InsaneJournal

NINE YEARS AGO.

Eight-year-old Robbie was given enough freedom to roam his neighborhood without an adult, as long as he was with a friend. Robbie found this independence thrilling and took it upon himself to kick a rotting pumpkin as he walked by. Halloween was already a few days gone and Thanksgiving was in the air. The pumpkin rolled towards the street before promptly falling apart.

He huffed out a sigh; he hated when the full moon fell on a holiday. “Have your parents told you what you’re doing for Thanksgiving yet?” he whined to his friend.

“They’re making me stay with a babysitter. The stupid one with the dumb rules.” He couldn’t even walk down to the sidewalk when Mrs. Norris was in charge of him and she thought video games were the devil’s handiwork. “She’s just going to tell me to ‘read quietly in your room’,” Matty told Robbie, doing his best impression of a snotty little old lady voice that he could muster.

“That’s evil,” Robbie scowled. “I don’t like having to stay with our sitter for Thanksgiving but at least she doesn’t make me read.” That was the true workings of a monster. “You should come over and have a sleepover instead.”

“She’s probably Satan’s mother!” Matty declared, although the idea of having a sleepover at Robbie’s instead of reading quietly in his room all night was definitely an appealing one. “I’ll ask my dad! I bet he’ll say yes.”

“Tell him my parents already said it was okay,” Robbie winked. A bit of manipulation never hurt anyone! “And I would say she’s more of Satan’s MEAN aunt that MADE Satan the way he is.”

“You can tell your parents mine said it was okay, too!” As long as Matty didn’t risk running it by his mother first, at least, it would probably be true. “She probably is Satan’s aunt! She hates fun.”


***
THREE YEARS AGO.

Matty Banks was pissed. He’d had to leave all his friends behind (again!) and he wouldn’t even have his family with him in Cauldron Cove. He had a little bit of recognition of some of the people he’d run into so far, but his roommate was a complete stranger and he couldn’t even call and talk openly to his best friend back home, Benny, because Benny didn’t know the supernatural even existed!

He was fuming through the halls when he ran — literally — into someone he actually did recognize. He’d heard vague updates about Robbie through Frankie’s letters, but he hadn’t really kept in touch with Robbie himself.

“Hey,” Matty said, a bit awkwardly and unable to wipe the irritation out of his expression. “Sorry.”

Robbie put his hands on the other person’s shoulders as if to tell them to “get a grip and chill.” Before those words could come from his mouth, he gaped at his old friend. “Matty?” he questioned, his face lighting up.

“Long time no smell,” Matty teased, feeling just slightly more at ease at a familiar face. Not that he even had a super sniffer yet — but he would in just a few short months.

“Dude! I forgot Frankie said you were coming.” Robbie pulled him in for a quick, enthusiastic hug. “When’s your next class? When do you have lunch? I’ll introduce you to everyone.” His questions rolled over into one another with his growing excitement.

“I don’t need to be introduced to anyone,” Matty argued, returning the hug emphatically despite his demeanor. He wasn’t mad to see Robbie. He was just mad at the world for forcing him to move away from the friends he’d made since moving away from here. And then, awkwardly. “We could eat lunch, though?”

Robbie’s eyebrows knotted in light confusion. This wasn’t exactly the reaction he’d been expecting. Who wouldn’t be excited to move back to this place, especially since he had a friendship with the Lovells? “Yeah, let’s do that then. I’ll point to what will likely give you food poisoning,” Robbie smirked. If there was anything he could do, it would be to throw a little humor at this weirdness. “Just kidding.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Or am I?”

Matty pulled a face at that. “It’s school food, so… You’re probably not kidding.” Although, at least it wasn’t public school food.

Robbie grinned. “Just depends on the day.”

***
ONE & A BIT YEARS AGO.

The sound of his bone snapping wasn’t unfamiliar — Matty was no stranger to breaking a bone. Every bone in his body had been broken twelve times over now. But that didn’t stop the small yelp of pain that came out of him or the awkwardness of being surrounded by all of his ‘back home’ friends (aka humans) when a hospital trip was out of the question.

He made a desperate gesture to Robbie — who was visiting him for a week over the summer — to come help him up before anyone noticed the weird angle of his ankle.

Robbie would’ve guessed his face resembled the yikes!emoji when he heard the break. His eyes jumped between all of Matty’s human friends, before he raced over to try to shield his ankle with his body by squatting beside him. Robbie took out his phone and pretended, loudly, they’d just stopped skating so he could show Matty a new trick via youtube video.

“I think we gotta make a run for the car, bro,” Robbie suggested. “Can you like….hop with an assist?”

“Yeah. Shit. Okay.” He reached out for his skateboard — it would’ve been more suspect if he’d left it behind — and grimaced as his ankle shifted in the process. “Fuck. Okay. Help me up.” He held out a hand, preparing to himself to not scream if something went wrong in the process.

Robbie grabbed Matty’s skateboard from him and held it under his left arm. He gave one last glance to Matty’s friends who continued to skate before leaning forward and helping Matty to his feet. He slipped his right arm around his friend and allowed him to lean his weight against him. “Let’s go before they see,” Robbie pressed. “Otherwise we’re going to have to get you a fake cast to wear for the rest of the summer.”

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Matty agreed, wrapping an arm around Robbie and hopping alongside of him the best he could. The adrenaline, at least, was helping.

It wasn’t until they were in the car that Matty relaxed — as much as someone could relax while in searing pain.

“Fuck. Thanks, Robbie,” Matty said, his leg stretched across the backseat. “I really didn’t want to fucking pretend I had a broken leg all fucking summer.”

Robbie revved the engine dramatically and waved at Matty’s friends as they departed. “Now we just need to come up with some decent excuse for why we’re dipping.” He paused. “Hot dates?” he suggested to his friend in the backseat.

Despite the situation he was currently in, Matty’s cheeks flushed at that. “We met them at the mall?” He suggested, though the girl that came to mind was most definitely not a stranger to either of them.

“Sounds like a plan,” Robbie beamed, turning the radio up. “Let’s go get you some ice.”

***
ONE YEAR AGO.

Robbie cleared his throat. “So you’re dating my sister.” He tried and failed to make his tone sound casual rather than accusatory.

“Well. Yeah.” He still wasn’t prepared for this conversation, even though he’d be worried about whether it would change things between them since well before Frankie had made a move. “I guess I am.”

“Well,” Robbie started awkwardly. “I guess it’s better that it’s someone I’m friends with?” He’d clearly spent some time trying to rationalize this to himself. “At least I can trust you not to be a dick.”

“She’s my best friend.” Matty leaned back on the couch, imitating a chill that didn’t resonate with how tense his body was in that moment. “I’m not going to be a dick to her. I’m—” His cheeks flushed. “I’m lucky she likes me at all, Robbie.”

Robbie scrunched his nose in distaste. In a typical situation, Robbie would compliment Matty and tell him he was being overly dramatic. But in this case, he couldn’t quite disagree with his friend, despite how highly he thought of Matty.

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Robbie challenged. He held his friend’s gaze sternly for a moment before breaking into a smile. “Just kidding, I know it’ll be alright.”

“Good.” He hesitated, awkwardly, not really eager to discuss his feelings about Frankie any further. “Wanna play Call of Duty?”

“Truly more than anything right now,” Robbie agreed, eager to be done with the conversation.

***
ABOUT SIX MONTHS AGO.

Having watched Frankie make herself vulnerable in front of the entire school only to have her heart broken immediately afterwards, Robbie was pissed. He was perfectly content to never speak to Matty again given the amount of tears he’d witnessed within the last 48 hours.

But when he saw him just down the hallway at his locker, Robbie couldn’t stop himself from walking over and giving him a solid shove to the side. “You asshole.”

“What the fuck?” Matty’s words were aimed more at the shove than at the actual words that came out of Robbie’s mouth.

Robbie shook his head. “I honestly can’t believe you.”

“It’s none of your fucking business.” It was the only defense he had, really, because there was no way in hell he could explain anything to Robbie when he couldn’t even explain it to Frankie. Or, even, to himself.

“She’s my fucking sister, man.”

“It’s between me and her, Robbie. Not you.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Robbie snarled, pointing a finger at him. “It stops being between just you and her when you start treating her like garbage.”

“I’m not treating her like fucking garbage.” Matty slammed his locker shut. “What the fuck, Robbie. I’m allowed to ask for—”

Robbie took this moment to launch himself at Matty, arm wound for a punch.

Matty winced in preparation for the swing.

Sam turned the corner to his locker, startled by the sight of Robbie swinging at Matty just in front of him. Without thinking, he put his hands on both their chests to keep them apart.

"Robbie," he said, appalled.

Robbie’s punch landed instead with the locker door. He stared at Sam, almost startled, before turning and walking swiftly away.

“What the fuck,” was all Matty could say.

"Watch your language," Sam said automatically as he watched Robbie's retreating figure.