Mute Songbird (boyxboy) -Complete-

The light of day

What was there to say? Nothing. "It me Dad. Fine. You can go."

"Asher?" He took a few more steps off the porch and came closer. "I don't have my glasses, what does it say?"

"Ffig.. Faa" but I couldn't quite get the last 'g' on there. "F-A-G"

"Ah." He was quiet for a minute or two and I started to panic. "Well, if it's paint there's probably not much we can do tonight. Are there eggs? Because eggs are MUCH easier to clean up before the sun hits them."

"No. I don't think there is. But hard to see dark."

"Alright then son, come inside. We can deal with the rest of this in the morning."

I followed behind him and took the bucket to the kitchen and dumped it. The sponge was shredded and my hands didn't look much better; I'd scraped them on the siding more than once.

"Asher?" He was in the doorframe, looking at me.

I tried to look at him but I couldn't quite do it. I felt awful. He'd given up so much for me and done everything he could to take care of me and I'd repaid him by getting his house vandalized.

"Paint is fixable."

But I'm not. I'm going to disappoint you yet again. I had to say something though, he was expecting an answer or some sort of acknowledgement. That was one good thing about my previous lack of speech; he would have left it at that. Now though? Not happening. "Sorry."

"Goodnight."

"Night." I watched him head up the stairs, trying to remember when I had gotten taller than him. Everything felt very mixed up. I got myself a drink of water and then headed upstairs too; morning was coming.

*** *** ***

My folks were both at the table when I came downstairs. Dad was working on something out of his briefcase and mom was reading a paperback; probably a cheesy romance novel. They had both eaten but just left their dishes on the table so it must have been recently. "Morning."

"Hey baby" mom cooed. "Are you alright?"

I nodded yes and headed towards the front door. I wanted to see how bad it was in the daylight. Dad had hung a tarp to hide the evidence so I lifted up the side carefully. Wow, it was really big and still really... well.... there. It was smudged and the whole area around it was gray thanks to my scrubbing, but I hadn't actually accomplished much. I dropped the tarp quickly and headed back inside. I didn't want to look at it any more. In the living room I pulled out my phone, suddenly realizing that Dan's house may have been done too.

Asher: Did you get a message last night?

Dan the Man: From you? Huh? Morning.

Asher: On your house.

Dan the Man: On my house?

He was SO not awake. It was cute.

Asher: Mine says FAG in spray paint.

Dan the Man: WHAT? Hold on.

I could imagine him throwing on clothes and running down his stairs. I crossed my fingers that he wouldn't find anything. It took him longer than I thought to answer back and I started to worry that my prayers hadn't been answered. Then there was a knock at the door. "Slim?" I asked. He was absolutely straight out of bed. He had on a tank and basketball shorts and his hair was a mess.

"Are you okay?" he asked, breathless.

"Yeah. Um.... house not but I'm fine. You? Your house?"

"Nothing. I ran around it twice and then headed over here." He looked around and then whispered "Are they mad? Did you tell your dad?"

"Not talked. But will today. I will tell you how it... what happens."

"Okay. I should get back before they start wondering where I am. I'll talk to you later, right?"

I nodded and shut the door behind him. I stood there a few moments until my mom came up behind me and put her hand on my shoulder.

"I think it's time to tell him. Don't you?"

"Scared."

"I know. I'll stay or go, whatever you want. But you need to talk to him, Asher."

"Sorry about house."

"That's not your fault so don't worry about it. I'm sure they make something to get paint off vinyl. If not, I guess we'll be putting a window in."

She said it so smoothly that it took me a minute to realize what she meant and then I couldn't help but laugh. "You're the best."

"I know. I have to be amazing to hang around with you two brilliant men. Now, get yourself something to eat and go talk to your father."

"You stay please? Sit with me?"

"Sure sweetie. I'll be there in five minutes, alright?"

I felt her hand slip off my shoulder and part of me wanted to run out the front door and not come back. The thing was, I wasn't really used to running from things. I had a lot of practice at taking what came to me, one day at a time. I guess this would be no different.