Through Thick and Thin:: Chapter 1
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Dilan."
"Mmmph." The lump under the covers shifted but didn't respond further. Aeleus sighed and lifted his eyes heavenward. He'd just returned from his 8 A.M. class to find his roommate still fast asleep, his alarm clock flashing soundlessly. Ordinarily, he would have let him sleep straight through his first class of the day, but he knew for a fact that Dilan's professor took attendance and made it a deciding factor in the final grades of the semester.
"Dilan, wake the fuck up," he tried again, shoving him with more force this time. "You have class in ten minutes."
"Mmmshutup. Go 'way," Dilan mumbled indistinguishably.
"Yeah, I'm not going away until you get up," Aeleus replied, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow. "Unless you give me twenty bucks," he added as an afterthought.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Wallet's on the counter," Dilan said groggily, still half-asleep and obviously not getting the joke.
"Really? Sweet." He wasn't expecting this sort of compliance, but he wasn't about to argue against it. Aeleus ambled over to the counter of the kitchenette in their small shared apartment and rifled through Dilan's wallet briefly. He rolled his eyes at the small picture of Dilan and his current boyfriend before pocketing a ten-dollar bill, choosing not to take complete advantage of him in his sleep-addled state.
Aeleus was not one to give up that easily, however, and he quickly filled up a glass of water and returned to his roommate's bedside. "Now seriously, get your lazy ass out of bed, because I'm not taking the blame if you oversleep." He dumped the glass of water unceremoniously over the other's head.
Dilan bolted straight up, sputtering and cursing. "Dude!" he burst out, wiping his eyes furiously. "What the fuck?"
"You're late," Aeleus explained simply, jerking one thumb at the malfunctioning alarm clock.
Dilan swore vehemently when he realized what time it was. The rude awakening he had received was more efficient than a shot of espresso at waking him up. He clambered out of bed and threw on the nearest shirt he could find, one of his fraternity sweatshirts. His pajama pants would have to stay, but at this point, appearance was secondary. Besides, he certainly would not be the only one to attend a ten o'clock lecture looking less than presentable. He tugged on one shoe and hopped around the room frantically in search of the other one, cussing like a sailor. Aeleus calmly handed him his left sneaker.
"Thanks, man," Dilan managed and tore out the bedroom door to quickly gather his class materials together.
"The shuttle leaves in four minutes," Aeleus called after him as Dilan scrambled for his things, hurriedly shoving the essentials in his backpack. His class was on the other side of campus, but if he could make it to the shuttle before it left…
Dilan slammed the door behind him and sprinted for the stairs. By taking them two at a time and possibly shoving a few straggling freshmen out of his way, he was just able to catch the bus before it left, flagging it down before it pulled away from the curb. He pulled out his wallet to pay the shuttle fare and frowned. He could have sworn that he had at least thirty dollars more than the current amount the last time he checked his wallet. "Goddammit, where does all my money keep disappearing to?" he muttered to himself. He shrugged, writing it off as part of being a poor college student, and began drumming his fingers impatiently against the metal pole he was holding on to for support. The worst part (and there were very few) of attending a university in the center of the city was having to deal with the traffic when taking public transportation, especially when he was already pressed for time. The minute the bus doors opened, he jumped out and made a beeline for his designated building.
Dilan just made it into the lecture hall with mere seconds to spare and thanked his lucky stars that the professor was experiencing technical difficulties with the projector, giving him time to catch his breath. He slid into his usual seat next to his pierced partner-in-crime at the very back of the room. He had been more or less dating Rudol for a month, although he was loath to use the word "date." He already gave Aeleus enough flak for acknowledging that he had been dating Ienzo steadily for close to four months; he didn't need the favor returned. Nothing destroyed a bro's cred more than the term "dating." Of course, he and Aeleus were legendary enough that they could afford such slights to their reputations, but still. It was the principle of the matter. He and Rudol were just... seeing each other exclusively.
Instead of greeting him hello or inquiring as to why he was so late in arriving like any normal person would do, the blond grinned at him and commented, "Those pajama bottoms are a wonderful look on you. They go exceptionally well with that clashing sweatshirt."
"Shut up," Dilan answered, but he had to crack a smile. He reached for his Eastern Religions notebook, only to realize that he'd left it on the kitchen counter in his rush to get to class. "I was in a hurry to leave. Can I borrow some paper?"
"Obviously. And yes, you may, but it'll cost you. Nothing in life's free, after all. Everything comes at a price."
"Dude, what the fuck?" Dilan said, incredulous. "It's just a couple pieces of paper."
"Now, sexual favors are always a good bet," he pondered, taking no heed of Dilan's exclamation. "But an extra twenty bucks is always useful..."
"You suck." Dilan shoved Rudol out of the way and grabbed his notebook, successfully ripping out a few blank pages to use for his own notes.
"Oh, you know I do," Rudol said suggestively, snickering, but he quickly settled down when the professor announced the start of his lecture.
After a few moments of listening attentively, Dilan wrote on a sheet of paper, "What kind of sexual favors?" He nudged Rudol and nodded at the note.
Rudol smirked and scribbled down a reply in his notebook. "Oh, I'm sure I can think of something good… Care to find out tonight?"
"Actually, me and Ae are crashing a frat party tonight. Wanna come along?"
Rudol's pen hovered hesitatingly for a few seconds before he wrote back, "Sure, sounds like a good time to me!"
"Cool."
"But don't think you can weasel your way out of this one. I'm writing you an I.O.U."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"Ace."
"Yeah." Dilan paused and lifted his head to listen to the professor for a minute before questioning, "Did he just use the word 'shitstick' in a sentence?"
"I do believe that he said, 'The Buddha is more than just a shitstick.'"
"Let's pay attention now."
"Good idea."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
In retrospect, Dilan should have realized that choosing to bring Rudol along without gaining permission from Aeleus first wasn't the wisest of decisions.
"You invited who? Are you insane?" Aeleus exploded when Dilan informed him of the change in plans.
"Bro, chill. It's cool. He won't give us away, I swear," Dilan assured him as he scooped up an abandoned basketball off of the floor and fell into a chair. "Hey, invite Ienzo too if it'll make you feel better." He shrugged and sat back in his seat, effortlessly twirling the ball on his finger.
Aeleus gave him a scathing look. "Yeah, right," he said sarcastically. "You know that he hates this kind of thing. And as much as I like the kid, I don't think I can trust him to keep his mouth shut. He'd lecture me the entire time."
"Yeah, he definitely would," Dilan conceded. "It's beyond me what you see in him. But unlike Ienzo, Rudy can shut up when he has to. S'all good, man." Without warning, he tossed the basketball to his roommate.
Aeleus instinctively caught the ball and twirled it between his hands. "Fine, he can come," he relented. "But we're getting in and going straight for the keg. That's it. No side-trips."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Later that night, the three of them were in the dining hall scavenging for food before embarking on their mission. "Okay, here's the deal," Dilan began, adding three slices of pizza to the mound of food he was piling up onto several plates. He and Aeleus were giving Rudol the lowdown over dinner before heading over to their archrival's fraternity house to gatecrash the party.
"We have one purpose, and one purpose alone," Aeleus finished. He accepted his quesadilla from the range next to the pizza station, stacking the plate on top of all the other dishes he had accumulated. "What?" he added defensively, glaring at the group of people waiting in line for their own quesadillas, their eyes on him and the exorbitant amount of food he was carrying. The offenders quickly averted their gazes, mumbling undistinguishable apologies.
Rudol had to hide a smirk. That was one of the perks of being with Dilan and, by association, Aeleus: the immunity that came from traveling with them. No one bothered the two huge football players who ate enough for five people. He could get used to this. "And that is…?" he prompted as they made their way through the throng of students, many of whom gladly got out of their way, towards a table.
"We're stealing a keg tap," Dilan explained, spreading out his dinner on the table in front of him.
"Oh?"
"Zeta Beta Tau is Sigma Chi's biggest rival," Aeleus said, biting into a burger. "Lifting their most prized possession is the ultimate revenge."
"Yeah, we're gonna show them who's boss," Dilan added through a mouthful of French fries.
Rudol quirked an eyebrow and leaned back in his seat. "So I take it this is kind of a big deal, then?" He popped a handful of Cheerios in his mouth. Unlike Dilan and Aeleus, he didn't much care for heavy, All-American food. He did have some strange eating habits, however, and was currently addicted to treating cereal and toast as dinner foods.
"Understatement of the century. Their keg tap practically defines them. It's been passed down from one frat brother to another for forever. So taking it from them," Dilan said, punctuating his point with an emphatic jab of his French fry, "is a big deal."
"I'll take your word for it," Rudol said mildly, having never been involved with the ins and outs of Greek life before getting together with Dilan. "So, how do we go about pulling off this fabulous heist?"
"We've got a few options, but don't worry your pretty little head about that." Rudol flung a scrap of toast at Dilan, who ducked to avoid the flying missile. The stray crust bounced off of a stranger's table. "Nice throw, dipwad. But like I was saying, me and Ae got it covered. But first, we have to find the thing."
"Basic plan of action: get in and hunt down the kegs. The tap we're looking for is brass and has their Greek letters on the handle. Once we locate it, we'll figure out the best way to take it unnoticed. It'll be genius."
"Excellent." Rudol grinned, his blue eyes sparkling mischievously. "I've always loved a good thrill."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
After finishing dinner (which took a remarkably short amount of time, despite the vast quantity of food inhaled), they hit the streets and set off for the Zeta Beta Tau chapter house. Despite it being a Wednesday night, the Greek scene was as busy as ever, with fraternity and sorority members relaxing on the steps of their respective houses. Midterm season placed a lot of stress on every college student, and what better way to relieve said stress than partying?
Rudol eyed the fraternity row with interest. He'd never been to this side of campus before, and he was intrigued by the change in scenery. "It seems to me like this might be a risky venture," he commented, eyes flitting over the various buildings and their inhabitants. "Let's hope we stand up to the odds, yeah?"
"You say that as though you doubt me," Dilan said with mock hurt in his voice.
"I could never doubt you." Rudol grinned up at him and impulsively laced his fingers through Dilan's.
"We're here," Aeleus interrupted before Rudy could take his shameless flirting further. His announcement was unnecessary, however; their destination made its presence known on its own sufficiently. The brownstone pulsed with activity, the pounding beat of the music and the boisterous noise of a house full of drunken college kids audible even from outside.
The three party crashers looked up at the Greek letters of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house. Dilan and Aeleus exchanged knowing smirks.
"Let's wreck this thing."
"You said it, bro."
They slipped inside, blending easily into the crowd with their heads bent so that none of the frat members would notice them as Sigma Chi boys. Being recognized as two of the most prominent members of the rival fraternity would not be conducive to their plan.
"None in here," Dilan muttered to his accomplices, referring to the lack of kegs in the room, although a good many of the partygoers were clutching telltale red plastic cups.
"Let's search the next room," Aeleus replied out of the corner of his mouth, and they made their way towards the doorway.
Rudol tailed behind them, following Dilan closely, only to be taken by surprise when someone yanked the back of his collar and tugged him in the opposite direction. Before he had time to react appropriately, he was hustled into the kitchen, at least three pairs of hands roughly manhandling him. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" he spat, even as he was shoved down onto a chair.
Rudol paled when he got a good look at who his assaulters were. He recognized most of them, especially the grim-looking head honcho who looked like he had a bone to pick with him.
"You owe me," the leader of the pack stated, folding his arms and looking down at him coldly. He was an intimidating-looking man with a clean scar across his nose, piercing turquoise eyes, and an air of superiority about him.
"Well, I—" Rudol spluttered, but he was cut off before he could deny anything and everything.
"$1,721."
"That cannot possibly be right—"
"$1,721," he repeated. He snapped his fingers, and one of his lackeys pulled out a little black book that listed everything: the date that Rudol first placed a bet with the bookie, the moment when he'd lost the bet and recklessly bet again for double-or-nothing, the day when he was supposed to pay up, and the subsequent charges for failing to do so. One single bet had spiraled out of control, and he'd only dug himself into a deeper hole by not paying what he owed and compounding the problem even further. He'd been doing his best to avoid this bloke, but it appeared that his luck had finally run out.
Rudol wet his lips and attempted to grin. "Right. Well. I'll just, eh, get back to you on that, now won't I?" He tried to slip away but was stopped when the man clamped a hand on his shoulder in a vise-like grip and gave him an ultimatum. "You have one month to get the money to me, or I'm breaking limbs." The broad-shouldered, dark-skinned guy on his left cracked his knuckles threateningly. The bookie scrawled the amount owed on a piece of paper in his leather-bound book, ripped it out, and shoved it into Rudol's hand. He signaled for his associates to forcibly eject the destitute gambler from the room, and they willingly complied.
Shoved back into the midst of the throng of jostling, drunken partiers, Rudol stared at the sheet of paper, the bold, red-inked numbers leering back at him ominously. He took a deep breath and crumpled it up, dropping it to the floor, where it would be trampled under the feet of several hundred people too intoxicated to care. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the staggering figure and simultaneously trying to convince himself that it was okay. He could win all that money back and then some. He just had to put his mind to it. But now, he needed to escape this claustrophobic room before someone spilled beer on him. He elbowed people out of the way recklessly, trying to push his way through the crowd to reach the door and get some fresh air. All thoughts of Dilan were forgotten.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Hey, where'd Rudol go?" Dilan asked, noticing that the blond was no longer behind him.
"Don't know, don't care," Aeleus said brusquely. "Keep moving."
Dilan shrugged and turned his attention back to the matter at hand: locating the keg and, more importantly, the infamous tap. "Let's split up," he suggested. "You check upstairs, I'll take the rest of downstairs. Meet me by the foot of the stairs in ten."
As Aeleus headed for the stairs, Dilan surveyed his surroundings with a critical eye. Like every frat boy worth his salt knew, kegs should be stationed in the areas that received the most traffic. This meant that, logically speaking, he should be able to find some of them in the large reception area and the kitchen. He forced his way through the crowd, keeping his eyes peeled. One of the perks of being tall was that he was able to see over the heads of those shorter than him. His eyes lit up when he spotted three kegs near the back of the room. Bingo.
Dilan started to head straight for the gold but stopped short upon recognizing a group of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity members hanging out near his destination. He swore and quickly ducked for cover out the nearest door, hoping that they hadn't spotted him.
"Uh…" began a voice from behind him.
Dilan straightened up and turned around to find a small group of loiterers staring at him oddly.
"What's up?" one of the strangers, a slightly chubby boy with tufted black hair, said.
Dilan relaxed; he didn't recognize them and, in any case, they didn't look too dangerous. "Nothing. Just trying to avoid some broad who's been stalking me all night," he invented wildly, keeping his voice nonchalant. "Total butterface. Won't take no for an answer." He sidled over to a keg on the counter to fill a cup of beer so as not to appear too suspicious. He took a sip, only to look at it in distaste. The beer was flat, which was only one more reason why they had to turn this kegger upside down. Parties with flat beer deserved to be hijacked.
"Ahh," the boy replied knowingly, nodding. One of his friends laughed, while another long-faced blond merely stared up at Dilan with doleful blue eyes which, quite frankly, gave him the creeps. The girl sitting on the counter by the keg simply looked confused.
"Butterface?" she asked.
"Everything about her is hot, but-her-face," the guy leaning next to her explained.
Dilan was no longer listening, however, because he'd found just what he had been looking for. There it was, attached to the glorious keg in front of him. The Golden Ticket. The Holy Grail. The Brass Tap.
The girl frowned. "Well, now that's just rude."
Dilan surreptitiously checked his watch, noting that it was just about time to go find Aeleus. "Yeah, well, you wouldn't say that if you saw her face." He downed the rest of his beer and left the cup on the counter. "Later." He lifted his hand in farewell and exited the room, congratulating himself on a job well done.
Giving the ZBT members a wide berth, Dilan took a shortcut to reach the stairs. The elaborate staircase was wide open underneath, and he hid underneath it, giving him some shelter. He waited until he saw Aeleus come down the steps and cast his gaze around the room, looking for his roommate. Dilan yanked his arm, pulled him into his hideaway, and hissed, "I found the tap! S'in the kitchen."
Aeleus smirked. "Awesome. And I found a little something that might help us pull this off."
"What?"
"There's a circuit breaker box in the closet upstairs."
Dilan broke out into a wicked grin. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Oh, I think I am…"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Outside and away from the chaos of the wild party, Rudol lit up a cigarette to steady his nerves. The hit of nicotine to his lungs always put him at ease.
"Okay, let's think this through logically," he muttered, stroking the goatee he was working on cultivating. "$1,721. That is indeed a lot of money. Now, under ordinary circumstances, I suppose I could possibly lower that sum by propositioning him…" He was oblivious to any strange sidelong glances he was receiving from other students who were also catching a quick smoke outside. Thinking out loud was a peculiar habit of his, albeit an unconscious one. "But I have the sneaking suspicious that that won't work in this instance. For one, the guy's fuckin' scary. And secondly, I'd rather not risk getting my arse handed to me on a silver platter by his mates. This could be a dilemma." He took a drag on his cigarette. "But it's nothing that I can't fix," he continued confidently. "I just have to step up my game, that's all. Winning all that back will be a snap. Nothing to it." He tossed his finished cigarette on the ground and crushed it with the heel of his sneaker. "Nothing to it," he repeated to himself, trying to convince himself that it was true.
Rudol shoved his hands in his pocket and walked away from the fraternity house, leaving behind his misgivings. Maybe he was in denial, but he was in denial that he was in denial, and those had to cancel each other out, right? Right?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Dilan returned to his position in the kitchen, adrenaline coursing through his system. He was pumped up and ready to put their plan in action. This was going to be the greatest theft of all time. Thankfully, the kitchen wasn't too crowded, leaving him with enough space to casually lean against the counter by the desired keg and pull out his phone.
"So, did you manage to throw off the girl?" Dilan glanced up from his phone to find the same ragtag group that he'd encountered earlier looking at him inquisitively.
"Yup," he answered, returning to the text message he was composing. "I managed to lose her somehow, but I figured it'd be safest to hide out in the kitchen for a while anyways." He pressed the 'send' button and snapped his cell phone shut.
Ready. Set. Go.
"Yeah, we—" one of the boys, a rough-looking punk with dirty blond hair, began, but he was never given the opportunity to finish his sentence. Without warning, the power cut off, and the room was plunged into darkness. Pandemonium ensued, which was rather unnecessary in Dilan's opinion, but he wasn't about to turn down an opportunity to cause havoc in the enemy's territory. Besides, it gave him an even greater opportunity to quickly untap the keg (which, after four years of practice, he was quite skilled at doing efficiently) and flee the scene unnoticed. The last thing he heard was a girl squealing that someone spilled beer down her new shirt and a mournful voice complaining that he had just been sat on and didn't appreciate it.
Dilan plowed through the panicked crowd, shoving aside anyone who was too stupid or drunk to move out of his way. He made a beeline for the door, recognizable only in the pitch black darkness thanks to the light of the streetlamps shining through the window. He stumbled out into the night, still clutching his prize as if the world depended on it, and spotted Aeleus waiting across the street for him. He raised the keg tap to signal victory, and the two of them burst out into laughter, a mixture of sweet triumph and sheer relief that everything went off without a hitch.
"Yesss!" Aeleus said, pounding fists with Dilan and thumping him on the back.
"We are fucking kings," Dilan proclaimed, tossing the tap in the air and admiring it. The fact that they had stolen it, and from their rivals to boot, made it even more attractive.
"Seriously, dude. By the way, did you ever find out where Rudol disappeared to?" Honestly, Aeleus didn't really care one way or the other what happened to him, but the blond's sudden disappearance did pique his curiosity.
"No clue. Hope he didn't get into any trouble. I'll text him later. But first, I think a celebration is in order." Dilan grinned at Aeleus.
"You know it. And hey, who needs him when you've got your bro?"
"Exactly. Bros gotta stick together, through thick and thin."
"Fuck, yeah." They bumped shoulders and set off down the street to hit up the Sigma Chi fraternity house and brag about the night's exploits. Life couldn't get any better.