"How'd you do on the last test?"
"Um…"
For a moment, Billy's mind stumbled, and he wracked his brain for the answer to such a simple question. It was only quiet for a few seconds, but it felt like an eon as the only sound that filled the pause was the crunch of snow under their feet.
"Like a-a eighty-two?" He offered, not entirely certain that was right but taking a stab in the general vicinity rather than letting that awful silence continue. He chanced a glance over and found Xavier was looking at the ground with a thoughtful expression; his dark curls bouncing slightly as he nodded. Billy looked away quickly and fought the urge to clear his throat out of fear that it would catch Xavier's attention and he'd notice how his cheeks were heating up.
"I got a eighty-nine, so with our combined brainpower we can get a strong eighty-four percent on this project."
Billy smiled slightly at that and sent Xavier a sideways look. With more hesitation than he'd normally display, Billy licked his lips and coughed slightly before speaking; his eyes flashing between his companion and the ground.
"I'm not sure your math is quite right there, Buddy."
The moment the words left his lips, Billy second guessed them. Maybe Xavier would take it the wrong way, and thing that Billy was an asshole. Or maybe he'd been too familiar and now Xavier was going to think he was weird. God, he should've at least left off the nickname.
"This is an English project, not Math, so we should be fine."
Xavier's lighthearted tone didn't match with the nightmare scenarios playing in Billy's head, so he glanced over to see exactly how his expression played into this. Instead of appearing uncomfortable or pissed off, Xavier just flashed a sunny smile at him; Billy feeling like all the air in his chest had gotten punched out of him. And that had actually happened to him once, so he knew what he was talking about.
"Right here," Billy said, pointing at his family's home as he turned to head up the walk to the front steps. Xavier followed close behind (something that Billy tried to force himself to not think about), and didn't say anything until they'd entered and were taking off their coats.
"Cool house," he offered, looking around idly as he pulled off his gloves and stuck them in his pockets.
"Thanks," Billy replied, his eyes darting over towards the kitchen before he turned them back to Xavier, "Uh, you can hang up your coat right here. Can you give me a second to…?"
Xavier nodded before Billy had to come up with a lie to finish that sentence with, and he sent him a grateful smile as he hurried down the hall and rounded into the kitchen, where he encountered exactly what he expected and feared.
Every single one of his siblings.
"Oh, hey man, finally blessing us with your presence?" Freddy called sarcastically as he dropped his plate into the sink. He was referring to the fact that Billy had pleaded necessary after-school business to get out of going home with his siblings. And, sure, it was partially true since he did need to talk with Mr. Cohen about his upcoming English project, but mostly it was because he knew he'd be walking home with Xavier, and he wanted to put off subjecting him to the full Vasquez-Bromfield-Freeman-Batson-Peña-Choi-Dudley household experience for just a little bit longer.
"What's wrong, Billy?" Darla asked, frowning as she took in Billy's anxious body language.
"I need all of you to not be weird for like five minutes."
"Wh—?" Mary started before a soft sound from the hallway caught her attention, "Who's here?"
"My English project partner, which is why I need you guys to be cool," Billy reiterated.
"Who's your partner?" Freddy asked, frowning slightly.
"Xavier Soltero," Billy replied, Freddy's expression doing a 180 at the name; a knowing look in his eyes when he replied.
"Oh."
"Yeah," Billy said before turning his attention to the rest of his siblings, "So, please, just act casual."
With that, Billy rushed back down the hall; already feeling like he'd left Xavier waiting too long. As he hurried, he could just barely hear Mary ask "Who's Xavier Soltero?" and he could just imagine the description Freddy was giving her. If she'd asked Billy, he'd tell her about the boy in his English class who had these black curls that would bounce whenever he moved even a little bit, and this nice golden brown skin that Billy swore had never broken out, and pretty light brown eyes that would catch the light and almost sparkle, making it very hard to focus on any conversation one tried to have with him.
But, Freddy probably just said something like "He's a kid in our grade that Billy won't stop staring at," and left it at that.
Billy slowed when he got closer to Xavier, who was doing something on his phone, but looked up and smiled when he noticed his approach. Billy swallowed hard and forced a smile that probably came out a little shaky. But, Xavier either didn't notice or didn't comment on it, and he shoved his phone into his pocket as he spoke.
"Ready?" He asked, Billy giving a jerky little nod.
"Yep," he said, his voice a little off, "Um, I'm thinking we can do this in the front room since my siblings are in the kitchen, but if you want …"
"Wherever is fine by me," Xavier said, pausing before he added, "But, I could use a glass of water, if that's…?"
"Oh, yeah, of course," Billy replied, trying to force his voice to remain casual but honestly kind of failing, "Uh, right this way."
Billy led Xavier down the hallway, sending him a small smile before they turned the corner into the kitchen, but that smile quickly disappeared and he abruptly came to a halt as his eyes landed on the scene in front of him.
Act casual, he'd said, be cool, he'd asked, Don't Be Weird For Five Freaking Minutes was all he'd wanted.
Freddy still stood at the sink, but instead of placing his plate in it, his hand was in the sink as he leaned against the counter and sent the pair a smile. About a foot away from him, Eugene was on the counter, which would've been fine if he was sitting, but no, Eugene was standing on the counter; still looking down at his game and not even sparing a glance for Billy and Xavier. Mary still sat in her chair, but now she had one leg kicked up on the table, which would've been very weird if it weren't for the fact it was upstaged by Pedro, who was lying flat on his back on the table and was staring at the ceiling.
Billy shut his eyes in a desperate attempt to pretend like what was happening in front of him wasn't.
"Hello, Xavier," Freddy said, Billy breathing hard out of his nose as he realized that no amount of wishing was going to make this stop.
"Hey, Freddy," Xavier replied, clearly a little hesitant, which Billy couldn't fault him for in the slightest.
"We have biology together," Freddy said, Billy not sure to whose benefit that was for.
"Yeah," Xavier replied, also clearly not entirely sure where to go with this.
"If you could have any s—?"
"So," Mary interrupted, and despite everything that she was complicit in right now, Billy owed her his life for cutting off Freddy's question, "Billy says you two have an English project?"
"Yeah," Xavier replied awkwardly, sending a glance towards a perturbed Freddy before turning his attention fully to Mary, "Animal Farm."
"Good book," Mary replied, silence descending on them once again.
"I'm Darla!"
Billy's head jerked up as he realized that he'd not accounted one sibling, and apparently with good reason. His little sister was in a place he didn't think she was even capable of getting to.
"Hi, Darla," Xavier said with a small smile as he looked up towards the small girl sitting on top of the fridge, "I'm Xavier."
"I know!" Darla replied, swinging her legs slightly, "You're pretty."
Xavier's small smile morphed into something more amused and he flashed a look at Billy, who had absolutely nothing to offer in this situation, before he looked back to Darla and replied.
"Thanks, Darla. So are you."
"Billy thinks you're pretty too."
For one, brief moment, it took every ounce of Billy's willpower to not let his mouth form the word Shazam so he could go fly into the sun.
"Darla," Freddy hissed, sending her that familiar I told you that in confidence look. Meanwhile, Mary rushed from her seat and plucked Darla up off of the fridge and threw her over her shoulder.
"Okay," Mary said hurriedly, grabbing ahold of Pedro's wrist and tugging him along, "We'll just be going so you two can, uh, sit at the table while you work on your project. Yeah. Nice to meet you, Xavier. Bye."
Mary sent Billy an apologetic look that he barely even registered, and she quickly headed out the door, carting two siblings while Freddy and Eugene followed on her heels.
For a moment, it was quiet as the two boys stood in the kitchen doorway, silent and unmoving. Billy didn't dare spare a glance towards Xavier, and instead he simply stewed in the uncomfortable heat lighting up his entire body; his cheeks and ears reflecting that. Finally, he forced himself to push past it, and when he spoke his voice was low.
"Uh, you—you wanted water." He stumbled over his words slightly, but he covered it by dropping his bag on the table and going to grab a glass. It was quiet again as he filled it up, with only the sound of Xavier going over to the table and putting his bag down interrupting the uncomfortable silence.
Billy set the glass down in front of Xavier without meeting his eye, and he sat down at the seat opposite of him; reaching over to grab his bag and go through it rather than even look in the direction of the boy across the table.
"I think you're pretty too."
Billy paused and he looked up to find Xavier thoroughly focused on the book in front of him. So attentive, in fact, for a brief moment Billy wondered if wishful thinking had conjured those words and he hadn't actually said them. But, as soon as he thought that, Xavier glanced up, caught Billy's eye, and sent him a shy smile. The kind of smile that let Billy know he hadn't been making it up, and that Xavier wasn't just saying it to make him feel better.
"So," Xavier said, breaking eye contact and going back to staring very hard at the book in front of him, "Animal Farm."
"Yeah," Billy replied, his voice light, relieved, and maybe a little lost; a perfect reflection of how he felt as he looked down at his own copy, "Animal Farm."
Both boys smiled into their books.