When we came back downstairs Dahlia and Joe were sitting at the beautifully set table. Our napkins were folded into flowers. Timothy rolled his eyes. I nudged him.
"Dahlia folded the napkins. Aren't they pretty?" Joe asked.
"Looks great!" I said enthusiastically.
T nodded.
We sat across from them and dug right in. I was usually more of a meat guy but this salmon was divine.
"How was school, boys?" Joe asked.
"Good." I answered, my mouth full. I swallowed my food. "Timothy and I had a great look at the janitor's closet." I smirked.
T's eyes widened. He quickly adjusted.
"Really? How come?" Dahlia chuckled.
Timothy only looked at me without saying anything.
"Well, we just realized we'd never really seen inside there so we decided to take a look. We were exploring." I nodded.
That sounded so stupid but I figured since these two were in love they wouldn't notice anything suspicious. They were probably too busy foot-fucking under the table.
"Found anything interesting in there?" Joe asked.
"Gold ring. No worries, we put it back."
Joe nodded proudly.
"And how about you, Timothy?" Dahlia asked.
T looked up from his food momentarily. It took him a while to answer.
"How about what?" He spoke in a disinterested mumble.
"How was your day? Other than the exploring of course."
Dahlia was really nice. She was constantly smiling and she was pretty hot. Nothing not to like but it seemed like Timothy found it hard to even look at her.
"Fine." Timothy played with his food.
"He's just shy." I wrapped my arm around him.
"It's okay. I know it's a lot to get used to." Dahlia nodded.
"I don't understand why you think talking about school makes for good conversation anyway. Most kids hate school." Timothy muttered without looking up.
The atmosphere was tense. To say the least.
"Alright. What do you want to talk about?"
T took a while to answer again. If I had to guess it was because he was rephrasing something bitchy like 'I don't want to talk to you at all'.
I grabbed his thigh under the table. He finally looked up surprised.
I gave him a look.
He forced a smile. "Whatever you want. Sorry."
"It's okay." Dahlia smiled sympathetically. "This must be hard for you."
"Not at all." T said sarcastically.
I squeezed his leg, further upwards.
"Uh- I mean, yeah." T nodded once, shooting me a sidewards glance.
"Tim, have I told you? Dahlia is great at drawing, just like you!" Joe said excitedly.
"Oh please, it's not that good-"
"Stop being modest!" Joe wrapped his arm around Dahlia. I saw Timothy cringe.
Joe saw it too. He removed his hand from her shoulder. "She just had a book published."
"Oh really? You found time while working at the butchery?"
Dahlia gave Timothy a confused look.
"Isn't that what you said? The first time we met? That you're his co-worker." T said this very pointedly. He knew what he was doing.
Dahlia looked down in shame. "That was wrong, I'm sorry."
"Come on, Tim. We're all making an effort here." Joe said.
Timothy sighed. "I just don't like lying."
"Me neither. No more lies from now on. I promise." Dahlia said sternly.
It was so hard not to like her. She was basically radiating good person energy.
I looked at Timothy. He ignored her and continued to stare at his plate.
There was a moment where Joe and Dahlia were talking and not paying attention to us. I leaned in to T's ear as discreetly as I could.
"Be good." I spoke quietly.
"I'm trying." T answered.
"Try harder." I moved my hand up his leg, close to his zipper. He blushed and nodded.
"Why don't you show him and Josh some of your illustrations?" Joe asked Dahlia.
"I don't know.." She answered.
"I'd love to see them. And so would he, right T?" There was a threatening edge to my voice. I put my hand on his crotch. T nodded while he blushed some more. "Yep." He said quietly.
I almost began to laugh. I wanted to scoop him up and take him upstairs already. Lock the doors and spend the rest of the night alone with him.
"Alright then." Dahlia smiled. She got up and grabbed something out of her bag.
"I didn't write this," She said while sitting back down. "But I did the illustrations. I do this for a lot of children's or sometimes fantasy books like this one." Dahlia opened the book and showed us a colorful page. There was an illustration of a purple monster with multi colored scabs everywhere. I wasn't much of an art guy but I liked this. I loved it. Something about the way you could see the sketch strokes made it comforting to look at.
"It's stunning!" I said.
"Thank you." Dahlia said happily. She looked delighted.
I looked at Timothy and he stared at the page. I couldn't read his expression. He gulped.
"Isn't it wonderful, Tim?" Joe asked.
T nodded before looking away. "How long did it take you?" He asked quietly.
Dahlia looked surprised yet excited Timothy showed some interest. "This one only took eight hours. But the one at the end took me.. like a month to get right." Dahlia flipped to the last page.
It was a picture of another monster- creature. This one bigger than the last, it took up two whole pages and even then part of the creature wasn't in frame. The colors were brighter yet the pencil strokes, delicate, twirly. It weirdly reminded me of T's handwriting and his doodles.
Timothy didn't quite gasp but his eyes widened and his mouth fell open ever so slightly. It was doing something to him. Though I wasn't sure what.
"Remember when you used to draw? It's eerily similar, don't you think?" Joe asked.
Timothy nodded. He finally looked Dahlia. "They're beautiful." He said. He looked sort of sad.
"I'm glad you like them." Dahlia said. "I would love to see your drawings sometime."
"I don't draw anymore. And the old ones I lost, so." T shrugged.
"That's too bad. I would have loved to have a little look into your soul." Dahlia answered.
It was such an odd thing to say but Timothy seemed to understand what she meant. He almost smiled.
"Do you paint too?" Timothy asked. He even surprised me. I didn't expect him to ask anything else.
"Yes. Though, I only paint for myself. I don't sell them." Dahlia chuckled. "My latest painting is of your dad actually. Do you want to see it?"
I expected Timothy to get angry or something but instead he nodded.
✪
I was in bed, almost dosing off after dinner. After Dahlia'd left Timothy had stayed in the living room with his dad to chat. Now it was past twelve and I was finally beginning to sleep.
I heard the door creak. Little footsteps to my bed. Maybe I was imagining it. I dozed off a little.
"Josh?" Timothy whispered. "Are you asleep?" He asked.
I was wondering if I was already sleeping, dreaming of Timothy or something.
He crawled into bed and I felt his arms around my waist. I smiled. I turned around and his blue eyes looked up at me. I leaned in and smelled his hair.
"You're real?" I asked.
"Yes?" T answered. "Are you awake?"
"I don't know. Kiss me."
T chuckled and leaned in. I wrapped my arms around him and he kissed me gently.
"I guess I'm awake?"
"It's okay if you're not." T said, leaning against my chest. He wrapped one leg around mine and nuzzled my neck.
He sighed.
"Are you okay? How do you feel?"
"I hate her." He said quietly. He squeezed my shirt. "I like her. A lot."
"Isn't that good?"
"I wanted to hate her. For mom. I wanted to show mom she can't be replaced."
"Does she feel like a replacement?"
"Kind of." T sighed. "She's just so nice and artistic and talented and my dad looks so happy with her. It feels wrong."
"Your mom wants to see your dad smile. And you too. I promise you."
"Are you sure?"
"If she was anything like you, one hundred percent."
Timothy kissed my neck.
"What did you think of her art?" I asked.
"Fantastic. She's so good. It made me want to draw again. Like.. properly."
"When's the last time you drew something?" I asked.
"Honestly? Yesterday."
"Huh?"
Timothy hid his face in my neck and squeezed my shirt. His ears turned red. "What?" I chuckled, lifting his blushing head up.
"Nothing." T averted his gaze.
"Say it, pussy."
Timothy pecked my lips.
"Say it." I urged.
Timothy played with the cord of my hoodie.
"I had to draw you. After we talked."
"You drew me?" I said surprised.
Timothy nodded.
"Really?"
"Yeah." T whispered, laying his head on my chest.
I wished he wouldn't lay his head there. I was embarrassed. My heart was pounding so fast.
"Did you draw anyone else?"
T shook his head. "You're the first one in years."
"Seriously?"
Timothy nodded.
"Show me."
"I'll give it to you when it's done." Timothy's voice was small and breathy, just how I liked it. But it didn't put me to sleep this time. My heart kept pounding. He dozed off. I found it surprising Timothy managed to fall asleep at all with the drum festival going on in my chest.
"I love you." I whispered.
A/N
i've been feeling unwell lately so that's why the update's later. hopefully i'll feel better soon.
just wanted to say i watch a loootttt of drama so.. brace yourself?
also josh didn't come out last chapter lol that was supposed to be a sarcastic/ mocking comment sorry if it wasn't clear xD
thanks for being so kind. see you soon! <3