Diffident {CGLRE/ BoyxBoy}

Elf

  Austen's fever didn't go down until around three in the afternoon. Tobias had woken up around one and, seeing as Austen was feeling up to eating now, decided to make them all lunch.

While everyone sat around the table eating quietly, Mikey's mind filled with questions about Austen's behavior. The internet had given him many different results and Mikey couldn't make sense of most of them. However, he had come to the conclusion that Austen's personality disorder wasn't directly connected to his odd likes, though it seemed to support them.

Mikey decided it was in his best interest to ask Austen about it, instead of looking to the internet for answers. His new challenge was how and when he was to do that. He figured it'd be most convenient to have the conversation after Tobias had gone to work, which wouldn't be for another four hours.

  It was Austen's soft voice that pulled Mikey from his thoughts, asking Tobias if he was allowed to have ice cream now that he'd finished his lunch.

  The gaze Mikey had on his plate moved up to watch Tobias' face as he answered his brothers question.

  "Yes, but only two scoops," Tobias offered, pushing his chair away from the table to get the aforementioned ice cream. Austen smiled at the agreement and Mikey couldn't help but to observe the boy as he did so, once again finding a fluttery feeling in his stomach. He quickly looked away, picking up his empty plate and placing it on the right side of the sink.

  A little green bowl with two scoops of chocolate ice cream was placed in front of Austen, a spoon following soon after. Before placing the ice cream back in the freezer, Tobias offered Mikey some; Mikey declined.

  "If you're very careful you may go eat that in the living room," Tobias said, smiling at how eager Austen was to run into the living room and turn on the TV.

  Mikey gave Tobias a questioning look, knowing how unusual it was that he let Austen in the living room with food- especially ice cream- as he hated the chance of there being a mess.

"You've been very out of it today," Tobias stated. "Is everything okay? Is it Austen?" He hoped it wasn't Austen. He wasn't sure he'd be able to find someone else to look after his brother if Mikey decided to leave.

  "It's not Austen," Mikey assured, although it was a lie. He knew he shouldn't be lying to Tobias, but he wanted Austen to trust him and giving away his secrets would allow no such thing.

  Tobias let out a sigh of relief. "What is wrong, then?" he inquired, quirking his eyebrow.

  "Nothing, just tired."

  "That's what you said last time."

  Mikey let out a sigh. "I just miss my family, is all." It wasn't exactly a lie, he did miss his family. He hadn't seen them since he was eighteen, before he'd moved out.

  "You should call them." Tobias suggested. "I'm sure they miss you too."

Mikey nodded. "I'll go do that now," he decided, removing his phone from his pocket and dialing his mother's number as he exited the room.

It only rang three times before his mother picked up. "Micah! I thought you'd never call," her cheery voice rang out. "I miss you."

"I miss you too mom," he replied. "How's David? And the baby?" David was Mikey's step dad and 'the baby' was Mikey's seven month old half brother, Peter, whom he'd never actually met yet.

  "They're both doing good. Petey's getting super big and he can finally sit up on his own," His mother gushed. "How are you doing? What have you been up to?"

  Mikey smiled at the thought of his little brother. He'd only ever seen one picture of him, when he was just a newborn. He'd have to ask his mom to send an updated photo sometime later.

  "I'm doing good," Mikey answered. "I'm currently staying at Tobias'. I'm basically his little brothers babysitter for when he goes to work," Mikey explained.

  "It's nice that you and Tobias have reconnected. I didn't know he had a little brother, though," his mother commented.

Mikey mindlessly smiled at the thought of Austen. "I actually hadn't known for awhile either," he admitted.

  "What's he like?" His mother inquired. Mikey heard the baby babbling in the background.

  "He's short," was the first thing that came from his mouth. His mother giggled at this. "His name is Austen," he told her, embarrassed that he hadn't started with that piece of information. "He's sixteen, very shy-"

"You're babysitting a sixteen year old?" His mother interrupted, confusion evident in her voice.

"Uh, yeah, sort of," Mikey replied. "He's got this thing called Dependent Personality Disorder. He's super dependent on his brother. That's why I'm here," he explained. "So Tobias can go work."

His mother hummed as she processed the new information. "That's... different," she decided. "I'm glad you're doing good though, Micah. You should really call more often."

"I'm sorry," he offered. "I'll try to call more."

"You better," his mother threatened, though her tone held nothing but love. "I gotta go kiddo, Petey's due for a bottle. I love you."

"I love you too," Mikey responded. "Could you maybe send me a picture of Peter?" He quickly requested before his mom could end the call.

"Sure thing," she replied sweetly.

They exchanged goodbyes and then his mother hung up.

Mikey looked at the time on his phone, noticing that he'd been on the phone for nearly thirty minutes. He sighed and tucked his phone back into his pocket, returning to the kitchen and finding that Tobias had joined Austen in the living room.

Austen's eyes lit up when he saw Mikey entering. "We're watching Alice in Wonderland," he mused. "Come join us!"

Mikey accepted the offer, joining the two brothers on the couch by sitting in between them.

"How was the call?" Tobias whispered to him.

A smile grew on Mikey's face. "It was good and made me feel better. Thank you," he admitted. His smile was returned.

"Shh," Austen chided towards the older two as he let himself be pulled into the movie.

A quiet apology slipped from Mikey's lips before he relaxed against the couch and joined Austen in the world of Wonderland displayed on the screen in front of them.

I said "now that it's summer I'll probably be able to update more". I lied. I am sorry. Here is your long awaited update, I hope you enjoy. You can blame my summer homework for the wait. Thank you for your patience.