His Room

A brief sentiment. I'm a bit of a hopeless romantic who makes NO promises not to be cheesy. If you do not like cheesiness of any kind, I encourage you to take your business elsewhere... Or continue at your own risk. Either way, I hope you all enjoy!

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(A few years ago)

"Why do you like those things so much? Aren't girls into, like, ponies or whatever?" Tyler asked as he watched his best friend, Daisy Gold ( with his little Hulk action figure. She looked up at him, stuck her tongue out, then went back to playing with the little green thing. Tyler smiled. Daisy's feistiness was a big part of the reason he liked her.

Their parents were out socializing at a local bar, and they had left them alone for the evening. When his dad had first introduced her to him, Tyler was a little apprehensive. After all, she was a GIRL! Tyler didn't know anything about girls. Especially girls younger than him. What was he supposed to do at that time? Yet he couldn't help but be fascinated by her.

He didn't know many black girls that were into comic books and SpongeBob, after all. And when she opened her mouth? Nothing but feisty wise-cracks and retorts. She could kick his ass at Super Smash Bros, and show him how to talk to girls at the same time. Things with her were just so...easy. It was only natural they'd become friends at some point.

Tyler walked over to his nightstand to kneel beside Daisy as she played, but froze when he saw her tense. Tyler frowned.

"What?" Tyler asked, feeling confused as he watched his best friend bite her lip nervously.

"Uh... Nothing." Daisy said, trying to steer the conversation anywhere else. "You just smell like crap. Man, I thought you'd be over puberty by now."

"Nice deflecting! Now tell me what's wrong."

"I mean come on. You're 14! Haven't you learned to wash your butt by no-."

"Don't get snappy with me, Delicia Gold." Tyler narrowed his green eyes at her, and Daisy shrank. 'Oh crap! He don' said my full name. I pissed him off,' she thought. "Tell me what's wrong."

Daisy sighed, and put down the action figure. Still biting her lip nervously, she met Tyler's expecting gaze. Sometimes she hated the affect he had on her; his ability to see right through her made her feel so accepted and so scared at the same time. It was unnerving.

"Well, I heard some of the girls talking yesterday at school about you and..." She gulped, and looked away. "Sherry Washington was convinced she was going to marry you. For some reason, I got really angry when she said that, and I walked right up to her and said, 'Tyler would never marry someone as stuck up as you, you walking stereotype! He's my best friend. I know what he likes, and it's definitely not you!'" Daisy heard Tyler chuckle and whisper 'That's my girl', but still refused to meet his gaze. "Sherry got real angry at that. She got this look in her eye before she stormed off with her friends. When I came back to class, she had spread a rumor about me being you're 'little black whore' and that you have 'jungle fever', like we're still in the 1800's or some crap. Can you believe that? Girl's got no sense."

Tyler remained quiet for a moment, mulling over what his best friend had told him. She was being bullied because of him. He knew this would happen at some point with him being so popular, but calling her a whore? Really?

"You're right," he said a few minutes later. "If she had any sense, then she'd know not to fuck with my friends. I'll talk some sense into her and her goons tomorrow. Don't you worry your pretty little head, Miss Duke."

Daisy protested for a little, but Tyler assured her that he had knew what he was doing. What could she do? Their parents had already returned by the time she could say anything else.

Tyler and Daisy went downstairs, and Daisy ran straight into her father's arms. Rodney Gold gathered his daughter into his arms in delight, and kissed her cheek as she settled against him.

As this happened, Tyler walked over to his dad, Frank Joseph, and fist-bumped him as Frank tussled his short black curls. As Daisy chattered on about comics to her dad, Tyler said nothing to Frank as they all walked into the kitchen.

When they got settled, Daisy's mom, Melissa Gold, entered and sat next to Rodney as they listened to their daughter. They were the picture of the perfect family. Tyler leaned against his dad solemnly, and Frank wrapped an arm around his son.

After a while, Daisy fell asleep, and her mother took her into the living room. Frank looked at Rodney, and they began to reminisce on old times.

"I remember when Sheila used to do that for Tyler." Tyler stiffened momentarily at the mention of his mother's name, but Frank kept talking. "She was one hell of a woman."

Rodney laughed.

"Tell me about it. Remember when she got so mad at me, she threatened to castrate us both? I still don't know how you got caught in the crossfires of that."

"Hey, you dragged me in there during the barbecue. I told you not to fuck with her family's recipe. That sauce was important."

"That sauce tasted like crap, and you know it!"

Both men laughed, and Tyler smiled. It was the first time he heard them laugh like this since her funeral five years ago. It was good. Even though Tyler still needed some time before he could laugh like that, he knew his dad needed this more than anything. Sheila would have wanted them to move on.

Melissa returned, and soon joined in on their conversation, sharing past memories and even a few more embarrassing moments from college. As they did this, Frank subconsciously held onto his son more tightly, and Tyler snuggled closer to his father.

"So Ty, you take good care of my baby today?" Rodney said suddenly, narrowing his eyes playfully at him.

"Yes Sir," Tyler said, unhooking himself from his dad. "We pretty much played with action figures and watched Ninja Turtles the whole time you guys were gone."

"Let me ask you something, Ty." Rodney said, ignoring Tyler's response. "My daughter's very precious to me. Now, since you're a growing boy, I consider it a little inappropriate for you two to be hanging out behind closed doors. Do you know what I mean?"

Tyler frowned. "Mr. Gold, I would never do anything to h-."

"I know, Tyler." Rodney smiled. "It's why we leave you two here alone in the first place. I'm just being cautious. After all, I've seen the way you look at her when she's not looking."

Tyler blushed. "What do you me-."

"Oh don't play that, boy! We all know you like her." Rodney chuckled, and Tyler squirmed. "When you were little, you used to walk up to me everyday and say, 'Mr. Gold, can I marry her?' Six years old - 'Can I marry her?'" Rodney laughed, and pretty soon Frank and Melissa joined in as well. Tyler looked to the floor for guidance, and mentally cursed when he realized it couldn't help him. 'Stupid floor', he thought. "Now I know those feelings haven't faded. I'm not saying you can't hang out anymore, just no more hanging out in your room for a while. Okay?"

"Yes Sir." Rodney smiled.

"You're a good kid, Ty. Take care of her." Tyler smiled, and Rodney leaned over to kiss his wife lovingly on the cheek. Tyler turned to look at his father, and inwardly flinched. He'd seen that gaze before. His dad always looked at his mom like that. Now he was looking at Mrs. Gold like that.

Tyler excused himself, and walked into the living room. He sat near the foot of the couch, and smiled as Daisy mumbled the lyrics to the song "No Air" by Jordan Sparks. Her sleepy half singing always put him at ease, and he allowed himself to fall asleep at her feet.

"I'm always gonna be there for you, Miss Duke." He yawned as he felt himself falling into a slumber. "Mrs. Daisy Joseph."

The next day, Tyler confronted Daisy's bullies.

He spotted Sherry Washington and her cronies near the playground of their local suburb. With a calm ease, Tyler walked over to the girls with his hands in his pockets. When Sherry saw him, she told her girls to go play on the swings and quickly raked her fingers through her messy strawberry blond locks before Tyler stopped in front of her. She smiled real big for him, and batted her eyelashes.

"Hey Ty," she said nasally. Tyler had to resist the urge to laugh. "How you been doing? I heard you made Varsity for your basketball team. First freshman to do that in ten years! That's so cool!"

"Yeah, sure. Look, I didn't come here for that." Tyler narrowed his green eyes angrily at her and she shrunk. "I came here to get you to stop harassing my best friend."

Sherry's eyes widened.

"That black chick? Really Tyler?" Sherry chuckled, and Tyler ground his teeth. "Didn't know you were into dark meat, Ty. If I had known that, I would've bought some brown paint and role played as Beyoncé for you."

Tyler took a step forward, and released an animalistic-like grunt sound from the back of his throat. Sherry yelped, and nearly lost her balance as her back hit a nearby tree.

"Listen to me, you racist cunt," Tyler spat, now fully enraged beyond the point of niceties. "You are half the person Daisy will ever be. Don't think that just because our parents co-own The Real Deal that I won't hesitate to cut a bitch. I see you when you're in public. Wearing crop tops with your make-up, all done up like a pin-up, hiding who you truly are. I see you! New flash: It's 2008. Girls can like comic books and Sci-Fi now. There's no need to be ashamed of that, but no... Instead of embracing your inner nerd, you straighten your hair, conceal your freckles, and strut around here flirting with anyone with a dick who's remotely popular. I could never be associated with a poser like you."

Sherry began to shake, and Tyler noticed her eyes begin to glaze over. Fuck. He hadn't meant for it to go that far, but then again, she did say that racist ass shit a minute ago. Brown paint... Because blackface makes EVERYTHING okay, right?

"Apologize to Daisy, and go wipe that crap off your face." Sherry nodded meekly, and ran to her friends. Tyler felt his phone buzz in his pocket, and picked it up on the second ring. Flipping it open, he saw that it was Daisy. "What's up, Miss Duke?"

"Tyler, please come over to the hospital." Tyler froze. She sounded terrible - like she'd been crying.

"Daisy, are you okay?"

"Tyler, daddy's in the hospital. He had a heart attack. He's dying!"

When Tyler made it to the hospital, he found Daisy bawling into her mom's suit jacket. She solemnly nodded as Tyler entered, and Daisy looked up when she noticed him. Her eyes brightened a little at the sight of him, and her mom let her go so she could lean into his embrace. After a few moments, his father appeared, his eyes swollen and red.

"He... They said..." Tyler resisted the urge to swallow as he felt his throat constrict. "He didn't to make it. If anyone wants to go say any last words, now is the time." And with that, Tyler watched his father sink to the floor and felt Daisy cry a river into his chest. Tyler could feel his own tears threatening to break free, but decided he needed to remain strong for the girl currently breaking in his arms. After all, he promised Mr. Gold he'd take care of her.

They stayed at the hospital for the rest of the night. Each one of them took their time going in to say goodbye. Tyler was the last to go. As soon as he walked into the room, he kept his gaze to the floor until he reached the bed. Then, he clamped his hand over his eyes.

"I know this is weird," he said, resisting the urge to peak and vomit from the smell of death in the air. "I just want my last image of you to be a good one. If I saw you lying there, lifeless, I... I don't want to remember you like that." Tyler felt a tear begin to fall, and took a deep breath. "I just came here to say that I'm going to take good care of your daughter. I'm going to marry her someday, and I'm glad that I was able to know you while you were alive. You were a good man, and I think of you like an uncle, and..." More tears began to streak down Tyler's cheeks, and he fought the urge to choke back a sob. "I'm going to miss you. I promise I'll take good care of her. Don't you worry. I just hope that, whether you're at the pearly gates or whether we just put you in a hole in the ground later that you're happy."

As Tyler left the room, just as his father had done, he sunk to the floor and let the tears flow and the sobs overtake him. Not even a minute later, Tyler felt arms wrap around him. Daisy. He quickly pulled her into his arms, and cried into her.

After a while, he finally met her gaze. He took her hand in his, and pulled her closer into his embrace.

"I'm always gonna take care of you," Tyler said with a determined look in his reddening eyes. "I promise."

********

(Present Day)

The sun filtered lazily through the curtains, and I stretched uncomfortably, feeling my bones ache from an terrible night's sleep. The doctor told me that sleeping on my back would ease these pains, but then my boobs ended up suffocating me. It's like a cruel trick the universe is trying to play on me for being slightly more well-endowed in the chest area.

I groaned, and reluctantly sat up.

"Miss Duke, breakfast is ready for you!" Tyler called from downstairs.

"Just a second!" I said, quickly peeling my blankets off and heading downstairs.

Before I could react, Tyler quickly pulled me into an embrace, nearly crushing me into his chest.

"Ugh! Ty! Can't-!" Tyler let me go as soon as our parents stepped into view. "Good morning, mom. Morning Frank!"

Tyler smiled, and remarked, "I see you two had a fun night."

Mom rolled her eyes at him as she came into view. At 44, she still looked like she could pass as my older sister, with her cocoa brown skin still firm and smooth, her curves still round and taught, and her hair still free of grays and curly. It didn't help that the resemblance between us was staggering. I inherited nearly all my looks from her, from my curves, to my low cheekbones, to my plump pink lips, to my almond shaped eyes. The only thing that really distinguished us were her crow's-feet, my kinkier hair texture that I chose to keep natural, my light brown eyes that daddy gave me, my slightly upturned nose, and my dark caramel skin tone.

Now Tyler and Frank were a different story. Like me, Tyler had gotten most of his looks from his mother: he had her heart shaped face, her slightly pouty pink lips, her small ears, and her genes for height. While she was alive, she stood much taller than her husband, a five-foot-nine to his five-foot-five. Tyler was six foot one. What Tyler didn't get from her, he got from his dad: his sharp roundish-almond shaped green eyes, his Greek nose, and his coal black hair. Tyler, to me, was probably the sexiest man alive, and a lot of girls shared this sentiment. At first, Tyler wanted to stay away from any girl that wasn't me, claiming he was saving himself for our first time together, but after some dedicated persuasion, I convinced him to see other girls. After all, he's three years older than I am, and a boy has needs. Also, I wanted our first time to be fantastic, and I was convinced that wasn't going to happen if he didn't know what the hell he was doing.

At first, it was hard watching Tyler bring home other girls. After all, the boy had practically tatted my name on his heart since we were little kids, but I got over it once I saw how persistently Tyler was dedicated to the idea of marrying me, and how he brushed off those other girls as quickly as humanly possible. I entertained the idea of dating guys my age at the time; in fact, I did date one guy - one of Tyler's friend's brother, Reggie - but we broke it off after a couple of weeks because I kept comparing him to Tyler.

Two years after dad died, Frank and mom began seeing each other. They tried to keep it secret from us, not knowing how we'd react, but Tyler and I eventually found out. At first I was pissed. It felt like mom didn't mourn for dad at all, and I felt like it was betraying his memory, but after a few months I realized I knew mom and I knew Frank - they'd never do this if they felt the way I did. After I started warming up to them as a couple, they were married within six months and we moved into Frank's house.

The only problem? Tyler was now my stepbrother.

"I hope you kids used protection," Tyler said, taking in his dad's disheveled salt and pepper hair, and my mom's ragged appearance. His dad laughed, and my mom gave him a stern look as she went to go get her coffee.

Soon, we all went to breakfast, and chatted about our week. Once breakfast was over, mom and Frank went back upstairs, no doubt about to go for round two, and Tyler turned to me. His green eyes pierced right through me, and I bit my lip nervously.

I turned away, but I could still feel his gaze run over me, roaming me, seeing me, devouring me.

"Interesting choice of clothing, Miss Duke." He said, his gaze resting on my chest. "Why no bra? For me?"

"Of course," I said sarcastically. "Because everything I do is for the benefit of your dick." Tyler laughed, and I rolled my eyes. "Actually, the bra is gone because of the Doctor's order. He's trying to help me sort out this back problem bullshit, and so I need to let the girls loose for a while."

"Is it working?" Tyler said, finally meeting my gaze again.

"Not really." Tyler smirked.

"I could always give you a massage." I rolled my eyes again. "What?'

"We both know the moment I let you do that, we'll be fucking within minutes." Tyler's smirk turned into a full blown smile, and I crossed my arms in annoyance. "We can't afford to do that. Especially now that I'm legal."

"Oh come on! I have self control!" Tyler huffed. "Even if every bone in my body aches just thinking about fucking you senseless on my bed... Making you scream for me... Filling your tight little pussy with my cum..."

"Stop!" I say, feeling my cheeks heat up in embarrassment as the imagery starts to flood my mind. Fuck, I hate it when he says nasty shit like that to me! Always leaving me wet and helpless. I don't need this right now. "See? You can't hold back when it comes to me. So this massage thing? Never gonna happen." I handed him my cereal dish. "Now go do your chores, guest. Remember that your time is limited here."

"Oh, I plan to make every moment count," Tyler said cheekily, as he winked and kissed my cheek before disappearing into the kitchen. I swear, sometimes I think that boy's trying to kill me.

I walked into the living room, and turned on the television. When Tyler arrived, I was heavily engrossed in the latest episode of Steven Universe. He wrapped an arm around me, and I leaned against him. I had to admit that I missed this. Tyler had been gone from the house for the last three years as part of his basketball training. He was a top pick for the Draft, and was getting tossed between some of the best college teams in the nation. With so much fame and success heading his way, he had hardly any time to fly back every once in a while. Sure, he never missed my birthday or Christmas even if he was giving up a big opportunity, but those few days out of the year weren't enough. He was my best friend, and I missed him so much.

Meanwhile I had been taking graphic design and animation courses online in order to stay home for college. I had wanted to move out to L.A. and study on a real campus, but Mom was adamant about me leaving. At the time, I hadn't understood what she meant until after she married Frank, but I got a call a few days later from Dad's lawyers about "claiming my inheritance". Dad had left me a note and $800,000 in cold, hard cash. On the note, he specifically asked me to leave $100,000 of it untouched for the wedding. I had no idea what that meant, but I kept that money locked safely away in my savings and decided to take my college classes at home while Tyler got recruited.