Contrasting Similarities

61. This storm will pass too.

"Meet me outside please, Lucian," Nico said, stopping for a moment while keeping his gaze fixed on Lucian. Lucian blinked and looked towards Nico when he heard his name.

"Pardon?" He asked.

"Let's step outside for a bit," Nico repeated. He smiled a little when Lucian looked towards Amira with worry hidden beneath his supposedly emotionless facade.

"And leave Bunny alone, Nicholas?" Lucian asked, looking at Nico like he was crazy. He did seem crazy to Lucian for suggesting such thing.

"She'll be fine," Nico said. He turned his head a bit to look at Amira, who was nodding her head vigorously, with one hand in the bag and the other holding a packed stuffie. Lucian followed his gaze and immediately complied.

"Alright," Lucian said. He pushed himself up off the chair and walked past Nico to the door. Nico took one step but stopped himself.

"Bunny?" He called out, turning around on his spot to look at the girl. Amira looked up, smilling. The panda stuffie in her hand was so adorable she wanted nothing but to cuddle it and sleep.

"Don't fight with any of the stuffies," he said, earning a cheeky smile from the girl, which in turn caused a genuine sweet smile to appear on his face.

He walked out, only to find Lucian leaned against the opposite wall, lost in his own thoughts again. Nico shook his head and closed the door behind him. Lucian didn't even blink as Nico walked forward.

He stopped just when his shoes touched Lucian's. Lucian looked at him and furrowed his eyebrows when he found his younger brother smiling softly.

"Wha-" He was cut off when Nico wrapped his arms around him in a brotherly hug. Since Lucian was leaning and seemed shorter than he really was, Nico was successful in being the one actually wrapping the other in the hug.

"Ease off a bit on yourself, Brother," Nico's soft voice said.

Lucian remained how he was standing before. Stiff and surprised. Slowly, he lifted himself, so he wasn't leaning against the wall anymore. Nico struggled to be the giver in the hug, but he stood his ground and patted Lucian's back.

Only when he patted his back did Lucian come back to reality. He continued staring at the wall opposite him but slowly lifted his hands to rest them on Nico's back, so his arms were wrapped around him.

It felt good.

Lucian needed every bit of support he could get and this was more than just a bit.

"She's okay. We're getting her where we want her," Nico spoke in a hushed voice, partly so the comfortable silence won't get interrupted, partly because he didn't want Bunny to hear him.

"We're getting the exact reasons of her mental condition, we're getting all the information we need to know about the trauma. This is going to get better."

"You've said it a thousand times before," Lucian muttered.

"What?" Nico asked. He tightened his hold a little.

"That it's going to get better," Lucian answered. "I don't see it. Something happens and it gets better then something happens and it gets worse than it has ever been."

Without Lucian's knowledge, his hands had clenched into fists on Nico's back, bunching his shirt in it. His gaze remained at the wall though. Unblinking and unwavering.

"Maybe that's what it is," Nico muttered. "Once it hits the peak, it's bound to incline downwards and come to the lowest level."

Lucian sighed and with the sigh leaving his nostrils, he felt his energy drain with it. A sudden rush of the overwhelming feeling returned and Lucian found his vision go blurry. He tried to blink the moisture away but it stayed. That's why he tried to calm himself down by taking a deep breath.