Chapter Text
Finney Blake knew his life was unfair. It had been unfair ever since his mother had killed herself. It wasn't fair that, even when she was still alive, she was still distant and cold, always stuck in her head. It wasn't fair that he had to be the one to find her body. It wasn't fair that he and Gwen were still stuck with him. It wasn't fair how he got beat basically daily both at school and at home. It wasn't fair how Gwen had to watch. And it wasn't fair how he had lost Robin. It wasn't fair how he lost all of the boys, his boys. It wasn't fair how he had been forced to suffer in the same place they had as well, taunting them by somehow being the only one to make it out alive. In his opinion, it should've been Vance, or Robin, or Bruce, or literally anyone else but him. What was fair, though, was that the boys, his boys, were now free. They were free while he was left behind, forced to suffer through his shitty, unfair life.
Finney deserved this; he thought as he lay down in his bed. He didn't deserve to be with his boys. His boys... when had he started calling them that? They weren't his, he barely even knew any of them before they all went missing. He had a few classes with Bi-Paperboy. With Paperboy. Same with Griffin. He'd talked with them before, worked in projects, sat next to them. And now they were gone, just out of his reach. It hurt. He barely knew Vance. He'd seen him around, helped him once, even, when he dropped his chocker on accident. But he didn't know Vance. Nobody did. Nobody ever wanted to. Finney wanted to. He liked Bruce. Even when he won against their team in baseball, he was kind, respectful, he even complimented him. It was hard not to like Bruce. But again, he didn't know him, he found himself content with knowing the bare minimum, knowing that he was popular, he was good at baseball, and most importantly, he was nice. Now though? He's not quite satisfied with just how little he has on Bruce.
But Robin? Robin is...was his...They had both agreed on it, even. Seven years old, they both looked each other in the eyes and said "You are mine. And I love you so much!" It was cheesy and stupid, now that he looks back on it, but it meant so much to them. To him. Losing Robin was like losing a baseball game. A punch to the gut. A bad metaphor, but really the only one he could think of right now. He'd think of a better one later, one that would actually honor his and Robin's friendship. But right now? He was tired. Finney slowly drifted off into another restless night of sleep, thoughts focused on his... no, the boys, and what could've been.
Finney wakes up and groans. He squints his eyes shut almost immediately as the sunlight streaming through the window assaults his vision right then and there. Wait. He opened his eyes again.
"The fuck?" Finney groans. Finney had moved his bed to the other side of the room so that it would be out of the way of the murderous sunlight in the morning. He had done that two days ago. He knows he did.
Finney grabs his phone off of his nightstand and pauses at the date. As of right now, which should be December 3rd, 2021, his phone reads: September 21st, 2021. Maybe his phone is just being weird. Maybe he's finally just losing his mind and he didn't actually move his bed and half-heartedly rearranged his entire room a few days ago. He checks his calendar. September 21st, 2021. He rubs his eyes. He checks again. September 21st, 2021. Finney checks outside. There is no sign of even a speckle of the snow that was on the ground yesterday.
Finney sits in his bed. He thinks.
He breathes.
He calms down.
He knows what he has to do.
Griffin Stagg was reported missing on September 23rd, 2021, after his mother had not seen him all day. He left in the morning to go to school, never came back. He was there one second, gone the next. Finney Blake was going to save Griffin Stagg. Finney knows that he should be more surprised, more confused, more scared, but he has spent the last two days hidden away in his room mourning the loss of four boys he barely knew, and one he knew better than anyone. This was his chance to save them. This was his chance to make things right for himself.
This was his chance. And he was going to take it.
Finney and Gwendolyn Blake make it to school just on time. They were almost late; their father hadn't been in a very good mood that morning. They just barely got out before he got too mad. It was a very close call.
They go their sperate ways, Finney to the high school wing and Gwen to the middle school wing. Finney has math bright and early in the morning as his first block and makes it just in time before the bell rings. He scans the classroom with his eyes, looking for Griffin. Math is one of the only classes he has with him.
He finds him, albeit having to check the classroom twice, and walks towards the back of the class to sit next to him at the joint tables.
"Hey, I'm Finney." He holds his hand out for Griffin to shake. He ignores him. He tries again.
"Hello?" Finney drawls out, tapping on the part of the table in front of Griffin. He has yet to sit down. Griffin finally looks up. Finney smiles. "I'm Finney." he tries again. "Can I sit with you?" Griffin looks around, confused.
"Me?" He asks, pointing to himself.
"Yeah, you! Who else?" Finney says with a smile. Griffin looks sheepish. Finney asks again, he doesn't mind. Not many people talk to Griffin, really only Paperboy, although, he probably still likes to be called Billy, given the current timeline. "So, can I sit with you?"
"Oh, of course, I'm so sorry!" Griffin sputters out. It's kind of cute. Finney finally sits down next to Griffin, sitting far enough to be socially acceptable, but sitting close enough to let Griffin know that he's not a threat. That he's nice. He's friendly. He really wants to be friends with Griffin. He wants to be friends with all of them. He introduces himself again, just in case Griffin didn't catch it before. "I'm Finney." He speaks.
Griffin smiles. "I know."
"Really?"
"Yup, anyways, I'm Griffin."
"I know." He copies.
"Really?" Finney likes where this is going, the easy playfulness and comfort in the air.
"Yup." He responds. They look at each other for a few seconds. They burst out laughing.
"Boys, be quiet! Is what you two are talking about really so important that you have to interrupt my lesson for it?" They both apologized and turned to each other after. Neither of them was sorry.
They spent the rest of the class talking quietly and laughing, and Finney loves every second of it. He learns that Griffin is not as meek and quiet as he seems, quite the opposite, really. He spends a lot of class time ranting to Finney about everything under the Sun. He also learns that Griffin has quite the attitude. He's funny, he's sarcastic, he's amazing. Class ends and Finney finds himself disappointed that he and Griffin have to split ways. While Griffin's packing up, Finney turns to him.
"Do you want to sit with my friend and I at lunch? You don't have to if you don't want to, of course, but I thought it would be fun, y'know?" Finney really hopes he says yes. He thinks that if he can get close to Griffin within the next day and a half, then maybe they can hang out and Finney can keep Griffin safe. Maybe.
Griffin looks happy that Finney asked. He wonders why. Griffin doesn't have to pretend to like Finney, he just has to let him hang out with him until September 24th, then it would be okay. Then Finney would leave him alone. That's probably how he likes it, alone. He probably didn't even want Finney to sit next to him, didn't even want to talk to Finney, he was probably just being polite. "I would love to sit with you and your friend!" Griffin's response snaps him out of his head. Oh. "Can I bring my friend Billy though? We usually sit together, don't want to leave him all alone, y'know?" Finney perks up at that.
"Of course you can! The more the merrier!" With one last look, they both split to go find their respective classes, neither of them being able to hold their excitement.
It turns out, whenever something is going right for Finney, there will always be someone to knock him down. Finney is currently hiding in a stall in the boy's bathroom, door locked and feet off the ground. Matt, Matty, and Buzz just can't seem to get enough of him. He's tempted to punch them in their stupid looking faces, but he knows they'll just snitch. They'll snitch and then his dad will be called, and he'll get the beating of a lifetime that even Gwen's amazing make-up skills and his expertise in lying for his own good won't be able to help them.
With the way things are going, he's not sure if he wants to keep it a secret anymore. He reprimands himself. If they tell someone about their dad, then they'll be separated, thrown away into different foster homes far, far away from each other. Away from their friends. Neither of them can deal with that right now.
The door to the bathroom opens. Finney stops breathing. The stall next to him opens, closes, and locks. He sighs. He leaves.
Robin, Billy, and Griffin are all already sitting at his and Robin's usual table. Robin and Griffin seem to perk up at the sight of him. He almost cries. Robin's even more beautiful than he remembers, his fine brown hair pulled back by his bandana, his soft brown skin untouched by that monster. His brown eyes full of life.
It shakes Finney to his core, and he spends a good minute just staring, taking in his every feature. His every untouched, beautiful, amazing feature. He chokes back a sob that's threatening its way up his throat and does his best to put on a wide smile. He's not sure it works.
"He Robin!! Hi Billy, hi Griffin!" He greats everyone cheerfully, because they deserve an optimistic, happy friend. They deserve everything.
"Hi Finney!" They all greet. They're so nice.
"Finn, can you help me with my math homework? Pleeeeaaasseee?" Robin begs. He doesn't have to; Finney thinks to himself. He's always going to say yes.
"Of course." He says, because why would he ever say anything else?
"Wait, Finney, can you help me too? "Billy asks. "Robin says your like, the only reason he's even passing math, please can you help me, please?" Finney says yes, because of course he does.
When Finney's done helping them, Robin rewards him with an apple, (he would have given it to him no matter if Finn helped him or not) and Billy looks at him like he hung the moon.
"I know we've only really known each other for this lunch time, but Finney whatever your middle name is Blake, will you marry me?" Billy asks, with literal tears in his eyes. Robin glares. Finney wonders what he did wrong. It seems like he's always doing something wrong. He'll ask later, right now he has to keep Billy from bursting into tears.
"It's just math homework." Finney laughs as he grabs Billy's hand. Robin looks like he's going to implode.
"But it's not "just math homework! You are the answer Finney! It's you!" Billy is clearly dramatizing this whole ordeal for laughs, and it works because Finney is now laughing along with Griffin, with Robin and Billy looking at him with a look he can't quite place. It's the same look he sees Suzie's mom give Gwen whenever he goes to pick her up from Suzie's. It's the look that he sees Robin's mom give Robin. He doesn't quite know what it is though. He wishes he did.
"We should all hang out tomorrow." Finney suggests. He lets go of Billy's hand. Robin seems to calm down. Get closer with them, he thought. Finney really likes Billy and Griffin. He hopes they like him too. But that's probably just wishful thinking.
"I can't", Robin groaned. "I have to help Mama with what she likes to call "fall cleaning". I can do Wednesday though." Wednesday. The 23rd. Griffin's kidnapping date. That was even better. Finney quickly thanked the God he's never really believed in for Elena Arellano and answered Robin with what he hoped wasn't too much enthusiasm.
"That sounds great, actually, what about you guys? Is Wednesday alright?" Finney desperately hoped it was.
"Yeah, I can do Wednesday."
"Me too." Griffin replied. Finney almost squealed in excitement.
"Give me your guy's phones." Billy demands of Robin and Finney. They do as told. Finn turns to Robin as he brushes hair out of Finn's face.
"Your hair is always in your face." Robin tells him, almost sadly. Finney doesn't get it. Griffin perks up.
"Come, Finney, sit with me." Finney, once again, does as he's told. Griffin starts playing with his hair. Finney finds it relaxing. He's mostly just leaning against Griffin now, and Griffin starts pulling his hair up into a ponytail. His fringe still falls in front of his face. Griffin secures the ponytail with a purple scrunchie he found in his backpack. "There, now we can see your pretty face!" Griffin says.
"I agree, Finney is quite pretty." Billy sounds like he means it. Finney gets a warm feeling in his stomach. He's not sure if he likes it. "What do you think, Robin? Do you think Finney's pretty?"
Robin looks more flustered than Finney feels. His face is turning a deep shade of red, and Finney reaches out to touch his hand to Robin's forehead. "Robin, are you okay? You're burning up!" Finney's really concerned now. He hopes Robin isn't sick. Robin hates being sick. Robin mutters out a response, but Finney doesn't get the chance to hear it over the teacher who's on lunch duty yelling out that it's the end of lunch. Finney has his next class with Robin, so at least he can keep an eye on him for a little while longer.
They both say goodbye to Billy and Griffin, who both have their next class together as well. Robin and Finney walk hand in hand together to their next class, and Finney feels slightly accomplished. He may have just found a way to save Griffin Stagg.