Boy/Boy Problems

Too much shouting

Teddy prided himself on being a generally chill guy. In fact that general chillness was such an inherent part of his personality that it had been built into his brand. Even people that didn't know much about him knew that Teddy King was a generally chill guy.

He was, of course, also an artist so his definition of chill was perhaps slightly more dramatic than the average person but he still managed to maintain his cool in some fairly extreme situations. Even when he was over reacting, like say deciding the world was over because his best friend had outed himself as bisexual on Twitter, he only ever let go around people he really trusted. Generally he kept his outbursts controlled and poured most emotions into his music.

Fainting into Luke Ryan's arms before vomiting all over the very expensive carpet in his apartment was not the way Teddy usually reacted to anything. Then again this was the first time he'd got drunk and Tweeted his secrets to the world, which was a miracle when he thought about. He imagined this was why some celebrities weren't allowed access to their social media accounts, they couldn't be trusted. Teddy was not one of those celebrities, Teddy was one of the good ones, Steve always said so. Trustworthy and personable, Teddy was always on message. Until one night and a bottle of tequila.

Luke helped him to the bathroom after he vomited the first time. It was humiliating, but Teddy had lost the ability to care about anything. The words he had tweeted, the secrets he had revealed, to the world and to Luke. There was no space to worry about Luke seeing him in such a compromising position, and it wasn't like Luke hadn't seen him like this before. Luke seemed to have some shame though because he left Lily in the bathroom alone to look after Teddy.

Lily patted Teddy's hair as he hugged the toilet and tried to pretend those weren't tears rolling down his cheek. She wasn't saying anything, just waiting and comforting. It's why he loved her. Lily knew when to talk, and boy did she talk, but also she knew when to be silent. She would still love Teddy after his career crumbled because of two tweets and a bottle of tequila. She'd probably go so far as to be proud of his idiocy, she was stupid like that.

Just as Teddy settled into the idea that he would spend the rest of his life on the bathroom floor, he heard the sound of shouting coming from the other room. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, or maybe he didn't want to, but he knew exactly who was saying it. The voice he'd heard more than any other in the last four years, that of his manager and surrogate parent, Rah. To say she didn't sound happy was an understatement. Part of Teddy kind of hoped she'd come to murder him so he wouldn't actually have to deal with any of the drama he'd caused, but he probably wouldn't be that lucky.

"You need to back off," Teddy heard Luke say with a of stoic authority that didn't fit into his carefree persona.

"This is your fault," yelled Rah in reply. "Why don't you back off and let me fix your mess again? That's what you're good at."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?" Luke asked, his voice rising.

Teddy groaned. He did not want to deal with this. 'Why did there have to be so much yelling?' he wondered starring in despair at the toilet bowl as though it might offer escape.

"Right that's it," said Lily removing her hand from Teddy's head, marching out of the bathroom and into the fight. Teddy wanted to tell her not to bother, he deserved everything he had coming, but he had apparently lost the ability to communicate beyond the occasional moan of pain.

"Everyone shut the fuck up," screamed Lily so loudly it made Teddy's alcohol soaked brain shake. "No one is allowed to talk until you all stop acting like my brother telling the world he's gay is anything other than an incredibly brave confession of honesty."