“Yeah, like one of those silly little stuffed animals Noah has,” Nico agreed.
“A Squishmallow!” Levi said, snapping his fingers. “That’s what Ever looks like. A Squishmallow.” Then he looked at his hand. “Even if he bites like a hellhound.”
Arsen rolled his eyes. “Now that you’ve told me what isn’t in the bag, maybe tell me what is?”
“That’s for Ever to know and you to find out,” Seven said. Before Arsen could stop him, he cupped his hands in front of his mouth. “Ever! Ever? Wherefore art thou?” he shouted dramatically.
Felix slapped his arm. “You’re going to scare him, dick. He’s really shy.”
“How do you know?” Levi asked. “I’m the only one who’s met him.”
“I just… I just do,” Felix said, waving a hand like he refused to justify his answer.
Arsen was about to tell them to leave when Ever popped his head out of the door at the top of the stairs, eyes sleepy and hair standing on end. He was wearing Arsen’s hoodie, which went almost to his knees, and a pair of pajama pants with fish all over them. As soon as he saw the amount of people gathered downstairs, his guard went up. His stiffening shoulders only relaxed when he realized Arsen stood with them.
“The guys brought you some…stuff,besenok,” Arsen said just loud enough to be heard. “But you don’t have to come down if you don’t want to.”
Ever hesitated then disappeared. For a second, Arsen thought that was the end of it. The disappointed looks on his friends’ faces let him know they did, too. Just as they started to hand the bag over, Ever returned, wearing the ugly black flip-flops Arsen had given him his first day there.
He slowly made his way downstairs, studying them all as he made his way to Arsen. He crowded against his back, hiding from them.
“Shit,” Lake said, sort of wondrously. “He’s even cuter in person.”
“What do you have for him?” Arsen asked. “Show me first.”
“Bro, what do you think we have in here? A live cobra?” Nico asked. “Calm down.”
Felix chuckled, seemingly amused by Arsen’s overprotectiveness. “Yeah, we were talking about how Ever has never gotten to try certain things so we bought stuff for him to try. Some of our favorite things.”
Arsen blinked at them. “Things?”
Ever peeked his head out from behind Arsen. “Like what?”
“Candy,” Seven said, voice saccharine sweet. “So much candy you’ll have a sugar rush for a week.”
“Could you attempt to sound less like you’re trying to coax him into a white van?” Nico asked. “Creeper.”
Ever moved to stand in front of Arsen, standing on his tiptoes to peer over the counter at the generic white plastic bag. “Is a sugar rush a good thing?”
“It’s the best thing,” Lake promised.
Ever looked at Arsen, who nodded. “Up to you.”
He wasn’t going to deny Ever the chance to continue trying new things. When Nico hopped off the counter, Arsen took Ever by the hips and plopped him down in the empty space. He crossed his legs in front of him, looking over all of them, now more curious than scared.
“What should he try first?” Felix asked.
“Pop rocks. Definitely pop rocks,” Seven declared, then looked at Ever, voice smug. “I picked that.”
Ever nodded, taking the pink package Seven offered. He kept one for himself. He tore it open, showing Ever what to do. Arsen tried not to smile as Ever followed suit. Seven put the candy in his mouth then waited for Ever to do the same.
They all watched him keenly. Ever shrank a bit under their scrutiny but finally dumped some of the candy into his mouth. Arsen didn’t know what pop rocks were. He only knew that Seven loved them. Arsen had never been someone who ate candy—not because he didn’t like it but because it reminded him of his father. He used to bring it home whenever he was sorry for the previous night’s beating.
Arsen shook the thought away. This was about Ever. As soon as the candy hit his tongue, Ever’s eyes went wide. For a moment, he looked horrified, like he was contemplating spitting it out. Seven dumped more into his mouth then opened it wide for Ever to see. A weird sound escaped. The closest thing Arsen could think to compare it to was the sound the jumper cables made when they touched the connectors on a car battery. A…crackling sound?
Ever parted his lips, his face lighting up as his mouth also made the same noise. The others laughed, easily falling under his spell. Even Levi looked…fond. Seven closed his mouth, loudly crunching the candy so Ever did, too. Baby see, baby do.
When the packet was empty, he looked sad.
