Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

'He's gonna do another strip tease'

"Oh god."

Of course. Of course Charlie texted Todd at 3:37 last night (or this morning, rather) and told him he immediately had to listen to this song.

And maybe Todd WAS awake at 3:37 in the morning, but he didn't have to let that on to Charlie. So he didn't tell him that he would listen to the song until he woke up the next morning at 6:30am sharp so he could see his parents off and then pass out on the couch like a normal teenager.

Okay, maybe not normal. What even is normal, anyway?

So he woke up at about 8:40, feeling only slightly sleep deprived, and he instantly remembered the date. Which led him to his current situation: In the kitchen, slightly sleepy, slightly messy, partially covered in flour, and guessing how much of each ingredient to put into the mixing bowl due to the fact that he lost the recipe he typically uses when baking birthday cakes.

Oh, and listening to this song Charlie sent him and trying not to blush too deeply or roll his eyes to the point of a headache. Again.

Once Todd starts to get the urge to dance a little bit, he really knows there’s trouble. Charlie has sent him some witchcraft of a song. Charlie himself always seems a little witchy.
Or substitute the 'w' with a 'b'...

Wait a second.

Todd sticks his finger in the jar of white confectionary powder in front of him and licks it off.
"Damnit."
He then goes to the other jar on the counter and opens it only to find almost nothing inside.
"Fucking damnit..."

Of course he had put salt in instead of sugar. And of course he doesn’t even have any sugar to put into his cake in the first place.

Todd goes through all of his options in his head. It’s 9am now, and he has time, but not much. Charlie will be coming over at around 7, and the rest of the guys an hour earlier. It is Charlie's birthday after all, and because his parents are out, Todd offered up his place for their little get together. And he knows it will be a little get together, because they don't have too many friends outside of their little group.

And 8 hours is honestly plenty of time to bake a cake for the small group that’s coming. But there is also the time he needs to let it cool, shape it accordingly, then frost it.

Oh, and also the fact that Todd has no. Fucking. Sugar.

And while making the cake determinedly salty to match the typical personality of their lovely friend Charles "Nuwanda" Dalton seems like an extraordinary plan for a moment, Todd just can't do that to the rest of his friends. Also, he really wants some cake.

Not like guessing the exact measurements was challenging enough, now he has to find a way to retrieve sugar.

Sighing, Todd heads over to the hook that houses their keys. He makes sure his wallet is in his back pocket as he blindly reaches to the hook…
…and comes up empty.

Now slightly panicking, Todd looks to the hook with searching eyes, on the brink of crazed, and finds it completely key-less.

And that's when he remembers: His parents took the car. This morning. He saw them out.

So that means no driving to the store.
"Shit..."

He plays through different scenarios in his head. He can try to catch the bus, but the last bus ride he went on was a doozy. No, there is no way he can handle getting on another crazy bus; not today at least.

He can try to call somebody and ask them to drive him? But that will make him feel awful. He can't handle feeling like he’s using a friend for lame confectionary purposes.

He can always walk to the store...

Yeah, that’s a better plan. Todd loves to get fresh air and the walk isn't TOO too far. He can try to just walk himself there.

So Todd takes his wallet out of his pocket and holds it tight in his hand, to really make sure it’s there. He gets his shoes, slips them on, and opens the door.

But why did no one tell Todd that today would be the day that the great monsoon hit?

The sky is currently pouring more water than Todd has ever seen in his entire life.

It was not like this when he saw his parents out. Too many things begin to overwhelm him in that moment that he just closes the door and sits on his couch and curls up in a blanket for a good hour, It’s A Wonderful Life playing in the background.

After that, he spends another good 20 minutes thinking up another game plan. He has to bake a cake for Charlie. There’s no way getting around that without a pouty boy on his back for the next few months. He can't do that to his friend, anyway, no matter how aggravating.

He knows for a fact that he cannot ask his neighbors on the left of them for help. They’re an elderly couple who seem to have some kind of vendetta against any young person ever. They will possibly try to murder him if he goes over there.

There are always his other neighbors…
~-*-~

Chapter Text

The doorbell rings.

Neil sits it out a little bit, figuring it’s probably a package and he doesn't have to get up too quickly. He wraps himself up in his blanket a bit tighter, vaguely watching an old black and white Christmas movie that he doesn't know the name of and more just listening contently to the battering rain, when there’s a strange sound that makes his ears perk a bit.
It sounds like a knock; an extremely tentative knock, but a knock.

In slight intrigue, Neil unwraps himself from his warmth cocoon and heads for the door. Sometimes the delivery person will knock, but it isn't too often. Besides, his parents didn’t tell him that there would be a package. Then again, when do they really tell him anything?

He walks up to the door and opens it, not looking through the peep hole first.

There, in front of him, is the cutest wet puppy ever to live that seems to have magically turned into a human boy, about Neil's age. He has on a white pullover with a black coat over it and a nice winter scarf.

And an apron.

Is that a little bit of damp flour on his cheek? Oh my god this puppy/boy has damp flour on his cheek what has he been doing.
He's shivering and soaked to the brim and has he been talking? It doesn't look like it. Is he gonna talk?
Goddamnit Neil stop staring at the boy.

"Hello?" He finally gets out, full of confusion and about ready to punch himself in the face. Why did that come out like a question?
The puppy/boy seems to need to gather his bearings before saying anything.

"H-hi." He stutters in what sounds like the sweetest voice ever and it almost hurts Neil. He silently roots for the boy in front of him as he watches him take a long, deep breath. Neil is almost afraid this boy is going to take all of the world's oxygen into his lungs.

"Okay, this is probably the most cliche thing to ever happen to me but I've just started making a cake because it's my friend's birthday today and my parents took the car out for the day and they won't be back until the night after tomorrow and it's raining hell outside so I can't walk to the nearest grocer and basically what I'm asking is, can I borrow a few cups of sugar?"

Neil blinks.

"...Really?"

"Y-yeah... Why are you looking at me like that?"

And Neil isn't exactly sure how he’s looking at Todd, but he’s so full of admiration for this adorable, shy boy that he feels he's nearly on the verge of tears.

And Todd isn't exactly sure what he did to constitute such a pure and serene look, but he wants to do it again so that it never ends.

"I-uhm." Todd begins, his voice cracking even on one syllable. Of fucking course it does, why wouldn't it.

"Come on inside."

"What?" Todd questions, suddenly full of confusion himself and almost completely lost in the smooth skin in front of him. "I-no. No that's okay. I just need a few cups o-o-of sugar."

Neil pauses for a second, trying to understand the boy in front of him completely.

After a moment: "Did you bring a cup?"

"H-huh?" Damnit, his voice broke again.

"A cup. Did you bring a cup. For the sugar."

Todd feels his heart lurch a tiny bit and his face flush a little more than slightly. He shakes his head, starting to feel way too ashamed to be standing here still.

Neil leans himself against the doorway and gives him what looks like the beginning of a rather shit-eating grin. He eyes Todd a little bit, in a polite but mind melting way. Todd would run if he wasn't afraid of slipping in the rain. And of the shame that would inevitably come once he got back to his house.

"Come inside." He suggests, stepping back and allowing the puppy enough room to walk into the house. Todd shakes his head more forcefully now, his floppy hair getting in his face a bit. Bless him.

"No, no no, it's fine. I just need a few cups of sugar. I can stay out here-"

"No, you cannot. It's pouring and you're soaked. Plus, you'll get the sugar all wet. Please come inside. Please?"

And suddenly something starts to happen that has never happened to Todd before. He starts to fantasize something terrible.

And suddenly Neil is on his knees and looking up at Todd with that look of immense admiration in those tremendous, doey, now half-lidded eyes. His kind, calm voice is begging something…

"Please... please Todd... come inside... please come inside Todd." and he starts to pant and Todd is getting flushed and flustered and he isn't sure what to do and-

"Hey!"

Suddenly Todd is face to face again with the kind boy, who is standing far too close to Todd now, searching his face politely.

"Could you come inside please?"

Todd shakes his head a bit, trying to get his bearings back. "Y-y-yeah. Yeah, I can."

And he tentatively walks inside.

Neil closes the door behind the two of them, smiling.

"Neil." He says, as soon as he turns around. "Neil Perry." And he sticks his hand out and awaits the touch of this ethereal being.

"Todd Anderson." adds the shy boy, who is very proud of himself for getting through his name and sounding semi-confident, but then suddenly begins regretting every decision he has ever made in his life once he touches the lovely skin of the lovely boy he is eye to eye with.

And Neil holds his hand for far too long and whywhywhywhy.

"Well," Neil proclaims a bit too loudly, letting go of the unbelievably soft and incredibly cold hand. "I'll go ahead and get you some clothes that you can change into."

Todd's heart nearly explodes and his mind lurches.

"What?" He inquires, suddenly feeling a bit choked. "No, no, you don't need to do that."

"You're soaked, Todd. You can't sit here in those clothes. I have warm clothes I can give you."

And Neil disappears into a hallway while Todd stands behind and waits helplessly. Neil comes back with a warm looking flannel and some sweat pants. He hands them to Todd, along with a towel and an extremely warm smile.

"Here you go. The bathroom's over there so you can change. Just go ahead and leave your clothes in there once you get dressed."

"But won't your parents be confused? Finding someone else's clothes in the bathroom?"

"No, my parents are off on vacation for the month. You can go ahead and leave them here with me and I can throw them in the dryer." His smile could disarm a criminal.

Todd can't say no. Or yes. Or anything. He just nods and damnit he probably looks like a bobble head by now.

So Todd goes to change, takes a few deep breaths in the bathroom mirror, runs his hands through his hair a bit, and then comes very close to slamming his head into the marble counter until he passes out.

He resists.

Instead, he tries his hardest not to look at the way that the clothes drape off of him a bit, due to his own frame being a bit more petit than the brunet's. He tries his hardest not to think about the fact that the cutest boy to ever live must wear these same clothes on weekends when he’s lying around the house on those lazy days, watching movies on TV. No, he resists thinking about those things and he resists thinking too much about where these clothes have been and what has been done in these clothes and chooses instead to head out of the bathroom and back into the living room.

When Neil sees the door starting to open, he immediately pulls himself out of his trance and gets up from the arm of the couch. If anyone asks, he was certainly not staring at the door, thinking about the cute boy on the other side and wishing he could be there to just hug and warm him up and maybe draw him a nice warm bath and wash his hair up a little bit and maybe do something a little more dangerous in the tub than get clean...

No. He wasn't thinking that.

He wasn't thinking about the bit of damp flour on the boy's cheek, or the fact that he is baking a cake, or the fact that his voice is the most vulnerable thing with bite he has ever heard, or the fact that his hair flops in his face like the ears of a puppy.

He certainly was not sitting there, staring at the door, willing for it to open. He certainly did not feel as if moving would mean the boy would disappear from behind the door, and Neil would open it an hour later to find the angel gone.

No, he wasn't doing any of that while Todd was inside the bathroom. He was just sitting there admiring the... handiwork of the door. Yeah. Admiring the handiwork of his own door. That’s normal.

But as the door opened, he got up and walked in a little circle, wanting to make it look like he WASN'T doing all of the things that he had been so clearly doing (who was he kidding, really?) and was rather just walking around the house normally.

So Todd walks out and watches the boy walk in a little circle, allows the smallest bit of amusement to come over him, but is still overwhelmed by the situation.

"The kitchen's over here." Neil speaks, trying not to talk too loud, as if he’ll scare off the puppy. He passes the boy to lead him over to the kitchen. "How many cups of sugar do you need?"

"Uhm, just a few."

Neil chuckles a bit and searches through his cabinet for the measuring cups. "So you're baking a cake?"

"Yes." Todd nods.

"From scratch?"

"Yes." Todd reiterates, his heart beating a tiny bit faster. "I-it's for a friend's birthday. I always bake a cake for my friends when a birthday comes around. Well, I baked a cake for one of my friends when I learned how, and then they all started expecting one."

Neil tries very hard not to laugh at the puppy at his counter. He opts for smiling in overwhelmingly sincere admiration at the cabinet, meaning it for the boy behind him, as he pulls out some measuring cups.

"That's cute." He mumbles, meaning it deeply.

Todd hears him and wills his face not to blush. He inwardly begs for neither of them to respond with something overly cheesy and dramatic.

"You don't know the exact number of cups you need though?"

Okay, that was definitely not overly cheesy or dramatic.

Todd stumbles over his words a bit. "Uhm... I-uh... No. No I don't. I used to use my m-mom's recipe, but I lost it sometime between th-the last time I baked a cake and nn-now."

Neil turns around to look at the boy. As he turns his head around, he catches the eyes of the shy boy before he snaps his head down to the counter and freezes there. Neil tries his very hardest not to chuckle at the puppy.

Then: "I have a recipe you can borrow, if you want to."

The puppy looks up, his eyes thankful and confused. "Really?" He asks, melting Neil's heart. "You wouldn't mind? It's not a... 'secret' or anything?"

Neil scoffs, laughing. "Of course it's not! I used to bake with my grandma when I was younger." Neil continues, suddenly becoming very busy again with finding containers to put the sugar into, because his house only has one measuring cup. "My uhm..." He nearly knocks a bowl over. "My dad didn't like it very much. Once I turned about 12 he got really upset and stopped me. Said he didn't want a 'questionable' son."

And suddenly the entire vibe of the kitchen changes, and Neil pauses a bit before clanking glasses again, looking for more containers for sugar and trying not to make any sudden moves that would break something. And Todd is about to say something, but then he realizes he has nothing to say. He just feels so obligated to finish that confession with a sentiment, but he can't find one to give. He can't even think about his deep disappointment over the fact that Neil probably isn't ever going to like Todd in the way that Todd's heart is starting to like Neil and wow Todd why would you EVER think that someone as amazing as Neil would be... "questionable" like you and just then:

"Of course, stopping me from baking didn't really help with that."

Todd can't help his head from snapping straight up, which creates a soreness in his neck that he ignores as he catches the side of a smirk on the beautiful boy's face as he goes to get the bag of sugar.

Chapter Text

Two boys, five containers of sugar, and an umbrella stand in the Perry's doorway, staring out into the battering rain.

Todd is already having enough of a panic attack just from this whole interaction, and now he is incredibly frightened of Neil, who is currently holding 3 bowls in one arm and a measuring cup in the other. He asked Todd to hold only one bowl so that the blond could carry the umbrella for the two.

And Todd is panicking because not only does he fear Neil dropping a bowl and having the glass break and then his parents will ask about it but what will Neil say and how will Todd feel and what if one of them is a nice bowl that Neil had just happened to use and what if Neil hurts himself on the glass. And the worry is obviously evident on Todd's face because Neil smirks and says: "Todd, you have to trust me a little more than that. I'm practically a professional bowl carrier. Don't ask why."

With all of the emotions that have been brewing in Todd in this past hour or so, somehow Todd cannot find a bone in his body that believes Neil's sentiment, but he falls apart at his smile, so it doesn't matter.

Until Todd has to start walking down the stairs with the umbrella and a cup of sugar and a very cute boy pretending to be a clown in a balancing act. He suddenly begins to wish for the same kind of confidence as his current partner in crime as he steps down the stair, worried that Neil is going to get a drop of water on him ("I'm not the Wicked Witch of the West, Todd, I can get a little wet. We're sharing an umbrella.") while also making sure not to fall down the stairs and ruin his entire life. He wills for his clumsiness to take a good 5 minute break as the duo walks down the steps of the Perry’s house, over to the left, and then up the steps of the Anderson’s house. They don’t have too much of a problem, except for when they attempt to open the door.

Neil insists on carrying all 5 containers of sugar, to which Todd replies: "No, you will not."

And it is the most decisive thing that the boy has said since their meeting so Neil leaves it at that. Todd places the cup of sugar into the crease of his elbow as he digs around in his pocket for his keys to open the door with.

As soon as he gets it open, Neil trips over the threshold of the house and stumbles inside, nearly eating shit on the ground.

Todd lets out a very high pitched yelp as he attempts to walk through his tiny doorway with the umbrella and ultimately gets stuck, nearly falling backwards. Neil turns around and starts to laugh as Todd looks at the glowing boy with a deer in headlights expression before he turns around to close his umbrella.

He whips back around, blushing furiously and feeling a little agitated, because who is this beautiful boy to laugh at him?

Neil can tell that Todd is upset, obviously, as he pouts a little bit in-between his smile, still balancing the various containers of sugar rather precariously.

“Aw, I’m sorry Todd-o. I didn’t mean to laugh at you. You just looked so frightened!” And Neil begins to laugh a bit more.

Todd is not impressed by the angelic creature before him. “Yeah, well, I thought you were going to eat shit in the middle of my living room and get glass everywhere-“ He begins mumbling before Neil intervenes and asks what he’s saying.

Todd speaks up. “I THOUGHT you were going to eat shit in the middle of my living room and get glass everywhere, so I panicked.” And with that he gives Neil a very pointed and sure look, surprising the boy who is staring at him with a look of incredulity.

Todd is proud of himself as Neil is the one to stutter a bit. “I-uh-“

The puppy smirks slightly, taking a cup from Neil’s grasp as he walks past him and over to the kitchen.

Neil follows in suit and the two of them stand in the middle of the kitchen, all 5 containers of sugar on the island before them.

“You know…” Neil begins. “I think just bringing the whole bag of sugar would have been a better use of our time.”

Todd nods, looking down at the containers of sugar and feeling almost on the verge of a break down, not knowing where to start or what to do with all of this random sugar, but he can't do that in front of this very cute stranger-er, in front of Neil. This very cute Neil. But looking down at all of that sugar, he has no idea what to do. He suddenly remembers: "The recipe!"

"The what?" Neil questions, again becoming somewhat surprised at Todd's sudden outburst. Todd's face flushes a bit.

"Th-the recipe. You said you had a-a- recipe, right?"

"Oh!" Neil suddenly remembers, feeling incredibly stupid. "I completely forgot it! It's on this little paper at home, I'll have to look for it. I'll be right back."

And soon Neil is walking towards the door, and Todd feels like his life is going to flash before his eyes for some reason as the boy walks away. Can't let him walk away. He’s just leaving to go literally a door down and get some tiny piece of paper but just the thought of him being gone for that long terrifies him. For some reason the idea of Neil being only about 20 feet away scares Todd more than he can ever understand. There will be various walls and he won’t be able to go into just the other room or to just open a door or to just turn his head and see the beautiful boy. And his heart constricts as he watches the boy walk away. He hates seeing him walk away. People only ever walk away...

"WAIT!" Todd yells, a feeling of horror rippling through him at the sound of his own voice. He sounds so scared, so desperate, so alone. And Neil turns around with surprise and concern mixed on his face as he looks at the boy with his big brown doe eyes and he stands for a second.

And Todd nearly dies.

"I-I-I uh-" He can feel his chest closing, can feel his stomach churning. Yup, he is definitely dying, and yet his mouth keeps making noises. "I just- I- I'm- I w-would- I-"

Neil smiles.

"Todd, would you hold the umbrella for me again? I don't know how you can handle that umbrella so well. Plus I could really use some company."

And the sincerity of his smile as Neil takes the umbrella from behind him and holds it out for Todd kills him just a little bit more, but fills his heart with some kind of fluffy stuff that he never thought was possible.

So he swallows down whatever just happened and pretends not to think about it as he takes the umbrella from Neil's grip and gets lost in his eyes for a split second. Then finds the ground extremely interesting. He will never get to admire the sincere look of adoration that covers Neil's face.

And they walk over to Neil's house together, Todd just a little less worried about falling down in the rain.

So they get to the doorstep and Neil opens the door and lets Todd close the umbrella and go in first this time. So they walk in, Neil making very sure not to slip this time as he walks into the kitchen. Todd follows him in his actions and tries not to keep Neil out of his sight, still with an irrational fear of him being too far away. Where did this feeling even come from anyway? Todd suddenly gets very overwhelmed by his own thought processes that he isn’t aware of Neil becoming rather frantic until he shakes himself out of it. There is rather intense rummaging through drawers as Neil nearly shoves his head in his kitchen drawer.

“I can’t find it why can’t it I find it where is it I literally see this damn thing every day of my life and now that I need it it isn’t here of course it’s not here…”

Neil is rambling under his breath.

Todd wants to hug him so badly.

“Do… you need help?” Todd asks, his voice sounding like an explosion in the quiet kitchen, even to him. Neil starts and whirls around.

“Yes! I’m so sorry I offered you that recipe and I didn’t even HAVE the recipe.”

Todd looks at him, confused and a little worried.

“I mean, I HAVE it I just don’t actually… possess it… at the moment. It’s somewhere around here but I’ve forgotten where. It’s on a little piece of paper, about this big-“ he makes out the shape and size with his fingers “-and it has really curly, scribbly handwriting on it, in pen.”

Todd just stands in the kitchen, looking at Neil with a still confused look on his face. Neil turns back to look at the puppy before him.

“Uh, you can, uhm…” realizing that Todd is merely awaiting orders. “ Oh! You can check in that drawer over there. If you open it up there should be a bunch of papers in there. The paper it’s on has little oranges or something on it.”

And Neil goes back to drawer-diving as Todd stands and watches him a bit more. He refuses to look past the boy’s soft brown hair, mostly because he won’t even be able to see his assumingly beautiful back muscles from under his coat anyway.

So Todd walks over to the drawer, vaguely listens to Neil mumble some more, and opens it. Neil is right, there are a LOT of papers in this drawer; brochures for golf courses and country clubs and colleges. It’s exactly what he assumed to find in the boy’s home; after all, he has met his father before, and wishes that he hadn’t. The man causes him great anxiety just from his scrunched up, permanently angry face. He can’t imagine actually living with the man. Todd swears that he sees the corner of a take-out menu at the very bottom of the drawer, but he assumes he’s just seeing things, and also doesn’t want to dig that far just yet. Instead, he settles for moving the pad of paper on the top of the pile, and as he picks it up, he notices a little piece of paper stuck to the back.

Todd turns around to look at the brunet, still slaving away and freaking out just a little bit. The blond then plucks the piece of paper off of the notepad and looks at it to find that the paper is roughly the size of what Neil described, except this piece of paper has tiny suns on it instead of oranges. However, upon further inspection, Todd notices that it indeed has curly, scribbly handwriting. It is rather nice handwriting. Todd finds himself wishing that he could write like this.

The boy turns around and finds the other teen that occupies the kitchen still slightly panicking, but more irritated than anything else.

“I had it I swear I had it…” He mutters, over and over again as he continuously checks the same spot.

Todd almost doesn’t know how to tell him that he found it already.

“Uhm…” Todd starts. When the angelic boy doesn’t move at the sound of his voice, Todd decides to clear his throat. This catches Neil’s attention, as he turns and looks at the golden boy in his kitchen, a semi-desperate look on his face. Maybe he thinks that he’s letting Todd down or something. Maybe the rain is just killing the two of them at this point. But Todd shakes it off and tries not to get lost in the eyes across the kitchen as he holds up the little piece of paper. At that, Neil starts and his eyes get wide and he reaches out for the paper crying: “You found it!”

And Todd’s heart races faster than a freight train as he worries over being touched anymore by this magical creature, but he only feels the touch of a cold hand around his wrist as he’s being pulled towards the doorway (but not before Neil grabs onto the bag of sugar that they have in their pantry). Todd picks up the umbrella on their rush out of the house. It’s still raining, but not as harsh as it was previously. Todd begins to worry a bit about his friends and how they are going to all get here. He hopes that they will be safe in the rain. He files away in his mind that he has to text them all to drive safe.

And before he knows it, they’re back in the house and Neil is toeing his shoes off and closing the door behind Todd and the umbrella has been closed and placed by the door gingerly and wait did Todd leave the door unlocked?

When they arrive back in the kitchen, Neil puts the sugar and paper down, hands on his hips.

“Alright then! I guess this is what you needed, right?” Neil asks, a bright smile on his face.

Todd nods quietly, looking down at the objects almost like they’re offensive to him. “Uhm, Neil?” Todd looks up at the boy.

“Yes?”

Todd wrings his hands once. “Is-… You said you like to bake, right?”

Neil flashes a smile so wide, Todd worries that his face might split in half. “Todd, can I help you bake a cake for your friend’s birthday?”

Todd lends a smile back, wider than Neil has seen him smile this entire time. “I would love if you could.”

There are bubbles being blown in Neil’s chest, floating and popping on his heart, trying to escape. “What time does it need to be ready?”

“Well, my friends are coming over at 6…” Todd says as he looks up at the clock on the oven.

And there’s the clock that conveniently tells them it’s a few minutes to 1.

And Neil can see the obvious panic in Todd’s face as he watches his expression fall and then twist.

And Neil just wants to hug the living daylights out of him, but he also doesn’t want to cause the boy to shoot up through the ceiling from sudden contact, so he opts against it.

“I was going to start at 9am.” Todd says, seeming to be in some kind of trance. “I was going to start at 9am so I could be sure to be done.”

Neil is worried. “Todd, it shouldn’t take more than 2 hours to make it all and then cool it.”

“But Charlie wants me to shape it and the icing that I found out how to make needs to be refrigerated and I’m not sure if it’s going to have time because I have to make it look nice and pipe out a happy birthday on the top and I want it to look nice and-"

Neil isn’t sure how to stop the poor thing, so he places a hand on his, which is now attempting to grip the face of the counter. Todd tightens up considerably, but Neil lets his hand linger just a second before moving it, hoping that maybe Todd will relax just a little bit.

“Todd, I have a really good recipe for icing memorized that doesn’t need to be refrigerated too long. Besides, we can keep it in the fridge and tell your friends to look at the cake in the fridge if they want to. I can make some room in your fridge if you need me to. What flavor icing do you want, I can make it for you while you make the batter. Does that sound okay? We can conquer it together, we still have plenty of time.”

And Todd begins to feel so much better but he still has such a hard time talking, so he just nods. Neil smiles. Todd’s heart wants to explode.

“Do you think you can follow the recipe? I’ll be right here in this kitchen to help you if you get lost.”

Todd nods and feels so safe and wants Neil to wrap his arms around him and he looks over at Neil with so much thanks in his eyes.

“Is it okay for me to look through your cabinet and your fridge for the ingredients I need, Todd?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Todd regains some of his composure, pausing every now and again in between words. “I hope we have everything. The tall one is the cabinet we put our baking stuff in. It should be on the top two shelves.” His mom loves to bake.

Neil nods and Todd continues to stand. When the brunet notices, he looks over in concern, then sees the laptop in the corner of the island.

“Todd-o, is this your laptop?”

Tod shakes himself to consciousness. “Yeah!” He replies suddenly. “Yes, it is, I’m sorry, I can move it.”

Neil is happy at the boy’s beginning to move, but he has a different idea.

“No, it’s fine, I was just wondering if you wanted to play some music or something? I like to listen to music when I bake.” Plus it will give them both an out from any awkward conversations or things of that nature. “But it’s fine if you don’t want to.”

“No, playing music sounds great.” Todd responds with an extremely relieved smile. He has the same process that Neil does: an out from awkward conversations. Or a topic to talk about maybe.

Todd stands for a little while longer, letting Neil raid his cabinets, before he walks over to his laptop and opens it up. Suddenly, a voice begins singing and Todd is mortified. He forgot he left that artist playing on his laptop. He doesn’t know what the song is, he’s just eagerly trying to stop it, when Neil perks up from inside the cabinet.

“Is this Iggy Pop?”

The blond curiously looks over from his laptop to see Neil has appeared next to him and is now looking down at the screen with the face of a man smiling wide. Neil matches the smile (in Todd’s opinion, Neil beats the smile tenfold).

“Uhh, yeah.” Todd seems embarrassed. He doesn’t usually listen to this kind of music. On occasion Charlie will send him music he has never heard before, but that he actually kind of likes. It’s something Charlie has in him. He’s really good at picking out music for people. Again, witchy. “My uh- my friend sent me a song this morning and I guess I left the album playing.”

“I love this song!” the taller boy is absolutely ecstatic. “This is, what is it… Some Weird Sin, right?”

Todd looks at Neil curiously, before realizing and reading the screen. “Yeah, that’s what it says.”

Neil laughs. “I love this song! My friend and I were sharing songs the other night and I told him to listen to some Iggy Pop. Especially this album. This is a good song, but there’s another one on the album I liked better. I can’t think of what it was…”

Todd smiles slightly, feeling indescribably fond of the happiness in the boy next to him. He stares at the smiling face on his laptop while Neil mutters: “Tonight…”

Suddenly, the blond is confused, but he doesn’t say anything, just tries to get the courage to move away from his position. He really needs to start this cake, to get his nerves to rest. However, he is so close to Neil, and they aren’t even that close, but he can feel the presence of his arm as the fabric of his shirt gently grazes his own and he leans in a bit more and wow is he warm and:

“Fall in Love with Me!”

What?!

Todd stammers and looks over at the boy on his right, taking a step back.

Neil laughs.

“That’s the name of the song!” He supplies his answer, his face turning a shade of pink that Todd is sure is no match for the own deep red his must be turning. His face burns. “It’s a really good song, it’s at the end of this album. And Tonight is a good one too. This whole album is just good.”

Todd nods, calming down after the explanation given. “Yeah.” He agrees. “We should play it. For the party.”

Neil nods. “That’d be awesome! Wait-“ He pauses and Todd’s whole being is overcome with worry. Did Neil notice that he just said we? “We?” Neil asks. Todd’s heart rolls in his chest.
“I mean, yeah. You’re helping me with the cake and all. Would you… like… to stay? It’s not really a PARTY, it’s more of a small… get together.”

Neil’s eyebrow raises, as if he isn’t buying it.

“It is!” Todd defends, suddenly feeling very defensively quippy. “There will only be a few of us here, just to hang out and eat cake and watch dumb movies.”

Neil chuckles a bit. “Hmm, I don’t know Todd. I mean, I’ve only just met you. How do I know you’re not a complete party animal? I’m just not that kind of guy.” And the tall boy’s sly grin is killing Todd.

“Shut up.” He nudges the boy away, letting the music keep playing as he begins to get the mixer and some bowls out of the cabinets. “D-“ Damnit, his voice is still stuttering. “Do you want to stay? My friends are really friendly, I promise. I’m sure they won’t mind one bit.”

Neil’s smile never leaves his face. “Of course I would love to stay. It sounds like fun.” He taps the counter a few times, his smile never faltering, before he speaks again. “You can keep the mixer for the batter, Todd. I can whip the icing myself. Do you happen to have frosting bags?”

Todd nods. Really, his mom loves to bake. He gets out all of the ingredients and begins to place them on his island, before turning around and seeing Neil dancing around and moving his hips along to the music. The shy boy turns bright red as he begins to follow the recipe, only needing help every now and again.

The two boys share some small talk in between the lyrics being sung from the laptop. The songs have such a smooth vibe, it’s great to listen to really, especially on a stormy day like today.

“Your house is real nice, Todd.”

“Thanks, my mom loves decorating. My dad just kind of leaves her be. I think it’s all a little much, most days.”

“Simple man?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” He nearly got eggshells in the batter as Neil hip bumps him at a specific beat of the music.

They continue to mix and add and spoon.

“This is Tonight! It’s good, right?”

Todd nods. He really likes this man’s voice, even though he’s only heard about ten seconds of this specific song so far, and it’s just the voice wailing out “Ohhhh”. He looks over to see Neil nodding his head along to the rhythm, adding sugar from the cups and bowls that they brought over together. Todd is so full of happiness and fondness for this boy, and to be honest, he’s a little overwhelmed by it. He has never felt so safe and bright and warm.

Todd notices Neil start to lip synch to the words.

They continue on.

Neil keeps dancing.

By the time the cake is in the rectangular pan and in the oven, Todd turns around to see Neil smiling and spinning to the song Success. He locks eyes with Todd and stops, brown eyes now wide, then puts his hand out. Todd doesn’t know what he’s doing, so he walks over to the counter to start the icing for piping, before he’s grabbed and spun around in a whirlwind. He has no idea what to do, but Neil is laughing, and Todd finds himself laughing too.

Then Neil stops and keeps dancing solo, leaving Todd to look at him even more fondly, and a bit dizzily from the spinning. How can one person be so adorable? Er, two? Three?

He’s really dizzy.

“Do you have any food coloring? Do you know what color you want the icing to be?”

Todd nods, and goes to his pantry again. “I was thinking of just keeping the regular frosting white, so you can see the writing on it better.”

Neil nods. “What color are you piping in?”

“Red. His favorite color is red.” Todd shakes his head at the thought of his friend.

“That’s a good color.” Neil smiles. “Not my favorite, but nice anyway. What’s his name?”

“Charlie.” Todd replies. “He’s really… eccentric. He thinks he’s funny. He made us call him Nuwanda for a little bit.” The blond gets lost in thought for a second.

Neil looks on curiously. “Did you?” He inquires. Todd looks up.

“Of course we did.” Todd never pauses. “We love him.”

And Neil is in love with this boy and wants him to love him too and wow what a wonderful human being. He is so sincere in his love of his friend. Wait, maybe it’s more than just friends? He calls him his friend, but he seems to genuinely love him. Wow, who is Neil to think that this puppy would actually like him in the same way that Neil likes him.

Neil is so in love that all he can do is continue to whip the icing.

Todd is calmly getting the icing for frosting ready, when the boy next to him begins to wail.

Like, out loud wail. Like a ghost in a haunted house-wail.

The blond jumps and looks over in fear, scared that the boy is hurt or dying or…

The angelic boy is whipping away crazily and wailing along with the music at the top of his lungs.

Neil looks over at the worry-wart when it’s over. “What?” Neil asks innocently, putting the bowl down. “C’mon Todd, loosen up!” He laughs contagiously. “Sound your barbaric YAWP!” The chestnut hair boy takes the whipped up icing and places a bit on Todd’s nose with the whisk.

If Neil is going to keep wailing, Todd’s heart is going to explode. Really none of this is good for his respiratory tract. Then he realizes what the laughing boy has said.

“Walt Whitman.” He states plainly, looking to the doe-eyed boy and wiping the icing off of his nose, licking it off his finger. Neil nods, smiling.

“Yeah. You read Walt Whitman?”

“Yeah.” Todd nods, feeling a bit sheepish as he turns back to color the icing. “I love his poetry. I love most poetry.”

Neil grins, checking the taste of the icing himself. “Do you write any?”

Todd blushes. “I love to write.” And that is about as far as he got in his sentence.

“No way, me too!” Neil supplements, looking over at the shy boy who is too busy adding the random sugar- that is still lying around- to the frosting. His face rivals the sugary confection he’s making. “Maybe we can share poetry sometime.”

Todd looks over and Neil just smiles down at his own sugary frosting.

They talk while they wait for the cake to finish baking.

“What about the rest of your friends? Who’s coming over tonight?”

Todd smiles. “Uh, there’s, Steven Meeks. We call him Meeks. He has curly red hair and glasses and a lot of freckles on his face.” Neil smiles in return. “He likes doing crazy experiments with Pitts. His name is Gerard, but we call him Pitts.” Neil laughs.

“These are some cool names. Nuwanda, Meeks, Pitts.”

Todd laughs with him. “Yeah, then there’s Knox.” The two laugh even louder at the next crazy name. “He’s dating this girl named Chris, but I think someone told him not to bring her over so that we can have a… ‘guy’s night’ or something.” He makes air quotes. “I think they just don’t want anyone bringing dates or something.”

“Oh.” Neil supplies, smirking a bit. “So should I not stay?”

Todd looks over, confused. “Huh?”

“I mean, if you can’t have dates at this party, then I guess I’m not allowed, huh?”

Todd nearly chokes.

Neil guffaws.

~-*-~

Chapter Text

The cake is out of the oven, cooled, and on a cutting board in the middle of the island, the bowl of icing that Neil made on the left and then the piping bag of red icing that Todd made on the right.

The two boys are standing, Neil with his hands on his hips and Todd with his in his pockets. Er, Neil’s pockets. Technically. Because these are his pants.

“Well!” Neil claps his hands. “What did you want to shape this as?”

And Todd’s face flushes.

And Neil is incredibly confused.

Todd immediately takes out his phone, which Neil didn’t even know he had on him and wow he’s just realizing he really needs to get this puppy’s number. Todd begins to scroll through something, but Neil can’t really tell what it is. He wants to assume that it’s pictures for reference, but it appears to be a text thread.

He doesn’t know what to say, so he just lets Todd scroll, until Todd’s face fills with color and he gingerly places his phone on the counter.

“Did you… find it?” Neil chuckles a bit, slightly nervous.

Todd slides his phone over to the other boy.

Neil is extremely perplexed, but looks down at the phone anyway. His eyes go wide.

He leans in closer.

He picks it up.

He gets ridiculously close.

“Does this actually say: ‘Shape it like a dick’?”

Todd whines and slams his head on the counter.

Neil looks over, chuckling a little. “We don’t have to do that y’know. Just because one of your friends asked to.”

Todd lifts his hand and made a scrolling motion with his finger. Neil follows the directions.

He tries his best to hold back his laugh. He ends up chortling rather unattractively into his hand. “They’re all chanting ‘DICK DICK DICK’!” Neil begins to laugh in an excessively loud manner. “These people are beautiful!”

He continues to scroll. Todd hits his head against the counter a couple more times.

“Oh, your friend Meeks says that Charlie personally requested a dick shaped cake, Todd-o.” He looks over to the puppy. “I think we have to do it.”

Todd hits his head again.

“Be careful, I don’t want your face to hurt.” Neil rubs the boy’s back and he tenses a bit before relaxing completely. “It’ll be okay. What do you feel more comfortable doing, shaping it or icing it?”

Todd shrugs.

“I’ll let you ice it. You can pretend it’s just… a… sword!” Neil laughs as Todd groans once again.

~_*_~
The cake – all shaped, frosted, and piped – is chilling in the refrigerator, and it’s only 3:55. It took Neil longer than he thought it would to actually shape the damn thing, and Todd had to sit for about 25 minutes before he could actually begin to ice the cake and then pipe his sentiment on it.

It also took them a bit to coax each other onto the couch in the living room.

It’s the strangest thing to the two of them, but they both feel as though they have been friends for years. As if their souls are already connected and know each other’s faces intimately. As if their minds are already so acquainted that their hearts can beat as one. As if their eyes already know each other’s so well that a look is like a hug.

As if their voices know the other’s so deeply that their subtle digs never go unnoticed.

“Why are they showing Christmas movies? It’s October 29th. Where is Halloween? Where is Friday the 13th? Where is the Thriller music video?”

Now here the two are, sitting on Todd’s couch in Todd’s living room. Todd is still in Neil’s clothing because he “forgot” about it, but to be honest, he didn’t want to change before he had to. He is incredibly comfortable. They’re sharing a rather large blanket, and they’re both sitting regularly, but they are still close enough to feel the heat escaping each other and to be able to feel the soft breath of each other if they turn to face the other during a hearty laugh.

Granted it took about 20 minutes of semi-awkward conversations that consisted of the weather and vague familial relations before they got here, but here they are, nonetheless.

Todd laughs softly at Neil’s outburst. “You’ve never heard of Christmas in October?”

Neil looks over to his left in absolute shock, before a knowing look comes over his face. “That’s not a thing.”

Todd laughs.

“It should be. Christmas is fun.” Todd states happily, and Neil finds it hard not to smile. He tries not to anyway. “This channel shows Christmas movies all year long.”

“Well that’s nice, but I want to watch Jamie Lee Curtis run around screaming.”

Todd laughs some more, especially at the fact that Neil is now pouting. Todd shakes his head.

“You seem like a thriller movie kind of person.” Todd laughs. “Those are fun, but I like Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Neil’s head whips around. “I love that movie.” And his eyes are bright and Todd can’t help but laugh some more.

“But you don’t like Home Alone?” Todd asks, hurt. “This is one of the best Christmas movies.” Little Macaulay Culkin just got to the grocery store. “Or Miracle on 34th Street? It’s a Wonderful Life?”

Neil makes a face. “I think I watched It’s a Wonderful Life this morning.”

“Think?” Todd asks, confused. “I watched it this morning, too. Well, kind of…” He thinks back to what this morning entailed.

“Kind of?” Neil is the one to laugh this time, and Todd pouts a bit.

“You don’t seem like the kind of person who likes the classic movies, anyway.”

“Hey!” The brunet bristles, “Rudolph and the Grinch ARE classics!” Todd laughs.

“I figured you’d like those.” A pause. “Did you really watch It’s a Wonderful Life this morning?”

Neil shrugs. “Is that the one with Santa Claus?”

“We need to watch it right now.”

“But it’s October 29th! Why aren’t we getting scared right now? Why aren’t we singing along to dancing skeletons right now? Why aren’t we watching Michael Jackson turn into a werewolf right now?!”

“We’re going to watch scary movies during the party. You need to see It’s a Wonderful Life right now.”

“But it’s October!”

“I have candy corn.”

“…. Okay.”

And Todd smiles and Neil is sad at him getting up from under the blanket but the sight of the blond boy coming back with a bowl of candy corn makes everything better as they sit together, under the blanket, eating candy corn, and spending the next two hours and twelve minutes watching James Stewart.

And afterwards, Todd is pretty happy with the result.

“Wow.”

Todd smirks.

“That was so sad.”

Todd nods.

“I loved it.”

The doorbell rings.

“AN ANGEL!”

Neil perks up so violently that Todd is nearly thrown off the couch. Then he realizes that it’s about 6:12.

“They’re here!”

And he scrambles up and rushes to the door and looks through the peep hole to see the gentle face of a giant. He opens the door.

Neil is still staring like an eager puppy, thinking an angel is going to fly into the room.

Instead it’s an extremely tall boy with dark hair and a very gentle face. He has a bundle of plastic bags in his arms and an umbrella hanging from his wrist.

“Hi Pitts.”

“Hey Todd! I brought the decorations. They’re mostly red and gold, because I know Charlie likes that, but there are some different colors in there somewhere. Oh, and I brought over a candle for your home.” He smiles gently as he places the bags into Todd’s arms then looks his friend over. “What are you wearing?”

“Oh, I-uh…” Todd looks down at the flannel and sweatpants. Certainly not his typical garb, and all of the stuff he takes into his hands makes him a bit flustered. “Uhm…”

“Who is that sitting on your couch? They’re staring at me.”

“Oh!” Todd whips around to see Neil stand. “This is Neil. Neil, this is Gerard Pitts.” Todd is blushing furiously.

Neil walks around the couch to shake the boy’s hand after he places his umbrella in the container by the door. “It’s nice to meet you!”

“You too! You can call me Pitts.”

“Ah, yes! I’ve heard the plethora of unique names in your friend group.”

“Yeah, I promise I’m not the only one with a weird nickname. It keeps it interesting, anyway.” He continues to shake his hand. “How do you know Todd, by the way?”

“We’re neighbors.” Neil supplies a glowing smile. He stops shaking his hand when he turns his smile towards Todd. “He needed some sugar.”

Todd’s face turns even redder. He almost drops everything in his arms as he jumps at the loud ring of the doorbell. It is very sudden and very loud and Todd is very flustered.

“I think it’s Knox.” Gerard predicts. “I saw Chris driving him around the street trying to park.”

Todd places the bags on the ground and checks through the peep hole before opening the door to his friend. “Hey Todd! I brought pizza!”

Todd stands aside to have his swoopy-haired friend Knox walk inside. He is carrying a cold pizza wrapped in saran wrap on his right forearm as he puts his own umbrella in the container. “Chris helped me make it! It was a lot of fun, but damn if it wasn’t hard as hell to make.”

Neil laughs.

“Oh, hello!” The pizza boy says with a wide grin on his face as he turns towards the darker haired boy. “Nice to meet you…”

“The name’s Neil Perry.” Neil sticks his hand out. “It’s nice to meet you!”

“Knox Overstreet.” Knox switches the pizza around and shakes his hand while precariously holding the pizza on his other forearm. (It’s on a pizza pan how did he keep it on a pizza pan?). “Wait, did you say Perry?”

Neil nods.

“Isn’t your dad a lawyer or something?” He places his hand back on the pan.

Neil nods once again, a little more solemnly.

“He took my father’s case a few years back!” A pause. “He’s terrifying.”

Neil nods yet again. “Yes, he is. I vote we don’t talk about it too much."

And with that one sentence, the whole demeanor of the boy changes and everyone in the room can tell that it hurts a bit. They follow the suggestion and mention him no more.

“You might want to put the pizza in the oven or something so we can warm it up, Knox.” Todd says as he places the candle Pitts gave him on a table in the living room.

Knox nods, already beginning to pick at the plastic wrap to remove it, before looking Todd over for a second. “Are you going to change Todd? Whose clothes are those?” He makes his way over to the oven to place the pizza inside.

Todd gets flustered again. “Yeah, I uh- I’ll change. I just want to wait for Meeks to get here first.”

“I thought he was picking up Charlie?” Knox calls from the kitchen, closing the oven door.

Pitts perks up. “No, he’s-"

There’s a heavy knock on the door.

Todd, still standing near the door, looks through the peep hole to see bright red hair, glasses, freckles, and a scowl.

He opens it.

“Pitts! I thought you were going to give me a ride!” An angry red head walks into the room, dripping water on the ground and carrying a large dish in his hands and a gift bag on his arm.

“I was going to go pick you up, but I forgot the candle for Todd halfway to your house, and by the time I drove back home and got back into my car, I forgot what I was even doing.” He seems a little sheepish as he gestures to the candle sitting on the tiny, decorative table. “Didn’t you say you were going to get a ride?”

“No, I said I still NEEDED a ride. You know I hate driving in the rain.” The red head turns to his blond friend. “By the way, here you go, Todd. My mom made you a fresh batch of macaroni and cheese because she knew you were going to be alone all weekend and you have trouble cooking.”

“I don’t have trouble.” He mumbles under his breath as he accepts the large dish. This is a lot of macaroni and cheese. “Thank you.” He says aloud.

“You just need to refrigerate it and then stick it in the oven when you want to eat it.” He gives a kind smile, still dripping considerably all over the ground.

Knox walks back into the room to greet his friend, only to find him turned into a leaky faucet. “Hii-aaaa…. Why are you all wet, Meeks?”

The red head looks over to his tall friend. “I didn’t have an umbrella.” He nearly seethes, dropping the gift bag on a table. “I lost it last April. That’s another reason why I wanted a ride.”

And suddenly Meeks’ eyes catch sight of a dark haired stranger, giving a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry.” He apologizes as he walks over to Neil, sloshing a bit. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Steven Meeks.”

“Neil Perry.” The boy says cheerfully, shaking a damp hand. “I would give you some clothes too, but this isn’t my house.”

Everyone is perplexed except for the speaker of those words and the puppy who is still blushing something awful. “I’ll get you a towel, Meeks. Do you want a change of clothes too?” Todd mumbles as he walks by slowly.

“No, it’s okay, Todd. I have a change of clothes in the car. I’ll take that towel though. Oh, and plates and forks and stuff are in that bag. Also, does anybody have an umbrella I could borrow?”

“You can use mine, Meeks.” Gerard offers as he walks to the front door behind the red head and picks up a black umbrella with a green and blue trim.

“I feel like it’s the least you could do at this point, Pitts. Thank you.” He gives a small smile to the boy, indicating he really isn’t that mad. He does shoot a sharp look to Knox, though, who is laughing from the doorway of the kitchen.

“Is it time for you to change, Todd?” Neil asks in a hushed tone. Todd shivers slightly as he looks up at the boy. The other three are too preoccupied with what is happening at the door.

“Uhm, yeah, I guess so. But I feel weird about leaving guests alone. Not that I don’t trust you all, but I feel like it’s r-rude.”

“Don’t worry!” Neil says in a chipper voice. “I’m going to help everyone start decorating! Also, it’ll give me a chance to put some Halloween movies on.” The boy provides a sly grin as Todd rolls his eyes a bit.

“Okay, fine, I’ll be right back.” And Todd ventures over to the hallway while Neil stays behind to help put up the decorations.

~-*-~

Chapter Text

And of course Charlie is fashionably late, as always.

While Todd was off getting on a nice pair of clothes and the towel for Meeks, the rest of the boys were in the living room decorating. When they were done, they all sat around on the couch, squished together (Gerard, Knox, Todd, Neil, and Meeks, from left to right and in that order) eating candy corn and jumping on occasion (because Knox would jump every now and again and it would cause everyone to get a little unsettled).

But not until after they all asked if Todd had shaped the cake accordingly. He blushed and led them to the fridge, where they all shared a laugh and commended Todd on his good shaping skills. Neil wasn’t going to let them know that it was actually him who shaped the cake. He figured Todd would appreciate withholding the sentiment.

So here they are, squished on the comfy couch and watching Jamie Lee Curtis screaming and running.

“THIS is what October 29th should be like.”

And maybe no one in the room understands what Neil’s outburst exactly means except for Todd, but he isn’t about to explain to anybody.

And then the doorbell rings.

“It’s Charlie!” Pitts exclaims, excitedly.

“Fucking finally, I could have dragged him over here with my bare hands faster than this.” Meeks grumbles only slightly, sounding rather amused over anything else.

They all get up off of the couch, mostly together because there is no other way, and begin to walk over to the door.

“Remember, we’re all going to sing as soon as I open the door.” Todd reminds, to which everybody nods, Neil in the back of the pack probably because he wasn't really invited until just today.

Todd looks through the peep hole to see a slightly dancing Charlie, his umbrella tucked under his arm.

The door opens, and the room is filled with a chorus of happy birthday.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUU…”

And of course Gerard is the one to do the cha-cha-chas.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUU…”

And of course Knox joins in on the cha-cha-chas.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CHARLES NUWANDA DALTOOONNNN…”

And of course everyone gets a little hung up on what name they’re going to say.

“HAPPY BIRRRTHDAYYYYY TOOOOO YOUUUUUUUU!”

And of course each note creates a different dramatic motion through Charlie’s body. From closing the door behind him in shock to total surprise on his face to a hand clutching at his heart to slamming himself against the door to putting the back of his other hand on his forehead to slightly sliding down the door.

So when they all begin to applaud, Todd having moved past everybody to the back of the strange line they have formed, Charlie gives a very sincere look of admiration to nearly every soul in the room, and that’s the best part of it all.

“You all remembered!” Charlie exclaims.

“You knew this was your party.” Meeks counters, rolling his eyes.

Charlie turns to Gerard.

“Pittsie! Baby, why are you all the way up there? Come down here, c’mon.”

And Pitts rolls his eyes as he leans down a bit for Charlie to grab his face and place a kiss on either cheek.

He then walks over to Knox.

“Knoxious, angel face, I would give you a kiss on the cheek, but I feel like I need to give you a real one. See what you’re missing in Chris.”

And so he takes Knox by the face and lays a lingering kiss on his mouth before a rather violent one. He pulls away with Knox looking only slightly surprised, as if this kind of stuff happens all the time.

“C’mon Charlie.” He shakes his head and there’s a blush on his face, a smirk on Charlie’s, and then a scoff can be heard from beside the two.

Charlie looks over to see his disgruntled boyfriend. “Awh, darling, don’t be upset. You know I love no one the way I love you.” He sounds sincere about it.

And Meeks knows that he’s the only one that Charlie calls darling, so he’s okay with it when Charlie saunters up to him.

And it’s Meeks who grabs Charlie’s collar and pulls his boyfriend in for a very long and rather fervent kiss. But it’s Todd who clears his throat because the other two guests have turned their heads and decided they don’t need to see the two exchange saliva one more time. Charlie makes a big show of pulling away, like he makes a big show of everything, and Meeks gives the birthday boy a humorous look while shaking his head.

“You’re an ass.” He says, a smirk on his face.

“And YOU have a nice one.” Charlie winks and points at his boyfriend, and it’s just a little more crude than what he normally spits out, but they let it slide because it’s his birthday.

“And the one who made it all happen! Todd, my boy! How are you? Thank you for my lovely party.” He takes Todd by his shoulders and kisses his forehead. Todd squeaks a little bit and the sound of a soft coo can be heard from behind him. Charlie opens his eyes to come across a familiar face.

“Neil Perry? Is that really Neil Perry?”

A dark headed figure comes out from hiding behind the small blond.

“THE Charlie Dalton?”

Charlie gently moves Todd out of the way and opens his arms out to Neil.

“Neil!” He envelops the boy into a strong embrace. “You’re the last person I expected to see here! How are you doing? What brought you here?”

“You know each other?” Knox asks curiously.

“Yeamph!” Neil says from Charlie’s shoulder.

“We met in a coffee shop a couple of weeks ago!” Charlie exclaims excitedly as he lets go of Neil and opens up to face the other boys, standing on Neil’s side. “We hit it off right away.”

The red headed boy is a little skeptical.

“Don’t worry darling, not the way you and I hit it off.” And Charlie is sincere in his sentiment as he moves to place his arm around the red head and kiss the temple of his boyfriend and it’s an incredibly sweet gesture that is actually more common than most people would expect. Meeks visibly melts into the movement.

“So, you met our baby Todd?” Charlie smirks.

“I am not your baby.” The poor puppy is grumbling now, oh dear.

“Oh, sorry, does that mean you’re Neil’s baby now?”

“CHARLIE.”

Neil giggles. GIGGLES. What is happening.

“How did you two meet?” Charlie tightens his arm around Meeks and the freckled boy doesn’t seem to mind much (although he often complains it makes him feel a little small) and the other two boys come closer to the conversation.

“We’re neighbors! He came over because he needed some sugar.” Neil supplies, a small smirk on his face.

“Ah, did you give him some?” Charlie matches his grin and suddenly everyone is looking at Todd.

And it looks like the poor thing has been sunburnt he’s blushing so much. He’s shocked that his immediate reaction is to hide in Neil’s shoulder, but he can’t even do that because everyone is looking at him and then Neil looks down at him with an extremely kind smile and looks Todd straight in the eyes and practically purrs: “We made you a cake Charlie.”

“CAKE!”

And the birthday boy is suddenly five years old as he rushes to the kitchen. Knox is sparked to life. “Wait! Don’t ruin your appetite! I made pizza!”

~-*-~

“Why are we watching the Thriller music video?”

“Because it’s October 29th.”

“Don’t tell me the date of my birthday, it’s my birthday, I should know.”

“Technically it’s October 30th now. It’s 1:04 in the morning.”

“Shut up, Gerard. Now again, Neil, why are we watching the Thriller music video.”

“SHHH, CHARLIE, THIS IS THE BEST PART.”

“I bet you know this whole dance, don’t you.”

“I’m surprised you would question that.”

“Please demonstrate.”

After admiring the phallic cake for a good 10 minutes, (“Nice piping, Todd my dear.” “Stop kissing my forehead, Charlie.” “You love it.”) Charlie and the rest of the boys ate up the pizza that was done baking in the oven and piled up on the couch to a big bowl of candy corn and plate fulls of dick shaped cake. (“I call the balls!” “Of course you do Meeks, darling. The real question is: who gets the head?”)

They played a little bit of Iggy Pop while eating. (“Neil is the one who showed this album to me! That’s why I sent it to you, Todd!”)

And now Neil is getting up from the couch to face the group of boys and begin to mimic the dance moves on screen behind him. Gerard is snorting.

“I know this too!” Knox jumps up quickly and begins to follow the moves of Neil, having to look out of the corner of his eye at Neil on occasion.

“How do you even know this, Knox?” Meeks asks, extremely curious.

“I’ve seen 13 Going On 30 too many times.”

And now the two boys are flanking the television and mimicking the dance on the TV move for move (Neil a little more fluid than Knox, but that doesn’t matter) and Charlie begins to hoot and holler and ask if anyone has any dollar bills and Gerard is still guffawing and Meeks can only smirk.

But Todd can’t take his eyes off of Neil.

And he doesn’t know if he’s fantasizing something terrible again or if this is actually happening.

But then he does begin to fantasize something terrible because there is a lot of hip thrusting in this dance. Todd has never noticed that before. And he’s watching the natural way that Neil’s hips sway back and forth and he doesn’t know what to do when he grabs…

Why is someone grabbing his arm?

“Come on, Todd-o! Join us! I’ll teach you!”

And the tall brunet is behind Todd now, his back pressed up against Todd while Todd’s limbs are being moved against his will and he doesn’t know what to do as he becomes a puppet for the boy behind him and entertainment for the boys in front of him.

“YEAH Todd! Look at him go! Our baby is growing up.” Charlie gushes to Meeks, who can only shake his head.

“I am NOT your baby!” Todd’s face turns bright red as he hears Neil’s angelic laugh right against his ear. How did I get here?

They stay until about 3:10 am, when they all decide they should probably head out.

Todd thanks Pitts for the candle, and Knox for making the yummy pizza. They give their thanks to Todd for the wonderful cake and the nice get together. Todd makes sure to send them best wishes and safe travels on their way home. “Let me know when you get home safely, okay?”

Todd gives his gratitude to Meeks yet again for the mac and cheese.

“Let me know if it’s any good. My mom loves to hear all that stuff. She doesn’t like to admit it, but she needs the validation.”

“She shouldn’t, she’s such a good cook.”

Meeks nods. “She doesn’t feel like it sometimes.” He rolls his eyes in disbelief.

“Don’t forget to give Todd a little more sugar, Neil.” Charlie winks at the tall brunet, who is standing by Todd’s side. The two blush, Todd much deeper than Neil’s, Neil with a small smile on his face. “I knew you two would hit it off even better than the two of us did.”

And he winks again with a little smirk and Meeks drags him out of the house. “Stop mortifying the poor souls. They’re trying to harness their love for each other.”

“I’m just trying to help! If I don’t push them along, they’ll never do it.”

“Todd is braver than you think.”

With that, the door closes.

The two boys are left alone, like how it started.

“… So… Is that true?”

Todd looks up in surprise. “Huh?”

“You’re braver than you seem, huh?”

Todd finds the courage to cross his arms. This has become a sensitive subject for him. “Yes. I am. I think you have had a few examples of that.”

“I would love to have some more.” Neil has that look of sincere admiration on his face again and Todd loses all words for a second.

Before: “My clothes!”

“They’re very nice.” Neil looks down at Todd’s button down.

“No, my other clothes! I left them at your house. I completely forgot they were over there.”

“I didn’t.”

Todd looks up at him, confused.

“It gives me another reason to see you, right?” And Todd wants to throw up at how cheesy that is. He also wants to kill the sparklers and bubbles that have been let loose in his chest. “When are your parents coming home?”

“Monday night. Maybe Tuesday morning.”

“Why don’t we get some sleep and then you can come over in the afternoon to pick up your clothes. We can bake some cookies, or watch some Halloween movies on the couch, or watch some more old Christmas movies that you like.”

Todd can’t breathe. “That sounds… n-nice. Really nice.”

“Only if you bring the candy corn.”

“Do you only like me for my candy corn?”

“Why don’t we find out.”

Todd loves that shit eating grin too much.