InsaneJournal

“I need you to not be smug,” Gordo didn’t think saying it was actually going to help anything, nor did he think that smug was the only thing that Robbie was going to be in this instance but – there was simply no helping it.

Gordo rubbed at his forehead, didn’t quite pinch the bridge of his nose, and then stepped away from the computer behind the desk of the garage. “Fix this.”

---

He was absolutely going to be smug about it. Robbie was grateful when he came back and there was still a job for him at the garage - and the Keurig was still in the lobby. Just like he left it. He knew before the words left Gordo’s mouth what was needed.

“Yeah yeah move o- holy shit Gordo, what did you do to it?” So many error boxes and was that an ad on the computer? He huffed, concerned, but absolutely reeking of smugness. “I need coffee for this. Good thing we have single cups…”

---

“Wasteful,” Gordo noted of the single cup coffee maker. But it was true, it hadn’t gone anywhere since Robbie had put it there in the first place. And the customers liked it. And, okay, Gordo used it pretty frequently. Even if sometimes a pot would be better.

He got out of the way, shoulders slouching down in the only shame he’d show for being so terrible with computers, and slunk over to the coffee maker to get it going. “I didn’t even touch it,” he said, which was untrue. Probably.

---

“Oh so the computer just downloaded the viruses and started having network seizures on its own?” He asked, looking over his very much needed glasses at Gordo before he went to work with it. “You know, I was thinking about upgrading that keurig.” He said cautiously, pulling the chair over so he could sit at the computer and fix it.

The computer made some level of protest, several loud system pings as he tried to access different bits of the computer to try and close out shit. This would be an adventure. “Seriously what did you do without me all this time? Cry, I bet.”

---

“Made Mark do the paperwork, mostly,” Gordo said – which was true. Mark might have taught himself his way around cars, but Gordo preferred him to touch as little as possible still, no matter who owned the place. On paper only, he might point out.

“And it’s not that bad, stop exaggerating.” It was that bad. Even if Gordo had never cried about it, thank you very much. And then: Gordo took the finished cup of coffee and went to add one million sugars or whatever it was Robbie liked in there. “What do you mean upgrade? We’re not getting an espresso machine.”

---

It would never not be weirdly adorable and not fill his heart with absolute joy that even if he acted like he didn’t, Gordo remembered how Robbie took his coffee. He bitched about it enough, the fact that he liked it so sweet. Practically not even coffee. It turned that smug smile right into one of adoration.

“No no not an espresso machine. I can only imagine how you’d break that.” He teased, clicking several more buttons and causing a lot more error messages to pop up before the computer finally quieted. Not that it was fixed - not by a long shot - but he was getting somewhere. “I mean, there’s these keurigs that apparently like, you can make a whole pot with them too. They do both. Since I know how you feel about single cups of coffee.”

---

“Espresso machines aren’t all that high tech,” Gordo protested. Not the good kind anyway, where it was all just manual labor versus pushing some buttons and waiting for coffee to come out. Not that he wanted an espresso machine. That was just too damn fancy.

He set the finished cup of sugar water tainted brown next to Robbie and then leaned on the counter between them. No point in watching his own mess being cleaned up. “I’m fairly certain, Robbie, you just described a normal coffee maker.”

---

“Conceptually, yes it’s a normal coffee maker.” He said, rolling his eyes. “But it’s not the exact same.” Which was, he admitted, a pretty piss poor argument. “This way, we can have just the Keurig though, and it can make a whole pot so its less wasteful OR just a single cup of coffee.” He put on his best salesman voice for that, too.

“Eh? Ehh??” He nodded happily, all expectant as he looked at Gordo. Not that he really thought Gordo would agree, but they both knew it wouldn’t matter. Robbie would upgrade it anyway. “We could really be saving the environment then.” That was a worse argument, he had no scientific basis for that line of reasoning.

---

Technically any coffee maker could make just one cup. It just required less of the shit you put into them. But Gordo had made his argument before and knew it would fall on intentionally deaf ears even now.

Arguably, Gordo wasn’t the person to be asking about a new coffee maker anyway, this wasn’t really his shop. But saying ask Mark felt a little bit too much like giving up.

“What?” He asked, hand propping up his chin as he rose an eyebrow at Robbie. “You gonna plant the old one in the ground, grow a tree from it?”

---

“That was actually exactly my plan.” He responded as seriously as he could muster for about three seconds before he laughed. “Nah, I was actually thinking it would look really good in my kitchen at Pickman.” He said, like it was art or furniture.

Maybe, just a little maybe, he wanted his own keurig and thought this would be the better way to get one instead of buying himself one. Selfish. A little. Which Robbie rarely was.

After some furious level of typing that made him sound like one of those fake hackers in movies, he hit a button and turned the computer off, letting it rest for a few minutes. “Alright, that should help but I need to go restore a few things and back them up too…” It was going to take a bit longer.

“So… How are you?”

---

It was a little selfish. But in the least selfish sort of way possible. If Robbie really wanted money for a Keurig for his own place, he could have taken it from the jar or asked Gordo to buy it for him, or even Mark. Hell, he could have just casually whined about not having one and Mark probably would have caved and bought one without anyone ever needing to ask.

“You can upgrade the coffee maker,” he said, tone dry, like he knew he’d been taken for a ride and couldn’t turn back now, annoying as it was.

Probably fair anyway, because Robbie really was putting in work to fix Gordo’s clicking on shit he shouldn’t issues.

“Me? Fine? It’s – fine. For Dunwich.”

---

Robbie would happily be paid in rogue coffee makers that he was allowed to take home after upgrading the shop’s coffee maker. It was never really about making money for him, anyway. He liked having a job. He liked feeling like he belonged somewhere.

This was where he belonged, too - at the garage with Gordo. It might be Mark’s place, but it was Gordo’s, and it was Gordo he worked for. Just like back home.

“Yeah? I gather I’ve missed a fucking lot but you and Mark seem mostly unscathed.” Mostly being the key word. “Is that girl fine or normal fine?”

---

“Mark’s other boyfriend is currently an infant,” Gordo pointed out, and maybe infant wasn’t right, but it was all close enough to him these days. He was older now then when he’d loved and tolerated and quietly raised Ox. Kids weren’t exactly his thing. “So I don’t know if unscathed is right, although it’s more a degree of separation.”

Girl? Gordo tipped his head to the side. “Lux?”

---

He nearly choked on his freshly brewed coffee. “That’s… awkward.” He said with a hint of a smirk on his face. Even if Gordo seemed to be fine with it, and even if Robbie too had ended up dating someone else while in Dunwich - he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have dumped Isaac if Kelly had shown up.

So maybe he was a little judgemental over the fact that Mark had his cake and was eating it too. Maybe mostly because he was protective over Gordo, ten times over now that he remembered who he was. Who he was to Robbie. “I guess that’s par for the course in Dunwich. No I meant fine as in do you really mean you’re fine or do you mean fine like girls mean fine and really you’re not fine?”

Not that he didn’t care about Lux but, no he really just cared about Gordo right now.

---

It was awkward. But it was…also a little funny. Not because Gordo didn’t like Richie. The guy was fine. He made Mark happy, and Gordo had made peace with the fact that Mark had what he had. So did he, in his own way.

Even if back home, he’d never have entertained the thought for either of them. But if Gordo knew anything it was that Dunwich was not Green Creek.

Anyway, small Richie had a mouth on him and it was pretty fucking out there.

“Oh,” Gordo said, feeling a little stupid over his own interpretation of that question. “That’s a little sexist,” he said, if only to cover up his own silliness. “I’m fine fine,” he said then, because he might as well go with the example. “What don’t I have to be fine with? Are you good?” He might not be. He shouldn’t be, even. He probably missed Kelly. Ox, Joe, all the rest.

---

“It is a little sexist.” He relented, and shrugged. “Also a little true.” Although he would never, ever say that in front of Elizabeth or any other women in the pack because they all would have eaten Robbie for breakfast. Even if he was absolutely certain they had all, at least once, told Robbie they were fine when they weren’t.

Including Gordo, not that he was going to point that out. “Fine fine is good.” He said, though, choosing to believe Gordo on that one because he didn’t have the look about him that was an indicator that he was mad or upset. Robbie had gotten pretty good at reading Gordo’s face.

There were very, very, very subtle changes to it that gave it away, if you looked hard enough.

“Me? Great. Dandy. Wonderful.” Dripping with sarcasm. “Sad.” He said, shrugging as the computer booted back up like it was fighting monsters to turn on, fan going at top speed. Not a good sign. “I miss Kelly, and Ox. I miss -” He shook his head, laughing. “Weirdly I miss you and you’re here, but you’re not. You’re not the same you.”

---

Gordo didn’t need it pointed out. He was well aware that of everyone in the pack that he was the most likely person to say he was fine, rub a little dirt on it and then walk it off on his own. Big feelings weren’t his favorite, even if the pack was good at sharing them even without words.

But Robbie’s answer was about what he expected and Gordo tipped his head to the side slightly in acquiescence. He got it. All of it.

“I know,” he said, slightly apologetic even if it wasn’t his fault by any measure. “It’s fucked up.” And difficult. And sad, yeah. But there was no real fixing it. Time was the best that could be offered, and that wasn’t useful at all.

---

“That must have been how you felt huh” He asked, his head tilted. Curious. Understanding. Like it was dawning on him for the first time how Gordo must have felt when Robbie showed up in Dunwich and had no idea who he was.

It wasn't the first time he thought of it, but he understood it now. “At least you know I'm still your favorite even if you aren't from the exact same time as me.” He said happily, pleased with himself.

A few more keystrokes, and there it was. Fixed. “So what exactly were you trying to do here when you broke it?”

---

Gordo didn’t bother responding – the answer was obvious. Being forgotten, or not known about at all (same thing in this instance) sucked, and it hadn’t sat well with Gordo at the time. It wouldn’t now either.

“Don’t be smug,” he said, even though this was, again, an impossible thing to be asking of Robbie. He wasn’t here to point out favoritisms.

“And I was … doing paperwork,” he went on, eyes rolling upward. He’d pressed something. Maybe a failed hotkey? Maybe an update? He never quite knew. This was why upgrades were usually useless.

---

Robbie had very few reasons to be smug. This was a good one and he would absolutely not stop being smug about it. “Doing paperwork.” He repeated, an eyebrow raised. “Riiight.”

He got up, offering the seat to Gordo. “Here, which paperwork? I can show you.” He offered happily, moving his coffee out of the way.

“Or, hear me out.” Both hands up, Robbie tried and failed once again not to look so damn smug. “You just don't touch the computer and give me the paperwork to handle.”

---

The deadly look that Gordo offered Robbie once he was sat back down and being offered the Best Out that he could ever be offered was … not without some fondness.

He’d never liked doing paperwork, even when he’d done most of it by hand, and had written down scheduled appointments in a little calendar book instead of using… whatever the fuck it was they were using now.

“We aren’t buying a new one,” he said, which was sort of like agreeing, except in a prickly way. “So don’t talk to me about upgrades in a month.”

---

Robbie knew if he looked just adorable enough and a little pathetic enough, Gordo usually gave in. Not only did that mean he was upgrading the coffee maker, but he was going to be able to do all the bookkeeping and computer work again.

Which was really for everyone’s benefit, because Gordo was hopeless when it came to the technology. How after all this time, he didn’t know. It had to have been by choice at this point.

“I’ll just ask Mark.” He grinned, grabbing his coffee and dodging whatever smack may have come his way for that remark. “Did Kelly ever… or Ox? Show up, I mean.”

---

It was absolutely by choice, even if it wasn’t quite as willful as all that. Gordo just didn’t like technology. He’d been fine without it before, he could be fine without it now. He rarely used computers and tolerated his phone only when he really had to. He was more of a nature, oil and grease guy. He could survive happily just sitting on a stoop with a beer and a book, no computers in sight.

Robbie was just a nerd.

“I’m telling everyone your glasses are fake and stupid,” he countered to Robbie’s sass of asking Mark. But then he sobered slightly, shook his head. “No. It’s only ever been us. And Carter, for that bit.”

---

Robbie looked absolutely pained at the comment that not only were his glasses pointless (sure) but that they were stupid. “They are not stupid.” He defended, shoving them a little further up his nose so that they sat higher up. They just made him feel smart. They made him feel loved and close to his mom.

He knew Gordo knew that, though, and he knew that he wasn’t serious either.

“I think they all know they’re fake anyway, it’s not like wolves have bad eyesight.” He wasn’t surprised no one else had shown up - honestly he’d be upset if Kelly ended up here without him. “So we can go to Boston now?”

---

“They can’t all know,” Gordo said with a shrug and what probably passed as half of a smile - at least, for him. Of course he wasn’t serious, but it was definitely something he’d snarked on in the past, and it felt natural enough to be doing it now.

“Boston?” He rose an eyebrow. “Why?”

---

That was probably true. There were enough new people since he’d been gone that wouldn’t even know he was a wolf yet, and certainly be unaware that he wore fake glasses. “That’s… Hmph.” He had no argument. “Fine, I won’t ask Mark.” He’d just do it without anyone’s permission.

Duh.

“I don’t know, I went there once, with my mom. I was little. We were just traveling.” As they did, before they had settled in with the family he’d found before he ended up in Maine. “Plus I’d imagine they have some way better food options?”

---

Gordo stared over at Robbie for a moment before sighing, put upon (but not really) and then pushed himself up and away from the desk and the computer that he’d spent most of the morning breaking, because he’d had no cars to fix and too much time on his hands and no idea what he was doing.

“I’ll drive,” he said, like it was obvious. Which it was. “You’re picking the food.” That was also obvious.

---

“Yesssss!!” He said, doing the whole fist-pump thing too in the air. The coffee was set down on the counter for a sec so he could wrap his arms around Gordo, pulling him into a hug ol’ extra tight hug. A pack hug. Which he held onto for longer than Gordo probably would have liked.

Touch-starved, family-loving, pack loving Robbie just wanted all the hugs. “Amazing. I’ll pick. I wonder if they have any Korean barbecue. They gotta have some.” He said, waving the thought off. “I’ll google it while you drive.”

---