Chapter Text
Gary Barkovitch was an asshole. Collie Parker knew this well by now.
Collie recalls him having to shut him up back in September, Harkness dragging him down, all nerves. He had been dragged a few more times now and isn't any less scratchy. He was impulsive, quick to anger, and didn't know when to back down. For someone who likes to dish out so much, he sure couldn't take it.
Gary reminded him of the stray dogs from back home. Pathetic, limping things that would bare teeth and snarl if you got too close, but yelp and whimper the moment you barked back.
And oh, Barkovitch barked.
He'd been at least trying not to lash out these last couple of outings, but once he got started, it's like he couldn't stop himself.
Collie could see it now—recognising his ticks. How he picked at his hands when he was nervous, the way his face scrunched when he felt jabbed at, how his eyes dart when he's looking for approval. How regret flashed in his eyes when he said something he knew he didn't mean. He'd become so predictable, Parker had no clue how no one else had picked up on it.
He'd gotten good enough at it that he'd been able to shut him down before he got to biting, a hard glare or a tough squeeze of the shoulder usually enough to have him back down. You could almost see the ears pressed to his head as he then avoided Parker's gaze while the rest of the boys moved on.
The group were in the residence's common room now, most of them sprawled across the couch or floor with Collie and Stebbins bracing against the couch back.
Moments like this let Collie sit in his head for a bit. He'd grown attached to his little group over the last few months, now full of laughs and stupid bits that go on too long. It all made him feel a little less homesick, and his fondness grew as the air grew colder and the tree leaves fell auburn. They pissed him off, don't get him wrong, but in that sweet, endearing way that made you want to roll your eyes and bite back a smile. They definitely still pissed him off, though. They were right now, actually.
Pete and Hank were deep in a debate, an idiotic debate.
"In what fucking world would 10 naked ladies make more sense than 10 million bucks?" Pete was yelling back at Hank, a wide smile on his face.
"You know the shit I could do with 10 naked ladies?"
"You know the shit you could do with 10 million dollars?"
Ray starts adding on now, "You could get twenty chicks with that much money man, think big. " Pete points back at him, nodding in agreement.
"I don't want to pay for my naked ladies, that makes it gross!"
Pete was pissing himself laughing at this point. "So how'd you think this flock of naked ladies are getting naked, Hank? How they getting here, through your sheer sex appeal?"
"Exactly, realistically, someone's paying for the ladies anyway!"
Hank fell silent for a second, face contemplating Ray and Pete's words.
"Dumbass didn't think of that, huh?" scoffed Stebbins, adding his rare comment to one of these idiotic hypotheticals. That got a Collie biting back a laugh.
"Okay, what the fuck ever! Why are we questioning the logistics of my naked ladies?"
Collie learned farther into the couch. "Yeah, why are we? Don't you have a whole woman back home, dickhead? Or is that someone else?" He emphasised the dickhead as he gave a bitchy smirk, feigning ignorance.
Baker slung an arm around Hank, still laughing himself silly. "Oh yeah! She apart the ten Olson?" Hank threw a weak jab at his side. "Leave my Cle, outta this, you assholes."
Everyone was up roaring again, and Collie found himself chuckling, smiling behind his fist as he looked off to the side, away from the men on the floor. He spotted Gary sitting at the end of the couch. He looked lost, off in his own brain, far, far away from a hoard of women or ten million dollars.
Parker considered asking him if he was okay, but if he could guess, he wouldn't react well to being put on the spot in front of everyone. And there wasn't really a way to say 'Hey man, I can tell your letting something up in that skull of yours bother you, and I wanted to see if you're good.' without that happening.
He settled on lightly tapping on his shoulder, feeling the ridge of his collarbone through his thin T-shirt. Gary startled out his thoughts, peering up at him through his messy blonde hair. It was getting long now, properly brushing his shoulders. Collie just nodded at the boy as he shifted himself back to the group. Barkovitch looked confused, mouth twitching to say something, but settling on turning his head away, a faint blush on his cheeks. If Collie were meaner, he'd tell him he looked flustered, but he decided to save him the comment.
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It was a cool late afternoon, early November already chilling the autumn air. The boys were congregated around a park table on campus, having picked up a late lunch together. Collie was a bit peeved, seeing as the lunch had been so late because they were waiting on Harkness to wrap up with entry for the college paper, and after waiting outside his dorm for ages, Barkovitch came out announcing that there was zero chance we were getting the man out. Stebbins had bailed, too. Collie had left him moping around their dorm, utterly fucking miserable with the flu. And worst of all, no one could fucking decide where to go. Narrowing it down to Mexican or Greek was already an hour-long affair, and the group had been so divided that no one had the bright idea to just do both.
They'd all settled now, the usual set talking amongst each other. Ray had been complaining about a charity walk one of his clubs had organised. He'd been trying to convince the group for the last week to come with him, but no one had taken the bait.
"Come on, guys I swear it won't be that bad!"
"That why you been complaining about it all week?" Art said. Collie's sure the boy would've gone, but he had a late midterm that day and couldn't afford to be out walking at 6 in the morning.
"You guys can't all ditch me!"
"It's not ditching if none of us said yes to begin with," snarked Hank, finishing the last of his burrito.
Pete chuckled as he wrapped his arm around Ray's side. "Look on the bright side, you still got me!"
Ray leaned into him, a dumb smile on his face. "Guess I do, huh? Swear you're the only one who always sticks with me for these things."
"I think I'd stick with you to the ends of the earth, compandre."
Gary, who'd been silently nursing a Coke, snickered to himself. "That's so fucking gay."
Pete rolled his eyes at the blonde's comment. "Is it? You always seem real hopeful about me being a queer. Tryna suck my dick, Barkovitch?"
Collie saw his eye twitch. "Fuck off, man."
"No, why is that your default for like, everything? Got something to say?" Ray had a smart smirk on his face as he added to the teasing,
Gary scoffed. "You calling me a fag, Garraty? cuz I don't take that shit, especially not from—"
"Can I just say the bleach blonde sitting all pretty on your shoulders isn't helping you seem less of a fruit?" Hank, ever the instigator, decided to tack on his own comment.
Gary's teeth were starting to bare now.
"Fuck did you just say to me?"
"Lay off Barkovitch," Collie warned, shooting a glare at him.
"No, if he wants to start dumb shit, he can start it, man! I don't fucking care, I ain't no pussy, not like these fucking fairies—"
"Hey."
"No, this is bullshit!"
Don't you fucking bite Barkovitch.
"I'm not letting these stupid cocksuckers tell me shit—"
Collie grabbed him by the upper arm, a punishing grip, pulling him closer, staring daggers into him.
"Shut your fucking mouth before I—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys! Let's all calm down, okay?" cut in Ray, his hand now on Parker's shoulder, trying to de-escalate the situation. "Doesn't call for all that, man. It's fine." Parker scowled at him before moving his attention back to the mouthy bitch.
"You," Collie clutched his arm tighter. "Go cool your shit or whatever bullshit you need to fix whatever this is," He then let go of Gary's arm with one last squeeze, the blonde wincing as he stumbled back, eyes wet and angry with tears he was trying to will away. "Just get fucking lost, Barkovitch."
And with that, Gary took off. Collie watched him disappear off the trail, hands hooked under his arms and tail between his legs.
The others were grumbling among themselves, the conversation eventually finding its way back to charity walks and leaving Ray hanging. Collie remained relatively quiet the rest of the afternoon. He wondered if Gary's arm would bruise.