On Kindness

Chapter 13

Brick jolted up at the sound of a crash. He fumbled for his alarm clock, which read 5:09 AM. Grumpy from the rude awakening, Brick floated out of bed, ready to take out whichever idiot decided to disturb his sleep this early in the morning. He noticed a gaping hole in the wall, and with his enhanced senses guiding him through the dark, he noticed someone lying on his living room floor.

"Die, you bastard!" Brick screamed, shooting toward the intruder. But the person moved aside, and Brick barely maneuvered out of crashing into the ground.

"Hey, it's me!" the person yelled.

"Wait, Butch?"

"The one and only."

"Oh, well, in that case... die you bastard!" The words had barely left Brick's mouth before he fired his eyebeams at his brother, who again swiftly moved aside then returned the welcome. Brick ducked under Butch's eyebeams, zoomed toward Butch, and gave him a punch that sent him flying through the roof. "Wow, repairs aren't gonna be cheap," Brick grumbled. "Oh well, I'll make Butch pay for–ARGH!" Butch had shot back through the hole dealing a kick that propelled Brick against the wall.

"What the hell?" a third voice screamed. Brick turned his attention to a shadow standing in front of the hole in the living room wall.

"Boomer?" Butch asked. With Butch slightly distracted, Brick took the chance to axe kick him down onto the ground.

"That's for waking me up," Brick growled. "Anyway, I should be asking 'what the hell.' But since Boomer already used that line, I guess that leaves me with what the fuck are you two doing here? At five in the morning?"

"That's a funny story," Boomer chuckled nervously. "You see, Him said I could stay with you for spring break."

"So why are you here at five in the morning?" Brick demanded.

"I thought I'd help myself to some of your food before you woke up," Boomer grinned sheepishly.

"Oh, oh, I see then," Brick nodded. Without a moment's hesitation, he threw his couch in Boomer's face. "Now then, Butch, what's your excuse?"

"Well, it's spring break, and I haven't gotten the chance to visit. So my school just let us out this morning, 'cause they wanted us to clean up the entire place before we left, so now here I am," Butch beamed, gesturing at his luggage, which had been messily tossed on the ground.

"That doesn't explain why you crashed through the wall."

"I thought it'd be more fun that way."

"Boomer, hand me the couch."

–––

After many more rounds of fighting, resulting in more than a few bruises and black eyes (which were already healing thanks to Chemical X) and much broken furniture, the boys were sitting at the dining table eating just-delivered pizza.

"Him's gonna throw a fit when he find out how much repairs are gonna cost," Boomer remarked.

"That's why Butch is gonna be the one to tell him," Brick said.

"Fair enough," Butch shrugged.

"So, my brothers, do we have any plans for spring break?" Boomer asked.

"I haven't been here in so long. Can't we go terrorize some citizens?" Butch begged.

"Yeah, go for it. And after you get in trouble and Him finds out, I'm not cleaning up your remains," said Brick.

"Fine, fine," Butch grumbled.

"Haven't you been invited to any parties at all, Brick?" Boomer asked.