Okay so I wanted to try Spaz/Knox ever since I saw that pairing on the askthedeadpoets tumblr. The thing is, once I wrote it and edited it, Spaz's role in the story had been seriously cut down so really, this story is more Knox + Steven than Knox/Spaz now. I'm a little disappointed about that, but I figure it's okay because Knox+Steven isn't something you see often anyway, so if kind of works with the whole 'rare pairing' theme. I had a lot of trouble with writing the ending of this story, and honestly, if I didn't have to publish it this month, I would've kept working on this until Christmas. But I believe I got the ending to a point where it is at sort of adequate, so here it is.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dead Poets Society and I am not making profit from this work.
The Curious Case of the Rabbit Walker
A story about a rabbit named after a Greek goddess, two roommates, and denying an attraction to a man who walks a rabbit.
Knox wasn't known for being observant. If he was known for anything, it would be how unobservant he was. However, even for Knox, it was hard not to notice a young man his age walking a rabbit down the street in front of his apartment every morning. Knox sat at his kitchen table, poking at his cereal to make it absorb the milk, and watched the glasses-clad, rabbit-walking man pass by on the sidewalk below.
"Who even walks a rabbit? That's so weird," Knox snorted. Steven looked up for a brief moment, then nodded noncommittally. Knox watched the man until he was out of sight.
The next day, Knox and Steven were sitting in the same places and the rabbit-walker walked by.
"Hey, the guy with the rabbit," Knox pointed out, nudging Steven in the side.
Steven looked up and returned to his breakfast. "Cool," he said.
Knox frowned, looking back out of the window. A guy walking a rabbit warranted a little more than "cool", but Steven was generally less excitable than Knox, so he it go.
"Don't you think it's weird that someone is walking a rabbit? Like, aren't rabbits… unwalkable?"
Steven frowned. "What on Earth are you talking about?"
"The guy walking his rabbit. This morning. And yesterday morning."
"Oh. Right," said Steven, nodding slowly. "Still thinking about the guy, huh?"
"No," Knox said petulantly.
Steven just nodded slowly again, as if he could see right into Knox's brain.
You would make a good therapist, Knox thought.
"He has dumb glasses," Knox announced as Steven passed him his chow mein.
"Who?" Steven was flummoxed.
"Rabbit Walker. He has glasses. Glasses are dumb."
Steven tapped his own glasses pointedly.
"Except for yours," Knox said. "Yours are gorgeous."
Steven made a silly bow, getting a little bit of sauce on the sleeve of his sweater. That was a bit of a victory in Knox's books because up until recently, Gerard and Charlie were really the only people who could make Steven get acting goofy enough to mess up his clothes.
"I saw Rabbit Guy again," Knox said as he walked into the door. "He was on the other side of the street. Do you think he walks that rabbit twice a day?"
Steven lifted his head from where it was resting on Gerard's shoulder and narrowed his eyes at Knox. "What's with your obsession with this guy? He has an obsession with a guy who walks his rabbit in the morning," he added for Gerard's benefit. Gerard nodded thoughtfully, like Knox's strange obsessions was a perfectly typical topic of conversation. Which, when Knox stopped to think about it, might actually be, at least in the apartment.
"I'm not obsessed. I just think it's weird that he walks his rabbit. I mean, the rabbit even has little blue booties with white bows on them. Like…" Knox waved his hand wildly at the air, as if that explains just how weird rabbit-walking was.
Steven and Gerard exchanged a significant look. Knox pretended not to notice. They were always exchanging those Looks and acting like parents. It was a little weird.
"You know how many people do it? Zero."
"Come again?" Steven raised his eyebrow at Knox over his laptop.
"Nobody walks their rabbit."
Steven rubbed his forehead. "See, it's these non-sequiturs that make me think you have an obsession."
"I don't have an obsession," said Knox impatiently. "But I Googled it, and nobody walks their rabbit. It's not healthy for them."
Steven just returned to his coding. "You. Rabbit Guy. Obsession," he said emphatically, without back looking up.
"Me. Rabbit Guy. Concern," Knox shot back.
"Okay, so we've decided. It's not an obsession, it's a crush."
"It's not an obsession, and it's not a crush," Knox said. "And who is 'we'?"
"Me and Gerard," said Steven, as if it were completely obvious (actually, it probably should've been).
"You and Gerard are usually right. Well," Knox shrugged, "you're usually right. But not this time."
Steven silently did his therapist head-tilt-eyebrow-raise-stare.
"Jesus, you should've been a shrink," Knox muttered under his breath as he left the room.
"What about shrink?" Steven called after him, because he apparently also had super-hearing.
"Nothing!"
Steven got up for a bathroom break and Gerard paused the movie.
"I talked to Rabbit Walker," he told Knox.
"What?" Knox squeaked, sitting upright and nearly falling out of his chair. "Did you say anything about me? Please say you didn't say anything embarrassing."
Gerard held his hands up in mock surrender. "We just had a nice conversation about the weather, alright? And I petted Persephone."
"Persephone? He named his rabbit Persephone?" Knox asked in amazement.
"Yep."
"What a dorky name," said Knox, chewing his popcorn contemplatively.
"If you want, we can move the table closer to the window," Steven said two mornings after, as Knox leaned over to try and get a clear view of the window.
"That's fine. I don't need to see the street or anything," Knox said.
Steven rolled his eyes (he did that a lot at Knox though). "I thought we were past the denial stage of your crush."
"I don't have a crush," Knox said, but even he had to admit that it was very unconvincing.
"Yes, you do," Steven said. "That's how Knox Overstreet crushes on someone. He watches them from afar for a while before approaching and striking up a conversation in a slightly creepy but also charming way."
Knox sputtered in protest. "That is completely... completely inaccurate."
Steven rolled his eyes again and Knox thought it was a wonder they hadn't rolled out of his sockets yet. "Please. If we were still in high school, you would be throwing paper at him and stealing his inhaler."
"I was classier than that in high school. I would've made a grand gesture like… written a poem about how much I love him and read it to him it in front of all his friends. If I had a crush on him. Which I don't," Knox said, dignified.
"Sure."
It was also a wonder that Steven could make a single syllable sound so sardonic.
"Maybe I should talk to him."
"Yes! Please talk to Rabbit Guy!"
Knox tipped his head. "How did you know who I'm talking about?"
"I've been sensing a pattern," said Steven dryly.
Knox scrunched his nose. "You really think I should talk to him?"
"Yes!"
Steven was making pasta and Knox was throwing some mushrooms into the salad bowl when Knox brought it up again. "What if Rabbit Walker hates me? What if he turns out to be a huge douche? What if I end up hating him? What if this entire thing is based on the fact that I like an enigma and once he stops being one I lose interest?"
"You'll just have to deal with it," said Steven.
Knox sighed. "It would be a lot more comforting if you said something like 'oh, everything will be okay, Knoxious.'"
"But all those things could happen. And I'm not one to lie."
"Great."
Steven stirred the pasta in the pot while Knox's mind took off again. "What would I even talk to him about?"
"I don't know. Ask him about Persephone. Or ask him what his name is so that we can stop calling him Rabbit Walker."
Knox didn't respond, and Steven sighed.
"Seriously, this pining over a stranger thing is useless. Just get it over with or I will move out."
He sounded 23% serious, and Knox really didn't want Steven to move out, so he decided to talk to Rabbit Walker.
"I didn't talk to him," Knox said when he walked through the door.
"Oh. My. God," Steven groaned into Gerard's shoulder.
"Hi, Knox," Gerard waved awkwardly as not to shake Steven off.
"Hi," said Knox.
"You know he doesn't bite. I talked to him and came out alive," Gerard said, sounding quite serious.
"I know that," Knox said. "I just don't want to come off as creepy."
"You're coming off as creepy talking about him 24/7. It won't hurt to talk to him like a normal human being," Steven said, voice still muffled in Gerard's shoulder.
"Ugh," Knox groaned. "Normal human interaction."
"Today?" Steven asked.
"Today. And I'm not chickening out this time," Knox said.
Steven laughed out loud. "Alright, Knoxy. Go get 'em."
"You walk your rabbit," he called out, then fought the urge to hide in the nearby bushes. Of course, the first thing that Knox said to Rabbit Walker would have to be an accusatory statement about their pet. Really, how difficult would it be to say 'hello'?
"Hello," Rabbit Walker said mildly, turning around.
"Hi." Knox said and rubbed his neck awkwardly. "Uh, I just- I've seen you around. Walking your rabbit in the morning. Recently. Hello. I thought I would say hello."
Rabbit Walker adjusted his glasses on his face with an uncertain smile. "Hello," he repeated.
Knox put his hand out, attempting to follow at least one social convention. "I'm Knox. I live up there." He pointed to the apartment.
"I'm James. But people call me Spaz," Spaz said. He took his hand and they shook. Knox was relieved to see that Spaz was looking less bewildered and more charmed. And even more relieved that he himself was feeling less insane and more charmed. The risk of Spaz hating him, or turning out to be a huge douche, or being based on the fact that Knox likes an enigma and now that Spaz wasn't one Knox would lose interest was still there, but that danger dimmed as soon as they shook hands. And to be honest in a completely cheesy way, there was now more of a chance of a very happy ending.