Borrowed Time

Chapter 190

Being in Tegan's house sort of felt like a quiet chaos, and maybe that was because Juliette knew for a fact that the calm energy that she was feeling was entirely because of Tegan, without him none of this house would feel like a home.

Even now he was milling around and fixing things, doing the dishes, the laundry, scrubbing things down so that he could leave for the night and not worry about leaving his siblings high and dry - a task far too heavy for an 18 year old... he wasn't a parent, he was just as much of a kid as the rest of them, he was just never allotted the ability to be that in the same way - he was expected to have a level of maturity that his siblings were never held to... it made sense to an extent, the only one old enough was Honey and she'd finally pulled her head out of her ass - no doubt a side effect of falling for Lia - but even she didn't have the same level of responsibility that Tegan did. His treatment would never fail to make Juliette feel a little ill.

"Do you think he's close to falling asleep?" She was startled by the sound of Tegan's voice - he'd been sticking to a lot of nonverbal cues and humming while he was cleaning, she'd thought he'd gone nonverbal.

Benji. She was holding him on her chest, his head resting against her so that he could hear her heartbeat, something that always seemed to make him happy if the way that he kicked his feet a little told her anything... and the way he clung to her shirt with his little hands, holding her there for him.

She pushed some hair out of his eyes and smiled to herself... he was nearly asleep, his eyes drooping and his mouth open like he was breathing heavily... another few minutes and he'd be out entirely.

"I'd say it'll only take another 10 or so minutes and he'll be fully asleep." He shifted around then, and Juliette carefully rubbed his upper back as he seemed to go deadweight against her. "Maybe longer... but he's fighting that sleep, he doesn't want me standing up." She said, giggling softly at the way that he seemed to burrow in when she said that. Tegan let out a chuckle of his own, leaning over the arm of the couch to press a kiss to Juliette's forehead, making her smile.

"Can't blame him, you're comfortable to lay on." She furrowed her brows then, looking up into his smiling face... sometimes he made such observations, and Juliette had no idea what she was supposed to say to them.

"What does that mean?" She asked, seeing Tegan's smile falter a bit as he shrugged, looking away from her.

Juliette kept her hand on Benji's back as she reached up with her free one, resting it on Tegan's cheek to draw his face down so he was looking at her again.

He nodded slowly and cleared his throat, drumming his hands on the couch arm.

"You're... and I apologize if this comes off mean... you're the perfect mix of soft and firm... I don't know, you've got a very good build for sleep." He mumbled, and honestly Juliette really wanted that to just clear it up, because he seemed embarrassed, but she was still lost.

"What an... Oddly specific compliment." She said, and Tegan shrugged at that... fair. There really wasn't another response.

"Hey, you asked." That was a really good point, she had literally asked him to explain himself, maybe it wasn't fair to call it an odd compliment when she'd brought the odd explanation upon herself.

"Fair enough, I did, didn't I?" She asked, hearing him chuckle a bit as he nodded.

Cute.

"Indeed." She shifted a bit, hearing Benji's breathing completely steady out... Sleeping.

Amazing.

"Oh, he's asleep..." She carefully reached around him to the top of the couch, grabbing the remote as slowly as she could... She didn't want him to wake up, she wanted him to get as much rest as he possibly could. "Let me pause this, and I'll take him to bed." She paused it quickly, carefully scooping her arm under him so that she could hold him against her, feeling his arms curl around her neck, holding her close.