washing machine heart

the fight

"Spence! Hey, Spence!" Derek called down the hall, running up to meet the boy as he turned to look at the older man. "How are you?" He flashed his normal bright grin and looped an arm around Spencer's tiny shoulders, allowing the boy to lean into him.

"Derek." Spencer nodded, looking up at him. Derek wasn't too much taller than him, but Spencer definitely had to look up slightly to make direct eye contact with him. "Thank you for meeting me for breakfast again, I'm... a bit perplexed after the events of last night and felt that a conversation with someone that isn't Emily would be appropriate."

"Oh yeah, for sure. Come on!" Derek dropped his hold on the younger boy which disappointed him quite a bit more than he was comfortable with. He didn't normally allow for someone to touch him in the way that Derek did, but he wasn't concerned. In fact, he was completely comfortable. He enjoyed his touch, something he hadn't felt since the last time his mother hugged him.

The two of them slowly made their way to the cafeteria, making small talk about the events they had planned for the day: their classes, there was some play tonight at a theatre nearby in town that Spencer wanted to attend, and Derek was thinking about going to a party that he invited Spencer to. He didn't normally get invited to parties so he was a bit confused as to why he was being invited but agreed, nonetheless, as long as he stuck by Derek the whole time. (In Derek's words, not Spencer's.)

Sitting at the table they were sitting at the other day, the two of them sorted their belongings on their chairs before skipping over to get their food. Derek piled his plate per usual, while Spencer only grabbed his normal muffin but also a slice of the cinnamon sugar toast- he couldn't pass it up this time. It was strange how in only a few days he had added something new to his strict palate of food.

Sitting back down, the two of them began to dig into their food, quiet as they ate. They weren't sure where to begin. Should Spencer asked why he held such a tight grip on his thigh that night? Or perhaps the way he asserted his dominance over him multiple times? Or should he ignore it all together and bring up Emily instead? His final decision was to allow Derek to start the talking, see what he wanted to discuss.

"I can't believe Emily kissed JJ." Derek finally cut through their silence, setting down the donut he was currently in the middle of scarfing down. "I thought their relationship was weird, and I had my suspicions that Emily never liked Elle but... I certainly did not expect her to act on it. Especially not in front of her girlfriend, like, my god." Originally, Spencer began to get a bit defensive in favor of his best friend. He knew her actions as of recently were poor, but it didn't take away the fact that he could never hate her for any reason- especially not for acting on her true feelings.

"I knew Emily didn't like Elle. I knew Emily liked JJ. She refuses to say so, but it's obvious to me. If you read her body language around the girl, even the dumbest person in the entire world could perceive that. She was overly affectionate with Elle from the beginning, I would never act like that with a person I just recently got into a relationship with." Spencer shrugged slightly, taking a bite of his toast and resisting the urge to moan at the mere taste. Unfortunately for him, it slipped slightly and the two boys turned bright red, staring at one another.

"Yeah, I had this girl back home- Savannah, we never acted like that around people when we first got together. So close, so touchy, having sex when they know other people would walk in. I don't know man," He shrugged, fighting his smile as he watched jealousy flood Spencer's face. A part of him hoped it was because of him talking about another person, but another part of him wondered if it was just because Spencer wasn't in a relationship with anyone, he never had been.

Spencer looked down at his almost empty plate, and began playing with a crumb of his muffin, rolling it between his fingers. "So, how many people have you had the experience of being with? I understand you are quite the "player"," he teased, looking up at Derek with a sly smile. "But seriously. How many people have you actually been with?"