It’s Teaser Tuesday time! Today I thought I was gonna write a little something about Falling Through.  I had such great plans…

Falling Through is just a short little thing, 12k or thereabout, and I first wrote it to be part of an anthology but it didn’t feel right so I pulled it and Debbie over at Beaten Track Publishing took mercy on it. I had a whole world painted in my head with ghosts, and evil queens, and power imbalances and with James Dean of course, but other writing projects came in between and I never continued it. Now I only have a vague idea of what it was I wanted to write because stupid as I sometimes am I didn’t write it down.

I still intend to write a sequel, or several, because I do love these characters, it’s just that every time I think about it a wave of panic washes over me because what if I fuck up the story I had in my head? The one I can’t even remember properly.

There are too many stories in my mind. I have a list of 14 stories I need to finish, and that is the list of the started stories, the list of want-to-write stories is even longer *sigh*. It’s not really surprising that some stories fall behind but that doesn’t mean it isn’t frustrating.

Still, I do have a crush on Larry.

Larry shook a cigarette out of the pack, rolling it between his fingers before raising it to his lips. He wanted to stay with Travis, wanted to sit next to him on the sofa, wanted to reach out and touch him. Even if he could never touch Travis, he wanted to spend his time watching him.

Larry didn’t care much for people’s appearance these days. Everyone on TV had an unreal look about them, but Travis was nothing like those people.

Larry’s favourite thing in the whole world was summer nights. If the temperature was high enough, Travis went to bed naked. Larry spent those nights lying close to him, memorising every little ridge, every dimple. Had he been able to, he would’ve turned on the lights and mapped out every tiny little birthmark, every scar marring his skin. And no, it didn’t make him weird. Shadows did that…probably. What else would they do at night?

Larry slumped on the sofa. He didn’t know much. He didn’t know how anything worked anymore, didn’t know what he was allowed to do, and not allowed to do, and he couldn’t very well ask anyone.

But it didn’t matter. Sixty years he’d been loitering in this flat. Sixty years without a purpose—disheartening, if he let himself think of it. It was time he took some responsibility. If he and Travis were going to continue to live here, he needed to help out somehow. He would stop moping around and actually do something, even if it meant he would be sapped and had to spend some time in the Nothingness.

Travis is running himself ragged. He’s trying to keep two jobs just to pay his rent. If he has to flirt with some creepy old women at the pub to get a little extra tip money then so be it. One day, he’ll have someone special waiting for him when he gets back home from work, or is that too much to ask? Right now isn’t the best of times to get a boyfriend anyway since Travis is going mad, but one day… Every so often, Travis gets the feeling of not being alone, and sometimes, he sees things. But he tries to stay positive; maybe there’s a strapping young fella waiting for him in the looney bin.

Larry’s existence was dead boring until Travis moved in. Now he spends his time watching Travis, fantasising about touching him, kissing him… Their movie nights would be a bit cosier if Travis knew he was there, but sometimes, you have to settle for what you can get. As far as roommates go, Travis is the best Larry has ever had, and it isn’t Travis’s fault he can’t see Larry – no one has been able to since the day he died.

When Travis loses one of his jobs, both he and Larry fear for their future. Larry can’t imagine being without Travis, and Travis is desperate to find a way to pay his bills. While Travis searches for a solution to his money problems Larry has to decide if he’s willing to risk existence as he knows it for a chance of a better life.

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