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unkindnessofone · 6 years

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Daft Pretty Boys

dedicating this to the anon who gave me the idea about march trying to move on. please enjoy and let me know what you think because i love you all. also i wrote this entirely on my phone, hope it’s okay.

He was avoiding Raquel Coin which he figured was a good choice. She was the girl that created a wedge between himself and Daphne after all. Sometimes March found himself trying to show off how well he was avoiding the freckle faced girl, but Daphne never seem to notice. Miles and his boyfriend had been adament that if March wanted to have a chance with his former girlfriend that staying away from Raquel was mandatory. March wasn’t sure if pining after the dancer was hopeless or not, but his mum told him to keep out of trouble, so that’s what he was trying to do.

He had grown accustom to Daphne driving him to and from school, so much so that skateboarding to and from had started to feel like a chore. At the start of the school year, he would slide into the back seat of Taylor’s car despite his twin brother’s objections. However, these days, Taylor wasn’t offering them to Miles much and March didn’t want to pry and frustrate his brother. Rain was drenching the city though when he was let out of his final class and March wasn’t about to skate through it. He checked his phone, expecting a text from his mom offering him a ride, but was greeted by a gossipy message about his biology teacher from his friend and a video message from his sister that he couldn’t watch until he had WiFi anyway.

March figured anyone would do what he did when Afton Hammersley, a senior with pink hair and a trust fund the size of her breasts offered him a ride from inside the East doors.

Before Daphne took over his life with her chocolate eyes and secret smiles, March felt like he could have had any girl in their class and probably then some. He flirted as natural as he cracked his toes under the covers in the morning. He spent more time kissing his classmates in the parking lot than he ever did in class which nobody freaked out too much about since he never failed an assignment. Afton used to be one of his favorite people to flirt with. She seemed unattainable because she was older and when she laughed at his jokes, he could never tell if she was being genuine or not. She ignored him once he was committed to Daphne, once teasing him that he was off the market, and then not much taking interest in him after that.

March rested his beloved long board in her backseat with his backpack and hopped into the front, already wet as a golden retriever that just hopped out of a backyard bath. He laughed along with Afton as she turned on her car, let the screaming music fill it along with the chip bags and fast food reminents, and took off in the rain.

“Do you have something to get home to?” She asked in monotone, flicking her tongue’s tip against the back of her teeth.

“No.” Honesty, March replied. He was going to cruise around with Bryce and Cooper, but that was when the sun was out. He hadn’t texted them yet to see what was going on.

“Do you want to hang out a bit? I have to study, but I don’t want to.” Afton spoke through a song that they both loved. March had listened to it more times than he could count when he was laying in bed, hating the world and Daphne choosing not to be with him. It was an angry song and that was all he wanted from his music at the time.

“Yeah, whatever.” Chronically cool, March agreed with shrugged shoulders. “Sounds good.”

He didn’t think much when she pulled up to the mansion she called home. Everybody knew her mom was her dad’s first wife and had tried to bleed him out during their divorce that went on for over two years. March was mostly blown away with how close she lived to Iden’s mom’s place. He thought it was kind of funny, a few firsts wives on the same block. March figured he had jogged by Afton’s place a good dozen times and never realized it.

He was content to make himself at home on the velvet gold chaise lounge in her front room while she argued with one of the house maids who thought she was her mother before noticing the school uniform, but Afton nodded her head to the side and commanded March to follow her to her bedroom. He was embarrassed when he realized she practically had the whole second floor to herself. The Hemmings family had money, but sometimes March felt like his mom was trying to pretend they lived in the same Minnesota one and a half story she grew up sharing a room and waiting for the shower in.

Afton wasted no time pulling out a fat joint from her bed side table. She threw the plastic bag it was wrapped in on the bed along with a crystal encrusted lighter.

“You can start. I’m going to get out of my uniform.” She said passing by March as he took an uncomfortable seat on the corner of her unmade bed. Her fingers slid across his shirt, right over his chest, before she disappeared into her walk in closet.

Heaving an excited sigh from his gut, March let himself scooch deeper into her bed in order to fiddle the joint out and light it. He figured being as rich as Afton was, she probably bought better stuff than he had before, but Cooper’s dad’s stash never had met him down before. He only taken one hit when Afton returned, making herself known by dragging her hands flat up his back and then knocking off his backwards ball cap in order to mess up his hair teasingly.

“Thank you.” She almost sang as he looks behind himself to see her, offering her her joint.

She did look more comfortable in yoga pants and a red t shirt with a rhinestone brand over the breasts that he didn’t recognize. March really just liked the shape beneath the logo. They weren’t Daphne’s breasts, a perfect handful that just spilled a little out of his hands. Afton had what he and his friends referred to as “bowling balls”.

He tried not to stare though and looked at the purple septum piercing she had put in when she went to change. Afton was the second person he ever smoked pot with, in a parking lot at the community center in March’s neighborhood so it didn’t feel weird smoking with her now. His first time had been on the beach with his sister’s friends and Connor, it stressed him out too much for it to be fun knowing that his big sister with her space buns was watching even if she didn’t seem to care.

“Is it weird … ” She leaned back on one hand and offered him another hit. She peeked March’s interest, giving her a little bit of eye contact from the blue eyes his dad gave him. “Not being with Daphne?” It sounded like Afton wasn’t sure about his former girlfriends name, but he knew she knew what it was.

March glared at her by accident and then hollowed out his cheeks to take a second time in a row, sucking back longer than before.

“I don’t really want to talk about her.” He grumbled while trying to blow a smoke ring, it fell apart before taking any shape though.

“Oh yeah?” Afton’s interest peaked. She always knew March to be lively and fun, seeing him expose any second layer emotion was new to her. “Hurts too much or you just don’t care?” She pushed, taking the joint back as soon as she had her colorful hair tied back into a tight and high ponytail.

“I just don’t want to talk about it.” Again, he repeated and this time his grunt of annoyance was no accident.

“I like you single anyway,” Opening her legs across from him in a wide “V” shape, she tossed her head to the side and declared playfully. “You’re cute.”

Joking around, March showed off his dimples while batting his lashes at her, showing off a cartoony smile.

“And I don’t have to feel bad when you’re single.”

“About what?” His legs mimicked her position as he looked around her room, noting that it was very busy for someone who had a maid.

“About doing this.” She surprised him, his head just turning to see her as she leaned into his chest, globes hard as rock against him, and kissed him with her lips pulling tightly on his. She had put out the joint, but March could care less. Out of reflex, he put his hands on her sides and ran then under the back of her shirt. He hadn’t been intimate with anyone since Daphne dumped him. It felt nice to have any body over his, but Afton Hammersley was especially hot. He didn’t think she was beautiful, but she was sexy. He could tell when she looked at him that he didn’t know half of what she was capable of. She crawled backwards away from him, giggling behind a bit lip, and took the plastic bag and the dish with the joint in it and then reached over to leave it on her bedside table. Just as fast as she had first kissed him, Afton came back, but this time she stayed low and shook her yoga pant clad ass upward while kissing around his groin on the outside of his grey school trousers. They were a thin material and he couldn’t believe he wasn’t rock hard yet.

Before he took up with Daphne, he definitely had imagined his cock on Afton’s face, septum piercing and all. He reached down to help her as she started to fumble with his button and zipper. March glided his hand outside his underwear, trying to help himself reach full mass. He didn’t want her to see him limp and be unimpressed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you there.” Seeing absolutely no challenge in front of her, Afton assured him from below. Shd encouraged him out of his blue boxer briefs and took her in his hand, warm from being leaned on and then picked at the shaft. It sent a shiver through him, but March still wasn’t hard.He leaned deeper into her row of pillows behind him and shut his eyes, leaning his head back with his hands meeting at his apex. He tried to just relax and it certainly felt good as she bobbed up and down at a speed that seemed practiced and perfected.

“Are you okay?” It had only been a couple minutes, but Afton was feeling a little defeated. This had never happened to her before. She was Afton Hammersley. She held his soft penis in her clutch and looked up at March with a face that shouted, “What the fuck?”

“One second.” March sighed at himself and reached down to give his buddy a hand. He stroked at his wet cock and leaned his head back. He knew it was kind of insulting to the girl between his knees, but he pictures Daphne’s always bright and glossy full lips. He thought of his bashful she looked when they would hide under the blankets on his basement couch, her hand taking it’s time with him, rubbing him outside of his pants while he kissed her neck. He missed the scent of perfume oil behind her ears and the thick tangles of her hair that she would ask so innocently for him to grip when she was blowing him. March was too busy thinking about his ex, his first love, that he hadn’t realized that Afton was blowing him again and moaning with every other saliva soaked slurp. His mind was on Daphne Mind and his mouth was hanging open. It felt good even if it wasn’t Daphne’s tongue on him. He did miss her small hands though. They never ignored his balls when she was down there getting him off.

“This is much better.” Afton moaned while giving her jaw a two second break from his hard cock.Without thinking, March just shushed her. Her voice was deep and reminded him of smoke. When he heard it, it killed his fantasy of his favorite soft spoken Disney princess. For a second, March had forgotten that he and Daphne had even broken up. Afton went back to his cock, reaching for his hand and trying to hint at it to disrobe her as she folded two of his fingers in the waistband of her leggings. March understood the message and reached in, but it felt so different than Daphne’s skin that he started to lose the firmness of his shaft. He slid his hand out from the tight confines of her leggings and kept gripping her stomach. March reminded himself of how much he loved looking down when he was on top and seeing Daphne’s hands in her own hair and her smile growing as he grinded upward inside her. She had taught him everything he felt good at.

“Daph…” He moaned as he started to grow harder again. “Daph, fuck…” His mouth fell open, but his penis was greeted by cold air on both sides as Afton lifted her head off him. His eyes opened and he stares at the senior, wiping spit off her chin and looking him over like he was a disgusting troll. He hadn’t even realized what he did.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” She rolled her eyes at him.“What?” He was genuinely confused.“You just called me Daph. You are thinking of that loser!” She didn’t know Daphne personally, but Afton felt confident that if Daphne Hood was worth knowing, they would be friends.

“Whoa.” March wasn’t sure what to do. On one hand, he had apparently messed up, but on the other, Afton called Daphne a loser and that made his blood boil. He shimmied back into his underwear, tucking his wet half mass in the fabric and then jumped up. She wasn’t fighting him on it either.

“You should be flattered. Daphne is amazing.” He tried to both cover up his mistake and defended his ex at the same time. March decided to leave out that she also happened to be able to make him hard as rock by just walking in a room.“Get the fuck out!” Afton whipped one of her pillows at him, one that he had been leaning into while she went down on him.

“Fuck you, March!” She yelled while he ran out of her room, taking the stairs by two as he tried to zip up his u from pants. March grabbed his backpack and long board by the door and ran out as Afton was still cussing him out from her bedroom door.The rain hadn’t let up, but he rushed into it and headed home on his board. He knew he would be soaked through once he was home, but March was too distracted by the music in his headphones and trying not to slip off his wet board.

* * *********************************

It had been at the suggestion of a couple’s counsellor many years ago, when the twins were born and their marriage was vulnerable, that they plan date nights for one another. There had been times in their relationship where it wasn’t possible especially when Luke was away, but they made it a point whenever they were the same place to do it. Tonight was Cagney’s turn, Luke waiting for her to finish getting ready for the last fifteen minutes. She had gone to a spin class with Skye first and insisted that she needed to shower before they go. Even though Luke didn’t have a hot clue where they were going, he was ready.

“This is so lame.” Miles sighed as soon as he saw his Dad, losing the vim and vigor from his body once he saw his dad fixing his hair in the hallway mirror. “My parents are going out and I’m staying in. Alone.” He checked his cell phone that he had been holding since he came home from class, eager to see if Taylor had answered him yet. It had been two hours. Summer was perfect, but now that his boyfriend was in his first year of college while Miles was still finishing school, things had changed drastically.

“Is Wendesday a hot date?” Luke backed away from the mirror, making sure his hair was still looking suave from a distance.

“It could be if Taylor answered me.” Miles mumbled mostly to himself, going into the living room to try to distract himself with the TV. “He started college and now he’s always busy.” Miles wasn’t trying to hide his feelings of resentment at all.

“Hey, it’s a big adjustment.” Luke tried to reason, standing behind the couch his kid had fallen on and turned into a bed.

“You didn’t go to school.” Miles reminded him, raising his brow and changing the channel to see what sports game was on.

“Okay, well I’ve heard it’s a big adjustment. I know people who have.” Skye, Molly, Penelope, and of course his two older brothers had degrees they were quite proud of. “Isn’t this, like, exam time?”

“Yeah, but he’s been blowing me off since school started pretty much.” Miles yawned as he cuddled his shoulder into a throw pillow, content to watch the rugby game highlights before a basketball game. “We are supposed to get dinner with Molly and Flynn when they come in - ” With the remote, Miles pointed at the player that Molly had somehow wrapped around her finger.

“His arms … Is he on steroids, do you think?” Behind Miles, Luke stared at the television and wondered.

“I could ask for you, but I can’t get an answer out of Taylor. He said he would go, but forgot that he did and now isn’t sure he can make it.” Miles complained, frustrated.

“You could take someone else.” Luke suggested. “March?”

Miles didn’t show any signs of accepting the suggestion. It didn’t sound like much of a double date with his friend if he brought his twin brother with him.

“You know, Miles, there’s lots of guys and girls that think you’re great - ” Luke couldn’t ignore the way other people in the bleachers stared at his son’s football games or swim meets when he removed his shirt. He always rolled his eyes at the attention Miles drew without realizing, but Luke was sort of flattered so many people were interested in his kid. He sometimes wanted to brag that he made that even though he couldn’t take any credit for Miles chiseled stomach and defined legs.

“Dad, I’m not breaking up with Taylor. I’m just annoyed.” Muting the TV, Miles sat up slightly and looked at his Dad. “and I think I might just be gay. I don’t know.” He had been thinking about it a lot lately and he didn’t feel the same way about girls as he once did. Sure, he always found a beautiful face in a busy crowd, but it didn’t illicit the same feelings it did when he was chatting with a hot guy at the pool. He liked girls, but he didn’t feel any desire to be with them anymore. Miles really wasn’t sure yet though because he really only found himself attracted to Taylor.

Luke just nodded, not at all bothered or even surprised by what his son was saying.

“That’s not true!” Surprising them both, Cagney almost sang as she slid into the living room. Both Miles and Luke whipped their heads around, confused by her response to their conversation. “You’re not just gay!” She insisted. “You’re an excellent swimmer, a good friend, a great brother older and younger, and a lovely son.” She cheered him on, smiling proudly from ear to ear as she finished putting on her left earring, a hoop designed by Simone.

“Thanks, Mum.” Miles moaned and turned back around on the couch, giving the screen his attention again.

The front door slammed shut and March almost ran right upstairs, but his mom smelled him like a wet dog and caught him before he could even slide his shoes off.

“You’re drenched!” Revealing the obvious, Cagney scolded him. “March, where were you?” She had just assumed he was out with some of his many friends.

“At school.” He took off his soaked hat and shook his wet hair. His sweater and school shirt were heavy from the rain and stuck to his body just as his uniform pants were. “Why didn’t you call for a ride?”

“Or get a ride with your brother.” Luke suggested, leaning back to peek at his kid who was dragging water deeper into the house.

“Miles doesn’t have a spare when I do.” He explained while wiggling his arms from his sweater and instinctively handing it to his mom. “Why don’t you guys just be normal parents and buy me a car?” Bringing up a conversation that they had all had multiple times, March asked with wide eyes questioning his mother personally.

“If you want a car, you have to buy it yourself. That’s the way I grew up and - ”

March wasted no time cutting his mom off with some truth, “You didn’t buy a car until you and Dad got together.” He started to peel off his pants right at the front door.

“Then stop complaining and marry rich.” Uninterested in arguing with her teenager, Cagney fixed him with a nose twitch before walking away with his entire uniform in hand, carrying it downstairs to the laundry room.

In his boxer briefs that were also stuck to his body and leaving nothing to the imagination, March headed over to his brother and dad, jumping down on the other couch, the leather one, and laying down happily in his underwear.

“Date night!” March hollered into the air like a sports announcer. “Where are you guys going?” Half interested, he asked while watching staring at the TV.

“I don’t know. It’s your mom’s pick.” Luke sighed, annoyed that he was still waiting. He had prettied himself up and out on after shave, but he was starting to feel like he might turn into a pumpkin if he had to wait any longer. “Are you going out tonight?” Since his house party, March had been in better spirits. He wasn’t spending all his time resting in his own filth. He was back to being a social butterfly in a skateboard.

“Miles, what are we doing tonight?” After the experience he and his penis had just had at Afton’s place, March just wanted to stay in. He also knew that Miles was going through a weird phase with his boyfriend that left him staying in a lot lately.

“Eating our feelings.” Miles didn’t even move or acknowledge March as he answered.

“Pizza? Indian? Sushi? Or are you going to be a total loser and cry into a tub of ice cream? I can get behind that.” March joked, trying his best to show any indication that he had just come from an embarrassing moment with a very cool girl.

“Start with peanut stir fry and crab rangoon from Vietiane, chicken fingers from Mitzi’s, and then just make milkshakes here. Peanut butter and chocolate.” Just like he used to when they were kids, Miles turned to March with eyes almost glowing and spoke to him like he was the k my other person in the room, even when he wasn’t.

“That sounds really good.” Cagney re-appeared and said before throwing a clean t shirt and sweatpants at March, landing right on his knees. She always knew whose clothes belonged to who.

“Do you want to go on a date with me or hang out with our garbage compactors?” Very seriously, Luke asked his wife with impatient blue eyes.

“You’ve never had a cheat day with Miles.” She began to explain to him, snaking an arm behind his back and pulling him close. “They’re an experience like no other.” Their middle child adhered to a strict diet for swimming, but once a month usually when he was in a bad mood, he gave himself permission to be like any and all of the children in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Cagney loved getting in on the action when she could. She knew that it was very likely she was the one who taught her kids to eat when they are sad with always having a pizza night before Luke would leave or curl up with a box of chocolates in bed on her first night alone.

“Okay, we are going. No house parties!” More just to tease them, she called out over her clapped hands. “No sex and if you’re going to throw up all your food, use the basement washroom.” It was the one that the kids and Luke mostly occupied. She only ever used her en suite.

“Don’t make any more babies!” March called from the couch as his parents started to walk away to the front door. He was mostly just bugging them, but he did very much love being their baby.

“Have her home by curfew!” Miles joined, almost hearing their dad roll their eyes in response.

“Bye!” In an out of sync chorus, Luke and Cagney left their twins alone, going out for time where they could spend on each other and not trying to run their work and children’s lives. Luke played it cool, but he always looked forward to them.

“I’m going to order.” As he slid his legs into the sweats his mom brought, March told his brother and jumped to his feet to go find his cell phone in his wet backpack by the door. “Taylor still ignoring you?” March called by the door.

“He’s not ignoring me. He’s just busy with school.”

“Yeah, I once told Daphne I was busy with school and I was ignoring her.” March bluntly stated as he went back to the couch and started looking online for the menu of their favorite Thai place. He didn’t like recalling one of the stupider decisions he made, but it was true. At the time, he was trying to sort out what he wanted and blowing off the gorgeous tiny dancer.

“He’s not hanging out with Raquel Coin if that’s what you’re getting at.” Grouchily, Miles retorted and rolled his eyes at his brother. “I don’t know where he’s at because we never see each other anymore. It’s really annoying because if he’s busy, cool, but are you too busy to be my boyfriend? Just tell me!” He vented. It reminded him of when they had bunk beds at their place in California and would stay up all night as kids telling different monster stories to one another and laughing at their bad attempts at making scary noises

.“Just ask him.” March shrugged. He really didn’t see the big deal.

“I’m trying not to bug him.”

“I can ask him.” Again, March shrugged. “I can call him right now.” Cool as a cucumber, March held his phone up to his ear and watched as Miles jumped up hastily. He went from lazy to freaking out in a single nanosecond.

“You better be calling for take out!” He grew up with March, but still could never tell when he was messing around or being serious. “March, don’t you fucking dare.“March’s grin grew and grew the more worked up his brother became. Holding out his finger to silence Miles, March stood up and began to walk around the coffee table between them.

“Hi Taylor.” Anticipating the way his brother leaped to his feet and reached for the phone, March laughed. “It’s March Hemmings, the cuter twin, I am calling - ” Between trying not to laugh and running away from his brother, March could barely get his words out.

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” Miles lunged for him, but March was too slick.

“I am calling to say,” He chuckled and began to run out of the living room and around the kitchen island. “Stop ignoring my brother! He is delicate and sad and deserves better!” He added on a word every time he caught a glimpse of Miles shooting daggers at him through his eyes. He could tell from the corner of his brother’s mouth that he was lightly amused. “Okay, can’t wait to hear from you. Love you!” He blew a loud kiss and hung up, falling to the ground as Miles finally landed a successful tackle, knocking them both into the fridge.

“You’re such a Gomer!” Quoting their big sister, Miles half laughed as he released March. “He’s going to think I’m sitting at home and pouting.”

“You are.” Still chuckling, March sat up and leaned his back against the fridge, a magnet of Penelope’s second grade photo with her two missing front teeth wedging into his spine between the shoulders.

“Yeah, well I don’t want him to know that.”

“Order whatever.” He handed his phone over to Miles and went to playing with his damp hair.Right away, Miles noticed March’s background was of his brother and Daphne. A silly selfie with their faces squished together as they say on a plane together, going somewhere to see their dads perform. It crossed his mind to rib his brother, but decided against it. Daphne was a sensitive subject with March.

“Where were you actually? You weren’t at school.” Miles knew that for a fact.

“Getting a blowjob from Afton. Hammersley.” He was pretty sure there was just one Afton in their school.

“Fuck off. Really?” Miles was equal parts impressed and grossed out. He never saw what his brother did in the girl with pink hair. He thought she seemed really damaged even though his mom always told him that was not a nice way to describe people.

“Yeah.”

“Any good?” He began to add items into their cart, letting his sadness and stomach harmoniously build them a gluttonous meal.

“Meh.” March jumped up to his feet and shrugged.

"I wasn’t into it.“ He said instead of saying, ‘I could only get hard when I pictured Daphne’.

"She used to be pretty high on your list.” Miles mused.

“We smoked a bit first. Maybe that’s why. I don’t know.” He was a king at playing it cool. He threw open their stocked fridge and took out a Capri Sun. Even though he wasn’t eleven anymore, his mom still bought them in bulk and March was eternally grateful.

“Or maybe you’re still in love with Daphne.” Miles teased even though he knew it was probably legit.

“Fuck off or I’ll call Taylor again and tell him you’re crying.” March threatened very seriously. Miles took it in stride, sending their order in and letting the joke go. He knew he was right anyway. “Hey, does the pool need in any more lifeguards or anything?”

“You’re not certified.” Miles reminded his brother. He had given up before they were even in junior high unlike Miles who was never a quitter. “I can see if they want someone at the canteen.”

“Thanks.”

“They need tutors at school. They pay pretty well too.” He suggested. While March’s attendance in classes wasn’t great by any means, his grades were exemplary. Miles had no idea how March always did better in their western civilization class because he almost never showed up or stayed awake in it. A light bulb shot off in March’s brain, almost sending pieces of shattered glass off in his skull. Miles was too busy looking at a pizza menu from another spot to see that his brother’s eyes were glowing like a neon sign. This was how he was going to get Daphne back.

***************************************

On their separate couches, delivery food containers on the coffee table, a greasy napkin on March’s chest, and Chinese take out box between Miles’s knees, the two twins were knocked out cold in matching food comas while the world news played in front of them on TV. They were blanketed under illuminating blue light as Cagney quickly pulled her phone from her purse to snap a picture. She had a hunch their sister in Paris would want to see what she was missing out on back home.

“Do you think you could carry them both up the stairs to bed like you used to?” Wistfully, Cagney asked with nostalgic laughter. They could never stay awake through a whole evening movie. March was particularly bad for falling asleep in cinemas as a little boy.

Luke just shook his head. He could, maybe, toss March over his shoulder without totally throwing out his back, but Miles was too strong for him to lift anymore. Those days are gone.

“I can barely drag them anymore.” Luke mused in response. He walked through from his sleeping twins and looked over what was left on the kitchen table, helping himself to cold chicken satay before sitting by Miles’s bare feet.

“Mom take you somewhere nice?” March curled o to his side, the napkin slipping off of him and into the floor, as he asked without opening his eyes.

“Yeah, she did” Smiling from March over to his wife, Luke confirmed while chewing on the chicken bite. "We went to a movie.“

"Mom!” March shouted, but he still didn’t open his eyes. “Lame!”

“I wanted to see it and your dad loves movie theater popcorn! It’s a win win.” Cagney knew it wasn’t inventive, but it did get them out of the house together. When the kids were small and Luke was still touring constantly, they would sometimes just go for walks together or to the hotel lobby cafe for coffee and a piece of cake. Luke had a tendency to knock his date night choices out of the park with concert tickets, surprising Cagney with trips, and once taking her to Sephora to get whatever she wanted, but for Cagney, she just liked to set aside time for the two of them - no matter what they did.

“At least Mom texts you back.” Practically sleep talking, Miles pouted.

Cagney and Luke exchanged worried looks over their sleeping boys. They didn’t like the idea of weathering another break up. March had just started to bounce back into being his old self, but he had crashed as hard as he could when his relationship with Daphne ended. Cagney didn’t know why exactly, perhaps because he was more openly sensitive, but she suspected that Miles would take his relationship ending even worse. She was trying to remain optimistic that Taylor was just overwhelmed with college and not practicing good communication skills.

“Hey.” Luke reached behind him once his chicken satay was finished and shook at Miles’s leg, “Go to bed.” He said and kept shaking Miles until he heard a groan come from behind the teen’s shut lips. “Come on.” Luke encouraged as he watched Miles take his time getting up. March, across from them, followed suit as his mom kisses the top of his head and turned off the TV.

“Goodnight.” Cagney managed to sneak in a kiss on Miles’s cheek before he dragged himself up to his room. Once both boys were gone, Luke stood up and looked over their mess. He knew he should leave it for them to clean up, but he also knew it would drive him crazy left out. He reached down to begin cleaning up, but Cagney clearing her throat made him pause.

“Date night isn’t over.” With a sneaky smile that always brought him good news, she surprised him.

“Oh yeah?” She had his full attention now. “Do tell.” He came closer to where she was, dropping two empty orange soda cans in the recycling bin by the back door, waiting to be taken out.

“Shower time.” She winked and reached for his hand as she came closer, Luke bringing her in tightly for a kiss and staring up at her moment. He loved when she massages his sculpt in the shower. Her hands had always played an important role in their relationship from washing his hair, giving him comforting squeezes backstage, offering silent support in loud mobs, and sliding under his back as she fell asleep beside him. At this point in their lives together, Luke knew where showering with her was going to go, but he still felt excited at the prospect of soaping up each other’s body and her fingers running through his locks.

*************************************************

He had spent the whole morning yawning through his classes, so he was looking forward to a long lunch where he could sleep at one of the big wooden cafeteria tables. If he was lucky, he would find a pretty girl’s lap to use as a pillow. It seemed to March that Afton hadn’t shared gossip about their hook up with anyone. She must have been too embarrassed about the ordeal herself. March cruised by the main floor multi-purposs room of his fancy private school. It was busy because it was lunch, but he could find Daphne in any crowded room. Her hair was down, but pinned back with her front thick tendrils. She had little makeup on, looking tired herself, but her mouth was still painted with a bright violet color. He waved through the window, but she didn’t look up from her textbook. March mustered up enough energy to enter the room, the teacher who ran the tutoring program sitting at the front with a paper bag lunch on her desk. He had asked Miles to drop off his application for him after bugging him to fill it out over their light breakfast of just grapefruit and granola. They are too full still from their food party the night before.

“Hey Mrs. Dilworth…” March approached the front of the desk cautiously, still paying more attention to his ex at the other side of the room. The teacher he had never had before, but recognized from going to the school since kindergarten looked up and bowed her chin to him. She was swallowing her coffee sip right as he arrived. Mrs. Dilworth’s wirey and grey brows greeted him back though, raising with excitement as she started to stand up. “I dropped off an application this morning for the tutoring program…” Well, he sort of did. Miles had filled it in for him and they were sometimes mistaken for one another.

“You did.” As soon as her coffee was down her throat, she gasped with comfort and excitement. He had never heard any student say anything particularly vile about her. She mostly worked the tutoring program and with the elementary years in the other building on the program. Miles hadn’t gone there since he had to because his classes were there. He didn’t feel try nostalgia for younger days like many people seemed to. He had spent a lot of his summer wishing he could go back in time that now he was trying to push forward even if he was still chasing Daphne Hood. “I’m really glad you’re interested in that program. People seem to really admire you.” He wondered if, maybe, she was mixing him up with Miles but he also hoped that Daphne overheard her compliment. It didn’t seem like she did though.

“Do I have to interview? When’s the start date?” He rocked back and forth on his feet and drummed his fingers against the surface of her desk closest to him. March couldn’t concentrate for long, always checking over his shoulder to look at Daphne. He frowned as his math teacher from last year joined her, earning a wide welcoming smile that he wanted for himself.

“I have to run it by the headmaster.” March didn’t feel confident about that. He didn’t have a shining record, but he did have a record. “And then if you wanted to come back here around 3, the parents will meet you as well as the student.” Parents who enrolled their kids in the tutoring program paid extra on the already substantial tuition, March supposed it made sense that they would have to approve the assigned tutor for their kid. He didn’t know how Calum and Skye felt about him any more. He hadn’t ran into them almost on purpose. It left March wondering if they ever liked him or just tolerated him because they had to since he was Luke’s kid and he was coming on tour whether or not they liked it.

“Sounds good. See you here at 3.” March knocked on her desk top and committed. “Thanks.” He nodded his pronounced chin at her to say goodbye and left, glancing once more at Daphne as she played with a fly away hair and tried to listen to the teacher pointing into her textbook.

Since it was nice out, Miles took to the football field for lunch. The grounds were still squishy and damp from the rain the night before, so they opted to sit around the bleachers while they ate. Miles was working on a sandwich that he had made that morning, laughing in between bites as the two Luna’s he was friends with ripped jokes about the class they had just left. School was a blessing to Miles. He was distracted by his desire to do well and by his funny friends. He didn’t find himself thinking about his boyfriend nonstop. It wasn’t as if he could check his phone while in class and he had forgotten to on his way to the football field for lunch. His hands were full and Luna A was dancing around in order to make him crack up.

The large bite of his salami sandwich almost dropped out of his mouth when Taylor appeared from the parking lot, walking right onto the field. He looked tired, but still put together. To Miles, he always looked like a God in bootcut blue jeans.

“One second.” He excused himself, leaving his backpack and open Capri Sun behind. Miles jogged over the watery field. As soon as he saw Miles coming toward him, Taylor stopped and waited by the metal post that seperated the car lot from the field. “What are you doing here?” Confused delight lit up his face as he approached his boyfriend, Taylor sealing the small space between them to lean in for a kiss. They were never known for PDA, but he didn’t like saying ‘hi’ to Miles without some lip service.

“I texted you this morning. I’ve been feeling bad about ditching you so much. I only have one morning class on Fridays now, I dropped anatomy.” He was taking a smattering of classes to try and figure out what he liked. “Can I take you to lunch?”

Miles checked behind him and looked over his friends, two of them waving while the other three were eating and chatting still.

“I only have a half hour left ” It wasn’t as if he couldn’t skip his next class, but he didn’t think a guy who couldn’t find the time to text him back was really worth the sacrifice as much as he wanted to go.

“Okay. What about next Friday? Maybe that could be a standing date since our schedules aren’t lining up right now.” Taylor wasn’t working as a life guard anymore with going to college. So between Miles football games and part time job and then his school schedule, it felt challenging to see one another. Taylor was exhausted by the time the day was done.

“That works. Yeah!” Very excited, Miles agreed. “I was freaking out that you came here to break up,” Taylor looked at him like he was nuts. “Or you were freaked out by the voicemail March left you.”

“I don’t have voicemail.” Again, Taylor looked at his boyfriend like he was growing a second face. Why would he have an outdated service? Miles fumed through his nostrils when he put together that his brother hadn’t been talking to anyone on the phone last night. He had just been making fun of Miles. “I’m going to come to your game tonight, okay? Then we can hang out after if you’re up for it. I feel like a shithead being so busy with assignments.” Taylor wasn’t feeling like college was for him. He was miserable there.

“Well you have been a shithead.” Miles laughed it off, but he was being sincere. He leaned in close, both arms around his boyfriend’s waist, and kissed him again, this time to say more than just hello. “Do you want to come sit with everybody?” At this point, Taylor already was acquainted with Miles’s core group even though he was a mingler and had friends everywhere.

Nodding, Taylor agreed. Once he was released from Miles embraces, he hung his arm around his boyfriend’s shoulder and walked hip to hip with him back to the field. Hopefully, they could stay together this year without seeing one another every day like they did through the summer.

*******************

March was feeling rather proud of himself. He looked over his reflection in the window facing the parking lot and played with the bright blue lanyard that Mrs. Dilworth had bestowed around his neck. He pulled on it and jingled the keys that gave him access to school supplies and the cleaning cupboard as well as a few classrooms if necessary. While the root of him applying to be a tutor was to weasel in some more time with Daphne, he was thrilled to have a job. It gave him a weird sense of purpose that prompted him to text his mom and tell her that he had been hired somewhere. She only responded with a thumbs up emoji, a stack of money, and two different car emojis to follow. Miles had slightly embellished the pay though. It was just minimum wage, still it felt cooler than living off his parents.

He leaned his butt against the desk that Mrs. Dilworth had vacated. March kept playing with the keys while staring at the room, his blue eyes finding Daphne as soon as she entered. She was always there on Fridays as part of a promise she made to her Dad to improve her grades by Christmas.

“Hi…” She looked amused as she approach March, carrying a honey and chocolate granola bar on top of the text book she had in both hands. “What are you doing here?” He never even came in there to hang out with her when they were together. March’s grades were fine.

“I’m a tutor.” He shook at his keys again and wiggled his full brows at her. “Just waiting to be assigned.” He smiled and slid across the desk to be closer to her, noticing she had her math textbook in hand. It always was her worst subject. “Maybe if you’re lucky, I’ll help you with algebra.” He poked at its cover. Daphne shook her head ‘no’, her hair cascading in front of her shoulders as she did.

“Probably not because I’m not eight years old.” She nodded at the lanyard he liked so much before walking away. He saw her head to a table full of high school students, the two tutors sitting there with black lanyards around their neck. In a panic, March started to look around for a poster or note on one of three whiteboards. He hadn’t been filled in on the color system. What was the difference between blue and black? “I’ll drive you home though.” She offered as she began to sit, handing one of the tutors her textbook as she did.

March only nodded, still confused as to what was going on. He needed to be in the same group as Daphne or, at the very least, the same room. He looked out the window and linked eyes with Mrs. Dilwoth, her Mrs.Potts disposition putting him at ease as she waved at him to join her in the hall. When he did, he saw a very young girl, maybe seven, on the wooden bench behind Mrs. Dilworth. She had her arms crossed annoyed over her chest and was kicking at the air constantly with the both legs.

“March, this is Gia.” A big smile plastered on her face, Mrs. Dilworth stepped to the side and led March to the elementary aged girl with her arm. “Gia, March is going to help with you catch up with math today.”

The tutor and the student looked equally unhappy with the situation. Gia refused to acknowledge March. She grumbled inaudibly and stuffed the lower part of her face into her folded arms. March just stood blankly and followed Mrs. Dilworth as she led him a few paces away, closer to the hallway of lockers.

“I didn’t know that I had signed up to be with kids.” Considering himself more of a young adult, he stated. This had to be some kind of mistake. He didn’t sign up to be a babysitter.

“We thought you and Gia would be a great fit.” She expressed with her hands moving with excitement between her and March. “Gia can get overwhelmed with energy in class, so she is able to leave and run around or play in the gym just to get her energy out in a positive away.” She explained, trying to politely express what kind of autism the grade two student had. “So she misses a lot of class and isn’t able to catch up. She currently reads at a preschool level.” March felt a stress headache come on and he reached up to pinch between his brows did like his dad and Grandpa Hemmings did when they were feeling uneasy. “Her parents were thrilled we found someone to help.” Applying pressure to March with her words, Mrs. Dilworth strongly pressed her grin toward March.

“I didn’t -” He started to object, but he spotted the little girl whining and wiggling on the bench and caved in with a sigh. “Okay.”

“I’ve set up a private classroom for you two.” She didn’t want Gia being distracted. “Don’t be afraid to be creative. If she needs to sit on a yoga ball and bounce in order to learn, that’s okay.” The teacher explained as she walked March back up to Gia. “Ready, Miss Black?” She offered the little girl her hand, but she only took it reluctantly. As March followed behind the two females, he looked longingly into the window where he watched Daphne laughing with her table, granola bar open in hand and pencil sharp in the other.

“Okay, what are we doing?” He opened up the small mustard colored binder to find a sheet of addition questions that had been crinkled and scribbled on. “Alright, this is easy.” He accidentally said as he shuffled his chair closer to Gia. She had both hands fisted through her Dora the Explorer bob and was pouting at the wall. When March finished shuffling near, she yelled at him and jumped out of her chair, running to the next one to leave a space between them. “Okay.” He sighed and reached around his neck to message the tension he was feeling grow. March pushed the paper close to her and reached over this time, checking that his distance was okay before pointing to the first question that hadn’t yet been done. “So, you’ve already done three plus three here, so what would four plus four be?” He tried, knowing that he probably shouldn’t instruct her to use her fingers. It was cute though how Daphne was still using her fingers to count as a teenager. He always found it endearing.

Gia leaned back into the chair, holding its back behind her, and staring at him silently.

“If three plus three is six, it has to be more than that.”

Making him wait, she leaned forward and drew a very uneven 7.

“Well four is one more than three, so you have two fours that is two more.” He tried to explain, doubting himself and how good he was with this. He didn’t think he really knew how to talk to kids. He had never really done it before. His cousins were all older than him and he didn’t make a habit of babysitting like Penelope had with their neighbors the Robinsons. While Gia hesitantly counted her fingers under the table, March looked around the empty science lab they were put in. There was nothing in there that inspired a better way to teach for him. He did notice that her backpack behind them had sequin pink bunnies on it, but before he could consider it, Gia was pressing her face into the table and groaning a long flat note. March felt over his head and almost wanted to join her. He remembered that Mrs. Dilworth told him to be creative and keep her active, so he jumped up from the table and headed to the door. .

“Wanna go for a walk?” He asked through a heavy sigh. March didn’t know what he would do if she turned him down. Thankfully, Gia slid out of her chair and walked right by him. He led then up the stairs to the second floor, walking them in a circle silently as she skipped and hopped in front of him. Her mood seemed to improve the more she wiggled, so March didn’t intervene. It was on their third lap around the floor that he decided to ask her easy addition questions as she jumped. Surprising him the most, it worked. He patted himself on the back proudly and kept going with it. They spent the entire hour walking in a circle and doing kindergarten level math questions. March was mostly pleased that she was getting questions right that she originally didn’t know. When he returned them to the science lab, March decided to fill out her sheet himself. Clearly, she did know the answers even if it wasn’t by sitting there and filling out the paper.

March dropped Gia back to the front bench and reached out to give her a high wave, but she shoved his palm away and headed to the door where her Dad’s mustang was parked. March didn’t know if he was supposed to introduce himself, so he instead watched through the door window as Gia was greeted with a big hug by a man in a crisp suit.

“Ready to go, Mr. Hemmings?” Daphne’s breathy voice asked behind him. He whipped around and almost stuck out his tongue out at her out of reflex.

“That makes me feel like my Dad.” He dramatically grimaced. "I got to get my board from my locker and then we can go.“

Daphne instinctively turned left, knowing exactly where March’s locker was located.It was quiet between them as Daphne carefully drove out of her spot and onto the road. Usually, she and March went straight into a fluid conversation about their days or what they wanted to do now that was school out. Daphne supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised though. It wasn’t as if anything was how it used to be between them. Still, she wished it was.

"How’d your first session go?” She asked while taking a short cut.

“Weird.” March answered honestly, adjusting his ball cap on his head. He hated that he couldn’t wear it while at school, but it was against their dress code. “I didn’t know it included the elementary school." Then again, he hadn’t known much about the program except that Daphne was a part of it.

"Are you one on one or in a group?” She turned down the ballad playing on her mix to hear him better.

“One on one. This grade two kid. She’s a little weirdo, too.” Insensitively, he told her. “Mrs.D didn’t come right out and call her autistic, but she pretty -”

Daphne didn’t feel passionate about much, not enough to rant, but as someone who had been branded “stupid” by people her whole life, she was inclined to interrupt, “Don’t diagnose someone.” She seriously warned in a whisper. “People used to say Molly was all kinds of things when we were little just because she was socially awkward and introverted.”

“Really?” That was news to March. He never found Molly to be strange. They just didn’t have much in common.

“Yeah and people told my parents I had all kinds of disabilities when I was baby because it took me a long time to walk on my own and speak, but I’m fine.” It had taken her a long time to outgrow the indents from labels other bestowed upon her.

“She’s just a weird kid. She barely talks or looks at me and she has to move around in order to do anything.” He felt like, maybe, him tutoring was a bad idea just because his first evening of it went poorly.

“I didn’t like to read as a kid and I had a hard time with it, so my parents used to write me stories about cookies and mermaids, things I liked so I would be interested.” Daphne explained, trying to inspire her ex boyfriend. “Somewhere on my dad’s laptop there’s still a story about a cookie that count it’s chocolate chips.” For her fifth birthday, Simone illustrated it with colored markers.

“That’s incredibly cute.” March smiled at her profile as she slowed down to stop at the red light. He reached out and plucked a white fluff from her hair, remembering it wasn’t his to touch anymore and instantly taking his hand away and apologizing. “You had a dust thing in it.”

“It’s okay.” In a sneaky fashion, a shy smile climbed onto her face as she sucked in her lips and looked him over. She still liked when he touched her even though she felt like she shouldn’t. She had been the one to call things off between them.

The silence crept back between them as Daphne drove closer to their neighborhood. March was staring out the window, thinking about how to make the most of this ride with Daphne. He wasn’t going to make her fall in love with him again by being a silent passenger. He wondered if he kept up with tutoring if she could drive him home all the time, giving him a private time with her a few times a week. He was trying to think of something to tell her, some random cool fact to bring her attention to him, but instead a bright green building caught his attention.

“Hey, can you drop me off at The Dollar Store?” He asked while sitting up straight and gripping his board.

“Sure.” Daphne didn’t think much of the request. She turned on her signal and waited for the busted up Honda to let her in. “Do you want me to wait?” She didn’t mind. It wasn’t as if she had dance or a family dinner to go to.

“Nah, I’ll skate from here.” March waved her off as he took off his seatbelt before she had stopped the car. Out of reflex, he leaned to his side to kiss her goodbye, but caught himself and jumped out once she as right in front of the store.

He grabbed a plastic green basket and headed down the first aisle. It wasn’t until he was in the third that March found what he was looking for. He took all the bunny stickers off their hook and then grabbed a couple packs of furry friend erasers and tossed them into his basket. He didn’t know much else of what Gia liked, but he bet he could gain her interest with other rabbit things. He threw a hackysack and skipping rope in his basket too, knowing that he would like school better to if he could play with those while he did it. March still wished he had been put with Daphne, but he intended to try with Gia. He didn’t want to fail. He had a hunch others had given up on her before and he knew what it was like to have someone look at you and expect nothing. He was going to try. He told himself he had to make this work.

#5sos au #5sos imagine

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