Blue Bayou (Patreon)

  Vincent and Ethan sat side by side as the public bus lumbered along the street. Vincent stared at the text conversation with his boyfriend and typed “Ah....I miss you!  I can't believe you'll be gone for a whole 'nother week! Don't you ever stay put?”  

 “Sorry, little skunk.” The response came. “Hopper family reunion's serious business, can't be helped.”  

  Vincent sighed and started flipping through his pictures. The most recent were selfies of he and Ben, but mostly just pictures he'd taken of Ben alone. He just didn't feel like he could ever get enough pics of the buff bunny.  

  “Ugh, get a room.” Ethan scoffed. Vincent made a face and turned away from Ethan. While the two boys had been friends for quite some time, they still tended to bicker when Maddie wasn't around to intervene. 

  “How much further is it to the music store?” Vincent asked rubbing his phone screen on his jeans before returning it to his back pocket.  

  “I dunno, it's like six more stops I think....”

  “Do they have like records and stuff? Maybe I can get Ben a present... I think he said he has a record player...” 

 “Naw, s'not that kinda music store. Just instruments and stuff, I need some new strings for my bass.”  

  “You coulda just ordered that stuff online.” Vincent said, resting his hand on his chin as if he was already bored.  

  “You didn't hafta come.” Ethan retorted.  

  “I had to get outta the house, my dad's been drivin' me nuts! He keeps like... plodding around my room like he wants somethin'... he won't stop hangin' around every time mom's busy with something. And Ben's been gone for a week already, I've got nothin' to do!”  

  “Woe is you.” Ethan said.  

  Vincent ignored him. “You said they have ice cream next door though, right?”  

  “Last I remembered.”  

***
  Vincent ran his hand along the hanging guitars in the music store as he followed Ethan toward the cash registers. Ethan placed his strings on the counter and took out his wallet. Vincent's phone pinged and he pulled it out of his pocket. The text from Ben read “Crap.. I forgot about something. Ma's gonna be mad.” Vincent touched the call icon and pressed the phone to his ear. “What's going on?” He asked as soon as he heard the rabbit's familiar “'Lo?” 

  “Aw, nuthin' important... ya didn't hafta call me.” He said with a laugh. “S'just... Ma told me to find somebody to come water her house plants while we were gone and I totally fergot about it... they're prob'ly gonna be all dried up n' dead by the time we get back an' I'm gonna get 'n earful.”  

  “Is there a spare key somewhere? I can stop by and water the plants..” 

 
  “Aw, no... I wouldn't ask ya to do that. Really, it's not a big deal.”  

  “It's no bother! I wanna help, Ethan can drive me over, easy peasey!” 

   The red panda glared at Vincent who put a hand up and waved him away. “Unless you're worried that I'll like... snoop through all the stuff in your room...”  

  “Hey, if rootin' around my skivvies is how you get'cher rocks off...”  

  Vincent's cheeks turned a deep shade of crimson “Yuck!,Ben! I didn't mean I was gonna go in there and like rub one out to your underwear drawer!!” 

  The bunny used his shoulder to keep his phone to his ear and held up his hands “Hey, who am I to judge how you like to spend your time? But seriously, if you wanna snoop around my room, that's perfectly fine. I ain't got nothin' excitin' in there anyway.” Ben turned back toward his aunt's house who was waving at him though the window. “I gotta go back inside, people'r startin' to notice I slipped out... anyway, I'll text ya everything.”  

  “No problem!” Vincent said, while rubbing the embarrassment off his face.  

  “Thanks, little skunk I owe ya one!” Ben said quickly as he hung up the phone.  

  “So, are we taking my invisible jet or what?” Ethan asked.  

  “C'mon E... do me a solid n' just... don't give me a hard time about it?”

    
  Ethan sighed “I'm just sayin'... you coulda consulted me before you agreed we'd go all the way... wait... where does Ben live?”  

  “Dunno, he's gonna text me the address.”  

  “What? You guys've been dating for a while now, have you seriously never been to his house?”  

  Vincent lowered his ears and his face got hot. “No... his parents... don't... know yet...”  

  “Don't know what?”  

  “That... he's dating a boy...”  

  “Ohhh....” Ethan said, sliding his hands into his pockets. “So he's not like... out...yet.” 

  “Not really, I don't know. I don't want to pressure him or anything... Anyway,  I have the address.” Vincent turned his phone screen to face Ethan.  

  “Cripes!” Ethan exclaimed “That's way up in the hills all the way across town, that's going to take like an hour to get there on the bus!”  

  “Please, E! Don't make me go by myself!” Vincent pleaded. 

  The next moment the two boys were back on the bus. Vincent putting on his best cute face while Ethan grumbled “I can't believe you volunteered to do this.”  

  Forever later they walked up the driveway to what turned out to be a very large house with an ample yard, a well worn hammock creaked in the breeze to the right of them.  

  “Geez,” Ethan said “He really couldn't afford to hire somebody to come water the plants?” 

 
  “He said he forgot.” Vincent quipped as he fumbled with the combination on a lock box near the front door of the house. The front of the box popped open revealing a single key glinting in the setting sun. Vincent slid the key into the deadbolt on the front door and swung it open. The alarm made a continuous "bleeeeeeeeeeeeee" and he dashed over to it punching in the code that Ben had texted to him. 

  For a moment, they stood in the foyer listening to the eerie quiet in the house. “I suddenly feel like... we snuck in and we aren't supposed to be here.” Ethan said.  

   “I know what you mean...” Vincent let out a sigh and said meekly “I just wanted to help...”  

  “Well, let's just get this over with.” Ethan walked toward the large kitchen and opened a few cabinet doors until he came across a glass pitcher and began filling it with water from the sink.

  
  “There's a couple plants in here...” Vincent called from the living room “They're already starting to wilt.”  

  They carefully poured water over the soil taking extra care not to let it spill. They went from room to room filling pots with water and taking turns refilling the jug. After covering all of the rooms on the lower level, Ethan peered up the stairs. “Did he say if there were any plants upstairs?” 

  “He didn't.” Vincent said. They both made their way up the long curved staircase and walked into the hallway.    

  “Did you know? That he was... like... loaded?” Ethan asked.  

  
  Vincent peered through the doorway of what must have been Ben's little brother's room. There were toys strewn about and the bed was disheveled. “I suspected... I mean... who goes to Europe for six months if you're not filthly stinkin' rich?” He made his way to the next room which seemed likely to be Ben's sister's room. “There's a plant in here.”  

  Ethan pushed past him holding the pitcher carefully as to not get any water on the carpet. He poured a small amount into the little pot on the window sill. He stopped to look around briefly at the teenage girl explosion all around him. He discovered Vincent had already disappeared when his eyes reached the doorway again. He found him again standing in front of the dresser in the bedroom across the hall. 

  This room was tidy, but not in a way that made you think Ben's mother had cleaned it, which was the case with Vincent's own bedroom. The tidiness seemed deliberate as though everything was arranged just so by the occupant of the room. It was decorated simply with just a few sports trophies and ribbons. A double bed, dresser, a long wooden bench that opened up. Up on a single shelf was a turntable and speakers beside a small crate of records. Without even giving it thought, Vincent slid the top drawer of the dresser open.  

  “You said you wouldn't, Captain Contradictory.” Ethan said.  

  Startled, Vincent slammed the drawer shut and quickly grabbed one of the trophies before it toppled over. “I wasn't gonna jerk off to his underwear!” 

  “Couldn't help but notice there aren't any plants in here.” Ethan said.  

  “I just... wanted to look at my boyfriend's room... I've never been here before...” Vincent said. “And I miss him...”  

  “Well, if you're gonna snoop, then I'm gonna snoop.” Ethan said placing the pitcher down on the floor and vanishing through the doorway.    

  “Don't ruin anything!” Vincent called out and sighed. He walked over to the closet door and swung it open. For the size of the house, he found it a surprisingly modest closet. Shallow with just one hanger bar across it's length. Hanging from the bar were Ben's familiar zip up jackets. Even though they'd been laundered, they still held the faint smell of his cologne. Vincent ran his hand over the fabric of one of the sleeves. One hanger hung bare, which Vincent surmised must have been the hanger for whatever jacket Ben took with him. On the end of the bar were some suit jackets that Vincent hadn't been dating Ben long enough to have seen yet. He closed the door and wandered over to the bench. The seats opened up to reveal a collection of sneakers, thrown on top of one another haphazardly. They seemed to be the only things in the room just carelessly tossed around, yet out of sight inside the bench. He turned his attention the the small crate of records and began flipping through them, a look of concern growing on his face.  

  Ethan suddenly returned to the room “There is literally nothing of interest in this house.” He said firmly.  

  Vincent held up a record “Who's Roy Orbison?”  

  
  “Old singer, mostly 60's through the 80's I think... I'm kinda surprised Ben has one of his records.” Ethan crossed his arms.

 
  “He doesn't have one...” Vincent said, holding up more records. “They're all Roy Orbison! Do you think I should be concerned that my boyfriend might be a psychopath?” 

  “Yes. Superficial charm, manipulativeness, lack of remorse, pathological lying and possessing an extensive Roy Orbison record collection, all tell-tale signs of psychopathy.”  

  “Don't mock me, E! This is weird isn't it?”  

  “Who cares? You're weird!” 

   
  Vincent sighed, sliding the records back into their crate. “If we text Maddie, you think her dad'll let her borrow the truck n' come get us?”  

  “God, I hope so...” Ethan pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I've spent enough time on the bus for one day.”  

  The boys were waiting for Maddie at the end of the driveway as her father's old pick up pulled over to the side of the road, looking as out of place as ever in this neighborhood. She leaned out the window slightly and wondered aloud “What are you guys doing all the way up here?”

  “Well, we were just s'posed to be going to the music store but Vincent...” Ethan started as he crawled into the cab. As he relayed the full story of their day to Maddie, Vincent took out his phone and opened his text conversation with Ben.  

  “Who's Roy Orbison?” He typed.    

  Ben responded with just a link. Vincent untangled his earbuds from his pocket, put one in his ear, plugged in the chord and clicked the link. Roy Orbison's Blue Bayou started playing and Vincent settled back into the truck seat.    

 “I feel so bad I've got a worried mind
I'm so lonesome all the time
Since I left my baby behind on blue bayou”

  Ben gazed around the yard where the Hoppers were now gathered. Another one of his aunts came over and planted a wet kiss on the side of his face. 

“I'm goin' back some day, come what may, to blue bayou
Where you sleep all day and the catfish play on blue bayou
All those fishin' boats with their sails afloat, if I could only see
That familiar sunrise through sleepy eyes how happy I'd be

 Oh, to see my baby again
And to be with some of my friends
Maybe I'd be happy then on blue bayou” 

 “I'll never be blue, my dreams come true on blue bayou”   

***

Hey, everyone! That's it for this Vincent story, I really hope you enjoyed it! Sorry for the awkward gaps in the text, Patreon doesn't seem to like me copy & pasting from my writing program for some reason. :S

When I originally wrote this story, Ben was obsessed with Neil Diamond, but I decided I just didn't personally know enough about Neil Diamond to really stick with the concept, so I changed it to Roy Orbison who's really more my speed. ;)

Since this illustrated story is finally complete, I'm gonna take a little time "off" before I start in on the next one. I'll still be drawing other stuff though so it's not really time off, haha. So if you have any suggestions for stuff you'd like to see in the meantime, please let me know. I'll be drawing some Osomatsu San nonsense of course but I'm open to other ideas too.

I put up polls here, on Twitter and Deviant Art for what the next story should be. The first two I've done (this one and the Carter & Cooper story) were already written when I started working on them for Patreon, so the next story is going to take a little longer to complete. I don't really have anything else written other than a few ideas and a couple small things for another Vincent & Friends story and some of my Magical Jackalope stuff. So far the polls seem to favor Stardew Valley, which is a bit surprising. I figured most of my Stardew followers had skipped town by now, haha. If the polls continue on this way, I'll have to decide who and what I want to write about... I may need to put up some more polls for that, haha. But anyway, if you haven't weighed in on the polls, please do! 

Thanks so much for your continued support everyone! I hope you are all having a good day!