Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD—!”

todd anderson glanced up from his spot at the kitchen table almost tiredly, and he sighed. there was a faint smell of burnt wafting through the apartment, and he could just barely hear the sounds of some video game (“it is not just some video game, it’s resident fucking evil! get it right!” -charlie dalton, 2020) coming out of one of the bedrooms. it was probably from charlie’s room—they played incessantly those days. 

todd pushed the char smell and loud noises to the back of his mind and looked back to his work. he clicked his pen and squinted his eyes. 

he had been tasked, by his english professor, to write a small collection of poetry. it wasn’t an assignment, but more so to get todd’s ‘creative juices advanced’, and it had to be finished whenever todd could get it done. yet that relieved his stresses naught, and he slowly felt himself growing annoyed at the project. 

“OH MY GOD! todd, todd, todd oh my god—“

in a flash, a tangle of tall slammed open his bedroom door and flew down the hallway. he fell into the kitchen, tumbled to sit in one of the four wooden chairs, and slammed his phone onto the tabletop. 

todd looked up, unfazed, and ran a hand through his hair. 

“anderson, listen to me, i know you’re working and you said not to bother you but this is seriously important.”

the phone was shoved into his line of view and the dirty-blond leaned in to see. he was having trouble telling what the big deal was, and he looked to his roommate. 

“gerard, this is a fucking news article,” he muttered, turning back to his notebook. with an inward sigh he scratched out a couple of words (sincere and sheer are too rhymey, what was he thinking?!) and said, “what’s so important? since when do you read news articles?”

“uh—‘what’s so important’?” gerard deadpanned. he scoffed, looking back to his phone gleefully. he propped his feet up on the chair across from him and went on. “toddy, this is serious. i know i pay shit attention to the news, buuuut, i was on instagram this morning and 2000ssomeonelikeyou—you know that account—posted the link to this. so i was like, ‘i need to see this’.”

todd was fighting the urge to block out gerard’s rant, because he really wanted to finish this stanza, but gerard ran a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly so he figured it could be actually important.

“and todd, basically, adele might release a new fucking album at the end of this year!” he squealed, and todd’s mouth fell open. 

no, not because he was excited. because he couldn’t believe that was what gerard had just lost his shit about. but it seemed it was taken the former way, to todd’s chagrin. 

“i know. and i was like—“

a door swung open and todd shut his notebook. there wasn’t any way he was going to finish the poem that night anyway. 

“did you just say adele’s dropping a new album?!” charlie shouted. 

todd looked down the hall and saw both charlie and cameron run from out of charlie’s room. they both still had controllers in their hands, and charlie tossed their’s onto the couch as they came into the kitchen. 

they grabbed gerard’s phone and quickly scrolled through the article. cameron shoved them away, taking the phone for himself. for a couple seconds they tussled over the device but cameron won, and charlie read over his shoulder. 

“damn,” cameron whispered, and charlie gave a ‘whoop’. 

“god, about fucking time!” they said, and todd squeezed his eyes shut. “i thought that bitch had fuckin’ forgotten about us!”

”no way, is this even legit?” the redhead asked, and charlie rolled their eyes. 

“don’t be a pessimist, rich, it’s from this year!”

“yeah, fucking october!” cameron retaliated, sticking his tongue out at charlie. he handed gerard his phone and crossed his arms. “20 bucks says she won’t even release it.”

gerard scoffed. “why would you even bet on it, that’s basically cursing it.”

”40 says she will.” charlie had their hand out to cameron, and gerard raised his brow. the two shook on it and gerard groaned. 

“look what you’ve done, i just know the music gods are listening and now she won’t fucking relea—“

”you guys,” todd started, nose scrunched and breath held. 

“of course she’s gonna drop music, she said so in an article!” reasoned charlie. they crossed their arms and rested them on gerard’s shoulders. “she wouldn’t lie like that.”

”what do you know?” came cameron, “i think she’s chilling in her house right now, not working on the album.”

”you guys.”

”so what if she is? she’s more successful than you are!”

cameron gasped, “you bitch! i am fairly successful, thank you very m—”

”GUYS!” todd shouted, and the three ceased their bickering. 

charlie looked to todd worriedly, brows furrowed. 

“what?” they asked, “what’s up?” 

todd sniffed quietly, and gerard soon did too. 

“oh, god,” the tallest groaned, covering his nose with his hand. “what is that? who fucking shit themselves—”

”charlie,” cameron started, and charlie scoffed. 

“real funny,” they mumbled, standing up and stretching. “it does stink though.”

“i think something’s burning,” todd said quietly, and charlie hummed in agreement. 

cameron suddenly froze, whispering “fuck! i forgot!”

”what?” gerard asked, looking over the chair as cameron ran over to the stove. 

he slipped on a pair of oven mitts (they were christmas camouflage, courtesy of gerard’s younger brother) and yanked open the oven door. his mouth fell open in horror and he quickly pulled out what had been baking.

“oh no, god,” he moaned, and the three others crowded around him. “they’re soiled! absolutely-fucking-soiled.”

“they’re not that bad, cam,” gerard tried, setting a hand on cameron’s shoulder. the redhead had his head hung and his hands gripping the edges of the stovetop. 

“no, they’re kind of bad,” todd said, and charlie snorted. 

“they’re black. fucking charcoal,” cameron cried, grabbing a fork and stabbing it into one of the masses that had taken up the cupcake pan. he held up the thing in front of him, taking a small nibble. “it tastes like shit.”

”what are they, again. . . ?” charlie asked carefully, and cameron sighed. 

“muffins. for my boss,” he dejectedly mumbled, “it’s the library’s year anniversary tomorrow. we’re all bringing in food.”

”do you have any more batter?” asked todd, and cameron shook his head. 

“what?” charlie laughed, “you made batter for only four muffins? how?” 

cameron huffed, crossing his arms. “i was following allrecipes! they have you put in how many you need! i wasn’t gonna make 24. . .”

”well we can just eat these ones, no biggy.”

cameron gave gerard a look. “they taste. like shit.”

”they can’t be that bad,” charlie said with a shrug. 

todd and cameron watched as the two grabbed muffins, both taking large bites.

they both spit it out in the trash can soon after.

“god, what was that, rat poison?”

”shut up, charlie,” cameron muttered, taking both of their muffins and throwing them out. “i told y’all not to eat that.”

“when does your shift start?” todd asked, and cameron sighed. 

“ten tomorrow morning,” he said, taking off the mitts. “i mean, i’m sure i could go in late ’cause it’s not a real shift. we’re just hanging out tomorrow upstairs to celebrate. but it’d still be nice to have these. .”

todd nodded. the library was a small, two story building in their town. the ground floor was where the actual books were, and the second floor had been made into a lounge where the library’s workers (a whopping three people) read, hung around, and did work in their free time.  

gerard sighed sympathetically, clapping cameron on the shoulder once more. he glanced at the clock on the stove before saying, “i’d love to help, cam, but i gotta run. i’m meeting steven in a bit, i don’t wanna be late.”

“oo steven,” charlie teased, and gerard flushed. 

“be quiet,” he muttered, and charlie laughed. 

“how is he anyway? he hasn’t come over here in a while,” they asked, and gerard snorted. 

“i’m pretty sure you guys scarred him last time,” he told with a smile, and charlie rolled their eyes. 

“have fun, don’t stay out to late, don’t talk to strangers,” charlie listed, counting on their fingers. they looked to todd and asked, “did i miss anything?” 

“. . no drugs?” 

gerard scoffed. “yeah yeah, i get it, thanks parentals.” he left the kitchen and went to the front door to slip on his shoes. he peeked his head back in and said, “cam, g’luck with your cupcakes!”

”muffins!” cameron corrected, shouting over his shoulder. he was aggressively scrubbing the cupcake tray to rid it of burnt batter. todd kind of felt bad. 

“whatever, i’m audi!”

the door slammed shut and an almost awkward silence came with it. 

charlie clapped their hands together and broke it. “well! i’d love to stay and bake, but i have an assignment for music theory that is just to die for.”

they ruffled todd’s hair and smacked cameron’s ass before leaving (read: fleeing) the kitchen. cameron sighed to himself, and todd bit his lip. 

“do you want any help?”

Chapter Text

neil perry was sitting on the couch with his legs pulled to his chest and a book sitting in front of him. it wasn’t a book-book, actually a beat up copy of the tempest, but he was reading it nonetheless. across the room in lawn chairs sat his boss, chris noel, and richard cameron. 

it had been an absolutely slow day at the library, seeing as they weren’t actually working and both of his coworkers were drunk. he had opted to not drink, seeing as he was underage (that didn’t stop chris or cameron) and the one with a car. 

on the small coffee table sat a tiny array of food; four bags of chips, four muffins, a bowl of cotton candy grapes, and cheese cubes. plus, a few bottles of wine.

the two intoxicated were currently in a heated debate, arguing over the meaning of the movie ‘aliens’.

”cameron, you’re reading too far into it,” chris mumbled, shutting her eyes. “it’s a simple movie about sexy sigourney weaver and aliens. i don’t. . i don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

”it’s not even simple at all,” cameron said. he took a long sip from his cup of wine (a large mason glass with a small amount of alcohol) before continuing. “it follows the. . the treacherous journeys and sadness that is the fucking vietnam war! it’s an—an. . shit. . what’s it called, neil?”

neil blinked, looking over at the two. “a movie?”

“no!” cameron whined, “god, a um. . an anthony?”

after a moment of mulling it over, neil chuckled. “an allegory?”

“yes!” cameron shouted, snapping his fingers. “it’s an allegory.”

”no way,” chris slurred. “you’re making shit up. you probably saw that on youtube and now you think you’re hot shit. . . right neil?”

”i guess,” he mumbled. 

“not true!” cameron declared, leaning his head upside down on the back of the chair. “i read a seven page fuckin’ analysis. i searched it up on safari and—an’ i read that shit. i did, sincerely i did.”

”right. of course you did. .”

neil huffed out a laugh. “you’re so weird, cameron,” he said with a grin. cameron stuck up the middle finger tiredly. 

“you’re gonna make me cry, man,” he whispered, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. neil snorted. 

for a while the two continued to argue and neil continued to read, until cameron’s phone buzzed on the table. it wasn’t distracting at all, until it buzzed again. and then a couple minutes after that, it buzzed again. 

neil looked to cameron and then slowly grabbed the phone. 

he had three text messages, all from the contact ‘toddy a’. 

toddy a hey im here with the lemonade, could you come get it?

toddy a its kind of cold lol

toddy a cameron???

neil frowned, looking to cameron. he didn’t know how much he trusted him to walk down the stairs in his state, so he took it upon himself to retrieve the lemonade. he didn’t even know cameron was bringing lemonade. 

he peered over the couch and looked out the window, and there was in fact someone out there with a drink. the person was standing bundled in sweatshirts and a scarf, clutching the bottle of minutemaid lemonade to their chest. neil assumed it was cameron’s friend, and he chuckled.

neil hopped off the couch and skipped down the steps, going overall unnoticed. he didn’t mind, after all chris and cameron were drunk, and he made his way through the plethora of bookshelves and stands. when he got to the door he unlocked it and opened it wide, quickly scanning over the guest. 

the person, a short and scrawny blond young man (student? he looked neil’s age), looked up quickly. his cheeks were flushed red and his eyes were about the brightest blue neil had ever seen. the young man swallowed, shifting on his feet.

“hi,” neil greeted, a little breathlessly, and the guy looked around.

“hi,” he said quietly, “um—”

”i take it you’re toddy a?” asked neil, as he leaned against the doorframe. he smiled. “sorry if you were waiting long, cameron wasn’t on his phone.” 

“that’s okay, um, i’m—i’m todd.”

”todd?” neil repeated, nodding. he grinned. “my name’s neil, you wanna come in? just to get out of the cold for a second.”

”oh.” todd’s eyes widened and he looked around again, rocking on his feet. “i dunno. . i don’t wanna intrude, cameron said this was a—a work party. .”

neil chuckled. “there are only three of us. you’re not intruding, you’re cameron’s friend?”

”his roommate. .”

neil nodded, “come on in, then, we’re—”

“IS THAT TODD? TELL HIM TO GET HIS ASS UP HERE ’CAUSE WE TURNED ON THE BEACH BOYS!”

todd flinched, squinting his eyes. 

“sorry, they were drinking,” neil explained, ushering todd in. he lightly guided todd toward the staircase, touching his elbow as he did so. “down past these shelves and on the left is the steps. we’re all upstairs. i’m just gonna lock the door so no customers come in.”

todd paused. “i don’t. . i don’t know if i’m gonna s-stay for long, i have some work to do. .”

“that’s okay!” neil smiled back at him, joining him after he got the door locked. “we aren’t doing much anyway.”

the two quietly went up the steps—a tall, green, winding metal staircase—and todd hesitated at the top. he walked in, setting the lemonade bottle onto the coffee table. after that he awkwardly hovered, eyes scanning the messily organized room.  

“todd, come on, make yourself at home,” chris insisted, and todd flushed. 

“you can sit with neil,” cameron said, reaching a hand up to lightly push todd toward the couch. “he’s like. . reading. .”

todd looked to neil and sat down, and neil grinned.