Work Text:
Eliot came home and planted himself in front of his computer. He lived in a small rural town, but at least his family had sprung for internet.
He logged on and found his way to the same site lots of people from school were on.
“What the fuck is this anyway? Are we all birds now?” He sighed and created an account.
He typed in a few topics and decided to follow some people that seemed to share his interests. One in particular caught his eye.
“Bi disaster, high strung super nerd, #FilloryAndFurther”
Eliot laughed at the headline.
“I feel the need to follow this guy.” He smiled to himself and read through a few tweets.
“Wtf... like I do one magic trick at a party and Jules is all... ‘dude why’ ugh”
“Fillory... we meet again”
And a few shares from other people and quoted tweets with captions like ‘me’, ‘mood’, and ‘wtf is this’ with emojis.
He made Eliot laugh without Eliot even really knowing who he is.
A few weeks went by and Eliot found himself checking in on “KingQuentin” every day.
He even liked a few of Eliot’s tweets about how his country life was far from what he ever wanted.
The two tweeted back and forth a few times and Eliot found his sense of humor welcoming and endearing.
It got to the point where Eliot would instinctively check on Quentin and see how he was and hope that he could talk to him.
He came home one day and logged on to find a message.
“Hey El,
So, I’m having a get together next weekend. I know it’s a bit of a distance but if you still wanted to see the city, I would love to show you around. I talked to my dad and he said you could stay here if you wanted. You could fly and we could pick you up. Anyway, if you wanted to come that would be awesome. I’d love to meet you face to face and show you New York.
Just met me know.
-Q”
Eliot blushed.
“Damn it. I doubt my family would let me go.”
He felt his heart drop. He wondered why he couldn’t do the things he wanted to. He knew his father would just say it’s a useless trip and his mother would just go on and on about how he could die and it’s dangerous and you don’t know this person.
He did know Quentin though. They’d been talking for a year and a half and Quentin actually cared.
“Eliot! Get in here!”
Eliot rolled his eyes and headed to the kitchen to see what his father was yelling about now.
“Yes?”
“Excuse me?” He snapped at Eliot.
Eliot rolled his eyes. “Yes? Sir?”
“That’s better. Now, want to tell me what’s got you spending so much time on that damned computer?”
“I was just...” Eliot knew if he told him the truth he would disown him. He tried to think quickly. “...looking at colleges.” He looked around hoping they bought it.
“Why? You think you’re better than us?”
“No... well... I just wanted to do something with my life.”
“You are doing something. This farm is your something.”
“I don’t want to do this.”
“I don’t care what you want.”
Eliot could tell his father was getting angry.
“You want this stupid farm, not me!”
“You’ll work here till you die! That’s what we do!”
“That’s what you do! I hate it here!”
“Then fucking leave you ungrateful shit!”
“Fine!”
“Hey! Both of you! Sit! Now!” Eliot’s mother came into the kitchen and demanded the attention of the room.
Both of them sat down on opposite ends of the table.
“Now, Eliot what’s this about you wanting to leave?”
“I want to go to college.”
“Eliot, honey.” She sat down and gave Eliot this sympathetic look like people give when they don’t want to tell you your idea sucks.
“Look, I know I’m not the smartest but I want to do something with my life not just live and die here.” He felt himself fighting back tears.
“Eliot, if you can get a college to be interested in you then we will support you.”
“I have.”
“What?”
“It’s in New York.”
“New York?!” His father chimed in.
“Yes.”
“How do you plan on checking this out?”
“I’ll fly there.”
“You just have all this planned out don’t you?” His father snapped.
After about an hour of this type of back and forth discussion his family reluctantly agreed to let him go. They insisted on pictures and him calling when he arrived. He figured it would work because Quentin was sure to have a phone and he could just say he was using a dorm phone.
He went to his room and packed his suitcase and got on the computer and messaged Quentin back.
“Hey Q,
So, I would absolutely love to meet you and see the city. Sounds like a fun weekend. I’ve never had to buy a plane ticket before so I will try that tonight. Fly in Friday and fly out Monday?
-El”
He went to his page to see what others had shared and make a new post.
“Ugh family is nuts. Why are they like this? At least I found sane people here...”
He sent the tweet and read a few other statuses.
Some shared pictures of pets and some shared pictures of themselves and one posted some farm animals like goats.
Eliot looked for Quentin’s posts and didn’t see anything. He went to Quentin’s page and his latest post was from before the message Eliot got.
“Shit. I hope he doesn’t hate me.” Eliot muttered to himself.
He scrolled for a little while longer and saw a little bubble pop up.
He clicked on it. It was Quentin.
“Hey!! Cool. So glad you can come. It’s going to be fun. A few friends of mine will be here but they’re excited to meet you too.
Plane tickets aren’t too hard, you should be good there. Friday to Monday is perfect. Let me know arrival time and we’ll pick you up.
Btw sorry your family is nuts. Can’t wait to see you.
- Q”
Eliot smiled and all his worries just seemed to go away.
He hurried and booked his flight and messaged Quentin with his flight information.
The next week seemed to take forever but it was finally Friday. His uncle drove him to the airport across town and helped him navigate the airport.
After a few hours Eliot landed in New Jersey.
He got off the plane and an airport staff member was kind enough to show him where the baggage claim was and he got his things and headed outside.
He looked around and tried to find Quentin. He was nervous and scared he wouldn’t show up.
“Eliot?”
He turned around and saw him.
“Oh my god, Quentin?”
“Yep. So freaking awesome to meet you!”
“Same!”
“Oh my god, Jules is gonna love you. Damn your tall, cool hair, shit, sorry, I ramble when I’m nervous.” He brushed his hair out of his face and smiled and blushed a little.
“It’s all good. You have great hair too and yeah I get the tall thing a lot.” He laughed and Quentin’s dad helped put Eliot’s things into the car.
“Great to meet you Eliot.” He smiled and shook Eliot’s hand.
“Nice to meet you too.” Eliot smiled.
“Alright, all in.” Quentin’s dad laughed and they all got in the car.
They drove for about an hour before finally reaching Quentin’s house.
They ate dinner and then headed to Quentin’s room.
“I can’t believe your dad is cool with you having me here.”
“Yeah, he’s chill and I told him about you. He trusts me. Also helps he knows I like guys kind of too.” Quentin laughed.
“So, what now?”
“Well, we can hang out here tonight then tomorrow, we will meet up with Jules, you’ll love her, and see New York City. We’ll take the train in and check out the city.”
“That sounds epic.”
“Cool. I’m glad you could come El.”
“Me too. And to think it all started with that damned bird site.” He laughed.
“Oh my god El.” Quentin laughed.
It looked like for the first time in his life Eliot had a friend who loved him for who he truly was and could finally be himself.