oh my god, they were neighbors

the 'jessie + quentin' situation

When he woke up, it was in a slight tangle with Mateo, who had been the one to wake him in the first place. Mateo muttered a small apology under his breath, trying to gently urge Ezra back to sleep after his movements had woken him. But Ezra was up, now.

"I can make us breakfast," Mateo told Ezra.

Ezra nodded softly, but paid the most attention to the way the early morning sunlight hit Mateo's hair. He would've scolded himself for staring if he had any capacity left to give a shit, but by this point, he was self-indulgent and gay about it. So he watched Mateo cook, happily, and ate breakfast with Mateo, happily, and continued to live life, happily.

He lived in this world for about a week. Jessie continued to stay with him, and though the question of when this would end always sat at the tip of his tongue, Ezra never asked. Instead, he minded himself with Mateo who, at this point, he would not go a day without seeing if he could help it. This continued until Ezra returned to his apartment one late evening after spending time with Mateo.

When he entered, Ezra immediately noticed the presence of a taller man on his couch. The man sported short auburn colored hair and a decently long beard, clearly a bit older than Jessie, who was sitting next to him. He had a wise look about him, possibly attributed to the fact he looked to be in his late twenties. Nothing about him seemed friendly.

"Hi," Ezra said awkwardly.

Jessie perked up from her position on the couch. "Oh, Ezra. I didn't know if you'd come home tonight. This is Quentin."

"Hey," Quentin greeted, waving his hand at Ezra. He faced Jessie. "Can I be here?"

"You can be here," Jessie said to him. She looked back at Ezra. "Right?"

Ezra pursed his lips. "Sure..."

He sat down at his dining table, feeling uncomfortable with the prospect of sharing the couch with both Jessie and her boyfriend. Ezra shot Jessie a look that asked 'why is he here?' and received a light shrug.

Quentin suddenly stood up. "You know what? I'm going to leave, and we can talk later."

Jess seemed a bit sad at this, but smiled softly at Quentin. "Okay."

Ezra avoided eye contact with the man as he slipped past him and out the door, gone before there was any opportunity to ask questions. Luckily there was Jessie to answer them.

"Um...so, what the fuck was that?" Ezra asked Jessie, coming off ruder than he liked.

"Quentin wanted to talk."

"About what?"

"Us. Me, him. I don't know." Jessie sighed and rubbed her eyes, exasperated. "My parents keep trying to call me and I'm like, way too nervous to answer. And Quentin and I are having a hard time."

Ezra thought for a moment. "A hard time?"

"You're asking so many questions," Jessie replied. "Okay. Fine. He's a little mad at me because he thinks I told someone and that's why the school found out, but I didn't! I wouldn't. I was- I was so careful, Ezra."

"I'm sure."

"Why would I put him at risk like that?" she asked, more to herself than to Ezra. "He's going to meet with the school board and plead his case, and if this goes wrong, he's fired. And then there's me, who still hasn't even contacted the school yet. I'm just- I'm scared."

Ezra deliberated on saying what he would ultimately say next. "He seems like a dick."

"He's not a dick!"

    "Sure," Ezra replied. "Does he care about you or his job? Which one?"

    "Oh, okay, Mr. 'friends-with-benefits-that-refuse-to-fuck'," Jessie shot back. "Sorry. I just don't know if you're the most qualified person to talk about boyfriends when you don't even call your relationship with Mateo anything more than 'friendship'."