Chapter 2

Badger drove them home and they returned to their seats on the sofa. Jesse's stomach felt full despite it being the least amount he'd ever eaten in a Denny's ever, and he was uncomfortable about how much shit he was putting Badger through.

"Hey, I know, let's get groceries delivered, yo. That way we don't have to go to a store for two hours, we just order it online and they bring it to us." Badger suggested after an hour or so, grinning like it was the best idea ever. Jesse looked at him and shrugged.

"Yeah, ok…I'll go get my laptop.." he said, about to get up but Badger stood up quicker.

"It's ok, bro, I'll get it." Jesse was starting to get a little pissed off with this whole babying thing.

"I'm not freaking disabled, Badger, I can-"

"I know, Jess, I just…I want to do stuff for you, 'til you get better, you know?" he looked sad and guilty and determined. Jesse sighed.

"Fine, whatever… It's in my room, under the bed.." he muttered and Badger nodded, heading off.

Digging around Jesse's room, Badger soon found his laptop, new and well kept, high tech like the speakers in the living room. Jesse was rich, ridiculously so, but desperately unhappy.

Badger returned, Jesse flicking through channels restlessly.

"Oh wait, dude, go back – Takeshi's Castle was on!" Jesse frowned, back tracking.

"What the fuck's that?"

"Yeah, that one. It's this crazy Japanese game show – it's fuckin' awesome, yo. They rerun it all the time." Badger said with a chuckle, dropping heavily onto the sofa. He opened Jesse's laptop and quickly found an internet browser. "Ok, Walmart…so, what do you wanna get? Basics?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Jesse said.

"So…chicken, tacos, spaghetti, onions…tomatoes, noodles…bread, butter, fries, microwave meals…?" Jesse just nodded blankly. Badger started ordering, not really thinking about price since Jesse was loaded. "Yo, dude, you got a credit card?" Jesse looked at him and shook his head. "S'cool, man, use mine and you can pay me cash…that ok?" Jesse nodded, glancing at the laptop screen. Badger saw and handed the laptop to him "Choose what you want, bro, it's for you." Jesse frowned at the screen, concentrating. Badger found him cute, always thinking so hard, and returned his attention to the screen, in time to watch a Japanese man wearing very small white shorts run straight into a brick wall.

He let out a laugh, the sound making Jesse instantly relax. Jesse leaned back into the sofa, watching the show over his laptop while he choose food. He did feel a lot better after the nap and some food inside him.

After another twenty minutes, Jesse was done with his food order and he handed the laptop back to Badger to fill in his credit card details.

"Ok, awesome, it's ordered. It'll be here tomorrow afternoon, between…3 and 4." Badger reported with a grin. Jesse smiled and nodded

"Thanks, man - I'll get you the money now.." he said, getting up and heading upstairs. He grabbed a stack of bills from the bottom drawer without even looking how much it was and went back down. He dropped the stack on Badger's lap, falling back into his seat. That journey actually wore him out, the fuck is this shit.

"Whoa, dude, the groceries only cost 90 bucks." Badger said, holding up the cash. Jesse looked at him

"So?"

"This is 5 grand." Badger said, incredulously staring at his friend. How is he not getting this?

"Oh." Ok, he got it. He shrugged. "Keep the change." He said, resting his head back against the sofa.

"No way, dude, this is fucking crazy." Badger said, shaking his head. He pulled two $50 bills out of the stack and dropped it back on Jesse, then got his own wallet out of his jeans and removed $10, giving that to Jesse. Jesse picked up both, frowning, utterly confused.

"Why won't you take it? It…it's to thank you for staying with me.." he asked. Why did he want to cry?

"I'm here for you because you're my friend, Jess. You don't have to pay me! I want to be here." He said, his eyes wide and sincere. Jesse looked at him, like he didn't understand, but he sighed, looking back at the TV.

"Whatever, man." He said, sliding the 10 into the stack's binding and putting it on the coffee table. Badger smirked at him, watching the TV again too. They ordered pizzas around 6, it wasn't ideal but there was no food and a little grease never hurt anybody, at least Jesse actually ate it.

"You tired yet, buddy?" Badger asked after a super loud yawn around 10. Jesse was always tired. He nodded. "Wanna go to bed?"

"Uh…yeah, ok." He muttered.

He felt weird about Badger asking him if he wanted to go to bed - it was somewhere between babysitter and husband.

Badger turned off the TV got up, heading upstairs to Jesse's room. Jesse froze. Would they be in bed together? There wasn't another usable bedroom, and his Aunt's old room was definitely haunted.

Shit, were they going to cuddle like they were a fucking couple? Jesse was a snuggly sleeper, he was almost certainly going to end up right up against Badger and Badger was going to think he was a total weirdo.

He quickly followed Badger, finding him standing in his room and only wearing boxers and a shirt. He turned to Jesse when he arrived and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, man, I don't have any other clothes here. I can wear jeans if you want..?" he said like he really didn't want to.

"Uh, whatever, man, I don't care.." he mumbled, demurely turning away and pulling off his own pants and hoodie, keeping his boxers and T-shirt on, even though he usually slept in just undies or less. Badger clambered into Jesse's king sized bed that always felt oppressively huge when he was in it alone. Jesse tried not to listen to his heart pounding in his ears as he got into bed too, lying down with his back to Badger. "Night."

"Yeah, night, bro." Badger said, turning out the lamp and settling down. Jesse appreciated his warmth under the comforter, the weight of his body making the bed dip behind him. He felt comfortable in his own bed for the first time in a long time and he was asleep in a matter of seconds.