Work Text:
"I can't do this." BigB shook his head, trying to step around Scar who just pushed him closer towards his doom.
"Yes you can. They aren't going to bite your head off," Scar reassured.
"Says who?"
"She does."
BigB laughed in disbelief. "Exactly! It's all part of a plan to lead me to my death." Scar laughed at that and BigB frowned. "Don't laugh, I'm being serious."
"Cleo isn't going to kill you. She told me herself that she isn't mad anymore, but she needs an apology if she's actually going to forgive you. So go and apologize." Scar opened the door to his living room and pushed BigB in with Cleo waiting for him on the couch.
Scar gave B one last smile before closing the door behind him and damned him with the sound of a lock being turned.
Cleo sat on the couch, as put together as ever with their practiced perfect posture.
"BigB," their voice was clipped and he felt like a student being reprimanded.
"Cleo?"
She gestured to the seat across from her. "Sit."
There was nothing he wanted to do less, but he knew he had to.
Gathering himself up, BigB took a deep breath and sat across from Cleo.
"Cleo… I know you hate me,"
"I don't hate you. I haven't hated you for a long time. I thought Scar told you that?"
"He did, but it's, uh, it's hard to believe."
"Regardless, it's not true, so start again."
BigB nodded and started again. "Okay. I want to apologize. I know I did you wrong, but I want to apologize."
"Okay, so apologize. You can't just say that you want to, you have to actually do it and say what you're apologizing for." For once, Cleo's voice took on something close to anger.
"I'm sorry. For the bad apology and for bailing on you back in high school. I knew the battle of the bands was important to you and I still had Lizzie drive me up to the rage room. My heart hadn't been into music even when I agreed to join you, I just didn't want to leave you alone, but then I left you at the most important moment and made someone you really cared about leave you too. She didn't know that it was that day, and she didn't know until you yelled at her over it. I'm sorry I left you when it mattered and that I got other people involved in it."
"Why did you even have to go in the first place? If you were so upset with me for bringing you into the band, why didn't you say something to me?"
"I wasn't angry about being in the band, it was just… I don't know. I can barely remember anything from that day before I got to shatter some stuff. Every small thing had gotten to me that day that I forgot about everything else." BigB fiddled with the pillow tassels. "I'm sorry."
Cleo sighed. "You said that, yeah." She took a moment to pinch the bridge of her nose before looking back up. "Alright, I forgive you. But you have to apologize to Lizzie as well. You dragged her into something without giving her details. I already apologized for chewing her out, but you need to apologize for making her an accomplice."
"I can do that. Totally, I can do that!" BigB moved to get up, but Cleo stopped him with a single raised hand.
"Hold on a minute. Before you skip off, I want to ask you. Why did you join The Rejects?"
BigB froze where he was half-stood up and took a deep sigh before sitting himself back down.
"Being honest?" BigB chanced a look at Cleo who nodded their head. "I have no clue. I think the same reason I joined yours, I didn't feel I could say no. Not because you guys wouldn't let me, but because I didn't want to let you down. I'm sorry if it feels like I left them for you, but that wasn't it at all. I joined them, and I don't plan on leaving them behind the way I did you, and I'm sorry you were my learning experience in order for them to get a good man. You deserve a friend who didn't have to hurt you in order to learn to be a good person."
Cleo sniffed and wrung their hands together. "I'm sorry for that too. I would have loved to be friends with this BigB."
"You can't?"
"No, I can't. I can forgive you, but I can't be friends with you again. Not the way we were before. We can talk and be friendly, we can have the same friends and hang out together, but we aren't going to be the friends in the group who hang out separately. I have my own people now, and so do you. Like you said, we were each other's learning experiences." For what it mattered, Cleo really did seem sorry.
BigB nodded slowly, hating knowing he's really lost what he had with her, but happy to know he hadn't lost her completely. He has grown, and that means he'll learn to live with these consequences.
He dreaded the idea of having to do this again with Lizzie.
The door echoed four knocks and Scott immediately knew who it was. Wrapping himself in a robe, he threw open the door.
"Cleo, I would say it's a surprise, but you practically live here." Scott gave her a smile that she knew he meant.
"Yeah, and I'm an amazing roommate. What ice cream you got?" Cleo pushed their way into the house as Scott let her in.
Scott snorted as he followed behind them. "I've got Neapolitan and caramel fudge. Take your pick."
"Mm. Wanna split one or do you want your own?"
"Depends. Why are we eating ice cream?"
Cleo yanked the freezer door open and pulled out the first tub of ice cream they saw. "BigB apologized to me."
Scott sucked in air through clenched teeth. "Pull out the second tub."
Cleo nodded and did as he asked, grabbing two spoons as well before situating themself on Scott's couch, criss-cross at first but then pulling one knee up against their chest. Across from her, Scott buried himself in the corner of the couch and stretched out to rest his feet against the side of Cleo's leg.
"One for you, one for me." Cleo pressed a tub of ice cream into Scott's hands and a spoon. Scott grabbed it gratefully.
"Alright," Scott started as he opened the ice cream container, tossing the lid somewhere on the coffee table, "so tell me what happened."
Cleo took a bit of ice cream to compose themself. "So you know how Scar and B have started dating?" She waits for Scott to nod his agreement. "Alright, so before they got together, I gave Scar a small briefing on our past and that B hurt me, but I wasn't really mad at him anymore, I just can't forgive him without an apology. Well, it seems Scar took it to heart because he called me over to his house telling me that BigB is going to apologize. I don't even remember agreeing, I was just stunned, but I already said yes so now I feel I have to go."
"Obviously. Besides, it's Scar, it's hard to back out on him," Scott pitched in.
"Right! So anyways, I'm driving to his place, freaking out, but I get there and Scar answers, telling me to wait in the living room and I'm obviously allowed to anything in the house. I'm sitting myself on the couch and I hear the two of them talking in Scar's room and BigB seems to be freaking out as badly as I am but Scar pushes him out the room. Really, it's kinda funny, but I'm not about to laugh in front of BigB so I have to sit ramrod straight throughout the whole apology, which he messed up at first, mind you. I had to correct him on how to do an apology, but he eventually gets it right and so I forgive him."
"And then what?"
"What do you mean 'and then what?'"
"I know you, Cleo, you're not ending the conversation there."
Cleo sighed a tad too dramatically, something she's picked up from Scott. "You're right. I told him he has to apologize to Lizzie too, for dragging her into something that got her in trouble."
Scott shook his head, smiling as he dug into his ice cream in an attempt to hide it.
"What. What are you smiling about?" Cleo narrowed her eyes at him.
"Oh nothing, I just should have expected that."
"Expected what?"
"That you would manage to get Lizzie an apology, too. You've always been soft on her."
"I have not."
"Have too."
"I have not!"
Scott sighed with all his proper dramatics, pretending the force of the sigh is rolling his head around. "No, of course you're not."
"Scott, I'm being serious! She was a new student, okay? Of course I was going to be nice to-" the phone rang and two pairs of eyes flicked towards the screen that lit up with a photo of a girl with pink hair, "her."
The two of them just look at it for a second.
"Well pick it up." Scott nudged the phone vibrating on the couch closer to Cleo. Cleo glared at him before picking it up and putting it on speaker.
"Cleo, hi! What did you do because BigB is at my door?" Lizzie's voice came through the speaker.
"Hi Lizzie!" Scott semi-yelled to ensure the girl on the phone could hear him.
"Oh, Scott, hi! I'm not surprised you're with Cleo. Are they around?"
"Yeah, I'm here, you're on speaker, Lizzie." Cleo informed Lizzie and took a quick pause. "About BigB, well… Scar set up an apology for me from BigB and I told him that if he wants me to forgive him, he has to apologize to you too."
There was silence on the other side for a second and Scott and Cleo shared a worried look.
"You would do that for me?" Lizzie's voice came soft through the speaker.
Cleo smiled down into the ice cream. "Of course I would. You deserve one too."
Scott silently fake gagged and Cleo kicked him.
"So I suppose I should let him in?"
"Yep! And keep us on the phone, I want to hear this." Scott was always nosy.
There was some shuffling on the other side of the phone as Lizzie laughed. "Sure, but you guys should mute your mic just in case."
"Smart girl," Scott praised playfully and Lizzie scoffed a 'thank you' in the same tone.
"Good luck!" Cleo chirped before muting their side of the call.
Cleo and Scott could feel the excitement start building in them at their eavesdropping. They listened to the lock on Lizzie's door get unlocked and the hinges squeak open.
"BigB." The chill in Lizzie's voice was all her own.
"Lizzie… It's nice seeing you here."
"I live here."
"Right… right." There was an awkward pause and the eavesdroppers couldn't tell if they wanted to laugh or cringe. "Can I come in?"
"I suppose. Take your shoes off by the door, please."
There was some silence on the other side save for some shuffling as shoes are taken off and bodies getting settled in seats.
"So what have you come here for?" Lizzie pressed.
"I, uhm, I wanted to apologize for getting you in trouble with Cleo back in high school. I know the two of you have already made up, but I know in the direct aftermath of you helping me, she thought you were on 'my side' and that you two lost a good friendship. I didn't mean to hurt what the two of you had, and I'm sure that when you two weren't friends, that couldn't have been fun either. I wasn't thinking clearly that day, but I should have let you know you were missing something important to Cleo, or I just shouldn't have asked you. So I just want to say sorry for putting you in a difficult situation, and I'm glad the two of you made up."
More silence on the other side but Cleo and Scott could hear uncomfortable squirming. They assumed it was BigB since, with all the time they spent together, Cleo taught Lizzie how to keep the perfect posture to make people sweat.
Lizzie hummed and the eavesdroppers could imagine the nervous expression on BigB's face. "And Cleo's forgiven you already?" She's letting him sweat it out, she knew the answer— Cleo and Scott love the small evil streak in her.
"Yes, actually. I apologized to her first, but she said they wouldn't forgive me unless I apologize to you too."
"And so you're only apologizing to me for their forgiveness?"
"No! No, not all. I should have apologized to the both of you ages ago, I just didn't know how. I guess I'm sorry about that, too."
"Alright then. If Cleo's accepted your apology, I suppose I will too. But don't think this means I won't still kill you if you hurt Scar."
There's some jingling that the eavesdroppers assume means BigB is nodding aggressively. "Of course! And, just so you know, I would never hurt him, not on purpose."
"You didn't mean to hurt Cleo on purpose either, back then."
Cleo could feel their heart clench on their side of the phone. Scott pressed their legs together in a show of comfort and Cleo shot him a smile.
"I know." BigB's voice was barely audible on the other side of the phone. "I messed up, but I learned from it. I told Cleo that I'm sorry I had to hurt them to become a better person, but I have become better, and I promise I'm going to give Scar the best."
"Good, because he deserves it. He deserves much more than your best, but as long as it's good enough for him, it has to be good enough for me too." Cleo felt they could fall in love with Lizzie all over again for how much they care about Scar. "If that's all, I wish you a goodbye, BigB. I'll see you around, and you can stop being afraid of me all the time."
"What? I'm not scared of you." B's voice pitched up, betraying him to the fact he was.
Lizzie snorted. "Sure. See you around, B."
"See you, Lizzie. Thank you for hearing me out."
There were more footsteps on the other side of the line and then the creak of a door being opened and closed. After a couple seconds of silence and more footsteps away from the door, Lizzie let them know they could unmute.
"So, how do you think he did?" Lizzie asked them.
"I would say he paid attention to the tips I gave him." Cleo sighed dramatically. "Am I always doomed to be his learning experience."
Scott snorted a laugh. "We're eating ice cream if you want to come over. It's a bit melted now, but we can pop it back in the freezer and it should be a bit better by the time you're here."
"That sounds great. Which house am I off to?"
"Scott's, obviously, he's always the one with the best ice cream flavors."
"That's because I know you guys are going to end up stealing it."
"Aw, you do it because you love us," Lizzie teased. "I'll be over in half an hour. Put the ice cream back in the freezer for me!"
"You got it, gorgeous." Scott took the ice cream tubs and stored both of them in the back of the freezer so they would solidify faster.
"Bye, Lizzie, see you soon." Cleo let their voice get a tad softer as they said bye to Lizzie, Scott far enough away that they wouldn't get teased for it.
"Bye, Cleo, I'll be there soon."
The call dropped and Cleo let themself spread out on the couch, Scott tangling with them once he made his way back to her. Lizzie would have enough space on the side of the couch with the way the two friends were sprawled over each other.