FP stumbled out of his bedroom and was met by Archie and Fred who had already started breakfast. They hadn't seem him yesterday, and were glad to see him out of bed.
"Hey bud, you feeling better?" Fred smiled sympathetically and grabbed an extra plate to put some toast on.
"Yeah, a lot. Thanks." FP smiled weakly before he yawned and took place at the kitchen counter.
"Alice stopped by yesterday, to bring me some soup." He mentioned casually, knowing that she had talked to Fred about him being sick.
Fred immediately know what had happend as he was the one that came up with the little white lie. He hadn't expected for her to do something like that.
"She kept asking why you weren't at breakfast. I told her you were under the weather." Fred told him, the guilt noticeable in his voice.
However, FP didn't mind. He understood that it was hard to cover for him if people had no idea what was going on.
"I uh— I decided to be honest to her. So, she knows everything." FP told them with a blush on his cheeks, so they'd know that the cat was out of the bag too. Both men knew that this was a huge step for him.
"I'm proud of you for doing that." Fred patted his friend's shoulder with a sweet smile on his face. FP smiled back. His support was everything to him.
Although, that wasn't all he had to share with them. Something big happend. It had kept him up all night.
"We uh— we kinda kissed." FP confessed suddenly, and directly focused on his toast of jam on his plate that was still left untouched.
Archie almost choked on his milk and Fred dropped his sandwich just when he was about to take a bite.
"Wait, you kinda kissed?" Fred spat out in pure disbelief.
He had a feeling his best friend had been crushing on her, but this wasn't something he had expected so quickly.
"Why are you so casual about it? You kissed Alice!" Fred started to grin like a fool and slapped his chest.
"Just a peck or like with tongue?" Archie asked serious, a curious frown on his face with a hint of a smirk.
"Archie! That is inappropriate to ask someone." Fred corrected him with a stern look, before turning to FP again.
"So, with tongue or not?" He asked, wanting to know the juicy details as much as his son did.
"I regret telling you this already." FP shook his head in disapproval, but had to grin nonetheless.
"Looks like two out of three fall for the blondes next door." Fred said smugly, eyeing his son who pretended he had no idea what they were talking about.
"Are you talking about me?" Archie asked confused, though he knew perfectly well what his father was referring to.
"All you need is eyes to see what has been going on with you and Betty." Fred pointed out, which was true.
It was obvious that his son had a crush on the girl next door. His best friend could be added to the same list.
"Let's focus back on FP here. Alright?" Archie grinned while pointing at him.
"Do you like her?" Fred asked genuinely, as in their prior conversations he had never understood where FP had been standing with his feelings towards Alice, except for the fact that there was clearly more than just a platonic connection.
"I don't know? She's amazing but..." FP putted down his mug and shook his head a little confused. He clearly felt something, but what was he supposed to call that?
"What did you feel when you kissed?" Fred asked, hoping that the answer would give him some sort of clarity.
"Butterflies, huh?" Fred grinned, as FP stayed silent.
To him it was clear that the man was head over heels, but maybe he needed some more time to figure that out on his own.
"Yeah, maybe. I don't know what it was." He shrugged a little as he felt more and more uncomfortable talking about it.
Not because he couldn't share everything with Fred, but because if confused him more than he understood.
"Why don't you ask her?" Archie said simply, which was something he would have done in FP's shoes.
"What? No, I am not going to do that. It was probably just the heat of the moment. It doesn't matter." FP brushed it off and dismissed the conversation as a whole, since the topic was making him nervous.
"If you say so." Archie mumbled and eyed his father, who had the exact same knowing look on his face.
**
"How did you enjoy the book?" Fred had come in to pick up the cooking book he had borrowed Alice last week. She grabbed it from the kitchen counter and handed it over.
"It was exactly what I needed! I copied some recipes out of it, if you don't mind."
She had tried multiple dishes to see what was a hit for Betty and Polly, but truth was it all had been delicious. Besides that eating it had been fun, cooking with her daughters had been a great bonding experience.
"Of course not. If you promise to cook for us again." Fred grinned.
He had learned that she was a great cook the first week she moved in and he was looking forward having one of those meals again.
"You've got yourself a deal, Andrews." Alice winked, making him chuckle.
Fred turned around to go back to his apartment again, until Alice's voice called after him.
"Wait! Can I tell you something? I need to get it off my chest." Alice said a little hasty. She was clearly nervous.
Whether it was the right call telling Fred or not was something she wasn't sure of, but he was the only one she could actually share this with.
"Sure, spill."
Alice hesitated for a second. He was FP's roommate and best friend after all.
"Promise me you won't tell anyone."
"You've got my word." Fred sweared, already feeling where this was going. He sat down on the arm of the chair. Alice took place on the couch.
"FP and I kissed. Did he tell you?" Her voice trembled slightly as she was unable to control her nerves.
"He might have mentioned it at breakfast." Fred said mysterious, as if they hadn't if been discussing all morning. Though, that was confidential so he wasn't going to share that like it was nothing.
"Was he mad at me?" Alice asked him carefully, guilt written over her face.
Fred was confused. "Why would he be mad at you?"
"I didn't want him to think I took advantage of the moment because he was vulnerable. It shouldn't have happend." Alice shook her head, more to herself than to Fred.
She had been tossing and turning all night about their kiss and how she felt like she had clearly overstepped. However, he had kissed her back which made it all the more confusing what it had meant and how she should feel about it.
"So, you regret it?" Fred asked, suddenly growing worried that she might not return FP's possible feelings.
"If it made him feel awful, then yes." Alice stated, as if it was an obvious connection. However, she forgot to consider that he wanted it to happen as much as she had.
Fred smiled slightly. It was thoughtful of her to think about how FP felt instead of focusing fully on her own, which he assumed was already a lot to process.
"Well, it didn't. I think you two got to figure some stuff out, don't you think?"
"Do you think he wants that?" Alice's voice was filled with insecurity.
"Alice, you've got to discuss that with him, not with me." Fred said in all honesty. He wanted to help both of them out, but be wasn't going to sit between this and be the messenger.
Though, Alice seemed to grow more nervous because of his answer. She understood, but that way it meant they had to have a confrontation about what happened.
"Tell me, did you feel something when you kissed?" He shot her a soft smile as he gave her an option to open up. It looked like she needed it.
"Would it be bad if I did? No matter the situation we were in?" Her cheeks flushed red. She clearly felt confused about a feeling she had when FP had been so vulnerable.
"Depends, did you kiss him because he was feeling bad?"
"No, of course not! I'd never do something like that." Alice immediately defended herself.
It had never occurred to her kiss him because of the emotional tension. She did it because she wanted to, because there was a connection there.
"Then you don't have to worry. Just talk to him. See what it meant." With that advice Fred left, leaving Alice with her thoughts.
**
Polly and Sweet Pea lay in his small but comfortable bed together, after spending the whole evening watching old classic movies. He had saved his mother's old collection and today he had decided to finally give them a look.
But now they were tired, and he had asked her to stay over. Polly had agreed with a shy smile. And so she was lying cuddled up to the boy she very much liked.
"Does your family know you won't be home tonight?" Sweet Pea asked her quietly, as he paused combing his hand through her blonde locks.
"They do. My Mom thinks I am staying over at one of my classmates house." Polly smiled weakly.
She knew how it sounded, but right now she couldn't be honest yet. Her mom would freak out, and she liked having this as her own little secret. Sweet Pea frowned a little, his own insecurities slowly taking over.
"It's not because you are ashamed to be with a Serpent, right?" He dared to ask, even though he was scared of the answer.
Polly pushed herself op a little so she'd be able to face him properly.
"What? Oh no, please don't think that. My Mom is just very protective when it comes to me and Betty."
Sweet Pea gave her a relieved sigh and squeezed her waist a little. With any other girl he wouldn't have believed it, but her blue eyes were to genuine that he had no other choice.
"Okay, in that case I wanted to ask you something..." His voice trembled slightly as he mustered up the courage to ask her something that had been on his mind.
Normally he wasn't nervous around girls, but there hadn't been anyone around that made him feel the way Polly did. He didn't want for that to slip away.
"Are we dating now? Can I call it that? Are you comfortable if we are?" His voice was sweet, and she'd swear that she saw his eyes sparkle with happiness the second she started to smile.
"More than comfortable." She answered quietly, before she connected their lips together.
It took him only a few seconds before he had carefully pushed her back into the mattress. Polly let him take the lead, as this was all so new for her. But the weird thing was? She wasn't scared. She had never felt this free and comfortable before.
His hands roamed over her body as he kept on kissing her passionately and she didn't think of stopping him when his hand slowly found it's way under the shirt she was wearing.
Polly had always been protective over her body (something she had learned from her mother) and never had someone around she felt confident about to share something intimate with.
Noah was different. He awakened something in her that made her so sure that he was the one she wanted to share this special moment with.
For a quick moment, Sweet Pea pulled back, one of his hands on her bare waist under her shirt, the other one cupping cheek so she'd look at him. Both knew what was about to happen, but before it did he wanted to look at her once more to know she was just as sure about this as he was.
"You're one of a kind, Coopy." He whispered, making her smile like nobody had ever before. Once more he kissed her, and took her with him into a memory neither of them would ever forget.