All Of Your Flaws

Part Eighteen

Addison sipped from a large mug of coffee that Eleanor had just poured for her. She watched as Dylan teased Leo over something before Leo grumbled loudly. Addison tried to stop but after last night it was becoming increasingly difficult to not watch Dylan.

Don't leave. Dylan had asked her not to leave the night before. The sound of his voice, gruff but tender with sleep was as loud as a gunshot in Addison's head. She needed to leave, she had to leave because someone would end up getting hurt. That's how it always ended before and that's how it would end now, there was no other way it could possibly end.

"Dylan! That's my Pop Tart you bitch!" Leo snapped punching his brother on the arm and pulling Addison out of her thoughts.

"Dylan, please leave your poor brother alone." Eleanor said with a sigh. "If you want to be useful you can take this rubbish outside."

"It's Leo's turn." Dylan said ruffling his brother's hair.

"Dylan get off!" Leo cried.

"Stop pouting Leo and take the rubbish out." Dylan said with a huge smirk spread across his face. Leo grumbled loudly again as he stomped outside with a full bag of rubbish.

"Nice of you to join the land if the living." Dylan smirked as Niamh slumped into a kitchen chair and practically clawed at the coffee pot. "What no witty comeback?"

"It's too early to point out you're more of a buzzkill than a dementor." Niamh grumbled filling up her mug with coffee.

"Ouch, that hurt." Dylan said sarcastically.

"Good, it was meant to." Niamh shot back as she yawned loudly.

"Well, that's what you get for staying up most of the night watching lame TV shows."

"That's rich coming from the person who cried when they cancelled Firefly." Niamh said smirking while Dylan glared at her.

"We don't mention that injustice." Dylan muttered darkly taking the last Pop Tart off Leo's plate. Dylan offered a grin at Addison who returned it weakly.

Everything about being at the Willis's was different than when she was at home. Breakfast on a weekend wasn't a silent affair filled with awkward silence and dark looks over black coffee. Niamh, Leo and Dylan's sibling fights wouldn't end up with needing riot police if they were left to escalate and, unlike at the Harper household, they were always overjoyed to see Addison no matter what. It had taken some time to get used to and the fact that she was getting used to it made Addison uneasy. When things were good that usually meant that someone would get up and leave. Her childhood had been a good one then her mother left, her teen years had been less than perfect but she had pushed through and done well until she had started to feel her passion for everything slowly leave her. She couldn't let herself become reliant on the feelings the Willis's gave her because that too would soon be gone. That was the only thing Addison had ever known.

Don't leave.

You stayed.

Dylan was becoming reliant on Addison and that wasn't fair on either of them. Addison had a tendency to run when things became too difficult. She shut down and just ran because that was easier than dealing with the clusterfuck around her. Dylan was a good person, a better person than her, Addison thought. He deserved so much more than Addison could give him. He deserved someone that would be there, someone that wouldn't run.

Dylan deserved someone who wasn't completely broken.

"I best get going; I have coursework that I've been neglecting recently." Addison said quickly rising from the kitchen table. This was the truth, she had nearly a month's worth of Film Studies work she needed to do but if she was being perfectly honest she knew the only thing she'd work on would be her art portfolio. Eleanor and Niamh looked up in surprised but Dylan's face clouded with doubt. "Thank you so much for having me again Eleanor."