Chapter Text
America:1985
a swedish family had just moved to texas, a father, who was the reason for the move, a mother and their son. Daniel Vallin. after leaving all his friends from his home town in Stockholm. they've been living in texas for about a week now. boxes are stacked high in every corner of their house, and the smell of the previous owners still linger in the air. The fiteen year old Daniel had'nt made any friends yet. except for the girl across the road, Jen-who had been the first person to come greet him as his family were loading in boxes from the truck. she had ran up to daniel and enthusiastically introduced herself. she was covered in all sorts of colors, her dirty blonde hair teased and big with a stench of harmful chemicals that you could easily find in any drug store. Daniel, who was a rather shy person, felt sort of intimidated-but the girl was nice. and invited him to a party, Which was happening that very night. Daniel stood in Jens room waiting for her to put the "final layer of hairspray" on, which she had already done 3 times by now. He felt hopeful, it had been a hard week. letting go of his friends in stockholm had done a toll on him mentally but it felt like everything was gonna be alright in the end. As jen put down the bottle of hairspray she finally announced she was ready. and went to check on her parents to see if they were sleeping, and if it was safe to sneak out. Leaving daniel alone in her room, a matress lay on the floor, for their hypothetical sleepover that daniel's parents had agreed on despite jen being a girl. They were hoping he would finally get a girlfriend after years of just begging daniel to become "normal" as they said, Because he dared to try and come out 2 years ago. "maybe its a phase." daniel would hope every day just to never really develop feelings for any girls. But he quickly lost his train of thought as jen snuck in and somewhat loudly whispered that it was clear and they could leave. The party was a 10 minute walk from their house so they slipped into the most optimal shoes for the journey, atleast daniel did. Jen was wearing a pair of glittery stilletos, that was just the kind of girl she was. Daniel let out a soft sigh and opened the door as jen carefully stepped out to avoid making a sound in those click-clacky heels she was wearing and daniel followed suit. after carefully making their way to the crossroad, they let out a sigh and started making their way to where this party was located. Daniel stayed silent as jen talked about boys and fashion and whatnot. Daniel looked to the ground and he kind of hesitated before speaking; "jen do u know anyone at this party?" he murmured in that swedish dialect of his. jen looked at him confused, "if i didnt know anyone why was i invited?" she stated in a sort of joking way. she continued; "dont you worry. its mostly people from our school anyway, itll be good for you to get to know some people!" she softly punched into Daniel's shoulder. he let out a soft giggle, "yeah i guess you're right."
as they got closer to their destination, they could hear loud music and people screaming in drunk joy up the street. the guy who owned the place was a senior at their school, who had gotten into their parents wine cellar while they were away on vacation. There were people everywhere and everyone lit up as they saw Jen and a girl with pink hair, who worked at their local cafe came around opened the gate for them after practically falling into jens arms squealing, obviously drunk. "oh my GOD! JEN!" she whined "you look GREAT!!! oh and who's your frieenndddd?? i recognize youuu...!!" jen helped the girl to her feet and turned to Daniel. "daniel! this is my friend holly, ive known her since, like, Forever." Daniel nodded and turned to the girl and greeted her with a simple "hey" holly squealed, again. "OKay. dude . come in!! party basically just started and youUUU need to meet the others. since youre like new i think.." she turned to jen "hes new right?You mentioned." jen nodded in response and they opened the doors. And as they did, they were met with music blasting from the speakers and people having the time of their life as they celebrated for no real reason. Maybe just celebrating that they were young and free, something a person only is once in their life.
they approached the makeshift bar in the kitchen and holly poured each of them a drink. it was bitter and sweet at the same time, cheap vodka and dollar store juice mixed into a glass that's really only meant to get you drunk. but as teenagers, no one really cared about the taste. Daniel picked it up and took a sip while jen hissed and threw her head back after chugging the whole thing in one go, they had both done this before. it was just clear that Jen had done this more times than daniel. daniel finished his drink quickly after watching jen pull that stunt, then ran after her as she was talking to her friends. being the only person he knew there, he stuck by her side. they walked around a bit getting progressevly dizzier, but still happier and more talkative. after a while they decided to rest on the couch, and as they were sitting there looking around and enjoying themselves, a redhead with a sun burned complexion and freckles all across his body, with a strong build wearing a navy blue polo with a college style jacket hanging on his shoulder, walked in and daniel halted whatever story he was telling to his new friends. He quickly turned to jen and put his mouth and hand up to her ear,
"whos that?" he whispered in a panicked tone. jen looked over to the boy, lit up and waved him over. "HEEYYY!! DAVID, GWEN!!" she yelled across the room, and david looked over and ran up, a tan skinned kind of grunge girl with vitiligo across her legs,chest and arms followed behind him."david, this is my friend daniel, he moved here from Sweden a week ago!!! and danielll this is gwen and david!" jen stated. Daniel, lost in thought, was staring at David, knowing hes gonna let down his very homophobic parents, but it didnt matter. He was too drunk to care anyway, and he had never seen a guy this handsome. jen waved her hand in front of Daniel and he snapped back to reality. he smiled and nodded along to jen telling them about him, "hey guys come sit with us!!!" jen suggested and they wedged themselves between Jen and Daniel. David, who was very comfortable around new people, immidiately started asking questions; "SO Daniel, i hear you're new, where are you from?" daniel panicked and collected himself and nervously chuckled, "oohhh you know im like from- uh, like scandinavia... sweden" david instantly became intrested and started asking more and more, daniel didnt mind it. He was just glad that he was talking to him. and as the night raged on, daniel and david who were both way to drunk to stay, but also to drunk to go home snuck out to the pool, as not many people were there at the moment. most people had gone home at this point, either feeling sick or tired. not daniel and david though, they still felt like one more hour couldnt hurt. And as they sat there spilling their secrets and experiences it slipped out. "d-david iMMM gonna be - honest. if my parents werent ASSHOLES. id make you my wife." he realized what hed said. "JOKINGLY OF COURSE." david lifted his head slowly. "dude honestly. thats gay but its ok if ur gay- i play for both teams and its . its awesome." daniel stopped for a second. "... i am gay." it fell silent. But Daniel broke the silence after about ten seconds. "dont tell ANYONE i'll literally make sure you never see the sun rise ever again. david put his pinky out, "I, david. pinky promise to keep my mouth shut. okaayyye?" ... Daniel smiled and wrapped his pinky around david's "okay. good"
Jen came stumbling out, "HEY! DANIEL!! i just . puked. time to go home."