#mrtuba

He could fondly remember the first few times he and the Red Squib had ever shared any sort of intimacy, mostly it was through semi-awkward close encounters because the lad had next to no idea about personal space (by choice apparently, he would never allow the sousaphone to come close to him, it had to be he that initiated and preformed the actions, but when he did he would move from across the room to pressed against the older male in a matter of seconds.)

There had been many, almost countless moments they had almost kissed, be that an accidental occurrence, such as when George turned too fast to find that Red had invaded his space and was directly beside him, their noses practically brushing together with the closeness and being able to almost taste the other males breath. They hesitated far longer than needed; he could almost feel those eyes flick across his face.

They always ended one of three ways, some sort of outside source would snap them out of it, the kettle whistling, toaster popping, a knock at the door (which always sent Red violently hissing and bristling and bigger-ing out the window to perch on the roof and deter visitors) that, or one of their own senses of the situation, those couple of seconds before Mr Tuba realised he really shouldn’t do something like this, kiss a violent, arrogant and aggressive male squib he had known for only a couple of months and pull away.

 Or, alternatively the redhead would lean in, for a second allowing the blond to forget himself in those hesitant moments only to be broken from them when the taller leant back with a sharp and aggressive hiss, as if angry at something the other had done in some way and had violently upset him. Most of these scenarios left Red scuttling back to his lofty roof perch without word.

He tended not to speak very much anyway, preferring to snarl and hiss or more often than not nowadays grumble, and especially in those brief moments that Tubs let his guard down a little and found himself petting the youth’s shoulders or back and listening to an odd sort of purring, yet as soon as he realised that Red was allowing this it was as if he also knew, and would shake him off with gentle hisses and snaps of what the sousaphone had to assume was a show of dominance or ego.

In the coming month or so as the days drew shorter and it was growing colder and colder as it entered Oktoobur, Red seemed to change in more ways than one. Tubs found himself being shadowed around the house, but Red still wouldn’t permit the sousaphone to come closer to him and yet seemed to be spending every moment with him regardless, despite when being spoken to having reverted to hissing or spitting at the blond despite them holding conversations not a week past.

It was like the youth had become aggressive and clingy possessive in a matter of days, and frankly it was starting to get on the older males nerves. What seemed worse was the outwards trigger Red showed whenever they had almost-kisses seemed to have stopped, even from an outward source disturbing and snapping Tubs from his stupor Red would not move or flinch away, as if losing the fear or rejection (despite it still coming) or whatever ego/dominance show he was so fixated on.

Which of course, lead to some almost kisses becoming not-almost, there was always the briefest moments before the old sousaphone even understood the gravity of the situation which the red squib stole and leaned a little too far forward, lips brushing for the instant it took the blond to realise and lightly push the youth back (Tubs never seemed to take it to heart however, he was too much of a calm person to scold the boy for something they both partook in), which however sent Red into a ferocious show of power and temper which often left some poor furniture in pieces, or, with growing normality, he’d lash out at the older male himself.

Eventually however the older male would have to defend himself and his possessions from the youth, he’d tried very early on to keep the monster out of his house but it had failed, he’d also tried to scare the squib off with everything from repellents to making himself appear as boring as possible yet the creature still found its way in through any open doors or windows (some of questionable sizes, considering the gaps) more often than remaining on the roof where it used to stay almost 24/7.

The first few times were terrifying for the old sousaphone, having been trying to lure the monster off the roof and away into the woods with sugary sweets and cake or repellents and aggression had not worked, and since the incident with the grey squib and Reds curious display of a sense of loyalty had certainly started to rub off on Tubs, and must have rubbed off on the redhead too because he thought the one-off of being allowed in the house was an open invitation to go where he liked from then on.