Work Text:
After the complete disaster that was dinner with Harris, things at the Heffley household were tense. Susan was mad at Frank, Rodrick was mad at both of them (more his dad then his mom), and Frank just seemed annoyed in general. Greg's apparent takeaway from that night was to stay out of Rodrick's way, so he wasn't going to complain about that. Manny was perfectly indifferent to the tension in the house, except when it got him more attention from Susan. In all honesty though, Rodrick couldn't care less about the lingering tension. Harris basically kissed him. Every so often he relives that moment, butterflies fluttering in his stomach anew each time. It was stupid how happy that memory kept him. He was on top of the world, and he was convinced that nothing could knock him down–
Except Harris didn't bring it up at all during their next session. Or the one after that. Before he knew it, it felt like it was too late to bring it up. Nothing about the sessions really changed, actually, except for the less subtle way the two boys looked at each other. But now Rodrick was facing their final session, and even though Harris had said that there was no reason they wouldn't hang out after the sessions were over, he just couldn't shake the feeling that it'd be different. He would officially lose the authoritative, stern, in-his-element version of Harris that only existed when he was in his ‘teacher' headspace. More importantly, it felt like he was running out of time to pop the question.
Rodrick made up his mind the night before that dreaded final session: he was going to stop putting it off and ask Harris out during their last tutoring session.
Rodrick was a nervous mess all Monday morning. His friends and bandmates had noticed, and a couple even tried asking him about it. He was decidedly tight-lipped about it all though, truly acting like his suffering was meant to be dealt with in solitude or something catholic like that. The point being, he was being a dramatic little shit all day and his friends were a bit annoyed. Harris had even picked up on it during the brief moments they crossed paths in between periods, tilting his head and squinting at Rodrick from across the hall like he somehow just knew that something was up with him. Maybe that was part of the reason Rodrick was so infatuated, Harris seemed to just get him. Either way, by the end of the school day Rodrick fully felt like he deserved some kind of medal for somewhat paying attention in class with the kind of stress he was under. Not that he told anyone what he was planning, of course.
He barely planned anything, actually. The nebulous concept of asking out a guy he really liked had been enough to stress him out beyond being able to focus. His plan thus far was this:
- Go to tutoring
- Ask Harris on a date (what kind of date? Who knows!)
- Plsplsplsplsplsplspls he says yes
- Maybe beg if he doesn't
- Kiss?? (Again???)
–which wasn’t all that detailed. He was, however, going to at least sort of stick with it. He was already on his way to completing step one, because the second the bell rang he hightailed it out of class and hopped in his van, taking the quickest route to the library. Usually, he had roughly thirty minutes to dick around with his band before he needed to head over (especially since Harris walked from the school to the library like a psycho), but today he needed to be there as soon as Harris was.
It was only as he turned off the engine, the Löded Diper van parked crookedly in the library parking lot, did he consider that he could've offered Harris a ride. Damn. This oversight ended up being a good thing, because it gave him time to hype himself up before Harris arrived.
Harris had wanted to be early to the final session. While it was no secret that he favored the time after the sessions over the session itself, he still valued his merit as a teacher. That’s why he was in the car with his friend Alice, who was happy to drive him to the library and heckle him for his inability to make the first move.
“I mean seriously,” she began, her eyes fixed on the road as she drove the five minutes between the school and the library. “You should've just asked to kiss him straight up! I really don't think you needed to do that shotgunning bullshit.”
Alice was very similar to Harris in many ways, the most prominent being her blunt way of speaking. She was the sort of girl who always spoke her mind about things, and wasn't afraid to call out a friend when he was being a bit dense. The thing that had drawn Harris to her the most was her willingness to discuss typically taboo topics and the morality surrounding them, which is how they ended up discussing sexuality (and then coming out to each other) during their first real conversation. They had always been reasonably friendly, having met in drama class when they were building sets for whatever production the school was putting on that year, and for the longest time their conversations had been dominated by Alice talking about her situationship with a girl in her calculus class. Now that Harris was officially harboring a crush himself, she had lent an ear to his grievances in return.
“Ugh, it wasn't creepy, was it?” Harris groaned into his hands. Ever since that afternoon in Rodrick’s bedroom, he'd been obsessing over whether he has overstepped or not. “It sounds so creepy in retrospect.”
Alice sighed, giving him a side glance. “Dude, we've been over this. He's queer, he makes excuses to see you regularly, and most importantly, he didn't push you away when you basically kissed him!” It was practically a rehearsed argument at this point, with how often Harris had been bringing it up since it happened. Alice was starting to get a little fed up, to be honest. Harris having a crisis with his love life meant that her situationship drama had been on the backburner for the past two weeks and she was itching to talk about Cassi to someone who would actually get it.
“Just because he's into kissing guys doesn't mean he's into kissing me.” Harris tries, only to be shot down by the deadpan look Alice shoots him.
“Trust me, he's into you. I haven't even met the guy and I can tell by the way you describe his actions and shit.”
“But what if I'm being biased?” Harris laments. “I'm seeing signs that aren't there! I could be reading the vibes completely wrong.”
Alice's car jerks to a stop, and only then does Harris realize they've arrived. “Out. No more of that negativity is allowed in my car,” she declares, only half joking. “Go get your man already!”
Harris huffs a laugh as he stumbles out of the car, leaning in from the outside when she rolls the window down for him. “Thanks for the ride, Al. I owe you one,” she salutes him playfully, leaning her elbow onto the center console.
“Anytime, Harris. Seriously though, I think it's gonna be fine between you and your heavy metal lover,” Alice joked, wiggling her eyebrows a bit. “But you should seriously consider asking him out already. I'm dying from anticipation over here!”
Harris gives her a wry smile, shaking his head. “You know I'm too much of a pussy for that, Al. My heart can't take the rejection.” After a pause, he adds “And he's hardly ‘heavy metal’. He has more of a punk rocker kinda vibe.”
“Oh my god,” Alice groaned, shifting back into drive. “I can't with you. Always gotta be so fuckin’ precise. Catch you later, nerd!” she calls out, driving out of the library parking lot and leaving Harris laughing on the sidewalk, now alone with his thoughts as he goes inside to set up. He barely finished setting out his notebook and the essay instructions packet before Rodrick walked in after him, much earlier than he usually was. Harris wasn’t about to complain, of course.
“Hey!” Harris called, waving Rodrick over with a smile. “You’re early. That excited to go over the Red Badge of Courage?” he asks, patting his copy of the book. It was an old paperback, and the pages were creased. A ‘well-loved’ book, so to speak.
“Ha ha,” Rodrick scoffed, though his response fell flat, lacking his usual biting snark. He slid into his usual spot, taking the seat right across from Harris, ungracefully knocking his knee against the leg of the table with a muffled clack. “I just want to get this over with.”
Harris nodded sagely, picking up the book and flipping through its pages, too fast to read anything. “Yeah, that’s fair. I fucking hate this book.” he admits, scribbling down some easy essay points off the top of his head. Rodrick nods, pulling out his own notebook, and tossing it on the table. Then, casually, he steals one of Harris’s pens just to click it.
Click. Click. Click-click-click-click—
Harris frowned, taking a moment just to watch him. He was practically vibrating in his seat, some sort of nervous energy radiating from him that Harris just couldn’t figure out. Rodrick’s leg was bouncing almost in time with how fast he was clicking the pen, nearly shaking the table too. And though he doesn’t have the best attention span most of the time, today it seemed like he couldn’t decide just what he was going to focus on, his eyes flicking from the papers in front of him, then over to Harris, and then back to the desk.
“Okay, this isn’t working.” Harris sighs, setting his pen down and flipping his notebook shut. “You don’t want to be doing this, I don’t want to be doing this, do you just wanna call it here?”
Rodrick’s eyes widened, and he immediately dropped the pen. “I want to! I swear I want to, I’m ready to learn, teach.” He did his best to look earnest, leaning forward in his chair and looking up at Harris with big, dark-lined eyes, so really, how could he say no?
“I mean, I guess?” Harris muttered, not entirely convinced but not convicted enough to argue about it. “If you insist, anyway.”
For the next twenty minutes, Harris did his best to prepare Rodrick for the homework, and hopefully motivate him enough to actually do it when he gets home, but it's an uphill battle for multiple reasons. For one, Rodrick couldn’t focus to save his life. He doodled more than he took notes, stared blankly when Harris tried to get him to read a paragraph from the book, and spent half of the time methodically shredding the eraser off of one of Harris’s pencils. Aside from that, Harris’s heart just wasn’t in it that evening. He hated the book, didn’t like working with someone who gave him no feedback, and he really fucking hated the book. Finally, he decided enough was enough and shoved his binder and notebooks away before announcing it to Rodrick, who was staring off into space.
“Alright,” Harris began, ignoring the way Rodrick jolted out of his trance, a flush blooming on his cheeks. “That’s it for today. Congratulations, you no longer have to hear me talk about symbolism or plot devices,” he sighs, his tone flat in a way that wasn’t accompanied by sarcasm or humor. He just sounded tired. Despite that, he manages a smile, reaching across the table to lightly punch Rodrick in the shoulder. “You made some pretty great progress, though. I hope it wasn’t complete torture.”
“Huh. Yeah, I guess it wasn’t too bad.” Rodrick hummed, and it dawned on him that it was over. The ‘ending’ he was so worried about had happened, and nothing significant changed. He was fine. Harris was fine. It was all going to be okay, because now it was their time. He still needed to ask that important question that was burning on the tip of his tongue, but when he tried as Harris finished packing up, he couldn’t find the words. Panic flared in his chest and he realized with utter certainty that he needed more time. “Hey, Harris?” he blurts, busying his hands by shoving his notebook back into his bag.
Harris glanced over, adjusting his bag as it hung off his shoulder. “Yeah?”
Rodrick swallowed thickly, standing too and slinging his bag over his shoulder, subconsciously mimicking Harris. He took a deep breath, and blurted out the first thing he could think of that could buy himself some time. “Do you want to go see a movie with me? Tonight, I mean?” Harris paused, rocking on his heels slightly as he considered it. Rodrick’s panicked flusteredness only grew the more the silence stretched on, and his mouth started going again. “Instead of our usual routine! Like, instead of hitting up the gas station or some shitty fast food place. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! I love doing that. With you. Getting slushies with you is amazing, and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but like, I figured that since it’s our last session and all,” he had to gasp for breath between words, his mouth working faster than his lungs could keep up with. “It’s like the end of an era or whatever! And there’s some stupid action movie that I think is loosely based on one of the books we covered so, I dunno, it might be fun? I mean, unless you’re busy, which like then forget I said anything, it’s cool, I can just go–”
Harris patiently waits until Rodrick runs out of steam, silently admiring how pink his face managed to get after spewing a full paragraph’s worth of word vomit. He can’t quite help the smile that curls his lips, painfully endeared by what he can now piece together as nerves that have probably been plaguing Rodrick all afternoon. “Finished?” he checks at Rodrick’s pause, and once he gets a nod from the other boy, he continues. “I would love to go to the movies with you, Rodrick.”
“You would?” Rodrick asked, sounding much more surprised than Harris thought the situation warranted. “Cool. Sweet. Awesome. Let’s go, then.”
The movie ended up being Blade Runner, much to Harris’s surprise. What surprised him even more, was that Rodrick somehow knew that it was inspired by Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which was indeed based on the first book they had covered together. Everything was coming full circle, it seemed, except for the fact that Rodrick still seemed distracted. Harris couldn’t help but notice his fidgeting even in the dim lights of the theater, where they sat with their arms pressed together, neither of them giving up their shared armrest. Or maybe they just wanted to feel close with each other. Either way, Harris got the distinct impression that something was still weighing on Rodrick’s mind. He didn’t say anything at first, though, both because he didn’t want to interrupt the movie and because aside from a bit of spaciness, they were still having a really nice night. Rodrick insisted on paying for the tickets, so Harris had taken the liberty of getting them popcorn and drinks, and the movie was actually pretty alright. So he waited until the lights went up, and they stumbled out of the theater on legs that had fallen asleep from being in one position for much too long. He had planned to wait until they got back to the van, anyway, but Rodrick beat him to the punch while they were still on the sidewalk, their backs pressed against the bricks of the movie theater.
“Hey, Harris?” he begins, his voice softer that Harris had ever really heard it. “Do you… Fuck. Would you…” he trails off, swearing under his breath. Harris tilts his head, but doesn’t interrupt. Rodrick sucks in a steadying breath, and gathers his courage. He exhales, and then continues. “Would you ever, I dunno, consider going on a date with me?” He sounds a little breathless on those last few words, but Harris catches it all just fine.
It starts to click into place for him, and he can’t help the bright smile that pulls at his lips. “Hang on,” he snickers, which is probably the worst reaction he could have had outside of rejecting him outright. Rodrick’s ears are bright red, and he looks a little like he wants to die. Harris, thankfully, keeps going. “No! I’m not laughing at you, I promise, it’s just–” he grabs Rodrick’s wrist, giving it a quick squeeze so he wouldn’t get any ideas about running away. “Rodrick, I thought this was a date. Or– hoped? I guess?”
“Hoped?” Rodrick echoed, sounding almost stunned. “So wait, you will? Go out with me, I mean?” he asks, as if Harris hadn’t already made it clear.
Harris loosened his grip, and took Rodrick’s hand instead. “Of course I would!” he laughed, and Rodrick squeezed his hand back. “I mean,” a subtle blush tints his cheeks and ears pink, and he casually intertwines their fingers together. “Introducing you to shotgunning was kind of a very convoluted plan to kiss you, so…”
As Harris trailed off, Rodrick’s stomach flipped. Harris liked him back. Wow. He almost couldn’t believe how much that simple admission put him at ease. It also sparked an entirely new brand of warmth in his chest, the sort that is only born of fondness of the highest degree. “It was?” he asks, a wide smile pulling at his lips. “You could just kiss me, dumbass.”
Harris snorted a laugh, shaking his head. “Nope.”
“Wha– what do you mean ‘no’?”
“I mean I want to wait until our date!” Harris clarifies, knocking his shoulder against Rodrick’s. The two boys finally pushed off of the wall and started walking out towards the van, still hand in hand. “You can wait until then, can’t you?”
Rodrick’s lip jutted out in a pout. “What if I can’t?” he asks, unlocking the van and starting it up.
“You’ll live,” Harris shrugs, a coy smile on his lips as he settles into the seat beside him. They bicker like that for the entire drive, going back and forth on whether or not Harris should indulge Rodrick for a kiss. Much too soon, Rodrick had parked in front of Harris’s house, but Harris was taking his sweet time getting out.
“Well, maybe I can indulge you,” Harris relents, a grin on his lips and a slight tilt to his head. He was resting his arm against the center console, leaning over into Rodrick’s space. “C’mere.”
Rodrick didn’t hesitate, unbuckling his seat belt and nearly launching himself into Harris in his eagerness to lean closer. Harris laughed, quickly covering his mouth with his hand, much to his chagrin. “Harris–” Rodrick protests, though he’s muffled by Harris’s hand. Harris doesn’t leave him waiting though, and leans in to press his lips to his cheek, leaving a chaste kiss there.
“Is that gonna hold you over?” He asked, pulling back and smiling sweetly. Rodrick huffs indignantly, but can’t quite bite back his smile.
“You’re an asshole,” he mutters instead, watching as Harris gathered his bag and stepped out.
“Yeah,” Harris smirked, having the audacity to bat his eyes as he rested against the car frame. He was standing outside now, the door still open. “You still asked me out, though.”
Rodrick’s last bit of composure cracks, a smitten smile pulling at his lips. “Yeah, I did,” he agrees. “Totally worth it. I’m gonna romance the shit outta you.”
“I can’t wait,” Harris says, perfectly sincere as he finally closes the door. Rodrick gave him one last wave through the window before driving off, leaving Harris to sit with a fluttery excitement in his chest. Once he could no longer see the taillights of the Loded Diper van, he walked inside, going straight up to his room. Before his door had even closed all the way, he was texting Alice.
“You’ll never guess what happened…”