Chapter Text
The taste of blood hadn’t gone away in the last three hours since lunch. It coated the inside of Finney’s mouth and no matter how many times he went to the water fountain, it wouldn’t go away. Starting a fight was stupid, but he had to. It was the only surefire way to get detention, but maybe he should have picked someone who wasn’t one of his normal bullies and bigger than him.
It felt wrong to actually pick on someone smaller than him, though, and he knew that he’d at least get the attention and cause a real fight. Anything less wouldn’t get him in trouble. The second they were dragged to the principal’s, Finney said he started the fight. For a minute, it didn’t seem that the principal believed him, so Finney pulled out a few choice words and got what he wanted: after school detention for the whole week.
When the final bell rang, Finney didn’t leave the building. Being stuck in the school longer wasn’t really his idea of a good time, but it was far better than the alternative. His dad never noticed if Finney didn’t come home but he absolutely knew if he was there. Lately, the drinking had gotten worse and it was almost as if Finney’s existence was somehow offensive. He could only handle so many hits.
While Gwen could go hide at a friend’s, Finney had nowhere to go. The one time he tried to hang out at the park, he was hunted down by the same person who he tried to fight this morning. He had no friends to hang out with or anywhere safe to go. At least detention gave him time to waste and hopefully Terrence would be passed out drunk by the time he had to go home at five.
There were two desks next to each other in the center of the room which made it even more prison-like. It was going to be a boring two hours but it would at least be quiet and there was a teacher so he was safe. His name was written on the chalkboard when Finney got there, only accompanied by one other name.
Below was the one rule of detention: No Talking.
Finney set his backpack down and slid into one of the desks. He could tell the instructor was surprised that he was there even if she was the one who wrote his name on the board. Finney had her history class in second period and he was always a good, albeit quiet, student.
“You can work on homework,” she informed him. “But the standing rule of detention is that you’re not supposed to talk.”
Finney got out his math textbook. He’d barely set it on the table when the door crashed open and someone else entered the room. Finney didn’t have to glance up to know who it was; he’d seen the name on the board and everyone at their school knew who Robin Arellano was.
Robin’s reputation as the toughest freshman in their high school was well known. He was very likely the strongest student at the school, probably with the exception of Vance Hopper. The two had never fought, but every other fight Robin had been in, he won. The first day of high school, Finney had been walking to campus and caught the end of the first fight of the year. Robin had apparently been approached by a senior who wanted to try his luck and didn’t come out on top.
Finney was pretty sure they had never talked even though they shared several classes. He didn’t know Robin, but he was grateful that the other boy had never targeted him. On the contrary, Finney was pretty sure that Robin had never thrown the first punch from the fights he’d seen. He must’ve, though, because why would be in detention otherwise?
When Robin sat down in the open desk beside Finney, he crossed his arms over his chest. Finney was surprised to see that there were no wrappings on his knuckles. And, not only was there an absence of gauze, but there was no broken skin or any evidence of a fight.
It wasn’t really his business, so Finney took out a piece of paper and began to work on his homework. It was easy enough but he found himself purposefully taking a long time so he wouldn’t finish everything and then have to sit in his boredom. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Robin also got out his math textbook and a piece of paper, but he didn’t seem eager to do any work.
After the first twenty minutes passed, Finney felt something nudge against his arm. Glancing over, he saw a folded piece of paper being pushed at him by Robin. Finney glanced up and saw the teacher grading papers and not paying them any mind. So, he quietly accepted the piece of paper and unfolded it to see why Robin was bothering him.
Hi :)
That was it. One scribbled word and a smiley face. Finney gave Robin a side eye and could see him tapping his fingers on the desk in a steady, yet impatient, rhythm, as if he was waiting for a reply. Even though he should be doing his homework, Finney wrote a response.
Hi?
He slid the paper back over.
Robin eagerly snatched it from the table, making Finney’s head snap over to the teacher to make sure she hadn’t noticed. After a few minutes, he felt the piece of paper nudge his arm again.
Unlike Robin, Finney remained quiet as he dragged the paper over toward himself and read whatever had been written.
What’re you in for?
Finney furrowed his eyebrows before writing back.
We’re not in prison?
Robin’s scribbling was the only sound in the classroom for a few seconds. He pushed the paper back more quietly this time, which Finney appreciated. Already being in trouble was one thing; he didn’t need to get caught breaking detention rules. Maybe they weren’t verbally talking, but they were still probably breaking some kind of rule.
You’re right, it’s worse. Prisoners can talk to each other and don’t have homework :(
Finney couldn’t bite back his smile at the scribbles. He didn’t think Robin would be funny or actually want to interact with him. It was probably just because he was bored, but it was more fun than a math assignment. So, Finney wrote back after a quick glance to make sure they hadn’t been caught.
I started a fight.
Robin’s smirk was visible from the corner of Finney’s eye.
You win?
Finney huffed. Anyone who knew of him probably assumed he lost the fight which was definitely true, but admitting it was still annoying. He wrote his response and tossed the paper toward Robin instead of sliding it over nicely.
I’ve got a black eye, split lip, and all I can taste is blood. What do you think?
The paper was snatched off the table by the teacher who was overseeing detention. It made Finney flinch a bit because he hadn’t even noticed her walking over and he didn’t really feel comfortable with adults looming over him.
“I believe I said you’re not supposed to talk,” the teacher said, but she looked almost humored by them.
“I’m not here because I’m actually in trouble, though,” Robin argued. “And it wasn’t even talking, we were quiet.”
There was an air of familiarity in the way he spoke with the teacher that made Finney think it likely wasn’t Robin’s first time interacting with her or being in detention. He sounded far too relaxed and optimistic even though they’d been caught. Maybe Robin was a good student and knew the teacher; Finney wouldn’t know, they didn’t have history together.
“You’re not going to get your work done if you’re passing notes,” the teacher said, sighing.
“I can’t get my work done because I still don’t know what’s going on,” Robin complained. He sounded a little embarrassed and crossed his arms over his chest.
“What’s the work?” Finney asked softly.
He was nervous to step in on the conversation, but the only thing Robin had out was his math book. If he needed help with math, Finney was confident in his own skills. He’d done in-class tutoring when he finished his assignments before. The only reason he didn’t finish his work in class today was because his head was pounding from his fight.
Robin slid the math book toward him. “This bullshit.”
“Language,” the teacher said, but she didn’t sound that firm about it and went to sit back down at her desk.
“I can help,” Finney offered, making eye contact with Robin for the first time. “I tutor in class sometimes.”
Robin seemed relieved, all of his features relaxing at the offer. “Please do, detention is basically my last stop before suspension if I fail another test.” He looked up at the teacher. “Or do we have to be quiet for the next hour and a half?”
The teacher shook her head with a humored smile. Clearly she’d put up with Robin before and was fond of him. Any other teacher probably would’ve told him to shut up and threatened more detention. “As long as you stay on task, that’s fine,” she said, returning to grading papers.
They were taking the same kind of math even though they were in different periods, so their homework was pretty much the same assignments. As they started working, Finney quickly got an understanding of how much Robin was struggling. It wasn’t like he wasn’t trying; he’d done all of the work, but he just got confused and mixed up steps.
Finney was patient and he was good at seeing where the confusion stemmed from. Every time he walked Robin through a problem, it seemed to get easier for him. At no point did Robin ask if he could just copy Finney’s work so he could be done; it was obvious that he genuinely wanted to learn.
“Try these ones on your own,” Finney instructed when they got to the last few problems.
Robin did as he was told. It took him some time to work his way through them, but he was ecstatic when he showed Finney the final result and was informed that he had gotten them all right. There was still twenty minutes left by the time they both completed all of their assignments.
“Can we go?” Robin asked, propping his feet up on the desk. “We’re done with homework.”
“That’s not why Finney is in detention,” the teacher said. “But you can leave if you’ve completed your work.”
Finney expected Robin to pack up his stuff and go. There was no reason to sit around for another twenty minutes while Finney dealt with the consequences of his intentional actions to land him there in the first place. Besides, Finney had no interest in leaving early even if he was allowed to.
Robin huffed. “Can we at least talk?” he asked, pulling out a piece of paper. “Or should we start writing notes again?”
The way Robin talked to adults was foreign to Finney. He talked to their teacher like he didn’t see her as an authority figure. Granted, he listened earlier and was asking permission, but his verbiage was relaxed and didn’t hold the same respect that Finney was scared not to show an adult.
“Fine,” the teacher agreed, much to Finney’s surprise. “Just keep it down.”
Robin cast her a cheesy grin before turning almost all the way in his seat to face Finney. “So, you didn’t win?” he asked quietly. It wasn’t talking, but it certainly wasn’t a whisper.
Finney wasn’t sure Robin was capable of whispering. “No, I didn’t.”
“Why’d you start a fight you couldn’t win?”
“I don’t know.”
Robin wasn’t convinced. “Was it your first time?”
“Starting a fight? Yes. Getting my ass kicked? No.”
Finney was talking dryly and not looking over at the boy next to him even though he could feel Robin’s eyes on him. He didn’t have any friends so having someone talk with him and not be threatening or asking for help with homework was weird.
“Someone’s bothering you?” Robin asked, scribbling on a piece of paper like he couldn’t keep his hands still while conversing.
“It’s not a big deal.”
“Pretty sure you just made it so I don’t have to sit in this stupid room for the rest of the week, so it’s a big deal to me.” Robin glanced up to make sure the teacher wasn’t listening to him. “Who is it?”
Finney scoffed. “What’re you gonna do, go beat them up?”
“Wow, can you read minds?” Robin asked, feigning shock and awe simultaneously. “I won’t fight them, I’ll just tell them to stop in a very persuasive way.”
“The persuasion being your fists?”
“Finn, you can literally read minds.”
“That’s not my name.”
“No shit, it’s a nickname. Thought you were smart.”
Finney didn’t fight the smirk pulling at his lips. “Smarter than you.”
“So smart that you picked a fight that you couldn’t win,” Robin said, nodding solemnly like he was agreeing with Finney and hadn’t just thrown in his own insult. “Stick to books, Finn. I’ll do the fighting.”
They were dismissed right at the end of the twenty minutes and Robin almost rushed to get his bag on his shoulder to escape the room. He did wait until Finney was ready before heading out the door, but he was tapping his foot impatiently.
“You ever got detention before?” Robin asked as they walked off of the high school campus. “Actually, no, don't tell me. You’ve probably never done anything wrong, so this was definitely your first time, huh?”
“Yeah, it was.”
“They shouldn’t punish you for finally standing up against Matty,” Robin said.
Finney never mentioned who he’d fought, but Robin seemed like the kind of person who was in the general conversation loops in school. Plus, Matty had been bothering him for almost three years at this point. Even though he started the fight and absolutely wasn’t standing up for himself, Finney didn’t correct Robin.
He barely knew Robin and had very little interest in telling him that starting the fight was to escape going home and suffering his dad’s abuse. Picking a fight and having Matty kick his ass was the lesser of the two evils and got him a week of spending two more hours away from home after school.
“It’s just one week,” Finney said, already thinking ahead to how he’d manage to get himself in trouble the next week to keep it going.
“You got the whole week?!” Robin exclaimed. “I only ever started one fight and they just gave me one day of detention!”
Finney shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t know.”
Robin stopped as they came to a crossroad. “I gotta go that way,” he said, pointing in the opposite direction from where Finney was heading. “Thanks for helping me with that math stuff, no one ever explains it right.”
“Yeah, anytime,” Finney said, forcing a smile. He turned on his heel to walk toward his part of the neighborhood.
It was a short walk, but he was dragging his feet. With it being October, it was already getting dark at five and he relied on the streetlamps to guide his path. As he got closer to his home, to the less frequented part of the neighborhood with older, one story houses, most of the street lamps were dim or out completely. Glass crunched under his shoes as he walked and the cold air cut through his jacket.
Finney quietly slipped in through the front door, relieved that it was silent. His dad was in his recliner, listening to a record and half asleep with an empty beer bottle in his hand. There were three other empty bottles on the side table. It made Finney sick to look at, but he didn’t idle by and wait for his dad to fully wake up.
Quietly, Finney rushed toward his room. As he did, he saw light under the door in Gwen’s room and opened the door to find his sister reading a book on the floor. It was pretty rare for their dad to target her unless she did something to actively piss him off, but Finney still checked on her.
“Where were you?” Gwen whispered.
Finney stepped into the room and shut the door. “I have detention all week.”
Gwen narrowed her eyes. “Detention?”
“I started a fight.”
“On purpose?”
“Yeah.”
There was no point in hiding it from Gwen. If she went home early, she’d be left alone and didn’t have to deal with being hated for existing in the same way Finney was. Or, she could go to a friend’s house. Gwen had safety that Finney didn’t and she knew that so she didn’t prod.
Finney was weirdly proud of himself, even if he was sore from the fight and still had the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. His plan had been successful in getting detention and he managed to tutor the strongest kid in school so he’d probably be spared from Robin ever going after him. For the first time in years, he fell asleep easily with a smile on his face.
~~~
The following day introduced a shift in Finney’s life. The day started mostly normally and remained that way until lunch.
Like usual, no one sat with Finney at lunch. There were other students around him and some would give brief smiles and show some kindness, but they weren’t his friends. Still, it was better than hiding in the bathroom or going outside where someone could go after him.
Finney sat at his usual spot and took out his lunch. It was never anything great since he was always rushing to get out of the house in the morning. Lunch today was an apple and a snack bag of peanuts; it was enough to hold him over but not so much that his dad would scream at him for being greedy and selfish.
As if it wasn’t Terrence’s responsibility to feed his two kids.
Finney tore open the bag of peanuts and started to pick his way through them when someone settled in the chair across from him. He snapped to attention, his gut knotting since no one sat next to him. His immediate unease shifted to confusion when he saw Robin across from him.
“Hey, Finn,” Robin said as he took out his own lunch. “What’s happening?”
“Nothing, really,” Finney answered. “What’re you sitting here for?”
Robin scoffed. “Clearly you need friends, Finn. I’m helping you,” he said as he opened a tupperware container. “It’s healthy for you to sit next to someone so popular.”
Finney made a show of looking around because no one was next to them. “What popularity?”
Robin didn’t offer an answer and just grinned.
“Where do you usually go during lunch?” Finney asked, since he’d never seen Robin in the lunchroom before.
“I hang outside in case anyone wants to pick a fight. It’s rude to the janitors to get blood on the floor in here, you know?”
Finney rolled his eyes before he dumped half of the pack of peanuts in his mouth. He chewed them slowly, internally disappointed by the lack of salt on them.
“I passed my math quiz this morning,” Robin said. “First time this year I’ve gotten an A. Mr. Johnson asked if I cheated and was being a dick about it and I kind of argued so we get to hang out in detention again.”
“You got detention for arguing?”
“And swearing.” Robin shrugged. “That hijo de puta deserved it for thinking I couldn’t pass a quiz. He checked my hands and my bag and under my desk to make sure I wasn’t cheating somehow. Not my fault he can’t teach.”
Finney finished his peanuts and crinkled the plastic in his hands. “Well, congrats on passing.”
Robin thanked him with a grin and began to eat his food. He got through half of it while watching Finney eat his apple before sliding the tupperware over to Finney.
“What’s that for?”
“My Mamá packs me so much food and snacks,” Robin said. “She’d have a heart attack if she saw your lunch. Don’t even think it counts as lunch, Finn, it’s two snacks. What’d you have for breakfast?”
Finney didn’t answer him and dug into the food that had been offered. He wouldn’t usually accept food from someone else like that, but he was starving and Robin was the one who told him that he should eat. Besides, he helped make sure that Robin passed his math quiz, so it was kind of a trade off. As he ate, Finney saw Robin slide him a bag with a pastry of some kind.
“Thanks,” Finney murmured when he finished eating. “I just forgot to eat this morning.”
“Hm, and I thought you were the smart one,” Robin teased as he put away the empty container. “You wanna come to my house this weekend?”
Finney furrowed his eyebrows. “You need help with homework?”
“No, idiota, to hang out.”
Finney didn’t have to know Spanish to hear the insult, but that wasn’t his main concern. “Why?”
“Because we’re friends,” Robin said, like it was obvious.
“Really?”
Robin nodded with eagerness. “Yeah, you’re cool and I like hanging out with you. Plus, you need friends.”
Finney glared at him without much heat. “Because people are lining up to hang out with you, huh?”
“People get intimidated by hot people. I’m just too sexy, Finn.”
“You looked in a mirror lately?”
“Have you?” Robin shot back, bluntly looking at the bruise under Finney’s eye from his fight the day before. “How’s your eye feel?”
Finney shrugged. “Could be worse, I guess.”
The lunch bell rang and they finished up to go to their next period. In all of the afternoon classes they shared, Robin abandoned his normal seat to sit next to Finney. They didn’t talk, but just like in detention, Robin would write notes and Finney couldn’t resist participating.
Having a friend was a foreign concept; Finney thought Robin just liked having him around for tutoring since he finally passed a math test. Instead, Robin hung out with him and kept making playful jokes like they’d been friends for years and hadn’t met less than forty eight hours ago.
When they got to detention that afternoon, Finney helped Robin work through his homework again. The teacher that oversaw didn’t seem to care that they talked as long as they completed their work. No one liked Mr. Johnson, not even the other teachers, so she probably didn’t care that Robin was in detention for what he said to the math instructor.
“Lame that you got detention tomorrow,” Robin said on their walk off of campus that evening. “Maybe I’ll curse out another teacher.”
Finney shoved his shoulder. “Don’t be an idiot.”
“I’m learning more about math in two days than I have all year, Finn. I’m literally the smartest human alive now,” Robin exclaimed, shoving him right back.
They approached the juncture where they would part to go to their separate homes. Both hesitated for a brief second. It was subtle, barely there, and neither dared to mention it.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” Robin asked.
“Considering we go to the same school, yeah,” Finney responded dryly. “Night, Robin.”
Robin flipped him off with a smile before starting down the road toward his own house.
Finney did the same, dragging his feet like he had the night before. The glass crunched under his feet, the wind was bitter and nipped his skin, but Finney actually felt happy. Truly feeling happy wasn’t common for him. There were the occasional bursts of excitement or happiness, but not something warm and consistent like this. It didn’t go away even when he went home.
As he had the night before, Finney opened the door quietly and slipped in. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his dad was asleep in his recliner. They hadn’t interacted in the last couple of days with Finney coming home late and Terrence drinking himself to sleep. It had been the most peaceful two days for as long as Finney could remember.
He made himself a quick snack and disappeared to his room.
The light was off in Gwen’s room and when Finney checked, she wasn’t there. It didn’t worry him; she sometimes stayed the night at friends’ houses during the week. Because Finney had detention and was getting back later, it was probably smarter for her to stay away from the house. There was no telling when Terrence would suddenly snap and decide to redirect his anger toward her since Finney wasn’t home to take the brunt of it.
Like the night before, Finney fell asleep with a smile pulling at his lips.
~~~
The next couple of days were surprisingly calm.
When Terrence asked at breakfast on Thursday where Finney was in the evenings, Finney lied that he’d been tutoring other students. Technically it wasn’t that much of a lie; he was helping Robin, but he also wasn’t allowed to leave the school grounds before five. Much to Finney’s surprise, Terrence just nodded and seemed fine with the answer.
Robin didn’t have detention anymore, but he still showed up. The teacher who hosted detention reminded him that he didn’t have to be there, but Robin stayed anyway. He insisted that he’d just end up back there again if he failed another test anyway before sitting down and taking out his homework.
The homework didn’t take as long since Robin was understanding it, so they spent a lot of detention just talking.
Finney was pretty sure the teacher was just happy to see him have a friend because she seemed to pity him earlier in the school year. He didn’t care how she felt; he liked having Robin as a friend and if they could spend detention just hanging out and Finney could avoid being at home, that was a win.
Friday sent things back to a kind of normalcy that Finney knew.
Gwen was in middle school and didn’t have school on Friday, so she spent the night at her friend’s house. Most days, even if she stayed somewhere else, they still walked to school together. It wasn’t a big deal; Finney could walk alone.
On his walk, Finney was mulling over what the weekend would hold. He was going to hang out with Robin but it was a little nerve wracking to think about. They’d just become friends and Finney hadn’t ever gone over to a friend’s house before. It was going to be new, but Robin was funny and nice and all of the things that Finney felt a good friend would be. The nerves would hopefully go away as soon as he got to Robin’s.
A harsh grip on his bicep pulled Finney from his thoughts. His bag fell from his hand and his back slammed into the ground, knocking the air out of him. Taking a shaky breath, Finney glanced up and saw Matty standing over him, leering. He internally cursed as he tried to sit up, only to have a foot slam into his side.
Finney curled up to protect the spot that had been struck.
“Did you really think you could fight me, fag?” Matty sneered, landing another harsh kick to Finney’s chest where he couldn’t protect himself. “Fucking idiot.”
Finney coughed because of the force against his chest and looked around frantically. There was no one around them; they were near the back of the school where nobody really walked and anyone who did wasn’t going to step in and help him. He didn’t fight back; Finney cowered while Matty hurled insults at him and landed hit after hit on him.
By the time the first bell rang and Matty left, all Finney could taste was metallic blood. His mind was fuzzy as he sat up and wiped under his nose. The sleeve of his shirt was stained crimson where he’d wiped his face. As often as he lost fights and got his ass kicked, Finney was too stubborn to beg them to stop. Even so, it hurt, and he could feel tears welling in his eyes.
The second bell rang and Finney knew he was going to be late. He got to his feet and stumbled a bit because of how dazed he was. After a quick stop in the bathroom to wipe the blood off, Finney shamefully went to his first period and ignored all of the eyes on him as he entered the room. There would be countless rumors by second period.
Finney slid into his normal seat where Robin sat beside him. He barely sat down and got his notebook out when a paper nudged against his elbow. The paper crinkled the slightest bit when Finney opened it, but there was enough noise in the room that no one would hear. He read Robin’s untidy scrawl that looked hastily written.
Who was it?
Finney wrote a quick note back.
Pretty sure you can guess
Robin huffed in his seat and tossed the paper back after a few seconds.
Matty?
Finney sighed.
You’re a genius. Think he’ll get to sit with me in detention today?
Robin didn’t write anything back, but Finney could see his eye roll.
They didn’t get a chance to talk because their English teacher made them all move around to work in randomly assigned groups for a project. Every bone in Finney’s body despised group projects. Maybe it would be fun to do with Robin, but he wouldn’t know because they were in different groups. As usual, Finney started on the work and decided he’d do the project alone instead of trying to collaborate.
Occasionally, he’d glance over at his friend who looked deep in thought every time. When Robin felt Finney's stare, he’d offer a small smile and not much else. It was pretty clear Robin wasn’t participating in his own group and Finney decided he’d interrogate Robin at lunch about if he was okay. Usually he’d be the life of a group project and make everyone laugh even if they weren’t getting work done.
Robin didn’t show up for lunch, though.
It hurt more than Finney was willing to admit. He sat at their normal table, alone, wondering where Robin was. Had Finney done something to upset him? There was nothing he could think of that he’d done to cause Robin to just leave him like that. If he were braver, he’d go looking.
But, Finney was scared to do that.
If Robin wanted to be alone, there was no reason Finney would be an exception. Plus, Robin could kick his ass. Sure, they’d become fast friends, but if Finney managed to overstep and piss him off then he definitely wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight against Robin. If he decided to go find his friend, who was to say Robin would want to talk about what was bothering him?
What if Robin hated being comforted and accused Finney of the same things everyone else said about him? Making a friend and then losing that in one week didn’t sound appealing. Everyone called Finney queer for being skinny and sensitive, he didn’t need Robin thinking the same thing.
Finney settled for eating alone.
On Wednesday and Thursday that week, Robin had brought an extra container of whatever he was eating for lunch. The food was always good. Finney had tried to say he didn’t want to take Robin’s food, but the other insisted that his mom always made too much. Today, Finney had to suffer through his gross lunch of a fruit cup and a stale bag of chips.
Throughout lunch, the energy in the building seemed to shift a little bit. It went from the casual, dull atmosphere to something more vibrant. Finney didn’t bother talking to anyone so he didn’t really know what was going on, but everyone seemed to be buzzing. There was also an unusual amount of people who kept looking at him. It continued when he went to his next class and sat in his normal seat.
Robin wasn’t there.
They had fourth period together and had been walking to class side by side after lunch for most of the week. It made Finney’s gut tighten again. He was conflicted; maybe Robin needed help or something? Maybe Finney should’ve gone looking for him.
There were whispers around the classroom and everyone was still excitedly talking about something. No one told Finney, but he could hear mentions of a fight and it made him freeze. Was Robin in a fight? If he was, then why were so many people constantly looking at Finney?
The class started and everyone fell silent, but it didn’t stop them from glancing at Finney. It was obvious they were looking at him; he sat in the back of the room so he was the only one in the path of their eyes. He considered for a second that they might be talking about his fight from that morning, but no one else had been there.
Fifteen minutes into class, the door opened. The principal was escorting Robin into the room and had a quiet word with the teacher of the class before departing.
Robin didn’t seem bothered by being escorted into the room. He had a cocky smirk on his face and sauntered back to his desk to slide into his seat. All eyes followed him as he sat down until they were redirected to the class content.
Finney saw the blood on Robin’s knuckles. “Did you get into a fight?” he whispered, checking to ensure the teacher didn’t catch him talking.
“No, my knuckles just randomly split open. I should probably see a doctor,” Robin responded sarcastically.
Finney kicked his ankle under the desk. “Who was it?”
Robin’s smirk came back. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about Matty fucking with you again.”
“What did you do?” Finney whispered harshly.
“Just talked to him,” Robin said, feigning innocence. “Just a friendly conversation where I asked very non-violently if he’d leave you alone.”
Finney pointedly looked at Robin’s bleeding hands.
“Throwing a punch was my backup plan in case he started talking shit.” Robin wiped off a little blood that had started streaking down his hand. “And he did.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yeah I did. I’m not gonna let someone fuck with my friend.”
Finney felt his gut squeeze, but it wasn’t in the familiar way that came from nerves. It was the kind of gut squeeze that was accompanied by his heart-racing, his face kind of flushing, and a weird happiness settling over him. He fought the feeling back and just offered a small smile before paying attention to the class.
At the end of the class, Robin begged Finney to go to the bathroom with him so he could clean up his knuckles instead of going to class. He claimed it would be boring to clean up his wounds alone.
Finney had math the next period and Robin had history, so neither were classes that they would be in that much trouble for being late to. Even though Mr. Johnson was both a terrible teacher and person to pretty much everyone, he usually ignored Finney because he was quiet and did well in the class.
Robin opened his backpack to pull out a roll of white tape and started to wash his hands to clean off the dried and fresh blood. The cuts never really stopped bleeding during the class. It was a pretty gross sight; his hands were raw and split with blood covering the back of his hand in both dry and wet streaks.
“Did you plan for this?” Finney asked, leaning against the wall beside the sink and watching Robin meticulously clean his hands.
“I always carry tape around,” Robin said. He picked at some dirt and winced because it stung. “Never know when someone’s gonna wanna talk shit.”
Finney rolled his eyes. “Sounds like you’re the one who picked the fight.”
“Maybe,” Robin confirmed with sparkling eyes and a smile despite his stinging hands. “I got detention for it so we get to hang out again.”
“You’ve been showing up anyway,” Finney pointed out.
Robin turned off the sink and started to dry off his hands. The right hand was worse than the left and he struggled to tape it with his left hand because that one was sore, too.
Finney snatched the roll of tape to help him out. “You’re embarrassing yourself,” he commented as he stretched a long piece of tape out and wrapped it over his hand to secure the paper towel he was using to soak up the blood. “You ever thought of bringing gauze with your roll of tape?”
“The paper towels look tough,” Robin argued as he held out his left hand for the same treatment.
“They look dumb.”
“You’re just jealous that you don’t get to wrap your hands.”
“I’m really not, but believe what you want.” Finney finished wrapping up Robin’s left hand and handed him the roll of tape back. “We’ve got to get to our classes.”
Robin didn’t seem enthusiastic about that. “What if we skipped? We both got detention anyway so it’s not like we’re leaving any time soon. I didn’t get to eat lunch.”
“That’s your fault.”
“No, it’s yours! I was defending your honor.”
Finney scoffed despite the weird tightening in his gut again. “What do you wanna do?”
Robin lit up at his words and scooped up his backpack. He threw it over his shoulder and headed for the bathroom door, eagerly waiting for Finney to follow him. Confidence always emanated off of Robin and he walked down the hallways like he owned the building and wasn’t a student skipping class.
Finney admired him. If he ever voiced that, Robin would probably accept it with pride but he’d also never let it go and Finney was confident that he’d have to hear about it nonstop. Even though they’d only been friends for a week, Finney felt like he had a pretty good understanding of the type of person Robin was.
They left the building altogether, Robin leading the way. They didn’t go too far and ended up sitting outside the track and watched a PE class playing flag football on the center field. Once they were sitting, Robin took out his lunch and handed off one of the containers to Finney like he had for the past couple of days.
Finney took it. “Thanks. You don’t gotta feed me every day, though.”
“I’ll stop when you bring an actual lunch,” Robin shot back. “Do you make your own lunches? Does your mom work full time or something?”
“Well, she’s dead, so no.”
Robin immediately looked embarrassed and Finney felt bad for making him feel awkward with that random trauma dump. It wasn’t like Robin would know; most of the neighborhood did, but Finney was eight when his mom died and the Arellano family didn’t move in until Robin was ten so he wasn’t around during that time.
“Oh.”
“Sorry, I was kind of trying to make it more of a joke,” Finney said. He regretted the words as he said them because that sounded even worse than just admitting to not knowing how to have a filter when he felt uncomfortable.
Robin tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it still seemed like a challenge. “Uh, my dad’s dead, if it makes you feel any better.”
Finney stared at him for a few seconds; he felt as uncomfortable as Robin looked. “Damn. That sucks.”
“My Mamá’s great, though.”
“I mean, she’s given me free food most of the week,” Finney said, his smile feeling less uncomfortable and more relaxed. “My dad isn’t good at grocery shopping so we don’t have a lot of stuff to make lunches at home. Usually we just have freezer food so I can’t really make a lunch out of that.”
“I have a huge family and sometimes random family members come over for dinner so we always make a lot.” Robin dug into his food but it didn’t stop him talking. “Do you wanna come over tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow?”
Finney paused as he was lifting a forkful of food toward his mouth. “Like, to stay the night?”
Robin gave him a dry look. “Take a wild guess, dipshit.”
“Fuck off, I’ve never stayed at someone else’s house.”
“Well, you wanna?”
Finney thought about it.
Usually Gwen spent the night at Susie’s on Friday and he would keep an eye on their dad. It was never a requirement, but it felt like an unspoken rule that he had to do it. Finney had no interest in going home. It was probably smarter to stay away from home since Terrence despised Finney more lately and had been crueler in the last few months.
Spending the night at Robin’s sounded much more fun.
Finney agreed to go. He could call Gwen and tell her; there was no reason she would be upset. He could almost guarantee she’d just be happy that Finney finally had an actual friend. Earlier in the week, after the second day of detention, Finney told her about Robin and Gwen really pushed for him to keep that friendship.
When they got to detention, the two desks were separated. Both Robin and Finney paused upon seeing it since they’d been sitting side by side all week.
“You’re sitting separately today,” the teacher who oversaw detention said. “Because neither of you is here for a poor grade today.”
Right. The fight that Robin started. He was in actual trouble today, not just stuck in detention to work on homework because he failed too many quizzes.
Finney settled into one of the desks. “Is there a reason we can’t sit by each other?”
“Because you two have to follow actual detention rules today. No talking or passing notes, just individual work.”
“What if I need help with math?” Robin asked as he irritably sat at the other desk. “And I didn’t even hit the other guy that hard.”
The teacher didn’t say anything back, she just gave Robin a disapproving look that made him fall silent.
The two hours actually felt like two hours. Before, Finney had fun because he got to talk to Robin and they got all of their work done. It was always rewarding to see how enthusiastic Robin got when he understood his math homework because he obviously didn’t want to feel dumb or not get it.
Today was boring. They couldn’t talk, couldn’t pass notes, and trying to communicate nonverbally resulted in them both laughing and getting a brief lecture. Finney liked detention when he was dreading going home, but tonight he was going to Robin’s house and that sounded so much more exciting than sitting in an empty room for two hours.
Finney knew he’d have to end up here next week, though. He could probably ask to go to Robin’s house once or twice, but there was no way he’d be allowed to go over for a couple of hours every single night. Plus, Robin understood enough of his homework that he didn’t really need daily tutoring.
Even yesterday when he came to detention under the guise of needing help, it was pretty obvious he understood most of it on his own. When Finney demanded to know why Robin stayed, he feigned shock and said he was making sure no one used detention to steal his best friend. The statement had Finney’s heart racing a little bit and his gut doing that weird squeezing thing.
Finney didn’t even try to do homework because he was so bored. He just laid his head on the desk and stared at the clock. Occasionally he’d glance over at Robin and they’d try to read each other’s lips, but neither was good at it.
“It’s five!” Robin exclaimed the second the big hand hit the twelve. He jumped up and grabbed his backpack before rushing to pick up Finney’s too and tossing it at him. “Have a great weekend, bye!”
Finney got up and followed, catching the bemused look on the teacher’s face.
“That was the most boring two hours of my life,” Robin complained as he slammed a door open to the school. “Should’ve just told her that I’m in for a lecture when I get home anyways.”
“You told your mom you got detention?”
Robin nodded. “Lying to my mom is the dumbest decision ever. I did once when I was seven. She literally called me out in, like, two seconds and I was grounded for a week. I’m a really bad liar.” He shrugged. “I told her that I got detention on Monday and Tuesday and she was really mad that I cursed out Mr. Johnson even though he deserved it.”
“Will she be mad at you for fighting Matty?” Finney asked uneasily. He didn’t want to be around an angry parent; he had to deal with that enough at home and didn’t want to watch Robin get hit or something like that.
“Probably won’t be happy with me,” Robin said but he didn’t sound really bothered. “Especially since I started it.”
Finney went quiet, clenching and unclenching his fists as a way to channel his nerves. Guilt coursed through him because Robin wouldn’t have fought if Finney could protect himself. If Robin got in a lot of trouble then it was kind of indirectly his fault.
Robin didn’t seem to share the same sentiment. He changed the subject and started to ramble about his plans for the night and prodded Finney to get his input.
When they arrived at the Arellano household, Finney admired the brightly painted house. The front had a garden, though it was just dirt right then because of the cold weather. The house itself was a skinny, two story building with a porch swing that had a soccer ball sitting on it. Even before going inside, Finney could tell that the family dynamic was nothing like his own.
Music was playing from a radio in the kitchen when they entered and the whole place smelled like the food Robin always brought for lunch. It was spicy, sweet, and strong. Finney liked it and found his mouth filling with saliva and his stomach growling. Robin slipped off his shoes and instructed Finney to do the same before they went deeper into the house.
There was a man kneeling in the living area as they entered and it looked like he was repairing a lamp. “¿Dónde has estado?” the man asked, glancing up from what he was doing. “You’ve been late every night this week.”
Robin didn’t offer him an answer. “Finney, this is my tío Hector,” he said, gesturing to the man in the living area. “He’s annoying and never leaves my house.”
“I’ve spent more time here this week than you have.” Hector clicked the switch on the lamp and a warm glow illuminated the living room. “Go help your mom with dinner.”
“Where’s Ernesto?”
“Upstairs.”
“Why doesn’t he have to help?”
“He’s been helping all week while you’ve been getting in trouble and stuck in detention.”
Robin scowled at him and grabbed Finney’s forearm to drag him into the kitchen. The tape on his hands was bulky and dug into Finney’s skin and reminded him that Robin needed to switch it out for gauze. There were a few stains on the white tape from when Robin had messily eaten his lunch.
“Hi, Mamá,” Robin said as he burst into the kitchen with Finney in tow. “This is Finney, he’s the one who’s been helping me with math.”
Mrs. Arellano turned away from where she was working at the counter. She cast a kind smile to Finney, welcoming him to their home. Then, she changed her eye line and observed Robin and caught sight of his tape-coated hands. “Were you in a fight, mijo?”
“Yeah.” Robin responded, leaning against the counter and finally letting go of Finney’s arm. “I got detention but he really deserved it, Mamá.”
Mrs. Arellano gave him a disapproving look before she glanced at Finney again and saw the fresh injuries from his fight that morning. She said a few words in Spanish and Robin responded in the same language. Neither sounded angry or combative and it put Finney at ease.
Finney asked to call Gwen while the two talked and he was directed down a hallway to the landline. He was far more comfortable at Robin’s than he’d ever felt at home. As he thought, when Gwen answered, she was ecstatic to hear Finney was staying at a friend’s house and said she’d go home early the next morning to check on Terrence.
When he hung up, he saw Robin waiting for him.
“Come on,” Robin said, rocking on his heels. “Let’s go up to my room.”
Finney followed him up the stairs to the first room in the hallway. He could have come to this house alone and would’ve known it was Robin’s without anyone telling him. There were posters plastered all over the walls of various movies, video games, and bands. The bed had a dark blue bedspread and it was messily made. The room was pretty clean, but chaotic was a good descriptor for it.
Robin tossed his backpack on the floor and Finney followed his lead. He opened his nightstand drawer and took out a box of gauze before stripping off the tape and paper towels on his hand.
“Help,” he said, throwing the box of gauze and roll of tape at Finney. “I’m injured.”
“You literally did that to yourself,” Finney commented but he scooted closer to do it anyway. He was well aware that Robin was perfectly capable of doing his own taping, but Robin was kind of dramatic and seemed to want help.
“Again, defending your honor,” Robin said with the same dramatics that Finney had gotten used to over the last week.
Finney pressed the gauze on his hand harder than necessary and made Robin give a very exaggerated cry of pain. The dry look Finney offered made him shut up and fall silent. Once he finished wrapping Robin’s hands, he threw the tape at him and it connected with his chest.
“Damn, your arm is strong.” Robin clutched his chest where the hefty roll connected with him. “How did you not win that fight?”
“Which one?”
Robin laughed. “Well, any of them.”
“I’m a pacifist.”
“Didn’t you start the one on Monday?”
Finney flipped him off and laid down on the floor. He felt Robin lay beside him and a finger poke the center of his forehead. “What?”
“Well, I’ve got a lot of ideas for your first ever sleepover and I need feedback,” Robin said. “So, obviously we’re watching a horror movie, but I think we’ve gotta go to the Grab N Go first to get snacks.”
Finney hummed in agreement. “Which horror movie?”
“I dunno, whatever’s on TV. We’ll have to go to the drive-in at some point. Hector takes me all the time.”
There was yelling in Spanish from downstairs and it made Finney’s heart jump up to his throat. Anyone raising their voice put him on edge because he had to deal with it at home, but he calmed down when Robin called back in the same tone and didn’t seem stressed.
“We gotta go help with dinner,” Robin said, standing up and holding out his hand. “Well, I do, but you get to be part of it, too.”
Finney took his hand and let Robin pull him to his feet. “I can’t cook.”
“I’m not asking you to make dinner, dumbass. She’ll just have us get stuff out and set the table.” Robin opened the door to his room. “C’mon, Finn, the quicker we get done the quicker we can go get our snacks!”
Finney smiled to himself as he followed Robin down the stairs. He’d never had a friend before, much less one that was so opposite of him yet somehow they’d bonded like they’d been friends for years in one week. It was refreshing and made Finney consider that maybe the world wasn’t all bad.