Somehow, word hadn't spread about Lancer's new living situation. Bright Eyes had told her friends, of course, making them promise not to tell anyone else, and they'd kept their word beyond expectation. Even Melody and Patch, who loved to gossip, were surprisingly tight-lipped about the whole thing.
But even the girls' silence couldn't have stopped word from spreading, as Lancer found out when Ace and Teddy dragged him aside at lunch that afternoon.
"So what's the deal, man?" Ace demanded as soon as they'd found a spot out of everyone else's hearing range. Lancer gulped, a knot forming in his stomach.
"The deal? What are you talking about?" he stammered.
"That see you at home with Bright Eyes," Teddy said. "You two get hitched over the weekend or something?"
"Oh, no," Lancer groaned. He'd said it so quietly, but they must have been close enough to hear anyway. "T-that didn't mean...she's coming over to my place to study, that's all!" he lied. Usually his friends would buy it and back off, but instead they just stared at him as if to ask are you kidding us?
"Sure she is," Teddy snorted. "Come on, Lancer, we heard everything, you might as well come clean."
"Everything?"
"Well, just the parts about you liking at her house and getting along with her dad," Ace said. "Now spill." Defeated, Lancer told them everything. Walking to her house in the rain, her dad offering him a space on their couch, his feelings about his parents. He felt drained by the time he was finished, bracing himself for their derisive laughter. But to his surprise they were looking at him in genuine shock and...sympathy?
"Dude...why didn't you just tell us about it?" Ace asked. "Mom and I would've let you hang around until they got back!"
"And you could've asked me if Ace's mom said no!" Teddy added. "Our moms love you, and Dad...never acts like a jerk when there's company!" Lancer stared at them in disbelief.
"Really?"
"Really!" Ace shook his head. "Come on, man, we're your friends. What, did you think we'd laugh at you or something?"
"Yeah, I did," Lancer said, a bit more vehemently than he'd meant to. "When you guys came over last Friday you acted like I had it made! All you would talk about was how you wished you had a big house like mine all to yourselves for almost a month, and I thought if you knew how lonely I was you'd just think I was being a crybaby!" He looked away. "You're always teasing me about being so soft..."
"Hey..." Teddy placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Just cause we pick on you doesn't mean we don't care! We would've understood!" He paused. "Well...okay, maybe not right away but once we stopped laughing!"
"What Teddy's trying to say is, don't feel like you can't come to us with the big stuff just cause we pick on you about the little stuff," Ace said. "Look, we know sometimes it's hard on you with your folks being away all the time. We see how sad you get every Parents' Day."
"I'm that obvious, huh?" Lancer smiled weakly. "I know I'm more emotional than you two, but things like that...I just don't want everyone feeling sorry for me. I might as well try to make the best of what I've got."
"Don't we all?" Ace wrapped a foreleg around his shoulders. "We've all got problems, y'know? My dad's been dead since I was little and I still miss him, and Mom means the world to me. I dunno what I'll do if she gets married again."
"And my dad treats me like dirt," Teddy said. "Honestly I'd be happy if he and Mom got a divorce."
"I know," Lancer sighed. "You two have it way worse than me. I have two parents who can give me anything and I know they love me."
"But they're never around!" Teddy said. "You get lonely, you miss 'em. You're suffering just like we are, and that's why we've gotta stick together!"
"Through thick and thin, right fellas?" Ace wrapped his other foreleg around Teddy. "If we don't, how're we ever gonna best those-" Dirty looks from the other two stopped him. "...teachers! Yeah, teachers, they're not all as cool as Miss Hackney, y'know!" For the first time in days, Lancer actually laughed.
"Nice save, Ace." He smiled. "Thanks, guys. If Bright Eyes and her dad get sick of me, I'll call you right away."
"She's taking good care of you, right?" Teddy asked. "They haven't made you into their little houseboy?"
"Actually, I like doing chores. I'm not good at it, but it's fun!" The other two snorted.
"Weirdo." But they were all smiling, and Lancer's heart felt full and warm. He had his girlfriend, he had a second father figure and he had two friends who would stick by him no matter what. He'd always been wealthy, but for the first time in his life he truly felt rich.