"Mack just likes to punch, I think," Tatum replied, trying hard to keep herself from blushing any harder as Le complimented her. He was glad he saved her? He had seemed sort of sullen that night, but she supposed that if he wanted to let her die, he could have.. so obviously, he must have wanted to help her a little. All of the praise from him was one of the last things she was expecting, and it was hard to keep from getting embarrassed.

"Y-You wanna play games? With me?" she asked, her voice cracking a bit as she pushed into her bedroom when they reached it, and she took a cursory glance around. Things were still scattered about, but most of the small stuff was gone. It was a lot of furniture left so far. "Well.. uhm, w-we're sort of cat burglars. We're not supposed to be d-doing this?"

She hesitated for a moment, unsure if she wanted to explain her situation entirely to her girlfriend's drunk friend, but figuring she might as well say something. "My d-dad doesn't want me to live here anymore, so.. I'm j-just taking my stuff. But h-he doesn't know I'm here! So it's.. secret."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"Mack does love to punch. Bitch is one tough cookie, makes me all the better at quidditch though," he grinned.

"Course I wanna play games with you and shit! Like... I figure we're gonna be hangin' out more now that y'all are movin' in and you aint so bad," he patted her head.

Listening to her story he frowned a bit. "Hey man. Having a shit dad is like... fuckin' the worst. I have a shit dad too. All I got is some shit picture of him and nothin' else. He won't even acknowledge my existence. I don't even get a shit birthday card er nothin' since the day I was born. It's why I promised Eddie I would be a good dad cause havin' a shit dad is the fuckin' worst."

"Your secret is safe with me Red."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"Don't say I said anything, but the soft squishy side is w-way cuter than the like.. tough cookie side," Tatum replied, grinning slowly herself. When he patted her head, she felt herself blushing despite her attempts to stay chill. "Y-Yeah, that'd be.. pretty c-cool actually, yeah. Do y-you have a DS? Or like, a 3DS.. R-Resident Evil Mercenaries is a-amazing, I uhm.. play online a lot."

It did make her feel a little better to hear that someone else was going through the same thing as her, it seemed like she was far from the only person around who had a father that wasn't perfect. But that only provided so much comfort. Misery loved company, but she mostly just wanted her dad back. Before this whole gay fiasco, he hadn't been a bad dad at all, aside from maybe a little intense. He pressured her about her grades a lot, but he only wanted the best for her. She knew, unfortunately, in his own way that he thought he was doing what was best for her right now too. Except she wasn't going to give in and come home and live the way he wanted her to. Even if he thought she would eventually, she had already promised herself that she wouldn't. She was who she was, and there was no sense in trying to change it.

"Shit d-dads suck," she agreed weakly. "My dad like, t-thinks being gay is a disease or s-something.. like people just, get over it. It's w-who you are, man! It's not-- h-he's just a jerk. He's closed-minded.. f-fuck him, I guess."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

He giggled a bit at her revelation. He hadn't ever really seen a softer side in Mack before little Tater Tot came along, it was definitely a nice change. He couldn't blame her for hiding that side, he was just as guilty... until Eddie came along. "Yeah I bet," he grinned. "Give us tough guys something cute and we go to pieces," he laughed.

"I have a DS, old school one, well not too cold school, DS Lite," he said. "I'm waiting for tax returns to get a nice little 3DS. Budgeting sucks... oooo! I haven't played that yet! It looks dope though! Do you... um..." he pushed his hat down lower to avert his eyes. "You play pokemon?" he mumbled. He was a bit ashamed to admit just how geeky his gaming got.

"Nah man, aint no disease," he shook his head. "People," he squinted, pointing at her. "People are born the way they are, aint no changin' that. Fuck 'im," he agreed. "It's tough because a part 'a you wants him to accept you and fer him to be a dad but you can't change other people and there aint no way you should hafta change..." he trailed off. "Fuck it bro."

"I know I gave you a lotta shit in the past Little Red, you just... yer an easy target but it aint cause yer gay," he gave her a little nudge with her elbow. "I'll give you some hinters when I'm more uh... sobery," he grinned.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

Tatum was more than ready to busy herself with her room again, now that they were back into it. She stepped away from Le a bit, making her way over to the dresser she had mentioned earlier, hurrying to get all of the knick-knacks off of it and putting them onto her bed. "Y-You could.. well, you c-can play mine. It's r-red," the younger girl told him, pausing for a moment when he asked about Pokemon. "Uhm, yeah.. of c-course."

She hesitated for a moment, chewing her lip as she began taking pictures out of the edge of the mirror on the dresser. "W-Who's your favorite? I like, uh.. Pachirisu."

Standing in her bedroom and discussing Pokemon with Leland was never something she would have pictured before, but it wasn't turning out so bad. Alcohol was probably helping. When he pointed at her, she stared blankly back, but managed a little bit of a smile. "R-Right? You can't, uhm.. really c-change what's up. I am what I a-am, I guess."

She couldn't believe he was apologizing to her, and once again, she stared blankly at him for a few moments. "It's, uhm.. okay. Everybody g-gives me shit, so it's.. really not a big deal," she admitted, giving him a little nudge back with her elbow. "I'm j-just a wimp. I'm used to it.. at least, uhm.. I have Mack now. It's like having a snuggly attack d-doberman."

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

"Ooo! Red, must be shiny! I like those ones," he grinned. "Oh, uh... Charizard has always been my favorite. Like, little dinosaur man, right? Can't go wrong," he found himself blushing even admitting that he knew what Pokemon was.

"You is what you is," he giggled. "But you gotta stand up fer yerself Little Red," he said moving over to the dresser. "Whatchu need me to do?" he asked. "Point me in the right direction!" he giggled.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)