Chapter Text
He’s running. His feet clip-clop against the dirt and the roots, a menacing ticking repeating itself over, and over, and over. He keeps running. There’s a maniacal giggle, and it takes too long for him to realise that it’s his tongue lashing out the noise. He is a hyena, hounding after his prey, laughing, taunting as his next toy tries to escape, pitifully.
“Can’t run forever, Teddy!”
And the name, despite being his nickname, isn’t called to him - rather by him, to the pathetic creature scampering away from him like a gazelle from a lion. He’s panting, whimpering as he tries to escape, but he is surrounded by twisting, enclosing trees that suffocate him, swallowing him whole into an labyrinthic abyss, where all that remains is the player and the played with,
“Leave me alone! Please- God, fuck- I don’t wanna die here!” The man screams. Vaguely, he knows that his prey was never this weak. He’s become this desperate, whimpering thing, thanks to his predator.
“You won’t die, Teddy-bear! Never ever, I won’t be so kind!” And the words are violent, a threat. They deny him his life, his freedom, they deny his very humanity. He will become a toy for a god, for all eternity. Teddy-bear has reached a dead end. He turns around, brown eyes wide and wet in terror, lip trembling as he falls into the dirt, tarnishing his crumpled work attire, mud splashing into the mousy brown locks on his head.
“Please, I’ll give you anything! Spare me, spare me-”
Theo shoots up, blue eyes wide as he pants, breathing in and out desperately. He rolls his eyes, glancing over at Blaire, still fast asleep. He sighs, relaxing, running a hand through the electric yellow rats nest on his head.
“Another of those fuckin’ nightmares, Jesus,” He complains quietly, rolling his eyes and reaching over to his phone. The screen is shattered, making the time unreadable to most. Still, Theo can read that it’s 5:44 in the morning, on Friday. He shrugs, deciding this is an okay time to get up. He creeps out of bed, smoothing out his Doctor Who shirt that he slept in and shorts before walking out of his room.
Will’s downstairs, wearing a pair of silk pyjamas that he got for his birthday last year. Some would argue it was a Christmas gift, but Will knew the difference. He turns to look up at Theo through his glasses, an eyebrow raised,
“You’re up earlier than usual,” He begins, his British voice still groggy with sleep, “What’s the occasion?”
“Another stupid dream, that one where I’m chasing that guy from your work.” He responds, pulling a bowl out from the cabinet and filling it to the brim with that sugary cereal that Will detested buying.
“Some people say that all dreams have meanings, some secret message that your subconscious is trying to tell you.” Will responds, taking a bite from his toast while scrolling through the news on his phone, snorting on occasion. Theo rolls his eyes,
“Oh yeah? What do you think my brain wants to tell me?” He asks satirically, adding the tiniest splash of milk to his tooth cavity extravaganza,
“Probably to stop doing weed.” His brother responds, and it takes Theo a moment to realise that Will was joking. He scoffs, chuckling weakly and sitting on the counter, taking a bite from his breakfast. Will makes a comment about how they have plenty of perfectly good chairs which Theo pointedly ignores.
Nolan is next to wake up, bouncing down the stairs far too eagerly for 6:12 in the morning. His pink hair is tied up in a tight bun, as he bounds over. He opens his mouth when Will quickly holds his hand up,
“Before you say some inane mantra of delight that makes my mornings feel more like periods of mourning, get me a coffee.” The younger rolls his eyes, sliding over to the coffee machine and tediously making a cup for Will. Obeying his brother exactly, he stays entirely silent while doing so, the noise of Theo’s foot tapping against the counter rhythmically echoing out against the dlop-dlop-dlop of coffee being poured into a bright green mug. Nolan hands it over to Will who takes a sip, nodding affirmatively,
“Okay, proceed,” He says,
“Good morning , brothers! God, it’s gonna be an amazing day, I just know it! Do you think it’s warm outside? Ooh, or maybe there’s a nice breeze- I love a breeze, you can make the warmest, tastiest meals, oh! I got a new autumn cookbook I wanna try out for dinner tonight! It’s got loads of recipes perfect for the fall season!” Nolan exclaims, with far too much vigour and delight for 6:14 in the morning. Tinky knows he’s had that exact thought far, far too many times. Where did Nolan get his energy from? The souls of the innocent? He snorts at his own idea, drinking the remaining milk droplets before dropping his bowl in the sink. Will sighs,
“Every day I expect the coffee to be strong enough, and every day it isn’t.” He laments quietly, placing his phone down. Nolan rolls his eyes, turning over to Theo,
“You’re up early! It’s good to see you getting into good habits.” He says, patting Theo’s knee affirmatively. The yellow haired boy rolls his eyes, shifting his knee away,
“Yeah, don’t get used to it.” He says, hopping off the counter, “I’m guessing neither of you are gonna use the tv-”
“ I am!” Pierre came bounding down the stairs, shouting much, much too loudly for 6:17 in the morning. Unfortunately, for the Black siblings, this seems to be a common theme, and Theo was no exception. Scowling, he rolls his eyes,
“I was not asking you! You’ve used the TV every damn morning looking for that dumb fucking musical bootleg-“ He screeches back, storming over to the theatre kid, and trying to wrestle the remote out of his hands. Pierre glares back, their sharp blue eyes cutting into Theo,
“Well if you’d bothered to help me raise the money to see Mama Mia at the Starlight when it was on , maybe I wouldn’t have to use the TV every morning! I’m gonna see this damn show if it kills me!” He yanks the remote away, hastily opening Youtube from the extensions tab. Theo scoffs, looking over at Will expectantly. The green-haired brother simply sighs,
“Why did I have to be the eldest of you cock-sucking little shits?” He mutters to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose while downing the rest of his coffee like it was his first drink of water in the desert.
“My sexuality has nothing to do with this!” Pierre shouts. Theo snorts traitorously before reminding himself that he’s annoyed at the blue haired boy, snarling at him. “Besides, just watch your fucking Doctor Who or whatever when I’m at school, it’s not like you show up anyways-“
“What’s this now?” Will’s head tilts up, staring incredulously at Theo, awaiting an explanation. Theo growls, grabbing a pillow and holding it over Pierre’s face in an effort to get him to shut up, holding him down on the couch. The boys limbs flail about, whacking at Tinky angrily as his screeches of rage were muffled,
“He’s just being a dumbass as usual, Will, don’t worry, I’ll deal with that traitorous little fucking nerd-“
“If you all don’t shut up immediately, I’m gonna kill myself, and you’re all gonna watch.” Blaire complains, shuffling down the stairs and rubbing at her mauve eyes, glaring sharply at the two on the couch. Her stare cuts into them both, making Theo sit back and pull the couch cushion back, Pierre staring at her for a moment as well before quickly turning back to the TV, frantically typing in ‘Mama Mia Starlight Theatre Slime Tutorial’, their eyes laser-focused on the box. Theo scowls,
“No fuckin’ fair, they’ve been on that fuckin’ TV every day for the past week! I want a turn!” He complains loudly, hoping to garner at least one of his two elder siblings' attention. Unfortunately, Blaire is busy getting breakfast, and Will wouldn’t give a fuck if Theo walked in with his leg hanging off, so Theo simply begins angrily muttering on the couch. He grins gratefully at Nolan, who hands him a waffle that’s 70% composed of chocolate spread as he walks past with his plate of eggs and bacon, “You’re my favourite sibling!” He says, Nolan giving him an affirmative thumbs up as he walks past. Blaire scoffs, eyes wide with offence,
“Uh, fuck you too?” She snarks, tsking as she takes a passive aggressive bite from her bagel. Theo rolls his eyes,
“Well you’re a voyeuristic asshole,” He points to Pierre, “He keeps hogging the TV,” And then to Will, “And if a pack of wolves killed me and left me in a ditch in the side of the road, he’d be glad that he wouldn’t need to pay for a coffin!”
“Bold of you to assume I’d pay for a funeral in the first place,” Will mutters, placing his coffee mug in the sink, “If you’re done bitching, go upstairs and get ready for school. If you’re not ready by 8, you’re walking.” Theo flips him off as he walks up the stairs, scowling.
Theo’s ready to leave by 7:58, sliding into the backseat, uncomfortably squeezed into the car door by Pierre and Nolan childishly smacking at each other over- Theo thinks it’s a TV character? He really can’t tell, they’re too far gone from the original topic of discussion, now focused on attacking one another. And unfortunately for Theo, they don’t have enough spacial awareness not to thwack him straight in the nose. He groans, shoving his two idiotic younger brothers before turning to Will,
“Fuckin’ do something about them! They’re being little shits as per usual!” He screeches. Blaire and Will simply roll their eyes, ignoring him as they drive to school. Defeated, Theo slumps down in his seat, slapping away Nolan as he tries to reach over and check his nose.
Theo has no clue how he deals with these assholes.