Stuck: with You

Megan didn't realise how close she was to hyperventilating until she ran out of breath from shouting, she looked at Arthur and through her blurred vision finally realised she had tears in her eyes.

"I just want my best friend back."

Everything hit her at once and Megan collapsed into Arthur's arm, dropping her bags, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face into his shoulder, she'd gone immediately into full-on sobbing and was releasing weeks, even months of pent up emotions onto Arthur.

Still slightly awkward about highly emotional situations, Arthur opted to stay silent, return the hug and let Megan vent, he hadn't considered the family connection with Brendan and Megan before, obviously they were cousins but they'd grown up together close as neighbours. Megan hadn't just lost a friend, she'd lost one of the most important people in her life.

"I, I'm sor, sorry Arthur."

"Don't, don't be sorry I should be. I've been a crappy friend, I should've realised Brendan being an ass was hurting you more than it showed. You haven't lost him, he's still family and he will talk to you again, it might take a lot to forgive him but if he apologises then try to."

Megan released Arthur, trying hard not to look at the big wet patch she'd left on his jacket, Arthur gently wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

"But until he does, fuck him."

Megan burst out laughing, completely taken off guard. "Christ Arthur, 11 years and that's the first time I've heard you say 'fuck'."

"Well I thought it was appropriate, Brendan is an ass and he doesn't deserve your anger right now, let him realise how dumb he's being then you can be friends again but after you let him know how dumb he's being. Until then, just be yourself."

"What, moody and emotional?"

"You know what I mean Meg."

"I do. God Arthur, I swear if I didn't like you I'd love you."

"You sad Nikki beat you to the punch?"

"Gross, no. Fuck Arthur, you're not even my type."

"I'm only teasing, come on, let's get you back to mine and we'll clean you up."

Megan picked up her bags and followed Arthur home. "I'm not sure if Nicola's a good influence on you or not yet."

"I'll tell her you said that."

"She'll probably agree."

"That she's good or that she's bad for me?"

"Yes."

The two friends laughed, both a little tired from their emotional excursion, and continued onwards. Megan didn't live far from Arthur but his house was closer and walking home with a wet face in the cold was not a good idea.

They arrived at Arthur's just as the streetlamps were turning on, Arthur looked round towards the Living Room but his father wasn't there, in fact most of the downstairs lights had been left off which given how dark it was getting indicated nobody had been in them for most of the day.

"Dad, you here?"

Faint footsteps were heard upstairs before David turned the corner at the top, sweat shining off his brow like he'd been working hard, unusual since he had the Christmas week off work.

"Hey son, Megan, what brings you here?"

"Hi David, I had a bit of an accident with the snow, dropped by to dry off if that's ok."

"Of course hun, actually I'm glad you're here, I've been working on something for Arthur but I think you'll appreciate it too. Come on up."

Art and Megan looked at each other confused before following David upstairs and into the Study, a room normally reserved for David's desktop PC and occasional storage. Aside from the odd time when he found his father in the room it wasn't a place Arthur usually went, since being given his own laptop a couple years ago he really had no use for the room. But when he walked in now he quickly caught into the new change his dad had made to the computer.

"Is that a webcam?"

"Sure is, ain't a state of the art model but it'll get the job done. Spent all damn day trying to sync the bloody thing up, I think I've got it up and running now."

"But why?" Arthur asked. "I mean my laptop has a built in webcam, you didn't need to go through all this."

"Well the thing is son, this isn't your Christmas present, this only allows your Christmas present to happen. And if I set this up on your own computer you'd never got off the bloody thing."

"What do you mean?"

David looked at the clock on the desk, it was just after 6pm, he did some calculations in his head and quickly grabbed his phone, immediately texting someone. Arthur and Megan just looked at each other confused.

"Dad?"

"Just one sec son, it's about 7am where they are, and the weather's made things a bit more difficult than I would like, but I think we might be lucky."

Something clicked in Art, he hadn't the full picture yet but 7am stuck with him, because right now it was 7am in Hawaii.

"Dad you didn't."

David's phone buzzed and he instantly burst into a smile, he almost jumped to the keyboard and got the computer running, logging onto Skype and calling the only number in his contact list.

"I'm afraid Arthur, I did."

The screen suddenly popped onto a video feed and the three of them were greeted by the face of Adam.

"You're lucky David, we're all still a little jet-lagged but she's up and she's eager."

"Well can't get a better wake-up call than this can you?" David turned to his son. "You're up."

David stepped out of the way to let Arthur take the seat, Megan moved up to his side to share the screen. They watched as Adam motioned someone over to him, and with bated breath Arthur waited until Nicola appeared in front of him.

"Dad I'm gonna fucking kill you." Nicola broke the silence between them all, while she had been texting both Arthur and Megan since she arrived in Hawaii last week none of them had heard each other's voices since then. For the young couple it was harder than either of them expected.

Adam laughed and left the room before his daughter followed through on her threat, Nikki turned to the camera laughing - and almost crying - at the shocked looks on her friends faces.

"I take it you two had no idea about this either?"

"None at all." Arthur near whispered, still trying to process what his dad had done.

"I'm only here because of the weather." Megan spoke up. "This has nothing to do with me."

As if on cue, the screen cut out for half a second, the snow outside was picking up.

"Well I'm glad to see you all the same." Nikki spoke quickly, wanting to get as much in as possible before the reception got too bad. "Kevin's been talking about you since I landed."

"He has?" Megan tried and failed to hide the excitement in her voice.

"Sure, actually I'll just call him now. KEVIN!"

"ActuallyIthinkIshouldgobeforetheweathergetstoobadcanyoudrivemepleasemrrossthankyoubye."

The mess of words that tumbled out of Megan's mouth as she quickly grabbed her things and ran out the room was nearly incomprehensible but David managed to work out some of the ending, he followed her out so he could drive her back home.

"Won't be long son."

"No problem."

Arthur turned back to a cackling Nicola, obviously enjoying her own joke. Off-screen Arthur could hear Kevin open the door.

"What?"

"Nothing, just playing a prank on Megan, sorry."

"You will be."

Nicola was still laughing as her brother left the room. "That girl has got the hots for Kev and she is not subtle about it."

"Maybe you should set them up next time Kevin's over, might end up like us."

"Ha, I'm not playing matchmaker for my brother and my girlfriend. Not yet anyway."

"Do you know when you'll be coming back?"

"Probably not till after New Years, we rarely come over to see Kevin so I want get in as much time as I can. Plus Mum and Grandpa still have a ton of catching up to do."

Much like the rest of the McAllister Family History, Arthur hadn't heard the full story but he knew that Ray and Lexi weren't always in each other's lives and had done their best over the years to remain close.

"So why you asking about me coming home? You miss me already?"

"Well... to be honest I might have bought you a Christmas..."

"Art? Art you there?"

"I am can you not...?"

"Ok that's it, sorry you stopped moving for a few sec... what's going on."

Thinking quickly Art grabbed his phone and texted Nikki; 'Video's lagging, probably the storm. I'll try tomorrow.'

He watched onscreen as Nikki got her message, his heart sunk as he saw the smile on her face vanish, but she composed herself quickly and looked up at the screen."

"Ok, Merry Christmas Art, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Merry Christmas Nikki."

A few seconds passed, but the smile returned to Nicola's face when Art's words reached her.

"I love you."

Art froze. While there was no denying that both of them were in love they'd never actually said The L Word out loud, but Nicola had just thrown it out there, a little desperation in her voice, as though losing this chance to talk with Arthur forced her out of fear of never talking to him again.

He moved closer to the camera, speaking low to keep the conversation between them both and no-one else.

"I love you too Nikki. I always have. And I promise I'll show that to you as soon as you're home."

"I'm talking to you. I am home."

A loud gust of wind from outside broke the moment, reluctantly gave a solemn wave to Nicola and logged out before things got too violent outside.

Across the world, Nicola watched Arthur's face disappear into a black screen, she wiped her eyes and logged off the computer, ready for their next chance.

"So you two are getting pretty serious." Kevin surprised her from behind. "How long you been together?"

"Long enough to know."

"Does he know? About you, about dad and Lexi?"

"Not yet. But he will."

"That's a hell of a commitment Nic. You remember what you promised Lexi and you want to risk that all on the first guy..."

"I know what I promised mum but Art is... he's everything I didn't know I wanted until I had him. Please Kevin, I know it's crazy but this is what I want."

Kevin quickly hugged his sister, sorry for acting judgmental. "I'm just looking out for you, ok?"

"Ok."

The siblings let go of each other.

"But I'm the big sister so that should be my job."

"Ha. Noted."

"Now come on, you owe me a surf lesson." Nicola ran off to race Kevin to the beach

"Oh it's on kiddo."

Kevin chased after Nicola, running past their confused parents who just ignored them and returned to breakfast.

*

The New Year came and Nicola returned home, 2016 was an important year for her since this would be the year she and Art would become legal adults, she'd been ready to take the next step with Art for weeks, even months at this point and while legally they would've been covered she didn't want to risk anything.

Besides, watching Art squirm on Valentine's Day when she told him what she wanted was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

March was on them quickly and with it came a new passion for Nicola, Volleyball. After talking over with Emily last Summer she had tried out for the team and proved to have a natural talent for the game. Whenever she got the chance she'd been practising with the team, now they were in a new season and she was ready to take part in her first real match.

Arthur watched from the sidelines, he still didn't fully understand the rules of Volleyball despite how often Nikki had explained it to him, but he got the gist and from the scoreboard Nikki's team was winning. Though even if he did understand the rules his mind was a lot more focussed on how good Nikki looked in her gym shorts.

Emily took the first serve, the opposing team managed to counter, one theirs caught the ball, passing it to one of their teammates who shot it over the net to Nikki's side. Her teammate Sarah Campbell tried to stop the ball but couldn't reach, Nikki quickly ran over and was just able to keep the ball from the floor, knocking it up high enough for Emily to punt the ball over, sending it straight to the ground on the other side, winning the team the point and the set.

"Nice one Em." Nicola hugged her new friend.

"You set it up, you share the credit."

"Yeah, fucked my arm up to get it."

"Yeah, you'll get use to it. We're up a set and there's not long left on the clock, sit this one out."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, you've done a hell of a job for your first game. Tell Coach I said so."

Nikki ran off the court and spoke Coach Taylor, telling her what Emily had said, Taylor laughed at Emily taking control again but took Nicola off and replaced her with Natalie. Nicola took to the sidelines to find Arthur.

"Hey." Art turned to greet his girlfriend with a kiss. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just pulled something in my arm, suppose I need to get use to that."

"You did great, and you're only going to get better."

"Art you spent the whole game looking at my ass."

"This is not untrue."

Nicola laughed and kissed Art again, she felt ok with a little vanity about her looks, she'd always managed to stay fit but now with her Volleyball training and exercising she'd found a good muscle tone in her legs and a tightness in her butt she never had before. Art hadn't been able to take his eyes off her since she started playing for the team.

At that moment Megan tapped Art on the shoulder. "Hey, I'm gonna wait outside, come find me after the game."

"What? We're nearly finished." Nicola was a little hurt her friend was leaving before the end of his first match.

"You've basically won and I don't want to be here when the football team come out."

Everything clicked, the football team, and thus Brendan, would be coming in for practise soon and Megan clearly wanted to avoid her cousin having still not forgiven him.

"It's alright." Arthur reassured her. "We'll meet you outside."

"Thanks."

Megan left with little fanfare, Arthur had told Nicola about her breakdown over Christmas and the two of them had noticed she'd lost a lot of her spark since then. But until either her or Brendan were willing to talk there was little they could do.

The match ended about 15 minutes later after Nicola's team scared another set and won the match, a good start to their season but closer than they would've liked. Arthur waited for Nicola outside the changing rooms but his mind wandered to a growing commotion down the hall, voices were rising and he saw a security guard run around the corner towards the noise.

"What's going on?" Nicola nearly made Arthur jump as she came up alongside him.

"I've no idea."

Just then, the unmistakeable voice of Martin Allen shot through the hallway.

"FUCKING FAGGOT FREAK."

Without saying a word to each other, Arthur and Nicola ran towards the noise, both of them fearing the worst. They rounded to corner and saw, to their horror, Martin kneeling over a battered and bloodied Brendan, punches laying into him. The security guard and several of Brendan's teammates kept trying to pull Martin off but he kept breaking from their grasp and laying more punches into the nearly unconscious Brendan.

Eventually Simmons managed to wrap his arm around Martin's neck and dragged him away while Fitz looked over Brendan, Nicola ran over to help.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Simmons yelled over the struggling Martin.

"He tried to kiss me, this cocksucker tried to fucking kiss me, he's a fucking fag."

Arthur stood in shock, partly at the sight of his best friend laying broken on the floor, partly in Martin's accusation. He didn't believe it but what else could've set him off like this.

He looked over at Nicola, still tending to Brendan, she looked up, almost speechless at what happened.

"I think you should get Megan." She said in a low voice.

*

Thankfully Brendan's injuries looked worse than they actually were, most of the blood was from his nose which had been broken in the fight, he had fair few bruises but the damage was all superficial. After the police had been called, took everyone's statements and carted Martin off Brendan was taking to the nurse's office to be cleaned up, Arthur, Nicola and Megan stuck around to be with him, though Brendan tried hard to avoid looking them in the eye.

"Has his parents been called?" The nurse asked as she wiped the last of the blood off Brendan's face.

"He's my cousin, they know he's with me." Megan's eyes didn't even look away from Brendan, almost crying out of fear and anger or both.

"Would you like me to give you some privacy?"

"Please."

The nurse left the room but kept the door open so they could call if they needed her. Arthur broke the silence by trying to comfort his friend with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Brendan, you alrig..."

As soon as Arthur's hand touched him Brendan flinched away, still not looking anyone in the eye.

"Give us the room." Megan spoke with an authority than neither Arthur nor Nicola wanted to argue with. They left quickly leaving the two cousins alone, a heavy silence passed over them both for several seconds.

"You look like shit." Megan said matter-of-factly, though she caught the briefest of smiles on Brendan's face.

"Yeah." The weight of their months without talking bore down on Brendan's mind.

"Is it true? What Martin said?"

Brendan looked up, finally looking her in the eyes. "So what if it is?"

"For fuck sake Brendan I'm trying to help you."

"HELP ME? How the fuck can you help me, look at me. I'm fucking pathetic, I didn't even know what I was doing I just... I just wanted to be around him, I thought it was because he was popular, then I started thinking about him more and more and every time you all shit on him I couldn't help myself but stand up for him. I don't even know why I tried to kiss him, I just felt like..."

Brendan burst into tears, his young mind confused and hurt, even Megan who had spent nearly a year wanting to punch her cousin in the face felt sorry for him.

"He's right, I am a fucking faggot."

"Fuck you." Megan spat out to avoid slapping the already wounded Brendan. "Fuck you don't you ever fucking talk like that, what would Heather say if she heard you?"

Brendan's mood sunk even lower as he realised he forgot his sister was gay and he was shitting on himself for maybe being so as well. Megan slowly sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulder.

"Look, I don't know what you're going through but let me tell you what I think. I don't think you're gay, and I say that as a woman that's watched you eye-fuck every girl that's walked passed you since you were 12, hell I've even caught you checking me out a couple times."

"I never..."

"You did and don't worry, it's pretty much involuntary for you at this point. My point is I think you might be bisexual, you just didn't realise cause you never had any reason to suspect it, you weren't in love with Martin but you might have be in lust. For as much of a cunt as he is he is attractive so I can understand why you'd gravitate towards him and want to impress him. Doesn't stop you from being an absolute cockwomble but I can understand."

Brendan laughed, it hurt his face but he laughed.

"Can you forgive me?" He asked carefully, scared of her answer.

"For being young dumb and full of cum? Of course I can."

The cousins hugged, both of them forgetting the months of hate between them, Brendan still had a lot to process about himself but he was happy to have Megan by his side again.

*

Megan explained everything to Arthur and Nicola, both willing to forgive Brendan for choosing Martin over them - inwardly both realised they had done something similar since becoming a couple and felt hypocritical had they shunned him. Heather picked up Megan and Brendan in her car but Arthur and Nicola decided to walk back, Arthur noted that Nicola had something on her mind since finding out about Brendan's bisexuality but after a long couple of hours he didn't want to push her.