KISS: Road Trip

Ch 69: Other Eric (Bruce)

Paul and Eric were the last ones to leave, which was probably because Eric had fallen asleep at some point during the night.

"Oh shit he's asleep," Paul said, looking at Singer. "Just leave him here, don't wake him up. He can spend the night, it's fine!" I said, leaning back in my chair. "If you're sure, then yeah I'll just leave him," Paul said, rising to his feet before giving his boyfriend a fond smile, shaking his head. "Dumb blond," he murmured, walking out the door with a parting wave to us.

My Eric stretched with a yawn, giving me a grin. "Okay I'm tired, I'm going to sleep. Give Eric 2 a blanket or something and I'll see you in the morning!" he said cheerfully, walking into our room. I draped a blanket over Singer and charged his phone before sliding into bed, falling asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

By the time I woke up at an actual reasonable hour the next day, both Erics were still fast asleep, which was really no surprise in regards to my Eric. Singer was snoring softly on the couch, blond hair pretty much completely covering his face in spite of his ever-present headband. Smiling to myself, I set about making the three of us breakfast as quietly as possible.

I had just finished frying some bacon when Singer sat up abruptly on the couch, looking around in confusion. "Paul?" he mumbled. "Hey Eric! You fell asleep last night and we let you spend the night. Your phone's on the table charging and if you'd like breakfast there's more than enough for the three of us."

He stumbled to his feet, accepting the plate I handed him. "Do you want eggs? Scrambled or fried or whatever, I can make them any way." He gave me a shy smile, running a hand through his hair. "No it's okay, I can make them myself, I don't want to bother you!" I shook my head. "Nah I'm already cooking, don't worry about it! There's also drinks in the fridge, although I will say anything labeled 'mine' is Eric's and he drinks straight from the carton because he's too lazy to get a glass. So probably don't drink those."

Singer gave me another weak smile, pouring himself a glass of orange juice from the carton that wasn't Eric's before looking at me. "Would you uh...would you like anything to drink?" he mumbled. "I'll just have water, but I can get it myself, don't worry!" He nodded, taking a hesitant sip of orange juice. "Um...if it's not too much trouble I wouldn't mind a fried egg," he said quietly.

"Yeah no problem!" I said cheerfully, cracking another egg in the pan. A minute or two later I slid him his plate, which he accepted gratefully. "Thanks Bruce," he mumbled, giving me a faint smile. "You're a really nice guy." I shrugged, taking a bite of my eggs. "I try. If there's anything else I can get you, just let me know!"

"Oh! Uh thanks, that's really nice of you."

It was awkwardly silent as we ate breakfast, with him just staring at his plate, face pink and hands shaking. "You okay? You seem kind of upset, if there's anything I can do to help just let me know," I said gently. He jumped, looking at me in surprise. "Oh, n-no, it's fine, sorry. It's just...I dunno, it's weird seeing all of you guys again. Like...you know, I wasn't super close with most of you guys in high school, just Paul because we played football together, so like...I dunno, I'm just not sure what to do," he said quietly.

I nodded, taking a sip of water. "Yeah, I get that. That's kind of how I was senior year. Like I was close with Gene, kind of Ace and Peter, not so much Paul, but my Eric sort of roped us all together. You don't need to worry about being new to the friend group. You're a great person, you're fun to hang out with. Just be yourself and it'll be fine."

He gave me a grateful, much brighter smile. "Thanks! You guys are all really nice. Although um...it kind of feels like Gene doesn't like me," he said slowly. I grinned, shaking my head. "No, no, it's not that! Gene's thing is that...ah okay it's kind of complicated. So basically Gene ghosted all of us for five years and he feels super guilty about it, especially about not talking to Paul, since they've been best friends since they were babies. And now that they've made up they're super close again and Gene just naturally gets defensive for Paul's sake and always has to make sure whoever Paul's dating won't hurt Paul. But trust me, he likes you, don't worry!"

Singer laughed, shaking his head. "See I can see Gene being like that. But thank you though, really. That makes me feel better."

The door to my room opened and Eric shuffled into the kitchen with a yawn, hair a disheveled mess. He squinted at us through his glasses before grinning. "Eric! Good to see you!" he said cheerfully, stealing a piece of bacon off my plate and starting to brew some coffee. "I totally forgot you slept over, not gonna lie." "That's because you can't have a single coherent thought for like an hour after you wake up," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey now, don't call me out like that. Anyway did you sleep well?" he asked, turning to Singer, who nodded, visibly relaxed. "Yeah, thanks! You guys are too nice, really." We ate breakfast, chatting happily, before Singer looked at his phone, cheeks turning pink as he smiled. "I'm gonna head out, thank you so much for breakfast and letting me spend the night, that was really nice of you guys," he said, giving us a wave and heading out the door.

My Eric let out a yawn, twisting his hair up into a messy bun. "He's nice. I like other Eric." "Yeah. Shy though," I said absentmindedly, loading the dishwasher. "Yeah well I was too so I get where he's coming from," Eric said with a grin. "I think you're just happy you're not the shortest one of the group anymore." His smile grew bigger and he shrugged. "Yeah maybe. Got him by one inch."