(In which Rowleys older brother, Nathan, hooks up with his best friendâ Rodrick.)
The Jeffersons and the Heffleys had been close families for as long as anyone in the neighborhood could really remember. Ever since a little 6 year old Rodrick asked his mom to hang out with his friend right across the street, the two families became just as inseparable as their two oldest children were. It had to be fateâ First Rodrick and Nathan, then Greg and Rowley. Whenever oneâs name came up, the other usually wasnât far behind.
At least, thatâs how things had been. How it was supposed to be. But ever since last Christmas, Rodrick and Nathan had been drifting apart. That Christmas that had been like so many before it, with the Jeffersons and Heffleys spending it together. The entire night, Nathan and Rodrick had been practically attached at the hip. Cracking jokes to each other in the middle of dinner, terrorizing their younger brothers together just for the hell of it, and by the time dinner had ended, the two had gone up to Rodricks room where they had played video games like always. But there was some sort of unspoken tension in the airâ be it teenage desperation, hormones, or something else entirely that had been bubbling beneath the surface for years by now. Playful teasing turned into taunts, taunts turned into shitty pickup lines, and before either of them knew it- Rodrick was on top of Nathan.
They hadnât spoken since that day. How could they after what happened? Itâs not every day that you hookup with your best friendâ whom youâve known for basically your entire life. They had taken to avoiding each other as if itâd bury the memory, which didnât work out too well when that same person usually spends their entire day with you. Nathan had taken extra shifts at his part time job, avoided the music room that he and Rodrick usually ate lunch in togetherâ And Rodrick had busied himself with focusing on his band, albeit a little more than entirely healthy.
Weeks passed, and neither could get the other out of their mind despite their best efforts.
The afternoon suns warm hues cast over the neighbourhood as Nathan walked back home from his job. Today was exhaustingâ He had gotten into an argument with his mom while he was getting ready for school, His math teacher had dropped the bomb that the next unit test wasnât just in two days- but it was also worth 20% of his grade. On top of it all, it has been busy today at the convenience store that Nathan worked atâ Honestly, he couldnât wait to get home. He walked down the sidewalk, wired earbuds connected to his iPod in the pocket of his jacket, too lost in the tunes blasting in his ears as well as his own thoughts to notice the skater kid who was about 5 seconds away from running straight into him.
Rodrickâs friends had been worried about him- and while he hadnât outright explained to them that he hooked up with Nathan, they knew well enough not to really question it when he always told them that it was âpersonal stuff.â While they couldnât get their friend to open up about whatever it was that had upset him so much, they did know that a fairly good solution to a loud brain was (probably) skating! Long story short, Rodrick had gone out with his other friends to the skate park that was just a 10 minute walk away. Actually, it was pretty helpful with clearing Rodricks head- and by the time he was skating home, he was too busy replaying the events of the day in his head to notice that he was about to run into a stranger ahead of him.
By the time that either of the two had noticed they were about to crash into each other, it was way too late to really do much- Rodrickâs board flying into the grass as he tried to swerve out of the way of the person infront of him, instead causing him to eat shit and fall forward- knocking Nathan over onto the pavement and yanking his earbuds out.
Nathan was the first to apologize, groaning as he propped himself up on his elbows- hands dirty and slightly bloody on behalf of being scraped against the pavement.
âShit- sorry, dude, I wasnât paying attention-â
As Rodrick listened to the stranger apologize, however, his gaze snapped to the ginger boy in front of him. He wasnât too sure at first, but heâd recognize that voice anywhere. He almost forgot about his skateboard entirely as he sat up in the grass and blurted out,
Prompting the other teenager to finally make eye contact and notice exactly who it was, who had crashed into him.
Butterflies formed in Nathanâs stomach, like some sort of curse that was placed on Nathan the minute he finally saw Rodrick again. He didnât even know what to do for the first few moments- staring dumbly at his best friend with a look somewhere between surprise and fondness. Part of Nathan didnât even want to break the silence- wondering if just staying here staring at Rodrick was really that bad of a plan for the rest of the day.
Eventually, though, the silence was finally broken. Rodrick wasnât that good with words- and today was no exception. The tension was so heavy that you could probably cut it open with a knife if you tried- and being under this much pressure did Rodricks scrambling brain zero favours. So, in an attempt to be light hearted and maybe a little less awkward, Rodrick finally, very flatly, spoke up with,
â..Small world we live in, huh?â
It was a horrible attempt at humour. A deer could probably come up with a better quip than that! And yet- somehow. Either by the blessing of some god out there, or through having been friends with Rodrick long enough to find practically everything he did funny, Nathan laughed.
He really laughed. Not just a pity laugh- but the one you could probably imagine coming from finally seeing your favourite person again. It was the kind of laugh that was almost contagious to Rodrick- the kind that made his heart skip a beat, the kind that got him grinning like an idiot and laughing at whatever had gotten Nathan started.
âI havenât seen you in weeks, and thatâs what you start with??â
(Authors note: augh first actual fanfic so if itâs a little ehh cut me some slack đ
Might make another with Nathan again if this does well, but idk)
