It was Wednesday afternoon and West and his Dad were lazying around the house, after meeting up with his uncle, he'd gone to talk to Don, and after much 'deliberation', he'd agreed to let Dennis play.
They were interrupted from their potato couch session by a knock on the door. Paul was the first to get to the door 'cause he was expecting it to be the Pizza guy. His stomach growled in disappointment when it wasn't who he thought it was.
"Hey."
"Dennis." Paul responded in a bored tone.
"Could we talk?" He inquired.
Paul turned his head towards the inside of the house and looked at West before mouthing 'play along' to him. West nodded, but he knew he wouldn't in fact, be playing along. The brothers needed to have a serious talk.
"We're actually on our way out. To Cambridge."
"Actually," West began as he got up from the couch to stand next to his dad, "The meeting's in like two hours. Isn't that right, Dad? So you two have plenty of time to talk." West patted an irritated Paul's back before throwing both his thumbs up, and escaping to his room.
-
An hour later, Dennis knocked on West's bedroom door, he didn't even wait for confirmation to come in before pushing the door open.
"Did you talk to Don?"
"Jesus. What if I'd been naked?" West hissed as he stepped out of his bathroom.
"I've seen you naked before." Dennis commented with a roll of his eyes.
"Yeah, when I was like, 1."
He threw himself on top of his bed and lay down with his hands resting behind his head.
"He will let your wrongful arrest slide, but only if you give him your wife's-- your soon to be ex-wife's number."
"What? That's absurd!" Dennis yelled.
That was a natural reaction for him, he had perfected the act of pretending to be a good, not gay at all, husband, for years. Jealousy over absolutely nothing was one of the traits he'd acquired during his 10 year marriage to Winona. He'd never loved her like that. He tried to convince himself he did, for 8 whole years, but it was useless. No matter how much he tried, he could never change the one thing he hated about himself, so he chose to ignore it, at least until a new Detective started working at the station 2 years ago.
"It's a good deal."
"You know, now that I think about it, Reggie kind of looks like Don. That son of a--"
"No. No. I was kidding." West interjected, "Reggie isn't Don's kid. Why would he ask for her number if he was already sleeping with her, dude? And he'll let you play, 9 P.M tonight."
Dennis pinched the bridge of his nose, then released a regretful sigh. He wondered why he even bothered to ask his nephew for help. Most of the things that came out of West's mouth were literal torture to him. "Why do you keep practicing your dry ass jokes on me?"
West tilted his head skywards then squinted his eyes as if he was thinking of an answer.
"I don't have an answer for you." He replied after a few short seconds.
Dennis shook his head in annoyance, then started moving towards the door.
"What did you say to my Dad?"
"We just talked." He replied whilst still facing the door. "It's none of your business."
"Oh, so it was that kind of talk."
Dennis whipped around, then narrowed his eyes at his nephew. "What kind of talk?"
"The talk where you swallowed your pride, and admitted to all your mistakes. Gotcha." He made sure to use finger guns at the last word, what was it with doing finger guns and peace signs at random for no apparent reason that excited Bisexuals so much?
"I'm leaving."
Dennis reached for the door handle with his left hand, and the gleaming stone on his ring finger almost blinded West.
"Woah, woah, woah, stop right there."
Dennis puffed up his cheeks then turned to face West with a less than pleased expression on his face once again. He just wanted to leave.
"What is that?"
"Whattttt?" He moaned agitatedly.
"On your hand!" West exclaimed, he knew what it was, he just wanted Dennis to confirm his suspicions. "What the fuck is that?"
"Uh, a ring?"
"Yeah. You never wear your wedding ring. What's up with that?"
"I don't have an answer for you." He mocked.
"Uncle Dennis."
"Fine, fine. Johnson proposed, and I said yes, okay? Can I go now?"
"What?" He answered bewilderedly, "Haven't you been dating for like two weeks?"
"Uh, two years, yeah. On the side, obviously, but we've been together for a long time."
"And how did he feel about being a side piece?" West asked as he hopped off his bed. "Also, why haven't you said anything about your engagement? Aren't you still married to Winona?" He walked over to where Dennis was standing, then grabbed his hand to inspect the ring. It was a genuine White Sapphire stone, Detective John-whatshisname was kind of loaded.
"For crying out loud," Dennis whined, he snatched his hand away then hastily threw open the door, "I am going to see you tonight, alright? Bye."
--
"So you helped him become un-manipulative?" Killian asked after taking a sip of the large chocolate milkshake they were sharing.
"Not exactly. Dennis will always be Dennis. I'm just glad he's not screaming at everyone anymore."
"Everyone except Detective John-whatshisname."
"Shhhhh. He's sitting two seats away!" West scolded as he looked over Killian's shoulder at the attractive, young Detective having a beer by his lonesome.
"Well, it's true," He responded in a hushed whisper. Boyfriends who gossiped together, stayed together. Not to say that they were boyfriends, or anything. "Sheriff turns to mush around him. I've noticed."
"That kinda happens when you're in love."
"I haven't noticed you turning into mush, though."
The corner of West's mouth quirked up into a barely noticeable smile, so he tried to hide it by snatching the milkshake from the table and taking a prolonged sip that probably would've choked any other person.
"Perhaps I just hide it very well." He returned after a few seconds. He didn't know exactly what he was feeling when it came to Killian. He knew it was something, the intense desire to kiss and hold him, to listen and talk to him every hour of every day, or just to be in his presence.
He regretted waiting so long to ask Killian out, then maybe everything that was happening now would've happened earlier, and maybe by now he'd know what emotion he was feeling. But emotions are never black and white, they're like symptoms that way. You lose your breath whenever the person you care about most, enters a room, your heart beats faster whenever they walk by, your skin tingles whenever you stand close enough to feel their breath, and those were just the minor things. West was still on the fence about what he felt, but he knew what he wanted to feel. He wanted to feel everything.
At that moment, Harper Graham entered Don's pizzeria. West smiled because it'd been so long since he'd seen him, he frowned when Harper passed right by their table to sit with some jocks from school in the back. "Why did he just pass us right now?"
"Maybe he didn't see us." Killian shrugged. He tried to reach for the milkshake too, but West pushed it out of the way, then stared at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You're wearing a pink neon hoodie."
"It's a new hoodie. He doesn't know it, so."
"Killian."
"You're being, like, super nosy right now." Killian mumbled. West folded his arms and leaned back on his seat, silently waiting for an answer.
"Fine. We just... we broke up. Okay?"
"When did this happen? And why wasn't I informed about it?"
Killian averted his eyes, then held his head down before exhaling. "It happened the night we picked him up from the station, and we weren't exactly talking."
"Yeah, but... you should've told me, you know." West offered, he leaned forward again, then slid two fingers underneath Killian's chin so that he'd look him in the eye. "I could've been there for you. You guys were practically attached at the hip."
Killian gently removed West's hand from underneath his chin and laid it down on the table, "Yeah, well. We just had a stupid argument."
"If it was stupid then you guys would be talking right now."
"I want to talk. I want to... be friends again but I'm scared he'll reject me. I really hurt him. We really hurt each other."
"People tend to say hurtful things when they're angry, man. It's not either of y'alls faults." West consoled.
Killian lifted his shoulders into an 'I don't know' gesture, therefore concluding the entire conversation.
"Well, I hope you guys work things out. I really liked you guys as friends."
"You liked us as friends? Who even says that?"
"I said it, like, a few seconds ago." West countered in a 'Duh' tone.
"You know, I think I preferred the West who thought talking was exhausting."
"Killian, I don't get tired of talking to you the way I do with other people."
"I am kinda awesome..." He smirked cockily.
West couldn't help stifling a grin, it was true. Being around Killian had made him into a joyful person. He wasn't as uptight as before, "Super awesome."
"Uh, hey guys. It's me. Dennis..." A gruff voice sounded, "You may know me as Sheriff Rickert, but I'm not... The Sheriff anymore, so please, call me Dennis... Rickert. I used to play drums back in my day, but, uh, I used to sing too."
West didn't know whether to cheer or to clap, but someone in the crowd decided to release one of those awkward coughs, so he figured that that would be enough.
"Alrighty. This one's called Forever Halloween."
'Just this once
Just for now
You can be anything
Anything in the world
Darling don't,
You start to scream
It doesn't mean anything
It's just make believe...'
"If my nephew didn't deliver the harsh truth to me," Dennis began at the end of his song, "I would still be living a lie. Stuck in a job I utterly hate, and resenting everyone around me for no reason. He opened my eyes to the things I was doing, the people I was hurting, and I just want to thank him for that. He's a good man. Better than I could ever be..."
Everyone in the room knew who Dennis was talking about. How couldn't they? In their eyes, though, West was always the bad guy, the kind you wouldn't want your daughter bringing home, the kind you begged your kids to stay away from. Some people still believed he was bad, but most were now seeing him in a different light. If he could turn The Grinch of Easton, A.K.A Dennis, into an apologetic, somewhat dignified person, then maybe he wasn't as bad as they had made him out to be.
West had never seen so many smiles directed towards him in his life. It was new, it was refreshing, but most of all... it was awkward.
"What do I do?" He questioned under his breath.
All the eyes trained on them started to make Killian feel anxious. They reminded him of the incident that happened on the football field. It wasn't easy to forget something like that, so he just covered his face with his hood.
"Just smile and wave, bro. Smile and wave."
"Are you kidding? I'm not a celebrity and I am definitely not on the red carpet."
"You may as well be. Fletcher's going to kill you for taking his Golden Boy status."
"Who the hell is that?"
"Exactly. Do you want to leave?" Killian asked lowly, his anxiety was already getting to him.
Please say yes, I'm about to pass out.
"Yes. Let me just say goodbye to my uncle first. You can wait outside." He stood up from their table, then looked at Killian strangely. His face was literally a red color, and beads of sweat were running down his forehead.
"And take that hoodie off, please. You dont look too good. Don't want you throwing up in my fucking car. I just washed it."
Killian didn't have the courage to tell West why he suddenly looked all sick and sweaty, so he pounced out of his seat, then stood up straight with his shoulders back before giving West a mock salute, "Yes, Sir."
"You're stupid."
He watched West walk away, then shook his head before rushing towards the exit, "And they say romance is dead."
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