La Maison 4: Blue (Complete: BDSM manxboy)

Chapter 10: Camera Shy

Simon was in no better mood when Tim bundled his bags through the narrow front door of the apartment. It didn't help that Tim felt a sense of frustration as soon as he saw the scowl waiting for him.

"What?"

"Where the fuck have you been?"

Tim tried to remember if there'd ever been a time when Simon didn't hate him – and show it. He remembered how lucky he'd felt those years ago, when he'd needed an apartment urgently and had met Simon in the dining hall. Tim had been living in a rough motel when he arrived in the city, and it was eating away at his savings, not to mention meaning a long and expensive commute to school. Simon had been Scotty's friend – or not friend, really, just someone he'd met in one of his first classes – and had been looking for a roommate.

Tim had only known Scotty since orientation, but he'd been nice, so Tim had trusted his friendship choosing abilities. Probably a bad idea, in hindsight. But Simon hadn't been excessively cruel, at first. Sure, he had a biting tongue and no patience for Tim's flaky behavior, but that wasn't exactly a novelty. The problems had only truly kicked in when Tim had admitted he was struggling to find a new job and wasn't going to be able to cover rent.

Simon wasn't even gay, or bi, or anything except a self-proclaimed hundred percent straight. It hadn't stopped him looking at Tim that way when he'd come up with his suggestion for how Tim could make money, and he'd had a few choice words about it – words that made Tim shudder, and brought back the kind of memories that led to nightmares.

But he'd done it. He couldn't afford to make Simon angry, and he didn't have any other options. He knew Simon was ripping him off, though. He took all the money, paid the bills and the rent, and gave Tim a small allowance. But he never let Tim see the bills, and Tim didn't even really know how much he made. He was usually a little out of it by the end of a show, but from what he did know, it was at least a few hundred every week, and Simon was still pushing for him to do more.

He was going to have to do something about that. He'd even asked, from those sessions where he'd had the huge tips from Virgil, whether there was anything extra coming his way, but Simon had scoffed, and said all it did was make up for the weeks where he barely made anything. He'd pay more attention tonight. He didn't want to keep doing this, he knew Xander wouldn't like it, and even though he wasn't embarrassingly possessive, there was something that color in the way he spoke and acted, the way he owned Tim – and the way Tim loved it. It wouldn't be right to keep putting himself out there.

"I'm here now," was all he said to Simon. "I'm showering, and then I'm ready."

He remembered how Xander had wanted to introduce him to some of his friends tonight. He wanted that – the normality – even if meeting new people made him sweat because they usually found him annoying, or stupid. But he wasn't his own person right now. Hadn't been for a while, though it felt good to push back against Simon lately, to choose Xander.

He showered quickly, the usual process of cleaning and prepping for what was coming. He was entirely unsurprised when he came out of his room, wearing nothing more than his standard 'show' boxers, and Simon was setting up his chair to face the computer; lube and the blue dildo sitting on the side table. Tim shuddered, but this was going to be done. If he thought optimistically, maybe this could be the last time. He'd been applying for a few jobs again. Real jobs, where he was guessing his weirdness wouldn't be as much of a problem. They'd be more interested in his learning, he could hope.

"It's almost time," Simon's sneer brought Tim out of his thoughts with a jolt. "Same as yesterday, you're going to have to do whatever they ask."

"Sure," Tim sighed, not even willing to argue about it.