Without his permission, Theodore's mind soon turned back towards Lila's mysterious words from the swimming hole near on a month prior. That moment had been rolling around in his mind, niggling at his brain ever since that day. That day when, in a moment of true vulnerability she had very nearly revealed to him what had been bothering her; only to laugh it off as if it were all some big joke that only she was privy to.

Lore, Theodore wished that she had said what it was! He could ask her again, he supposed, but he didn't know how to bring it up and even if he did, would she truly answer him? Maybe it was true, what they thought, and that Lila had finally found some secret beau to be with in the dead of night just like Granddaddy Edwin did with his laundry list of women? Or, perhaps, it had more to do with their distant family members? What were their names again? What was their story? It was so long ago now, that Theodore often had a hard time remembering all of the details.

"What?" Franklin prodded, tweaking Theodore's limp fingers where they lay resting in his lap.

"Nothing, I just…" Theodore sighed as he snatched the flask from where it sat and swallowed down another gulp, coughing only a little as it went down. "Just something that's been stuck on my mind, recently. It was something that Lila said"

Franklin's brow furrowed in puzzlement. "What did Lila say?"

Theodore nibbled on his lower lip, but didn't say anything as if he were afraid to say it aloud.

"Teddy?" Franklin prompted.

"She…she said that our family is fucked up; said that's why it's just us" Theodore replied, copping out as he told the farm boy about what she had said when he'd asked about their guardians some time ago. "I—I think she was referring to those old Alien Tracking Boards that we used to make, out in your barn" He only half-lied.

"Oh yeah, I remember those!" Franklin nodded as he ran a hand through his hair, as he recalled the collage that had more or less taken over the Cooper's barn at one point. That was before they'd kinda given up on the whole thing and little Elliot Gussman had hoarded every article like they were going out of style. "And yeah, well, Lila's not wrong. All of our families are kinda fucked up"

"No, but like, she…she meant—she meant what she said about ours" Theodore persisted, as he tried to express what he was trying to say without truly saying it. It was the kind of mental gymnastics that he was used to doing when trying to out-think the LANE Keepers and their sympathisers, but that didn't make it any easier. "Like, she was actually referring to something, but she won't tell me what! It's like she thinks I already know what that is!"

Franklin spared Theodore a confused look, clearly just as confused as he was about the whole thing. Still, he rested a comforting hand on his bare ankle. "What—what makes you think that?"

"Have you met us?" Theodore scoffed, tossing his hands up in derision. "But I still don't know what she meant by that! I mean, what is it? What makes us so messed up?!"

Franklin just shook his head, a tired sigh falling from his lips. "I can't answer that for you, Teddy, 'cause I just don't know either. But I do know that you love Lila, even if she can be a little nuts, at times" He spared a fond smile, teasingly shoving him.

Theodore's lips quirked up at the corners, but his gaze drifted down towards his hands. "But I'm a a part of this crazy messed up family" He whispered, "Which means that I'm probably just as fucked up at the rest of them, right? Is that why it's just me and Lila? 'Cause we're just so messed up?"

There was a long pause; one so long that Theodore was afraid that Franklin agreed with that statement, but he didn't want to say anything to either confirm or deny it. The silence seemed to drag on for forever; the moment bordering on awkward as Theodore found himself hunkering down into himself, in an effort to hide. He couldn't bring himself to look Franklin in the eyes, for fear of what he might find there. But after the silence seemed to drag on forever, Franklin spoke up again. This time, his voice was quiet and serious; as if he were afraid to break the serene atmosphere of the barnyard.

"Teddy, look at me" Franklin gently tilted his chin up, until Theodore reluctantly looking him in the eye. "Look at me, Teddy"

"Franky…?" Theodore breathed, unable to tear his face away.

"…Did you know that my daddy used to beat the shit outta me just 'cause the sun rose, and whip me just 'cause it set?" He chuckled wetly, thumb gently stroking his lower lip. "I can take that, but when he turned on my momma—on my sisters?—I saw red. Ripped the pistol right outta his hands and shoved the muzzle right into his face, and clicked off the safety. I was this close to pulling the trigger—this close" He admitted; fingers barely a centimetre apart.

"But you didn't…kill him?" Theodore whispered. He'd seen Mr Cooper before; on the fringes of the farm. He was a hard man; old and paranoid, but he tended to avoid them for the most part. Now, he knew why.

"I wanted to, God, did I want to" Franklin admitted. His downcast eyes glowing faintly in the moonlight. "But no, I didn't kill him"

He then leant back far enough that he could shuck his suspenders and lift the edge of his shirt. He tucked it behind his head, baring toned torso to the night air. Quietly, Franklin took up Theodore's wrist and pressed his hand flat against his chest. Theodore held his breath as his fingers ran dangerously close to the farm boy's waistline, where tarnished skin lay. "Feel that?" Franklin whispered, his voice hoarse.

"Y-yeah…" Theodore choked out his throat dry as he felt the feathery scrap of scar tissue bloom beneath his fingertips.

"Belt lashes" He said by way of explanation. "But the thing with the pistol was the last time her touched any of us, I made sure of it. I was twelve years old" He dropped his grip on Theodore's wrist, but Theodore didn't move his hand away. "Nowadays, he's kinda just there and Momma calls me the man of the house, now"

"Franky…" Theodore whined, lips trembling as he tried to speak.

"We're all a bit fucked up, Teddy" Franklin continued, "One way or the other; It's only a matter of how much"

The brunette sucked in a steadying breath, "I—I guess so…"

"Guess, we can be fucked together, then" Franky chuckled wetly.

"Or" Theodore licked his lips, lust clouding his eyes as his fingers moved to fiddle with the waistband of the farm boy's pants. A sense of courage that he didn't usually feel, enveloped him and he felt his lips moving without his knowledge. "We could fuck together?"

Franklin audibly swallowed as his hands snapped out to grab ahold of Theodore's shirt and none-so-gently yanked him closer. "Kiss me" He demanded.

Those words were like music to his ears. Theodore wasted no time in reciprocating the action as he wrapped his arms around Franklin's neck and pulled him in for a kiss. The Garde boy felt like he was drowning in the sensations that flooded over him and he didn't care one bit. He loved the way Franklin kissed him back, tongue tentatively tracing the line of his lips before delving inside upon silent invitation; sucking hard on the tongue that lay inside.

His mouth was deliciously hot & wet against his own, and his tongue tasted of the bitter sting of moonshine. Lore, Theodore felt like he could get drunk just off of him; right there, right then. He loved how their bodies moulded together; pressed full length against one another as they moved. He loved how his fingers trailed lightning paths up and down his skin, as he traced the lines of Lien du Lorne shining through his skin. But most of all, he loved the sensation of Franklin's raging hard-on pulsating in time against his own throbbing one.

Liquid courage swam in Theodore's veins as he rocked back onto his haunches, taking Franklin with him as the farm boy's hands worked tirelessly beneath the Garde boy's shirt, lifting it up and away. At some point, they'd reluctantly come up for air, panting and sweating like they'd just run a thousand miles as only a string of salvia connected them. So, when Franklin's hands—calloused & sun-baked from days in the sun—trailed down Theodore's chest in flutter-light touches, it lit up his skin and Theodore fell willingly—eagerly—into his embrace.

But no sooner had Theodore locked eyes with Franklin, was the farm boy pushing him back into the hay with a ravenous sort of hunger, as his mouth latched back onto Theodore again. Only this time, he went for the Garde's bare & erect nipples, rather than the lips plump from pashing. He tasted just the way that Theodore thought he would; like cigarettes and mint toothpaste, the sharp bite of moonshine on his tongue and the musky scent of sweat on his skin.

Theodore raised one hand and ran it through his gilded hair, trailing down the side of his face in a rather possessive gesture. The rough scratch of his barely-there stubble scratched at his fingertips, making Theodore lick his lips in anticipation. Selfishly, he hoped that there was a part of him—no matter how small—that would always belong to him.

The Garde instinctively spread his legs, making room for Franklin's body between them. His weight pressed into him, and the both of them down into the hay. He buried his face into Franklin's neck to muffle his moans as the farm boy sucked hard & fast on the Garde's ears; kisses dotting the path up his neck to the appendage as they rocked against each other. It was all Theodore could do to dig his nails into those blonde locks or the strewn about hay, as the old hayloft creaked ominously beneath them.

All of his young life, the only advice that Theodore had ever received about sex was simple: Don't. Don't take advantage. Don't watch porn. Don't stare. Don't take it without asking. Don't be a man whore. Don't get a girl pregnant. Don't make my mistakes. Don't, don't, don't. Back in New York—back in 2019—there had been a couple of times where he had watched a porno or two (afterall, he had the internet; no one was still innocent with that kind of worldwide access) and there had been a couple of times when a party had delved into games like "Spin the Bottle" or "Seven Minutes in Heaven"

Nothing major had ever happened, just the hesitant kind of kissing or fumbling under a shirt that people did when mimicking what they had seen or been told. Honestly, Theodore hand't even liked it all that much. It had mostly been curiosity driving him, more than anything. You know, testing the limits of his own boldness and so on. But he'd always backed off before things went too far, scared enough by his parents' horror stories of what came next, that he found himself unable to proceed. Or maybe it was because they had been classmates and there had been a mutual understanding of it being a party game and nothing more.

But unlike those instances when this moment came, Franklin didn't falter or back away. There was no guilt or second-guessing when it came time to claim what did or did not belong to him. He took it without asking—practically demanding it, outright—as though it were meant for him and only him. And Theodore was more than glad to let him take it. If he could choose anyone to take, he was sure that he would choose Franklin a thousand times over.