His knees fit perfectly into the bottom of his too large black and purple hoodie. His stepfather was rambling on cheerfully in the kitchen, but Vivian just sat on the couch with his eyes closed. Theodore had decided by himself that moving would be a good change of pace for the two of them. Vivian disagreed. He shrunk further into his hoodie, hiding his clenched violet eyes that were underlined with dark circles. The hood providing an extra layer on top of his pitch black bangs.

‘What’s wrong kiddo?” Theodore had come over, still wearing his frilly plaid apron that Vivian had made for him in first grade. Even though Theodore had been scrubbing dirty dishes only moments ago, the apron barely had any dirt or water on it.

Vivian was already a sophomore in high school, but Theodore had insisted that he would treasure everything Vivian had ever made for him. Maybe that was part of the reason Vivian had decided to follow Theodore during the divorce a year ago, even though they had no blood relation and their personalities seemed to be complete opposites. Theodore actually cared and paid attention to what Vivian did.

“Nothing.” Vivian half glared through his bangs.

“Come on pal! This is me, THE-O-DORE-able stepfather in the room.” Theodore pointed at himself with both thumbs as he grinned. He could be such a dork at times.

Vivian didn’t react to his pun though.

“I just don't understand why we had to move right in the middle of high school… You know I'm not a social person, and yet I now have to be thrown into a new lion’s den of hormones and stares...” Vivian sulked some more.

“Aw, Viv…” Theodore sat down, temporarily giving up on trying to make Vivian smile. “It’s true that it might be hard to get to know everyone again. Yet this is also a new beginning to reinvent yourself. Trust me, you'll do fine!” Theodore gave Vivian a large smile and put his hand on Vivian's shoulder. “And if anything happens I’ll be right here to talk to.”

“Unlike Mom…” Vivian muttered under his breath.

Theodore sighed and Vivian saw a rare glimpse of sadness flash across his face. “Your mother could be complicated at times. Don’t blame her for what happened back then, just try to forgive her. It doesn’t matter anymore anyways. Now we are starting over without her. Here we can be just a teenage boy and his goofy father.” After a quick moment Theodore got back up from the couch. “Enough about the past, right now those dishes need some more TLC. Theodore’s Lovely Cleaning!”

Vivian finally cracked a very small smirk at his stepfather. “I might as well help the goofy father with his ‘Lovely’ cleaning.” Vivian slowly untucked himself from his hoodie and got up as well, the triple extra large hoodie putting a weird emphasis on his petite feminine frame. “Is it okay if I focus on unpacking some more boxes?” Vivian still felt anxious, but he figured he might be a little bit more comfortable if he had some familiar items unboxed.

“That’s ay-okay with me bud. We’ve unboxed some of your worries, and now you can unbox some comforts while I unbox the shininess of our dishes.” Theodore had switched back to a hyper camp counselor vibe.

Theodore’s instant switch to an extreme level of peppiness still surprised Vivian at times. One second he could be talking about something really deep, and the next second he was jumping off the walls and cheering like a cheerleader. Theodore was the only person Vivian could ever stand that possessed so much energy.

Vivian shook his head slightly, his bangs fluttering at the movement. “Whatever you say… Dad.”

Theodore turned around in surprise, but Vivian had already left to unpack the boxes. Theodore tried to contain the excitement he always felt during the few times Vivian referred to him as such, but as soon as he was sure Vivian had left, Theodore curled his fingers up to his face and quietly squealed into them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Vivian finally felt at home. Just by having his bedroom set up like his old room in Eastedge, Vivian could pretend they had never left the one place he had always felt himself. The only difference from his childhood room was that Theodore had let Vivian paint the walls here with black paint. His only requirement for Vivian was that it was chalkboard paint, “So that I can add color to your life.”

Vivian laid back on his black bed and closed his eyes. Only a week left until school would start for him. His anxieties were flying through his head non-stop like usual. He wished that his thoughts would quiet down enough for sleep to overtake him, but lately he could only get a quick minute here and there.

Vivian turned on his side and curled up into a ball. He felt so small and insignificant. He wanted to cry, but he hadn't been able to cry since the initial fight with his mother. So it just kept building up.

He tried to remember the simpler times in elementary school when the three of them were a happy family. The more he tried though, the more he realized that his mother hadn't really been a part of his life and had left his upbringing almost solely to Theodore. She was always busy with work and working overtime every chance she could get.

Vivian couldn't stand the swirling thoughts for very long and decided to see what Theodore was up to.

Getting up from his bed slowly, Vivian slowly walked over to the door that led to the living room. His bare feet barely made a sound on the plush dark blue carpeting. Opening the door, Vivian saw Theodore deep asleep on the couch. The TV was finally set up and playing a recording of Theodore acting with the all-age community drama team in Eastedge. Vivian knew how hard this move must be on Theodore as well.

Theodore wasn't much of an actor in the more recent years, but he still enjoyed meeting new people and their reactions to touching scenes. He usually would just end up volunteering to help the youngest actors since he was good with kids. Sometimes he still got a part in the actual shows though, usually for an extremely hyper character since no one could beat Theodore's energy.

When Vivian was younger he would sometimes go to the practices just to get out of the empty house. He would then be roped in to helping backstage. The other stagehands would teach him how to paint and make different props, or how the tech booth worked.

Even though Vivian couldn't think of any good memories with his mother, he had so many involving his stepfather. He had always been Vivian's shoulder to lean on, or the parent to cry too. Vivian just wished it was actually his mother that was there for him. Not that he didn’t appreciate everything Theodore did for him, but it would have probably been better for Theodore if he didn’t have to take over the role of both Father and Mother when Vivian was only his stepson.

Vivian went and found the box of blankets to grab one for Theodore. He gently covered his stepfather with the comforter, and then removed his large round glasses. After making sure he was comfortable, Vivian then went to the kitchen to microwave some chicken nuggets

Once his meal was ready he took a seat in the rickety recliner and watched the recording. It turned out to be the year the drama team had decided to do “Aladdin” and Theodore got the part of the genie.

Vivian smiled bitter-sweetly as he watched, remembering that he wouldn't be able to see anymore of those plays. Theodore had always been the househusband, only doing some small jobs around town for the community occasionally. Vivian's mother had always been the true breadwinner in the family. Now that she wasn't in the picture, Theodore had to go out and get a full-time job, meaning no time to join a drama team, if this town even had one. At least he got a position in the local library where he could get to know everyone and read to the children.

Before Vivian knew it, the recording was over, but he didn't want to stir from his seat. His mind had started up again and he could only sit there. The only light now was the light streaming from the TV, the sunlight from the windows having disappeared during the third act.

Vivian's eyes focused on nothing, and his body became almost as numb as his heart. Surviving all of the thoughts and worries took all of his mental power. He couldn’t stand himself when he got like this, but he couldn’t hold off the inner voices. They always would suddenly creep in and whisper bitter nothings. They could somehow connect opposite topics and blame everything on Vivian. It wasn’t long until they started reviewing the last few months Vivian spent with his mother. The knowledge that he was the one to break the relationship between his mother and Theodore ripped him to shreds every single time the voices looped back to it. How could he hurt the only people he was close to like that? The hatred in his mother’s eyes haunted him constantly.

Vivian broke from his paralysis just long enough to curl up tighter in the recliner. He also ended up pulling the throw blanket off the back of it, searching for a little bit of warmth that wouldn’t come.

When Theodore woke up in the morning he got the quick shock of immediately only seeing Vivian quietly curled up in a throw blanket staring off into nowhere.