pretty boy

7. brooklyn

The pair got out of the car at Brooklyn's house  and shut their doors. The driveway was empty, letting them both know the were temporarily home alone. Landon whipped out a house key from his chain and unlocked the front door. Brooklyn followed in suit, rolling his eyes when Landon quickly shut the door behind him in an attempt to annoy him.

Brooklyn followed Landon all the way up to his room. Landon took it upon himself to spread his body over the bed face down. Brooklyn snored at his best friend and sat at his desk.

"Ugh, B." groaned Landon, his words muffled by the bedsheets. "I'm too tired to do homework right now."

"We're going to have to do it sooner or later, y'know." Brooklyn rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and I choose later." Landon sassed. He rolled himself over and reached out his arms, "Come here."

"No, Landon. Unlike you I like to get a good education." And with that Brooklyn turned in his chair and opened his bag.

Before he could even reach inside Brooklyn felt a pair of arms snake around him and drag him towards the bed. Immediately he starting kicking and flailing.

"Stop it!" He cried. "Let me go!"

"Nope." Landon teased, popping the 'P'. And with that he threw his friend onto the bed and promptly fell on top of him.

"Get off of me!" whined Brooklyn. Landon's weight plus his small body didn't equal a fun time for his lungs.

Despite his cries, Landon closed his eyes and let out an obnoxious snore. At this point, Brooklyn was pounding on his friend and, much to his disappointment, not making any progress.

"I hate you." He grumbled when he realized that  Landon wasn't moving anytime soon.

They laid like that for a while, with Brooklyn eventually becoming used to the weight of his best friend and even enjoying his warmth. They stayed like that until Brooklyn's door quickly  swung open, revealing the slightly annoyed  face of his elder brother. At first he didn't see him, but when he did, he felt his face heat up at his cocked eyebrow.

With a sudden burst of energy, Brooklyn shoved Landon off him and bolted straight up. "H-hey Kenneth." He sqeaked. "When you get home?"

"Just a little while ago." He said slowly. "I'm starting dinner soon," He turned and gave Landon a flat look. "Landon, are you staying till then?" He asked stiffly.

"Yeah, probably." He shrugged from the floor, his voice just as flat. Landon pushed himself to his feet and grabbed his bag. "Might as well get homework done in the meantime, right?" He snuck a glance at Brooklyn before turning to his best friends elder brother. "So if we could have the room please."

Brooklyn darted his eyes between his brother and best friend and sighed. It's always been like that between the two. Brooklyn wasn't sure what exactly happened between them, but one day a few years ago Brooklyn and Landon had a 'falling out' of sorts. When they finally recollied, Brooklyn weighed ten pounds lighter and Kenneth hated Landon.

Kenneth simply rolled his eyes at Landon but left the room. As soon as he left, Landon reached for his backpack. Brooklyn huffed but followed in suit and soon the two were working through their assignments until the sky slowly turned to a mixture of light orange and blue with Brooklyn sitting on the bed and Landon at the desk. Nothing of interest had happened since their little scene in front of Brooklyn's brother (a moment in which he wished could disappear from memory).

While Landon looked completely comfortable in their silence, Brooklyn was slowly driving himself mad with his inner questions. What happened? Why won't either of them tell me? Was is something I did? Slowly, question by question, he pushed himself further and further over the edge. The desire to understand their relationship grew more and more until he snapped.

"Why?" he asked suddenly. "Why don't you guys like each other?"

Landon paused before briefly making eye contact with him. "No idea what you're talking about."

Brooklyn huffed in annoyance, despite what people thought, he wasn't as oblivious or innocent as he seemed. "You know exactly what i'm talking about."

Running his tongue over his lips, Landon finally looked him in the face, "Look, B, its like I've been telling you-"

"No, it's not!" Brooklyn suddenly exclaimed. "What you've been telling me is that you just haven't gotten to know each other, but guess what? It's been five years! How long is going to take you to 'warm up to each other'?" He finished using finger quotes.

Landon's eyebrow twitched in agitation. "Look, B, I got you want us to act like we're best friends but we're not, okay!" He snapped back. "We weren't then and we won't be now, not after what happened." He finished, lowering his voice at the end.

At the mention of the past, Brooklyn's heart skipped a beat. Flashes of blood and tears flickered through his mind. Just as soon as they arrived, Brooklyn pushed them away. With soft, almost silent steps, Brooklyn walked over to him. He got on his knees and made Landon look him in the face, "What happened that day?" He asked his voice soft and words careful. "What did he say to you?"

Landon's eyes were hard and his lips were pressed in a thin line. Not a good sign, he noted. After a moment of the two staring intensely at each other, Landon finally opened his mouth to speak.

"He didn't say anything Brooklyn, nothing I didn't need to hear, anyway." His voice was tired.

Brooklyn wasn't the best at comfort, that was more Landon's department. And he still was filled with questions, but he could see that begging in his best friend's eyes and decided that they would finish their conversation later. Brooklyn slowly raised from his place on the floor and took a seat right in Landon's empty lap.

Said person raised an eyebrow in surprise, a look that Brooklyn decided to ignore, along with the quick pounding of his heart. He pushed his hair out of his face and gave his best friend a look, "You haven't finished your math homework yet, I'll help." And with that he went right to work with Landon soon following his lead.

Neither of them said much after that, only Brooklyn pitching in whenever Landon made and mistake. Still, even though  either of them had said it, they were going to be fine, just like they always were. And always will be.