As much as Connecticut hated waking up to screaming (as does everyone else on the planet, probably), it was unavoidable in his current living situation, which consisted of his two hotheaded brothers that knew the easiest ways to piss each other off. And by unavoidable, he meant it happened at least once a week, and usually when he was having good sleep.
His bed was warm, dammit.
This wasn't the usual screaming, though. It took a few moments for him to not only wake up completely, but to realize what he was listening to. The first thing he realized that it was Massachusetts yelling, the second was that it was from New York's room, and the third was that.. Well, Mass had the interrogation voice he used when one of the two had done something, and York sounded more defensive (another thing he hated—how well he'd grown to be able to figure out everything about their argument before he even got involved).
He slowly sat up from his bed, attempting to comb his hair out with his fingers as he listened through the wall.
"What do you mean it's not a big deal! You picked it up off the street and took it home you dipshit!" Mass yelled, making Connecticut scrunch his face up with the oncoming migraine from these two.
"It's not like he has rabies! Look at 'im, he's not even doin' anything to you!" New Yorked hissed back, and the words finally set in.
Oh.
"He chewed up your fucking doorframe, Yorkie!"
This situation wasn't a new one — New York would find some stupid animal in an alley, take it home, Massachusetts would freak out, and then Connecticut would end up being forced to go pick up food for it. It's how the black cat ended up in their apartment, it's how Rhode Island ended up with a dog in his care (it was cute, but the barking quickly got on York's nerves and the landlord deemed it too big to live in his apartment), and it's definitely why Mass was freaking out. It's probably another dog, he assumed as he stood up and stormed towards the room next door. He pushed past Massachusetts in the doorframe, and Mass cursed some kind of insult at him, but whatever he said seemed to go in one ear and directly out the other as Connecticut took in the sight before him.
Not just the fact that there were several pieces of paper clearly chewed up on the floor from some poor notebook the thing got its hands on, but the fact that there was a rat on the floor and New York looked unbothered by it.
"... Listen, I found 'im in a pile of snow—" New York began, seeing the older start to roll his eyes at the situation.
"Yorkie," Connecticut interjected, but the younger continued to defend himself.
"He was cold! And he looked healthy to me, so I—" He continued, standing up from where he was sitting on the bed to wave his arms around angrily.
"You brought a rat into our apartment—" Connecticut started, once again interrupted.
"He's a mouse, calm down!" God knew the thing was too big to be a mouse, despite the lame attempt to redeem himself.
"I know a fucking rat when I see one, considering I live with two!"
"Three now, thanks to this dipshit," Massachusetts added rudely from behind him, making New York scoff.
"Whatever! He's not hurting anybody!" He approached the rat on the floor, who seemed entirely unbothered with the three men yelling as he chewed through another paper scrap.
"Our landlords gonna hurt someone if he sees your fucking doorframe!"
New York growled something under his breath and leaned down to pick up the "mouse" (it was still, very much, a rat). "I'll get him some stuff to chew on and get it fixed. I'm not getting rid of him though," He grumbled, pulling away the torn up paper before it started to eat it.
Connecticut sighed, and an even angrier sigh came from Massachusetts behind him. New York paid no attention to them and allowed the rat to crawl onto his shoulders before walking past the two of them, Mass clearly stepping away from the small creature (which may have gotten a snicker out of Connecticut that he responded to with a glare).
—————
The first thing Connecticut realized when he was woken up was that it was the absolute ass crack of dawn. The second thing he realized was that he was being woken up. Not by screaming, not by a door slamming, just being "gently" (as gently as the brothers could get with each other) pushed awake by none other than his red beanie donning brother.
"What the f—" He started, glaring when he quickly raised a finger to his mouth to shush him.
"Rats need friends," The other stated simply, as if what he meant was the most obvious thing ever.
"..What? What do you mean rats need friends, and why are you—" He started again, grumbling the rest of his sentence when York interrupted him.
"Rats can die if they're alone in the cage. I need'ta get another for Apple."
Connecticut couldn't do anything but stare at the younger.
"..You named it Apple."
"Listen, I never said I was good at naming shit," York rolled his eyes and began dragging his brother out of the bed, "Mass hates rats and is already mad at me anyways."
"And you think I'm not?" Connecticut shot back, getting a look that somewhat said 'you got me there.'
"All of us are always mad about somethin', I'll buy you breakfast if you come with me," York offered, watching his brother scrunch up his face. He was tired and wanted to just go back to sleep and pretend this was a dream, but he also really wanted to have an excuse to go to the shop he'd been meaning to try for a while.
"..Fine. I'm showering first, though," Connecticut sighed and stood up, ignoring the popping of his joints. It happens when you've been around since the 1700s. "If Mass asks, say we were getting food for it."
New York had a proud "smile" (it felt more like a smirk, Connecticuts not sure he's even seen the dude smile smile before) on his face, and disappeared off into the hallway.
That shop better have decent food so this is actually worth it.
—————
new york owning rats supremacy
also im aware the ages are probably Fucked but listen, mass older brother supremacy as well
enjoy
