The Good Son - 12. Chapter 12: Snake

Before first hour, Daniel managed to avoid Laura enough to get to his locker. But, it wasn’t enough to avoid Joe, who was leaning against the lockers on his side when Daniel shut his locker door after grabbing his books.

“What are you doing?” Daniel asked, glancing at Joe while spinning the lock on his locker to clear the memory. Joe breathed in to talk but quickly lost interest in what he was going to say, furrowing his eyebrows and reaching out.

“Dude, what happened?” he asked, touching Daniel’s lightly swollen cheek, making the latter take in a hiss of pain and swat Joe’s hand away.

“Nothing. ...My plan worked, is all,” the brunette said in hidden satisfaction at the success of it all, watching Joe as the other teen scoffed and shook his head.

“You… are very adamant.”

Daniel shrugged, glancing down at his books. “I don’t tolerate disarray.” He then took in a breath and looked back at Joe, tilting his head. “Am I forgetting something?” he asked, making Joe give him a confused look.

“...I don’t know?”

“Ah,” Daniel clicked his tongue and smiled, “I haven’t paid you back for the cellphone.” Joe immediately looked away, reaching a hand up to rub his neck awkwardly.

“...I mean.. you haven’t contacted me for anything yet.”

“You want me to call you?” Daniel laughed, eliciting a single shrug from Joe.

“I mean, just a text… or something.”

“You’re such a puppy. Come, follow me,” Daniel took his bag off to put the books inside, zipping it some before flinging it back over his shoulder. He then grabbed Joe’s wrist, pulling him along as he started walking down the hallway. Looking ahead, Joe could see that they were heading to the bathroom. He immediately pulled back in Daniel’s grip, making the other teen look back at him.

“What?” Daniel asked.

Joe cleared his throat. “H-here?”

“Well, why not? It’s a bother when I don’t finish my word quickly- I don’t like having delays.”

“Just… doing it another time is a delay? What about the shed at your house!”

“Joe, come into the bathroom.” Daniel gave Joe a look of annoyance, but he ended up looking passed the noirette and saw Kaiden, the other teenager standing at his own locker with some friends; new, by the looks of their faces. He was looked at Daniel, with some sort of anger in his eyes like he knew what the foreigner was doing- and with his own friend. Daniel looked back at Joe.

“Let’s go,” he said. Joe looked hesitant, but it didn’t last long: he followed Daniel into the bathroom.

It was one thing to hate Kaiden. It was another to take his best friend away. Pulling Joe to the farthest bathroom stall, Daniel opened the door, shutting and locking it when they were both inside. He stepped close to Joe and reached out to pinch the teen’s pants, pulling the button open and sliding down his fly. Looking at Joe, the noirette was looking down, his cheeks flushed with warmth.

“Look at me,” Daniel said. Joe exhaled through his nose and looked at the brunette.

“Why?” he asked awkwardly, glancing away again when his eyes caught Daniel’s. Daniel watched him, waiting.

“Because I like your eyes.”

Joe looked back at Daniel with his blue eyes, pressing his lips together in nervousness.

Two months later

Arty watched his reflection in the bathroom mirror as he brushed his teeth, his blue eyes tired from a lack of sleep the night before. Since Jack was working his way up the corporate ladder, he was having to leave earlier. Working earlier, though, meant that he could get off earlier; on time for dinner and such. But…

He spat into the sink and sighed, leaning over the porcelain. “So lonely,” he grumbled and rinsed his toothbrush before putting it up. Cleaning the sink before leaving the bathroom, he left to wake up Geil for school.

Entering the bedroom, he walked to the child’s bed and sat on the edge of the mattress and looked at Geil’s sleeping form.

He was still small and having attention problems, but he had to be put on some medication last month that made him a little groggy in the mornings, which made the mornings more awkward, because Arty and Daniel would have to try and keep Geil awake to the point that he would be alright at his school.

“Geil,” Arty spoke, reaching out to pat the boy’s head and wake him up. The child opened his eyes and looked at Arty, drool on his cheek. He gave a tired smile.

“Hi.”

“Hi, Geil. Hop up so we can get ready for school.” Arty got up from the bed and waited for Geil to sit up before leaving to the dresser to get his clothes. “How did you sleep?” he asked while sifting through Geil’s shirt drawer. Geil yawned from his bed.

“I had a bad dream.”

“Oh. Want to talk about it?” Arty glanced back at Geil, the boy getting out of bed. He shook his blonde head.

“No. It turned into a good dream.”

Arty snorted. “Okay, good.” He tossed a shirt to Geil, the cloth landing onto Geil’s shoulder. The boy started taking off his shirt to put it on, and Arty fished out the rest of the child’s outfit to set on his bed. He put a hand on Geil’s head and looked at him.

“I’m gonna go make breakfast, can you dress on your own?”

Geil smiled and nodded. “Yeah.” Arty smiled and pat his head.

“Thanks. Then you’ll take your medicine while you eat.”

Turning away from Geil and leaving the room, Arty decided to make a detour to Daniel’s room to get him up. Walking down the hallway and turning to Daniel’s room, Arty opened the door to step inside, pausing when he saw flesh. Daniel looked at the door from where he stood beside his desk, pulling his shirt off. He gave a light smile.

“Good morning, Arty,” he said as he tossed the shirt into his hamper. Arty backed back out of the room, waving to Daniel.

“Sorry! I thought you’d be asleep,” he said. Daniel quirked an eyebrow at the door that hid Arty and smiled to himself.

“It’s alright,” he chuckled. “Actually, I have something to show you. Come in, please.” He waited a moment, for the door to open again to an apprehensive Arty, before walking to his bed where he had his backpack, and opening it. Arty walked to Daniel’s side so that he could look at whatever it was, awkward because… Daniel was growing. As in, he had had his birthday last month and started losing the thin frame that he had when he arrived into the household. Since he was playing basketball, he had gotten a lot more interested in working out to stay in shape, which gave him some sets of muscle that made him look older than his age.

There is a time when you stop going into people’s bedrooms, and Daniel had reached that point. Still, Arty took the light canvas from Daniel when the teen held it out from his bag.

Looking at it, Arty raised his eyebrows is surprise. “Wow! This is… really good, Daniel!”

It was an anatomical study of hands, oil painted for art class. Or rather, for Arty. The strokes were smooth, the blending so fine it looked as though there was no work put into it; like it were natural. Hands with white paint dripping off of the fingers like they were trying to hold it, and forearms that dissolved to show the tendons of muscle underneath the skin that made the arm. Arty looked at Daniel.

“This is seriously good, Daniel- how long did it take to make this?”

Daniel smiled, standing straight from bending over his bag. “Not too long, since the canvas is so small. But if you...” the teen reached out to take Arty’s hand, the older brunette hesitant. Daniel took Arty’s hand and wiped one of his fingers over the painting, where some sticky paint of being wet caught him. Arty scoffed and looked back at Daniel.

“You smudged it!”

Daniel laughed some, letting Arty take his hand away. “Oil paints take a long while to dry; it’s been drying for a week.”

Arty rolled his eyes and wiped the paint on his pants. “Well, don’t ruin it.”

“It isn’t ruined. I can paint over it. But, it’s for you.”

Looking at Daniel’s smile, Arty huffed a small one in return and almost pat the teen’s shoulder, but pulled his hand back when he remembered that he was shirtless, and that would have been awkward. The man laughed and shook his head at the situation, waving Daniel off.

“Hurry up and get dressed so we can eat breakfast,” he said, embarrassed. Daniel watched him with a smile of interest.

“Arty,” he said, “Turn to me.” Arty ran a hand through his hair, moving the brown strands from his face. He turned to Daniel and crossed his arms.

“What?”

“I’m almost taller than you,” Daniel said. Arty laughed again and pointed at the teen.

“We’ll see about that after school. Speaking of which,” he pointed off to Daniel’s closet. “Finish up!”

Turning and leaving the room, Arty went to his own to put the canvas up on a shelf before leaving to the kitchen to start making breakfast.

Even with Jack’s help, Arty’s necklace was still missing, to the point that it was frustrating to think about it, so he tried not to. Sitting at the kitchen table, he just listened to the sizzling of the bacon.

At least the kids were getting along well at school.

“Patty cake, patty cake, baker’s man…” Geil slapped his hands together before patting them against Daniel’s in the backseat of the car. It was Daniel’s idea, to keep Geil awake, and he picked up the game’s pace when he noted that the boy’s eyes seemed to be getting heavy. Arty occasionally looked at the rear view mirror to watch the two play.

Daniel ended the game and pat Geil’s head when the blonde child yawned.

“Are you falling asleep on me, Geil?” he asked, the child nodding and wiping his teary eyes from the yawn.

“Not on purpurse.”

“That’s alright. Try and stay awake for daddy while I’m gone, hm?”

Geil nodded, rubbing his tired face with his hand. “Yeah.”

The car rolled to a stop at the high school and Daniel got out. He shut the door while Geil moved to lie down on the seat, and then the teenager walked around the car to Arty’s door, where he waited for the man to unroll the window.

“What’s up?” Arty asked softly, this new morning adjustment of Jack leaving early and Geil being less enthusiastic taking a visible toll. There was even a time change, so the sky was dark. Daniel leaned forward on the door’s window, close to Arty.

“Are you really thinking this medicine for Geil is right?”

Arty shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know. They say to give medication time.”

Daniel watched Arty for a moment, looking at the man’s blue eyes. He was one to talk about medication, despite not taking his own.

The teen smiled. “Alright, what you think is best. I’ll see you after school.” Arty nodded, stretching in his seat.

“I’ll see you later.”

During lunchtime, Kaiden snuck into the principle’s office while he was out taking a troubled student to the cafeteria. He raced to the filing cabinet and pulled open the drawers, sifting through the light folders.

A, B, C...E… H, I, J, K, L…. M. Mason.

The teen found the tab that read Mason, Daniel and pulled the folder out, opening it.

Sifting through the transcript papers and classes for anything discriminating, he found something else entirely- something better than what he was looking for. His familial reports.

Taking the reports and folding them, Kaiden put the papers in his coat pocket before stuffing the folder back inside the file cabinet and shutting the drawers. Then he left back out of the office.

“Aw, that’s a cute dog,” Laura said to Daniel, kneeling beside the teen. He shrugged while petting the dog.

“It looks alright.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “It is so cute.” Reaching out, she started petting the fluffy brown dog, which was small and collarless. She let it lick her, smiling. Then she looked around the parking lot of the school.

“Where’s your dad?” she asked. Daniel glanced at her before looking at the cars.

“I’m not sure. Late, probably. The little one is having some problems lately.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Daniel shrugged and looked back at the dog, with was looking at him with blue eyes and a tongue hanging out of its open mouth as it panted happily. He smiled some at the happy dog.

Laura pet the dog again before standing up. “Well, I’ve got to get home. Do you want to wait at my house? Or something?”

Daniel shook his head. “No, I’m fine here.”

He waited for her to leave before scratching the dog behind its ears. “You’re a little fat for being a stray,” he murmured to it, letting it climb into his lap and plop down. He smiled. “I’ll call you Chunky, if that’s alright.” The dog’s fluffy tail wagged happily and Daniel scratched its head.

l.l

“I’m fucking serious, today’s not a good day,” Arty said and tried slipping passed Henry, but the man blocked him by standing firmly in the doorway. Arty glared at him.

“I have to pick up the kids, go home,” he said. Henry watched Arty for a moment before holding up his hands in defense.

“I was just wanting to know if I could stay here for a bit,” he said and smiled, making Arty even more furious and annoyed.

“Why? You’re never up to any good- go away!”

“Well, Jack already said I could, so I guess I’m actually just here to tell you.”

Arty shook his head. “Jack did not say that.”

“He did,” Henry said through a humorous smile. “Because I’ve just quit my job and need somewhere to recover. Mentally.”

“Ugh you’re such a snake- how does he ever believe you? Honestly!” Arty dragged a hand down his face. “Please move.”

“Be nice Arty, I’m in need of familial love,” Henry said and reached out to touch Arty, but the other man slapped his hand away before poking him hard in the chest.

“You’re drinking, aren’t you?” Arty shook his head again. “God, I hate you so much. I can not be late to pick up Geil, let me through!” Arty pushed into Henry to move him, but the other man moved anyway, making Arty stumble and fall into the snow outside.

Hearing Henry laughing at him made him want to beat him up, but Arty had to get the kids, so he just retaliated by throwing snow at Henry angrily, the blonde man escaping into the house. Arty got up from the ground and dusted himself off briefly before getting into his car and pulling out of the driveway, squealing onto the road and screeching off.