Brothers {Sanders Sides}

14

Dee was in the living room, putting a puzzle together, when the doorbell rang. Thomas and Logan were at the store, and everyone else was upstairs. So Dee paused his puzzle and went to answer the door.

"Hello?" Dee asked.

Standing by the door was a young man.

He smiled, "Dee? Is that you?"

The boy nodded.

"Do you remember me?" the young man crouched down to Dee's level.

Dee looked closer at the man, then gasped.

"You the fireman that saved me!" Der squealed.

The man laughed, "I am. Is your older brother here?"

"Which one?" Dee asked.

"Logan." The man clarified, "I need to talk to him."

"Hes at the store right now with Dad." Dee told him.

"Dad?" The man questioned.

Dee nodded excitedly, "we gots adopted! All of us!"

"That's great!" the man chuckled, "so can I talk to who's in charge right now?"

"Yep!" Dee smiled, "I'll get Ro!"

Dee ran off upstairs, "Ro! Ro! The fireman here!"

"What?" Roman asked, running out of his room.

"Yeah!" Dee giggled, "he says he needs to talk to Lo but Lo's not here so I gots you!"

"Okay, okay. Is anything on fire?" Roman asked.

"Uh-uh." Dee shook his head.

Roman let out a sigh of relief, "okay. I'll talk to the fireman."

"Okays!" Dee giggled, skipping down the stairs.

Roman sighed, following his little brother out. He went to the door and opened it.

"Hello?" Roman asked the man.

"Hi, I'm Augustus." The man said, "I was the firefighter who pulled Dee from the house a year ago."

Roman's heart stung at the mention of the event that killed his parents. He forced a smile.

"Its nice to meet you." Roman said, "thank you for saving Dee."

"Well it's my job." Augustus paused, "was my job."

"What do you mean?" Roman asked.

"I lost my job six months ago." The ex-firefighter explained, "I couldn't stay quiet any longer."

"Stay quiet about what?" Roman was confused.

Augustus hesitated, "I think it would be better if Logan told you."

"What would be better if I told them?" Logan walked up, "Augustus? What are you doing here?"

"Do you two know each other?" Thomas asked.

"He saved me when the house burned down!" Dee yelled, bouncing on his toes.

"Oh." Thomas nodded, "I'm Thomas, their legal guardian."

"You our Dad!" Dee giggled.

Thomas felt his heart warm at the boys words, "yeah."

"So, why are you here Augustus?" Logan asked.

Augustus sighed, "it's about that night. Theres some things that I couldn't keep a secret anymore. Some things that I need to atone for..."

"Why don't you come in?" Thomas said, "I'll get the other boys down too."

Augustus nodded. Once all the boys were downstairs, he started his story.

"The fire wasn't an accident." Augustus said, Dee sitting on his lap.

"What?" Roman whispered.

Logan sighed, "its true then. I had my suspicions..."

"Logan, what do you mean?" Patton asked.

"No one in that town liked our parents." Logan told his brothers, "and then after they passed, I was getting death threats. They wanted all of us gone."

"And that's not all." Augustus said, "the whole thing was planned all the way up to the mayor. Those of us who tried to appose were threatened to silence or arrested."

"That's horrible..." Roman whispered.

"Theres one more thing." Augustus took a breath, pulling Dee closer, "there was supposed to be three casualties."

Logan mouth went dry, "wha-what do you mean?"

Augustus looked at all the boys, "Dee wasn't supposed to make it out."

"Than why did you save him?" Remus asked, glaring at the guy.

Augustus gave him a small smile, "your parents helped me when my parents kicked my out for being bi. They helped me get an apartment and get back in the closet for my own safety. I couldn't save them, they were dead before the house collapsed. But I found Dee and he was still alive. I wasn't supposed to save him, but I had to repay your parents somehow."

"So why are you telling us now?" Logan asked.

"Cause they tried to kill me." Augustus gave a dull chuckle, "and I found evidence of their plans for multiple murder attempts. I'm taking this to court soon. I thought you would want to know before you see it on the news."

Logan nodded.

Augustus sighed and set Dee next to him, "well I have to get going now. Congratulations on getting adopted."

"Thank you." Logan gave him a small smile.

Augustus nodded as Thomas lead him out. The boys were quiet. They had a lot to think about now.