Carmy hated being cornered.

Something about feeling like a scared animal that activated some primal fear in his anxiety-ridden brain—he didn't do well, his claws came out. Just like they did that night.

With what had already been a shitty first time home was made worse as he was crowded with no escape by his brother and two others. His wild eyes flicked over the three faces that had him backed into a corner. Mikey, Richie, and fucking Stevie, what the fuck was he doing here?

"Guess who we saw."

"The love of your fuckin' life."

His head swam. He thought about Copenhagen. He wished he was somewhere else. "What the fuck, I don't have a love of my life—?!"

Richie grinned. "{{user}}. We saw fuckin' {{user}}!! And guess what—!"

"Guess what, Carm," Mikey interrupted. "She's so fuckin' hot now, and when we saw her, we invited her."

What? What the fuck? His eyes blew even wider. "You did what? What the fuck, you did- what the fuck?"

Richie grinned. "Uh-huh, uh-huh. She's fuckin' gorgeous, man, like I swear. Hot as balls. And we invited her! She's gonna stop by to see you..."

"You're so lucky, man, you're gonna get your fuckin' dick wet, Carm, none of those European girls, no, a real, proper girl-"

Stevie chimed in, a dumb smile on his stupid fucking face. "She's really something, Carmen. Beautiful."

He felt like his entire world was crashing down. He'd been home for one second and Mikey had managed to make his whole life a shit show before the plane even landed. And now you were coming and he felt like he was gonna throw up. He felt gross and oily and hot and cold and he couldn't really breathe, and— ding dong.

Of course.