***
"Phi !"
Mix' lips formed a happy smile while approaching the other and right when he had stopped next to him, an arm got placed around his shoulder.
" Did you grew more handsome in the past hours? What did you do? Secretly taking some beauty essence?" The other joked, smiling back at him while the two walked away from the school building, their classes having ended for the day.
" Someone gave me his lunch again... hm who could that be?"
The younger raised an eyebrow in question, looking over his brother's face and stopping at his eyes... avoiding eye contact. Of course, he knew even without asking, that there was only one person that could have done it but seeing the other play along and getting all guilty... surely was one of his favourite things to do. Beside just spending time together of course.
" Oh... I almost forgot about it... " The older suddenly stopped, his face forming an apologising smile while he put the palms of his hands together... " Can you go home alone first? One of our teachers wanted me to do something and... let's just meet at Vee's place okay?"
Mix mustered the other, this time seeing that it was not just played guilt... but that he was really lying. But instead of bringing it up or saying anything he just nodded, waving the older goodbye for now while heading to the exit of the schoolground.
It had been like this for the past three weeks, since the second day that he started going to high school... Almost every day after school, something would suddenly come up that Mix had to leave alone at first, either that or Vee would already be waiting for them. But instead of all three heading to one of their places together... one was always missing and would join one or two hours late. Not that it was a problem in general for Mix to leave alone, sometimes he was even enjoying the moments of tranquillity before his waterfall of a brother would come back and joke around... the problem was more in him coming home alone and in his brother keeping something from him. Vee seemed to know more about the whole situation too... but that one time he had tried to find out a bit more... no answers. Just that he should not worry about it and everything was alright...
But wasn't that something people always said when there was hell breaking loose? Like when that character in a movie tried to keep quiet about the apocalypse, not wanting to worry their child... or something like that. It was foolish, because the truth would eventually surface and, from Mix' point of view, would only cause more harm if it had been hidden for so long. But even though he thought this way, he did not want to press his brother about it. There had to be a good reason for him to be quiet about it, when they normally could talk about everything.
He let out a soft sigh, trying to direct his thoughts back so he could pay attention to where he was walking... a car accident or something was the last thing he needed. Mix was already nervous about going home alone... no, more precisely about standing in front of them alone without Dew being able to divert their attention from him. Without him though...
Cold sweat ran down his neck, the boy gulping and rubbing his pals nervously when finally arriving at his destination. It almost felt as if his heart were about to jump out... especially after seeing that their car was parked, and both of their parents would most likely be at home. Just meeting his mother was one thing, even if she was... not much of an affectionate person towards him, it was still endurable. But their father on the other hand...
Mix gulped again, slowly approaching the front door and opening it as silent as possible, slipping in and carefully getting out of his shoes. If he was just silent enough...
"Where is Dew?"
he almost dropped his back out of shock, suddenly hearing his mother's voice right behind him and after turning around... seeing her displeased face. Maybe he should have just went over to Vee's place directly... borrowing some clothes to sleep in was not the biggest issue, but wearing someone else's school uniform could in fact get him in trouble... but would it have been so much worse than coming home?
" I am talking to you, so you answer."
" Dew has a ..."
" You don't have manners? You should address people properly."
Mix bit his lip, trying to keep a sigh and his frustration inside to not make the situation escalate. He should have just gone directly over... a tell off by the principle could never be as bad as this...
" Phi Dew had a project to finish so he is still at the school... and Phi Dew said he would directly go over to Phi Vee's place after that..."
The mother just nodded, not spending any more of her precious time on her second sone and went back into the office on the ground floor, leaving Mix standing there. Still biting his lip he slowed moved upstairs, trying to keep quiet in order to not disturb the other people in the house any more... but once he finally reached his room, he left out a heavy sigh.
' I really should avoid coming home alone... at least when Dew or Vee are here, mom just ignores me instead of being like that...,' a voice in his head let out and he could just silently agree.
It had always been like this; well, it was a little less when he was still growing up but sometime around middle school... everything just became like that. Mix could understand it partially, only ever having wanted one child, his mother got pregnant again just three months after Dew was born... and due to their religious beliefs, an abortion was out of question. And, not sure if intended or not, they definitely made sure that Mix didn't forget the fact that he was neither planned nor really desired... whenever they could.
Having nice birthday parties for their elder son with presents and friends getting invited over... while the only immediate family member even congratulating or thinking of his birthday was Dew. The older being able to take activities, learning how to play piano and how to draw, while Mix... it was obvious how his life was in comparison to every amenity the other would get... but weirdly enough those things seemed to bring them together instead if tearing the brothers apart.
They were not close; it would have been an understatement just reducing their brotherhood to that. If a stranger saw them, they appeared like twins, though differing in their appearances, fitting together like the day and the night: as if one was made for the other. As if only together they would make a complete picture - almost as if you only had one side of the world if the other was away. Completing each other's sentences, knowing what their brother was thinking... if those were the earlier times, people might have even accused them of being witches by the way they just knew things without having to ask. But for them... it was normal.
In general, it had felt more as if his elder brother had raised him then his parents, at least starting a certain age when he was able to do so. Secretly sneaking into his brother's room and reading him a story before falling asleep together... teaching him all the things he would learn in both his free-time activities and at school whenever their parents would not watch...
Well, their relationship just wasn't the average one you would get of two brother's that were only a year apart in age. Vee sometimes would even go as far as saying, that they were actually twins, but that Mix just came through a wormhole a year too late, their birthdays being exactly 362 days apart... or calling them soulmates.
" What are you doing there?"
Mix almost jumped up in surprise, unconsciously having taken all the things he needed for the sleepover before heading to Dew's room and grabbing the sport bag that the other had prepared for the same purpose.
" Are you now even stealing Dew's things? How greedy are you?"
Though he wanted to speak up, telling his father how wrong he was and explaining himself... he already knew that this was a lost war. His father was one of those people that made up their mind about things, only taking in their point of view without ever considering the opinion of a person they had deemed invaluable... aka Mix. He could have said whatever he wanted, telling him the trough or just lying about something, it would not have mattered.
So, Mix just stayed quiet, placing the bags down before kneeling on the floor and removing the shirt of his school uniform. And just after a couple of sounds in the background, he felt the leather hitting his back, his teeth sinking into his lip harshly and the taste of blood meeting his tongue. But all he could do is press his eyes shut... trying to pain nice pictures in his mind.
How Dew would always applaud and smile brightly at him when he learned a new piece on the piano, how nice it was to spend all this time with him and Vee at the other's house - playing games, talking and just laughing. How warm and welcoming Vee's parents were, always allowing them to sleep over and even celebrating his birthday with them... these moments were worth enduring all the pain, all the darkness that carved its way through Mix life and often made him want to give up... but at least he had all of those to hold onto, giving him the strength, he needed in these kinds of moments.
After some time, the hits stopped, his father just leaving the room while he quickly put back on his shirt... But he could not help his face grimacing when the fabrics came into contact with the fresh wounds on his back... no matter how often those things had repeated themselves, it was something one just could not get used to - even after a million of times. It still hurt the same to when it first happened, it still hit Mix out of nowhere, and the pain of one of the people that brought you in the world doing something like this, hurting you in this way... it felt like being on a different scale of pain.
He hurried, putting their two backpacks on his back and taking a pair of his shoes, before carefully climbing out of his brother's window onto the garage. And once he wore his shoes, he simply jumped the 3 meters down, landing a little harshly on his hands and knees - but at least Mix had avoided another possible confrontation with both their mom and dad.
Of course, Mix was attempting to hide what had happened earlier when arriving at Vee's place, but it did not even take the older a single minute after opening the front door, to recognise what had happened again. His brows furrowed in worry and anger, taking the backpacks off Mix and letting them in... but once he had put his shoes away, the older stopped him right by the arm.
" Mix... "
" You better don't say anything when Dew comes..., " the younger warned him, crossing his arms but as soon as he did, his face twisted in pain again. This time because of his hands and not of his back though.
„ I know he wouldn't be able to do something against it either but still... You've been trying to keep this a secret since it started two years ago... and I know you don't want to worry Ai'Dew..."
" And I know that you have an idea of what is going on with him, that you know what he is hiding from me. If it would just be schoolwork or him dating someone, he would tell me... so what is going on that you two keep it as a secret...?"
His brows furrowed, almost in a pleading way, while he was staring at the older. There was no way that Dew would tell him himself, so... his only way of finding out what was going on, why his brother had seemed even more restless and troubled whenever he thought he was alone... almost as if a mask fell from his face that he was wearing whenever people were around. And if Mix was honest, it really scared him. That seemingly there was something that Dew could not even tell him...
" I am sorry, but I promised him I wouldn't say anything until he is ready... until he feels ready to tell you himself... "