𝐍𝐎 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘, 𝐍𝐎 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐄 - kiara carrera²

𝒙𝒙𝒙𝒊𝒗. 𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒚'𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒔

"I, UH, I GOT YOU SOMETHING."

Tatum Quinn raised a single brow at her older brother's very awkward statement. After twenty years of shadowing his father's personality, Leroy was finally trying to figure out who he really was. What he was really like. He'd been pretending for so long that eventually he had forgotten himself. So far, the personalities he had tired out were protective big brother, smartass, Mama Steve, and now today he was trying out the role of being kind and genuine.

Still trying to adapt to being a good person, Leroy awkwardly pulled out two wrapped pieces of metal.

Instantly knowing what was inside, Tatum grinned and tore away the wrapper, finding a brand-new bright pink pistol inside. She'd really missed the comfort of her weapons, but she wasn't too sure her friends would approve of this gift.

"Thanks, Lee," she said appreciatively, wrapping her arms around him. Like the previous day, it took him a moment of hesitation and awkwardness before he returned the hug.

After a few short moments of warmth, the siblings soon grew uncomfortable and both pulled away.

"You're welcome," Leory mumbled quietly as a response to her last statement.

Somebody new was standing in the room. Somebody that made Tatum groan. Somebody she seriously considered shooting right then and there.

Happy fucking seventeenth birthday, Cameron Limbrey.

The boy was standing there, a little out of place around the gun, like he wasn't raised by a total psychopath himself. Tatum had no idea what he was still doing there. He was rich as fuck and it was his birthday. He could buy himself a house in fucking Finland if he wanted.

"I got you one, too," Leroy said, speaking through the thick tension between the 'twins', and handed the boy a matching gun, but this one was gold. "Happy birthday."

"That's Thomas' colour!" hissed Tatum, glaring at Cameron.

"Okay? And?"

Leroy sighed and whipped out two of his own pistols, pointing them at the teenagers before they actually shot each other. By the looks of it, Tatum definitely would've been the one to pull the trigger on him.

At the sight of Leroy Quinn, a gun in his hand once again, his little sister froze in place. She wasn't scared of him, she knew now that he had change - that he wouldn't hurt her ever again - but her mind switched between now and the day Thomas fell to the ground at the hand of their father. She watched it it happen all over again like a flashback in a movie. And it hurt just as much as it did in the moment her throat ripped out that scream.

Tatum's breakdown.

Heyward being threatened.

Leroy's gun pointed at Thomas.

Nathan beating his daughter almost to death.

Leory beating his brother almost to death.

Heyward trying to help.

The gunshot.

Thomas on the floor.

Tatum's scream.

She seen it all happen again, and she couldn't breathe. She was trapped there. At the lowest point of her life. The moment her whole world crashed down. She was a mess before he died, but afterwards she was a trainwreck.

"It's gone." A voice. She could bearly see past the blurrs and the shake of her own eye, but Leroy's deep, masculine voice was unmistakable. Something hit the floor. His gun. "Okay, Tate, what...what's happening? I don't understand. Are you dying? Choking? Need water?"

"She's having a panic attack," Cameron stated as a matter of fact, not exactly sure how his sister was triggered by a single gun after all the people she'd killed. It made him realise that he really knew nothing about her other than what the news said. And she knew nothing about him, either.

Leroy ran a hand through his long hair, his other on Tatum's shoulder as tears ran down her face, she clutched her chest and she wheezed. "Okay...okay, how do I stop it?" he asked stressfully, not qualified for this situation in the slightest. He never even really understood basic emotions until a week ago.

Cameron sighed, slightly pushing the older boy away as he took control of the situation. "Okay, count with me, Tate," he said as calmly as he could, recalling the way his ex girlfriend would do the same when he was in this position. "Okay, count your breaths. One...two...three... four...there you go, you're doing it."

Now she had something to concentrate on, Tatum's breathing gradually slowed down and she went back to normal, refusing to look either boy in the eye due to pure mortification and embarrassment. She enjoyed bipolar breakdowns more than she did having PTSD - not that either of them were enjoyable, of course.

"You good?" asked Leroy with concern, as he had never witnessed such a thing in his life. He wasn't the best at dealing with other's mental health because he hadn't even understood his own yet.

The girl nodded, lifting TJ up from the couch and rocking him a little in comfort. She tried to be mature and move on entirely from the topic, but her dumbass brain decided to make her leg bounce up and down and give her the urge to mess around and fiddle with her own gun, which would probably result in her killing someone.

Cameron met her eye with raised brows, his facial expression clearly trying to annoy her.

Tatum glared at him, making her disliking for her 'twin' clear.

Leroy sighed, so sick of the two of them arguing. Half their family was dead, half of them being his fault. He was finally beginning to be a positive, nice person by taking time to get to know and help out all of his siblings, but it was so hard when these two hated each other. Especially when there was no reason behind it. Cameron came here because he wanted a relationship with Tate, but wouldn't stop annoying her in a healthy, ordinary brotherly way - though, he was very insensitive at times in ways that he didn't mean to be. But Tatum, who had never experienced having an ordinary, teasing relationship with her family, grew pissed everytime he opened his mouth because she was convinced he was trying to replace Thomas. She wouldn't even let him hold the baby she was that paranoid. She didn't trust him in the slightest.

"Yeah. No, this is stopping right now," the oldest brother said, patting the kids on their shoulders as he made a decision. "I'm going to work for the rest of the day, and when I get back, I want to find the two of you laughing."

"What if I just walked out and left the house?" asked Tatum with challenge.

Leroy dug his hand into his pocket and wiggled a key. "You can't if you're locked in."

"That's holding somebody captive," Cameron stated, his arms crossed. "It's literally illegal."

Leroy shrugged. "I've never had a good relationship with the pigs, anyway."

"Seriously, Lee, I get you're having a personality crisis, but I already don't like Leader Leroy very much" said Tatum, allowing the baby on her lap to play with the deadly weapon.

"Well, Leader Leroy doesn't like you very much, either."

And with that, he took TJ and left, leaving the birthday siblings standing in the living room with nothing but each other's company.

The door locked. Tatum groaned. Cameron patted his legs awkwardly.

"Hey, you wanna -"

"No."

"Forget to take your pills this morning?"

"Fuck off."