#taggianto

angst prompts | send one

Kent was dreaming again, the sound of it pulling Bitty out of sleep. He shuddered in the bed next to Bitty before sitting up and hunching his shoulders, shoving the covers away.

Bitty glanced at the clock: three AM. Pushing up onto one elbow, he reached out to brush gentle fingers against Kent’s arm. “It’s okay, honey,” he said.

Kent dragged in a gasping breath, bringing both hands up to his face. 

“Hey, hey, calm down,” Bitty murmured. “They can’t hurt you anymore. It was only a dream.”

“They,” Kent said, voice rough.

It’s the homecoming game and Kent should be paying attention, but that new male cheerleader just turned to Kent and winked after a tumbling run, and now his knees feel weak. 

V. An abandoned or empty place.

They’d been having Jeff over for dinner every week since he’d signed with Vegas. It seemed natural, something that just unfolded without discussion. Jeff hadn’t wanted to live with them, which was fine by Christopher – they loved each other, but Jeff drove him nuts sometimes with his music and his inability to be alone for very long. Jeff loved company, even if it was just sitting around company. It was great for childcare. And Christopher was, honestly, used to being around a bunch of people all the time. It was just...

Christopher liked being alone – especially now that he and Bethany had such a big family. Having time to himself was a precious thing, some kind of luxury, and Jeff didn’t seem to understand the difference between sitting quietly with someone and being alone. 

Not that Christopher didn’t love his kid brother. He just wanted to, like, chill out alone sometimes.

Still, lately it seemed like they’d seen Jeff less and less. Kent had moved out, getting his own place, and Jeff’s constant presence in their house dwindled along with Kent’s. It was… fine, but weird. Glancing at the empty chair during dinner, Christopher tried to remember the last time Jeff had come by without Kent.

It was difficult to pinpoint. 

J. When words aren’t enough.

Jeff and Christopher are coming home today. It is all Dagny can think about, and it seems like time is dragging along at an unbelievably slow pace. She’s already helped put clean sheets on beds and get groceries for dinner and decide what to cook -- because Shylen won’t be home until tomorrow, and Monica the day after that.

Everyone is so busy. Everyone’s got a job or college or a wife or something, and Dagny feels like she’s rattling around their house with her parents some days, none of them quite knowing what to do when it’s so empty.

It’s weird that Kent isn’t coming home at the same time as Jeff, but Kent’s had a lot going on ever since he came out. Dagny’s got a couple of her own questions for him, too, but they can wait.

Christopher and Bethany make it through to arrivals first, arms full of kids and luggage. Dad takes Teddy immediately, because Dad loves Teddy and he never gets to play with babies when they’re not home. Dagny’s happy to see them, of course she is, but --

“Jeff!” she makes a break for him when she sees him, head and shoulders above many of the people around. He doesn’t say a single thing, just throws his arms wide and catches all of her weight when she throws herself at him, solid like always.

She has missed him so much. He squeezes her tightly for a minute, neither of them saying anything.

It sucks that Vegas is so very far away.

“When you’re happy, I’m happy,” Jeff said.

Kent laughed. “Whatever, man,” he said, “you just don’t want to listen to me bitch about the movie you picked.”

Jeff smiled, scooted over in bed to make room for Kent. “Jurassic Park is a classic and you know it,” he said.

Throwing himself down on the bed, Kent groaned as he scrolled through the movie list. “I just wanna watch something happy,” he said. “Is that too much to ask?” He settled on Along Came Polly, whatever that was.

“Is this a chick flick?” Jeff asked.

“Movies don’t have gender,” Kent muttered, and Jeff rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine,” Kent said. “Yes. Happy?”

“Whatever,” said Jeff. “When you’re happy, I’m happy.”

Kent glanced at him, smiling. “Yeah, yeah,” he said.

N. The color green

Bethany is going to kill him. His life is over. He’s doomed. 

But, in his defense, how on Earth was Christopher supposed to know that Teddy had learned how to get into a child-locked cabinet? None of the other kids broke into the cabinet to get markers out and draw all over things.

Now he is staring at a light grey sofa covered in Teddy’s odd imaginings about what Ninja Turtles could do, all done in dark green marker with bright red for their masks. It is awful. They’ve only had that sofa for two weeks.

Why do they even own non-washable markers?!

He is so. Fucking. Dead.