The separate parties, different in their size and power, approached the same destination. The seemingly more powerful group, that consisting of Lucifer, Andy, and the fairies, was the first to arrive at the townhouse in a Scottish suburb. Rows of similar houses went almost endlessly down a quiet road. In a few yards, children played, but as a storm approached, the majority returned to the interiors of their homes. The rumble of thunder in the distance caused Andy to hasten towards his childhood home.
He kindly asked that Lucifer stay back until he was needed. Lucifer agreed, and Andy went about his way to the front door of the house. He fixed himself using the reflection in a sidelight window before knocking thrice on the door. There was a moment where he waited for someone to open the door and momentarily reconsidered what he was doing, but then the door opened and so sealed the fate of the one behind it. It was Andy's brother, Aidan, who answered the door.
A stout specimen Aidan was standing half a foot shorter than his brother, but appearing to be the same amount wider. He wasn't fat, but years upon years of regularly going to the gym made him thicker than usual. With large biceps, well defined pecs, and calves that allowed him to honestly say that he never skipped leg day, Aidan was the polar opposite of tall, lanky, awkward Andy. The clean shaven body builder versus a toothpick with a still scraggly beard, it was no wonder that people easily guessed that one was adopted. A ten year old Aidan was surprised the day that he was told he would have a new brother. Andy, who was 12 at the time, was surprised too, but in a different way. He had never been too pleased with the fact that he would have to now share his home and parents with a child who had no relation to them whatsoever outside of papers and signatures. For a time, Andy refused to talk to Aidan. No matter what the younger one said or asked, his words went ignored. It wasn't until secondary school, when Andy became the most distant from children his age, that he began to lean on Aidan for support. Andy graduated, and Aidan followed soon after. Both went across the ocean to school, but the two had very different outcomes. Aidan brought home flawless report cards and awards from his sport teams and clubs. He spoke of the odd American culture but how happy he was to have such exposure. Andy, on the other hand, rarely showed his report card to his parents either because he was too ashamed or because he lost it in transit. Compared to his brother, Andy felt that he was a failure, and while his parents tried their best to encourage him, they still inadvertently showed more love and attention to the successful, adopted child. For his third year, Andy went to school and never came back. For a while, he wrote to his parents or called, but eventually he stopped all his communications with them except for the occasional holiday card in which he created a fake family to please his parents with.
It had been nearly 10 years since the brothers had seen each other, and Andy hadn't expected Aidan to be home. Andy felt the same kind of surprise that he had felt when he was 12, shocked but not at all happy.
Aidan smiled hugely at the sight of his big brother, "Oi, Andy, is that you? Boy, when was the last time?"
He pulled Andy in for a hearty hug, and Andy was forced to return the affections though he had a disgusted look on his face.
"It's been a while," Andy replied.
He pulled away from the hug as quickly as her could.
"Well, it's been too long, brother. You sound American," Aidan went on.
He laughed. Andy forced a snicker before making his way past his brother and into the house IT was as he remembered, just slightly darker and with a touch more dust. Things had been sitting for a long time, and Aidan wasn't too fond of doing housework. He took up the cooking and home repairs while hie adoptive mother swept and dusted as often as her elderly bones would allow. Despite his aversion, Aidan would offer to help with cleaning, but his mother refused, saying that moving around kept her young.
