When The Nights Get Long

Egg Yolk Soup

"If someone is forcing Luke to do something-"

"It was a wrong choice of words," they stated. "Honestly, it was nothing."

Andrew watched as Blue placed the book back on its pile on the coffee table and groaned. "You saw them, huh?"

Sitting on the couch, they crossed their legs and arms as they glared at him and taunted, "Care to explain?"

Lifting one of the books, he opened it to a page stating how the characters and events were related to no one and nothing in particular. Everything that related to real people was purely coincidental.

"A waver does not answer my question."

"Which was?"

"Why the hell are you writing about you and my brother messing each other up in the first damn place?"

"Simple," he stated, staring directly into their eyes. "Because I want to."

"Dick," they tsked. "Think you can do whatever the hell you want because you're rich?" They scoffed. "What a sad life you must have had to believe that. Let me guess, your parents were rarely ever home, so they were nothing more than just people who lived in the same house as you. Not to mention how you had an older brother you didn't get along with, so you were always lonely in your house. The whole time you were there, multiple things were expected of you because you happened to be a Parker, but you didn't want to take on the family business. Writing became your escape. It was the only way to cope with everything around you, and when you turned in one of your books to see where it could lead you, you wound up becoming a famous author who people wanted more from. Because of your writing, you got to leave the family mansion where you had a maid, a butler, and a long-haired dog named, let's see, Alexander or something. How accurate was that?"

"Spot on," he praised.

"Are you kidding me?" they snapped.

"These books, however, are purely nothing but fantasies that I had turned into a business. It's a side job to help write out any stresses I may have while working on my main projects. Understand?"

"Yes," they nodded. As Andrew turned to walk to table where their practice test was, Blue moaned, "Andy." The moment he turned back to stare at them with wide eyes, they began to cackle, falling off the couch in the process. "Oh, relax," they exclaimed joyfully. "I'm just teasing you. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me, but doesn't my brother read all of your books?"

"Yes."

"Does he know about these?"

"No, and he never will. These are written under a pseudo name. He will never know."

"Shouldn't you at least gain his permission?"

"He was the one who started it in the first place," Andrew stated, and Blue scoffed. "Really. Back in high school, we had a friend who would write fan fiction, and he chose to write a story about us. Luke teased him when he stopped and asked for there to be more, saying he would love to have the series keep going, so I made it happen. I know he would ask me to stop though if he knew the truth, so I didn't bother with it," he shrugged.

"Luke certainly is something," they mumbled, following Andrew to sit across him at the table. "At least he's cool with you being gay, right? So, it wouldn't bother him if you told him, right?"

"I'm not gay," Andrew stated.

"But you like my brother."

"I may be queer, but I'm not gay. I merely happen to be attracted to a person for who they are and not their genitalia. Why, is that a problem for you?" he tested, narrowing his eyes down on them.

"No. I'm the same way," they happily admitted. "It just means we're more capable to love than anyone else, right?"

A light pink blush coated Andrew's cheeks. Nodding slowly, he continued to grade Blue's practice test. When the two went over it, all he was able to do was curse them out. "It's not even the fact that you got the problems wrong but the fact that you don't seem to understand the problems either. You always used to get good grades."

"How did you know?"

"Luke would never shut up about it," he deadpanned. "What's going on with you? Why are you failing?"

"The teachers suck. They don't make anything clear...at least not for me. I don't know, maybe I'm just bad or something, but it's not easy for me to understand the curriculum," they explained, leaving out the persistent thoughts littering their mind whenever they attempted to focus. Staring at the woodwork in the table, they whispered, "Am I an idiot?"

"Yes," he stated.

"You didn't need to agree."

He exhaled. "For other reasons though. School wise, I know I can help you. What college are you aiming for anyway?"

"DePaul."

He peered up at them with a cocked brow and a smirk. "Really?"

"Look, I know my grades this past semester suck and it caused my GPA to plummet, but I need to become an academic scholar this year."

"An academic scholar?"

"It's one of the top twenty-one students in the school who have the best grades and GPA."

"Seriously?"

"Look, I get that it doesn't seem like I can do it now, but I need to at least try."

"Why?"

"Because after our parent's death, Luke's grades plummeted, and he didn't get to become an academic scholar like he intended to be. I want to do it for him," they explained. "Besides, I've already been accepted into DePaul, so there's nothing to worry about with that. This is purely for me for him. Can you help?"

"DePaul," he echoed, letting out a small scoff. "What's your major?"

"Business. I want to own a music workshop one day with my best friend. We want to teach young musicians how to get their start and how to get their foot through the door."

"Music. No wonder you're so loud."

He was purposefully trying to pinch a nerve within them. It was a good thing Blue didn't have to pay him with money to get the job done. Though Andrew knew what he was talking about and could teach them, Blue was sure they were not going to enjoy learning from him. But for Luke's sake, they would happily take whatever Andrew offered.

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