The Friends You Make Here… by BymagaJones 10/?
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
“I’m heading out,” Bud called as she washed the dirt off his hands. “The wife is making a special dinner tonight.”
Monroe thought back. “It’s not your birthday or anniversary, right?”
“Her parents wanted to take the kids to some kind of show, so they’re spending the night with them.”
Monroe smiled. “Got it. Have a good time.”
“See you tomorrow?”
“Bright and early.” Because what else did he have to do? While he wasn’t admitting to hiding out for the time being, Monroe enjoyed having somewhere that held no memories of his ex-boyfriend. This was his Nick-free zone.
A rap at the doorway had Monroe calling out, “You’d better go get your nookie before she changes her mind.”
An awkward pause had him finally looking around from where he was potting a plant, and it felt as if time stopped.
Nick stood in the doorway looking and smelling good. Really, really good. How had Monroe not smelled him the moment he walked in the building?
“Um, hi?” Monroe asked, shoving his nervous hands deeper into the pot.
“You left the house before I got a chance to see you.”
“Yeah, I, uh, had things to do here. How’d you get in?”
“Bud let me in. It was nice to finally meet the man I’ve been talking to over the phone for the past few months. He recognized me and let me in, told me where you were.”
“Okay.” So much for the building’s secured access, but really, who was going to come in and steal plants?
After an awkward silence, Nick walked into the room, perching on a tall stool.
“So you’re all healed up?”
“Yeah, we, um, heal pretty fast.” Monroe immediately gave himself a mental slap. The first thing he did was draw attention to the fact that he was Wesen? Smart move.
“I’m sorry my aunt shot you.” Nick blinked and gave an amused huff. “A sentence I never thought I’d say.”
Monroe shrugged a shoulder. “That’s what Grimms do to Wesen. To be fair, plenty of Wesen have killed Grimms too, so it’s not just one sided.”
“Yeah, I read up on it while I was gone.”
Another awkward silence that Monroe didn’t know how to fill. He wasn’t quite sure why Nick was there. With the certainty that he’d never hurt Nick, Monroe had known that Nick wouldn’t try to kill him either. But then, Nick’s leaving had hurt bad enough.
“So, I thought we should talk.”
“About what?”
Nick’s sigh was audible over the classical music playing quietly from the radio in the corner. “About us.”
It was Monroe’s turn to sigh. He pulled his hands out of the dirt and turned around, sitting cross-legged on the floor. He wasn’t happy about being so much lower than Nick, but he squelched the uncomfortable feeling and focused on matters at hand. “There is no us anymore, right? Your aunt outed me when she realized what I was, you freaked out, and you left. For a month. That pretty much sums it all up, don’t you think?” He hoped he didn’t sound a pitiful as he felt.
“I didn’t freak out.”
Monroe arched an eyebrow. “You keep telling yourself that.”
“Give me a break! I suddenly find out that my aunt chases things that I never knew existed, oh, and yeah, one of them is my boyfriend!”
“Yeah, I can see how that’d be too much for you.”
“I needed time to learn about - everything.”
“I heard you spent time with your aunt. Have wonderful bonding times over the carcasses of dead Wesen?”
“It wasn’t like that. Okay,” Nick admitted after Monroe gave him a look, “we did have to kill a few, but only the ones who’d killed others. I convinced Aunt Marie to start a conversation first, to see that most of them just wanted to be left alone. To live their lives in peace.”
Monroe didn’t want to believe him, but it totally sounded like Nick. “I’m glad your trip was fruitful.”
“So here’s the thing. Our lives are intertwined, so we’re bound to keep running into each other. Can you handle that?”
“Of course I can!” Monroe said, trying to sound like he wasn’t lying.
“Because it looked like you ran away from the party at your own house. That you were throwing.”
“First of all, I had no involvement planning that party. That was all Hap and Wu. And yes, it was at my house, but all I did was make the food. Third, I had work to do.” He held up his dirty hands.
“Okay,” Nick said, backing down. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. I just don’t want you to feel uncomfortable around me.”
“It’s going to be weird at first,” Monroe admitted. He wanted to say that he loved Nick, that one couldn’t turn it off at the blink of an eye. But if Nick didn’t know that already, then maybe he’d never felt the same about Monroe in the first place. And didn’t that tear another chunk out of his heart?
“Of course,” Nick said.
“I’m sure it’ll get easier,” Monroe said grudgingly.
“It’ll be just like me and Juliette or probably you and Rosalee. It’ll take a while, but we’ll end up good friends.”
“Terrific,” Monroe said, knowing that the reason he and Rosalee were still friends was that she’d never inspired a quarter of the emotion in him that Nick had. How did someone pack all of that away? He didn’t know. What he did know was that a month’s absence wasn’t enough to put a dent in what Monroe felt for him.
And didn’t that make him the most pathetic Blutbad in the world?
G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M
Nick watched Monroe absently rubbing his dirty hands against his thighs, dirtying his jeans, and he was relieved at the gesture. There was something comforting about not being the only one feeling uncomfortable.
Monroe looked like crap. His hair was disheveled more than usual, dark circles underneath his eyes. It was difficult to tell from his seated position and underneath the flannel shirt, but he looked like he’d lost some weight too. Was this Nick’s fault?
He hated the thought that he was the cause of making Monroe so miserable. He missed - and yes, still loved - Monroe, but he wasn’t sure that Rosalee was right. Maybe he and Monroe could go back to the way they’d been before his aunt visited, but who was to say what would happen when he inherited his Grimmness from his aunt? Would he feel the same?
He’d broached the subject in a very roundabout way with his aunt, knowing how she felt about the whole Monroe situation. He’d asked her what it was like to be a Grimm, how it’d changed the way she looked at the world. She was tightlipped at usual, but she’d said a few things that he filed away for later. She did mention that her traveling and inability to explain her lifestyle meant that she didn’t form attachments.
Nick just couldn’t see himself traveling around the country - and sometimes the world. He still wasn’t quite sure how she made a living, but she was pretty frugal. He’d realized about his third day with her that she usually just slept in the trailer, showering at truck stops, and cooked on the hotplate she kept on top of a chest filled with disturbing, and yet fascinating, weapons. But she’d chosen to stay at budget hotels with kitchenettes on this trip, and they’d mostly eaten canned food, the same kind he cooked when she’d leave him at the apartment when he was growing up. Now he knew what she was off doing, but when he was young, missing his parents, confused and alone, he’d been scared that one day she’d leave and never return.
He returned his attention to Monroe and gathered the nerve to ask something he’d wanted to ask since about a week after he and his aunt had left Monroe in the hospital. “Can I see you? The Blutbad you?”
Monroe blinked.
“I didn’t see much when you and Aunt Marie were trying to kill each other.”
“Hey! I wasn’t trying to kill her, just defend myself! I don’t do that anymore!”
Nick held up his arms. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”
Monroe relaxed slightly. “Why do you want to see me? I can’t believe you and your aunt didn’t run into a Blutbad the entire month you were gone.”
“A few,” Nick admitted, choosing not to go into details. Some meetings had ended well; others had been more like altercations. “But it’s not like you all look alike.”
Monroe nodded, conceding Nick’s point. “Why do you want to see me Woged? It is not like you’re ever going to see me like that again.”
“You don’t think so?”
“We were together three months, and the only time I woged was when a Grimm surprise attacked me and launched herself at me. I think we can go another five months without problems, especially since we won’t be seeing each other much.”
Nick’s mind understood that he wouldn’t be around Monroe as much anymore, but he didn’t like the way Monroe phrased it. “It sounds like you’re going to be avoiding me.”
“Not really, “ Monroe said, “but this whole thing just reinforced the fact that I’m supposed to be alone.”
While he didn’t particularly like the idea of Monroe being with someone else, he hated picturing Monroe growing old alone, becoming that bitter old man in the neighborhood. And as much as Monroe refused to admit to it, he needed others. Nick had seen him open up, smile and joke, share more since he, Hank, and Wu had come into his life. Monroe was, despite his protestations, more of a people person than he thought, no matter how hard he tried not to be. He needed others around him just like everyone else.
Nick’d finally found a book written mostly in English about Blutbaden, and he’d spent days devouring it, staring intently at the pictures with notes scratched in the margins, taking in every fact. It’d said on quite a few occasions that they were similar to wolves in that they ran in packs. Nick knew that Monroe had given up a lot of Blutbaden ways, but he saw Monroe when everyone was at his house. Monroe seemed absolutely content. Nick didn’t want him to go back to the way he was before they’d met on that dark stretch of road.
“I’m thinking that you grew up in a pack, and I just don’t see how you can just ignore that part of yourself.”
Monroe glared. “I’m ignoring the violent part of me, the part that craves destruction and blood. I’m vegetarian and do my Pilates and yoga, choosing to create rather than destroy.”
“But - ”
“Who’m I supposed to be with?” Monroe almost shouted. “I can’t be with humans, because - “ he pointed dirty hands between the two of them. “ - and I definitely can’t be with another Blutbaden, because everything I have built here will fall to pieces in hours. Hours, Nick!”
“You were with Rosalee. What about other Wesen?”
“Rosalee was a big exception; you know how everyone experiments in college. Her family would probably disown her if she tried to marry a Blutbad.” Monroe shook his head. “Don’t worry about me. I was fine before we met, and I’ll be fine again.” He looked at his pot. “I’m going to get back to this. I’m sure the party’s still going on over at the house.”
“Yeah, I think I’m partied out.” Nick stood, pausing. “I’ll see you later, right?” He hoped he didn’t sound as tentative as he felt.
“It’s like you said. Our friends are intertwined now, so I’m sure we’ll run into each other.” Monroe turned back to the plant, shoving his hands into the dirt. “Have a good night,” he said over his shoulder, not sparing a look at Nick.
Accepting the dismissal, he muttered a, “You too,” and let himself out, absently listening to the door automatically lock behind him. He slid behind the wheel of his car, feeling just as miserable and almost as confused as he had the day his aunt Marie visited.
G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M
The first half of February sucked. It rained a lot, snowed once, and flu-like symptoms started working their way through both campuses. When they were healthy, Nick and his friends would meet up with Rosalee over at Monroe and Hap’s, although neither Juliette nor Monroe spent much time there. Juliette seemed to have her hands full with school and Renard. Hap blamed Monroe’s absence on the fact that he was trying to finish up some stuff before he graduated, but Nick wondered how much of that was just so they didn’t have to run into each other.
Unfortunately, the strain remained the few times they did see each other. Nick missed feeling Monroe’s arms around him, the way they laughed together, and he thought maybe Monroe was feeling the same way. They tended to sit as far apart as possible, contributing to conversations without ever having to address each other directly.
Every so often, something would remind Nick of a conversation he and Monroe’d had, and their eyes would lock in mutual acknowledgement - until they remembered where they stood with each other.
Valentine’s Day found Hank out with Rosalee, Hap out with Lenore, and Wu hanging out with the other single members of GN’s football team, who’d evidently adopted him as their own despite the fact that he went to the other school. Wu had invited Nick to go with them, seeing as how he was single too “and evidently looking to stay that way for a while”, something he couldn’t help since no one appealed to him after Monroe, but he’d passed. He was never one for big parties, and Wu and the GN football team’s involvement meant kegs of beer and unending games of quarters.
Instead, he decided to stay in, maybe study a little or, more likely, watch a movie. But he couldn’t concentrate on his books, and none of the movies appealed to him. Instead, he decided to go for a walk and ended up buying some discounted candy and eating way too much of it before cutting his losses and going to sleep early.
Worse. Valentine’s. Ever.
G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M
Monroe was incredibly busy in March and the first part of April. He found himself having to justify every choice he’d made in his spring garden layout to Professor Mendelsohn, his advisor and the chair of the Department. The professor hadn’t visited Monroe or the gardens since Monroe’s freshman year, and Monroe found the intrusion stifling. Their produce had had been plenteous enough for them to sell most of it to the GN cafeteria and then set up a fruit and vegetable stand. He’d coordinated with the business majors and found a couple of people interested in pricing and running the stand for a small percentage of the profits for their department and college credit.
But this season the professor was always underfoot, questioning every one of Monroe’s choices, suggesting things that were impractical for their target customers. It wasn’t that the man wasn’t unknowledgeable; it was that he was mercurial, changing his mind from day to day.
Finally, Monroe decided to deal with the professor’s changing ideas by just nodding and then continuing with his own plans. He knew it might come back to bite him in the butt later, but firm decisions had to be made, and Professor Mendelsohn didn’t seem capable of making any. If they were to wait for him to actually settle on a decision, they’d be late in ordering their seeds and other supplies and would miss the growing season. Monroe wasn’t about to let that happen - especially in his senior year - so he just continued with his plan and decided to let the chips fall where they may. Bud, who was to take over once Monroe graduated, was nervous about the whole thing, but Monroe made sure that everything Bud did was under his direction so that no one other than Monroe would get into trouble.
Between being at Mendelsohn’s beck and call and trying to finish his thesis as well as pass his final course load, Monroe found himself exhausted. What little free time he had when he was actually conscious was usually spent hiking in the forest where he could just empty his mind and not worry about unreliable professors or classes or his uncertain future.
He’d become pretty good at staying busy, but he hadn’t realized how focused he’d become until Hap stopped him on his way out of the door one morning.
He’d paused in shock as Hap thundered down the stairs after him.
“Dude, it is getting close to Earth Day, and we haven’t talked about what we’re gonna do this year.”
“You’re awake at six in the morning? How is that possible?”
Hap shrugged. “I got in a little while ago, so I just stayed awake.” He yawned. “But this is important. Earth Day!”
Hap wasn’t one for making plans - or sticking to them - the one exception being Earth Day. Other than graduation, Earth Day was the most important and celebrated day on campus, easily quadrupling the number of people in town as visitors traveled from miles around to attend. Classes were suspended for the day, and most professors gave those actively participating a free pass the day before so they could focus on their preparations.
They put on concerts at the square, which was bordered by tents featuring a range of things from green cleaning products to flyers on how to make your house greener to how to create and utilize a compost pile in your backyard.
Monroe’s group always rented out a spot for their fruit and vegetable stand, to be run entirely by their freshmen. Monroe kept an eye on them as they made their plans, offering a suggestion here and there and making sure that they didn’t get overwhelmed, but otherwise, he left them to it. There was also a stand on the side of the road leading into town, which was run by the sophomores.
The juniors were in charge of giving tours of their portion of the farm, the gardens, and their buildings. They also ran a hands-on event for the kids to pot their choice of a few different starter plants to take with them.
The seniors used the day to take whatever volunteers they could find to various spots around town to plant trees. As soon as they returned from January break, they’d begun their search for locations and gathering the necessary permissions. On a predetermined date, they had to lay everything out for Monroe and Mendelsohn, and once they’d received the approval, they only had to give Monroe progress reports once a week and come to him with any questions or problems.
Because he was basically in charge of everything, Monroe wasn’t given a special project. However, it was well known that Monroe and Hap always did something special at their house.
For the past ten years, the school had run a contest for the townsfolk to find out who could come up with the best Earth Day Home in town. They weren’t given any more instruction than that, and the projects were always quite varied. The winners one year turned their home into an ‘Environmental Home of the Future’, where people could walk through the different rooms and watch how the waste water was cleaned and recycled; the trash was recycled, reused, and composted; the electricity was generated from solar panels. The owners had gone all-out and raised the bar dramatically. The winners another year had grown all sorts of plants in every available area inside and outside the house, each plant with a story about how it helped the environment.
Monroe and Hap had participated every year they’d lived in the house and had been runners-up the year before. This was the one event where Hap gave all, and Monroe was never more amazed at Hap’s focus. But usually they’d have talked about it around the holidays, their plans already underway, only needing final touches toward the last week.
This year the entire thing had been shoved to the back of Monroe’s mind. He thought about it every once in a while, in the middle of getting an update from the freshmen or ironing out a disagreement between the sophomores who were fighting about what plants to offer the kids to pot. By the time he’d finished with the different groups, he’d already forgotten about preparing his and Hap’s house for the event.
He’d also gotten swept up in personal changes, what with all of the friends Nick had somehow brought into his life. Then there was the recuperation after being shot, dealing with the loss of Nick. Hap had been on his road trips, and by the time he’d returned, Monroe was throwing himself into his work and his final classes. They’d become more like roommates this semester than friends, Monroe suddenly realized. He’d never been a party person, so he’d never gone out with Hap, but they’d always made a point to eat together at least a few times during the week. Hap would come home and spend some time with Monroe before heading out to hang out with his friends. But that was all difficult to do with Monroe never being home.
Monroe sighed. “I’m sorry. I’ve been so caught up with everything. We don’t really have much time. Maybe we shouldn’t - ”
“No, we have to do something, and it has to be awesome!”
“We have ten days,” Monroe said. “The Hendricksons started working on theirs the day after Earth Day last year.”
“We can do awesome in ten days!” Hap insisted. “We just have to focus. I won’t go to any parties until it’s over.”
“Wow,” Monroe said. He was always impressed at Hap’s devotion to Earth Day, but he never realized that it ran so deep. “That’s quite a commitment. But I don’t have the time. I can carve out some, but I still have to supervise the other classes for their events, and I have Mendelsohn on my back. Plus, Bud’s shadowing me so he’ll know what to do next year.”
Hap sighed, his shoulders slumping.
“I’ll help any way I can, but I can’t devote all my time to it this year.” He just didn’t have it in him to come up with something fantastic spur-of-the-moment, draw up some plans, and give Hap detailed instructions to carry them out. “I’m sorry.” He patted Hap on the shoulder awkwardly and walked out to his car, his mind already focused on what he needed to do for the rest of the day.
G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M
Nick was sitting underneath a tree, eating an apple while reviewing his notes for his next class when he felt a body drop beside him.
“You’re a hard dude to find!” Hap complained. “I’ve never really spent time over here, but your campus is actually bigger than I thought. Did you know that a lot of people don’t know who you are?”
Nick smiled, picturing Hap’s confusion at using Nick’s name and only receiving blank glances in return. He doubted that Hap even knew his last name, so Hap was probably walking around asking people if they’d seen “Nick” and expecting a helpful answer. “Not everyone is as popular as you are, Hap.”
Hap snorted. “I’m not popular. I just know a lot of people.”
Nick bit his tongue and asked, “So why were you looking for me?”
“I need someone smart, and next to Monroe, you’re the smartest guy I know.”
As soon as he’d seen Hap, Nick should’ve run. He should’ve tossed his half-eaten apple in one direction and headed in the other while Hap was distracted. Instead, he took a moment to bask at the thought that he was the second smartest guy Hap knew. Then he thought about the crowd Hap tended to hang around, and his pride deflated a bit. In that short amount of time, he somehow found himself committed to helping Hap coming up with an idea for Earth Day and implementing said idea in ten days.
Unlike GN, JT didn’t do much to celebrate Earth Day. Nick figured that they realized that it was much easier to just have a few groups pick up trash around the campus and then have everyone migrate over to GN and participate in their events rather than to come up with their own.
And now that he was helping Hap with his plans, he learned that it was absolutely the smart thing to do.
Celebrating Earth Day GN style was exhausting. Luckily, he had a few friends he could rope into helping. Hank and Rosalee were pretty easy, although as a GN student, she had a few other commitments that day and would help with preparations but could only stop by the house to help on Earth Day in the afternoon. Wu played coy at first, not wanting to commit because of other events that might be more fun, but Hap assured him that he would be free after 5pm. Nick even convinced Juliette to help, and she in turn convinced Renard.
Later that night, over pizza and soda at Hap’s (courtesy of Renard, who suddenly became everyone’s favorite), they brainstormed, searched the Internet, called friends (Rosalee) and family (Wu), and finally came up with a plan. They each took a few tasks and went on their way.
Nick’d originally thought that Hap was going to be in charge, but as soon as everyone had arrived, they all turned to Nick, waiting expectantly. Even Hap.
But Nick had to give the guy credit. While he wasn’t a mastermind, Hap was fantastic at taking orders. He stopped partying, constantly texting Nick with ideas or questions throughout the day. They got together every evening, sometimes just the two of them, to go over more ideas.
The thing was, the plan wasn’t that difficult. But Hap kept questioning things, and in turn, it made their plans even better.
The fourth day of planning, Nick and Hap were huddled over a small stack of pillowcases when Monroe stomped inside.
Nick hadn’t seen Monroe in weeks, and he’d talked himself into believing that he was finally getting over the Blutbad. But the minute he saw Monroe, he felt all those feelings rushing back.
Monroe nodded at them, exhaustion draped over him like a coat. His hair was disheveled, his eyes tinged with exhaustion. He didn’t seem surprised to see Nick, but then Nick remembered that he’d parked right in front of the house.
“How’re the plans going?” Monroe asked, his eyes flittering over Nick before resting on Hap.
“It’s gonna be awesome! Nick’s a fucking genius!” Hap boasted.
Monroe finally made eye contact with Nick. “Thanks for helping him. I know it was last minute.”
Nick had to hold himself back from walking over to Monroe and reaching out. Instead, he smiled and said, “We just rallied the troops. Even Renard’s helping.”
“Really?” Monroe looked impressed. “He’s going to get his hands dirty?”
“Hell no,” Nick said, laughing. “He’s our benefactor. He’s paying for almost everything.”
“Oh - did Bud give you my message?” Hap asked.
Monroe nodded. “I have some of the plants in my car. He didn’t say how many you needed, but I can get more if you want.”
Nick nodded to the kitchen. “There should be a couple of slices of cheese pizza in the kitchen if you want some.”
Monroe smiled faintly. “Thanks. I’ll grab some on my way out.”
“You’re going back out?” Nick looked at his watch and was surprised to find that it was after ten. He hadn’t realized that he and Hap had been at it so long.
Monroe sighed. “Yeah. The freshmen erected their tent on the square wrong, so I had to go help them fix that. The juniors did a run through of their tour of our buildings, and they disagreed about some information about some of the plants. They asked me to come in and tell them who was right. Turns out - ”
“Let me guess. They were both wrong.”
Monroe nodded. “So, so wrong.”
“And you have to go back out to help them with their tour?”
“I’m coming back from that. I have to go back out, because the seniors are way behind.”
“So, an all-nighter?”
“Not for me,” Monroe declared. “The successful completion of this is part of their major’s requirements. I’ll stay until I’m sure they’re on the right track. Then I’ll check on their progress tomorrow.” He covered a yawn with his hand. “Sorry.”
“Want me to make you some coffee?” Nick asked, already starting to stand.
“Thanks, but I’m good. I’ve already had three cups tonight.”
“This is you after three cups? Man, you’re losing your edge.”
“I’m getting old is what is happening here, and these underclassmen are speeding up the process.”
Nick didn’t know how long they stood there, smiling at each other, before Hap coughed, breaking the spell.
“I’d better - ” Monroe looked toward the stairs.
“Yeah,” Nick said, reluctantly, watching Monroe disappear upstairs. For just a minute it felt like they’d gotten back everything they’d lost.
“I’m gonna go get that leftover pizza. You want a slice?” Hap asked, totally oblivious to the undercurrents in the room.
“I’m good,” Nick said, rubbing his hands over his arms, suddenly cold.
On to Chapter 11
Chapter 10
“I’m heading out,” Bud called as she washed the dirt off his hands. “The wife is making a special dinner tonight.”
Monroe thought back. “It’s not your birthday or anniversary, right?”
“Her parents wanted to take the kids to some kind of show, so they’re spending the night with them.”
Monroe smiled. “Got it. Have a good time.”
“See you tomorrow?”
“Bright and early.” Because what else did he have to do? While he wasn’t admitting to hiding out for the time being, Monroe enjoyed having somewhere that held no memories of his ex-boyfriend. This was his Nick-free zone.
A rap at the doorway had Monroe calling out, “You’d better go get your nookie before she changes her mind.”
An awkward pause had him finally looking around from where he was potting a plant, and it felt as if time stopped.
Nick stood in the doorway looking and smelling good. Really, really good. How had Monroe not smelled him the moment he walked in the building?
“Um, hi?” Monroe asked, shoving his nervous hands deeper into the pot.
“You left the house before I got a chance to see you.”
“Yeah, I, uh, had things to do here. How’d you get in?”
“Bud let me in. It was nice to finally meet the man I’ve been talking to over the phone for the past few months. He recognized me and let me in, told me where you were.”
“Okay.” So much for the building’s secured access, but really, who was going to come in and steal plants?
After an awkward silence, Nick walked into the room, perching on a tall stool.
“So you’re all healed up?”
“Yeah, we, um, heal pretty fast.” Monroe immediately gave himself a mental slap. The first thing he did was draw attention to the fact that he was Wesen? Smart move.
“I’m sorry my aunt shot you.” Nick blinked and gave an amused huff. “A sentence I never thought I’d say.”
Monroe shrugged a shoulder. “That’s what Grimms do to Wesen. To be fair, plenty of Wesen have killed Grimms too, so it’s not just one sided.”
“Yeah, I read up on it while I was gone.”
Another awkward silence that Monroe didn’t know how to fill. He wasn’t quite sure why Nick was there. With the certainty that he’d never hurt Nick, Monroe had known that Nick wouldn’t try to kill him either. But then, Nick’s leaving had hurt bad enough.
“So, I thought we should talk.”
“About what?”
Nick’s sigh was audible over the classical music playing quietly from the radio in the corner. “About us.”
It was Monroe’s turn to sigh. He pulled his hands out of the dirt and turned around, sitting cross-legged on the floor. He wasn’t happy about being so much lower than Nick, but he squelched the uncomfortable feeling and focused on matters at hand. “There is no us anymore, right? Your aunt outed me when she realized what I was, you freaked out, and you left. For a month. That pretty much sums it all up, don’t you think?” He hoped he didn’t sound a pitiful as he felt.
“I didn’t freak out.”
Monroe arched an eyebrow. “You keep telling yourself that.”
“Give me a break! I suddenly find out that my aunt chases things that I never knew existed, oh, and yeah, one of them is my boyfriend!”
“Yeah, I can see how that’d be too much for you.”
“I needed time to learn about - everything.”
“I heard you spent time with your aunt. Have wonderful bonding times over the carcasses of dead Wesen?”
“It wasn’t like that. Okay,” Nick admitted after Monroe gave him a look, “we did have to kill a few, but only the ones who’d killed others. I convinced Aunt Marie to start a conversation first, to see that most of them just wanted to be left alone. To live their lives in peace.”
Monroe didn’t want to believe him, but it totally sounded like Nick. “I’m glad your trip was fruitful.”
“So here’s the thing. Our lives are intertwined, so we’re bound to keep running into each other. Can you handle that?”
“Of course I can!” Monroe said, trying to sound like he wasn’t lying.
“Because it looked like you ran away from the party at your own house. That you were throwing.”
“First of all, I had no involvement planning that party. That was all Hap and Wu. And yes, it was at my house, but all I did was make the food. Third, I had work to do.” He held up his dirty hands.
“Okay,” Nick said, backing down. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. I just don’t want you to feel uncomfortable around me.”
“It’s going to be weird at first,” Monroe admitted. He wanted to say that he loved Nick, that one couldn’t turn it off at the blink of an eye. But if Nick didn’t know that already, then maybe he’d never felt the same about Monroe in the first place. And didn’t that tear another chunk out of his heart?
“Of course,” Nick said.
“I’m sure it’ll get easier,” Monroe said grudgingly.
“It’ll be just like me and Juliette or probably you and Rosalee. It’ll take a while, but we’ll end up good friends.”
“Terrific,” Monroe said, knowing that the reason he and Rosalee were still friends was that she’d never inspired a quarter of the emotion in him that Nick had. How did someone pack all of that away? He didn’t know. What he did know was that a month’s absence wasn’t enough to put a dent in what Monroe felt for him.
And didn’t that make him the most pathetic Blutbad in the world?
G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M
Nick watched Monroe absently rubbing his dirty hands against his thighs, dirtying his jeans, and he was relieved at the gesture. There was something comforting about not being the only one feeling uncomfortable.
Monroe looked like crap. His hair was disheveled more than usual, dark circles underneath his eyes. It was difficult to tell from his seated position and underneath the flannel shirt, but he looked like he’d lost some weight too. Was this Nick’s fault?
He hated the thought that he was the cause of making Monroe so miserable. He missed - and yes, still loved - Monroe, but he wasn’t sure that Rosalee was right. Maybe he and Monroe could go back to the way they’d been before his aunt visited, but who was to say what would happen when he inherited his Grimmness from his aunt? Would he feel the same?
He’d broached the subject in a very roundabout way with his aunt, knowing how she felt about the whole Monroe situation. He’d asked her what it was like to be a Grimm, how it’d changed the way she looked at the world. She was tightlipped at usual, but she’d said a few things that he filed away for later. She did mention that her traveling and inability to explain her lifestyle meant that she didn’t form attachments.
Nick just couldn’t see himself traveling around the country - and sometimes the world. He still wasn’t quite sure how she made a living, but she was pretty frugal. He’d realized about his third day with her that she usually just slept in the trailer, showering at truck stops, and cooked on the hotplate she kept on top of a chest filled with disturbing, and yet fascinating, weapons. But she’d chosen to stay at budget hotels with kitchenettes on this trip, and they’d mostly eaten canned food, the same kind he cooked when she’d leave him at the apartment when he was growing up. Now he knew what she was off doing, but when he was young, missing his parents, confused and alone, he’d been scared that one day she’d leave and never return.
He returned his attention to Monroe and gathered the nerve to ask something he’d wanted to ask since about a week after he and his aunt had left Monroe in the hospital. “Can I see you? The Blutbad you?”
Monroe blinked.
“I didn’t see much when you and Aunt Marie were trying to kill each other.”
“Hey! I wasn’t trying to kill her, just defend myself! I don’t do that anymore!”
Nick held up his arms. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”
Monroe relaxed slightly. “Why do you want to see me? I can’t believe you and your aunt didn’t run into a Blutbad the entire month you were gone.”
“A few,” Nick admitted, choosing not to go into details. Some meetings had ended well; others had been more like altercations. “But it’s not like you all look alike.”
Monroe nodded, conceding Nick’s point. “Why do you want to see me Woged? It is not like you’re ever going to see me like that again.”
“You don’t think so?”
“We were together three months, and the only time I woged was when a Grimm surprise attacked me and launched herself at me. I think we can go another five months without problems, especially since we won’t be seeing each other much.”
Nick’s mind understood that he wouldn’t be around Monroe as much anymore, but he didn’t like the way Monroe phrased it. “It sounds like you’re going to be avoiding me.”
“Not really, “ Monroe said, “but this whole thing just reinforced the fact that I’m supposed to be alone.”
While he didn’t particularly like the idea of Monroe being with someone else, he hated picturing Monroe growing old alone, becoming that bitter old man in the neighborhood. And as much as Monroe refused to admit to it, he needed others. Nick had seen him open up, smile and joke, share more since he, Hank, and Wu had come into his life. Monroe was, despite his protestations, more of a people person than he thought, no matter how hard he tried not to be. He needed others around him just like everyone else.
Nick’d finally found a book written mostly in English about Blutbaden, and he’d spent days devouring it, staring intently at the pictures with notes scratched in the margins, taking in every fact. It’d said on quite a few occasions that they were similar to wolves in that they ran in packs. Nick knew that Monroe had given up a lot of Blutbaden ways, but he saw Monroe when everyone was at his house. Monroe seemed absolutely content. Nick didn’t want him to go back to the way he was before they’d met on that dark stretch of road.
“I’m thinking that you grew up in a pack, and I just don’t see how you can just ignore that part of yourself.”
Monroe glared. “I’m ignoring the violent part of me, the part that craves destruction and blood. I’m vegetarian and do my Pilates and yoga, choosing to create rather than destroy.”
“But - ”
“Who’m I supposed to be with?” Monroe almost shouted. “I can’t be with humans, because - “ he pointed dirty hands between the two of them. “ - and I definitely can’t be with another Blutbaden, because everything I have built here will fall to pieces in hours. Hours, Nick!”
“You were with Rosalee. What about other Wesen?”
“Rosalee was a big exception; you know how everyone experiments in college. Her family would probably disown her if she tried to marry a Blutbad.” Monroe shook his head. “Don’t worry about me. I was fine before we met, and I’ll be fine again.” He looked at his pot. “I’m going to get back to this. I’m sure the party’s still going on over at the house.”
“Yeah, I think I’m partied out.” Nick stood, pausing. “I’ll see you later, right?” He hoped he didn’t sound as tentative as he felt.
“It’s like you said. Our friends are intertwined now, so I’m sure we’ll run into each other.” Monroe turned back to the plant, shoving his hands into the dirt. “Have a good night,” he said over his shoulder, not sparing a look at Nick.
Accepting the dismissal, he muttered a, “You too,” and let himself out, absently listening to the door automatically lock behind him. He slid behind the wheel of his car, feeling just as miserable and almost as confused as he had the day his aunt Marie visited.
G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M
The first half of February sucked. It rained a lot, snowed once, and flu-like symptoms started working their way through both campuses. When they were healthy, Nick and his friends would meet up with Rosalee over at Monroe and Hap’s, although neither Juliette nor Monroe spent much time there. Juliette seemed to have her hands full with school and Renard. Hap blamed Monroe’s absence on the fact that he was trying to finish up some stuff before he graduated, but Nick wondered how much of that was just so they didn’t have to run into each other.
Unfortunately, the strain remained the few times they did see each other. Nick missed feeling Monroe’s arms around him, the way they laughed together, and he thought maybe Monroe was feeling the same way. They tended to sit as far apart as possible, contributing to conversations without ever having to address each other directly.
Every so often, something would remind Nick of a conversation he and Monroe’d had, and their eyes would lock in mutual acknowledgement - until they remembered where they stood with each other.
Valentine’s Day found Hank out with Rosalee, Hap out with Lenore, and Wu hanging out with the other single members of GN’s football team, who’d evidently adopted him as their own despite the fact that he went to the other school. Wu had invited Nick to go with them, seeing as how he was single too “and evidently looking to stay that way for a while”, something he couldn’t help since no one appealed to him after Monroe, but he’d passed. He was never one for big parties, and Wu and the GN football team’s involvement meant kegs of beer and unending games of quarters.
Instead, he decided to stay in, maybe study a little or, more likely, watch a movie. But he couldn’t concentrate on his books, and none of the movies appealed to him. Instead, he decided to go for a walk and ended up buying some discounted candy and eating way too much of it before cutting his losses and going to sleep early.
Worse. Valentine’s. Ever.
G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M
Monroe was incredibly busy in March and the first part of April. He found himself having to justify every choice he’d made in his spring garden layout to Professor Mendelsohn, his advisor and the chair of the Department. The professor hadn’t visited Monroe or the gardens since Monroe’s freshman year, and Monroe found the intrusion stifling. Their produce had had been plenteous enough for them to sell most of it to the GN cafeteria and then set up a fruit and vegetable stand. He’d coordinated with the business majors and found a couple of people interested in pricing and running the stand for a small percentage of the profits for their department and college credit.
But this season the professor was always underfoot, questioning every one of Monroe’s choices, suggesting things that were impractical for their target customers. It wasn’t that the man wasn’t unknowledgeable; it was that he was mercurial, changing his mind from day to day.
Finally, Monroe decided to deal with the professor’s changing ideas by just nodding and then continuing with his own plans. He knew it might come back to bite him in the butt later, but firm decisions had to be made, and Professor Mendelsohn didn’t seem capable of making any. If they were to wait for him to actually settle on a decision, they’d be late in ordering their seeds and other supplies and would miss the growing season. Monroe wasn’t about to let that happen - especially in his senior year - so he just continued with his plan and decided to let the chips fall where they may. Bud, who was to take over once Monroe graduated, was nervous about the whole thing, but Monroe made sure that everything Bud did was under his direction so that no one other than Monroe would get into trouble.
Between being at Mendelsohn’s beck and call and trying to finish his thesis as well as pass his final course load, Monroe found himself exhausted. What little free time he had when he was actually conscious was usually spent hiking in the forest where he could just empty his mind and not worry about unreliable professors or classes or his uncertain future.
He’d become pretty good at staying busy, but he hadn’t realized how focused he’d become until Hap stopped him on his way out of the door one morning.
He’d paused in shock as Hap thundered down the stairs after him.
“Dude, it is getting close to Earth Day, and we haven’t talked about what we’re gonna do this year.”
“You’re awake at six in the morning? How is that possible?”
Hap shrugged. “I got in a little while ago, so I just stayed awake.” He yawned. “But this is important. Earth Day!”
Hap wasn’t one for making plans - or sticking to them - the one exception being Earth Day. Other than graduation, Earth Day was the most important and celebrated day on campus, easily quadrupling the number of people in town as visitors traveled from miles around to attend. Classes were suspended for the day, and most professors gave those actively participating a free pass the day before so they could focus on their preparations.
They put on concerts at the square, which was bordered by tents featuring a range of things from green cleaning products to flyers on how to make your house greener to how to create and utilize a compost pile in your backyard.
Monroe’s group always rented out a spot for their fruit and vegetable stand, to be run entirely by their freshmen. Monroe kept an eye on them as they made their plans, offering a suggestion here and there and making sure that they didn’t get overwhelmed, but otherwise, he left them to it. There was also a stand on the side of the road leading into town, which was run by the sophomores.
The juniors were in charge of giving tours of their portion of the farm, the gardens, and their buildings. They also ran a hands-on event for the kids to pot their choice of a few different starter plants to take with them.
The seniors used the day to take whatever volunteers they could find to various spots around town to plant trees. As soon as they returned from January break, they’d begun their search for locations and gathering the necessary permissions. On a predetermined date, they had to lay everything out for Monroe and Mendelsohn, and once they’d received the approval, they only had to give Monroe progress reports once a week and come to him with any questions or problems.
Because he was basically in charge of everything, Monroe wasn’t given a special project. However, it was well known that Monroe and Hap always did something special at their house.
For the past ten years, the school had run a contest for the townsfolk to find out who could come up with the best Earth Day Home in town. They weren’t given any more instruction than that, and the projects were always quite varied. The winners one year turned their home into an ‘Environmental Home of the Future’, where people could walk through the different rooms and watch how the waste water was cleaned and recycled; the trash was recycled, reused, and composted; the electricity was generated from solar panels. The owners had gone all-out and raised the bar dramatically. The winners another year had grown all sorts of plants in every available area inside and outside the house, each plant with a story about how it helped the environment.
Monroe and Hap had participated every year they’d lived in the house and had been runners-up the year before. This was the one event where Hap gave all, and Monroe was never more amazed at Hap’s focus. But usually they’d have talked about it around the holidays, their plans already underway, only needing final touches toward the last week.
This year the entire thing had been shoved to the back of Monroe’s mind. He thought about it every once in a while, in the middle of getting an update from the freshmen or ironing out a disagreement between the sophomores who were fighting about what plants to offer the kids to pot. By the time he’d finished with the different groups, he’d already forgotten about preparing his and Hap’s house for the event.
He’d also gotten swept up in personal changes, what with all of the friends Nick had somehow brought into his life. Then there was the recuperation after being shot, dealing with the loss of Nick. Hap had been on his road trips, and by the time he’d returned, Monroe was throwing himself into his work and his final classes. They’d become more like roommates this semester than friends, Monroe suddenly realized. He’d never been a party person, so he’d never gone out with Hap, but they’d always made a point to eat together at least a few times during the week. Hap would come home and spend some time with Monroe before heading out to hang out with his friends. But that was all difficult to do with Monroe never being home.
Monroe sighed. “I’m sorry. I’ve been so caught up with everything. We don’t really have much time. Maybe we shouldn’t - ”
“No, we have to do something, and it has to be awesome!”
“We have ten days,” Monroe said. “The Hendricksons started working on theirs the day after Earth Day last year.”
“We can do awesome in ten days!” Hap insisted. “We just have to focus. I won’t go to any parties until it’s over.”
“Wow,” Monroe said. He was always impressed at Hap’s devotion to Earth Day, but he never realized that it ran so deep. “That’s quite a commitment. But I don’t have the time. I can carve out some, but I still have to supervise the other classes for their events, and I have Mendelsohn on my back. Plus, Bud’s shadowing me so he’ll know what to do next year.”
Hap sighed, his shoulders slumping.
“I’ll help any way I can, but I can’t devote all my time to it this year.” He just didn’t have it in him to come up with something fantastic spur-of-the-moment, draw up some plans, and give Hap detailed instructions to carry them out. “I’m sorry.” He patted Hap on the shoulder awkwardly and walked out to his car, his mind already focused on what he needed to do for the rest of the day.
G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M G R I M M
Nick was sitting underneath a tree, eating an apple while reviewing his notes for his next class when he felt a body drop beside him.
“You’re a hard dude to find!” Hap complained. “I’ve never really spent time over here, but your campus is actually bigger than I thought. Did you know that a lot of people don’t know who you are?”
Nick smiled, picturing Hap’s confusion at using Nick’s name and only receiving blank glances in return. He doubted that Hap even knew his last name, so Hap was probably walking around asking people if they’d seen “Nick” and expecting a helpful answer. “Not everyone is as popular as you are, Hap.”
Hap snorted. “I’m not popular. I just know a lot of people.”
Nick bit his tongue and asked, “So why were you looking for me?”
“I need someone smart, and next to Monroe, you’re the smartest guy I know.”
As soon as he’d seen Hap, Nick should’ve run. He should’ve tossed his half-eaten apple in one direction and headed in the other while Hap was distracted. Instead, he took a moment to bask at the thought that he was the second smartest guy Hap knew. Then he thought about the crowd Hap tended to hang around, and his pride deflated a bit. In that short amount of time, he somehow found himself committed to helping Hap coming up with an idea for Earth Day and implementing said idea in ten days.
Unlike GN, JT didn’t do much to celebrate Earth Day. Nick figured that they realized that it was much easier to just have a few groups pick up trash around the campus and then have everyone migrate over to GN and participate in their events rather than to come up with their own.
And now that he was helping Hap with his plans, he learned that it was absolutely the smart thing to do.
Celebrating Earth Day GN style was exhausting. Luckily, he had a few friends he could rope into helping. Hank and Rosalee were pretty easy, although as a GN student, she had a few other commitments that day and would help with preparations but could only stop by the house to help on Earth Day in the afternoon. Wu played coy at first, not wanting to commit because of other events that might be more fun, but Hap assured him that he would be free after 5pm. Nick even convinced Juliette to help, and she in turn convinced Renard.
Later that night, over pizza and soda at Hap’s (courtesy of Renard, who suddenly became everyone’s favorite), they brainstormed, searched the Internet, called friends (Rosalee) and family (Wu), and finally came up with a plan. They each took a few tasks and went on their way.
Nick’d originally thought that Hap was going to be in charge, but as soon as everyone had arrived, they all turned to Nick, waiting expectantly. Even Hap.
But Nick had to give the guy credit. While he wasn’t a mastermind, Hap was fantastic at taking orders. He stopped partying, constantly texting Nick with ideas or questions throughout the day. They got together every evening, sometimes just the two of them, to go over more ideas.
The thing was, the plan wasn’t that difficult. But Hap kept questioning things, and in turn, it made their plans even better.
The fourth day of planning, Nick and Hap were huddled over a small stack of pillowcases when Monroe stomped inside.
Nick hadn’t seen Monroe in weeks, and he’d talked himself into believing that he was finally getting over the Blutbad. But the minute he saw Monroe, he felt all those feelings rushing back.
Monroe nodded at them, exhaustion draped over him like a coat. His hair was disheveled, his eyes tinged with exhaustion. He didn’t seem surprised to see Nick, but then Nick remembered that he’d parked right in front of the house.
“How’re the plans going?” Monroe asked, his eyes flittering over Nick before resting on Hap.
“It’s gonna be awesome! Nick’s a fucking genius!” Hap boasted.
Monroe finally made eye contact with Nick. “Thanks for helping him. I know it was last minute.”
Nick had to hold himself back from walking over to Monroe and reaching out. Instead, he smiled and said, “We just rallied the troops. Even Renard’s helping.”
“Really?” Monroe looked impressed. “He’s going to get his hands dirty?”
“Hell no,” Nick said, laughing. “He’s our benefactor. He’s paying for almost everything.”
“Oh - did Bud give you my message?” Hap asked.
Monroe nodded. “I have some of the plants in my car. He didn’t say how many you needed, but I can get more if you want.”
Nick nodded to the kitchen. “There should be a couple of slices of cheese pizza in the kitchen if you want some.”
Monroe smiled faintly. “Thanks. I’ll grab some on my way out.”
“You’re going back out?” Nick looked at his watch and was surprised to find that it was after ten. He hadn’t realized that he and Hap had been at it so long.
Monroe sighed. “Yeah. The freshmen erected their tent on the square wrong, so I had to go help them fix that. The juniors did a run through of their tour of our buildings, and they disagreed about some information about some of the plants. They asked me to come in and tell them who was right. Turns out - ”
“Let me guess. They were both wrong.”
Monroe nodded. “So, so wrong.”
“And you have to go back out to help them with their tour?”
“I’m coming back from that. I have to go back out, because the seniors are way behind.”
“So, an all-nighter?”
“Not for me,” Monroe declared. “The successful completion of this is part of their major’s requirements. I’ll stay until I’m sure they’re on the right track. Then I’ll check on their progress tomorrow.” He covered a yawn with his hand. “Sorry.”
“Want me to make you some coffee?” Nick asked, already starting to stand.
“Thanks, but I’m good. I’ve already had three cups tonight.”
“This is you after three cups? Man, you’re losing your edge.”
“I’m getting old is what is happening here, and these underclassmen are speeding up the process.”
Nick didn’t know how long they stood there, smiling at each other, before Hap coughed, breaking the spell.
“I’d better - ” Monroe looked toward the stairs.
“Yeah,” Nick said, reluctantly, watching Monroe disappear upstairs. For just a minute it felt like they’d gotten back everything they’d lost.
“I’m gonna go get that leftover pizza. You want a slice?” Hap asked, totally oblivious to the undercurrents in the room.
“I’m good,” Nick said, rubbing his hands over his arms, suddenly cold.
On to Chapter 11