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 Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 7:24 pm
Normally, Riker would have texted ahead of time. It was rude to just show up unannounced, but when he was riding by on his bike, clearly debating on whether or not he should stop, Mr. Reid caught sight of him as he worked in the yard and waved him down.
He’d been planning on stopping by, but he hadn’t formulated how he wanted to ask Elliot and Atticus yet. Or what he should tell them. Would that be weird if he brought up Cassidy right away? Should he just laugh it off and suggest the healing stuff in passing? Maybe make it seem like it was their idea to meet with Cassidy, and pretend like it had nothing to do with him?
Wait. But he’d already promised Cassidy as Reims that he’d talk to his friends. Okay, that was fine. He would figure something out. And if they refused well… He didn’t think that seemed likely, but he would rather be prepared to be disappointed and then pleasantly surprised than expect too much only to be disappointed.
“Elliot?” Riker called in the house after knocking on the back door. This wasn’t the first time he’d been over there, but the first time he’d gone up to the door alone. “Your dad said you’d be over here. You’re not being gross, I hope,” he suddenly added as the thought sprung to his mind, and he made a face as he shut the door behind him.
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 7:30 pm
Elliot paused, surprised but not unpleasantly so, to hear Riker’s voice. It was clearer than Cassidy’s sputtering in the living room.
“We were!” he called back, clearly amused. He cast Atticus a questioning look but went over to meet Riker at the door. He’d only just started to gather up the plates of snacks and offered the cheese plate to their new guest. “Hungry? We’ve got a whole thing going on.”
He glanced towards the kitchen; they still had the wrappers and boxes so if they needed to check ingredients they still could. “You good?” he asked, a little quieter than usual, just in case.
“Riker!” Cassidy called from the living room, already twisting so he could turn to face him. He sat on his knees and propped himself on his elbows so he could face him from the couch. He had to swat Lucien’s tail out of his face. “Did you know I was coming over today or did the strings of fate just bring us together again?” he laughed.
Elliot’s expression turned apologetic and he turned so his back was to Cassidy so he could talk to Riker just a little privacy. “Ah, yeah, Cassidy popped over. We wanted to see him before school started. But if you need something, we can pop over to my place for a minute and talk? But you’re welcome here, please. Atticus made a ton of snacks.”
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 7:31 pm
Riker immediately froze when he heard the sputtering. He’d taken a step forward to cautiously meet Elliot as he peeked further into the house, but the surprise of Cassidy being there had him tripping over his feet as though his body wanted him to escape.
He rammed his shoulder into the side of the wall in some dumb comedic skit of sorts, his ears and face already burning as he tried to regain his balance and not break anything expensive.
Or send himself to the hospital.
“Why the ******** are you here??” he gasped, his heart already racing because this was not supposed to be how things happened. “********!”
He felt frozen in place, because he wanted to help Cassidy, but he didn’t want him to make things weird by being there when he asked for his friends’ help!
Even with Elliot trying to offer them some privacy to talk, all Riker could do was stare dumbfounded and flustered by all his stupid, teasing comments! He couldn’t even concentrate on what Elliot was saying!
Lucien perched on the couch in front of Cassidy, a warning growl from the back of his throat at Riker’s loud swears. He knew Riker, of course. But he also knew Atticus, who got easily emotional when things shifted from the norm.
Loud noises were also not welcome in the house, except for emergencies.
He clearly didn’t care if Cassidy swatted his tail out of his face, because he swished it into his face once more.
Atticus peeked around the corner as well and offered Riker a small smile. Not unwelcoming! Just a little startled by his reaction. He felt bad for both Riker and Cassidy. And a lot of other people, but at least in this situation it was clear that Riker was caught off guard and seemed like he wanted nothing to do with Cassidy, while Cassidy kept talking about wanting to impress Riker.
Or something like that. It was still a little difficult to understand, but they were both his friends.
“We invited Cassidy over,” Atticus confirmed. “We haven’t seen him in so long, we wanted to make sure he was okay and if there was anything he needed before school.”
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 7:32 pm
Cassidy puffed out a large breath but when it wasn’t enough to blow away Lucien’s tail, he just pushed it down and out of the way. “Oh, Mr. Sassy.” It wasn’t clear if he was talking to Riker, with all his swearing, or Lucien with his little growl.
He was entirely unfazed by the yelling, or the swearing, and propped his chin in the palm of his hand as he leaned over the back of the couch. He even seemed like he was enjoying himself. “Surprise! Didn’t I tell you I was going to visit Atticus? We don’t have a lot of time before school starts up. And I don’t want to be out too late, it’s dangerous in the city! I have to be home before it gets dark.”
Elliot glanced back at Atticus, trying to get a quick read on if he needed to intervene more directly.
“Riker, are you scared of ghosts? You seem like you get spooked every time you see me. I’m trying to get more sun, you just have to give me a little time. Do you live around here?”
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 7:32 pm
Oh, Cassidy did tell him he was going to visit Atticus, but he hadn’t said when.
“I’m not scared of ghosts!” he barked, although it sounded like his voice cracked on at least one word. He stared wildly from Cassidy as he peered around the corner to Elliot who was looking like he was going to go into defensive mode for Atticus. <********>” Riker breathed out a defeated sigh and rubbed at his shoulder. Meeting Cassidy at the mall, he hadn’t been able to run away because he was waiting for Julian. It hadn’t even been bad to hang out with Cassidy.
But now? Now he was trying to ask for help for Cassidy, and he couldn’t even do that because Cassidy was there.
“Sorry… I shouldn’t have-- I should have texted. Sorry,” he muttered, still flustered and frustrated as he took a step back and turned to leave out of the back door.
Lucien, whether he was trying to make sure he scared Riker off or for another reason, jumped down from the back of the couch to follow suit out of the backdoor before it could close on him.
Atticus just stared in disbelief at everything that just happened. He wasn’t even upset that Riker was there! He thought it was cute how excited Cassidy was, but--
It was like whiplash. Riker there one moment and then running out the next. Why had he stopped by in the first place? He didn’t usually come by on his own accord. There was always an excuse he had. Most recently he swore it was because they had too many grilled cheese from the truck, but Atticus suspected that Riker had just been really proud of the sandwiches he’d made, and he couldn’t exactly share them with Julian.
“Elliot--” he said quietly, nodding to him to let him know it was okay if he wanted to go check on Riker. But if he would rather stay with Cassidy, then Atticus could go instead. Or they could leave Riker to his own devices and hope everything was okay.
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 7:46 pm
Elliot raised a hand to wave goodbye to Atticus, but he was out the door and on it quickly.
Cassidy was equally concerned about Riker’s strange behavior, but he was far less nimble than Elliot, and now he had no Riker and no Lucien. For a moment, he stared towards where they’d all disappeared off to, and his smile faded.
His lips settled into something between a frown and a pout, but Atticus was still here so he couldn’t even sulk properly. He sighed loudly, dramatically.
He flopped backwards on the couch and then rolled so he was face planted in it.
“Oh, too bad. Oh, wait–did your cat get outside? Do we need to go after him or does he know his way home?”
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 7:55 pm
“He’ll be okay,” Atticus quickly reassured Cassidy of Lucien, and then made his way over to the couch after glancing around the corner once more to try and catch sight of the boys outside. He couldn’t see what was going on, but he knew Elliot could handle it.
Carefully, Atticus set the plate down on the coffee table, and then took a seat at the end of the couch where Cassidy’s head was so he could gently brush his fingers along his head. He didn’t want to ruin his ponytail, but he did want to make sure he was okay.
“He’s been acting strange lately. Riker, I mean. I think he’s coming to terms with a lot of things that didn’t occur to him before. Like… that it’s okay to have friends. And that we know he’s nothing like his mother,” he said quietly, although a shiver went down his back at the thought of that woman making loud, obnoxious comments at the team’s baseball games.
“Are you okay? I’m sorry he reacted that way. That wasn’t fair.”
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 7:58 pm
Though Cassidy kept his head down for a few seconds, he quickly popped up like everything was fine. “Oh, I’m good. You don’t have to be sorry. He’s always playing hard to get. Maybe he really is scared of ghosts. I don’t look that bad, do I?”
Propping himself up on his elbows, he still sank into the couch a little. He was close enough that Atticus could still pet his hair, because Cassidy did like the attention, but he patted at his cheeks to summon a bit of color to them.
“We’ve been on the same team for years, you’d think he’d seen me way worse. That time I ate dirt and cut my forehead on a rock? You were there for that. You’d think he’d be used to seeing me, though. How did we ever make a good team before if he’s so spooked by me now. Ugh.”
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 8:00 pm
“That was horrible,” Atticus winced and shivered, clearly not too excited about remembering all the times his friends got hurt, and petted Cassidy’s hair a little quicker in response, as if that would help those memories disappear.
“I don’t think you look bad at all. You’re very pretty, Cassidy. Maybe he’s just starting to realize that, too.”
There was a lot that they didn’t understand about Riker, but Atticus had noticed that the homophobic comments had basically stopped overnight. Not that he heard Riker say things like that often, but he did remember how he’d commented on him and Julian before. He wouldn’t be surprised if Riker had done the same with others.
“Oh…” Atticus paused and smiled sheepishly. “I don’t mean to assume anything about him. He always makes faces when Elliot and I are affectionate, but he doesn’t seem to have a problem with being near our other friends. Um, like Julian.” He couldn’t say Yvoire, and he couldn’t say Énna, so Julian would have to do.
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 8:05 pm
Cassidy sighed as he leaned into the pets again. He could tell Atticus was trying very hard to make him feel better.
“You’re so sweet, Atticus. I didn’t even get dressed up today since I’m not trying to win you or Elliot over. Maybe Lucien but he likes me no matter how I look, huh?”
He missed his warm, reassuring little paws, and his fluffy tail. Even if it kept smacking him in the face.
“He’s always been goofy about PDA, he’ll make faces at anyone about it. He was really cool with Julian, though. Gentle. Kind of like how you’d be around a cute little bunny or something, so you didn’t spook it. Julian was nice, I could tell he was kind of shy but trying really hard to be friendly. Kudos to him, it’s hard to be out of your comfort zone. I know I’m a lot sometimes. But I wasn’t even teasing Riker so bad.” He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and pressed his lips together into a pout. “I thought we had a good day, too.”
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Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2024 12:10 pm
“A good day out shopping?” Atticus wondered and wanted to clarify. He had just been talking about Julian, and he’d been told they all met up while shopping, but there was something else about Cassidy’s tone that made it seem as though he was thinking about more than just school shopping.
He felt bad for being nosey, but there was something about Cassidy’s comments. Maybe Elliot was right and it was just Cassidy asking about things he’d seen online. But the way he’d commented how it was dangerous at night…
“Julian’s had a difficult time, but he’s in a better place now. He’s definitely doing his best, but I think he doesn’t think he’s worth the effort people want to give him. Maybe that’s why Riker is okay with him. I don’t think you’re a lot. You’re just passionate about a lot of things, and I think that’s really awesome. I wish I had your confidence, Cassidy.”
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Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2024 5:27 pm
Once more, Cassidy laughed softly. “You know, you can fake confidence, too. If you do it long enough, it’s just second nature. I guess a lot of people do it, everyone’s making a video about it. Or maybe not, I watched a ton of videos while I was out of commission. You know, you fall down one hole and you just sort of keep falling?” He shrugged.
“But you know? You’re perfect just how you are, Atticus. And you say such kind things. I’m so happy Elliot started dating you. Some of the guys on the team would get these really bratty, high maintenance girlfriends, so you are such a breath of fresh air.” Also, maybe, he had a tendency to get a little catty around them. But not Atticus, he was too sweet. “What you said about Julian is nice. And Riker. I like the idea that he’s being extra nice to help someone out. I think he’s got a lot of good in him. You know, under all the expletives and all,” he laughed.
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Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2024 5:28 pm
Atticus tilted his head curiously at Cassidy, but he continued to pet his hair. He could fake confidence? Was that what Cassidy did? So much that it was just second nature?
He frowned sadly, wishing he was in a better position to give Cassidy a hug, but he would do that in a little.
“You really like him, don’t you,” he quietly observed, wondering what Riker would say if he knew. He didn’t have time to hear if Cassidy would confirm or deny at that very moment, because he could hear Lucien scratching at the back door to be let in.
He gave Cassidy’s head another gentle pet and then got up to head over to the back door.
Once inside, Lucien curled around Atticus’s legs before trotting back over to the couch so he could jump up and plop himself down on Cassidy once more. More biscuits needed to be made.
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Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2024 5:29 pm
Cassidy laughed as soon as Lucien jumped on his back, and he folded his arms like a pillow and rested his head on them. “Your cat is so smart, Atticus. Oh, that feels nice, Lucien. I wish I had a treat for you.”
He felt the breath leave his lungs but that was okay because maybe he’d been holding it for too long. He playfully kicked his feet a little while he lay on the couch. His plate was within reach, so after a few seconds, he stretched out his arm–carefully, it was his bad arm–to grab one of the little cracker sandwiches.
He didn’t think he had to actually answer Atticus’ question–he did like Riker. He thought it was obvious, but maybe not. He’d have to try harder. School was coming up so they’d be able to see each other more often, but that wasn’t going to help anyone if RIker was trying to run away all the time.
Oh, well.
He could still look on the bright side.
“Atticus, these snacks are all so good. I hope you didn’t have to work too hard? It’s not because I’m a picky eater, right? Because these are all perfect.”
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Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2024 5:30 pm
“I wanted to make sure you had options,” Atticus shared with a smile as he made his way back over to the couch. He gave Lucien a scratch behind his ears, and then smoothed back Cassidy’s hair again.
He was trying not to look too much at Cassidy’s arm. He’d sobbed at his bedside when he saw him for the first time after the crash. Now, he couldn’t help but think how embarrassing it had been. But Cassidy had never made fun of him for it. He was always there to comfort him when he was feeling upset. A breath of fresh air, he’d said.
“Is there anything else I can get you? I’m sorry your cooking got delayed. I’m sure Elliot will be back soon,” he promised. “Oh, or if there’s anything we could prep ahead of time? But, um… I’m not trying to take over or anything. Only if you want the help.”
Lucien kneaded Cassidy’s back and shoulder, settling down so that his back paws weren’t so sharp against Cassidy’s back. He’d heard about the accident, of course. He’d known how upset Elliot and Atticus had been about their friend.
It was good to see him around, even if he wasn’t fully recovered yet.
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