Work Text:
Deondre entered his bedroom to see Tamonte hunched over their iPad with headphones on and a green plastic training potty against the wall by the door. He almost missed it since it was in the same place as the small trash can they had in the room. The trashcan had been relocated to the space between Deondre’s bed and the closet. He sighed, closed the door, and crossed the room.
He pulled back the side of Tamonte’s headphones, “Is our room becoming a storage closet?” Tamonte jumped, dropping his stylus.
“Jesus,” he cried, yanking off his headphones. "What the hell was that about?”
Deondre shrugged, “I got your attention didn’t I?”
“I… guess so?” they huffed, “What do you want?”
“What’s with the training potty? We got like a toddler coming over or something?” Tamonte glanced over, eyebrows quirking as if seeing the potty for the first time.
“Oh right that, needed it for a reference.”
Deondre stared, “All those words meant something to you didn’t they?”
“I needed a pose and I was gonna build it around the potty and then just edit it out but then I couldn’t get a good picture with my iPad or phone camera so I just left it.”
“Wait wait wait, let me get this straight. You unearthed this thing from god knows where in the garage, carried it through the house to here, and then sat on it? For art? That didn’t even work out??”
“I had pants on when I sat on it.”
“And then you just left it here?”
“It was a hassle to get out.” Tamonte defended, “I wiped it out before I brought it in here.”
“Well thank god for that.” Deondre walked away and flung himself down on their bed, “What kind of pose would you get from a training potty?”
“I need a guy kneeling but none of the other references were right so I figured I would just create one.”
“The things people do for art,” Deondre sighed, “This is why I don’t do art.”
“Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” said Tamonte and put his headphones back on. The potty remained by the door, soon forgotten by the siblings. They adjusted easily to the new placement of their trashcan and life went on
Deondre was stretched out on his front on his bed playing on his switch. Eyes still trained on the screen he reached down, picked up a half-empty energy drink can, and took a long sip before replacing it on the floor; among two other empty cans. He had planned to be there for a while, a plan that was going excellently except for one thing: he had to pee. They should have gotten up an hour ago when they were only halfway through their second drink, but they had been making such good progress in their game. Their legs were bent at the knee and their ankles were crossed. He chewed his lip as their avatar leaped to a platform. Their bladder sent another wave of desperation briefly distracting them. They huffed, rolled onto their back, and crossed their legs at the knee, he really needed to get up. One foot bounced restlessly in the air as he triggered a cut scene. Gritting his teeth he decided to go when the scene ended which would have been much sooner if he hadn’t refused to speed through the dialogue. They sat up, scooting to the edge of the bed with their thighs pressed together. Their focus kept slipping from the game forcing them to reread the words as they came across the screen. The scene finally ended as Deondre’s hold began to crumble.
Casting his switch aside he jumped off the bed only to leak from the sudden change in position. He yelped before quickly clamping a hand over his mouth and one between his legs. There was no way he was making it to the bathroom in this state. Shamelessly, he danced from foot to foot in the middle of the floor searching for a solution. His eyes landed on the potty, unused and as pristine as possible. He glared at it before quickly shuffling over to it. They pulled it from beside the wall and placed it in the middle of the floor. They stared at it still squirming unsure how to proceed, but it was here or the trashcan which was an even less savory option. Another leak forced him into action. He took off his pants and underwear and positioned himself over the potty. They considered standing before changing their mind and lowered himself to his knees. When he was sure his penis was arranged behind the splash guard they let loose, and not a moment too soon.
Pee rushed out splattering noisily against the hard plastic. They held up their shirt slightly with one hand while the other rested on their thigh. Their heart hammered as their breathing slowed, and then the door swung open.
“Hey, have you- Woah!” Tamonte stood in the doorway, the original sentence dying on his tongue.
“Close the door asshole!” Deondre snapped. Tamonte quickly obeyed, closing the door and standing with his back to it. Neither of them said anything even as Deondre’s stream tapered off.
“Holy shit,” Tamonte finally said though he didn’t seem entirely aware of the words coming from his mouth.
“Yeah yeah shut up,” Deondre avoided his eye and busied himself with figuring out how he was going to get up without tipping the potty over.
“Can I sketch this?” Tamonte asked suddenly, making Deondre’s eyes snap up.
“What? No!”
“Please? This is the pose I needed, I won’t do your face I promise.”
“No no no no no, there will be no drawings or pictures commemorating this in any way. This moment will only exist in our memories and we will never speak of it again.”
“Ugh, fine spoilsport.”
Deondre managed to get up without any problems and got redressed. The potty had a detachable bowl and he gingerly removed it.
“Holy shit it’s full, you really had to go didn’t you?”
“What did I just say about never speaking about this?” Tamonte held up his hands in surrender and opened the bedroom door. Deondre slipped into the hall and- as quickly as he could without spilling- walked to the bathroom. He poured the amber liquid into the toilet and flushed, he wiped out the bowl and washed his hands. Back in the bedroom he placed the bowl back into the potty but didn’t get a chance to put the whole thing back beside the door.
“Here take my picture,” Tamonte said, handing over his phone.
“What why?” Deondre asked, accepting the phone despite their confusion.
“Well, I still need a reference and you flat-out refused to model for me,” Tamonte explained squatting over the potty, “figured I might as well just have you take my picture seeing as we’ve already breached any layers of awkwardness.”
“Artists,” Deondre sighed, “Alright hold still,” he said and readied the camera.