Chapter Text
The phone buzzes, vibrating on the bed where Timothée has left it while he lies and dozes off for a while. He picks it up, already knowing who it is without needing to check the caller ID. It’s not like many people have his number.
“Will”
“Timo, are you coming or what?”
“Yeah, I just had something to eat, I’ll be there in 10”
“Cool. See ya”
Timothée gets up from his bed and stretches, stuffs his books in his backpack and leaves his room. “Mom! I’m going to Will’s!” he yells before reaching the end of the stairs.
His mom shouts back from the kitchen “ok honey, I’ll leave some dinner for you before I go to work”
He goes into the kitchen, engulfing his mother completely in a one arm hug, head resting on her shoulder. When had he grown so tall that he had to bend his neck in order to rest his head on his mother’s shoulder?
“Say hello to Will from me. And do your homework first!”
“I will, mom. Bye”
Timothée grabs his bike, pedalling as fast as he can the roads of the town he knows so well. This is just another ordinary day, and he’s going to his best friend’s house to do some homework and more importantly, to play a game of Battlefront Star Wars on the PlayStation. Timothée doesn’t own any games console so he loves going over to Will’s to play.
When he arrives at the house, he leaves the bike leaning against the porch and runs the steps to the front porch. Will’s mom opens the door “Hi Timmy, how are you? How was school? Will is upstairs in his room”
“All good Mrs. Hammer. Thanks”
He rushes upstairs, entering Will’s room without knocking. Will is already on the bed with his books and notes spread out, taking pretty much all the space.
“Timo. Let’s get this out of the way so we can focus on the game. We are going to smash them today!”
“I have no complains, man. Let’s do it”
Timmy met Will at school two years ago when he just had moved to the small coastal town after his mother, recently divorced, found a nurse job position in a private clinic which paid really well. It was a no brainer. But it had been a tough change for Timothée, even though they didn’t come from far; it was a completely new place, with new people, when Timothée was just 15.
Timothée is a shy, sensitive boy, and also what other boys would like to call, a nerd. He is good at school, very smart, enjoys playing video games and is really bad talking to girls. Or boys for that matter. He suffers from asthma and carries his inhaler with him everywhere. At his nearly 18 years, he’s still a virgin. He has found in Will his equal and they had been inseparable ever since they met.
But it’s l still hard to keep going some days, when the bullies at school pick on him, push him around, call him names. It doesnt happen often but when it does... it sends Timmy into a black hole of depression for a week. He’s working hard on toughing up, but itsn’t easy.
“All done! Let’s gets this game started, baby!”
Timothée chuckles and roll his eyes at Will, jumping from the bed to sit down on the floor beside him, the game control in his hand.
“Oh wait, I’m thirsty. I’ll get a glass of water! Do you want one?” Timothée asks his friend.
“Nah I’m ok. C’mon hurry up!”
Timmy gets up and runs downstairs. He’s at Will’s house so often, it feels like a second home to him. Will’s mom is probably out the back, in the garden.
He goes straight to the kitchen, grabbing a glass, filling it with tap water, drinking avidly from it. He turns away from the tap, facing the kitchen table and jumps up, frightened, his heart nearly escaping through his mouth.
There is someone in the kitchen, sitting at the table. Someone he has never seen before: an older boy with shaved head, piercings, (is that a tattoo on his neck?); he looks imposing, dangerous even, wearing a sleeve-less top showing off his strong biceps. He also has the bluest eyes Timothée has ever seen in his life.
“Fuck! Geez, you frightened me” he says, bringing his hands to his heart.
The other boy doesn’t move and stares at him, looking him up and down with a smirk.
“I should be the one freaking out here. This is my house. Who are you?”
Timmy’s jaw drops at the sound of his voice. It goes though his body, reverberating everywhere. Timmy wants to flee. This guy is making him nervous.
“Uh- I- I’m Timothée, Will’s friend.”
The boy’s smirk becomes more pronounced. “Timothée” he repeats, slowly, trying the name out. He then huffs. “You are friends with that nerd? I guess that makes you nerd number 2” he says with disdain. His eyes are pinning him to where he’s standing and all Timothée wants to do is run. Who is he?
“Uh- ok- n- nice to meet you” he forces himself to move and runs upstairs, opening the door wide open, his breathing accelerated.
Will looks over at him with a frown. “You ok?”
Timmy feels his breathing becoming shallow as he reaches for the inhaler, puts it in his mouth and breaths in deeply. What the fuck had just happened?
“Yeah, I’m ok. Shouldn’t have ran upstairs. Who’s the boy in your kitchen?”
Will rolls his eyes. “Ugh. That’s my brother Armie. He’s back from boarding school. He was expelled. He’s an asshole. Just ignore him. He’s going to make my life hell”
“That’s Armie?” His voice comes in a high pitch, making Timmy instantly embarrassed. Will is thankfully already focusing on the game and doesn’t take note it. “Yeah. Why?”
“Uh, no reason. I just didn’t- think he would look like that” Timothée feels at a loss here, with no idea of what to say after that. Of course he had seen pictures of Will’s family in the walls, but there is only one with the four of them, and Armie is a child in it, Will just a baby. And over the two years Timmy has been living here, he had never met Armie because the boy was at boarding school and during the summer Timmy was in France.
“He looks like an asshole, that’s what he looks like. C’mon, let’s focus!” exclaims his friend, excited, looking at the screen.
Timothée, does as he’s told and forgets about Armie and the uncomfortable feeling immediately.
———-
It’s only just about when he is leaving Will’s that on his way back from the bathroom, he passes a bedroom with the door left ajar. Music filters through the door and something makes him stop and look, seeing Armie reclined on his bed, staring vacantly, a sad look in his eyes. It’s so different to the threatening vibe he gave off earlier that it nearly seems like another person altogether. Suddenly, Armie is looking straight at him and Timothée bolts, his heart beating wildly in his chest.
———-
The Hammers are having dinner, Armie also seating at the table. He usually keeps quiet, hardly ever participating in the conversation. He is moving his food around with his fork, not feeling particularly hungry. Next thing he opens his mouth, and it takes him a moment to realise he has spoken out loud. “What kind of name is Timothée, anyway?”
He looks up to find his mother, father and brother staring at him as if he had two heads. God, he can’t do anything in this house, can he?
“It’s French. His father is French and he spends all his summers over there. He is fully bilingual” Will explains, proud of his friend.
Armie smirks “so he’s a nerd like you”
“Armie!” Warns his mother and father in unison.
Will sighs and shakes his head, going back to his food. “If by nerd you mean he’s really smart, well, yeah you are right. Timothée is the smartest person I know”
“Pfft.” Its all Armie manages to say in reply. He is wondering why on earth is he thinking about his brother’s friend?
————-
It’s a sunny Saturday afternoon and Timothée is meeting Will at a popular place among the youth in town. It’s a fast food place with an outdoors area for when the weather is nice. Spring is in full swing and the sun heats up enough that it’s nice to be outside. Will and Timothée find a free table, where they gulf down their burgers and fries, chatting away about school and the game, discussing tactics to hopefully win this time. They never seem to win, but that doesn’t stop them from trying.
Suddenly a girl sits down on the bench beside Timmy. “Hey Timothée”. He turns his head and finds Saoirse there, smiling at him. “Hey Saoirse” he says with a shy smile, before looking down towards his empty cardboard plate. Timothée is nervous with everyone, he always feels awkward, but for some reason, Saoirse seems to like him, even though he doesn’t really feel anything towards her. He has wondered before if there is something wrong with him because there is not one girl he is interested in. Thankfully, so far, Will has been the same, so he gets away with it. He’s aware that other boys his age only talk about sex and they feel pressured into it, and he is glad Will is not like that.
“Hi Will” she smiles at Timmy’s friend. “Timmy, would you help me with maths? I’m really struggling and we have that big test coming up in two weeks.”
Timmy looks at her and can’t stop from blushing. He hates that he does that because people can think is for the wrong reason, like Saoirse right now. She has that look in her eyes that says “aw he’s blushing because of me, so cute”. And it couldn’t be further from the truth. He’s blushing because he is the center of someone’s attention and this makes him feel awkward.
“Um yeah, of course. We can meet up at the library, um- how about Wednesday?”
She smiles delighted and grabs onto his arm. “Great! Thanks Timmy, see you Wednesday”
He turns to wave at her and that’s when he spots Armie, sitting on another table with a group of friends and a girl on his lap. He’s looking at him with his trademark smirk. Timmy blushes even further, bringing a hand to his cheek, checking how warm it is.
“Saoirse likes you” announces Will, making slurping noises with the straw. Timmy huffs and hunches down on his bench, feeling Armie’s eyes burning a hole on him. Why is he staring at him like that?
“Do you like her?” presses on Will.
“She seems nice, but I haven’t really thought about it, to be honest. I don’t mind helping her with the test”. He ventures another look at Armie and sighs with relief when he sees that the older boy has given up on the staring contest and is now focusing his attention on the girl on his lap. He is nuzzling her neck, and making her giggle. Timmy can’t stop from rolling his eyes.
“I’m going to get another malt shake. Do you want something?” Asks Timmy.
“No, I’m fine, man”
Timmy gets up and goes into the restaurant to order another shake. He is there waiting for his turn when he suddenly feels the hair on the back of his neck stand up. “Hello Timothée” He turns around and sees Armie standing right behind him. He’s wearing another sleeve less top and Timmy can see his tanned skin and the veins running through his arms.
Timmy clears his throat. “Hi” His heart beats wildly in his chest and his cheeks feel like burning. What the hell is wrong with him?
“Having fun, Timothée?”
Why does he keep repeating his name like that? It annoys him.
“You don’t need to call me Timothée. You can call me Timmy” he says, giving him a side glance, when he clearly sees the tattoo on his neck. It looks like a pair of wings. He wonders about the meaning of it for a second, forgetting that he’s staring and Armie is now raising his eyebrows at Timmy’s boldness. When Timmy snaps out of it he blushes furiously, turning his eyes sharply away from Armie, but not before he sees the smirk of his lips. It makes him mad.
“Nah. I think I’ll stick with nerd number 2, since your are nerd’s boyfriend”
Timmy huffs, shaking his head. He’s so annoyed.
“Your girlfriend is really pretty”
Timmy blushes even harder, glancing back at Armie with a frown. Has he been spying on him all the time? “She’s not my girlfriend. Just a friend”
“Sure she is. Just don’t let your nerd side show up and you’ll get inside her knickers before you know it”
Timmy grabs his shake and turns around sharply. “Shut up” he breathes out as he passes Armie, hearing a chuckle behind him. He thinks Will is right. Armie is a complete asshole.
The whole incident unnerves him for some reason and his breathing gets agitated. He wished he had a more witty comeback for him but Timmy is so bad at it. He can’t even come up with a good insult. He’s such a loser.
“Hey man, you ok?” Will asks him when he gets to their table, frowning. After a long time being friends, Will has learned to identify the signs of an asthma attack, and he notices how Timmy’s chest is moving rapidly. “Yeah, I’m fine” he fishes for his inhaler once he places the drink on the table and brings it to his mouth, taking a big inhale and closing his eyes, letting it make effect. When he opens his eyes he finds Armie’s face again in the distance, looking at him, but this time there is no smirk. If Timmy didn’t think it was absolutely impossible, he would say Armie had a concerned expression. Timmy frowns and quickly looks away, sitting down and drinking his shake.
“Why was Armie expelled?” he asks with what he hopes sounds like nonchalance. Will rolls his eyes at him.
“Drugs. I mean, can he be more cliche?”
“For taking drugs?”
“He was caught with a large amount of weed. I would say he was selling it on campus”
Timmy knows nothing about drugs and doesn’t want to know. They freak him out. “What was he doing in boarding school?”
“My parents decided to send him away to straight him off, to law school, but it hasn’t worked out as you can see. They really don’t know what to do with him. He’s always getting in trouble”
“He wants to be a lawyer?” Asks Timmy, incredulous.
Will chuckles “Armie doesn’t want to be anything. Just hang around with girls, beat people up”
Timmy looks at him, wide-eyed “ he beats people up?” For some reason, even though Armie seemed menacing to him, couldn’t picture him being violent.
“Well, I have never seen him actually beating anyone up, but I’m sure he has”
Timmy thinks for a little bit about the way Armie had been with him and he is just baffled at the whole thing. Why does Armie even bother with him? “Your bother is weird” he says as he stirs to shake with the straw.
“No shit, Sherlock”
When they finish, the make their way out walking in between tables still crammed with people, passing Armie’s table in the way. Timmy makes an effort to keep his head down, not making eye contact. Once he walks by them, he relaxes.
“Timmy”
He freezes on the spot, recognising the voice. What the fuck is this guy’s problem? Why can’t he leave him alone?” He turnes around, exasperated, ready to get slagged again.
“What do you want?!” He exclaims, sick of him already.
“You just dropped this” Armie has his palm open and when Timmy looks down, he see his inhaler. “I guess you need it?” adds Armie, Timmy looking up then to Armie’s face, not seeing any smirk or indication that this is a trap and he’s going to laugh at him. Slowly, he takes the inhaler in his hand. For some reason his brain decides to highlight the fact that Armie’s hand its massive and it could probably wrap his whole neck with it. Ok, that’s the weirdest thought. Ever.
“Thanks” Timmy says, watching enthralled, as a small smile breaks on Armie’s face. It’s the first time he sees him smile and wow. His eyes crinkle a little on the sides, his teeth are so white. His face looks honest and welcoming, so different to his usual expression of disdain.
“No problem. Later”
Armie turns around to head over to his friends while Timmy stands there, open mouthed. “Timo!” Will is calling him, looking at him with a “hurry the fuck up” expression. Timmy doesn’t think Will has seen what has just happened. He turns around and runs towards his friend, only looking once behind him, catching Armie looking away, but he knows he had been looking at him. Are those butterflies in his stomach?