This bonus chapter is dedicated to Peter, with thanks for all your support on Patreon.
Tegan woke and stretched, wondering what new horrors today might have in store for her. Maybe there wouldn't be anything bad; maybe it would just be a nice day to enjoy herself. She let herself entertain the fantasy for a couple of seconds before the memories of last night came crashing back. She had wet herself; and not while she was asleep, either. She couldn't remember the last time something like that had happened, and she knew that she needed to figure out what Ness had done to cause it.
Her brothers had always picked on her. Whether it was physical bruises or spreading rumours about her, they had always found some way to make her life miserable. But they had never managed to come up with anything like this. She was sure they would have done it if they could, but she didn't even know how it could be possible. Making someone wet their pants must involve some kind of advanced science; it wasn't something you could just go out and buy from World of Japes. But then, Ness was more the intellectual bully; the huge variety of books in his room told her that. And although athletic, he wasn't exactly muscular. So she knew that if she could find a way to beat him in the intellectual game, she wouldn't need to fear physical retribution.
For now, the first thing she needed to do was empty the washing machine. She jumped out of bed, checked for a lack of pee on her pyjamas, and then hurried downstairs. She could hear the machine spinning as she came closer; it would give a brief spin every ten minutes until it was emptied, which was supposed to keep clothes from creasing if they were left in once they were washed.
She lifted her clothes from yesterday out, and folded them on the counter. That was no problem, because the dads already knew that she'd been washing them. She had an excuse, even if it was kind of lame. But the reason she'd been in such a hurry down was the towels. She didn't want to explain why so many bath towels had needed washing at the same time, and she couldn't think of any excuse that worked for that one. Her only hope would be returning the towels; the one she'd used to the cupboard, and the one from behind the door to right where it had been before. If she was lucky, nobody might notice that they had been used at all. It relied a lot on luck, but it was the only thing she could think of.
She would need to be more careful next time, to minimise the risk of her dad finding out about this problem. If there even was a next time... She realised that she'd started thinking "when" rather than "if", but in reality she was sure that she would be able to work out what Ness had done. She would find his weakness, and then he would be too scared of her to try something like this again.
Somehow, she managed to get her clothes put away in her own room and the towels back to where they should have been before anyone else was awake. Then she could get some breakfast, and pretend that nothing else had happened.
"Morning, sunshine."
Her free hand turned into a fist reflexively when she heard Ness's voice behind her. She was trying to enjoy her breakfast in peace, but of course he was the first one to show up. She wondered what he would have to say after his prank last night; she didn't think that a guy would ever have the subtlety to remain quiet. He needed to boast, or he wouldn't feel like he had won. She'd been through this so many times with her brothers that it was second nature to predict their thoughts and responses now.
"Come to gloat, have you?"
"I guess that means you still tried to pull some kind of stunt last night?" he asked. "I'm kind of glad that you didn't feel the need to disturb me. But I really hoped, after our conversation yesterday, that we would be capable of leading separate lives. This kind of... I don't even know what this interaction is supposed to be, but I want to make it clear that I don't appreciate it. This would be so much easier for both of us if you would just stop it."
"Me?" Tegan snorted. "You're the one who... well, whatever trick it was. Trust me, I'll figure it out sooner or later, and you're going to regret it."
It should have been a warning. Maybe she should have been more subtle. But she finally got a response. Not the one she was expecting, though. He actually laughed a little, which didn't do much to fill her with confidence. There had to be something she was missing, that her promise of revenge was funny. Or maybe he was just trying to show that he didn't take her attempts seriously. But that was the last thing she wanted. She needed to knock his confidence down, and she needed to do it right away or she might never get the upper hand.
"Look," he said, after a sigh. "This whole thing is making me regret trying to talk to you. I don't need anyone else's approval, and that's not going to change just because you moved in here. Now, are you able to talk about something else? Maybe a topic that doesn't make you so angry? Because if we can't have a civil conversion, I think I'd rather go back to my room and not deal with you at all."
"Aww, little baby scared?" Tegan answered, pouncing on the slightest hint of insecurity. "Go to your room and play on your keyboard. You probably need practice, anyway. You could criticise my music, but I heard you've not touched it since you were a little kid. No pride left, huh? But I guess if even your mom didn't want to listen, you must have been really bad."
She felt bad about saying something like that. But she knew that Ness got a little defensive about his musical talent, and she knew with much more certainty that his mother was his biggest weak spot. Tegan didn't know any of the details, but she knew that if anything was going to make his mask crack, this was where she needed to apply pressure. Until he made a mistake and she could destroy him, or until she learned enough about what had happened that she could hold his infantile response over him.
"I don't care if I can play," he said, trying to feign nonchalance. But it was clear from his body language that he was feeling anxious. His anger was struggling to get out, but he raised one hand to the back of his neck and tapped himself with three fingers in some kind of high-speed rhythm. Was that something he did to calm down? Yet another question in search of answers or relevance. "It doesn't matter anymore, there's nobody to play for. I don't care what you think. I can tell you're good, but it's not a qualification, and it's not something I ever plan to do again. Maybe I'll try to help you with whatever I can, if you could stop trying to put me down. But like this, music is something that doesn't matter to me at all."
"Sounds like you're insecure, she answered, and returned to her breakfast for a second before continuing: "You've given up because you were never good enough. You've got to be pretty bad, if even your mom wouldn't give you a chance."
"She wanted to listen!" he snapped. "She said she was looking forward to it, every time she heard me practising little bits through the walls. She said I was probably good, but I wanted to wait until I couldn't improve anymore before asking her to listen. I wanted the first time I actually played for her to be the best I'm capable of, understand? She wanted to listen to me, it was me who said wait until it's perfect. And I know she would have been so proud of me. So don't start talking about that when you don't know anything. I don't need your approval, you're not even my real sister."
"Sure," Tegan taunted back, sure that if she could just say the right things, it would be exactly the moment she needed. "Sure, you didn't want her to listen. Sure, she said she had confidence in you, and she was happy to wait. But you were going to play for her, weren't you? You got to the point where you thought it was perfect, but it still wasn't good enough for her." And then some light dawned in Tegan's mind. That had to be why this was so emotional for him, a justification for his sudden unwillingness to walk away. She was so close to breaking him now, she was sure. And she only had one guess for what could have cut him so deeply: "She didn't even listen, that's what you said, right? Mommy was so desperate to hear you play, but when you said you were ready, she changed her mind. Or maybe she couldn't bring herself to say what she really thought of you. Is that when she left, Ness? Was it you who drove her away?"
"She didn't leave us!" he yelled, at the top of his voice. Tegan felt terrible, but she knew she had to count that as a win. If Ness was so emotional, that meant he felt weak now. And she could bring back those feelings whenever she wanted, to prove to him that he wasn't in control of the situation and didn't have control over her. She knew just what to say to ensure that he wouldn't think before acting. She told herself that was exactly the leverage she needed to thwart a bully; if her own guilt didn't sink her first. "She never left! She was going to listen to me, she promised! I did everything I could to make sure I was ready when she got home from work!"
"Oh, really?" Tegan asked, doing her best to put up a facade of disdain. She could see how much this was hurting him, and she could only go through with it by reminding herself what he would have been doing to her if she didn't have these techniques to stop him. "So she came home and listened, did she? What was her excuse?"
"She never came back!" Ness screamed, and then something broke inside him. There were no words left, just an angry and defeated young man storming out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind him. He didn't go back to his room though, but stormed out of the house and slammed the front door behind him as well. Tegan took a quivering breath; she'd been scared he would actually get violent for just a second there, but congratulated herself for judging him so well. She told herself that she had won; that she was probably safe from manipulation and further pranks now. But she knew that she had only given him a legitimate reason to want to hurt her, once he recovered his wits. Still, it should have been a triumph. But somehow, she didn't feel positive about it at all.
It didn't help when she shifted position and realised that some time in the middle of the emotional turmoil, she had failed to properly pay attention to her bladder. She had wet herself again; just a tiny leak, but enough that she knew she would need to change her underwear as soon as possible, and check the state of the chair she was sitting on to avoid embarrassment.
How had he done that to her? It had to be something Ness had done, didn't it? She tried, but she couldn't believe that this was all just a coincidence, not after the pranks she had pulled already. Still, it wasn't such a big deal today. She would clean the seat when she was cleaning the kitchen counters after breakfast, and she could sort out her clothes before anyone else saw. It wasn't such a big deal.
There was a soft tap on the kitchen door, and then it opened a crack and Logan appeared. He seemed concerned, and just as emotional as his son. Tegan froze; it was clear that he'd heard at least some of their conversation, and she didn't know if this was going to turn into a big problem now. Was asking Ness about his mother off limits? Some unwritten rule that she was just expected to understand?
"I heard you... talking?" Logan said, as if that wasn't already clear. The unspoken question hung in the air, but Tegan didn't know how to answer it. She needed a couple of seconds to think first. "I think... your dad told you that Ness has some problems, right? How much do you know?"
"I thought I could ask him," she improvised. "I thought that if he'd just tell me what happened to upset him so much, I could give him some advice. I didn't... I mean, I never expected it to run so deep. I shouldn't have asked, but I just wanted to know if I could help." That would be good, wouldn't it? If she could convince Ness's dad that she had tried to be sensitive and he'd flown off the handle out of nowhere, that would surely help to convince their parents that she was the innocent party here. Especially given that they both knew about Ness's previous issues; even Niles hadn't been out-of-control enough to get sent to a psychiatrist.
"I see," Logan said. He came into the kitchen and sat down next to Tegan, and she immediately knew that she wasn't likely to get a chance to change her underwear in the near future. "We thought that it would be better for your relationship with Ness if you could talk to each other, and find out each other's stories. But it seems I overestimated how forthcoming he would be. I think, in the circumstances, it would be appropriate for me to tell you why he's so upset about his mother. If that's something you feel you need to know before you can befriend him."
"Yeah, I..." Tegan felt like she'd just won the jackpot, getting all the answers she needed. But there was a part of her still waiting for the other shoe to drop. But she wanted to know the truth, sure that it would give her all the ammunition she needed. Maybe even a way to keep Ness from abusing her without having to completely destroy him, which would probably be the best outcome. "Yeah, please. I want to know how I can help him."
"Well, I'll tell you the truth. That's the least you deserve. But it's a bit of a long story. I think I'd better get you a coffee first." He walked over to the machine then, while Tegan wondered just what she was about to learn.
Author's Note: I would very much like to know how people are feeling about the story at this point; whether you picked up on any of the foreshadowing in this chapter (a lot of very heavy clues, I think); and what you think the most likely options are for what Logan is going to share