Piece by piece to love | Sleepy bois inc

Chapter 21: Brothers

- A̵n̸d̵ ̷n̵o̶w̴ ̵I̵ ̴p̷l̸a̸c̷e̸ ̶i̴t̵ ̷h̷e̴r̷e̴ ̵a̵n̵d̷ ̵m̷o̸v̷e̸ ̷t̶h̴a̶t̴ ̷f̷o̶u̷r̴ ̸o̵n̶t̸o̸ ̴t̵h̵a̵t̴ ̷p̶i̵l̸e̸,̷ ̷a̴l̴l̸o̵w̷i̸n̴g̵ ̴m̵e̴ ̵t̷o̸ ̶m̴o̵v̶e̴ ̵t̸h̷a̷t̵ ̶f̵i̵v̶e̶ ̵w̴h̶i̶c̸h̷...̵- since the boys were gone and dad threw them out of the kitchen, Techno and Wilbur had nothing to do. And being the two of them, they decided to play some kind of game to kill some time.

- R̶e̶m̵i̴n̸d̶ ̵m̶e̶,̸ ̷w̷h̷y̵ ̴d̵i̶d̷ ̸I̶ ̶a̷g̷r̴e̷e̵ ̶t̷o̵ ̷p̶l̵a̶y̵i̷n̶g̵ ̷s̷o̴l̷i̷t̷a̵i̷r̵e̴ ̶w̷i̸t̵h̷ ̷y̷o̵u̴?̸- Techno groaned, pushing himself away from the table. Gosh, Wilbur's turn could take absolutely forever! What, did he do nothing else than play solitaire during those thirty years?!

- B̴e̶c̶a̸u̶s̵e̵ ̷y̶o̶u̵ ̴d̸i̷d̸n̶'̶t̸ ̸p̴r̷o̷p̸o̸s̶e̵ ̶y̶o̴u̸r̶ ̴o̶w̸n̵ ̵g̴a̵m̸e̵,̵ ̶p̶i̶g̸ ̸h̸e̶a̵d̵- Wilbur glanced at him, continuing his turn. Techno rolled his eyes and sunk deeper into his chair, knowing that probably he wouldn't be able to place his cards anytime soon. This day couldn't be more boring...

Suddenly his eyes snapped open, realizing that he had fallen asleep. But... Wilbur was no longer sitting in front of him, there were no cards on the table. He wasn't even in the living room anymore. He was sitting behind his desk, on which were scattered notebooks and writing supplies. It looked like... school work? But... Why would there be schoolwork on his desk? But then he looked at his hands and absolutely froze. They... belonged to a child, maybe eleven years old? That wasn't good, that wasn't good at all... Those were his memories. It was exactly the same as his dad had...

He was kind of thrown off by how different his room looked back then. The mirror was already there, but his sword hanging on the wall was gone, which means he hadn't gotten it yet. Which led to a conclusion that... mom was still alive. And he was hundred percent sure that he wasn't ready to go face her right now. But his legs wouldn't listen to him, running out of the room and up, skipping up the stairs. The house was quiet which was another disturbing thing. There was always something going on, either Wilbur practicing with his guitar or doing homework or dad in the kitchen or his work room. But now there was no sound. Except one.

Someone in the living room was coughing.

Techno panicked as his feet carried him to the kitchen to take a glass of water and run towards the couch in the living room. No, he didn't want that, not now. Not when he was finally happy with how things were, with two new brothers at his side. He didn't need a reminder of loss that almost tore his family apart.

- Thank you, dear- A warm hand brushed his cheek, forcing him to focus on the face before him. It was a heartbreaking sight, even without knowing what comes next. Mom was tired as always, deep shadows under her loving eyes, lips cracked. And yet she still managed to smile.

- Mom, where are dad and Will?

- Oh... I think dad was summoned to the hospital, they wanted to tell him something urgent- Techno knew what day it was, he knew exactly what the doctors were about to tell Phil. And what shall occur within a week. Why did he have to relive this moment? Why him?- And Will already left for his music lessons. It's only the two of us right now, my little knight- she always called him like that. Wilbur was the "prince" and Techno was the "knight", for obvious reasons. He was always the first one to get into fights, most of them protecting his twin.

- Sweetie, there's something I really like you to have. It's in our room upstairs, the box under our bed. Can you bring it here?- the room that now stood empty was once his parents' bedroom. But after the death dad moved to his work room, claiming that that place held too many painful memories. They sold the furniture, none of them ever went there anymore. It was just an empty room that reflected the emptiness left in their hearts. But in memories there was still standing that huge bed that Techno remembered climbing every morning with Wilbur to throw themselves onto dad, waking him up with laughter. And underneath it lied a log box that he already knew the content of. He carefully picked it up and walked back to the living room to hand it to his mom. But she shook her head, smiling.

- Open it, it's for you- she said. Of course he knew what's inside. It was his precious sword, the last gift. His first completely new sword that he was supposed to get for his birthday as he later found out.- I wanted to give it to you while I still can-

- What do you mean, mom?- Techno felt so much pity for his younger self.

- My little knight, I'm soon leaving this world. I can't fight this illness anymore, no matter how hard your dad tries to help me. And with me gone, who's going to take care of him and your brother? Protect them, my little knight. No, my little, brave king. You're their fighter, their protector. Be strong for them when they can't-

TECHNO, SNAP OUT OF THIS!

Techno's eyes snapped wide, his breath heavy and tears rolling down his face. He was lying on the floor, his chair right beside him, knocked over. And above him kneeled Wilbur and dad, both with worried looks painted on their faces.

- T̵e̴c̷h̴n̴o̴,̵ ̴w̴h̷a̵t̴ ̷h̶a̵s̶ ̴h̸a̶p̵p̶e̶n̵e̵d̶?̴!̶ ̸Y̷o̶u̵ ̶j̷u̷s̷t̶ ̶b̴l̶a̷n̴k̷e̸d̸ ̴o̸u̷t̴ ̶a̷n̸d̴ ̴t̶h̷e̴n̶ ̶s̷t̸a̴r̴t̴e̸d̴ ̴c̶r̸y̴i̴n̸g̷!̶ ̴I̸ ̵w̸a̸s̸ ̴s̴o̸ ̶s̵c̴a̷r̵e̷d̶!̸- Will yelled at him, but Techno couldn't care less. He just rose on his elbows and hugged his brother tightly, burying his face in his sweater. Wilbur was taken aback for a second, but soon relaxed and hugged him back, knowing that he probably remembered something sad. They will have time to talk about it, for now they could just be there for each other.