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Grian was very much considering fratricide, at this point.
His younger brother was running around his flat at a pace that could probably put an athlete to shame. To make matters worse, Grian could feel a migraine coming on already. It hadn't even been an hour yet, for Void's sake!
Whether or not the migraine was related to (read: caused by) Tommy or just horribly timed didn't matter to him in that moment. All he knew was that he needed to go lay down before it got worse.
Which, admittedly, would be much easier to do if the little demon child wasn't actively trying to rip his sofa cushions apart. As it was, most of Grian's belongings were gifted to him by his friends and family. That or the quality was bad enough for him to be able to afford with his current pay.
Speaking of paychecks, he had a shift tomorrow that he really couldn't afford to skip. Which meant that he had to do something about his head now.
Grian was becoming convinced that the gods wanted him dead.
Well, they probably did, actually. That was the only explanation for all of this. Except he must've done something truly horrible recently, because this was worse than anything he'd ever been through, ever.
Grian let his head fall against his knees, choosing to block out Tommy's screaming. Just for a second.
Right, he had to come up with some sort of solution. Collect options. He should probably write this down.
He twisted his back over the top of the armrest and hastily snatched a small notebook and pencil off the coffee table. He sat back down on the sofa, tapping the pencil against his chin rhythmically.
He could always just tell his parents to stop bumming off of him and finally start taking care of their kids? He was sure they'd take that well!
Yeah, no. He turned his pencil over for the rubber on the other side, which ended up just smudging the writing everywhere. Grian was going to kill himself, and set every rubber factory on fire. Not necessarily in that order, either.
Grian took a deep breath and just scratched that idea out with the pencil.
He could tempt Tommy out of the house for a day by sending him off to a sleepover with that friend of his, Tubbo. And, coincidentally, Grian was actually quite close with Tubbo's older cousin, Scar.
Ah, but Scar also had work tomorrow. He couldn't just shove his issues onto him.
Damn it.
He crossed that idea off the list as well.
Er, he could hire a babysitter?
Sure, Tommy was technically old enough to be left on his own, but was he calm enough...?
...
Grian fished his phone out of his pocket.
━━━━༻❁༺━━━━
Taurtis spun around slightly, taking in the apartment.
It was definitely pretty. There was a cute little garden surrounding it. And, oh my GOSH, were those little poppy flowers?!
Taurtis had made up his mind. He already loved whoever this person was.
He wiped the grin off his face and walked forward. The apartment itself was pretty too. The walls were yellowy-white, with a few light green stripey designs going down the middle. One of the apartments literally had a flower pot hanging from every single window!
He gently set his backpack down on the front doorstep and shoved his breakfast inside. The notification had arrived the second Taurtis got out of the shower, so he hadn't had much time to eat. He hoped the guy wasn't an asshole and would let him eat there. It would suck if someone with a place this cute was still a dick.
Taurtis took a deep breath. He zipped his bag back up and slung one of the straps over his shoulder.
He knocked on the door. Then he remembered that this was an apartment, not a house. Luckily, to his left he saw one of those little boards with all the last names on the buttons. Quickly, Taurtis checked his phone again, then pressed the "Xelqua" button.
The door opened almost immediately. The poor guy must've been desperate.
Taurtis ran up the stairs (why the fuck was there no elevator?!), luckily the place was only on the second story. Thank golly for that.
When he arrived, he could see that the door was cracked open just a smidge. He knocked on the wall next to the door. "Hello?" Taurtis called out.
A thump, which was followed by a small squeak, came from somewhere further inside the house. Then came really high pitch cackling, which Taurtis just had to assume was coming from the child.
A deeper, MUCH prettier (What? It's not like he was lying!) voice made shushing noises, then answered Taurtis. "Come in!"
And so he did.
It took Taurtis at least a minute to try and find where they were. At least he just had to follow the laughing. When he finally found them in the kitchen, the kid was literally rolling on the floor laughing. The older guy was curled up on the floor, clutching his knee.
"Uh, you good, man?" Taurtis cursed his awkwardness. This was literally the perfect anime meet-cute! Fuck!
The blonde hair moved around a bit, then he looked up. Taurtis's mouth practically fell open. Actually, he could swear he felt drool coming out.
LISTEN, okay?! If you could see the guy, you'd act the same! Don't even try to deny it!
The way the guy was sitting earlier, all Taurtis had been able to see was his hair. On its own, it was pretty too. All goldie and curly and fluffy looking. And it was probably really soft. It looked soft. Taurtis kinda wanted to touch it.
And, oh, Void. If Taurtis had thought his hair was pretty on its own... wow.
It framed his jaw nicely. And his skin looked really soft too. His nose was a bit red too, and he had crazybags under his eyes.
"Thank you, um, for coming on such short notice."
Taurtis looked up, confused. "Huh?"
"Um. Nevermind. Ignore me." Blondie said, smiling sheepishly.
Hah, as if Taurtis could ignore that face.
He held a hand out to Taurtis, and Taurtis pretty much grabbed for it instantly. To be fair, though, he had been right. Blondie's hands were SO soft!
"My name's Grian! And you're... Taurtis, right?"
Taurtis nodded. He tried to smile as well, but it probably came out a little weird. Their hands stayed together for a minute longer. Grian noticed this as well, because he looked down and let out an awkward little laugh-sigh.
Then two pale hands were clasping his own, and, woah.
"I'm so sorry about the hassle," Grian started, bowing his head a bit. "Believe me, I'm well aware that this is a weird request, but could you just watch Tommy," he jerked his head towards the other blonde (who was now running in circles around the flat). "I just really need to sleep and help would be so, sogreatly appreciated."
Grian's tone was unsure, and his voice was a bit shaky.
Taurtis moved his own hands to cover Grian's. "Yeah, I got that, man. Don't even worry about it!"
He visibly slumped in relief. His shoulders and head fell, which made his hair bounce and catch the dim kitchen lights, and the shiny blonde of it was reflecting the brown-yellow of the walls and... yeah. You get the point. It was kind of hypnotising.
The effect stopped (only temporarily though, Taurtis was sure) when Grian snatched his hands away. "Right then, sorry if I'm acting weird. Or say anything weird. I don't know where my head's gone right now."
Yeah, you and me both, pretty boy.
Taurtis shook his head, trying to shake the thought away. "All good, dude. Really, calm down. I worked at a daycare for a while, you've got nothing to worry 'bout!"
He nodded and said his thank yous again. Void, he was so cute. "Ah, have you had anything to eat? I can make something, uh, if you'd like?"
Taurtis was so fucked. This guy was pretty, polite, AND was offering to cook for him?! He was so, so fucked!
He coughed a bit and waved his hand. (Get it together, you dumbass!) "I'm fine, really. Like, really really. I brought my own food, if you're cool with me eating here. So just go lay down or whatever."
Grian nodded again. Then opened his mouth like he wanted to say something. Then closed it again. Then nodded. Again.
He was even more awkward than Taurtis was.
While Grian made his way to where ever the bedroom was, Taurtis set off to find Tommy.
He ended up being in the living room, jumping up and down on the sofa. "Ooh, kid, I don't think couches are supposed to make that noise." Taurtis called out. "Maybe get down from there before you break your leg, yeah?"
Tommy stopped jumping. He was still on the couch, though. Then the kid made a face. "Eugh, Grian hired an American." He stuck his tongue out at him.
Now, Taurtis was a grown man. And he definitely acted like one, like, all the time!
He crossed his arms and stuck out his tongue as well. He was mature. "The best American, though!"
Tommy grinned. Clearly, he was having fun. At least he had stopped screeching. That'd probably wake Grian up.
But, if Grian woke up, he might come out to check if everything was good. And then Taurtis would see him again!
No, that was selfish.
"You can't be American and the best. There's already a best American!"
"Mhm? And who's that?"
"Uncle Scar, duh."
"And, again, who's that?"
Tommy's little face practically lit up. He started explaining that his friend, who he literally ONLY ever called "bee boy", also had an old cousin. And that cousin was apparently "Uncle Scar".
Taurtis nodded along and added his own little commentary whenever Tommy had to stop to breathe (which was not that often).
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When Grian poked his head out the door, he wasn't sure what to expect.
Maybe this Taurtis was too good to be true and was only being all charming and nice and understanding to throw Grian off while he conducted evil experiments on Tommy.
What? Shut up, brain.
But maybe Taurtis was just confused as to how to handle Tommy. Maybe he was too chaotic for him, maybe Grian's parents were right. Maybe neither of them were worth the effort.
No, that was stupid too. Tommy was an annoying little git most times, but he was a perfect little git too. He forced Tubbo to go out with him whenever Tubbo was sad, he ran circles around Grian whenever he could tell the older needed a distraction, and he told Grian that Tubbo had told him that Scar was feeling lonely, so they all got together and baked cookies.
No, Tommy was worth every second, every torn pillow, and so much more.
It was his parent's own loss if they couldn't realise that.
Maybe that was why he was so surprised to find that Taurtis, apparently, did realise that. It had been almost two hours since he'd come over, and he was still sitting on the floor and talking animatedly with Tommy.
Grian should probably ask him for his number after his brain stopped buzzing. He couldn't pass up a man this lovely.