location: benjamin's home status: closed @icanbuymyownflowers
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Teo knew he needed to get out of the situation he was in. It wasn't like he'd always dreamed of living with a man that he was terrified to even breathe around most of the time. His mother had raised him smarter than that. He had, at one point in his life, known his worth. And he was worth more than what he was putting up with now.
It really wasn't as simple as that, though.
He remembered being eighteen and being introduced to Ike. His mother's coworker, just a charming man with a dazzling smile and bright eyes that looked at Teo as if he were every bit as important as the powerful people in suits that he dealt with on a daily basis. Teo remembers Ike winking at him behind his mother's back, and he remembers blushing, because it was in that moment he knew that Ike was just as interested in him as he was in Ike.
He remembered his mother being sick. How Ike would drop in every so often with two meals, force Teo to sit down and eat with him. Just for a few minutes, making him be something other than a grieving son.
He remembered his mother's death, and the debt collector's aggressively coming at him to pay off her medical bills. He remembered them taking the house, and Ike insisting Teo move in with him, even though Teo didn't want to be a burden.
He remembered mourning. Unable to get out of bed for days at a time because what was the point? The only person who had been there for him his entire life was gone. But Ike rubbed his back, held him when he cried, brought him water and food and drawing him baths so he could put clean sheets on the bed while Teo soaked.
But then he remembered how annoyed Ike had gotten, when the mourning went on too long. How angry. He remembered the words Ike had thrown at him, words that had hurt, but Teo had thought he was right. Maybe he'd been mourning too long. Maybe he really did need to move on. Maybe he was being ridiculous. Ike hadn't meant to hurt him, he just wanted Teo to snap out of it, that's all it was. Ike still loved him. Still rubbed his back and fed him and brought him gifts now, to apologize.
It used to happen so infrequently, the violence. Ike might yell, might hurl insults at him, but it was rare that he would hit Teo. Maybe once in a seven or eight month span. And then it was every four months or so. Then monthly. Then more. And by then, Teo didn't know how to leave. He loved Ike, Ike loved him, and when Ike took control over every aspect of Teo's life, he'd let him. He didn't know any better. He'd been young and stupid when he'd moved in, what did he know of the adult world? Ike took care of him, he figured. Was just trying to help him. Loved him.
This probably wasn't love anymore.
Teo was swaying on his feet when he rang Benjamin's doorbell. He could only see out of one eye, and one of his ears was ringing. The hand pressed to the doorbell dropped to his side and he grunted when it hurt, his opposite arm wrapped around himself, as if he had to hold himself together. He hoped Thomas was already in bed, the last thing he wanted was for the child to see him like this. Teo looked down to see a couple drops of blood on the doormat, likely slowly dripping from his chin, and he put all of his energy into stepping back, immediately feeling guilty for making a mess as he waited for Benji to open the door.
