Summary:
A brother and sister talk, and a family dinner happens.
Notes:
I listened to Mitski while writing this chapter, I hope that tells you enough
Trigger Warning: Finney's dad is directly mentioned to be drinking alcohol in this chapter
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
When Finney was dropped home, Sarah made him swear to just ask for a lift next time he needed one. He nodded along to her words, and felt a sense of embarrassment engulf of him as he stood in the drive way. But at last Sarah rolled up her window, and Billy and Griffin shouted goodbye as they pulled out of the driveway.
Finney waved at them, and watched as the car drove down the street, even after the car was gone he stared at the empty road with a feeling he couldn't quite place in his chest. But he pushed it down.
Finney expected the house to be empty, just as it had been for the last few weeks, but when he opened the door he came face to face with Gwen, she looked surprised to see him.
"Oh, Hey Gwe-" he looked down, a box was in Gwen's hands, it was open so he could see the contents inside. Which were a few dolls, Gwen's bible and her rosary that Finney knew she would never get rid of.
"Finney I..." Gwen started to say, but she was clearly on the verge of crying, her voice was shaky, and his name cracked when she said it.
There were a lot of things Finney could've said, he could scream at her not to go, he could beg her to stay, he could cry, which he felt he was awfully close to doing already. He could do a lot of things but instead
"I'll carry that for you." And he pulled the box out of Gwen's hands. Gwen stared at him, and he felt her still staring at him as he turned around and stepped out into the driveway. She followed him out of the house, and the two just stood there in silence, sided by side.
"Susie's I'm guessing." Finney shuffled the box around in his hands, and he felt Gwen stiffen next to him.
"Yeah, I'm going to be staying there for awhile." Gwen reached for his arm, and wrapped her small fingers around Finney's wrist.
"I just can't be in there anymore." She looked back the house, and Finney hummed in response, knowing that if he opened his mouth he would say something that might make Gwen stay, but he didn't want Gwen to stay, he didn't want her to feel trapped in the house, just as there mother had been.
Finney would not pull her down, if she needed to leave, he just wanted to hear it from her.
"Does he know?" Finney glanced back towards the house, and he felt Gwen's grip tighten around his wrist.
"He knows, he knows." Gwen whispered out, and he could feel her shaking, he shifted the box to one arm, and wrapped his other around Gwen's shoulders. He whispered reassurance to her, and told her that she was doing the right thing, that it was okay, and that he was only a phone call away if she needed anything.
Her crying subsided into light sniffles, and he pulled her closer to him.
"Gwen, have you had any of those dreams lately?" Gwen looked up at him, her eyes were still filled with tears, she shook her head
"No, not for a while." She mumbled as she rubbed her face against the side of Finney's shirt.
"Ok." He said, as a familiar car pulled into the driveway. Gwen looked at him, and he passed her the box. But she didn't move, she was rooted to the spot, her eyes, which were still filled with tears, refused to leave his face.
"Go." He said, swallowing the lump in his throat, "Go, I'll see you around school ok?" Gwen nodded, and she turned on her heals and walked towards the car, the door opened, she placed her box in the front seat, and looked like she was about to hop in, but then she turned around and ran towards Finney.
Her arms wrapped around his torso, and he felt her fingers bunching up the fabric of his shirt. She was sobbing against his chest, they stood there, with their arms wrapped around each other, for what felt like eternity but it couldn't of been because it did come to an end.
Gwen pulled away from him, the tears still streaming down her face, but she wiped them against the sleeve of her shirt.
"Goodbye Finney." The words almost didn't make it out, with all the cracks in her voice, but Finney understood. Finney understood her.
"Goodbye Gwen." Finney watched her get in the car, and before she shut the door, she sent one final look his way, and Finney met her gaze and he hoped that it conveyed all he wanted to say
I love you, it's ok, I understand
It must of, because she shut the car door. He watched the car pull out of the driveway, and then drive down the street. He finally knew what he felt when he watched Griffin and Billy pull out of the driveway, that felt forever ago, even though it was most likely less then thirty minutes ago.
He felt loss.
It was almost the very same loss he felt when his mother left, but somehow, somehow this hurt more.
He walked into the house, and found his Father, sitting at the table, nursing a beer in his hands. He looked up at Finney, and down at the beer, he took a swing from the bottle.
"She left." His Father siad, and it sounded like a confession, he took another sip from the bottle, and looked Finney dead in the eyes.
"She left, just like her." Finney just stood there, watching his Father drink the whole bottle, who then got up to get another one. Finney was silent in the doorway, as he watched his Father sit back down again.
He wanted to scream at him
She left because of you, She left and it's your fault
But he didn't.
Finney looked like his mother, and it was rather unfortunate that he acted like her to. So instead of screaming at his father, he poured him a glass of water, and sat down next to him at the table.
His Father was sobbing, between the gulps of beer, talking about his mother, crying about how she left, and then he started crying about Gwen, and how she had left, and then he looked up at Finney, the sobbing coming to a halt momentarily.
"You look just like her." He took another gulp of beer, "You're probably going to leave just like her as well." His Father's sobbing continued, and Finney just sat there. Staring at the man in front of him. They sat there the whole night, the man sobbing and Finney sitting next to him.
Finney did not cry.
______________________________________
He went to school the next morning, he went through the day, acting like everything was fine. He talked to Billy and Griffin, he laughed at Robin's stupid jokes, he did his work, everything was fine at school.
When he got to his house, that was a different story. The man, after the events of last night, had not moved from his chair in the living room, he was sitting there when Finney had left, and he clearly hadn't moved since. He just stared blankly at whatever was playing on the tv, he hadn't heard Finney come in, and he certainly hadn't heard Finney leaving for work.
Finney's brain felt like it was on autopilot, he steeped into the cafe, and he greeted Bruce, and he went straight to work, Vance as usual snapped the table numbers at him, and he put them down at each table, and he took the dirty plates out back, and he hoped his customer appearance smile kept up.
More orders kept coming, and Finney kept taking them. It felt kind of nice not to think of anything other then the table numbers. All to soon, it felt like the shift came to an end, and Finney was in no rush to go back to the house, but the cafe was empty and the dishes were done. He standing around the counter, when Bruce pulled up along side, and a drink was placed at his side.
He looked at Bruce, and he looked at the cup.
"Is that for someone?" Bruce broke into a smile,
"Yeah, it's for someone." Bruce said, and Finney nodded, and then they just looked at each other, Bruce looked like he was waiting for something, but Finney didn't know what he wanted, there was no one in the cafe, who was Finney meant to take it to?
"Finney." Bruce picked the cup off of the counter, and pushed it against the side of Finney's arm "It's for you."
"Oh." But Finney didn't take the cup from Bruce's hand, Bruce clearly tired of this interaction, grabbed Finney's hand an wrapped it around the cup.
"Finney, It's for you, take the cup." Finney's fingers pressed against the warm take away cup, and all of a sudden Finney was really grateful for it.
"Thank you." It felt like those were the first words Finney had said today that he had really meant. Bruce's smile somehow got wider
"All good, you looked like you needed it."
"I did." Finney ended up replying, and it felt like the autopilot in his head had been switched off, and that he was really coming back to the real world now. Bruce was still looking at him, so Finney took a sip from the warm cup.
"It's good, it's really good." He muttered as he took another sip from the cup. Bruce wrapped an arm around his shoulder, and gave him a little shake.
"There you go, feeling better?" Bruce asked, as Finney relaxed against his touch. Finney didn't know how Bruce knew he was upset, but he knew that Bruce who had been busy at the register, took the time to make Finney a drink.
'Yeah, uh, thanks." He struggled to get the words out. "Thanks, for the drink." Bruce just squeezed his shoulder tighter.
"I know, that we might not exactly be friends Finney, but if you need someone to talk to, I'm here." Finney let his head drop down onto Bruce's shoulder, he didn't know why he did but it felt like the right thing to do,
"You can do that as well." Bruce shifted slightly and he felt a hand rubbing his back, and Finney didn't know why but the gesture made him want to just stay here for a while, he just wanted to be here for a minute.
"Bruce." He heard the taller boy hum "I think of you as a friend, and you know if you need anything, I'm here to." Finney didn't know how, but he just knew Bruce was smiling.
"We can be there for each other, ok?" Finney nodded into Bruce's shoulder, and somehow he managed not to break down and start crying then and there. The two just stood by the counter, Bruce kept rubbing his back, and he mumbled some facts about anything he could think of.
The kitchen door slammed open, and Finney instinctually went to stand up straight, but the hand on his back kept him in place.
"Alright, time to go home you saps." Vance slammed something down on the counter, and Bruce began to chat with Vance, the boy's hand moved away from Finney's back, and he found himself missing it.
He waved his hand, and began to walk towards the door, he was going to shout out goodbye, but he was cut off before he could even open his mouth.
"Oi, Finney come take this." Vance gestured his hands aggressively towards the counter, and Finney hesitantly walked towards it. Vance, clearly tired of Finney's hesitation, and probably just wanting to go home already, snatched whatever it was off the counter, and shoved it into Finney's hands.
"Ok, move along, head home, goodbye." Vance pushed him by his shoulders out the door, and he heard Bruce shout out goodbye. The pushing stopped, and he and Vance were left standing in the doorway, he looked up at Vance, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, and then he glanced down at the paper bag in his hands.
"Thank you." Vance didn't even look at him, "Thank you." This time Vance looked at him.
"I heard you the first time, go home Finney." Vance muttered, and the older boys hand was already on the doorknob.
Finney didn't look back, he began his walk to the house, it wasn't till he was halfway there that he looked inside the brown paper bag, inside were warm chocolate chip cookies. Finney pressed the bag against his chest, and he looked back in the direction of the cafe.
"Thank you." He whispered, even though there was no one but the wind to hear him. He continued his walk, an he looked around at the few other stores in town, the bookshop was closed, the grocery store was closing, and the florist had closed hours ago.
In the window he saw carefully arranged bouquets all with gorgeous ribbons tied around them, he hadn't seen flowers that nice since his mom's funeral. He stepped closer to the glass, and he thought of his growing supply of money in the locked box under his bed.
He knew what he was going to do this weekend.
He walked back to the house, with a feeling of not happiness or sadness, but he wasn't content either, but he knew he would be once he did what he needed to do. The house was empty when he entered it, the man was nowhere to be found, and Finney was glad that for a moment he could just be allowed to exist with no eyes on him.
Finney placed the bag of cookies in his backpack, figuring he could share them with the others tomorrow, he wasn't sure if they liked cookies, but it couldn't hurt to offer.
Finney laid in bed that night, looking up at the ceiling. He thought of that final phone call with his mother, he had gotten to say goodbye this time. Unlike the first time she left. But he still felt that he had a lot of things to say to her, he wanted to tell her that he was happy that he had become friends with Billy, Griffin, Bruce and Vance. He wasn't sure if Vance considered him a friend quite yet, but he thought of the bag of warm cookies, and he figured they were at the very least on track to becoming friends.
Then he thought of Robin.
Robin with his long black hair, Robin who loved horror movies, Robin who used to get into a lot of fights but had mellowed out over the last few months. Robin who had tucked Finney's hair behind his ears.
Robin who had leaned so close to Finney at the cafe that if he had just moved forward slightly they would've.....
That was enough thinking for tonight.
But before Finney, finally drifted off to sleep he had one more thought.
I have to tell Robin, I was to late last time.
___________________________________
The man had not returned to the house.
Finney went to school, feeling a bit lighter then he did yesterday, but everything still weighing on him heavenly. His eyes did not leave his feet, which is why it was surprising when he felt a par of arms wrap around him.
"Hey, Billy." Finney mumbled against the other boy's shoulder, and he heard Billy say hello and his grip around Finney tightened slightly.
"What are you doing?" Billy moved his face so that it was not pressing into Finney's shoulder.
"Hugging you." The taller boy simply said, as if that should be enough of an answer.
"Oh, why?" Billy squeezed him tighter.
"Cause you're my friend, and you looked like you needed a hug." Finney finally allowed himself to relax against Billy's touch, and his fingers bunched up the fabric of the other boy's shirt.
"You're right, I needed a hug." Billy just stood there with his arms wrapped around Finney, and his own arms wrapped around Billy.
The moment was broken by the shouting of a familiar voice.
"What are you two doing?" Griffin asked, as he came to a stop beside them, Billy pulled away slightly, but he didn't let go of Finney.
"Finney needed a hug."
"Oh." Griffin pulled Billy out of the way, and threw himself at Finney and he felt the boy's arms wrapped over his shoulder, and he had to take a step back in order to keep his balance.
"If you need a hug, I am right here." Griffin, pulled him closer, and Finney let himself melt into the touch, his hands gripping onto the back of Griffin's jacket, and he nodded against his friend's shoulder.
Griffin pulled away, and then his hand came up and ruffled to the top of Finney's hair. Finney smiled at him, and for now the heavy feelings weighing on his chest seemed to disappear. The two boy's wrapped one arm each around Finney's shoulders, and they walked into the school.
If the two of them, were a bit more touchy, such a leaning against Finney's shoulder, pulling him along by his wrist, or just standing close to Finney in general, Finney didn't say anything.
He certainly didn't say anything when Robin, held his hand under the table at lunch while they ate the cookie's Vance made, and gently rubbed his thumb against Finney's skin. Finney went to work smiling that day, and Bruce looked up from the register and looked pleased. Finney got straight to work, and when Vance saw his smiling face, he swore the corner of Vance's mouth tilt up.
"That's better." Finney didn't know what Vance was referring to, but for some reason the words left a warm feeling inside him.
They'd only been working for about half an hour, when three familiar people walked into the cafe, and took a seat in the corner booth.
"What can I get for you?" Finney asked, as his friends made themselves comfortable.
Robin grinned up at him, and he felt his heart skip a beat.
"Well I'll say the customer service here is fantastic." Robin clearly pretended to flick through the menu, before putting it down on the table.
"Finney, can we please get two milkshakes?" Griffin asked, and Finney scribbled it down on his notepad. Robin was leaning against the table, his head resting against his hand, he was looking at Finney again.
"Robin, what do you want?" Finney clicked his pen twice, but Robin did not react, he just kept staring at Finney. Finney leaned down, so that he was right in front of Robin.
"Robin." He said again, and this time the boy hummed in response, and Finney got an idea, he brought his hand up to cup the side of Robin's face, and he leaned in even closer.
"Robin, what do you want?"
"You." Once the word slipped from Robin's mouth he snapped back to reality.
"I mean can you! I mean you can? I mean if you could!" The two other boys at the table burst into laughter, Billy was doubled over, and he was pretty sure Griffin was crying a bit, Finney giggled, and he saw Robin covering his face with his hands.
"How about a milkshake?" He tried, and Robin nodded with his face still in his hands. Finney turned away from the table, he could still hear the other two laughing. He went about the rest of his shift, but his friends were the last ones inside the cafe, in fact they were still there when he, Bruce and Vance finished washing up the dishes.
"What are you lot still doing here?" Bruce asked, as wiped his hands against his shirt. Vance doing the same.
"Waiting for Finney." The boys all said in unison, and he heard Vance mutter something that sounded an awful lot like the princess and the knights, but he chose to ignore it.
"You guys didn't have to wait for me." He was met with immediate protest from the others,
"Yeah, but we wanted to." Billy said, and the others made sounds of agreement. Finney's cheeks flushed, and Bruce clapped him on the back.
"Go be with your boys, will see you tomorrow." Finney smiled back at Bruce, and waved at Vance, who surprisingly waved back at him. He stepped out of the cafe, where the others were waiting for him. He was immediately greeted with Robin's arm around his shoulder.
"We're walking you home." Finney didn't try to protest. The four of them chatted aimlessly, and Robin's arm didn't leave his shoulder, they reached Finney's street, and that's when they had to go their seperate ways.
Billy threw himself at Finney, and he felt Robin remove his arm.
"If you need anything, call me, ok?" Finney nodded into Billy's shoulder, and Billy was clearly satisfied with the answer pulled away, and then Griffin took his place.
"Same goes for me to, alright?" This time Finney managed to sputter out a shaky ok. Griffin pulled away, and then he Billy wrapped an arm around the other boy, before they left, Billy shouted over his shoulder.
"If you call one of us tonight, were going to be together, so you can talk to both of us." Finney waved, and the two boys disappeared around the corner. He and Robin were left standing there at the end of the street, just looking at each other, and Finney broke the silence.
"Aren't you going home?" Robin shook his head, and he reached out to grab Finney's hand.
"I told my uncle that he could pick me up from yours." Finney felt Robin lace his fingers through Finney's own, he could feel the hesitation, so Finney clasped his hand around Robin's own.
"Let's go then." Robin squeezed his hand back, and the two boys made their way to Finney's house. There wasn't a car in the driveway, so the two boys sat down on the curb in front of Finney's house. Robin leaned against his side, and Finney rubbed his hand against Robin's back, similarly to how Bruce had done for him.
"I'm going to see her tomorrow." Finney did not know what compelled him to tell Robin, but he was glad he did.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Robin didn't need to be told who, Finney shook his head.
"No, I think I need to go by myself." Robin, shifted so more of his weight was against Finney.
"Ok, but like the other's said, if you need anything call." Finney gave a noise of agreement, but this did not satisfy Robin.
"I mean it Finn." Robin pulled Finney closer to him. "I don't care what time it is, I don't care where you are, I don't care who's there, I'll be there a fast as I can, so call me."
The two sat there, with their arms wrapped around each other, not saying a word. Enough had been said, and they both knew what the other would say, so they sat there holding each other. It was enough for now.
__________________________________
Robin had gone home with his uncle, but before he had left, he had turned to Finney.
"Promise." Robin looked at him intensely. "Promise you'll call if you need me." The two's gaze met, and Finney felt overwhelmed with the intense emotions behind Robin's eyes.
"I promise." Robin nodded, and got in the car.
Finney didn't watch the car drive down the street, instead he walked towards the house. It was empty when he entered it. The man was not here.
He washed his clothes, took a shower, and went to bed.
Finney went to work the next morning, with the exact money he needed inside his pocket. He worked through the morning, he talked to Bruce and Vance, and the two talked of there plans after work.
"Yeah, I'm going to go see my grandma, how about you Finney?" Finney thought over his next words very carefully, and he finally settled on saying,
"I''m going to see my mom." Bruce, smiled and told him to have fun, and Vance fixed him with a look that Finney chose to ignore. They waved goodbye to each other, Bruce and Vance going in the same direction, and Finney walking back towards town to get what he needed.
The florist was empty, when he stepped inside, no one was at the counter, ad no one was around the shop, so he silently walked down the isles, which there were only three of, until he found what he was looking for. A bouquet of white carnations. They were tied together with a dark blue ribbon.
Finney looked at them for a few moments, before he picked them up and walked towards the counter. No one was there, so he just stood there, looking down at the flowers, and the money he had folded into his hand. He wasn't sure how long it took, but someone finally came up to the counter.
At first they didn't even take note of Finney, looking around at things scattered on the counter. But then the old man looked up and jumped.
"Jesus Christ, I didn't see you lad." The elderly gentlemen exclaimed, and Finney just looked up at him.
The man looked at the flowers on the counter, and the money in Finney's outstretched hand. He gently took the money and counted it off, and muttered a yep, when he saw it was the right amount.
"Thank you." Finney took the flowers back.
"Are they for someone special someone?" He asked,
"Yeah, they are." The old man nodded. "They're for my mom." The old man, paused for a moment.
"Is she a good one?" Finney didn't hesitate to answer.
"She was good, she was really good." The old man clearly took note of Finney's use of past tense, and got that look in his eyes. It was the same look that the people at his mom's funeral had given him.
"Well, it's good that you're taking her flowers." The old man said, attempting to smooth over the tension in the atmosphere, Finney just stared at him.
"Thank you, for the flowers." Finney gestured to the bouquet in his hands, and he walked out of the shop.
Once he was outside, he took a moment to look up at the sky. It was a cloudy day, and there was a breeze gently blowing in his direction. He looked down at the flowers in his hands, and back up to the sky. He'd better start walking.
The cemetery was a little ways out of town, it was an hour walk. But Finney had no one to drive him, the man certainly wouldn't, he hadn't even come into the cemetery the day of the funeral, choosing to stand outside the gate while Finney while holding Gwen's hand watched his mother be buried.
So he had to walk if he wanted to go see her.
Finney knew he was getting close to the cemetery when he saw the path change into gravel on the side of the road, cars sped past him, not a single one seemingly taking notice of Finney's existence. The gates to the cemetery were open, and from a distance he could see one other person inside the gates. They were sitting in front of a grave.
Finney felt a pang of sadness for the person. They were here to visit someone as well, and it just didn't sit right with him that people had to let go of someone they loved, that they sat by their headstones and told them about things they should've been there to see.
But he was here to do the exact same thing.
Finnely Blake, was buried at the farthest left side of the cemetery, her headstone sat in the middle of the twenty other rows of similar looking head stones. The other person grew to be a distant figure that Finney could hardly see once he reached his mothers grave.
He didn't bother to read the words on the tombstone, he knew what they said. But he placed the flowers down in front of the tombstone, and he sat down. They're were a lot of things he wanted to do.
He wanted to thank her again, for giving him a chance to fix everything. He wanted to tell her that he was doing everything he could to make sure the others stayed alive, he wanted to tell her about Robin. He wanted to tell her about the movie he'd gone to see with his friends. He wanted to tell her about his job at the cafe. He wanted to tell her about how he was sure Vance Hopper had smiled at him. He wanted to tell her about how he'd been dancing in the park with his friends without a care in the world.
He wanted to tell her about Gwen. About how much she'd grown up, and how despite her getting older she still had the same passion and temper.
Finney Blake, wanted to do a lot of things, but he couldn't. So he sat there, silently looking at the tombstone.
In the back of his head, he knew it was getting darker, and that he would have to leave soon if he wanted to make it home before it got dark, but he couldn't bring himself to look away from the tombstone, that was until a body came to rest against his side.
"Hey Finney." Bruce, looked at him, and Finney ignored the dryness in his throat.
"Hey Bruce." The two just sat there, the two of them not saying anything, both maybe having to much to say, or maybe to little.
"I'm sorry." Finney started, and Bruce turned to look at him. "I'm sorry about your grandma."
"It's okay." Bruce said, and looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'm sorry about your mom."
"It's okay." Finney mirrored the words back, and they smiled at each other.
"Do you want to wait with me and Vance, for whoever's going to pick you up?" Bruce asked, as he gestured towards the car park, where there was a single car parked.
"Oh, Thank you." Finney mumbled, and Bruce kept smiling at him, and then his voice was clearer on the second part "But no ones picking me up." Bruce's smile dropped,
"Then how are you getting home?" Bruce looked crestfallen, and Finney shrugged.
"Walking." He responded, and Bruce looked around at the sky that was getting darker by the minute, and the parking lot that was entirely absent, except for the single parked car.
"Did you walk here to?" Finney nodded, and he saw the gears turning in Bruce's head. Then a hand grabbed his and pulled him up.
"Alright you, you are coming back with us, and you are going to come have dinner at my house." Finney went to protest, but Bruce just shushed him.
"Nope, you aren't getting out of this." Finney accepted his fate, and allowed Bruce to pull him towards the parking lot, he turned over his shoulder, and sent one last look to his mothers grave before he matched the pace of his footsteps to Bruce's.
When they reached the car, Bruce knocked on the window of the passengers seat, his other hand still holding Finney's own. The window came down, and Bruce leaned forward slightly.
"Hey stranger, room for one more?" Vance glared at Bruce, and that alone made Finney consider leaving right then and there, but then the boy scoffed,
"This isn't a taxi service." Bruce shook his head.
"Come on man, he's coming to dinner with us." Vance looked at Finney, he was slightly hidden behind Bruce's figure, the older boy smirked
"To dinner? With us? Well then it's your luck day Finney Blake, get in the car." Bruce smiled at his friend's words and let go of Finney's hand in order to open the back door for the other boy. Finney thanked him and sat down in the backseat, and Bruce literally jumped into the passengers seat.
Vance was shaking his head, but then turned back to face Finney.
"Buckled up?" He saw that the buckle was already done up, "Good." The car engine came to life and he saw Bruce whip out his phone, Vance glanced over at the other boy.
"Who are you texting so giddily?" Vance asked, and Bruce quickly replied
"Just letting mom know to set an extra place for dinner." Finney opened his mouth, wanting to find the words to protest, he was going to say that they could just drop him off somewhere in town and that he could make his way home, but what came out instead was
"Thank you." Bruce turned to look at him, "Thank you for inviting me for dinner, and thank you for driving me." The last part was mostly pointed towards Vance, who grunted in response.
"It's all good, plus my parents have been wanting to meet you."
"Why?" Finney asked, not knowing why Bruce's parents who probably don't even know his name would want to meet him.
"You literally work at their cafe Finney, plus I talk about you." Finney felt kind of stupid for not putting the dots together that Bruce's parents ran the cafe. Bruce's phone pinged.
"She says." Bruce goes on to read in a high pitch tone,
"Finney, the same Finney from the cafe, the one you said was an absolute sweetheart! That Finney." A blush made it's way across Finney's cheeks, and he saw Bruce smirking, and he couldn't see it, but he swore he could hear the smile in Vance's voice.
"Don't do Celia like that."
Bruce just laughed, and then a comfortable silence came over the car, and shortly they were pulling into the driveway. Bruce opened the car door for him, and he heard Vance shutting his own door.
"My mom's going to smother you by the way." Bruce pulled him up to the front door, which Vance was holding open.
"We're here!" Bruce shouted out, as Vance closed the door behind them, and he heard bustling down the hall,
"The tables set! Go sit down!" The voice of what Finney assumed to be Bruce's mother shouted down the hall. Bruce, who was still holding his arm, pulled him along the hallway, which was full of pictures, towards a doorway. And once they stepped through, they were greeted with a large wooden table, with six sets of cutlery and glasses filled with water were set.
Two of the seats were occupied, one by Vance's mom, and the other by a man Finney guessed was Bruce's father. Miss Hopper excitedly waved at them
"Hi boys." Finney waved back.
The man stood up, and made his way over to where he and Bruce were standing, Vance had already sat down and was talking to his mother.
"You must be Finney Blake?" The man said, and held it his hand, Finney looked at it for a moment, before slipping his much smaller hand into his.
"Yes sir, thank you for having me tonight." His hand was shook, and he saw the mans face light up.
"No need for the formalities, you can just call me Simon." Finney nodded, and Simon let go of his hand, and went back to sit at the table. Bruce pulled out a chair, the one between Bruce and Vance.
"Take a seat, dinner will be out in a minute." Finney, sat down, and did his best to sit up straight, and look presentable. Bruce was talking to his father about something, and Vance was still talking to his mom. The chair opposite Finney was empty, and he felt safe in his assumption that the seat was for Bruce's mother. His assumption was proven correct, when a woman with black hair came out with six plates on her arms.
"Dinner's ready!"
The woman went to her husband first, who gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you, honey."
She gave the next one to Miss Hopper, who excitedly thanked her. She passed a plate over to Vance, who gave his thank's and she placed a plate down in front of where she was meant to sit, and passed another plate to Bruce, who gave hos own thanks.
She was holding one more plate, and she looked at Finney.
"I'm guessing your Finney?" She asked, and Finney nodded, and she placed a plate down in front of him.
"It's so good to finally meet you! Bruce hasn't stopped talking about you since you worked at the cafe!" He heard Bruce embarrassingly mutter out mom stop, but she ignored her son.
"Thank you, for having me, and for the dinner ma'am." Finney said, finding his voice again. Her face lit up.
"Oh my goodness, you really are a sweetheart! You can just call me Celia dear." Finney nodded, as Celia took her seat. The dinner began, and at first Finney was just content to sit there and eat the food, which he didn't know what it was, but it was delicious, but then Bruce started talking to him.
Then that led to Bruce's dad talking to him, and then Celia started talking to him as well, then Vance and Miss Hopper chimed in, and when Finney addressed her as, she laughed and said, that Finney could call her Veronica. It didn't feel like Finney was walking on eggshells when he opened his mouth, it felt like he could speak without fear of any repercussions. Sooner then he thought, the meal came to an end.
He followed after everyone into the kitchen, the placed their dirty plates into the sink that was already full of warm soapy water, and then made their way back to the dining room. Finney glanced at the cloth hanging from the tap, and the tea towel hanging to the side, and figured he could make himself useful.
He wiped the plates clear of any marks, and did the same for the cutlery, and then he dried them with the tea towel, he left them stacked by the side of the sink, as he wasn't sure where they were meant to go, and he didn't exactly feel comfortable going through the cabinets. He wiped his hands against his pants, and went to rejoin the others in the dinning room.
They were all invested in a conversation, Finney sat down next to Bruce, and joined the conversation. They kept talking, and then Celia wandered into the kitchen, and then she wandered right back out.
"Thanks for doing the dishes sweetie." Celia nodded at her husband, who looked absolutely confused.
"I didn't do them honey." Simon said, and glanced towards Bruce.
Celia turned as well,
"Oh, thanks for doing them Bruce." But Bruce was shaking his head,
"Wasn't me mom." His eyes shot towards Vance, who held his hands up in surrender,
"Not me, Mom?" But Veronica was shaking her head,
"Nope, not me." The room feel silent for a minute, and very slowly very head turned to look at him. Finney felt like melting into his chair.
"Sweetie." Celia started, and Finney had to use all of his will power to look her in the eyed "Did you do the dishes?" He felt all the eyes on him, and he nodded,
"Sorry, if I didn't do them rig-" he was cut off, by Bruce exclaiming
"Told you he was a sweetheart! The room burst into laughter, and he felt a bit lighter now that all the eyes were off him.
The laughter subsided, and he felt Celia sit down next to him.
"Thank you, for doing the dishes."
"Oh, it isn't a big deal." Finney muttered, looking down at his lap. But he felt an arm wrap around his shoulder,
"Finney stop being so humble, and accept the fact that you're a little angel." Finney was certain his whole face was pink, and Bruce ruffled his hair.
"Mom, what do you say to Finney coming every Saturday with Vance?" Bruce asked, as he pulled Finney closer to his side, Finney opened his mouth to protest the suggestion, but any palms of that went out the window.
"That's a fantastic idea!"
They were sounds of agreement, all across the table, and Finney was certain he heard Vance say something about him, that was certainly not an insult.
So it was decided that Finney would come along for dinner every Saturday night. Veronica was going to drive him home, as Vance was staying the night and the Hopper household was in the same direction as Finney's.
They said there goodbyes, Bruce gave him a hug, and so did Celia, Simon waved him off, and Vance gave him a clap on the shoulder.
When he stepped outside, he looked at the house. A house that was clearly full of so much love and life, a house that could look awfully different if it wasn't for what had happened, a house that Finney had only ever been in once, and yet felt so happy to be there.
This place was a home.
It wasn't Finney's home, it was Bruce's home. Where he clearly had people who loved him and people who wanted them there. He hadn't been to Vance's house, but he could tell by the way the he and his mom talked to each other that if anything happened to one of them it would destroy them. Finney had seen how happy Ricky was to drive Robin to the movies, and he knew that he would be devastated that if one day Robin wasn't there. He had only met Billy's mom once, but the way that she had made sure that Finney didn't walk home alone at night, told him that she was a mom, who truly cared about her kids. Finney hadn't met Griffin's family, but he knew he had one. Griffin had people waiting at home for him.
Finney didn't have that.
But that meant he was going to make sure none of them lost it.
They're not going to lose this. I can't let them.