Fixing Broken Hearts

10

Warnings:
-None

Elliot's POV

It was the middle of the night, but I was sitting up in my bed with my eyes wide open. I was holding my phone to scroll through TikTok, because I couldn't fall asleep after everything that happened.

I really wanted to check on Clay, but was afraid to wake up either my parents or him. I figured it was better to just stay here, only I had no rest to fall asleep for a singular second.

Without realising, I had been staring at the same TikTok video for minutes. A guy was doing some dumb dance without his shirt on, but when I tried to tell myself it bothered me when they did that, I still didn't want to swipe away.

I gulped and quickly turned TikTok off when I noticed I had been looking at a guy without his shirt on for quite some time, feeling restlessness inside because of it. My stomach felt more warm and my breathing had started to go faster.

I groaned and slowly sat up in my bed, checking the time just to see it was only three at night. Tristan was always very strict on his sleeping times because he was easily tired out, so I couldn't text him either.

Hopelessly, I decided to stand up from my bed and silently opened my door. The hallway was dark and empty, making me put my hands out in front of me to make sure I wasn't walking into something.

Slowly but surely, I tiptoed to Clay's room and silently opened his door to see if he was awake. I quickly realised he wasn't looking up at me, but still wanted to be with him. I closed the door behind me and snuck to his bed.

Trying to not wake him up, I crawled into the bed next to him. He was laying on his left side, facing the wall, so I decided to lay behind him and pressed my chest against his back, my arms around his waist.

For some reason, even though he was clearly asleep, he snuggled up closer to me and had a smile appear on his face. I couldn't resist giving him a kiss on his cheek and closed my eyes after resting my cheek on his to feel closer to him.

I intertwined our legs and slowly started to feel a lot safer, knowing Clay was okay and with me. Within minutes, the tiredness started to get to me and I fell in a deep sleep as well...

~~~

'Wake up, sleepyhead,' I heard a sweet voice, making me open my eyes. I looked straight into Clay's and smiled at him, seeing him smile back. 'I just realised it's already ten in the morning, we have school.'

I mumbled something and rolled to my back to stretch, looking at Clay with proudness in my eyes. I loved him so much and was genuinely so grateful he was my brother out of all the brothers I could have gotten.

'Thank you for staying with me tonight,' he stumbled as he tried to sit up.

'I couldn't sleep, because I wanted to make sure you were okay. How is the pain today? I can get you your medicine.'

Clay smiled and shook his head. 'It's okay, I'm used to more pain. We should try to catch the next bus and-.'

'Clay, you're not going to school today. You've just had surgery and are on a lot of medication. For that matter, I would worry way too much so I'm staying home with you.'

'But you like to be at school,' he whimpered with an emotional voice. 'You don't have to stay home with me, you have to go to Tris and have fun.'

'I can have fun with Tristan every single day, but I can only be with my recovering brother one time and I will,' I replied to him. 'Tristan will be here for ages and you won't be recovering for as long, so during the time you are, I'll be here.'

'You're really trying to make me cry, aren't you?' Clay asked with a soft giggle to hide the emotions he was feeling.

I wrapped my arm around his shoulder and smiled. 'I love you, bro. What do you want to do today? I'll do anything you want to do, we are going to give you an amazing day.'

He seemed to be thinking and stroked his hair back. After a short moment, he looked up at me with a gentle laugh. 'I always really love to see you play soccer or do some of those tricks you taught yourself.'

'Alright, let's go. We can go to the soccer field and stay there until lunch. I thought we could go to the city and get your favourite sandwich and if you want to, I can get a wheelchair and we can go to some stores,' I listed with an enthusiastic smile on my face.

'I would love to, but I ran out of money because... I don't get money from mom and dad and haven't been able to go to work for a while,' he replied with embarrassed look in his eyes.

'Oh, why would that matter?' I asked. 'I'm paying for it if you didn't realise that.'

'No, but that's your money and I don't want to be an even bigger burden to you than I already am. I really appreciate it, but-.'

'Clay, I get money from mom and dad and literally despise being the favourite child. I want to be treated the same, or rather, have you get treated the same way as I do. I get fifteen dollars a week, so I'm going to give you eight dollars every week from now on!'

'No, I don't want to accept that,' Clay exclaimed, but I nodded heavily and turned away.

'I don't want to get more than you do and I don't need money anyway. I'm just spending it on food and clothes, but I have about thirty dollars spare each month and you can use that way better than I do.'

'I can't accept your money every week, it'll make you unable to afford anything if you need it. I bet you're saving up for things and-.'

'Clay, you're unable to afford anything at this moment and you can't work because they beat the crap out of you all the time. I'm able to get a job if I need to, you aren't. I'm a thousand percent sure I want to do this for the sweetest brother in the world.'

He didn't say anything and to hide his tears, he walked into my arms. Just as he hugged Tristan's mother to not show his emotions and show appreciation, he hugged me now. His hugs honestly meant more to me than words ever could.

1140 words