H.B. and Gypsy

A loud banging rang out in my dark, sleep clouded room. Landon and I were currently dead asleep under my comforter, him clinging to me. This was something that he has grown to do in his sleep…and something that I have grown to accept. I say accept because when he would do it before, I would feel bad about enjoying it, because guys just don’t act this way after having just met.

But fuck it, there cant be something wrong with something that feels so right. Even if I wasn’t gay, we could still be close.

…right?

I bring myself out of my tired thoughts and lift up my head with squinted eyes. I peer over at the door, then at my clock. It was only six in the fucking morning.

Who the fuck is crazy enough to wake me up at this time? Let alone with a loud noise?

Within the two seconds I had lifted my head up, my door opened and in came my dad. My eyes probably grew twice their size with the tension that I felt at that moment. What the fuck is he going to think when he sees landon this close to me?

…in a bed.

Ah, fuck.

“Dad? What are you doing up this early?” I croaked nervously, trying desperately to be quiet. I didn’t want to wake up landon. I sit up and gently pry landons arms off me before my dad comes close enough to see that he was clutching me in his sleep. My room was still pitch black, so at least I had that going for me.

My dad huffs over to me and says loudly, “I just wanted to remind you before I went to work, that your mothers’ birthday is less then three days away. Get her something nice.” He grumbles and throws $50 at my nightstand. “I don’t have time to pick something out for her, so just write my name in the card.” He adds.

I nod. “Ok. Will do.” I whisper. Im surprised that my dads loud reminder didn’t wake poor landon, who was clutching my pillow with a light snore. I am also surprised my dad just gave me money.

But then again, this is for my mom.

Just as he was going to walk out of the room, he turns around slowly and narrows his eyes in a certain direction. I follow his gaze over to…

Landon? Oh, great…

“Why is he in the same bed as you?” He harshly whispers. I swallow and quickly answer, “Well, I thought it would be rude to make him sleep on the floor or on the couch, so I let him stay here.” I looked down anxiously.

He snickered. “What? Like you actually care about that freak? He doesn’t even talk…let him sleep on the couch next time.” He lets out a heartless laugh and closes my door loudly.

What he said made me fucking boil. How could he say that? Landon is a human being who deserved to be treated like anyone else. What an asshole. I run my hands through my hair with a stressed sigh and lay back down facing landon.

Upon my eyes adjusting… I realized that his eyes were open.

Oh….

Shit.

He sniffled and hid his face from me.

“Landon…?” I softly asked to the covers currently hiding his face. I hear him cry softly. “How much did you hear?” I ask in fear.

“I h-heard the t-truth…” He sniffled and held his pillow tighter as he cried.

“No you didn’t. My dad is a fucking asshole, landon. Don’t listen to the bullshit that comes out of his mouth…” I tell him.

I looked at him sadly and hugged him, but he only softly pushed me away.

“N-no…I a-am.” He whispers.

“You’re what?” I ask him quietly.

“A F-freak…” he says, his voice getting thick with sleep. He lets out a tired whimper and tries to wipe his tears away.

“Don’t say that,” I begin in a hurt tone, “If anyone is a freak, its my dad. He has no fucking feelings…He’s like a goddamn robot.” I explain to him softly.

He lets out a sleepy giggle and lets another tear run down his cheek. I smile at him. “No more tears, ok?” I ask him and hug him close. He just yawns and nods his head, quickly falling back asleep.

I soon do the same.

_______________________________________________________________________

I ended up waking up around ten o’ clock. Landon, as usual, sleeps in later than I do…so I decided to quietly creep out of my room and head downstairs to make something to eat. I decided on a grilled cheese sandwich and some soup.

I sat there eating for a good half an hour, thinking about what I should get my mom. Im not good with presents…like, Its hard for me to really try and make it personal. Usually I just go pick something out that looks cool and wrap it up, then it’s good to go. This time is different though. I really want to pick something special out…Ill definitely have to have landon help me with that. He seems thoughtful enough.

I got up, rinsed my plate, and as I was putting it in the dishwasher, I hear little footsteps getting closer to me. I turn around and there is landon slowly walking down the stairs with a sleepy yawn, hugging himself. He must have been cold. My house is usually freezing for no reason.

“Morning.” I smile at him. “Are you cold? Go grab one of my jackets or something.” I offer and walk over to him, only to give him a warm hug.

“Y-yeah, your h-house is freezing i-in the m-morning…” He comments and hugs me back. I nod. “Yeah, it sucks…” I reply and go to the hall closet to fetch a jacket for him. I pick an old sweatshirt I used to wear. Its probably going to be way too big on his small frame, but whatever.

“Wear this.” I hand it to him with a smile.

“Th-thanks.” He takes it from me and slips it on. Sure enough, it was hanging about four inches over his hands and reaching down to almost his knees.

I laughed at how cute he looked standing there.

Wait.

I mean, you know, he looked good…or whatever. Fuck.

Landon looked up and crossed his arms, the sleeves folding over with all the extra length his arms didn’t take up. “H-hey, its n-not my fault y-you're a g-giant.” He laughs softly.

I gasp and have a fake look of hurt across my face with my hand against my chest dramatically. “Landon! How could you!” I sigh with false sorrow and laugh.

He laughs and hugs me. “Th-thanks though, I w-was freezing.”

“No problem.” I smile as he goes to sits down at the kitchen table.

Oh shit. I didn’t make him anything to eat…I’m a shitty host.

I walk over to him quickly. “Shit, I totally forgot…are you hungry? Want me to make you something? I mean, I already had something to eat, but I could whip something up if you’d like. God, I feel bad…” I ramble quickly, sitting next to him.

He just starts laughing. “N-no, I d-don’t really l-like to eat w-when I first w-wake up a-anyways. Its o-ok.” He smiles and looks down at his hands.

“You sure?”

“Y-yep.”

“Ok. Then. You said it.” I laugh and look down. He just shrugs. Thats when I notice he is still in his p.j.’s. I had changed before I came down here.

“Do you want to change?” I ask him as he is attempting to roll up the sleeves on my sweatshirt. He looked up and shakes his head.

“N-no, I l-like these c-clothes. Th-They’re comfy.” He rubs his arms, warming them up.

“Indeed they are.” I smile. “Im surprised I wear real clothes anymore…” I add.

“M-me too.” He replies with a giggle. “I p-pretty much j-just sleep all d-day.”

I nod my head. “Speaking of sleeping, Im sorry my dad woke you up earlier…and Im sorry about what he said.” I apologize.

“Its o-ok. Im u-used to i-it.” He explains and shrugs his shoulders.

“But you shouldn’t be.”

“B-but I a-am.” He gives me a shy smile. I just laugh at him.

“So what are your plans for tonight? You must have some big plans for a friday night, right?” I smile at him. He just blushes and shakes his head.

“N-no. No plans.” He starts to nervously play with a piece of string hanging off my jacket. I look at him awkwardly.

“You know, um, if you want to, you could come with me to find my moms birthday present? If you have nothing to do…” I offer him.

“Sure, I w-would l-love to.” He smiles.

“Cool.” I laugh nervously.

I don’t know why I got so awkward when I ask him to hang out longer. Maybe I just felt like I didn’t want him to feel obligated to hang out with me just because I don’t really have friends. I wanted him to want to go.

“Are y-you nervous, E-ever?” He asks, bringing me out of my worries. I look up at him.

“Oh, uh, no…I mean…yea, kind of.” I laugh and hide my face in my hands. God im pathetic. I hear landon giggle at me.

“W-why?” He tilted his head slightly to the side.

“I don’t know. I guess its just me being stupid. I’ve been like this as long as I remember.” I blush and play with my fingers.

Or maybe its Landon making me feel like I cant think again. I think sarcastically.

“You d-don’t need t-to b-be nervous around me, E-ever.” He smiles. “I’m a-awkward just l-like you.” He giggles. I roll my eyes and laugh at him.

“B-but at least you look good being awkward.” I comment looking at his features.

He looked confused.

“W-what do you m-mean?” He asks.

“Well, I don’t know, I just look stupid when Im awkward…but you…you look…” I begin and laugh nervously at myself. “You look kind of cute when you’re nervous.” I continue to him. “Like, I mean, people probably would think that…you know, like I don’t think you’re…oh whatever, you get the point.” I finish and sigh.

He just laughs at me. “I a-am not c-cute when i-im nervous…p-people don’t think th-that, im s-sure.” He says to me with a shy smile.

I do.

“Well, in any case, you still pull it off better than I do.”

“W-well thanks.” He laughs.

“You’re welcome.” I smile.

______________________________________________________________________

The rest of the day flew by in no time. Landon had to leave for a couple hours because Snow needed to be walked and fed. He also had to do some housework for his mom. Him having Snow kind of made me want a pet. Something that I could love, you know? My dad would never allow it though. Never in a million years.

While landon was gone, killing time was easy. I had to clean downstairs and do some laundry, anyways. I noticed that since landon cleaned my room, I like to keep it that way. Like, I would make sure my clothes stayed organized and that I didn’t really let my laundry build up. I also liked to keep my desk cleaned too. It makes it easier to concentrate on what I was writing.

Maybe his cleaning habits are rubbing off on me. I hope so.

After I finished my laundry, I showered and slipped on some clothes right out of the dryer.

God, I love that feeling. You don’t have to worry about feeling freezing right out of the shower because, viola, you actually cleaned your clothes for once. So, now you have some nice clean and warm clothes to enjoy. Go me.

I decided on some worn out jeans and a black t-shirt.

It was around 5 o’ clock when I was about done with everything, and had decided to try and style my hair for later. Im not sure why I care, but whatever. I have nothing to do anyways, Might as well try and look good.

I stood in front of my mirror and gaped. I have no idea what Im doing. I look in my cabinet and hope to find something to help me out.

Hair wax? Yes. I grabbed and and twisted it open.

Its going to be kind of difficult styling my hair with its length. It was getting kind of long and messy. It ended right at my jaw line. Messy dark hair. Nothing special about it.

I ran my fingers on the top of the wax and took some into my palm.

What the fuck do I do with this?

I sat on my bathroom counter staring at myself for a good five minutes. Just as I reached up to my hair, I hear someone giggle.

I quickly look to the side and sigh in relief. Landon.

“N-need help?” He laughs and walks over to me.
Wow, he looked great. He must have gotten ready too.

“Please?” I laugh and hand him the wax. As he got closer to me, I noticed that he had kind of put his mohawk up, but only slightly. It was a very short one, and it blended in with the rest of his hair mostly, but it was still noticeable. It looked so edgy. So unlike him. It was kind of…

Sexy?

I almost slapped myself for thinking such an embarrassing thought about another guy. Goddamn it.

He took the wax in his hand and whispered “Face m-me.” I turned around and he stood in front of me, while I was seated on the counter in front of him.

“How d-do you w-want it?” He asked softly.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I have no idea. I usually don’t do my hair. I normally just leave it messy.” I say.

He nods. “I d-don’t think you should d-do anything to i-it. Your hair l-looks good the w-way it is, actually. I like it m-messy.” he comments and runs a hand through my hair with a thoughtful face.

My eyes light up. Only a little. “Really?”

He smiles. “M-most definitely.” He sets the wax down and gives me his hand so I could hop off the counter in one swift motion.

We walk into my room and sit down on the bed.

“S-so, where d-do y-you want to g-go to get h-her present?” He asks me.

“I don’t know…I was hoping you could help me with that.” I laugh.

“I d-don’t know wh-what your mom l-likes!” He laughs.

“Fuck.” I laugh and put my head in my hands.

He lays on his back and thinks. I soon do the same right next to him.

“Well, m-maybe we should j-just go a-and see wh-what we f-find.” He offers and turns his head to me.

I nod. “Yeah, lets just do that.” I sit up and he follows.

“I guess we’ll just go downtown and explore a little,cool?” I tell him and begin to walk out of my room. Not before I grab his hand of course.

“Y-yep.” He smiles and we make our way downstairs right as my mom was walking in the front door.

I drop landons hand immediately. He gives me a confused look.

“Hey honey. You guys look nice, where are you off to?” She asks and sets her keys down on the counter.

“Downtown. We wont be back late though.” I comment and try to keep walking towards the door.

“Is that ok with your mom, landon?” She asked and sat down, taking her heels off.

We stop again and landon just nods. I forget that he doesn’t speak to anyone but me and his mom. Oh, and his therapist sometimes. Poor thing.

“Ok, well have fun.” She smiles.

“Will do. Be back soon.” I comment and walk towards the door.

“Oh, don’t forget that Im making dinner tonight so be back quick. Landon you're welcome to stay if you’d like.” She reminds us.

“We will, mom. Thanks.” I almost laugh. We have tried walking to the door probably three times now.

I grab landons hand and close the door behind us. “Sorry, love. She likes to talk a lot sometimes.” I comment.

“Its o-ok.” He smiles and we begin our walk downtown. Luckily it was only about a mile from my house. We made it there within 15 minutes.

We began to walk around. There were a couple nice shops we stopped in but everything was either too expensive or it wasnt good enough. We stopped in some home stores and thought maybe we could get her something nice for the house or something for her bedroom…but it all seems too meaningless. We wandered around for another hour when finally I asked landon if we could sit down for a bit. I was losing hope. He just held my hand and told me we would find something and that it would be amazing.

The last place we stopped was this little antique shop. It looked nice enough. I held landons hand tighter and entered the doors that where lit with dim old lanterns with fake vines swirling around them. When we walked inside I saw something that caught my eye immediately.

It was a music box. A really beautiful one too. It was an old bronze, and very detailed mermaid sitting on a rock, with a wave splashing up against her. There were sparkling bubbles in the waves. The handle to open the box was a little message-in-a-bottle. It was so amazingly intricate. Right when I lifted up the cap, it started playing a song.

I swear Ive heard this song before. It was beautiful…

I winded it up a little more and listened to it play. This was it. I had to get her this.

I looked at landon and he smiled. “I t-told you.” He laughed and hugged me.

“Its perfect…” I revel and stare at it. I turn it over and look at the price.

$46.00

Thank god. I had just enough. I pick it up and take it too the register. As soon as I reach the counter the cashier walks up to me and greets me. Before the cashier could say anything to him, landon squeezes my hand a little tighter and hides behind me. His face has nuzzling into my back.

He really is a shy doll, isnt he? God, he’s precious.

I pay for the music box and they wrapped it in a really nice bag for me. As me and landon were walking out of the store, I turn to him.

“What was that back there?” I ask softly and push some hair out of his face.

“I j-just get r-really shy…” He blushes. “Not w-with you th-though, for s-some weird r-reason…” He smiles bashfully.

“Im glad, sugar.” I say and we keep walking back to my house. As soon as we walk in the door, the amazing aroma of pizza fills my nose. I go over to the hall closet and hide my moms present in there.

We keep walking into the kitchen and see two pizza boxes laying out. One cheese, and one sausage. I laugh. My mom probably decided that she was too tired and ordered these. Sure enough, my mom enters and throws her paper plate into the trash can.

“Fine. You caught me…I wasn’t up to making dinner tonight. Eat up.” She laughs and poors herself a glass of water.

“We arent complaining.” I laugh and take landon over to the boxes, and hand him a paper plate. We each take two cheese pieces and head into the living room.

“We’ll be in here!” I yell to my mom as she walk ups to her room. I hear a mumbled “Ok” from her.

We sit on the couch and start eating our pizza.

“Hey e-ever?” Landon asks.

“Hm?” I answer with my mouth closed, finishing a bite of pizza.

“Can I finish drawing you tonight?” He asks with his head down. He was shy again. I smiled at him.

“Definitely. I want to see it done.” I answer excitedly and take another bite of my pizza.

“Me t-too.” He comments and gets up, heading into the kitchen. “W-want something t-to drink?”He asks.

I laugh at him.

“Wh-what?”

“We are at my house, doll. I should be getting you a drink.” I get up and follow him to the kitchen.

“Well, I-I don’t kn-know…” He laughs, “I w-was just b-being nice.” He adds and crosses his arms.

“You’re always nice.” I smile and grab two cups from the dishwasher. “What do you want to drink? We have milk, water, lemonade, and apple juice.” I look up from the fridge and he answers, “Apple juice. Its my favorite.”

“Mine too.” I smile and pour two cups. We walk back into the living room and sit down. We finish up our pizza and drinks.

“So, do you want to grab your sketching stuff, and finish my drawing?” I ask him.

He nods his head. “Yea, g-go get r-ready and I’ll b-be right b-back.” He says happily and starts to leave.

“Wait!” I yell before he could make it out the door. He turns around. “What do you want me to do to get ready?” I ask him.

He laughs and says “Um…Take off your shirt. Then go lay on your bed. Ill get you positioned when I get back.” He blushes and covers his face. “G-god that sounds w-weird.” He laughs and walks out the door. I just shake my head at him with a laugh and go up to my room. I try to pick it up a little and make my room look a little more presentable. I slipped my shirt off and lay down on my bed, waiting for him. This feels very strange.

I was laying there for about five minutes when my door creeks open and in comes a happy looking landon. He blushed when he saw me and looked down. He closed my door softly and came over to me.

“Ok, s-so, Im going t-to place y-you where I-I want you o-ok?” He asks shyly.

I smile and nod. He looks at me for a minute or so and then begins adjusting my body to how he wanted. First, he moves my arms in the exact position they were in last time, then he moves onto my legs. He pulled my covers up to right about the hem of my pants, and tucked it just right where you could still see the outline of my legs. The last was my head. He moved my head facing him and little more and pushed some hair out of my face.

He stood there and looked at me for a couple seconds, then blinked and looked away. “P-perfect” He smiles and gets his sketch ready. “Im g-going to adjust the l-lighting a l-little ok?” He whispers and turns off a couple lights. He then took one of my lamps and placed it behind me and turned it on.

“This w-will really g-give a good sh-shadow on your m-muscles.” He comments quietly.

“What muscles?” I laugh and he shakes his head with a smile.

“You h-have a b-beautiful body, Ever. Y-you just c-cant see it. I, h-however, can s-see it.” He blushes.

I just feels my cheeks go warm and smile into my pillow.

“Ok, im r-ready.” He says and sits in front of me.

“Im excited.” I smile and he mirrors my expression.

“M-me too.”

Landon takes his pencil in his hand an begins. I loved when he drew me. It was a very calming experience. For me, at least. The way he looked at me and observed every inch of me when he sketched me made me feel kind of special in a way. Its like he found every little part of me interesting. Interesting enough to draw, anyways.

“How long have you been drawing, Landon?” I ask him after about a half an hour of laying there for him.

“Since I w-was in e-elementary s-school.” He whispers and focuses on his drawing.

I nod my head. “Hey doll?”

He looks up from shading something and smiles at me. “Hm?”

I look down nervously. “Do you think maybe you could draw a card for my mom…for, you know, her birthday?” I hope he says yes.

“O-of course I-I would.” He smiles and continues observing me.

“Thanks. I owe you big time.” I laugh. He just shakes his head and looks back at the paper.

“Im a-actually almost d-done.” He comments with a smile.

“Yes!” I smile and clap my hands.

“Hey, d-don’t move y-yet! I s-said Im almost d-done.” He laughs and I put my arms down with a smile.

“Thank you.” He whispers and continues.

I blink.

He didn’t stutter again…

“Landon!” I say. He looks up.

“W-what?” He was confused.

“You didn’t stutter again, doll.” I smile. His eyes light up. “You’re r-right!” He laughs and covers his mouth.

“O-ok, no m-more interruptions.” He tries to be serious, but lets out one of his cute giggles and looks down. I sigh at him.

I laid there for another 20 minutes when Landon finally looks back up. “D-done.”

I sit up and hold my arms out. “Well, let me see it!” I laugh and he slowly walks over to me. He looked so shy.

“Don’t worry, its probably amazing, Landon.” I comfort him and he sits next to me and slowly hands me the picture. “I-its ok…” He was being modest.

I look at the picture a gasped to myself. It was…so real looking. I covered my mouth and observed every bit of it. He even caught my scars. Every one. I feel my eyes starting to fill with tears. I look at landon and hug him.

“L-like it?” He whispers shyly. I sniffle and pull away.

“I love it, sugar. Thank you so much.” I wipe my tears and laugh lightly at myself.

“Wh-why are y-you crying?” He asks in a worried tone.

“Its just beautiful landon…You’re so talented. I don’t know how you made me look so good. You even caught the ugly things about me and made them appealing. Like my scars…you made my scars beautiful somehow.” I feel myself begin to cry again.

He looks at me with a bittersweet smile. “I d-didn’t do a-anything, ever. All I-I did w-was draw e-exactly what I-I saw…” He blushes. There is no way he sees me like this. So beautiful. I didn’t know how to thank him with words…

So, I just leaned over to him and placed a soft kiss on his blushing cheek.

I felt him smiling.