Robert was surprised when TJ showed up at his doorstep instead of the other way around. He didn't knock on the door or anything. Rather, he was skateboarding on the sidewalk, waiting. Robert wondered why he didn't knock on the door or ring the doorbell to make him come out. Robert brought his own skateboard when he went outside to join him.
"You could've knocked on the door, you know," Robert said as he walked up to him.
"I know, but you also come over at ten, so I thought you would come outside a little before then," said TJ. "Can I ask you something?"
"Is it the question you wanted to ask yesterday?"
"….No. It's something different," he said. "Where do you get all of your money? Do you have a really big allowance or something?"
"Nah, I have a paper route. I've had one since seventh grade," Robert told him. "Get up every morning at 6 to deliver newspaper."
"Is it worth it?"
"Yeah. It pays a lot more than my allowance," said Robert. "They're hiring. You should go down there."
"I'm not exactly excited to get up at 6 am every morning," said TJ.
"Oh, c'mon. It takes me about 30 minutes to do my route, and that's if I'm slow! After you get used to your route, it's easy. Plus there's the money, too. Money's always good."
"Yeah, but 6 am, King Bob," TJ said.
"You'll get used to that, too," Robert said as they started to walk down the street. "The money makes it worth it. Just think about it, okay?"
"Okay."
"Do you know what you want to do today?" Robert asked him.
"…I dunno…nothing I guess. I just feel like walking around…," He said. Robert looked over at him and noticed that he wasn't looking forward. Instead, he was looking down at his feet.
"Is everything okay?" Robert asked.
"Huh? Yeah. Everything's fine," said TJ. "I'm okay, really."
"…you don't have to lie to me, you know," said Robert. "I know you're lying to me."
"I am fine, King Bob. Everything's perfect, I swear. I'm just feeling a little off," He said. Robert still didn't believe him. He looked worse than he had been looking for the last few days. He looked tired. Not the normal 'I just didn't get enough sleep' tired, but 'I'm not getting everything I need to just be and it's starting to wear me down' tired. "Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It happens to everyone once in a while, right?"
"Yeah, but you've been 'waking up on the wrong side of the bed' for months," Robert said.
"WILL YOU JUST—" TJ started to scream. He cut himself off when noticed. "Just drop it okay? I don't want to talk about it! First my mom and dad wants to talk about it, now you want to talk about it, and I read those stupid letters, and my friends want to talk about it! I don't want to! There's nothing to talk about! And if you're gonna keep asking me these questions then you can just leave me alone 'cause I'd rather spend my summer by myself then deal with this!" Robert was taken aback by his sudden outburst. He stopped walking while the younger boy hopped on his skateboard and kept going down the street. When he turned the corner, Robert started to chase after him.
"Hey!" he said as he started to catch up. "Look, I'm sorry about that. I am. I should've taken the hint and left it alone. I was worried, that's all." Robert could see that he was still upset, as he opened and closed his fists and stared at the ground.
"That's just it, King Bob! There isn't anything to be worried about! There isn't anything wrong with me! There isn't any reason for me to feel this way, or be depressed or whatever they wanna call it!" Robert stood back and watched him pace and shake his fists as he spoke. "I've got it pretty good, don't I? Why would I be depressed? I don't get it, and it's making me so angry that I don't know what's going on with me and that my own head is so messed up that I need to go to some doctor about it! I don't know what's wrong with me and everything's so confusing all of a sudden! I just…." He stopped his rant before sighing and sitting down on the curb and put his head in his hands. After a few seconds, Robert put is board down and sat down next to him.
"They're gonna help you though," Robert said. "The specialist, and your parents, and me too."
"I know, but I don't understand it! I don't understand and I don't know what to do and I hate that because I always know what to do! I'm the one that always has a plan for everything and don't have one this time! And it scares me, King Bob. I don't get scared easily but I'm scared because I can't plan my way out of this! Sometimes I just want to crawl into bed, go to sleep, and hope that this is just some bad dream that I'll wake up from, but I know it's not."
"I'm sorry," Robert said. He placed and arm around the younger boys shoulder, be he had no idea how comforting that was. "I really am."
"…I wanna go home, Robert," said TJ. "Today isn't a good day for me."
"Okay. Do you want me to come with you, or do you want to be alone right now?" Robert asked.
"No, I want you to come, too. You're…you're really good company," said TJ. The two of them stood up, and with their skateboards tucked under their arms, they turned around and started to walk back. The walk was in silence. Robert didn't know what else he could say, and TJ continued to stare at the ground. Robert really wanted to go to the library to check out as many book as he could on depression. Anything that'll make it easier for them both of them to understand.
When they reached his house, they left their boards on the porch and went inside.
"You don't have to stay if you don't want to," said TJ. "I'm just gonna go upstairs and lay in bed all day."
"Nah, you said I'm good company. That's what I'm here for," Robert told him as they headed upstairs. "Do you really want me to stay?"
"I do, but I don't want to force you to stay," he said. Reaching his room, TJ went straight to his bed. Robert followed, and they both managed to lay down, though Robert had one of his legs over the edge. "I hope Sasha doesn't miss me too much, today."
"The puppy? I didn't know we were actually gonna go see her," said Robert. "Dogs are loyal. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you whenever you got back there."
"….I'm sorry I dumped all of that on you earlier. I didn't mean to say all that, it all just sorta…came out on its own."
"You don't have to apologize," Robert told him. "If you said it, you said it for a reason. You don't need to apologize for that."
"Thanks."
"Sure. No problem. Now, how about we take a nap, huh? Naps always make you feel better," said Robert.
"Aren't naps for little kids?"
"Trust me, when you get my age, naps are one the best things you can have."
~*~KR~*~
When Robert woke up, he almost expected to be hanging over the edge of the bed by a few inches. He wasn't, and the former monarch was thankful for that. He took a deep breath, and found that inhaling was slightly difficult. It felt as is something was on his chest. Looking down, he saw that TJ found that his chest would make a very comfortable pillow.
Robert wasn't one to rush to conclusions. From what he could see, there were a few reasons that the two of them could've ended up in this position. The first was pure coincidence. The bed was only a twin, and with the two of them on it, it didn't leave very much space to move. He could've been trying to turn around and just ended up on his chest. The other was that the younger boy wanted to lie on his chest. He didn't think that was the option. Robert thought that that didn't fit him.
He was too….what was the word he was looking for?
He didn't seem like he would know, or care, about this sort of thing. What was that word? It's on the tip of his tongue…
Innocent. That's the word. TJ was too innocent to do that, in Roberts opinion, anyways. So it was an accident that they ended up in their current position; it had to be.
Either way, he had one hell of a grip on him. Robert tried to take his arm off, but found that the younger boy had a really tight grip on his side, and it didn't look like Detweiler was going to let go any time soon. Robert soon let go of that idea and, as soon as he gave up trying to get free, Detweiler snuggled into his chest.
"So he's a cuddler," Robert thought with a smile. "Why am I not surprised? Oh, well. I didn't feel like getting up, anyway." Seeing that his hat had fallen off his head sometime during their nap, Robert took this opportunity to run his fingers through his hair again. Seeing that he didn't wake up, Robert decided to be a little bold and gently kissed his forehead. He regretted that as soon as he did that, Detweiler started to wake up. Robert watched as he yawned and rubbed his eyes before looking up at him.
"Hey," he said in a groggy voice. "How long have you been awake?"
"About 20 minutes," said Robert.
"What time is it?"
"1:30. We slept for two and a half hours," He said. "Do you feel any better?" TJ nodded. The two of them laid there in silence for a few minutes before TJ shot up from his spot. "What's the matter?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you, it was an accident—"
"Dude, relax. It's fine. Besides, the bed's small," said Robert. "I'm starving. You've got anything to eat?"
"….yeah, there's some frozen pizzas in the freezer."
"Okay. Let's go put it in the oven," Robert said. The two boys went downstairs after stretching the last bit of their sleep from their bodies. After tossing the pizza in the oven, they sat in the living room watching TV, in silence again. When the pizza was done, they decided to eat outside.
"King Bob?"
"Yeah?"
"You like me, don't you?" Robert almost choked on his food at that question. Luckily, he didn't and managed to keep his cool.
"Yeah, I like you. I wouldn't hang out with you if I didn't like you," Robert said. "Doesn't everybody like you? Except for like, Gordy, right?"
"…..Uh-huh. Everybody likes me. That's right. You're right," He said. Taking the last bite of his pizza, he spoke up again and grabbed his board. "I think I'm up to go visit Sasha after all. Are you coming?" Robert nodded and, with his last piece of pizza in his mouth, hurried to catch up to the younger boy as he went down the street.
~*~KR~*~
As soon as the owner of the shelter let them into the back, Sasha ran from the group of puppies that she was playing with and ran over to TJ. She circled him several times before stopping long enough for him just to touch her. After the puppy tackled him to the ground and vigorously licked his face, she ran off again and returned with a ball.
"I think she wants to play fetch," Robert commented. He had somehow managed to attract the attention of a few puppies who were all mouthing at his legs and jumping up to get his attention.
"Uh-huh," he said before tossing the ball. Sasha chased after it. "So we're playing paintball tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. It'll be the first thing we do," said Robert.
"Not the first thing. I have to go to the specialist, remember? I mean, I want to go after I get back, but I have that the first thing in the morning," said TJ. "I wanna keep up this great aim you say I have."
"You remember that, huh?" Robert laughed. "You've got one hell of an aim. Maybe I should go down there and practice while you're gone."
"You're still not gonna be a better shot than me. You've been playing for years and I just started. If I'm better now, then I'm always going to be better," He said, and, for the first time since Robert started to hang out with him, the former monarch saw him smile.
"Whatever you say, Detweiler."
I feel like this chapter was partially filler. Anyways, in the next chapter, there will be the return of an extremely minor character in the series. It's not an OC, I promise! Until then,
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