ch43 | ch44 | ch45 | ch46 | ch47 | ch48 | ch49 | ch50 | ch51 | ch52 | ch53
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. 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…
“All 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 Patro 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 and 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.”
Paige jolts into reality. “Brandon!” he shouts, upset.
Brandon on the other hand has its face light up in joy. “Paige!” He pushes his chair back and stands. “Look, I’m s—”
“No you’re not!” Paige cuts off angrily, pushing his own chair back as he stands too, slamming his hands on the table.
“What?” Brandon blinks, taken aback.
“You’re not!” Paige yells again. “You just made Leaf agree to basically not exist around you!”
“And?” Brandon laughs a bit. “Isn’t that great? The problem took care of itself! Now we can go back to being best friends again!” It walks over and tries to put a hand on Paige’s shoulder, but he pulls back.
“No, it’s not great!” he shouts, putting a hand to his chest. “Brandon, no matter what you do, Leaf is a part of me. You can’t have me without them!”
“B-but…” Brandon frowns. “They weren’t always here, right? And everything was fine before that! So if we just act like it’s like that again, we can—”
“We can’t!” Paige snaps. “Honestly, Brandon! Did you really think I would agree to something like that?” He holds himself tightly. “I’m not stupid, Brandon! I know being called Bad Brandon must’ve stung, but is it really so bad that it’s worth all of this?”
Brandon gawks, shocked at Paige’s outburst. “I—I…” it tries and fails. Then it shakes its head. “It’s…” Brandon starts to hold itself now, looking off to the side with a pained expression. “It’s… it did more than sting, Paige.” It laughs. “It did a lot more than just sting.”
Paige furrows his brows. “What do you mean?”
Brandon bites its lip and closes its eyes and sighs. “You can’t freak out,” it says wearily.
“Okay?” Paige frowns. What was happening?
Brandon sighs again and slips off his sweater. Underneath he wears a short sleeved t-shirt. At first, Paige is confused. What did taking its sweater off do?
And then, Brandon flips its arms outwards.
Paige gasps hard, eyes widening and starting to water. “Br-Brandon?” he asks, voice high and scared. “Wh—you… you didn’t—”
“I did,” Brandon huffs humorlessly.
Just below where its arms bend inwards are several small lines worth of raised skin on both arms. They look shallow, but they also look fairly new. There’s other lines of similar lengths near the same spot as these ones, but they look pretty old.
“You know, it actually stops hurting after a minute,” it says, self deprecating smile on its face. “And then that’s when you gotta do another. So,” it says blandly, “I’d say it did a little more than just stung.”
“Brandon…” Paige whispers. “I-I’m… I’m sorry…”
“It’s not your fault, Paige,” Brandon sighs, putting its sweater back on. “You would’ve never made me do this. It’s all Leaf’s fault.” It scowls. “If they hadn't pulled that cheap trick, maybe we’d all be singing Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows right now, but they did, and now that’s never gonna happen.”
“But…” Paige sniffs. “I’m so sorry that you… I-I’m sorry. But, it’s still not fair to any of us to make Leaf hide themself when we’re around you.”
“Explain,” Brandon prompts, taking a seat again and gesturing for Paige to do the same. “‘Cause I’m still not seeing how it’s not the perfect solution.”
Paige sits in front of Brandon, but doesn’t look at it. “Brandon, you’re my best friend,” he starts, playing with his hands. “You’re practically my brother. And I really don’t want to lose you. But…” He looks up at it now. “Me and Leaf are a package deal. And if part of me is making you…” Paige gulps. “Making you do… that, then… Maybe we… shouldn’t talk anymore.”
“Paige, no!” Leaf gasps. “It’s okay! I’m the one who offered to be quiet! Don’t leave Brandon just because of me!”
“I’m not going to let it pretend like it’s okay for it to just ignore you! The way I see it, you’re me and I’m you, so it either has both of us or neither of us.”
“Paige…” Brandon breathes. “Paige, no. I-I can’t lose you.” It grabs him by the arms tightly. “I can’t lose you,” it says desperately, shaking the other a bit. “I-I’m sorry, I—I don’t—I’m sorry! I just—you can’t leave me, okay!?”
Paige bites his lip. “I really don’t want to,” he repeats, “But if you can’t accept both me and Leaf without it hurting you, then…” Paige sighs, tears starting to fall again. “I guess we can leave right now.”
“I—Okay!” Brandon shouts. “Whatever you want! Just don’t…” It falters, grip loosening. “Just don’t leave me.”
Paige’s breath is uneven. “You have to mean it,” he says weakly.
“I—I’ll try, okay?” Brandon sighs heavily. “I… I’ll try. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
+++
When Carmen enters the house again, she’s greeted by the sleeping form of Brandon on one side of the couch and a texting Paige on the other. The TV is on, playing a random Pokemon episode and the both of them are sharing the creeper blanket they both loved.
“Oh thank goodness,” Carmen sighs, putting a hand to her chest.
Paige looks up. “Oh, hi Aunt Carmen,” he waves.
“Hello, mijo!” she smiles, coming over to kiss him on the forehead. “I’m so happy to see you and Brandon have patched up whatever spat you two were having!”
Paige looks away with a shaky smile. “Me too.”
“Bwhh?” Brandon mumbles, stirring. “Wh’t’s goin’ on…?”
“You fell asleep,” Paige informs. “And I’ve been texting Sue and Bro in the meantime. And also, Aunt Carmen just got home.”
“Oh…” Brandon rubs its eyes. “Hi Ma…”
“Hello, my sweet Branflakes!” Carmen beams, going over to kiss it on the forehead now. “Oh, I’m so happy.”
“Happy?” Brandon blinks slowly, confused.
“For you two!” Carmen smiles. “Both of you were so sad! It hurt my little heart to see!” She walks past them now, into the kitchen. “I’m sure Quinnsie will be just as happy to hear the good news!”
Paige looks at Brandon, who looks back at him. He can tell that the two of them have the same realization at the same time, causing them both to frown.
“Our moms must’ve been so worried,” Paige sighs.
“Yeah…” Brandon mumbles. “And you and me both know they don’t need the stress. Ugh.” Brandon bends over and scrubs at his hair. “This was so stupid. I’m so stupid.”
“It was,” Paige says with no hesitance. “But… it’s over now, right?” Paige smiles hopefully. “We can learn and grow from this and stuff, right?”
Brandon takes a deep breath and smiles back a bit. “Yeah, man. I’m… I’m gonna try and do better, alright?”
“I trust you,” Paige says honestly. “What do you say?” He holds up a fist, giving a small sly smile. “Bomb day tomorrow?”
Brandon stares for a moment, only for a grin to split across his face. It completes the brofist. “Bomb day tomorrow.”
The days amble by slowly after the two teens make up. Both Sue’s birthday and Quinceañera have passed by the time Paige can fully start to say the tension between the two of them has waned to a much more comfortable degree. It was only about a week to be fair, but it was still a whole week.
Paige and Brandon were such an inseparable bond for their whole lives that even just that one week of awkwardness was agonizing.
But! It was over now! It was over and even though Leaf hadn’t talked to him in a while, things were normal and everything was fine.
And, because everything was fine, Paige could finally relax enough to think about OJ again.
“Finally going back to your little crush?” echos in Paige’s head and he gasps, fumbling with his phone.
“Leaf!” he yelps aloud, only to shake his head and say it again in his mind. “Leaf! Where have you been?!”
“Around,” the other answers dismissively. “Don’t worry about it.”
“But…” Paige frowns. “Didn’t we agree we’d work on this together? Being better with each other?”
Leaf inhales deeply before sighing. “Yeah. Yeah, we did. Ugh.” They run a hand down their face. “Look, I’ll tell you later, okay? I don’t wanna ruin your little…” They clear their throat. “I mean, I don’t wanna mess with your mood. You were about to call nerd boy, weren’t you?”
Paige blushes a bit. “Don’t call him that,” he mumbles, focusing on his phone again. As accused, the contact information for OJ is on the screen once it lights back up.
“Go on, then,” Leaf says, making a shooing motion. “Don’t let me stop you.”
“If you’re sure…”
“I’m sure.”
Paige pouts a bit, but lets it go with a small sigh. He had to trust in Leaf if this was going to work. They would tell him what was bothering them later, he knew they would.
With that filed away, Paige taps on the call button and places the phone flush to his ear. It rings just a few times before—
”Paige!” OJ greets, sounding happy. “Hello, hello!”
“Hi, OJ!” Paige greets back, a big smile quickly finding its way onto his face. “How are you?”
“Swell!” OJ says. “Me and my mothers are about to go to a restaurant! It’s quite an event, as both of them think they can out cook any Michelin chef, so we rarely go out!” His voice grows hushed, but it’s got a playful undertone to it. “Between you and me though, I think that Outback does steak just a mite better than either of them.”
“I heard that, you traitor!” Paige hears in the distance, a hearty laugh from OJ following behind it.
“Oops! It seems I’ve been caught in my mutiny!”
“You sure have!” comes from the receiver, a lot closer this time. Paige can tell it’s Dani. “And y’know what mutinous little dudes get?”
“Ma, please!” OJ giggles, “I’m on the phone with Paige!”
“Oh? Hi, Paige!” Dani greets.
“Oh, hold on,” OJ snorts. The audio quality has a noticeable shift in it before he goes on to say, “Okay, you’re on speaker now.”
“Hi, Dani!” Paige grins.
“Hi, Paige!” Dani says again. “You’re lucky, you get to hear me giving your pal Orv the noogie of his life!”
“You’re going to what?” OJ gasps.
“I’m gonna getcha!” Dani replies easily.
And then the call is filled with the sound of parent and child laughing. The idea of what it must look like on the other side has Paige laughing himself.
OJ was always so fun to talk to, no matter what. Ohh, Paige was simply smitten.
“Out!” Paige finally hears through laughs. “Go get ready!”
“You’re not my dad!” Dani chuckles. “I’m your dad!”
“Gooo!!” OJ playfully whines. “I’m going to starve to death and it’ll be all your fault because you were too busy terrorizing me to get ready!”
“Oh, you and your theatrics!” Dani shouts, getting further away. “Fine, fine, I’m goin’! Bye, Paige!”
“Oh, bye Dani!” Paige manages before he hears the door close.
OJ sighs heavily, but it’s clear he’s happy. “Sorry about all of that, Paige. My mom can get rather… boisterous at times.”
“It’s okay! Don’t worry about it.”
“So, did you need me for something?” OJ asks. “Or was this simply a call to call?”
“Oh! Um…” Paige deflates a bit. His original plan had been to call and just talk with OJ all day, or maybe even come over to visit! But if he had plans already…
“Paige?” OJ questions, sounding a bit worried. “Did we disconnect?”
“Oh, no!” Paige says quickly. “I just—I just thought I’d call to say hi. I—You were on my mind.”
There’s a beat of silence before OJ goes, “...Was I?”
Paige can feel his face heat up a bit. “Um!” he fumbles. “You… you were!” He almost leaves it at that before realizing that maybe that was a little… weird of him. He barrels on, “So I thought I’d just call you real quick! See what was going on with you, y’know?”
“Ahh,” OJ hums. “That’s very kind of you, Paige. I really appreciate it.”
Paige giggles a bit, unprepared for the remark. “I-it’s nothing,” he says shyly. “But, um! I don’t wanna hold you up! So I’ll talk to you later?”
“Sounds like a plan.” There’s a bit of shuffling from the other’s end before he goes, “Pull your phone back.”
Paige blinks but does as instructed, gasping happily once he sees his screen. There sits OJ at his desk, a neat smile on his face. Paige scrambles to activate his own camera, managing to somehow almost drop his phone three different times in the process. His camera was on for two of them.
“You okay?” OJ asks, clearly fighting back a laugh as Paige finally gets a solid grip on his phone.
“I’m good!” Paige grins. “But um, what’s—why are we on camera?”
“I just wanted to wave you goodbye!” OJ says gleefully.
“Oh!” Paige’s smile widens. “Heehee! You’re so silly, OJ! I’ll talk to you later!” he waves.
OJ waves back easily with a simple, “See you!” before picking his phone up to end the call. Right before he does though, Paige can swear he sees the other look directly at him before winking. Before he can even think to say something, the line drops.
Paige stares at the screen until it dims, where he can then see his face’s ruby red reflection.
“This boy’s got you down bad, huh?” Leaf chuckles.
Paige opens and closes his mouth without actually saying anything back, just sputtering a bit. Leaf laughs openly at their brother now, causing Paige to shake his head and groan a bit.
“Oh, be quiet!” he pouts, but it’s playful. Leaf smiles easily at him and Paige smiles back.
This was a nice moment.
Before Paige can dwell on it for long though, his phone starts ringing.
“Oh!” the teen blinks, looking at the name that lit up his screen. “...Kevin?”
He picks up.
“Hey-hey! You picked up!” Kevin says, sounding relieved.
“I did!” Paige nods with a frown. “Are you okay? You don’t normally call…”
“Who, me?” Kevin laughs airily. “I’m—I’m good, man! I just, um…” He trails off, only to sigh a sigh so tired it only makes Paige worry more. “Look, uh… I…” The teen trails off once again before clearing his throat. “I… Are you free right now?”
Paige kicks his legs in the back of the limousine he’s found himself in, looking down at his phone. He’s currently texting Kevin as he gets closer and closer to them.
kev: but yea srry
kev: im like. u know.
Paiges: It’s okay! Don’t worry about it :) I think I’ll be there soon anyways.
kev: kay
kev: see u in a min then
Paige hums to himself as he clicks off his phone’s display. Kevin had called him not even 15 minutes ago asking him to come over before abruptly ending the call once Paige agreed. They then started texting him, thanking him and telling him Collins was already on her way.
The snow-haired teen looks out the window as the scenery passes by with a sigh. Kevin hadn’t been back to school since they were released from the hospital. It was a little worrisome to Paige honestly. That being said, they hadn’t called and neither had he, so the sudden ring had the poor boy even more worried.
But, he thinks as they cross the threshold into the Sharp estate, Whatever’s wrong, at least I’ll be here for them now.
Collins helps Paige navigate to Kevin’s room once they enter the home proper. It had been ages since he had last been here, so he would have gotten extremely lost without the help. He thanks Collins as she walks off before walking up to and knocking on the door a bit hesitantly.
There’s a quiet gasp on the other side followed by the clearing of a throat. “Come in, dude,” Kevin calls. “S’open.”
Paige nods and pushes his way in. He hopes the worry on his face isn’t as pronounced as it feels. “Hi, Kevin!” he waves, smile a little pinched. “It’s good to see you again!”
“Hey, man.” Kevin grins. They’re on their bed, rocking back and forth a bit. “C’mere,” they beckon, patting the space next to them.
Paige walks over and gently takes a seat next to them, only for him to be leaned against heavily immediately after.
“Oh!” the teen gasps. That was new. Kevin wasn’t really the touchy-feely type last time Paige checked. This was all very odd.
“Thanks for comin’,'' Kevin says after a heavy sigh. “‘Preciate it.”
Paige frowns. This really wasn’t how Kevin usually acted. What was wrong?
“Of course!” he says instead of pressing. “You’re one of my best friends. I’m always here for you.”
“Thanks,” is all Kevin replies with.
The two sit in silence for a bit, Kevin seemingly completely content to stay that way. Paige, being Paige, is willing to wait for them to say something first if they so wish.
Leaf, however, is not.
“Paige,” Leaf murmurs, sounding more worried about someone outside of the Bro Crew than Paige has ever heard him, “Do something. This is agonizing. They’re so…” Leaf falters with a deep frown. “I don’t know. Do something.”
“I don’t wanna push them…” Paige mumbles back.
“It’s not pushing if you just… ask, right?”
Paige squishes his face in thought a bit before ultimately agreeing. Kevin didn’t have to respond if they didn’t want to, right?
“Um, Kevin?”
“Mm.”
“Can I… can I ask what’s wrong?” Paige wrings his hands together. “Not that I mind sitting here with you or anything! You just seem… I don’t know, sad?”
Kevin sighs once again and Paige is about to rescind his question when they go, “I guess I am.”
“Did something happen?” Paige asks immediately, previous worries thrown away now that he knew for a fact something was wrong. “You didn’t come back to school before break started. I-I was worried but I didn’t wanna like… overwhelm you after you came home or anything…”
Kevin makes a noise that Paige can’t quite tell what it means before they slowly say, “...Pipes is outta town ‘till next week. And they’ve been here for me for this whole time, so… I miss them.”
“Oh…” Paige frowns. “I’m sorry.”
“S’okay,” Kevin shrugs. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to call you over just to be all depressed ‘nd shit. I thought having someone over would, I dunno, fix this weird funk I’m in and we’d be like… doin’ something.” They glance away. “But I’m still all weird. I feel like I just wanna lay down. For forever.” They look back at Paige with a small smile. “I do gotta say though, even if I’m like this, I’m really glad you’re still here.”
“I’ll always be here for you, Kevin,” Paige smiles back.
Kevin’s expression gets a little weird before it becomes relaxed. “You’re still too nice for your own good,” they say.
“Still?” Paige blinks.
“Eh,” Kevin smirks, “Don’t worry about it. Just know you’re good ol’ Paige.” They give him a hug and squeeze a bit before going back to simply laying against him. “Never change that, ‘kay?”
Paige nods, a bit dumbfounded, but happy that Kevin was happy to be around him.
“Sooo,” they say after a moment longer, “What’s going on with you?”
“Me?” Paige repeats.
“You,” Kevin laughs. “I don’t really have much else to fill the air with after all. And besides, I’m curious about what’s happening in PaigeLand. I feel like we haven’t talk talked in forever, man.”
Paige hums. “Well I mean… not much is going on.”
“Are you lying on purpose or do you seriously believe you haven’t had the worst couple of months of your life?” Leaf asks, eyebrow raised.
Paige pointedly ignores him.
“There’s gotta be somethin’,” Kevin prods.
“Well…” Paige starts, thinking back to earlier. “Let’s see… Did I ever tell you about OJ?”
“You mean about your awful, awful crush on him?” Kevin smirks.
Paige flushes immediately. “Um!” he squeaks. “Maybe!”
Kevin laughs heartily, lifting up. “You mentioned something back at the skate park. I remember Pipes being like ‘ohh don’t say anything! Let him figure it out himself!’ and stuff.” They smile easily at Paige. “Guess you finally figured it out then, huh?”
It’s now Paige’s turn to slump against the other, something between a wail and a groan coming out of his mouth. “Kevinnn…” he drawls, “I think I like himmm…”
Again Kevin laughs. “Yeah, I think so too buddy.”
“But!” Paige continues, “But! I-I think he likes me back!!”
“Oh shit!” Kevin smiles. “For real?”
“Yeah! You know—you know those secret admirer notes I’ve been getting?”
Kevin’s expression, for seemingly no reason, grows worried. “If what Seb told me is true, the whole school knows about your notes, buddy.” They push Paige up and hold him tightly by the shoulders. “You okay after that whole locker thing, dude? Like, really and truly?”
“You mean the stuff people put on my locker that one time?” Paige asks.
“Yeah,” Kevin nods. “Seb told me he took ‘em down ‘cause he…” Kevin trails off, shaking his head. “He took ‘em down,” he repeats. “So I know some of them were like, really shitty.”
“Oh, it’s okay,” Paige waves off. “I didn't get to see any of it really. Everyone kept telling me to get away from it before I could even process any of it.”
Kevin blinks. “No shit?”
Paige nods. “Yep.”
“Huh.” Kevin cracks a small smile. “You just stay winning, don’t you, little dude?”
“I’m taller than you!” Paige giggles.
“Semantics,” Kevin waves off. “Anyways, I’m glad to hear that. Seb’s been worried sick about it so I’ll have to tell him things are fine.”
Paige hums. “Why is Sebastian so worried?” he asks, curious. “I don’t… I don’t really know him? So why…?”
Kevin glances to the side. “You can ask him, if you’d like. I don’t think he’d appreciate me spilling stuff without his permission.”
“Ah… that’s fair.”
“He’s out now but he should be home soon.” Kevin pulls their phone over and checks the clock. “Yeah, it’s almost time.” They groan. “Mom’ll be back too.”
“Mrs. Lizabeth?” Paige asks.
“Yeah. Ughh.”
Paige’s face falls into a sad frown. “We don’t have to talk about her if you don’t want.” He can vaguely recall Kevin and Mrs. Lizabeth having… not so stellar problems with each other. He wouldn’t want to make Kevin feel worse right now, especially since she’ll be home soon anyways.
Kevin nods. “You were saying something about OJ liking you back?” they supply, clearly wanting to get back on that train of thought.
Paige nods. “We… We went to Luna Park a little bit ago, right? And when we were there, he said something that my admirer had said word for word in our notes.” He starts to get a little giddy. “And so! I think! He did that on purpose!”
“I don’t know OJ that well, but it seems like something a nerd like him would do.”
“I went to his house for Thanksgiving too!” Paige continues. “And it was—well, there was a… Something not so great happened. But! OJ was so kind to me about it…”
“Heh,” Kevin smirks. “Looks like it really is a two way street, then.”
“It is!” Paige groans. “And it sucks a little! ‘Cause neither of us are moving to cross it! And he keeps doing all these little things that I can’t tell if he’s trying to! I don’t know!” Paige buries his face in his hands and kicks his legs. “He like, winked at me today? I think?? Aaah, it’s driving me insane!”
Kevin, out of all the things they could do, laughs before patting their friend on the back. “Give it a little time, man. He’s clearly trying to take it slow for you.”
Paige pouts and blows a raspberry. “I’ve been waiting years for this! He needs to speed it up already!”
Kevin only laughs harder.
Paige loses the intense emotion after a second, sighing. “Sorry,” he apologizes. “I just… I kinda like him.”
“It’s all good, man,” Kevin smiles. Their phone then goes off in their hands and they blink, checking it. Their expression sours immediately.
“Kevin?” Paige asks, worried.
“Mom’s home,” they say blandly. “But so’s Seb. If you wanted to ask him about the locker stuff, now would be the time.”
“Will you be okay if I leave?” Paige doesn’t like the way the other’s voice lost all feeling so fast.
“I’ll take a nap,” Kevin shrugs off. “Don’t worry about me.”
“If you’re sure…”
Kevin nods. “Yeah, man. Don’t worry.” They stand and bring Paige up with them, giving him a hug. “Thanks for coming. We gotta hang out more, okay?”
“We do!” Paige agrees.
Kevin smiles. “You know what, I was actually thinking about having a little… get together soon. ‘Cause Mom’ll be leaving for like a week and I thought I’d make the most of it, y’know?”
“Ooh!” Paige smiles back. “Count me in!”
Kevin’s face is grateful as they give their friend another hug. “Awesome. I’ll text you with more details later, alright?”
“Gotcha.”
“Epic.” Kevin pulls back and looks over their phone. “Here, lemme call Collins for you. She’ll show you where Seb’s room is.”
Paige nods. “Alright!”
Time to get some answers answered.
Paige looks at the door Collins had led him to a bit apprehensively. Inside would be Sebastian who would, hopefully, have some information for him.
He holds his hand out before knocking in a peculiar pattern. Kevin had taught him it, and they said it would guarantee him access.
“Come in!” Sebastian trills, proving Kevin’s words to be true. Paige takes a deep breath before twisting the door handle and pushing inwards.
“Kevin, it’s good to see you out of b—eek!” Sebastian starts, only to stop abruptly once he turns and finally realizes who’s actually in the room.
“Um,” Paige smiles awkwardly, “Hi, Sebastian. It’s been a minute since we’ve seen each other, huh?”
“It… c-certainly has!” the other replies, holding his arms up near his chest. “Um, quick question about that, why are you here?”
“Ouch,” Leaf snickers. “Blunt guy, huh?”
“I’m sure he’s just surprised to see me,” Paige responds to Leaf. Then to Sebastian he says, “I actually came to ask you something? If that’s alright?”
“You came to my house just to ask me a question?” Sebastian asks, sounding dumbfounded.
Paige quickly corrects him. “No, no! I was here for Kevin. But I asked them a question and they said to ask you. So here I am?” He shrugs and finishes it off with a weird upturned tone, making it sound more like a question than a statement.
“I-I see.” Sebastian mutters something under his breath before covering his eyes with his hands and taking.a deep breath. When he pulls his hands back down, he clasps them behind his back and has an odd smile on his face. “Yes, well! What is it you have to ask of me?”
It was almost painfully clear he was afraid of what the question would be, so Paige just blurts it out. “You were the one to clean those notes from my locker, weren’t you?”
Sebastian blinks. “Um, yes. I did.” He tilts his head to the side a bit, expression confused. “Did I not leave a note saying as such?”
“You did!” Paige nods. “I-I mean, Sue never actually told me who’s signature it was, but your name has those initials, right? Sebastian Sharp? S.S.?” Sebastian nods. “Right. So, um… I guess I just wanted to ask why? Did you take them down, I mean.”
The already pale teenager in front of Paige somehow turns paler, a deep frown pulling at his face. “I…” Sebastian starts, looking away and taking his hands from behind his back to wring them together. “Please don’t get mad with me?” he practically begs.
Paige blinks, confused and worried. “Mad?” he asks.
“Please,” Sebastian pleads.
“Just say yes,” Leaf says, rolling his eyes. “You’re not gonna get anything out of him if you don’t.”
“Um, okay. I won’t,” Paige assures.
Sebastian nods and bites his lip before turning and beckoning for Paige to follow. He does, and the two make the short trek to a nearby porcelain table, both taking seats at one of the comfortable chairs once there. The taller boy sits directly across from the shorter one, but he doesn’t look at him, instead, looking somewhere past him. “I have a confession,” he says, hands crossed together so tightly it looked almost painful.
“A confession?” Paige blinks.
“Yes.” Sebastian closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before rushing out, “I accidentally read one of your admirer notes once!”
It’s Paige’s turn to blanche now, mouth opening in shock. “You…?” he mumbles, a weird emotion filling him. He didn’t even know Sebastian that well! Why had he…?
“You must forgive me!” Sebastian bursts out. “It was an honest mistake! I would never do such a criminal act such as reading one’s mail on purpose!”
“Mistake?” Paige repeats, feeling a bit hazy.
“Yes!” Sebastian cries. “I thought it was trash sticking out of your locker, you see! So I retrieved it, and when I looked it over, it was actually a note addressed to you! But!” he barrels on, “But, but, but! I returned it! I couldn’t bear the thought of disrupting young love!”
“I…” Paige blinks slowly. “I mean… I got it, so…” He wants to say it’s okay, wants to push past this, wants to go home, wants to be in bed, wants—
The feeling of slipping out of the driver’s seat is sudden. It happens and then Paige can’t move his mouth or his body or anything.
So, Leaf does for him.
He clears his throat before saying in his best Paige voice, “That doesn’t answer why you took those notes down.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Sebastian wails, “Some horrible, horrible individual found out about your notes because of me!” He grabs their hand with both of his and squeezes it. “Those notes they left, they were awful! And it was all my fault!”
Leaf looks at Sebastian with a bland face. “I don’t understand,” he says simply. The other opens his mouth, probably to try and explain, but Leaf could honestly care less about how this added up in his mind. “Look,” he says, cutting Sebastian off prematurely, “It’s fine, okay? You’re forgiven or whatever.”
“Leaf…” Paige murmurs, causing Leaf to clear his throat.
“I mean, don’t worry about it,” he corrects. “Thanks for taking the notes down.”
“Of course!” Sebastian nods fervently. “It was the least I could do! Those vile words and disgusting excuses for ‘jokes’... Hmph!” He lifts up and crosses his arms. “Nothing of the sort will be tolerated in my school!”
Curiosity burns at Leaf. He had to know. “You know, I didn’t ever actually get to see them,” he says as smoothly as he can. “What was so… vile about them?”
Sebastian’s face saddens to a degree that actually starts to make Leaf a little upset. “Oh, Paige…” he sighs. “I would never repeat such things. Let alone to the one they were meant to harm in the first place!”
Leaf huffs a bit. “I want to know,” he insists.
Sebastian's frown grows deeper. “I… don't know if I’m allowed to even say some of those things.”
Leaf groans. “Try me.”
“Let’s not push him…” Paige thinks, voice wispy. “He clearly doesn’t wanna say anything.”
“Tough shit for him. I’ve been dying to know what those notes.”
“Well, I don’t want to know,” Paige frowns. “Can we just go home? I don’t wanna be here anymore.”
Leaf bites down a growl as he rolls his eyes. “Fine. Whatever. I don’t even care.” When he looks back up at Sebastian, the other has a curled finger between his teeth and he rocks in his chair back and forth a bit, expression beyond worried.
“Ugh,” Leaf thinks before pushing himself up off the chair. “You know what?” he says aloud, “If it’s so bad you can’t say, don't worry about it.”
“Oh thank goodness,” Sebastian sighs, clearly extremely relieved. “It was truly awful. I really did not want to repeat it.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it was,” Leaf says with a sigh. “Look, I’m sorry we—I bothered you. But I gotta like, go now. Can you ask your guy to come take me home?”
“Collins, you mean?” Sebastian asks, pulling out his phone.
“Yeah, her.”
“Of course.” He taps at his phone and says, “And again, I am truly sorry for reading your mail and causing that mess to happen.”
“It’s whatever,” Leaf shrugs.
A moment passes and then Sebastian nods. “There. I have texted Collins. She’s on her way.”
“Thanks.” Leaf turns and walks towards the door with a backwards wave. “Bye.”
“Wait!” Sebastian suddenly cries, causing Leaf to turn around with a raised eyebrow. “Erm…” he mumbles, shrinking in on himself. “You… aren’t mad at me, correct?”
“You’re good, man,” Leaf assures, fighting back an eye roll. “Don’t sweat it.”
“O-okay!” Sebastian nods. “Thank you! Get home safe!”
“Bye,” Leaf says again.
“Tata!” Sebastian waves.
Leaf leaves the room, closing the door behind him and leaning against it with a sigh. What an ordeal. He pulls out their phone and gets ready to distract himself as they wait for Collins.
…Who says tata in this day and age?