SuperVillain

25

The next day's plans had been very specific: Go to work like usual, maybe pick up some tacos for lunch, and wait for Mason to tell me what was going to happen to him, so obviously I was very surprised when he called me while I was eating my taco.

"What's up?" I greeted him, swallowing the food in my mouth.

From what I could tell, it sounded like he had been crying. "Can you come over? Now?"

"Yeah, of course," I responded. "Just let me finish eating. You want me to bring you a taco?"

"No," he sniffed. "I'm not very hungry right now."

"Be right there," I packed up my food and scurried over to Mason's apartment as fast as possible.

When I got there, I found the door unlocked. Mason was curled up on his couch, clutching a tissue. He looked up at me with his big, sad blue eyes.

"Hey," I said softly, sitting next to him. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that the meeting didn't go so well?"

His face crumpled and his eyes welled up with tears again. "No," his voice cracked.

"Aw, come here," I whispered. As I slipped my arms around him, I thought how weird it was to be comforting someone, especially Mason. Usually it's him comforting me. I didn't think he would tell me what happened unless I asked, so I would have to coax it would of him. "Are you going to an orphanage?" I asked, brushing his hair out of his face.

When he looked up at me with tearstained face, wrapped up in my arms like that, he reminded me of a little kid, a little kid telling his mother how he fell and scraped his knee.

Not gonna lie, it was actually pretty cute.

Even if the situation was much more serious than just a scraped knee.

"When my mom was 18, she married a guy she'd only known for a couple months and got pregnant not long after. Almost immediately after the baby was born, she left them both. After that, she met my dad and was once again married, and she had me. She never even hinted that I had a brother. Then she died when I was 9."

I was speechless. I mean, what do you even say to that?

Finally, I managed to say, "U-um, you have a brother?"

He nodded. "His name is Joseph and he's 18. He lives in the city, so I'll be moving in with him."

"At least you can stay here. With me." I said, taking his hand.

"I've heard of stories where people have to go live with their long-lost relatives, but that's like uncles and aunts or grandparents, not half-brothers!"

"Well, just think of how fun this could be for you. I've always wanted a sibling, and if I found out I'd had one all this time I would be pretty excited."

"I know, and I am excited," Mason insisted, sighing. "Just- what am I supposed to say? 'Hi, I'm Mason, and we're brothers?'"

"Sure, why not? If you'd like, I can go with you to meet him."

"That's alright," He shook his head. "You know what, this is ridiculous. I have no right to whine to you about some stupid little thing after all you've been through. I'm just being insensitive."

"No you aren't!" I said, keeping my arms around him in case he tried to get up. "It's okay to be the vulnerable one sometimes."

He stared at me for a really long time before his lips curled into a smile. "I love you," he whispered, and next thing I know, we're kissing again. Funny how kissing works for me. I don't even realize I'm going to kiss him until I've already done it.

Or maybe he kissed me. I don't really know.

"Your problems are important too, okay?" I told him.

He nodded, still grinning at me like he just won the lottery.

"So, uh... when are we gonna tell Sunny?"

"This afternoon, I guess," Mason shrugged. "She's still at school. I didn't go today."

"Right. When do you move in with Joseph?"

"Next week. I guess I should start packing soon."

"Want me to help you?"

"Yeah, that would be nice."

Except neither of us got up. We just sat there in each other's embrace.

And, okay, maybe we kissed a couple more times.