At Leo's House
Sydney decides to take Jenna's example and sleep at Leo's house.
Jenna was reading on the bus.
It was a Hiromu Arakawa title filled with beefy men and busty women. Honestly it was horribly uninteresting but she didn't mind, it was better than reality. God and Satan know she could take a break from that.
Unfortunately for her, a disgusting musky scent drew her out of her Platonic Cave.
"Do you ever use deodorant?" she said, raising her head to meet the source.
"Fuck off bitch!" Sydney said, curtly even by his standards.
Jenna wanted to retort, but as he sat down on the opposite side of the bus she noticed what seemed to be tears rolling down his face, sliding in his impermeable otter coat. She wasn't the only one who did so, but neither Jeremy nor Clint dared to mess with Sydney so they just snickered as quietly as they could.
Now, even though he was technically her friend, Jenna didn't much care for Sydney. Years of bullying one of her other friends does that to a person's perception of another. And even after said friend forgives and falls deeply in love with the redeemed bully, it's frankly a lot less juicy than enemies-to-lovers in a shitty anime. Everything was fine, but Jenna never forgave, even though she had the exact same problems as him.
Still, she wasn't heartless, so she slid her way out of her seat to his.
"Anything wrong?"
"'Is anything wrong'? No freaking duh!" Sydney snapped, anger stopped by sobbing.
"Calm down, I just want to help."
Sydney looked as though he was about to snark back, but he gave in to more open cries. He covered his eyes with shame, and Jenna's perpetual despise began to give way to pity.
"My family. My fucking family. My whore of a mother, my shitstains that supposedly are my brothers, all barking at me like demented seagulls after TJ and I began dating."
He exposes his reddened eyes, anger overwhelming his fear and sadness.
"Bitch actually had the gall to threaten to end me to my uncle, like she was dad! Jokes on her, TJ's church are willing to report her if she does that. But even if she was bluffing, I still have to put up with her."
Jenna knew exactly what that was like, even if she hated discussing it with Sydney. Just because both of them had pathetic parodies of humanity for parents didn't mean he had the right to try to use it as a topic of conversation every time he tried to connect with her. So she offered an elegant solution instead:
"Why don't you come sleep with me at Leo's house?"
"Are you for real?"
"Leo's parents have some severe empty nest syndrome and are naturally kind people to boot. They let me crash there when my family gets too overbearing."
Sydney mused, then sighed.
"Alright, but only for today. I feel awful taking advantage of people who actually care, you know?"
"True, it' best to keep it to a minimum, lest they stop offering their help."
"You're evil, you know that?"
"I'm pragmatic. I know how to manage my resources."
"Now you just sound like an edgelord. And I'm the resident rock-kid, so I should know."
Jenna laughed, one of the rare times she'd ever have her spirits lifted by Sydney.
"Now, let's phone Leo..."
***
Sydney stood nervously, wiping a few remaining tears.
He considered knocking, but the Alvarez family gave him no choice.
"Mierda de pájaro!" Leo grinned, dragging his friend into a bone-crushing hug.
Sydney greatly enjoyed the warmth of his friend. Leo was not an older brother to him the same way Flynn was, but he still felt safe in the arms of a close friend, a need that he came to satisfy that night.
"Dude, it's nowhere near as elegant as 'shitbird'. Try to come up with something new, lazy-ass poser."
"Que tal dundo?" Leo flicked his tongue as if there was snake software in his wolf hardware.
"Never heard that in Sonoran Iberian."
"I'm not Sonoran, mierda de pájaro estúpido."
"Okay okay, that's on me. I'm sorry, I'm just a redneck heck with no knowledge of other countries. Friends?"
"Duh" Leo shifted, half-hugging Sydney, "Its why I welcome you into my humble home, give you my food, my bed-"
"Your bed!?" Sydney backtracked, "I'm sorry, but that's too much."
"Relax, Sydney, me and Chase use my older brother's bed now. You're not imposing, I promise. Now, get your ass inside, its freezing out here."
As soon as Sydney passed the threshold into the Alvarez dimmension, Mrs. Alvarez quickly came up to him and kissed in him the cheeks and cooed him.
"Ay mi niño, you look so skinny. And you want to be a wrestler, yes?"
"Y-yes?"
"Then come join us at the mesa. We have Yuca Frita just out of the pan, with a bit of dried salmon. Jenna's idea!"
"And quite delicious on its own!" Mr. Alvarez concurred, rising from his table to ruffle Sydney's hat and hair.
Sydney reluctantly did so. To his surprise, Jenna and Chase were also there. The former wasn't looking at him, smiling politely at Leo's parents, while the latter was looking at Sydney sympathetically.
"Sup, chula?" Sydney said playfully, sticking his tongue out.
Chase rolled his eyes.
"Everytime I feel sorry for you" he said somewhat dramatically.
"C'mon Syd, you know what he's doing here" Leo sat beside Chase, wiggling his eyebrows.
"I didn't ask what he's doing here, just how he is. Thanks for implying your sex life in front of your parents, though."
Sydney sat down between Chase and Jenna. Chase quicked him playfully under the table, which Sydney responded with a tail slap to the other otter's ass.
"Hey, he's mine" Leo said semi-seriously.
"You can have him, he hates me" Sydney said semi-dramatically.
This made Chase drop his playful mood, and Sydney lowered his head and the hat's cap.
"You okay?" Chase asked, "Jenna and Leo told me the basics but I'd rather hear it from you. B-but if you don't want to vent that's alright, too."
"Thanks bro" Sydney looked at Chase, tears glistening at the edges of his lake-like eyes, "I don't want to talk about it right now, but thanks for, you know, whatever."
Chase squeezed Sydney's shoulder, and dinner began.
"Mm, this is actually pretty good."
"Try it with avocado" Chase offered.
***
"Shit, I think I forgot my deodorant!" Sydney said, covering his face with his hat cap.
"Oh, don't worry about it mi niño!" Mrs Alvarez said, "We have a few spare ones."
"They're in the bathroom and in Leo's guest room" Mr Alvarez said, stretching on the couch.
"O-okay" Sydney responded, and felt cheeky, "Guess Jenna and Chase really stink up the place, uh?"
"Oh no, Leo does too!"
"Mom!"
"Mira, you're all teenagers, there's no shame in that" Mrs Alvarez shook her head.
"Plus, I'm not complaining" Chase said, snuggling against Leo's armpit.
"Well, I'm off to bed" Jenna said, "Hopefully that image won't haunt my nightmares."
"Wet dreams, you mean" Sydney said.
"Please, don't project your fantasies" Jenna said, barely containing a smug grin.
***
Jenna reclined on the bed.
She was quick to brush her teeth after Sydney did so. She heard him talk on the phone with TJ, a fairly brief but sweet affair, the lynx promising his boyfriend that his parents would gladly welcome the otter if he even had trouble with his family again.
Like brief and sweet was the sound of Sydney pissing. Ugh.
She had no idea if he or if Leo and Chase for that matter were asleep already, but the house was silent and she would gladly keep it that way. But she couldn't quite shut her eyes yet.
She kept on reading her manga, just as invested as before. But it wasn't as much a distraction from physical reality as it was from her feelings.
Her friends were her true family, but they did have one thing in common with her parents: turbulent, unpredictable emotions. Not like her, no, she had her shit together.
And yet, it felt like she wasn't in a desert, but in the eye of a hurricane.