A/N: Chapter 3! It took a while, but I'm quite pleased I waited to get the right ideas instead of rushing into things.
ArodLoverus2001: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! Hope you'll enjoy this chapter, too.
SassyJ: Thanks for saying that, I'm very pleased if I actually manage to tell the story well enough. I've been trying to balance out the good and the bad, as well as keeping him in character. This chapter doesn't move the story on so much as it sets the scene for the next chapter, hopefully you'll like it though!
Guest: Thank you! I'm still working on my writing skills, so very much appreciated! Here's more:
Tim woke up the next morning and groaned in pain, his head hurt almost as much as the rest of his body. He glanced at his bed, wishing he could just go back to sleep and pretend none of this really existed, but that really wasn't a good idea. He pulled himself up, rolling the leftovers of the Bourbon bottle under the bed and headed for the shower.
As a luxury, because he felt he needed it, he allowed himself a full three minutes of hot water. He'd half hoped the sudden change from hot to cold might actually rid him of his hangover. It didn't. As he stepped out, avoiding looking in the mirror, his father's old rusty razor caught his eye, last night's conversation with his brother floated back into his mind.
He went into his room, quickly dressing and grabbing two old freezer bags that had previously served to contain ice cubes. Pulling the tweezers out of the cabinet he plucked as many hairs as he could off the razor and dropped them in the first bag, sealing it. He then got the scissors, cutting a sixth of a inch of his own hair and placed it into the second bag.
He place both bags in his rucksack and made his way out of the window. His jump down from the tree went just fine, aside from the pain in his ribs, but he threw up immediately afterwards, the sudden change of altitude mixing badly with his hangover. Oh well, not much lost, it's not like he'd had dinner last night or anything.
It took him thirty minutes to make arrive at his destination, it would have been quicker, but he was pretty sure he had a cracked rib, which gave him a sharp sting with each step. He soon heard approaching footsteps, stepped away from the concrete wall he'd been leaning on.
Allan almost jumped out of his own skin. Tim would have laughed had he not gone into full blown asthma attack mode and proceeded to ravage his inhaler.
"Anyone would think you had something to hide," Muttered Tim, once Allan had somewhat got his breath back.
"Everyone picks on me, you'd be the same," Replied Allan, a little indignantly.
"People pick on me all the time, why'd you think I can run so fast?" Said Tim, grinning, although he kept his head a little lower than usual so that the shade of his hair would hide what he imagined to be the state of his face. He felt a little strange when he realized he'd actually much prefer to be beaten up by fellow students, somehow it seemed easier to deal with.
"I have exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, so that would only make it worse, but I'm guessing you're not here to sympathize with my medical issues,"
Tim realized he was, possibly, making Allan late for school, hence his bad mood. Of course by late he meant 'not a full fifteen minutes early'.
"I need a favor, your dad still works at the lab, right?" Asked Tim, pulling his bag open, when Allan hesitantly nodded. He handed Allan the two freezer bags, "Need you to get a paternity test on these."
Allan took the bags awkwardly, giving Tim a dubious look, but he knew he had to comply. He put the bags inside his own backpack and rooted around for something else, pulling out a small folded paper.
"Here, I was told to give you this," He handed the note to Tim who unfolded it, and raising an eyebrow when he saw a phone number with 'call me' written underneath, obviously a girl's writing.
Tim could feel Allan looking at him and instinctively met his eyes, regretting it when Allan's eyes opened wide. He glanced from the freezer bags to Tim, who glared at him, knowing full well just how smart that kid was.
"For what it's worth," Started Allan, "I'm adopted."
"Lucky you," Mutter Tim, turning to leave, knowing full well how insensitive that was, but really not in the mood to care, "Run those tests!" He called back before rounding the corner.
Tim had to bite his tongue not to yelp when his friend Steve came up behind him and clapped him on the back, saying, "Party on Fourth tonight, college job, wanna gate crash it?"
"Yeah, no. I'll pass," Replied Tim, the acute pain in his ribs finally subsiding.
"C'mon, I can hardly go by myself," Insisted Steve, Tim stopped walking and turned to look at him straight in the face, "Oh. Ouch," Conceded Steve.
"How bad is it?" Asked Tim, not certain he wanted to know, Steve was only just starting to believe Tim actually didn't check for himself.
"You remember last Spring, just before the school trip?"
"That bad?" Asked Tim, sounding a little worried, it didn't feel that bad.
"Oh, no, hell no. This is nothing compared to ...that, all I'm sayin' is, you went anyway."
Steve grinned and Tim scowled.
"Not funny," He muttered as he started walking.
"It was. Really, shoulda seen the look on your face. Plus that was revenge for convincing me animal crackers had actual animals in them."
"I was eight, and you were incredibly stupid," Countered Tim, although he smiled at the memory.
"Still, you totally ruined my childhood. I was such an angel before you came along," Said Steve, barely able to hold a straight face.
Tim rolled his eyes, mainly because he knew how painful laughing would be, "I'm sorry, who got the air riffle to shoot my fat ass next door neighbor when he he decided to sunbathe naked?"
They both laughed, replaying the scene in their minds. It had be priceless, unfortunately they'd had nothing to film it with. Tim noticed Steve's expression darken a little and frowned. He knew he'd just remembered what had happened after that, when they'd been caught. Steve thought he'd had it bad until he'd seen Tim after being grounded for week.
"So, about that party?" Said Steve, changing the subject, as he'd learned was the best thing to do.
"Not gonna go," Replied Tim, "Really don't think I can drink today, or ever again, actually."
"Hangover that bad?"
Tim nodded, "Guess you can't tell, huh?" He asked grinning as he pointed at his face, Steve had to make an effort to return the smile. He could understand why Tim behaved the way he did, but sometimes Steve would rather he'd just be honest about how he felt, instead of just joking.
"Want to come over to my place tonight instead? My sister's home, but my mom'll be out with her new boyfriend."
"I dunno. She over her feminist craze, yet?" Asked Tim, not having fond memories of the two hour lecture he got last time he was there.
"Oh, yeah, she's changed into an over analytical hippie now," Replied Steve.
Steven's sister, Lisa, was at home sitting in front of the TV as they entered the house, she looked up as they came in and smiled at them. Steve muttered an indifferent 'hey', and Tim gave her a very suspicious look.
Her smile broke into a grin, "Relax, I'm not going to say anything unpleasant," She reassured, he didn't look entirely convinced, but did actually walk forwards a little.
"Or show me any disturbing pictures of child birth, which by the way, I still can't 'unsee'?" Asked Tim, still not 'that' far away from the front door.
"Promise," She replied, still smiling, "I'm over all that. Now I'm into hostile female takeover using castration as punishment."
Tim looked at her then promptly turned around and made for the door, she ran after him, much to Steve's amusement, "Tim, I'm joking," She said grabbing his shoulder and directing him back into the living room.
"I don't get it, you guys watch the goriest, most violent horror films without batting an eyelid, but one chick giving birth and you run away screaming," She sighed, pushing him into the kitchen where Steve was rummaging through the fridge.
"Fiction. Reality." Replied Tim, matter of factly, "Can we stop talking about this?" Steve offered Tim the bag of chips he'd just opened, "Thanks, I just lost my appetite."
"You're such a baby," Said Lisa, leaving to return to her TV show. Tim waited until she was installed on the couch then came over to lean behind her, watching for a few minutes before saying, "Oh, is this part when he finally tells her he loves her?"
She looked up at him, surprised, "Yeah, actually, you-" She stopped, as he lost his focus and snickered, "You're an asshole," She muttered.
He laughed, getting up, "Well that's the nicest thing anyone's said to me in a while."
She frowned, knowing it was probably half true, he rolled his eyes at her, "Lighten up, seriously, these shows are making you over dramatic."
He walked back to the kitchen, and left her feeling like a spoiled brat for actually daring to complain about her life. She flipped the TV off and followed the boys upstairs, Steve's door had been left open so she poked her head in and leaned on the wall. There was still a long standing argument about her being allowed to 'set foot' in his room.
"So what are you boys doing tonight?" She asked, they looked up at her, Steve groaned.
"And along comes the babysitter," Muttered Tim.
"I was actually going to say I'd allow rule breaking so long as it stays controlled and contained," She retorted, smiling.
Tim and Steve exchanged a look.
"So you think it's a trap?" Asked Steve, raising an eyebrow.
"It feels like a trap," Replied Tim, Lisa rolled her eyes at the both of them.
They wound up playing Lisa's own version of drinking grab snap which she'd learned from a college friend of hers. They all had a third of a deck of cards and placed one down every round. If the two cards were of the same suit, they all had to make a grab for the ball which was set on the middle of the table. The two who were too slow would have to take a swig of beer and divide the pile of cards between themselves.
Tim was a little reluctant at first, due to his subsiding, but still fairly unpleasant hangover. They managed to talk him into it, and he found out that, halfway through his first beer, he was feeling just fine again.
Eventually they stopped the game and just stuck to drinking, moving to the living room instead. There was a lull in conversation when Tim and Lisa turned to see Steven had fallen asleep. She quickly moved to catch his beer before he dropped it and placed it on the table, stifling a laugh.
She made her way back to the couch and sat down next to Tim again, probably a little closer than was appropriate. He didn't even seem to notice. The lights weren't on very high, but the muted TV would occasionally light the room up, giving her a better look at the bruises on his face.
"You fall over again?" She asked, breaking the silence, he turned his head, noticing she was looking at him, he frowned.
"No," He replied, a little tightly, fixing his eyes on the silent TV, "I went to concert, things got rough."
She nodded, resisting the urge to roll her eyes, "Well, at least your excuses are getting better."
He snapped his eyes back to her, "You wanna say somethin', then just fuckin' say it."
"Your dad beats you up." She replied softly, refusing to flinch.
"So what? I don't make a big deal out of it. Why the fuck does everyone else want to-"
"People care. Maybe you should, too." She interrupted, he rolled his eyes at her, she didn't miss the way he swallowed a little stiffly after though, nor the way he was now avoiding eye contact.
"Hey," She continued, a lot more softly, rubbing his arm with her hand, "Things'll work out, they always do."
"Uh, sure, I hear you're supposed to keep thinkin' that," He muttered, finally facing her just to give her his signature 'like I give a fuck' look, which actually made her want to cry.
She couldn't help it, she leaned forward and kissed him, careful not to brush his bruise with her hand as she ran it through his hair. It took him a moment, but he responded, that is until she moved her hand under his shirt at which point he moved away in pain.
She winced, carefully lifting his shirt to expose a very angry looking purple and red bruise around his ribs. She was surprised he'd let her, he usually did a very thorough job of staying covered up, even in mid-summer heat waves.
"It's broken," She said, he rolled his eyes, having come back to his sense, and pulled his shirt back down.
"It's not, I've had a broken rib before, hurts way more than that."
They stayed in semi-awkward silence for a moment, before Tim stood up, "Probably a good thing anyway, Steve would of killed me."
She laughed, "Actually I think he'd have been more pissed off with me."
They both looked at Steve who was still sound asleep on the armchair.
"With him still in the room? Shit we'd have to run to Mexico," Said Tim, she nodded in agreement and they once again fell into a fairly uncomfortable silence.
"So, this never happened, right?" He asked, finally breaking the silence.
"Couldn't agree more."
"Cool," Tim turned and gave Steve a kick in the leg, he awoke with a start, "Time to wake up, there's no way I'm carrying you upstairs," Steve looked around, a little dazed, trying to work out why his sister looked a little guilty, as Tim walked up the stairs, "Oh, and if you feel sick, remember I'm sleeping on the floor to the right of your bed, so go left," Tim called down from upstairs.
A/N: Here it is. At least Tim sort of caught a break here.
Hope you enjoyed it! Little slower, as I mentioned, but that's life for you!