"MOM, MOM, you're home!" Tommy laughed, running past his brother, who was waiting patiently at the top of the porch stairs to greet their parents. Tommy didn't care, he hadn't seen his Mom in a whole week! Jonathan gave an annoyed grunt when he was thrown off balance by his younger brother but stayed where he was at the top of the stairs with his hands crossed behind his back.
"My beautiful boy! Oh, how I have missed you!" his mother dropped her bags the instant she saw the little blond-headed typhoon head straight for her, her hands freeing up just in time to catch him as he leapt into her embrace.
They laughed together as she spun him around, his head burying against her shoulder. She smelt like her oil paints and the flowers in her garden, and she was as warm as the sun on a summer day, and her laugh was like honey. He wanted to stay with her forever, and he wished she didn't have to leave for a week every month for her gallery opening. That week she was gone, was the longest week of his life, and he didn't think he would be able to get through it if it wasn't for Uncle Christian who came to pick him up from school every day, who would take him to the shop and teach him about engines until dinner.
"You must tell me everything that you learnt at school, and what Uncle Christian has taught you at the shop, I want to hear all about it," She said into his curly hair, and as she pulled away to look at him, his whole world fell apart because every good memory he had of her was now tainted in blood.
She stuttered, a tear sliding down her blood-splattered cheek, blood blossomed like a rose in spring on her white blouse. "Tommy," She whispered, hand extended out, fingers trembling, as she fell, the two of them suddenly alone back in that kitchen, the smell of gun powder clinging to the air around them. He watched in horror as she fell to her knees in front of him and he hardly flinched as Joesph, the man who had just shot his mother, turned the gun on himself... Painting the whole kitchen red.
Tommy could do nothing except lay down next to her, taking her hand as she struggled to breathe through the blood in her throat, the blood seeped across the marble floor, engulfing his body as the warmth of sunshine oozed out of her. Her eyes glazed over, unfocused but staring aimlessly at him, she struggled to say something, her words splattering blood against his face and he grabbed her hand, convinced he'd never let her go, even as her eyes darkened. "Mom...? Mommy, please, don't go to sleep, don't go..."
Tommy woke to soft voices and a heavyweight of something around his shoulders. He was about to be sparked into a panic when he felt a familiar hand behind his neck, he could smell the saltwater, could hear the waves crashing on the shore and he knew he was in Winchester. Where he lived in New York was nowhere near the beach, that kitchen was nowhere near the beach. He didn't know how long he had been asleep for and he didn't know if he was prepared to open his eyes yet, but the pain shocked him out of it, it was in his ribs and his face, it was in the carving on his hip.
He could only see out of his good eye, the other one must've been swollen shut at this stage, but he was still where he was when he came out here with Mason, except now he had a blanket around him, and Sasha, Nicky, and Harry were out here too. Tommy also realized that he had his head leaning against Mason's shoulder. He must've felt Tommy flinch as he usually did when he woke up and moved his hand to the back of his neck where it still rested.
"Oh, sleeping beauty is finally awake," Nicky grinned from next to Mason.
"I just want to say that you two make a beautiful couple," Harry continued the teasing and Tommy jolted up from Mason's shoulder, instantly regretting it when the pain struck his ribs like a steel pipe swinging hard into his gut. Tommy was even more surprised that Mason did not react at all to that, then again, he guessed it wasn't all that shocking, Mason didn't react to even the most surprising of things.
"Here, it looks painful," Sasha smiles her soft smile as she held out a bottle of water and a couple of painkillers in the palm of her hand. Tommy accepted it without question, though his trembling hands didn't go unnoticed as all of their eyes trailed them as he reached for the pills and water.
"Bad dream?" Nicky asked, his grin instantly dissolved into something a little more serious and concern-fulled.
"Where's Christian?" Tommy asked, avoiding the question as he dropped the pills against his tongue. He could still feel his mothers dried and tacky blood sticking to his skin, he felt as though he needed a nice long shower, or to swim in the crashing waves.
"He went to the shop, thought it was best to give you some time to calm down a little bit," Nicky answered cautiously as if expecting him to lash out at his words.
"I'm sorry you had to hear all of that, I'm a stranger, and he's like family to you, must've been uncomfortable hearing me tear into him the way I did," Tommy exclaimed, fiddling anxiously with the bottle cap. They all watched him with steady gazes, but he could see the stress behind their eyes, the way they looked at him as if they weren't angry nor welcoming of the way he treated Christian.
"You were harsh, but it was justified..." Harry murmured and it was probably the most conflicted expression Tommy had ever seen on his face, especially when he always seemed to be the most carefree one of the siblings.
"I shouldn't have been that harsh. Sometimes I get confused and don't know where I am or what is really happening, and the next day I'm usually really exhausted and angry and I took it out on him. It's not an excuse I just don't want you to think I have always been like this," Tommy tried to explain it the best be could, but he still didn't think it made much sense.
"Dammit, Tommy, I mean, since day one you have been stubborn and shoot death glares every time one of us teases you. But I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we never thought you weren't justified in your anger," Nicky said, leaning around Mason and ruffling up Tommy's hair and he couldn't stop his lips tugging at the corners slightly with relief.
"Thanks," Tommy mumbled, rubbing his smile off on the sleeve of his shirt.
"Oh my god, I can't deal with you! Jesus, you really are like a lost puppy, let yourself smile for once!" Harry groaned as if it was the most dramatic thing in the world.
"I do smile!" Tommy protested, and they all chuckled at that, reacting as if he was some little kid trying to prove himself to them.
"Yes, Tommy, you do, but only maliciously or sarcastically," Nicky pointed out.
"Actually, that's incorrect, when we had our little beach date last week he was grinning from ear to ear," Sasha defended him, and Tommy held his hand out in her direction in an exaggerated "point made" motion.
"That's because you fed him alcohol that you stole from the diner, that doesn't count," Mason interjected.
"You still have to pay that back, moms gonna kill you otherwise," Harry jostles his eyebrows at her which earns him a smack in the arm. Tommy did as they said and let himself smile as their teasing continued, the bickering that made him feel that same warmth of sunshine that he hadn't felt since he was with his mother.
"Oh, it's so cute! Keep doing it!" Harry quacked excitedly, pinching Tommy's cheeks as some elderly woman would.
"Ow! Did you forget I was punched several times!" Tommy gasped, smacking Harry's hands away and despite the pain, his smile didn't fade.
"Sorry, sorry," Harry held up his hands in surrender as he backed away to his position, his eyes momentarily flicking to Mason, a dubious smile on his face. Tommy didn't look up at Mason at his side, but could just imagine the death glare Harry was getting from him, and he felt his cheeks warm.
"You really are stupid, you know that!" Nicky laughed, slinging his arm around Harry who had retreated all the way round to his side, the furthest he could get from Mason.
"So are you coming around for Sunday dinner tomorrow? Please come, you've said no twice already," Sasha begged, batting her eyelashes seductively even though she knew Tommy was gay, though it did cause Nicky to choke on the water he was drinking. Tommy's smirk grew at that, it was so apparent that Nicky was blatantly in love with Sasha but was too shy to do anything about it.
"If you don't, mom will come and drag you out of the house, and trust me when I say that she is a lot scarier than Mason," Sasha matched Tommy's smirk as her eyes trailed over to Mason.
"Okay, I'll come," Tommy gave in, even if the idea of seeing a mother in the kitchen again made his stomach churn uncomfortably, but he thought that it might be okay this time.
Comments (0)
See all