𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 // 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐨

𝟏𝟎 - 𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭

TW: cursing, mention of abuse. Please be safe reading this!

"Do you think I should do it?" Arthur asked Betty, slight fear in his eyes. Betty sighed, "Look, Arthur," she began talking, "Normally I would say no, of course, but I know how long this has been bothering you." 

"So is that a yes or a no?" 

Betty sighed, "neither. If you feel like you have to, you should do it, but if you don't, then don't" Arthur looked from his wife to the phone in his hand. For a second he didn't move, but after that he pressed the green button.

The couple were sitting tensely in the living room. Boni, of course, was not there. He would never like his uncle do this. Why would he? This was about the worst time in his life. He had been trying to forget this since forever. Boni would have stopped Arthur with everything in him. Maybe, because of that, Arthur shouldn't do this. But he ignored the feeling. This was not only for Boni, it was also for himself.

Neither Arthur nor Betty were planning to tell their nephew this happened.

After a few seconds, the ringing stopped and a woman's voice picked up the phone.

"Hello?" 

The voice sounded familiar to the couple, but at the same time it sounded foreign. Was this the woman they hadn't talked to in years? Betty remembered the first time she spoke to the woman. She seemed kind. Only a few years later the truth was revealed.

"Hello?" The woman on the other side of the line repeated, after no one said anything. Arthur cleared his throat and started talking. "Esther?" He sounded unsure. But that was because he was unsure. Boni would never forgive him if he knew what his uncle was doing.

Betty and Arthur heard the woman gasp. No one said anything for a minute. 

"Arthur." Esther blurted, "Never thought I'd speak to you again." Arthur felt anger coming up in him, but he suppressed it. He needed answers, and he knew he wouldn't get them if this went wrong. He opened his mouth to start talking, but Esther spoke before he could even start.

"How is he?" she hesitated. Arthur closed his mouth again and snorted. "Why do you even care after how you treated him?"

 "He is still my kid, Arthur, of course I fucking care." Arthur heard anger in her voice, along with another emotion neither Arthur nor Betty could place. She sounded... sad? They had never heard this tone in the woman's voice.

"Look, Esther, I'm not here to start a fight with you again, I just want answers okay?" The woman on the other side of the line mumbled something Arthur didn't understand, so he just continued.

"Is Angelo there?" To Arthur, it was strange to speak that name out loud. Since Boni lived with them, he had always avoided saying it. It reminded Boni of his past, memories the boy wanted to ignore. Arthur knew that. Rule number one in the Brook household was to not talk about Boni's past.

"No" Esther hissed. "No, Angelo is not here." Betty and Arthur looked at each other in suprise due to Esther's reaction. Arthur hesitated, but then started speaking again. He was scared to piss of the woman. Not that he cared about the woman's feelings, he only cared about the answers the woman had. "Can you tell him we called?" 

"No."

"And why not?" 

"Because he's fucking dead, Arthur." 

It felt like the entire world stopped spinning. Out of everything that could happen, he never expected this. Angelo, dead? His own brother was not walking around on this earth anymore. The small boy from Arthur's memories, who grew up to be a horrible man, was dead.

Of course, it hurt. No matter how much Arthur hated the other man, he was still his brother. He was the one who saved him from bullies when they were younger. He was the one who protected Arthur with his life. And now he was dead.

Arthur wanted to say so many things, but he couldn't. Not a single word left his mouth. He just stared into the distance with wide eyes.

"He died in a fucking carcrash, a year and a half ago. That fucker drank way too much alcohol, like usual. It wasn't too much of a shock to me, honestly, saw it coming from miles away." The woman didn't even sound a little bit sad. She sounded angry, furious even. Something had happened between the two, Betty thought.

"He deserved it, in my opinion." Esther stated. "Fucker could've died a few years earlier, but at least I'm not stuck with him anymore." 

It made Arthur sick to hear Angelo's own wife talk about him like that. He didn't even want to know what happened at this point.

"After Boni left, Angelo did the same to me as he did to him." Esther continued. 

"Boni never told us what happened." Arthur stated, to stop Esther. "That's why we're calling. I want to know." 

"You want to know?" she scoffed. "You really want to know?" 

"Yes."

"Boni was his fucking toy." Esther spat out. "He was pushed around, kicked, slapped, and so much more. Sometimes, Angelo forced him to sleep on the doorstep. Boni was treated like he was a doll instead of a human being. The worst part, for me, was that I just joined Angelo. I was too fucking scared he'd do the same to me."

It felt like all the air was forced out of Arthur's lungs. He remembered the small boy so clearly. He never knew why he was so scared of everything, but he wanted to know. Now that he knew, he wished he never asked. Both Arthur and Betty felt sick to their stomachs. Their sweet boy treated like a toy, they didn't even want to think about it.

"I know I failed as a mother, of course I do. I will regret everything I did to my son 'til the day I die, of course." Eshter rambled, "I just wish I could speak to him and explain everything."

"We won't let you." Betty said. Arthur was still staring into the distance with wide eyes, not able to say a thing. 

"Of course you motherfuckers won't let me, I know that, does it stop me though?" The tone in Esther's voice scared Betty. The woman sounded so sure.

"I'll speak to him eventually, whether you like it or not." After that, Esther stopped the call, and left Betty and Arthur in shock.

They knew they had to protect their nephew with everything in them, without telling him what had happened. It was impossible, really, Boni could read his aunt and uncle like an open book.

Now that Betty and Arthur knew the truth, they wished they never asked. Boni's past was absolutely disgusting. Changing the past was impossible, of course, but it was their task to protect Boni's future. 

=-=-A/N=-=-

First off, I wanted to say I know Ranboo revealed he's from Cali. I'm gonna change Ohio to Cali eventually, so please don't comment Ranboo is from California because i know that :)

Second, thank you so much for reading! I'm really busy with school at the moment, so I don't update regularly, but summervacation is almost starting so then I have plenty of time to write!

Thank you for being amazing readers, I love you all!

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