LAYERS

Little Brother

Mint and her younger brother sat across from each other in their living room.

"Mint," the boy said. "Who is the boy in your room?" he asked, voice monotone.

"Well, he's..." her sentence quickly trailed off with the realization she didn't even know the man's name. Eventually she landed on, "a friend?"

The panicked look in Mint's eyes told her brother all he needed to know.

"You don't even know his name?" he said, startled. Concern for his sister's wellbeing fell out of his mouth in rushed sentences. "Mint, are you serious? This ain't another Gene situation, is it? Oh my god, you can't just save them all! You know how much Gene hurt you!"

Mint pressed her hands together pleadingly. "Plum, calm down. There's nothing going on between him and I. He just—" she floundered to find the right words. "He didn't have anywhere to go, and he didn't seem dangerous to me."

It wasn't hard for Plum to figure out Mint felt bad. The fact her blue-eyed gaze was fixed on her feet was proof enough. He let out a sigh, crossing his arms. "Well, you definitely have a type, that's for sure."

The man in question peeked around the corner, watching the bickering siblings. He took the second of silence as his chance to make his entrance. "Um. Sorry if I'm interrupting anything," the man said, holding his own hands. "I'm Ashley."

Ashley looked to Plum, who looked away with an irritated hum.

God, he's kind of cute, Plum thought.

"Um, this is Plum," Mint said quietly, gesturing towards her brother. "And I'm Mint, of course."

"He doesn't need to know my name!" Plum interjected. He returned his gaze to Ashley, and jumped up abruptly.

"Is that," Plum began as he marched over to Ashley, "my shirt?"

At the visual confirmation from his shirt, his face heated. "Why are you wearing my shirt? Mint," Plum said, turning to his sister angrily, "WHY IS HE WEARING MY SHIRT?"

Not allowing Mint a chance to respond, Plum faced Ashley once again and clutched the collar of the shirt. He made aggressive eye contact, and demanded, "Take it off!"

The words registered in Plum's head, alongside a mental image of Ashley's shirtless body, and he immediately shoved Ashley away.

"I'M GOING TO BED!" Plum yelled as he stomped down the hall.

"Sorry about him," Mint said, snickering to herself. She scanned Ashley's body, and smiled. "You look good. Stripes fit you."

Ashley couldn't tell if that was an intentional change of subject or not, but he decided to go along with it with a grateful smile.

"Come on, let me do your hair," Mint offered warmly. She walked towards her room, and Ashley trailed closely behind.