Hey guys! I thought I'd get a head start on writing this new chapter, so hopefully I'll have it out before another four months pass. Also I love hearing from you guys and seeing what tickles your fancy, so feel free to message me or drop a review if you have questions/comments/etc!
Minor note while I have you all here: M.L is not a boy. M.L is not a girl. I use they/them pronouns consistently with M.L, because they are nonbinary. Just wanted to make that perfectly clear.
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On the walk from Chemistry to English, Honey had to actively work to hold back a dopey grin. It was silly, but he couldn't deny that he had enjoyed chatting with Emmett. Honestly, he was surprised by just how much fun he'd had. Don't get it wrong, he definitely found Emmett attractive and charming, he just wasn't the type of guy Honey would normally go after. He usually went for artsy guys or burn outs, boys who weren't so well built or outgoing. Admittedly, that was because those were the sort of people he hung around most of the time, and who tended to show interest in him. Attractive, athletic-type boys didn't tend to play for the 'home' team, and when they did, well… Honey didn't really trust their motivations to be anything other than getting bragging rights to fooling around with a 'boy like him'.
The thought sobered him a little. While Honey didn't think Emmett was angling for something along those lines, he still felt that he should proceed with caution, and not let things go any farther than a bit of harmless flirting. He didn't need the hassle or heartache of getting close to someone in that way right now, not when he didn't plan on sticking around for any great length of time. After he walked across the stage at graduation, he planned to keep right on walking until he crossed out of the county, at least.
Firmly putting the topic to rest, Honey spend the next two periods doing his best to catch up to his peers. He found that it wasn't that hard, at least with the subjects at hand. In English they were currently reading some pretentious 'classic' written by some dead white guy who's name Honey couldn't be bothered to remember. Although he found the topic mind-numbingly boring, it wasn't hard to follow along. The book was mercifully thin, so he would hopefully manage to work his way through it quickly. While psychology was a bit more of a challenge, the notes that M.L had lent him made it much easier to catch up. By the time lunch rolled around again, he could feel the edges of a headache starting to build behind his eyes. But hey, at least he was making headway. It could have been worse, all things considered.
He and M.L made their way to their lockers together, going to M.L's first, and than Honey's, chatting casually all the way. M.L spent most of the time grouching about their second period teacher assigning a massive paper. Honey sympathized strongly. He hadn't actually written his own essays since middle school, and he had a feeling that it was going to be an exercise in torture now that he actually had to do his own major assignments. Oh well, that was the consequence of trying to walk the straight and narrow.
As they reached the cafeteria and sat down at one of the mostly empty tables, he found his eyes automatically searching for Emmett. Honey frowned to himself when he noticed that both the tall boy and the rest of his strange clan of pale pseudo-models were absent. M.L noticed him looking and rolled their eyes goodnaturedly.
"Still holding out hope for that one, huh?" M.L asked, tone lightly teasing. They had brought lunch from home today, a bag of chips and leftover stir fry. "Don't trust my word that they're a bunch of recluses?"
Honey shook his head, turning his eyes back to his new friend and working on opening his lunch box. Helena had packed him a slice of leftover pot pie, cut up fruit and veggies, and a bottle of juice. He should probably be embarrassed that his foster mother was packing his lunches for him, but he couldn't bring himself to be anything but grateful. It wasn't like he was going to pack it himself, and it beat cafeteria food, or going hungry.
"I'm not holding out for anyone," He protested, picking up his fork and stabbing a piece of strawberry before popping it into his mouth. "I talked to him this morning, plus he was staring at me all lunch yesterday. Just trying to make sure I don't have a stalker, y'know?"
"He talked to you? Really?" M.L asked, frowning. "What did he talk to you about?"
Honey shrugged, taking a long moment to chew his food before he gave an answer. "Nothing major. We talked about his family a little, he tried to convince me that outdoorsy activities are worthwhile, a mild amount of flirting. You know, normal shit."
He decided to leave out the part where Emmett let basically him cheat off his work. While he doubted that M.L was the type to snitch, he didn't want to risk being wrong and end up in shit before his second day was even out. Besides, it wasn't that big of a deal. The assignment hadn't even been for points.
M.L's amber eyes went wide, expression looking both concerned and vaguely disturbed. Their fingers tightened on their fork almost unnoticeably. "Flirting? Seriously? It's even worse than I thought."
"Okay, what's the deal? You seem to really hate the Cullens and I'm starting to wonder why," Honey asked. At first he had figured it was just general dislike of anyone rich and attractive, which was something he got. He wouldn't pretend he had never reached that level of petty. Not though, it didn't seem that simple. There was too much seriousness in M.L's eyes. "Did one of them like, spit in your lunch or something?"
"My family isn't a big fan of them, and vice versa." M.L explained, and yeah, there was definitely something personal going on here, if the slight tick in M.L's jaw was anything to go on.
"Seriously? Didn't the Cullens just move here recently? What kind of family feud could you have possibly gotten into that quickly?" Honey demanded incredulously. Part of him felt frustrated at the situation, but mostly he was just confused and desperately curious. While he didn't have any interest in drama of his own, other people's drama was always fun. Maybe there was some juicy gossip to be learned here.
Their proud nose scrunched up, as if smelling something unpleasant. "Doesn't take long to make a bad impression."
Honey let out a sigh, slender brown fingers carding through his short black curls. "Listen, if it really means that much to you, I won't talk to Emmett anymore. I don't want to make you uncomfortable by hanging around someone you clearly don't like."
M.L was silent for several long moments, seeming to consider his words. For a second, Honey was sure they were going to accept his offer. Which, while not ideal, wouldn't be the end of the world. Sure, Emmett was ridiculously hot, and he did feel weirdly drawn to the other boy, but 'bros before hoes,' or whatever.
"No, I'm not going to make you choose between the two of us, you're allowed to have friends outside of me," M.L said after a while, shaking their head and causing a bit of hair to fall into their eyes, which they quickly tucked behind their ear. "Just be careful, okay? The Cullens aren't what they appear to be. They're dangerous."
"Trust me, I'm not planning on getting overly involved," Honey promised, starting in on his pie. "I need the next few years to be as uncomplicated as humanly possible. Can't afford the drama that a relationship would bring."
M/L nodded, looking slightly appeased by that. "Fair enough, I guess. On a completely different note, do you want to hang out this weekend so I can help catch you up in your classes a bit more?"
Honey groaned, letting his head fall back dramatically. "School work on the weekend? That has to be some sort of crime."
"I hate to tell you this, but most people do school work on the weekends," M.L informed him, a small amused smirk sliding across their lips. "I promise I'll provide snacks and give you lots of breaks, since apparently you're a small child."
"Good. I respond well to juice boxes and fruit gummies." Honey said, finishing his lunch and putting his containers back in his lunch bag.
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The last three periods flew by, with Honey absently noting that neither Alice nor Rosalie were present in the classes he shared with them. Maybe there was an emergency at home? Who knew. It wasn't really his business, but he couldn't help but wonder. The thought stayed in his mind all afternoon, even as he rode the bus home, sharing funny stories with M.L about some of the schools he'd been to. I was ridiculous, and probably way off base, but Honey couldn't get rid of the tiny voice in the back of his head that kept telling him that it had something to do with him. It made no rational sense that all the Cullen siblings would magically be absent from class just because he'd had a chat with one of them. Try telling that to his dumb brain, though.
By the time he made it up onto the Greene's front porch, he was already in a shitty mood, both from the annoying thoughts swirling around in his head, and from the damp cold that had settled into the town while he'd been in school. God, he wished he knew how to drive and had the money for a car. Having to wait around for the school bus in this weather had been absolute torture. As he reached the front door, he saw a little envelope stuck to it, his name written across it in neat, looping cursive. He pulled the envelope down curiously, and felt it had a little weight to it. Not much, but obviously not just paper. Only one way to find out what was inside, though. He opened the flap, finding a small note and a key attached to a bumblebee keychain inside. He found himself smiling slightly as he pulled the two items out, reading the short message.
'Honey, if this note is still here, I obviously lost track of time while shopping in the city. I realized today that I completely forgot to give you a house key. This is yours for as long as you live here. By the way -Helena'
Wow. Honey could count on one hand the amount of times a foster family had trusted him with his own personal key to the house, and still have fingers to spare. There had been many times over the years when he had found himself locked out because his foster parents weren't home. He usually either found a way in through an unlocked window or something. On one memorable occasion when he was 13, he had ended locked out of the house for days when his foster parents had decided to take a week long trip without telling him. After day three of sleeping on the back deck, stealing food from Wal-Mart, and cleaning himself with a garden hose, he had eventually gotten fed up and broken in by shattering the sliding glass door with a rock. Of course, that had set off an alarm, and the police had shown up. A black kid breaking into some upper-middle class white couple's home while they were away hadn't exactly been a good look. Needless to say, it wasn't long after they returned from their vacation that the couple sent Honey packing. Not that he had complained, of course.
Shaking himself from his quick walk down memory lane, Honey stuffed the note in his jacket pocket and unlocked the front door. He kicked his shoes off, straightening them a bit on the mat before closing and locking the door behind himself. The neighborhood might have been quiet and calm, but that didn;t necessarily mean it was safe, and Honey wasn't taking his chances. That down, he went up to his room, closing and locking his own door. A nice steaming hot shower was just what he needed to warm himself up after the chill of the outdoors.
Stripping out of his clothes along the way, Honey padded into the bathroom, curling his toes against the cool tile as he threw his discarded clothes in his laundry hamper. He cranked the shower on to as hot as he could stand without feeling like he was getting stabbed by a bunch of tiny pins. Laying out a nice fluffy towel on his toilet seat, Honey stepped into the shower stall. The water felt amazing. He didn't think he'd ever get over just how good the water pressure was here. Immediately, he could feel the chill and stiffness seep out of him, leaving him lose and warm feeling. Honey didn't bother deep cleaning himself, just giving his body a cursory rinse since he'd showered that morning as well. Once he felt he'd wasted enough time and hot water, Honey turned the water off, wiping away the water that dripped from his hair into his eyes.
Water slid down his firm calves and onto the soft, absorbent mat as he stepped out of the shower. He roughly toweled himself dry, tying the towel around his waist once he was done and going back into his bedroom. Without bothering to glance at his school work, Honey heading straight to his bed dropping the towel and climbing between the sheets, determined to stay nice and warm at any cost. Responsibilities could wait- it was nap time now.
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Just in case you guys couldn't tell, I always write the top author's note before I start writing a chapter, and the bottom one once I'm done. I have to say… I really fucked this one up. In my defense, fanfiction is a hobby and real life takes priority. Also, I'm not a fan of how... Choppy/fragmented all the chapters feel, so I think once I have some written ahead, I might start editing and combine some of the chapters