Edit/Re-Written: June 29, 2022
A Knight W/ Shining Eyes: Chapter Forty-Two; A Knife In A Word Fight
Warnings: none.
Fluctuating 3rd POV
Neal isn't the least bit surprised when he wakes up to Dayon glaring at him from the side of his bed the following morning. With a pout he untangles himself from Eric, pressing a final kiss to the others shoulders before standing up. He knows that Eric had already sensed Dayon, but instead of shifting awake he decided to continue being a boulder of comfort for the snoozing Skylar.
"I was fine with you going through with whatever you planned but did you seriously have to bring a knife?" Dayon hisses when they've made their way back to the living room area, Neal closing the door behind him as they do.
"I used the dull side," He whines, tries to reason really. "And I only did it so he wouldn't go screaming your name." His lips purse together in thought, "He did stop struggling when I told him who I was though. . ."
"Yeah!" Dayon replies with a hiss, arms flailing outwards. "Because I told him I have a literal psycho for an older brother!"
Interest is peaked at that. "What did he say when you told him that?"
Stammering at the question, Dayon lets his hands fall back to his sides. "That he would be able to handle you."
"And he did," Neal beams - like it's a good thing. "He's alive."
"Gee, thanks?" The sarcasm is evident, Neal decides to ignore it and instead makes his way over to the small living room, falling onto one of the couches with a light groan.
"What happened after my visit?" He asks instead, Dayon lets out a heavy sigh as he sits down next to him. The nervous thoughts from the previous night are quick to resurface but his brother doesn't look like he's heartbroken, or has had his heart broken by the man he paid a visit to.
"At first he freaked out; talked about how you were dangerous and that even if you're overprotective of me and Skylar, threatening another with a lethal object still makes you insane. I kinda had to smack him to get him to refocus on me but when he did I took my brotherly role of defending your actions-"
Neal winces, whining softly as he crosses his arms over his chest. "You didn't have to."
"Shut up." Dayon barks out, Neal seizes at the words. "Of course I had to. He knows about my past and not about yours. Sure, he knows what we went through - but not that you went through worse or that you saved us. And even when it was dangerous for you to bring a knife, it was probably for self-protection over anything." But it wasn't, Neal wants to rebuttal but decides against it because Dayon doesn't know that. So he simply acknowledges the information and crosses his legs. "He calmed down after that and then we made-out."
Lackluster reaction, Neal thinks, but retches to keep up appearances. "Is that all?"
"I mean," His brother ponders, "We fucked too."
"Baby!" He squeals, smacking the others arms and earning some giggles in return.
"Okay, okay." They compose themselves once more. "He asked me to tell him about you so I did. I told him that you work out of the city, visit once a month, pay our bills and expenses, the whole sha-bang. When I told him about you probably needing more alone time due to therapy and work he surprisingly asked me to take another step forward in our relationship." Alone time? Neal certainly hadn't expected that, but he doesn't let his confusion show, instead drowning in the rush of happiness and relief that fills him at the news.
"And what is that step?"
Grinning at his brother, Dayon responds, "Asked me if me and Skylar would consider moving in with him."
"And?"
"And I agreed." He concludes happily. Neal wants to congratulate him - to tell him that he's happy for his brother but the words simply get stuck at the back of his throat. For the life of him, he hadn't known if his plan would work - he had only known that it was something he had to do. When he dived into his brother's relationship with the suit, he knew that there was no real reason for them not to be in that step of their relationship yet. Sure, Dayon is insecure but not that insecure. Therefore, it had to be something Brody was withholding and when investigating him he found that the other usually moved too fast in relationships - which made him lose potential partners.
When placing all of the information together the only possible conclusion was that Brody was too nervous to move too quickly in his relationship with Dayon but what he didn't know was that if Dayon didn't think that Brody was going to be serious in their relationship, that he would rather break up with him.
Damn, Neal boasts to himself, I am good. There's a scoff that tingles in his ears and he dutifully ignores it, turning to face Dayon who has narrowed his eyes at him in suspicion.
Sighing, he gives in - knowing he owes his brother something. "You're allowed one question."
"Are you happy?" The question shocks him and he makes sure it shows. Is he happy? After years of begging and pleading to Neal to tell him more about his life and about what he does - this is the question he chooses? He wants to scoff and brush it off entirely but the sincerity in his brother's gaze causes him to fumble with his words because he's serious. Dayon seriously wants to know this.
"I am." Neal gulps, trying to get rid of his spontaneously dry throat. "Whereas before I would only live for you and Skylar, I now have more reasons to breathe. I have Eric and new friends, I have things to work towards and plans to check off. Everything is just so bright and beautiful."
And for the fifth time in Neal's life, he sees his brother smile brightly. He knows he won't need to count those smiles any more.
__
Neal groans dejectedly, leaning most of his weight onto his mate as they wait outside his brother's school. Dayon had asked him to pick Skylar up after school seeing as he'd been unexpectedly asked to cover someone's shift, Neal doesn't mind, wanting to see how his brother's school situation is.
They had just come out of his therapy session and to say that it went well is an understatement. It went spectacularly. Neal doesn't like that. The therapist was a chubby middle aged lady, ginger hair pulled back into two bins and she wore a fairly loose and comfortable suit. She was. . .nice, almost too nice and had adjusted her behavior to match his.
"I hate her." Neal whines, eliciting a chuckle from his mate.
"Of course you do, she read you like a book." Eric teases, shifting his shoulder as he leans back against his truck.
"Time to dig up dirt on her, no one's that nice."
His mate hums at the statement, "I'd say I'm pretty nice."
"Oh yeah," Neal agrees, sarcastically, "A saint."
The conversation dies down and Neal can't help but smile at the soft breeze that combs his hair and tickles his abdomen. For the first time in forever he's wearing a long-sleeve crop top, the tight material stopping just under his pecs. He'd never worn one, always ashamed of the scars that litters his torso - especially ashamed of the mark that burned into the side of his ribs, marking him like cattle.
But now he finds that he honestly can't care less about them or about how others might perceive them.
"Do you want kids?" Neal finds himself asking as he looks towards the school.
"Absolutely not," His mate responds and Neal grins - leaning in to kiss Eric until another voice interrupts them.
"What are you doing here?" They pull away and turn to the voice, eyes widening as Brody stands next to them. They scan him quickly, scoffing at his expensive attire and vehicle. Yeah, he can definitely handle Skylars shopping expenses.
"What do you mean? I'm waiting for Skylar." Neal responds, making sure not to seethe out the words as he pushes off the truck. The bell to the school rings behind them in the distance because they're parked a ways away from it - in Skylar's preferred pick-up area.
Brody sighs at the explanation, taking out his phone. "Seems Dayon forgot to inform one of us not to pick Skylar up."
"Yes, you."
"Well," Brody continues, seeming to ignore Neal's snark response. "We'll just have to see who Skylar chooses."
Chooses? Neal wants to slap him, this is no competition but if it is, he'd already won.
Their attention is turned to Brody's vehicle when another male steps out of his - hair bleached. The man makes his way to Brody and once he stops Eric sends the other a slight nod, making Brody frown. Breaking the awkward silence, Eric asks, "Hello, I assume you're doing well from our last encounter?"
The bleached males head bobs frantically and that makes Brody's eyes narrow at his mate, "O-Oh, yes! Thank you for h-helping me tha-t day."
Ah, Dayon's friend.
"No thanks needed, I was happy to help. Has he continued bothering you?" Eric asks, Neal doesn't miss the way his eyes shift over to him with a smug gleam, snapping back by sticking out his tongue.
"N-No, it se-ems you've sc-ared him f-for good."
Having enough of the questionable interaction, Brody interrupts. "How do you know him, Phillip?"
The bleached male, Phillip, turns to Brody and then proceeds to point towards Eric. "He-He's the o-one who saved m-e from my ex."
"And who are you exactly?" He then asks Eric, after acknowledging Phillips' response. It doesn't surprise Neal that the suit doesn't take it upon himself to thank Eric for what he did. Not that it really matters, it was a planned saving anyways.
"Eric," He introduces smoothly, "Neal's husband." At that Brody's eyes widen, but maybe that's due to the word choice and not the fact that someone as "insane" as Neal had a partner.
Wanting to silence any future exchanges, Neal lifts his hand, turning towards the school and grinning as he sees Skylar making his way over. He's running, arms spread out and there's a smile decorating his face as he takes everyone in.
"NEAL! ER-I-I-IC!!" He squeals, throwing himself at Eric - who catches him effortlessly with a grin. Looking over at his mate, he throws him a smug smirk making Neal blink in disbelief.
"I- I'm over here." He addresses. Skylar pulls away from his mate, but doesn't make a move to get off as he turns to face him.
"I wanted Eric to catch me. I like him more."
Neal blinks a couple of times as the statement registers, "Excuse me?"
As if to help elaborate why, Skylar says, "He cuddled with me last night."
"Yeah and I cuddled him last night."
His brother's nose scrunches at that, "He cooked for me."
"I watched chick flicks with you, and besides he loves me more." Neal growls out, wanting to end the dumb fight over his mate - with his brother of all people.
Skylar gasps like the information is new to him and turns to face Eric. "You do?"
Eric hums, the traitorous mate, and grins widely. "I can be convinced otherwise."
That has Neal's jaw dropping. "Oh re—,"
"Sorry to break this wonderful moment up," Brody starts, not sounding sorry at all as he steps forward. Neal rolls his eyes, was there nothing this man could do aside from interrupt people? "But Skylar, do you want to go home with me or with them?"
Looking over at him, Skylar tilts his head adorably at the question. "I thought I answered that question when I jumped into Eric's arms instead of yours." Eric wants to high five him but refrains from doing so. Neal doesn't, high fiving his youngest brother with a grin. "Oh," Skylar blinks. "That was rude, right? Sorry. As much as I like hanging out with you Brody, Neal will be leaving soon and I wanna spend time with him."
Brody seemed to understand that, eyes narrowing at Neal as he says a brief goodbye and guides Phillip back into his car. Soon thereafter the car leaves and Neal takes that as his cue to look back over at his brother. "Who wants ice cream?"
Squealing, Skylar raises his hand, "Me please!"
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YES PHILLIP IS GAY AND HE IS IN DAYONS STORY IF I EVER GET AROUND TO PUBLISHING IT. ( sigh. I set myself up for failure)
<3
Editor me: for those interested in Dayons story, there are chapters of his relationship in my one shot book, Phillips will most likely be included there. when reading it plz remember that days relationship lasts MONTHS/year compared to Neals only weeks old relationship.