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After what feels like a minute too long, Leaf sighs.
“Okay,” they murmur, “Let’s talk.”
“I… don’t know where to start…” Paige mumbles. “I guess I should apologize first…”
“For what?”
“I left you locked up for weeks!” Paige frowns. “I didn’t mean to, but I did! I’m sorry…”
“It’s whatever.” Leaf shrugs, still cozy under their blanket, though now they’re sat up. “Like I said, I deserved it.”
“But…”
“Paige,” Leaf sighs. “I almost seriously hurt us. …I almost seriously hurt you.”
“Yeah but…” Paige is quiet for a moment before frowning. “No… no, that was pretty bad of you.”
“Exactly.” Leaf groans and lets their head fall forward. “I keep doing stupid shit…”
Paige hums with worry, but doesn’t actually say anything. He keeps nervously twitching and playing with his hands.
“What.”
“C-can I ask what the… the snow storm and small cage were all about?” Paige asks pensively. “Sorry, it just keeps weighing on me. I thought I left way more room for you in there…”
Leaf looks off to the side. “I wasn’t kidding before. The idea of the cold is worse to me than heat. So when I kept doing all that thinking, it was just… I was so convinced I had to go to hell. And I guess it manifested as whatever I thought hell would be.”
“Oh…” Paige furrows his eyebrows. “And the cage?”
Leaf breathes heavily, eyes stinging. “...I don’t like small spaces.”
“I’m sorry…” Paige apologies again. “I shouldn’t have—”
“You should have,” Leaf stresses. “I… I can’t say I know if I would’ve done anything. That scares me, Paige. I don’t like being afraid of myself.”
“I’m—”
“Say sorry one more time and this talk is over.” Leaf huffs. Then, his expression falls. “See! I just… I just say stupid shit without thinking about it!”
“Well… we can work on it, can’t we?” Paige says hopefully. “I know sometimes I don’t know what to say to people. We can work on it together!”
“Work on it…” Leaf mumbles. “...I guess.”
“See!” Paige smiles. “You’re already doing great!”
Leaf blinks. “I… guess so.” They curl up a bit. “But I wouldn’t have if you didn’t leave me in there.”
“Leaf…” Paige mumbles. “There had to have been some other way…”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s done now.” They sigh. “Thank god.”
“We still have to talk about where we’re gonna go from here,” Paige reminds the other. “‘Cause I don’t wanna lock you away anymore! You’re not… you’re not a villain, Leaf. You’re someone who came to my rescue when I needed it the most. How could you be a villain?”
“I fought that kid just ‘cause I wanted to see them hurt.” Leaf says without missing a beat.
“But you did it out of the love and justice in your heart!” Paige rebuts. “You wouldn’t have done anything if you didn’t love Kevin or you didn’t have the want to see things be righted!” Paige calms down a bit. “Sure it’s not the way I would’ve handled it, but you didn’t know a different way. So, actually, doing what you did shows how good you are!”
Leaf is silent.
“Leaf?”
“I don’t…” The teen sniffs. “I…”
Paige gives a small smile. “It’s okay if you need a minute.”
Suddenly, there’s a knock on Paige’s door. “Sweetie? You okay?”
Paige jolts, shooting up. “Mom? You can come in!”
Quinn pushes her way inside with a worried look on her face. “Hi honey,” she greets. “Are you alright? I thought I heard you talking in here…”
“Shit,” Leaf swears. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Paige thinks and then says aloud, “I was um… just trying to think of something to write for one of my school reports! I-it’s this… um…”
Quinn laughs a bit. “You can just say you don’t wanna talk about it, sweetie.” She ruffles his hair. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” She frowns then. “And… I also wanted to tell you the bad news.”
“Bad news?” Paige frowns back. “Mom, is something wrong?”
“Oh, no, no. Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” She takes a seat on the bed. “It’s just… I’ll be busy for Thanksgiving…”
“Aw…” Paige deflates. “Are they making you go on one of those trips again?”
“They are,” Quinn confirms. “And since I didn’t go to the last one…”
“I get it,” Paige smiles sadly. “It’s alright. We can just do something the next day, right?”
Quinn gives a sad smile. “They want me to stay until Sunday, honey.”
“But that’s like four days?” Paige blinks.
“I know. I have to make up for the ones I missed.”
“Oh…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll leave you the card and you can get whatever you want, okay?” Quinn’s smile turns more genuine. “You can even order ice cream and eat it whenever you want! I bet cookies and creme for breakfast sounds fun, doesn’t it?”
Paige plays with his hands. “Can’t I just stay with Brandon and Aunt Carmen?”
Quinn looks down at Paige weirdly. “Didn’t you know they went on a trip?”
“A trip?” Paige blinks. “Brandon didn’t tell me about them going on a trip.”
“But… Min told me Brandon told her you said you didn’t want to go…?”
Paige furrows his brows. “I didn’t know about this at all…” Brandon and Paige had been texting over the break like it was nothing. And he hadn’t said a single thing about a trip!
Quinn frowns. “Well, we can talk to him about it when they get back. But you’ll be fine alone for a couple of days, won’t you?”
Paige nods slowly. “I’ll be okay.”
Quinn smiles and hugs her son. “I knew you’d be, honey.” She pulls back and whispers, “Thanks.”
“It’s no problem, Mom.”
Quinn leaves shortly after, leaving the brothers alone.
“Do you think…” Paige whispers, curled up under his blankets. “Do you think Brandon didn’t tell me on purpose…?”
Leaf flattens his mouth into a thin line. “If he did, it was because of me.” He sighs heavily. “He probably didn’t even want to run the risk of seeing me.”
“Leaf, no, I don’t think—”
“You heard that call,” Leaf snaps. “Brandon basically wants me dead and buried now.”
“We just have to talk things out!” Paige says, fatally optimistic. “Brandon and you just got off on the wrong foot! I’m—I’m sure if—”
“It’s not gonna work, Paige,” Leaf says blandly. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to talk to Brandon again.”
Paige frowns, but doesn’t say anything.
“Look, can we talk about this more tomorrow or something?” Leaf asks. “I’m tired. I want to sleep.”
“Okay,” Paige says quietly. “But I’m holding you to it.”
“I bet you are,” Leaf says with a small smile.
Paige smiles back, and Leaf closes their eyes, pushing out contentment.
But truthfully? They were terrified. Fixing things with Brandon would ultimately be impossible. They knew that. But, if it would make Paige happy to at least try to play mediator, they suppose they could try too.
Leaf just hopes whatever happens, he doesn’t snap again.
Paige wakes up the next day feeling extremely exhausted. It takes him a good minute to get up properly, since he chooses to just lay there looking up at the ceiling instead.
“Tomorrow will be the first Thanksgiving I’ve ever had alone…” Paige frowns.
“Is it really all it’s cracked up to be?” Leaf asks. “From what I remember, all it brought was food and alcohol and…” They stop short, shivering. “...It’s not something I think of fondly,” they finish after a moment.
“Yeah, but that was when Dad was here, wasn’t it?” Paige asks. “Thanksgivings after he died became a lot nicer. Me and Mom would play games all day after eating and watch our favorite movies and just spend time together…” He gasps for air. When did his eyes start getting watery? “...I like Thanksgiving.”
“...Sorry,” Leaf mumbles. “I guess it’s important to you.”
“It is,” Paige nods, “But I can also get how it’s not to you.”
There’s no response after that, so Paige assumes Leaf is done talking for right now. He sighs and stands up. Time for the morning routine.
+++
Paige is lazily eating cookies on the couch when his phone springs to life, ringing loudly. It shocks him a bit, making him kick and displace the cookie box on his lap, but he catches them before they go flying everywhere.
He doesn’t check the caller ID, still a little ruffled by the call to begin with. Everyone should be busy today, shouldn’t they?
“H-hello?” Paige answers, moving the cookies to the table.
“Good afternoon, Paige,” OJ greets. “How are you?”
“Oh, OJ!” Paige smiles, kicking his legs a bit. “Hi! I’m okay! How are you?”
“Good, good.” Paige can practically hear the smile in OJ’s voice.
“What’s up?”
“Oh, you know how we shut down on Thanksgiving proper, right?” OJ asks.
“Oh yeah,” Paige nods. OJ and his family would normally turn off all their electronics (except for the TV) on Thanksgiving so they could all spend uninterrupted time together. “You won’t be able to call tomorrow, right?”
“Exactly. So, I wanted to wish you an early happy Thanksgiving!” The sound of a party popper goes off in the background and OJ gasps. “Ma! I asked you not to do that!”
“Sorry, sweets!” echoes from Dani.
OJ sighs. “Honestly…”
“Well, um… I wish you a happy early Thanksgiving too, OJ!” Paige is trying to push everything he can into it, but he feels as though he falters near the end. He chuckles to cover it up, but it comes off as awkward. Oh, gosh darn it.
“Paige?” OJ asks. “Are you quite alright?”
“It’s nothing really…” Paige says with a sigh. “It’s just… tomorrow will be my first Thanksgiving by myself. Mom had to go somewhere and Brandon and Aunt Carmen are on a trip.”
“Oh no!” OJ gasps. “Surely you have someone to celebrate with, no? It’s such a day of togetherness, you don’t deserve to go it alone!”
“What’s happening, Orv?” It sounded like Dani again.
“Paige is going to spend tomorrow alone!” OJ pouts.
“Aw, what? That’s wack.”
“I know…” OJ mumbles.
“Oh, it’s okay!” Paige cuts in. “Really, Mom left me the card so I could get whatever I want! Even ice cream for breakfast!”
“Yes, but still…”
“SAM! C’MERE!” Dani shouts from the other side of the receiver.
“Ma!” OJ shouts back. “Please, I’m still on the phone!”
“Good!” Dani says right back.
“What is it, Dan?” Sam is here now.
“We got room for one more tomorrow?”
“Huh?” Sam asks. “Why?”
“‘Cause we’re gettin’ company! YO PAIGE!”
“Mom! Just take the phone!”
There’s the sound of laughing, shuffling, and then Dani’s voice is a lot clearer. “Hey kid!”
“Um! H-hi, Mrs—I mean, hi Dani.”
“There you go,” he smirks. “Now, I want you to do me a favor.”
“Um… okay?”
“Pack you a change ‘a clothes and get ready to head out.”
Paige blinks. “Change of… why?”
“Why? ‘Cause you’re spendin’ your Thanksgiving with the Squeezes, duh!”
…Huh?
“Are you sure this is okay?” Paige asks as he climbs into the RV and buckles up. The whole Squeeze family is here.
“Of course, Snowy!” Sam singsongs. “You’re always more than welcome over. After all, you’re no stranger to us, and I’d hope we’re no strangers to you!”
“You’re not!” Paige assures. “I just feel bad for crashing your Thanksgiving…”
“Hey now!” Dani calls, pulling off. “I’m the one who invited you, ain’t I?’
“You are…?”
“Alright then!” Dani stops at a red light and turns back towards Paige, giving him a thumbs up. “Then no feeling bad!”
“Ah…” Paige mumbles, unsure if he should apologize or not.
“Just say you won’t anymore,” Leaf supplies.
“I won’t anymore then!” Paige repeats, putting more into it than Leaf did.
“That’s the spirit, Paigey!” Dani cheers, pumping a fist up in the air.
“Paigey…?” Paige echoes with a blink.
“Ma likes making nicknames for others too,” OJ explains. “Though, his are a bit… less creative than Mami’s.”
“Oh, shut up!” Dani laughs.
“Name one person you don’t use a shortened version of their name or just add an -y to,” OJ challenges with one raised eyebrow and a smirk. “Go on.”
“Ummm…” Dani hums. “Uhhmm…”
OJ rolls his eyes and gently ribs Paige, hooking a thumb at his mom. “Get a load of this!” he’s saying without words.
Paige giggles and Dani groans. “Oh, what-ever! It just means I got a name for everyone!”
“Sure, Ma. Whatever you say.”
Paige laughs a little harder, tickled. The way OJ would talk to his parents was so different from the way he would talk to others. It was so funny! He was so funny!
The rest of the ride passes by in a similar fair until they reach the Squeeze household. Everyone climbs out, but then Sam walks around and gets into the driver’s seat.
“Are you going somewhere else, Sam?” Paige asks, tilting his head.
“Yes, my little turtle dove!” Sam smiles wide. “I’ve got to get a couple more ingredients for tomorrow! I forgot some stuff.” She knocks her hand on her head and sticks her tongue out. “My bad!”
“Don’t overbuy!” Dani waves. “You can get three little treats and no more!”
“Yes!” Sam cheers. “Alright! Be back soon, darlings!”
+++
Paige, Dani and Orville talk amongst each other while Sam is away, but it feels more like Dani Quiz Time.
He asks Paige all sorts of questions, from how he’s been since the last time he was here to his favorite color to… the age he learned to tie his shoes?
“I think we were like four,” Leaf supplies for that one.
“Um…” Paige starts, only for OJ to cut him off.
“Ma, honestly?” he laughs. “If you’re running out of questions, we could stop your little pop-up game show and actually do something more than just let the TV run in the background.”
“Psh,” Dani scoffs. “I wasn’t runnin’ outta anything. But sure, let’s do something else.”
“Like what?” Paige asks.
“Do you know how to play chess, Paige?” Dani asks, causing Paige to blanche.
“Ummm…” he mumbles.
Dani laughs. “It’s alright if you don’t! It’s not for everybody.” Then he smirks. “But you know how to play checkers, don’t you?”
“Oh!” Paige smiles and claps his hands together. “Of course!”
“Great!” Dani turns to his son with an odd look on his face. “Orv.”
OJ gets an odd look on his face as well. “Ma.”
“It’s time.”
“Of course.”
Paige blinks. What was happening here?
Suddenly, Dani throws a hand out, pointing in towards the house. “Go, my child!” he shouts with a smile. “ChessCheck time!”
OJ salutes. “Yes sir!”
“Ch—Chess check…?” Paige asks as OJ speedwalks away.
“No, no, no,” Dani tuts, shaking his hands in front of him before putting a hand on Paige’s shoulder from behind. “ChessCheck. Say it with me now.” He pushes his other hand out in a wowing motion. “ChessCheck~”
“Ch—ChessCheck…” Paige tries weakly.
“Again!” Dani laughs. “ChessCheck!”
“Chess—ChessCheck!” Paige says, trying to match Dani’s energy.
“ChessCheck! ChessCheck!” Dani cheers.
“ChessCheck!” Paige laughs, cheering as well.
OJ chooses this time to come back into the room. He’s holding two boxes, one a bit thinner than the other. “One game of ChessCheck, as requested by the lovely man of the house,” he says, bowing slightly.
“What’re those?” Paige asks as OJ places the boxes on the kitchen table. He gets up and follows Dani over there.
“It’s chess,” OJ starts.
“Aaaaand checkers!” Dani finishes.
“Okay…?” Paige says pensively. “I… don’t think I get it.”
“Here, let me explain,” OJ says, beginning to unbox the games. “Normally, both chess and checkers are two player games, yes?”
“Yeah, they are,” Paige nods.
“Right. So, what if you wanted to add a third player in the mix?”
“You couldn’t!”
“And normally, you’d be right. But say I were to do this…” OJ places the two boards next to each other and starts to set them up. “...And you were to sit opposite me with my mother…” Dani quickly pulls a chair over for Paige, sitting down in a separate one after. Paige sits as well. “...And then we played like this?”
Paige tilts his head. “I still don’t get it,” he says honestly. “Are you going to play both games at once or something?”
OJ’s face breaks into a wide grin. “You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for, Paigey!”
Paige flushes immediately while Dani laughs.
“Hey!” he says. “I’ve got a patent on that one! You can’t use it without my permission!”
“Well, do I?” OJ asks, setting the last of the pieces into place.
“Mmmm… Nope!” Dani giggles. OJ blows a raspberry, but lets the subject drop.
“Anyways, you’re spot on the nose, Paige. I intend to play both games at once; chess with my mother and checkers with you!” He smiles. “Hence, ChessCheck!”
“How are you gonna do that?” Paige questions, a little worried. Wouldn’t that be too overwhelming for anybody?
OJ shrugs, but doesn’t lose his smile. “I simply do. It’s easy for me to keep up with both of them for whatever reason. Besides, me and my mothers do this all the time! It’s quite a riot sometimes!”
The teen’s excitement is infectious. Paige loses his worry and nods, ready to be taught. “Let’s play then! What do I do?”
“Like I said, you worry about checkers, Mom will worry about chess, and I will worry about both.” OJ clasps his hands together. “So c’mon then! You two can start for us.”
“You think you can beat our epic tag team? Me and this guy?” Dani grins, holding a fist up to Paige. “We got this! Pound it, little dude!”
Paige smiles and completes the fist bump, cheering. “We got this!”
“And would you like to recount your wins as the second chess player?” OJ asks, setting his chin on folded hands.
“Urk…!”
Paige can’t help it. That’s the second time today OJ caught his mom like that! He laughs, OJ joining him
“Okay, okay you little rascals,” Dani pouts, only to lose it immediately in favor of a big grin. “Let’s play!”
+++
It’s neck and neck. Paige is fighting for his life against OJ, who had beaten his mom several minutes ago. She now sits on the sidelines, cheering her teammate on.
Paige is one piece up from OJ, three to the other’s two. They’ve been playing a game of micromoving, taking deliberate steps to try and avoid one another.
Just as OJ captures two of Paige’s pieces in one fell swoop, leaving the other to despair, the front door opens.
“Daniiii…” Sam whimpers. “I may have gotten more than three little treats…”
“Oh, honestly, Sam,” Dani laughs, turning towards her wife. “You knowI don’t—oh shit.”
Paige places his remaining piece and turns around to look at the door as well, gasping as he does. Sam is pulling in a cart filled to the brim with snacks and sodas and what looks like only a handful of actual ingredients?”
“Ahaha…” she laughs weakly, rubbing the back of her head. “Well, you know! We—we were running low on stuff anyways… And I wanted to make sure we had enough to share with everyone…” She looks off to the side and mumbles. “And everything was on sale…”
“Wait, for real?” Dani gasps happily. “Fuck yes. You know I love sales.”
Sam loses her guilty look immediately. “I knew you’d understand, honey!” she smiles. “Now could you help me unload all of this?”
Dani laughs. “Yeah, yeah.” He turns to the teens and smiles. “You two finish your game, we can do this.”
“No, that’s alright. We can help.” Paige turns back to OJ who suddenly has a very sweet smile on his face. “We’re done, after all.”
Paige blinks and looks down at the board. It’s true. somehow, OJ had captured his last piece, leaving only red checkers on the playing field.
“Aw, what?” Paige pouts. “I had you, though!”
OJ chuckles. “You did. But I love to work my way out of hard spots.”
Paige pouts harder.
OJ laughs at him, a sound that Paige finds so lovely he ends up smiling and blushing, looking away. “Let’s go help,” he coughs shyly.
“Let’s!”
+++
Paige and OJ end up doing more than just helping get everything out of the cart. They also help make the dinner, which makes everything go by surprisingly fast. By the time the moon has risen, the oven beeps for a final time, signifying the turkey having been cooled to perfection.
“Alright!” Dani cheers. “Food time!”
Sam gets up from where the four of them were playing Sorry and stretches. “Oh, you’re just happy ‘cause it means you get to finally break out the cider.”
“Guilty as charged!” Dani grins, getting up behind her. “You two can stay here and clean up the board. We’ll call it a tie for now and play again later, ‘kay?”
“Cider?” Leaf asks warily. “Like… alcohol?”
“I don’t know,” Paige replies. “Should I ask?”
“Please.”
“Um, Dani?” Paige asks aloud, “Sam said something about you and cider?”
“Yeah?” Dani nods, moving back to the table with a bottle and opener.
Paige suddenly feels a wave of nausea hit him. “Hurry up and ask,” Leaf hisses, but Paige knows it’s just because they’re scared.
“U-um…” he starts, having to cover his mouth a bit. “Um…”
“You good, kid?” Dani frowns, messing with the cork. “Is something wrong with the cider? You allergic or something? ‘Cause we can get you some soda or something.”
“N-no, it’s… not that. It’s—”
Pop!
The cork goes flying, catching Paige off guard. He jumps, yelping and covering his face.
“Paige?” OJ asks carefully. “Are you alright?”
Paige blinks and pulls his arms down. “Sorry!” he laughs, uneasy. “I-I startle easy!” He vaguely hears the remaining sizzle of the cider in his ears, but it sounds so much louder than he feels like it should.
“Paige,” Leaf stresses.
“Oh, um! But, about the cider! Is it, um… does it have alcohol in it?” He asks like a kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, a little scared to know the answer. Normally he wouldn’t care one way or another, assuming it was for the adults only anyways, but with Leaf here again…
Well, it didn’t hurt to ask regardless.
“Oh this stuff?” Dani laughs, holding the bottle up and shaking it a little. He shimmies some, spinning.. “Well, it’s—”
“Ma, behind you!” OJ yelps, cutting the other off.
“Huh—Ow!”
Sam collides right into her wife and causes a bit of an accident. For Sam, that meant nothing more than spilling a bit of soda from the two cups she was holding. Nothing big.
But for Dani?
She drops the bottle of cider.
It shatters the second it hits the floor with a loud crash!
Paige gasps hard, breath getting caught in his throat. He grabs at it and trembles.
Mack had just finished breaking a bottle over the table right after popping it open and letting it sizzle. He used the newfound weapon to threaten Quinn, who had tears in her eyes. All Paige can remember her saying is, “Please stop. Please stop. Please, please, please.” At some point she had picked him up and started running, and Paige can vaguely see the hazy outlines of what used to be Quinn’s old bedroom.
The door was locked immediately, but that didn’t stop Mack. He banged on the door again and again, even stabbing at it with the glass. He’s shouting, but it all sounds like garbage noise. Quinn is crying, holding onto her son tightly. And Paige? Paige is…
Paige is screaming.
Fuck.
“Paige?” one of the Squeezes asks, but Leaf can’t tell who. Their eyes are shut closed thanks to Paige, who’s stuck in the past. “Paige, buddy, it’s—”
They’re reaching for him. Both Leaf and Paige can feel the sensation of someone coming closer.
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” Paige shouts, holding himself tightly.
“Okay, okay! No touching!” It sounds like Dani, but Leaf is a bit too preoccupied to care whether he’s right or not.
“Paige,” he tries. “Paige, it’s okay. We’re not there anymore. It’s okay.”
Paige’s heavy breathing doesn’t let up, though. Instead, he opens his eyes wildly to take in the current situation. The Squeezes are all standing a good distance from him, all with some sort of worried look on their faces.
“Paige…?” Sam says warily. “Turtle dove, what’s wrong?”
Paige opens his mouth and shakes his head and cries and does anything else but answer.
“Let me in,” Leaf urges. “Let me help.”
“No, no, no, no!” Paige shouts. “Don’t—I—” He’s sobbing. “Dad…” he breathes, curling up on his chair.
“Paige, please—”
Paige sobs again, clutching his head. “No! No! You’re—you’re gonna—no!”
This was not happening. Paige’s senses were too flooded with panic. Leaf doubts anyone would be able to get through to him like this.
So that meant it was time to wait.
Paige stays in the chair for what feels like hours, rocking back and forth. He cries and hiccups and calls out for his mom. Several times does Leaf try to slowly pry control from him, but it just spikes the anxiety and fear in the other each time with no leeway given. So eventually Leaf decides to sit back and hum tuneless songs, unsure what else he could do to help.
Eventually, Paige does calm down. But he’s so exhausted, even Leaf can feel it.
“...G-uys?” Paige tries weakly, tears still streaming down his face. Looking around, he doesn’t see any of the family anymore. “O-OJ?”
Almost immediately the Squeezes flock back into the dining area, causing Paige’s fear to spike again. OJ must notice it, because he quickly goes, “Perhaps only I should be here right now.” His parents share a worried look before nodding and walking away. Once they’re gone, OJ smiles pensively and waves. “Hello, Paige,” he greets. “Can you tell me where you are?”
A million answers bubble to the top of Paige’s head. Here. There. Everywhere. At home. With Mom. With Dad. At your house. With your family. With Leaf. With you.
Ultimately, the teen just shakes his head and points to OJ, seemingly unable to pick from the fuzzy thoughts.
“You’re here at my house, that’s right.” OJ smiles kindly, but there’s sadness in it too. “Can you tell me what just happened?”
Paige’s breath immediately hitches as the sound of shattering replays and reverberates in his head. He whines and clutches his head, shaking it more.
“It’s alright, it’s alright.” OJ moves the slightest bit closer. “My mother dropped a bottle. It broke. Do you remember that?”
Paige nods shakily.
“Is that what scared you?”
Paige nods again, faster this time.
“Do you wish to talk ab—”
Paige shakes his head so hard it starts to make Leaf dizzy.
“Okay, that’s okay.” OJ inches closer and closer until he’s close enough to touch. “Is it okay if I touch you now? I’m certain sitting like this can’t be comfortable, and I’d like to take you to my room if that’s alright.”
“R-room…?” Paige mumbles, still kind of out of it. “Why…?”
“I can turn on my night light and put on soothing music and ultimately help you calm down better in there, I think,” OJ explains. “How does that sound?”
Paige is silent as he thinks. Before long though, he gingerly uncurls and holds his hand out.
“I can take you?” OJ asks carefully, like he’s still afraid the answer might be no. But, Paige nods slowly. OJ gently takes the other’s hand and lifts him up, Paige rising with ease. His legs wobble though.
“Paige?” OJ asks, worry clear in his voice, “Can you get there on your own?”
“Let me help,” Leaf urges, feeling relieved he can finally offer something to the situation. “I’ll just walk for you, okay?”
Paige hums as an answer to the both of them and finally lets up his death grip on the controls, allowing Leaf to walk along with OJ into his room. He’s still breathing weird when he finally takes a seat on the other’s bed.
“Feel free to lay down and cover up if you wish,” OJ smiles tightly. “I’ll turn on soft classical music for you and leave the night light on as promised, okay?”
Paige nods and then begins to climb under the comforter. He’s no longer trembling, but he can’t seem to make his breathing even.
OJ walks around and does whatever he does, Paige’s eyes having slipped closed the moment he was under the covers. Eventually, the music comes on and the buzz of the lamp’s light turns off.
“I think that should be everything,” OJ says from vaguely above them. Paige cracks open his eyes to look at him. “I’ve left water on the table as well as two aspirin should you need them. Me and my mothers will be downstairs, alright? Ah, here also.”
OJ holds out his phone before placing it next to the water. “I’m not sure where your phone is, but I’ve removed the password from mine at the moment. Should you need anything, feel free to navigate to either of my mother’s contacts and call, okay?”
Paige mumbles nothing words, only to clear his throat. “S-sorry…” he croaks. “I don’t… “
“It’s quite alright, Paige.” OJ’s expression looks a bit more relaxed now, probably because Paige is talking again. “Don’t worry about it a bit, alright?”
“B-but…” Paige’s whole body is wracked by a yawn. “But…”
“Rest,” OJ says gently. “It’s alright. All that matters right now is you feeling good again.”
Paige frowns sadly. “I-I… I…” He shakes his head a bit. “I…”
“Don’t push yourself, Paige.” OJ bends down to be level with the other. “Everything is okay. You just need some rest.”
“Mmm…” Paige hums pensively.
OJ reaches out a hand but stops short. “May I…?” he asks politely. Paige nods and OJ places his hand on the other’s shoulder. “If you wish to apologize, do it after you feel better, alright?” He rubs the spot his hand lays gingerly. “Can you do that? For me?”
Paige stares at the other, some big ball of emotions bouncing inside of him like crazy. But he must not have the energy to act upon any of them, because all he does is nod with a small, “Okay.”
OJ smiles fondly and stands again. “We’re right downstairs,” he reminds. “I’ll come back up to check on you every so often, okay?”
Paige sticks out a hand and gives a limp thumbs up, eyes closing again.
“Wonderful. Rest well, Paige.” The sound of the door opening and quietly closing happens shortly after, leaving Paige and Leaf alone.
“Paige?” Leaf tries.
“Sleep,” Paige mumbles. “Talk. L’ter.”
He sounds so tired, so out of it, Leaf relents immediately. “...Okay.”
And so, Paige lays quietly until his breathing finally evens out. Leaf sighs, relieved that that was finally dealt with, only to immediately worry again.
Was that the first time Paige had ever experienced a flashback? He said he didn’t have many memories of Mack before, didn’t he? So why did he remember that so vividly, so suddenly? Even with everything put into place to cause such a bad reaction, shouldn’t it have been Leaf freaking out? Not Paige?
Not knowing is bothering the teen, but with his brother now blessedly asleep, there’s no way to get answers of any kind.
Ugh.
Well, he might as well catch some shut eye too, then.
Paige wakes up feeling like death.
“Ugh…” he groans, lifting up. He rubs his eyes and expects to see his bed, room and Teds.
Instead, this is someone else’s bed. Someone else’s room. Someone else’s… Cyndaquil plush?
…Oh!
…Oh.
The evening comes back to Paige in a steady stream, but it’s foggy. He remembers screaming and crying… but for whatever reason it’s like Paige can only see the memory of it in third person. He’s just slightly right of the action.
That, of course, did not hurt his brain at all. In the slightest. Of course not.
As Paige tries his hardest to recover from being blasted with everything that happened, Leaf stirs. “Paige…?” they mumble. Paige can see them rub their own eyes as they lift up from where they’d been laying near the fireplace. “You awake now?” they yawn.
“I guess,” Paige replies, voice cracking. He holds his throat. “Oh geez…”
“You were screaming for a while,” Leaf informs. “Use that water the nerd left for you.”
“Hey…” Paige fights weakly, reaching over and grabbing the bottle of water. He takes three big gulps before closing it again and clearing his throat. “Don’t call him a nerd…” His voice is still a little scratchy, but it hurts a lot less to talk now.
“Sorry,” Leaf apologizes. “I…” They falter. “Nevermind. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Paige sits up and lets his legs hang over the side of the bed. “I messed everything up,” he says dejectedly.
“You had a panic attack after remembering something horrible,” Leaf corrects in a bland but matter of fact tone. “I think you’ll be forgiven.”
“But what if I’m not, Leaf?” Paige asks, worry starting to suffocate him. “Wh-what if they want me to leave immediately? And I’ve ruined me and OJ’s relationship? A-and I’ll end up spending Thanksgiving alone anyways? And—and—”
“Paige,” Leaf says seriously. “You’re gonna work yourself into another panic. Calm down.”
Paige takes a deep breath. “Yeah… yeah, you’re right.” He frowns. “But what am I supposed to do now? I…” He gasps suddenly. “Oh my gosh! The dinner…” He begins to rock a bit. “I-I hope I didn’t stop anyone from eating….”
“I doubt it. They probably set a plate aside for you, though.” Leaf huffs, but it’s not unkind. “They seem like the type of people.”
“Yeah…” Paige agrees. “I know they’re really kind, so they’ll probably forgive me too but… Augh!” His hands fly into his hair and he scrubs at it. “Why did that have to happen!? Everything was so good for once!”
Leaf sighs. “You were having fun.”
“I was!”
“And you wish it never happened.”
“I do!”
“...Sorry.”
“Huh?” Paige blinks. “What are you sorry for? I’m the one who freaked the heck out…”
“...” Leaf isn’t looking at Paige at all, biting his lip.
“Leaf?”
“It’s my fault,” he relents immediately.
“What? How is it your fault I freaked out?”
“If… If I…” Leaf shuts their eyes tight as they shake a bit, hands balled into fists at their side. “If I had just stayed… whatever I was before, you would’ve been fine.” He breathes heavily. “There’s no way you would’ve had that flashback if I weren’t here. I know it.” They sink against the side of the fireplace and mumble, “All I do is ruin things for you. Maybe I should just die.”
“What?” Paige gasps. “No! No, no, no!” He pulls up his legs and holds himself as he rocks now. “Leaf, this isn’t your fault.”
“Where’s your proof it isn’t?” Leaf snaps.
“Where’s your proof it is?” Paige says right back.
Leaf blinks, caught off guard. “U-um…” they stumble. “I—I don’t need proof. This.” They motion around. “This is the proof.” They then gesture to themself. “I’m the proof.”
“You’re not proof of anything other than how much I can’t deal with things on my own,” Paige sighs.
“That’s not fair,” Leaf frowns.
“But blaming you is?” Paige looks down sadly. “I had that freak out regardless of the fact you’re here, Leaf. I had it because I can’t… I can’t…” He trails off with a groan. “I don’t know. I can’t. End of sentence.”
“You did pretty good for yourself while I wasn’t here though, didn’t you?” Leaf prods.
Paige huffs humorlessly. “Barely.”
Days that turn into weeks that turn into months whoosh past Paige in his mind. None of them are clear except for the shining memories of his mom and his friends.
“The last two years of highschool have been… they’ve been nothing to me,” Paige laments. “I don't even know how I passed enough to get here.” He laughs quietly. “Somebody up there looking out for my grades, I guess.”
“Paige…”
“I don’t…” Paige closes his eyes and starts again. “I don’t know what I’ll do if OJ doesn’t wanna talk to me anymore. I’ll have put a rift in the Crew! And it’ll have been all my fault!”
“Your fault that you got triggered by something?” Leaf asks deadpanned.
“Triggered?” Paige repeats. “I didn’t… oh.” He stops rocking. “I did, huh. That did trigger me.” He sighs. “But why? I’ve heard things break before! Why did that specifically…?”
“Like I said, it’s my fault,” Leaf sighs.
“It’s—”
“It is.” Leaf’s voice has a tone of finality in it, one which Paige is too tired to fight against at the moment.
Instead, he sighs. “Okay, Leaf. If you say so.” He looks at the door. “But this is all… this is…” He’s having trouble with his words. “We still have to apologize and leave soon, I guess. We can worry about who done it later.”
“Do you want me to take the wheel?” Leaf asks. “I’ll take the brunt of any painful feelings the sorries may bring up.”
Paige is quiet for a long second before he mumbles. “...Yeah. …Please.”
Leaf nods and, while not seamless, the two of them swap spaces. “Don’t worry, Paige,” Leaf says with a small smirk. “I fucked this up, and I’m gonna do everything I can to do right by you.”
Knock knock.
“Erm… Paige..?” OJ calls from behind the door. “Can I come in please?”
“Yeah,” Leaf says in his normal voice, only to cough and raise it an octave. “I-I mean, yeah!”
The door opens and OJ’s form enters the room. He looks pensive and worried and several other syllables for the word guilty.
“H-hello, Paige, he waves. “How are you doing?”
“Say we’re okay,” Paige instructs.
“I-I’m okay!” Leaf smiles, rubbing the back of his head. “I um… I really needed that nap!”
OJ nods, but seems extremely distracted. “That’s.. good to hear.” He immediately barrels over that sentence, though. “Can I… M-may I talk with you? A-about something?” He’s wringing his hands. “Here, please. Between us.”
“Shit,” Leaf thinks. “Should we switch again?”
“I don’t know…” Paige says, holding his head. “That one took a lot out of me for some reason…”
“Shit. Shit, okay. Um. Tell me what to do, then.”
“Yeah, okay,” Paige nods. “First of all, tell him yes.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Leaf blinks back into reality to see OJ watching the two of them desperately. He coughs and says aloud, “Um… sure, OJ!”
OJ nods and closes the door behind him, coming over to sit next to the brothers. He looks over at them once and then away, sighing deeply. “May I be straight with you?” he asks. “There’s something on my mind that’s been haunting me, and I don’t think I should keep it to myself anymore.”
“Paige?”
“Of course.”
“O-of course,” Leaf repeats a bit awkwardly.
OJ looks straight down at the floor and twiddles his thumbs. “Do you recall the Halloween sleepover?” Leaf nods. “Yes, well… I may have overheard some things I shouldn’t have during it.”
“What do you mean?” Leaf asks, confused. He was there during that entire night and he doesn’t remember anything OJ could be talking about.
“When you were talking with Sue downstairs.”
“...Okay?”
“Do you… remember what you two were talking about?”
“We were…” Leaf gasps and frowns, looking over at the other. “You… you heard us talking about…”
OJ nods. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, honestly! But you two were already in the midst of conversation and I didn’t want to be heard and assumed to be some sort of snoop.” He bites his lip. “Even though I ended up snooping regardless, both then and now.”
“Now?” Leaf asks warily. “What do you mean now?”
In lieu of an answer, OJ asks, “...May I ask your name?”
“Wh-what’s the big idea?” Leaf has lost his fake Paige voice by now, taken aback. “What are you trying to… what are you saying?”
OJ gives an upset hum. “Forgive me for prying, please. But once I heard about your plight, I ended up researching it. I didn’t know what all your experiences were, but from what I heard they sounded like they were a lot to deal with on one's own. So I thought maybe, if I were to find out more about what you were talking about, I could help you in navigating whatever it was.
“I did a lot of searching with a lot of different keywords and hit a lot of brick walls. I don’t think I’d ever hit so many brick walls in any of my research, honestly. But, eventually things started to make sense as I narrowed down on several different things that could be ailing you and ultimately settled on the one thing I think matched up with everything I heard. And, with what I just heard, I can only reaffirm my thoughts.”
He looks up at Leaf and has a small, pensive smile on his face. “So, um… I suppose to close off all my roundabout rambling, I can only ask one question. Paige, do you know what dissociative identity disorder is?”
Paige and Leaf blink in unison, confused.
“What the h—” Leaf coughs. “Wh-what’s that?” he tries again in his higher voice.
OJ looks off to the side again. “I will explain, but first I would like a favor from you, if it’s quite alright.”
“Um… okay…?” Leaf asks warily. “What?”
“Could you refrain from pretending to be Paige?” OJ asks point blank, causing both brothers to blanche.
“I—OJ, what’re you talking about?” Leaf laughs tightly, ribbing him a bit rougher than strictly necessary. “I am Paige! St—Silly! Haha!”
“You might be overplaying it,” Paige points out helpfully.
“I’m fighting for my fucking life here, Paiges. Give me a break.”
But, when focusing back into reality, OJ has a dangerously serious look on his face. “Please,” he asks. “It would make it easier on both of us, I think.”
Leaf opens and closes his mouth, making noises but saying no words. “Paige. What. The fuck. Do we do.”
“I-I…” Paige falters. “I… We… tell him, I guess.”
“Are you sure about that?” Leaf asks, worried. “We could always just dip.”
“And what, leave OJ hanging and walk home at 8 at night?” Paige huffs. “I trust OJ. If he knows something about us that we don’t, then we should hear him out.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I am.”
With that settled, Leaf takes a deep breath and lets out a huge sigh. “Alright then, nerd,” he says, abandoning his fake Paige voice again. “Hi,” he waves lazily. “You got us. I’m not Paige.” He furrows his eyebrows testily. “Now explain what that thing you said earlier was. What’s it got to do with us?”
“O-oh… u-um…” OJ stutters, looking unprepared for the sudden change in demeanor. “I… hello…?”
“Hi,” Leaf greets again, no wave this time. “I’m Leaf, since I’m guessing that’s the question eating away at that brain of yours,” he supplies.
“Leaf…” OJ echoes, then closes his eyes. “You’re the one who came to help Paige with your father, correct?”
“Damn. You heard all of that, huh?” Leaf sighs, falling back on the bed. “Yeah, though. I am.”
Leaf can see OJ nod in front of him. “That would make you an alter then,” he mumbles.
“A what? Speak up.”
“Oh, right.” OJ turns and sits criss cross applesauce in his bed, looking down at Leaf. “I should explain in full, shouldn’t I?”
“You should,” Leaf says blandly, only to tack on a, “Please,” when Paige clears his throat in their head.
“Alright. So here are the basics: Dissociative identity disorder, often shortened to simply DID, is a form of, well, dissociative disorder. Dissociation is essentially like… an intense form of zoning out.” He frowns a bit. “It sounds like you suffer from extreme bouts of dissociation. Which, after reaching a certain threshold, is considered a dissociative disorder.”
“Okay,” Leaf nods, “But Paige does more than just zone out. He literally stops being himself. I.e. me.”
“That’s where the identity part emerges. If a person dissociates from reality so hard due to repeated trauma too often, they may develop a separate ego to help with the trauma. Someone who can handle what the original body’s host cannot.”
Leaf is quiet, and so is Paige. Neither really know what to say.
So, OJ continues. “Paige accordingly is the Yin Yang Cutter’s biggest enemy right now. Because he fought them. But the Paige I know would never fight anybody.” He looks down at Leaf. “So I assume now that the fight that happened was your doing, correct?”
Leaf looks away. “...Yeah.”
“And I imagine you also know that Paige wouldn’t have fought anyone, yes?”
“Yeah.”
“Then we have our final arrival at DID. Two different egos sharing one mind due to the need of aid from trauma.”
“...So what you’re saying is Mack made me exist,” Leaf asks.
“Yes.”
“Yeah, we already knew that.” Leaf rolls his eyes. “Did you just want to like, diagnose us or something?”
OJ’s eyes widen significantly. “No! No, that wasn’t my intention! Truly, I thought only about how I could help you manage after something made you resurface so suddenly.”
“How do you know I only just got here again?” Leaf asks warily.
“Well, if you were here to help Paige with his father, that must mean you’ve been here for his younger years. And since Paige hadn’t been suddenly fighting people all throughout highschool regardless of the fact he’d been bullied before, I think it’s safe to say you went dormant at some point and something triggered you to awaken again.”
OJ’s explanation is a lot of words, but Leaf can just barely follow them. “Okay,” he says. “Well, what now?”
“What now?”
“Yeah,” Leaf says, sitting up. “You heard us talk about our shit childhood and the fact that I exist, tell us we have some sort of disorder, and now what?” They sneer a bit. “Where does this leave us? What was this all for?”
“Oh… um…” OJ’s lips flatten. “I-I… thought I would be doing good by letting you know there were more than just you two who experience the same. And I thought knowing that and having some new sense of community would help you feel better and cope with things?” He looks away. “But… I also wanted to let the two of you know there’s no need to be afraid around me. I wanted to understand for your sakes. I wanted to make up for accidentally eavesdropping and make sure I was being a good friend.”
“OJ…” Paige breathes. “Leaf, let’s switch. I think I can do it now.”
“Yeah, alright.” Paige can feel how uneasy the other is. This would be good for both of them.
Again, the swap is less than smooth, but after a moment, Paige shoots up. “OJ!” he gasps.
“Oh!” OJ gasps back. “P-Paige?”
Paige wraps OJ into a watery hug. “OJ… You’re so kind! You didn’t have to do any of that for us!”
“What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t try to help in any way I could?”
“OJ…” Paige cries, holding him tighter.
“Ah…” OJ chuckles, hugging Paige back. “Had I known it would’ve made you this emotional, I would have warned first…”
“It’s okay,” Paige sniffs. “You did all that just to help us. A-and you didn’t even freak out like Brandon did when we told him!”
OJ frowns. “Brandon was less than accepting to you two?”
Paige shakes his head. “He was at first. But now he gets it! And we’re all friends!”
Paige feels a stab of pain in his chest and coughs. What was that about?
“Oh, that’s wonderful Paige.” OJ pulls him back again and looks him in the eyes with a smile. “I’m glad to hear you’ve already got others who are here for you!”
Paige smiles back, going in for another hug. The two stay like that for just a moment before Paige mumbles, “So you… you don’t mind?”
“Mind?” OJ blinks, pulling back again.
“That… that we’re more than one person.”
OJ chuckles lightly. “Paige, why would I ever mind about something that makes you you?”
Paige and OJ sit for a bit, the former laying his head on the latter’s shoulder. They’re quiet except for OJ’s soft humming along to the music. There’s an air around them that dances softly and neither one seems to want to shatter that.
Unfortunately for Paige, his stomach doesn’t seem to care about that.
Just like that, the bubble pops as Paige flushes and OJ giggles. “Goodness,” he says once he recovers. “Have you eaten today, Paige?”
“Umm…” Paige hums. “I didn’t eat before I came over so… nno…”
“Paige!” OJ gasps. “No, no, no!” He stands and pulls Paige up after him. “You must be so hungry! We’ve got too much food here for you to be, especially after recovering from that. Come on.”
Paige keeps himself rooted in place as OJ tries to pull him forward. “Wait!” he cries. “Wh-what about your parents?”
OJ turns back towards the other, a confused look on his face. “What about them?”
Paige frowns sadly. “I don’t know how long I was like… that,” he says, unable to think of a different way to describe it. “A-and I’ll have to apologize for ruining dinner…” He sighs. “And then probably leave.”
“Why would you leave?” OJ blinks. “Also, I wouldn’t worry about my mothers. They’re obviously not as in the loop as me, but I highly doubt they’d look someone in the eye after they had a meltdown and kick them out.” He smirks a bit, but it’s self deprecating. “I would be long gone if that were the case, trust me.”
Paige hums. “Still…”
OJ shakes his head. “No, I won’t hear anymore of this.” He tugs gently at Paige, who relents this time and follows as OJ begins to leave the room. “We’re gonna get some food in you and my mothers will be extremely understanding of your plight.”
“Wait!” Paige stops again. “Y-you’re… you’re gonna tell them about Leaf?”
“Oh, no!” OJ gasps. “No, that wasn’t in my mind at all. That’s for you and Leaf to decide after all.”
“We are not doing that,” Leaf says firmly.
“Leaf doesn’t want to,” Paige reports. “And… honestly, me either.” The idea of someone not a part of the Bro Crew knowing was really scary for some reason. And he hadn’t even told his mom yet…
No, no, no. There was no way they were going to say anything even if it helped explain things.
“That’s quite alright,” OJ assures. “All up to you. Are you ready to go now?”
Paige flattens his lips, thinking. “I guess so. I just hope my apology will be accepted…”
“Like I said,” OJ smiles softly as he opens the door, “I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you.”
Paige nods, but worries anyways.
The walk downstairs is quiet, but the moment Dani and Sam see the two of them, they jump up from the couch.
“Oh, turtle dove!” Sam beams. “You’re feeling better?”
Paige nods slowly, an awkward smile on his face.
“That’s great to hear, kiddo,” Dani sighs. “We were so worried after that…” She rubs the back of her head. “I’m sorry for droppin’ that bottle. I would’ve been more careful if I knew it would’ve set you off.”
“No, I’m sorry!” Paige yelps. “I-I don’t know how long I was stuck there, but… everyone was about to eat and have a fun time…”
“What?” Sam gasps. “Oh my gosh, Snowy! Don’t you worry your dear little head about that!” She walks over and grabs his face gently. “Whatever made you scream like that must’ve been awful to live through! We didn’t mind waiting for you to recover at all!”
“You haven’t eaten yet?” Paige frowns, face slightly squished.
“There was no way in hell we were gonna just sit around and break bread while you were out of commission, Paige,” Dani says seriously. “It’s not how the Squeezes roll.”
“Oh…” Paige mumbles, eyes beginning to water. “You guys are so nice…”
Sam wipes Paige’s tears away before letting go. “None of that! You’ve cried your little heart out already. Now’s the time ro feel better!” She smiles wide, clapping her hands together. “Hopefully, the love and care we put into the food will shine through and help with that!”
“It’s the reason I brought him down, actually,” OJ informs. “He hasn’t eaten all day!”
“Snowy!” Sam gasps, grabbing his hand and tugging him towards the kitchen. “That’s no good! No good at all! We’re fixing this right now!”
Paige simply blinks, allowing himself to be dragged along. Even after all that trouble, the Squeezes were so kind to him…
Despite himself, he feels like crying again.
“C’mon, you two!” Sam calls, pulling Paige out of his emotions long enough that he can stop before tears start falling again. “Soup’s on!”
“We didn’t make soup!” Dani calls back, laughing.
The other two laugh as well, and with all of them giving off such wonderful energy, Paige finds himself laughing too.
+++
Twenty minutes or so later, Paige and the small family find themselves in front of the TV. They’re watching a sitcom Paige has never heard about, but that the rest of them were deeply into. They’re commenting on things like continuity and character arcs.
Paige is more than happy to hear them talk amongst themselves, catching some things but mostly missing whatever references they were making. At some point though, his eyes start to lid. The food was so good and he felt so warm sandwiched between Sam and OJ.
“Paige?” OJ asks at some point, but he can barely hear it.
“Mm…?” he mumbles, opening and then immediately closing his eyes again.
“Oh, let him rest a while, Orv,” he hears Dani say, feeling her wrap an arm around his shoulder. “He needs it, dontcha kid?”
“Mmphm…” Paige nods.
Dani laughs quietly. “Night, buddy.”
Paige feels warmth lean into him from the other side of him, and he smiles softly as he falls asleep again.
+++
“Paige?” someone calls, shaking him. “Paiiiige…”
“Hhuh…?” Paige yawns, blinking his eyes open. In front of him stands OJ, a small smile on his face.
“There you are. The show’s over, we’re about to go to bed.”
“Oh…” Paige rubs his eyes. “Okay. Are you gonna make me sleep on your bed again?”
“Only if you want to,” OJ chuckles, pulling the other up. “C’mon. Let’s get to bed.”
The two of them walk upstairs quietly, much like how they came downstairs earlier. Paige goes to lag down on the bed immediately once they enter the room, causing OJ to scoff playfully.
“I thought you wouldn’t want to sleep on my bed?” he asks, putting a hand to his chest.
“Well,” Paige says simply, sticking his tongue out, “I do.”
OJ bursts into a small laugh, causing Paige to follow suit. He lays down and stretches a bit, bumping into Achili.
“Oh, here,” he offers, picking him up and handing him to OJ.
“You don’t want to sleep with him?” OJ asks, tilting his head.
“He’s yours, silly,” Paige smiles. “I didn’t bring Patro but I’d feel bad keeping Achili from you.”
“Hmm…” OJ hums. “Well, how about this?” OJ takes the Cyndaquil and sits down in front of Paige on his bed. “Since I doubt Patro would want you to sleep cold and alone, why don’t we all huddle up together?” he asks, a vaguely sly expression on his face.
Paige flushes at having his own tactic used against him. “Um!” he laughs. “I—Yeah! That sounds good!”
OJ’s expression melts into fondness. “Wonderful,” he smiles. “Let’s get some shuteye, then. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving after all! We want to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for it!”
Paige nods, still too stunned to speak.
The two of them don’t face each other originally, but OJ is a fast sleeper. He turns a few moments after falling asleep proper, leaving Paige with a beating heart that makes it a struggle to sleep.
When Paige wakes up in the morning, OJ is nowhere to be found. He’s a little sad at the idea of it honestly, but he lifts up and rubs the sleep out of his eyes anyways.
Today was Thanksgiving.
Paige smiles a bit as he thinks about the activities the Squeezes must have lined up for the day. OJ always had such fun stories to tell after the fact the last two years.
And his excitement is not misplaced! Once he gets up, does his morning routine and goes downstairs, the festivities are seemingly already underway.
“Turtle dove!” Sam greets, causing the other two to turn around and greet him as well.
“Kid! Nice to see you up!” Dani smiles.
“Good afternoon, Paige!” OJ waves, a dart in his hand.
Paige blinks as he walks over. “Afternoon?”
“Oh, just barely,” Sam laughs, patting OJ on the head. “He’s just a stickler for terms. It just hardly turned 12. Heck, we only got up about an hour ago ourselves!”
“Oh, okay!” Paige smiles, happy he hadn’t missed much. He looks over at OJ. “What’s with the dart?”
“Oh, we play a special game every holiday. Look.” OJ points to a circular board a little bit away that Paige had not noticed until just now. It’s spinning slowly. “This is our Random Choice board. One of us throws a dart at the board to pick an activity to do for the moment.” He places the dart down and moves to the board. “We have about three or four different things for different activities, but this is the one we use the most.”
Dani follows OJ with a grin. “Orv!” she shouts.
OJ gives a stiff salute before going, “Yes!” He points at one piece of the cardboard that covers the board. It’s divided evenly into a couple of categories. “For this one we have Trouble!” He moves his finger down. “Sorry!” And again. “The Game of Life!” And again. “Clue!” And once more. “And the classic, ChessCheck!”
Sam giggles. “They love doing this little bit of theirs.” They pick up the dart OJ left and hands it to Paige. “Orville normally goes first, but I think you should get the first shot, Snowy!”
“Are you sure?” Paige blinks. “I dunno how good a shot I am…”
“That’s alright! Neither are me and Dani!” Sam laughs. “C’mon you two, step out of the way. Let Snowy take a shot!”
The two other Squeezes diligently take a step away from the board, and then seem to rethink it and come back over towards Sam and Paige. No one to hit means no one gets hurt, after all.
“Okay… here goes!” Paige aims…
“Oh, wait!” Sam gasps, walking over to the board and spinning it seemingly as hard as they can. “Okay, now you can throw!” they nod, walking back over.
The board moving now kind of intimidates Paige, but he goes for it anyways. He throws…
“Aw right!” Dani cheers. “I was so close to beating y’all in Sorry yesterday! It’s time for my comeback!”
The others laugh and Paige smiles wide, feeling fully apart of the moment.
It’s nice.
+++
As it turned out, the other activities that could be put on the boards were actually movie genres and Wii games. Everyone got to throw a dart at the board game ome, then they played rock paper scissors to see who threw for the game and the movie.
All in all, Thanksgiving this year turns out to be really, really good. Even though Paige missed his mother, this was a great alternative. He’s so happy he was able to come, even with the hitch they had.
It’s much later, everyone’s played their hearts out and eaten, watched the movie that OJ got to pick, and are all ready for bed.
“So,” OJ asks, the two of them sitting on his bed, “How did you like your Squeeze Thanksgiving?”
“I loved it!” Paige cheers. “It was so much fun! Thank you for inviting me over!”
“Of course,” OJ smiles. “I’m glad to hear you had fun.”
“I really did! I wish I could stay longer!”
“And why can’t you?” OJ chuckles. “If it’s a matter of having a change of clothes or something, we can always drive you home to get whatever you need.”
“Really?” Paige gasps. “That’d be great!”
OJ simply smiles.
The two of them share the bed again that night, and this time Paige doesn’t have a heart attack trying to get to sleep.
+++
Paige looks out of the window of the RV the next day as they approach his house. He’s humming along to the radio while Sam and Dani talk animatedly.
Paige really likes these guys.
He’s so distracted by them, he almost, almost misses Carmen and Brandon climbing out of their car as they pass the Aguja household.
Paige gasps hard. “Brandon!?”
“Oh?” OJ blinks. “Did you see him?”
“Yes!” Paige rocks. “Oh my gosh. Can we stop? I need to talk to him!”
Sam blinks, but does as requested. Paige climbs out the second the doors are unlocked. “I’ll be right back!” he shouts back, running towards Brandon’s house.
He knocks on the door as soon as he gets there, bouncing from one leg to the next. Oh, please open the door. Please, please, please—
The door creaks open easily, showing Brandon’s face. It blanches the moment he recognizes Paige.
“Um.” he says.
“Brandon!” Paige despairs, “Why didn’t you tell me you were going on a trip?”
“Um.” Brandon says again.
“Brandon?”
“I…” Brandon sighs. “Look, we just got home. Can we, I don't know, talk about this later?”
“Later?” Paige frowns. “Brandon, you told your mom you asked me about coming when you didn’t! You lied just so you could go without me!” Paige feels like crying. “We’re best friends. Why would you—”
“Because of Leaf, okay!?” Brandon snaps. “That little… He claims he knows me but, then what, tries to guilt me into telling him something and ruining something that’s so important to you? Using your dad of all things to try and goad me into spilling?” Brandon laughs humorlessly. “You know he still thinks I’m Bad Brandon? Even though you know I’m not, he still sees me as something I’m not.”
“Brandon…” Paige breathes.
Brandon crosses his arms angrily. “So yeah. Maybe I didn’t want to spend my Thanksgiving with someone I’d never be thankful for.” He sighs. “Look, I’m sorry you got caught in the crossfire, alright? But it’s already happened. I can’t change it.” He frowns sadly. “Sorry.”
“So—so you’re just gonna avoid me because of Leaf from now on?” Paige asks, eyes watering.
“No!” Brandon gasps, putting his hands on Paige’s shoulder. “Paige, you’re my best friend. You might as well be my brother. I could never leave you for long.”
“But you did,” Paige bites back. “And you left for such a shallow reason…” Paige breaks away from Brandon’s grip. “I never would’ve thought you would be like that.”
“It wasn’t shallow!” Brandon shouts. “It—it wasn’t—” His eyes are watery now too. “Paige, we will talk about this later, okay?” He begins to walk back into his house.
“No!” Paige shouts back, stomping his foot. “Now!”
“Later.” Brandon says, finality in his voice.
He closes the door in Paige’s face, leaving a stunned teen in tears to deal with what he just heard.
Paige stands staring at the door for what feels like minutes, until he takes a deep breath and walks away.
“Paige?” Leaf mumbles, worried.
Paige’s eyes lid and his posture grows hunched with each step he takes, but he doesn’t respond.
Instead, he goes back to the Squeeze’s RV and says meekly to the family, “I… I have to do some stuff at home, actually.” He can actually feel his eye twitch this time. “So um… You can all go on without me.”
“Is everything alright, Snowy?” Sam frowns.
Paige closes his eyes and nods, a tight smile on his face. “Mhm! I just forgot. A-about the stuff I had to do.” He puts a hand to his face. “Silly me! Always forgetting stuff!”
When he opens his eyes, none of the Squeezes look convinced. He’s so worried he’s going to have to tell the truth, but he catches OJ’s eye, who gasps quietly.
“Ah,” he nods. “Yes, I understand. We’ll head home for now, then.”
“Aw, what?” Dani pouts. “I like Paige, though! We were gonna play more ChessCheck!”
OJ shakes his head. “I’m sure he’ll be back over sooner than later.” He turns to Paige, an odd look on his face. “Right, Paige?”
Paige breathes, nods, and throws up a peace sign. “Yep!” he says, pushing all the emotion he had left into it.
With that settled, Paige waves the family off as they drive away. Once they’re no longer visible, Paige wipes at his eyes, which had started to water again at some point.
This was awful.
+++
The second Paige lays down on his bed, Leaf springs to life. “I’m so fucking sorry, Paige,” they say, clear guilt in their voice. “This is—this is all my fault. I should’ve… I shouldn’t have…”
“It’s my fault,” Paige laughs. “It’s all my fault.”
“What??” Leaf asks, sounding completely taken aback.
“I forgot that stupid phone call. I-I forced you to apologize and then everything went upside down!”
“I did that,” Leaf sighs. “I’m the one who called him, remember? And I’m the one who fucked up with the sorry. And—”
“Leaf,” Paige sighs. “It’s my fault. If I had never said anything in the first place, maybe things wouldn’t be so horrible right now.”
“But things weren’t always horrible!” Leaf frowns. “I’m the one who said all that stupid shit and got Brandon to hate me! It’s not fair you’re being brought down with me!”
“Ugh,” Paige groans, twisting to the side and holding himself. “It doesn’t even matter. I don’t think Brandon likes either of us very much right now.”
“I…” Leaf falters and doesn’t pick back up.
The two sit in silence for a moment before Paige sighs. “Let’s just get some more sleep.”
“We just woke up a couple hours ago.”
“I don’t care. I’m so tired.”
“...Yeah, okay.” Leaf says it with a weird tilt in their voice, but they don’t fight Paige on the matter anymore, so he can’t really find it in him to wonder what it was about right now.
Instead, he curls up around Teds and Matro and closes his eyes tight, willing sleep to come for him swiftly.
+++
Brandon doesn’t call later. Or the next day. Or the next.
+++
On Sunday, Paige wakes up just as his door creaks open. “Sweetie?”
It takes him a second to piece things together in his sleepy brain, but he gasps once he realizes who it is. “Mom!” he smiles, jumping out of his bed. He rushes over to her as she swings the door open fully so she can intercept his hug.
“Hello to you too, my little book of Paiges!” Quinn laughs. “Oooh, I’m so happy to see you again!” She lets go and grabs his cheeks, tugging at them very lightly back and forth. “How’s my little man, huh?”
Paige’s smile falls as he remembers how everything with Brandon played out and how they stand now. “Mmm…” he mumbles, looking away.
Quinn’s smile drops too, confused. “What’s up, baby? Did something happen?”
Paige takes a deep breath and nods, prompting his mom to let go of him. He takes her hand and pulls her to his bed, where they both sit down. He then takes another breath.
Only to let the dam break open.
“Mom…” he cries.
Quinn’s eyes widen. “Baby? Are you alright?” She sounds worried out of her mind as she grabs his head and twists it around. “Did you get hurt again? Did someone fight you? Paige, are you okay?”
Paige sniffs and pulls his head back so he can shake it. “M-me and Brandon h-ad a f-fight…” he says pitifully. “And now I—I don’t know if he’ll ever t-talk to me a-gain…”
Quinn’s expression grows to be the saddest he’s ever seen it. “Oh, baby…” She scoops him up in another hug. “Can you tell me exactly what happened?”
“Please don’t tell her about me yet,” Leaf pleads. “I don’t know what I’d do if my mom of all people hated me too.”
Paige huffs out a breath, sobbing, nodding to both Leaf and Quinn. “I-I… Brandon didn’t—he didn’t tell me a-about the trip. S-so when I s-saw him come h-ome on Friday, I tried to talk to h-im… B-but…” His breathing has raised in pace considerably. “I was mean ab-out it, a-nd so h-he was mean b-back a-and we haven’t talked since then a-and I don’t know wh-what to do and I think he wants me—”
The teen tightly shuts his mouth. He wants me dead… Paige thinks. I was really gonna say that…
Quinn hums sadly. “It sounds like you two need to have a serious sit down and talk,” she says, rubbing his back. “You want me to come and help you talk to him? We can do it now, before school tomorrow.”
“NO!” Leaf shouts. “He’ll tell her about me! No, no, no!”
Paige sniffs. “N-no… Me and Brandon a-are big kids.” He pulls back and forces a smile. “I-I’ll… talk to him. I just—I needed to get that out.” He rubs at his eyes. “Thanks, Mom.”
“No problem, sweetie,” Quinn smiles, but it’s worried. “I’m always here for you, alright? Always.” She pats his head gently. “I love you, Paige.”
“I—I love you too, Mom.”
To say the next day was rough is an understatement.
Paige, after being convinced by Leaf, sits with his headphones in as he and his mom wait for Brandon to arrive.
There’s no music actually playing though. Neither he nor Leaf could take the idea of any extra stimulation than strictly necessary right now.
“...Sweetie?” Quinn asks from up front.
“Mm?” Paige mumbles.
Quinn sighs. “You’re as stiff as a board, sweetheart. I know this has to be about Brandon. Are you sure you don’t want me to—”
“No!” Leaf yelps, the feeling so powerful they manage to say it out loud. Paige clears his throat and blinks for a long moment. “I-I mean…
“No, it’s okay. You don’t have to explain yourself.” She turns back to him, a worried smile on her face. “Like you said, you two are big kids. I’m sure you can talk it out on your own.”
“Mm.” Paige nods, but only a bit.
Only a few moments later does Brandon make his entrance, opening the car door and climbing inside. “Hey, Tia Quinn! Hey, Paige!” he beams.
“Good morning, Brandon,” Quinn smiles back with a small backwards wave.
Paige, meanwhile, does not reply. His eyes have conveniently slipped closed, head bopping with the fake music he was absolutely listening to.
“Paige?” Brandon asks as Quinn begins to pull off. “Is your music that loud, man?”
Paige doesn’t respond.
Brandon huffs, reaching out a hand and pushing the other lightly. “Paige, c’mon dude.”
“This is torture,” Paige thinks
“There’s no other way,” Leaf sighs. “If we talk, he’ll try and mention me in front of Quinn.”
“You can just call her Mom, y’know,” Paige thinks absently. “She’s your mom too.”
Leaf hums, but doesn’t say anything else.
Out of things to do, Paige very slowly opens one of his eyes just enough to see out of it. He glances over at Brandon, who has his arms crossed and is slouching in the seat. Paige can just barely see his face, which has a pained expression covering it.
…Today was not going to be easy.
+++
Since they don’t share any classes together until after lunch, the two teens don’t see each other until they enter the cafeteria.
Paige gets his food absently, not actually hungry enough to eat today, but just following the motions. When he walks over to the Bro Crew’s table, he doesn’t even think twice about taking a seat next to Brandon, eyes glazed over.
“Hello, Paige,” Sue greets as they usually do. Bro waves, as they usually do. And Brandon…
Brandon pushes food into his mouth with each moment, not giving himself enough time to talk.
Paige pretends like he’s fully present with a small wave and a, “Hey, guys.” He opens his carton of milk and starts to sip at it, body otherwise limp.
The atmosphere is thick enough to cut with a knife. It’s oppressive and feels like a battle neither side is winning.
Sue opens their mouth several times, but then closes it right after. They’re really struggling to say something, but Bro beats them to the punch.
“Wh-what’s with this r-ight now?” they say abruptly. “There’s—there’s like some—something… Something’s wrong r-ight now. I-it’s weird.”
Sue nods, agreeing. “Brandon, you’ve normally gotten out about five different quips by now. Not to mention giving Paige his daily note.” They turn to Paige. “And you’re usually all excited to get said note as soon as possible, laughing at whatever excuse Brandon had for today’s bout of snooping.” They frown and cross their arms. “What exactly is going on here?”
Brandon barks out a laugh. “Why don’t you ask Paige?” he snarks.
Paige chokes a bit on his milk. “Me?” he asks when he recovers. “Brandon, you’re the one who didn’t call or come over for like, three days! It’s not my fault you didn’t!”
“You didn’t call or come over either,” Brandon mumbles.
Paige is filled with so many emotions so suddenly, he starts shaking. He tries to take a deep breath, but it starts to become a heavy hyperventilation. “I—You didn’t—You said we’d talk about it later! And you—you didn’t—!” Tears are forming. “You didn’t say one thing to me! A-and then you come this morning and act like everything is okay!?”
“Paige…” Leaf mumbles.
“I don’t—I don’t have to—” Paige is struggling as he stands suddenly, trying to catch his breath. “I don’t have to deal with this!” He moves to get his bag with one hand as he clutches his chest with the other. “I—I’m leaving!”
Brandon blanches. “Paige, wait—”
“No!” the other teen shouts. “I’m not waiting for you anymore!”
With that, Paige runs off. He runs out of the cafeteria and keeps going blindly through the halls.
“Paige, where are we going?” Leaf asks with worry clear in their voice.
“I don’t know!” he answers. “I don’t care!”
Paige runs until he reaches the stairwell, where he quickly ducks inside. Only then does he stop to catch his breath and to let his tears fall freely. “I can’t—I can’t believe…” he cries. “He… he really…”
“You gotta calm down,” Leaf says. “Here, do you want me to be in control? I can probably help.”
“S-sure,” Paige nods, sitting down on a step and leaning against the wall. “Go ahead.”
The transition is rough, what with Paige’s state, but eventually Leaf jolts into the front. “Oh god,” they mutter, clutching their head. “Headache central…”
“Sorry,” Paige sighs. “I should’ve said something.”
“Nah, I felt it a little bit in there,” Leaf shrugs. “Just wasn’t ready for it to hurt so bad…”
They close their eyes and take a moment just to even out their breathing for the both of them. It doesn’t take too terribly long, what with Leaf using the time to rewatch Ratatouille in their head to help speed up the process. Eventually, breathing isn’t so laborious and Leaf opens their eyes again.
“Okay,” they say. “What do we do now?”
“We go to class when the bell rings, I guess,” Paige says sadly. “There’s no way we can go back to lunch now.”
“Yeah, I guess not…” Leaf agrees. “Ugh. This blows. Can’t we just go home?”
“How? We’re not sick or anything.”
“We can pretend to be.”
“Is it worth it?”
Leaf hums. “Don’t you have a class with Brandon later? Like, two of them?”
Paige is quiet for a moment. Then he says, “How well can you pretend to be hurt?”
+++
Carmen comes and picks them up after Leaf puts on the performance of their life. They had Ms. Tiseu on the ropes the entire time. It was honestly kind of impressive.
“Do you want me to call Quinn, mijo?” Carmen asks as they pull off from the school. “It sounds like you had quite the nasty fall…”
“Um…” Leaf mumbles. “You don’t have to. I just think some sleep will be all I need.”
“You sure?” Carmen asks, worried eyes glancing back at them in the rear view mirror. “Your voice sounds a little weird… Are you catching a cold too?”
“Shit,” Leaf swears, coughing a bit. “N-no, I don’t think so,” they say, voice higher. “Just haven’t had a drink in a while.”
“You wanna stop at a store and get a juice or something?”
“No, it’s okay. I think I can make it till we home.”
Carmen doesn't look very convinced, but just nods. “Alright, sweetie. If you’re sure.” She’s quiet for a moment, before blurting out, “Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot,” Leaf says without thinking.
“What’s up with you and Brandon?” Carmen asks, sounding sad. “You two are always so close, always talking, but when I asked if he wanted to spend time with you while Quinnsie was gone, he said no and locked himself up in his room for the rest of the day!”
“Um,” Leaf mumbles.
But Carmen wasn’t done. “And when I asked him why the next day, he said you weren’t speaking to him! Which I thought was weird, because you’re always speaking to him!” She sounds so worried as she sighs. “I don’t know, mijo. My kid is so sad, and you don’t seem to be any better! And it’s worrying me so much!”
“Paige,” Leaf thinks, freaking out a bit. “What the hell do I say.”
“Umm…” Paige hums. “I-I don’t know… Maybe just think of a lie?”
“Will she buy a lie?”
“I don’t know, but I also don’t have any better ideas.”
Leaf takes a deep breath. “We’re um… having a bit of a fight, I guess,” they say, clawing at their arm lightly. “It’s okay though! We’ll um… we’re gonna talk about it later I think!”
Carmen immediately looks relieved. “Oh, thank goodness. The last thing I would want is for you two to have a falling out.”
“Me too,” Leaf laughs a bit, completely devoid of humor. “Me too.”
+++
When they get home, Carmen insists Leaf stay. “You’re gonna talk later anyways, aren’t you? Might as well do it face to face,” she reasoned.
Now it’s 3. Brandon would be coming home soon.
And Leaf would be out front.
And they were supposed to talk.
Oh god.
This was going to go horribly.
Leaf is taking their final bite of vanilla ice cream when the sound of keys in the door fills the air.
Oh boy. It was time.
The teen shrinks in on themself at the table as Brandon announces, “Ma! I’m home!”
“We’re in the kitchen, mijo!” Carmen calls back. He’s been sitting there on his phone for a hot minute now, dressed in his coat. Leaf’s been wondering why, but has been way too shy to ask.
“We?” Brandon asks as he enters the kitchen, only for his inquisitive face to turn into a shocked one. “Paige!?”
“H-hi…” Leaf waves, not even pretending to not be scared. Now not only did Brandon have home field advantage, but he could also tell his mom about them. And if they had no idea how Quinn would react, then guessing how Carmen would was like shooting at a distant target. Blindfolded. At night. And also if you don’t shoot soon enough bears will come and maul you to death. And—
“What are you doing here?” Brandon asks, pulling Leaf out of his bear mauling scenario. They look up to see the other looking like he’s genuinely curious, which was surprising. Shouldn’t he be mad or something?
“Maybe he had a change of heart?” Paige suggests.
“I’d hope so,” Leaf thinks, “But I’d doubt it.”
“Oh, Paige had a nasty fall at school today. So I came and got him home early,” Carmen explains, jumping up. “He said you two were gonna talk later, so I figured he might as well stay so you two could do it face to face.” He smiles hopefully. “Sadly, I won’t be here for it, but that’s alright. You two are big kids, you can—”
“What?” Brandon cuts off. “Where are you going?”
“Oh, to the store. I forgot something I need for tonight’s dinner is all.” Carmen claps his hands together with a nod. “Yep! It’ll probably take me about 30 minutes, give or take.”
“Ma,” Brandon deadpans. “This is not subtle.”
“Then I better take my exit, huh?” Carmen laughs airily. “Play nice, you two. I’ll be back!” And with that, he leaves the two teenagers alone. Soon the sound of his car starting and taking off can be heard, and that’s the second everything comes crashing down.
Brandon takes a deep breath before sitting down at the table and crossing his hands, looking dead at Leaf. “Well. It looks like we’ve got 30 minutes to talk. So let’s talk.”
Leaf pushes their empty bowl over before mimicking Brandon’s posture and nodding tensely. “Let’s,” he says, purposefully pushing his voice up to try to throw the other off their scent.
“Is this the right idea?” Paige mumbles, worried. “If he finds out, won’t he just get more mad at us?”
“Maybe,” Leaf agrees. “But I should be the one dealing with this. Not you. So let me deal with it for right now and burn that bridge when we get to it.”
“Don’t you mean cross?”
Leaf looks down for a second. “Hopefully.”
The two teens have a stare off for a moment, neither seeming to really want to actually start the talk. That is, until Brandon loses his stiff posture and sighs. “Look man, I’m… I’m sorry. What I said at lunch today was wack. I know I didn’t call or anything, and I should’ve. And I’m sorry about that.”
“I-it’s okay,” Leaf lies. It was most definitely not okay, but anything to get over this huge bump in the road. “I’m sorry I—Leaf was such a… a-a jerk. They shouldn’t have done what they did, and they’re really, really sorry.”
Brandon’s blinks. “That so?” He sounds wary. “Leaf is sorry, huh?”
“They are,” Leaf nods.
Brandon’s eyes lid. “Then let them say it themself.”
“I’m s—” Leaf cuts themself off ans blanches. “I-I mean—I…”
Brandon chuckles lowly. “I thought so. Did you know your Paige impression isn’t very good? You’re about here,” he says, putting a flat hand in the air, “When you need to be aboouuut here.” He pushes his hand up just about two or three inches. “It’s a subtle difference, but it’s there anyways.”
Leaf just stares, completely taken aback. “I-I thought it was pretty good…” he mumbles to himself.
“Well it wasn’t.” Brandon’s expression is serious. “Didn’t I tell you I never wanted to see you again? What did you truly and honestly think would happen by pretending to be Paige right now?”
“It wasn’t on purpose!” Leaf defends. “I just—I was here! And I figured I should deal with this since it was my fault!”
“How noble,” Brandon says, rolling his eyes. “But I don’t want to talk to you. Bring Paige back so we can actually talk.”
“Brandon…” Leaf frowns sadly, closing in on himself. He scratches at his forearm. “I… Paige has to want to come back out.”
“Well?” Brandon asks, looking through Leaf. “C’mon Paige. We should get this over with.”
“I…” Paige warbles. “I don’t…” Leaf can feel Paige’s apprehension, probably scared he won’t say the right thing if he comes out.
Leaf sighs. This was never going to work like this. So, it was time to make a decision.
“I got this,” Leaf thinks. “Just roll with me.”
“O-okay.”
“Brandon—” Leaf starts, only for Brandon to cut him off.
“Paige,” he demands. “I want to talk to Paige.”
“Will you listen to me at least?” Leaf asks desperately.
Brandon pulls his lip into a thin line for a moment, but doesn’t say anything. Leaf takes that as a go ahead.
“Look, I… I fucked up. I know I did. And if I can’t fix it, I can at least try to make sure I don’t ruin Paige’s life any more than I already have.”
“What?” Paige blinks. “Leaf, you didn’t—”
“Just roll with me,” Leaf repeats.
Paige hums, but it’s filled with worry.
“So,” Leaf continues, “I have a proposition for you. What if…” They sigh deeply. “What if I agreed to never be here while you were around Paige?”
“What!?” Paige gasps. “Leaf, we can’t promise that!”
“If this is the only way Brandon will ever talk to us again, then we’re gonna have to,” Leaf replies gravely.
It was okay though. They’d make their peace with it eventually.
Finally Brandon talks. “...Do you promise?”
“Leaf!” Paige despairs.
But still, Leaf nods.
“Then prove it.” Brandon crosses his arms. “Let Paige come out right now.”
Leaf leans back in their chair and lids their eyes, sad. “Okay.”
“Leaf?” There’s so much worry in Paige’s voice.
“It’s okay,” Leaf replies. “Just… pretend like I’m not here for now, okay?”
“But—”
Leaf takes a deep breath before looking at Brandon one last time. “Goodbye, Brandon.”