Chapter Text
A boy is tired.
Tired of everything.
Tired of being alone.
Tired of the constant screaming down the hall.
Tired of getting caught in the middle of those arguments.
Tired of the disapproving stares the teachers give him when he falls behind in class, like he always does.
Tired of waking up and going through the motions.
Over and over and over and over and over, till he finds himself tired of being tired.
So the boy makes a decision. He ignores the yelling down the hall, tugs his sneakers on over worn socks, and slides out through his bedroom window.
At first, he walks rather aimlessly. He glances occasionally towards the dark, lazy clouds that drift past the moon. It’s cold out, but he didn’t bring a jacket, he doesn’t need one where he’s going. Finally, he finds what he’s looking for, a rather tall building that he’s walked past a million times. Tonight though, he walks towards it, and climbs the fire escape. He takes his time, each step clanging against the cold metal beneath his feet. The night is oddly silent, like it knows what he is doing, and is holding its breath in anticipation. His skin has nearly gone numb by now.
He reaches the top, and steps onto the roof, taking a deep breath of the cold night air. As he steps further onto the roof, gravel crunching under his sneakers, he spots a figure. Someone stands on the ledge, hunched in on themself, clearly here for the same reason as him. His heart jumps, though he isn’t sure why. Why should he care if this person is going to jump? He’s here to do the same thing, after all.
He sees the moment the person leans forward, and suddenly, he’s moving, sprinting across the roof at a speed he didn’t even know he was capable of. He wraps his arms tightly around the person’s waist and throws his body backwards, probably with more force than necessary. They tumble backwards, away from the ledge. The person lands on top of him, knocking into his lungs and drawing a groan from his lips.
The person sits up suddenly, staring at him with a look of surprise. “What the fuck, dude?” the stranger says, rather loudly, in an almost accusing tone. He finally gets a better look at this boy, in the light of the moon. This boy is young, maybe his age. The boy has tan skin, brown eyes, and wild blue hair (that is rather poorly dyed, to be honest). He blinks, “What do you mean ‘what the fuck?’ I just saved your life!” He spits right back. The blue haired boy gives him an angry look, his voice growing louder, “I was about to jump off a building, dipshit, what makes you think I wanted to be saved?!”
He winces, rubbing the back of his head where it had whacked into the gravel, he sighs, “Yeah, I know that!! I don’t really know why I did that… I just kinda panicked.” The blue haired boy stares at him blankly, “You panicked?” He says, voice flat. He nods, opening his mouth to respond when the boy speaks up again, “Why the fuck are you even up here at this hour?” He can feel the blue haired boys eyes on him as he looks away for a second. His mouth opens, then closes. How can he admit that he was here for the same reason after stopping the guy from jumping? The other boy seems to understand, though, he didn’t even need to say anything.
The other boy huffs again before speaking, “What’s your name?” He asks, sounding as bored as ever. He blinks, caught off guard for a moment, “Uh- Neverly?” He responds, though it sounds more like a question than anything. The other boy stares for a second, “Neverly, weird name. I’m Veraso. I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but you did just ruin my suicide,” the boy- or Veraso, says in that bored tone Neverly is starting to think may be permanent.
The two fall into an awkward silence for a moment. Veraso suddenly speaks up, “So uh…if neither of us are dying tonight, you wanna go to that old diner down the street? I think it’s open this late...” Veraso’s voice trails off awkwardly towards the end. Neverly blinks in surprise, then shrugs, “I- yeah, sure…not like I have anything better to do..” He sighs once more and follows Veraso down the fire escape.
The walk is rather quiet, and not in a good way. Quiet stretches between them like a brick wall. The silence is broken by Veraso again, “Are you not cold?” He gestures to Neverly’s tank top, “It’s freezing out here,” Veraso tugs his own jacket tighter around him. Neverly look’s down at himself, “Oh yeah- I didn’t exactly think I was gonna need to stay warm tonight…” He chuckles awkwardly, sending them back into silence.
The painful silence remains until they reach their destination, Tammy’s Diner. It’s still open, just like Veraso said, and they walk inside without a word. Neverly takes a brief moment to appreciate the sudden, almost stifling warmth of the diner. A tired looking worker gives a halfhearted greeting from behind the counter as they take their seats at a booth in the corner. An equally tired looking waitress walks over to their table a minute later and gets their orders. They remain silent even after the waitress leaves.
Neverly drums his fingers on the table. Part of him wants to ask Veraso ‘why?’ Why did Veraso want to jump? Is he like Neverly? Is he also so very tired? Before Neverly can make things worse by asking anything like that, Veraso says something random, “You’d look better with dyed hair, pink probably.” Neverly was not expecting such a random statement. He touches his hair lightly, it’s curly, and blonde, and it never did suit Neverly that well. He says, “What? I mean, I guess the blonde isn’t great, but why pink?” Veraso chuckles a bit, “Ah sorry, it was just really quiet… I dunno, I guess pink would just suit you. Like a really bright pink, it’d work with the green eyes, in my opinion.”
They manage to get through some small talk, chatting idly about hair dye for a bit before the waitress brings their food. The food is wonderfully terrible. That’s the only way to describe it. Greasy, messy, and sure to give them stomachaches later, but totally worth it. The burger and fries warm Neverly up, though he nearly burns his tongue a few times. He busies himself with eating, relieved to not have to keep up conversation for the moment. He keeps his eyes down, staring at his food, but he can feel Veraso glancing at him occasionally.
They finish their meals, and Veraso is the only one who brought money, so he pays for them both. Neverly feels a little bit bad about it, but Veraso is the one who invited him to eat. Neverly mentally curses the strange situation he’s found himself in. He was just gonna kill himself, and now here he is, eating a meal with a guy he hardly knows. They leave the diner, finally, walking in slightly less awkward silence this time.
Neverly pauses for a moment, Veraso stops and looks back at him. “Uh..I go that way,” he points to the left, “uh thanks for the food..” He says, still awkward as all hell. Veraso nods, “Uh yeah, no problem…I guess..I’ll see you around? Maybe..” Neverly nods back slowly, gives a small wave, and walks away. “God my life is so fucking weird,” Neverly mutters to himself as he slides back into his bedroom through the window. He doesn’t bother to change into pajamas, just flopping into bed, mind racing from the strange events of tonight. At some point, he falls asleep, wondering what may come from this strange encounter.