Game Night [Isacc]

[Dr. Roman Tilford]

Rome was well equipped to have a guest spend the night his apartment. Despite Kiko’s disapproving eye the last time she’d been over, he’d still managed to stock the pantry and fridge with junk food, and there was a good sized stack of game cases by the television. It wasn’t often that Isaac came out to visit, not to mention spend the night, and he was going to make the most of it. Isaac was one of his favourite relatives, probably second only to his middle sister, Jilly.

Around Isaac, there was no pressure to be an ‘adult.’ He could be the same goofy, oversized kid he always was. ... He just had money to buy the cool toys instead of having to beg his parents now. (Unless having to go through Kiko counted, considering things like budgets. He didn’t count that.)

The psychologist was grinning his fool head off as he headed out the door, firing off texts to Isacc, letting him know he was on his way, and to James. He wanted to know how his best friend was faring, if Chase was doing any better, and if there was anything else he could do for Niko. Thankfully, the boy had responded well to talk therapy. He was feeling good about the chances of the kid getting over the kidnapping in a safe, calm manner.

Of course, much as he loved his job, now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that. He was going to think about having a good time with Isaac, and try to keep on his girlfriend’s good side while he did so. They weren’t going to get that rowdy... honestly.

At least the drive to Hammel wasn’t long. Rome grinned as he pulled into the parking lot, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. Patience wasn’t often his strong suit. So, he pulled out his phone again and sent off another text. ‘Isaaaaccc. Stop jerking off and get down here.’ With a little satisfied smirk, he sent the message and leaned back, turning up the stereo.

[Isaac Tilford]

For the record, Isaac's hand was not in his pants when he received the text message from his cousin. For the record, his hand was rarely ever in his pants during that time of the day. For the record, he knew Rome was coming to pick him up, and would never start a masturbation session then. That was just rude.

No, he was caught up in a videogame.

The boy jumped when his phone buzzed again, and blushed slightly when he read the message. Yeah, his cousin was a bit of a jerk, but he had a weekend of junk food and videogames to look forward to. So what if that was going to be his plan if he'd stayed in the dorm all weekend anyway?

The sublimator grabbed his backpack, took the stairs two at a time, and sprinted out to the parting lot, where Rome was waiting in the car. Before he was even all the way into his seat, the sniping started. "Just because you had nothing better to do than jerk when you were my age doesn't mean that's what I do."

But really, he loved his older cousin. There had been a short period of time where he'd given in to the hype of high school and tried to be "cool." And hated every second of it. But Roman wasn't "cool" either, and he was still successful and happy, and he had a girlfriend. There was still hope for Isaac then. "So what's the itinerary for tonight?"

[Dr. Roman Tilford]

Even if Isaac’s hand had been in his pants, Rome wouldn’t have wanted to know about it. It was just one of those things he liked to say to rag on him. James had done it enough when they’d been students at Hammel. (He’d need several extra hands to count how many times James had asked that very question when they had roomed together.) Just as James was the older brother he’d never had, Isaac was the baby brother he’d always wanted. Which meant teasing rights.

Of course, if his aunt ever got wind that that was the kind of behaviour he exposed Isaac to on a routine basis, he’d probably be a dead man.

He teased Isaac because he loved him. That wasn’t really so terrible, was it? He was providing the kid with a roof over his head and food and games for the weekend. He had the right to snipe once or twice (or all weekend), didn’t he?

Pretending, as usual, that he was a better singer than he really was, Rome sang along to the radio until he saw Isaac running across the parking lot. Successfully ignoring the impulse to lock the door at the last second, he watched Isaac get in and reached out to swat him gently instead. Brat. “I had a girlfriend at your age. I didn’t need to.” A lie, but Isaac didn’t need to know that. “Did you remember to sign out? I’m not getting arrested for kidnapping because you were dumb enough to forget.”

As he drove off (apparently not all that bothered about the signing out status), he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel again. “Well… we have junk food, and movies. And games. I figured we’d order pizza, and then I’d trounce you in Halo. Sound good?”

[Isaac Tilford]

Oh, like Isaac would ever give his cousin any indication he was right, even if he was. Particularly in that sense, since he knew Rome didn't actually want to know.

"Psh. You were a virgin until you met Kiko, admit it." Isaac smirked and reached across the console between the seats to swat at his cousin's arm. "And of course I remembered to sign out. I'm not stupid." He'd only forgotten the one time, and the irate phone call from his mother had been enough to ensure it never happened again.

Actually, he appreciated Roman a lot more than he let on. He didn't have a brother, just an irritating little sister who liked to get her sticky hands on his things and had a habit of breaking his games or jamming his sewing machine or just generally being a pest. Rome made up for that, by being the perfect role model for someone who wasn't cool.

The itinerary suited Isaac perfectly, down to the last detail, except Rome wasn't nearly as good at FPS as he thought. "No way, Romy. I've been practicing. And don't order mushrooms." But all together, he was pretty happy with the plan for the weekend. The teenager settled back in his seat, looking up at the trees wizzing by. Summer was ending, and that meant there was going to be a long, cold winter coming soon. (Fall didn't last nearly long enough.)

After a moment of thinking, Isaac piped up again. "So my roommate Jem is trying to start up a geek club. It sounded like a good idea at the time and I said I'd join, but isn't that just painting targets on our backs?"

[Dr. Roman Tilford]

No, Rome really didn’t want to know. Really, really didn’t want to know.

“Hey!” Roman returned the swat, this time to the back of Isaac’s head. “Where’d you hear that from? Because you know Cassy’s a dirty liar.” Roman rarely had nice things to say about his oldest sister. “It’s not true,” he defended, but it was little more than a sulky mumble. Mostly because Isaac was right. “Good.” As long as Isaac was too mature and smart to pull pranks like calling the police and faking being kidnapped, no one would be arrested this weekend. Not at his place, anyway.

He wouldn’t have called himself a role model, per se, but he really didn’t mind entertaining his cousin for a weekend. Kiko didn’t appreciate his humor when it came to gaming and fantasy, but Isaac did. He was really looking forward to a weekend goofing off and pretending he wasn’t an adult with responsibilities. (Actually, he did that a lot. Case and point, the ridiculous email war he’d had the other day with James.) At least Isaac, unlike Kiko, didn’t call him out on it. … Much, anyway.

He rolled his eyes as he turned. “I don’t care if you practiced, I can still kick your ass. And I know you don’t like mushrooms. Picky brat.” He was grinning as he said it. Sometimes he wondered if James felt this way with him. Their age gap wasn’t as big as the one between him and Isaac, but they both treated their ‘brothers’ in the same manner.

At least the car was quiet for a few moments, no bickering or hitting. When Isaac did speak, Rome looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, probably sounding just a little too much like a psychiatrist as he did so. “Since when do you care about labels?” He shrugged. “I would have joined that kind of thing when I went to Hammel.” He smirked. “In fact, so would have Jay. … Dr Campbell. You know who I mean. Anyway, I bet he’d advise it if you asked him. It’d give him a break from the excitement of the chess club.” Rome, no one likes sarcasm. “In any case, if you want to join, join. Who really cares about high school labels anyway?” He’d been fairly unpopular, but that hadn’t stopped him from doing the things he liked, and it certainly hadn’t hindered his adulthood. “You’ll be fine.” And with that, he turned into the apartment complex and turned the car off. “Ready?”

[Isaac Tilford]

Of course, Isaac had just been making shit up. His cousin's response, however, made him smirk as he tried to duck away from the swat. (Didn't manage it. Stupid seatbelt.) "No one is that defensive unless it's true!" He knew that from experience.

And it actually added to the reasons why Rome was the perfect role model for his cousin. He was Living Proof ^tm that it didn't matter how dorky someone was in high school, they could be successful.

"You don't like them either." Or maybe he did. But Isaac had never heard him request mushrooms on pizza, so he just took a guess. "They're gross, except when mom makes them stuffed at Thanksgiving. On pizza they just get slimy."

"I don't." Speaking of defensive...

Isaac tried to give off the impression he didn't care that he was a geek. He liked wearing costumes and playing videogames, but he knew that outside of his group of friends, the rest of the students thought he was a dork. And it bugged him, no matter what he told Rome. "I really don't care, but it's senior year, and I kind of want to go to at least one of the dances with an actual date, instead of just friends." Most of his friends were girls, but he'd never really had a girlfriend. He was always firmly in the "friend zone."

"It's not the label, it's just...." Yeah, it was the label. He could embrace being a geek when he was with his family or friends, but he still wanted to be a normal student too. (And any bit of normalcy was savored at Hammel.) "Yeah, I guess you're right. I want to join. And I only have one more year left at Hammel, so no one's going to know about it after, right?"

He climbed out of the car and threw his bookbag over his shoulder. "You really think Dr. Campbell would advise us? He seems really....stuffy." Isaac knew his cousin was friends with the recruiter, but he didn't really understand why.

[Dr. Roman Tilford]

“You know what? Shut up.” Rome wasn’t going to argue this anymore. It was getting ridiculous (and a touch humiliating). “… It’s seriously not true.” It was a half-hearted, sulky mutter, but he still said it.

Regardless of the fact it was true.

“Mushrooms aren’t gross. They’re just… not that good on pizza.” Okay, so Rome wasn’t such a big fan of them either, but the times James or Kiko had given him grief over being picky had somewhat broken him of that habit. At the very least, he could stomach them. But he wasn’t going to complain. “What about pepperoni, or are you going to complain about that too?”

During his time at Hammel, and even during middle school, Roman hadn’t been cool. Not even close to being cool. He’d always been the one with his nose buried in a book, more interested in learning about wizards and elves and fictional places than participate in sports or ‘cool’ school clubs. He’d never cared much about labels, even when his sisters had teased him. Being friends with James had only ever reinforced that. Both of them were dorks, in their own ways. James liked things along the lines of Lord of the Rings, while Rome liked video games and magic.

The psychiatrist started slowly shaking his head. Considering it was his job to listen to kids and teenagers talk, and read between the lines they were feeding him, it was easy to tell that Isaac really did care. “Isaac, you’re a great kid, okay? If girls can’t see that, they aren’t worth your time.” Affectionately, he reached over to ruffle his cousin’s hair.

“No, buddy. No one’s going to remember that you were a geek in school. … Unless they’re your best friend. Jay knows. But it’s mutual, because he’s just as bad.” And he was going to prove it, too. He had to laugh at Isaac’s assessment of his best friend. “He’s not stuffy, he’s prissy. There’s a difference. But I’ll prove to you he’s just as big a dork as you and me.”

Rome headed up the stairs and unlocked his apartment, tossing his keys into a dish and waving his hand. “Drinks are in the fridge. Help yourself, but touch the beer and you’re dead.” He disappeared into the living room, grabbing a model from the entertainment center and passing it to Isaac. “See this? Jay painted it for me.” It was a fantastically detailed Balrog. It wasn’t all the proof he had, but it was a good start. If all else failed, he’d just show Isaac the picture he had on his cell phone of James (slightly drunk) in the Aragorn crown.