《LEVI'S CHAPTER》
"Yes, that's me!" Levi wasn't able to hold back his excitement, smiling brightly.
"Woah... what exactly is going on?" Jay hesitantly asked.
"Jay, this is David. He is my brother, I told you about him before."
Jay raised both of his eyebrows. "David? Woah, that's such a coincidence."
Dave still looked like he was in shock.
"My shift ends in a few minutes, so I should get going now. I'll be back soon."
Levi felt a bit disappointed seeing his brother leave so quickly. They hadn't seen each other in 4 years, and they had barely spoken since, so he wished his brother would've reacted a bit more excited than he just did when they were finally reunited.
He sat back down, slowly starting to eat his ice cream.
"David... you told me he got kicked out, right?"
Levi nodded, glad Jay remembered so he didn't have to explain that to him, since it was a painful memory to recall.
"I haven't seen him since. That's why he didn't recognize me just now, I mean I was 11 when he left so I changed quite a bit."
Jay nodded slowly. "Yea, I can imagine. Did you miss him a lot?"
"I did, but luckily I still had my other siblings, when he was all by himself. He must have felt so alone during these past few years."
"Didn't you tell me you still kept contact with him though?"
"Well, me and my siblings are allowed to update him online about our lives through our parent's email every now and then, but my parents checked what we sent him, so I couldn't really tell him much. We weren't even allowed to send pictures of ourselves or anything. He also never sends anything back, since it's not permitted by our parents for him to respond to us."
Jay stared at him for a moment, clearly a bit disturbed by what he had just been told. "Wow, our parents sound quite controlling."
Levi shrugged his shoulders. "Usually they're fine, this is the only thing besides religion that they're really strict about."
"Hmm, about religion. Are you planning to keep going to church later on?" Jay suddenly asked.
"I don't think there's any room for someone who is gay and in a relationship in our church, so no. But I don't think I would've gone there regardless, since I'm quite unconvinced god exists in the first place."
His answer made Jay grin a bit. "Good thing we are on the same page then. I can't imagine how my dad and stepmom will react once I leave the church though."
Levi bit his lip. "I'm afraid I can." He mumbled.
"Hey, Benny."
"Oh, Dave! Please sit down here." Levi moved aside so his brother could sit down next to him, which he did.
"So... what brings you guys here?" Dave started off.
"We just heard there's a fair in town, and Levi really wanted to go."
Dave smiled at Jay. "By the way, how do you guys know each other?"
"Oh, I totally forgot to introduce him to you!" Levi said. "This is Jay, my neighbor, friend, and the guy who sits next to me in church." He had hesitated for a moment if he should tell his brother that he also was his boyfriend, but Dave didn't seem to notice.
"Ahh, I see. Nice to meet you, Jay. I'm David, Levi's brother as your probably know by now. But you can call me Dave."
"Dave, how have you been doing ever since you... left home?"
"I'm doing fine I guess." Dave sighed. "It was hard at first, I couldn't even go to college, since I was using the money I had saved up on living expenses. But I managed to get 3 jobs, and after working for these past few years I had saved up enough to start studying medicine."
"Oh, really?" Jay said excitedly. "I'm planning on studying medicine as well, but I still have to get through 2 years of high school."
Dave smiled brightly. "Woah, perhaps I'll be your senior one day."
He then turned to Levi again. "Benny, how is everyone doing at home? It's been so long since I saw all of you, I'm lucky I had some pictures saved on my phone, or else I would've started forgetting what you guys looked like by now."
"Everyone is great! You don't talk to the twins anymore, do you?"
Dave nodded his head. Their parents had allowed them all to make their own decision about if they wanted to talk to Dave, and Levi, Naomi and Leah were the only ones that wanted to.
The twins for some reason seemed to want to distance themselves from him, and the other children were too young back when it happened, if Leah hadn't had such a great memory she probably wouldn't have remembered much about Dave either.
"Well, they are both in college right now. Micha is studying to become a lawyer, and Jonathan is still working towards becoming a private investigator. Oh, and both of them have girlfriends now!"
"Hmm, well you talk to Naomi and Leah, so I guess you must know how they're doing. Seth has mostly stayed the same, still his silent self. He is doing really well in school though. Oh, and Adam and James..."
While Levi rambled on about their siblings, Dave listened to him with a smile on his face, but Levi could easily tell he felt saddened by having to be updated on how his own siblings were doing like this.
"It sounds like they all haven't changed that much." Dave seemed relieved to find that out.
Levi grinned. "Well they have grown a lot though. Do you want to see a picture?"
Dave's eyes widened. "Really? That would be great!"
Levi quickly grabbed his phone and looked for a family picture they recently took.
He handed his phone to Dave, who stared at everyone intently.
"Gosh." He finally broke the silence. "They really did change."
He pointed at Anna. "That must be Micha's boyfriend, right?"
Levi nodded. "Yes, her name is Anna. She's really nice."
"Micha and Anna, hm? They look good together."
Out of the blue, his facial expression changed. "Who's that?"
His finger pointed at the baby girl their mom was holding.
Levi took a deep breath. "That's... Hanna. She is our youngest sister. She's nearly 10 months old."
Dave was silent for a while, probably trying to process what his brother just told him. Levi glanced at Jay, who seemed shocked as well.
"She looks like me." Dave said with a husky voice.
"I'm sorry..." Levi whispered, bowing his head to avoid making eyecontact with his brother.
"It's not your fault, Benny."
"But-"
"It isn't." They had eyecontact for a few seconds.
Then Dave's phone rang, and he checked who the caller was. "I have to go."
"O- okay."
"Don't tell your parents you saw me here." Dave said.
Levi awkwardly smiled. "You don't have to worry about that. They'd get mad at me for even mentioning your name." Immediately after that sentence left his mouth, he regretted it.
Dave locked eyes with him for a second, and then looked down at Levi's phone again. He started scrolling through his brother's phone, and then typed a bit, after which he handed the phone back.
"Contact me if you are in trouble. I'll try to pick up as soon as possible." Dave concluded, while he got up from his chair.
"Then, I hope I'll see you again some time. Goodbye."
"Bye." Jay greeted him. Levi didn't say anything, instead watching his brother walk out of the door, just like he had done 4 years ago, be it in somewhat different circumstances.
~~~~
Levi admired the pretty colors that appeared in the sky as the sun was setting. Today had been one of the best days of his life, not even because he ran into Dave.
He and Jay had spent probably way too much money on going on rides, as much as possible. Levi had been a bit afraid he wouldn't enjoy it, since he had never been on one before, but he certainly did.
Inbetween 2 rides Jay had pulled Levi into an alleyway, and surprised him by kissing him in a way that his pure soul didn't know was possible.
After a while he had pulled away, and apologized, telling him that he just got a bit carried away. Levi mumbled that he didn't mind, and Jay had kissed him again, after which he let Levi go and told him that they should get back to the fair, or else they'd be in that alleyway all day.
"What are you smirking at?"
"Micha, what the heck, you scared me." Levi complained at his brother, who sat down in the chair next to him
"Where did you go today?" Micha avoided apologizing.
"Nowhere really, I just went to town for a while with my friend."
"Hmm, just a friend? And you really chose him over me, your brother who you rarely ever see?"
"Don't act like you don't come by at least twice a month." Levi carefully tried to steer the conversation away from the topic he'd rather not mention.
"Hey, don't try and fool me like that! Are you sure it wasn't a girl?"
Levi rolled his eyes, but still felt a bit glad he didn't have to lie about this part at least. "I'm 100% sure."
"Who was it then, the boy next door? Are you guys going out nowadays?"
Levi couldn't breathe for a short while. "Excuse me?"
"Oh, sorry. Was that too straightforward? I mean, I thought you guys might have something going on."
Levi quickly looked at his brother, who had his eyes fixated on the skyline, as their backyard started to be more taken over by the dark by the minute.
"What do you mean?"
He saw his brother smile a bit, which made him look even more like Dave in this moment. "I mean, I thought that since I caught you guys in the hallway that time..."
Levi took a while to recall the memory, and when he did he instantly knew there was no way to deny his brother's suspicions, but he decided to try anyway. "He was just kidding, we really aren't in such a type of relationship."
Micha sighed. "Well, I guess that's for the better then. I mean, after that situation with David I'd be worried our parents would do the same to you. And he was just kicked out for saying he would date guys, imagine if he had actually had a boyfriend."
Levi's felt like his heart dropped. "What?" He barely got out.
Micha turned to look at him. "What do you mean, what?"
When Levi didn't answer him, he tilted his head a bit to the right. "Don't tell me... you didn't know why David got kicked out?"
Levi made eyecontact with him, and clearly that told Micha all he needed. "Oh wow, I really thought you knew. I should've known better, I mean you weren't there when he told our parents he also likes boys, and obviously they wouldn't tell you..."
"Dave... is bisexual?"
Micha nodded. "Yup. Honestly it was a shock to me as well. Me and Jonathan actually accidentally overheard him telling our parents."
Levi held on tightly to the armrest of his chair. "How- how did they react?"
"Who, mom and dad? Well, mom was really shocked, she didn't say much. Dad started telling him this didn't mean he should actually date the boys he liked, but David told him he would date whoever he wanted, regardless of what gender they were."
"And how did dad handle that?" Levi asked, trying to hide his fear since Micha really couldn't find out about him being gay.
"Well, he got really upset, and said that he wouldn't have a son like that living under his roof. You know what happened next."
Levi nodded in silence, suddenly getting taken back 4 years, to the moment he got woken up by his father's loud voice, telling his oldest brother to pack his bags.
"I... had no idea. Mom just told me it was because he was refusing to go to church."
Levi looked at his brother, who was now staring at him with a concerned look on his face. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just... surprised."
Micha smiled, nearly in an apologetic way. "I get that, especially if you only find out about this after 4 years."
Levi debated if he should tell his brother he saw Dave today for a short moment.
"Why do you and Jonathan never email him?" He blurted out.
Micha bit his lip, clearly having to think about how he should answer this question. "We were mad at first, I think. We are only 2 years and a few months apart, and even though me and Jonathan were twins, we were usually treated like we were triplets while growing up."
Micha went silent again, even though it didn't seem like he was finished yet. Just as Levi was going to start talking, he continued.
"I guess we felt betrayed by him not telling us. We were 15 at the time, and the age gap between him and us had already become more apparent during our teenage years, but we were still very close. So when he suddenly came out to our parents, before even hinting at us or something, we felt like he had lied to us. Looking at it now I know he probably felt scared, and thought we would judge him, or make fun of him. Nowadays I'd like to talk to him, but I'm just too ashamed honestly. How could I contact him after ignoring him when he needed me the most?"
He shifted his focus to Levi again. "I just wonder how he is doing now, but I guess I'll never know."
Levi didn't answer him, and they stayed silent. Finally, Levi gathered enough courage to tell him.
"Heyy, what are you guys doing here?" Before Levi could even attempt to open his mouth, Anna disturbed their moment.
"Oh, hey Anna." He politely said, knowing she had no idea what kind of conversation she just interrupted.
"Oh gosh, these stars are so pretty." Anna sighed, looking up at the first stars that started appearing in the night sky.
She sat down next to Micha, who smiled at her.
"I'm going back inside." Levi said, suddenly feeling like an intruder.
"Oh, you don't have to!" Anna rushed to say, obviously noticing him trying to run away so he shouldn't have to watch his brother being all cozy with his girlfriend.
"No, it's fine, I'm getting a bit cold out here now the sun is gone. Also, I still have to finish some homework."
He was about to walk away, but changed his mind, and turned to his brother for one last time. "Micha, he's doing great. I'm sure he is."
《END OF THIS CHAPTER》
Oofs why is Levi so me at the end though, like whenever I see the couple in my friendgroup even like glance at each other I'm like: Whoo okay time for me to leave and let y'all have your moment
Also I guess this is the closest I'm gonna be getting to describing a kiss, sorry but it just makes me way too uncomfortable to describe it in detail and honestly it's my story and I'm writing it for fun so I'm not gonna be making myself uncomfortable while writing it🤧