Timothy Hill

Discord text thread featuring: Tee & @antonirenaldi

When: 2nd April 2021

Mentions: N/A​

Description: Tee and Tony meet up in person for the first time before the other starts working at his therapy clinic. Tony tells him about his divorce.

Trigger Warnings: talk of divorce

Beer? Interesting. Tee and sky were clearly very two different people. Except they had one person in common. It almost pained sky to know that Tee knew her own biological father better than she did, and it made her think about where she would be in life if she knew him. They both ended up here, didn’t they? She could imagine that Tee may have had a much easier life than herself, but truly didn’t know much about him. Was their father even a good man? “D’ya have wine or anything else? I’m watching my figure.” She took her phone back then sat down on the couch as he went into the kitchen.

Tee wasn’t sure wine was the greatest go to drink when watching your figure but he wasn’t about to argue with Sky so he got the both of them wine glasses and a bottle of white wine from the fridge. He liked wine, at times more than beer, but he wasn’t used to drinking it so early in the afternoon. Usually it was more his go to drink after a long day at work, when he wanted to wind down. Pouring them both some, he handed one of the glasses to Sky then joined her on the couch. “Thanks for your help today, even though it didn’t quite turn out how we planned.”

oh, thank god! byeongsu thinks, as tee lets him know that it wasn’t him that made him not call. “ god, that’s a relief. i was so worried that i was a fucking weirdo or something, you know? ” he shakes off his worries and relaxes his shoulders. “ that’s normal, though, to have more of a connection with someone than the others. isn’t that why they say you have to kiss a ton of frogs to find your prince? bradley’s your prince! ” byeongsu smirks, repeating what his mother had told him for years – except, she had always said he would find his princess. 

“No, no, nothing like that. At the risk of sounding really cheesy, it wasn’t you but it was me. Or whatever they say in the movies”, he joked, rolling his eyes. The reference to frogs confused him, especially since he wouldn’t really compare either Bradley or Byeongsu to a frog but he understood it was just a metaphor for the whole situation they found themselves in. “I wouldn’t say he was my prince, just someone I kind of liked.” Tee didn’t feel like announcing that things with Bradley ended after only a few weeks but he couldn’t pretend to be in a relationship with someone when he wasn’t either.

Dorian noted the blush on Tee’s cheeks when he asked about his love life and chuckled softly, smiling out of endearment. He quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head curiously when Tee mentioned he was seeing someone. “Oh, yeah? That’s dope. I’m glad it seems to be going well so far. Because if they hurt you, I’m gonna have to hurt them.” Dorian had always been very protective of his friends and family. It was just a part of his nature.

Tee definitely wasn’t going to mention that things with Bradley had a bit of a rocky start. The last thing he wanted was for his boyfriend to get on Dorian’s bad side before they even had the chance to meet. It was bad enough that he already wasn’t Jules’ favourite person, no need to add to that list. “Thanks, I knew I could count on you. We’re just taking things one day at a time. See how it goes.” It was all fairly new after all.

“Well to be fair we both have the handyman capability of a squirrel.” he chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. “How about we read the instructions together and see what we can come up with then?” He wanted to see if he could surprise himself, perhaps make it happen. “I don’t want this entire time to have been a waste.”

That...was not a lie. Tee was pretty sure he couldn’t put anything together if it saved his life and that reading the instructions was not going to help him out at all. But if Seojun was offering, then he wasn’t about to say no. Maybe together they would have better luck than he would on his own. “Fine, but if I get another injury I’m giving up.” The last thing he needed was for his hand to look like he put it through the meat grinder. 

“ i would say they were relatively cat-like! ” byeongsu rocks back and forth on his heels as he listens to tee. a part of him wants to say something, ask why he had never called him for a second date, but the other part of him isn’t sure if he wants to actually know why. “ yeah, these things can be killer, right? ” he says, a bit awkwardly, as he looks to his phone. “ i did want to ask, now that i’ve got you here.. ” he starts. “ did i do something wrong? is that why you never called me? because i thought the blind date went well, and i was just wondering if it was something i did, or said.. that way i can not do that next time i go on a date, you know? constructive criticism, i guess. ”

Tee should have known that he wouldn’t be able to get out of this without their blind date being brought up. As much as he wanted to get out of an awkward situation, he also didn’t want Byeongsu to think that him not calling was because of something he did. Their blind date really did go well, especially considering they were complete strangers when it started, and if things with Bradley hadn’t progressed, Tee would have called him. So he owed the other an explanation, instead of letting him think that it was something he did. “No, no, you were great”, he rushed to reassure. “It’s just...this is going to sound strange. The thing is that I was set up on multiple blind dates and one of them went...better than the others? I was sort of seeing someone for a few weeks but I didn’t know how to explain that to you and I just...didn’t call. But you’re right to say it went well, it was completely my fault.” 

Sky tended to Tee’s wound as he spoke. “Maybe we can just…hire someone to put it up.” Sam would have volunteered to put the shelf up. Even if he didn’t know how. He would have been the one to have figured it out for the both of them. Now it was Tee and Sky and their newfound…friendship or whatever this was. “Drinks. Yes.” She nodded in agreement as she finished wrapping his wound. Maybe some alcohol will loosen her up a little bit, and hopefully she’d be able to get out the words she had been trying to formulate in her head for a bit now. How was she going to explain their relationship to him? “Here.” She gave him her phone and opened the Uber Eats app. “Order whatever you want. Get me a good salad.” She told him as she cleaned up the first aid supplies. 

Hiring someone was probably his best bet to get his shelf up, especially since he was obviously not going to be able to get it done himself. It was moments like these that made him miss Sam even more. While he understood that his best friend needed to get away for a while after everything that happened and they still kept in touch, it was still sad. Sam would have had a laugh over how useless Tee was at this and helped him out without having to hire anyone. And now here they were, him and his best friend’s ex, hanging out and trying to ignore the missing presence of the person they had in common. How things change. Tee took her phone and looked through the options before ordering himself a pepperoni pizza and Sky a salad. Hopefully she would like it as he wasn’t an expert on what a salad...good. After handing her back the phone, he led the way to his kitchen and got out two beers from the fridge. “Beer good for you?” 

cillian nodded, looking down at his leg at the mention of the cast. “yep, got some physical therapy i still need to do but…” this was so uncomfortable. which was really a shame, because although the two’s friendship began under rather unconventional circumstances, cillian did like the guy. he just didn’t really know how to get passed this.

“That’s good, I’m happy to hear.” Things were awkward between them but he wasn’t sure what he could say to make it better. It was a pity because Tee was tentatively starting to consider Cillian a friend before his comments of him just being someone he fucked in a bathroom making him realise the feeling was not mutual. As sarcastic and cynical as he was about things in his own life, Tee was a good therapist. His practice wouldn’t be so successful if he wasn’t and so he knew that what Cillian said was a defence mechanism after he said something that made him feel vulnerable. Knowing didn’t make him feel any better about it though and Tee wasn’t sure what he could say to help them get over it. “I don’t want to be your unofficial therapist anymore”, he blurted, wishing he could facepalm right after. No shit, Tee.

“Thank you? Someone’s welcome to try but I doubt it would work anyways.”

“This is probably going to sound really boring but hoodies. They’re so comfortable, perfect for cosy days.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t meant to be.” 

“I’m not that difficult to please. Someone honest, that I can trust and who I can be myself around. Oh and ideally someone who doesn’t use my occupation against me if I attempt to help out with something like any decent partner would.”

“I used to wish I’d get the opportunity to live in London for a year or two but after opening my therapy place in Kingsboro, that dream took a backseat. A holiday there would be nice though.” 

It wasn’t humorous - it wasn’t! - but Nate couldn’t help the laugh he let out at the fact that both of them were not made for this. Nate was good at many things, but home improvement was something he should steer far away from. Hell, he could barely tell tools apart… but he knew Tee had just hit himself with a hammer. Ah, shit. “Here -” he handed Tee a towel so he could wipe the blood, wincing at the damage he’d done to himself, “you know… maybe we should get someone else to work on this instead. You gave it a go and if I try, I’m gonna end up with a messed up finger too.” 

Tee took the towel from him with a grateful nod, trying not to wince as he dabbed it on the wound. What the hell made him think this could ever be a good idea that wouldn’t end in disaster? Add to that the fact that he enlisted the help of someone who was clearly as bad as him at this sort of thing, and the hopes of getting the stupid shelf done got even slimmer. “It’s probably better of you stay away from it, one hurt finger is more than enough”, he sighed, looking at the half assembled shelf with a glare that could kill. “Who am I going to ask to assemble a shelf for me? I’m going to look like a complete and utter idiot.” 

byeongsu was in a good mood; he had just come from a lunch with jinsu at his place of work, and he was feeling rather full and happy, to say the least. the male had a bit of a pep in his step as he typed a message to jinsu, thanking him for the meal, but was soon nearly knocked to the ground by another. he felt the stranger’s hands grab his arm and pull him up before he hit the ground, only to see that it was no stranger, but tee, the guy he had gone on a blind date with weeks back. “ it’s not your fault. i was looking at my phone, too. ” he shrugs it off, fixing his shirt as he regains his balance. it would be a lie to say this wasn’t somewhat awkward – tee had ghosted him after all – but he wasn’t going to hold it against him. “ yeah! i’m all good, thanks to your quick cat-like reflexes. ” byeongsu chuckles. 

Tee was glad that at least Byeongsu didn’t seem to hold the whole ghosting thing against him. He was a great guy and their blind date was enjoyable. It wasn’t the other’s fault if things between him and Bradley just...happened and it would be great if they could at least stay friends. “I wouldn’t really call my reflexes cat-like but I’ll take it”, he laughed, shaking his head in amusement. He really needed to start looking where he was going while walking though. One of these days he was going to end up running over someone who was not as understanding and get himself in trouble. “We both need to look where we’re going then, although phones can be so distracting.”