forty three
Michael pulls out Luke's expensive wine from the cabinet, pulling out two glasses. He looks at his brother sitting in the living room, "Hey, Buddy?"
"Hm?" He calls back, not looking up from his phone.
"If I give you wine, will you promise not to become an alcoholic?"
The 15-year-old looks up, smiling at his brother. "I'll sure try, you idiot." He makes grabby hands (the same way he did a decade ago) as Michael comes over with the white wine. "What time is your boytoy coming home?"
"My boyfriend," Michael corrected, "should be home probably 3 or 4. He's on night call so it's shit."
Jack looked up at the clock, already ticking close to 1 as the binge watch of Grey's Anatomy continued. "What did you do when you lived alone and had night call? Wasn't it awful coming home to an empty place?"
He shrugged, "Sometimes Alex would be home and it wouldn't be so bad. But, it was scary sometimes. It sucked."
Jack takes a sip of his drink before bringing it back down towards his lap. He traces his finger over the glass rim. "Why did you send me away, Mikey?"
Michael looks up, seeing his brother unable to look at him. His eyelashes cover over his cheekbones as he stares at his own knuckles. "I needed to know that you were safe."
"I was constantly alone."
"You would have been more alone here. You're seeing the resolution right now, Bud, you don't know how bad some days and nights were." There were weeks when Michael wouldn't see his apartment for more then an hour. His plants have died, piles of dirty laundry remained on his floor. "I wasn't able to raise you the way you needed to be raised."
"But, you didn't try." Jack's voice was quiet, it was cracking with every sentence of pain he spoke.
"I did, I didn't send you away until you were 8. Do you have no memory of those first 4 years with me?"
It was Jack's turn to shrug, "I remember bits." He puts his already empty glass down on the coffee table knowing that Michael wasn't going to give him anymore. "I remember you crying a lot, I remember the neighbors watching me a lot."
"It was such a bad time, you of all people know I'm not over the fact that I'm an orphan, Jack." Michael's voice had started to crack as his tiny sips of expensive wine isn't helping him lose feeling of his head.
"You realize my parents died, too, right? You know that when you lost your parents, I lost mine?"
Michael sighed, "That's not what I meant."
"That's what you said, though." Jack curls up closer to the blanket he hogs. He wraps the navy blue material around his shoulders and under his feet. "I was suffering, too. I was a child and I was suffering."
"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I was just trying my best."
"Hearing you sobbing on our kitchen floor when I was maybe 5 years old hurt much more than the actual death of our parents." Jack's eyes were filling up with water and, fuck, he didn't want his brother to see him cry. "I don't remember them, but I could never forget you."
Michael doesn't respond.
"It makes me sad that I can't remember them, Mike."
He wipes at his eyes, "They loved you so much and I know that they still do."
"I used to tell people in my first grade class that you were my dad because I didn't want to admit my parents were dead," he said, laughing a quick laugh through his inability to stop the tears. "God, our life sucks."
Mike lets out a laugh. "It does, doesn't it?"
"You were always late. To everything!" Jack is laughing even as tears fall down his cheeks.
"I was a stoner and a pre-med student, give me some slack."
"I hate you so much," he laughs, wiping his eyes.
Michael reached out his arms once his drink was safely placed down. He pulled his brother into a hug, kissing the top of his forehead. "I hate you more." They cuddle for a few more episodes before falling asleep.
Luke walks in as the sun rises down the avenue. He looks at the two boys cuddling on their couch, their mouths open as matching snores fall from their mouths.
Jack's head laid in Michael's lap, Mike's hand resting on his brother's shoulder.
Luke changes out of his scrubs before making a breakfast smoothie and watching the two sleep. He was being a bit creepy, but this sign was something good.
It could be the beginning of something beautiful. Or, it could be the calm before the storm.
