The magical life of the not so magical Theodore Ward (bxb)

Chapter Eight

“Mom, my room is a literal sauna. I'd go to a fucking spa if I actually happened to like it.”

Elisabeth Ward was busy hanging the wash out to dry-without the use of magic- claiming mundane chores worked therapeutic for her. She also liked to hand them out as a form of punishment whenever his brothers misbehaved, and Theodore hated it when she did that. It only reinforced the feeling that his life was in fact one big punishment.

“Language, Theodore,” his mother scolded him distractedly as she picked up another piece of laundry from the basket next to her, and attached it to the clothesline with two wooden pegs. She then turned her full attention to her son, “I know you're a teenager and I respect your need for space, but honey, you lock yourself up in that room and seem to only come out to either eat or when you’ve finally gotten sick enough of us urging you to.”

Theodore felt called out and wanted to, what did the cool kids call it these these days, yeet the fuck out of there?

“I'm very much aware that I spend a lot of time in my room, mom. Don't really see the problem, though.”

“There isn't necessarily a problem, Theodore, it's just that I have no idea whether we’re giving you the space you need, or if we’re letting you drown in your own mind. Sometimes I fear it's the latter.”

His mind wasn’t a very friendly place, but he wasn't drowning in it; he didn't need his mother to worry or act as a lifebuoy. “I'm fine, no need to worry."

“Honey, you're not--” Theodore knew that tone of voice. It wasn't condescending, per se, but it was close enough. She'd decided for herself that he was depressed or whatever, and was pretty much attempting to force some kind of confession out of him.

“No,” he cut her off, “don't pretend like you're trying to understand how I feel only to then go ahead and doubt me when I tell you. Just because I don't clap along with ‘if you're happy and you know it’ doesn't mean I'm depressed.”

”I never said you were-” she objected and he cut in before she could utter the word ‘but’, “Great, glad we've reached a consensus.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Theodore had rushed back inside to where there was no scorching sun shining down on him as well as no overbearing mother. She'd meant well, but the conversation had left him feeling a mix of unpleasant emotions.

Also, he felt hot.

He walked to the kitchen sink, wet a tea towel with cold water and placed it around his neck just as Gabriel entered the kitchen.

“Hot?” he asked. A stupid rhetorical question, but the word had come out too cutely to be followed by a snarky reply from Theodore.

“I'm gonna break the laws of physics and melt into an actual puddle.” he replied dryly.

Gabriel laughed and moved closer to where he was standing.

A lot closer.

Theodore wanted to tell Gabriel about a wonderful thing called personal space, but forgot all about it when snowflakes started coming down from the ceiling.

He looked up at Gabriel. Snowflakes were landing on his hair and long lashes, and melting as soon as they fell down on his freckled nose. He smiled kindly down at Theodore and the older boy had never looked lovelier.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Hello!
Hope you enjoyed, would love to hear your thoughts!
I know the ending is quite abrupt and this isn't edited at all, but I really wanted to update and hopefully I'll manage to update the next chapter soon-ish. 
As always, thank you for reading, and  feedback is very welcome!

💛💛💛