Tiny Tim

So, Aunt Danielle had gone to great lengths to ensure I would attend their Thanksgiving dinner. She even counseled – conspired is more like it – with Bill and Tess, so I could definitely attend that dinner without having to go into work or being tempted to do something more fun than eat at her house. That told me she had something planned I explicitly asked them not to, and I wasn’t happy about it. Aunt Danielle was a therapist who specializes in Couples Therapy, so I guess she simply couldn’t let it go without meddling.

“Tell me...” I asked Danielle while helping to set the table. “ ... why exactly did I absolutely, positively have to be here?”

“Can you make it sound a little less like you’d rather be anywhere else?” John chuckled.

“No.” I answered matter of fact while looking him straight in the eyes as if to challenge him. That caused his chuckle to abruptly die.

“Oh, I just thought it would be nice to have everyone together again.” Danielle finally answered my question with a strained voice. Surely the result of my exchange with John. “It’s been a long time since we had.”

“What are you talking about, Danny? We were all together just last Saturday. Five days is hardly ‘a long time’. Or did you miss us so soon?” Logan injected while laughing, adding that second part with playful coyness.

I was sure I puked a little into my mouth. Calling her by a pet name was probably just his way of rubbing in how close they all were. Looking at her, though, I noticed Danielle acting a little hurried upon hearing Logan’s comment about them being together last week. She hastily tried to get the topic back on track, away from that little piece of information.

“No, Logan, I meant everybody. That includes your little brother. If John and I don’t visit him at work, we never hear anything that’s going on in his life.” she said with a patient smile.

“Oh?” I heard Claire inquire “Anything you’d like to share?” I wasn’t sure, but it sounded like she asked out of genuine interest, not just because she needed to play the part in front of her parents.

“Yes! We’ve been here since Saturday already, but barely got to see you!” added Grandma Susy with an accusing undertone.

“He got a haircut and a new outfit. That’s it. You only learn about his life when you visit him at work, because his life is work.” Logan answered for me, probably – hopefully – not realizing how his statement was true in more than one way. Claire’s ostensive interest seemed to be satisfied with that as well. So much for the perceived genuine interest from just a few seconds earlier.

“Aren’t you a little young to already be a workaholic?” Grandpa chuckled. “But I can appreciate young people thinking about their future!”

“I’m with Mom on that one!” Maggie chimed in cheerfully. “She told me about walking in on you at that gym and how you changed. But actually seeing it myself?” She had placed her hand on my upper arm and was feeling my biceps, looking me up and down. “I’m impressed, little cousin! You also became a lot taller since the last time we got together.”

“Thanks.” I replied, smiling at her. That is, until Logan felt the need to add his opinion.

“Too bad only his muscles can be enlarged by training.” came his quiet, pitying comment while throwing me a nasty smirk, reminding Maggie of the origins of ‘Tiny Tim’.

It earned him a stern look from Aunt Danielle, but it had the effect I expected and Logan hoped for. Maggie removed her hand from my arm, gave me a sympathetic look, and walked away without a further word.

For a tenth of a second, I imagined grabbing him by his hair and smashing his face into the counter edge. I wouldn’t do it, of course. The knowledge that I could do it was enough to remind myself that, despite him not knowing it, I was the bigger person. I could have started an argument with him, telling him and the rest of the family that I was perfectly average. But then again, that was exactly what I didn’t need. If the only way to get any kind of closeness and compassion out of my own family was to show them my grown dick, then I didn’t want any of it.

“Still wondering why I’d rather not be here?” I asked John with a raised eyebrow, before walking back into the kitchen without giving him the chance to actually answer.

The conversations – or at least the ones involving me – stopped, until we were all sat down to eat. Us four kids on one long side of the table, and the parents and grandparents opposite us with John at the head of the table, since it was his house. This meant that I had John on my left, Danny opposing me, and Ava to my right. I could see Logan’s hand on her thigh. The entire time I was thinking about one thing: Why the fuck did it seem like Logan was running interference whenever someone showed even the faintest interest in me or got close to me? Before I could contemplate that further, however, John had a genius idea.

“You know, we never really followed the proper protocol for Thanksgiving dinners. So, everyone should tell us what you are thankful for this year.” he smiled, fixing me with an expectant look. His wife immediately joined in from across the table, making it clear to me that this was by no means a spontaneous idea John just had. They wanted me to start! I knew they wanted to give me an opportunity to engage with the family, but they still didn’t understand the gravity of the whole situation I was in. What was I supposed to say here!?

My Jeep? I wasn’t thankful for that, I worked hard to earn it! And even then, it was a borderline junker that was in danger of breaking down with any drive that lasted longer than two hours.

My filled bank account? Again, I worked for that. And even then, I only worked so hard because I had nothing else in my life.

That the bullying in school stopped? I made that stop! And even then, only the physical assaults stopped. Am I supposed to be thankful for only being called names and made fun of?

Tess? Well, Tess I was thankful for. But even then ... There was that small problem with our age difference, killing every chance of it ever leading anywhere.

What did I have that I could truly be thankful for? I completely blanked.

Aunt Danielle saw my expression grow more somber by the second as I thought about what to say. And when I glanced up to signal someone else to start, I noticed she looked worried. She didn’t expect me to have such a hard time with this. As the realization settled in that I really couldn’t think of something to truly be thankful for, her expression changed again. She looked kind of ... afraid. As I looked around the table, they all seemed to be waiting for me to start talking. I resigned myself to just being thankful for their cooking, but Uncle John spoke up again and listed exactly the only four points I had just dismissed.

“Come on, Tim. I happen to know a few nice things that happened to you this year. You got yourself a nicely paying Job, a fun Jeep, got very ‘proficient at kicking ass’ as Bill phrased it, and, most important of all, landed yourself the lovely Tess.”

Most of the people at the table reacted to some part of that reminder. Aaron’s ears twitched hearing John mention the ‘nicely paying’ job. Grandpa released a disapproving “Hmpf!” when the Jeep was mentioned. Maggie seemed to be interested in the ass kicking part. Claire and Ava seemed to perk up at hearing the name of Tess. Then something happened that I hadn’t anticipated. Just as Ava turned towards me to ask about Tess, I saw Logan squeeze her thigh and lean in close to her.

“So, money, big car, macho demeanor and eye candy. All four clichés of compensating for ‘something’ in one go.” he whispered, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Just like with Maggie before, it earned him a stern look from Aunt Danielle and Grandma this time, but he got what he wanted. Whatever interest Ava may have had in inquiring about Tess was gone. When it looked like Claire was about to take the opportunity to ask me, he continued by telling us what he was thankful for.

“I’m thankful for spending this time with my loving family, before going off to college!” he proclaimed.

Once again, I almost puked a little into my mouth. He also didn’t see the irony in what he just said about his “loving” family. But with that, all attention was on him and his application at UT Austin. I finally found something to be thankful for when Claire complained how it was too far away for him to commute from home. When I learned that “too far away” was in actuality just roughly two hours of driving, I simply closed my eyes and waited for them to be done with it.

Dinner after that was like usual. I answered when directly spoken to, mostly by Danielle and John, but didn’t want to engage much more. Until Danielle started her next scheme.

“So, any plans for Ava’s birthday?” she asked nobody specifically.

“Oh, nothing special, yet. I’ll probably just meet up with a few friends.” Ava answered.

“We’ll make it special, like always.” added Logan, squeezing her leg again.

“Must be a pain if your birthday is so close to the Holidays.” Danielle specified.

So that was what she was planning. Hinting at someone else who was born even closer to a Holiday than Ava, namely Thanksgiving, who’s birthday they forgot about. I gave her an angry look and, to her credit, she looked a little embarrassed seeing it. What the hell was she trying to accomplish? Did she not pay attention to how the rest of the evening had played out so far? Luckily, or not, my being was so far removed from their minds, they never made the connection. So, John tried yet another angle.

“Tim! Tell me, why a Jeep as your first car?” he asked, with clear emphasis on ‘first car’. I suspected he wanted to hint at the fact that the first cars my two siblings had, were gifts for their sixteenth birthdays. I thought about throwing my turkey at him, but I could use this opportunity to, at least partly, refute Logan’s claims about me wanting to compensate for a small dick.

“Wasn’t really looking for a Jeep specifically.” I answered quickly before Logan could inject himself into the conversation, to which I heard Grandpa let out an approving “Hmph”. “I needed a car to get to work but didn’t really know what else for. So, something cheap and maybe fun. That’s what I looked for.”

“What did you do about insurance?” Aaron asked. “I sure don’t remember you asking me to put you on our plan?”

“I insured it.” I said, matter of fact, not pointing out how he co-signed without even realizing it.

“Yourself? Well, that’s a relief!” he laughed while looking at his wife, the topic clearly settled for him.

“And why is that a ‘relief’, Aaron?” Danielle asked him with a forced smile, and just a smidge of irritation in her voice.

“Your girl doesn’t have a car yet, Danny, so you wouldn’t know. Paying for those two’s insurances already costs us a small fortune. If he can take care of that himself, I’m all for independence!” he proclaimed. “How much is yours?” he added, looking at me.

“Little under $500 per month.” I answered, to which Maggie almost spat out her food.

“You’re paying FIVE HUNDRED dollars every MONTH! And that’s just for the insurance?! Mom and Dad said, since I don’t really need the car, I’d have to pay for it myself. Why is it so expensive!?” she asked, losing control of her voice’s volume.

“That’s actually cheap. I got a day-long defensive driving course through work. That knocks ten percent off for a year. I’ll have to do one again next year to keep the discount.”

“You’re shitting me!” she commented, earning herself a resounding “Language!” from Grandma.

“Wait!” Aaron shouted, pointing at my siblings but looking at me. “We could save twenty percent off their insurance if we send these two to one of those courses!?”

“That’s ... not at all how Math works, but sure, you could save ten percent on each insurance.” I sighed under my breath, which actually caused John to suppress a laugh.

“John, could you ask Bill if he’d get them one of those courses too?” Aaron asked, completely ignoring my comment.

The conversation became a little chaotic after that, since Princess and Golden Boy were anything but eager to spend an entire day being told how to drive carefully. But John’s attempt to point at my missed birthday had completely derailed.

It’s hard to explain, but I truly believe that, if they were asked for it, they could provide my birthdate. As far as I knew, at least Claire was present when it happened, being my mother and all. They simply didn’t think about me having birthdays, if that makes any sense. It wasn’t something they anticipated, so when the date came up, they didn’t associate it with me.

Whatever Uncle John and Aunt Danielle wanted to achieve that evening by repeatedly putting me on the spot, by the end of dinner, they had given up.

Aunt Danielle kept glancing at me with worried looks, but I was only thinking about how to make my escape. The opportunity arose when my phone got a push notification from the company server, notifying me about a bounced email. I could see from the notification itself that someone just mistyped the email address, but they couldn’t.

When they didn’t even make a fuss about me leaving early, I asked myself why I even bothered to look for an excuse. I had just reached the door and was about to open it, when Danielle came up from behind me, wrapped her arms around my stomach, and gave me a tight squeeze.

“I’m sorry, honey.” she said. For a moment, the feeling of her soft big breasts pressed into my back and her warm breath against my neck distracted me. Then I remembered how she couldn’t even be bothered to say a single fucking word when Logan made his snarky remarks, and any interest I might have had in her body vanished. When I tried to move away, she squeezed again before whispering. “You’ll be Okay, right?”

“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be? Nothing new here.” was all I answered in a deadpan voice, before I removed her hands and finally made my way out of the door.

I contemplated staying with her for a while, just to maybe get some kind of explanation for everyone’s favoritism of Logan. I was also pretty sure the others were just waiting for me to leave, so they could shed their clothes and start their Thanksgiving-Romp. Instead, I made my way home and sat in front of my computer. I was interested in how genuine Aunt Danielle’s sudden concern really was. For a therapist, she sure liked to overlook a lot of the signs she was witnessing.

In my quest to learn about IT-Security, I had long since passed simple trackers on peoples’ phones. In fact, I now had complete control over their smartphones. I could access their drives, read their chats and activate their cameras and microphones. When I gained that access, I discovered that Logan had recorded quite a few of their get-togethers, and while I couldn’t be sure, the angles made me suspect he didn’t exactly do it in an obvious manner.

Figuring Ava’s phone was the most likely to be out in the open, I connected to her’s. While all I could see was the ceiling, the loud sounds of moaning and skin slapping confirmed that they didn’t wait long after I left. If they had gone right to fucking, my question about the depths of Danielle’s concern was answered indirectly, and there was no need to torture myself further by listening to their fucking. When I was just about to close the app, though, I could hear a male voice talking.

It was too far away from Ava’s phone to understand anything. I knew Aunt Danielle and Claire kept their phones in their purses most of the time, so I probably wouldn’t pick up anything from theirs. Hoping John would have his phone in his Jacket, I connected to it and was lucky.

“ ... orget about it!?” I heard Grandma’s offended voice.

“I was ... we just... ” that was Claire, sounding quite uncomfortable.

“Well? Spit it out already!”

“Come on, Gran. You can’t really blame Mom for it.” I heard Logan say. “Tiny NEVER celebrates his birthdays. That’s why he was rather at work the whole day than at home. And he also never accepts any of our presents, so why should she spend money on something he won’t want?”

Bingo! They were talking about my birthday. Danielle and John must have given up on making them remember and simply told them. I was also impressed with Logan’s uncanny ability to make his bullshit sound reasonable. Though, what the fuck was he on about not accepting their presents? Apart from the penis pump, I hadn’t gotten shit from anyone but Claire in years! And I never accepted her presents because she thought the penis pump was funny, so I dreaded receiving something similar from her.

“That may be so, but that is no reason to simply forget about it! And what makes you think I was only blaming your mother? It would do you some good to reflect about your own behavior, young man. No wonder that boy is angry when he has to listen to your insults all the time!” I heard her take a deep breath, as if to calm herself. “Claire, it would’ve only been prudent to at least do the same for him as you did for his siblings, and those two got cars for their sixteenths. Now Tim bought one himself instead, so he clearly wanted one! I also can’t imagine him being happy to pay for everything himself, so don’t even THINK about telling me he wouldn’t have accepted it!” Grandma scolded Logan and Claire.

“We didn’t even know he got his license, Granny!” Logan called out in a whiny tone.

“Logan. I am trying to have a serious discussion with your mother. Not with you! So, stop answering for her and stop distracting her by fondling her.”

There were a few seconds of Logan protesting and assuring Claire how she didn’t do anything wrong, before Grandma finally and firmly threatened to whip him if he couldn’t behave. I smiled at that.

“So, again Claire, how did this happen?”

“I honestly don’t know, Mom. It’s just ... he’s rarely home anymore... ”

“After what I saw during dinner, I can’t really blame the boy! The most praiseworthy thing he seems to have accomplished in his parent’s eyes was that you don’t have to care for him anymore!” Grandma sounded angry by now.

“Of course I do! It’s just ... hard! He doesn’t talk to us anymore either. Any of us. If we talk, it’s always like we’re fighting. We really didn’t even know he had a driver’s license.”

“Well, one of you had to know.” I heard Uncle John partake in the conversation for the first time.

“What do you mean, dear?” Grandma asked, her tone suddenly loving. A stark contrast to the scolding she had handed out until now.

“Minors can’t just walk into the DMV and get a license, Mom. Normally, they need documentation of parent-taught driving lessons, but Tim got around those by asking Bill instead. He’s licensed to give lessons because of that safety course Tim talked about, and so he can teach his men how to handle armored cars. But at the very least, Tim absolutely had to have a guardian’s signature on the paperwork. So, either Claire or Aaron must have signed off on that.” He explained.

“Aaron!” Aunt Danielle called out loudly. “Did you sign off on Tim’s application for his driver’s license?”

“I think ... OH GOD! That’s so good honey, keep going!” His voice was barely loud enough for me to hear his answer, so he must’ve been with Ava.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, Aaron. If you can’t be bothered to participate in this discussion about YOUR SON, can you and Mike at least stop spit roasting Ava for long enough to answer a simple question!?” Grandma called out, more than annoyed.

So, Ava was with Aaron and Grandpa. The bitch had ridiculed me for being overweight, but had no problem fucking a flabby sixty-three year old man. Interesting.

“Well ... I ... think I did? A few ... weeks ago, he ... asked me to ... sign something. Thought it was ... school stuff.” he panted, clearly unable to stop spit roasting Ava as Granny had asked.

“And do you just sign everything someone puts in front of you without checking what it is?” John asked, incredulously. “His car’s insurance would’ve needed to be co-signed as well, by the way.”

“Oh, come on!” Aaron shot back. Apparently, that accusation irked him enough to stop fucking. “I just can’t relate to the boy. First, he turns into the Buffet King, then he starts with all that nerd-stuff. Sure, Okay, we saw last week that he finally takes some care of himself, but why did he make this dork-shit his career choice?!”

“Okay, “ Grandma said in an exhausted sigh “Let’s ignore the fact that Tim rather asked his boss for help than his parents. I’m starting to understand why he thought it was the better choice. And let’s also ignore the fact that you apparently think your son not talking to any of you is an excuse not to try instead of another reason to get worried. Are you going to tell him about us anytime soon, now that you finally know how old he really is?”

That was met with a moment of silence. Apart from the moaning in the background, that is. Then Logan spoke again.

“We already talked about it a few months ago, after Mom’s birthday, and we all thought it would be better not to.”

“And why is that?” Grandma asked.

“Well ... we thought ... it would be better for him that way.” Claire pointed out.

“They wanted to spare him the humiliation.” Danielle specified. “I told Claire this was a bad idea, and she said she’d think it over. I didn’t realize she never did until we ... remembered his birthday.”

“What are you talking about!?” Grandma asked.

I heard something like a loud mumbling that I couldn’t make out.

“Take your cousin’s Cock out of your mouth when you talk, honey.” I heard Aunt Danielle say patiently.

“I said, “ Maggie explained, “when we talked about it, we kinda found out that none of us was particularly eager to have him. Sure, that was before we found out he got hot! But there is still the thing with his small dick. So, we thought it would be better for him not to know, than to feel left out.”

“Again! What THE HELL are you talking about!? I was eager to finally have him here! I would have been even if he HAD a small dick! Which he doesn’t, by the way!” Grandma said.

I wasn’t sure how to react to that. Grandma was fifty-eight, so not even old enough to retire yet. And from what I could see, she had kept herself in shape. But then again, I never saw her fully naked. Nevertheless, I did feel flattered.

“He doesn’t!?” I heard a chorus of voices ask.

“No, he doesn’t. At least not from what I saw in the bathroom on Monday.” Grandma said.