Temporarily Permanent

Chapter 13

"Why are there so many?! All I want is one and now I have to choose between all these different colours and designs and—"

"Theo calm down it's just a crib." Liam said to him through the phone as the chimera walked through the store with Melissa.

"I know but I want her to be comfortable. And—"

"T." Liam said making Theo stop. Liam had never given him a nickname before. "Calm down. Whatever you choose will be fine. Just send me a picture before you buy it." Liam said making Theo take a few deep breaths before nodding.

"Yeah, yeah, alright I will." Theo said hanging up the phone and catching up to Melissa.

The older mom was half way down one of the isles looking at some things. Theo walked up to her and followed her gaze which landed on a pink crib that had pastel coloured butterflies and flowers. The chimera shook his head scoffing.

"I'm not getting a pink flower and butterfly crib." Theo said making Melissa look over at him and chuckle.

"You don't want to get your baby girl a pink crib?" She said making Theo bite his lip and look back at the crib.

"I don't like stereo types. Pink for girls blue for boys. They have to like princesses and always be the damsel in destress. While boys have to like trucks and be the hero that saves the girl." Theo said making Melissa look at him impress while he just continued to stare at the crib. "When I was little my parents got me a truck for my birthday..." Theo said making Melissa her a bit curious. "I wanted a doll." Theo said finally looking up at Melissa.

He saw this look in her eyes. It was one of sympathy and yet she looked proud too. It made Theo feel warmth spread throughout his chest. A parental figure in his life was proud of him.

"I wanted to play with my sisters dolls. I wanted the butterflies and flowers. I wanted to save a damsel in destress..." Theo said trailing off into a pause before speaking again. "But I wanted to get saved too. I wanted a strong guy to come over and save me." Theo said making Melissa smile at him.

"It's alright to want that Theo." Melissa said to him making him look at her with tears in his eyes.

"I grew up thinking that I was only supposed to want a trucks, and blue, and... and women. But I never liked that. I never wanted trucks. I never... I didn't like women that way." Theo said making Melissa nod understanding him but knowing he wasn't done. "When I was with the dread doctors they'd always send me to school so I'd make some friends for a few days, then bring them to them to get experimented on. I was sixteen when one day a couple guys dragged me to a football practice. They wanted to look at all the cheerleaders." Theo said looking to the floor. "I didn't look at the cheerleaders. I looked at all the guys playing football. With their shirts off and sweaty. I liked looking at them more than he cheerleaders. Then those guys caught me staring at the football plays and... and they made fun of my for it." Theo said looking up at Melissa who reached up placing her hand on the boy's cheek.

"Oh, sweetheart..." she muttered rubbing her thumb along his cheek as tears welled up in his eyes.

"That was my breaking point. That's when I lost all humanity. I decided to block out the emotions that I had felt before. So I never let anyone in. I never let my self feel anything until... until..." Theo stopped thinking about the very moment when he felt a pang of emotion in him.

"Until you were pulled out of hell?" Melissa asked making Theo look up his eyes connecting with hers.

A tear rolled down his cheek the moment their eyes connected and Melissa whipped it with her thumb. She'd never seen Theo cry like this. She'd never seen him show this much emotion. He'd usually hide behind a sarcastic mask.