Episode 16: If you could listen

Teo yelled through the line, terrified, in contrast to Josh's face which lightened up, pulling away when the younger attempted to beat him up.

-through the phone- "Why are you screaming in my ear? Teo!"

The low threatening voice coming out through the line gave chills to the young blonde, focusing on the device again.

He apologized to his brother who went silent after his warning, "I'm sorry, Moncho… I just, I forgot to tell ya in the house where I'm staying at has a-" glaring at Josh whilst he enunciated every word slowly with his deep low baritone, "d.o.g" gritting his teeth at the end.

The latter gasped, aiming to himself, feeling insulted, he wanted to snap back, fighting fire against fire tempted him, yet he awaited for the right timing as he might provoke a fight between brother's if he kept on pushing it.

-Ramon on the line- "Is that a puppy?" Teo's brother did a radical turn of 180 in his chilling voice to a more candid one, "how old is it? Is it cute? Can I see it?"

The blonde let out a sigh of relief as his brother's love for nature never stopped amusing him.

"The brat is in a corner as we speak, he sprung off when I cried out, you could think it's cute, I fancy another kind, this one doesn't know manners." Teo sputtered, glancing on Josh's way making sure the older one listened, who, as an answer, pursed his lips adorably, frowning, getting up from the bed.

Teo mouthed a question when he did so, "where are you going?", making sure it doesn't go through the line.

-Ramon on call- "Such a shame. I'd have loved to see him." His brother spoke, not knowing his brother was distracted.

Josh rubbed his forehead, mouthing back, "Giving you space for you to talk with your brother", now sitting on the sleeping bag on the ground.

Teo pouted, landing the phone on the bed as he stood up, "You ain't sleeping on the ground, it's too cold, you're gonna catch a cold"

Making his way to the older who stared at him at a loss for words.

He mouthed to make sure the call was finished before he were to speak as it seemingly triggered him, "Did your brother cut the call?", staring at the boy whose eyes opened wide.

Teo looked at the device laying on bed then back at Josh mouthing, "We'll solve this in a bit. Just do as I tell you" to which Josh nodded, his face morphing into a soft one as his doll-like smile returned to his face with his puppy-like nod.

Teo picked the phone from bed, and effectively, the call was still on going, so he pretended to interact with a pup from a distance.

"Bark" he mouthed, standing by the bed, almost begging Josh to play along.

-/The what? Is he kidding me? Is this his revenge?/ Josh thought as the boy gave him puppy eyes right after bending over his willpower.

"Aww, so cute, you're forgiven just don't bite me again." Teo spoke as if interacting with a small pet, his voice softened and so did his gaze, which wasn't good for the older's heart who tried to stay still.

Josh facepalmed himself mentally, not believing what he was about to do, "rwoof rwoof!" He barked like a brazen puppy does when asking for pets.

-/I don't know you anymore, Josh. Who are you, fool? How low have you fallen? Couldn't you just ignore him? Did he have to look so cute?/ he scolded himself in his mind, as his ears and neck were burning up, as his mind worked overtime creating many theories.

Teo's brother chuckled softly through the phone, picturing a cute golden terrier for the sound of it, wishing nothing but holding the little one in his arms, little did he know "the puppy" wasn't a pet. "Don't scold the little one, I bet he just got excited seeing a new guest"

The blonde lifted an eyebrow, considering his brother's words which landed close home, "excited?" Eyes falling on Josh who sat cross legged on the floor not so far from him, trying to read him.

Josh couldn't hold his stare for long, as his statement didn't help, causing him to break into a coughing fit as he choked on air.

Teo acted rapidly, pretending he was the one coughing to not arise any suspicious from his brother.

Said man spoke through the phone again, "It's pretty late, don't play until late into the night with the little one. You might've caught a cold with all that coughing" Teo's brother's concern won over, overlooking the situation.

"I'll call in the morning. Maybe we can pick you up by noon." Ramon reassured his younger brother with his words through the line.

He cleared his throat as the coughing male calmed down, his attitude changing like the direction of the wind during a storm carried by the currents, "That'd be awesome!"

He jumped on his feet as he wouldn't have to walk all the way to port, not like his feet would resist either; however this got the ravennete's full attention on him again.

-/Did I miss something? Why is he so happy?/, Josh looked at the boy who was doing a tiny happy dance.

"Oh, right, when Captain Johnson is up tell him we'll pick the both of you by the morning" Teo's brother informed him to which the blonde nodded as if his brother could see him at that moment.

Catching himself on his mechanical answer he spoke again, "sure, I'll let him know. Now, I'mma sleep, the doggo seems tired too, see ya" he quickly cut off the call after his brother came up with another question and he might slip as he wasn't that good at keeping secrets from his brother.

Josh observed him as Teo hung up, walking over to hand him back his device with a huge grin plastered on his gorgeous face, seemingly out of this world.

It might have been more than Joseph could contain as he was starstruck by the boy's stunning appearance as he made his way to him.

-/He's breathtaking/ he said to himself within his head when the boy stood in front of him, holding the device out for him to take.

He watched him from below, his strong yet soft features clear now, not like he didn't notice it before, but from this point of view he could see the sharpness of the blonde's jawline, and how his pointy nose had a mole on the tip of it and he felt tempted to poke at it.

"Ain't you gonna charge it?" Teo briefly commented as the older one wasn't responsive at all just silently staring up at him which made him a bit nervous, uncertain, as he didn't know if it were the consequences of his actions minutes ago.

Teo pondered to himself, /Did he get mad again? Did I go too far with the doggo thingy?/ a bit guilty for going to such extents, but he had no choice as his brother wouldn't like the idea of his little brother sleeping next to an unknown person in the same room.

He moved the device in front of Josh's face to get him out of his thoughts which worked as the older got startled, jumping backwards almost hitting the table behind him.

"What are you doing?" He said, taking the phone from Teo's grip, avoiding to meet his eyes as he just realized he zoned out in that mesmerizing being standing in front of him.

Teo felt a sting in his pride as he was avoiding him, thinking they went back to square one, "You said it needs to be fully charged, so I'm handing it back to you."

Josh connected the device to the charger, playing fool, tapping randomly on the phone screen.

The blonde crossed his arms, putting on his cold facade on to seem unfazed by the older male, even though he disliked to be ignored, like he could stand that at work with that stiff people, but not with someone who he considered a possible friend, or at least a just known who he wanted to befriend as he didn't seem a bad individual.

-/He's annoying and childish. Why did he get so mad over it? I guess I should explain myself. He might understand if I tell him my reasons/ Teo answered his own question within himself, hoping to fix their situation.

"I-" both turned to face each other speaking at the same time, chuckling as embarrassment fell over them.

"You go first" it was Josh who spoke giving Teo the chance to talk first, he truly wanted some time to keep it together when his turn came next.

The blushing blonde rubbed his neck whilst he built his speech within his head as he didn't want to make the misunderstanding bigger.

"I'm sorry about the doggo. I mean, there wouldn't have been any problem if you kept quiet on your side." He couldn't help but let him know his piece of mind either bringing the ravennete out of his train of thoughts.