"Dammit, Dad! Why'd you make me do it?" Sid looked up at his father angrily.

"Because you're her grandson, and she's going to pay you. Now go and start packing!"

Sid glared at his father but stalked upstairs to his room. This was totally unfair. Everyone else got to do something better than taking care of a stinky old farm! Gerald got to work at the arcade. Harold got to work for Mr. Green. Helga, that lucky bitch, was going to Hawaii when her parents renewed their vows. Even Curly was going on vacation. But Sid had to go and look after his Grandmother's farm the whole damn summer.

Instead of packing, Sid sat sulking on his bed. He turned his radio on and played his music loud, seething in anger at his father. What was his father thinking? He expected Sid to turn into some farm-bred, horticulture extraordinaire? Well, that wasn't going to work, Sid was a city kid, through and through.

When his father yelled at him, Sid turned his music down a little, but still didn't pack. He just picked up his phone and called Stinky.

"What's up, Sid?" Stinky asked.

"I am so pissed off!" Sid said. "I have to take care of my grandma's stupid farm the whole goddamn summer!"

"What?" Stinky said.

So Sid explained to Stinky how his grandmother was going on trip and was going to be gone the whole summer. Sid told him about how his father had volunteered him to be the one to take care of the farm and how he had to give up his whole summer to that hag now. And he told him how angry he was that he had to miss a whole summer of concerts just to milk a cow and watch corn grow.

"That shure does bite, Sid," Stinky said.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Sid muttered. "At least I'm getting paid,"

"Aw, then it's not so bad, no one's wanted to hire me," Stinky said.

"Hey! Then why don't you come and help me, we can split the money 50/50!" Sid said, excited at the idea.

"Really?" Stinky asked, sounding surprised and a little unsure.

"Yeah. You can grow stuff, so you can keep her garden alive and I can take care of the animals and you've got that beat up old truck, so we can drive back into town and do stuff!" Sid said quickly. It was all coming to him now!

"Well, shure then. The only thing is you gotta keep that house well stocked with lemon puddin'," Stinky laid down the conditions of the deal.

"Will do! I'll go ask my dad right now, I'll call you back, bye Stink!" Sid dropped the phone back in its cradle and ran downstairs.

His father was sitting on the sofa watching TV. Sid approached the sofa quietly and sat down next to his father, who gave Sid a sidelong glance. Sid swallowed and spoke up.

"So, Dad, I've been doing some thinking, and, uh, I was wondering if I could have a friend help me out. Y'know, he's real good at farming and stuff," Sid started

"No."

"What? Why?"

"I told your grandmother that you'd do it, not you and one of your little friends. If she can do it all by herself at 85, you can do it at 17, Sid."

"But," Sid started.

"No buts. Now go pack. I'm taking you tomorrow." his father said sternly.

Sid glared but got up and went to his room. He threw a few clothes in a suitcase, then called Stinky back.

"So, what'd he say?" Stinky asked as soon as he picked up.

"He said," Sid trailed off. "He said it's okay. You just have to drive yourself because... you know my dad's coupé. It's only got two seats. I'll give you the address and you can meet me there at, uh, 5. And it's from like, tomorrow 'til August 5th."

"Okey dokey. Well it ain't like I've got somethin' better to do this summer. See you tomorrow, Sid," Stinky said.

"See you later," Sid said and hung up.

He hoped that his father would be taking him bright and early tomorrow. Because, wow, that would be bad if he and Stinky showed up at the same time. Sid sighed and hoped that his plan worked out.

He finished packing (quite haphazardly) and threw his suitcases off the bed. Once his bed was free, Sid sat down, kicked off his shoes and pants, then laid down and closed his eyes. He waited for sleep to come, but it didn't. He spent the whole night drifting in and out of that half-dreaming state, never getting any real sleep.

When his father knocked on the door the next morning, he was wide awake, feeling more tired than ever. As passed his reflection in the bathroom mirror, he shuddered and nearly threw a towel over the mirror. But he figured a shower would wake him up a little.

Sid stepped out of the shower and vigorously rubbed his hair dry with a towel. His father hated his hair, but Sid like it. It was all the way to his shoulder blades now. He pulled it off his neck into a low pony tail and got dressed in a t-shirt, tight jeans, and his favourite pair of boots. On his way out of his room, he grabbed his suitcase.

He got yelled at for letting the suitcases thump down the stairs loudly and for throwing them carelessly into the Cutlass's trunk. Sid just ignored that and got himself a Thermos full of coffee and an apple. Then he sat in the car, listening to music on his walkman. His father always took a long time to get from the house to the car.

When his father finally got in the car and started it, Sid turned his head and looked out the window. He turned up the volume on his walkman so the music would drown out any attempts his father made to speak to him.

An hour later, they were well outside the city, and in another hour, Sid was watching his grandmother's house draw ever closer. He sighed inwardly and laid his head against the window. Immediately, Sid regretted doing that as the car drove over a pot hole, causing him to bang his head on the window.

Sid got out of the car muttering and rubbing his head. His father got out of the car as well and the both of them watched a short, good-natured looking woman push open the front door, then putter down the stairs and through the front yard. She got a good look at her son and grandson, then laughed, hugging them both.

"Sidney! I thought you were a girl! You ever gonna cut that hair? Ray, I can't believe you let the boy run around with hair like that!" Sid's grandmother laughed.

"It's not like I like it, Ma."

"Ha, I know, Ray. Okay, Siddy, let me show you what to do," his grandmother took him rather forcefully by the hand and showed him around the farm, explaining to him how to take care of all the plants and animals that she kept.

Sid tried to pay the best attention he could, but even so, he found his focus slipping. He looked around the farm. It had a certain picturesque look to it, with rolling hills and plots of land separated by streams and trees. Sid watched some cows in a far off field graze until he was yanked in the house.

"I know you've got that teenage attention span, so I wrote all the important things down," his grandmother said, pointing to some sheets of paper on the kitchen table. "Thank you for doing this, Sid, you're a sweetie. Now give me a kiss," Sid kissed his grandmother's withered cheek, "Take good care of my house! I want every plant alive when I come back!"

She left laughing and yelling at her son to take her to the airport.

Sid had only ever been to his grandmother's house once, so he spent the next hour exploring the house and grounds. To his surprise, in the barn, were horses. One of the stalls had a note on it that read, in his grandmother's handwriting, Sid, you can take this horse out for a ride whenever you'd like. He's a gentle old thing.

Sid had always wanted to ride horses. But lessons were expensive, and horses didn't keep well in the city, so he had only taken a few lessons.

With the best of his knowledge, he saddled up the horse and struggled on its back. Then he rode out around the house and over all of his grandmother's land. The horse was a very placid one, it plodded along contentedly, only stopping occasionally to strip a twig of its leaves or the ground of its grass.

When he had had enough riding, Sid checked his watch and saw that he had better get back to the house since it was nearly five. Sid took the saddle off the horse, cleaned out its hooves, and brushed it, as well as he could recollect. Then he led the horse back to its stall and ran back to the house, intending to take a quick shower and change his clothes, since he had been outside for quite a while.

But Stinky's pick up was already in the driveway. Sid check in it and saw that Stinky wasn't in the truck, so he walked up the driveway and went back in the house. Stinky sat at the kitchen table, looking at all the notes with a bemused expression.

"Hey," Sid said, sounding more out of breath than he meant to.

"...Hey," Stinky said, looking up.

"I got here kinda early, and my grandma, she has horses, so I was riding one," Sid said hurriedly.

"Really? I haven't ridden a horse ever, Sid. But, wow, your grandma sounds like a piece o' work. I mean, 'Now, Sidney, I know you've only used a hose to water your lawn, but you need to water the garden every day...'" Stinky laughed.

Sid leaned over and whipped the papers out of Stinky's hand, feeling heat creep into his cheeks.

"I never knew you was really named Sidney," Stinky grinned.

"What, did you think I wanted to go around being called Sidney?" Sid said grumpily, shuffling the papers. "I'd never make it past elementary school."

Stinky just laughed again and got up. Sid wiped the sweat off his forehead and grabbed the suitcases that he had left sitting on the kitchen floor.

"So, there's only one bedroom, one of us is gonna have to sleep on the floor," Sid said awkwardly.

"Didn't your dad grow up here?" Stinky asked.

"No... my grandparents only moved here after I was born... Grandpa always said he hated the city," Sid explained. "So they must have thought that they didn't need more than one bedroom. Anyway, who sleeps where tonight?"

"I dunno, I'll take the floor I guess. But you gotta take it tomorrah. Now where's my lemon puddin'? I was looking forward to it the whole dang drive," Stinky said.

"Oh, shit."

"No lemon puddin'? Aw, fuck you, Sid," Stinky said, but he didn't seem surprised.

"I'll take your suitcases upstairs, instead?" Sid suggested nervously.

"We could make some puddin'. Naw, I'll make some puddin' and you can take all the suitcases up stairs," Stinky laughed.

Sid rolled his eyes but lugged all the suitcases upstairs. When all the luggage was in the bedroom, Sid rooted around in one of his own suitcases for clean clothes. He took a well-deserved and needed shower.

After he got dressed, Sid walked downstairs to find Stinky in the living room, staring at all the pictures his grandmother had put up.

"What're you doing, looking at those dumb pictures for? I got us something fun," Sid held up a bottle of Jack Daniel's.

"Shit, Sid!"

"Yeah, I got it from Gino. It's the real thing, man. So's this weed I got from him, you gotta try it," Sid opened the bottle and took a swig from it. He spluttered a little, but tried to keep his face impassive.

"So you want me to spend this whole house sittin' job getting drunk with you?" Stinky asked.

Sid couldn't tell if he was pissed or pleased. "Not drunk. High too," Sid said sheepishly, for lack of something to say.

"You're not a good drunk, Sid. And you're no fun high, either," Stinky told him.

"Why do you smoke with me all the time then if I'm not any fun? All you do is talk about how Mr. Nutty bars are going to cause world peace," Sid retorted.

"You're just more paranoid than normal," Stinky said.

"Look, I tried what I brought and it's great. I didn't get paranoid or nothing."

Stinky didn't seem convinced. He left the living room and walked to the kitchen. Sid watched him pull a dish of what looked like lemon pudding out of the refrigerator. Stinky just plopped down at the kitchen table and began to enjoy his lemon pudding, so Sid stalked upstairs to the bedroom.

He had brought one suitcase of clothes. In the other suitcase, he had put everything from his room that he didn't want his dad to find. It wasn't very hard for him to fish out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He knew his dad would kill him if he got caught smoking, but hey, his dad was two and a half hours away.

Sid sat outside a long time, mainly twirling the cigarette between his fingers instead of actually smoking it. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. Stinky was always a bit of a stickler. He always seemed attracted to doing "forbidden" things, but Sid knew that he felt guilty afterwards, no matter how good the high had been. Sid had stopped feeling guilty a long time ago.

He didn't know what Stinky meant by him being paranoid. Smoking dope had always made him feel mellow. Whatever. He could relax and Stinky could be all uptight. Sid threw the cigarette butt on the ground and drove it into the dirt with the ball of his foot. Then he picked it up and tossed it in the bed of Stinky's pick up. He couldn't leave evidence like that lying around.

When Sid came back inside, Stinky was sitting in the living room again, squinting at the ancient TV inhabiting most of the room. Sid sat down next to him, ignoring how Stinky wrinkled his nose.

"Yer gramma don't have cable?"

"Nope," Sid picked up the remote and flipped through all 5 channels. "What're we gonna do for dinner?"

"I already had mine. Lemon puddin'," Stinky grinned.

"And you didn't save any for me? Asswipe," Sid punched Stinky in the arm.

Stinky laughed but punched Sid back. Sid retaliated with a shove. Stinky gleefully shoved Sid off the sofa. Sid pulled Stinky off the sofa by the leg. Stinky kicked Sid and Sid tried to put Stinky in a head lock. Soon both boys were embroiled in a rough fight, and neither was winning, until Stinky stood up.

Sid grabbed Stinky's legs. Sid tried to knock his friend back over by pulling his legs out from under him, and push him around, but only ended up failing and pulling Stinky's jeans down in the process. Sid quickly let go of Stinky's legs and gave the fight up as a lost cause.

"That was an unfair fight! You're taller and stronger," Sid stuck his tongue out.

He was sitting cross-legged on the floor now, with his arms across his chest.

"I didn't know I was going to be pantsed," Stinky replied.

"I didn't mean to pants you!" Sid said quickly. "If you didn't wear your jeans so loose and stuff, I mean, it's not like I wanted to see you and your smelly old boxers. Boy howdy, don't get any ideas or anything!"

"Sid, I'm gonna hand you a shovel if you don't go and shut up," Stinky said as he got his jeans back in their rightful place.

"Right, yeah, okay," Sid made a fist and nervously rubbed it with his other hand. "So dinner? Yeah? Dinner. Do they deliver pizza out here? Damn, I wish my grandma had a computer. Oh shit! I gotta go... go and feed the animals, boy, it's real late and I gotta do that!"

Sid ran out of the living room and into the relative safety of the barn. His heart was beating fast and he could sure have gone for a cigarette. Instead, he took a few deep breaths and calmed down. Maybe this had been a bad idea. Maybe he never should have invited Stinky. Sid took a few more deep breaths.

When he was sure he was calm enough, Sid cleaned out all the stalls in the barn and made sure there was plenty of food and water. Then he went out into the pasture and brought the horses in for the night, checking them all to make sure they were healthy. He would never live it down if a horse died in his care.

Once all the animals were taken care of, Sid watered the garden, taking care not to get too much water on the leaves and fruits, like he had been cautioned. Hey, wait! Why was he watering the plants? Stinky was supposed to do that. He was the farm-y guy around here. Sid shrugged it off and figured one night wouldn't hurt.

Sid trudged into the house an hour later, tired, sore, and sweaty. He flopped right down on the sofa, draping his lanky limbs all over the piece of furniture. The sofa wasn't so bad. Maybe he'd sleep on it tomorrow night. If he could get over the fact that half his body didn't fit on it.

He had nearly fallen asleep when he heard footsteps along with the creak of the stairs. Sid sat up and rubbed his eyes. Stinky was standing on the stairs in his pyjamas.

"I don't think you understand much about farmin', Sid. You gotta get up early every day," Stinky said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming to bed. The sofa is just so damn comfortable," Sid said.

He got up from the couch. Stinky shrugged and walked back upstairs. Sid pulled his hair loose from its pony tail and roughed it up with his hands. Blowing some strands out of his eyes, Sid stumbled up the stairs. Stinky had already made a makeshift bed with quilts on the floor. He was currently sitting with his back against the bed, trying to figure out an algebra problem in a workbook.

Sid watched him a second before pulling off his shirt. He sat on the bed and removed his boots, putting them on the floor. He would have to clean and polish them in the morning. Sid wished he had brought different shoes; those boots were too nice to be ruined by manure and dirt. Finally, Sid grabbed a pair of shorts and changed into them. Only then did he crawl into bed and fall asleep to the quiet sound of Stinky's breathing.

–

I reserve the right to write at least one crack slash pairing.

Of course, I couldn't choose a respectable Robin/Beast Boy, but Sid and Stinky. Go figure. Hopefully I got them both decently in character.

I decided to go with an M rating for this once because of the whole under age drinking and smoking, and drug usage. Not for sex. No lemons in this story. I couldn't do that.

Please be naise I am sensitive u_u.