Thomas Ashley Littleton (suave_thomas) wrote in darker_london, @ 2020-02-11 22:40:00 |
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Current mood: | worried |
SMRT (Thomas, James, Stephie)
"Did you have friends in school?"
Thomas had been in the middle of stirring the bolognese sauce, but the moment he heard James' question, he sort of thought it was a 'pay attention completely' question, and not a 'listen halfway while stirring' question. He gave the stove knob a quick twist and then turned to face James, scrutinizing the look on his face, though there weren't really any visual cues there. "James, are you alright?"
"Curious," James said, his tone aloof.
"Alright," Thomas sort of shooed James towards the table so they could chat sitting down. He sat facing James, the chair legs scraping on the hard wood of the floor as he pulled them closer together. "I did," Thomas said with a small smile. "Abby was only a year younger than I was though and she was my best friend. We had a small group of us who hung out, and it changed a bit throughout the years, but Abby was always there."
"Did people pick on you?"
The question made Thomas frown, but he was fairly sure James was going to be evasive until he answered the question. "A little, but nothing extreme. Usually it was because my school uniforms had already been worn by Joe and Adam. Who are both taller than I am. So they were too big and worn out when I got them. Though at our school it was only a comment here or there. Sometimes when we were in town and someone from public school saw us, they could get pretty cruel. Abby finally started saying 'does this mean your family wants to adopt us' and she would make like she was going to follow them home, so they left, perplexed. Best way to get out of being teased by the rich; confuse them." Then Thomas took a second before he said, "is someone being bullied, James?" He didn't want to just assume James was the one being picked on, considering how empathetic his son was.
"No," James leaned back in his chair, the wood of it creaking beneath him. "Abby's smart."
"She is," Thomas acknowledged. "She was telling us medical terms by the time she was twelve."
James nodded and then he bit his lip, stalling, before saying, "I'm smarter. No, I mean- I know I am smarter than I should be."
Thomas leaned forward at that, because he had absolutely no idea what to say. Instead, he stayed silent, letting James decide when to continue. James, for his part, flashed Thomas a small smile at that. "I'm smarter than anyone else in my class. Not in a bad way! Not for them. They're like they should be, I'm the weird one."
"You're not weird-"
"I am weird, Dad," James stressed. "Unique. It's really difficult to- I have to pretend in class. To be slower to pick up on things so people don't know I'm different."
"James. I had no idea you were pretending in class. Look at me, okay?" Thomas reached out, resting his hands on James' knees. "You do not have to pretend. Yes, not telling people you're an angel is a good rule of thumb, but you never have to pretend to be slower than you are! You're perfect."
James didn't look convinced. "I don't really- Kids my age. I don't really understand kids my age."
"That sounds really difficult," Thomas soothed. "And I don't know how to make it better. There's someone you could speak to about it though. Dylan? Deirdre's brother?" Dylan wasn't an angel, but he was a literal boy genius who had skipped several year levels. "He never really understood kids his own age either, so he moved up a few classes. Do you think you'd like to do that?"
"Yes! Yes, I could do that!" James grinned, and Thomas felt like he was taking a breath he hadn't realised he was holding.
"James, how long have you been feeling like this?"
James shrugged then. "Years."
The thought that James had just been out there for years, pretending to be anything other than himself was heartbreaking. "Jameson-" Thomas reached out for James, and was relieved when the boy jumped off his chair and right up into Thomas' lap. Thomas wrapped his arms around his son, burying his face in James' hair. They were going to talk about this some more, but he sort of thought they both needed cuddles first, and that was how Stephie found them.