Logan - Australia
Jem - nyo Australia
...
This is a project between TikolaNesla (from AO3) and I that we've been working on for a while now, featuring our favourite pairing: OzEst. We've both written large parts of this fic together and it was really fun! This fic will also contain touches of EstUkr and OzNZ.
Content warnings for: abuse, physical, emotional, sexual, and child neglect. Also drug abuse. None of the pairings listed are being portrayed as abusive, though.
Also, we know this is a very rare pair, but we're asking y'all to give it a chance. It's a very lovely pairing!
Hope y'all enjoy this fic too!
They first met when they were five.
It was the summer term, and Eduard still hadn't made many friends. Or any at all. It didn't bother him. Probably. Maybe. It wasn't like he'd made enemies, and his parents said it didn't really matter if he made friends as long as he did well in the lessons, didn't get in trouble, and got his homework in, so surely it didn't matter? Einstein didn't have friends either, or Tesla, and they were the smartest people ever!
Still, he couldn't help a pang of jealousy as he watched the other kids running and shouting and, well, laughing. His parents never laughed, though the did tend to sneer in amusement at the neighbours. And people they knew. And pretty much anyone they deemed to be beneath them, which was everyone. To be honest, Eduard couldn't remember if he'd ever laughed. He'd have to try it sometime, when he was alone so he didn't look stupid. Or not. It probably didn't matter.
Still, he had his book! And what better way to spend lunchtime than relaxing with a good story? Okay, he barely understood a word of 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', but he wanted to look smarter than his classmates, and the bits he did understand he loved.
Okay, maybe it wasn't that much of a surprise that he had no friends.
Eduard tore his gaze away from the other children and settled down to read. He didn't need them anyway. He just focused on all the words in front of him, willing them to make sense despite the fact that he was a small child and this was his second language.
He was concentrating so hard that he didn't notice he had company until a hand was shoved under his nose. Eduard jumped, eyes fixed on the rock cradled in a rough, dirty palm.
"Hi!"
He glanced up. The owner of the palm was just as scruffy, a boy his own age with dark hair that stuck up everywhere and missing front teeth. His school tie was draped around his neck like a scarf, and there wasn't a limb without a cut or scrape; even his nose was obscured by a plaster.
"Hey! You look lonely!"
Eduard scowled. "I am not lonely."
The boy bit his lip; every inch of him was covered in dark freckles. "Well, you look it. So I got you a rock! Um, I thought you'd like it. You can keep it!"
Eduard looked at the rock. It was grey, and covered in tiny rings, like little eyes. His eyebrows shot up.
"It's got fossils in it!" the boy explained, "isn't that cool?"
Eduard bit his lip. He didn't know what a fossil looked like, and didn't like not knowing. He didn't want to ask though, because that would mean telling the boy he didn't know something.
"I can keep it?"
"Yeah! It's a present."
He'd never had a present before. Cool. When he put the stone in his pocket, it weighed down his school uniform's trousers a little.
"Wotcha reading?" he asked, sitting down in front of him so he was still in the sun. Was he afraid of the shade or something?
"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams."
"Oh," he looked like he regretted asking, "what's it about?"
Eduard scowled. "Things."
He half-expected the boy to get bored of trying then. There was a reason he didn't have friends, and it wasn't just his need to focus on schoolwork. The boy smiled instead.
"I'm Logan Cooper," he said, "and I like lizards."
"I'm Eduard Mets," Eduard mumbled, "I like… erm, computers."
"Like, computer games and stuff?"
"Erm, yes." Eduard at least knew enough to not make fun of the kid for being less intelligent than him. Sure, he played games when his parents weren't home, but his computer was generally for learning and coding.
"I like that game where you're the shark and you gotta jump out of the water and grab planes and stuff! I even grabbed the missile and blew up the world!"
Eduard tried not to morph his face into a sneer. Tried. "That's impossible. Sharks are smaller than planes, and they can't go out of the water, and if you go that high you get sick."
Logan shrugged. "It's a game, mate. Wanna play football?"
Eduard really didn't. He tried not to make a face about it though, because this was the first time anyone had wanted to spend time with him, including his parents, now that he thought of it.
"We can play space exploring instead," said Logan quickly, glancing at the cover of his book.
"Is that a sport?" asked Eduard worriedly.
"Nah, we just explore space and stuff."
"We can't get into space."
Logan shrugged. "I know. It's a game. We just pretend we're in space."
"But we aren't in space."
"I know. Just pretend."
Eduard looked at him like he was a cat that started talking. "Pretend?"
"Yeah," Logan grinned, "I'll be the captain of the Mad Cunt Rocket Ship!" Eduard reeled at that; he'd said a bad word! "And you can be the pilot."
"You're not allowed to be a pilot if you have bad eyes." Eduard pointed at his glasses. "I read it in a book. You have to have to have 20/20 vision."
"What's that?"
"Good vision."
"Well, pretend they're your goggles! Anyway, you're the pilot and you're flying us to the planet Geekassnerdeon, home of the Geekassnerds." Eduard gave him the stoniest expression.
"That's not a real planet!"
"Pretend it is! And you're from there-"
"No. I'm from earth and that's a real planet."
"Don't you know how to pretend?"
Eduard shrugged. He still wasn't fluent in English so maybe he just didn't know the word, but he didn't want to admit he didn't know something.
"It's, like, you use your imagination to play! You think of things, like, that bench over there can be our rocket ship!"
Eduard glanced over at the bench in question. "It's not."
"Yeah, but we can imagine it is." Logan gently bumped his shoulder with a fist, "imagining stuff is great! It's like real life but better. Like, you can pretend there's no bad stuff, just aliens and pirates and space ships with lasers."
"Pirates aren't good," he mumbled. Imagination sounded fun though. He thought about the rock Logan had given him, and could feel its weight in his pocket. "Can you teach me, please?" he asked.
"Course!" Logan scrambled up and offered his hand. Eduard took it.
"So," he began, helping him onto the bench, "set a course for the planet Geekassnerdeon!"
Eduard gave a whine. "May we go somewhere cooler?"
Logan thought for a moment, then nodded. "Planet Icecream?"
"That is- yes, sure." Eduard sat down and looked across the playground. "What now?"
"Well you're the pilot!" Logan pulled his lunchbox out of his bag. "Here's the steering wheel!"
Eduard took it silently. It was a lunch box. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Eat out of it? "Space shuttles don't have steering wheels."
Logan gave a whine. "It's a rocket ship! Like in the films, and- and you built it yourself because you're a genius who can make anything!" Eduard quite liked that. "So you put a steering wheel on so I can drive while you're on the toilet." Oh. Fun. "You can close your eyes if it's easier. I do that sometimes. Like when I stared at the sun and it made my eyes hurt."
Eduard wasn't even going to comment on that. "Um, okay." He closed his eyes and thought about space. Okay, he could see it, and maybe he could see himself in a spaceship. With a big, bulky steering wheel.
Logan flicked him on the nose.
"Ow! Hey!" Eduard pouted.
Logan shrugged. "Sorry, couldn't help it. Now, the next bit is, um," he thought for a moment, "try and picture the close eyes bit on top of what you're seeing now. Like, use your brain to turn that lunch box into a steering wheel."
Eduard looked at him. "I don't know if I can."
"You're smart! You read books that don't have pictures in it! I believe in you."
"Maybe you're pretending I'm here."
Logan's face fell.
Eduard flicked him.
"Ow! Wotcha do that for?"
"It was revenge. And it was funny also," he grinned. Eduard actually grinned. Logan, despite being busy rubbing his nose, beamed at that.
"Oh no! An alien!"
"I doubt- oh. Oh no! I can see him!" So the other students… were the aliens? Or were the aliens invisible and he'd have to 'pretend' they were there?
"They're horrible!" Logan cried, "look at all their slime and tentacles and big crab claws!"
"They have tentacles and crab claws?" Eduard raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, I made them up so I decided they have both." He beamed.
Eduard looked at him with wide eyes. "Please can I make aliens up too?" He really liked aliens, and their various designs and bright colours and their spaceships.
Logan grinned at the question. "Of course! Make them whatever you like!"
Eduard thought for the longest time. What aliens did he like best? He sometimes looked through picture books in the library, but most of his experience with aliens came from films he'd occasionally watch, to improve his English.
"Blue," he said eventually, "and… um, with feathers?" Birds. He was thinking of birds. And birds weren't even blue, usually, not the ones around here. He saw some from his bedroom in his old house once - his book of birds said they were called barn swallows, and that they lived in more places than any other bird, but he hadn't seen any here yet. But maybe swallow aliens would be cool? After all, they were pretending they were in space. Maybe they had swallows in space. No, that was stupid and Logan probably thought he was an idiot. He was an idiot. Birds can't fly into space!
"Blue bird aliens!" Logan punched the air, "yes! Can they be like those birds of paradise with the weird feathers and stuff?"
Eduard smiled behind his sleeve. He'd seen those in his book of birds, but never in real life. "Yes, but they're blue."
"I like the blue bird aliens! I'm going to pet them!" Logan pet the air, making little kissing noises to these imaginary aliens. Tentatively, Eduard joined in. For some reason, that made Logan so happy he looked like he was going to burst.
"Yes! They like you!"
Maybe playing pretend wasn't so bad after all.
"Mummy! I made a friend!"
Layla Cooper glanced up from her daughter, smiling as her son burst into the room. She put the little girl down to play, and Jemima toddled off, soon to be replaced by Logan, jumping up and down, fists balled as he practically vibrated with excitement.
Layla ruffled his hair. "Another one? Oh, that's wonderful, dear!"
"His name's Eduard and he's small and quiet and reads a lot!" He climbed up onto her lap. "And he doesn't know how to play! I had to teach him!"
Layla blinked. "He doesn't know how to play?"
Logan shrugged, picking at a thread in his shorts. "Yeah nah. He doesn't. He's weird, but I like him! And he learnt how to play pretend!"
"Picked it up quickly, then?" Layla smiled and hugged her son close.
Logan nodded. "He's really, really, really, really, really, realllyreallyreallyrealllyreallyreallyrealllyreallyreallyrealllyreallyreallyrealllyreallyreallyrealllyreally, reeeaaally smart. He knows everything, except pretending. He had a book and it was bigger than Jem! And the words were tiny! And it didn't have pictures!"
"Want to invite him round sometime?"
Logan beamed at that, "yes! We can play pirates and go exploring and-"
"You can't make Jem walk the plank," said Layla sternly.
"I wasn't going to!" Logan said with the tone that he'd planned exactly to do just that. Layla looked at him knowingly, raising an eyebrow.
"I'll be good," he promised her.
"Dad, guess what!" Ever since lunchtime, Eduard had been thinking about him. He'd never had a friend before! And Logan was one of the boys who played football and talked in class, too- usually they just pushed him around, but Logan was actually nice, if a little bit stupid. As he stood in the doorway, he could barely stand still.
Anton didn't look up from his computer. "I'm working, Eduard."
He stopped bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Oh. I'm sorry."
"Have you done your homework?"
"I don't have any."
"Why not?"
"They didn't give us."
"They didn't give you any ," he corrected.
Eduard nodded. "Sorry."
Anton rolled his eyes. "Go make dad some coffee, Eduard. Then brush up on your English."
He nodded again and disappeared from the room. He couldn't reach the mugs very well. He had to stand on a chair, but he had to be careful about that too. Once he had fallen off and bruised his knee. His mum told him off for standing on the chairs - she said he could have broken them - and for making a big noise about his knee. It had really hurt, but she told him to walk it off. At least he hadn't dropped the mug.
Still, his dad was too busy to talk, and his mum wasn't home yet, so he just left before he got in trouble again.
Eduard had never been invited round to anyone's house before.
He wouldn't have known it was something children did if he hadn't overheard his classmates talking to each other about all the fun they'd had. He'd tried not to be jealous, but he was. Immensely. Not that his parents would ever let him invite someone over. They'd make far too much mess and be too noisy; they wouldn't even be allowed to do homework together.
But what his parents didn't know wouldn't hurt them, right? He was scared to think what would happen if they found out, though. He'd always been as well-behaved he could be, and they were never happy with him.
He held Logan's sweaty hand, letting the boy lead him down pleasant lanes in the afternoon sun, both children drenched in sweat from playing Star Wars at lunch time. Logan had suggested they continue having a lightsaber battle with sticks on the way home, but Eduard was too tired. He just rested his head on Logan's shoulder.
He and Logan had played together every day for a week now. He hadn't known he could be so happy during playtime. Not unless he was hiding in the library. The other kids tended to pick on him during playtime.
He was more than a little scared to meet Logan's parents. He'd seen other kids' parents, picking them up and dropping them off, but he'd never talked to them. He hoped they'd be a bit like his, because even when his parents were mean, at least he kind of knew how to talk to them. Kind of. He just had to say please and thank you, not complain, and not make any mistakes when he was talking or he'd sound stupid. English was way too hard. Maybe he should just stay quiet. Talk when they asked him questions, but not too much.
"What's your mum and dad like?" he asked. He'd read a book with a big word in it he liked. Reconnaissance. He loved that word. He didn't know how to say it, but it was cool. He'd looked it up in his big dictionary. Preliminary surveying or research, it said. And preliminary meant it was preparation. That's what he was doing now. Preliminarying.
"They're alright. Daddy's really good at guitar. I dunno, they're just parents."
"He has a guitar?" He'd never seen a guitar in real life!
"Yeah, it's red. This house!"
"You're living very close to the school."
"I wouldn't be walking home on my own if I weren't."
Logan knocked on the big door. He could hear a woman saying something, then footsteps. The woman who opened the door was tiny for a grown up. Her long, dark hair fell down her back in a messy wave, and her red summer dress was frayed and patchy. She smiled brightly when she saw him, though, bending down to hug him.
"Hi! You must be Eddie!"
Eduard froze. What on earth was she doing? He had no idea how to react. No one ever hugged him. No one ever called him Eddie either. Was it even appropriate to hug children? He looked at Logan desperately for assistance before he freaked out.
But Layla had let go before he'd had time to freak out properly.
"Hello Mrs Cooper," he mumbled politely. It was impolite to mumble, but he was terrified.
"There's no need to be so formal, young man," she said, ruffling his hair. "Layla is fine."
He nodded, but it felt wrong. It felt rude. But he couldn't just ignore something an adult had told him to do, right?
"So, Eddie," Layla continued, "what do you like to eat?"
He had no idea what to say. There were things he did and didn't like to eat, but even if he could remember anything, he knew he shouldn't tell her. He didn't want to seem fussy or rude.
"Um, anything."
"I'm making a prawn curry if that's alright," said Layla. "But I can put some chicken fingers in the oven if you'd rather that."
Prawn curry sounded disgusting. He hadn't tried a prawn, but he didn't think he wanted to. They looked like little pink bugs and he'd have to eat the whole thing, guts and all! But it would be rude to refuse.
"No, that sounds lovely," he forced a smile. "Thank you."
"Great! Well, dinner will be an hour or so, why not go outside to play?"
Eduard nodded, and Logan lead him into the garden.
He'd never quite seen a garden like the Coopers'. His own was quite small, just fences and grass and a few stone slabs. He wasn't allowed to go out much - he was supposed to stay inside and read and do work - but Anton mowed it every month or so to keep it from getting messy. That was the only time anyone went out in it.
This garden, however, wasn't overgrown, but it seemed Mr and Mrs Cooper liked letting the grass grow more freely, so it came up past his ankles. The flower beds were filled with bright flowers clambering for sunlight, more trailing up the fence, and in the corner there was a vegetable patch. There was a pond in the middle, where tiny frogs sat on stones around the edge lazily, and when Eduard glanced at the inky black water, he found himself staring at a shoal of fat goldfish. Dragonflies and various other insects buzzed about, trying to avoid death by the sticky tongue of a frog. There was a tiny bird perched up on the fence. Eduard should have brought his bird book, then he could have seen what it was.
Children's toys were left littered across the lawn, and Logan bounded straight over to a swing and slide set. Logan climbed onto the slide, skipping steps with a bit of difficulty, mostly to show off, then slid down.
Eduard stood awkwardly on the patio. He'd never actually played on a slide before, and though it did look fun, he was scared to try. What if he broke it?
He noticed a little girl next to him, about three years old, lying down and scribbling on the stone slabs in bright orange chalk.
"That's my sister, Jem," said Logan, joining him, "she's boring." Jem stuck her tongue out at her brother.
The two looked incredibly similar. In fact, Jem looked like Logan with twin ponytails. Her dungarees were covered in mud and grass stains and there was a big rip on her knee. Eduard didn't quite know what to make of that. He would never be allowed to get his own clothes dirty, much less actually rip them.
"You got siblings?"
Eduard shook his head.
"Lucky! Siblings suck. Jem broke my football. Anyway, what do you want to do?" asked Logan.
Eduard shrugged.
"Want to go on the slide?"
Eduard thought about it. Yes, yes he did. When he nodded, Logan took his hand and lead him to the ladder.
"Is it scary?" he asked.
"What? Course not!" Logan frowned, "Have you never been on a slide, mate?"
Eduard shrugged again.
"I did this thing once where I ran up the slide bit instead of the ladder bit. I had to go on crutches after. It was so cool."
"Why did you do that?"
He shrugged. "Because."
"Because?"
"Do you just never play?"
"Playing is for babies," he sniffed, "I prefer to read."
"It's not! It's fun!"
"It's fun even when you get injured?"
"Yeah! Anyway, Jem's a baby, and she never wants to play pirates with me."
Jem threw a chalk at him with startling inaccuracy, though there was something to be said for how far she managed to throw it. "That's 'cause you push me into the pond!"
Logan stuck his tongue out at her. "So you wanna go on the slide?"
Eduard looked up the ladder. It was a little too tall, now he was actually close to one. The plastic steps looked very fragile too, but he didn't want Logan to think he was boring and not hang out with him anymore.
He nodded and took a step on the ladder. No turning back now. His hands were too sweaty for this. His legs were too shaky. But he kept climbing until he reached the top. The ladder didn't seem very secure. It was pretty windy up here too.
He wanted to get down, but he didn't want Logan to laugh at him, or to think he was a scaredy-cat, or stupid. But he looked so small from up here.
He sat down at the top and let his feet dangle out in front of him. That was half the battle, right? He could do this! He - slowly - lowered himself down, so he was holding on to the railing, arms stretched above his head. He was most of the way down now, surely. He was too scared to look.
He held on til his arms hurt, then let go.
It was the best thing ever! With a small noise between a cry and a squeal, he whooshed gracefully to the bottom and found himself sprawled out on the grass, breathless and limbs flopping everywhere. He scrambled up before his clothes got dirty, grinning at Logan.
"That was amazing!" he cried before making his way up the ladder again. This time, he slid down properly, and it was even better! He went again and again, until he finally grew bored. He wished he had a slide in his own garden.
Logan just watched him have fun from the swings, grinning at the other boy's excitement. Eduard was practically trembling with joy when he trotted over to him.
"I have never had so much fun!" he cried, fully aware that he sounded stupid, but for once too happy to care. Much. Logan grinned and pulled him into a hug. Another hug.
"You can come round every day and play on the slide!"
Was this normal? Hugging people over every little thing? Logan and his arms were warm, though, and Eduard felt slightly sad when he pulled away.
"Wanna play pirates now?"
"No!" Jem shouted, having finished her scribbly picture and busying herself with decapitating her Barbies. "I'm not going in the pond!" She scrambled up to point an accusing finger at her brother.
Logan smiled, winking at Eduard. It was odd, that little gesture of complicity. It made him smile.
"Okay, you can be captain. Go get the captain hat!"
Jem beamed and did just that. She ran inside, and a few seconds later ran back out wearing an impressive feathered hat and long red coat. She was brandishing a wooden sword, with "JEMIMAS SORD! DOWNT TUCH OR U DI !" written on it in sparkly red gel pen. The J was backwards. Logan picked up two more from their apparent home in Mrs Cooper's hydrangea. His was written on too- it said "LOGAN IS SO KOOL".
"I'm going to make you walk the plank!" she squeaked.
"That's very mean!" cried Logan, "you're not a very good captain. Maybe me and Eddie are gonna have ourselves a munity!" He smacked the sword out of her hand. "We're gonna have you marooned!"
"It's a mutiny," Ed pointed out, tapping his sword experimentally on the bush, "Not munity. Munity is that thing where you can't be ill."
Logan pouted. "Yes, that! Well, Captain Jem is gonna be stranded on a desert island, which she will swim to after walking the plank!"
Jem screamed.
Mrs Cooper told Logan off for pushing his sister in the pond again, and although she wasn't annoyed with Ed, he still felt like he'd been told off too. Maybe if she was angry with him, he wouldn't have to have any prawns - his parents didn't give him dinner for smaller things than that, after all - but he was still a bit scared that she wouldn't want him over again. Then he'd never get to go on the slide again.
"I'm sorry, Mrs Cooper."
Layla just smiled at him. "It's okay, Eddie. Just Logan being a big silly."
"Am I still allowed to come here?"
She laughed. "Of course you are, sweetheart. You're always welcome here."
"Thank you very much. I like your slide. Never done a slide before."
"Never?"
"I just read."
Mrs Cooper blinked. "Do your parents not take you to the park?"
Eduard shook his head. His parents never took him anywhere.
"Oh, well maybe you can go with us then."
Eduard would like that very much indeed.
On the plus side, Mrs Cooper wasn't mad at him. But on the downside it meant he was now faced with a plateful of prawn curry. As well as prawn, Mrs Cooper had used yam, something he'd also not eaten before. Logan and Jem - now in clean clothes after her bath - were eating like they'd not eaten in a week. The Cooper family had now been joined by Mr Cooper, a skinny man barely taller than his wife, with a friendly smile and wispy blond hair. He liked wearing colourful shirts and things in his hair and beaded jewellery.
Apparently, Mr Cooper used to be in a rock band, and still played the guitar. He also had a massive record collection and a keyboard and Ed quite liked his music room. Mr Cooper had even put on some music for him, a band called Yothu Yindi that Mr Cooper listened to as a boy. Eduard also noticed a flag in the music room, a flag he'd seen around the house before: black and red with a bright yellow circle in the middle. He wondered what country the flag was from.
Mr Cooper didn't mind being called 'Mr Cooper', because his name was also Logan. Eduard thought that was quite strange, but didn't comment on it.
He'd never met anyone quite like Logan's parents, but he decided he really liked them, and therefore he didn't want to make them cross at him for anything. It was what gave him the determination to try Mrs Cooper's cooking.
It was delicious. He'd never eaten anything with so much flavour, and the prawns weren't as disgusting as he thought they'd be. He smiled and tucked in, much to Mrs Cooper's delight.
"Why's Ed talk funny?" Jem asked, her mouth full of prawns.
Mr Cooper frowned at her. "Jem, we don't ask questions like that."
"But he pronounces "wuh" noises like "vuh"!"
"When people come from another place," he explained, "It can affect the way they talk. Where are you from, Ed?"
"Kohtla-Järve," he told him, being sure to swallow his mouthful first.
"Where?"
"Estonia," he clarified, very proud that he knew something a grown-up didn't.
"Oh, is that far?"
He nodded. "It was a long plane ride."
"When did you move?"
"Last year."
"Really? How come?"
"My mother's job."
"You speak the language very well. Do you speak Estonian at home?"
He nodded. "Yes, but sometimes we have to talk in English so that I learn it, and all of my books have to be in English." Was he talking too much?
"It's very impressive."
"I don't know a lot of words."
"I think you speak very well. What does your mum do then?"
"She's an astrophysicist. That means she's a space scientist."
"She must be very clever."
"She is very clever."
Mr Cooper smiled at him. "What about your father?"
"He is a doctor. What do you do, Mrs Cooper?"
"I'm an artist."
He remembered something his mother had said about artists. "Do you have a real job?"
The corner of Mrs Cooper's lips twitched, and she looked at him like she was sick of people asking that. Layla Cooper was an intuitive woman, though, and she had a sneaking suspicion that young Eduard was just parroting someone. "It is a real job. I have my own shop to sell my paintings."
"My mother said it isn't." He pointed at a painting on the wall. "Did you do that one?"
She smiled. "Yes dear. Maybe your mum doesn't know how much hard work goes into painting."
"Maybe. She is knowing a lot of things, though, especially space."
"Do you like space too, Eddie dear?"
He nodded.
"What if I painted you something space-related? Do you like constellations?"
"I like planets."
"What if I painted you a planet?"
"Which planet?"
"Whichever one you like."
"Why?"
"It's a present."
"What is it for?"
"It looks nice," she laughed. Was she laughing at him? Of course she was. He was asking far too many questions, and it made him look stupid. He was stupid.
"Okay." He looked down and went back to his food. He was always getting told off for asking too many questions. It was best he stayed quiet, so he didn't upset them.
Layla just smiled at him. "So, did you boys have a good day at school?"
Logan nodded. "Yes! I did colouring and coloured in the lines. And Ed read a big book!"
"Which one?"
Logan looked at Ed to answer, but he just shrugged. "Something guide to the galaxy," he supplied.
Mr Cooper blinked in surprise. "Wow, Doug Adams? Bit old for you, isn't it?"
"Douglas," Ed corrected, "And it's fine for me."
His eyebrows shot up. "Woah. You're a smart boy."
When dinner finished, the boys helped Layla clear the table, then she brought out dessert. As Eduard tucked in to a thick apple and blackberry pie, he wondered if he could come back every day.
Eduard spent as much of the summer holidays as possible round at the Coopers'. Not only because of the slide, but because he liked the entire family. And they in turn grew to love him like a second son.
Eduard liked everything about them, from Mrs Cooper's hugs to how Mr Cooper let him play on the keyboard, however he wanted, because he trusted Ed not to break it. Some of Eduard's fondest memories became those loud afternoons, Mr Cooper playing the guitar whilst he played something that could be considered a tune on the keyboard. Logan would be there too, banging his father's beautifully painted clapsticks together with wild abandon, making more noise than Ed ever could.
Mrs Cooper ended up painting all the planets for him, each on their own little canvas and beautifully coloured and Eduard loved them all. He proudly displayed them on his shelf in his room, and even if his parents were unimpressed, he thought they were the greatest things he owned, along with the rock Logan gave him that first afternoon.
Jem liked to chase him with gross things on a stick: frogspawn, mud, the green slime in the pond. And Logan was always there to defend him from her, lift her up and carry her away whilst Ed doubled over and caught his breath.
And then there was Logan. He quickly became Eduard's best friend, the kind of friend he'd seen in films. They planned adventures together, played, explored. Eduard became quite good at pretending, and over the weeks turned into an astronaut, Indiana Jones, a scientist, a naturalist trying to find the rarest birds. They watched Tarzan one evening, when it was too dark to be outside, and played at being scientists and monkeys every day for a month.
He knew his parents wouldn't notice him staying over, and slept in Logan's bed as often as he did his own. Logan was a far less experienced reader - he struggled with picture books - so Eduard would read to him before they went to sleep. It was something Layla had introduced him to: bedtime stories. When she wasn't busy with Jem, she tried her best to read stories for the boys, until Eduard volunteered to help when he was around. They both loved learning, though, and when Eduard showed him his big book of birds, Logan got out his book of British wildlife to show Eduard what bugs and small animals ended up in the garden. Logan collected bugs for him, putting them in the little jar he'd got for his birthday with the magnifying glass on the lid and filling them with leaves so they wouldn't get hungry, so Eduard could measure them with his school ruler and made little notes in his special book with "Feeld Notes" scrawled on the cover ( Snail makes bubles when you touch it). Everything about him was neat, except his handwriting. Logan was well past trying to read it.
Sometimes, Eduard would invite Logan over, when he knew his parents would be out all day. There were rules, though, so many rules Eduard had to make sure Logan understood. They couldn't make a mess, or go out in the garden in case they ruined the grass, and Logan wasn't allowed to tell anyone his parents weren't home, not even the frogs in the pond. Technically, Eduard wasn't allowed to tell anyone either, but he could trust Logan with all the secrets in the world - and after all, Logan had told him he had eaten the last three muffins and told his parents Jem did it, so it was only fair. Logan would lift Eduard up so he could get to the cupboards and find food for them both, then they'd spend the day in front of the telly eating and watching documentaries. The boys alternated between nature ones for Logan, and space ones for Eduard.
They played in Eduard's room too. Whilst Logan's was messy, bright, and warm, Eduard's was bare and impersonal. He didn't have toys across the floor. He didn't have newspaper and magazine clippings about nature on the wall, like Logan did, or even National Geographic kids posters. Whilst Eduard's shelf was filled with thick books, Logan's was full of rocks, shells and fossils he'd found on day trips to the beach. Eduard's room had empty white walls, and a desk, and an alarm clock, but nothing you could have much fun with. It looked like a grown up's room. Even Logan's parents had a cooler room. Still, Eduard seemed to like it.
When August rolled into September, Eduard still found himself spending time with Logan after school. Sometimes, the Coopers found the whole thing inconvenient, but they still let Eduard come over whenever he wanted. He was the most quiet, polite child they'd ever met, after all, and never made a mess. In fact, Logan tended to behave better around him too.
The days grew shorter, and Layla decided she didn't want the boys out after dark. She picked them up from school one cold afternoon in early October to visit a family friend, and never even questioned it when Eduard climbed into the car with Logan. Jem was in the back too, strapped into her baby seat. When Eduard sat down next to her, she tried to put a finger up his nose.
An hour after they got home, Layla walked into her son's room to find the two boys hiding in a little blanket fort, under siege, apparently. They were rationing a packet of Maltesers with an apparent amount of difficulty.
"What time do you need to get home, Eddie?" she asked.
The boy shrugged.
"Well, what time would you like me to take you home?"
"I can walk home all by myself," he sniffed.
"Not when it's so dark outside," said Layla sternly, "it's too dangerous. I can drive you no problem."
Eduard nodded, a little upset Mrs Cooper didn't trust him to be out after dark. "My bedtime is at 7 o'clock."
So she drove him home by 6:30. He insisted he could walk the rest of the way for the whole journey, but she absolutely refused to let him.
Layla glanced at the Mets' dark, empty house. "Are your parents not home?"
Eduard froze. "They are. They went to sleep early?" he tried. He fidgeted in his lap, and Layla looked at him in concern.
"Eddie, where are your parents?"
"I can't tell you," he squeaked, "they made me promise…"
"I'm not letting you stay home by yourself. You're too young."
"Do you promise not to tell?"
She hesitated. Eduard sternly stuck his pinky out at her.
"Promise . Or they'll tell me off."
She hooked her finger in his. "Promise." She didn't like lying to children.
"My dad's on a business trip this week, and mum won't be home until 11. They said I'm not allowed to tell people when they're not home because some people will tell me off because they think I'm not old enough to look after myself. I am old enough. I'm five years old. That's a whole hand."
She glanced at the empty windows. Her heart ached for the poor kid. She'd had suspicions about his parents a while, but she could just about blow it off as eccentricity, or maybe just a cultural difference. This was so much worse. Nothing could excuse that.
"Are they away a lot?"
"Yeah, for work."
She cut the engine. "Come on, let's get you into bed."
She picked Eduard up and carried him into the house, stroking the boy's hair lazily. A thought struck her. "Wait, what are you supposed to do for dinner?" She made sure the boy was fed whenever he visited, but he didn't come round every day. She didn't even know if his parents knew she made him dinner.
Eduard shrugged. "I make a sandwich or something. I figured out how to make pasta but last time I spilt water on me and got really burnt, so I don't do it anymore." He pulled up his sleeve. There was a pink scar on his arm, his skin slightly wrinkled and shiny. "It really hurt, but I didn't need to go to the hospital. Dad sorted it out."
"Here, I'll kiss it better." She kissed his arm.
"That's… not how medicine works."
She just smiled sadly. "Can I have your keys?"
He passed them to her. "You can't keep them," he told her solemnly.
"I won't." She opened the door and walked into his house. It had the bare minimum of decoration - a rug here, a cushion there, but nothing personal. Like a catalog.
"You have to take your shoes off," he ordered, neatly placing his on the rack by the door. She followed suit.
"Alright, go put your pyjamas on and brush your teeth. I'll be with you very soon."
He nodded and quickly padded upstairs.
She stepped into their kitchen. After finding they didn't have any cocoa powder, she made Eduard a mug of warm milk and honey and took it up for him. He was waiting in bed, wrapped in his duvet. She sat down and placed the mug down on the bedside table.
"I made you milk and honey."
"I've just brushed my teeth," he pointed out.
"The taste'll be gone by the time it's cooled down a bit. Story?"
"Yes, please."
She let him pick out a story for her to read - a thick one on his bedside table. She hated how many stupidly big words were in it, but got through the chapter all the same, because Eduard seemed to be having fun. Then she kissed his forehead and told him to go to sleep.
"G'night, mummy," he mumbled, burrowing into his duvet.
She stroked his hair. "G'night, Eddie."
On the way out, she closed the door - barely ajar, the way he liked it. Logan always wanted it open, and he always let him have it like that. Leaving Eduard to sleep, she padded downstairs. Their couch was somehow even harder than it looked. She didn't mind, though - she sat down, made herself comfortable, and waited.
Eduard woke up to the sound of a commotion downstairs.
"You monster! " he heard, in a voice just barely recognisable as Layla's, "He's five years old, and you're leaving him to fend for himself? How fucking dare you?"
He gasped. She swore!
The second voice was his mother's. It was quieter, but he could hear it. "I'll raise my son however I want to," she replied, "Just because yours is a little halfwit and can't look after himself doesn't mean mine is."
He heard a sickening slap.
"Don't say a damn word about him! He is a child! I don't expect him to look after himself! Nobody should!"
Eduard winced. Was Mrs Cooper angry with his mum because of what he said? And was he in trouble with his parents now?
He heard worse sounds - thumps and shouts and swears. Eventually, the front door slammed. He rushed to his window with wide eyes and saw Mrs Cooper storm down the garden path and into her car. He was too scared to go down, and pretended to sleep when she came in to check on him.
The next day, though, his mum was friendlier than usual, and made him breakfast in bed.
Eduard found his mother asked about his day sometimes. He suspected she wasn't really interested, and simply scared of Mrs Cooper, but he liked the change all the same. He made the most of it and took the opportunity to talk about aspects of his life besides school work over breakfast.
His father still didn't show any interest. In fact, he seemed to disapprove of the whole thing altogether. What was new there?
These conversations lasted until he found out how she felt about his friendship with Logan - that Cooper boy, she called him, with a sneer in her voice, spitting out the word like it was bitter to the taste - and he decided, with a sickening feeling in his stomach, to not bother talking about his life anymore.