in Texas? Your whole life? Shouldn’t you be used to this kind of weather by now?”

        “Shut up, man, this is a god damn heat wave and you know it.”

        “I’m just saying, Washington is a lot colder than this year round and I’m not the one whining here.”

        “Stop talking, you’re making the air hotter.”

        John’s phone rang with its text noise. It was probably Jake, since his dad never texted him. John picked it up to see what he wanted.

        John didn’t even read the message at first—he was too focused on the picture.

        “Oh my god. Come on, we’re going to Jake’s house. Right now.”

        “Why?”

        “Actually, we should stop at my house first. Hurry up! Go grab something you can swim in!”

        Jake answered the door for them several seconds after they rang the bell. He wasn’t surprised when John showed up with Dave right behind him. In fact, he didn’t even look that bothered. Progress. Jake let them both inside.

        “Not bad,” Dave commented. It was his first time seeing the place.

        “I guess, yeah.” Jake said.

        “Pool, now.” John demanded. Jake’s house had air conditioning, but that wasn’t what he had come for.

        “Alright, alright, simmer down. If you’ll kindly follow me . . .”

        They went out to the backyard, where there was one of the coolest swimming pools John had ever seen.

        It was huge and irregularly shaped; it looked like it was made entirely from natural rock with real plants growing out of the cracks between them. It even had a built-in waterfall. It was like a spring someone had lifted it right out of some tropical jungle and set down in the backyard. Jake actually explained that it was based on a pond back on the island he and his grandmother used to live on.

        “We thought it would only be fitting, to try to bring a little piece of home with us.”

        “How . . . deep does it go?” Dave asked.

        “Ten feet, give or take. Plenty enough for taking a jump from the top of the falls—if you think you have what it takes.”

        “Oh, man, I’m so doing that!” John said, running ahead of them. He took off his glasses and pulled of his shirt so he could go find his way to the top.

        “Hold on, you’ve put on sunblock, right?”

        “Yeah, mom,” John said. He’d done so back at his house.

        “Just making sure. The ladder is around the back.” John ran off.

        “Be careful climbing. And don’t go head-first, understand?”

        “Yeah, I got it!” John said when he got to the top. He saw Jake glance at Dave.

        “How ‘bout you, Strider? Or are you too cool to take proper safety precautions?”

        “Wow, English, I didn’t think you cared that much. I’m touched.” Dave put a hand to his chest, and knowing him, he was probably batting his eyelashes. John giggled at the thought.

        “But believe me, I got it covered. I burn easier than wood.”

        John decided he had seen enough of the view and did a cannonball, that created a wave that splashed both of his friends from where they were standing a few feet away from the edge of the water.

        Oh god, the cool water felt amazing. It was instant bliss after cooking all morning.

        Moments later, Jake was up at the top of the rocks and jumped in after him. John laughed when he got splashed. He looked to see if Dave was going up too, but then he realized Dave was still standing off to the side of the pool, arms crossed.

        “Hey, are you coming in or what?” John asked.

        “Yeah, sure, in a minute.”

        “What’s the holdup? Twenty minutes ago you wouldn’t shut up about how hot you were.”

        “That sounds about right,” Jake commented from the other side of the pool.

        “Hush,” John told him. Jake dove under and John turned back to Dave.

        “Fine, if it will get you to shut up.” Dave sat down at the edge of the pool and put the bottom half of his legs in.

        John raised an eyebrow at him.

        “Okay, fine. I don’t really . . .”

        “What?”

        “I can’t really swim.”

        “What?” John and Jake, who had resurfaced in time to hear, said together.

        “I just never learned, okay? I mean I know enough basics to probably keep myself from drowning, in like, an emergency or whatever. But yeah.”

        “Then you’ll be fine. Get in.”

        “Do I have to?”

        “Yes. And don’t worry; I’m a pretty good swimmer and Jake is great—we wouldn’t let you drown. Right, Jake?”

        “Oh, no, I wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing.” Jake said. His grin was a little too wicked to be very comforting. But still, Dave put his shades up on the table with John and Jake’s glasses and eased himself into the shallow end of the pool.

        “. . . Easy enough,” he said after a few seconds.

        Slowly but surely, Dave got more comfortable in the water and eventually but have realized he was being overly cautious and he wasn’t going to drown or anything. And the three of them had a lot of fun.

        But eventually they started to get bored of floating around and pushing each other off the falls, so they went inside to dry off.

        “You boys were out there for quite a while,” Jade commented from the dining table when they got inside. “Did you come looking for something to eat?”

        “Maybe.” Not really, but they were teenage boys—they were always hungry.

        “Well I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m afraid you won’t find much. I’ve been meaning to go shopping, but I need to get this report finished first.” She gestured to the laptop in front of her.

        “I don’t suppose you’d like to go to the store for me, Jake? It could give you and your friends something to do.”

        “No problem!” Jake glanced at John. “But since I’m entertaining a guest, It’s probably best if I ask John first—”

        “What, just John?” Dave asked. “Am I not your guest, too? Do I not count?”

“What? No, of course you count, dear,” Jade said. “I’m sure Jake didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Jake, apologize.”

        “But gran . . .” Jake whined.

        “Excuse me? I said apologize!”

        He reluctantly turned to Dave, who was smiling expectantly. John tried to cover up his giggle.

        “I’m . . . sorry.” He managed to choke out.

        “’S cool.”

        “Great! Super,” Jake said, forcibly upbeat. “Now are you two coming along to the store with me or not?”

        “Sure.” John said, still trying not to laugh.

        “Yeah, I’m down.”

        So they all got dressed and hopped in Jake’s jeep and off to the store they went with Jade’s list. When they arrived, John ran for the carts and started climbing in the front of one.

        “John, what in the world do you think you’re doing exactly?” Jake asked.

        “I wanna ride in the cart!” He managed to lift himself high enough to fall into the kid’s seat sideways.

        “Oh for frigg’s sake John, you’re going to get stuck!” Jake argued.

        “And you guys will get me out when we leave.” John said, wiggling around to get comfortable. Jake sighed and grabbed the cart’s handlebar to pull it away from the others.

        “What if we can’t though?” Dave asked. “Did you think of that?”

        “Yeah right.”

        “I’m serious. I think you might be stuck in there for good. What do you think, English?”

        “I think he stands a chance at making it out alive. But we’ll see after we’re finished.”

        John stuck his tongue out at them.

        First stop was the produce section.

        “Don’t let Dave get too close,” John warned Jake. “You’ve seen his kitchen—just touching fruits and vegetables might send him into shock.”

        “Funny. So are all those greenhouses in your backyard just for show then? How come we’re buying stuff you could get homegrown?” Dave asked while Jake threw a bag of potatoes in the cart.

        “Of course not! But there are a few things that just won’t grow in this climate.”

        “Yeah, and it’s not like they have a whole farm or something,” John said. He managed to reach out of the cart and grab a bag of grapes.

        “Okay, fair enough.”

        “John, since you’ve decided to stick yourself in the front basket, you’ll have to hang on to the bread for a while to keep it from getting squashed.” Jake said, handing him a loaf of wheat bread.

        “I’ll protect it with my life.” He put on a serious face and did a little military salute.

        A few unhappy looks were aimed at John from the people behind the counter when they went to get some cheese and lunch meat from the deli, but they didn’t make him get out of the cart.

        They started going through the aisles and down Jade’s list. But it wasn’t long before the shenanigans started.

        “Hey John, hold still,” Dave said,

        “What for?”

        “I wanna see how many of these Jello-cups you can balance.” He stuck one on top of John’s head.

        “Bet you it’s a lot.” John said, trying to keep his head steady.

        “Ten bucks says otherwise.”

        Dave put another one on his shoulder when Jake tried to push the cart some more and they both toppled.

        “That doesn’t count!” John said quickly. “Jake, hands off the cart; can’t you see we’re in the middle of something?”

        “Ugh, fine. I’ll be back in a moment with the soup.”

        When Jake came back, he found Dave had covered John’s arms covered in the gelatin cups, and even he couldn’t keep from laughing at John’s fiercely determined expression.

        “We’re going to get kicked out,” Jake argued, pointlessly. He knew they weren’t going to listen to him and he was slowly ceasing to care.

        “One more,” Dave said. “Just let him concentrate.”

        “I can do it!”

        The final Jello was placed and a tense silence took place between John and Dave.

        “Okay, are the two of you quite satisfied now?” Jake asked after half a minute when it seemed pretty clear that nothing was going to fall.

        “Yeah, okay; I graciously relent—you win this time, Egbert.”

        “Yes!” John exclaimed. But that small break in form was enough to send almost all of the cups to the ground.

        “Oops.”

        “Smooth, John.” Dave complemented.

        Jake sighed and went to pick them all up and put them back on the shelves. Incredibly, Dave started to help him after a moment. When Jake noticed, he stared speechlessly at home for a second. His dumbfounded expression made John crack up, but when Dave looked back at them to see what he was laughing about, Jake was back to work.

        The moment good behavior, however, only lasted that long. Only a couple aisles later, Dave was starting to get bored and the empty lanes of tile proved to be just too tempting. When Jake stepped away for another moment, Dave took the cart and started running with it until he picked up enough speed to jump on ride it the rest of the way.

        “Wooo!” John yelled. He was slightly worried about running into something, but Dave seemed to have it under control. Jake still wasn’t very happy when he caught up with them.

        “What in blue blazes do you think you two are doing?!”

        “Relax, it’s fine.” Dave told him dismissively.

        “Oh, sure! It’s all just dandy until your little high jinx gets something broken—or someone hurt!”

        “Like you’ve never done it.”

        “I can honestly say that I haven’t.”

        “Then you’ve wanted to try.”

        “Well, I mean . . .” That tripped Jake up. “That’s totally beside the point!”

        “Then do it, right now.”

        “No! I refuse to let you persuade me to join in your delinquency.”

        “I just did it, and nothing even happened. Are you saying you wouldn’t be able to keep control of it than I could?”

        “Of course I could! But, I mean. I still shouldn’t. Someone might come around and catch us.”

        “And do what? Throw you in grocery store jail? Don’t be a wimp, ride the damn cart.”

        “Yeah, Jake, it’ll be fine. Let’s go!”

        “Ohhh . . . alright, fine! If it will get you both to stop egging me on.”

        “Yes!” John said while Jake turned him and the cart around so they could go back the way they had all come. Jake got it going and jumped on just like Dave had before.

        “Yeah!” John shouted again as they flew. He glanced back at Jake, and sure enough he had a huge grin on his face. But after a second, it was replaced with a look of wide-eyed panic and he jumped off to try to put on the brakes.

        John didn’t even have enough time to turn his head back in the direction they were headed when they ran into a cart stacked up with boxes being pushed by an employee at the end of the isle.

        Some of the boxes on the top fell to the ground and everyone involved in the collision was left disorientated. But since no lasting damage was done after Jake ran to help pick the boxes back up and the twenty-something girl pushing her own cart gave them a warning and went back to work.

        “Whoa, English, maybe you should be a little more careful next time,” Dave said when he caught up with them at his leisurely pace. Jake looked like he was going to punch him, but he just straightened out the cart and started walking with it again.

        “Your astounding wit never ceases to impress me, Strider,” Jake said irritably. John giggled; Jake wasn’t sarcastic very often. “In fact, maybe you should shut that pie-hole of yours so we can continue shopping without any more of your distractions.”

        They bickered a lot more and John mostly stuck up for Jake, because Dave didn’t need help to get on Jake’s nerves. But he ended up helping Dave get on Jake’s nerves anyway, unintentionally. They kept asking for every random bag or box of junk food that jumped out at them.

        “We’re getting these Doritos, right?”

        “Jake, can we get Oreos? Look, these ones have different colored middles, how cool is that?”

        “Holy shit, are you guys seeing this? ‘Flavor Your Own Potato Chips,’ oh my god we have to get that—”

        “No.”

        All of Dave’s requests were denied, and most of John’s were fulfilled.

        “Gran probably won’t be very pleased when I come home with all of this garbage,” He said sullenly.

        “It’ll be fine, she loves feeding me,” John reminded him brightly.

        “Well we have to do something with all of those greens she grows before they go bad. Not that even you could be up to that task.”

        “You don’t know that. I’m pretty good at eating.”

        “Seriously,” Dave chimed in. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so little pack away so much food.”

        “Well, I have to make up the difference somewhere.”

        “In mimicking a garbage disposal?” Jake asked.

        “Shut up—it’ll catch up with me eventually, just watch. Maybe one day I’ll wake up and be almost as tall as you two.”

        “Yeah, that’s not going to happen but have fun believing it will.”

        “I think I will, thank you.”

        When they were ready to check out, it was decided that John needed to get out of the cart first. He had wanted to stay in it until they got back to the car, but the cart just simply wouldn’t fit down the checkout lane with most of him hanging out of it.

        “Oh well. It’s starting to hurt my butt anyway.”

        “I’m not even going to say anything.” Dave said.

        “Shut up.” John replied. Jake didn’t get what they were talking about, but John wasn’t about to explain.

        “Just get me out of here,” John told him.

        “Sure thing! Ups-a-daisy—”

        Jake took him by both of his hands and pulled him out of the seat, and steadied him when John tripped just from the short fall.

        “Damn, I was hoping that was gonna take more effort,” Dave commented. “John could have gotten stuck, or English here could have slipped and fallen on his ass. We could have had something comic-worthy here.”

        “Oh, god no,” John told him. “You are not putting me in your dumb comic.”

        “Please. As if you’re really worthy of such an honor. And don’t even pretend it’s not the best fucking thing on the internet.”

        “I don’t have to pretend anything.”

        So they got the food paid for and back to Jake’s house without much more of a hitch, and since it was getting late, Dave and John went home. Not a bad way to spend a summer day.

Chapter Text

It was the middle of August, and John had invited Dave over to hang out. When John answered the door for him, he saw Dave had his camera hanging from his neck, which was carrying around increasingly more often. Curiously, it started not long after John slept over his apartment the first time and complimented him on his camera work.

        “No pictures of me this time,” John warned him while he let Dave in.

        “But you’re such a great subject,” Dave complained. He started picking up the camera as if to snap a picture right then.

        John lifted his hand in anticipation to block himself. “Don’t you have enough pictures of me already.”

        “Nah. But fine, I’ll leave you out today. Or for a little while at least.”

        “Good. Hey, come up to my room with me.” He was working on a new trick and he wanted to practice it on someone.

        “Your room? Alone? Without your dad around to ask us if we want snacks every ten minutes? I think I like where this is going.”

        “Oh shut up,” John told him, starting up the stairs. “You’ve used that joke already. I just want to show you something.”

        “Is that so? Well I can’t wait to see . . . whatever it is.”

        “Okay, you know what? Screw you, never mind.”

        “Fine, I’ll shut up. Let’s just go and you can show me what you wanted to show me.”

        “Okay.”

        They went to his room and John had to search around in his old magic chest for his deck of cards, while Dave tried to be subtle about snooping around his room. When John finally fished them out, he saw Dave was taking a picture of the piano. Before John could ask, Dave was asking him a question.

        “Hey so how’s that new song coming?” Dave asked. “You haven’t mentioned it since we were in school.”

        “Oh yeah, that. Wow! I totally forgot about it. I guess I’ve just been on a magic kick since I started that job.”

        “So you haven’t touched it at all since then?”

        “Well, it’s mostly finished. I still have a few things to tweak.”

        “Can I hear it?”

        “Yeah, sure, if you want. But can I show you this trick first?”

        “Oh yeah, sure, lay it on me. Do you need a lovely assistant for this trick?”

        “Not this time.” John shuffled the deck. “But I will need a volunteer from the audience.”

        “What’s the difference?”

        “You don’t get to wear an evening gown.”

        “Well, damn. What’s even the point then?”

        “Just pick a card already.”

        Dave picked a card. And after giving it a good look, he gave it back to John, who did some strategic card cutting, and presented another card.

        Dave cracked a smile. “That’s not my card.”

        John’s face fell. “It’s not?”

        “Nope.”

        “Uh, okay, then it’s this one!” He showed him another card.

        “Nope.”

        “What?” John showed Dave several more cards, all of which Dave denied as being the one he picked.

        “That can’t be right,” John said, putting down the rest of the deck and keeping all of the discarded cards he’d tried. “I’m sure it’s here. Maybe it just needs a good tap.”

        John took the deck and held the stack upright, with the backs facing Dave and smacked them on his other palm. From the middle of the deck a single card jumped out from the rest. He held it up for Dave to see.

        “There, that’s your card, right?”

        “Whoa. Yeah, that’s it.” He gave John a little applause. “You’re getting pretty good at these things.”

        John giggled and took a bow. “Thank you—I’ll be here all week.”

        “Well now that that’s done, I was kind of looking forward to hearing a song.”

        “Right. One song, coming right up.”

        The spiral bound notebook he had been writing down the music in was leaning against the piano. John brushed the dust off of it and thumbed the pages to get back to the last few used pages. He sat down and played it for Dave.

        When John finished playing Dave didn’t say anything at first. He had his shades pushed up to the top of his head, so John was able to see his thoughtful expression.

        “What?” John asked, suddenly defensive. “Was it bad?”

        “Not really. I don’t know, it wasn’t like it was really bad, just something about it seems kind of weird.”

        “Weird.”

        “Look, I have a delicate ear for music, don’t question me.”

        “I would think that would mean you could be able to elaborate when you say something sounds ‘weird.’”

        “Like, I don’t know. I guess I just don’t particularly care for it. No offence.”

        It only hurt a little, like a pinprick. “Well I like it.”

        “That’s cool, it’s your song, so you go ahead and do that. It’s not like you wrote it for me anyway.”

        John nodded, but that gave him an idea. An idea he would have to be sneaky to pull off.

        “But you might as well tell me anyway—what would you change to make it ‘better’?”

        “I don’t know man, just do what you want. I’m not the authority on all things musical. Not until my letter of recognition comes in from the board of comity at least.”

        “I will! I was just curious. I’ve heard songs you like, but that’s never really given me a strong sense of what you look for in music.”

        “Well, I mean, if you want me to put it into words, I guess . . .” Dave stood there quietly, aside from the little mutterings he was making, as he thought to himself. “Well, I guess it’s kind of like . . . What I like is . . . like, you know when . . . how. Fuck. I don’t think I really know how to describe it either.”

        John laughed. “That’s okay.” Just a little research would be in order.

        “So what do you wanna do now?” Dave asked. “Video games or something?”

        “Actually . . .  I kind of had this movie I wanted to show you.”

        “Aw, what? No, come on man, I thought you were done making me sit through your shitty movies.”

        “Oh, come on, Dave, please? Just this once? I think you’ll really like this one!”

        Dave huffed loudly and melodramatically.

        “It’s not going to kill you,” John pointed out. “And you can have as much of my dad’s extra baked goods as you want.”

        “God. Alright, fine.”

        “Yes! Come on.” John hurried out of his room and down the stairs and Dave followed much more slowly.

        “Christ, why the hell did you think I would like this pile of garbage?” Dave asked about half way through. “I think the stench coming off it is going to make me toss all these cookies I’ve been eating.”

        “Shhhh!” John said, smacking him on the arm without looking at him. “This really great part is coming up!”

        Suddenly the picture on the TV stopped moving. John looked over and saw Dave had the remote.

        “Dude!”

        “Can I just get like, a recap here? I don’t think I even understand what happened. First they were in a casino in Vegas, but now they’re in a rainforest in the amazon or some shit? Like, I think I missed a transition somewhere.”

        “You must not have been paying enough attention. Give me the remote, I’ll rewind it.”

        “No,” Dave held the controller out of reach. “We aren’t re-watching any of this inane horse shit. Just explain.”

        “It would be obvious if you were listening! Now un-pause the movie.”

        “How much longer do I have to sit through this?”

        “There’s probably about forty-five minutes left. Maybe a little more”

        “Oh hell no.” Dave got off the couch.

        “What are you doing?”

        “I refuse to waste anymore of my time with this sad excuse of cinematography.”

        “Oh, come on, don’t be a baby.” John got off the couch too. “Give me back the remote.”

        “Nope.”

        “What?” John started walking toward him, and Dave started backing away. “Are you kidding me?”

        “I’m not kidding, and I’m not giving it back.”

        John started chasing Dave around the living room. It was annoying, but at the same time it was so ridiculous, they were both laughing madly.

        “You’re so dumb!” John accused him.

        “Am not.”

“Are too!” They both felt like little kids. It was great.

        Eventually John caught him, but he sort of accomplished this by accident.

Dave was starting to slow; he was either getting tired, or just trying to bait John into thinking he was. Whatever the case was, it was overconfidence that got him in the end. Dave stopped running for a moment to face John and taunt him again, not realizing how close he was.

        John didn’t even mean to knock him down. He just tripped, honestly, at just the wrong moment. The two of them went crashing to the floor together with little cries of panic and surprise.

        John was left lying on top of Dave, and everything was very still and very quiet. Their easy smiles were replaced with wide-eyed expressions. John was still not entirely sure how he had gotten there, but he thought it might be his fault.

        “Sorry,” he said breathlessly from all the running and maybe a little from the closeness of their faces. Dumbly, he took the opportunity to appreciate the different colors that made up Dave’s eyes—and for the first time, he saw that Dave had freckles. They were very light, just a dusting across his nose.

John saw Dave starting to move hesitantly toward him, watching him carefully, and John thought he was just trying to get up. But then their lips connected, softly. And without thinking about it at all, they were kissing.

        It was a little weird at first, just because of how surreal the moment was. But it was also warm and sweet. And it was nice. The smiles were back again.

        It felt like a long time to John that they were lying there, just kissing on the floor, when a thought snuck up on him and gave him a very guilty feeling.

        John pulled away and finally rolled off of Dave.

        “I’m sorry,” John said quickly.

        “What for?” Dave sounded fairly dazed as he sat up.

        “For stopping. I just . . . had to stop.”

        “Oh. No, no, that’s cool. Uh. Why did you stop, though?”

        There was no way he was going to say it had anything to do with Jake. Because that’s who it had almost everything to do with.

        “I don’t know, I think I started to panic or something. First kiss and all.”

        “Oh, okay. I mean, as long as it wasn’t because I was doing something wrong. Not that I haven’t had my share of prior experience, but it’s been a while.”

        “No, no, it was . . . haha.” Now John’s face was really heating up. “It was . . . good. But yeah, I guess I just freaked out, so, sorry.”

        “No, it’s fine. It’s great. Totally cool.” Funnily enough, Dave sounded as freaked as John was, even if he was trying to hide it. It was extremely helpful for John, to know he wasn’t the only one affected.

        “Um. So what now?” Dave asked.

        “Uh. I don’t know. But do you think I could maybe, get some time to . . . process this? My dad will be home soon anyway. I should probably tidy up a little before he gets here.” The living room got a little messy after all of their running around.

        “Oh. Okay, sure.” He got up.

        “I’m sorry.” John felt bad for kicking him out after what just happened. But not enough to change his mind.

        “Nah, it’s okay, I get it. Uh, do you want any help cleaning first?”

        “Um. Yeah, thanks.” It wouldn’t take long. And after about ten minutes, John was alone to think.

        The first thing he did was did a little celebratory hop. Holy shit, his first kiss, and it was actually not weird or awkward or even that scary. But at the same time, that awful guilty feeling came back.

        The kiss with Dave was very nice. But now he felt bad that it wasn’t Jake. Of course, John would feel equally as guilty if it had been Jake instead of Dave.

        John flopped onto the couch. This sucked. What was he going to tell Jake? How was he supposed to? What was he supposed to do, call Jake up and say, “Hey Jake, guess who I made out with on the floor of my living room’?”

        No, screw that, John didn’t have to tell him anything. It’s not like he was cheating on him or something. This was between him and Dave, and it wasn’t even Jake’s business.

        But one thing John could do was try to even things out again.

        “Here we are, Jake announced at the end of the long drive. “The county fair! Are you ready for a humdinger of an afternoon?”

        “I’m sure it’s going to be one of the best days ever.” John said smiling.

        “That’s the spirit!”

        It was the end of august now, and summer was coming to a close. According to Jake, the fair was the last big event before school started in a little more than a week. Dave, however, was much less interested, and said he wasn’t going when John mentioned it. And John was perfectly okay with this. He wanted to spend the day with Jake, just the two of them. And, you know, the other two-hundred people in attendance.

        John hadn’t been to a fair like this since he a little kid. It wasn’t quite as smelly as he remembered these types of things being, despite all of the farm animals present. Actually the petting zoo wasn’t that bad. The animals weren’t really that gross either. John and Jake both got some pets in while they feed a lot of the bigger animals pellets out of a cup. The baby chicks and ducks were cuter, but they were caged off so they couldn’t be handled.

        The really great part was the bunny pen, where a fenced off area about twenty square feet big held a bunch of free-roaming bunnies that ran around the tiny meadow. There were warning signs that they would bite, but John didn’t have a problem when he pet the ones he lured in with bunny food he got outside pen gates. Jake, however, had less luck, and was bitten by the one bunny that got close enough for him to try to touch.

        “Ouch!” He rubbed his injured finger, looking very annoyed. “How come they like you so much and not me?” He asked John.

        “Maybe they know that you did to one of their rodent brethren.” John suggested. “Run, little guys—he’s a killer!”

        “I was just a kid, I hardly knew any better!”

        “I know,” John laughed. “Relax. It’s just so easy to tease you.”

        Jake made a face at him.

        After that, they hit the rides. John was thankful he was tall enough to be let on all of them, but was not happy on the few occasions when Jake had to help him into his seat because it was too high for him to climb up by himself.

        “Sorry,” John apologized the first time it happened. Everyone had to wait while Jake got back out of his own seat to give him a boost.

        “Oh, that’s alright, John—I don’t mind at all,” Jake told him honestly, smiling brightly at him with that big dumb grin of his.

        They slowly worked their way through all the rides. The one roller-coaster, the tilt-a-whirl, the bumper cars, the thing that swung them up in the air, and the one that spun them like a top upside-down. And this time, they agreed to not eat before they got there. Nobody wanted a repeat of what happened on John’s birthday.

        But eventually, they were starving. So after powering through a full second lap of the rides, they went to the concession stands for dinner, which consisted completely of fried food.

        “Wouldn’t your grandma kill you if she saw you eating all of this junk?” John asked. Jade was always pretty strict about she and Jake eating healthy.

        “Probably, but she isn’t here, is she?” Jake winked and continued happily eating his funnel cake. “Besides, the fair only happens once a year. I think that’s plenty excuse enough.”

        “You make a good point . . . hey, Jake?”

        “Yes?”

        “You have powdered sugar on your face.”

        “I do? Where?” He started wiping at his cheek, but he was completely missing.

        “Here.” John tore open one of the wet-naps someone had left on the table and started cleaning Jake’s face for him. Jake scrunched up his face the whole time and John laughed at him.

        Since rides were out of the question now, and they weren’t going home yet, they started playing at the game booths to see if they could win some prizes. Jake tried to win a goldfish at one of the booths, but failed. It was probably for the best. Where would theyeven  keep the goldfish until they went home?

        They didn’t have much luck at the booth where you were supposed to knock a stack of bottles over either. But at the ring-toss booth, John did win a little bobble-head dog . . . thing.

        “Thanks.” He said somewhat unenthusiastically to the person running to stand. When they were walking away, Jake asked,

        “If you don’t want that, do you think maybe I could take it off your hands?”

        “Sure—it’s all yours.” John handed it to him.

        “Sweet!”

        John looked at him.

        “What? I think it’s kind of neat.”

        John laughed. “Okay. I’m glad you like it.”

        “And I’ll return the favor, too! Go on, John. You just pick out anything you want, any prize at all, and I’ll get it for you.”

        John smiled. He was half tempted to make this very difficult. But with Jake’s determination, he would probably spend the whole night and everything in his wallet getting John some dumb little toy that he didn’t even really need. So John went easy on him. Extremely easy.

        “Okay. I want . . . that.” He pointed out the biggest prize—a giant plush bunny—hanging at the very last booth in the row, which was called “Shooting Star.”

        Jake’s eyes lit up. “Piece of cake! The biggest piece of cake I’ve ever laid eyes on!” He grabbed John’s hand and started running to the booth.

        The object of the game was to use a BB gun to shoot piece of paper with a red star on it, removing as of it as possible with just a hundred shots.

        “I’ve never seen this booth before,” Jake said. “It must be new this year—or I would have taken a go at it before!” They stepped up to the booth just as someone was leaving. Jake quickly took his place.

        “How do I win the bunny?” Jake asked, using his thumb to indicate which prize he meant.

        “Simple, kiddo—just get rid of the star.”

        “Like I told you,” He said to John while laying down the money to play. “This should be a cinch.”

        “Good luck,” John said.

        Jake picked up the gun—he took a shot to test the aim, and then slowly erased his little star, bit by bit. But when he only had one point left, he ran out of BBs.

        “Sorry—no bunny for you.” The booth guy said. “But here’s something for your troubles.” He handed Jake a little plush frog.

        Jake took a long, calculated look at his star. Then, he pulled out some more money and laid it down.

        “Once more, please.”

        “You don’t have to, Jake. Frogs are nice, too.”

        “John, I promised you I’d get you whatever prize you wanted, and you picked that bunny. I’m getting you that bunny.”

        The booth guy happily took his money and reloaded Jake’s gun while they spoke. He handed it back to Jake, who barely waited for him to clear the area before he started shooting again. But this time, he was barely hitting the star.

        “Uh, Jake? You’re kind of missing.”

        “Yes, I am.”

        But it quickly became clear what he was doing—Jake was shooting an outline around the star, cutting it out of the paper completely. And after several minutes, the little untouched star fluttered free.

        “Well, congratulations, bud. I don’t get to hand these out very often.” The booth guy unhooked one of the giant bunnies and handed it down to Jake, who passed it right to John.

        “Do you need help with that?” Jake asked. The bunny was almost as big as John.

        “I can handle it,” John told him. He had to carry it over his shoulder. “Thank you, Jake.” John leaned into him to give him an affectionate arm-to-arm bump, since his hands were full. “You did great back there, by the way.”

        “Oh, it’s not a big deal.” Jake said modestly.

        “Sure it is. You heard the guy, not a lot of people can win at that game, but you did!”

        “Well, I guess my sharp-shooting skills did come in handy back there. So you like it then? Your prize?”

        “I love it.” The giant bunny was supper soft and fluffy.

        “Well, it looks like it’s getting dark. We should go find a spot. If there are any left, that is. I guess we should have reserved a place for us when we got here, huh?”

        “We’ll find something.”

        They went back to the jeep first to get the blanket out of the back and drop off the bunny and the frog, which Jake said he was taking back for his grandma, before returning to the open field. Most people were sitting on blankets of their own, waiting for the fireworks to start.

        “Everything in the middle will probably be filled up already,” John pointed out. “Do you just want to set up at the back? The view will be better back here anyway.”

        “Sure, that sounds fine to me. It looks like we don’t have much time to look anywhere else anyway.”

        So they got the blanket spread out under a tree near the back of the crowd and Jake sat down on it while John casually looked around and made sure they wouldn’t be in anyone’s view. When he was satisfied, he sat down on the blanket too, right next to Jake. Their knees were almost touching, but not quite. They watched the skyline in front of them expectantly.

        While they waited, John kept glancing at Jake out of the corner out of his eye. After the first few times, Jake noticed and glanced back, causing John to quickly look away again shyly.

        “Is something wrong?”

        “Nope. Nothing at all.”

        John was nervous. But he had to stay calm. If he didn’t, he would just ruin his chance and make everything weird and embarrass himself. Just relax and don’t force it, He told himself. If it’s the right moment, you’ll know.

        And here was one right moment. John moved his hand over Jake’s, who seemed surprised by it.

        “Oh. Ah . . .” Jake was sounding nervous, too.

        John laughed at him, again. “It’s funny, that you get all bashful about this now—” he lifted their entwined hands up to show what he meant. “After all those times you held my hand before when we didn’t even like each other like this.”

        “Well, that was different!” Jake protested. “I never gave it a second thought then; it was nothing.”

        “Yeah. Nothing . . .”

        “Hmm? Oh. Oh!” Jake realized what he’d said a few beats too late. “Aw, jeez, I’m sorry, John. I should really learn to think before I speak.”

        John shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I’m the one being dumb, don’t worry about it.” He scooted over a bit and leaned against him, but he wasn’t quite tall enough to rest his head on Jake’s shoulder. Still, it had an effect; He felt Jake get really still before slowly relaxing.

        Finally the fireworks started. The whole crowd got quiet as the first little spark shot up and exploded in the sky, with more following soon after.

        After about a minute, John felt Jake’s head rest against his own. They were so close now—it must have been the fireworks and their strangely romantic effects. The best part was that John was completely calm again. How long that would last, only time would tell.

        “This is nice,” John said.

        “Yes, it is,” Jake agreed.

        “I can only think of one thing that could make this better.”

        “Oh? What might that be?”

        John took a deep, quiet breath. This was the moment of truth—no backing down.

        “This.” John turned his toward Jake, who started moving back reflexively to give him room, but John closed the distance again before he could get away and kissed him.

        Jake was clearly startled, and for a terrible second, John thought he might pull away. But then, Jake was leaning in and kissing him back, the booming fireworks and the huge crowd in front of them almost completely forgotten.

        John was still getting used to the whole kissing thing, but he thought he was getting better to it. Kissing Jake was different than kissing Dave, but that was a good thing as far as John was concerned.

        But sooner than John would have liked, they were interrupted when a piece of branch fell out of the tree and hit Jake on the head.

        “Ow!” He yelped as he broke away from John.

        “Wow, are you okay?”

        “Yeah, I’m fine,” Jake said, rubbing the spot where he had been hit. “Sorry about that.”

        “Why are you apologizing for getting hit on the head?”

        “Oh. Well, when you put it like that, it does sound rather silly. I guess I’m just apologizing for my dumb luck causing our . . . that to end so suddenly.”

        “That’s okay,” John told him he was a little disappointed, but he could live with it. “It was nice while it lasted.”

        “Can I . . . not that I’m complaining, at all! But can I ask what brought that on?”

        “Maybe I just felt like kissing you.” John answered simply. They settled into the same cozy position not long after while they watched the rest of the fireworks, and John decided things were even again.

        When the show was over, John laid on the ground and claimed he was too tired to walk back to the car.

        “Is that so? You seemed to have plenty of energy, not ten minutes ago.” Jake accused.

        “You must have drained it all out of me then.”

        “What would you like to do about this predicament then?”

        “Carry meeee.”

        “Oh, is that your angle then? You think you can just kiss me and think that earns you a piggy-back ride?”

        “Yes.”

        “Well, how can I refuse such logic. Here, put the blanket around you and climb aboard.”

        John sat up and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and his arms around Jake’s neck. Jake stood up and carried him like that back to the jeep.

Chapter Text

John could hardly believe he was starting a second school year in Texas. If he had known this a year ago, he probably wouldn’t have been very enthusiastic. But after everything that had happened with Jake and Dave, he wouldn’t dream of leaving anytime soon. And with the bullies gone for good, he was actually grinning when he arrived at school in his new car. Actually, it was old and kind of clunky, but it ran fine so it worked for him. John was looking for his new locker when Dave appeared.

        “What are you smiling about?” He asked, falling in-step next to John. “I refuse to believe that even you are enough of a nerd to be happy about the first day of school.”

        “I’m just really glad to see you,” John teased.

        “Flattery will get you . . . well, a lot of places.”

        “Good to know.”

        “Is it?”

        Instead of answering, John changed the subject. “Where’s your locker?”

        “‘Dunno. Next to yours wouldn’t be bad.”

        According to their schedules, their lockers were right next to each other. Dave didn’t have a backpack, so he couldn’t have anything to put away yet. But that didn’t stop him from staying with John as he went to find them.

        “Didn’t you say you were staying off the basketball team this year?” John asked.

        “Yeah, I said that. Because I am. God, what a waste of time that was.”

        “Then why are you still wearing the jacket?”

        “Because I like it. And it cost me two-hundred bucks, so as much of a spoiled brat I am, I’m not ditching it that easily.”

        “They made you pay for it? I thought you got it for being a good player.”

        “Is that really what you thought? You seriously believed I was good enough to win some kind of athletic award?”

        John laughed as he recalled the handful of basketball games he attended the previous year.

        “Okay, I guess not. I’m surprised you’re actually acknowledging it, though.”

        “What can I say, it’s a new year. It’s time to call it quits and admit that I’m shit at sports. Not that I care. I’m better off taking pictures or writing raps anyway.”

        “You still haven’t given up the rapping thing, huh?”

        “Fuck off, my raps are sick and you know it.”

        “Well. I guess if we’re admitting things, I’ll say that I think they’re starting to grow on me. That or they’re just getting easier to tolerate after having to listen to them for almost a year.”

        “I am going to correctly assume it’s the former. And it’s about damn time I got some recognition.”

        John was looking around for their locker numbers when he saw another familiar blonde in the crowd.

        “Oh, hey, Rose!” He called, walking over to her.

        “Hi, John. It’s nice to see you again. Did you have a nice summer?”

        A few specific images flashed in his mind at the mention of ‘summer.’ Particularly events from the last couple weeks. He pushed them out quickly before answering.

        “Um, yeah! It was great! How about you?”

        “I had a nice vacation. We went back to New York for about a month. I wanted to stay longer, but my mother was eager to get back here for some reason. It seemed a bit strange to me, but it wasn’t as if I could do anything about it.”

        “Well I hope you had a good time while you were there. Wow, actually I feel pretty bad now that I think about it. I hardly spoke to you since school ended!”

        “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you were busy—isn’t that right?” She directed the question behind him. “Dave, wasn’t it?”

        John remembered Dave was standing behind him, and looked to see he was hovering a few feet away, watching them carefully.

        “Yeah.”

        “Anyway,” Rose said, turning back to John. “I’m sure you’ll tell me all about it when we get a chance. Right now, I should get going. Maybe I’ll see you two later?”

        “Yeah, maybe. See you around!” John waved a little as he watched her walk away.

        Dave also seemed to watch her go, but he didn’t say anything about the interaction.

        “Come on,” John said. He started walking again and Dave followed after a moment of hesitation.

        It wasn’t long before they found their lockers, right next to each other like they expected, Dave’s directly to the left of John’s.

        “This is great—now you have a reason to be standing by my locker all the time.” John teased.

        “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

        “Oh, no, of course not. What was I thinking? I must be mistaking you for the other freakishly tall guy who never takes off his sunglasses who parked himself by my locker all the time.”

        “Yeah, well . . .” Dave sounded like he was going to make a retort, but something behind John had caught his attention.

        “God dammit,” he said under his breath.

        John turned to look to see what it was just as he heard his name being called from the same direction.

        “John! Hey! Hi! I’ve been looking all over for you!” Jake was shouting to him from down the hall, and he was quickly headed their way. John glanced up at Dave. He was trying to hide it, but John could tell he was very annoyed.

        When he was at an acceptable distance for conversation, Jake said, “Surprise!”

        No kidding. “What are you doing here?” John asked.

        “I transferred!”

        “You what!”

        “Yeah! Isn’t this just great?”

        “Yeah, this is awesome! But . . . did you switch over just for me?” Stupid question—what else would make him want to switch?

        “You got it!”

        “Kinda needy move, don’t you think?” Dave commented.

        “Pardon?” His excited smile flipped instantly to an angry pout upon hearing Dave open his mouth.

        “I mean, just assuming he would even want you in yet another part of his daily life when you’re already in so many? Just seems a little invasive and presumptuous of you ask me.”

        “Well, I guess . . . I mean, I suppose I did just assume.” Jake was suddenly very anxious. He looked back to John, suddenly unsure of himself.

        “John, you don’t mind, right, me being here? I didn’t mean to . . . I just wanted to see you more often.”   

        “No, of course I don’t mind! I just kind of feel bad for making you switch.”

        “Oh, well! There’s no need to worry about that! You didn’t make me do anything. My old school was okay, but I know where I’d rather be.”

        “If you’re sure.”      

        “Never been surer in my life!”

        “Awesome! So where’s your locker?”

        “Well unless I’m mistaken, I believe it’s this one right here.”

        Jake tapped the locker to the right of John’s.

        “Oh, perfect.” Dave said. “What, did you ask to get your locker next to his?”

        “Huh? This is just the locker they gave me—I didn’t ask for anything.”

        “Cool.” John said. “I guess I’m going to be sandwiched between you guys all year. Great.”

        “I’m sure it won’t be that bad,” Jake said brightly, messing with his combination. He looked like he was having trouble with it.

        “So, let me know if you need help with anything.” John offered.

        “Oh, thanks for the offer.” He was still fumbling with his combination. “But I don’t think I’ll need it. I’m pretty good at navigating unfamiliar surroundings.”

        “Really?” Dave cut in. “Because I think I remember you getting lost for a whole two hours trying to find the bathrooms at that amusement park we all went to back in April.”

        But Jake didn’t seem to be listening. He was still trying to get his locker open.

        “Here, Jake, let me try.” John said.

        Jake sighed and reluctantly handed over the slip of paper with his combination.

        “You know,” Dave said. “If you’re having that much trouble with it, maybe you should get a new locker. Maybe one on the other side of the building?”

        “Be nice,” John warned, carefully twisting in the combination.

        “That’s alright, John. I take it that he’s just jealous.”

        Dave laughed. “Jealous? Of what?”

        “Well, let’s just say I think that one of us—hint: it’s me—is currently ahead of the other. Not that this is a competition,” he tacked on for John’s sake. John would have responded but he was suddenly worried where this conversation was headed.

        “Oh yeah? What makes you say that?”

        “Hey, Jake!” John said suddenly. “How about we leave your locker for later? Let me show you to your first class!”

        “Oh, you don’t need to do that—”

        “I want to! Just in case! I mean, just for your first day. Come on, let’s go, before you’re late.” He grabbed Jake’s wrist and started tugging him away.

        “Okay, okay, if you insist!”

        John felt a little more relief with every bit of distance he put between Jake and Dave. But how long would that last?

        John was almost late for his own homeroom class after getting Jake into his. He got there just as the warning bell was ringing. He scanned the room for a good seat, and found one in the second row, next to a friendly face.

        “Hey, Rose,” he said, sitting down next to her. “I’m glad I got someone else in this class I know, even if it’s only ten minutes long.”

        “Hi again, John. I’m happy to see you here, too.”

        The second bell rang and the teacher read the morning announcements, and then let everyone talk for the rest of the time there.

        “Since you’re here, John, I have what might be an odd question for you.”

        “What is it?”

        “Was it just my imagination, or did I see your friend Jake in the hallway earlier?”

        “Oh. Well, he goes here now so. That was probably him, yeah.”   

        “I see. You must be pretty happy about that.”

        John smiled, but he was still worried.

        “Yeah, it will be great having him around more.” He decided to change the subject. “So, did anything interesting happen to you over the summer?”

        “Not particularly. I tried to talk to some of my old acquaintances, but they had their own plans. So I just went to the beach a few times and read a lot. What about you?”

        Well, he walked head-first into that one. “Oh, uh. Yeah, I guess a few . . . interesting things happened.”

        “Well, I’d love to hear about it.”

        John hesitated a moment before quietly launching into what happened in the last month. As much trouble as it might end up putting him in, he was really happy about it.

        “Okay, well, a couple weeks ago, Dave came over my house and . . .”

        He recounted the story for her, and watched her eyes widen getting to the part about the kiss that happened with Dave.

        “But then after a minute I stopped.” John explained. “I remembered Jake and I felt bad. I didn’t say that to Dave, but after he left, I got this idea that I needed to make it up to Jake. So, this last weekend . . .”

        Class was about to end by the time John finished, right up to that morning when he had to drag Jake away to keep them from finding out. He waited for Rose’s reaction.

        “Well. You certainly did have an eventful summer.”

        “Heh, yeah, I guess. Other than that I just hung out with them both. But now I don’t really know what to do about this.”

        “They’re going to find out. Whether it’s you who tells them or not.”

        “You’re right. I just . . . didn’t want them to feel bad. But I guess it was kind of dumb to think I could keep them from finding out.”

        “Maybe a little, yes.”

        John laughed weakly. “Thanks.”

        “It’s what I’m here for.”

        The bell rang then and they were allowed to go. John and Rose said goodbye to each other again, both hoping it wouldn’t be the last time they would see each other that day. Once again, John was really glad he had a friend like Rose.

        The three of them had the same lunch period, and of course they all sat together. Together meaning Jake and Dave on opposite sides of the table with John in between. Nothing new for them. Dave was asked more than once by other people to sit with them, but he declined.

        “What,” Jake asked. “You wouldn’t rather eat with your other friends?”

        “Nope. I’m cool right here.”

        “Of course you are.”

        “Play nice,” John told them.

        “What about you, English? You haven’t made any new friends yet? Or are you just trying to keep the only one you have to yourself?”

        “What did I just say?” John asked.

        “He’s not bothering me, John.” Jake assured him. “Am I bothering you, Strider?”

        “Nope.”

        “See, everything is just peachy.”

        “Uh huh.”

        “If he wants to make a few petty remarks,” Jake continued. “I’m just going to be the bigger person and not let it get to me.”

        “Yeah, good luck with that.” Dave said. “You’re one of the easiest to get to people I know.”

        Only proving Dave’s point, Jake squinted at him for a moment, before he deliberately cleared his expression again.

        “Like I was saying earlier, he’s just jealous.”

        Oh no. Obviously John hadn’t told either of them—it had only been hours and he was waiting until at least after school. The noisy lunch room was hardly the right place for this.

        “Hey, guys!” John said, “I almost forgot to tell you! The funniest thing happened in my last class!” But they weren’t distracted.

        “Hang on a sec’, John.” Dave said, focusing again on Jake. “Yeah, what was that about again?” Dave asked.

        “Seriously, it’s hilarious,” John tried again. But no dice.

        “Well, it really wouldn’t be very courteous of me to go around kissing and telling—oh, wait, I think I just did. Well, that’s that then.”

        Shit.

        “You kissed him.” Dave said. It wasn’t a question.

        Shit.

        “To be honest, he kissed me. But those are just details, you know? And since you haven’t kissed him at all, I think that qualifies as something you would be jealous of, don’t you?”

        “So he didn’t tell you.”

        Jake’s smugness visibly faltered. “Tell me what?”

        John stayed quiet now.

        Jake looked over at him with a very confused expression.

        “Tell me what?” He repeated to John.

        “I was going to tell you.”

        “Well out with it already; what’s the big secret everyone knows but me?”

        “Well . . .” John began. Oh god, how was he supposed to explain this. Certainly not while looking at him in the eye. He looked at the initials on Jake’s letterman jacket, which John had given back after Valentine’s Day, instead while he spoke.

        “A week or two ago . . . me and Dave kind of . . .”

        But he didn’t have to say anything else. Jake understood.

        “You . . . you’ve kissed him, too?”

        John winced. “Well, I mean. He kind of kissed me . . .” As if that made a difference. “But yeah.”

        “I. . . I see . . .”

        After a second, Dave got up from the table.

        “You two look like you’re having a moment here, so I think I’m going to . . . go. I’ll be over there,” He pointed to the main doors of the cafeteria. “Wave me back over when you’re sure English isn’t going to cry or something.”

        Jake threw Dave a glare when he walked away, but it was quick. Maybe he realized Dave didn’t mean anything by the comment. This time. John watched him go, wondering if he should be worried. But he doubted it, so he refocused on Jake.

        “I can explain.”

        “You don’t have to. It’s none of my businesses after all.” Jake wasn’t looking at John; he was poking at the food on his tray.

        “I guess. But I just didn’t want to tell you because . . . I thought it might make you sad. Or maybe mad.”

Jake shook his head and quietly said, “I could never be angry with you.” Then he spoke to John more directly again. “I can’t say I’m thrilled about the news, but it’s not like there’s anything I can do about it.”

        “I don’t want you to think . . .”

        “What?”

        “That I did it just to be even. It wasn’t like, a pity kiss; I didn’t just do it because I felt bad about the  . . . one with Dave.” Not really, at least. That wasn’t all it was. “I kissed you because I wanted to, okay?”

        “Okay. I believe you.” Jake sounded a little better, but still bummed.

        If it makes you feel better, I kind of love you, John thought to him, just a little desperately. It seemed like saying it out loud might fix everything. But even he knew it would just cause more problems. He felt the same way of Dave, pretty much. But it wasn’t going to help matters at all to say it to either of them.

        “You aren’t mad at me, though?” John said instead.

        “Not even a little bit.”

        “I’m still sorry.”

        “I know. But I’ll be alright, though.” Jake smiled, and it seemed genuine. “Especially since I’m still betting on getting a second helping at some point.”

        John laughed. “Okay. Maybe you will.”

        A second later, John waved Dave back over, and the rest of the day was pretty un-noteworthy. And things were as peaceful as they ever were between the three of them. But how long it could last was yet to be known.

Chapter Text

At last, well into September, John finished the project he had been working on for weeks and was ready to present it. But it wasn’t a project for a class; it was for his two best friends.

        He wanted to show them first thing in the morning, but he was late and had to go straight to his first class. And after that he forgot for a couple periods. He was at his locker, right before their chemistry class when he remembered. Jake was putting things away and taking things out, but Dave was just leaning against his, probably waiting for John to get there.

        “Hey guys,” John greeted them as he went for his own locker.

        “Hey.” Dave greeted him with a small upwards nod.

        “Good morning again, John,” Jake said, turning around to look at him. “Ready for that chemistry test?”

        “I think so.” He was kind of nervous. Rose was the only reason he had managed to pass Chemistry 1, and she was in a different class this term. But he had been doing okay so far without her.

        John was rummaging around in his locker when his hand connected with something hard and flat in his backpack and the light went on in his head.

        “Oh! Guys, I forgot—I have something for you both!”

        “You do?” Jake asked. Dave only looked vaguely interested, pushing off the rows of lockers and asking, “What’s the occasion?”

        “There isn’t one. I just wanted to do something nice for you guys. Plus it was an excuse to challenge myself to compose something I might not have thought of on my own.” He pulled out the two CD cases—Dave’s red and Jake’s Green so he wouldn’t mix them up—but hesitated for a moment before he gave them out; he was suddenly self-conscious.

        “Okay, so this might be kind of dumb—”

        “Just hand it over, Egbert.” Dave interrupted, holding his hand out. “What is it anyway?”

        “Songs.” John handed them their CDs and they both took them curiously. “Since I’ve been trying to write songs for a while now, so I kind of wrote a song, for each of you. You can listen to them and tell me what you think later.”

        They weren’t responding to what he was saying. They just stared blankly at their CD cases.

        “. . . So you like them, right?” John worried. His tone must have brought them back out of their thoughts.

        “Yes, of course!” Jake assured him. “This is really nice of you, John. I can’t wait to listen to it later. I’m sure it’s fantastic.”

        “Yeah, this is really cool.” Dave added. “Kinda sappy, but, hey.”

        “You better like it,” John warned him.

        “No promises. I’m a tough critic, if you weren’t aware. Don’t think our friendship will get in the way of me making an unbiased review.” While he was talking, he put the CD in his locker so he wouldn’t lose it or break it or something. Jake did the same.

        John looked back and forth between them again, still confused by their delayed reactions. But it wasn’t a big deal. They were probably just surprised.

        He didn’t have time to ask them about it further anyway—the warning bell rang just then. John didn’t think he would need anything for his first class but a pencil, so he grabbed one out of his bag and ran with his friends to class.

John sat at his usual table, listening to the teacher explain the test.

        “You can use your books, but I can’t promise you they’ll provide much more insight than the instructions on the test.” John was cursing himself internally for not grabbing his anyway.

“Now, when I say so, I want you to all get in groups of threes. But don’t think that means you’ll be able to slack off. I’ll be watching, and your entire group will need to put in an equal amount of effort if you want to do well.”

        John looked over at Jake and Dave, who were sitting across the room and looking at him too.

        Okay, so maybe this test wouldn’t be so bad.

        The test was going terribly.

        The lab they were supposed to do was fairly simple. And Jake had even remembered bring his textbook. But sadly, like the teacher said, it wasn’t too much help. The three of them weren’t chemistry stars, but they had a reasonably good idea of what they were doing. They thought they would be fine.

        It started innocently enough—just testing a rack of test tubes for their protein content. They had to drop some stuff from a little blue vial into each of the tubes, and then heat them with a Bunsen burner. Jake was put in charge of that, while John measured out some other chemicals for the next part with Dave helping him. After a few minutes, Jake started trying to get their attention.

        “Uhm, is it supposed to be bubbling like that?”

        John looked over and saw that the liquid in the test tubes were indeed bubbling up at a worrying pace.

        “No,” John said, concerned. “How high do you have the temperature set to?”

        “It’s just on low—”

        A couple of the tubes were about to bubble over.

        “Well take it off, or it’s going to get everywhere!”

        It was close, but they managed to get it stopped before it ruined their worksheets and everything else on the table. It turned out Jake had gotten the reagents mixed up and used the wrong one—the one he used wasn’t supposed to be used with heat.

        “I’m really sorry,” he apologized while putting the tubes back on the rack.

        “It’s okay,” John told him. “Just so get some new ones.”

        But it didn’t stop there. Twenty minutes and three steps later, something Dave had poured into a beaker he was holding had made it start foaming.

        “What happened?” John asked, alarmed.

        “I don’t know, I just threw in the stuff you told me to! Shit, okay, it’s fine, I got this,” he tried to insist.

        “How much of it?!”

        “Uh. All of it?”

        “You were only supposed to put about a fourth in!”

        “Fuck.”

        Nothing was stopping the foam from rising, over the top and then all over his hand and the table below. “Fuck, shit, shit, okay I don’t got this, shit.”

        “Uh, I seem to have made the same mistake,” Jake said, holding up his own overflowing beaker.

        “Both of you put those down!” John ordered and they did so.

        And to top it all off, while they were trying to get that cleaned up, one of the larger test tubes next to Jake suddenly burst in the flames.

        “Is—is that meant to happen?” Jake asked weakly.

        “No?” was all John could say.

        “Shit.”

        “What did you even do?!”

        “I don’t know!” Jake, throwing up his hands in defeat.

        This was about the time the teacher showed up with a fire extinguisher. And he was not happy with them at all. They would all have to come back after school to try again.

        “I’m giving you one more chance, this one time only. You’re welcome. And I expect you three not to make such a mess of things next time.”

        They all looked at each other quietly, and then noticed for the first time that many of the other tables were looking at them, many of them quietly laughing.

        The three of them started cleaning up the rest of the mess on their table. And after a minute, they were laughing at themselves too.

        “That was so stupid,” John said.

        “The most ridiculous thing I think that’s ever happened in my educational career,” Jake added.

        “I really doubt that’s true,” Dave told him.

        “Why?”

        “Well I mean, it’s you.”

        “Oh, shut up.” Jake shot back, throwing a paper towel at him.

        John didn’t try to break them up this time. He just laughed again while he did his part to clean up.

        John never got dressed up. Usually, he didn’t have a reason to. But the homecoming dance was reason enough. His dad seemed ecstatic that he was finally acting like a normal teenager and going to social functions to care that John already had an old, unworn suit in his closet that fit him—he insisted on letting John get a brand new suit for the occasion.

        He took his time getting dressed. He was kind of nervous about the going-to-a-school-dance thing. He never had anyone to dance with, so he never went to any. Not that he really thought he would get to dance with the people he wanted to at this one.

        When he was finished, John went into the bathroom take a look at himself. The teal was a little conspicuous, but he didn’t really care. He thought he looked kind of nice.

        Once again, John made a feeble attempt to get his hair to stop sticking up in every direction, but it wasn’t happening. So he gave up, took one last look at himself, and went downstairs.

        As soon as he hit the first floor, his dad appeared out of nowhere with a camera.

        “Aw, dad, come on, do you really have to—?”

        But his dad wasn’t having it and told John to smile so he could take a nice picture.

       “Who knows when I’ll get to see you in a suit again?”

       John sighed and did as he was told. After a few shots he broke his pose.

        “Okay, Dad, that’s enough. I should get going, before all the punch is gone.”

        His dad reluctantly put away the camera. “So you really don’t have a date?” He asked for the third time now.

        “No, Dad, I really don’t.”

        “No one asked you?” His dad continued asking.  John smirked.

        “No, I got a couple invitations. You probably know who they were from.”

        His dad smiled and nodded. He had known about the whole situation for a while now and seem to be somewhat amused by it all.

        “I mean. I guess I could have said yes to one of them. Like, whoever asked me first?” Everyone could agree that would be fair. “But . . . I couldn’t do that. It’s better this way anyhow. I’ll have more people to dance with.”

        Finally his dad let him go. He told John not to stay out too late, and John promised he wouldn’t. And off he went in his somewhat junky car.

        The dance had started almost an hour before John got there, which was how he planned it. He wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the evening, but he was pretty sure arriving early would mean standing around and making small talk with the dance committee and waiting for everyone else to show up.

        On the other hand, walking into the cafeteria after it was full of stupid high school kids and loud music was kind of overwhelming and a little surreal. The lights were low, everything smelled like perfume and cologne. Someone had unearthed a mirror ball, which . . . was actually kind of cool. Everyone seemed to be having fun. Maybe too much fun, like most people were hyping up how thrilling this evening was for them. But that was better than the place being dead.

        John scanned the crowd, and recognized pretty much all the faces, but none of them were who he was looking for. Not knowing what to do with himself, started to make his way over to the snack table to get a drink. But on his way, someone tapped him in the shoulder.

        “John, there you are!” Jake shouted over the music. “I’ve been looking all over for you!”

        ”Sorry!” John shouted back. “I just got here! Did I miss anything?”

        “No—nothing out of the ordinary at least.” John had been joking when he asked anyway.

The song ended then. Jake continued speaking at normal volume. “Hey, do you want to go get something to drink?”

        “Sure.”

        So as another song started, this one a little slower, they went worked their way through the crowed. No one noticed Jake was leading John by the hand. Or maybe John was just too busy smiling to notice if they noticed.

        “So! What can I get for you?” Jake asked.

        “I can get it myself, Jake,” John reminded him.

        “Well sure you can, but I’m offering to get it for you! I don’t have a date to get punch for, so this is the closest I’m going to get.”

        “Sorry,” John said, remembering the day a week back when he had to turn him down. “No punch, though. I kind of want to stay away from the open cesspool.” They both glanced at it warily.

        “Hmm. You might have a point there. How about Lemonade then?”

        “Yeah, that’s’ fine.” Jake poured some into a paper cup and handed it to him.

        “Thanks.” He took a little sip of it and looked out on the dance floor. “So . . . have you danced with anyone yet?”

        “Na’ weally,” Jake slurred. John turned around and guessed Jake had just stuffed a couple cookies in his mouth. John giggled quietly while Jake deliberately chewed faster to clear his mouth before he tried to speak again.

        “Not really?” John asked.

        “Well I mean. I’ve been out there, you know. But just by myself, mostly.”

        John nodded. He took another sip of his drink.

        “You can dance with anyone you want, by the way.” John said. “I don’t mind, or . . . anything.”

        “Well . . . I don’t think you have to worry about that. I can only think of one person I want to dance with. Did I happen mention how nice you look by the way?” Jake asked. He was giving John the full-force of his smile, and it was starting to make him blush.

        “Uh, no. But thank you. You look nice, too.” Jake was dressed up as well of course, in a suit that was missing a jacket. But the vest, suspenders, and dark green bowtie still looked perfectly nice without it.

        “Why thank you. If you think I look good now, you should see me on the dance floor,” He added with a overdone wink.

        The song changed again only a moment later. It sounded like some kind of modern swing music. Whatever it was, Jake seemed to like it.

        “Oh, wow, I have to get back out there. Hey, do you want to come with me?”

        “Uh, maybe in a minute.”

        “Well try not to be long if you do!” And then Jake reentered the fray. John regretted the decision, and felt bad for ditching him. But he wasn’t in the mood to dance. Not yet anyway.

        John ended up being planted on a wall for longer than he would have liked. He was looking for a glimpse of Jake in the crowd from his spot on the edge of the room, and trying to get up some nerve to go find him, when someone else appeared next to him.

        “Hey.”

        John looked over. Dave, of course, leaning against the wall and not even looking at John. And—

        “Whoa. You look . . . a little overdressed.”

        He was wearing a tux that was completely white, apart from a red bowtie.

        “Nah. No such concept. What you’re seeing is just me being the best dressed person here by a longshot. No offence. You look pretty okay.”

        “Thanks,” John said. He was pretty sure Dave actually meant the sentiment; he was just trying to play it down.

        “Have you danced yet?” John asked.

        “Nope.”

        “Are you going to?”

        Dave turned his head toward him. “Are you asking me to?”

        “No,” John said quickly. The corner of Dave’s mouth lifted slightly before he turned his head away again.

        “I don’t really dance much.” Dave explained.

        “Are you that worried you’re going to look uncool?” John teased.

        “Everyone out there is just jumping around like idiots. I’m not feeling a very strong need to join in.”

        “Mm.”

        “I have some moves,” Dave insisted. “Just not the ones that would go over well. Too crowded.”

        “Sure you do.”

        “John, need I remind you of the last time you doubted my moves?”

        “Fair enough,” John laughed. “Show me some time, then?”

        “Sure, I mean, if you want. In the meantime, as much as I’d like to lean here all night, I’m sure you can agree it’s unfair of me to let you have me all to yourself.” Dave pushed off the wall and glanced back at him.

        “Try to have some fun, okay? It’s supposed to be a party. Even if it’s a really shitty one.”

        “Yeah, I’ll try.” John promised. He watched Dave walk off, probably to mingle with his popular friends.

        And John did try to have fun. He went around and talked to people. He even stood around on the dance floor for a while and tried not to look too stupid. But it was just a halfhearted attempt. After he had been there almost two hours, he went outside. If asked, he might have said it was to get some air, or to get some quiet for a few minutes. But the fact that a lot of slow songs were being played now was also a contributing factor.

        God bless Texas, it was comfortably cool outside. John sat on a wooden bench to breathe it in quietly. But the music must have been hooked up to the sound system all over school, because the music was playing outside, too.

        John was pretty disappointed with the night so far. Big social gatherings like this really just weren’t his thing., at least not when he hardly knew anyone there. Maybe he would be having a better time if he didn’t feel like he was spending the evening alone.

John sighed. He considered going home. Maybe he wouldn’t even tell them he was leaving. He hadn’t seen much of them all evening anyway.

        Then, John heard the door open. He looked around and somehow managed to be surprised that it was Jake.

        “Hey, I was wondering where you went.”

        “Sorry,” John said. Jake shook his head.

        “Are you feeling alright? You aren’t sick, are you?”

        “No, I’m okay. It’s just kind of loud in there.”

        Jake studied him quietly for a moment. “You never came to dance with me.”

        John almost winced. “Sorry. I wanted to finish my lemonade,” He explained, knowing how stupid it sounded.

        “Oh, right. I’m glad that was all. I thought you might have just been self-conscious.”

        Ugh. Yeah, John was caught. “Well, that might have something to do with it.”

        Jake laughed. “That’s such a silly worry people seem to have. There’s no reason to hold yourself back from having fun just because you think other people will give you funny looks.”

        “Yeah, well. I guess it’s kind of late for that now.”

        “Says who? Come on, we can dance right now!” Jake reached for John’s hands and tried to pull him up.

        “Aw, Jake, I don’t really think I want to go back in there—”

        “We don’t have to go in there. Right here is just fine with me.”

        John finally realized the music had changed back to something more upbeat.

        “I’m not going to laugh at you,” Jake continued. “And if you want to laugh at me, go ahead! I don’t mind.”

        And right there, Jake started dancing to the song. He wasn’t very great, but you could tell he was just trying to have fun.

        John laughed, taking a few steps toward him. “No one better see us out here,” He said.

        “If anyone does and they make the mistake of laughing at you, I’ll clock them one. Now come here.” He took John’s hands again and they danced like idiots together. It was easily the most fun John had had all night. He was giggling almost the whole time.

        After several minutes the song ended and they stopped to catch their breath.

        “See? You did great!” Jake congratulated him.

        “Yeah. Maybe next time I’ll even do it indoors.”

        “You’re on your way for sure!”

        The first notes of the next song began, and it was clear that this song was much slower, and sweeter. Jake suddenly seemed unsure of what to do.

        “Um. Well, do you want to wait for a different song or—”

        “Jake, just get over here.”

        Jake obediently stepped toward him, and John put his hands up on Jake’s shoulders, and Jake instinctually put his arms around John’s middle. And then they started to sway together.

        John had a very big smile stuck on his face. It really wasn’t until the three of them agreed they were going to homecoming that John started wondering what it would be like to dance with either of them. He knew such a thing wouldn’t be possible, not in front of everyone in that gym. But out here, he was getting one of the things he wanted.

For a long time, he grinned up at Jake, who smiled just as brightly back at him. Eventually John leaned in further, putting his arms around Jake’s neck and resting his head on his shoulder.

        “This is nice.” John whispered.

        “It is.” Jake agreed.

        Too soon, the song ended, but the two of them didn’t break apart, likely both not wanting it to end. They kept shuffling together in a circle while they waited for the next song. Until John was turned around, facing the school again just in time to see someone slipping out of the door.

        “Hi.” John said, loud enough for them to hear and for Jake to be alerted and stop shuffling.

        “Hey.” Dave said. He pushed his shades up onto his head. “Think maybe I could cut in, English?”

        John and Jake looked at each other. John was expecting for him to tell Dave to go away. But instead, Jake said, “Sure.” He released his hold on John, who gave him a quick smile of appreciation before stepping up to Dave.

        “Okay, stretch, let’s see those moves.”

        The height difference was a little more extreme this time, so alterations had to be made. John ended up standing on Dave’s feet and holding onto his hands.

        “This is so awkward,” John complained. “Why do you have to be so tall?”

        “Why do you have to be so short?” Dave shot back. But they managed it wasn’t that bad. And this time John got to let Dave do all the work while he just held on. And then they were swaying and shuffling in a circle, too.

        “So what are you doing out here anyway? Isn’t everyone in there panicking because they’ve lost their prized popular guy?”

        “They’ll manage. I’m not missing my chance at this.”

        “So much for not getting to keep you for myself,” John whispered.

        “Yeah,” Dave whispered back. After a moment, he glanced away and added quietly, “Too bad I can’t say the same for you.” It wasn’t hard to understand what he meant.

        A moment later, John was turned around where Jake was in view. He was standing several yards from them, turned away; John guessed he was trying to give them a private moment. Just before he was out of John’s range of sight, Jake glanced at them and caught John’s eye and smiled at him. But it wasn’t his real smile. It was sad. And he turned away again.

        And then. Right then. That was when it all crashed down on him.

        All this time, he thought he was being fair. That’s what he thought he was doing back in February. And at the time, it was the best thing to do. It would have been stupid to make a snap decision about who he wanted to be with, right then and there. He needed time to decide.

        But they had given him months, and he still hadn’t chosen. He was stalling. Without even realizing that he was doing it. He was selfishly trying to keep them both. But neither of them really had him, not while they had to share like this.

        This wasn’t fair to them anymore, not for a long time now. And they were just going along with it, never once even pressuring John to decide. They must have been very patient.

        And John made another realization, about how bad this was. He no idea, not even a clue about who he wanted more. At this point, how could he? All this time he had just been sitting back and falling in love with them equally.

John was panicking internally. He wanted to make the choice, then and there. But obviously that wasn’t going to  happen. This night was enough of a bust as it was. Why ruin the only highlights?

        So, he just kept dancing. Well, holding on while Dave danced for both of them, planning to dance with Jake again as soon as the song was over, and then Dave again, continuing for as long as he could. Because this might be his last night to dance with at least one of them and he wasn’t going to give that up easily.

He had to make his choice, soon. This couldn’t go on. He had to end this as soon as possible.

Chapter Text

Things weren’t really the same after homecoming. John didn’t say anything to either of them about what he realized that night, but it wasn’t hard to figure out something was wrong.

        “Nothing’s wrong,” He insisted, once again, about two weeks later after he turned them both down to hang out for the fourth time that week. He avoided looking at him by taking a little too long rummaging through his locker.

        “Then what gives?” Dave asked. “It’s one thing to ditch English—” He used his thumb to point over his shoulder at Jake. “—but me? You’ve been avoiding both of us all week.”

        Jake was standing a foot away at his own locker; he didn’t say anything. But John could see him peeking from behind the locker door while he waited for John’s response.

        “I’ve just been busy. And I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

        “Like what?” Dave pressed.

        “It’s rude to ask; leave him be,” Jake scolded him half-heartedly. John saw the look on his face before he went back to rummaging in his own locker. John almost wanted to say something to him, but he left it alone.    

        “It’s nothing.” John answered. “Just . . . stuff. And I can’t  hang out with either of you today because I’m doing something with Rose.”

        “Oh.” Dave said.

        John cracked a smile at his tone. He thought he detected something in it. “Is there something wrong with that?”

        “No. You just seem to be hanging out with her a lot lately.”

        John laughed. “I guess so. It’s a good thing you're not the jealous type or anything.”

        “Yep.”

        “She’s just a friend anyway,” John reminded him;  he glanced at Jake to convey the message to him too, just in case.

        “I know that. I need to . . . go. See you tomorrow.”

        Dave left John and Jake at their lockers. When he was gone, Jake glanced at John, and he saw the look again. Jake was worried. John had been seeing it for the past couple days, but Jake never said anything. John guessed he was trying not to fuss over him, knowing how much John hated when he went overboard with it.

        “We’ll hang out this weekend.” John promised him. “Speaking of which, don’t forget to pack real pants. I don’t think shorts and snow mix.”

        “Ha-ha, very funny. I didn’t forget. And I hope we do—hang out I mean. There will be too much fun to have to not have tons of it together!”

        “Yes, there will be. Lots of having fun together. I promise. And now, I have to go meet up with Rose. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

        John texted Rose and it turned out she was already outside, waiting by his car. A used bookstore had opened up across town and she had asked him if he wanted to go check it out with her.

        “Not that I mind driving or anything,” he said as he unlocked the doors, “but wouldn’t you rather go in your car? It’s a lot nicer than mine.”

        “Yours has more character,” she insisted as they got inside. “And I . . . just had mine washed. I’d like to give it a day or two before I take it out.”

        “Well, that’s fine. So how do I get to this place again?”

        They talked in the car on the way, and in the store while they looked around. Mostly Rose was doing the looking-around while John was doing the following-her and carrying-books-for-her-while-she-looked-around. He did end up getting a couple things for himself. But mostly he just talked.

        Their conversation, as it was having a tendency to do in the recent weeks, strayed back to John and his suitors.

        “I think they’re starting to get upset with me for not hanging out anymore.” He babbled on while Rose was scanning shelves. “I’m not even sure why I decided that I should stop hanging out with them. I guess I just wanted to kind of . . . put them on pause? I just have to get this figured out before I spend a lot more time with either of them. And I thought that I shouldn’t hang out with them both at the same time, because I don’t want them to have to share me anymore . . . wait, that sounds bad.

        “Ugh, it isn’t like I think I’m that desirable or anything, but, I mean, if they both want me, I’m pretty sure they want me to themselves, right? For the most part. I’m not going to stop being friends with the one I don’t pick, so the one I do better know that . . . Rose?”

        “Yes, John?”

        “Are you listening to me?”

        “Of course I am. More or less. There are a lot of interesting titles here . . .”

        “No, I’m sorry, I’m being boring.”

        “You aren’t boring me; I understand you’re having a problem, and I sympathize with you, just like I’m sure you would listen to any of my problems. That being said of course, I’ll be glad when this is over.”

        “Me too.” John sighed. “It’s just hard, you know? I love them both, and I don’t know which one I want to be with more.”

        “I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Rose soothed. “Just try not to rush it.”

        John knew he wouldn’t get an answer, but he decided to ask again anyway.

        “What do you think I should do?”

        “What you think is best.”

        “That’s not what I meant,” John complained.

        “I know, dear; but that’s all I can tell you.”

        John sighed. “I know. I just wish it was as simple as it sounded.”

        They continued shopping quietly for a minute. Then Rose spoke up this time.

        “Do they know that you’ve been thinking about this? As in actively, as opposed to putting it off until the answer falls in your lap?”

        “Do you think I should? Knowing them, I’m kind of worried they might start competing—try to go out of their way to impress me or something.”

        “Maybe let them know you’ve thought of that when you tell them.”

        “I thought you weren’t going to give me advice,” John teased.

        “Well, this isn’t relationship advice as much as it is people advice. Although when I put it like that, I guess there isn’t much of a difference.” She shook her head and started again. “It would probably be polite if you told them soon, is what I mean. Or would you rather drop the ball on them during lunch one day?”

        “Um. Yeah, I guess I see your point . . . I’ll tell them, tomorrow morning. Promise.”

        They kept shopping quietly for a few minutes before Rose spoke up again.

        “Alright, before the subject drops completely, I’ll admit I’m curious. How far do you think you are from a decision?”

        “To tell you the truth? I think it’s going to be soon. Maybe even by the end of this trip.”

        The trip was through the school; a weekend at a ski resort. It was only offered to the first fifty or so juniors and seniors to sign up, months in advance. Jake wanted to hop on board as soon as possible, and convinced John to do the same. And it wasn’t all too surprising that Dave signed up after hearing about their plans.

        They had to be at the airport by six on Friday morning to take a flight an hour later. John arrived right on time, and found that most of the other kids going on the trip were already there. He spotted Jake near the front of the crowd. He must have been waiting for him. Jake gave him a quick, excited hug, and backed off before John had time to return it. He started talking John’s ear off about all the activities he had read about on the lodge’s website. Dave didn’t arrive too much later than John.

        “I can’t believe I actually signed up for this stupid trip,” He complained as he approached them. “I better not get frostbite up in whatever frozen tundra we’re being abandoned in.”

        “It’s only Utah, and it’s a really high-end resort. And anyway, no one is making you go,” John reminded him. “Stay here all weekend if you want, I’m sure me and Jake will have plenty of fun without you.”

        “Nah, I already spent enough money on this dumb tip, and I woke up at like, five-thirty to get here, so there’s no point in backing out now.”

        “Good.” John had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. There was no way he was going to go without Dave there, too.

        One by one, the other student trickled in. Rose was one of the last people to arrive. John waved to her when she joined the crowd and she waved back before a girl she must have known started talking to her.

        About fifteen minutes before they were supposed to start boarding, John took Rose’s advice. She was right after all. They deserved to know what was going on.

        “Hey,” he said, approaching Jake and Dave. “I wanted to talk to you guys about something. Do you mind? It won’t take long.”

        They glanced at each other and followed John to a somewhat secluded alcove, away from the rest of their classmates.

        “It’s about the stuff that’s been going on with . . . me. And you guys.”

        “’Bout time.” Dave commented.

        “Hush,” Jake told him, before looking attentively to John again. “Go on.”

        “It’s not like, bad.” Or maybe it was. For one of them. “Okay well. Remember how, back in February, after I said I liked both of you but I didn’t want to pick right then because it would be fair? And I would think about it after a while and get back with you both? Well, I figure its been a while now and. I’m thinking about it. And it’s probably going to be pretty soon, too.”

They both looked surprised. But they didn’t say anything. John took their silence as an opportunity to keep talking.

        “I guess I should have let you guys know about this sooner, huh? I guess I was just worried that if I told you, you’d both get dumb and competitive or something.”

        There was a pause before Dave made a scoffing noise.

        “As if I would even need to try and up my game to beat out this chump,” He said, flicking his head in Jake’s direction. Jake only snorted in amusement, which probably said a lot about how cool they had become with each other after the past year.

        “And I’d like to think I wouldn’t need to do anything special to win you over.”

        “Good,” John said smiling. “Anyway, I just wanted you guys to know what’s been going on. But don’t worry about it, okay? I want this to be a fun trip without us worrying about what’s going to happen after we get home.”

        On cue, one of the teachers going on the trip came around looking for them—the plane was going to start boarding any minute.

        It was a two-hour flight from Houston to Utah. The seating arrangements had everyone mixed around, so John didn’t end up sitting by any of his friends, but it wasn’t a big deal. Curiously though, he could see Jake and Rose had ended up together a few rows ahead of him across the aisle, and he was pretty sure they were talking to each other most of the flight. John was going to ask one of them what they had been talking about, but by the time the whole group was back together on the ground, he’d forgotten about it.

        After that, it was about a forty-five minute drive to the Snowbird Lodge ski resort. On arrival, there was a long lecture about expected behavior while they were there, and a rundown of the rules. Once they were all checked in and got their room assignments, they were free to move about as they pleased, within the confines of all the rules, of course.

        John, Jake and Dave got their bags in the room that they were sharing with one other quiet guy they hadn’t spoken to before, and called dibs on which of  the queen-sized beds that they wanted for themselves. The moment they were settled, Jake wanted to get going.

        “No time to waste!” He declared. “We only have three days, after all. We should use that time wisely, starting off with the obvious, of course.”

        “Drinking hot chocolate and sitting by the fire?” Dave asked, his voice hopeful.

        “There’ll be plenty of time for that later! We need to hit the slopes!”

        “I’m not skiing.” Dave said firmly.

        “We don’t have to start with skiing,” John said. “I’d rather start with snowboarding anyway.” He dug around in his bag for his new prescription snow goggles. “Is that okay with you Jake?”

        “Fine, alright; let’s just go!”

        Once he had his goggles, John grabbed Dave’s hand to drag him out—he didn’t budge under John’s minimal strength, and only leaned slightly in John’s direction.

        “But I’ll look like a tool,” Dave whined.

        “Then we’ll look like tools together. Now move.”

        After a little more complaining, Dave surrendered and let himself be dragged away from the cozy hotel room and out to his first day in the snow.

Day One

        It went better than it could have. They didn’t get hurt, but they also fell down a lot. John found that he liked riding the lift a little more than fumbling down the bunny hill, but he kept trying. After a couple of hours, John and Jake were getting fairly decent at it, while Dave continued to struggle the entire time. But he stuck it out, and John was proud of him for that.

        After they were finished, and their rented boards were returned and the nearest lodge restaurant was being contemplated, John started a snowball fight. Dave was not happy when the first shot hit him in the back of the head, and knocked his shades right off.

Jake almost doubled-over laughing at him. This might have been the inspiration Dave needed to get in the spirit; he gathered up a lump of slush to hurl at Jake. And soon it was war. They ended up freezing, wet, and grinning like little kids as they went back to their room to change before trying to find somewhere to a late lunch/early dinner.

        After they were finished eating, Jake wanted to get back out and find more things to do, but Dave was done. This time John let him; Dave had enough excitement for one day. And Jake had no problem at all with leaving him behind.

        “Well, John, we have an entire afternoon left, and a whole kit and caboodle of things we could spend it doing! What do you want to do first?”

        “I have no idea,” John answered honestly. “I’m not even sure what there is to do. So why don’t you just pick what you want to do?”

        “Alright, um . . . Oh! I know what we could do; If you’re up to it.”

        “Well, what is it?”

        Snowmobiling—the resort offered a kind of tour of the valley riding around on them. It sounded like fun, so John agreed to go.

        They showed up with about ten minutes to spare, paid their fare and each got a helmet.

        “We’re allowed to ride together, on one vehicle, right?” Jake asked the guide who was leading the tour. He hadn’t asked John if he wanted to, but it wasn’t like he was against the idea.

        “I think he’ll have to ride with you, what with his height.” John’s mouth shrank into a line behind the tour guide’s back while she got one of the other employees working there to take out only one of the snowmobiles for them. Jake hopped on one and John climbed on behind him, trying not to look too eager when he put his arms around Jake’s waist.

        “We’re not moving yet, John,” Jake pointed out.

        “Yeah, I know.” John didn’t move his arms—he felt Jake laugh.

        Minutes later, there was a short lesson on how to work the snowmobiles, and then they got going. John thought it was really cool. The entire ride was very scenic. Beautiful views of the mountains and the forests wherever they went. It was too loud and everyone else was too close for them to try to talk at all, but that was okay.

        Eventually, they got to a clearing and everyone was given the go-ahead to ride around it or take the time to stretch their legs as they pleased. Jake slowed down, but didn’t stop. He took one hand off the handlebars to lift up his visor and glanced back at John as much as he could while still watching where he was going.

        “Getting tired yet, John?”

        John lifted up his own visor to answer him. “Nope!”

        “Aces. Hang on tight!” Jake put his visor back down and John did the same and re-secured his hold before Jake started to speed up. They went around, in circles mostly, doing jumps and swerving around pretend obstacles. Everyone could probably hear their muffled screaming from halfway across the clearing. It was a lot of fun, but after about half an hour, they had to get going again, so they left the meadow and went back to riding around the pretty snowy forests.

        The tour continued in this fashion, and everything only got prettier as the sun made its way to setting. After three hours had gone by, they were back at the activity center again and they had to give the snowmobile back.

        “Wow that was really fun!” John said as they were headed back to the hotel.

        “Yeah, it was great! I’m really glad we got to do that together. I think I’ve gotten my fill of that trail we took, but I’d really like to try snowmobiling some other time.”

        “Can I come too if you do?”

        “Are you joking? I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

        John laughed and, since no one was looking, took Jake’s hand. “Good. Now, are you as hungry as I am?”

Day Two

        The next morning, John woke up in the hotel room alone. He checked his phone for the time: half past ten. He groaned and got dressed quickly. He figured everyone else was already down at breakfast. It was only free until eleven, so he thought he should hurry.

        And he was right. Mostly—there were only a few of the other students left at the breakfast buffet. Jake was missing, but he saw Dave standing by what was left of the food, so he went over too.

        “Morning,” John said to him brightly, grabbing a plate.

        “Yeah,” Dave murmured. He was making up a plate of waffles with strawberries and whip cream.

        “You okay?”

        “Five stars by ass; beds here are shit.”

        “What? No way, the beds are awesome.”

        “Clearly I disagree with you.”

        “I think what you mean is, the beds here are great, but your bed at home, which is what you’re used to, is shit. Maybe you should try the couch tonight.”

        “We’ll see. We only have one more night. I’ll probably just deal.”

        Dave waited for John while he got his own breakfast and they sat down to eat together. They talked about nothing and what they did yesterday, and Dave got on a tangent that ranged from the snow outside to the quality of the hotel’s wifi, until John wasn’t even following anymore. He was just watching him talk and hearing his voice.

        Soon after they were finished eating, Rose appeared in the breakfast nook and approached them.

        “Good morning, boys.” She greeted.

        “Morning, Rose.”

        “Hey.”

        “Not a morning person?” she asked Dave.

        “Guess not.” He answered.

        “I’m sorry to hear that.” She turned her attention away from him.” John, I should tell you; You should probably call Jake—by the sound of it, he’s been eagerly waiting for you to get up.”

        “Oh. Then where is he?”

        “I’m not sure. When I saw him earlier, he was looking for something to do with himself while you were sleeping. But I would imagine, since it’s getting late, he’ll be running out of patience—”

        Aaaaand right on cue. Jake came jogging into the nook as well.

        “Oh, John, you’re up! Finally, I’ve been waiting all morning!”

        “Morning, Jake. How early did you get up anyway?”

        “About eight, I guess. Normal time.”

        “You normal wake up at eight on Saturdays?” Dave asked.

        “No, but we only have one whole day left, and there will hardly be any time to do much tomorrow! So don’t think you’ll catch me wasting any of my time sleeping!”

        “Sorry.” John said.

        “Oh, that’s alright, I don’t mind waiting. But now that you’re up, you should go get dressed so we can get going! We haven’t even gone skiing yet, and that’s just unacceptable. It’s a ski resort! So we have to go, it’s like our one obligation while were here!”

        “I’m not skiing.” Dave said again.

        “You don’t have to—We’ll have plenty of fun without you.” Jake assured him.

“Actually, I’m not sure I’m up for skiing either,” John said sheepishly.

        “What! But you have to!”

        “I’m really sorry, Jake; I’m just kind of tired after yesterday.”

        “So I have to go alone?” Jake pouted. John was about to say something, when Rose jumped in.

        “Actually, Jake, if you’re looking for company, I was thinking about doing some skiing today myself. I can’t say I’m the best, but I have some prior experience. I could show you the ropes, if you’d like.”

        “Oh! Well, I think I’d like that a lot. That’s really nice of you, Rose.” But Jake tried one more time,  turning to John.  “Are you sure you don’t want to come, too?”

        “Maybe later. You guys go have fun.” And Rose and Jake went to do just that.

        “I think the waitstaff is waiting for us to leave, too,” John said. Their plates had been clean for a while and they were starting to get dirty looks from a uniformed guy and girl standing a few yards away from them.

        “Oh,” Dave said, noticing them too. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” They got up and got rid of their dishes before heading back to the elevator to their room.

        “So, what are you gonna do if you ain’t hanging out with English again?” Dave asked while they sped upwards.        

        “I don’t know. Maybe just hang out in the room for a while?” John hoped Dave would take the bait, and smiled when he did.

        “Want some company while you do that?”

        “Sure.”

        They sat on John’s bed together; taking turns on Dave’s laptop (John didn’t have one of his own), playing games, emptying the mini-fridge and listening to music. They talked and made jokes and might have done a very small amount of cuddling before someone who will remain nameless ruined it by having to get up and go to the bathroom. It was a very, very chilled out afternoon. John enjoyed it as much as snowmobiling the day before.

        After several hours, their cozy little bubble was popped when Jake came back to the room. Luckily, Dave had gone across the room for something, so they weren’t cuddled up on the bed at that moment. Jake’s face was pinker than a peach from the cold and he looked very cross. He went right over to his bed and started throwing off his hat and gloves.

        “Hey, Jake.” John greeted him. “How did skiing go?”

        “It was going fairly well, I think, until I went and fell headfirst into a snowbank.”

        “Damn it, I missed that?” Dave said. He sounded genuinely upset. “Did anyone get video? Maybe a picture? John, gimmie the laptop, I need to check Facebook.”

        “Ha-ha,” was all Jake had to say in response.

        “Whoa—you’re okay, right?” John asked.

        “Yes, I’m fine. Just freezing my ears off. It was starting to get late anyway, so I told miss Rose that I’d had enough for today. Now I just want some hot chocolate.”

        John laughed a little. “Well, as long as you didn’t get hurt.”

        “So . . . have you two been here the whole time I’ve been gone?” Jake asked while he hung up his coat.

        “Pretty much, yeah.” Dave said.

        “Just bumming around?”

        “Yep.” John answered this time. “And we were planning to do some more. You wanna watch a movie with us?”

        “And if I say no, are you going to kick me out?”

        “Thats a moot point, because you could never say no to a movie.”

        “True. Let me just get out of these wet things first.” Jake searched around in his bag for a new set of clothes. After a few minutes John suddenly needed some air.

        “Actually . . .” John started, pushing off the bed.

        “What is it?”

        “I think I’m going to take a walk first. I should get some fresh air before it gets dark.” He said while he got on his socks and hat. He walked over to the door to get his boots and coat.

        “Oh. Okay, um. Are you going to be back soon or . . .?”

        “Ten minutes, fifteen tops.”

        “Okay. Take your phone; don’t get lost or anything.”

        “I won’t! And you don’t start the movie without me.”

        “Wouldn’t be any fun without you. It will be hard enough to have fun as it is with Strider here.”

        “Rude,” Dave chimed in, not bothering to look up from his laptop.

        John left the hotel lobby and started walking, not having a destination in mind. It was snowing very lightly, which made him smile. There was still patches of sky where the sun was peeking through, but not much. It was later than he thought.

        He leaned on this half-wall thing and watched all the little people riding down the slopes on their little skis and their little snowboards while he breathed in the cold air for a few minutes. It didn’t take long for his mind to drift back to his pending decision.

        “We missed you out there,” Rose said, suddenly next to him.

        “Sorry.”

        “I’m just joking. Did you have a nice time with Dave?”

        “Yeah. We just kind of hung out in the room and did nothing; it was nice.”

        “I’m glad.” They looked out at the hills together quietly, until John spoke again.

        “I’ve been thinking about . . . you know.” he said.

        “Have you gotten any further with that?”

        “Yeah, I think so.” he sighed. “I’m doing it tomorrow. That’s the deadline I’m giving myself. If I haven’t decided by the time I wake up, I’ll just give up.”

“Do you think that’s likely?”

“Maybe. But I think rather have one of them than neither of them. Is that selfish?”

“I don’t think so.” Rose answered.

“Thanks. But I don’t know. Maybe I will just tell them I can’t decide and let them both go.”

“Whatever you decide to do, I’m sure it will work out.”

“I hope so.” He looked over at her and smiled. “Are you sure you’re staying natural? This might be your last chance to cast your vote.”

        “Would you like me to tell you who I think you should pick?” Rose asked patiently. “Will that make it easier for you?”

        John paused to pretend he was considering it. “No. It would probably just mess me up.” He went through a quick flash of everything he had done up to this point. “I feel really stupid about it. Getting myself and both of them into this position. Why did I wait so long?”

        “Don’t be hard on yourself. I think you just wanted to give them both a chance. I haven’t known you for very long, John, but I can tell you care about them both very much.”

        John took a deep breath and sighed before he responded. “I do. They’re two of my best friends. I hope they won’t be mad at me afterwards.”

        “They’ve stuck around for this long; I think that’s enough of a display that they care about you, too. Enough to not abandon you if they don’t like your decision.”

        “Thanks. For saying that, and for letting me talk to you about all this stuff. It’s been nice to have a friend outside this whole mess to go to.”

        “You’re welcome. I’m happy to be of service. But now, if you’re fine without me for the evening, I think I’m going to go inside and acquaint myself the spa people keep talking about. I hear its world class.”

        Rose started walking away.

        “Wait, Rose!” John called. She turned around to see what it was.

        “I changed my mind: who do you think I should pick?”

        Rose just smiled and put her hand to her mouth to make a locking motion, and turned around to keep walking.

        The sun was getting dangerously close to setting now, and John’s fifteen minutes were probably up. He pushed off the railing and headed back to the room to watch movies and drink hot chocolate with his best friends.

The Last Day

        John woke up first the next morning. He wasn’t sure how; maybe it was his nerves. All of the butterflies he had lying in bed thinking the night before were still there. It was time. This would be the day too many people were waiting for.

        He got up and got dressed as quietly as he could, left a note for Jake and Dave on his bed, and left the room. He hoped they wouldn’t keep him waiting long.  He stopped for a minute at the breakfast bar for a cinnamon roll before going outside.

        The sky was a gray blanket, but it wasn’t snowing. It wasn’t even very windy. The calm didn’t help John’s nerves. He headed where he said he would be in his note: several yards into the trees, to the right of the lodge building. He wanted to do this outside, where they were least likely to get interrupted. Besides, it seemed like too much of a pivotal moment to have it in the hotel room.

        He ate his little breakfast and went over in his head what he wanted to say while he waited. Nervous didn’t cover it. He just hoped everything would be okay.

        Thankfully, it was only half an hour before he heard the crunching of snow and the rustle of tree branches.

        “Hey, guys.” John said.

        “Good morning, John,” Jake sounded about as nervous as he did, but he was smiling; he must have been trying to put on a brave face.

        “What do you got me ankle-deep in snow this early for, John?” Dave asked with slight irritation. He didn’t look or sound anything but his normal laidback self, but that didn’t really surprise John. Anyone who knew Dave enough knew he could hide himself well when he wanted to.

        “Sorry,” John apologized. “I wanted to get this over with.”

        Dave’s mouth twitched and that was the only response he had. For once, he might have been too nervous to talk. He and Jake waited for John to continue.

        “Okay. Well, first I want to say that I’m sorry that it took this long to figure out what to do about . . . this.” He gestured between the three of them vaguely. “I like you both a lot. You’re my best friends, and . . . I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

        They continued to wait quietly.

        “I’ve given this a lot of thought. Considered everything, and I’ve come to a decision. A really tough decision. And whatever I’m about to say, I hope it won’t change anything, that we can still be—”

        “Jesus, Egbert, just fucking spill it already.” Dave complained. “Who are you picking?”

        Jake glanced at him, but this time he didn’t scold him or try to defend John. He just waited.

        “I didn’t want to use the word ‘pick,’ but fine. I pick . . .”

[The time has come for John to make a decision. What should he do?]

John: Make the cool choice.

John: Make the adventurous choice.

John: Make the fair choice.

The cool choice.

        “Dave.”

        Dave’s mouth popped open in surprise.

        “Shit. Seriously?”

        His reaction was amused John, so it was hard for him not to smile, just a little.

        “Yeah,” John nodded.  But before he could focus on Dave, he looked at Jake, who looked like he was trying very hard—and failing—to hide his disappointment.

        “Give us a second,” John said to Dave. “Jake, can I talk to you for a minute?”

        They went off a little ways into the trees so they could talk in private.

        “I—” John started to say before Jake cut him off.

        “Are you about to apologize for not choosing me?” Jake asked.

        “I was planning to.” John admitted. Jake shook his head.

        “You don’t have to say sorry to me.”

        “Ever?”

        Success: Jake laughed. “Only in the rarest of circumstances will I appreciate it. But this is your decision, and I respect that.”

        “I still feel bad, though.”

        “I know. I’m just glad you're not tossing me without a second thought. How terrible that would be, huh?”

        “I wouldn’t do that, you big dummy.”

        “Good to hear.”

        John went in for a hug.

        “You aren’t really upset or anything, are you?”

        “I’ll be fine. Really! I’m tougher than I look. I think.”

        “You better be.”

        “It was nice while it lasted.”

        “Yeah.”

        Jake pulled away. “I guess I should let you get back to him. I’ll see you later?”

        “Yeah, totally.”

        Jake left. After their talk, John felt better about his decision.

        “So, hey,” John said when he got back to Dave, grinning without restraint now. “I haven’t even technically asked you if you want to be my boyfriend yet.”

        “No, I guess you haven’t.” Dave seemed to have composed himself a little in John’s absence.

        “So . . .”

        “What?”

        “Are you really going to make me say it?”

        “Yes.”

        “Should I get down on one knee, too?”

        “John, this should be a special day and you are ruining it for me.

        John giggled. “Dave, do you want to be my boyfriend?”

        Before he answered, Dave picked him up and kissed his nose. “Maybe.”

        “You’re such a dork.” John said. He kissed his nose back.

       “Well okay, if you’re going to sweet talk me like that, I guess I can say yes.”

        “Good.”

        And then they kissed in earnest. It was a lot less scary than the first time; John kept his huge grin throughout it, and Dave was pretty smiley by the end, too.

        “So,” John asked eventually. “Do you want to just keep kissing, or are you as hungry as I am?”

        “Damn it, I wasn’t until you said that.”

        John giggled again. “You wanna go get food?”

        “Okay. You want me to carry you there?”

        “That’s really tempting, but I think that might attract some unwanted attention.”

        So Dave set him down and they started walking back to civilization. It wasn’t long before John took Dave’s hand.

        “I think they can handle this.” He explained.

        “I don’t care about anyone else, either way. Especially right now.”

        It was the best start to having his first boyfriend John could imagine.

[Go back]

The adventurous choice.

        “Jake.”

        Jake’s face split into a huge grin.

        “Really? You mean it?”

        His smile was infectious, so it was hard for John to keep his own small smile in check. But before he could give Jake all of his attention, he glanced at Dave, whose blank expression seemed to have gotten even more stony.

        “Hang on a second,” John said to Jake before turning to him. “Dave, can we walk for a minute?”

        They went off a little ways into the trees so they could talk in private. They were quiet for the first few seconds.

        “Sorry.”

        “Nah, you don’t gotta apologize. You had to pick one of us—not your fault it wasn’t me. If you’ve really been beating yourself up about it for this long, I’m guessing you made the right choice.”

        “I did.” I think. “But still feel bad that it wasn’t you.”

        “Me too. But hey, not like we’re totally done with each other, right?”

        “Of course not, we’re still friends. Stupid.”

        “Cool.”

        John went in for a hug.

        “Gay.” Dave said. But he hugged John back anyway.

        “Shut up. So you’re okay?”

        “’Course. I’m always okay.”

        “You better be.”

        After a few more seconds, Dave pulled away.

        “Guess I should be getting out of your way here. Catch you later?”

        “Yeah, of course.”

        Dave left. After their talk, John felt better about his decision.

        “Hi,” John said when he got back to Jake, hardly able to contain his excitement and letting himself grin without restraint now.

        “Hi,” Jake said, equally excited. Without warning, he scooped John up to affectionately rub noses with him, which got giggles out of both of them.

        “I guess this means you’re down with the whole dating thing then?”

        “Yes! I am so absolutely down for that.”

        “Well, I guess that’s settled then.”

        John tilted his head and kissed him. It was even better than their last one, since no tree branches interrupted them this time, and he was a lot less nervous now. They were both smiling and giggling like dorks the whole time.

        “So,” John asked eventually. “Do you want to keep kissing or are you as hungry as I am?”

        “Who cares about food at a time like this?! I feel like climbing a mountain! Do you want to climb a mountain, John?”

        “Maybe, but I want breakfast first.”

        “Oh, if you’re so insistent.” He gave John one last kiss on the cheek before putting him back on the ground.

        John took his hand and they started walking back to civilization.

        “You’re going to need a big breakfast anyway, if we’re going mountain climbing.”  

        “You do have a point there, I will admit that. What would I do without you?”

        “Probably the same things you’re doing now, just with a lot less fun.”

        “You’re probably right about that, too.”

        It was the best start to having his first boyfriend John could imagine.

[Go back]

The fair choice.

        “ . . . Neither of you.”

        “What?” Jake and Dave said together, to a comical effect.

        “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t pick.” It was the worst and best case scenario at the same time.

        “I feel really bad for making you waste all this time on me, but I like you both too much, and I don’t think I could ever choose between you.”

[Now, a choice within a choice. Pick wisely.]

Jake and Dave: Accept this

Dave: Suggest an alternative.

[Go back]

Accept this.

Jake made a scoffing sound. “I’d hardly call it ‘wasting my time.’”

        “Really?” John asked.

        “Really. This has been the best year ever! And it’s because of you.”

        “Yeah,” Dave agreed. “I mean, I wouldn’t word it like that exactly. But it definitely could have been worse if you never moved down here.”

        “So . . . everything is cool then? You guys aren’t disappointed?”

        They hesitated.

        “Maybe a just a smidgen.” Jake admitted.

        “A little, I guess.” Dave answered. “But I can get over it.”

        “And I’m sure I can, too.”

        “I guess we’re all getting over it then.” John said. As suckish as this solution is, John figured it was the best they could do.

        “Okay, great.” Dave said brusquely. “Can we go back to the hotel and eat now? Before my stomach starts eating itself in protest?”

        “Gross.” John said. “Yeah sure.”

        So they went back to the hotel to fill up on the last free breakfast they were getting, and it was a perfectly good start to a beautiful, platonic, friendship.

[Go back]

Dave: Spit it out:

       “Well . . . maybe you don’t have to.” Dave said.

       “What do you mean?” John asked.

       Dave put his hands up defensively. “Okay, maybe this will sound weird, but just hear me out. I think I could handle sharing.”

       “Sharing?” John and Jake asked at the same time. And then John continued on his own. “What like . . . you and Jake could be . . . i don’t know, co-boyfriends?”

       “Yeah, sure. It’s better than getting nothing.” Dave looked to Jake for his thoughts about it, and John found himself doing the same.

       Jake was a little speechless at first, but he managed to answer after a moment. “Well, I . . . I’m not sure. It would certainly be unconventional. But . . . it doesn't sound as crazy to me as I think it should.”

       “So is that a yes or what?”

       “Wait, do I get a say in this?” John asked.

       “No, because I’m sure this is like, a dream come true for you.” Dave said. Well, he wasn’t far off actually. But if this was going to be a thing, it had to be all or nothing.

       “Jake?” John said. “You don’t have to agree to this just because Dave is. You can say no if you aren’t comfortable with this idea--”

       “No, no,” Jake said. “I mean. I think I’d be willing to give it try.”

       “. . . Okay so this is really happening, right?” John had to clarify.

       “Yeah, sure.”

       “I think so.”

       “Wow. Okay. Co-boyfriends. How does this even work?”

       “We’ll figure something out.” Dave said easily. “It’s probably easier than whatever you’re thinking. But can we talk about this over breakfast? Because I’m fucking starving.”

       “Yeah, actually, I’m pretty hungry too,” Jake admitted.

       “Yeah, okay. Breakfast. We can do breakfast.”

       So the three of them headed back to the resort lodge. Once their plates were full of food, they took it back to their room to eat and talk in private.

       “So, basicly, you two just kinda. Keep sharing me like before?” John asked.

       “Pretty much I guess.” Dave said.

       “And both of you would be like . . . my boyfriends?”

       “If you want to call it that I guess, sure.”

       “Do you wanna call it that?”

       “ . . . Yeah. Okay.”

       “And you’re okay with this too?” John asked Jake.

       “Surprisingly so, yes. I’m just happy I can have some claim to you at all.”

       John pretty much felt the same way about both of them.

       “So. I guess this is a thing now,” John said in amazement.

       “Guess so.” Dave said.

       So John was ending this trip with not one but two new boyfriends, and wondering how the hell he got so lucky.

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