drabble drabble

[maderr]

Teddy snapped Boring Picture Five hundred and something, and stiffled a sigh. He needed the money, but one more hallmark special picture of Family Day at the Zoo and he was going to go throw himself in the tiger pit.

He paused to glance at his watch, and wondered irritably where the hell Gene had gotten. The bastard better not have overslept or something, or Teddy was going to tie him to the bed tonight and read ghost stories.

Memories of their ghostly encounter made him smile, and he clicked another cutsey picture.

The things he did to pay the bills.

"Ugh, haven't we paid our dues for one day?" asked a girl nearby, name of Sue, glaring in disgust at her video camera.

Teddy snorted. "It's almost lunch time, at least. We can probably bail safely a little after that, yeah?" Or whenever his step brother slash boyfriend finally bothered to show up. He'd said he'd make it by noon, and it was going on twelve forty now. He pulled out his phone, but saw no messages or missed calls.

Gene was so getting the ghost stories tonight.

"If I have to take one more picture to send to--" Another guy, Jim started to gripe, but he broke off as he stared at something over the edge of the bridge. Below them was a pseudo river, leading to some other part of the massive, overblown zoo. They'd come to the bridge to see if they could get some shots that were even remotely interesting, but so far it was just more Lifetime. "Oh my fucking god, would you scope that hottie?"

Teddy rolled his eyes and went back to clicking. Jim had kept his mind on work for almost five hours; that was a record, let him admire a cutie. While Teddy plotted the demise of his own hottie, who had better have a good fucking reason for being seriously late and not calling.

"Seriously, man," Jim said, beckoning him impatiently. "Man, I think he's wearing nail polish. Orange, so bright you can see it from here."

"What?" Teddy asked, and promptly abandoned snapping pictures to join Jim at the bridge.

Sure enough. Khaki shorts, a tight fitting dark blue tanktop--and orange nailpolish. Inmate Orange.

Gene being Gene, he was charming half the crowd and causing the other half to puff up like angry cats. He smiled and waved and nodded where necessary, but Teddy could see he was distracted.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, Teddy bellowed, "You're late you great big jerk!"

Gene immediately halted, and looked up. Even from a distance, Teddy could see the guilt on his face. "Sorry!"

"Get your ass up here!" Teddy snapped.

A few minutes later, Gene was present and at long last accounted for--and holding the remains of his cell phone, which had escaped his pocket crossing the street and been lost beneath the wheels of a passing SUV.

He wanted to stay angry, but it was hard to stay angry with Gene. He should know; even after all that went so fucking wrong that one wretched summer, he hadn't been able to resist when they'd met so unexpectedly and found they were stepbrothers. Of course, without the ghosts, he wondered if they would have ever resolved things. Gene might hate them, but Teddy would always be secretly grateful. "You're a jerk," he said.

Gene did his best impression of a kicked puppy, which was, unfortunately, a very good impression.

Fortunately, Teddy was immune. "Give it up," he said, not quite yet willing to admit he was no longer angry. "You're getting ghost stories tonight; maybe that'll teach you to be on time."

"I got stuck in traffic!" Gene pleaded -- then in melodramatic fashion, dropped to his knees and threw his arms around Teddy's waist. "Please, baby, not the ghost stories. I'll do anything."

Teddy tried to get him loose. "Let me go," he hissed, "or I'll make you go to a haunted house."

Gene immediately let go, and stood up. "You wouldn't do that to me, you love me."

"I'd still do it," Teddy retorted.

"Dude, is this the boyfriend you're always talking about?" Jim asked, the envy in his voice unmistakable, tearing his eyes away from Gene with an effort.

Teddy grinned, but before he could answer, Sue spoke up. "No, that' his stepbrother, or so I thought. I met him before."

"He's both," Teddy said, sliding an arm around Gene's waist as Gene buried his head in Teddy's shoulder in mortification.

Jim blinked. "No way."

"Yes, way," Teddy replied, jabbing Gene hard when he got pinched.

"That is hot," Jim replied.

Teddy rolled his eyes, as did Sue.

"I am so breaking up with you," Gene muttered.

Teddy kissed his cheek, ignoring the looks they were drawing, and then pushed Gene away. "Go buy me a pop," he said. "Then we can discuss what you'll do to make up for being late, if you want to avoid ghost stories."

"You're cute, but evil," Gene replied. "If I didn't love you, I think I'd kill you for the good of society.

Smiling, Teddy snapped a quick photo of his lover, then turned to get back to work, snapping sappy pictures of so-called normal people, mentally selecting ghost stories to read later that night.