| 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐍 | 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐗 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐎𝐂

Chapter 33

HUGE TW: sexual assault

Noah walked through the asylum halls, following the 'nice' man from before. A week passed since his last visit and Noah had kept his promise of seeing Diego every day. He wasn't sleeping better or eating better and the self-harm hadn't reduced at all... but that didn't matter. Seeing Diego wasn't going to change his habits. It was just gave him the tiniest ounce of hope that Five was coming back, which was enough to keep him alive.

Unfortunately, Diego knew all this. He hadn't asked Noah about the self-harm yet but he knew it was happening. Did he attempt to help and stop it? Yes. But his attempts were useless.

He could also tell his brother wasn't sleeping because the bags under his eyes were still the same dark purple as the first time he had seen him, maybe even darker some days.

It was also evident that he wasn't eating, which was the main concern. But still... he couldn't do anything to help.

It was torture.

Noah was led into the same room as every other time and sat down in a chair, his knee bouncing as he waited. Diego was brought in with his usual smile plastered on his face and Noah returned it sadly. The man sat down across from him and folded his arms over the table, "So, anything fun happen since yesterday, bud?"

Noah gave him an annoyed look, completely ignoring his question, "I told you not to call me that. I'm not a kid." He grumbled, looking down at his feet.

"Yeah, well, you sure look like one." Diego pointed out with a smug smile. He always tried to tease his brother to cheer him up a bit cause he knew Noah liked throwing even harsher comebacks at people.

"Five looks like a kid, do you think he's one?" Noah snarked, looking up and narrowing his eyes slightly.

"He acts like one when he's around you."

Eight stared at his brother, his lips pursed in annoyance. "Whatever." He finally mumbled before yawning and covering his mouth with the back of his hand.

"When's the last time you slept?" Diego interrogated randomly.

Noah looked up at him once again as he finished yawning and shrugged, "I don't know, like-" He paused. "...Wait, why?"

"Cause you seem tired." Diego shrugged, leaning back in his chair.

"Wow, really? I thought no one would be able to tell!" He exclaimed sarcastically, gesturing to the bags under his eyes. "It looks like my eyes are packed to go on a two year trip."

Diego raised his hands in defense, "Alright, my bad." He chuckled. "So, how's it going with Elliot then? Is he taking care of you properly?"

"Mhm."

"That's good."

Diego really does try his best to help his brother but he can't really do anything besides spend the hour limit of visitation each day with him. It hurt seeing him the way he was when they were kids, except this time it was worse.

Noah just nodded slightly and stared at the guard for a second. He then leaned in closer to his brother and whispered, "I wonder how much they get paid to just... stand there..." He stared at the man again and shivered dramatically as if the dude was creeping him out (...he kinda was).

Diego looked behind him then back at Noah, "I don't know, man. Like.. 7 dollars, at most."

Noah just hummed quietly in agreement and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his stomach. The two sat in awkward silence for a second, unable to think of something else to talk about. Eight sighed deeply in an attempt to break the silence a bit.