#one of the most accurate fics weve read
It’s February and I’ve got GOALS baby! I’m gonna try to do a chapter a week to get caught up on all my old shit, including my old multi chapter that was started in 2018 (yikes!). But for now, here’s 859 words for @klaineharmony‘s 300x3 challenge! Enjoy!
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“So lemme get this straight- This guy says he’s willing to tutor you, for as long as you like, with absolutely no strings attached?” Jack gave David an incredulous look as he dodged a thick patch of snow that had congealed onto the pavement. He swung his bag over one shoulder and leaned slightly backwards so Crutchie could grip onto the other. There was some slight maneuvering, then they were all in the clear. Until the next patch, at least.
“Well, not exactly.” David kept several paces behind them, cautiously keeping his left boot away from the snow mound. “He says he wants The World for free. Which, you know, is pretty easy for me to do. And it’s only until I can get back to school full time. I just don’t know when that would be right now.”
“You sure you can trust him?” Crutchie had let go of Jack, and was now warming his free hand on the side of his neck.
David looked up from the sidewalk. ”Trust him? I mean, shouldn’t I? He’s Kath’s friend, right? And he helped with the strike.”
Crutchie gave a deep sigh. David noticed he had been doing that frequently since the beginning of winter. “All I’m saying is that sometimes people are nice for the right reasons, and sometimes they’re nice the wrong ones.”
“The wrong ones? What are the wrong-?”
“Excuse me young man.”
A middle aged woman stood in front of them, blocking their way to the other side of the street. She was primly dressed all in black, with a wide brimmed, billowy bonnet framing her face. Clutched tightly in her hand was a small pocket bible. It took David a moment to realise she was staring intently at Crutchie.
“Excuse me, young man. I was wondering if I could pray for you.” This was more of a statement than a question.
Crutchie’s eyes widened, and his jaw slacked a bit. “What? Why of course you can pray for me, ma’m. Gee, it would be an honor.”
David shot Jack a nervous look. Jack met his gaze and and mouthed ‘wait for it’.
Crutchie’s face had taken a sickly, saccharine look to it as the woman put a silk gloved hand on his shoulder and started speaking in trembling, off-kilter voice. Her face seized up as she closed her eyes and soon a small crowd began to form around them, in no small part to the fact that they were blocking others from going past them. David could feel his cheeks go hot from the embarrassment of it all.
When the woman had finished, her face recoiled and her tense mouth turned into a beam. “Well, that was just lovely. Thank you so much young man. You’ve truly helped me bring in the right mindset this Christmas season. I hope Christ finds you and finds it in His heart to heal you.”
David felt like he was about to blow a gasket. But Crutchie remained calm. “Wow. Thanks ma'am, that’s really something. I’ll be sure to take that to heart.” He made a motion to go forward, then paused. “Gee, I’d love to go back and tell the other fellas at the boarding house all about what happened today, but it’s so awfully hard to get there, with me lugging around these papes an’ all.”
The woman raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
Crutchie nodded earnestly. “Oh yes ma’m. Especially with the weather an’ all. It can be so hard, trying to balance it all on this ice. And well, with my crutch…”
Crutchie made a big display of looking forlornly down at his crutch. He gave one last dramatic sigh. “I guess that’s the way things go sometimes. Well, I better be on my way ma’m. I’ll never forget this.”
“Wait!” The woman was now fishing around in her coin purse. “How much for the whole stack?”
The edges on Crutchie’s lips turned upwards. “A dollar ten.”
Jack gave a barking laugh. The woman looked over and he tried to turn it into a cough.
“A dollar ten, really? Isn’t that a bit too-”
“Inflation.” Crutchie nodded solemnly. “A real big issue, especially this time of year. But I understand if you can’t help-”
“No, wait!” The woman shoved a two single bills into his chapped hand. “I’ll take the whole stack!”
“Well gee, thanks.” Crutchie swiftly took his diminishing stack from his bag and abruptly handed it to her. He started away as quickly as he could, with David and Jack at his heels. He called over his shoulder. “And Merry Christmas to you too!”
David looked back at the well dressed woman, who was still standing in the middle of the sidewalk, forlornly clutching the stack of newspapers next to her bible. Crutchie pausd and watched with him.
“You see Davey? Sometimes people are nice for the wrong reasons. And when that happens, the best thing you can do is take what you need and go. Any man who stays for a minute longer is just a sucker.”
He held out the two dollars in front of his friends. “Now, who wants lunch?”
