Sunny's Angel - 3. Chapter 3: A New Day

After Devin left the table things seemed to be slightly strange for awhile, but Devin never rejoined them after he finished washing his car, instead going back inside. Dallas had quickly regained his composure and he and Sunny found themselves talking about the school Sunny would be going to, and the social clichés that seemed to abound in every high school that never changed. During their conversation they discovered that they were the same age: 15 going on 16 in a week, both of their birthdays being within days of each other.

As the evening turned into night, everyone found themselves yawning. Peter and Sunny quickly excused themselves, saying they needed to get home and finish unpacking before heading to bed. Peter planned to take Sunny down to the high school in the morning to get him enrolled. It was at this point that Paul had looked at Dallas and asked him how he was going to get to school in the morning.

“Bus,” Dallas muttered, shrugging his shoulders at his dad.

“I could take you to school with us in the morning if you’d like?” Peter quickly offered a bright smile on his face.

“Hrm, when are ya’ll heading down to the school?” Dallas asked.

“6:30, so I can get him into the office, figure out where all his classes are, meet his teachers and come back here to finish unpacking whatever else we don’t get done tonight,” Peter quickly replied.

A quick groan from Sunny was met with laughter from around the table.

“Nah, it’s alright, I don’t like getting up that early, thanks for the offer though,” Dallas replied, winking at Sunny and getting a glare in return before Sunny finally shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, if you change your mind feel free to meet us at our house,” Peter replied.

Dallas just nodded his head at Peter in confirmation of the offer before the adults stood up and shook each other’s hands, while Dallas and Sunny began to pick everything up. Peter and Sunny took the trash with them to drop it off in the trash bin on their way out the gate, but not before Sunny and Dallas exchanged phone numbers.

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Sunny walked into his new home with Peter just behind him, still thinking about the neighbors, and hopefully, his first friend. Pulling his thoughts away from the slightly younger Dallas, Sunny looked around the living room, taking stock of all the boxes and let out a quick groan. A quiet chuckle reminded Sunny that he wasn’t alone, just as a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and pulled him into his older brothers’ big chest where Peter quickly laid his chin on the top of Sunny’s head.

“So what’re you thinking?” Peter asked.

Sunny tilted his head slightly to the right and considered Peter’s question, before he finally responded. “I’m thinking we should finish unpacking our bedrooms first, and then we can start the rest of this tomorrow, after I get back from school. You can spend tomorrow making sure all the services and bill payments are set up, and get the pool in working order. After that you can go grocery shopping.”

Peter groaned at that last part before finally letting out a sigh.

“Sounds like a plan, but that isn’t quite what I was talking about. I meant about the neighbors,” he explained, kissing Sunny on the top of his head before letting him go, turning him slightly around at the same time so that he could see Sunny’s face.

“Oh,” Sunny muttered, “I like them, they seem nice, especially Dallas. I hope we get a lot of classes together…” Sunny frowned to himself as his voice trailed off slightly, before ending altogether.

“Hmm?” Peter hummed his question at Sunny, regarding him curiously.

“The other one…” Peter raised his eyebrow at Sunny before Sunny let out a soft sigh and continued in an even softer voice Peter hadn’t quite ever heard come from Sunny’s mouth before. “He’s just weird,” Sunny finished, before flashing a pearly white grin at his older brother’s face, heading into the kitchen.

Peter just laughed and followed Sunny into the kitchen, watching in curiosity as his little brother started moving boxes around to get to the labels that he couldn’t see.

“What’re you looking for?” Peter asked curiously.

Sunny glanced up at Peter as he finally pulled a box to the side, tearing it open as he set it down, finding whatever it was he’d been looking for.

“Cups,” he replied with a look on his face that implied Peter should know this already.

“Oh,” was the only reply Peter could think to offer, getting another look from Sunny that Peter couldn’t quite read. He’d been getting a lot of those lately, but never quite knew how to broach the subject afterwards, putting it off to typical teenage behavior, but the looks made him feel slightly uncomfortable and he worked up his nerve to address the situation.

Peter took a deep breath, plunging into unexplored territory. “Sunny?” He whispered hoarsely, feeling his face flush as he begun to sweat slightly.

“Yeah?” Sunny asked, turning around from the sink where he’d been filling his cup up with water, freezing a bit at the look on Peter’s face before his cheeks suddenly turned slightly red as well.

“Why…” Peter coughed a bit, clearing his throat before heading towards the box with the cups in it.

Grabbing one he went to the freezer and filled his cup with ice, opened the refrigerator door and grabbed a couple cans of coke, cracking them both open and tilting them towards his cup, allowing the sweet dark liquid to pour into his cup. Looking out of the corner of his eye he noticed Sunny looking uncomfortable, his face slightly flushed, shoulders pulled back and head held high.

Peter fought back the grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, recognizing the body language that their mother had always gotten when she was extremely uncomfortable and bracing herself for a conversation that she knew she wasn’t going to like. He turned his attention back to his cup, noting that the foam had settled enough for him to pour the rest of the soda in slowly.

Bringing the cup to his lips he sucked at the foam and carbonation that was still swirling around on top, tilting his head and cup back enough to get a few huge gulps of his soda. Licking his lips once he was done swallowing he turned his attention back towards Sunny.

“Why the funny looks?” he asked softly. Sunny blinked at him in sudden confusion. “Whenever I try to talk to you or get close you pull away, and you always have a look on your face that makes me uncomfortable. I know we haven’t ever really been close,” Peter explained, his voice going to a slight whisper as he put his cup down.

Peter looked Sunny in the eye to make sure he had his attention and approached him slowly, watching as Sunny’s eyes turned slightly red and his lips begun to quiver strangely.

“You know I love ya, don’cha? It isn’t your fault Sunny, none of it’s your fault.” He finished, finally reaching his goal as Sunny begun to break down, his eyes producing the waterfall that had been held in check for months. No, Peter realized, for years!

Correcting his thinking he reached forward and took the cup from Sunny’s hand, setting it down on the counter next to his, before grabbing onto his little brother’s heaving shoulders and hugging him tightly, Sunny finally doing something that he hadn’t done in almost 10 years. He hugged his older brother back, and allowed himself to finally cry.

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Thirty minutes later and Sunny was done crying. He wiped his nose on his older brother’s shirt, before releasing him and stepping back, only to see some tears running from Peter’s eyes too.

“Okay?” Peter asked softly, sniffling at the same time Sunny did.

Sunny mustered a small smile.

“Yeah bro, I’ll be alright, and I’m sorry, it’s just, you never talked to me about it, you just…” Sunny hesitated, not quite sure how to say what he was thinking without hurting his brother’s feelings.

“Came home and immediately took charge of everything, making decisions left and right without consulting you to see what you wanted?” Peter finished for him.

“Yeah,” Sunny croaked

“Sunny, you didn’t leave me a choice; you clammed up and were barely talking to anyone. Mrs. Henderson was worried sick about you. You weren’t eating or sleeping, would hardly ever leave your room, and even when I did try and talk to you, you just…acted like I wasn’t there,” Peter said softly, trying to keep his voice calm and even, afraid of upsetting Sunny again.

Sunny smiled slightly at the mention of the wily old Mrs. Henderson, his keeper for the last 10 years, ever since his big brother had left home to attend college, always coming up with one excuse after another to never visit, and smiled wistfully as he remembered the last hug he’d ever given Peter, just before he’d gotten in his car and drove off. It was also the last time he’d ever cried in front of another person.

Peter sighed to himself before continuing, “Ian came home Sunny, he was there for mom and dad’s funeral. He wanted to see you, to …” Peter whispered, watching Sunny’s face.

Sunny suddenly looked angry, “But…”

“You refused to come to the funeral Sunny!” Peter cut him off, “and afterwards when we did get back to the house you stayed locked in your bedroom! You didn’t answer it for anyone, he stayed for a couple days but you still refused to come out, and we made the mistake of letting you cope by yourself. We shouldn’t have, we know that now, especially because that’s something mom and dad did, and we’re NOT mom and dad! I was going to wait to tell you this, but…” Peter stopped, not quite sure he wanted to continue.

“What?” Sunny asked with a trace of fear and hope in his voice.

“Sunny, Ian’s coming to live with us” Peter said, looking for a reaction in his little brother’s face as he dropped this piece of news, unable to find any as his face seemed to go blank again.

“When?” Sunny asked, head cocking to the side.

“He’ll be here in a few weeks, he had some things he had to take care of,” Peter said, still trying to read the little brother he barely knew.

Sunny frowned, not quite sure what it was he was feeling towards the news that their eldest brother was coming to live with them. Ian was the eldest at 32 years of age, and Ian and Sunny only knew of each other through Christmas and birthday cards that were sent and received twice a year the whole entire time he was growing up, his parents never mentioning him. He only knew Ian was the eldest brother due to Mrs. Henderson telling him one year when he’d finally asked who Ian Reis was. She’d told him, briefly, and also told him to never mention him in front of his parent’s presence, but would never really say why.

“Sunny?” Peter asked, his voice laced with concern.

Sunny snapped out of his daze, glancing up at Peter’s face to see his concerned expression, only to offer Peter a shy smile in response.

“Ian’s a good guy, Sunny. You’ll like him, I promise. You and him have a lot more in common than you think, you know,” Peter said, trying to reassure his brother, realizing too late that he’d let more slip then he had intended.

Sunny blinked, noting the guilty expression that was on Peter’s face, eyes widening as he caught on to the fact that Peter had known all these months. Sunny took a couple steps backwards, trying to get away from Peter as memories of the last fight he’d had with his parents came to mind. He turned, trying to run out of the kitchen towards the front door as he began to panic.

He never made it. Peter grabbed him and wrapped his arms around Sunny’s body pulling him down into a sitting position on the floor and crushed him to his side for what seemed like the thousandth time that night.

Peter didn’t really know why all of a sudden tonight was the night to push Sunny this far, except he had a sense of dread deep within his gut, and he always followed his gut instinct.

“Shhh, it’s ok Sunny, no one here’s going to judge you, we are your family, and we love you, just give us a chance,” Peter whispered continuously, rocking Sunny in his arms while trying not to crush him, easing up on his tight embrace a little at a time as Sunny finally begun to stop struggling.

“How did you know?” Sunny asked, his voice coming out in short gasps, a tinge of panic still evident.

“Mrs. Henderson,” Peter replied, still rocking Sunny slightly. “She was there that night and heard everything. She loves you, and when you wouldn’t come out of your room she told me everything that had happened that night, and how mum and dad just sent you to your room, and left for that stupid party. They did the same thing to Ian, when he came out of the closet, you know. Except they packed up his stuff as soon as he graduated and sent him off to college, paying for everything, and leaving him a sizable bank account to take care of himself, and maintained it. Guess they figured as long as they continued to support him financially they could just stop being his parents in every other way. They were gonna send you to military school, you know. We wanted to talk to you so many times, we tried. I tried, but you scare us. I sat outside your door one night trying to talk to you through it, but you never responded, so I figured you were asleep.”

Sunny felt his cheeks burn in sudden embarrassment, before finally relaxing against Peter’s side, tilting his head up to look at Peter’s face, seeing a look of sympathy and concern, along with a small smile that seemed to describe something Sunny had seen only a few times before on Peter’s face whenever he looked at him.

“I was awake. I heard you, you know, when you said you knew what I was going through,” Sunny whispered, “I ignored you, I just wanted you to go away, hoping that everyday I’d wake up and it would all be a horrible nightmare. What else did Mrs. Henderson tell you?” Sunny asked, a look of dreadful hesitation apparent in his expression.

Peter just continued to smile at Sunny, until he finally leaned down and kissed his little brother on the forehead. “Let’s not discuss this anymore for the night, baby-bro, let’s just talk things through a bit at a time, I just want you to know that Ian and I love you, and ask that you give us a chance, and if you ever need anything you can come to us alright?”

Sunny nodded his head slightly, letting out a whispered “okay,” before hesitantly giving Peter a hug.

“Now, we’ve been talking for about an hour now, so why don’t you go on up to your room and unpack a few more things before taking a shower and getting ready for bed, tomorrow’s going to be a new day, with a new start for us as family. You’ll see, everything is going to be just fine.”

Sunny nodded his head in agreement, getting off the floor and helping Peter up, before grabbing his cup off the counter and dumping its contents’ down the drain, opening the freezer to grab a handful of ice and refilling his cup with water. Turning around he started heading for the stairs to go to his room before he stopped and turned around.

“Peter?” Sunny asked, looking at his brother with a shy smile on his pretty face.

“Yeah?” Peter asked, an equally shy smile appearing on his face in response.

“Thanks,” Sunny said simply.

“Thanks?” Peter asked, his blond head suddenly confused.

“Yeah, for tomorrow, being a new day and all, and us having a new start as a family. I love you,” Sunny mumbled, his cheeks heating up again as he felt his eyes begin to burn again.

Peter looked at his brother standing there, before an equally stupid grin appeared on his face and he felt his eyes begin to burn too. “We’ll do anything for you, Sunny. Anything”

Sunny nodded and headed towards his bedroom as Peter began to walk around the house, making sure everything was locked up and most of the lights were turned off before following Sunny up the stairs towards his own bedroom, where he quickly found the box labeled “Peter’s Toiletries” and headed into the bathroom off his bedroom and begun to slowly unpack everything, his limbs shaking a bit at the heartfelt confrontation he’d finally had with Sunny, saying things he felt Sunny needed to hear in the past 3 months, and more importantly, the things he needed to say to Sunny for the past 10 years.

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Sunny got into his room and slowly shut the door, locking it behind him as his mind raced with relief that his brothers’ knew some of his secrets, and anxiety over the fact that one of these days he’d still have to discuss those secrets with them. Secrets his brother had paid a shrink to help him with. Sunny vehemently refused to do so, talking about anything and everything else, or his parents instead.

Glancing around his bedroom, his eyes landed on a few chests that Sunny had packed himself in secrecy, with heavy duty locks that would be hard to cut, glad that their contents were safe. He had followed and watched the movers’ with diligence, badgering them the whole time to be careful and pissing them off to no ends until they’d safely been brought into his bedroom, stowed in a corner away from everything else.

Double checking the lock on the door to make sure it was truly locked he headed towards the first chest, grunting under the heavy weight as he set it gently on the ground. Reaching into a pocket for his keys, he unlocked and removed the lock, opening the chest with anticipation. He grabbed the first bottle of expensive brandy he could get his hands on, pulled off the top and took a hearty swig, coughing slightly with the burning sensation as it moved down his throat, then took a couple more swigs.

Sitting down on his bed he quickly set the alarm, downing a couple sips of water before he reached for the bottle again, relief flowing through his system as the alcohol begun to take hold on his senses. His brothers may know some of his secrets, but they certainly didn’t know all of them.

Bringing the bottle to his lips and exhaling through his nose, Sunny tilted his head back, taking a few more large gulps of brandy before pulling the bottle from his mouth. Putting the cap back on it, he stowed the bottle in its chest, secure behind the lock. He took a couple more sips of water to sooth the burning sensation in his throat before grabbing the box with his toiletries and heading into his private bathroom. His brothers had spared nothing in order for him to live a semblance of the luxurious life he’d had before his parents had been killed.

Hopping in and out of the shower within 15 minutes, buzzing nicely but not flat out drunk like he was used too, Sunny pulled a pair of boxers out of his dresser before heading to his bed. Crawling under the covers, he decided that tomorrow was indeed a new day, and looking forward to it, fell asleep fairly quickly.

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Devin stared at the ceiling in boredom, waiting as time passed while his mind reflected on nothing in particular. His mom had checked on him a couple of hours ago like she had done every night this summer, and on the weekends when he came home from his aunts’ house, unaware that he was aware of it. He smiled slightly to himself and rolled onto his side to look at the clock, the bright numbers reading 1:00. He pushed himself into a sitting position and swung his legs over the side of the bed, pulling his shoes on to complete the rest of his already clothed body.

Grabbing his wallet, cell phone and keys off the bedside table he opened the window, and climbed through it after setting his pillows up to make it look like there was still someone in the bed. Padding towards the side of the house where he’d parked his car facing the street earlier, Devin smiled in triumph as he remembered telling his parents that he’d left it out to dry and didn’t feel like putting it back into one of the garages attached to the pool-house.

Opening the car door, Devin put the key into the ignition switch and turned it slightly, unlocking the steering wheel before he released the emergency brake and put the car in neutral, turning the steering wheel to guide the vehicle down the slight slope in the driveway. It would be a slight pain in the butt to push the vehicle up later, but Devin was determined to get some of his plans rolling into motion. He started pushing.

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Dallas stared out his bedroom window, watching as Devin, illuminated by the sparse street lights, pushed his car down the block. He wondered where Devin was going; knowing his parents wouldn’t like it if they found out Devin was sneaking out in the middle of the night. Fully aware that this wasn’t the first night Devin snuck out, Dallas sighed and did what he usually did on nights such as this. He pulled the chair in his bedroom next to the window and sat down to wait, wondering if it would be a long night or not.

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Devin finally decided he’d gotten far enough down the block and hopped into his rebuilt ’77 Pontiac Trans am, pulling the door shut as he fired up the 550-horsepower V8 engine. Pushing down on the clutch he shifted into first gear before stepping on the gas and let up on the clutch, gunning the car forward, waiting a few more seconds before he turned on the headlights and raced down the block. He grinned wildly in elation as the wind raced around him, the t-tops off.

I’ll have to visit grandpa’s grave sometime and say thanks, Devin decided as he headed towards the highway that would take him into town. The car was a gift, one of many that he’d been left upon his grandfather’s death.

He reached the outskirts of town fifteen minutes later and slowed to the posted speed-limit, not wanting to draw any attention to himself as he cruised into a nice section of town and pulled over upon reaching his destination. Opening the glove box Devin pulled out some forms and a standard sized manila envelope that he’d placed there shortly after washing his car. Shutting the vehicle off, Devin hopped out and headed towards one of the largest houses in the neighborhood that had no lights on.

Bounding up the stairs Devin quickly reached the front door and started ringing the doorbell repeatedly, until some lights finally clicked on. The door opened to reveal a short heavy set man with a balding head, beady red-shot brown eyes, and an overextended nose. Dressed in heavy rolls of flesh and lint, the piss stained white boxers were all that kept the man from getting an indecent exposure ticket as his jowls quivered with rage at being woken up so late.

“WHA--!” A ham-fisted hand pointed a thick finger at Devin face as the man began to say something nasty before a look of surprise crossed his face, the hand dropping uneasily to the man’s side.

“Hello Doctor. Glad to see me?” Devin whispered softly, a derisive smile appearing on his face.

“Dev--” The Doctor began to slur in confusion, his breath reeking of alcohol as a look of bewilderment finally crossed his face.

“BE QUIET DOCTOR,” growled the teenager who towered over him by a good five inches, his dark grey eyes flashing in the artificial light that poured out the doorway. Dr. Ledzin closed his mouth as he regarded one of the strangest individuals he’d ever met warily. Devin pulled off the pen that was clipped to his shirt and clicked it before grabbing the forms off the top of the manila envelope and thrust them in the Doctors direction, a look of barely sustained tolerance on his face.

Dr. Ledzin grabbed the forms and pen while looking at Devin like he was the devil incarnate, wondering what had happened to the young man who was normally strange but polite. He took a couple steps back into his house and started reading the forms. Shaking his head, Dr. Ledzin started reading them again before he looked up at one of his longest charges.

“Devin, I can’t sign these, you—,” He begun to say, all traces of the alcohol that he’d so heavily consumed the night before gone from his voice, but not his breath.

Devin sighed, the tolerant expression leaving his face as he opened the manila envelope in his hand and pulled out what appeared to be a bunch of pictures. Dropping the envelope, Devin shoved the pictures into the doctor’s face and started flipping through them rapidly. Dropping his hands when he’d gone through all of them, Devin stared at the doctor with sheer hatred in his eyes.

The doctor stared at Devin as the images contained in the pictures continued to flash through his mind, the blood draining from his face as he began shaking, his breath coming in shallow gasps as his heartbeat begun to pick up speed.

“Where…” He choked out; shuffling forward a bit to lean heavily on the doorway.

“Doctor, Do. Not. Have. A. Heart. Attack!” Devin growled viciously, stepping forward until he was almost in the fat man’s face. The doctor blinked rapidly as he tried to focus his eyes on Devin.

“Now, listen to me very closely. You WILL sign those forms, than you’re going to take this envelope. Burn it or keep it, whatever, I do NOT care. Then you’re going back to bed. When you get up in the morning, call a moving company and have your stuff packed up. Put your house on sale, go to work and put in your resignation. Cite a private family emergency that can’t wait. You’ll also transfer half the funds in your checking and savings account to this account,” Devin stated firmly as he reached into his pocket and pulling out a deposit slip, holding it forward for the doctor to take.

Reaching out, Dr. Ledzin grabbed it carefully, looking like a vicious rattler snake was about to bite him. Gasping in shock at the numbers filled out on the slip, he turned his attention back to Devin.

“How did you know…” he started to ask, only to stop as Devin’s hand reached out and slapped him viciously across the face, stunning him into silence.

“It’s not that hard to get information when you want it, if you know who to go to. Now you know I know how much money you have, and you WILL deposit all of it, and not a cent less. After your house is sold you’ll wire half the proceeds from that into the same account, paying the real estate agent their commission out of your own take, got me?” Devin growled, his hand poised to strike again.

A slight whimper emerged from Dr. Ledzin’s throat before he nodded his head, eyes wide with fear. That was all Devin needed before pointing once more at the forms with a mean look on his face.

“Sign them, Doctor, and make sure you date them with yesterday’s date,” Devin said softly, his voice returning to its usual soft, even tones.

The doctor placed the forms on the wall and signed everything in his usually messy script as Devin quickly bent down and grabbed the envelope, taking a couple quick steps out of the doctors’ reach. Seeing that the man was preoccupied with signing everything, Devin shoved the photos back into the envelope on top of a bunch of other pieces of paper that were neatly typed up. The doctor finished signing the forms and handed them back to Devin, staring at him like a cornered rabbit that had just run down the fox’s den.

Sorting through the papers rapidly with the envelope tucked under his arm, Devin soon had two neat piles in his hand. Separating them by rolling up one pile and stuffing it in the back of his jeans he placed the other pile in the envelope.

“When you go into the office today, make sure you shred the file you have on me and replace it with the one in here. Call the number on the top piece of paper and make sure they know to be expecting me with your blessing. Meet me outside the bank at nine so we can confirm the transaction, then we have another small meeting to go to.”

A sweet smile made its way across Devin’s features, belying the menace in his eyes.

“Just so you know I have more copies of these. Don’t mess with me, just do what I’ve told you and leave town. I don’t care where you go or what you do, and when you’re gone I’ll shred them, understand?”

The doctor nodded, sweating heavily as he took the envelope from Devin.

“Good boy,” Devin whispered as he reached out and patted the Doctors’ cheek like an ugly yet beloved pet, watching with amusement as the man flinched at his touch.

With his business concluded Devin turned his back on the doctor and walked away, grabbing the papers from the back of his jeans as he reached his car and shoved them into the glove box. Putting the key in the ignition switch he brought the car to life. Taking off down the street, he made a few turns and reached another main road in town.

10 minutes later he pulled into the parking lot of Wal-Mart where he parked in a stall closest to the entrance of the building. Turning off the engine he hopped out and strode inside the place, acting for the world like he owned it, which, as far as he was concerned, he did. Grabbing a cart he quickly found the section he was looking for and began making short work of getting everything he’d need, and then some.

20 minutes later he walked out of the place with a cart full of bags that he dropped into his baby, and turning around spotted a familiar looking car with plates reading “Jstc”.

Scowling with sudden anger he took off at a run with the cart in front of him before releasing it with a vicious shove, watching as the cart slammed into the Ferrari. A dent was made in the side, the cart bouncing off only to slam into it again, scratching up the paint on the side. Going back to his car he quickly hopped in and bringing the Trans am to life, he gunned the car forward and shifting gears caught a glimpse of the time on the marquee in Wal-Mart’s parking lot as he headed home.

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Something woke Sunny up from his sleep. Realizing that he wasn’t buzzing anymore, he glanced at the clock noting that it was past three in the morning. The distant purring of an engine a block away caught his attention for a moment before it died down. Sighing to himself he rolled onto his side to make himself comfortable as he drifted back to sleep, where he quickly lost himself in a storm of grey clouds.

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Devin lightly stepped on the brake as he shut the engine off, realizing as he did so that he’d done it too soon. Hopping out he used what momentum the car still had to help push it up the block where everything stalled just before reaching his driveway. Straining his muscles he kept trying to push it forward, scowling as sweat began to pour into his eyes. All of a sudden the vehicle moved forward with a slight surge and he quickly steered it back into the spot he’d had it parked in, realizing all too soon that he’d pointed it facing towards the back of the house rather than the front.

“Ah screw it,” he muttered softly to himself and pulled up on the parking break. Locking the car in place and turning the ignition switch to the off position, he pulled out his keys and put them in his pocket. Crawling into the car he opened the glove box to get the forms from it before pushing himself back out of the car. Shoving the front seat forward he begun to grab bags, seeing that they’d easily fit through his bedroom window. A motion out the corner of his eyes caused Devin to glance up as a brief feeling of something he once thought might have been fear flashed through his nerves, his heart speeding up as a slight rush of adrenaline entered his bloodstream.

“Hey Dev,” Dallas whispered softly, stepping into the light briefly to allow his face to be seen, a worrisome expression mixed with curiosity and concern written all over it.

Devin sighed to himself as he wondered if anything else could possibly go wrong, before allowing the corners of his mouth to turn up in a small smile at his brother.

“Dally, what’re ya doin’ out here this time of night lil’ bro? Dun’cha know how late it is?” Devin asked, whispering loudly so Dallas could hear him.

A brief look of impatience flashed across Dallas’s face, before his expression turned back into concern.

“Yeah Dev! Do you?” he whispered nervously.

“Yah Dal, I do know, it’s currently a lil bit after three in the mornin.”

Sighing, Dallas asked “What were ya doin out so late?”

“Had some stuff to go get, now I’m home safe and sound. Help me carry this stuff to my bedroom window?” Devin asked.

Another sigh came from Dallas’s lips, his face looking flustered as he nervously approached his brother. Devin put his bags down as his little brother came closer to him. Stepping forward, Devin reached out and grabbed his little brother’s arm, who was watching him with a slight look of apprehension. Devin stepped forward again, bringing himself closer to Dallas, whose face had turned to look at Devin’s hand, gently rubbing itself up and down Dallas’s own arm.

Devin reached forward with his other hand and placed it under Dallas’s chin, lifting upwards gently, until he was looking him in the eyes.

“It’s okay,” he whispered slowly, allowing his breath to rush across Dallas’s face, where Dallas caught the light scent of peppermint. “I’m telling ya bud, I wasn’t out doing nothing bad, k?”

Dallas nodded, whispering softly, “K, it’s just…” he stopped talking, finding himself wrapped up in an embrace that no one had felt in years.

“It’s ok Dally, I know. I love you too,” the soft whisper reached his ears, before Devin pulled back, his hands moving to the top of Dallas’s shoulders. A smile that hadn’t been seen in an extremely long time graced Devin’s face, sparkling blue eyes peering intently into Dallas’s.

“I love you too,” Devin repeated once more, and Dallas felt himself shivering in response, a smile as equally heartwarming as Devin’s matching Devin’s. Dallas’s eyes turned as blue as Devin’s, a slight glimmer from the street light reflecting a trace of the tears that were being held back.

“K,” Dallas whispered, reaching forward to grab some bags as Devin released him, “you will tell me what all this stuff is for, won’t ya?” Dallas asked, still smiling at his big brother.

Devin looked up into Dallas’s face, his smile teasing, “You’ll see in several hours Dally, now let’s go inside so you can catch what sleep you can, k?”

Dallas grinned, nodding his head as the two boys proceeded to the side of the house where they both snuck into Devin’s room. Dallas quickly and quietly headed back to his bedroom, where he confirmed that his alarm clock was indeed set, and in the low level light radiating into his room his eyes began to turn a light shade of grey, reflecting his displeasure as thoughts of school begun to cross his mind, just before his eyes finally drifted shut as sleep took him.

Devin in the meanwhile was in his room, quietly putting things into the closet with a bunch of boxes he’d scrounged up earlier, wondering if it’d be easier for him to move out. He just sighed to himself, deciding he’d think about it some more later, as he quickly stripped down to his Pokémon boxers and crawled back under the covers of his bed, his eyes turning a steely grey color to match his mood as he thought of all the things he still needed to do, allowing his eyes to finally drift shut, as outside low storm clouds begun to roll in, lightning chasing each other across the skies, thunder bellowing out a challenge, a final yawn from Devin answering that challenge as sleep quickly took him, heavy rain drops pitter pattering against the windows.