Do You Still Love Me

Getting to Know You

"You have a boyfriend," the father repeated in a blank unreadable tone.

TJ nodded as he began to fidget with his fingers nervously. A moment passed before a smile grew on the father's face. He had a rather large smile that held love and support. "I'm gunna wanna meet him one day," he said happily. "Tell me about him," his father said leaning forward in his chair.

"Oh, um, well, he's very kind. He's funny, and he's super protective over me," TJ said feeling his cheeks go pink. He described him to his dad and after that, he decided to stop since his face was redder than a tomato.

"His older sister is really nice too," Alex spoke up.

"I'm so glad it sounds like you both really care about each other. That's one of the most important things in a relationship," he said before mumbling to himself, "if you don't have that you end up like me."

"How did someone like you end up with that hell beast anyway?" Alex asked rolling her eyes at the mere thought of that sociopath.

"I was young and stupid," he started rubbing the back of his neck, "we were in college and she was charming and smart. At the time I couldn't tell how manipulative she actually was until it was too late." He sighed. "After a few dates she got pregnant and she was the one to bring up marriage a few months into the relationship," he said shaking his head. "I should have known that it was a bad idea," he sighed. He picked his head back up and a smile appeared on his face, "but I can't help but feel lucky that from that mistake came two beautiful children," he said looking at the two kids.

Both the kids smiled a little at the last comment and now had a better understanding of how their father got stuck with a woman like their mother.

"So," the father said breaking the sudden silence, "so anything else interesting happening right now?" He asked hoping to hear some more hopefully good news.

TJ and Alex looked at each other for a moment trying to think of something positive to talk about. "The room," Alex mumbled asking TJ and he nodded.

"What room?" Peter asked a little confused.

"The two people we are staying with decorated the room for us to help us feel more comfortable in it or whatever, but they did an amazing job," she said smiling pulling her phone out of her pocket. "I have pictures if you wanna see?" she asked.

"I'd love to see.

She opened her camera roll and the only pictures in the new phone were pictures of the room. She handed the phone over to him and watched nervously as he looked through the pictures. They could both tell when he got to the pictures of the ceiling because he seemed to freeze and his eyes widened in awe before muttering out a comment about how amazing it looked.

After a little bit of looking at the pictures and appreciating the details and the thought put into it, he handed her her phone back. "They put a lot of effort into it," he said.

"Believe it or not, that whole room was done in a day," she said causing her father's jaw to drop.

"That's amazing," he mumbled trying to grasp how they managed to do that.

"Eren's an artist and he is really good at painting," Alex said proudly.

"I can see, that ceiling was extraordinary," he said nodding his head. He cleared his throat trying to make the conversation more serious. "So those two people you're living with. They are your teachers right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Alex said nodding.

"Are they ya know nice? They aren't dangerous or anything right?" He said trying to make sure that his children were safe.

"They are really nice, they care about us a lot," TJ spoke up with a smile on his lips as he thought about everything they have done for them. "Levi likes to act strict, mean, scary, but he is really a huge sweetheart who acts like an actual parent. He tries to keep us safe making sure we have our phones on us at all times. Even before we went to live with them they would make sure we got home safely if we didn't have a ride home they would offer to take us," TJ shared giving their father some insight. "Eren would always make sure that I was doing okay emotionally and after that one time I got jumped in an alley he cleaned up my cuts and bruises and made sure I was okay."

"You got jumped in an alley?" Peter asked concerned.

"I used to walk to school alone in the morning and some guys decided to jump me," TJ explained quickly with a shrug. "After that Thomas started to walk me to and from school," TJ said.

"I see, well it seems they take good care of you guys which is great, but one of these times I would really like to sit down and talk to them just to see what they are like," the father said sounding as if he was asking for permission. 

"I'm sure they would be okay with that," Alex said with a nod. 

"Also are they together?" He asked. "I'm just curious I mean they live together so I'm just assuming?" He asked. 

"Yeah, they are engaged," TJ answered. 

"I see," Peter smiled. "That's nice," he said genuinely. 

Alex looked at the soft smile that was on her father's face and couldn't help but disappear into her mind for a second. At first, she wasn't really sure about their father. She swore that he would be just like Evelyn. That at first maybe he was just pretending to be nice to them, and gain their trust so he could get them alone and then he would strike, but he never did. Instead, he has been nothing but friendly and caring. She swore that anyone married to Evelyn that long would at least be a little like her, but after hearing how they got together in the first place it was no surprise that they were nothing alike, especially after he spent the last 14 years practically hiding away from her every chance he could. It also explained why when he was home he usually slept on the couch or was in a separate room from her.

"I wonder how they are doing," Levi asked picking up his phone for about the hundredth time asking Eren the same question.

"They are probably fine," Eren groaned again not even lowering his sketchbook It had only been about an hour since they had dropped them off.

"I should text them," Levi said again.

"Levi for the thousandth time you don't need to text them," Eren sighed setting his sketchbook down. He walked over and grabbed Levi's phone shoving it into his back pocket. "How about I distract you from worrying," Eren suggested and Levi was about to turn Eren down, but when Eren started kissing his neck he found it too hard to refuse.

A couple hours had past and TJ had checked his phone for the time and realized school was about to get out. He told his father he had to call Eren and Levi to pick them up since Thomas was coming over straight after school. He excused himself and called them. The said they would be right over. TJ didn't even question their shortness of breath. He really didn't want to know why they seemed so out of breath, he knew better than to ask. I mean anyone could tell what they were doing. Two engaged people have the house kids free for a couple hours... no thinking needed. TJ mentally gagged before clearing that thought out of his mind before telling his sister that they were on their way.  

"I hope we can do this again though, I really liked getting to know you," TJ smiled.

"Yeah me too," Alex agreed.

"I would love that," He said as he walked his kids out to the car that was waiting for them. 

They hugged him goodbye and got in the car. He watched as they drove off waving to them as they did. 

Levi turned around to asked the kids how it went and Alex did all of the talking telling what happened and how their father was actually a really nice guy. She also told them about the mother showing up and how the father threw her out. This cause Eren to look at TJ in the mirror to try and see if he could read him, but TJ's eyes were staring down at the floor almost as if he had seen so something truly disturbing. 

'Get that image out of your head,' TJ kept telling himself not able to look at Levi or Eren after he had figured out what they were doing. 'Ew,' is all he kept thinking.