by Trina Solet
Ace was glad to follow the cat while Seth and Ace brought in the stuff they bought. They set up the table and chairs in the living room and two mattresses in Theo and Ace's room, but Seth dropped his mattress in the living room.
"We can leave this here for now, sit on it until it's time for bed," he said to Theo.
"Yeah!" Ace said and he jumped on the mattress.
"That's where we need to put a couch," Theo said, and it seemed like it bothered him that they didn't find one for a good price.
"These folding chairs are pretty comfortable," Seth said as he tested out one of them.
"I was hoping for some real furniture, but these will do for now. And once I get real chairs, these can go out on the porch. After the porch is fixed." Theo sighed. He must have been thinking of everything they still needed to buy and that still needed fixing.
"Time to put away groceries and for me to cook something up," Seth said hoping to cheer him up. Theo went with him into the kitchen to help put things away. "The fridge works and that's good."
"Are you pointing out the bright side to me?" Theo asked him.
"I am. And you can pick what you want for dinner."
"You got those vegetables. We bought a pot. Make a stew," Theo said.
"And there are some biscuits left from the cafe. I'll heat them up in the skillet."
"OK. I have to go lecture Ace about responsibilities of pet ownership. Then I'll be back to help you with the cooking," Theo told him.
"You don't need to do that," Seth said.
"So you don't want help?" Theo said and raised an eyebrow like he was challenging him.
"Umm. You can help if you like," he said and turned away from that look Theo was giving him, like he could see inside him and knew just what Seth wanted. That was something Seth didn't know himself, but it was always nice to have Theo close by.
"The cat was trying to peel the stickers off Ace's new chest," Theo said when he came back.
"The stickers were the whole reason he wanted it."
Theo shut the kitchen door. "I'm keeping this door closed or the cat will be all over the counters. I'd rather not eat cat hair."
"She does like to climb. You're gonna have a hard time keeping her off the counters," Seth told him.
Theo groaned then he got down to helping Seth cook dinner. With the kitchen being small and Theo being so close, his help made Seth unsure and clumsy. In the end the food turned out all right, but when they sat down, Ace looked at the stew in his bowl and frowned.
"Seth, you put the potatoes in there with the vegetables. You should have made them into fries or mashed them up."
"Sorry, maybe next time," Seth said, but Theo wasn't having any of this complaining from his little brother.
"When you learn how to cook, you can make potatoes however you like. I wanted stew so that's what we are having."
Ace pouted at him. "I got Butter so it's OK." He ate the stew just fine though then ran off to play with the cat again.
After he was gone, Theo leaned back. "This was our first home cooked meal here," he realized.
"A special occasion. We can crack open those chocolate chip cookies to celebrate," Seth said as he stacked the bowls and headed to the kitchen. "I'll sandwich them with peanut butter. I used to love that when I was a kid."
Seth got the cookies out and a plate, but as he was opening the peanut butter, Theo leaned on the counter next to him and said, "That sounds like something our mom would do. But she would do jam too. The sweeter the better." Theo's smile was sad, and Seth wasn't sure what he should do. Noticing that he was just staring at the cookies now, Theo nudged him with his elbow. "Go ahead. Ace will love them."
And he sure did. "You made a new food," he said to Seth before he ran off to see what his new cat was doing.
It turned out she had discovered the new mattresses and curled up on one of them. "She knows that one is mine," Ace said when Theo went in to put sheets on the two mattresses.
Seth took care of the dishes. He was almost done when Theo came in. "The sheets reminded me that we don't have a washer and dryer and now I'm reminded we don't have a dishwasher either."
"There's a laundromat in Peach Tree, and we didn't have a dishwasher at my grandpas other than me," Seth told him. "I think I saw power and water hookups by the kitchen door. There probably used to be a washer and dryer outside under that owning toward the back."
"Outside? Ouch."
"That's where we had them too," Seth told him with a shrug.
"You adjust to everything much better than I do," Theo said.
"You have more responsibilities. You have to think about Ace," Seth told him.
"And now a cat too," Theo said.
"You don't regret getting her, do you?"
"No. She makes this feel more like a home to Ace than any piece of furniture ever could."
"What are you doing with Ace tomorrow?" Seth asked since he knew Theo would be at work.
"He's going over to the Hayes's. I'm going to owe them so much."
"They'll need babysitting too," Seth pointed out. "And there's two boys and two dogs. It will even out in no time."
"I guess. I'll take you to the café, then drop Ace off then go to the inn since I start later. I won't be off in time to pick you up though," Theo told him.
"They might give me an extra shift," Seth said.
"Text me."
"I will," Seth said and smiled to himself. Most people texted all the time, but he didn't. Until now he had no phone or anyone to text. But to Theo, texting him wasn't going to mean anything. Seth looked forward to it anyway.
Like last night, they watched stuff on the iPad, but this time Ace was paying more attention to the cat than to the shows. But when it was close to his bedtime, he didn't forget to ask for his video game playing time.
"I thought the cat might have made you forget," Seth told him.
"No, Butter reminded me. She was doing this." Ace tapped at a spot on the floor. "And that reminded me."
"So that cat is already being a good friend to you," Seth said and stroked the cat's back as it came over to sniff Ace's PlayStation.
Later on she climbed on Ace while he was playing, but he didn't get mad at her when he couldn't play so good. At bedtime, he carried her to bed with him, and she cuddled next to him. Theo said goodnight and shut the lamp off, but Ace stopped him.
"It's too dark," Ace complained.
"The bird lamp we put in the other room isn't as bright as that one," Seth said to Theo. "We can put it in there."
"I can't take your light, Seth," Ace said.
Seth chuckled at how serious Ace was. "I don't mind."
"We'll just leave the door ajar and that will let light in from out here," Theo told him. "You have Butter, and I'll leave music playing in there. That should help too."
In the end, Ace was fine, and the next time Theo checked on him, he was asleep.
"That cat tuckered him out," Seth said as Theo came back to sit on the mattress they had left in the living room.
"It was a busy day, and I was proud of Ace. He didn't whine too much about all the things I couldn't afford to buy him," Theo said and he smiled. He was a loving big brother.
"He's a smart shopper and a good kid. Too bad that old man spoiled things, he was a nasty piece of work." It made Seth mad to think of how he spoke to Ace and Theo. And then that other guy trying to start a row. Seth wasn't sure he should say any more about that, but he just couldn't help himself. "You know I wouldn't let anyone mess with you and Ace. I'd fight for you."
"Why do you think you need to protect us?" Theo asked him, and his eyes took on that hard look that meant Seth might be in trouble.
Seth couldn't think of a good answer to get himself out of it. "I don't know. I just..."
"I can take care of us," Theo said, his voice sharp.
"I know. It's... It's just how I feel."
There was a long, thick silence between them then Theo asked, "Have you done a lot of fightin
g?"
"Not if I didn't have to, but I had a reputation for it anyway. When I was younger, when my mom and dad got themselves into trouble with the law, I got into fights at school. I was defending them from what the other kids were saying. Then my grandpa sat me down and told me they did the crime. They stole from the Henshaws, the richest family in town. By then, I had a reputation for starting fights and just being no good like my folks."
"I'm sorry. I appreciate that you want to defend us. I do," Theo said, but Seth knew he was dead set on handling everything himself. That's why he didn't like taking help from anybody.
Staring at his feet, Seth suddenly felt Theo bump him with his shoulder. "Let's watch something Ace isn't allowed to. Then tell him about it in the morning so he'll get mad at us."
"Just that first thing," Seth told him and Theo grinned at him.
"Oh, yeah, you're bad news, real scary guy," Theo said, making fun of him.
"You thought I was bad news," Seth told him.
Now Theo got serious. "Are you talking about...?"
"When you found me here," Seth said but he could tell he had made him think of something else. "So what are we watching? I'm up for anything. I mean watching anything."
He was babbling like a fool, but that was because he was pretty sure he and Theo were now both thinking about how Seth kissed him. When Theo started playing something on the iPad, Seth didn't even know what it was, but he forced his brain to pay attention only to what was on the screen and nothing else. Not Theo's face so close by, not the glow in his eyes, not his lips, that's for damn sure.
They watched some zombie action, and Seth could see why Ace wasn't allowed to. When they were done and Theo stood up, Seth finally took a proper breath. He felt like he hadn't been able to breathe the whole time they sat next to each other, like he was always measuring the inch or two of distance between them and telling himself not to lean in any closer.
"I'll drag this into the room now," he said standing up too and picking up the mattress.
"I'll help you." Theo grabbed the other end and they got the mattress into the bedroom.
Seth turned on the bird lamp and started pulling on the sheets.
"Check out the luxury, a room with only an ugly lamp and a mattress in it," Theo said as he looked around.
"Everything I need. You won't be too crowded over there with you, Ace and a cat?" Seth asked him and pictured the cat climbing all over him as he slept.
Theo must have been thinking the same thing because he made a face. "I'll see, I guess. Good night."
"Good night," Seth said as he watched Theo go into the room he and Ace shared.
"Good night," Theo said again just before shutting the door to their bedroom.
Not bothering the shut his own door, Seth looked around. A good size room, a decent mattress and that lamp Ace picked out – Seth didn't need any more than that. He had brought hardly anything with him, but then he hardly had anything to bring.
Theo brought a life with him, and Seth just had some ratty, old clothes. Those t-shirts Theo picked out for him were the best things he owned. He took them out and looked at them under the light of the lamp and he smiled. When he shoved them at Seth, the look in Theo's eyes was different. Hotter maybe. It wasn't there for long, but it made Seth want to kiss him even more than before. Not that he ever stopped wanting to. He burned to kiss him all the time.
Chapter 9
Finally sleeping on something other than the floor, Theo would have called that a good night's sleep if he didn't get woken up by the cat jumping on his legs. He was well into a string of expletives before he noticed Ace staring at him with bleary eyes.
"Your cat jumped on me," Theo said to him as he got to his feet and placed the cat next to Ace.
There was no point trying to sleep now. He might as well go and shower.
On his way, Theo stopped as he saw that Seth's bedroom door was open. He was on the mattress, turned on his side, one leg sticking out from under the covers. He was wearing sweatpants, so the sight shouldn't have done a thing for Theo.
But there was something about seeing him asleep, his lips parted, the same lips Theo had felt against his own. Damn it. Now he was going to be jerking off in the shower to nonstop fantasies about Seth.
Theo finished up his shower and got busy on his laptop while Seth and Ace took turns in the bathroom. His battery was running low and he was getting the charger from the bedroom when he heard noise coming from the kitchen. Going in to check, he found Seth holding Butter, and Ace laughing.
"What happened?" Theo asked as he poured himself some coffee.
"Butter jumped on Seth," Ace told him.
"The cat was on top of the kitchen cabinets and she jumped on me. Startled me," Seth said but he obviously wasn't holding a grudge since he was petting her.
"You get extra points for not swearing," Theo said to him.
"When Butter jumped on him in bed, Theo said bad words. It was funny," Ace snitched on him. "She jumped on me too, but I didn't say anything bad."
"I guess we'll need to watch out for her," Seth said but kept petting her like she was a perfectly good and well behaved cat. "She got us all up early, too, She's better than an alarm clock."
"I don't want to be woken up by twenty pounds of cat landing on me," Theo groused.
"She was just playing," Ace said, defending her. He took her from Seth and cuddled her protectively as he went into the living room.
"I'm making eggs. That OK?" Seth asked getting the carton out of the fridge.
"Sure. This is almost like a lazy Sunday morning except we have to go to work," Theo said as he watched Seth crack eggs into a bowl and then whisk them with a fork.
"We have a little time before we have to go, and it's nice to start the day without a freezing cold shower," Seth said.
"Looking on the bright side again?" Theo asked him.
"I guess."
"But it is good to have hot water," Theo admitted. "I didn't even want to come out of the shower until I thought of the water bill." He made sure not to dwell on what he did in there and who he was thinking about.
"I didn't linger but I was sorely tempted," Seth said.
"That's because this house is pretty damn cold," Theo said as he noticed how nice it was to be next to the stove while Seth was heating up the pan for the eggs. It was also nice to be next to Seth, but Theo dragged himself away and opened his laptop on the kitchen counter and plugged it in to charge. "We have electricity but no heat. A guy is supposed to come and unclog the chimney on Monday. Then we can have a fire. I hope."
"Should I go get some firewood after breakfast?" Seth asked.
"You have an ax?"
Seth chuckled. "No, but with you giving me a lift, I have some time before I need to be at work. I can pick up loose branches just to start you off."
"That sounds more like a job for Ace."
"He can come too. You need to stay on the computer?" he asked since Theo was checking out some things on his laptop using the connection from his phone.
"No. I'll come too. I'll be done soon." Theo was looking into what kind of internet connection they could get that he could afford. He didn't like his choices.
"These eggs are going to be ready soon. You want to eat them standing up?" Seth asked.
"We have a table now," Theo said and shut the laptop so he could go get the plates. That reminded him of what Butter was up to earlier. "So you didn't curse when the cat jumped on you?"
"I try to do my cursing just in my own head, but I do slip up sometimes. My dad used to curse a blue streak, but my grandpa was real strict with me about it. I think he was afraid I would end up like my mom and dad. And all the stuff he heard about me made him think I was a bad seed."
Seth was turned away, and Theo didn't know what to say to him. He just stood there holding the plates. Then Seth turned to him, but he didn't look upset. Was he just used to people thinking the worst about him? That thought hurt, so Theo told him. "It's a pity he mi
sjudged you. But that not cursing thing is going to come in handy with Butter pouncing all over the place. Unlike me, you'll be setting a good example for Ace."
"Me a good example? I never thought I would hear those words," Seth said, and Theo wondered how much of what people said about him had gotten inside his head to influence how he thought about himself.
Seth was taking the food to the table when Ace pointed at him. "Oh, no. You have a big hole in your sweater."
And he did. Seth had on an olive green sweater with a hole under the arm.
"I'll fix that up with some needle and thread," Seth said.
Ace leaned over to whisper to Theo. "Quick. Let's tickle him before he fixes it."
"I should pretend I didn't hear that?" Seth asked.
"I plan to," Theo said.
Ace objected. "But he'll fix it."
As they were eating breakfast, Ace also fed Butter and told them about all the things she pounced on and did an impression of her purring. With the breakfast dishes done and drying by the sink and the cat closed up inside the house, the three of them went off to pick up wood.
"Look at Ace," Theo said as he and Seth followed him. "He already has an armful and we don't even know if we'll need firewood. If the fireplace guy finds a problem I can't afford to fix, this will all be for nothing."
Seth disagreed with that. "It's not a waste of time. We're clearing loose branches and such. This is your property after all. How far does it go anyway?"
"The well is about halfway to the property line that way," Theo said, pointing ahead of them.
"That's a good sized piece of land."
"It's not much good to us, just someplace for Ace to run around," Theo said with a shrug.
"And Butter once you let her out," Seth said pointedly.
"I'm worried Ace is going to lose that cat," Theo confessed.
"You don't want to keep her cooped up for good, do you?"
"No. That wouldn't be fair. She's already climbing the walls. Literally."
"You worry like a big brother should," Seth told him with a smile but quickly turned to look ahead like maybe he didn't want Theo to think he was hitting on him.