Sheraton Academy

The Art of the Livetweet

Rating: PG. Warnings: vebal argument, OCD

"For the last time, Josselin, do not use words that aren't real!"

Josselin looked up from his math homework and across the table at Dona. His boyfriend was sitting with his fingers tight on his forehead, his brow furrowed, his mouth tight and his teeth grit. Josselin shrank back.

"What?"

"You know how much it mixes up the patterns," Dona hissed. "Don't. Do. It."

"I wasn't aware that I had," Josselin said. "When did I –?"

"Are you accusing me of lying?"

"No!" Josselin's hands shot up in front of him, his pencil tight between two fingers. "I just didn't know I –"

"It's that imbecilic maths rhyme of yours," Dona growled.

"Oh!" Josselin said. "You mean the, 'If it has a right angle –'"

"Don't." Dona's voice was low and dangerous, which meant he was close to either an outburst or a breakdown. Unfortunately, Josselin could never tell which it was going to be until they got there. He was good at reading people, but all of Dona's stress signals were so similar to each other, and he hadn't worked out the subtleties yet.

"What if we started using them more often instead?" Josselin asked. Dona shot him a withering glare. Josselin shrank back and continued meekly, "You know, to get you more used to them?"

"Are you my therapist, Josselin?" Dona asked softly, coldly.

"No?"

"Then you don't get to tell me how I should handle my symptoms."

"Okay," Josselin whispered, and he went back to his maths homework.

***

The first thing Meara said when Josselin came into his room that evening was, "You know the whole school knows about your argument, right?"

Josselin frowned and turned on the lamp, squinting at Meara in the low light. "What?"

"Well, they don't know it was you," Meara clarified. "But everyone's talking about it."

"What are you –"

Meara turned his mobile toward Josselin. He had someone's twitter feed up. Josselin didn't know who. He didn't follow this person and the picture was just a photo of a book beside a cup of tea. But it detailed his and Dona's entire argument, from word one to the thrilling conclusion when they quietly slunk out of the café because people had started to give Dona dirty looks for talking to Josselin so harshly.

Uh-oh, looks like a lover's quarrel at table five!

Oh god they're arguing about triangles

You nerds just kiss each other and get over it

OH SHIT the hot one just pulled the 'you're not my therapist' card shit's gettin REAL

Josselin swallowed. His face flushed bright and hot and he asked, "Who's twitter is this?"

"Yuki Toshiya," Meara said.

Josselin's brow furrowed deeper. "Who?"

"He's an author I like. Happens to go to school here. Were you mumbling that triangle song of yours around Dona again?"

Josselin bit his lip and looked down.

"You need to be careful about that," Meara said gently. He scooted closer to the wall and patted the newly vacated expanse of bed. Josselin sat down and leaned back against Meara's stomach. Meara draped his arm around Josselin's side and snuggled closer. "You know how much it upsets him."

"I didn't do it on purpose –"

"I know," Meara said. "You never do. But you need to pay closer attention when you're around him. One of these days you might send him into a real fit."

Josselin nodded and closed his eyes. He kicked off his shoes and laid down beside Meara, pushing back against his front and reaching out for his mobile on the bedside table. He pulled open a new text message to Dona's number and sent,

I'm sorry about what happened in the café. I'll do my best to be better in the future. I love you, cher.

It didn't take long for Dona to reply. I love you, too. Thank you.