Tyreceus was confused. Levi had come over to their house quite often over the past few weeks. He and Ace had become good friends, and sometimes they would even have slumber parties and stay together, up through the night, watching movies and playing games.
I thought he hated him, Tyreceus wondered. Kids are funny.
Levi was excited to visit Ace. It had been a long time since he had seen him. Ace was recovering from surgery after he finally got his C-Chip, and now that he was better they could finally spend all day together.
Ace looked quite ridiculous with a shaved patch on the side of his head where they put the device, and Tyreceus sometimes let out a grin whenever he wasn’t looking. He looked like a dog that was shaved after getting stuff tangled in its fur.
One night, when Levi came to stay over, Tyreceus heard screaming from their room.
He ran over and found Ace screaming on the floor like someone was torturing him. Ace started to hyperventilate as the room got smaller and smaller and he felt like he was about to die. The screams only continued and Tyreceus ran into the room and picked him up.
He took Ace to his room and Levi stood there, in shock.
Once the screaming subsided, Tyreceus returned to Ace’s room, to find Levi crying. He rubbed his shoulder and tried to explain what happened.
“It’s okay, It will be fine”, he said.
“No it's not”, Levi sobbed “He got hurt. Did we do something bad?”
Tyreceus shook his head. He kneeled on the ground to get to eye level with Levi so he would understand the seriousness of his words. Tyreceus didn’t know how to explain trauma to a child, as he could barely explain it to himself.
He took a deep breath and tried to choose his words carefully. “Before we came here, we saw many bad things'', said Tyreceus. “I still get scared too, when I think about them.”
“Ace said Auntie Sue helped you come here.”
“Yes. She’s a good person.”
Levi had stopped crying and he rubbed his nose, getting snot all over his shirt.
“Sometimes though, when people see bad things, it makes them scared, even when everything is okay”, Tyreceus explained. “Sometimes it makes them cry, or scream. Ace is just scared. He will be okay.”
Levi didn’t believe Tyreceus because even though the words he spoke were true, his face told another story. Levi then remembered his uncle had told him something similar.
“Do you know my uncle”, Levi asked.
What a weird question, Tyreceus thought.
“Ah no, no I don’t”, he answered.
Tyreceus got up from the floor and began to clean the various candy wrappers all over the floor.
“He says that when he works at the hospital he makes people forget the bad stuff with his power,” Levi said.
Tyreceus stopped in his tracks and looked at Levi in amazement. A blessing had been received.
There was a way for his son to forget all the bad things and finally be a happy child once more. Tyreceus tried to not look too eager, to try and calm himself, but he had hope that his son would one day be able to get better and couldn’t contain his excitement
“How does he do it”, Tyreceus asked rapidly.
“Uncle Rico says he touches their head and takes out the bad stuff, and then he puts good stuff back in so the brain doesn’t get funny”, Levi explained. “He says he does it to help people feel better”.
Tyreceus’ heart soared at the chance to have his wish come true.
To forget the war, the bodies, and the sounds of bombs.
Tyreceus was surprised when Levi came over the weekend after Ace’s night terror. The past few days Ace didn’t sleep well, and he woke up frequently, screaming and sweating. Tyreceus took to sleeping with him to abate his fears but it didn’t help. At least he could stop the screaming faster if he was with him all night.
This time when Levi came to visit he brought a gift for Ace.
It was a hoverboard.
Tyreceus grimaced at the thought of having to take Ace to the hospital for the many broken bones he would soon have, but he couldn’t be angry with Levi because he was trying to cheer his friend up.
Tyreceus watched Ace jump up and down from the second floor in his bedroom. He hugged Levi hard and they began to run around the yard again, trying to find a good spot to practice. Tyreceus worried that they would hurt themselves in the yard, as last week Ace fell out of his treehouse while climbing down.
Tyreceus made his way downstairs and walked towards the sliding glass doors in the living room. Before he opened them he froze in his tracks.
He felt like someone had poured a cold bucket of water over his head as he watched Ace and Levi hold hands.
He told himself that he was overreacting. Sometimes adults would push their views onto the innocent minds of children. Yet he was still worried his son might endanger their citizenship, his job, and maybe even their lives due to Maximillian’s bigotry.
Tyreceus quietly opened the sliding glass door and listened to their conversation.
They were trying to figure out how to turn the hoverboard on, but they didn’t want help from grown-ups. They unlocked their hands to try and figure out where to put the large batteries in, ignoring the instruction manual entirely.
After they finally inserted it inside the clunky hoverboard, they cheered and talked about all the places they would visit together. Tyreceus then knew that there was nothing to be afraid of.
Levi and Ace then began to talk about getting married because that's what adults did to stay best friends forever. They fumbled and held each other's hands again, their young love only innocent.
Tyreceus didn’t care though. He wanted a living, put-together son. He decided it would be best to tell Maximillian himself. That they could solve this small issue together, and that he could help his son’s damaged psyche.
After Levi had left, Tyreceus immediately took Ace to the living and told him he needed to speak about something important. He knew that if he asked him outright Ace might lie about it, but he also knew that Ace was too hair-brained to know what he was even doing.
Tyreceus wasn’t sure what to say, but Ace spoke first.
“Is this about the present? Can I keep it”, he pleaded. Tyreceus softened as he knew that Ace was more interested in running around than the problems of adults.
“Yes. Yes, you can keep it.”
“I love you, ” Ace grinned.
“I love you too”, Tyreceus mumbled. He awkwardly glanced at his son and leaned back into the couch.
“Ace, why are you doing things with Levi?”
“I like it when he comes over, I like playing games with him. He’s-”
“No that’s not what I meant”, Tyreceus said. “Why did you say the things you said to him? Why are you two holding hands? It means something different here.”
Without even blinking Ace replied, “Because he’s nice. I like it.”
Tyreceus held his head in his hands and just groaned, believing the Curse of the des Regalis had followed him to his new home.
“Why are you upset”, Ace yelled. “You did it too with mom when she-” Ace stopped talking and couldn’t finish his sentence.
“You should know that only married people can kiss and hold hands”, Tyreceus lied.
Ace stuck his tongue out at him. “That’s not true! Yazmin at school kissed-``
''You are not Yazmin '', Tyreceus seethed. “You are not a girl.”
Tyreceus did not care that they were boys, he didn't care much and knew that kids quickly played pretend at this age about love, he was simply more concerned that it was the son of his benefactor, and tried to come up with any reason he could.
Ace looked confused, as he didn’t know what that had to do with anything.
“We’ve already done that. So I know you’re lying,” Ace shouted.
Tyreceus’ soul left his body. It floated through the 2nd floor, through the roof, and into the sky. He had died inside, knowing that innocent things like holding hands could be played off but knew he couldn’t cover up the kissing.
“I know I’m not a girl, what’s that have to do with Yazmin,” Ace asked.
Just don’t tell anyone about this'', Tyreceus said.
“About Yazmin?”
“No, about you and Levi.”
He didn’t want to say the word kiss. It made him uncomfortable. Tyreceus thought he wouldn’t have to worry about this sort of problem for another few years, but Ace had other plans.
“Okay. I don’t understand why you’re angry. Can I still keep the board,” Ace asked.
Tyreceus nodded, clearly annoyed, and told Ace he could go. Tyreceus lay on the couch, his head swimming, worried about his son’s future. He decided that he would just talk to Maximillian about it.
There was no way he could be angry over something as silly as a childhood crush that would soon pass in a month.
