My first spur entry for Runaway_Tales because I really want to get into it! It’s a really helpful writing idea.
Author: Willow
Flavours: White Chocolate #22: lethargy and Green Tea #10: Summer
Topping: Whipped Cream
Story: A short side fic from my screenplays ‘Insatiable’ and ‘It Just Got Hotter’
Title: Lazy Summers
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,354
Summary: Theo has been bullied into studying after school by his two-year younger friend. It’s a hot summer day and Theo is tired, all he wants to do is go get coffee and ice-cream, but Joshua is insistent that Theo shall pass Media.
Notes: This is before the main stories are usually set. Like, these two boys will grow up to be famous boy-band members one day (along with three others) but I like going back to their origins. These characters are generally a mick take of stereotypical personalities – almost like Ouran High School…but…so not XD Also, I don’t pretend to know Spanish – at all! Feel free to correct anything that hurts your head lol
Dedication: chex_fics ❤
With a groan, a stretch and an eye-watering yawn, Theodore West slugged his way to the library, his bag hanging off one shoulder. For a moment, he supposed it was a good thing that Joshua had quite firmly stated that they had to do their homework before they could even consider buying ice-cream and coffee. Theo had a lot of work to do. Mostly Spanish revision and a mother-of-all research project for Media. Guh, why was media so hard? He had been certain that it would be a dosser class! It was his reward after long-suffering years of English classes – but alas. It was so hard he almost considered quitting while he was ahead.
No, Joshua was a pain in the arse and he wanted to be walking towards town right then – soaking up as much of the afternoon heat as possible. There was even a subtle breeze outside, but inside the school buildings, it was stifling. Theo sighed woefully to himself. The things he put up with for Joshy. He grumbled quietly about staying after school, goody-two-shoes’ and stupid effing Media all the way to the library.
He found Joshy sat at the back on a table all to himself. His books were stacked neatly in specific piles and he was holding his forehead with the tips of his fingers, concentrating absolutely on whatever he was reading. Theo rolled his eyes. He’d never known a kid to study so hard for their GCSEs and upon reflection; they were easy compared to the stuff Theo had to study now!
“Por qué hola mi flor trabajadora!” Theo purred as he took up a seat beside the younger boy. He was grateful that Joshua had chosen a table next to the window. Theo rolled his shoulders as a breeze played across his back.
Joshua huffed, dropped his hands to the table and looked at him very tiredly. “What?”
Theodore grinned. “Hello.”
“Hello to you to.” Joshua stretched and then leant back in his chair. “You wouldn’t happen to have any water, would you?” he asked.
“¡Para usted, algo!” Theo replied with a flourish of his hand and a small bow of the head.
With a deadpan stare Josh said, “Speak in English or get out.” Theo giggled.
“I said, ‘for you, anything!’”
“Oh, how charming. So do you?”
“But of course!”
He handed Joshua a bottle from his bag and was pleased to see that his dark-eyed companion was willing to be distracted for a while. He explained to Theo all the problems he was having with his maths homework, (which Theo was more than happy to practically do for him had Joshua not insisted he figure it out for himself), and told him the rumours about Elena and Shawn going out.
In the space of twenty minutes however, Josh was keen to get his work done again. “C’mon,” he said, “faster we get it done the sooner we can leave, and I know you haven’t even started your media project! You could at least start trawling through some books to find likely quotes and images and…stuff you can use when you write your essay. Even I could do that part.”
“Bleeer…” was all Theo said.
“Do you even know what books you need?”
“I have to research 1940s black and white films because my teacher is bloody sadist!”
Even Joshua pulled a painful face. “Eeeh,” he said. “Well, I’ll help you find the books if you like? I’m pretty sure we’ll find something in that section over there,” he said pointing to one of the many aisles.
A smile twitched at Theo’s mouth. “Nah you’re alright shortie,” he said ruffling Joshy’s hair. “You get back to slaving away over those revision guides.”
“Don’t take the piss,” he muttered.
Theo just grinned and pushed away from the table. “Guh, look! Who stays after school to do homework, Joshy? No one! We’re practically the only ones here!”
“Alright, well I still like the peaceful atmosphere, gobby-chops! And don’t call me Joshy, dammit!”
“Apologies, apologies,” Theo said half-heartedly and with a nonchalant wave of his hand, disappeared into the book aisle that Joshua had pointed out.
Five minutes later and he returned with a stack of seven books. Joshua smiled at him as he sat down but said nothing. “Vive para causar queme aflija,” Theo moaned as he pulled out his reading glasses and polished them briefly on his shirt. Joshua did not look up from his work but merely pointed at the library door.
“English,” he said.
“I said ‘you live to cause me pain’, Joshua Solidor, I swear it.”
“It does you good, I’m sure.”
“You’re such a bossy lad for someone who still has to wear school uniform.”
“Hush, slacker. I know where you live.”
Theo selected one of his chosen books and opened it on the middle page. He only had to stare at the first paragraph for all of eight seconds before he knew he still didn’t care and was incredibly tired. The heat didn’t help, nor did the lulling sound of crickets. He supposed staying up until 3 a.m. to watch re-runs of Dragnet didn’t help either.
He did try to make some notes however, though only because Joshua was there. He was really craving an ice-cream. Ten minutes later and Theo had his head on the desk. He was reading whatever words he could make out from that angle (though his glasses were pretty skewed).
“Hey… Hey Theo,” someone whispered.
Theo felt the hard surface beneath his cheek and jumped slightly. “Huh?” It took him a few instances before he recognised having fallen asleep in the library. Joshua shook his head, his hand still on Theo’s back.
“C’mon sleepy, we’ll go get that ice-cream if you’re still up for it.”
With a grin, Theo sat up fully. “What time is it?”
“Almost five o’clock.”
“Jeez…”
“Yeah, and you got nothing done. But, you did look quite…” Josh looked away and picked his bag off the floor. “Just thought I’d let you sleep in the end. I’ve set some work of mine to print out. I’m just gonna collect it, k?”
“Alright.”
“You put your stuff away,” he added and then darted off.
Happily Theo set about stuffing all the books into his bag, his enthusiasm dampened slightly by how increasingly heavier it got, but when Joshua beckoned for him to hurry up, the summer warmth helped lessen the weight.
When he returned home later that afternoon, Theo knew he would have to try and poke at his books again. But he felt strangely uplifted after spending time larking about with Josh, so decided to at least try and make a full page of notes!
He spread the bricks of despair over his bed and then chose one with the most interesting cover. Again, he picked a spot halfway through and opened it. A post-it note was stuck over a large paragraph of painstaking small-print. ‘THIS PAGE HAS A MASSIVE QUOTE,’ it said in Joshua’s handwriting. Theo’s mouth fell open slightly and he slowly sat down on his bedroom floor – flicking through the pages.
He very quickly found another post-it. ‘This picture might help 🙂’. It was a picture of Charlie Chaplin performing a dumb-show. ‘You could compare this composer to that modern composer you like so much, you know, the one who wrote the music in Firefly!’ Theo flicked through the rest of the book and found one more post-it. He quickly set the book down and grabbed another one off his bed.
Again, a few more post-its. On the inside cover one said, ‘This one isn’t so helpful. It’s more about the war than about media, you nit.’ Theo chuckled slightly.
Diving across his room, Theo grabbed his bag and began searching for his phone, finding so many used tissues, gum-wrappers and screwed up bits of paper that it made the foot well of Auntie Chex’s car look clean.
He found it at last.
‘Joshua, asombra.’
A good few minutes later (and probably with the use of an internet translator) one said back.
‘I know. I know. I am amazing.’
Willow H. Wood 