Lessons In Love: Chapter Sixty-Five: Something About Us (Part 4)


Tony placed some cash down on the counter. Stephen was going through his wallet and he quietly looked up at his hands. The person at the registration desk gave the two of them a bothered expression.

"Are you asking, or not?"

Tony wanted answers. He wasn't going to listen to "I might haves" or any of that garbage. It was yes or no. Stephen refused to acknowledge him. He gently asked the man at the counter for two rooms.

"You said that you felt happier when I was around you. Is that still the case? Blink twice for yes, once for no."

Tony chose sarcasm. He reminded him of that little blinky confession. At the Kamar taj, Stephen stood at his door and told him that he felt happier. Then, he confirmed it with two blinks. TONY DIDN'T FORGET A DAMN THING and he waited for Stephen to respond to him.

"My room needs two beds."

"Two rooms, or two beds?"

The man wasn't understanding, or not really listening. Tony's behavior was throwing the man off. Stephen ignored him. He gently smiled and explained what he wanted again.

"Two rooms. One room needs two beds."

He didn't care how many beds Tony had. The sorcerer-in-training continued to ignore him as he looked toward the door. Victor was by the car. It was cold in Colorado, but he was used to the cold weather.

The man took forever to accept the money, so Tony kept his behavior going. He even managed to stomp his foot like a brat. Stephen looked at his leg, then he softly focused on his face.

"If you aren't asking, then why am I standing here Stephen?"

"Are you seriously asking me to tell you why you are standing somewhere?"

Please. Stephen left it at that. He took the receipt for the rooms and quickly gave Tony the key to his. HOLD UP. Tony's jaw had fallen open. He processed that shit and took his denied money back off the counter.

He followed after that jerk. Tony tried to cut him off. Stephen stopped walking and he just stared at Tony. Stephen took in a very slow breath. He felt challenged by Tony. It felt like the brunette was trying to pry into him. Stephen could tell. He started feeling warm so..

The would-be-sorcerer tried to focus his attention on Victor. He didn't want to think about what he said to him, or any of Tony's noise.

"Yes. I want you to tell me why I'm here."

"You needed to get home. You had some joyride to get to, remember? I was just getting you there."

He was taking Tony and all of his people wherever they needed to go. That was it. Stephen decided to pick up his brother along the way.

Actually, he was taking Tony home so he could go be with Steve. He felt weird about answering. Stephen refused to say anything more about it and he moved on. Stephen walked around Tony. He told him goodnight and headed toward room 118.

Tony watched him go. The brunette was friggen blown away. He didn't know what to think about his response. Stephen took off with Victor and Tony just looked down at his stupid key. It was a keycard that barely worked.

Tony fumbled around with it for a long while. His room was around the corner from Stephen's. It finally unlocked, so the brunette gently kicked open the door. His room was number 122 and he lugged his bag into the dark.

The lights weren't on in the room, so he sighed and tried to find the switch. Stephen stared blankly at his suitcase. Victor was checking out the beds and doing his best to not comment about what he was seeing.

It felt like his brother was fighting with Tony. Victor didn't understand it, but he was slowly figuring out what was going on. He understood that his older brother got quiet and weird when he liked someone. Victor picked out his bed and he watched Stephen unpack his things.

Did he like Tony? Victor was beginning to suspect.

The older brother was deep in thought. Tony was aggravating him and he didn't want to tell him anything. What would be the point? Stephen began to feel a little stupid. He thought it was stupid of him to even bring up the trip.

"This is kinda weird, isn't it? Us driving aaaalllll the way to California."

Victor's young voice filled the room.

Stephen immediately snapped out of his thought. His temperature started rising up like before. He felt an anxiety slowly build within him, and he tried to ignore what his brother said.

"I get it if we were going to Disneyland or something. But, you only wanna take Tony home. That's the plan, right?"

Stephen said nothing. He took his clothing from his suitcase and left the room. The would-be-sorcerer needed to change out of his clothes. His plan?

Stephen tried to figure out what his actual plan was as well. He wasn't sure at that point, and he tried to hold onto what he felt. Stephen said nothing to his brother as he gently slipped the bathroom door closed.

Victor kept staring at the door. His brother shut him out, and his behavior was pretty revealing. The youngest Strange unzipped his bag and tried to figure out what he missed.

He never noticed how much he cared about Tony. Victor tried to put all the puzzle pieces together. He started remembering the morning after the fire alarm.

Victor completely overlooked something about that morning. Victor was retracing his steps. Woke up. Got out of bed. Dressed. They packed up their stuff. Stephen asked him if he was hungry, and they took off to the diner.

Victor realized and remembered that Tony was asleep in Stephen's bed. He was in there when they left the room. He was actually sleeping UNDER ALL HIS BLANKETS AND SHEETS ...

HO DAMN. Victor forgot all about that. His young mind was freaking out a little bit. But, Tony was with Steve the whole time. So, Victor started getting very confused.

He slowly glanced up at the bathroom door and brought his tooth brush and toothpaste out of his bag.


Chapter: END

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