Keep Your Enemies Close

With his younger brother having left out a chunk of detail from the texts, simply alerting him to the fact that she had been hurt with no specifics as to what that injury entailed, Zephyr's mind was left to wander throughout the car journey. Inevitably, having been victim to his parents time and time again, his thoughts gravitated to some horrific injury that had left his sister in a devastating way, which only left him to grow angrier and angrier as the minutes ticked on by.

Even though his 15-year-old sister, Daria, wasn't in a critical condition, seeing her in the hospital bed with a stitched-up cheek and a bandage around her head didn't relax him at all. Just seeing her sporting a paper cut was enough for him to get into protective older brother mode; seeing her bruised and cut up, therefore, infuriated him, rushing to her bedside and doing his best not to interrogate her into spilling the truth. He could already guess that she had gone through enough to want to just block it all out for a few hours and talk about anything but their parents.

"You took your time-- you were with Sebastian? Were you on a date? Did I ruin your evening together?" Daria questioned quietly, biting on her painted thumbnail with a guilty grimace, her apologetic look drifting from her brother to Sebastian. "God, I'm sorry. I... tripped down the stairs, hit my head, cut my cheek on a china vase that fell-- I'm a calamity, really. And now I ruined your date because of it. You must hate me, huh?"

"No, that's daft. It's fine. Do you want something to drink or eat? I'm sure there's somewhere open in the hospital to get a hot chocolate or something," the eldest sibling mumbled, shooting his brother, Krasimir, an unsubtle look, expecting him to head off to fetch some drinks for them all. "Do you want a coffee or something, Seb? Or you can go home, I... I'll be here a while."
 
"I can stay if you'd like," Sebastian reassured softly as he took a seat in one of the extra chairs, taking in Daria's appearance with pursed lips. He never had another sibling so that familial need never really made sense. That being said, a lot of things about Zephyr didn't make sense. Adjusting himself in the chair, he smiled to Krasimir as he folded his hands neatly.

"I'll have a coffee, cream no sugar." He decided, his voice straining as he raised it over the constant beeping and the occasional intercom. "This - I guess this is all a bit scary, yeah? Don't worry, Daria, we weren't doing anything. So... you fell down the stairs?" He confirmed slowly, his eyes now landing on the girl with a growing frown. "That's... unfortunate."
 
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"...Yeah. Went hurtling right down 'em all, tripped trying on some new shoes. My own fault for thinking I could walk in wedges, I should stick to sneakers or flats," she grinned, her eyes glancing anxiously towards her older brothers and their shared dissatisfaction with her blatant lie. Everyone in that room knew what had really happened, or could make an educated guess that it hadn't been an accident, so lying about it was useless, but she could almost believe the lie the more she said it. It was much easier for her to do that than admit the truth and have both her older brothers grow angrier at the specific details.

"...I'll be fine, Zeph. You should go back to Sebastian's place after this. Mom and Dad aren't going to be at the house tonight anyway, Krasimir and I will have the place to ourselves so... there's no problem or anything. You two should head back and forget about me, I'm just clumsy," she snorted, watching Krasimir groan and head out of the room to collect the drinks. "I'm not scary; I don't mind hospitals, I'm always in them. Like I said, I'm clumsy-- and I did work experience here last month, you know? I want to be a nurse, so... it's good, being here, seeing how it's run and stuff."
 
"Being in a hospital is not equivalent to getting work experience, Daria...' Sebastian replied cautiously as he sat on his hands, taking in the small pop-up room warily. The last time he had been in a hospital was when he was born and it always gave him the creeps, the general loud and urgent atmosphere giving him anxiety. It was the antithesis of what he enjoyed doing, after all, but he could be selfless when he needed to be.

'If Zephyr wants us to stay, I have no problem staying either," he stated simply, his eyes scanning the room anxiously. Even just a cheap magazine would be enough to distract him. He kept on a smile despite his anxiety, his only real indication of discomfort being the fact that he was now actively avoiding anyones eyes, instead of locking them on the ground.
 
"...Just go home, Seb. You're clearly uncomfortable. I'll see you tomorrow; I think I'd better go home with Daria to make sure she's alright. I can stay over tomorrow night instead, this is just-- I can't head off and stay in my boyfriend's apartment when my sister's just been thrown down the fucking stairs, you know? I'd look selfish and I... want to look out for her," he shrugged, clenching his fists in an effort to stay stoic, his only real way of forcing back the urge to either breakdown from the stress of living a constant life of fear and anxiety, or, conversely, explode with rage and reveal his powers when they inevitably took hold of him. Fortunately, he managed to prevent both potentialities, instead settling in the chair as his brother returned with the drinks.

His brother wasn't the opposite to him, at least physically. He wasn't as tall, nor as muscular, but, with just two years between them, the physical similarities were obvious. Personality-wise, they couldn't be more different, with Krasimir often being loud, described by most as the class clown. His humour was his biggest defence mechanism, the way he was able to block out his home life by making people around him happy, in contrast to his older brother who opted to shut everyone out. Even now, Krasimir was trying to keep the mood up, tossing his sister some chocolate bars with a wink.

"You aren't staying, Seb? We barely get to talk to Zephyr anymore, I blame you. He's so lovesick, he's barely at home,." Krasimir grunted as he folded his arms, his dimpled smile growing at his older brother's clear embarrassment. "I'm kidding, s'all cool. We're always saying -Daria and me, anyway- that we think he should have moved in with you by now. I want to see your place. I've heard it's pretty rad, Zeph said so. He said quaint, anyway. He wouldn't say 'rad', would he; he's too boring to use cool words."
 
"Thrown down the stairs." He repeated firmly, easily catching the slip up as he locked eyes on Zephyr. The fact that Sebastian knew the truth through context clues didn't mean that also meant he wouldn't vocalize the problems. His own anger was only cut short by Krasimir. Offering a smile, the older man unfolded his arms.

"I wouldn't say it's rad. It's... cozy and just the right size, I think. Enough for a queen sized bed to share with a handsome boyfriend and a futon for guests," he admitted softly, his own cheeks turning pink. He wouldn't mention the fact that he didn't actually ever have guests since Zephyr was the only real friend he had. He knew it looked pathetic from an outsider's perspective but he didn't mind the isolation as long as he had Zephyr.
 
Upon hearing that his loose words had been fixated upon, if ony briefly, by his boyfriend, Zephyr cringed as both his sister and brother glared at him for his moment of apparent stupidity. It wasn't that they didn't like Seb or that they didn't trust him (on the contrary, they were wholly supportive of the relationship, unlike their parents), it was more the fact that they feared anyone outside of the family knowing what went on inside it. Any inkling their parents received that someone knew about the family dynamics, their behaviour was only going to get worse, and naturally, all three wanted to avoid that at all cost while they were still under that roof.

It was why Daria, clearly enraged, began to rant in her native language, unaware that Sebastian, as educated as he was, knew Bulgarian; it was another reason why Zephyr had been inclined to think that going on a date with the man was a good idea when they first met.

"You do know that he's understanding all of this, Daria. You've basically revealed the entire situation at home to him now, so well done for that," the eldest brother grunted, sipping at his latte with a weak frown, not at all comfortable with the news of their homelife, revealed by an oblivious Daria, was now confirmed to Seb. "...I'm sure I don't have to tell you to keep this all to yourself, Sebastian. If I wanted anyone to know, I'd have told you. I'd rather keep this under wraps, so... I won't be happy if you've gone to the police, for example. It's best to keep quiet on this."
 
"Why? Why not call the police and you could take care of them? You're clearly a much more suitable parent, right? I... could help you get your own place if you need to..." Sebastian suggested slowly, his voice low as he watched doctors walk by. Running a hand through his hair, the man's harsh look softened. The situation was obviously difficult and he certainly wasn't the most moral person in the world but he could understand shitty parents.

"I won't say anything, of course. I'm not going to ruin what is going on, that doesn't mean I have to like it though." He reminded firmly as he folded his hands. In an attempt to at least lighten the mood, he offered a smile. "Yes, I know how to speak Bulgarian - a bit of an obscure language but I wanted to learn something a bit more challenging. It definitely helped woo your brother, I think."
 
"I can't, no police. I don't trust the police. I've gone to them before, they just ate up my parents' bullshit. There's no point in going to them, they're useless," he shrugged, keeping his eyes locked to the ground to avoid looking in his sister's direction. He had argued with her time and time again to at least entertain the possibility of going for help, willing to ignore his hatred of authority if it meant getting his brother and sister somewhere safe and secure, but every time he brought it up only led to fierce arguing. His sister was especially furious about it, not wanting to risk being put in some care home somewhere the other side of the state, away from her brothers. She often argued that she could handle another three years, as long as she had her brothers around her.

"...You think I'm that easily impressed? That I'd fall for you just because you know my language? Okay, it did help a little; but I wouldn't say it was what made me realise I loved you. I think I realised I was in love with you that day we went for milkshakes and had those dodgy burgers that made us sick-- we spent the next day in bed, hurling our guts up. I think it was cute," he snorted, forcing back the urge to smile more. He wasn't going to hide the smile nor pretend the blush didn't exist, but he didn't want to be too soppy when his siblings were still there, despite their goofy grins at witnessing the romantic moment. "But, uh... you speaking Bulgarian helped, definitely."
 
"Well, I can speak other languages too. Pretty fluently, in fact," Sebastian drawled in response with a smug smile, though his beetroot cheeks discredited his smoothness. "French, Hindi, German, and Spanish in fact. Does that help? I mean, I'm sure there are people out there who would kill to have a multilingual boyfriend, huh?" He purred, deciding to block out the two siblings and their grins to keep himself from growing red.

"In their defense, the burgers were pretty yummy. Not so much coming back up, though," he agreed, his voice returning to its usual softness as his smile changed from smug to bashful, the hint of confidence leaving just as quickly as it had arrived. Resting his hands on his stomach at the memory, he decided to take a sip of the coffee, hiding just how disgusting it was perfectly.
 
"You can speak all those languages? I bet you went to some posh school, didn't you? The school I go to doesn't even teach Spanish anymore; we only get French lessons and even they suck, they don't teach us anything useful. You must have gone to a pretty great school," began Krasimir from the side, his interest piqued at Sebastian's boasting. He and his family didn't have the privileges Sebastian had, and while he could be bitter about it, the teenager instead found it interesting. He wasn't going to hate Sebastian for something that was out of his control, like what school he went to and the education he received. If anything, it was useful if he needed help with homework, which was the thing his mind immediately settled on. "I have French homework due next week and I'm awful at it so it'd be neat to, like, get help on that? I used Google Translate last time and my teacher went crazy, said it doesn't translate exactly-- I dunno. It'd be cool to have my brother's cute, funny, great boyfriend to help me out--"

"You're all those things but he's blatantly trying to butter you up. You shouldn't help him, he needs to figure it out by himself." Zephyr interjected monotonously, having moved to carefully adjust his sister's pillow when he noticed her getting agitated from how uncomfortable it presumably was. "...Or you could make him do some chores for you in return, I wouldn't mind that so much. Just don't help him without something in return; maybe he can run some errands for you so you aren't overworking yourself?"
 
"Hmm... well, that is a pretty convincing offer," admitted Sebastian, a finger to his lips in contemplation. On one hand, it would certainly be nice to have errands done but on the other, that meant that he had to have company when he wasn't used to it. Taking another sip of the horrid coffee, he offered a smile.

"Sure. You can do some errands for me and I'll help tutor you. We can study at my job and hey, perhaps Zephyr world like to watch?" He suggested eventually, his gray eyes taking in his boyfriend curiously.
 
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"I have ice hockey after school and then I gotta go home to do chores before my parents get in. I don't have time to run errands for my brother's boyfriend," the boy grumpily scoffed, his arms folding as he petulantly pouted and glanced away. He did agree after a few seconds, of course, being far too eager to get the grades. He wanted to get into a good college that took him out of Chicago, as far away from his parents as possible, and for that, he needed the grades - and he stood a good chance of achieving that with Sebastian's assistance.

"It's a good opportunity to get to know you more, huh? Zephyr doesn't talk much about you at home. Our folks aren't very open-minded," he shrugged, glancing towards his brother awkwardly. "But-- hey, I am, I'd like to get to know 'ya some more, Sebastian."
 
"Is that so? Well, there isn't really much to me," he countered easily, his own eyes avoiding the others as he set the styrofoam cup down. He was hit with a headache suddenly, he assumed it was from the alcohol finally catching up to him, and the noise once again seemed almost overpowering as he eased back.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back," he declared, albeit quietly as he absently fiddled with his hands. While still avoiding the others, Sebastian got to his feet with a small smile and left the makeshift room, his ears pounding.
 
Even despite seeing his boyfriend leave the room in some distress, noticing the lack of eye contact and the nervous hand movements, Zephyr didn't make any move to rush out after him. He decided that it was best to leave the other have time to get himself together, and equally, he didn't really want to leave his sister and brother alone, however safe the hospital was deemed to be. All he could do was force back the understandable concern he felt for his boyfriend and wait for him to return.
 
It would be a solid five minutes before Sebastian returned, those five minutes consisting of him getting ill from a mixture of anxiety and the general uneasiness in his stomach. His adventurous and fearless villain persona was confident and laughed in the face of danger but in that moment, he wasn't laughing as he watched a house burn. Once returning, he offered a weak smile to the Bulgarian siblings.

"That wine really upset my stomach," he explained, his voice barely above a whisper as he absently fiddled with the sleeves of his large, black sweater. "I mean, i-it was try cheap, so... I don't know how wine works, aha... I mean, I can barely drink two beers without getting ill."
 
"...You really need to go home, Sebastian. You're not going to get any better sitting here, are you? Just go, I'll see you tomorrow, we could meet up for lunch?" Zephyr suggested quietly, doing his best to make his concern noticeable, whilst not overdoing it to save embarrassment in front of his siblings. Inevitably, the latter lost out, his concern for his boyfriend being too much for him to be able to hide it and so, with a tired sigh, he moved to help the other to his feet in case he was as shaky as he thought he might be.

"Take a taxi home, I'll drive your car back for you. You're not exactly in a position to drive home yourself; I don't want to wake up to the news that you crashed your car; I don't need that on my conscience."
 
"I wouldn't crash my car, don't be ridiculous. I'm not, like, on my deathbed or anything, okay? I'm simply dealing with a slight stomach ache. Like I said, that's what happens when you drink bad wine - don't drink, okay?" He urged to the two other siblings, desperate to try and lighten the mood. When Zephyr didn't lighten up, he sighed and pulled out his phone for an Uber.

"Okay, okay. I just... I just was hoping that we could spend more time together? It's fine, though. As long as you promise we can spend time together tomorrow...?" Sebastian quietly requested, his tone soft and unintentionally quivering. He really only saw the other on brief moments during the week, the weekend being their time for just each other. It was annoying to have that taken away from him and if ITV weren't for the fact that Zephyr loved them, Sebastian would have gotten them out of the way much sooner - or their parents, at the very least.
 
"I already told you I would. I wouldn't make any promise I wasn't able to keep, you know that. I'd hope you also knew why I'm cutting our time short tonight; that this is important to me too," he murmured with a subtle and brief gesture back at his siblings, frowning more at his boyfriend's quivering. He wanted to spend time with him as much as the other did with him but he also had to prioritise family and be there for his sister when she clearly needed him, and he knew, deep down, that Sebastian didn't really like that. He did a good job of hiding it most the time but Zephyr could sense the frustration, it wasn't all that subtle to him, but he wasn't one to cause an argument by bringing it up and defending his own decision to stay with his family.

His promise was one he had every intention to keep once it had been made, however difficult it would be for him to leave his sister in the house without him caring for her. He eventually told himself it would only be for a few hours and that she could always leave to hang out with friends for the weekend if she had the strength to do so, while he could fulfil the promise he had made of spending time with the boyfriend he rarely got to see these days.

That didn't mean he would be in the best of moods when he did make his way to Sebastian's apartment, his fists and jaw tightly clenched when the door was opened. He felt a brief twinge of guilt for bringing his anger with him when he was supposed to be enjoying an intimate weekend with his boyfriend, something that they barely did, but he was often unable to just discard the anger he had, especially when it was as fresh as it was. Even if he pretended he was fine, the new bruises around his neck would have provoked Sebastian's concern and eventual anger anyway.

"...I'm fine," he mumbled as he carefully hung his coat up and took a seat, his body language saying the complete opposite to his words. "I-- can't handle them anymore, they don't listen to me, they-- had my brother up against the wall, had a knife to his throat, I-- I'll go to the police, I-- need to do something, you know? I-- I want them dead, I just-- I don't know, I'm venting."
 
"There's nothing wrong with venting to me, you know. That's what boyfriends are for," he reminded as he watched Zephyr from the counter of his kitchen, a cup of coffee in his hand like usual. Didn't have enough time to be bitter about the situation, having passed out the minute his head touched the pillow and having woken up only a few minutes before the other had knocked, hence Sebastian's messy hair and the robe wrapped around his waist. Moving forward, he set the coffee down to offer a kiss to the man's forehead.

"Zephyr, this isn't okay. You can't just pretend that this hasn't gone too far. You need to go to the police or something. This is ridiculous..." he whispered, taking in the bruise with a wince. "Look, I... I suggest your siblings stay somewhere else tonight. I have some extra cash, they can stay at a hotel. All that hard working has benefits," he reminded, his lips pursed.
 
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