Love Me Little

Part 2/2

Tharn sighed as he looked over Type's shoulder to see yet another familiar sight: A tiny adorable young man being towed by two awful adults.

Type caught his expression and tensed. "Don't tell me there's another asshole ex-boyfriend coming."

"No." Tharn wished he could turn tail and run. "It's worse. Tar's a good guy in a bad situation."

Type gave him a sharp look but didn't have time to ask anything further before Tar and his dragons...er, parents had arrived.

"There you are, Tharn," Tharn's mother trilled. "How silly, it looked like you were trying to avoid us."

"Yes. Silly." If Tharn's tone was any more deadpan, it would flatten people like an anvil. Tar caught it, of course, and stifled a smile.

Tar's dad gave Tar a push, causing him to trip forward. Tharn had been expecting something of the sort but before he could catch Tar, Type was there, holding his arm. "You okay?" Type asked.

Tar nodded, looking surprised and pleased. "Yes. Thank you."

"Hi, I'm Type." Tharn could see Type's quick glance at Tar's parents and he sent up a quick prayer that this evening's experiences hadn't exceeded Type's patience, which he strongly suspected was limited. Luckily, Type chose to just pat Tar on the shoulder gently.

"Tar has missed you so much," Tar's mother said with her usual subtlety. "He couldn't wait to see you."

Tar just stood there, looking embarrassed, as he always did when his mother did this to him.

"Maybe the three of us could hang out," Type said cheerfully. Everyone else turned to give him varying degrees of a confused expression and Tharn fought the urge to cheer. "Hey, have you seen the new comedy? Y'know, the one with the guy from the game show?" he asked Tar with an air of utter and complete innocence that Tharn might have bought if he hadn't just spent two hours watching him play the role of boyfriend.

"No, I haven't," Tar said, blinking at him.

"That sounds good, then." Type looked like he was about to explode in good cheer as he wrapped an arm around Tharn and looked up at him adoringly. "I really want to get to know your friends."

Tar nodded several times, because what else could he do? "It's good to see you, Tharn."

"Likewise. We'll definitely catch up sometime soon. Maybe hang out with Tum as well."

And Type dragged Tharn away as if he had a destination in mind, barely allowing Tharn to wai a farewell. Tharn could see Tar's parents looking extremely displeased, which served them right.

When they were far enough away, Type said, "What the hell was that about? I mean, besides the obvious fact that they were literally throwing Tar at you."

"Long story short, they want him to marry me so I'll 'take care of him.' Tar was ill some years ago, although he's fine now. But his parents keep him locked up like a princess in a storybook castle." Tharn scowled.

"Sounds like you wanted to save him." Type's tone was neutral.

Tharn sighed. "I wanted to save him, but I didn't want him. And he didn't really want me."

"Difficult as that is to believe," Type muttered.

That made Tharn chuckle. "Yes. Tar's in love with someone else but he won't admit it and that person won't step forward. So they're caught in this limbo where everyone is miserable."

"And his parents are apparently assholes."

"And his parents are definitely assholes."

Type bumped Tharn with his elbow. "Hey, even rich jerks like you can't fix everything."