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argylemikewheeler · 5 years

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All Right.

|| Steve accidentally comes out to Jonathan in the worst way possible– and Jonathan takes the worst of the aftermath for him. warning: homophobic language (but from already gross people) ||

Steve thought he’d read the signs so clearly. Jonathan had asked him to a late night movie, offered to pick him up, and grabbed his arm when the killer jumped out from behind the doorway. Steve thought he had gotten it all right.

Fuck, he’d thought it was a date.

Jonathan parked outside of Steve’s house, his hands sliding off the steering wheel and landing on his lap. He sighed and Steve could feel the “now what” hang in the air.

“This was nice, Steve.” Jonathan said. “We don’t typically hang out. It was good to just be out for a night.”

“Yeah. I had a great time, Byers.” Steve unbuckled his seat belt and turned in his seat. “Thanks for the popcorn.”

“Only because you bought my ticket.” Jonathan shrugged, laughing. “Fair’s fair.”

“No. Really. Thank you. This was… This was really nice.” Steve could feel his words dropping off, his hands tightening around his sleeve cuffs. God, why did Jonathan somehow look better in dim, shadowed light? It made his eyes brighter and his wonky smile far more endearing. Steve didn’t know it was possible.

“Anytime, Steve.” He reached over and squeezed Steve’s arm, just below his shoulder. Shoulder. Steve should’ve known.

“Hey, Jonathan… Can I ask you something?” Steve muttered, placing his hand on top of Jonathan’s.

“Yeah, absolutely. Need me to recap the plot of our movie again?” He teased. Steve wasn’t sure if he had laughed. The nerves were eating him alive.

Steve didn’t have a question. Not really. Well, technically, he was introducing a new concept to their conversation but he didn’t want to say it– not really. But he still wanted to ask. Suggest it, in his own direct way.

With a quick inhale, rapid blinking, and a muddled prayer, Steve leaned in and kisses Jonathan.

In a matter of seconds, Jonathan had a question of his own for Steve.

“W-What are you doing?” He backed away slowly, sounding almost pitiful of Steve. “I think you read this all wrong, Steve… I’m so sorry.”

“N-No! No… No, it’s my fault. It’s… No, don’t– I’ll see you at school, Jonathan. I’ve gotta– okay. See ya.” Steve fumbled for the car door, yanking it open and nearly tumbling into the grass.

“Steve! Wait!”

“No! It’s fine. I just, I’m tired! It’s a school night we should. Yeah. I should go!”

Jonathan watched Steve run all the way up to his door, but didn’t get the privilege of watching any of the self-criticizing sobbing that occurred in the late hours of the evening.

God, Steve had never felt so stupid in his life. Thinking Jonathan Byers was into him? Thinking Jonathan Byers was even gay, first off, big mistake. Steve had been making mistakes since the morning bell that day and drug his sorry ass all the way to midnight with a streak of horrible missteps.

Worst of all: outing himself in a parked car– his first parked car with a boy– and immediately being told he’d read it all. wrong.

That’s all he was, huh? All wrong.

At school the next day, the mistake followed him. Just like Jonathan did.

“Hey! There you are, I’ve been trying to find you! I wanted to talk.” Jonathan caught Steve by his locker, grabbing his shirt sleeve.

“And I don’t really want to talk.” Steve hissed, trying to turn away. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“It wasn’t a big deal, Steve. Really.” Jonathan said loudly, trying to pull him back in without outing his business to the hallway. He looked at Steve earnestly, allowing Steve to cut off the conversation there if he truly wanted.

The thing was, Steve did want to talk about it, but he didn’t want to be known to be talking about it. Admitting he needed someone to just acknowledge that he was attracted to other men– and not threaten him with a switchblade– was like admitting everything within him had been accepted as well. But he hadn’t. Steve was still nursing the fresh wound– both figuratively and literally– of coming out to himself. Needing to be heard felt unbelievably selfish to Steve– especially if it was to the man he’d kissed without fucking asking.

But really, Steve wanted to talk about it. He needed to just say he was absolutely not straight and that he was sorry.

“I really thought…” Steve bit his lip and stepped up to Jonathan again. They leaned against the lockers, trying to look inconspicuous. “I thought you were coming on to me… I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, it’s fine.” Jonathan was too cool with it, Steve thought. Like, the last time someone was this cool with it was because they were trying not to throw their temper– and the dining table– through the roof. “It wasn’t a bad, uh,” he paused as other students passed them, giggling to themselves. “not a bad first, honestly.”

“… first kiss?” Steve cocked an eyebrow.

“with a guy, Steve.” Jonathan shoved his arm teasingly. “I’ve kissed girls before.”

“Had me fooled.” Steve felt comfortable enough to snap back playfully. Jonathan was still smiling, and that was a weakness Steve always leaned into.

“Well, I wasn’t exactly prepared.” Jonathan said, blinking with faux surprise. “Let me know, next time you’re going to ‘ask me a question’.”

Steve ducked his head and covered his eyes with his hands. “I’m sorry you had to witness that. I was a complete dork. God, I’m embarrassed. Kill me.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it. I thought it was endearing.”

“Don’t say that.” Steve sighed, letting his hands drop. “That sounds like hope.”

“Sorry.” Jonathan said solemnly. “I really am not like that, Steve. I’d tell you if I was.”

Steve didn’t want to argue with Jonathan, to point out that his friend had created an other by accident. He hadn’t said that was “like Steve” or even “gay”. He said “like that”. Like that. Some unnameable sin. He was comforted and only half mortified. The other half came when Tommy came gallivanting down the hallway, his friend Lewis in tow. Steve rarely spoke to Lewis but had seen him in his neighborhood. He apparently lived on the other side of the street, but Steve didn’t care to fact check.

“Oh fuck this guy.” Jonathan groaned, resting his head against the locker with a thud. He’d been spotted which meant he couldn’t walk away without the fear of being chased down and pulled back for more belittling.

“I’ve got it.” Steve said, clapping him on the arm. It was instinct. He still felt guilty. Jonathan had said no. He wasn’t like that. He wasn’t all wrong.

“Well well well, if it isn’t Hawkins’ biggest lovebirds.” Tommy laughed, clapping his hands together.

Steve turned his head and looked around at the thinning crowd before staring at Tommy. “What are you on about?”

“Catching a little alone time before lunch, huh, Harrington? Byers being a sweet little lady for you?”

"Quit talking shit and spit out what the fuck you mean.” Steve snapped harshly, righting himself on his feet. All the doubt he’d had rising in his throat suddenly sank down to his stomach.

“Lewis here saw you two last night.” Tommy thumbed over to his friend. “Saw you feeling up Byers in the dark. Trying to get a little action wherever you can, huh?”

“Leaving Nancy turn you into a Nancy, Harrington?” Lewis jeered.

“Shut you fucking mouths. You don’t know what you saw.” Steve tried not to act disgusted. He wouldn’t give those idiots the satisfaction.

“I know what I saw, Harrington. Two shadows never get that close unless–”

“It wasn’t Steve.” Jonathan said suddenly, turning to lay flat against the lockers and face both groups. “I kissed him. It was me.”

“Jonathan,” Steve hissed quietly.

“I took him to a movie and… and I thought it had been a date. It was a misunderstanding. It wasn’t Steve.” Jonathan told the lie in its entirety, not disparaging any part of its kind intentions. Jonathan really didn’t mind.

“How could you mistake Harrington for a fairy?”

“Are you blind, Byers?”

“Probably.” Jonathan shrugged, sighing. He wasn’t insulted, absorbing every sharp edge of their words before they hit Steve. “Side effect of being gay, I guess.”

“You better watch out, Harrington. Don’t let Byers touch you– you might catch it–”

“He’d only be so lucky.” Jonathan quipped, lifting his eyebrows. “Move along, dickheads.”

“Hey, I didn’t ask for your demands, freak.” Tommy shouldered Jonathan, slamming him against the lockers.

“Hey! Hey! Let’s not…” Steve stopped, his hand resting on Jonathan’s chest. His heartbeat was so loud but so slow. It was speaking to him, but without any fear driving the call. Steve would never know it for real though, he knew. He’d never feel it against his hand, warm and pounding, jitters shaking them both to their bones. “Let’s not get suspended before lunch. Again, Tommy. Come on. You’ve only got attendance working for you on your college applications.”

“Keep your fucking hands off of me, Byers.” Tommy spat, shoving Steve into Jonathan. “Good luck with the poof, Harrington.”

Lewis, for good measure, shoved Steve again. His head nearly missed clocking Jonathan’s and breaking both of their noses. But neither were quite bothered; they’d been that close before, thanks to Steve’s idiocy. Lewis and Tommy stalked away and left Steve to stumble back, gawking at Jonathan.

“Why did you do that?”

“I don’t care if they think I’m gay.” Jonathan shrugged. “That rumor won’t reach anyone important.”

“Yeah, but–”

“Your dad knows everyone here.” Jonathan said shortly. “I’m not letting your life get ruined like that.”

"I– Jonathan, you didn’t have to do that–” Jonathan would be opening himself up to treatment that he wouldn’t even understand. Steve wasn’t sure if it was helpful or ungodly stupid.

“My mom is never going to hear that lie. Only person who could ever is Will, but he’s gay so he’s not going to care.” Jonathan pushed himself up to his feet and brushed himself off. “It’s okay, Steve. I’d rather you be safe.”

“Thank you, Jonathan. S-So much.” Steve stood awkwardly, his arms lifting and falling back to his sides. “C-Could I hug you?”

“I would love that.” Jonathan laughed, pulling Steve in.

He braced the back of Steve’s head with his hand and squeezed his shoulder tightly. It was a full embrace. Steve couldn’t feel Jonathan’s heartbeat anymore, but he could feel the lift of his smile against his cheek. And honestly, that was better. It was a dream Steve never thought to have. He had a best friend– like a real one– and knew Steve was somewhere in the middle of every confusing post-pubescent feeling available. Steve had a best friend that would risk everything for him– because Steve had risked it all over one stupid, heart-aching impulse.

“I love you.” Steve blurted, tightening his arms around Jonathan’s waist.

“Back ‘atcha, Steve.” Jonathan clapped Steve on the back before pulling away gently. Steve was mortified, but Jonathan seemed to hold nothing against Steve– just his jacket lapels in his hands.

“W-Wait. Your brother’s gay? Little Will?” Steve sputtered, running a hand through his hair.

“Yeah.” Jonathan nodded nonchalantly. “He wrote me a note the other day. Told me the whole nine.”

“So your mom really wouldn’t care.” Steve hoped he didn’t sound jealous. It really was just disbelief.

“No. Not at all.” Jonathan laughed, shaking his head. “I’m pretty sure she’d be confused why we were telling her– ‘it’s none of my business, Jonathan. Just be happy and safe’”

“She’s said that?”

"She found my freshman project on biblical allusions in literature and thought I was becoming a devout Christian, but I figure it applies just the same.” He started walking down the hallway, knowing Steve would follow. He laughed again and Steve couldn’t help but chase the sound. “But I know it isn’t the same for you. I couldn’t ask you to fess up to those idiots like that.”

“I could’ve just lied.”

“You could not.” Jonathan shot Steve a look, smirking. “You’re a terrible liar, Steve. Like. The worse.”

"I’ve been acting straight this whole time.” Steve said, shoving Jonathan and sending him wobbling back toward the lockers.

“Okay okay! Maybe you can lie a little. But, not then. That would have to be boldface denial. And that’s harder, Steve. It’s better if I just took the heat off of you. I mean, tell people whatever you want, but at your own pace, alright?”

“You’re a really great friend, Jonathan.” Steve confessed. It felt intimate to admit between two men, but it was a platonic statement. Steve had never felt this close to anyone, in any respect. He hoped Jonathan understood he really did love him, in all ways. Even ways Jonathan couldn’t. And that was okay too.

“You aren’t half bad either.” Jonathan wrapped his arm around Steve’s shoulders, bumping his side jokingly. “Not a half bad kisser either.”

ao3

#bi steve harrington #stonathan friendship #prompts #stranger things writing

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jancys-blue-bayou · 5 years

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Yeah so Stranger Things 3 was painfully bad

Yeah yeah big negative post about ST3 coming up. Just... holy shit, my expectations weren’t exactly high but jesus I didn’t think it’d be this bad. Wow. Mindboggling to think it was made by the same dudes who made season 1, it feels like a different show. Some of the worst writing I’ve seen in a long while, parts of season 3. This got very long because it was very bad so it’s under the cut. Starting with the few positives and then away we go...

Of course there were bright spots, I thought what we got of Jancy was generally good (just wish there had been more of it. Just like... more lines between them, a few moments could’ve gone on longer...like after the awesome hospital fight scene jesus just let them fucking desperately embrace and profess their love for each other, it was awesome how they relentlessly kept going at the monster to save the other but can we please just have a few more seconds for a comfort moment after?) I liked how they handled the fight btw, apart from the Oliver Twist comment yeah yeah heat of the moment but still felt OOC with that loa a blow. Nancy and Karen scene was nice and um... well Max and El bonding was nice. And um... Mr Clarke! And I kind of dig Murray.

My main issues with it:

- The product placement. Jesus Christ. Okay, ST has always been a show with noticeable product placement. But it’s gone from things like a Coke can prominently on display on a table in s1 (El crushing it with her mind) to literally having a straight up ad for Coca Cola in the middle of a tense scene. That’s the big offender that made me go wow you’re really doing this to yourselves huh, there are many others ofc (everything at the mall ofc, Slurpees being in hyperfocus for a bit, and a lengthy talk about Burger King. These smaller things one by one wasn’t the worst but all combined jesus it was too much, all added together and then bam the Coke commercial was wow... Congrats on the like 80 sponsorship deals and esp the new ST themed arcade hall by Coca Cola hope it was worth completely selling out for.

- Relatedly, the original fucking song. Holy christ talk about jumping the shark. That was the oddest, cringiest, weirdest shit I’ve seen in a long time. Gaten’s a great singer don’t get me wrong, but there’s a time and place for it and an original song stuffed into the middle of the tense climax of the season is not it Duffers. Just a blatant cash cow, hoping to bring in more money via the song.

- Robin. Sorry but holy cow what a Mary Sue. Hey here’s this super cool girl who’s cool™ and funny™ and super smart™ and NOT Nancy (like they seriously for real said in a scene, they actually for real had to pit Robin and Nancy against each other for no reason). And she conveniently has these specific skills needed for the plot (which she gets involved with for no real motivation other than having nothing better to do, lazy writing). Said skills were so over the top unrealistic it completely sucked me out of it. To start with, this random girl in small town Indiana in 1985 speaking French, Spanish and Italian um... does Hawkins High have the most amazing language department or what? Very un-american in that case... and okay then, her knowing those languages wouldn’t help jackshit with understanding Russian. Russian is a notoriously difficult language to learn and it is not related to the Romance languages at all, Robin knowing those languages and oh, having “a good ear” bc she’s in band (?!??! what?!) wouldn’t help her at all. Having the alphabets on the wall and listening to strange words in a foreign language she has no understanding of would never work. No way for her to understand what is she’s hearing, what letters are in the words just, nothing. It’s completely ridiculous. The good thing is she’s a lesbian, crushing Stobin that made me LOL. Btw, I don’t get what age they were writing her as? She’s still in school but later says she and Steve was in the same class, and she knows who Nancy is but Nancy, who is still in school, doesn’t know her even though presumably they’d be in the same year at little Hawkins High? Was it just sloppy writing or what?

- Too. Much. Plotting. What happened to “this season is about the characters” um there was just so much plot stuff and action sequences and barely any character driven moments at all. Those intimate moments that made s1 amazing. Generally regarding plots felt the Russian plot was messy and not well-written also what happened to the US government as the big bad? Unless they’re setting up a big Cold War thing for s4. And felt the zombie thing was wasted, could’ve been used differently like I’d have thought it’d be used like the MF spreading it’s influence over vaster areas and being harder to keep track of etc.

- Too little Will. Will’s whole thing with feeling left out etc was just dropped halfway through it felt very undercooked. His arc was just dropped wtf.

- NO BYERS FAMILY INTERACTIONS WTF. The sequence in the first episode when Jancy has overslept and Joyce wipes the lipstick off Jonathan was cute (but could’ve been even cuter I’d have preferred a short fluffy Jancy moment here just as they wake up before they realize they overslept, bc we didn’t get much pure fluff, and then it’d been awesome if Joyce would’ve just called Nancy into the house to mess with them). But like... that’s kind of it. For the Byers family. Talking to each other in the whole season. When they partnered Jancy with the kids many thought awesome we’ll get Byers bros talking and teaming up (and Nancy and Mike) but there was just nothing. Not even a family hug after the battle at the mall, just Joyce hugging Will, with all this tightknit little family has been through you telling me Jonathan wouldn’t join in?

- No Will and El bonding wtf? SUCH a wasted opportunity. They’ve built this unique awesome connection over s1 and s2 and now in s3 would finally be able to bond normally for real and... nothing.

- Turning Hopper back into an even bigger jerk than he was at the start of the show, neglecting all his character development. What was the point of the whole El and Hopper thing they devoted so much time to in s2 if Hopper’s back at it with the yelling and all now? And jeez his constant whining to Joyce about every man she interacts with holy christ that got annoying. Generally Hopper was such an annoying asshole this season I was so tired of him by the time he “died”.

- TOO MANY CHARACTERS. Jeez, I know I’m on about it all the time but jesus christ there is way way too many characters in this for 8 episodes which hurts the narrative and screentime for interesting characters is just... yeah.

- Speaking of screentime, did we really need that many identical generic fight scenes between Hopper and the Russian guy? Jesus Christ it’s so boring watching fight scenes like that, so repetitive (compare to the hospital fight scene which was dynamic and awesome). Also regarding screentime did we really need to devote so incredibly much of it to Steve and Robin being comedic relief while drugged? Yeah yeah mix light and dark and all that but jesus christ at that point in the narrative shit has hit the fan lean into the dark.

- Totally expected of course but still, the furthering of Steve Memeington. My god they actually had him literally call himself daddy... christ.

- The Billy and Karen/all the other middle age women remains gross and bad in a billion ways. Also completely pointless for the plot, they could’ve come up with any other way to get Billy to the factory. And what did it give Karen in development? Just the realization that yeah I’m tired of my husband but I’m not leaving my family and I’ll stick with him just ‘cause? Okay but did we need her almost sleeping with a kid a year older than her daughter for that? Icky. Also the editing of the scene where Billy hits her was so weird. Also that was weird as fuck.

- The ending. Okay christ my main gripe with this is because of a point above: No Byers family interaction at all! Joyce and Hopper talk briefly about her thinking about moving once or twice but she never talks about it with her kids... obviously she did in the timegap but we need to see that to build to the thing. Having no Byers interactions the whole season and then just oop we’re moving is so weird. I’m also not sure if Joyce’s motivation for moving (her bad memories of Hawkins) would be enough. For sure an argument for it, but an argument against is the one Hopper presents to her (and though he’s not around still there’s still a support system around them there, especially for her kids which she loves above all). Speaking of her loving her kids above all, she knows they love their friends/girlfriend/boyfriend to bits, have walked through fire with them and are each others support system as mentioned, would Joyce really just uproot them from that? There’s also some purely practical things that stuck out to me immediately: the timeskip for the epilogue makes it so they move when the schoolyear is already well under way and Jonathan has started senior year, feel bad for Jonathan there in a number of ways. Also, how the hell did Joyce manage to sell her house and what did it fetch? Her rundown house on the outskirts of a now infamous town with an incredibly bad rep? Even if the buyer bought it for the land the land doesn’t look special, just find it hard to believe she could get much for it. And where did they move? Where did she find a place? And work? Did she have something lined up or? I guess we’ll see.

- Oh and speaking of work, that was another thing that was just dropped, the mall killing downtown and the protests just fell out of the story. But, with what happened to the mall wouldn’t business come back to downtown (possibly reason for Joyce to want to stay if Melvald’s going out of business was another reason to move).

- Sorry but Mileven took way too much space.

- Again, no Jonathan and Will actual brothers bonding. But a whole lot of Steve and Dustin meme fanservice wank.

- Erica is just the sassy black girl trope non stop the whole season and nothing else and it’s so grating and... I was gonna say disappointing but I had no faith in the Duffers regarding this. Just because a bit character becomes a meme doesn’t mean they need to become a main. *cough* Steve *cough cough* Sorry.

- Last but not least, the woobiefication of Billy. Uggggghhhh. Disgusting. And having Max cry over him WTF?!?!?!?!?! staaaaaaahp.

#stranger things #stranger things 3 #stranger things 3 thoughts #stranger things 3 spoilers

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judgeredward · 7 years

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We Are Really Stupid - Crashing Out

It was like any summer school day: boring, never-ending, and stupidly warm. For Nathan ‘Nate’ Waters, it just seemed to drag on and on.

He, like every boy in the school, was dressed in the summer uniform. It was a white short-sleeve shirt with a solid red line going down the side of the arms, along with a red, black and white tie. He wore a pair of black school trousers, and black shoes, which felt like they were on fire. A silver metallic watch was on his left wrist, and a pair of small headphones was around his neck. He had brown-black hair of a decent length, with a few bangs in the fringe to show off his rocky attitude.

He was, at that moment, on the verge of falling asleep, until a balled-up piece of paper hit him on the back of the head, before bouncing down onto his desk. He sighed, before opening the ball. It was his friend’s writing, Ben ‘BD’ Daines.

‘Dude, we gotta get him outta here’

Nate turned to BD, who was a few rows behind him. “How the hell are you gonna do that?” he mouthed to him.

BD was a guy that could be depended on no matter what it was. If you needed a friend, this was the boy to go to. He was a tall, thin guy, with short blond hair, and had a black stud in his right ear in the shape of a card. It had the print of the ace of hearts.

BD shrugged. “I dunno. Where the hell is Rat when ya need him?”

Ryan ‘Rat’ Thomas was one of their other friends. He was a really dim-witted but big-hearted guy. You tell him to jump off a cliff; he’d sprint at the bloody edge. However, for some odd reason, he wasn’t in class.

A vibration in both of their pockets made their brows turn downwards. It was someone texting them. They both sighed, before quickly slipping their phones out. They both had the same text: ‘Shut. Up.’

“Wait, that’s it?”

They both turned to the sender, a girl by the name of Emily ‘Raven’ Rivers. She too was a close friend of Nate, BD and Rat.

Raven had long, black hair, down to her mid back. She was dressed in similar clothes to the boys, except she wore a skirt instead of trousers, had flat black shoes, and her shirt was more form-fitting to her figure, of which BD had confided in Nate that he had fantasised over more than once, even though they were close friends. What he basically meant, Nate had figured, was that he’d knocked one off on her, which was essentially… bloody disgusting.

BD glared at her. “We’re trying to get out of class, numb-skull.”

“Oops.”

Nate sent her a text, asking if she’d got any ideas. She shook her head when she read it. She thought for a few moments, before she sent both boys a text: ‘8]’

“What?” BD looked up in confusion towards Raven, unsure of what it meant.

Another text came through then. ‘His glasses. You know how easily he gets confused about them.’

‘…Alright. I’ll give it a shot.’ Nate stuck his hand up, before speaking out loud. “Sir, you sure you can read properly? Where are your glasses?”

Mr. Williams looked up from his papers, before looking back at them. He then frowned. “Eh? Where’s my specta-thingamajigy?”

Your specta-what now? Nate thought, totally perplexed by his response. He voiced the same thought out then, just as people in the class were looking up at the conversation.

“My spectacles! My reading implements!”

The glasses?

Mr. Williams looked confused. “Class is dismissed!”

There was the universal look of confusion, before the sound of scraping chairs and chatter broke out. Nate, BD, and Raven looked at each other, bewildered but really happy. How in the hell did that work?!

Mr. Williams left the room first, with a confused look on his face. He seemed to be muttering about where he’d left his glasses, by the sound of it.

The trio left the class soon after, greeted the moment they stepped outside by a blast of fresh, cold air. They all sighed in bliss, bathed in the refreshing wind.

A girl’s voice called Raven by her nickname, which meant it was her best friend, Amelia ‘Amy’ Valentine. She had reddish-brown hair, with similar length to Raven’s. She was certainly the brains of the group, almost always acing tests and getting really high grades. Nate recalled one time that she had cried for a whole day because she got a B. That took a lot of hugging to sort out.

“Hey Amy,” Raven said with a grin. “You seen Rat anywhere?”

Amy shrugged. “Last I saw him was in the common room with Swifty.”

Swifty was the nickname of the final part of their gang, Jonathan McCoy. He was named Swifty due to the fact that he was both the only one so far that can drive as well as speeding pretty much wherever he went in the car. And he tended to talk fast.

BD sighed. “Figures he’d mitch class. C’mon, we’d better get them both before heading off.” None of them had any more lessons for the rest of the day, and were going to Nate’s house, since Nate had a pretty big TV, all three major games consoles, and a lot of food. This was what they all did since coming back for their A-Levels on a Friday: head off early to Nate’s, eat whatever was in the kitchen, get drunk, and wake up the next morning with a sore head.

Nate’s parents worked as housing agents, so Nate pretty much had a lot of money on hold, which was how he was able to buy the food all the time.

The four began to walk to the sixth-form common room, but they met up with Rat and Swifty halfway there.

Rat was called that because… in fact, nobody really knew why, he was just called Rat one day, and it stuck. Some reckoned it was because he had two massive front teeth when he was younger, but there wasn’t any real proof, as his teeth right now were perfectly normal. Rat was wearing a hooded jacket over his shirt, coloured brown, and had light brown, short hair. His eyes matched his hair.

Swifty had the same eyes, but his hair was black, and went down past his shoulders. At heart, Swifty was a rocker, even more so than Nate, proven that he wore a spiked wristband, and a few straps on his other wrist that had band names on them. He’d certainly gone to more rock shows than Nate had.

The two gave the others a stupid grin. “Hey guys,” Rat said, in his usual, slightly dumb-sounding voice. “How was class?”

“You ditched us!” BD said with a gasp. “Thanks. We had to make up some crap about his glasses.”

Raven shook her head at Rat. “Don’t ask us how it worked, it just did.”

Amy loosened the knot on her tie a little. “C’mon, let’s go. I’m gonna drown in my own sweat if we don’t get to Nate’s now!”

“Gross,” said Swifty with a grimace. “We walking to your place, or driving?” he asked Nate.

“Dude, you left your car at my place.”

“Oh yeah…”

The group signed out of the school, before quickly making their way to Nate’s, which was only a five minute walk from the school. His house was pretty big on the outside, with a varnished wood balcony and an underground garage large enough for two cars. There was a small garden in the back, but it was rarely used by Nate.

Raven sighed. “Why do you get all the good stuff?”

Raven’s family wasn’t exactly the richest of people. In fact, they’ve never been on holiday, only scraping by with the bare minimum. She remembered, with a slight shame, that she had more Christmas presents one year from the gang than she had off her family. Only Amy ever knew that fact.

“Hey, it’s everybody’s stuff once you’re inside, remember,” Nate said as he unlocked the door. “Just don’t… blow stuff up.”

Rat and Swifty both thought of the same memory, where they’d sort of blew a hole in the wall with mixing a BB gun with a mini-explosive round they had found in the basement. Nate’s grandfather kept a lot of explosive things from his time in the Cold war under his son’s house. Not that Nate’s grandfather was American, but he had served in the army at one time, and had participated with some actions in the war.

“No, we won’t,” Rat said with his usual stupid grin.

Amy sighed. “Please, we don’t want to clean up your stuff again with a sore head like last time.” They had to repair the wall the next day (which was the week previous) with a hangover, which wasn’t the best of ideas. Mind you, it’s not often that they do come up with great ideas anyway.

“OK!” Rat said with the same grin. Both he and Swifty went into the house, and ran off into the basement.

“Oh God, give me strength,” Nate said with a sigh.

“Don’t worry about it dude.” BD slapped Nate on the back. “Let’s get that PS3 on. I’ve been practicing.”

“If your driving’s even twice as better as last time, you still won’t beat me.”

BD grinned mischievously. “You’re on!”

Raven and Amy rolled their eyes. “Ugh. Boys,” they said, but still followed the two into the main living room.

There was a gigantic television screen that took up one whole side of the wall, whilst the leading consoles of the time were all set up and plugged into the sockets under the screen. There was also a Sky+ box that had the film and sport packages. Why? Because they all either watched a film together before crashing or they watched the rugby/football whenever it was on. In the four corners of the room there were speakers, as well as a speaker built into the ceiling, and also a subwoofer integrated to provide the bass. It was, in a nutshell, pretty damn loud. The sofas surrounded the TV, whilst there were a few gaming chairs in front of it, in which Nate and BD immediately sat in.

“Dude, you sure you been practicing?” Nate asked a few minutes later, who was at least half a lap in front of BD.

“Hey, at least I’m not a lap behind like last time,” BD answered.

Amy scoffed. “You’re still losing though.”

“Shut uuuuup!” BD said with an annoyed voice. He then cringed when his car smashed into the side of the wall. “Oh great, thanks Amy. Now I’ve lost for sure!”

Meanwhile, underneath them…

“Crayons!”

“Vaseline!”

“Water!”

“Dust!”

“Aaaaaand, mix!”

Rat and Swifty were throwing all sorts of stuff into a giant pot, which was never a good idea. Especially since that dust was explosive powder. And the less said about the water, the better.

“We’re outta stuff to mix,” Rat said with a sad frown when he saw that they had nothing left.

Swifty grinned. “There’s a lot of stuff in Nate’s garage.”

Both of their eyes widened, before running out of the door that led to the garage. “Let’s go get them!”

Swifty skidded to a halt. “Wait, wait.”

“What?” Rat asked, looking eager to get more stuff.

“I’m thirsty. You want a drink?”

Rat nodded. “Sure. I’ll go get the stuff.”

“Coke?”

“Yep.”

Swifty went upstairs to get drinks, passing the gang who were sucked in by the big TV. He asked them if they wanted anything, but they responded with a vague “No.” Swifty shook his head, not totally understanding how games could be so interesting. It wasn’t the fact that he wasn’t a fan of gaming; he just didn’t get sucked in, as such.

BANG!

The floor shook. Swifty’s eyes widened, knowing that was certainly not a good thing. Oh God Rat, what the hell have you done? Swifty got up, leaving the drinks where they were in the fridge. “I’ll go take a look,” he said to the gang, who nodded at him when they looked over to him.

Swifty quickly went downstairs, worried that there was another hole in the wall waiting to be fixed. Thankfully, when he reached the basement, it wasn’t the case. It was a lot more… comical.

“Dude! What the hell happened?!” Swifty asked Rat, laughing.

Rat, from the front, was covered from head to foot in black soot. By the shattered pot on the floor, and the lingering smell of smoke, Swifty guessed that the pot had exploded when Rat had put something in, causing it to shatter, and basically set fire to Rat.

“I blew the pot up,” Rat said with a grin. “It hurt.”

“Well, no!” Swifty said with a sarcastic gasp. “Dude, we gotta clean this up before Nate sees it and kills us.”

“He’ll probably kill us.”

“He will kill us.”

For the next ten minutes at least, the pair cleaned up the pieces of pot, and threw them into the bin outside via the garage. After that, Rat went off to wash his face off and get some of the soot off. How he was able to get all of it off though, was something that Swifty thought about. It was all over his clothes and everything. “Good luck on that,” he’d said to Rat as he left. Rat grinned like usual. Swifty sighed, before heading back upstairs. He’d never got that coke afterwards.

BD was waiting by the top of the stairs with a curious smirk. “What was that all about?”

“Nothing major,” Swifty answered. “Rat just dropped something down the stairs.”

“What the hell was it?”

“I dunno, but whatever it was, it got him covered in this black stuff.”

BD shook his head. “Heh, that idiot. Where is he now?”

“Trying to wash it off.” Swifty and BD went into the kitchen. “You want a drink?”

“Nah, already got one,” BD answered, picking up a Carling can.

“Dude, you’re already drinking? It’s only four o’clock.”

BD brushed it off with his hand. “Aaah, don’t worry about it. It’s not as if I got anything tomorrow morning. I got a driving lesson on Monday after school, so I’d have recovered by then anyway.”

“Fair enough.”

The two watched the girls play on the Wii, who were playing Wii Fit. Of course they are, Swifty thought happily. It was always… a pleasure to watch the girls play on the Wii.

BD and Swifty have a common thing between them: they both fancied the pants off the girls. Never in a million years go out with them, but to watch them as friends… that was the benefit of it all, really; watching girls without being classed as perverts.

The two got out their usual piece of paper, hidden between the gaps of two cupboards, and wrote down a few things about the girls: how far they were leaning, what moans they were making, if there was any cleavage visible through their school shirts, etc., etc. Basically, they were being proper teenage boys.

Nate looked over to them both, and shook his head whilst smiling. You utter pervs! He looked over to the stairs when he heard someone coming up them. It was Rat, whose jacket and trousers still had some residue of the black soot on them.

“What happened to you?” Nate asked him, who looked both confused and worried at the question. Thankfully, Swifty came to his rescue.

“Oh, Rat dropped something down the stairs. Don’t ask me what, I have no idea. But whatever it was, it made him covered in black soo– stuff.” He’d almost said soot.

Nate shrugged, before he wrinkled his nose at something. “Jeez, what the hell was that stuff? Smells like something was burning.”

Both Swifty and Rat froze. They’d completely forgotten about the smell. Swifty racked his brains, trying to think of something. Crap, crap, crap! Now what?!

“Who knows what that stuff was,” BD said. “You know what sorta crap is down there. Knowing Rat’s luck, he dropped a box of that gunpowder you were telling me about the other day.”

Rat seized on the chance. “Yeah, it did have something like a gun on it. I was taking it downstairs, ’cause I saw it somewhere around the top of the stairs.”

Nate sighed. “Ugh, Gramps is a freakin’ idiot sometimes. Don’t worry; I’ll talk to him about it later.”

Swifty and Rat let out a breath of relief. For the first time in their lives, they’d talked themselves out of a situation.

The four went into the living room, watching the girls finish off their exercising. They both panted, sweat beads rolling down their foreheads.

“Phew!” Raven said with a relieved sigh. “Finally done.”

“And not a moment too soon,” Amy said.

All four boys thought the same thing: No you haven’t.

Amy turned to them, and shook her head at them gawping at her and Raven. “Haven’t you anything better to do than watch girls?”

BD and Swifty shook their heads. “Nope.”

She glared at the pair. “This is why you two don’t have girlfriends!”

The two looked as if her words had pierced their hearts. It was a known fact among the group that it was only BD and Swifty that hadn’t been involved in love yet. Rat had gone out with a girl a couple of years back, but things didn’t work out after three months. Raven had a year-long relationship with a gothic guy before he turned emo and started to creep her out. Amy had a couple of boyfriends who all turned against her. Nate had had a seven-month relationship with a girl who had moved away. Nate and that girl still kept in touch, and while they tried to do a long-distance thing, they figured it was best to break up for the time being.

Amy looked awkward after saying that, and went to quickly apologise to the two with a hug. “I didn’t mean to say it like that, you know that!” Both BD and Swifty looked at each other with a wink over her shoulders.

The rest of that night was light-hearted, like it always was. They ended up watching a film, and getting drunk. They were all giggling when Nate’s parents walked in, looking absolutely wrecked from the day’s work. His parents bid the gang a quick good night, before hurrying upstairs to their room, not exactly wanting to be in the same room as six drunken teens.

Nate really couldn’t remember much after the end of the film, but when he woke up the next morning with his legs dangling over the back of the sofa, beer bottles around it, and with both Amy’s and Rat’s heads sleeping on his stomach, he realised that it had been one heck of a great night.

#judger's writing #long post #my stuff #amateur writing #realism #teenager #teens #friendship group

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