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 Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 12:43 pm
Takes place mid-October 2024 Riker was trying not to stress, but he was already dreading later that afternoon when their school had a track meet with Meadowview. Which meant there was nothing to do until then except maybe his homework.
Not because of the meet itself, but because he knew his mother would be there. She often was. It was the perfect opportunity for her to celebrate. He tried not letting her know when games and meets were, but she looked it up on the school website.
And, of course, he didn’t have any extra food with him. He’d been so quick to try and get out of the house that morning, that he didn’t grab any of the limited food options he was allowed. Thank goodness Julian sacrificed half a sandwich for him when he found out he hadn’t brought anything. Riker knew he would have given him more, but Riker insisted that he wasn’t that hungry.
He was too flustered thinking about that afternoon to whine about his problems and stress Julian out as well. He knew Julian would have probably gone to Elliot or even the teacher-parents they knew, but Riker didn’t want that attention.
Which was why he was now scowling at the vending machine in the cafeteria. Most of the other students were already making their way to the buses, but he was going to be there until after the meet. And now he had to figure out what he could scrounge up enough change for.
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 12:45 pm
Riker hadn’t invited Cassidy to his track meet. Not that he had to, but what else was Cassidy supposed to do? Oh, sure, he’d made sad eyes until Atticus told him he should come, since Elliot was going to be there, but it wasn’t the same.
Maybe Riker pitied him, maybe he could tell that Cassidy had been disappointed that he wasn’t allowed to try out. Yet. This wasn’t forever, it was just for now. Maybe he thought Cassidy would start angsting if he was reminded that he couldn’t do any sports right now.
But what, was Cassidy supposed to just go home and vague post online? Doom scroll in an empty house? No! He wanted to be out, he wanted to have fun, he wanted to cheer for his friends!
Cassidy was surprised Julian wasn’t around, half the time he and Riker seemed to leave school together. He was nowhere in sight now but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still around somewhere. Nothing against Julian! He was nice, they had a few classes together. It was hard to dislike him, even if he was a little jealous of how different Riker was around him. Ah, oh well. At least Riker was happy.
…Not right now, though. Now, he looked like the vending machine had personally insulted him.
“Wow, what’s that face for?” he asked, a little skip in his step as he approached Riker from behind. “Are they out of your favorite snack or something?”
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 12:47 pm
Riker nearly jumped out of his skin. He spun around, smacking his shoulder against the vending machine and knocking all the loose change from his hand. <********>. Cassidy! No! I just--”
He was reminded how many candies had coconut in them. He knew what he could have, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t frustrated that he had some stupid allergy to something people decided to put in literally everything these days.
“Forget it. What are you doing here?” he scowled at the floor, knowing he should get on his hands and knees and find all the change, but he didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of Cassidy. Well, more than he already had.
And he was trying not to think about the scar under Cassidy’s shirt. Or that he’d seen him without a shirt at all.
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 12:49 pm
Cassidy clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and looked at the ground and all the spilled change. “Loitering, mostly. I didn’t feel like going home yet.”
It wasn’t like he had a bus to catch, his bike was locked up and waiting for him whenever he felt like getting out of here.
He shrugged off his backpack and lowered it to the floor before he dropped to his knees and started picking up Riker’s dropped change. Since he was being Mr. Cool Tough Guy, who definitely didn’t just spook himself into running into the vending machine just because Cassidy said hi.
“What about you? I mean, I know you’ve got the track meet later, but I’m not used to seeing you so jumpy. Are you diabetic or something and need a snack? I can’t imagine you’re nervous about track. It’s just running, you don’t even have to worry about a ball smacking you in the head. So it should be easy, right? I’m sure you’ve got it.”
Maybe Elliot could give him a pep talk, it wasn’t really Cassidy’s thing.
He had a handful of coins and was collecting them quickly. “Anyway, like I said, what’s up? Are you hungry?”
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 12:49 pm
Riker sputtered as Cassidy got down on his hands and knees to start picking up his change. It only took a few moments for him to join Cassidy on the floor, grabbing a few more coins and somehow managing to roll a few even farther away from him in his haste.
“No,” he quickly responded, unable to drown out the inopportune moment in which his stomach decided to announce its displeasure. His ears were already burning, but this just made it worse.
“Thanks, but you don’t need to help me. I’ve got it,” Riker insisted, quickly shoving what he had collected into his pocket and holding out a shaky hand to get what was left from Cassidy.
Wow, he really did seem jumpy and nervous.
“It’s nothing,” he said before Cassidy could respond. “Just tired.” It was a good enough excuse for his teachers, anyway. Random bruises from running into things because he was tired and not paying attention. Sometimes he didn’t even need to break out the ‘it was a TikTok challenge’ excuse.
“I can run just fine. You shouldn’t be on your knees like that or putting pressure on your arm, anyway.” He was exasperated already and quickly hopped back up to his feet so he could hold a hand out to Cassidy to help him up.
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 12:54 pm
It was difficult not to laugh when Riker scattered more of his coins, only because he made such a big deal about everything. So stressed, he must have been nervous.
“Aw, are you worried about me? It’s okay, I’m not made of glass. Besides, I’m supposed to stay active. Just because I can’t do sports doesn’t mean I can’t do anything.” He took Riker’s hand and pulled himself up more fluidly than he had any right to, and the smug look on his face made it pretty evident that he thought he looked good doing it.
Azure didn’t let him wear his desired fashion so he felt a little stuffy in their uniform but he did what he could. He held Riker’s hand for just long enough to turn it over, palm side up, and then he slid the coins he’d gathered into his hand.
“If you want something to eat, you don’t need vending machine food. I’ve been cooking a lot lately, let me feed you. I made too much today. And I didn’t see you during lunch so I couldn’t offload any on you. You like margherita pizza? It’s cold but I bet I could bother Elliot or Atticus to let me sneak into the teacher’s lounge and microwave it for you. I’ll be honest, it’s got too little sauce–I didn’t make enough–and too much cheese. I mean, it’s too much for the recipe, but I like it.”
He was already reaching for his bag. His lunchbox was half squished under where he’d dropped it but he didn’t seem worried that anything inside would be damaged.
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 1:12 pm
“No one said you were made of glass,” Riker snapped with exasperation, but immediately felt bad about it. He blamed it on being flustered by how Cassidy was holding onto his hand for-- oh, he was just giving him the coins back.
Awkwardly, Riker made sure to shove them into his pocket, and then anxiously rubbed his palms on his pants. Especially with that stupid smug look Cassidy was giving him. He made a face back, although it was probably more like a confused grimace than any kind of sneering.
“Isn’t that alcoholic?” he made another face, not sure how Cassidy was getting away with making alcoholic pizzas, much less bringing them to school. Although he did like cheese. Maybe Evan was rubbing off on him.
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 1:17 pm
“No, but it’s too bad you missed my speech at lunch, I gave a whole spiel about it. But I’ll cut it short for you since you’ve got things to do. Besides, I don’t know if you’ll be able to hear me over your stomach.”
He gestured for Riker to follow him to the nearest table and continued to speak as he guided him there. “None of the ingredients are different from anything I’ve fed you before. Canned tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper. I made the dough myself,” he said proudly. “But that’s just yeast and flour and sugar. Oh, and there’s basil, mozzarella, and parmigiano-reggiano. I know you’re cheese-bougie so it’s all the good stuff.” He wasn’t just listing the ingredients to show off, he knew Riker was picky about his food so he watched his face as he listed ingredients to see if he could figure out what he didn’t like.
“This pizza’s a light meal so it won’t make you feel gross after eating. I can’t make you sick right before your meet with Meadowview. You’ve gotta scare them now so they’re off their game when baseball comes around, right?”
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 1:20 pm
Riker was absolutely paying attention to the ingredients, how brows furrowed a little as he listened for certain words that didn’t come.
“Just olive oil?” he clarified as he followed Cassidy to the table, but then shuffled his feet awkwardly and shrugged.
“Oh, so… not actual margarita-- like the drink. I guess that makes more sense,” he mumbled, grateful that Cassidy didn’t make fun of him for not knowing the difference between the two. Obviously one was a pizza, but people did weird things with food.
He was still feeling anxious, but it surprisingly wasn’t because of Cassidy. If anything, he helped calm things down for him. Although Riker didn’t really know how to explain that or tell him that.
“Sorry I missed lunch. I wanted to get some work done before later.” And he was busy trying not to be sick thinking about having to deal with his mother on top of knowing how Énna wasn’t talking to him.
“Um… thanks. For the food,” he once again shifted awkwardly.
He liked Cassidy. In that, well… Cassidy knew him as Reims. But as Riker he hadn’t exactly been very nice to him. He didn’t want to ruin things like he ruined them with Yvoire.
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 1:23 pm
Cassidy took a seat at the table and smiled, sort of to himself and sort of to Riker, as he placed his lunchbox on the table and began to go through it.
He pulled out a glass storage box, and inside were several neatly stacked mini pizzas. Peeling off the plastic latches, as soon as the lid was off he pushed it over to Riker. “Only olive oil, and not even a lot. Maybe three tablespoons for everything I made and this isn’t a third of it. Have as much as you want. Here, have some water, too.”
He pulled out an unopened bottle, still cool thanks to the ice pack inside, and passed that over too. He had a half finished one for himself and took a long swig of that before resting his elbows on the table and leaning forward a bit.
“What work did you have to finish during lunch?” And hadn’t he been with Julian? He’d seen them together only briefly, and then hadn’t found either of them afterwards. They’d better not have snuck off to go smooch or something.
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 1:25 pm
Riker eyed Cassidy skeptically, like he was waiting for there to be some kind of catch, or ‘gotcha’ moment. It didn’t come. He was just offering him the cold mini pizzas and water.
With some hesitance, Riker sat down across from him and picked up one of the pizzas to peel off some of the cheese that had melted over the side when it had been hot, muttering a quiet thanks to Cassidy as he did so.
“Just some homework I wanted to get done,” he mumbled quietly, not sure he wanted to get into too much of the details. He didn’t know what was going to happen after the meet. He didn’t know what his mother was going to do. He didn’t want to have to worry about homework and whatever other chaos going on at the same time.
And while Cassidy hadn’t said he was going to the track meet, a sudden wave of anxiety hit Riker.
“You’re… going home after this, yeah?” he frowned worriedly, trying his best to nibble on some of the crust to give himself something to do. He did not want more people to see his mom.
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 1:26 pm
Cassidy tapped his foot lightly in the air as he sat, cross legged and relaxing with Riker. Who, as expected, was on edge. Like always.
And yet, there was something just a bit different from him right now. It wasn’t his usual high-strung antagonism. He seemed worried.
“No, I was thinking about sticking around for a bit. I don’t want to go home to an empty house and everyone I want to hang out with is going to the track meet.”
But that couldn’t possibly be what had him on edge, right? Riker wasn’t going to invite him obviously, he was always trying to get away from him. But he’s the one who wanted to run! Why not at least let Cassidy get a good show out of it?
“Is that so weird? Atticus and I were going to sit together. Isn’t Julian coming too? Just because I can’t compete doesn’t mean I can’t support you. That’s not weird.”
He didn’t know why he felt the need to insist it but he didn’t want Riker overthinking. How many years had they been on the same baseball field? So he was going to be in the stands this time, what was so bad about–
“Ohhh, your mom’s coming, isn’t she.”
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 1:26 pm
He didn’t respond right away, which was probably an answer in itself. Instead, Riker scowled at the pizza in his hands, anxiously picking off little pieces. Not because he didn’t want to eat it, but because it was there and he needed something to do with his hands.
“Maybe I should just quit track… and baseball,” he sighed, finally breaking the pizza crust, only to tear it into smaller pieces, leaving crumbs all over the table. “What’s the point if my mom is just going to ruin it for everyone?”
He wished she wouldn’t go to his games or meets. He knew she did it on purpose. Maybe to embarrass him. Maybe to prove that he couldn’t get rid of her. Why would she even want that when she didn’t want him in the first place? Was it a possession thing? Not wanting someone around but also not wanting them to be happy if they left?
If Cassidy wanted to hang out with Atticus, and even Julian, of course Riker would encourage that. But he didn’t want to have to deal with whatever his mom was going to do. As always.
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 1:27 pm
“What? Don’t do that,” Cassidy said quickly, insistently. His brows furrowed just slightly and his expression turned just a little more serious. His content, lazy smile was almost always in place but now he seemed like he was focused on Riker and had pushed all that aside.
“You’re too good to quit, Riker. So what if your mom’s there, just ignore her. Everyone else does. If she gets too annoying then they’ll just kick her out.” Wouldn’t be the first time.
He was watching Riker fuss with the food but he seemed to picking at it a little too much. He was going to starve at this rate. “You can play with your food,” he pointed to it, “But eat it, too.”
Was that all? Just his mother?
Well, Cassidy was used to just tuning her out, but if it had been his mom, yeah. He’d have been so embarrassed that he might have just quit.
“Want me to sit next to her? I bet I can outshout her. No one’ll hear anything she says over me.”
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Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 1:28 pm
“Please don’t,” he cringed, definitely not wanting any of his friends sitting near his mother. He could only imagine the names she might call Cassidy. Not that Cassidy couldn’t handle himself, but he didn’t want that for him.
He sighed heavily and lifted the pizza to take a bite. It was delicious, unsurprisingly. He didn’t know how much he could make himself eat, but it wasn’t because it didn’t taste good.
“Okay, yeah, I do like the fancy cheese. It’s really good, Cass,” he sighed again after swallowing and turned the pizza to find another bite of cheese.
It was weird seeing Cassidy so serious, though. Maybe not weird but… it was strangely motivating. Like not everything was a joke to him. Riker knew it wasn’t.
“I don’t know if I’m that good. Elliot can still outrun me easily.”
He was still anxious. And maybe not just because of her being there, but what it meant for after. But he didn’t want Cassidy, or anyone else to worry about it, so he eventually nodded.
“Yeah… okay, I’ll just do that,” he agreed for the sake of ease. He couldn’t ignore her, but maybe it was just easier for other people and he was just… broken or something since he couldn’t do it.
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