blue is the rarest rose

"home."

[ᴛʀɪɢɢᴇʀ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ: alcohol/alcoholic dad, abuse, manipulation, homophobia, possible triggers for eating disorders. feel free to skip this chapter if needed, a small recap will be listed in the next one. take care of yourself. <3]

Eventually, school ended for the day and Travis had to go home. Ugh! It wasn't like he hated home, in fact it was his home so ... he had to feel okay there, right? But he still, surprisingly, liked school more.

Didn't really make sense with how dumb he was.

The fact that he got in trouble for such a stupid reason made it so much worse too! Really he just wanted to smash Sal's face into the ground. Actually, it's probably so messed up already! Especially because he had to cover it up with that weird mask.

That freak didn't even get in trouble either. Maybe that made Travis even more upset about it. Everybody else really were just spoiled brats.

Despite that, Travis still had to go home and deal with the fact that his father got called about his kid getting in trouble even though he was supposed to just be a precious son who didn't get into anything bad. Of course. And Travis was going to have to deal with whatever happened too. Something always just had to happen! Ugh!

Not like he could say some sort of excuse or try to get out of trouble with Kenneth. He knew his father, and he knew what would happen if he even tried.

Maybe if he walked in to his house quietly enough, Kenneth wouldn't notice him. It would at least be worth a chance, right?

Travis walked up to the front door, fiddling around with his keys in his pocket. Was he scared? No! He wasn't a pussy. A minute passed before he slowly unlocked and opened the door, carefully twisting the doorknob and opening the door, making sure it wouldn't slam. It seemed safe enough. He walked in before closing the door behind him just as carefully and taking off his shoes and putting his bag down next to them. Maybe he did make it in unnoticed.

"Travis." Shit, nevermind. His father called his name from the living room. Was he just there waiting for Travis to get home? It wasn't like this wasn't anything he'd done before! Then again it wasn't really a surprise that Kenneth would be lecturing him about it either.

Taking another deep breath and mumbling a quick prayer before walking into the living room and sitting down. He did notice all the beer bottles over where his father was sitting but didn't point it out. It wasn't like he cared at this point. All the bottles eventually got normal to see.

Travis already knew what to expect, really. It wasn't like this was his first time getting in trouble. Not at all, actually. His black eye was there for a reason, and it wasn't because of some dumb fight like that new freak accused him of.

"I got a call from the school. Now, you know I don't like being bothered while I'm at work, right?" Kenneth started to lecture Travis, he seemed oddly calm though. More than usual. Maybe it was because of all the beer, though he was anything but calm when he was really drunk. "It takes me away from some important business." 

Kenneth was right, he did have important stuff to do at the church. It wasn't like Travis knew the details of it, but he did know that his father was busy. And he shouldn't have gotten in trouble to the point of his father getting called. Shit, maybe he really was in the wrong.

Apparently Travis was zoning out again, or just taking too long in general to respond, since Kenneth raised his voice at him. "Well, are you going to respond or are you going to just sit there like some sissy?!"

Well at least now it was clear that Kenneth wasn't as calm as he originally was. "I know that you don't like being called. Really, I was just standing up for myself. There was this new kid and-" Travis tried explaining himself. At home he was a lot more quiet and to himself than at school. Pathetic.

"Stop making excuses for yourself! You're lucky I haven't just hit you and sent you off to your room. Some dads would actually do that, you know." Kenneth still was practically shouting at Travis. Which, maybe he should have felt lucky that his father was actually talking to him about it. It's better than just being hit anyways. Something he knew from experience. "I'm a good dad, you should be glad to be raised by me! You know, I really don't get why you act out so much at school. You should be a good kid!"

What Kenneth was saying did make sense, but they weren't excuses. It was clear Sal was trying to rile him up and get him angry just so he would get in trouble. Nobody would see that though! Ugh. Really, Travis would do anything but continue to sit next to that freak.

Right, he was still being lectured. He needed to stop getting lost in his thoughts, clearly it's not good, especially if it makes Kenneth get even more mad at him. "I do try to be a good kid, I swear." Travis caught himself almost making excuses for the situation again, "I'm sorry. I won't let it happen again." 

Kenneth shook his head, "Damn right you won't. Now, go make some dinner. I'm not cooking tonight." Well, that was a quick change in subject. Was he not that mad about the situation? Or maybe he was just as used to Travis getting in trouble as Travis was used to being punished for it.

"I've cooked dinner for almost the entire week, you can't just do this one time?" Travis responded, which obviously wasn't the right response. He was talking back- something Kenneth absolutely hated. 

In fact, Kenneth hated it so much that he got up and went over to where Travis was sitting and just slapped him right across his fucking face. Ouch. "Is this what I get for raising a faggot? Just go to your room then and starve. I don't have the time to care for you like some servant." 

Being told that hurt even more than being hit. Either that was because Travis was so used to being hit that it was basically nothing to him, or the words just cut deep. Travis didn't even respond, he just got up and went to his room and closed his door like he was told. He could go a day without eating, he already missed lunch and was doing just fine. Nothing he hadn't done before.