The Boy Next Door, Chapter One
Title: The Boy Next Door
Author: hotbaguettes69
Chapter: One
Rating: PG
Pairing: Pierre Bouvier/David Desrosiers of Simple Plan
Word Count: 2241
Theme Song for this chapter: Dear Diary - Britney Spears (I know it's old school, whatever)
Summary: David and Pierre have been next door neighbours for as long as they can remember. They've gone to the same school, even had some classes together, but David barely ever noticed or acknowledged Pierre, until one morning that had the potential to change their lives forever...
Author's note: Shorter chapter for the pilot. The others will be longer.
Pierre checked his alarm clock as he pulled on his shoes. 9:45. Late again. He grabbed his bag and rushed out the door, but slowed his pace once he was out it. He was already late, no point in rushing now. So he started walking, deciding to take his time.
As he got to the edge of his driveway and started walking down the sidewalk, he heard a door slam, and snapped his head up instinctively, to see him...
David Desrosiers, Pierre's next door neighbour who apparantely was also late for school, was coming out his front door and heading down his driveway, putting in a set of earbuds. As he made his way to the end of the driveway, Pierre watched him intently, mesmerized by his sleek black hair that fell almost over one eye. His thin layer of black eyeliner. The little silver loops in his ears, nose, and lip...
"Um... hi" Said a voice as smooth as... whoa, WAIT. Pierre's head snapped into focus, his eyes got wide, and he felt his face get hot. So much for being discreet about the two year crush he had on the boy next door... he'd just stood at the end of his driveway staring at him for three minutes...
David had taken out one of his earbuds and was smiling sheepishly at Pierre. He was never a mean person, but he was shy. And sweet... and... Pierre shook his head in an attempt to clear it.
"Oh, sorry, hi... um I uh... sorry!" Pierre said putting his head down and taking a step in the other direction, ready to run away in embarrasment. He squeezed his eyes shut as he started to walk, embarrased of the way he'd made his crush on David so obvious, when someone grabbed his arm and his eyes shot open wide. He took a deep calming breath and turned around to see David smiling, looking almost amused.
"Do you want to walk to school together?" He asked. Pierre's heart lept in the air and started beating a hundred miles a minute.
"Um... sure. Yeah." He said smiling, trying to keep the smile small, but failing. They fell into step next to each other regardless, and started the 20 minute walk to school.
The first 5 minutes were awkward and silent, since David was too shy to say anything, and Pierre was too wrapped up in feelings for David and didn't want to say anything stupid.
"So... it's Pierre right?" David asked nervously, and Pierre's heart spun at the sound of his voice, and he smiled as discreetly as possible.
"Um... yeah, Pierre Bouvier." Pierre replied, immediately regretting it. Fuck, Pierre Bouvier?! Why did I say that?! He doesn't care what my last name is! Pierre mentally scolded himself. David laughed lightly. Great, now he thinks I'm a fucking idiot.
"I'm David Desrosiers." He said, and it felt... formal. Well no, not formal, more like... opening? Like this was just the beginning of... well something. Of course, Pierre already knew David's name. They'd been next door neighbours their whole lives, and David had been in most of his classes since kindergarden. Their bedroom windows were even facing each other... and yet David never seemed to notice Pierre. At least not before today...
Pierre didn't want the conversation to die, but he didn't know what to say.
"So... I see you around school sometimes..." He said. He felt like there should be more to the statement but that was all he could think of.
David gave a soft chuckle again and Pierre felt stupid. What was he even doing here, walking with David? David would never want to be friends with him...
He did see him around school though... a lot actually. Neither one of them were necesarily "unpopular" but they ran with different crowds, preventing them from having truly crossed paths.
"Oh really? Wow, I don't want to sound rude or anything, but I don't really see you that much..." Said David as Pierre begins to mentally punch himself in the face. Great. Now I sound like a complete stalker.
Pierre laughed nervously hoping to brush it off but he was sure his face was beet red...
"Oh..." He said, then realizing he sounded like a little kid who was just told he wouldn't be getting the new toy he was promised, he had to add something. "Um, yeah no it's okay. We don't really hang around the same people, so uh... yeah, it's kind of understandable. You know, why you wouldn't see me around. I mean, yeah I see you around and everything but I mean it's not really like I see you a lot like a stalker, like I just pass you in the halls and notice you from next door, and..." Pierre kept rambling on and on, his words getting faster and his breaths becoming few and far between before a strong hand held him in place, stopping their walk.
"PIERRE. Are you okay?" David asked cautiously. OH MY GOD, what have I done? Great now he's gonna think I'm a complete psychopath and he's never gonna want to talk to me again! Pierre thought, and really, what reason would David have to prove him wrong? He was just some weird kid from next door who hung around with a bunch of hockey players and had a creepy crush on David. Not that David would ever know that...
"I'm sorry, I'm just gonna go!" Pierre said quickly, and he stumbled forward nervously and started running to school before David had a chance to stop him.
When Pierre's locker door slammed shut, and he had his books out, he turned, and let himself fall to the floor. First period would be over in five minutes so he planned to skip it altogether. David's locker was on another floor so he had no fears of running into him again... fuck.
Not unless they had second period together. Which they did. Fuck. How could he forget? No, how could he have acted like such an idiot in front of him? He wanted to scream, but he couldn't seeing as he was in school, so he settled for a barely satisfying loud dramatic sigh. Then the bell rang.
He pulled himself up off the floor quickly and started towards his next class, not in the mood to talk to anyone and surely his best friends Jeff and Sebastien would be coming around the corner at any time now rambling on about a hundred different things. And Pierre just wasn't in the mood...
So he slipped into the classroom five minutes early and watched as the students slowly poured in... then David entered...
Pierre's head shot down to look at his desk and he was glad there was no assigned seating in this class because surely after the encounter this morning, David would be choosing to sit as far from Pierre as possible.
Guess I blew things there... Pierre thought as someone slid into the desk beside him. He looked up to see who it was, and his heart starting jumping up and down as his eyes widened.
"Hi..." He said, his perfect lips curving into a smile, lip ring and all. Pierre stumbled over his words, but then took a deep breath. You screwed this up once, don't screw it up again. Calm down...
"Hi." Pierre said confidently, and suddenly he wondered why he'd been so nervous to begin with. I mean, yes, David was perfect... incredible really... but he just needed to pace himself and he would be fine. He was sure of that now. But did he figure it out too late?
"Um... sorry if I made you uncomfortable this morning, you seemed different. I mean, not that I know you that well to know but uh..." Now it was David who was rambling and Pierre's lips turned up ever so slightly at the corners. He was cute...
"David." Pierre said, stopping his rant. Just as David had to do so many times for him in this one morning. "It's fine. Let's just start over." Pierre said. David took a deep breath and nodded his head in agreement.
"Yeah... okay. So um, my parents are having a barbecue with some friends on Saturday. It'd be kind of nice to have someone there to hang out with, so uh maybe you could come? And bring your parents if you want? I mean, we've been neighbours forever and our families have never really interacted much..." David said, leaving the statement blank. But he didn't have to fill it in. Pierre new exactly what this meant. He was spending Saturday... with David. Pierre's attempt at a small smile turned into a huge grin and he nodded his head.
"Yeah, I'd like that. And I'm sure my parents will too." Pierre said confidently and he was really starting to feel good about the conversation with David. Proud, even that he was able to talk to him without turning into an idiot.
"Awesome." David said simply, and the conversation was over. Not awkward, but over. They were able to turn and focus on the lesson and work quietly without things being awkward. Isn't that supposed to be a sign of compatibility? No. Pierre couldn't afford to be thinking like that. Especially when he and David were just starting to really talk... I am way in over my head...
When the bell rang, quick head nods and a "see you Saturday" from David dismissed them from each other. And Pierre couldn't have been happier... Wait. Saturday? It was only Thursday... wouldn't he- that's right. There was no school tomorrow. He wouldn't see David again until the barbecue Saturday. Wait a second... THAT'S NOT ENOUGH TIME. Pierre's thoughts screamed at him, and he bolted for the classroom door, heading down the stairs, and straight to the school parking lot. It was lunch time anyway so it wasn't like he was skipping. But regardless, in the two weeks since he'd finally got his license, which his parents had graciously paid for for his 17th birthday, he'd never been so grateful for it. He hopped into his mom's old silver car she'd given him and headed towards the mall.
Pierre slowly walked through the second floor, passing countless stores, but not really knowing which to enter. He'd never been great with shopping or fashion, which was kind of anti-gay stereotype, but true. And basically made him hopeless in finding something perfect for Saturday right now. Pierre was in over his head and he knew it, so he took a breather and decided right then he was not going to his afternoon classes. He got a piece of pizza and sat down at the food court fighting the urge to call for help. Mostly because the only person who could really help him right now would be Jeff, and if he asked him for help finding something to wear, he would have to explain where he was going. Not that Jeff and Seb didn't already know Pierre was gay, because they did. So did his parents. But nobody knew about his crush on David...
Then again, he wouldn't have to tell his friend who it was... just that he was going to a guy's house Saturday afternoon and needed something to wear. So he finally gave in and called Jeff...
Within thirty minutes, Jeff had decided to also skip his afternoon classes and was walking through the mall with Pierre, carefully inspecting each window display before finally choosing some weird store Pierre had never heard of. But he trusted his friend...
"So who's this guy we're trying to impress anyway?" Jeff said, smiling at Pierre. Pierre just laughed. He liked that he could talk about this with Jeff the same way as if it had been a girl.
"I can't tell you..." He said, trying to make him understand, but not really knowing how.
Jeff sighed in a way that made Pierre think he might know something. "Is it the same guy you've been obsessing over for two years?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at Pierre as they made their way to the men's section of the store. Pierre snapped his head up looking at Jeff startled and pulling him aside.
"How did you know about that?" He whispered, heart beating frantically. If someone had seen him staring at David or something, and Jeff heard... maybe David heard too... FUCK.
Jeff laughed and pulled his friend out from behind the clothes rack he'd hidden them behind. "Would you relax? I don't know who he is, but it's not hard to tell you've been into someone... and to keep your attention for that long, he must be pretty special." He said. And Pierre had to tell him. And Jeff knew it. He knew Pierre couldn't resist telling him who it was when he was being so supportive.
Jeff started non-chalantly shifting through a clothing rack and Pierre took a deep breath.
"Okay... it's my neighbour... David Desrosiers..." He said, bracing himself.
"That emo kid?" Jeff asked, and Pierre felt something fume inside him at the way Jeff said it but before he could say anything- "cool." Finished Jeff. Okay Pierre calm down... he didn't mean anything by it. Jeff was cool with Pierre liking David. And by the time school hours had passed, Pierre was walking home with three shopping bags in his hand. He was ready for David.