AH collections

the sugar baby escapades (9)

OT6
Word count: 17704
Chapters: 18

Jeremy's woken by Ryan's insistent nudging.

"It's your phone," he says. "Answer it." He throws an arm over his eyes, and Jeremy blindly reaches for his vibrating phone. He slips out of bed and moves to the hallway to answer the call.

"Hello?" He rubs a hand over his eyes.

"Heyyyyy, Jeremyyy. How's it—how's it going?"

"Oh my god. Rob?"

"Yeah, buddy! It's your buddy Rob! Um."

"Are you drunk right now or something?"

"Or something probably. I've had a rough night."

"Go to bed, Rob."

"Yeah, see? Here's the thing."

Jeremy sighs. He pulls the phone away for a moment, and thinks about the situation. Since becoming friends with Rob, he's realized two things about him: 1) he's extremely reckless and 2) he's slightly homeless. He hopes that tonight has more to do with the fact that he can't find a place to crash, because when Rob gets rowdy, he catches people's attention; and Jeremy's just hoping that this situation has less to do with Rob getting into some trouble with some drug runners.

"Just stay where you are and turn your location on. I'll be there soon."

"You're the best!"

He goes to pull on some pants and a jacket. He quickly whispers to Ryan that he's helping out a friend. Ryan simply grunts and falls silent.

Jeremy picks up his keys and heads out, looking at the location of Rob's phone as he goes down to the garage to get into his car. It takes him ten minutes to find Rob, curled up on a bus stop bench. He rolls down his window and calls out to him.

"Rob. Hey Rob!"

Rob startles.

"Get the fuck in. I'm tired."

Rob grins and slides off the bench, absentmindedly picking up his duffle bag and flopping down on the passenger's seat. "You're a lifesaver, bro."

"Did you take anything I need to be concerned about?" Jeremy asks.

Rob's not exactly a druggy, but he partakes every once in a while.

"No, but I really gotta stop self-medicating." He presses his head against the window and sighs.

"All right, buddy, let's get you into bed."

He goes to his own apartment. Each of the Fakes generally have their own place that they escape to, a place that is just there's. Jeremy hasn't been by to his apartment for a while since he's hoping between Michael and Ryan recently, but it should be clear enough for Rob to sleep in—and hopefully there shouldn't be too much incriminating details left behind for him to notice.

They get there in twenty minutes. Rob follows Jeremy up the stairs and into the spacious apartment. It's a bit cold—he hasn't been here in two weeks. He dials up the thermostat and shows Rob to the bedroom. "You can take the bed, all right."

Rob sighs and trudges over to the bed. "Okay."

Once Jeremy is sure he's out, he sweeps through the apartment and picks up anything that might call out to his criminal past. He shoots off a quick text to Ryan and crashes on the couch.

He wakes up to Rob standing over him. "Dude. You have, like, no food in this apartment."

"Jesus, Rob. It's like ... six thirty."

"I was hungry. Chill."

"We'll just go out for breakfast then." Jeremy flips over on the couch and stretches out the kinks in his back. Rob settles on an armchair and crosses his legs. "So, what's the situation then?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you ... looking for a place to stay?"

Rob shrugs. "It is what it is."

"I'm serious. Do you. Need a place to stay."

Rob gives a non-committal sound. Jeremy gets it. It might sound embarrassing, asking for help like this. But what Jeremy has come to realize is that doesn't have a safety net under him. As far as he knows, Rob is here alone. He doesn't have a Tess or a Paula. He doesn't have a sugar daddy like Jeremy. He's on his own.

"Are you, like, offering me a place to stay here?"

"I have, like, five different houses I jump between. Honestly, make yourself at home here."

"I can't really." He rubs the back of his neck. "Pay you, you know."

"Rob, I'm not expecting anything in return from you. I just want to know if you got a safe place to sleep."

He sees the gears in Rob's head turning. Then he nods. "Yeah. Yeah, that'd be great actually."

"Great. Come on, let's get some breakfast. There's a great truck stop diner that offers you a shit ton of food for five dollars. That and unlimited coffee."

Rob grins. "Sweet. Let's do it."

They head back out to Jeremy's car and buckle up. As Jeremy pulls away, Rob looks at him and asks, "Does this make me your sugar baby now?"

"I'm going to ignore that."