Oh Brother (Completed)

There Is No Try

I had thought the worse of Aden's tormenting was over after our punishment on the Fourth; I was wrong, it was only going to get worse. Without his phone or electronics as a distraction, I may as well have painted a bullseye on myself. It started the night of the fifth, the first night without half of us having our phones to keep us occupied. Luckily for Nix and I, we had drawing, but Damien and Aden were extremely antsy. Every day I'd walk down the stairs, I'd find Damien staring with longing at Buck and Sam as they played video games. Eventually, around the end of that week, I'd wake up before sunrise and Damien would be doing laps in the pool or pushups on the deck. I would just sit on the balcony and watch, like a creepy stalker, but I knew he was aware I was watching, because he'd occasionally smirk and glance up. Of course I'd duck back into the house, but there was no doubt he knew I was the admirer. What was confusing was that he had every opportunity to get his phone back from Phil, he'd rested it in his hand the day he'd confiscated them, but it almost appeared as though Damien was punishing himself.

Aden's childish pranks returned with a force. That night of the fifth he laid a bunch of sand crabs in my bed, so when I laid down I was pinched. I had spent that entire night on the bedroom floor of Sam's room, terrified to lay back down even though Phil and Buck had made sure it was clear. Then, a few days later, he took my clothes again, including my Lifeguard uniform, and discarded them into the pool so they reeked of chlorine, and by the time I found them, the chemicals had already permanently stained most of them. Unfortunately, Hudson nor Phil was able to get me to the store until this coming weekend, so I'd been stuck with rotating old clothes of my brothers and the Holts. Then, yesterday night he'd made sure to purposely soak me in grease from the fries that Nix had made. Not only had it burnt, but it was a disgusting aroma that no matter how many showers I took, remained.

What made everything worse was Nix avoiding me. The one kindred soul, one true friend, and only person I trusted in this house, was all but going out of his way to ignore me. With the exception of the kitchen, he'd turn and walk in the other direction when I entered a room, only offering a weak smile that didn't meet his swollen eyes. I had wondered if my brothers had said something to him, but they all seemed a little shocked by his sudden desire to be anywhere but near me. Which left me with spending most of my time with Damien, even if we didn't speak, some nights we'd just sit out with our feet in the water and watch the sunsets, or the waves crash against the shore as we had all those years ago. I didn't try and bring up the kiss, as I didn't have much to offer remembrance wise except that it'd be done, and he acted as if it hadn't happened at all, even though he had been sober and clearly would remember it.

It was tonight, after a long day at work, that I sunk on to the first step leading down into the pool and stared out at the star lit sky. I felt Damien join me, but as usual he didn't say anything, and I liked it this way. Somehow, in the comfortable silence between us every word was spoken.

"Why is Nix avoiding me?" I asked, flicking at the water and watching it ripple. Damien, who's feet were the only body part submerged, leaned back on his hands on the deck, eyes trained on the dark sky, sighed.

"He's not avoiding you, he's avoiding the fact that he almost made a big ass mistake. He's ashamed and the fact that Phil and Buck look ready to pounce on him whenever you two are in the same room, doesn't help." Damien pried his eyes off the night sky and looked to me beside him, "He misses you. All the art he's done over the last two weeks have been forms of you in one way or another."

I frowned. "None of this would have even happened if Aden wasn't being a dick."

"Agree to disagree." Is what Damien said, indirectly defending my brother. It was to be expected, that was his best friend. "Yes, he's being an immature ass, but my brother is a horny bastard when he drinks, so a lot of what happened would have still happened."