His Girl, My Boy - Anderperry

Chapter Four

When he woke up in the morning, Neil was already gone. Anything to do with everything was foggy to Todd, but slowly he came to his senses. He didn't remember anything but sleep last night. All through the day, Todd couldn't help but think that he had done something to upset his boy.

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"Her and I... no, him and her?" Todd groaned, "This is useless! I can't write poetry about women at all." He looked around at the rest of the poets, all working on their poetry too.

"You think that's hard? Trees, Todd, goddamn trees!" Charlie wasn't even working in his poem, complaining was "Much more fun."

"You know Keating did that to spite you about your comment last week. What was it?" Knox quipped, remembering Charlie joshing about the worthlessness of trees.

"He who stands like a stick at a desk is a tree!" Meeks burst out laughing, and everybody joined in.

"I mean, that wasn't even witty! What were you thinking?" Neil chuckled, making Todd blush a little.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, now tell me what you all have to write about! Cameron, you first."

"What? Why me?" Cameron spluttered, obviously disliking the sudden attention.

"Just because."

Cameron rolled his eyes, but answered nonetheless. "I got my favorite flower. Okay, now Knox!"

Knox looked disgusted that his name was chosen, but said, "I got the transition between the seasons. Meeks?"

"Mr. Nolan," He answered gallantly. "Pittsie?"

It took him a moment to register, but a second later- "Oh, I got childhood friends growing apart. Now Mr, Bigshot himself, Neil?"

Neil blushed deeply and meekly stated, "My favorite person in the world."

Todd wasn't expecting that.

"Gonna write about your girlfriend then?" Cameron asked, which put Todd over the edge. Needing to get out of there he blurted something random.

"I- uh, don't we have that Englatriencesomething test tomorrow? We should get back." He mentally slapped himself in the face.

The poets looked at Todd oddly, for he never usually spoke out, and to say something so... confusing was out of character for him.

Neil jumped to his side, "Yeah, actually our experiment is due tomorrow. Let's get a move on, boys."

Willing to follow Neil's lead, everyone else followed. 'Just another thing I get to envy him about.'

They got back to Welton unannounced and full of glee, for on the way back Charlie had made an impromptu poem about a toad caught in a wishing well.

"Where's this skill when you need it Charlie?" Meeks asked, still laughing.

"Playing hide and seek!" A fresh wave of muffled laughter and hiccups surfaced, simmering just before they entered the building. Todd and Neil went their own way to their room.

"It's beautiful out tonight, don't you think?" Todd was lost in thought when Neil said it, causing him to jump a bit. Neil laughed and Todd grew soft.

"Yeah... you don't get many like this, especially in March." Needing to keep the conversation going, he thought of something obscure. "What do you think the world would be like if we all spoke in Limericks? Like, it would be crazy! A-And, people would misinterpret things all the time, and-" Todd abruptly stopped, realizing how foolish he sounded. "I'm sorry. That's stupid."

"No, it isn't."

"No? Neil, I'm a huge recluse, I barely speak as much as I just did in a whole week."

"I like it. It's endearing! And to answer your question, I think it would be hilarious. Like, imagine having to say stuff like,

"There once was a lad with great thirst,

To the store, he eagerly burst.

For milk, he did seek,

With a grin on his cheek,

And left with his cravings dispersed!

"That, all the time! As crazy as it is, it sounds quite fun, Toddy."

They had reached their dorm, but Todd was on full autopilot. 'Toddy?' It was cute and amazing. Murmuring 'mhms' and 'yeahs' through the rest of their conversation, Todd felt good, better than he had for a couple of days. They said their good nights to each other and drifted off to sleep.