of all the stars

c44

content warning: borderline physical abuse

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"Do you think I should go blue this time?" Acacia turned around from her bathroom sink and pointed to Ki with the black hairbrush she was holding in her hand.

"...your color is purple though?" Ki looked up from the conditioner bottle she was reading from her seat on the edge of the tub.

"Yeah but I'm going to this concert with Giovanna tonight, and I have this killer navy jacket I could wear if I did my hair like a cobalt blue..." She looked back at herself in the mirror, crinkling up her nose as she stared at her fading purple hair from her jet black roots.

"You can't just change your hairstyle because your outfit demands it." Ki scoffed, stretching out her leg onto the dirty barely-still-white tile floor. "Who the fuck is Giovanna?"

"A girl from Central... but I mean I've done it before."

"Fuck you! This is your fault! We would've fucking won!" Loud yelling came from down the hall... presumably from one of the teenage boys living there.

"Jack! Shut the hell up!" Acacia yelled back down the hallway through the open doorway.

"What did I say about running your mouth A?" He called back.

"You're not my fucking dad, Jack!"

"Yeah, because he ran away when he saw how ugly you were!"

"At least I know who my dad is!" She rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest.

From the distance, Ki could hear a loud commotion before a door from down the hall came squeaking open, nearly falling off the hinges as it was thrown towards the wall.

Acacia scurried to sit on top of the counter with her hair brush defensively in her hand as she hurriedly muttered a "shit."

"What did I tell you about talking about my dad, Acacia?!" Jack came stomping down the hallway.

Ki tensed up as she saw him enter the doorway, swinging around his Xbox controller in his left hand and pushing Acacia back against the mirror with his right.

"You hurt me, mom will kill you." Acacia stuck her chin up with a smirk, Ki could tell it was a fake facade.

She was putting up a front so Jack couldn't see how scared she clearly was to be backed into a literal corner, one shove away from breaking a fragile, 40 year old, dollar store mirror.

"Mom won't do shit." He scoffed, pulling her up close to his face with the hand he had curled around her hand-me-down Adidas sweatshirt from Shori.

Ki sat idly with her eyes trained on Jack, analyzing his every move, making sure none of them would result in her having to snap his neck.

Not that she would.

She probably be too coward to even punch him in the shoulder.

What's the good in knowing years worth of self defense if you're too scared to use it?

"We both know she probably won't even come home tonight." He whispered angrily in front of her face, the disdain in his expression wearing deep in the curl of his eyebrows.

Acacia tried to take a deep breath in, looking out into the hallway to avoid looking at him.

"Jack. Go back to being useless." Another male's voice got closer to the bathroom.

Acacia visibly sighed with relief as Jack uncurled his fist from her sweatshirt, looking at her with a final grimace as the oldest brother stood in the doorway with an annoyed neutral face.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Adrian stared at his brother with the slight raise of his eyebrow indicating he needed a response.

"Adrian I..." Jack started to mouth off.

"You never... ever, put your hands on a woman like that. Especially your little sister."

"She fucking asked for it." Jack pointed his controller over to her as she curled back into the dip of the sink.

"You're asking for me to give you a black eye if you don't get the fuck back into your room right now." Adrian calmly stood outside of the bathroom door, his stature hanging a mere inch above that of his brother.

"What's up with you two thinking you're self entitled to make decisions for me, huh?"

"Because I'm the oldest, and she's the smartest. You might try thanking us for keeping your ass afloat every once in a while."

This got a smirk out of Acacia as she turned her head to Ki as to say 'did you hear that? I'm the smartest. Hah, as if!'

Ki returned with a cautious glare, keeping her eye on Jack still as he started to sluggishly push his way out of the bathroom, shoving a hand into Adrian as he passed.

"You both fucking suck." He called right before he slammed the door to his bedroom closed again.

Acacia started smiling, near laughter as Jack faded away back into his cave. Adrain still stood in the doorway unamused and unfazed by the loud door slam from feet away from him.

"Wonder where he learned to be such a dick." She rolled her eyes as she crossed one leg over the other on top of the counter.

"Same place you learned to be such a whiny bitch..." Adrian smiled, sarcastically. "Hell."

"Ouch, you cold hearted ass."

"Was that supposed to be an insult?" He raised his eyebrows, unamused.

"Of course not." Acacia sighed, staring at the wall. "It never is with you."

"Stop asking for trouble, Acacia. Pretty soon Jack's gonna come up with more inventive ways to kick your ass."

"I know." She solemnly shrugged off.

"I'm going back to bed now. If you're hungry, go bug Ki. I'm not your mom."

Ki looked up at the mention of her name, giving a quick little head nod and half smile.

"I'm not either." Ki shrugged, countering him.

"Close enough." He sighed, turning to head back to his room, directly across the hall. "Just make sure she's not on LSD when she gets back, 'kay?"

"Can't guarantee that."

"Cool."