Hey, I made this baby a tumblr: thestrangeattractionsyndrome . tumblr . com
Any of you can use this to comment or question my story just like you can on here. I'll be updating frequently to get it all caught up. The bonus that comes with this is that I plan on posting numerous teasers and snippets from future chapters throughout the week rather than the single teaser that will continue to appear in chapters on this website.
Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.
—DEGAS
The woman and I were on our way home from work—me from the salon, her from the pet store in the same shopping complex—when we decided to stop and bring home dinner from some barbecue grill that we rarely ever ate at, but tonight was a ribs and wings night our stomachs had decided. We weren't sure if Kenny would even be there, and I was a little iffy on what to get Tweek since I still wasn't sure if he was a vegetarian or not, but I ended up settling for potato salad and onion strings.
To be honest, I felt like I was ordering for a five year old.
As we were waiting in the oddly placed drive-through for our food, I commented on how it was remarkable that every establishment had some type of order-and-go service these days. She ignored me entirely and asked, "How's Tweek been? Sleeping and whatnot, I mean."
"He's fine." I'd had to reassure her and Token the next day I don't know how many times that he wasn't going to shrivel up and die. Clyde had been oblivious and hadn't understood why they were making such a big deal out of it. "I think having someone there helps him a lot."
"That's good. No more nightmares?" As far as I knew, no. So I shook my head. The window opened and we were handed our drinks. I wasn't sure if he'd take it, but I'd gotten Tweek a soda. Sprite to be specific, because he kind of reminded me of one. A sprite—the fairy kind. That wasn't a gay joke, either. "Do you guys get all cuddly?"
"Pretty much," I answered, trying to organize all of the drinks in a way that wouldn't create an unfortunate mess when the car started moving.
She was grinning something monstrous. It was weird. "And how's that working out for you?"
My shoulders shrugged carelessly. "He's small and compact so he's kind of like a body pillow."
"Yeah," she agreed wistfully. "I like sleeping with Clyde, too."
I wasn't sure if she was trying to compare Tweek and me to her and Clyde, or if she'd just said that to let me know. Whatever it was, I let it go because it really didn't matter to me.
As the window slid open a second time, I collected our food. We were given two heaping bagfuls of barbecue and hot sauce. That was literally what it smelled like. The car would be stinking for a while. With food and drink situated, we started home, though it seemed the conversation wasn't over.
"What are you going to do when he goes home?" Pretty Lady inquired. I hadn't really thought that far ahead.
"Sleep like I normally do?" I guessed. I didn't really have an option.
"When do they leave?" Her tone of voice made it sound like she didn't want them to go. When I glanced over at her, I saw that she was hunkered down in her seat dejectedly.
"I'm sure it'll be soon. They've been here since Friday." Friday evening, but still Friday. Four days was a rather long time to be away from work and school, more so for Kenny than either of them. Tweek would be fine; he worked for his parents.
Pretty Lady asked me another question, something she seemed to be full of tonight. "Are you going to miss him?"
This time I couldn't shrug away my response. "A little, probably. I don't want to screw myself over again just because he's not here." But I got used to drawing him, and I liked to draw him, and he ended up being the only thing I wanted to draw, so when I couldn't anymore, it was like my talent became useless.
"He misses you, too."
"Of course he does. Everyone misses Craig Tucker." She shot me a look that said she was being serious. "Okay," I relented. "He misses me, too."
Happy with that, she then asked me, "Have you kissed at all since I bribed him into doing it the other day?"
Now I knew she was trying to get at something. "Nope." She was disappointed in this, and I was suspicious.
For a minute she fumbled with one of the bags in her lap. "Do you think you might?"
"I really haven't thought about it." My eyes narrowed as I turned into our apartment complex.
"Oh. Okay." She said nothing more as I parked the car, got out, and was equally silent all the way up the stairs. It was at the door where we shared matching amounts of dinner and beverage that, as we attempted to kick the door down, she suggested, "Maybe you should."
The door opened. It was Kenny.
"You're lucky we got extra," I told him.
He smiled and ushered us into our own living room. "I'm lucky I decided to stop by then. That smells delicious."
"So you're leaving again?" I snorted, not in need of an answer and he knew that. Pushing past him, I made my way toward the kitchen table and set a bag along with a couple of drinks down. I turned around and saw Tweek and Clyde standing in front of the TV.
From experience I knew they were playing with the Xbox. We had a few Kinect games. Clyde must've been showing Tweek how it was done.
Token met my eye and motioned me over. He was standing by the hallway, arms crossed, watching amusedly at our friend and the blonde. Turns out they weren't even playing any of the games, just messing around with the animated players because they followed your movements. This was new to Tweek, obviously.
His arms were flapping and he couldn't stop laughing, exclaiming—ridiculously enthused—that his character was doing everything that he did. Clyde chose that moment to begin hip thrusting, something that Tweek found funny at first, and then the hip thrusts started moving toward him. Each one brought the brunette closer to Tweek and his player on the screen. At the same time he was trying to shy away, the blonde also wanted to keep his spot in front of the Kinect box so he wouldn't lose control of his character.
"They've been doing this for past two hours, I swear. Tweek was getting high scores until he realized that he could do this." Token gestured toward the screen, and laughed when Clyde's hip thrusts became particularly exaggerated. Tweek was just taking it, his player more important than his dignity. "I don't even think he's noticed Kenny, yet. Nobody else is allowed to play."
That, I could actually believe. If he was willing to be dry humped relentlessly by Clyde, then nothing was getting past him.
At the table, Kenny had cracked open a container of hot wings and the smell was permeating throughout the room, effectively tempting me.
"Alright, you guys," I announced. For being wrapped around the Xbox all day, Tweek gave me his attention easily enough. "Dinner's on the table." That's all it took for Clyde to disperse, pelvic thrusts forgotten far behind the promise of food. The blonde wasn't as easily swayed. He stared after Clyde as though he'd been betrayed.
"He hasn't eaten all day," Token quietly informed. "The game's kept him busy, so he's probably exhausted."
Tweek did appear rather tired: cheeks flushed, hair pushed from his face, breath heavy. I nodded once and Token passed before me to head over to the kitchen table. Pretty Lady was portioning everything out on plates and handing out designated drinks.
With my hands in my pockets, I wandered on over to Tweek. He looked up at me like he wanted to tell me my best friend was a traitor. There was a pout on his lips giving them a fuller effect. Their shapely curve was emphasized and that damn woman's words, the ones about kisses and Tweek, were nagging at me. "Come on," I encouraged. "I got you some potato salad and onion strings because I wasn't sure if you were a vegetarian or not."
"Really?" He sounded genuinely surprised, or maybe he was pleased, as he stepped away from the television. "I am a vegetarian."
I felt accomplished.
The majority of dinner was uneventful. Kenny hogged all of the hot wings, Tweek picked at his food, the dogs tag teamed Clyde for his ribs, nothing was on TV—I was half tempted to break out the vodka. Tweek chose that opportune moment to share some news with us, and that's when things got interesting.
"Token got a c-call from a girl today," he blurted out. It was utterly irrelevant but unanimously appreciated. None of us had known Token was talking to a lady.
"Impossible!" Clyde screeched. The julibeagles howled at his cry.
My best friend felt the immediate need to explain himself. "She's a friend and we're doing a project together. Don't get too excited, guys."
"Why the fuck didn't you tell us?"
"What's her name?" I asked.
"Calm down, guys." He took a bite of his meal to show us just how calm we should be. "Her name's Bailey. Nothing's going on so I didn't think telling you guys was important, alright?"
Clyde and I made eye contact. "Bailey?" We spat in unison.
"She doesn't sound black," I added, not liking that one bit. Token needed cute little chocolate children.
"She's not," Token said. "And we're just partners doing a project, so there's nothing to worry about."
My mouth twitched in the hint of a snarl.
"Do you have a picture?" Clyde mumbled, leaning closer to our friend as though I wouldn't hear. I glared at him. He saw my vehemence and whimpered, "What if she's hot?"
It wasn't often that I raised my voice, but this was critical. Token wasn't allowed any leeway when it came to women. "I don't care if she's hot. If she's not black it's not happening in this house."
He froze for a moment along with everyone else. The dogs even quieted down before fighting over a rib bone not a second later. Clyde leaned back over to Token. "Picture?"
Token rolled his eyes. "Look her up on Facebook. We're friends."
The brunette's phone was out immediately.
"I thought you said you were only partners," I hissed.
"Oh, come on!" He was exasperated.
I grinned just to let him know I was kidding. To Clyde I asked, "What's the verdict?" When he didn't answer, I glanced at him. His mouth was open on the verge of speaking, his eyes on the screen of his phone contemplatively. He shut it and rubbed a hand across his mouth in defeat.
"She's hot," was all he said. Pretty Lady fished an ice cube out of her cup and threw it at him. "Do you want to see?" He asked me, ignoring his girlfriend.
Before I could decline, Token said, "She'll be over tomorrow. You can see her then."
This time, I really did snarl.
And that was dinner.
The hot wings were gone, a good fraction of Tweek's food was still on his plate, Pretty Lady was fighting the dogs for their bones, the TV was off—and I still wanted to get drunk.
I'd draw Tweek instead, though, because there was this shadow across half of his face. It concealed half of his hair and one of his eyes and a portion of his skin and a part of him was so much darker than the other, and in seeing this, I got an idea. I liked this idea.
When the inspiration literally peeled back a layer of my vision and I was able to see the formulation of shadows cast around his figure, I told him that he needed to be my model again. Tweek insisted that he clean up and even offered to do my plate for me. He wouldn't let me draw him until I did, and I was grumpy until we were finally in my room with him seated on the bed because he thought this was going to be like every other time.
My back was to him and I was picking through different sticks of charcoal on my dresser in indecision of which ones I wanted to use. As I ran my fingers over them, it was the kind that radiated energy and purpose that I chose. Satisfied, I picked them up between my fingers, turned around, and flicked my wrist at Tweek.
"Take your shirt off," I told him. It was such a straightforward, dead honest command that he did it. He stood right up and lifted his shirt over his head. "Stand over there." I pointed toward an area that was spacious. He went there, leaving his shirt on the edge of my bed. "Stay there." I left my room and got a light fixture from the closet in the hallway. It was composed of numerous bulbs inside dark orbs with hollow tops attached to wire hoses that I could manipulate to point in any direction. Once it was plugged in, I removed a few of the bulbs, turned it on and my light off, then positioned it across from Tweek.
"What are you doing?" He asked, watching curiously as I came over and turned him toward the wall. I'd be drawing his back, his body, but I needed to get the light and shadows just right first. Without answering, I went back and forth multiple times between him and the light, rearranging the two in minute fractions as I did. I came across a placement somewhere in all of that where my two subjects coupled each other. Like out in the living room, about half of the blonde was cast in shadows.
It was his bones that did it for me. Every subtle dip in his spinal cord was doused in darkness, making his spine this prominent expanse of bone resembling a single line of ripples. Reaching out, I meant to touch the breaching squiggle of darkness, utterly captivated by the contrast, and actually startled myself right into a state of disappointment when my hand blocked the light and disrupted the simplicity of shadows, bone, and skin.
I snatched my fingers back; the delicate shapes and curves returned.
"Can you lower your jeans?" I asked.
His torso was already long, feline in a way, and I wanted to accentuate it by revealing more skin.
Tweek inhaled, causing his spine to stretch and grow. Deeper shadows latched onto his protruding bones, even some of his ribs. He didn't question me, just grabbed a few of his belt loops, and shimmied the waistline of his jeans down.
The dip in his back collected a pool of shadows. I took a few steps and came to stand in front of him. Tweek was holding his arms across his chest as—in the midst of altering him and the light—I'd instructed him to do. He took a quick glance at me from beneath his long lashes as I let him know that I was about touch him because that was my thing, feeling what I wanted to draw.
To keep from blocking the light, I stood close and used only one hand. It curled around his side flanked by darkness. The pace of his breath picked up when I laid my hand against the small of his back. Shadows washed over my fingers or receded depending on where I moved them. I played with the smooth blanket of shades and silhouettes, my attention rapt with interest. The blonde attempted to control the beat of his breath and I could tell how hard he was trying by how timed and too steady, too long they were.
With a slow, featherlight touch, I traced my fingers up the uneven course of his spine, fingertips sliding with the curve of shadow. I was fascinated by it.
He stood taller the higher my touch went, stretching and elongating the path I was taking. Perhaps I'd hunched over to correspond with his slight growth spurt because our cheeks brushed where they wouldn't have before.
It kind of just happened on its own when I turned my face toward his, and I hadn't mean to, but I wet my lips. At the same time, Tweek hesitantly inclined his chin, inched his own face in my direction, and I thought it was funny because I was going to kiss him and this was exactly what Clyde's girlfriend had wanted.
My lips were prickling even before it happened just as his breath puffed warm and slow against them.
Our mouths brushed softly, inducing this ticklish sensation. I splayed my fingers against his back, encompassed his hip with my other hand. One of Tweek's twisted with the locks at the nape of my neck, another cradling the column of my throat, fingertips pressed into my skin, luring me to him.
His bottom lip slid between my own and I suctioned to it, capturing its fullness and giving it a delicate suck. He inhaled deeply, pressing firmly into the kiss with a needy fervor that my body instantly responded to. I tugged him closer, moulded my mouth to his, and was invigorated by the readiness of his lips. There was a cohesion about his kiss and my kiss and, quite obviously, we were both going to the same place with it.
When I broke away, Tweek was quick to follow, an arm draped across my shoulders. He reconnected our mouths, pulled me toward him, parted his lips and tilted his head until we were seamless. My fingers tightened around his waist as our lips moved and meshed together. I took a step closer and our chests met. Biting down on his flesh momentarily caused the blonde's nails to dig into my shirt except I wanted them in my skin. Damn it. Thinking about it without actually feeling it made me crave the scratch of his nails.
They were well kept, I knew, and I wanted to draw them. I wanted to draw his fingers and his willowy arms and I wanted to see his lips bruised and swollen. His eyes dark, glazed over, red in the cheeks, unable to catch his breath. That would be the way I'd see him and illustrate him and I was excited to put him in that unruly position.
We maneuvered around until his back was to the wall. I pulled back and held him there, listening to him pant while he clung to me, fingers clenching my hair. My stomach tightened at the situation I'd gotten myself into. I mean, I was essentially kissing my muse. It was kind of a turn on.
Noses brushing, I nuzzled our lips together, teasing him. Every time he leaned into me, I reclined, toying with him until he snapped. The blonde roughly tugged me toward him to accommodate for this game I was playing. It was in unison as our mouths parted, tongues seeking to achieve the wet feel of the other, rolling in tandem. The action was slick and warm, this simple thing that just felt plain good.
Tweek leaned into me, so far up on his toes that he would've lost his balance had he not be sandwiched between my body and the wall. Hands slipping across the small of his back, I lapped at his lips and delved my tongue into his mouth. He began having to pull away to breathe, though it never stopped him from placing short kisses wherever he pleased. It turned into a repetitive action and I lost my whereabouts in the hypnotizing lull. The blonde was getting disoriented in his own act, clinging to me tighter, tugging at me harder, making these softly whispered noises beneath his breath. They caught in my ears and it was all I could hear.
My hands slid along the length of his sides, skin shivering beneath my fingers. His chest heaved and a particularly quick inhale separated our lips. A smirk caught the corners of my mouth as I drew a steady trail up to his collar with my hands where I cupped either side of his face and peppered his jaw with openmouthed kisses. He was radiating warmth—energy and purpose.
I'd dropped my charcoal.
I took a hurried glance over my shoulder to make sure they were okay and found them laying on my floor. There were no broken bits so I hadn't stepped on them.
When I turned back around, Tweek was staring up at me and his eyes were bottomless pits. The darkness of my room and the plague of the mood that had just transpired between us had dilated his pupils until the green of his irises were nearly gone, eaten away by an obsidian color so similar to that damn canvas from my nightmare, the black one that ate all of my favorite things.
"You look like a demon," was the first thing out of my mouth. Considering the circumstance, I'd go ahead and admit he was a pretty sexy demon.