About U || A Lil Peep Fanfic

*Chapter Fifteen*

Big shoutout to allywattts giving me the motivation to write lol. Sorry it took absolutely ages to update, love <3

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     I didn't want to make Gus uncomfortable, so I didn't ask him any of the questions running through my mind. I ended up heading home a few hours later and decided to text Owen. This was definitely an invasion of Gus' privacy, but I had to know. I said goodnight to my mom in the living room and went upstairs to my room.

Mazie
Hey man. What was
the reason you wanted
me to go to Gus' place?

Owen
Did you go over?

Mazie
Yeah, I did. We went in
through the back door.

Owen
Did he show you around?

Mazie
No lol... I  kinda showed
myself around.

Owen
Went in all the rooms?

     That was the only answer I needed. I was right, and for the first time in a while, I didn't want to be. Gus was living alone, and from what I could see, it had been like that for a while. Who was paying his bills? Who was paying for anything really? I plugged up my phone and left it sitting on the nightstand beside my bed. It was already late, and I decided to investigate more the next day.

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It took a lot of concentration to get through the entire school day while trying to keep my mind off of Gus. We sat in our usual spot at lunch and I struggled to keep our conversation going. He seemed to notice how preoccupied I was and asked me what was wrong, but I couldn't find a decent answer to give him. I truly felt bad. What was I supposed to say? Gus cared enough to ask me if I needed to talk and all I could say was "No, I'm fine." What kind of bullshit was that? I had been trying to figure out how I could bring it up to him, but my own mind had failed me. I decided to make it up to him after school even though I couldn't do it when it really mattered. I dropped Chase off at the house and took Gus to his favorite fast food place a little outside the city lines. He ordered his usual hamburger with extra pickles, and I stuck to a large order of fries and a Sprite. After a half an hour of sidetracked conversation, I'd finally come up with a decent way of bringing up the subject that had been bothering me all day.

"So, Gus..."

"Hmm?" he hummed, picking up the other half of his hamburger.

"Tell me about your mom. You guys close?"

Gus stopped mid-bite and his eyes found mine. "Whatcha mean?" he asked, his voice monotonous. I forced myself to keep going. "Like, you never talk about her... and she's never around." I picked at my food and moved the last few fries around my plate. Gus sniffled and waited a moment before answering. "She uh... she uh... works a lot. So she's never really home and uh... y'know." He struggled through the sentence and finally took another bite of his food. I turned my head and raised an eyebrow. "Gus," I began sternly. "No bullshit." His eyes widened and he shook his head softly. "No bullshit," he repeated softly. "She works a lot."

I decided to cut to the chase since dancing around this stupid metaphorical bush just wasn't working. "Gus, there aren't enough rooms in your house for you and your mom." Panic flashed across his face and his eyes widened once again. I watched his hand move to cover his mouth as he coughed to hide whatever was going on in his head. Gus shook his head again, but this time, for much longer. His initial shock quickly turned into anger as his eyebrows lowered and his lips formed a thin line. "You went snooping around, didn't you?" he asked accusingly. My jaw dropped slightly but I tried to keep a straight face.