Fnia: Brothers In Arms (read desc.)

Conflicts of Understanding

Trevor woke up on the couch, now convinced he was in the apartment. He sat up, seeing his brother sitting on the other end of the couch. Travis felt something move, and looked to Trevor, shocked.

Travis: Trevor!

Travis hugged Trevor, Trevor quickly seeing the two-thirds empty bottle of whisky sitting on the floor in front of Travis.

Trevor: Uh, Travis...

Trevor lightly pushed Travis off of him, Travis not fighting back at all.

Trevor: How drunk are you right now?
Travis: Uh... well, after last night, I had a lot of thinking to do.
Trevor: Heh... yea, that was crazy.

Trevor looked at the time, seeing it was 11:15PM.

Trevor: Woah! Travis we've gotta get going, if we go now, we'll walk there just in time.

Trevor was about to stand up, but stopped, seeing Travis wasn't moving an inch.

Trevor: Travis?

Travis slowly stood up, and walked into the kitchen, placing the whisky onto the counter.

Travis: We're not going back.
Trevor: What!? What about the rent? The girls!?
Travis: We'll find a way for the rent. The girls can go fuck themselves.
Trevor: How could you say that? They aren't bad people.
Travis: Oh, get your head out of your ass, Trevor. They aren't people, no matter how much you hope and dream for it.
Trevor: Travis, did you sleep last night?
Travis: How could I? I watched my own brother get knocked out by a crazy robot. No wonder she was locked in that room for God knows how long.
Trevor: Travis... I had one of those nightmares last night... or... this morning. It was a smaller rabbit like that one. It said something, something that needs us.
Travis: Trevor, you hit your head. You were seeing things.
Trevor: NO, TRAVIS! You're overprotective of me! Even from Dad! THAT'S WHY DAD KICKED US OUT AS SOON AS YOU COULD DRIVE, YOU DRUNK BASTARD!!!

Travis looked at Trevor, shocked of his sudden burst. Travis punched Trevor in the face. Trevor looked at Travis for a moment, then charged to him, tackling him down. Trevor repeatedly punched Travis in his face, until Travis grabbed Trevor's hands, and slammed his head against Trevor's. Trevor backed up, hand on his forehead. Trevor looked at Travis, as he struggled to stand up while drunk.

Trevor: She told me we can help them with your strength, my "full heart", and... our brotherly love.

Travis looked up at Trevor.

Trevor: But... ever since we started working at the Pizza Palace, I feel like we've lost some of that.

Trevor began to walk away.

Travis: Where are YOU going?
Trevor: The Pizza Palace, because I look past flesh and bone for something to be alive.
Travis: You're not going back to that-

Trevor slams the door shut.

Travis: ... place.

Travis finally stood up, and sat on the couch, lost in thought. Travis looked at an old photo, having a much younger Trevor and Thomas, in one large shirt, sharing it, their dad hugging them both. Suddenly, Travis heard something in the wall.

Mr. Timberson: You know... he's not wrong about one thing.
Travis: Mr. Timberson?
Mr. Timberson: You ARE overprotective of him.
Travis: Yea, but that's only because he's the only family I have left.
Mr. Timberson: Exactly. He's not mad because you're overprotective, he's mad because you're the only family he's got, and he still isn't able to make his family proud until he does his own thing.
Travis: What are you saying?
Mr. Timberson: I'm saying you have to cut the kid some slack one day. I haven't lived hear any more than you two, yet I heard the coughing, and I know you won't always be there to protect him. For him to be prepared for that, he needs to learn some things on his own. If he gets hurt, that's life.

Travis looked at the floor, thinking.