One•Shots

griffin + keenan (3)

Keenan takes a deep breath, and tucks the letter back into his backpack.
"Cameron, I hope you know your brother is even more stubborn than you were."

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The rest of the day, Griffin is just kind of out of it. The moment his classes over, he goes home, and closes himself in his bedroom, digging through the box where he knows the obituary for Cameron Ray Findlay is. And when he finds the box of memories of his brother, he holds them closes and cries— because it's not fair.

Shiloh knocks on his door and enters without waiting for an answer a few hours later, sinking down to the floor beside him, wrapping her arms around him.

"I'm sorry, Griff. I'm sorry." She says softly.
"It's not fair. He was twenty-one years old. I'm officially older than him. And he was my older brother." Griffin mutters.

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The next day, Keenan notices Griffin's puffy and red-rimmed eyes when he takes his seat early, the classroom empty. Walking down the row to where Griffin sits, he leans over a little, asking, "You ok?" Griffin looks up, and shrugs, sitting in the desk in front of Griffin's. "Okay, well, I'm here if you need to talk." Keenan gets up, walking back down the row.
"I- I'm sorry." Griffin says; Keenan turns around. "About yesterday. I'm sorry."
Before Keenan can reply, a girl bursts through the door, acting like a high schooler as she makes up a question so she could come to class early.

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A few weeks have passed when Keenan asks Griffin to stay after class again.
"I need to show you something." Keenan says, going to his backpack and grabbing Cameron's letter. Handing it to Griffin, he says, "Just read it. I'll explain after."

Griffin reads it and rereads it, trying to see if he can put the puzzle pieces together himself— but he can't. When he finishes, he hands the letter back to Keenan and sits down at a desk.
"I can't believe I'm about to talk about this." Keenan swallows and continues. "I don't know what you were told about why Cameron and I stopped talking."
"I wasn't told anything." Griffin says. "He just came home angry one night and said he was never talking to you again, and said I should probably stay away too, if I didn't want to get hurt."
Keenan nods, taking a deep, shaky breath. "That night was... horrible, to say the least. I'd had something I'd been wanting to talk to him about, or, I guess ask. I didn't think he was going to have the reaction that he had..."
— FLASHBACK—

"Hey Cam?" Keenan asks. This is it, he thinks to himself. He's going to ask, they'll talk about it, and it'll be alright. "I wanted to talk to you about something."
"What's up, Keen? Is something wrong?"
"No! I just, I wanted to talk to about it first... We've been best friends for a while, and with that, I've been around your family a lot. Um..." Keenan pauses, swallowing hard. He's really about to do this right now. "I like Griffin. I like him a lot. And I wanted your permission to ask him out, before I did anything— I didn't want to just do it out of nowhere."
Cam's face changes. "My brother? You can have anyone you want, but you choose my brother?!"
"No! No, it's not like that, Cam! I swear! I tried. I tried so, so hard to like anyone else. I dated around, I talked to people, I tried to ignore him. Cam, I tried everything— but nothing worked."
Cam takes a deep breath. "I don't want you anywhere near my brother! I don't want you anywhere near me! Don't ever talk to me again. I never want to see you again. Goodbye, Keenan. Stay away from me. Stay away from my family. And stay. away. from. my. brother."
— END OF FLASHBACK—
Keenan looks up at Griffin. "That was the last time we ever talked."
Griffin looks down at the floor, and then back up at Griffin. "I have to tell you something. But, please, don't beat yourself up. I didn't know about that night, but I know that that afternoon, before he went to meet up with you, was the day he found out about the cancer. Nobody knew, at that point, we didn't find out until a couple weeks later. And, he started writing letters to us in a journal... that was the day it started. I don't think it was anything you did, I think it was the fact that he subconsciously knew he wasn't going to be there to protect me."
Griffin avoids looking at Keenan, his eyes starting to water.
"I-if you're uncomfortable, or you never want to see me again, or whatever, I can transfer you to another teacher, so you don't have to be uncomfortable everyday—" Keenan starts rambling, not noticing as Griffin gets up.
"Shush." Griffin says, pressing a kiss against Keenan's cheek.

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The knock on Keenan's apartment door almost scares the living daylights out of him. Opening the door, he sees Griffin standing in the hallway, wearing a suit.
"Is this okay? I didn't know what was going to be appropriate, but I can go home and change—" Griffin says nervously. Keenan smiles, leaning forward and kissing his forehead. "You look amazing, Griff."

They're going to Keenan's sister, Ashley's, wedding; none of Keenan's family knows that he's bringing Griffin as his date.
"I'm doing a first look with Ash," Keenan says, squeezing Griffin's hand when he puts his hand out. "But then we can go see my parents."

"You look amazing, Ash!" Keenan says, after they've done the first look.
"Thank you! But so do you! Who'd you bring as your date, anyway? Do I know her? Have I met her?" Ashley asks, trying to figure out whoever it is.
Keenan smiles nervously, nodding. "Sort of."
"Go get her! Now!" Ashley says. "Or him. Them."
Keenan sticks his head out of the door, reaching his hand out toward Griffin. "You ready?" He asks; Griffin nods, but his hands are shaking, which makes Keenan laugh.
"You've met her before, it's okay," Keenan says softly.
"I know," Griffin whispers. "It's just been so long..."
Keenan smiles and kisses Griffin's hand. "Come on. Ash, you ready?"
Ashley smiles and nods, turning to look out the window at the exact moment Griffin shakily comes through the door. When she turns around, she gasps.
"Are my eyes deceiving me? Is that Griffin Findlay? All grown up?" She says.
"All right, Griff, let's go—" Keenan jokes.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's just been so long! Oh, Griffin! How are you? How have you been?"
She hugs Griffin, and they chat for a few minutes before they head out to find their seats.
"I'm in the wedding party, so you'll have to sit with my parents. Is that okay?" Keenan asks.
Griffin nods, looking around the venue before they walk out into the courtyard to find Keenan's parents.

Keenan taps his mom on the shoulder. "Mom, I'd like you to meet my date—"
"GRIFFIN FINDLAY?!" She screams, immediately pulling him into her arms and hugging him tight.
Griffin shakes hands with Keenan's father, Dave, as he takes his seat by his mother, Myra.

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After the wedding, and after the after party, Keenan and Griffin sit in the car, in the parking lot of Keenan's apartment building, which is only about a five-minute walk from Griffin's house.
"Do you want me to walk you home?" Keenan asks, turning to Griffin.
Griffin shrugs, looking over and meeting Keenan's gaze. "Thank you. I had fun tonight."
Keenan smiles at Griffin, still looking directly in his eyes. "You ok?" Keenan asks.
Griffin nods, unbuckling his seatbelt and leaning over, pressing his lips against Keenan's.
"Can you walk me to your house, instead of mine?" Griffin asks.
Keenan laughs. "Yeah... let's go."

6/20/2022
i'm still alive! :)