title : let me tell you the story
of aberdeen lake
oc / pairing : clarence and sinatra stevens
trigger warnings : none!

DAY TWENTY : " let me tell you
the story of ... "

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" I DIDN'T THINK LOVER'S LAKE WOULD BE FROZEN OVER ALREADY . "

CLARENCE TURNED TO HIS YOUNGEST child, bewildered expression on his face. "That's what the kids call it?" Honestly, he didn't listen to half the lingo they used. Or any of the lingo that the people of Hawkins used. All he knew was that it was a lake. It didn't have a name that he was familiar with.

Sinatra nodded. "Yes? The adults call it that, too, Pa."

"The adults, too? Huh," he hummed in amusement.

"I'm surprised Mr. Johnston hasn't brought you, yet," Sinatra snickered.

Clarence playfully rolled his eyes at his son's response. He didn't know why he was so shocked about the whole lover's lake thing, considering that they had something like it back where he grew up.

"Maybe he's waiting for it to get warm again," Clarence retorted back.

They're walking around the forest near the lake. The snow surrounding them. It's cold, fifteen degrees outside. It makes both of them miss the southern heat. But, it had been a while since the two explored the woods, and they haven't had the experience to do so in Hawkins, so they kept up the tradition.

Sinatra followed behind his father. With the snow almost up to his ankles, it's almost hard to keep up, simply because his father is taller than him. Clarence saw him struggling, so he waited for him to catch up. When he does, he keeps walking.

"Pa," Sinatra started, "did you have something like Lover's Lake in Mississippi?"

Clarence turned to his son. He gave a nod before turning back. "We did. Still do, I believe."

Sinatra's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Uh-huh," Clarence answered.

"Have you ever been?" Sinatra asked. He's like an excited puppy. He wanted to know everything. What it was like, who he went with. His father didn't share a lot about his childhood. He knew the horrors, but it was rare that he talked about something positive about it.

"Once. Twice, maybe," Clarence answered, as they turned a corner. He looked over his shoulder, making sure his son was keeping up. "Let me tell you the story of Aberdeen Lake."

"Aberdeen ..." Sinatra mumbled, "that's the town you lived in, right?"

"Yep," Clarence responded back, "it was a small town. Everyone knew everybody. Well, kind of. I think I saw it that way because all the church folk knew each other."

Sinatra nodded. "I can see that," he said.

They turn a corner, Clarence's gloved hand touching one of the trees as he did so. "I remember all the kids talking about it. We were never allowed to go. Your grandfather always called it a breeding ground of sin," he explained, "but, I didn't care, and I don't think anyone else did."

"So, what about the time you went there?" Sinatra asked.

"I was about your age, actually," Clarence told him, "I wanted so desperately to get out that might. Grandpa was stone cold drunk. Levi ... You remember me telling you about Levi, right?"

"Mhm!" Sinatra hummed back.

Clarence was an open book. He didn't hide anything. Not about his family. Not about Levi. It was better to be that way rather than hide his past from his children. Not like Marianne wanted to. But, that wasn't much of a surprise considering she was always involved in something fishy. Though, he wasn't going to get into that right now.

He remembered that time at the lake like it was yesterday. It had to have been one of the hottest days of the year. And the nights didn't get any cooler, unlike now in Hawkins, it barely got hot, and the winters were almost brutal.

"So," Clarence continued, "we were always finding secret places to hide out, but this time, we decided to go to the lake ..."

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CLARENCE POKED HIS HEAD OUT FROM BEHIND the tree he was standing by. Shy, blue eyes wandering, making sure that he wouldn't get caught. Sneaking from tree to tree, trying to at least make his way toward the small dock. He was there, he just had to signal that he was, just in case Levi made it there before he did.

He put his hands together, putting them against their lips. What the sound produced was bird noises. Subtle, but identifiable. He makes a certain whistle, and if Levi was there, he'd repeat it back to him.

"Bird noises?" Sinatra asked, "can you still do it?"

Clarence immediately demonstrated it. Same position. Hands grasped together, put up to his lips lips. The familiar bird whistle escapes him.

"Cool," Sinatra whispered.

Clarence chuckled in response. "Anyway," he continued on, "Levi being Levi, he found me first. Scared the hell out of me."

Clarence continued with the bird noises. He was starting to get concerned. The last thing he wanted was for anything to happen to him. Especially with the Crow laws still being around. Clarence hated Mississippi for more reasons than one, but that was definitely on top of the list.

Little did he know, he would find the person he was looking for. Levi snuck up on him. He gives a little, "Boo!" Clarence gasped, practically choking on the air that he just breathed in. He turned around scared to death, only to see Levi. Dark skin, familiar hazel brown eyes that Clarence could just look into for days looking back at him. They match the mischievous smirk that he wore on his face.

"Levi!" Clarence quietly scolded, "you can't keep doing that!"

"But it's just so funny," Levi said back, "you jump when you get scared."

Clarence frowned. "No it's not," he argued, "you made me think someone caught us."

"Don't worry, no one's here," Levi told him, "c'mon!"

Before Clarence could say anything back, Levi grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the dock. The moon's shine reflects off the water. It's rare that Clarence ever gets to see the moon. Especially when it's full.

"We sat there for a while. We didn't do much, just talk," Clarence told Sinatra, "that, with the addition of me trying to count all the stars in the sky."

"You count the stars, too?" Sinatra asked.

"Well, I did. It helped distract me from what was going on."

"I think you already counted that one, Clare."

Clarence laughed, shaking his head. "No, I don't think so."

"I think you counted it three times," Levi told him.

"You're makin' me lose count!" Clarence said playfully.

"If you're recountin' stars, I think you've already lost count," Levi snickered.

Clarence playfully rolled his eyes. He's already lost count. He can't remember how many he's counted. That was okay. Lying on the dock was enough. Talking about poetry and music. Even family. Well, Levi's family, for the most part. Clarence didn't like talking about his much, and Levi didn't like them.

In one instance, Clarence found a frog in the lake. He was pretty distracted, and had a knack for catching them anyways. It was like they came to him moreso than him finding them. In addition to being distracted, Levi, being the jokester that he was, scared Clarence, so bad that he fell into the lake.

"He scared you twice?" Sinatra asked, "you were jumpy."

"He knew it, too," Clarence said back, "but it was either that or pushing me into the water. He just went with the safer route. I remember him looking down at me from the dock. That water was cold. Not as cold as this goddamn snow."

"C'mon, man, that's not funny!" He whined, "It's freezin' in this lake!"

"Aww, c'mon! It was a little funny," Levi said back, "at least you know how to swim!"

"It's Mississippi, Levi. It's practically required to learn how to swim," Clarence told him, "Now, c'mon. Help me out, will you?"

Levi playfully rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright."

"So, you got out of the water, right?" Sinatra questioned.

"Well ... Eventually," Clarence answered, "but, I had other plans."

Clarence grabbed Levi's hand. Their grip was pretty tight, but Clarence's grip was tighter. A game of tug and pull, Levi eventually gets pulled into the lake with him. A giggle escaped his lips.

Levi looked at him in shock. "You did not!"

"I did," Clarence snickered, "how you like them apples, huh?"

"You pulled him into the lake with you? You had quite the mischievous streak, didn't you, Pa?" Sinatra giggled.

"Based on my track record of sneaking out at the time ... Probably," Clarence admitted, "so if you ever try it ... You can't. I've pulled all the stunts you could think of. So I'll know, every time."

"Aww, man," Sinatra said back, a playful frown on his lips before he smiled again, "so then what happened?"

"Well ..."

"Oh, you little── come back here!"

Clarence giggled, "Never! You're gonna have to keep up with me!"

Clarence started swimming away. It doesn't take long for Levi to swim right behind him. Though, he's quicker, much faster than Clarence was at swimming. And honestly, he wasn't surprised by that. It seemed like Levi could do everything, simply because he had the willpower to do so.

So, it didn't take long Levi to grab him, pulling Clarence closer to him. He can't help but to laugh, the feeling of Levi's arms wrapped around him.

"Looks like I caught you, yeah?" Levi asked.

"You just got lucky that time," Clarence playfully grumbled.

"This time? You mean every time ever," Levi chuckled.

Clarence playfully rolled his eyes. The moon is shining onto the two of them. He noticed that Levi was staring down at him. It almost made him sheepish. Well, when didn't it? When did he not make him feel that way?

Clarence slightly tilted his head to the side. "What?"

"Your eyes," Levi responded back, "they're sparklin' in the moonlight."

Clarence felt his face burn. The feeling came back. The fluttering in his stomach. He always felt it whenever he was this close to Levi. He never knew what it was or what it meant. But, he felt it, and it was a good feeling.

Levi leaned down, giving a small peck to Clarence's lips at first, and then he leaned in for a longer kiss. Clarence let him, and to his own surprise, he kissed back. It was like at first, he didn't realize what was happening, he just knew that it was happening.

"Wait, he kissed you? In the lake?" Sinatra asked, his eyes practically glowing at this information.

"Yeah, and sixteen year old me, well, I was still very much afraid. Still am," Clarence confessed, "sometimes it still doesn't feel real. I almost ran away, actually, scared of going to hell. I was so afraid of myself."

When they both pulled away from the kiss, Clarence swam back. It was only a bit, as the two of them were still in the water. His eyes wide, he almost looked scared to death. He shook his head.

"No, no, no, my pa was right," Clarence muttered, "it really is a breedin' ground for sin."

"Clare, it's not── your pa doesn't know what he's talkin' about," Levi told him, "were just bein' teenagers."

"Teenage boys don't kiss other teenage boys, Levi," Clarence said back to him.

"They kiss whoever they wanna kiss," Levi said back.

He grabbed Clarence's hand and he held it tight. The fluttery feeling came back when Levi pulled him closer. He didn't know what this was, why he felt it. He's never felt it before, not in the way he was supposed to feel it.

"Love thy neighbor."

Clarence looked at him. "What?"

"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," Levi told him, "they can't judge. They have no right, and if they hate you, well, they're not abiding by God's law very well, are they?"

Levi always knew how to counter the bad. It was like while his father scared him with the bad, Marla May taught Levi the good. Clarence's eyes softened. He knew Levi had a point, and it made him feel only a little better. But, he knew what his father instilled in him.

"He always knew how to do that. Whatever verse I usually threw out there, he countered it. He countered it with the good," Clarence told Sinatra, "he always knew what to say."

"He sounded like a good person," Sinatra replied.

Clarence nodded, giving a small smile. "He was. He would've loved you, you know. You two are kind of alike."

"I'll never forgive Uncle Charlie and Uncle Joe for doin' that to him," Sinatra grumbled. He then shook that off, not wanting to talk about that, "then what happened?"

"You always know what to say ..." Clarence trailed off.

"I know the way you think," Levi told him, "and it isn't your fault. Your family's got you scared, and you shouldn't be."

"Before I could say anything else to him, I heard Marla May's voice across from the stream. Scared me half to death. And I knew we were kind of in trouble," Clarence told his son.

"Levi Jordan Jackson!"

Clarence and Levi both turned. They see Marla May across from the lake. They looked at each other, and they know what they're about to get into.

"Um ... Hi, ma!" Levi called back, nervousness in his voice.

"If y'all don't get your ass out of that lake right now! Do you boys know what time it is?" Marla May shouted, "go on, get!"

The two boys immediately swam out of the lake. They met her on the other side of the lake where the second dock was. Levi went up first, before helping Clarence up. Marla May had towels for both of them. She knew that if Levi was there, Clarence was there, too.

"Do you have any idea what you put me through? Worrying me like that," Marla May said to Levi, "you didn't tell me where you were going! You didn't have to tell me who you were with cause I already knew."

She then looked at Clarence. "And you! What are you doin' out here so late? Your father would have your ass and you know it! And the last thing I want is for him to beat you into more of a bloody pulp than he already has!"

"I couldn't say anything because she was right. My father would've had my ass, and on the whole walk there, I was hoping that he was passed out by the time I got there," Clarence said.

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THEY'RE BACK NOW WHERE THEY STARTED. They had made it back to the car that was parked near the frozen other lake. They walked around for the past hour and a half. Clarence decided that it was enough, considering how cold it was. He couldn't stand it any longer, and he knew Sinatra couldn't either.

"So, was he passed out?" Sinatra asked.

"Luckily, yeah. I snuck back into my room window. He didn't catch me, but Jess did. Gave me just about the same rant that Marla May did at the lake, only quietly," Clarence explained to him.

The two of them got into the car. Clarence on the driver's side and Sinatra on the passenger side. Sinatra looked at him.

"Was it worth it?" Sinatra asked.

Clarence started up the car. The heat blasts through the car, though it blows out cold air. He turns it down until it warms up. He gave a shrug, looking down at his son.

"Yeah. It was definitely worth it," he chuckled.