Rockside Princes Grind Like Sharp Teeth 2 (Of three)

Bert swallowed. "Hrngh."
They blinked, in synchronisation again. Bert swallowed again. "I'm Bert."
"We've been through this," Quinn nodded encouragingly. Bert waved his hand frantically, begging one of the boys to help. Jeph swooped in, thankfully. "Frankie took your bag inside, can I see your fnote?"
"My fnote?" Bert questioned, pulling on his sleeve and avoiding staring too long at Quinn.
Jeph nodded, drawing his eyes back from the sand dunes. "Yeah, your file with councillor/parent notes. Fnotes for short. Can I ..?" He made a grabby hand at the papers in Bert's hand and he passed them over obediently. Jeph flicked through it, reading." How long have you been here?" Bert dared to ask. Ryan shrugged. "A while. Three months."

"Two," Jeph said.
"Five." Quinn chuckled to himself. "I just keep slipping back. They like, bring me here and 'get me better' and then bring me home and inevitably find me in my room with some guy or go through my phone or something. Then they send me back. To a dormitory where I live. With other guys. All of who are gay. And sleep in the same room as me. To get straight. Probably not the most well-thought out plan, " Quinn mused.

"Are you mormon?" Bert asked.
Quinn shook his head. "None of my family is, this is supposed to be strictly for Mormons, but a while ago they started taking in kids from families everywhere. Guess the money was dropping."
Bert frowned. "Right. Can I-?"

"You must wanna see your room, come on!" Jeph took his hand and dashed in the dormitory with him. Trailing behind Jeph, Bert noted his hand was quite warm. "This is my bed, and this is Quinn's, and that's Frankie's, and Ryan doesn't live here, he lives over there. Like waaaaaay over there. Waaaay over. He practically lives with us though, 'cause he has a crush on me." Jeph explained, pointing to a smaller cabin in the distance and nodding wisely.

"I do not have a crush on you." Ryan said, coming up behind them and sounded weary.
"Then why did you kiss me last Saturday in the bar?" Jeph challenged.

Ryan snorted. "That wasn't me; that was Quinn."
Jeph looked mildly confused. "Oh," he said and turned to Quinn who was sitting on his own bed nearest the window.  "Why did you kiss me last Saturday at the bar?"
Quinn didn't raise his eyes from his cell phone. "Did I? " He shrugged. "I must have wanted to at the time."
"Oh," Jeph seemed more confused. "Why?"
"Because we're awesome like that," Quinn said, yawning.
Jeph nodded again. "Well alrighty. Shit!" Jeph hissed and dropped onto the wooden floor, crawling underneath his single bed.

"You're not allowed to curse Jepharee," Ryan lectured patiently. Jeph stared for a minute.
Then the room erupted in laughter.
"I'm not supposed to do al lot of things. Like fuck him for instance." Jeph said, pointing at the door and curled into a small ball, apparently forgetting the bed was high enough for him to still be completely visible.
"Who?" Bert questioned, feeling left out.
Ryan nodded at the person standing at the cabin door and leaning against the side.

"It's Jayy," Quinn said and waved at him to come in. Bert swallowed nervously. He was hot. Almost as hot as Quinn.  He did enter and threw himself onto the empty bed. It squeaked in protest. Jayy frowned slightly and bounced again. It grumbled this time. He stood and pulled back the rumpled covers to reveal Frank.
"What are you doing?" Jayy demanded. "S'my bed," Frank sulked. Jayy folded the covers back over him and sat down on him again."Anyway, we're g-Who're you?"
"New kid." Frank informed from beneath him.  Jayy nodded. "Right. Who?"
Bert gave a wave and sat on the end of his bed. "Bert. I like your hair."
Jayy warmed up to him immediately."Thank you, I like yours. S'pretty. I'm Jayy von Monroe. Anyway, we're going out tonight. Gabe is getting us into Lashes."
"Gabe?" Quinn asked, closing down his cell phone and stashing it in his pocket. "I thought he didn't like us, why's he getting us in?"
Jay shrugged, picking at his nails. "He wants to suck William, so as long as we bring him, we're cool."
Ryan lay on his back on Jeph's bed with him, propped up on his elbows and remarked drily "What a sweet sentiment. So Will is our entrance fee."
"Pretty much. Dahvie is-" Jayy was interrupted by an entire room of groans. "What?" He demanded. "What?!"
The room stayed silent and sulked, Bert looked around, confused. He picked at his sleeve.

Jayy sighed. "I know he can be..."

"A pervert." Quinn sniffed.

"A bitch." Jeph said from beneath the bed.

"A whore," came Frank's voice from under Jayy.

Jayy scowled and kicked Jeph's bed. "I don't care, I like him and you'll put up with him because he's the only one they'll serve alcohol and Jeph get out from underneath the bed, I don't wanna fuck you again and it wasn't a great hiding place to begin with."
Jeph slithered from underneath the bed to on top of it, sheepishly. Then he frowned. "Why don't you wanna fuck me again?" he demanded.
Jayy shrugged. "Had you. Want someone else."
"Gee, thank-Fuck!" Jeph dove under the bed again. All the boys stared at him until Quinn spoke. "Who is it now?" He asked wearily.
"Dan." Jeph squeaked.
Bert giggled. Quinn turned to look at him and he flushed with colour, coughing.
"What's wrong with Dan?" Jayy wanted to know. Jeph shook his head violently, crushing an army of dust bunnies. "Nothing.  That's the fucking problem."
Jayy sighed, evidently tiring of Dan. "Anyway, you will be nice to Dahvie, mm?"
Dan screwed up his face, wandering in and sitting beside Bert on his bed. "Er," Bert introduced himself.
"Dan. Is that Jeph hiding under his bed again?"
"Bert. Yes."
Dan sighed and announced "We're going out tonight."
Quinn sat up, crossing his legs at the knees. "Yeah, to Lashes. Gabe's letting us in if we loan him Will for an hour or so."
Dan scrunched his face up, looking disgusted. "Or we can go to Breakers and not whore out our friends," he spotted Jayy and frowned. "Your idea, I suppose."
Jayy looked defensive. "So what if it was?" He retorted. "And it's not like he doesn't like Gabe. And it's a free blowjob, you really think Will'd turn that down?"
Dan looked sickened. "That's not the point, you can't just whore him out just 'cause you look like a twelve year old and can't get in."
Jayy stiffened and crossed his arms. "Yeah, 'cause you look so much older. Don't start acting like you have a conscience just 'cause Jeph's in the room. Maybe we'll just call Will and see what he thinks."
Dan sneered at him, shaking his head. "You're pathetic. Go suck Dahvie again and get away from me."
A nerve jumped in Jayy's jaw and he stood up, looking at everyone but Dan. "When you bitches wanna have a real party, call me."
He stormed out the cabin. Jeph peered out from beneath his and noticing Dan was looking with confusion at the Frank shaped lump under the covers, he crawled on top of the bed, frantically brushing the dust from his jeans.
Bert coughed quietly when the silence grew awkward. For him, at least.

"Oh shit, you have an orientation meeting, don't cha?" Quinn asked. Bert nodded shyly.
"Dude, sorry, I forgot. C'mon, we'll say you got lost when I was showing you around," Quinn stood and dashed out the door. Bert followed him, struggling to keep pace with Quinn's much longer legs. Quinn eventually noticed his difficulty and slowed his gait towards the largest main building in the centre of the grouping of houses.  Bert's legs felt acute relief. "Sorry." He mumbled a few minutes later, for some reason feeling a need to apologise for his shortness. The blonde boy chuckled and looked at him. He was a full head taller than Bert, quite skinny with an ashy blonde fringe swept across his cute, tanned face. Bert stared back at him, giving a quick grin.

"So, tell me about you," Quinn said suddenly while they walked towards the common building.
Bert thought hard, "Er...My name's Bert McCracken,  my family's mormon, 'm sixteen..."Bert struggled to think of other things. "I play trumpet in the school band,"-Quinn suppressed a giggle-"Play piano, sing and er..." Bert blushed slightly, looking down at his swiftly moving feet. "I'm a gymnast. Have been since I was nine."
"Your mom choose that career path for you?" Quinn laughed, rubbing his hand through the shorter brown hair at the back of his head.
Bert frowned and felt the need to defend himself, "No, I did. I took up wrestling too. So I could beat up the guys who called me a pansy."
"Nice," Quinn said, confusing Bert slightly. Was it nice he was a gymnast? Or he was a wrestler?
"Jayy's a good guy really," Quinn said suddenly. "He just comes off as a dick to people who don't know him, but he is really sweet when you get to be friends with him.  He's...he's kinda like Jeph."
Bert chewed his cheek, unable to equate the cheerful, witty, funny Jepha with the slightly bitchy, diva-ish, sarcastic Jayy. "How?"

"In that they're both absolute cock-sluts, but...I guess Jeph's just lovable. Whereas Jayy is...not."
"How do you know them anyway?" Bert asked, having sensed the comradeship  between the two.
Quinn shrugged in reply. "I met Jayy here. Jeph and I go way back man, we were friends before we got out of diapers," he chuckled. "Then one day his parents found me and him making out in his bedroom, threw a fit and told my parents, and sent him here. The good doctor hooked us up in the same room."
Bert wanted to ask more, wanted to know about the 'good doctor' but they had already reached the main hall.

"So," Quinn said, opening the door to the communal building. "They'll invite me in with you and basically tell you what to do, they'll insult you a lot so be prepared. Who's your councillor?"
Bert scrambled for the balled up piece of paper in his pocket. "Jonathon Monroe," he read. Quinn scrunched up his face cutely. Bert resisted the strong urge to ruffle his hair. "Dr Jon's not the worst. A little patronising but tolerable. Cheery doctor type. The one you don't wanna get is Nico. Hypocritical bastard."
"Nico?" Bert asked, biting his lip nervously as Quinn led him through a wooden door.
"Bastard," Quinn re-affirmed. "Tries to get off with all his patients and then turns around and tells everyone he's reformed. Creepy fucker," Quinn explained, rapping on the thick wooden door of a small office.

The door swung open, stuttering a little on its rusting hinges.  "Hello! You must be Mr McCracken! And Mr Allman, how nice to see you." A small, fat man stepped back into the room with a pleasant smile. He was balding and the little hair he had left was grey. His reading glasses were perched on top of his head.  He waddled into the room and eased himself into a black chair behind an expensive pine desk. "Well boy, have a seat!" He exclaimed. Bert glanced around to see that Quinn had already thrown himself into one of the bean bags at the side of the desk area. There was one comfortable-looking armchair in front of the desk. The doctor waved a hand at it. Bert sank into it, folding his arms across his chest.
"My name is Doctor Jonathon Monroe, but most of my patients call me Jon, or Dr Jon if they're Quinn," he chuckled, allowing a fond glance at the blonde boy in the beanbag that was picking at the seam. "Please refrain from breaking my last beanbag Mr Allman; you've already been through the rest. "
"I was assigned to Dr Jon," Quinn explained to Bert who nodded, "when I first came here. The good doctor," Quinn chuckled and Dr Jon gave a weary but patient smile.
Bert half smiled, exhaling through his nose.

"Anywhoodle, Mr McCracken, I know you haven't been here long, but how've you been settling in?" The doctor's glasses fell off his head and he placed them on his table with a small frown."Getting along with the boys?"
Bert nodded, swinging his legs on the chair because his feet didn't touch the ground.  "Pretty good. They seem," he studiously ignored Quinn's gaze. "...nice." Quinn chuckled beside him.
"And who've you met so far?" The good doctor asked.
Bert thought "Uh, Quinn obviously, Jeph, Frank, Ryan, Dan and...I think his name was Jayy."
Doctor Monroe nodded encouragingly "Wonderful!" He praised and Bert giggled slightly.
"And how did it go with Mr von Monroe?" Dr Jon asked, folding his glasses neatly.
Bert shrugged in response, looking up to Quinn for help.

"He was being a bitch as usual-"

"Language Mr Allman."

"-but I think Bert can handle him." Quinn said, ignoring the doctor.
"Good, good boy," he praised again.  Bert grinned at him.
"So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?" The doctor inquired. Quinn shrugged. Bert pulled out a folded up piece of paper from his pocket. "I'm in schedule B92," he said.
Dr Jon nodded. "Wonderful, you're with Quinn. I'll just check who else you'll be with..." He pulled a drawer open, rifled through it and yanked out a thick brown envelope which he opened and pulled a sheet from.
"Let me see, let me see, let me see..." He scanned the page, finding the column he was looking for.
He beamed, pushing his glasses up onto his nose and squinting at the page.
"You'll be with Quinn, Mr Frank Iero, Daniel Whitesides, Ryan Ross and Mr Brendon Urie amongst others," The doc winced as he read 'Brendon Urie' from the list. "Those are the ones closest to your age, so you should get along with them best."

He folded the sheet and put it on his desk, not bothering to tidy it away. "Well, that means you'll be working in the mornings, 9:00 to 11:00, with meetings and prayer time at half 11 to 12. Wonderful! And then you have the rest of the days for quiet self-contemplation and everybody's free at the weekends. Delightful."
Bert nodded, quickly growing weary of the doctor's exuberant attitude and he stood. "Can I go now?"

The doctor nodded again, struggling up from his seat and standing at the door. "Now Mr McCracken, I'm only here to help, so if you feel like you're struggling or need to talk, I'm here understood?" He checked before opening the door for them. Bert nodded rudely.
Dr Jon put a hand on Quinn's shoulder before he followed Bert and asked, wincing; "Please introduce Bert to Brendon Urie before they get thrown into work together. He can be a bit...difficult to handle, you know."
Quinn chuckled," Yeah, I will." He told the doc and disappeared into the dark hallway to catch up with Bert.

The doctor sat back on his chair after closing the door and stared in silent resentment at his wedding ring.

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