Detoxified

Chapter 8: Episode 7 - Part 1

Type hung up the phone and haphazardly tossed it onto his pillow with a sigh. Not too long after, he felt a stir in the bed and a pair of warm arms wrapping completely around his waist from behind.

"Lil' Man?" came Tharn's sleep-heavy voice. "That's cute."

Type rolled his eyes--figured that Tharn would wake up right as Type had started pleading with his father to let him move off-campus. Desperate times, desperate measures; Type had had to make use of his parents' embarrassing nickname for him for the pleading to be effective in any capacity. In the end, at least he got what he wanted; his father had reluctantly agreed to him moving off-campus.

"What, your parents never gave you a humiliating nickname?" Type retorted.

Tharn hummed thoughtfully and rested his cheek against Type's shoulder. "Not really. My mom sometimes calls me 'baby' or 'sweetheart' when I'm upset about something, but other than that, my parents just call me by my name."

"Well, that's just great," Type grumbled. "So you get to pick on me for my nickname, but if I ever tried to pick on you for yours, it would just be taken as a romantic endearment. Unfair."

Tharn shook with silent laughter and tightened his hold around Type as a placating gesture. "Then I won't pick on you. Sound fair?"

Type snorted. "Yeah, whatever. We'll see how long you actually stick to that."

Tharn made a little noise of acknowledgement and fell silent for just a few moments before asking, "so what did your dad say?"

Type gave a faint shrug. "It wasn't his favorite idea in the world, but he agreed in the end."

Tharn released a pleased sigh, nuzzling slightly against Type's shoulder. "Then..." he began propositionally, "do you want to do some apartment hunting tomorrow?"

"Mmm... Sure," Type said. "We should try looking at places that aren't stupidly prone to attracting moths. I'm tired of having to help you guide moths back outside; it takes way too much time."

Tharn just laughed and said, "I'm sure we can find a place without a lot of moths around."

And they did. To Type's overwhelming relief, they had managed to find a reasonably-priced apartment with an insect-screened balcony that wasn't ugly, tacky or in a sketchy part of the city. And, amazingly, the search had only taken a couple days.

Everything, which had previously been going wrong for weeks, had suddenly just begun to go so right .

Type didn't seem at all fazed or dismayed by the idea of moving off-campus with Tharn. In fact, at times, Tharn thought he could see even a little tinge of excitement in Type's eyes when the topic of moving off-campus together arose. Not only that, but Type was talking . That wouldn't sound nearly as monumental to strangers or outsiders to their relationship, but it was a God-gifted miracle to Tharn. Type would now just talk about things that might be bothering him without getting completely flustered or annoyed, and Tharn would gladly listen.

And, the most shocking of all--Type had even agreed to tell Techno about their relationship.

"He's already crazy nosy anyway; might as well just save him the effort of trying to figure it out himself."

That was what Type had said, and though it wasn't particularly enthusiastic , it certainly wasn't anywhere near anxious or alarmed by the prospect of revealing his relationship to his friend.