Shattered Silence - Epilogue
Title: Shattered Silence
Author: shmorgenheigen
Chapter: Epilogue
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1907
Summary: David Desrosiers is a seventeen year old boy when his father unexpectedly sells his family home, forcing him to move across town and switch schools for his senior year of high school. Having always been the victim of homophobic bullying, the idea of transferring to a new school for his final year isn’t all that uninviting, though when he runs into his toxic ex-boyfriend on his very first day, he suddenly finds himself yearning for the bullying of his old school, instead. David does his best to persevere in the face of an ex that he’s terrified of, intent on keeping his head down and making it through his final year in peace so he can move onto college and begin his adult life.
Disclaimer: Don't know, don't own, didn't happen!
Author's Note: This is an alternate universe story based off of Behind the Net, Behind the Net (Pierre’s POV), and Behind the Net: Across the Distance (A Sequel) where David never joins the hockey team, he and Pierre never become friends and start dating, and instead David is single when he comes across Hunter, Ezra, Noah, and Ben. I had so much fun when writing the sequel to Behind the Net with Hunter and Ezra and the boys, and Pierre was certain at various points during the sequel story David would have forgiven and dated Hunter if he had been single when he met Hunter again, and also that David and Ezra would have fallen for each other if Pierre had never been in the picture. Curiosity led me to thinking way too much about what David actually would have done in a scenario where he and Pierre had never fallen in love. Without dating Pierre and all of the growth and healing he did over the course of their relationship, David would have been a very different person and would have reacted very differently to meeting Hunter again. Before I knew it I got inspired and had to write it. Pierre makes a few guest appearances as a boy from the same small town, of course, but this is not a Pierre/David story, and I think it may actually be my favorite story I’ve ever written. If you give this a read, leave me a comment and let me know!
This story begins in the year 2015
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
18 Months Later
Ezra stood in the sheet music aisle of the music store he worked at, occasionally bending down to grab a stack of sheet music books from the shipment they’d just gotten in and standing again to tuck them where they went on the shelves. He heard the sound of the bell on the front door and he glanced over, giving a quick, “Hey!” in greeting to whoever had just come in. After a second he realized it was Hunter and he paused, before raising a hand in a wave and giving an awkward smile.
“Hey,” Hunter replied, returning the awkward smile and wave, before turning and heading toward the guitar supplies without another word. Ezra moved to stand behind the counter, knowing it wouldn’t be long before Hunter was approaching to buy whatever he had come in for. It had been two years almost to the day since he’d started working at the music shop and he had seen Hunter more times than he could count by that point. At first their interactions had been tense, and then slowly they turned awkward, and then they started to shift to something a little more comfortable though still kind of timid, a joke here, a chuckle there, and before he knew it he found that he didn’t hate it when Hunter came in and they occasionally held casual conversations about music and bands and things of that sort. Ezra had mentioned their interactions here and there to David and David had always given a bit of a smile and would say something in a hopeful tone to the effect of, “Maybe he’s doing better,” or, “It sounds like he’s doing well.” Ezra had always gotten the impression that David truly wished for Hunter to get his mental health under control and to live his life happily, despite all of the things he had done in high school.
Hunter walked up to the counter a few minutes later and tossed down a pack of guitar strings and some picks and Ezra gave him a nod as he started to scan the two items. “Just you tonight?” Hunter asked, drawing Ezra’s eyes up to his.
Ezra gave him a nod and looked back down, smiling a little as he said, “Yeah, it’s quiet tonight. I let the other guy go home early.”
“Very generous,” Hunter joked, and Ezra gave a light chuckle in return.
“Yeah that’s me,” he replied, his smile widening a little. Hunter handed Ezra the cash for what he’d bought and Ezra finished the transaction on the cash register, pulling out the change that was needed and handing it to Hunter with his receipt.
“Got another one,” Hunter commented, confusing Ezra for a second until he registered Hunter indicating the new tattoo on his neck, a magpie that sat on the opposite side of his neck as the baby crow he’d gotten for David.
“Ah yeah, it’s in the itchy stage,” he replied with a nod.
“Bet your mom loves that one,” Hunter joked lightly.
Ezra gave a chuckle and another nod, replying, “Oh yeah, big fan of neck tattoos. She got over it when I pointed out it’s a magpie for her.”
Hunter gave a nod of understanding and responded, “Ah, Maggie.”
“Yeah, my grandpa always called her Magpie,” he explained as he grabbed a small paper bag and slid the strings and the picks into it, then looked back up and gave another somewhat awkward smile as he handed it over.
“Special occasion or just because?” Hunter asked as he took the bag. Ezra thought the question was kind of odd, but had to admit that David had gotten it for him in celebration.
“Actually, yeah, it was a special occasion thing,” he replied, sounding a bit skeptically surprised at the question, but in a pleasant sort of way. “My band got signed to a label.”
“That’s awesome, man!” Hunter told him, smiling what looked to be a genuine smile at him.
Ezra couldn’t help but smile back, truthfully ecstatic about it. Before he could stop himself, a piece of information that was dying to get out of him forced its way out and he said, “Yeah. We’re doing Warped Tour next year.”
“Are you fucking kidding?” Hunter asked.
Ezra shook his head, unable to hide how pleased and excited he was about it, though he gave a small shrug and said, “We’ll be on the small stage but it’s gonna be crazy touring all summer.”
“Dude. That’s really fucking awesome,” Hunter said again.
“Thanks, man. We’re really excited,” Ezra responded, getting a nod back from Hunter.
The conversation died off and they stood there for a few seconds, both of them slowly realizing that they didn’t know what to say next. “Well, I guess I’ll get out of your hair,” Hunter said a little awkwardly, and the two exchanged the same awkward smile and wave they had exchanged in greeting, before Hunter turned and began to step away. Ezra started to move to head back to the stack of sheet music that needed stocking, but he saw Hunter stop and turn back toward him from the corner of his eye and he stopped as well, doing the same and giving him a curious look.
“Hey, I know this is gonna sound kinda… crazy…” Hunter started, piquing Ezra’s curiosity further. “I saw you guys got married a couple months ago and I just wanted to say congratulations,” he said, shocking Ezra entirely. Whatever Hunter could have said, Ezra would have never guessed it would have been that. The fact that he sounded entirely sincere was even more shocking. Without being able to help it, Ezra’s thumb tucked under his palm to rub against his wedding ring absentmindedly. “I wasn’t creeping or anything… I’m just still friends online with Ben and Noah and I saw they were tagged in some posts from your wedding,” Hunter continued, sounding a little insecure, like he worried how it would look that he had this knowledge. Ezra watched him carefully, unsure what to say and feeling a little hesitant. “You might not believe me and I don’t blame you if you don’t, but genuinely, I’m happy for you guys. And I’m sorry I couldn’t be back then,” Hunter finished, and the way he smiled a little sadly and held eye contact further solidified that his words were genuine.
“Thanks man,” Ezra said a little cautiously, though he returned his smile. “We’re really happy.”
“You looked happy,” Hunter said. The next second, it seemed to dawn on him that this revealed a little more than he meant it to and he gave a crooked smile as he added, “I may have taken a peek at the pictures after I saw Ben and Noah’s posts.”
Ezra couldn’t help that he grinned, and he laughed softly before shrugging and replying, “It’s human nature.”
Hunter gave a nod and hesitated, and Ezra could see that he was working himself up to say something else. “Do you wanna… get a coffee or something sometime? Catch up?” Hunter asked.
Ezra was surprised to realize that he wanted to say yes and before he could think to stop himself, he said, “Yeah… That’d be cool.” Ezra couldn’t help but find it a little funny that it felt sort of like getting asked on a date with the way they were both uncomfortable and nervous.
“As long as David’s okay with it and all,” he continued, looking nervous. “I get it if he’s not.”
Ezra thought about it, about the way David had always responded whenever Hunter had come up, and a contemplative look crossed his features. “Ya know… Somehow I don’t think he’d mind,” he replied slowly. Hunter looked surprised at this response. “I’ll ask him about it, but I think he’d be fine with it.”
“He doesn’t fucking hate me?” Hunter asked incredulously, as if the idea of David not hating him with every atom in his body was ridiculous.
“Even the couple times he said he did, I don’t think David ever actually hated you,” Ezra told him. “He understood you too much to hate you. He’s always wanted you to figure out how to be happy.”
Hunter took a second to respond and Ezra could see in his eyes that these words were surprising to him and that they were meaningful. He nodded a little and said, “It took a lot of therapy, but I got there.” The two shared a smile and for a few seconds neither said anything. “I’ve always wanted to really apologize to him for everything but I figured he wouldn’t want to hear it and wouldn’t believe it,” he continued, looking down a little as he did.
“You’d be surprised. David is the most forgiving person I’ve ever met,” Ezra told him with a shrug. "Even after your accident at the end of senior year, the first thing he asked when he heard about it was if you were okay."
Again, Ezra could see that his words shocked Hunter and that they held meaning to him but he didn't comment and instead just nodded. After a short silence, he asked, "How's he doing?" and Ezra thought it sounded like Hunter was trying to move past it and make himself sound normal.
"He's really good," Ezra replied, unable to help the way his eyes softened to talk about David. "He finished his Associates at FIT and decided to keep going for his Bachelors so we ended up buying a condo since we're gonna be here at least another two years. We figured we might as well put our money into a mortgage instead of losing it in rent."
"Yeah that makes sense," Hunter replied, his demeanor going back to casual. Another short silence fell over them in which they seemed to realize that neither knew what to say next before Hunter took a breath in and flashed an awkward smile. "Alright, well I'll actually get out of here," he said, beginning to step toward the door again.
“Alright, man. I’ll talk to David and see what he says.”
Hunter nodded and said, “Sounds good, man, just let me know.”
“Yeah, I’ll hit you up online,” Ezra replied.
“Cool, I’ll catch ya later,” Hunter responded, raising his hand in a wave.
“Yeah man, later,” Ezra said, returning his wave and watching as Hunter walked out the door. For a moment Ezra just stood and stared at the door, a little shell shocked at the conversation he’d just had. It felt surreal that Hunter had just taken the first step toward rekindling their friendship, even more so that he wanted it to happen. He would have to go home and talk to David and make sure that David was truly okay with all of it, but somehow he knew that he would be. It seemed they had all done a lot of growing and healing over the past two years and that somehow, after all of that time, they were going to be able to come back together and be friends. He gave a soft laugh of surprise and shook his head a little before heading back to finish putting away those sheet music books, feeling a little lighter than he had just five minutes previously.
Life sure could be funny sometimes.
Author: shmorgenheigen
Chapter: Epilogue
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1907
Summary: David Desrosiers is a seventeen year old boy when his father unexpectedly sells his family home, forcing him to move across town and switch schools for his senior year of high school. Having always been the victim of homophobic bullying, the idea of transferring to a new school for his final year isn’t all that uninviting, though when he runs into his toxic ex-boyfriend on his very first day, he suddenly finds himself yearning for the bullying of his old school, instead. David does his best to persevere in the face of an ex that he’s terrified of, intent on keeping his head down and making it through his final year in peace so he can move onto college and begin his adult life.
Disclaimer: Don't know, don't own, didn't happen!
Author's Note: This is an alternate universe story based off of Behind the Net, Behind the Net (Pierre’s POV), and Behind the Net: Across the Distance (A Sequel) where David never joins the hockey team, he and Pierre never become friends and start dating, and instead David is single when he comes across Hunter, Ezra, Noah, and Ben. I had so much fun when writing the sequel to Behind the Net with Hunter and Ezra and the boys, and Pierre was certain at various points during the sequel story David would have forgiven and dated Hunter if he had been single when he met Hunter again, and also that David and Ezra would have fallen for each other if Pierre had never been in the picture. Curiosity led me to thinking way too much about what David actually would have done in a scenario where he and Pierre had never fallen in love. Without dating Pierre and all of the growth and healing he did over the course of their relationship, David would have been a very different person and would have reacted very differently to meeting Hunter again. Before I knew it I got inspired and had to write it. Pierre makes a few guest appearances as a boy from the same small town, of course, but this is not a Pierre/David story, and I think it may actually be my favorite story I’ve ever written. If you give this a read, leave me a comment and let me know!
This story begins in the year 2015
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
18 Months Later
Ezra stood in the sheet music aisle of the music store he worked at, occasionally bending down to grab a stack of sheet music books from the shipment they’d just gotten in and standing again to tuck them where they went on the shelves. He heard the sound of the bell on the front door and he glanced over, giving a quick, “Hey!” in greeting to whoever had just come in. After a second he realized it was Hunter and he paused, before raising a hand in a wave and giving an awkward smile.
“Hey,” Hunter replied, returning the awkward smile and wave, before turning and heading toward the guitar supplies without another word. Ezra moved to stand behind the counter, knowing it wouldn’t be long before Hunter was approaching to buy whatever he had come in for. It had been two years almost to the day since he’d started working at the music shop and he had seen Hunter more times than he could count by that point. At first their interactions had been tense, and then slowly they turned awkward, and then they started to shift to something a little more comfortable though still kind of timid, a joke here, a chuckle there, and before he knew it he found that he didn’t hate it when Hunter came in and they occasionally held casual conversations about music and bands and things of that sort. Ezra had mentioned their interactions here and there to David and David had always given a bit of a smile and would say something in a hopeful tone to the effect of, “Maybe he’s doing better,” or, “It sounds like he’s doing well.” Ezra had always gotten the impression that David truly wished for Hunter to get his mental health under control and to live his life happily, despite all of the things he had done in high school.
Hunter walked up to the counter a few minutes later and tossed down a pack of guitar strings and some picks and Ezra gave him a nod as he started to scan the two items. “Just you tonight?” Hunter asked, drawing Ezra’s eyes up to his.
Ezra gave him a nod and looked back down, smiling a little as he said, “Yeah, it’s quiet tonight. I let the other guy go home early.”
“Very generous,” Hunter joked, and Ezra gave a light chuckle in return.
“Yeah that’s me,” he replied, his smile widening a little. Hunter handed Ezra the cash for what he’d bought and Ezra finished the transaction on the cash register, pulling out the change that was needed and handing it to Hunter with his receipt.
“Got another one,” Hunter commented, confusing Ezra for a second until he registered Hunter indicating the new tattoo on his neck, a magpie that sat on the opposite side of his neck as the baby crow he’d gotten for David.
“Ah yeah, it’s in the itchy stage,” he replied with a nod.
“Bet your mom loves that one,” Hunter joked lightly.
Ezra gave a chuckle and another nod, replying, “Oh yeah, big fan of neck tattoos. She got over it when I pointed out it’s a magpie for her.”
Hunter gave a nod of understanding and responded, “Ah, Maggie.”
“Yeah, my grandpa always called her Magpie,” he explained as he grabbed a small paper bag and slid the strings and the picks into it, then looked back up and gave another somewhat awkward smile as he handed it over.
“Special occasion or just because?” Hunter asked as he took the bag. Ezra thought the question was kind of odd, but had to admit that David had gotten it for him in celebration.
“Actually, yeah, it was a special occasion thing,” he replied, sounding a bit skeptically surprised at the question, but in a pleasant sort of way. “My band got signed to a label.”
“That’s awesome, man!” Hunter told him, smiling what looked to be a genuine smile at him.
Ezra couldn’t help but smile back, truthfully ecstatic about it. Before he could stop himself, a piece of information that was dying to get out of him forced its way out and he said, “Yeah. We’re doing Warped Tour next year.”
“Are you fucking kidding?” Hunter asked.
Ezra shook his head, unable to hide how pleased and excited he was about it, though he gave a small shrug and said, “We’ll be on the small stage but it’s gonna be crazy touring all summer.”
“Dude. That’s really fucking awesome,” Hunter said again.
“Thanks, man. We’re really excited,” Ezra responded, getting a nod back from Hunter.
The conversation died off and they stood there for a few seconds, both of them slowly realizing that they didn’t know what to say next. “Well, I guess I’ll get out of your hair,” Hunter said a little awkwardly, and the two exchanged the same awkward smile and wave they had exchanged in greeting, before Hunter turned and began to step away. Ezra started to move to head back to the stack of sheet music that needed stocking, but he saw Hunter stop and turn back toward him from the corner of his eye and he stopped as well, doing the same and giving him a curious look.
“Hey, I know this is gonna sound kinda… crazy…” Hunter started, piquing Ezra’s curiosity further. “I saw you guys got married a couple months ago and I just wanted to say congratulations,” he said, shocking Ezra entirely. Whatever Hunter could have said, Ezra would have never guessed it would have been that. The fact that he sounded entirely sincere was even more shocking. Without being able to help it, Ezra’s thumb tucked under his palm to rub against his wedding ring absentmindedly. “I wasn’t creeping or anything… I’m just still friends online with Ben and Noah and I saw they were tagged in some posts from your wedding,” Hunter continued, sounding a little insecure, like he worried how it would look that he had this knowledge. Ezra watched him carefully, unsure what to say and feeling a little hesitant. “You might not believe me and I don’t blame you if you don’t, but genuinely, I’m happy for you guys. And I’m sorry I couldn’t be back then,” Hunter finished, and the way he smiled a little sadly and held eye contact further solidified that his words were genuine.
“Thanks man,” Ezra said a little cautiously, though he returned his smile. “We’re really happy.”
“You looked happy,” Hunter said. The next second, it seemed to dawn on him that this revealed a little more than he meant it to and he gave a crooked smile as he added, “I may have taken a peek at the pictures after I saw Ben and Noah’s posts.”
Ezra couldn’t help that he grinned, and he laughed softly before shrugging and replying, “It’s human nature.”
Hunter gave a nod and hesitated, and Ezra could see that he was working himself up to say something else. “Do you wanna… get a coffee or something sometime? Catch up?” Hunter asked.
Ezra was surprised to realize that he wanted to say yes and before he could think to stop himself, he said, “Yeah… That’d be cool.” Ezra couldn’t help but find it a little funny that it felt sort of like getting asked on a date with the way they were both uncomfortable and nervous.
“As long as David’s okay with it and all,” he continued, looking nervous. “I get it if he’s not.”
Ezra thought about it, about the way David had always responded whenever Hunter had come up, and a contemplative look crossed his features. “Ya know… Somehow I don’t think he’d mind,” he replied slowly. Hunter looked surprised at this response. “I’ll ask him about it, but I think he’d be fine with it.”
“He doesn’t fucking hate me?” Hunter asked incredulously, as if the idea of David not hating him with every atom in his body was ridiculous.
“Even the couple times he said he did, I don’t think David ever actually hated you,” Ezra told him. “He understood you too much to hate you. He’s always wanted you to figure out how to be happy.”
Hunter took a second to respond and Ezra could see in his eyes that these words were surprising to him and that they were meaningful. He nodded a little and said, “It took a lot of therapy, but I got there.” The two shared a smile and for a few seconds neither said anything. “I’ve always wanted to really apologize to him for everything but I figured he wouldn’t want to hear it and wouldn’t believe it,” he continued, looking down a little as he did.
“You’d be surprised. David is the most forgiving person I’ve ever met,” Ezra told him with a shrug. "Even after your accident at the end of senior year, the first thing he asked when he heard about it was if you were okay."
Again, Ezra could see that his words shocked Hunter and that they held meaning to him but he didn't comment and instead just nodded. After a short silence, he asked, "How's he doing?" and Ezra thought it sounded like Hunter was trying to move past it and make himself sound normal.
"He's really good," Ezra replied, unable to help the way his eyes softened to talk about David. "He finished his Associates at FIT and decided to keep going for his Bachelors so we ended up buying a condo since we're gonna be here at least another two years. We figured we might as well put our money into a mortgage instead of losing it in rent."
"Yeah that makes sense," Hunter replied, his demeanor going back to casual. Another short silence fell over them in which they seemed to realize that neither knew what to say next before Hunter took a breath in and flashed an awkward smile. "Alright, well I'll actually get out of here," he said, beginning to step toward the door again.
“Alright, man. I’ll talk to David and see what he says.”
Hunter nodded and said, “Sounds good, man, just let me know.”
“Yeah, I’ll hit you up online,” Ezra replied.
“Cool, I’ll catch ya later,” Hunter responded, raising his hand in a wave.
“Yeah man, later,” Ezra said, returning his wave and watching as Hunter walked out the door. For a moment Ezra just stood and stared at the door, a little shell shocked at the conversation he’d just had. It felt surreal that Hunter had just taken the first step toward rekindling their friendship, even more so that he wanted it to happen. He would have to go home and talk to David and make sure that David was truly okay with all of it, but somehow he knew that he would be. It seemed they had all done a lot of growing and healing over the past two years and that somehow, after all of that time, they were going to be able to come back together and be friends. He gave a soft laugh of surprise and shook his head a little before heading back to finish putting away those sheet music books, feeling a little lighter than he had just five minutes previously.
Life sure could be funny sometimes.