-twinArmageddons [TA] began pestering apocalypseArisen [AA] at 12:02-

TA: hey how2 cla22

AA: fine as it always is

TA: good two hear

TA: 2neakiing your phone ii 2ee

AA: the teacher is s0 stupid

TA: ii wa2 wonderiing iif you wanted two go two the coa2t wiith me thii2 weekend

TA: ju2t the two of u2

AA: sure

AA: I have t0 g0

AA: teacher

-apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased pestering twinArmageddons [TA] at 12:10-

"I don wanna go with lab coat guy!"

"Mituna, you need to go with him, okay?" I plead with him, not wanting to cause a scene as usual, but I guess that's unavoidable.

"But he does scary things to me!" he shouts, throwing his fists on the ground.

"I'll go with you and make sure the scary things don't happen, okay?" I ask, looking at him.

He looks down, blinking a bit, mulling over whether the compromise is worth it. After a long pause, he sighs and dejectedly mutters "fine…" but doesn't stand.

"Okay, I need you to stand because I can't carry you."

"No."

"Tuna…"

He slowly stands, slumping his shoulders. He stands a few inches taller than me normally, not counting the bumble bee bike helmet. I lead him over to the nurse and follow them back to the weight and height stations.

"Could you please take your shoes off, and your helmet?" the nurse asks, his brow furling as he sighs, knowing this will be quite the charade.

"Tuna, I'll hold them so they won't get hurt. It's just like at home, when you go to bed," I cajole, trying to get him to oblige.

"No! Don you dare fuggin touch meee!" He yells, backing up against the wall, his arms out in front of him. I walk over to the wall a yard or two away from him, turning and pressing my back against it. He doesn't seem to notice too much, the nurse still trying to fuss with him. Inching towards him, my back still against the wall and looking forward to the other side of the hallway.

Soon he goes into sensory overload and lets out a yell, crouching to the ground in a ball and confining himself to a small place. I reach over and take his hand, rubbing little circles on his palm with my thumb. He seems to relax a bit and I start humming his favorite tune.

"You just want to skip the weigh in this time? We have all the info from last appointment and is probably still viable, since that was two weeks ago," the nurse states, wanting to get through this without too much hassle.

"Yeah, just give us a minute to let him calm down, please," I ask; he walks off.

"Thank, Sol," Mituna utters, loosening up a bit.

"No problem dude," I relax. For the longest time Mituna has had to come to the doctor's office every two weeks for as long as we can remember. He used to freak out a lot worse when we were little. He hit himself and left bruises, screamed a lot. He's really smart though, probably even smarter than me. He just has trouble communicating. A lot of trouble. But still, I love him and I can't imagine not living and growing up without him.

"Are you ready for the check up?"

I'm ripped out of my thoughts by the doctor, leaning down with a kind smile, waving at Mituna. He likes her, I'm not sure how much. He has a big goofy grin on as he stands up to head to the room. As she walks into the room, she turns the light on. A cascade of multi colored lights envelops all who enter. This used to fascinate the both of us until she told us that it was just colored filters covering the filaments. That dampened out spirits a bit, but they still relax 'tuna none the less, and me a bit too.

Her office has a window looking down on the courtyard and a bunch of stuffed animals she's accumulated over the years. She has a bunch of pictures of her family on a small wall by her desk and some awards on a really high up shelf, probably so they don't get knocked down. There are a bunch of lava lamps on shelves hanging from the adjacent wall, all of different colors. They've been accrued since before even she had the office. The guy who was in here before had quite the affinity, apparently.

The rest of the appointment goes like usual. How are you? What have you been doing? Then down to business. By the end Mituna has himself nestled in all the pillows on the couch, his helmet askew. I attempt to get him up, "Mituna, we have to go now."

"NO!"

I just stare at him for a bit not moving my stare.

"… fine. I want ice cream," he declares, not moving from his spot.

"Only one scoop," I inform, turning towards the door.

"But I want two!"

"But you didn't let them take your weight and height today," I rebuttal, having been through this routine multiple times.

"B-but Sollux, two!" he shouts, pouting.

"I know, your favourite number. I like it too-"

"Two!"

"But you didn't behave. Maybe next time, okay."

"I want two scoops," he argues.

"If you keep insisting you will get no ice cream," I state, starting to walk out the door. He pops up and follows me out the door, a solemn look on his face. After a little fiasco with him and the seatbelt we make it out of the parking lot with minor damage.

At the ice cream parlor he takes his sweet time deciding what flavor. I had to let three other people go before us just so he had time. I get the honey and vanilla swirl, he gets chocolate & fudge moose tracks, which I like too, but I got it last time. We both manage to not make a mess, which is very different from what usually happens. On the way home we stop at the park he likes so he can sit in his favourite tree. I work my best to keep his profanities to a minimum, but I had to apologize to this old lady; she seemed very nice, but startled at his word choice.

Many people have just plain out yelled at me that he shouldn't live on multiple occasions, that we should put him to sleep for being a public nuisance as though he's an out of control pet. He's totally oblivious to this, either that or he just pretends he doesn't hear. I really hope it's the former. When we were little he was bullied really bad, but I don't think he realized it. He just kept doing the idiotic things all the other kids told him to do blindly, trying to prove himself. They thought they were his friends, and that everyone loved him. All they were doing is pointing and laughing at the class dummy. The teacher eventually intervened and insisted homeschooling was the best option, so it was decided. He's only stepped in a public school since for things I do, like the eighth grade promotion or the tech fair.

I really hope that Latula stays around, because right now she's one of the only people outside the family that can stay with him, and calm him down. At the moment she's a law major at University of Oregon, so we don't get to see her as often.

"Hey, my troat hurs. Sol… Sol!"

"Huh, what?" I look up at him.

"My throa hurts," Mituna looks at me with big eyes behind his mussed up hair.

"Okay, let's get in the car then. I'll make you milk and honey when we get home, okay?"

"…fine."

Hey, sorry I missed last week, I was at weeklong overnight camp. There isn't too much going on in this chapter, but I promise more next chapter.

Please comment/review! I love seeing those. Also, from now on I'll be updating every Monday until the school year starts.

~predatoryExcitement