Chapter Text
If someone would’ve told Fezco that two of his closest friends would be Maddy Perez and Cassie Howard, he would have told them they were tripping. Yet, here he was, sitting at a cafeteria table listening to the girl’s plan for that night’s party.
It wasn’t always like that though. His freshman year he didn’t get along with anyone, he didn’t actually want to go to high school if he was being honest, but Kitty didn't let him drop out. All Fez wanted to do was help Kitty grow the business, she had taken him in, and for that, he will always be grateful. “You ain’t gonna become some dumb lazy ass under my watch, snowflake.” That’s what his grandma would say every time he brought the subject up.
He didn’t talk much with anybody, he went to school, sat his ass down, paid attention, ignored everyone else, and as soon as the bell rang, he would go straight to the store and get to work. Or at least, that's what he used to do the first few months. As time went by, even if he didn't want to admit it, he started to look forward to his classes. Although his head injury sometimes made focusing difficult or gave him terrible headaches at the end of the day, he enjoyed the challenge the classes gave him, especially in math and chemistry, he found that it was easier to focus on numbers and formulas, and they happen to be useful in his line of work.
The thing was, he also felt guilty that he had to spend time at school, the valuable time he could be picking up or delivering the product with his grandma, she would have to do most of her work in the morning. At least Ash was finally in elementary, so Fezco wouldn't feel bad to leave him alone too. The guilt was still there, and that was what made him work even harder in the afternoons, focusing on doing the books, weighing the product, dealing with the rest of the customers, helping Ash with his homework, and late in the evening finally doing his own.
A brilliant idea finally came to his mind while he was listening to a group of juniors talking next to him, while he was standing in front of his locker. The O’Neills had their preferred clientele, big old ass dudes, club owners, gang leaders, you name them, Fezco had met them all. They knew where to get their product and where to deliver it, but neither Kitty nor Fez thought about the desperate teenagers who wanted to get fucked up. At least not until now.
“Told you we just need to find someone new to hook us up before the next game.” Without thinking about it, Fez interrupted their conversation, “Yo, I can help, man.” The three football players, he guessed from their school jackets, turned around and looked at him. “We don’t want your pop rocks, kid." The tallest one replied in a mocking voice, causing the rest of them to laugh. But Fez didn't flinch, he'd met scarier men than just three high schoolers “I mean, I know where you can get some stimulants for your performance dude, but if you ain’t interested, your loss I guess.” He shrugged and closed his locker, but before he turned around, he heard, “Wait up…it better be worth it, kid.” He tried not to show his excitement, so Fez replied with a “Bet” and told them the address to the store and the time they could find him there.
As soon as he sees Kitty that afternoon, he tells her about the jocks at the school. “We can start selling to ‘em, they don’t have a supplier, it’s just three of ‘em now, but knowing how gossip spreads around, we could have most of East Highland High at our door before the second semester even starts.” He was actually excited to present the idea to her, but now having her in front of him nodding, running through the pros and cons in her head, he started to doubt himself. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut.
“Ain’t you the best partner I could have.” He felt his body relax, “You’ll take care of ‘em, and see how it goes.” He nodded, not having much to say, he was happy that at least now, he wouldn’t feel he was wasting his time at school, “Proud of you, snowflake.” And trying to hide his blush he looked down and comb his recent buzz cut hair with his hand.
He wasn’t one to brag but he was right, they started having new and younger customers than they were used to in the following months. They weren’t making as much money as with their regular clientele, but it was something, and he knew it would only grow from there. People started to recognize him at school, some approached him to ask him about prices or worst a discount. He wasn’t dumb enough to sell in school, he would just say where they should go and how much they must bring with them.
Sophomore year was better. He didn’t like to think his popularity grew, because he didn’t give a shit about that, but his classmates not only knew about him, but they also started greeting him in the hallways. Juniors and seniors would invite him to parties, and he would go mostly to sell, although Marie reminded him that he was allowed to have some fun so he would stay a little bit longer even after he sold everything he brought with him.
Fezco knew he had to draw a line with his classmates, most of them were his clients or possible clients, he knew not to get too close to them, he knew he had to keep the dealer consumer relationship. Out of everyone though, he would get along with the quiet ones, mostly the nerd type, he knew they weren’t interested in whatever he would sell, and they were cool. He didn’t hang out with them a lot though; he could feel they were a bit hesitant towards him and that was fine with him. He was only in school to get his diploma and finally be able to dedicate his time to the game one hundred percent.
At the end of his sophomore year, he met Rue, a scrawny kid that came to the store on one of his slow days. “Um, you’re Fez, right?” “Wassup?" He addressed her with a nod. She looked nervous like she wasn't completely sure what she was doing there. He saw she still had her backpack from school and her math book holding it with both arms in front of her chest, "You have Mr. Davis?” He noticed she relaxed for a bit, “Yeah, he’s a fucking bitch.” He chuckled, “Damn right, can’t believe he hasn’t retired yet” She looked calmer, but she kept moving her right foot up and down, which told him she was still anxious, “You good, kid?” “Yeahiwaslookingforsomeweed.” It all came out as one word so he could barely understand her, “You tried it before?” “Not really” he nodded.
Looking at her, he remembered the other reason why he learned to keep his distance from his peers, he was a softy, Kitty reminded him often of that, “You just like your mama.” But he couldn’t help it, seeing how agitated Rue was, he didn’t want to take advantage of her situation, “You free right now?” He caught her off guard, “Um yeah, why?” “Let’s go. Yo, Ash, Imma take 15.” To Rue, it seemed like he was yelling at a pretty much empty store, but he was talking to his eleven-year-old brother on the other side of the cooler.
He took her outside and helped her climb the freezer to go to the rooftop of the store. The 15 minutes he told Ash he was going to be absent turned into an hour. Fez was keeping an eye on the store from up there anyway, he knew Ash could handle himself, and in case he needed him he was only one jump away.
They ended up talking about their lives, about Rue’s dad passing the previous summer, Fez told her he grew up without his mom, something he hadn’t told anyone outside of his family. “You’re lucky you don’t remember her; you don’t have anything to hold onto. Shit, that sounded bad, didn’t it?” “Nah, you’re cool, everyone has their own shit, kid.” “You know I’m like a year younger than you right?” He just shrugged, he liked her, she was funny and oddly enough they had some things in common.
“So, you’re not gonna sell me anything?” Fezco sighed, he should say yes, that was his job, but he had the feeling that eventually just weed wasn’t gonna be enough for her. “This shit ain’t good, Rue, I know you must have a lot goin’ on, but that shit ain’t gonna help, you know?” “How have you kept your business afloat, men? Isn’t it against your rules to tell me how bad this is for me?” He actually laughed, “What can I say? I like you, kid” her feet started moving fast again, “It’s just hard, most of the time, I just want to forget.” “I feel ya, I mean you can come by if you want, we can hang, and get high but that’s it.” She just nods. At first, he thought she wouldn’t stop by again, that she would try to find another dealer, but she surprised him when she greeted him in the hallway the next day and asked him for a ride to spend the evening at the store.
It wasn't until his junior year that he started to hang out with them, well actually they started to hang with him. His grandma taught him many things, how to weigh the product, what side effects each pill had, how to deal with nonpaying customers, how to make a sick lasagna, and how to treat women respectfully. He knew about Cassie’s video because everyone at school was talking about it, but he didn't judge her, he just thought that whoever the one who share the video was, was an absolute asshole. What Fezco couldn’t understand was why people were shaming her for something like that, is not as if most of the school wasn’t doing the same thing, they were just lucky some bitch ass kid didn't share it with everyone.
He didn't like to get involved with the gossip, and he didn't want to make an exception this time, until one day he was in a class and as soon as Cassie and Maddy walked in, a group of boys sitting next to him started catcalling her, seeing as their teacher was busy not caring about his students, he decided to jump in "Yo, why don't you shut the fuck up?" "Or what?” Was the only response he got, and the boy turned to the blonde girl to keep messing with her, “Cassie why don't you come to sit on my lap?" Cassie blushed and her eyes immediately started to water. "Yo, what the fuck did I say, shut the fuck up, asshole." "Yeah, shut the fuck up, you fucking bitch!" Maddy came in and defended her friend. The asshole wasn't bothered, he was enjoying it too much actually, "There's a place for you too, Maddy."
To be fair, Fez had warned him, twice, it wasn't his fault he didn't listen. Fez jumped from his seat, grabbed him by his shirt, and pushed him against the back wall, Maddy got close enough and started encouraging him, “Kick his ass, Fezco!” And maybe God was looking out for this little bitch, because just before he was about to throw the first punch, Mr. Pierce decided to finally pay attention to what was going on. “Mr. O’Neill let go of Mr. Jones.” He did so, but before doing that he pushed him even harder against the wall causing him to fall to the floor. “Detention this afternoon, Mr. O’Neill.” Fez didn’t care, he just wanted this Jones bitch to understand his message, that he wasn’t fucking around. “Are you for real, bitch? And you’re not gonna say anything to that asshole?” “No, but you can join Mr. O’Neill in detention, Miss Perez.” Everyone went back to their sits, and he saw how Cassie was still trying to calm Maddy down, who was still furious “Maddy, come on, let’s not make it worst.”
Fez: Yo, Kitty, have to stay at school for detention
Kitty: ?
Kitty: All good?
Fez: Yeah, I had to deal with this little bitch
Kitty: He learned his lesson?
Fez: You bet
Kitty: Good
He was nervous about telling his grandma about being in detention, it was the first time it happened, now he had to add it to his list of “reasons not to befriend his classmates”, he was now missing business hours just to be in front of a snoring professor. He just needed to stay away from the whole high school mess. Just two more years, that was all.
Maddy came a few minutes late, he acknowledged her with a nod while she sat down right next to him in the pretty much empty classroom. He felt her staring at him, he didn't know what to do or say to her. She was quite intimidating, Fezco thought that Kitty would like her, and she didn't like that many people. "You pretty tough, eh Perez." "Thanks, Fezco, you're probably the only decent guy in the school." Now that made him chuckle, "Don't know ‘bout that."
A few minutes later, the door opened once again, this time welcoming Cassie. "Bitch, what are you doing here?" "I yelled at the French teacher in my last period." She shrugged and sat down on the seat in front of Maddy. "Hey, Fez?" "Wassup?" He saw her hesitate, biting her lower lip and he figured she was trying not to cry again, "Thank you." He wasn’t good at taking compliments or gratitude, he just hoped his blush wasn’t that noticeable when he replied, "He got it coming."
The next day at lunch he was laying down on the grass, he would do that often, take a few minutes to eat, and, depending on how bad his headaches were, he would close his eyes until it was time to go back to class. This time was no different, he was laying down under one of the trees, whit his arm over his eyes when he suddenly felt someone slightly kicking him on his left side. He opened one eye to see Maddy and Cassie looking down at him. "Mind some company?" the blonde girl asked him a bit shyly. And even though his only answer was "I'm sleeping" they didn't care and sat down next to him. "We'll wake you up when it's time to go back inside." He closes his eye again, "Ok".
He didn’t say anything after that, they started talking about whatever show they were obsessed with at the time. And without him realizing it, it became a thing. They would invite him to eat with them in the cafeteria, where sometimes BB and Kat would join, or they found him outside lying under the tree. Lunch at school turn into them sitting next to him in the classes they shared together, inviting him to parties, and even if they would occasionally get high, he knew they didn’t invite him to tag alone just because he could hook them up, they actually wanted him around, which felt nice. And as the months passed, he would find himself in the Howard house on a Saturday night watching romcoms with Maddy and Cassie. And Lexi.
Lexi Howard. She was always around, in his orbit. She was Cassie’s little sister and Rue's best friend. Fezco didn’t know about her until he started to hang out with Rue more often. She would tell him about her best friend, the night Lexi asked her if she could stay at her place because she couldn't handle seeing her mom drunk again, how Rue both liked and felt frustrated studying with her because she was just too smart and she got too excited when she’d explain things so Rue couldn't keep up most of the time, or how she was the nicest person Rue's ever met. He heard lots of stuff about her before he even met her.
As more things Fezco heard about her, the more curious he got, he wanted to experience Lexi Howard by himself, not through someone else's recollections. He saw her from afar at school, walking next to Rue heading to their next class. He saw her in her pretty dresses and colorful ribbons. But every time he wanted to approach Lexi and Rue to finally be introduced to her, he'd back down, reminding himself that whatever this interest he had towards her could never actually happen. He had to focus and keep his mind on the game. Spending time with Rue was nice, she became a little sister to him, but he couldn't have any distractions, he knew that.
Meeting her was inevitable, he was just caught off guard when it happened. The day it happened, Rue didn’t mention she was going to stop by the store, let alone that she was going to bring Lexi fucking Howard to his store. "Yo, Fez tell Lexi is ok if we hang out on the rooftop, she's freaking out." "Rue!" She said a little louder than she probably intended with panic in her eyes. He was just so fucking confused. Lexi Howard was in his fucking store! "Um yeah, sure." He hoped that his face remained unbothered, not showing the confusion and excitement he was feeling. "See, I told you." She went to the freezer and grabbed three ice creams and started heading outside, "Rue, we have to pay for those." He never actually charged Rue for anything, so he didn't actually mind, but it was hella cute seeing Lexi being all polite and shit, "Nah, is cool, is on the house." Fezco kept staring at her, feeling as if he blinked, she would disappear. "Come on losers, you're coming or what?"
Fez felt he was in a parallel universe or something like that. He sent a text to Ash letting him know he'd be on the rooftop, his only response was a thumbs up. When he climbed up, the girls were already eating their ice-creams sitting next to each other. "Hurry up man, your shit’s melting." He sat next to Rue and grabbed the treat from her hands to start eating it. He didn’t want to be too obvious looking at Lexi so often, but it just felt unreal after all this time he had been meaning to approach her, now she was right there, just a few inches away from him.
She looked nervous, her left hand was playing with her necklace back and forth. Maybe she did not want to be here. Maybe Rue had brought her without her wanting to. "I'm Lexi by the way." "Wait, you two don't know each other?" He answered without thinking, "Nah", and it felt like she did the same thing at the exact same time, "Well kinda." She blushed just after hearing his answer, "I mean I heard a lot about you, from Rue of course."
Rue was scrunching her face as if she was thinking hard. "I'm pretty sure I've introduced you before.” Fez and Lexi replied again at the same time. “No, you haven’t.” “Nah, man.” Fezco would’ve definitely remembered if she had. “Damn, is that why you were so nervous coming here? I mean is only Fez, everyone knows him.” Rue still wanted to find an explanation as to why Lexi was so hesitant to come here, and by this point, Fezco wanted to know why too. "I wasn't, I just thought it would be rude to show up unannounced.” He chuckled; he couldn't believe anything Lexi Howard would do would be described as rude. But he didn't say that instead, the only thing that came out of him was "You're welcome anytime." "Thanks." She wasn’t really looking at him but he noticed that she was still blushing.
That day they talk about lots of things, he learned that Lexi could talk about pretty much anything, they complained about school and talked about the latest movies they watched. Unfortunately, they caught him on one of his busiest days, so when he noticed that more people were coming by, some from school and some others clients, he had to say goodbye to them even if he really wanted to stay a bit longer with them.
They stayed on the rooftop even after he came downstairs to work. Just a little while later he had to text Rue to let her know they would have to leave asap. More of his old clientele were stopping by and he didn't like them hanging there with those kinds of people coming and going. He wished he could’ve driven them home, but he also didn't want to leave Ash by himself with all the workload. He had to remind himself once again that this was his job. And right then, he had to stay there, working with Ash, while Kitty was doing some pickups.
After that day, Lexi only stopped by the store a few times. Fezco didn't know how to feel about that, he should be glad, the store wasn’t a place for a girl like her to hang out, but he couldn't help to feel disappointed, as if he would have ruined his chance at something with her. He still saw her with Rue every now and then in school, she would nod her head or say a quiet "Hi, Fez" when they crossed paths but then she would look down and walk faster to her next class.
Then Maddy and Cassie happened, they invited him to hang out at the Howard's household and every time he went, he had to pretend to be cool, as if his heart wasn't beating faster than normal just with the thought of seeing Lexi outside of school. Sometimes she would join them for movie night and on the rare occasion, she would drive to parties with them instead of biking with Rue. Their interactions were minimal, just some catching up, but he had to settle for those little moments with her. And she probably only thought of him as her older sister's friend, which was better, Fez couldn't allow himself to get closer to her, nor to think this could become something more.
So now in his senior year, he was closer to his goal, he only had to make it one more year. Fez knew it was time for him to take over the business, even if Kitty didn't want to admit it, the job was taking a toll on her. She was still a motherfucking G, if she had to deal with anyone, she would do it, with no hesitation, but come diner time he could see how exhausted she was. Now more than ever he had to keep a low profile, don't fuck around, and take care of his family, which recently included Rue, Maddy, Cassie, and Lexi even if she wasn’t that close to him.
“I’m gonna drive tonight, so you can get as drunk as you want, Fez." Cassie's voice brought him back to the present. "You know I don't drink, Cass." She smirked at him, "Well if you want to, you can tonight." "Why are you not drinking, bitch?" Maddy beat him to ask her the same question he had. "McKay is coming tonight, I want you to finally meet him, and I want everything to be perfect!" Right, Cassie's new boyfriend, she hadn't stopped talking about him. "He treating you right?” “Yes, dad.” She rolled her eyes, but he could tell she wanted to laugh at him. “Don’t be like that, Fez is right, we have to approve him.” “I know, that’s why I want everything perfect. You’re going to like him.” Fezco could see that Cassie was quite taken with McKay, he hoped for this dude’s own good that he was a nice one, she didn’t need another asshole breaking her heart and he didn’t need to break another nose.
"Anyway, Lexi's driving with us too, so we'll have to tell Kat and BB to meet us there." As soon as he heard her name, he couldn't help but look a few tables over where she was sitting with Rue and a couple of other kids from her theater club. She looked cute today, but that wasn't new. She was wearing a red plaid dress with white collars, hair pulled back, and her most recent addition to her look: her red lips. She had been killing him since the start of the year, teasing him with different tones of red every day, some days lighter, some others darker and bolder like today. He didn't know if he could make it tonight, driving in the back seat close to her? Yeah, he would make a fool of himself.
“I mean I could drive on my own, I don’t mind.” “What? No, you’re coming with us.” “Yes, Fez, there’s always a spot for you with us.” Fuck, he shouldn’t feel that emotional with that, but he couldn’t help it, it felt good to be part of something, to be wanted. “Alright, alright. Don’t freak out on me.” Maddy pointed a finger right in his face, “You just wanted an excuse to leave early like last time.” He smiled at that, “Don’t know what you’re talking about, Mads.” He told the brunet knowing fully well what she was talking about. But this time, he just wanted an excuse not to be too close to Lexi, but he guessed it couldn’t be helped. He’d done it before, but the few times it had happened he was driving. It’d be fine, he told himself, he’d have Maddy in the middle to stop him from being a nervous wreck.
“Ok, it’s settled. I’m so excited!” Cassie hugged her two friends sharing her happiness. “All right, bitch, is just a party.” Fuck it, he thought, he could enjoy one night, maybe he would drink a beer or two, and if he ended up talking with Lexi Howard then so be it, what’s the worst thing that could happen? “Don’t listen to her, Cass, I’m excited too.”