Family Issues

Chapter 4

While walking back to Burts' room he thought about the... revelation he had this morning.

Did he really fall in love with his best friend...?

When would that have even happened? They hadn't been doing anything differently since the rocket launch. He just worked a little bit less. More like back when they were teens and just getting to know each other. When they weren't elites or heads of departments... He always cared a lot about Burt and Earrings. Aside from Howie they were some of few people who really enjoyed spending time with him... It was better these days but back then...

He vividly remembered their very last heist together. It wasn't a pleasant memory.

Not only didn't they manage to get any loot, Burt almost died... because he took a bullet for him.

That was the first time he saw Earrings going completely haywire too. He knew that Earrings and himself had that 'protective sibling' trait in common but she would've probably gone back to gut that cop even after they were already back to safety...

Burt had been practically knocked out from falling and hitting his head, as if he hadn't already been in bad shape, and Howie had to carry him out while the two older toppats they had been with secured their escape. But he didn't seem to care about the pain he had to have been in at all, he just... "Sv-Sven... okay?"

He was so deep in thought, he almost ran into another toppat. "Sorry"

He was back at Burts' room now. And he couldn't get the image of a bleeding and passed out Burt out of his head...

It took him a few times to swipe the card correctly.

And he almost dropped everything he had when the door opened. Burts' phone hit the wall, just a few inches to his left, so hard it broke into pieces. He looked at the spot in shock before hearing a loud cracking sound and looking over to the bed. Burt had broken his tablet over his knee and now threw it against another wall before curling up and shaking like a leaf.

... what had happened since he left?

He quickly closed the door and put down his papers and the food on the desk before sitting down on the edge of the bed and carefully placing a hand on Burt's shoulder. "What happened?"

"I-I...", he wasn't crying this time, he just sounded incredibly desperate "P-please let me forget that it ever happened..."

"What? What happened?" What could possibly upset him this much?

"D-don't make me think about it... Please..."

Pushing him any further wouldn't do any good... He sighed and took his hand off his shoulder "Alright... Do you want something to eat?" Burt just nodded.

While they were eating he was trying to make some small talk to distract his friend from whatever was upsetting him. He gave him Henrys' message, to get better soon and not to worry, but that just seemed to upset him again...

Eventually he got up to throw away their trash and pick up the pieces of the smashed electronics. Maybe some of the stored data could be saved later.

Just... all of this was concerning.

He looked back over to the bed where Burt had buried himself under the pillows and blankets. What could've happened...?

---

"Can't you play with someone else?"

"You're so clingy. It's getting annoying"

"I-I..." there's no one else.

"Don't listen to the other kids, little one. They don't know what they're missing out on"