Re: Travis/Thomas
And people thought he had issues. At least he knew when he was acting without thinking. Hell, he was thinking and pretending not to most of the times anyway.
"It's weird. With all the instability and foster homes, I should be the more screwed up of the two," he said, seriously, because it felt wrong to joke, and not just because of the importance of what Thomas had said, but before joking was a way to keep people at bay.
"Do you think you have a problem? I'm not asking what the world, the media, your parents or the rest of your family thinks. What do you think?" Travis squeezed Thomas' shoulder. "Look, I don't know about home, but you are handling yourself here. You are surviving Sam's training. You are doing the work. Maybe it's not what your parents wanted, or what you wanted, but you are doing the work. You also don't have to uphold an image. The rich guy, the gay man, the handsome son, all images, and none of them are important here, so it doesn't matter what card you got. I'm not telling you to turn your back on your family; I'd never do that, but to learn who Thomas, because I've only known him a few weeks, and I see a man who's fighting despite the fact that this is all so unfamiliar, who's trying to find his place. True, he's a bit of a stuck up snob, but that's okay, too, because they are part of who he is."
He let go, but didn't move away. "If you were this hopeless addict, you would have gone through whatever you have stashed here and all that Brian could provide." Travis didn't know a single addict who didn't have some on him, unless they were too poor or they had just overdosed by doing everything they had. "And maybe you have a problem, but you're trying to handling that too and on your own. You're stronger than you think. You just need someone to remind you.
"Instead of smoking up your room, do you want to try and see some things you may like or hate? Put some jeans on and I have a sweater you can borrow." If Thomas didn't think he was nuts before, he probably would now. "We can find your favorite star. We used to play this game with one of my foster sisters, and we never picked the same star, but it didn't matter, because sitting out there, picking stars, figuring out what they reminded us of was the fun part." He nodded at the bottle. "And we have wine and you can smoke without sitting there. That has to be uncomfortable."