(A.N: Hello! This is just a little note to help clear things up…)
First off, thank you for taking the time to read this fic, I really appreciate the reviews and all the feedback you guys give me. And please tell me if you catch a mistake or spelling error in my writing, I'll gladly revise it.
Please know that I'm still kinda new to writing a longer series and I am not a professional writer by any means. xD I am well aware that this isn't the most original story, as I sarcastically mentioned in the first chapter, but just bare with me, alright?
Though Simon and Roger are in the same grade, Roger is older. I probably should have mentioned this in an earlier chapter, but Roger started primary school pretty late because of bad parenting, causing him to be around a year older than Simon.
Chapter Seven:
Simon quickened his pace as he made his way to last period, science class. His day was going by unusually fast for some reason. He walked into the classroom and quickly made his way to his seat in the back of the room.
He sat down, taking out his science book and over the weekend homework that was due today. His mind wandered to the topic of Ralph, who he was slightly worried about, having agreed to go somewhere completely unknown with Merridew. Though Simon liked to think that the redhead was like Roger, and would be really nice and caring towards Ralph, and not try anything on him. His thinking halted as he heard the sound of books slamming on the desk beside him.
He turned to see Roger looking at him with the corners of his mouth, slightly bent upwards. Simon smiled warmly at the other boy, then turned to his book, opening it up to the page written on the board in the front of the room. He did not want Roger to know about the crush he had formed on him, so Simon decided to avoid doing anything that would make the older boy think he did, like staring. Simon focused his undivided attention on the teacher, who was explaining the lesson to the class.
"How are you?" Roger's voice whispered next to Simon's ear, startling the other just slightly. Simon turned to face the other dark haired boy.
"I'm fine. How are you?" He whispered back, softly.
"I'm alright." Roger shrugged. Simon nodded and tried to think of something else to say to keep this conversation going.
"Hey, uhm, do you know where, Jack is taking, Ralph tonight?" Simon had been wondering about this all day. He thought that maybe since Roger was Jack's best friend, he'd know where the redheaded boy was taking his friend.
"Nah, but don't worry, your friend will be fine. If anything, Merridew would be the one to protect him, not the other way around." Roger replied, chuckling slightly.
"You think?" Simon asked, raising a questioning brow.
"Mhm. It's pretty obvious the redhead has a thing for the blonde." Roger commented. To him, it was like Jack had the words 'Merridew's property' branded onto the blondes forehead, though others didn't really see it because nobody could read Jack like Roger could.
"I've never really thought about it." Simon chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck, which he found himself doing quite often, recently. Jack and Ralph were basically rivals, so to think of those two ever dating was beyond strange.
"Jack's trying to get closer to the blonde, he wants to know if, Ralph's into guys. If he is, I'm sure, Jack would waste no time in asking him out." Roger shrugged once more and flicked his bangs out of his eyes, fixing his gaze to the front of the room.
"Oh. I never interpreted, Jack as that type of guy." Simon remarked quietly.
"Well he doesn't give off that vibe very often." He paused, "Do you know if, Ralph's into boys or not?" Roger asked, glancing at the shorter boy beside him.
"We've never really talked about it much, but I think he may be bisexual. I'm not completely sure though." Simon replied, frowning slightly. He was sure Ralph was not fully gay because he does talk about girls sometimes, but he wasn't completely sure he was fully straight either, as he has talked about boys on one occasion, but Simon didn't really question it then.
"I hope he is. I want, Jack to be happy." Roger mumbled, more to himself than to the boy beside him.
"He isn't happy?" Simon asked, trying to think of a time where Jack was in a bad mood.
"Well, I think he's happy, but he'd be even more happy if he got to date, the 'golden boy' he is so into. I like to see him in a good mood." Roger shrugged lazily.
"Thats sweet." Simon smiled at the taller boy who started to flush just slightly.
"I guess…" Roger trailed off, running a hand through his dark hair, grinning sheepishly. He's rarely been called 'sweet' before, so it sounded pretty foreign to him when Simon had said that, but he really didn't mind. He actually liked when the other said stuff like that and he got a weird feeling in his stomach. It wasn't a bad feeling though, it was just new.
The two continued to chat quietly while the lesson went on. Before they knew it, the bell had rung, signalling the end of school hours. Simon closed his book and grabbed his belongings, quickly making his way to the door, attempting to catch Ralph before he and Jack left to who knows where. He promised Roger that he'd meet up with him after Jack and Ralph had left, to hang out for a bit, which he was pretty excited about, to be honest.
Roger, on the other hand was on his way to Jack's dorm. He wanted to see the redhead before he went to wherever he was going, which he planned to find out later. He reached Jack's dorm and knocked on the door loudly, then shoved his hands into his pockets.
Not a second later, Jack opened up with a large, cocky smirk planted on his face, but it soon disappeared, as he was expecting Ralph to show up, not Roger.
"What're you doing here?" Jack asked, slightly disappointed the blonde hadn't been the one to show up.
"I just came by to see how things would play out." Roger admitted, smirking up at the, slightly taller redhead.
"Of course you would." Jack rolled his eyes and playfully shoved the dark haired boy.
"You never did tell me how you got him to agree." Roger stated giving the redhead a pointed look, raising an eyebrow.
Jack did not want to tell Roger that he got on his knees and begged the boy, though he didn't consider it 'begging', he was just joking around, not being serious. But Roger wouldn't care, he'd end up dying of laughter right then and there. Jack's ego was too big to let this slip out, so he decided not to tell his best friend.
"What can I say? I have a way with words." Jack lied, crossing his arms over his chest, leaning all his weight on one leg.
"Right." Roger stated, sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He admitted the redhead did have a way with words when it came to manipulating people or bribing them, but Roger knew Ralph was smarter than that, so he wasn't buying Jack's lie.
"What? It's true." Jack smirked, shrugging his shoulders lazily.
While those two kept chatting away, waiting for the blonde to arrive, Simon had managed to catch up with Ralph before the blonde went to his own dorm to change into something more comfortable. Ralph quickly dismissed himself to go change and Simon was currently waiting patiently outside the dorm. The door opened and Simon was greeted with an anxious, nervous looking Ralph, wearing a plaid, button up shirt and jeans.
"You look nice." Simon complimented with a smile, wanting to calm the blonde.
"Thanks. I cannot believe I agreed to go somewhere with that devil." Ralph sighed, shaking his head, stepping out of his room and closing the door behind himself. Honestly, he regretted even letting the redhead talk with him.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine, I promise." Simon said, putting a reassuring hand on the blondes shoulder.
"And how do you know?" Ralph asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I just think you'll be alright, that's all." Simon replied with a shrug.
The two were quiet as they made their way to Merridews, only occasionally slipping glances at each other. From the distance, Ralph made out the forms of Jack and Roger, standing at the door of Merridew's dorm room. He purposely slowed his pace, regretting ever agreeing to go to wherever the redhead had planned. He seriously just wanted to see Jack on his knees and begging, that's the only logical reason why Ralph would agree to anything like this. Though the begging wasn't too convincing, Ralph knew that was as good as he was going to get with Jack and that big, fat ego of his.
The closer Ralph got to the redhead, the more nervous he got. They were about five meters apart now and even from there, the blonde could easily make out the sly smirk that crossed Jack's face as he caught sight of Ralph. The blonde straightened his posture, squaring up his shoulders and walking with his head high, giving the illusion that he was confident as he strode over to the two.
"Hey, Ralphie. You ready to go?" Jack asked, his smirk growing even more as the blonde now stood a few feet away from him.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Ralph murmured, flicking the bangs out of his eyes.
"Great." The redhead smiled, glancing at the two others. "We'll be back later." Jack said, smiling cooly. He was actually surprised the blonde had shown up.
Simon gave an apologetic look to the blonde, before sending him one last reassuring smile, to which Ralph forced a small, weak smile back. Jack and Ralph parted ways and made their way down the hall to the main office to sign out, leaving Roger and Simon alone. They stood there awkwardly for a couple minutes before Simon piped up.
"Want to go to the auditorium?" The smaller boy asked, timidly, staring down the hallway to where Ralph had just left. Since he still had homework he had to get done and had planned to hang out with Roger, he thought maybe they could do it at the same time in there.
Roger nodded in response. He didn't care where the two went, as long as he got to spend time with the other boy. They made their way to the auditorium in silence, both still wore their uncomfortable school uniforms, not bothering to stop and change. They picked a table in the back and sat on opposite sides, wanting to have some room to themselves to work on stuff for school. They chit-chatted quietly amongst themselves as they started working, using this time as a study haul, though Roger wasn't all crazy about it.
Meanwhile, Ralph was trying not to laugh at Jack's bad driving and constant cursing when the light seemed to turn red right as they were about to pass, causing him to slam on the breaks. The blonde had a death grip on the handle above his seat as Jack started speeding up, passing a car that was driving 'too slow' for his liking. Ralph seriously thought Jack's careless driving would be the death of him.
About ten minutes later, Jack pulled into a parking lot that seemed to be swarmed with cars. It took them at least five minutes to find a parking space that was convenient and not too far away from the place Jack had refused to park by. Ralph unbuckled his seatbelt, opening the passenger door, and stepped out, smoothing down his shirt as he did so. Jack too got out and motioned for Ralph to follow him, to which he obliged.
They walked past fast food restaurants, small business buildings, and a grocery store, until they stopped at a particularly large building that made the blonde have to look twice to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"Chuck E Cheese's? You cannot be serious right now." Ralph stated in disbelief, shaking his head, staring at the smirking redhead.
"Oh, I'm serious, prissy pants." Jack's smirk seemed to only grow wider as he crossed his arms, enjoying the blondes reaction.
"You do know this place is for six year olds, correct?" Ralph asked, furrowing his brow, gesturing to the building in front of him.
"Oh, I'm well aware of that, Ralphie." Jack paused, "C'mon just give it a chance, it'll be fun. Doesn't matter if it's meant to be for seven year olds or not." Jack stated, nudging the blonde, wanting him to lighten up.
Ralph thought for a moment. He didn't have anything else planned for the evening, so this was better than just sitting in his dorm room doing homework all night. Besides, he always kept his word, it was a thing he was known for, he couldn't just back out.
"This better be as fun as you make it sound." Ralph muttered, pushing aside the redhead to enter the building. Jack grinned widely as he followed the blonde into the kid festooned building.
…
Simon was about sick of trying to figure out the near- impossible geology problems on his homework. He irritably tapped his pencil on the table as he held his head with his other hand, continuing to stare intently at the problems that seemed to be mocking him. Geology was never his strong suit. With a small sigh, he gave up and decided to take a break.
He quietly got up out of his chair and went to sit beside Roger to see what he was up to. Simon almost fell out of his chair when he saw the drawing Roger had been working on. He stared at it in awe, this was way beyond his drawing skills, he had no idea Roger was even into drawing and was so good at it.
Simon took a closer look at the drawing; The right side, half of a face, a hand ripping the flesh from the bone, no eye in it's socket, only blackness. The other half was a skull that seemed to be starting to shatter into pieces in the left corner. Though the art was a little dark and creepy, which wasn't really his thing, Simon loved it. The amount of detail in the piece was astounding.
"This is amazing." Simon said in awe, looking up at the other boy.
"Really, you think so?" Roger asked, glancing up from his drawing, meeting the others excited eyes. Roger didn't think the smaller boy was into things like this, he seemed to be one who likes bright, colorful, happy drawings.
"Yes! This is really impressive, Roger. I had no idea you were into art." Simon replied enthusiastically, smiling at the other.
"Thanks. I'm glad you like it. I enjoy drawing. It's a hobby that I don't get to endorse often." Roger shrugged, setting his pencil down. It was true, he rarely ever drew anymore, but when he did, he relished it and put a lot of effort into the work.
"Well I think you should draw more often. You're really good! I like drawing too, but I'm not near as talented as you are." Simon replied, smile widening. Roger didn't like being complimented, he never knew how to react and he always made the situation awkward. It's not that he didn't appreciate the things said to him, he just had nothing to say back. He wasn't used to nice things being said about him, therefore, he didn't know how to respond.
"I'm sure you're really good too." Roger smiled down at the smaller boy who just giggled and shrugged in response. Roger enjoyed these types of conversations he had with Simon. He liked when he found out more things about the other, he wanted to know more. It interested him for some reason. Roger picked his pencil back up and continued working on the drawing, while Simon watched over his shoulder.
…
"Jack, move your fatass!"
Ralph pushed the redhead full force, in hopes that he could try and get unstuck from the tube slide they were currently stuck in. They've been like this for ten minutes, pushing and shoving each other, occasionally letting out a string of curses, trying to get out. It was all Jack's fault. If he hadn't suggested that they should go crawl around in the Skytubes, they wouldn't be here. Ralph should have known that they were too big for the small tubes anyways, and now he was paying the price for not using his common sense. (A.N. If you have no idea what a 'Skytube' is, look it up xD The old Chuck E Cheese's I grew up with had these and they were pretty fun… until I got lost inside one once… Anyways, let's get on with the fic..)
"I can't move. Like at all." Jack replied, slightly aggravated, squirming around in the tight tube. He wasn't sure what the problem was, last time he was here, Maurice and him were able to get through the tubes easily. He tried again to wriggle out of the tube, using Ralph's body to push himself.
"Get your feet off of me!" The blonde yelled, pushing Jack's feet away from him as if they were going to kill him. To be honest, Ralph was more worried about his shirt getting dirty from Merridew's feet, than actually getting out of the tube. Jack let out a growl of frustration, craining his neck to look at the blonde, leaning back, uncomfortably on his elbows.
"Oh, I'm so sorry prissy pants, am I getting your clothes all dirty?" Jack asked, mockingly, smirking slightly mischievously at the other. The redheaded boy continued to use his feet to push off of the blonde who was still mildly complaining, until he got loose enough to slide down the slide. He landed on his back on the rough, rubber mat at the bottom of the slide. Soon enough the smaller blonde came down too, landing on top of Jack, face to face.
"Hey, how are you doing?" The redhead smirked, winking at the blonde. Ralph scoffed as he rolled off of the other, getting to his feet, dusting himself off. Jack too got up, stretching out his arms and legs, cracking his back in the process. "Well that was fun." Jack commented, sarcastically, walking over to the bin where their shoes were being held, grabbing his black kicks, slipping them on lazily, not wanting to bend down and retie them.
"I honestly think I'm claustrophobic now, thanks." The blonde replied, sardonically, as he grabbed his shoes and slipped them on. Ralph looked around the building, catching a few pairs of eyes watching him uneasily and questionally. He slightly shook his head irritably, turning to face the redhead. "You sure do know how to attract unwanted attention, Merridew." Ralph muttered, not liking the fact that eyes were staring at him.
"Well it isn't everyday that you see a couple of teenagers playing around in a place that's meant for little kids." The redhead retorted, letting out a loud laugh. Jack walked out of the arcade part of the building, over to the dining area, where a stage full of creepy animatronics were 'making music'. Jack'd always hated those mechanical freakshows. He stood there for a minute, just watching the robots from afar, turning only slightly when he heard the footsteps of Ralph approaching.
"Those things are terrifying." The blonde commented, emphasizing the word 'terrifying', also watching the animatronics as he approached. Jack nodded in agreement, not taking his eyes away from the scene in front of him. An idea had made it's way into Jack's mind, though it wasn't the smartest idea, they'd both still get a good laugh from it.
"You think I'm a good enough singer to join their little band?" The redhead joked, smirking down, deviously at the blonde who just eyed him suspiciously.
"Please don't tell me you're about to do what I think you're about to do." Jack's smirk only widened as he started to make his way to the stage, ignoring Ralph's doubtful stare. "Jack, no." The redhead ignored the blonde as he hoisted himself up onto the stage, walking over to the animatronic with the microphone.
"Oh my God…" Ralph whispered to himself as he saw the redheaded boy climb onto the stage. He covered his mouth to smother the laugh as he saw Jack trying to pry the microphone from the robot's hands to no avail. He could not believe Jack would do something like this and make a fool out of himself, just for a laugh. Ralph turned away, covering his whole face with his hands, acting like he didn't know the redhead that was currently on stage singing along with the animatronics.
Only when he heard a yell and a loud thumping sound did Ralph turn around. To his surprise, he saw Jack running towards him with a very large man following closely behind with an angry look across his face. The redhead grabbed Ralph's arm, dragging the blonde with him as he sprinted towards the exit, pushing past people and stumbling over one another. The two of them made it out the doors and continued to run until they were out of view. Both of them immediately burst out laughing, holding their sides as they became sore.
"What were you thinking?" Ralph managed to get out through his laughing fit, putting both hands on his mouth to try and stifle the laughter. He looked around the corner of the building they were hiding behind to see the same man guarding the door, still looking quite pissed, even from this far away.
"My options were to either face the consequences or bail… So I bailed." The redhead stated with a shrug after he had managed to calm down a bit, leaning against the wall, still holding his sides.
"You're an idiot." The blonde chuckled, lightly punching Jack in the shoulder. Jack smiled triumphantly as he noticed Ralph was actually enjoying himself. The two started walking down the street, chatting quietly amongst each other, until they came across a small, Chinese restaurant.
"You in the mood for Chinese?" Jack asked, raising a slender brow. Ralph nodded. They both entered the small restaurant and made their way to the counter where a short, older Chinese woman stood with a welcoming smile. Ralph noticed that there were no other customers in this place, and that made it look pretty deserted. The lady greeted them politely and took the two to a table where they were seated and got their orders taken. When their food finally arrived, Jack cleared his throat loudly, about to thank the woman.
"Gracias, seniorita." The redhead thanked with a cheery smile. Ralph had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. The lady gave a confused smile, but said nothing and walked away. When the woman had made it to the counter, Ralph burst out laughing, wiping the corners of his eyes where tears had formed. Jack gave a confused look to the blonde as he unwrapped his chopsticks.
"What's so funny?" Jack asked, giving the blonde a sideways glance, chuckling only slightly because Ralph was laughing so hard. Ralph shook his head, continuing to laugh, only talking when he had calmed down some.
"You know you thanked her in Spanish, right? Not Chinese." Ralph began laughing again, sliding down in his chair, holding his stomach. Jack momentarily froze. He couldn't believe he thanked that woman in Spanish, how dumb could he be?
"I think I've been hanging out with, Maurice too much…" The redhead muttered before popping a piece of food into his mouth. The two continued talking and joking around while they ate, which was actually pretty nice. After they ate, Jack insisted he'd pay for the meal, not listening to Ralph arguing that he should at least help pay. The redheaded boy handed the Chinese lady money, and the two exited the restaurant and began making their way to Jack's car, which was parked a few parking lots down from the one they were currently in.
It had gotten a lot darker since they had first arrived; the sun had nearly set and there were less people and cars out and about. Both boys made their way to the car and got in. Jack pulled out of the parking lot and started on their way back to school. The drive back was silent, apart from the little tune the redhead was humming to himself. He looked over to the passenger side to see Ralph with his head up against the window of the car, sleeping soundly. Jack smiled to himself and continued to drive.
When they got to the school, Jack parked his car and contemplated on whether he should wake the blonde up or carry him back to his dorm. Since he didn't have Ralph's dorm key, he couldn't exactly get him to his dorm and set him into bed, so he decided just to wake him up.
"Ralph, we're here." The redhead whispered softly, gently nudging the blonde's shoulder. Ralph looked up with tired, but alerted eyes, though they eased some when he saw Jack sitting beside him. He nodded, fidgeting tiredly with his seatbelt until he finally got it undone then opened the door and got out. The two made their way into the building to the office to sign in. Jack had decided to walk the blonde to his dorm, cautiously putting his hand on the small of Ralph's back, guiding him, though it should be Ralph guiding him, Jack already knew where the blondes dorm was.
When the two got to Ralph's dorm, the blonde turned around and ran a hand through his hair, looking up at the taller redhead.
"Hey, uhm, thanks. I had fun today." Ralph started, not really knowing what to say. He still didn't know why the redhead wanted him to come in the first place, maybe because he wanted to be friends with him? He honestly didn't know, but he would save that question for another time.
"It was no problem. I'm glad you had a good time. Maybe we can do this again sometime." Jack smiled down at the blonde appreciatively, resisting the urge to bend down and kiss him. Ralph nodded and grinned, turning to his dorm room, pulling out his key and putting it through the keyhole. He pushed on the door and it opened with a small creak. Before Ralph stepped inside, he turned around and bid Jack goodnight, smiling sweetly at the other.
When the redhead left, Ralph shut the door, leaning his back up against it, replaying the events that had just happened that evening in his head. He actually had a good time. He smiled to himself as he remembered all the idiotic moments Merridew had and how he was himself and he embraced it. He shook his head, still smiling, changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed.