Clingy (Ugly Mutt)

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Several weeks had gone by since Kod was finally(and thankfully) released from the hospital. Gene, of course, graciously allowed the delinquent free use of the guest bedroom(though in reality, he spent most of his nights in Gene's room when he stayed over), and toted the older boy to school every morning.

And to work.

And to wherever else he needed to go.

Toted might not be the correct word. More like "attached". At the hip. Or on his arm. Gene didn't care what it looked like to others, honestly, because it was none of their business and he was allowed to do whatever he wanted. As long as Kodi didn't mind, of course. If he said something, then Gene was willing to tone it down. Sort of. Maybe.

Though even Gene couldn't stay by the dentokinetic's side 24/7, so he'd leave with very clear notes on when he would return, or when he expected to see him again. Gene was torn away earlier for a tutoring lesson he couldn't get out of. Graduation was right around the corner and he couldn't afford to get any more behind in his classes(even though he retched at the idea of doing the work). So he left Kodi at the bookstore and went home to work on it, waiting for the older boy to return as it grew further into the evening.

Of course, whatever homework Gene was supposed to get done was long lost behind about an hours worth of work on a pencil drawing of a certain ugly dog. Gene pulled it back and studied it. He thought it turned out pretty good.

A knock came at the door and Gene was off the couch in 0.2 seconds as he knew instantly which idiot would be knocking on his front door at this hour, especially just to annoy him. Which it did. "You really are too stupid to learn new tricks, aren't you?" he griped the second he saw the ugly face of that ugly mutt. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't let you freeze out there?" It was reaching below 0 temperatures, after all.

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Kodi was glad that he was only taking a couple of classes during his last months at Hammel, because with all the shit that had gone on recently, there was no way he ever would have been able to catch up if he was taking more. It was hard enough to get back to a passing grade as it was, and it was especially hard now that he was being forced to quit his drinking cold turkey. It wasn’t that he particularly wanted to drink after what had happened, but it meant he was forced to deal with his emotions rather than drown them out, and that was something he had always struggled with.

At least Gene and work tended to keep him occupied when he wasn’t in class or rehabilitation meetings. Especially Gene – the little brat had seemed to become particularly clingy and attached to Kodi ever since he got out of the hospital. The dentokinetic would never admit it, but he was pretty happy with that situation, especially since it meant he got to spend more time in Gene’s giant house instead of the dorms.

At least, he did when the rich boy actually let him into the house. Kodi knew by now how much Gene hated the door being knocked on, but sometimes he did it just to annoy the kid. He was cute when he was scowling. Kodi flashed his princess a bright, toothy, and chattering smile (fuck it was cold out) when he opened the door, unfazed by the less than warm greeting. “Nice t-to see you t-t-too, babe~” he replied between his shivers. “One reason… I’ll just b-break in through the back d-d-door like the delinquent I am if y’don’t.” He gave another bright, but this time slightly mischievous, grin. “Besides, I know y-y’love me too much t’let me freeze~” Kodi made smooching gestures Gene’s way.

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Gene could definitely say that he was proud of Kodi, that he was taking steps to address his drinking habits. While he had vague memories of there being some pleasant, silly times when Kodi had encouraged Gene to try it, if it would prevent Kodi from taking it that far again, then Gene was more than happy to never touch the stuff himself again either. Gene just wanted Kodi to be okay. He hated worrying about him over stupid shit. Which was why he wanted to be around Kodi as much as possible, so he can make sure of that with his own eyes. Not that he wouldn’t believe Kodi if he said he was okay, but it did bring the younger boy some amount of relief and peace of mind.

Right now, what he was seeing was Kodi standing on his doorstep with chattering teeth and knees and toes that were probably about to fall off from frostbite. “You do that, I’ll definitely call the cops on you,” he growled, though they both knew it was empty threat. Aggie might, though. She had not liked these recent turns of events regarding Kodi, and Gene had gotten more than an earful of her lecturing over his relationship(whatever it was) with this punk. Gene couldn’t help it, though. He blushed and scowled when Kodi so loosely dropped the L-word. “S-shut up, idiot!” That brain of his had definitely lost a few screws after his time in the hospital. Gene was still mortified with himself and his behavior at that time. “Just get inside already,” he breathed, looking away with a shy frown. “And don’t make me repeat myself.” Knowing Kodi, he’d stay right there on the border between inside and out just to annoy Gene.

Whenever it was the older boy did finally come inside, Gene would close the door behind them and scamper back to the couch to retrieve his drawing. “Look,” he said dully, though his eyes had all the sparkle of a 10-year-old showing off a Crayola masterpiece. ‘I did it,’ they seemed to say.

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Kodi would love to see Gene get drunk again. Hell, he’d keep himself sober happily if it meant he got to see the younger boy become a giggling, stumbling mess again, that shit had been adorable and hilarious. Maybe he could bring it up sometime… But not for a while, not so soon after he’d gotten out of the hospital. For now he would just enjoy the videos he’d taken from those times and embarrass Gene with them.

Kodi rolled his eyes, very well knowing that, yes, that was totally an empty threat. “You wouldn’t do that after you spent I dunno how much money gettin’ me outta jail,” he shot back. Besides, Kodi wouldn’t really break into the house if he wasn’t let in… Probably. Mostly because he knew Gene would give in eventually, because no matter how much the brat pretended to hate him, Kodi knew better. “What? Does the word ‘love’ make you squeamish?” he teased with a lecherous grin. “Looooove~ I mean, the only things you seem t’love are giant comic boobs an’ cereal, so I don’t see what the big deal is.” Kodi huffed and rolled his eyes, but quickly darted inside once Gene finally allowed him to, shrugging off his soggy jacket and rubbing his hands together in an attempt to warm them up.

He followed after more slowly as Gene went scrambling off, raising an eyebrow as the boy presented a piece of paper to him. “What’s this?” Kodi drawled, taking it carefully into his hands and looking at the drawing of… Himself. The dentokinetic’s expression faltered briefly into surprise, and his lips were parted in slight awe until he finally looked up at the younger boy. “You drew this?” he asked, incredulous. Then, a moment later, he looked back down and scowled a little. “You coulda chosen a prettier model, but at least it looks pretty accurate.” He hoped the heat that had risen to his cheeks would be mistaken for a side-effect of the cold.

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The happy, stumbling, giggling mess that Kodi was talking about was a Gene that had not been seen properly since before he went to Hammel. Actually, it was probably around when he started going to Hammel that that part of him disappeared, suppressed by the discomfort of his life suddenly turning upside down. Aggie, his mom, his grandparents, and even his dad on occasion were his whole life up until he manifested. Of course, he held resentment against his power for doing that to him, in addition to it’s other stupid properties, such as putting his emotions on display for the world to see.

But Kodi had gotten to see it with a few drops(not really a few drops) of alcohol, and even a few glimpses here and there when the boy was in a particularly good, playful, and awe-inspired mood. These days, just seeing the dentokinetic put the kid in a more relaxed state….well, more accurately, a mixed state of relaxation and agitation. “You’d probably keel over if I told you, so I’m gonna keep that to myself,” he said with a smirk. The bond had been a lot, but not nearly as much as it could’ve been, thankfully. Gene’s face was literally radiating heat as Kodi repeated the obscene word. “S-so what if it does!?” he argued. “It’s just you being stupid, anyway.” Gene sharply turned his head away, but was lured right back to facing the older boy with his next statement. “I don’t…only l-lo…love those…..” he said, starting off with a strong protest, but quickly fading into meekness. No matter how cold it was with the door open, Gene couldn’t feel any of it in his own unbearable heat. “At least it’s better than loving only…dicks and….and butts,” he muttered, unable to think of anything better to counter with.

Whatever, it didn’t matter. There were more important things to think about, like the drawing he was showing off to Kodi. “Mmhmm,” he hummed, looking up at the older boy with eyes that seemed to beg for praise. Gene took the drawing back and looked down on it. “I thought it was pretty good. And your face was good enough for me.” Gene smiled thinly and with a small spark of mischief in his eyes as he looked back up at the dentokinetic. “I got a good enough look at it for a whole week, after all. I got lots of practice in while you were sleeping.” That was to say, there was a bunch more where that came from.

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As much as Kodi liked to tease and taunt and annoy the younger boy just to see him get all cute and scowly and grumpy, he liked it even more to see him actually happy, which was a lot rarer and therefore more special. “You’re right, I prob’ly would, ‘cause I’m poor as fuck,” he replied, shrugging. Kodi didn’t have any idea how he was ever going to repay all that Gene and his family had paid to do things for him, really. It seemed impossible. All he could do was be grateful, he supposed. But not right now, right now he was too busy smirking at the look on the boy’s face, resisting the urge to reach out and pinch those pink cheeks. “You’re right, I am bein’ stupid,” he replied easily. “But you’re fallin’ for it anyway.” Kodi cackled at Gene’s stammering. “Right… you love video games too,” he ‘corrected’ himself, pretending to smack his forehead as he ‘remembered’. “How could I forget?” As for loving dicks and butts… “I do like those a lot,” Kodi confirmed. “But I also love big books… and I cannot lie.” Ohoho, he was so funny.

Kodi shot Gene a glance as he held the drawing in his hands, and saw how much his eyes were shining with expectation. “You should show me your drawin’s more often,” he replied, smiling with surprising softness. “I didn’t realize you were that good.” Maybe he was a little flattered. Or a lot flattered. “I thought you always said I have an ugly mug,” he snickered as he handed the drawing back. “So why would you wanna stare at it so much, even when I was sleepin’?” Of course, he’d thought for a while that Gene was lying about what he thought of Kodi’s face, but still. He reached up and ran his fingers gently through the back of the boy’s hair before leaning in and pressing a peck to his lips. “You should draw a picture of what I look like when I’m…” The dentokinetic leaned in and whispered something lewd to the younger boy, grinning lecherously as he did. “You see that often enough too, don’t you?”

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Even after all the things Kodi had put him through, and all the money he’d spent on account of the dentokinetic, Gene wasn’t about to kick Kodi to the curb because of it. He held no resentment over money spent. Just over time wasted and overall stressful encounters. Though, that stress was borne from the fact that Gene just couldn’t leave Kodi alone. He couldn’t just abandon him, and this wasn’t out of any sense of charity anymore. It was because of this silly emotion that was bubbling up from within him that only seemed to be growing the longer the two of them were together. It made it impossible to not think of and consider Kodi in most everything he did anymore.

“I am not,” he pouted, turning away with pursed up lips. His cheeks told a different story though, one that seemed to continue as this topic went on. Gene’s mouth hung open at Kodi’s stupidity. “Not….just video games either!” he asserted, though he didn’t know what he was going to say to effectively refute that. There were definitely other things he loved though! Like books. “I love those too!” he declared, completely missing the joke. Gene didn’t listen to much music, so he didn’t know the reference.

“I’m not,” he said quietly, disagreeing with Kod’s compliment. “There’s a lot I don’t know how to do….” Or was he just being modest? Gene’s face had cooled somewhat by the time he was done showing Kodi his drawing, though he still felt the slightest bit of flush from showing off his ‘talent’ that he really didn’t put much thought into. “I t-told you, it was good enough,” he said again. “And it’s not like there was anything better to look at.” Gene shrunk back slightly in another sudden wave of meekness, but then relaxed at Kodi’s touches through his hair. His eye closed loosely as Kodi came in for a quick kiss that sent butterflies swarming through his stomach. No…it was that other thing he said that was making his belly tingle. “….no,” he said with s small frown, dipping his chin down shyly. “I’m facing the wrong way too much too see that.” Because Kodi liked it that way. “M-maybe if you change it up more often, I…I might…draw you that too.” It was Kodi’s fault that Gene couldn’t do it…at least not right now.