Drugs, Sex, and Money (boyxboy)

61

An entire week had gone by and Dominic knew what he'd agreed to and he didn't regret it but he constantly struggled with coming up with ideas for how the two could spend time together.

"Fake a bunch of chores." Michael offered and ate a handful of popcorn.
"What?" Dominic questioned.
"Like...the only times I hang out with my mom is if she asks me to help her put away the dishes which is rare. So like...chores. Like get him to fix something or whatever."
"That's stu-..." Dominic almost insulted Michael for the idea but realized it wasn't terrible.

He started looking around and noticed that nothing really needed to be done.

He stood up and opened a drawer in his kitchen.
From it, he pulled out a pair of pliers.

"What're you doing?" Michael asked and ate more popcorn.

Dominic went to the television first and turned it to the side so he could see the back of it.
He worked to cut two of the wires.

"Uh...I just thought he could help with laundry or somethin'..." Michael explained.

Dominic walked back into the kitchen and pulled out the microwave. He cut its wires too then put the pliers back.
He saw a pair of scissors.
He grabbed them and walked back to his curtains. He stabbed one blade through and began slicing the fabric.

He looked at what he'd done.

"Are you going through something right now?" Michael asked and ate another handful of popcorn with his eyes on Dominic.
"Shut up." Dominic instructed and walked back to his kitchen.

He put the scissors away and grabbed his phone.

He then began dialing.

Michael just watched in confusion.

"Hello?" Mack answered. He'd been doing nothing but eating a sandwich and watching a boxing match on his tv. He didn't even know who's phone call he'd just answered. His eyes never unglued from the tv screen.
"Mack...?" Dominic replied.
"Yea?"
"I um...I need your help with something..." Dominic said nervously.

Michael held up a thumbs up once he caught on. Dominic ignored it.

"Okay? What is it?"
"My um...tv...isn't working..." Dominic explained.
"Right..."
"Can you...come fix it?"
"Uhh..." Mack noticed the match was almost over and the boxer he was rooting for was about to win anyways. "Yea, I can take a quick look at it."
Dominic was smiling. "Okay..."
Mack hung up.

Dominic's heart was still racing and he rested his head on the counter.

"There. Now was that so hard?" Michael asked and finished his popcorn.
Dominic looked at him. "Get out."

____________________________________

Dominic heard a knock on his door as he fixed up his hair and clothes.

He left his bathroom and headed to the front door.

He looked through the peephole and saw Mack standing there wearing a hoodie and jeans while scrolling through his phone.

Dominic opened the door.

"Hey..." he greeted.
"Hey. You said it was your tv, right?" Mack asked and walked in with his face still in his phone.
"Um...Yea...the tv..." Dominic replied and shut the door.
"Okay what's the problem?" Mack wondered and looked at the tv as he slid his phone into his back pocket.
"Um...It won't turn on..." Dominic answered. "No matter how many times I press the button."
"Are you sure the batteries in your remote aren't just dead?"

That made Dominic feel offended as if Mack was trying to subtly call him stupid.

"No, that's not it." Dominic answered kindly.

Mack turned the tv to the side and looked at it. His eyes immediately caught the cut wires dangling from the back of the tv and the wall.

He turned and looked at Dominic with a confused expression.

Dominic acted clueless. "Find something?"
"Yea. Your wires are cut. Two of them." Mack answered. "What happened there?"
"Really? Weird...I didn't even notice."
"Right... Well, anyways, you gotta buy a new tv. This can't really be fixed because the wire is literally attached to the television." Mack explained.
Fuck. Dominic thought.
"Uh...What kind of tv?"
"Whichever kind you want I guess. There is one that people have been talking about called the A-..."
"I'll stop you right there because no matter what you say, I'm not gonna know what that is." Dominic stated.
Mack scoffed.
"Can you just...take me to get it?" Dominic asked.
"Uhh..."
"I probably wouldn't be able to lift it and you're...broad...so..." Dominic explained with his eyes darting everywhere to avoid Mack's gaze as he said what he said.
Mack snickered and just checked the time on his phone. "Yea, sure."
"Okay. Cool. I'll...get my jacket..."
"Alright." Mack nodded.

Dominic walked off into his bedroom and closed his eyes in relaxation after that stressful encounter.

...

The two sat in Mack's truck on their way to the store.

"So...how are you?" Dominic asked nervously.

He felt so strange being nervous around someone he was interested in. He used to be able to toy with them and make them nervous but Mack doing this to him was the most awkward feeling that he couldn't get rid of. It was like he hadn't known Mack for almost half a year or something.

"I'm fine." Mack answered.

And the fact that Mack was being so nonchalant made it even harder for Dominic. If Mack was nervous then Dominic could play off of his nervousness and maybe actually have good ideas and make interesting conversation but Mack wasn't nervous at all anymore. It was like Dominic had been completely rebooted after being cleaned and now had to relearn how to grasp and operate regular people emotions while Mack was used to it and got over it.

"That's nice..." Dominic responded.
"Are you okay?" Mack asked.
"Hm?"
"You're acting kind of...strange."
"No, I'm fine. Kind of hot...a little. Can I turn up the air?"
Mack turned the air in his truck up a bit higher and Dominic started to feel slightly better but not enough that he'd stop struggling any time soon.