Living Silently

Intrusion

It had been a long night spent in the hospital. Apparently, the air was too dry causing Amar to spring a leak. Amar was a hemophiliac so he bled long and in a high quantity. Luckily all he needed was to get some fluids and some rest and he'd be alright. I looked down at the bed where Noel slept beside him peacefully. Amar had scared the hell out of me but I was happy that he was okay.

My phone began ringing in my pocket and I pulled it out checking the caller ID. Seeing that it was Chloe I answered and brought the phone up to my ear.

"Is everything okay," she asked before rendering a greeting.

"Yeah, they are both sleeping right now. He's being monitored overnight then they are going to let him go," I told her.

"Okay that's good when he wakes up tell him that everything is fine here and not to call before eleven," she said before hanging up. I placed my phone in my pocket then walked out of the room in search of some food to eat since I didn't get any of the Chinese from earlier. I found a vending machine and opted for a burrito that I had to find a microwave for. The moment that thing hit my taste buds I wanted to throw up. Spitting it out I pulled out my phone and took a picture posting it on Instagram with a long tirade about disgusting food. When I had calmed down I went back to the room giving up on food for the night. I took the uncomfortable chair in the corner and sat looking at Noel and Amar sleeping. I was slowly putting the pieces together in making a real family for all of us. It's really all I ever wanted in life. I knew from the moment I saw Noel laying on that bathroom floor with ash covering his face that I wanted him in my life forever. Amar was a new addition to the family I imagined but he was smart, kind, resilient, and joyful.

Knock knock...

I looked up as a nurse stuck her head in the door. I got up and walked over to her to see what she wanted without waking everyone else up.

"There are two gentlemen here asking for you," she said. I was confused as to what she meant since I wasn't expecting company. Then it donned on me," What do they look like," I asked her.

"Tall deep skinned man with short hair and a lighter skinned man just a little taller than him. He looks younger than him and skinnier, as well," She told me.

"Would you bring me to them," I asked her. She nodded and started walking to the main entryway where sure enough my only brother's were standing.

"What the fuck are you two doing here," I asked walking up to them.

"Whoa why are you so hostile," Shawn my oldest brother said. His breath was a little sour and he smelled of body odor. I assumed that they had driven all the way here non stop.

"Austin we tried to get you to come home on the phone since you wouldn't we came to bring you," Maxwell said. We were only nine and a half months apart in age both taking after our mom while Shawn looked exactly like my dad when he was younger.

"Well you guys must have wasted a lot of gas driving here from Pennsylvania," I said lowering my voice.

"Nigga just gets in the car with us and come to see your father," Shawn said. He had this thing where he pretended that he was a hood nigga. In reality, we lived thirty minutes outside of Philadelphia in a rural town. We went to church every Sunday, Monday, and Friday. We were all in the choir and our school would suspend you for calling someone outside of their name. He had never left the farm since my dad was super traditional and believed and leaving the first son all the property. So he had been groomed to grow sweet corn and potatoes. Our dad had spoiled him and allowed him to get away with getting caught smoking and getting arrested for fighting when he fell into the wrong crowd. Maxwell, on the other hand, was crazy smart. He was the type of student who didn't have to study or do homework because he always scored in the high nineties. His issue was that he was lazy as hell. Our mom used to tear his ass up for not getting signatures, or not doing homework. He could have gotten a full ride to any college he wanted but instead the last time I was informed of his employment he was working as a gym coach at the same high school we went to.

"How do you even know I was here," I asked him.

"Miranda follows you on Instagram and saw that you took a photo in the hospital," he said mentioning the third oldest of the eight of us. My parents had me at forty-two and the oldest of us was twenty-seven when I was born. All of my sisters had left the house when they were eighteen either due to being pregnant or just getting married. I didn't really know much about any of the five of them since they didn't come around much.

"I'm not going anywhere with youse," I told them noticing that little Pennsylvania colloquialisms coming back.

"Why are you even here, you a doctor or something," Maxwell asked me.

"No my boyfriend's foster son got sick so we came here and I used to be a firefighter now I'm a lawyer," I said then wondered why I divulged anything to them.

"Oh you're still doing that gay shit," Shawn said.

"Oh you're still dad's little errand boy," I responded. The next thing I knew Shawn pushed me and I wanted to knock his head off but I knew he thrived on negativity.

"Whoa calm down Shawn," Maxwell said putting his hand on Shawn's chest.

"Wow a lawyer, man you really did something with yourself," Maxwell told me.

"I'd love to keep the conversation going but I have somewhere I need to be. You guys should head home," I said turning to walk away not wanting to be apart of the conversation anymore. I turned to walk but I saw Noel coming towards me with a curious expression written all over his face.

"Austin who are they," he asked as he came to my side. I guess he could tell I was annoyed because he grabbed my hand and squeezed tightly.

"Hey, I'm Maxwell this is Shawn. I'm sure Austin has told you about us," Maxwell greeted Noel.

"I can't say that he has," Noel responded not being shady but honest.

"There's no need they were just heading home," I said walking away pulling Noel with me.

"We'll be just outside of town waiting for you to change your mind. Dad said not to come back without you," Shawn said but I didn't turn around to respond I just walked back to Amar's room.

"Are you okay," Noel asked me his arms already wrapped around me in a hug. I hugged him back before kissing the top of his head.

"Yeah, it's just like my dad to do something like this. I don't really want to talk about that though what's foremost is making sure Amar is okay," I said looking at Noel who looked like he wanted to say something to me.

"What's on your mind," I asked lifting him in my arms before sitting down in the chair, positioning him so that he was sitting on my lap.

"Do you want to move in with me. I know you have your own place but... I like having you there and Amar likes having you there. I know six months isn't a long time but... You really helped me earlier. I completely froze but you picked him up and drove us here without thinking too hard. So if you want to... I know your lease is up in a month so think about it," he said. He was extremely nervous, I mean I was usually the one expanding the boundaries of the relationship so this was new to him.

"Noel, of course, I want to move in with you and Amar, " I said pulling his face to mine to kiss him.

"I mean I'm paying rent on a place I only use to shower and change in most of the week. Plus maybe we can finish what we got started last night," I said playfully slapping his ass causing him to redden. I smiled at him before pulling him back into a kiss...