H.B. and Gypsy

Knock Knock

My eyes slowly peek open.

Another knock.

"Ever? Sweetie?" I hear my mom ask on the other side of the door. I rub my hand across my forehead with a sigh and yawn, squinting towards the door. "Dinner will be ready in ten minutes, ok?"

"Ok thanks..." I groan , just loud enough for her to hear, and rest my head back on the pillow, turning to Landon. He was curled into a ball, facing away from me. I curl my arm around his waist and feel him immediately lean into me.

"Wakey Wakey, Eggs and Bakey..." I whisper in his ear with a kiss, softly laughing. Landon's eyes slowly flicker open and he curls his head up, looking at me with red cheeks and sleep ridden eyes. "Hi." I add to his sleepy, confused face. He was always so disoriented whenever he woke up. It was the cutest thing ever, I swear.

He just groaned and turned around, resting his face in my neck, quickly falling back asleep. "No, no, love..." I laugh and push his hair out if his face, coaxing him to wake up. "Come on, time to eat." He lets a small whimper escape his lips and he opens his eyes with a pout.

"I-I'm not hungry..." He attempts to close his eyes again.

"Yes you are, You haven't eaten since lunch." I sigh.

"So...I'll s-starve." He whispers into my skin, not even making the slightest attempt to get up.

"Landon." I say seriously, "Open your eyes."

"N-no." He whimpers. I laid there and looked at him with a deep breath.

"Really, look at me, sugar." I sigh and run my hand down his back. He shakes his head.

"Mm." He whines and keeps them closed.

"Am I really that ugly?" I shoot out, and he instantly opens his eyes with furrowed brows.

"Thats r-ridiculous, dont s-say that." He says to me, running his thumb down my cheek.

I uncurled myself from him and made my way towards the door. "Get up. We are going to have dinner with my mom whether you like it or not."

Landon sits up and sighs, playing with his fingers, looking down. "B-but..." He mumbles, not finishing his statement.

I stood there and waited for him to finish, but he seemed to be having hard time. "But, what?" I ask him.

"...Im n-nervous, Ever."

I blinked, my expression growing soft. "You have no reason to be nervous..." I say softly, walking over to him. I sat down next to him and he crawled over to me.

"Well, w-what if sh-she doesnt approve o-of me..." He winces, "Like, what if sh-she thinks I'm an e-embarrassment to your f-family or something b-because I have a s-stutter..." He worries. "She p-probably thinks y-you can do b-better than me."

I slowly shook my head at him. "Babe...don't say that." I kiss his cheek and he keeps his head down. "Thats crazy, you know that...She already thinks you're sweet, she told me herself. What difference does it make to her that we just happened to be together now, hm?" I reason with him. " And, Landon, you would never be an embarrassment to my family. Never. And, no, I couldn't do better than you. I dont want to." I say, confidence fucking shooting up my veins now.

He looks up at me and slowly nods his head, linking his fingers with mine. "Thanks E-e..."

"You're very welcome." I smile at his blushing face. "Now, lets go down stairs and show my mom how proud we are." I laugh and stand up, dragging him with me. He giggled and grasped my hand tightly, making sure to pretty much hide behind me as we walked down stairs hand in hand. His nose was nudging my back as we walked into the kitchen. He was being so incredibly shy...

"Hi, boys." My mom smiles and sets something on the table.

"Smells good." I grin and take landon over to the table, sitting down next to him. Landon scoots close to me and rests his head on my shoulder, beginning to yawn.

"Have a good nap, I see?" She laughs, gesturing towards landons still sleepy face. He smiles and looks down at our linked hands with a giggle. I could tell he was trying to be more subdued as well, almost like he was afraid to say anything that would make my mom "not like him" even though they've known each other for months.

"She's not going to bite you, love." I quietly giggle into his ear, and add a kiss on his cheek. "You can be yourself, its fine."

"I know, S-sorry." He mumbles and sits up straight, shooting me a shy smile. I saw my mom shoot me a smile. I know she must have heard what I said. She gave me a wink and began to walk towards us.

"Alright, guys, its taco night, so, the condiments are over here. Make whatever kind you would like." My mom smiles, picking up a plate and starting to grab two taco shells for herself. Landon and I make our tacos, grab a drink, and sit down at the table with my mom.

"So, " My mom grins, "How was your day, honey? Anything exciting happen?" She asks Landon. He looks up at her and sets his taco down on his plate.

"W-well..." Landon stumbles with a smile, "Ever took m-me to the d-dock..."

"What did you guys do there?" She asks curiously, taking a sip of her tea.

"T-talked...about stuff." He anxiously giggles and takes a sip of his drink.

"What stuff?" Me mom asks further, slightly laughing at his shyness. Landon shifts in his seat.

"Um, I-I, Well, it's s-stupid, but I th-thought he was going t-to you know..." He struggles. I look at him and then my mom, deciding to just spit it out.

"He thought I was going to break up with him." I say straight out, with a laugh. Landons cheeks grew red and he nods with a shy smile. My mom laughed with me and looked at Landon with a smile.

"Don't count on it." She says.

"Thats what I told him." I rolled my eyes.

"What was I-I suppose to th-think?" He raises his eyebrows. "He t-told me 'we n-needed to talk'." He explains.

"I just needed to tell him what happened this morning." I laugh softly at him and squeeze his hand.

"Gosh, Ever, way to give him a heart attack. You probably almost killed him, poor thing." My mom laughs and looks at me.

"I thought thats what you say when you have something important to tell someone!" I say and raise my eyebrows with a laugh.

"Yes, but its not like I banned you from seeing him or anything, I just found your precious little pictures." She laughs.

"Oh, god. Dont remind me..." I groan and look down at my plate with a shy smile.

"When did you guys take those anyway?" She asks curiously.

"My birthday." I blush.

"So thats what you were doing all day..." She laughs.

"Mom, please..." I groan and suppress a laugh.

"What? Im excited I finally get to do this, now that you're dating someone." She grins. Landon giggles and looks at my face.

"Look w-who's blushing now." He taunts.

"You're the only one who can make him do that, Landon. Feel proud." She grins at him.

"Oh, I-I do." He giggles.

Our laughs eventually die down as we finish our food with some small talk. We were just slowly getting used to this new atmosphere, and so far, it seemed to be going great. I never knew that the approval of my mom would make me this happy. I really didnt. She seems to already be used to the fact that Landon and I are with each other. Im almost beginning to feel like she always knew and just didnt want to confront me about it. I mean, there was that one time she asked me about it....so, I guess she had enough time to dwell on the idea. Who knows.

We were just picking at the last bits of our meal, when my mom looks up at us and stares. Landon doesn't notice because he was currently trying to separate all his rice and his beans perfectly. I tilt my head as to ask my mom what was on her mind, and she speaks up to both of us.

"Landon." She says to him. He looks up with wide eyes.

"Y-yes?" He squeaks out. She smiles at him.

Oh, no. What is she going to ask now...

"...Is Ever good to you?" She softly asks. I was about to say something, exasperated, but she put her hand up and stopped me from getting a word out. I huff and sit there, looking at Landon. He looked to shocked she asked that. He blushed and began to play with his hands.

"Y-you have no i-idea..." He smiles at her. " Sometimes I w-wonder if h-he's even real." He admits and looks at me, only to quickly look back at my mom with a blush on his cheeks. "He's my hero." He added, not stumbling one bit.

God, I want to fucking kiss him right now.

"How perfectly sweet..." My mom gushes and smiles at us endearingly. "Good boy, Ever. I taught you well." She grins and runs her thumb down my cheek, that was currently on fire because of my boyfriend.

"Thanks, mom." I mumble, still looking down at Landon and I's clasped hands. She stood up, taking our plates, and went over to the sink with a grin. As soon as she was behind us, I held Landons face with both my hands, and pressed my lips against his. Once, then twice. I slowly pulled away and he blushed, looking at me.

"I love you." I smile. "Thank you for saying that."

"Love y-you too." He grinned and giggled at me.

I heard the sink turn off, and my mom walked back over to us, sitting down at the table.

"You guys can kiss in front of me, you know." She laughs. "You dont have to wait till I go over to the sink."

"...oh." I laugh. " I guess I didn't want to freak you out or anything. By, you know, exposing you to that too soon..." I awkwardly try to explain to her.

"Its fine, sweetie, honestly." She smiles and I nod my head. We sat there a second before my mom spoke up.

"So...you know, I dont know how to ask this, but Im your mother, and I feel like its the safe thing to do, so, just bare with me...." She begins with a soft smile.

Oh, fuck.

"Are, um, are you boys...sexually active?" She smiles at both of us. I could tell she was trying to stay serious, but a small smile was apparent on her features.

My eyes grew wide and I let out a groan. Poor Landon is probably having a fucking heart attack right now.

"Jesus..." I sigh and roll my eyes.

"Well, are you? I need to talk to you about these things, honey."

"Mom..." I groan and pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Just spit it out, there will be no judgment." She grins.

I roll my eyes again. "...define sexually active." I sigh. She runs her hand through her hair, and I get a glance at landon, who was burning holes into the table with his eyes right now.

"Well, if I must be blunt, honey...are you two having sex?" She blurts out.

I think my eyes may have fallen out of my skull. I heard landon gasp and cover his face as blood rose to his cheeks.

"God, Mom, No..." I gasp. "We arent having sex yet, shit..." I can barley even look at her.

"I dont know why you're acting so surprised. Every couple does it." She laughs.

"Still, I mean, isnt it a little early for that? I mean, come on..." I gasp and look up at her. Landon, this whole time was holding my hand tightly as his nerves shot through the roof.

"You never know, honey." I raises her eyebrows. "You told me you love each other, and usually, when two people love each other, they begin to...you know." She laughs.

"Im done with this conversation." I shake my head and stand up, taking landon with me.

"Have I frightened you, sweetie?" My mom turns to Landon and asks as he hides into my shoulder blade.

"J-just a little..." He giggles.

"Sorry, a mother has no ask certain questions and that just happens to be one of the embarrassing ones." She laughs.

"I u-understand." He politely smiles at her. She sighed and walked over to us.

"Im so glad that Ever has you, Honey." She told Landon. "You are just the sweetest thing." She grins widely and pinches his cheek.

"Hands off my boyfriend, thanks." I laugh and drag him into the living room.

"He's all yours. " She laughs and puts her arms up in surrender.

As I walked into the living room, I noticed something.

My dad wasnt here.

"Hey mom!" I shout into the kitchen, where she was cleaning up. "Where's dad?"

"Where do you think? His office." She sighs and turns the sink on.

Thank god. I dont even want to think about what would have happened if he walked in on me and landon kissing or something at the table. Or the conversation we had with my mom... Nightmare.

We went and curled up on my couch for a couple minutes. We didnt say anything, but I knew that both of us were kind of dwelling on everything that happened today...and tonight. What my mom had us talk about and everything. It was alot to think about and process. I knew we were going to be up late tonight as well, because of our nap. Whenever we do that, we're up until 3:30 or so. Its bad. All around, though, today seemed to be a success. We got through the dinner with little awkwardness and some good conversation. I really enjoyed it. I looked at landon and he smiled.

"So, was tonight as bad as you thought it would be?" I ask him.

"I d-didnt think it w-would be bad, I was j-just worried it would b-be..." He mumbled with a smile. "And no, it w-was great. Thanks, E-e."

"No, thank you." I smile. "You said such good things about me, love. My mom looked pretty impressed, so thank you." I add.

"I-I just said the t-truth." He smiles at me. I sigh and run my hand through his hair. It was really growing out. It was growing into wavy dark brown/black locks down to his jaw line. It was perfect. I bite my lip and look at him, curious about something.

"...am I really your hero?" I bashfully ask him. I still cant believe he said that. He looks down and smiles.

"...y-yes. You and m-my dad." He admits. I lift his chin up with my finger.

"Well, then, Ill have you know that you're mine as well." I grin.

"Thats s-silly, e." He shakes his head. "I havent d-done anything."

"Yes you have." I argue. He shakes his head again. "Im not going to argue with you. Its true."

"F-fine." He mumbles and rests his head on my shoulder. "But I s-still think its s-silly."

_______________________________________________________________________

I wish my mom would have found the pictures sooner. Because, honestly, if thats all it took for me to be this happy, then so be it. Since that dinner, everything just seemed...easier. I feel like I didnt really have to hide anymore, except from my dad but its not like he's home much anyways. Landon and I could openly be ourselves like we always were at his house, but now we could be that way in comfort of my own home. It was something that I never knew could be such a luxury, and I was taking full advantage of it while I could. My mom would often comment on how I have been acting recently...like how I havent been up in my room so much and how I take care of myself now. I think it makes her feel good that I finally found something to really love instead of my writing. Something worth my time.

Someone.

I also noticed that when Landon is working, or gone, its not so hard to be away anymore, because now I know he can come over right when he's off and we could just...be together, like a normal couple should be. I looked forward to that everyday, and today just happened to be one of those days. In my backyard, reading a book, and not worrying about a single thing.

I dont know how long I have been sitting here and reading this book, but I was getting really into it. Infact, Im almost done. I only started reading it about four days ago, so I guess that goes to show how good it is.

I was just about to turn a page when I feel my pocket start to buzz, snapping me out of the trance I seemed to be in. It nearly made me fall over. "Shit..." I sigh and press the button connecting me to the call. I held the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?" I yawn.

"I d-dont feel g-good, E..." I hear Landon whimper into the phone. My face immediately grows concerned and I sit up, holding the phone closer to my ear.

"Whats wrong, sugar?" I softly ask him. He sniffles and lets out a wince.

"I have s-such a bad h-headache, and I f-feel sick...I can b-barely see s-straight. " He mumbles. It almost sounds like he's about to cry.

"Im so sorry..." I sigh, "Have you taken anything for your headache?"

"N-no..." He whimpers again. "I w-wanna go home, E-e..." He finally cracks and begins to softly cry into the receiver.

Thats it, Im going to get him.

"Oh, babe, dont cry, I'm on my way..." I sooth him, quickly getting up and taking my book inside. "I'll be there in ten minutes ok? Go tell your boss you're going home sick."

"O-ok...thank y-you." He whimpers and hangs up the phone. I hurry into the living room and grab a blanket for landon, knowing he will probably want to curl up as soon as he sits down in the car. I also made sure to grab some tylenol, juice, and a bag of crackers for him to munch on. He always seemed to feel better once he's had a snack. Sometimes he gets low blood sugar, and just needs something quick to eat to make his system start doing its job again.

I made it to the gallery in less than ten minutes. I think I may have sped on my way here, but honestly, I dont really give a fuck. I just wanted landon at home, in bed.

I parked my car, and quickly walked up to the entrance of the gallery, walking inside. I see harper at the front desk and wave to her. "Hey, there." She smiles at me. "Poor Landon feels just terrible. Make sure he gets a hot bath and some soup, ok?" She worries.

"Dont worry, I'll have him in bed in no time." I nod my head. No less than two minutes later, Landon slowly walks into the lobby with watering eyes, "Hey, love..." I say softly, sympathy thick within my words. He immediately curls his arms around my waist whimpering, letting some tears out.

"Lets get you home..." I say softly and pick him up gently. He just hides his face in my neck and lets me hold him while he tries to control his shudders. He begins to hiccup soft cries into my shoulder.

"Ill see you later, Harper." I say softly, and she just nods, quickly shooing me out of the building. As soon as I left, I realized how cold it was outside. As if we needed something else to help the process.

"You poor thing..." I sigh and run my hand up and down his back slowly. I made it to my car and opened the passenger side door, adjusting the seat so that he could lay down, and gently setting landon onto the seat. He curled up and I wrapped the blanket around him, giving his cheek a kiss, to which he only whimpered and let another tear fall down his cheek. I shut his door and went around to my side of the car, quickly turning the heater on and grabbing the tylenol. "Take these." I quietly tell him and hold out two little pills in my palm with apple juice in the other.

"N-no..." He winces and shakes his head.

"Please, love. It'll make you feel better."

He shakes his head.

"...Please." I try again. He sits there for a second and then sighs.

He just nods with another whimper and opens his mouth for me. I drop the pills in and help him hold his juice to wash them down. He could barely tilt his head back to swallow them. "O-ow..." He mumbles and hands me the juice back.

"Thank you." I say to him, pushing his bangs out of his face and feeling his forehead for a fever. "Fuck, you're getting really warm, Landon..." I frown and hold his hand in mine. He sniffles and closes his eyes. "We'll be home soon, hang in there, babe."

I quickly made my way out of the parking lot and onto the street, making it home in only 10 minutes. My anxiety was getting worse and worse every minute he wasn't he wasn't in bed. It looked like he felt more and more sick by the second. I'm not sure what bug he caught, but whatever it is, it got him good.

I quickly pulled into his driveway, parked, and got out the the car. I got over to his door and opened it, trying not to be too loud, because I noticed how sensitive he is to loud sounds right now.

He couldnt open his eyes.

"Stay awake, love, please..." I whisper to him, carrying him out of the car and to his front door. "Just stay awake, only for a little longer, I promise..." I try and keep him conscious. He rolled his head back and groaned as he clutched his stomach.

"E-e..." He barely managed to even whisper to me, "B-bathroom, now...h-hurry..." His voice goes higher as he grows more desperate.

I dont even ask questions. I just shut his front door with my foot quickly and race to his down stairs bathroom, hurrying over to the toilet, settling landon down gently. He kneeled and waited, clutching his stomach. I gently rubbed his back as he coughed into the porcelain bowl, nothing coming up. He frowned and curled up to me.

"Thought I-I was going t-to throw up..." He sighed and laid his head down on my shoulder. I took a moment and just sat with him and he tried to steady his shaky breathing. He was growing weaker by the second. I turned my head and looked around.

The bath.

Harper had mentioned something about a hot bath. That would probably really help him.

I curled my head and brushed some hair from Landons sweaty forehead. He was burning. "Love?" I softly whisper. He barely mumbles a response. "Im going to give you a hot bath, ok?" I ask him again in the same hushed tone.

Usually, Landon would have immediately protested saying how he didnt want me to see him and how he was too shy about his body, but instead...he just weakly nodded as another tear rolled down his cheek. I honestly think he was just too sick to care at this point. He was willing to do anything to make the pain subside. "Will i-it make me f-feel better?" He softly cried into my shoulder. I kissed his cheek.

I begin to feel tears building behind my eyes. I have never seen him so helpless.

"Yes, It'll make you feel so much better..." I whisper into his ear. He winced and nodded again.

"K-kay."

With that, I uncurled myself from him and let him rest against the side of the bath while I started to fill up the tub. I made sure to test the water, making sure it wasn't too hot, and then added some strawberry bubble bath, watching the bubbles start to over flow. After a few minutes of waiting for the bubbles to rise, I turn off the water and look over at landon. "Im going to go grab your Pj's, 'kay?" I softly let him know. He nods and closes his eyes and I quickly go up to his room, grabbing some sweat pants and a long sleeve black t-shirt.

When I get back to the bathroom, I see landon has already taken off his shoes, socks, and undid his belt, but obviously didn't have the strength to carry on. He gave up, sitting on the toilet, and clutching his stomach again. He lifted his head a soon as I walked in and shot me the most pitiful look. "I c-cant f-finish..." He whimpers and hangs his head down.

"Oh, love..." I frown and set his clothes on the counter, going over to him. "Arms up." I tell him and he lifts his arms up as I take his shirt off. He shudders at the cold and curls his arms around himself. "If you can, stand..." I ask softly. He steadies himself with one hand on the counter and stands up for me. I slip my fingers into his belt loops and push his pants till they fall around his ankles. Landon steadily steps out of them. This left him only in his boxers.

"I'll turn around..." I whisper to him, and turn so my back was facing him. Soon, I hear landon slip his last article of clothing off, climb into the water, and somehow sit down. I turn around and kneel in front of the bath. The bubbles completely hid him from me, to which he was probably really relieved at.

Landon just sat, surrounded by bubbles, with his head down as he sniffled to himself. It was one of the cutest, most pitiful things I had ever seen.

I reached and got a washcloth, soaking it in the warm water, and ringing it out down his back. Landon just hummed to himself and arched his head back. I dipped the washcloth into the water again. "Close your eyes, babe..." I whisper. He does what he asked and I ring some warm water out onto his head, the water forming thin currents over his beautiful features. Down his eyes, his lips, and down his chin.

After rinsing down the rest of his body, his arms, shoulders, and neck, and I grab some of his body soup and rub it in my hands. I set it down and start to gently rub it into the skin of his back. Landon closes his eyes and his breath starts to steady. "F-feels good, E..." He mumbles with a sigh.

I smile and lean in, giving his lips a soft kiss. He barley manages a smile and weakly kisses me back. "I just want you to feel better..."

"M-me too..."

We finish up and I rinse landon off one more time, before standing up and grabbing a towel for him. I hold the towel up for him, looking away and he takes it, shakily wrapping it around his waist with a cough. He sounded horrible. I turn back around and before I could say anything, Landon slips his arms around my waist and chokes on a soft cry. I gladly hug him back with wide eyes. "Whats this for, hm?"

He snuggles his face into my neck with the last iota of energy he has and whimpers to me, "F-for this, E. Thank y-you. I l-love you so m-much."

"You're very welcome, sweet Landon." I smile and give him a slow kiss. "I love you too. Now, lets get you in bed." I feel his head and it seemed to be just as hot as it was in the car.

I left the bathroom for a second to let landon get dressed and heated up some soup for him, setting it on a tray and taking it up to his bedroom. I met him back downstairs, dressed, and carried him up to his room as he continued to occasionally whimper to himself whenever another wave of pain passes through his small body. Poor babe.

"Ok," I mumble and set him down on his bed, pulling the comforter over him, "Try and sit up, sugar. Im going to call your mom, and in the meantime eat your soup."

He scrunches up his face with a groan, pulling the tray towards him.

He somehow gets the strength to pull himself up into a sitting position and looks at me. I crawl into the bed with him. "Try and at least finish half of this, ok?" I ask him. "You're tummy needs something to help it function correctly."

"O-ok..." He winces and lifts the spoon to his mouth, taking the first sip. I smile and crawl off the bed, going out of his room, and quickly called Mrs.Lee to tell her what happened.

She picked up on the second ring with a cheery hello.

"Hey, Jane, Um...I just wanted to let you know I had to pick up Landon early from work today becau-" I begin, but she cuts me off.

"Is he ok?" She asks, becoming serious.

"He feels really ill." I sigh. "I gave him a bath and made him some soup, and I just called to see if there's anything else I could do to , maybe, make him feel a little less miserable?"

"What are his symptoms?" She asks.

"Um.. Well, he has a horrible headache, and his stomach is acting up as well, along with a cough..." I actually become more worried as I hear myself list all the things he was wrong with him.

"Oh, ok." She sighs. "He'll be fine. Sometimes Landon's blood sugar will get too low and his immunities will just crash on him. He'll catch these 24-hour flues every once in a while..." She explains. "But something that always seems to sooth his stomach is apple sauce. Does he have a fever?"

"I think so, yes. So, should I go get him some?"

"Yes, just give him a small bowl of it, and make sure he drinks lots of water, ok? He'll be just fine in a couple hours." Her motherly tone starts to take over.

"Ok." I nod, "Thanks."

"Sure, honey. I'll be home in about an hour, ok?" She lets me know.

"Alright. See you then." I say and hang up the phone, going back into landons room.

I was about to see how far he had gotten with his soup, but I walk over to his bed only to find him curled up in a little ball, with the tray pushed away from him, and light snores coming from his red lips. I sigh and go over to him, taking the tray from him, and tucking him in.

So much for the apple sauce.

I push his bangs out of his face a give his hot forehead a kiss before going and grabbing the chair from his desk. I set the chair next to bed and I sit there, holding his hand.

And I waited.