Nature of the Beast - boy X boy -

One - Cause and effect

A large house spider hung silently upon its web attached to the light above Danny's bed, he eyed it intently as a small fly flew around it until finally finding itself trapped in the silvery thread. As the spider began to entomb its victim Danny found himself tasting something sweet, he closed his eyes in an effort to remember where he had tasted this delicacy before.  This thoughts interrupted by shuffling footsteps outside his bedroom door, he watched the doorknob intently but nothing happened. Sighing he flipped over and pulled the duvet over his head, his brain was still too fuzzy to contemplate waking up just yet.

Danny snapped back to reality with the sound of a heavy fist on the solid pine door. “Danny! I know you can hear me” His sister called, her voice finding the door only a slight buffer. He muttered under his breath before the banging commenced once more. “You're going to make me late for college, and if you're not downstairs in the next twenty minutes then you will have to walk.”

“Fine, I'm getting up.” He pushed the duvet off himself and braced himself for the chill of the cold house.  “Heaven forbid I should make her ladyship late for her college classes that no one is ever on time for.” He stretched out his muscles before reaching down to pick up a pair of lounge pants. He heard the sigh, imagined her shrug of the shoulders and waited for the first seven heavy footsteps before he turned the doorknob. Taking a slow walk along the hallway, he heard the booming tones of his mother and sister in an active discussion about how lazy and unproductive he was. He shrugged his shoulder knowing that neither of them would ever be able to grasp the concepts of DNA replication and manipulation that he had been researching over the past week for his dissertation project.

Before he was able to make it to the sanctuary of the bathroom, he noticed his father was looming in the doorway of his parents’ room. “I am awake and getting ready.” He said to try to deflect any trouble, but his father just shook his head in resignation. “Now what have I done?” He turned to look at his father, who just turned and walked toward the stairs. “That bad? So fucking terrible that I have no idea, must have been so bad I removed it from my own memory.”

“Don’t swear at me.” His father stopped and turned to get right in his son's face. “You are screwing up everyone else's plans. Your sister was supposed to be in early for a project, your mother was meeting your Nan and I am due to be on the ward in five minutes. Which considering that you are not dressed or near ready to leave is going to be impossible.” His father took a long time to deflate then dropped his gaze.

Danny watched his father in awe; it was a very rare occurrence that he would have any input in an argument, let alone a full-blown outburst. “Sorry, I overslept. You can leave now if you want, I don’t need to be in college until half twelve anyway.” He turned away and lifted his foot to step into the bathroom when his father grabbed his shoulder.

“You promise to actually go, I know you sometime decide otherwise if I don’t take you.” His father tightened his grip.

“I promise, I have a meeting with my tutor about my dissertation today and there is an hour break in which I plan to be in the library.” Danny shrugged out of his father's grasp. “And anyway if you let me have driving lessons I would be able to drive myself. You could also consider letting me travel with Matt.” His Father exhaled loudly, Danny took this as a sign to quit before the conversation turned into another outburst.

The chill of the bathroom tiles against the bare skin of Danny's feet made him lengthen his stride before taking sanctuary on the pink fluffy bathmat. He blindly turned the faucet and walked across to the sink as the water slowly crept to the optimum temperature. Gazing at his reflection he noticed the dark rings around his eyes and the pale tone of his skin, he yawned then headed to the shower. The steam was rising and curling around him as he removed his clothes and stepped into the gloriously warm torrent of water. The tiredness was falling away from him with every droplet that caressed his skin; he closed his eyes and wandered off into his own subconscious.  Today will be a better day he told himself, if he bumped into her today he would just walk away, he had no reason to explain himself anymore; it was over. Pain throbbed from his knuckles as his mind reeled through the events of yesterday and his eyes snapped open to his now bloody hand and the shards of tile that lay in the bottom of the shower. “Damn it!” He yelled as he applied pressure to the largest laceration. “Is there no end to the trouble the bitch brings my way?” He stepped out of the shower and grabbed for the first aid kit. He paused halfway-through bandaging as he tried to remember if there was any materials left from the bathroom renovation that may be able to save him from the intolerable amount of earache he would receive when his father returned home. “Fuck.” He seethed with pain after over tightening the medical tape.