arescere ✿ xavier thorpe

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8 - shoot ya shot

xavier started down at the notification, he clicked it. sending him to peter's profile, it was exactly as he imagined it. most of his posts were things he found pretty, like orange sunsets and the moon looming over the nevermore woods. stacks of books beside a hot chocolate and pictures of him and his dad. of him and his dog back home. a side of peter belfiore nobody in nevermore saw. there were highlights of him just playing catch with his dog. it looked staffy, he smiled at the next highlight. it was a video of him and his dog snuggled up watching the breakfast club. it reminded him of how little of him he knew, how little any of them knew him.

belfiore.p: where are you?

xthorpe: why you wanna know? stalking me?

belfiore.p: fine, was gonna ask if we could hang out but go fuck yourself

xthorpe: no! i'm outside, archery

peter took the route towards the location of xavier as he stepped outside he could see students mingling around. it wasn't usually grey so everyone was outside. enid and some other people were painting and decorating boats, oh fuck. the poe cup was coming up. and he found the figure of a tall lanky boy shooting. running over as the arrow hits the edge of the target.

"do you want to try?" xavier questioned as peter ran over, he wore his uniform as usual. shirt neatly tucked into his trousers. jumper overtop, his blazer slung over the brown satchel bag. and he wasn't wearing his headphones. peter almost laughed at his question, before remembering he didn't know. just because peter couldn't throw darts, didn't mean he didn't know how to shoot. but he played along.

"can you teach me?" he asked, tilting his head to the side lightly. xavier couldn't help but think he looked like a confused puppy as he did.

"so you wanna stand like this, your body facing sideways to the target." xavier started as peter dropped his bag to the floor. xavier felt his adams apple against his own throat as the boy came to stand beside him. picking a bow of the stand on the other side of xavier. peter always had that lingering vanilla and chocolate scent, it was alluring. peter followed his actions.

"right then, get your arrow. slot it in place and make sure you hear the thing as it clips." he added, and peter did just that smiling to himself as he picked up one of the arrows. twirling it in his fingers.

"use three fingers. below the arrow and let it fly." he added, peter couldn't help but notice the look of concentration on xavier's pale face. his brows were wrinkled and his eyes smart. his lip was curled, he looked cute. and xavier shot, the arrow hitting the outer blue ring. and peter chuckled again, xavier turning to give him the most offended look.

"you try then." he spat and so peter did, his green eyes locked on xavier's as he pulled back and shot. xavier raised a brow as he heard the thump of the arrow hitting the hay. turning to look where the arrow hit. and much to his shock, it hit the middle and peter wasn't even looking.

"do that again." he called and so peter did, picking another arrow. remembering what his mother had taught him, two fingers between the arrow. one above, one below. and xavier watched as it split the other arrow right down the middle.

"woah." he breathed out, turning to look at peter once more. he had expected him to wear a cocky grin but he didn't.

"woah indeed." he laughed as he put the bow back down at xavier's feet.

"how? how did you-"

"my mother." peter spoke softly, xavier watching as his smile faded slightly. the light in his green eyes didn't reach him.

"she seems amazing." xavier spoke, he couldn't remember seeing any posts about peter's mum in the highlights he checked.

"she was." ah and there it was, the word was. past tense. peter dropped onto one of the stacks of hay as xavier went back to shooting. he couldn't find the heart to bring up rowan, so instead he pulled out the red apple from his bag along with his book. xavier peeked his head over his own shoulder to see what he was reading. the grapes of wrath. xavier wondered just how many books peter had.

"hello wednesday."peter spoke, taking a bite of his apple as the lingering cold appeared, only the wednesday addams had that much coldness that it lingered to others. she merely raised a brow as she joined them.

"huh, you actually showed up. ever shot a bow and arrow before?"

"only on live targets." and peter didn't even bother react, xavier chuckled lightly think she was joking. wednesday addams did not joke. and peter watched as xavier attempted to show her how to shoot. the girl looked over her shoulder to the boy with the book and apple. she looked amused. she knew how to shoot, it was funny that xavier never seemed to get the point.

"any questions?" he asked turning back to look at her.

"when's the last time you saw your roommate rowan?"

"you mean the one that was killed by a monster?" he asked, grinning in that mocking sense as he tilted his head to the side ever so slightly. looking to peter but the boy didn't meet his eyes.

"the harvest festival. i haven't talked to him since. but his side of the room was all packed this morning."

"so it's true, he's actually going?'' peter asked, wednesday once again looked back at him. the two know what they saw, something about the whole rowan situation didn't feel right.

"rowans has always been a little off, but uh in the last couple of weeks he's been more erratic. thought you, belfiore, would have noticed something odd about him. isn't he like your best friend?'' peter shot up. slamming his book shut, his apple left discard on the stack of hay. he didn't give the long haired boy another glance as he stormed away. xavier almost hit himself, why on earth would he do that. and he continued with his conversation with wednesday, reminding himself to message peter later.

"at least im not an elitist snob."wednesday commented and he watched as wednesday picked up the apple with peters bite. throwing it in the air and shooting. the arrow ripping through the apple and hitting the bullseye. her arrow lines up perfectly with peters two.

"ouch." xavier commented and the corner of wednesday's lip upturned.

3 new messages from xthorpe

read on peter's phone as he listened to the ,music playing through his headphones. he sat in the window of one of the many corridors of nevermore. the one that overlooked the opening of the school. pulling his eyes from the book to look out the window, seeing a boy shoving a suitcase in ms thornhill's car. rowan. and he got up, sprinting over the stairs. ignoring xavier shouting his name as he did so.

"rowan!" he shouted running out the door. the boy with glasses looking to see peter running at him.

"belfiore. i can't talk to you."

"for the love of god, what is wrong with you? we're friends, remember." and rowan let out a sigh as he turned to look at him, leaning against the car slightly. he knew the boy standing before him was not rowan, he knew that was not his friend.

"i should be asking you the same question, i went into the woods to clear my head and you and wednesday followed me."

"you know darn well that's not true." and wednesday came running over as well. the boy was cornered. she started questioning him to when ms thornhill came over to her car.

"peter, wednesday. you two should not be here." she spoke

"yeah back off and leave me alone. the both of you." rowan spat as he climbed into the car. not even giving peter a second look as he did so, he felt like he boy had punched him in the gut. his only friend. how was this all real. in the space of 24 hours he had watched his only friend's chest get ripped open, appear in front of him alive and now leaving him. none of it made sense. the second the car started to pull away peter turned to wednesday.

"that is not rowan." he commented and she lightly nodded, bothe turning back to the car watching as a hand climbed onto the back.

"that's thing." she told him before he could ask and he nodded, watching the car pull away and just like that rowan was gone.