The group eventually made it to a meadow. It wasn't the one Salem usually went to, instead it was Shawn who chose where they went. He led the group to a flower meadow hidden in the woods behind the park.
"At least I don't feel like I'm about to be sacrificed this time," Adrian commented, one arm around Braxton's neck and the other resting in his lap.
Salem rolled his eyes, "I said it once, and I'll say it again. It's called a virgin sacrifice Adrian. You're safe." Adrian smiled and rolled his eyes.
"Fun," Braxton said, "Someone take the cripple before I throw him." Lucas helped set Adrian on the ground so he was sitting by Shawn. The group all sat down in the flower field. Salem kept mumbling something about the different types of flowers, identifying them and what he could use them for. Gabe smiled and rolled his eyes at the rambling.
Shawn rested his head on Adrian's shoulder as he carefully started to work on a flower crown out of the flowers around him. "Softie," Ryan said to Shawn.
"Me? Soft? Absolutely not!" Shawn replied, "I only wear black and all my clothes have spikes and I dye my hair red, and hate people."
"Am I being made fun of?" Austin asked.
"No," Shawn answered. Adrian watched Shawn closely and Shawn made the flower crown, he could quickly realize that Shawn had made many before. Shawn almost did it without paying any attention to it.
"How often do you come here Shawn?" Lucas asked, noticing Shawn's work as well.
Shawn smiled, "A lot. Whenever Adrian or Micheal annoyed me basically."
"I'm surprised I ever see you then," Adrian replied. Shawn shrugged and set the finished flower crown on Adrian's head. It looked odd, the bright flowers contradicting Adrian's faded blue hair, and black hoodie easily. Maddox bit his tongue to avoid laughing at it.
Adrian looked at Maddox and smirked, "What are you laughing at Wolf Boy?"
"Not much Crip," Maddox replied simply. Shawn looked at the second finished crown he had made and got up, walking over to Maddox and plopping it on Maddox's head. Austin smiled some at that, and Maddox brushed some of his burgundy hair out of his eyes. "So, making fun of Adrian results in flower crowns?"
"Sure, we'll go with that," Shawn said, sitting back down by Adrian.
Jaxson rolled his eyes, "Ew. Cuteness." Levi gave Jaxson a look and went to say something, but Jaxson ripped the hat off his head to stop him. Levi scowled and grabbed his beanie back, sticking his tongue out at Jaxson.
"And we thought Maddox was two," Braxton said.
Maddox was downright offended at the comment, "I am almost the same age as you!"
"Maybe physically. But in terms of maturity, I'm not so sure."
"Roasted," Zeek said. Maddox scowled at him. The group was comfortable, because they had all begun to adapt. All of them have gotten used to being adaptable, especially those towards the bad side of town. Beyond them though, Ryan was also adaptable in a way his friends weren't. He had adapted to abuse in the past, and then foster care, and then his new home, diagnoses. Ryan was used to change. They all fell into comfortable chatter with each other, making jokes that all of them could laugh at along with the joking insults that were usually flung between Adrian and Salem and Maddox. None of them really noticed at first when Gabe repeatedly fixed a ring he was wearing. He'd adjust it, and then adjust it again, and then again. It was Salem who noticed Gabe's compulsion, and the other's noticed when the two started to whisper.
Micheal looked at the man he considered a brother, "You okay Gabe?"
"Yeah," Gabe offered a weak smile to try and prove his point. Not even Zeek bought it though.
"I'm no genius, but you clearly aren't Gabe, what's wrong?" Zeek asked. The question took Micheal and Ryan back a bit, they had really only just met the others. Zeek caring about one of them so quickly wasn't something they expected.
"Compulsion is all. It's fine," Gabe said. The answer didn't satisfy anyone though, most especially Micheal. Micheal had seen Gabe a lot, especially in recent years, but he had never seen Gabe act like this. Doing something due to compulsion that is, Gabe was very methodical and reasonable. Compulsion was often left to Shawn and Austin.
"What really is it Gabe? You... aren't usually the type to listen to compulsions."
"I usually can't," Gabe said, resting his hands in his lap. Despite everyone else's obvious confusion, Salem seemed to understand. He was holding Gabe's hand gently, a silent support that it's okay. That only made the other's more concerned.
"What does that mean?"
"If I do," Gabe sighed, "My parents don't like it is all."
"Don't like what?"
"I um... I have OCD... always have. Just, usually try to ignore and suppress it."
"I live with you!" Micheal said, "Why haven't I heard about it?"
"My parents don't like it. They think it's 'the Devil controlling my brain.' I've learned to hide it around them," Gabe said. Salem rolled his eyes and mumbled something, the only words anyone could catch were 'the devil doesn't have time for that'.
Ryan's eyes lit up with a fire, "That's such bullshit!" It made Micheal, Gabe and Austin all jump. Shawn was far too used to cursing to jump, but still looked startled at the word choice Ryan used. It's rare for Ryan to curse like that. He tends to have the cleanest mouth in their friend group, despite not being nearly as religious as Gabe or Micheal.
"I'm sorry?" Gabe asked, completely confused.
"Your parent's hate a disorder you're born with? Do you know how rare it is for someone to develop OCD, it's almost always been present since birth. And they think it's wrong?" Ryan was angry, "That's bullshit! It's fucking dumb! It's nothing you can change and you shouldn't have to fucking hide it! No wonder you're always so anxious, those compulsions are helpful! It's clearly not that severe since you can ignore it but still! Your parents are shit for trying to make you feel guilty about something that is life long."
"Ryan it's okay," Gabe said softly. "They don't realize that."
"They should! You're their only child! They should give a fuck about your mental health regardless if it scares them or whatever bullshit reason they have!"
"Says you!" Gabe shot back, "Not like your parents do shit for you!"
"They don't deny it though!" Ryan said, "Besides mine is trauma based, not something that I've had since birth and something I'll always have."
"Guys," Adrian said, "Stop fighting. Ryan sit down." Ryan scowled but did so. "Ryan, I'll agree, it's a bit shitty they do that. But it's not something any of us can change."
"If Gabe would-"
"No," Adrian said, "Gabe stops hiding it then things could escalate to something worse than denial. This is shit, but Gabe being verbally abused or worse would be shittier."
Micheal paused, "His parents wouldn't do that."
"You think," Adrian said, "People do extreme things sometimes. People can easily be pushed and compelled to do things they usually wouldn't. It's human nature. It's why no man is free of sin. Salem's parents appear fine to the public, but we all know that they aren't. Along with... other people."
Gabe sighed, "It's not a big deal guys. Just... drop it."
"Fine," Micheal said. The group went silent, but Braxton quickly was able to steer them back towards positive discussion. Gabe was thankful that Braxton shifted everyone's thoughts so easily. They talked for a while, none of them keeping track of time. When Braxton asked Micheal if he should check the time due to Leanna, Micheal reassured them it was fine because Leanna was headed to a friend's right after school that day.
Lucas was mid sentence when music interrupted him. "Schools out," Levi said, muting his alarm. It was a favorite song for him and his friends, Ain't No Rest for The Wicked by Cage the Elephant.
"I still need to learn that on guitar," Adrian said.
"Oh gods, please don't," Salem said, "It's all you'd ever fucking play."
"Only because you guys would ask."
Braxton smiled, "We all do listen to that song a lot."
"What song?" Ryan asked, he hadn't hung around them a lot the ways others had. Shawn had heard it a lot from Adrian, Austin heard it from Maddox, Levi played it for Jaxson, Gabe heard it on Salem's playlists, and Braxton had played it for Micheal in an attempt to help him understand their outlook on life.
"Ain't no rest for the wicked by cage the elephant," Lucas said, "It's collectively our favorite song."
Shawn groaned, "Don't remind me. Adrian plays it like four times a day."
"Levi is worse with it. It's his alarm for everything."
"Hey!" Levi said, "Not everything. A decent amount of my alarms are ocean waves."
"We get it Fish," Salem said.
Austin smiled some, he remembered that Maddox plays it when he really is deeply invested in a first person shooter game. Maddox claimed it was his battle song, Austin appreciated the loyalty to the song. "You knew it Austin?" Ryan asked.
Austin nodded, "Yeah, I've uh... heard it."
"Hm," Adrian said, "Yep, that's definitely shady."
"It was in my recommended on youtube. Put away your deductions Watson," Austin said.
"Don't you mean Sherlock?"
"No," Austin said, "Sherlock is actually good at deduction." The group all ended up laughing at that. Even Adrian agreed it was a good comeback. "Besides, I'm on youtube enough trying to ignore the world that I've heard most songs."
"Music is boring," Ryan said, "Just dissociate like the rest of us."
"Only you do that Ry," Jaxson replied.
Gabe rolled his eyes, "Salem does. Either dissociating or constantly trying to astral project."
"Both," Salem said. "Anything to ignore the bullshit that spews from Adrian and Braxton."
Braxton raised an eyebrow, "At least I didn't ask if weed was snort-able."
"Salem... How high were you?" Micheal asked, "Because even I know better than that."
Salem paused for a moment, silently doing some math. "I plead the fifth." Was his only response. Gabe rolled his eyes about it, and Salem nudged him. "Don't act so fucking holy and good about it Gabriel."
"Shut the fuck up," Gabe said quickly. Micheal gave him a confused and concerned look. "It was a one time thing!" Braxton, Zeek, Levi and Adrian burst into laughter about that.
"Okay sure," Adrian said, "When did this 'one time thing' happen?"
"... I plead the fifth."
"Nuh-uh," Shawn said, "My flower field and I am a cruel fucking dictator. Tell."
Salem put his hands up in a display of surrender, "You're on your own babe." Gabe didn't respond to it.
"Look," Zeek said, "It isn't concrete evidence, but Salem has been going through about twice the amount of pot for about three weeks now."
"Gabriel!" Micheal said.
Gabe glared at Zeek, "You snitch." Salem was laughing. Micheal was just rubbing his temples, almost in disbelief.
"You know," Micheal said, "When I said 'hanging around people like that will turn you into a druggie' I wasn't giving advice Gabe." Everyone but Gabe and Micheal ended up laughing about that.
Shawn shrugged, "Nah it's all Gabe dude. I've been around Adrian near constantly after the crash and I'm not a druggie yet."
"Yeah," Jaxson said, "Never touched any myself even with Levi."
Gabe huffed and crossed his arms, "You're all mean."
"To be fair," Salem said, "I warned him when we started dating I wasn't changing my ways but wouldn't ask him to change his own. So this was his choice."
"Salem!" Gabe hissed. Zeek and Braxton had tears in their eyes from laughing so much.
Zeek took some deep breaths before smiling at Gabe, "Hey, at least I won't scam you like I do most of our classmates." Gabe was pouting, pretending to be upset that his friends had figured out he liked smoking.
"Next thing I know, you'll be summoning demons with him or something," Micheal joked.
"Weeeelll," Gabe said.
"Gabriel!" Micheal shouted.
Gabe started laughing, "I'm joking. I'm not summoning demons. That would be a dumb choice."
"Yeah," Salem said, "They aren't very forgiving most times. Some girl got killed because she summoned one for something petty."
"A girl was what?" Shawn asked.
"They are demons!" Salem said, "Murder is in their nature most the time. Except for a select few, but I don't want to give you guys any ideas."
"So," Adrian said, "That means you are planning a sacrifice?"
Salem chuckled, "Oh for sure. Don't worry, you're all to much of a fucking whore to be in danger." Micheal went to object but looked at Braxton and quickly decided against it. Salem glared at him, "And you claimed to be straight."
"So did Gabe."
"So did Maddox," Austin added. Maddox glared at Austin some, and Austin chuckled.
"I FUCKING KNEW IT!" Shawn yelled. Salem, Austin and Ryan all jumped.
Ryan waved a dismissive hand, "This yelling unprovoked thing needs to stop before I end up having flashbacks."
"Sorry Ry," Shawn said. Ryan shrugged him off. "But seriously, you're both bad at lying."
Adrian looked at Shawn, "Like you would've noticed if I hadn't brought it up."
"Fair."
Maddox looked at Adrian, "Uh, brought up what?"
"You both were texting near constantly and out of the blue, most of us know you're neighbors, and you're both practically kids, we aren't that dumb," Lucas said.
Zeek raised a hand, "To be fair. I am that dumb."
"Stop shit talking yourself!" Braxton said, throwing a granola bar at Zeek.
Salem started laughing, "Why is Braxton's weapon of choice a granola bar??"
"Because none of you fucking eat!" Braxton said.
"Hard to eat without food at home," Salem replied. Braxton threw a granola bar at Salem too, barely missing Gabe.
Braxton inhaled sharply, "Sorry Gabe. Didn't mean to almost hit you."
Ryan paused, "This is the man that punched Salem?"
"He deserved that," Braxton said, "Besides, I'm not as weak as I look since all I really do is go to school and then work out."
"And Smoke," added Zeek.
"And panic about us," added Maddox.
"And apparently fuck Micheal," Lucas added.
Braxton blushed bright red and hid his face, "fuck you guys!" His voice cracked again. It wasn't strange to most of his older friends, they knew that since starting on T Braxton was basically going through puberty again.
"Did you do the thing this morning?" Salem asked, the voice crack reminding him that today was when Braxton was supposed to give himself his shot. Every two weeks he had to do it.
Braxton paused for a moment, "Well ain't that a bitch."
Adrian groaned, "You complained for how long about it just to forget?"
"It's a new thing still," Braxton defended. Micheal seemed to understand what was going on, even if his friends were confused. Micheal's understanding made sense to Salem, but none of the others. Salem knew both Braxton and Micheal well, and he knew that Braxton would tell Micheal about it all, especially since they've slept together. And Micheal would of course support it.
Adrian went to go say something else but stopped himself, "Are you okay... with..."
"Like I told Lucas, if they are upset about it, they won't be worth it. Don't censor yourself," Braxton said. Micheal gently grabbed Braxton's hand, silent support. Salem realized what that meant, Micheal would choose Braxton over Ryan or Austin if they overreacted to it. Salem couldn't help but smile, gently shaking his head when Gabe looked at him confused.
Adrian nodded, before going off, "How long have you been binding? I know for a fact you've had it on all day but knowing you, you probably tried sleeping in your binder. And if you break a rib Braxton I swear to fucking go-" Adrian was cut short by Shawn covering his mouth.
"You're welcome," Shawn said.
Braxton smiled at him some, "Yeah, I know. He does this every day."
"All he does is worry," Shawn said, "You should see what happens if I get home after ten. I was out with Gabe slightly after ten one time, and Adrian said he almost called 911 to report me missing."
Braxton laughed, "Yeah, sounds like him." He was focused on his breathing. His chest hurt because Adrian was right, Braxton had been wearing his binder longer than he should've, but he couldn't take it off now. Well, he could, but not wearing his binder around people he wasn't very close to made him uncomfortable.
Ryan rolled his eyes, "Braxton, we aren't total assholes. Take care of your health, none of us have a right to say shit."
"Ryan's on my team! Ha," Adrian said. Braxton slouched over some, rolling his eyes.
Micheal leaned close to Braxton and whispered to him, "Brax, it's okay. None of us want you hurt. Take your binder off, it'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" Braxton whispered back. Micheal nodded softly. Braxton sighed, and pulled his arms inside his shirt and took off his binder without removing his shirt. He pulled it off from around his neck and shoved it in his backpack, grabbing a hoodie to throw on.
Salem paused, "How... The fuck?"
"It's a skill you learn."
"You're able to strip without stripping," Salem said.
"Sure, think of it that way," Braxton said.
Micheal smirked and whispered in Braxton's ear, "Seeing you strip would be nothing new for me though huh?"
None of them knew what Micheal said to make Braxton turn red so suddenly. Braxton pulled the hoodie of his hoodie up and covered his face with it. Micheal laughed.
"Look," Salem said, "You aren't Adrian, don't whisper seductive things in people's ears while they are trying to talk Mike."
"... Now I see why you all nicknamed me slut in the group chat."
"They did what?" Shawn asked.
"Don't worry," Adrian said, "Maddox's is 'Furry'. But yea, it was. I tried changing it to Crippling Depression, emphasis on the Cripple, but it pissed Maddox off so they changed it to Addy."
"Does everyone call you that?" Shawn asked.
"Just about," Adrian said, "I'm surprised it took Lucas being a snitch for them to figure out that I was your 'girlfriend' Addy."
Jaxson laughed, "We all knew. Only Mike was dumb enough to not realize."
"Thanks Jaxson," Micheal said, rolling his eyes.
"To be fair, he also didn't pick up on me dating Gabe, or the fact Levi and Jaxson were a thing until he saw them."
Levi growled, "Don't remind me of that day. You and Micheal's fighting nearly made me want to kill you." Jaxson gently rubbed Levi's arm. Micheal gave a smile to Levi in apology, Levi shrugged it off.
Braxton wasn't really surprised that Salem and Micheal would've fought when seeing each other. Micheal had explained to him how much Salem's cheating really hurt him, Braxton was glad that Micheal didn't like Salem anymore though. "That reminds me," Lucas said, "You two done hating each other?"
"Yeah, be a bit nice to have my boyfriend and best friend get along," Gabe said.
"Wait best friend?" Shawn said, a fake sadness in his voice. "I've been replaced."
"No!" Gabe said, "Don't be sad. You're my best friend too!"
"... Are we sure we should allow him to date Salem?" Zeek asked, earning him a glare from Salem and laughter from everyone else.