Work Text:
Ferris and Cameron planned to hang out all day. Well, an unspoken plan. That Cameron wasn’t aware of. Ferris planned a lot of things, involving Cameron, plans that Cameron never knew about. Today was one of those days where Ferris was going to hang out at the Frye house all day.
When Ferris pulled up on his bike, as he didn’t have a car yet, which he still resented Jeanie for, Ferris’ first surprise of the day, was instead of Cameron opening the door, it was Ol’ Morris Frye. Ferris looked up at him and saluted him, Morris only sighed and opened the door. Ferris slid off his dirty Nike's by the door, something Cameron had told him to do the first time he came over.
Ferris went up to Cameron’s room, and knocked, something Ferris didn’t usually do, but when he walked up the stairs, something felt different. It was quiet, it was really, really quiet. Cameron’s room was never quiet, he always had some sort of record playing to fill the empty silence of the rest of the house.
Cameron didn’t come to the door, or yell a greeting, and that worried Ferris, he was going to open the door, but it felt like a breach of privacy. Ferris shook his head, privacy didn’t exist between the two, they told each other everything, almost everything, at least.
When Ferris opened the door, he saw Cameron, but Cameron was crying, and had something in his mouth, a pacifier. Ferris walked in and closed the door behind him. “Hey, Cam?” Ferris asked gently, not pushing for answers, and his voice was riddled with concern for his friend. Cameron mumbled a “Hi.” from behind the pacifier, his voice was smaller, almost higher pitched but not quite. The way Cameron spoke reminded Ferris of a toddler, or a small child.
“Cam, babe, what’s all this?” Ferris asked, looking around at the stuffed animals dragged out from below his bed wrapped in a blanket, and the sippy cup on his desk. Cameron popped the pacifier out of his mouth, and looked up at Ferris, his eyes had a sparkle in them that wasn’t there before, it was like a look of childhood innocence that Ferris knew Cameron didn’t have. “Lil’ stuff?” He shrugged and pointed towards a coloring book at the end of his bed. “Mine.” he said, making grabby hands at it. Ferris looked at the book, and then at Cameron. He picked up the book, and the crayons on his floor.
Ferris liked how happy and careless Cameron seemed right now, contrary to the usual ball of paranoia he usually was. Cameron giddily grabbed the crayons and marked on the page of dinosaurs. Pink dinosaurs? Ferris laughed lightly, not at Cameron, or even the situation, only at the pink dinosaurs. Ferris tried to piece together what could be happening before his mind came too a conclusion. He’d seen this before, what good was a computer if it couldn’t do simple research?
“Cam, how old are you right now?” Ferris questioned, and without looking up from his coloring book Cameron held up 4 fingers. Ferris nodded, happy that his observation was right. “Hey little one, you wanna play?” Ferris picked up two of the stuffed animals on the floor, keeping one in his hand and giving the other one to Cameron. “Yeah, yeah!” Cameron flapped his hands, his over sized hoodie sleeves hanging off of his wrist. Ferris helped Cameron clean up his crayons, and moved to sit across from him.
Cameron happily played for maybe half an hour before he yawned, and rubbed his eyes. “You sleepy?” Ferris asked, and Cameron let out a little whine. “Wanna keep playing!” Cameron complained. “I know, little one, we can play when you wake up alright?” Ferris compromised with Cameron, who nodded. “Alright bud, you can either sleep with a stuffed animal, or without, which one do you want?” Ferris smiled, putting the stuffed animal he was playing with away, while Cameron squeezed his stuffie tighter, it was a tie dye rainbow bear that clearly had been thoroughly loved by Cameron, it had lots of rips and tears and smelt of cigarettes.
“Alright.” Ferris stood up, tucked Cameron in and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, and within minutes Cameron was fast asleep, and Ferris was sitting on the floor reading a comic. Maybe an hour or so later, Ferris heard a little gasp, and turned towards Cameron. “Morning babe.” Ferris smiled and shut the comic. “No, no, no..” Cameron whispered, and Ferris saw tears flooding his eyes, threatening to fall, so Cameron shut his eyes. “Shh, hey?” Ferris sat on the bed next to Cameron. “You’re okay. I’m not mad at you, just a coping mechanism, huh? Nothing wrong with that.” Ferris said, in a matter of fact voice, and Cameron’s breathing slowed just a bit.
“You.. You’re not gonna tell anyone, right?” Cameron whispered, his whole body was still trembling. “No,never. You think I’m a narc, Cam?” Ferris joked. “Shut up, Ferris.” Cameron halfheartedly smiled. Cameron stood up and stretched, and Ferris casually asked; “You have a caregiver?” Cameron shook his head. “Want me to be your caregiver?” Ferris asked, and he saw Cameron’s eyes light up, sort of how they did earlier. “Uhm… If you wouldn’t mind, then yes, it would be a nice gesture.”
“Cameron, of course I don’t mind, I think it’s a really healthy coping mechanism, and frankly, I really enjoy seeing you so happy.” Cameron started putting his stuffed animals back into the folded up blanket, and then throwing his pacifier and sippy cup into the blanket and folded it up. Ferris remade Cameron’s bed for him.
“You don’t have to do this Ferris, really.” Cameron tried to assure Ferris, but Ferris only shook his head. “I want to.”