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Tanz giggled to himself and tried to keep a straight face. You couldn’t tell a secret while laughing, that just wasn’t nice. Glancing once more around Takan Tanz made sure that Shiri was still fighting with the party about what color his shirt was. It was sky blue. Not baby blue. Tanz knew. He heard the whole argument this morning before the café opened.

Covering the side of his mouth to make a tunnel so the sound wouldn’t carry Tanz said in a serious voice,

“My daddy has a crush on Ron.” Tanz might not have known what a crush was, but he knew what his father did when ever he was around the mechanic. “He always drops stuff whenever he is around him,” Nodding he quickly added for Takan’s benefit, “Ron is the mechanic that lives down the street. Otto called him earlier to see if he could try to fix Monkey ‘cause he’s good with fixing stuff.” Not thinking about his torn toy on the table Tanz went onto explain.

“I always hear Otto and Quentin and Collan talking about my daddy ‘crushing’ and lot’s of other bad things I can’t say…But they told me not to tell anyone. Your special though, you don’t count.” Tanz giggled and try to keep a straight face. He looked back at his father when he came over to check on them.

“Food should be out soon.” Shiri said suspiciously as his son just smiled. He really didn’t want to know, Shiri kept telling himself as he walked into the kitchen to see if the kid’s lunch was ready.

Tanz smiled after his daddy and then looked back over to Takan. He was about to tell him something but he paused at the look on Takan’s face.

Poking said grumpy face Tanz inquired innocently, “What’s wrong?” He really hope his dad didn’t do anything wrong. Then he would have to say sorry and tell Shiri that he was talking about Ron. Then he would blush and get flustered before stomping away. It didn’t matter how fun it was to watch, his dad was hard to talk to for the rest of the day.

Tanz looked his captured hand then to his disgruntled friend and smiled. “That happens to me all the time. I go to tell daddy something awesome I thought up while I coloring, then I trip over something, Otto likes to tell me it’s my own feet but that’s just weird, and when I eventually get to him I can’t remember it.” Tanz pouted and continued with his story, “Then it is really embarrassing since everyone laughs, but it’s the good laugh not the bad one, and calls me cute. I wanted to say something important and I end up being a spectacle.”

Glaring at the table Tanz didn’t notice when the door jingled, but that happens hundreds of times a day, why should this one be so special?

Ron poked his head in and blinked at the emptiness of the place. He walked all the way in and spotted Tanz in his usual corner, Ron could get answers from the little bugger, even if he seemed to have a friend and looked a little angry himself.

Tanz blinked as his hand was squeezed, was someone scaring Takan? Someone coming into the restaurant? The little squirt glanced over in the direction Takan was looking in a retort to the person who surprised his friend but it died before it could really form.

“Ron!” Tanz smiled and waved. This was perfect. Ron was his favoritest grown up besides his daddy. Ron was really nice and always played with him when no one else would.

Ron smiled as he walked up to the booth in the back. Tanz had claimed it long ago and no one else had the heart to sit in it when the kid wasn’t there, even on the busiest days. They always sat with complete strangers so the little boy could have his seat.

“Hey Tanz.” Ron greeted with a nod and a curious look at the boy holding hands with Tanz. Maybe he was a new friend? Ron would love to meet him. But he needed to get back to the garage, he didn’t even change out of his work clothes before he stopped by. Ron was wearing his grease and oil stained overalls that he wore to work on car and other random appliances. “Do you know where your father is? I need to ask him something.” Looking towards the kitchen Ronald hoped Shiri would come out of the doors, but he had no such luck.

Tanz first blinked at his friend. Takan didn’t like Ron? But Ron was awesome. He made the best smoothies. Ever. Maybe if Takan had one of his smoothies then he would like Ron better. Tanz made up his mind and nodded to himself, obvious to the weird looks he was most likely getting.

“Dad was checking on our food. But he might need help carrying it out, since it is already late and he is really bad at it.” Tanz giggled as Ron winced at the mention of Shiri’s glorious lack of balance. There was many famous incidents that involved the clumsy waiter and his reunion with the floor and other embarrassing places.

“I’ll go see if he needs any help then.” Ron just needed to glance once around the café to see that it was close to closing time. There was only that one small group and the rest was empty. Maybe he could borrow the blender and then help clean up since Neil and Otto seem to have gone AWOL.

Ron smiled at the kids and walked towards the kitchen doors, just as he was going to walk through Collan came stalking out. Rolling his eyes the teenager was carrying a platter of food. He noticed Ron coming towards him and he smiled, a smile that was all teeth.

“Shiri had an ‘incident’ with the fridge again, so I am feeding the little midgets.” Collan winked at him as he strolled to Tanz’s booth and set down the two plates. “One Spaghetti and one Alfredo.” Placing the steaming plates in front of the kids Collan ignored the way Tanz tensed up and didn’t look at him. Sighing inwardly at the kids fear of him he quickly smiled at the white haired kid next to Tanz. Maybe he would dye his hair white and black tonight. Yes.

Tanz waited until Collan walked back into the kitchen before he grabbed the fork next to him and plopped it into his pasta. Taking a bite, making sure not to make too much of a mess, he smiled at the flavor.

“Collan and Quentin are weird, but they make really good food.” Smiling at Takan he quickly took another bite and hoped he wouldn’t spill it all on his lap like he did last time. Everyone made fun of him for that…

There was the usual commotion in the kitchen as Collan and Ron went in, though Shiri’s squawk made Tanz pause and smile. His daddy was just so weird. Nodding to himself, Tanz kept eating, trying very hard not to make a mess. He was going to make a comment about his awesome table manners to his friend but when Tanz turned to Takan he scrunched up his eyebrows. He was just staring at his hands, with a not nice look on his face.

Tanz was about to ask if he was alright and if the food tasted funny, because sometimes Quentin liked to add weird things to regular dishes because they were too boring, but Takan said something that made Tanz choke on the noodle he was chewing on.

I hate me.

With wide eyes Tanz turned towards his friend in confusion. How could he hate himself? You were the one person that you had to live with for the rest of your life. It would be awful if you had to spend it in anger.

Tanz couldn’t imagine a life like that.

“Why?” Tanz asked, nothing but confusion and sadness. “What happened?” Setting down his fork Tanz made a grab for Takan’s hand. “There must be something.” Not knowing how to word the emotions running around his heart Tanz closed his mouth and looking to his best friend for an answer.

Something must have went really wrong. The only person that can make Tanz hate himself is Neil.

Tanz eyes widened and the sound that came out of his throat was a mix between a ‘no your not’, ‘you’re pretty’, ‘blood, and ‘what’. He couldn’t believe his ears.

“You’re not scary.” Tanz wanted to yell and scream and stomp, because someone must have told Takan that and Tanz hated them for it. He wanted to march around and growl like Otto does when a date cancels on him, he wanted clench him fists and bite his tongue like his father does when he wants to do something and he has to physically stop himself.

No one makes his friends cry, even indirectly, without Tanz giving them a piece of his mind.

“If you were scary then I would never have talked to you.” Tanz gently scooted closer so Takan could hear his whispered words. Takan needed to hear this. Tanz never wanted to say something like that again. Ever. “Collan and Quentin are scary, I never go near them unless someone else is with me.“ Tanz sniffled and tried not to cry as well. His friend was upset, that made him want to help, he couldn’t break down at a time like this.

“I feel safe with you. That means you can’t be scary.”

Tanz didn’t know how to explain how pretty Takan was to him. He just was. It was like trying to explain why chocolate was yummy, you can’t. It just is.