Piss Boy [manxman]

Chapter Twelve: Jesse and Alex

Piss Boy
Chapter Twelve: Jesse and Alex

     SCOTT SMILED, and as weak and shaky and small as it was, it was the reaction I needed from him.

     "We'll have to get a tank for it, and food, and decorations," I grasp his hand in mine, and he nods. I can see that the subject has drifted his mind away from his breakdown, so I continue speaking, "You can pick all of it, if you want."

     He shakes his head, and his hand holds mine tighter as he speaks, "I-I ... I w-w-want-t you-ou to ch-ch-choose," he takes a deep breath, fidgeting with the hand that isn't holding mine, "w-w-with me-e-e."

"Anything you want, sweetheart."

- - -

Giddily walking through the isles of fish tanks, Scott holds my hand and points to a tank filled with the common goldfish. "Th-That o-on-one!" His hand squeezes mine lightly, and I nod, gesturing over a store worker.

"Can I help you guys?" She asks, a smile on her face in response to the one on Scott's face.

"Yes actually, we'd like two goldfish please," I say, pointing at the tank on the far right.

After she got the fish out with a net, and placed it into a plastic bag secured by a rubber band, she hands it to us and directs us to where the tanks and decorations are.

"What do you think, Scott? Which ones would go well with our friends here?" Scott looks around at the many tanks on display, and I can see him eyeing the prices of them as well. The bigger of the tanks have three-digit prices, and he immediately goes to the section with the smaller, cheaper tanks.

     "Th-Th-There's-s only t-t-two of them-em, so." He says, as if to reassure me that he's not looking at prices. Appreciating his kind gesture, I follow him as he picks out a tank.

     We stop when Scott sees one that seems to spark his interest. It has decorations placed neatly inside, and seems to be pre-packed with all sorts of things. He spins around, and looks up at me with a smile, excitement radiating off of him in waves.

     When we walk up to the cashier, we purchase the necessary things such as pet food and a filter alongside a heater for the tropical fish we've bought.

I hand the lady behind the counter the money, and a thought pops into my mind.

Do I waste too much money on Scott?

As I glance over at him, and I see him grab the bag from the shelf, I shake my head. The excited grin on his face and the redness of his cheeks and the bounce of his step, they answer my question. So as he grabs my hand and we walk out the door, I squeeze his hand with a smile.

There's nothing I wouldn't do for Scott.

     And he stays like that for the rest of the walk, giddily grasping my hand as he tries not to shake the bag too much, as the goldfish are in it.

     "What do you want to name them?" I ask, and he immediately says,

     "J-J-Jesse!"

     "But what about the other one?" I ask, giving him a curious look as to why he only had one answer.

     "You-You'll n-n-name-e that on-one." Nodding, I conclude that I have no idea what gender the fish are, so I brainstorm some gender-neutral names in my head.

     "How about ... Alex?" I ask, and Scott nods his head in reply. I hunch over slightly with the fish tank in my hands, and softly kiss his forehead, and he leans into the gesture warmly. "Do you feel any better?" Scott sort of looks away for a second, pondering the thought itself for a moment, and then shoots me a smile larger than his usual one.

     "Y-Y-Yea, I'm g-g-great!" Exclaiming his feelings, we continue to walk a bit more until we reach the apartment building. I can see Scott freezing up for a second, and he downcasts his eyes as we walk into the building. We take the elevator, and while a small smile is still on Scott's face, it looks a bit forced now.

     "C'mon, lets put Jesse and Alex in their new home." I say, and he nods as we get off the lift. I unlock the door of our apartment, and Scott closes the door behind us.

     Carefully, he holds the plastic bag filled with water, Jesse and Alex swimming idly in the confined space. I set the tank down on the floor, and take the television down from the stand. Then, I place the tank onto the marble brown stand, and move around some of the contents inside of the tank, so that the decorations for more nicely in it.

     Scott walks over and puts a couple of the decorations that he had picked out into the tank, and then places the water filter behind some of the artificial plants. After filling up the tank with water, and making sure it wasn't too hot or cold, Scott grabbed the plastic bag that held the two fish.

     "Not yet, you have to let them adjust to their new home," I say, and and drop place the bag into the tank, but not completely, "this'll help them adjust to the temperature, and the water quality." According to what I'd just read on a fish forum, this was the right way to introduce fish into a new environment.

     After about ten or so minutes, when my hand started to cramp up, I hand Scott receive a pair of scissors, and had him hold the bag in place.

     "Wh-What are-re those f-f-f-for?" Scott inquires, and I explain to him that the fish have no gotten used to the temperature of the water, but the quality of the water has not been revealed to them.

     Scott nods his head, and I cut a small hole under where the bag is tied, and tell Scott to slowly lower the bag into the water over the course of another ten or so minutes.

     When the bag was fully emerged, I cut the bag completely away from the knot, and then retrieved the plastic bag from the tank after the fish had swam out of it.

     "Now, do you think they're happy there?" I ask Scott, adding the water heater into the tank, which I had forgotten to do earlier.

     "Y-Yeah, th-th-they lo-o-ok ha-happy." Smiling, he puts his face closer to the tank, and watches Jesse and Alex swim around the decorations and he giggles when one of them bumps into the glass.

     I want Scott to be this happy, from now on.

- - -

This chapter was just supposed to be kind of fluffy and cute, because I think this book has too little of that.

For all of you wondering what Scott's backstory is, it'll be revealed within the next couple of chapters!!

If there are any grammatical or spelling mistakes please do point them out, I haven't proofread this chapter.

-Marcus