Surprisingly, the events of Saturday do end up helping with Robin’s stress, at least in terms of the Miles situation and the fear of his best friend hating him over something he can’t control. His mom takes care of Kat, and from what he can tell everything is going alright on that front. She should be getting her first rut within the next couple days.
The weekend goes by quickly, though, Robin feeling more at ease than he has in a while. Once Monday comes, though, he starts to wonder how Jude will go about this.
Persuading Miles is not an easy task, and Robin has no idea how Jude is about to do this. Robin feels like his general situation has gotten better, but he suspects it could easily get even worse than it was before. It all depends on how today goes.
“So when are you gonna talk to him?” Robin asks as they drive to school. He feels nervous, and it’s solely because he’s around Jude, and he has no idea why.
“Probably after school.” Jude replies. “You can walk to work, right? It’s just down the block?”
Robin actually doesn’t have work today, even though he typically does on Mondays, and normally he would tell Jude that. For some reason, though, he doesn’t. He has no idea why. Instead he just says, “yeah.”
Jude nods. “After school, then.”
Robin tries to figure out why he just did that. His house is about a thirty minute walk from here, so why in the world did he lie? How does it benefit him in any way? It takes a minute for it to hit him. Robin realizes he was subconsciously planning to evesdrop.
Robin can already tell that’s probably a bad idea, but now that he thinks about it, it is quite appealing. Jude seems pretty confident in his ability to resolve this, so Robin is somewhat curious on how he plans to do it. Robin has not been able to get through to the guy at all, Miles’ demands are just so ridiculous and impossible. Robin wants to know how this will go.
“How’s Kat?” Jude asks, and Robin glances over at the guy. He immediately looks forward when he finds Jude’s eyes already on him.
“She’s okay. We think she’ll get her rut soon.” Robin responds, and the mention of ruts reminds him of...
Robin, stop! Pull yourself together. Stop thinking about shit like that, you have a friendship to keep normal.
“Your mom’ll probably handle all that.” Jude replies, and Robin nods absentmindedly. His mom handled his presentation, so it only makes sense that she’d deal with Kat’s as well. Robin does wish his father would be a bit more involved, but oh well.
Upon arrival to the school, they follow their normal routine. They go to their first period classes, walk to second period together, and eat with each other at lunch. Once Robin is in his final class of the day, he can’t help but feel nervous. He glances over at Miles sometimes, and every time he does, the guy is already looking at him. It’s starting to make him nervous.
Eventually he reaches the point where he won’t look away from his computer screen, despite not having much to do. The only assignment today is some sort of review, and he’s barely done any of it. He was able to download some of his games at the beginning of the semester, and since his computer faces away from the teacher, he can play said video games during class time and get away with it. This is what he primarily does in this class on a normal day, and this last week will be no different.
So, Robin plays games until the end of the school day. He gathers up his things once the bell rings, and looks up just in time to see Miles walk out the door. Swearing under his breath, he shoves the rest of his stuff in his bag haphazardly and walks as fast as he can towards the door without raising suspicion. He almost makes it, too, but then he hears his teacher’s voice;
“Mr. Rose, can you come see me for a minute?”
Robin freezes, immediately irritated because he’d almost made it to the doorway. There’s no way he will be able to catch up with Miles now. He sighs, then turns around and walks over to his teacher’s desk. Upon arrival he inquires, “yes sir?”
The teacher ignores him for a minute, typing something in his computer. After said minute, the printer behind him bursts to life. He turns around and grabs a paper, setting it in front of Robin. Next to it is his last test, which is an F, and Robin hadn’t even noticed it before. The paper shows all his grades throughout the semester, and most of them aren’t exactly fridge worthy.
“I need to know if I should make you an extra study guide, or if there’s any sort of last minute tutoring I could organize. You have the lowest grade in my class, so I’d like to help out however I can.” The guy gets straight to the point.
Robin’s irritation gets replaced with awkwardness. He has had a solid C in this class for most of the grading period, but his grades have been dropping lately due to all the new... distractions in his life. Horrible timing, really. Robin is pretty sure he’s either failing this class or close to it.
“Uh, if I could have another study guide I’d appreciate it.” Robin says, and he feels bad making his teacher do extra work but study guides genuinely do help him. The man nods, and Robin appreciates all this. Usually teachers don’t care this much, or they assume that since he’s best friends with the valedictorian he can handle it all on his own.
“Okay. I’ll get it done tonight, keep an eye on your email.” The teacher notifies him, and he gives the guy a half smile and a nod, before recognizing he’s dismissed and leaving the almost empty classroom. He remembers his Miles and Jude predicament upon his exit, though, and the stress comes back.
Shit! Where could Miles have gone? He’s pretty sure Jude would notify Miles of the fact that he wants to have a discussion like this, so it’s likely they have an organized meeting place. Where could it be, though?
Robin wracks his brain for any idea, but he comes up empty. Damn, there goes his eavesdropping plan. Robin sighs in disappointment, and begins to make his way out of the school. Guess he’s stuck with the thirty minute walk home, then. He’s probably gonna get a text later about his lie, since Jude can track him and will eventually know all this. Oh well.
Robin sighs and makes his way through the parking lot. He’s about to put in his headphones when he spots Jude over at his car. Jude, who is not alone. He’s in the middle of a conversation with Miles, and neither of them look happy. Robin’s eyes widen, surprised that luck is actually on his side for once. He immediately ducks down a bit, and starts walking in between the cars.
Jude’s parking spot is a somewhat decent distance from the school, but there is a car parked only a space away from it, and Robin decides that will be his hiding place. The two look too deep in an argument to notice him anyway, though. They are clearly distracted, so it’s pretty easy to slip behind the car and listen.
“So what’s your plan, then?” Robin hears Jude’s voice. The guy sounds like he usually does when talking to Miles: angry and impatient.
“What do you mean what’s my plan? I’ll announce it at graduation if I have to.”
“And then what? You think people are gonna care? It’s graduation.”
“So?”
“So you don’t even have proof.”
There’s a silence, and Robin scoots over so he’s sitting towards the back of the car, hidden by the tire. He peeks around the corner and finds Jude leaned against his Mustang with his arms crossed. Miles is a few feet in front of him with a pissed off look on his face and his hands clenched into fists.
“People will believe me over him.”
“Oh? Will they believe you over me?”
Miles snaps his mouth shut at that, and Jude has a point. Jude could tell people grass is red and they’d probably believe him, he just has that effect. Miles seems even more angry, and there’s no doubt it’s because Jude’s right, as per usual.
“He fucking told you, didn’t he?”
“About which part?”
“Any of it.”
Jude tilts his head, and if he ever looked at Robin the way he’s looking at Miles right now, Robin would probably piss his pants. “Robin told me all of it.”
Miles frowns, and there’s no doubt he’s trying to figure out if Robin actually did tell Jude every detail. Robin did, though. Jude knows everything. There may be some minor things he left out, but nothing that really matters.
“What do you even want? Why are we having this conversation?” Miles asks, exasperated, and he looks somewhat uncomfortable right now. Unsurprisingly, though, he’s mostly mad.
“Because I’m stopping this. You’re not blackmailing him anymore.”
“Oh yeah? Why?”
“Cause you’re asking him to do stupid shit. It’s over.”
“Why do you care so much?” Miles asks, and something about the way he says that is off. Like he already knows the answer. There’s some sort of deeper meaning to it, Robin can tell. Jude’s reaction only seals it in, because he immediately looks far more irritated and reserved than before.
Robin is expecting him to respond with the normal stuff. He’s expecting Jude to say what Robin would, to tell him they’re best friends so obviously he cares. Instead, Jude responds;
“You know why.”
Robin raises his eyebrows, because what does that mean? Miles knows why? Obviously Miles knows that they’re friends, but there’s gotta be more to that response.
“I forgot.”
“Even if I fuck up my exams, I’m still gonna be valedictorian.” Wow, Jude is that far ahead? “And Robin would never be happy with you.”
“He’d be happy with you, though, right?” Miles asks, sarcasm evident, and Robin seriously feels like there’s something else they’re getting at right now. What does that even mean?
“That doesn’t matter,” Jude says, and Robin frowns. Huh? What kind of response? “Blackmailing someone into mating with you is pathetic and illegal, under any circumstances. Give up already.”
“I don’t fucking care,” Miles growls, and something Jude just said struck a nerve. “It’s about more than that. I have the opportunity to take away the only person—the only thing I’ve ever seen you care about, and I will. If your grades aren’t an option, Robin’s mine, and he’s so scared of that secret getting out he’ll agree to it.”
Jude honestly looks pissed right now. “If you go through with any of this, you will regret it.”
“Really? What’re you gonna do?”
“You really wanna find that out?”
Miles glares at him, no doubt wondering how far Jude will go with this. Honestly, Robin’s a bit curious too. He’s never seen Jude and Miles interact without him around, and the sheer amount of hatred he can feel between these two is a bit off-putting. It runs a lot deeper than Robin ever thought. He’s also getting the feeling that Miles knows something about Jude that Robin doesn’t, what with all the hinting around, and that’s about to bother him for a while.
“I...” Miles frowns, appearing to second guess what he was about to say. Jude raises an eyebrow. “Are you being serious?”
“Yeah,” Jude says, looking at Miles like he’s stupid. “You know what I could do to you.”
“Whatever,” Miles says, and he looks uncomfortable. “I can get him to not tell you things. He’s so easy.”
“We don’t keep secrets anym—”
“Really?” Miles asks, raising an eyebrow. “So then you’ve told him? Everything?"
Robin has no idea what Miles is talking about with that. Told Robin what? Does Jude have more secrets that he’s not telling Robin? Secrets that Miles apparently fucking knows? How could he tell Miles and not Robin?
“That’s none of your fucking business,” and Jude knows immediately what he’s talking about? Robin is starting to get irritated. How many things is Jude keeping from him? First he has some sort of secret crush, and now whatever the hell these two have been alluding to this entire conversation. It’s bullshit. “Leave Robin out of it. End of discussion.”
Miles just stares at him for a long moment, before he seems to give up. Honestly, Robin is probably mistaken, but he doesn’t seem sincere. “Whatever will get you to let it go.”
“This. This will.” Jude says, sounding impatient. Miles rolls his eyes.
“Fine. I’m going home.” Miles says, and Jude just raises an eyebrow as the guy turns around and starts walking across the parking lot to his Porsche. Just like that the conversation ends, and Jude sighs. He runs a hand through his hair, and he appears deep in thought.
Robin doesn’t register the sound of a car door closing and an engine starting up until it’s too late. He doesn’t put the pieces together, not until he feels the car moving forward. He falls back so he’s sitting down, watching in pure fear as his hiding spot disappears. He’s left out in the open, with Jude standing right there.
Robin freezes, staring at his best friend, who is only about twenty feet away now. Robin is in plain sight, and he can only sit there, frozen in fear. He can’t help but stare as Jude drops his hand, and watches Miles drive away, the parking lot mostly empty at this point. For a moment Robin thinks Jude might not notice him, but a second later they’re making eye contact and Robin starts internally rooting through plausible lies to get out of this.
“Robin?”
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