Magnum Opus

"You make me feel like I'm walking on eggshells, Cain! Y-You make me think that everyone I say or do is going to annoy you and... and maybe that's just me being silly, but... but I care a lot about you, obviously, and I just wanna make you happy and if I can't even do that, then I'm useless, right? And... And gosh, this seems like me just wanting to hog the attention, which I know you hate, b-but I... I dunno... I messed up everything. Tyrone and Felix think I'm weirder and... and you're annoyed with me, even if you don't admit it. I bet Mom thinks I'm just a hassle, huh?"
 
Dropping the last pieces into the trash, Cain had to hold back his urge to actually get angry. Instead, he took in a deep breath and offered a smile. He proceeded to look through the cabinet to wrap his hands up properly and reviewed the bandaged hands curiously, holding them up for a silent confirmation.

"I'm not annoyed, and I know our mother loves you dearly. If she didn't, she would have left us behind when we were kids. When it comes to Felix and Tyrone, I just... this is the first town to have someone who didn't get uncomfortable by my existence. You're cute, funny, and sociable. If you don't like him, that's fine."
 
"So when I wanted to stay, I was selfish, but now you wanna stay 'cos of Felix, it's totally okay? I... I think that's kinda crummy of you. I'm real happy you want to stay 'cos I do too, it's really nice here, but... but when I said I wanted to stay for Tyrone, you got angry at me and Mom said you thought I was selfish, but... but it's supposed to be totally alright when you do it?"

Gabriel wasn't entirely used to defending himself or speaking out like this. He usually got his brother to do it for him, but his brain was pretty scrambled at the moment after everything he'd been through, so much so that he didn't consider the repercussions before speaking out. Sure, he had valid points to make and it was refreshing to see him take a stand... but he'd never normally do something that could piss off his brother, even if he wasn't doing anything or saying anything Cain hadn't in the past.

"It... It doesn't matter, really! I... I just... thought it was kinda hypocritical is all-- Hey, I haven't used that word before, go me," he grinned, nudging his twin in the hopes of rectifying their friendship. "...And hey, if you want to bond with me again 'cos it's a bit tense right now, I think you were right. About our Dad. We should go kill him, I think. Now I know what he did-- I totally think we should. It'll be fun, like a road trip! We could get Felix to drive us, his car's awesome. It's blue, it's really cool..."
 
"... Yeah, I'm being a hypocrite. For the first time in my life, I want to be a little selfish. I'm sorry, Gabriel. I'm sorry that I want to stay because someone seems to like me in all of the thousands of towns we've lived in. You've had plenty of people who liked you, and I've had one. I know that Felix and I won't be a thing, you know? Even if we did become an item, we're going to have to run away again - our... father has hundreds of members, we can't kill all of them." He replied quietly as he moved to get the ice cream and plopped it into bowls, one for them both. His lips pursed into a tight line as he took them to the dining room table and set them down.

"I'm shit person, I shouldn't be acting like this after what you saw. Just... Look, if we kill that man, we have to do it behind mom's back. She'll be so disappointed in us."
 
"How about we agree that we've both been a bit silly and to just make up now, 'cos I hate arguing with you and... and we both want the same thing! You want to stay with the super cute Felix, and I want to stay here because of Tyrone who's pretty cute too, so... so we both have the same idea! And Mom likes it here too, she always says. She has lots and lots of admirers, so they'll all want her to stay," he babbled, snatching the bowl and, after dousing it with far too much caramel sauce, settled happily on the living room couch.

"We will, we'll do it in secret, it'll be easy! You're smart and I'm... I have talents too, it'll be great! And maybe Tyrone will come. I'll win him back, I'm pretty sure. I'll build him one of those cute bears and make him another cupcake and... he likes sports, right? I'll buy him some sports stuff..."
 
"I dunno, do you think they'd really help us? I don't think they're crazy enough to help us. I mean, they'll look at us and laugh, you know?" He replied quietly as he took a spoon of the ice cream, his cheeks flushed a tad at the thought of Felix somehow killing their father. In a strange way, he couldn't help but bashfully smile and think about just how hot that would be. He shook his head of those thoughts and instead focused on the ice cream.

"If they did, then... W-We'd owe them, a lot. Like, a lot. Not just anyone would go and kill a man for someone. I dunno, I wouldn't do it myself if I was them. Stranger things have happened, though." He grumbled quietly as he singled out the chocolate chips.
 
"Tyrone knows all about us now, so... so maybe he'll feel sympathetic? 'Cos... our Dad's an asshole! And Tyrone's folks weren't that nice to him, either. His Dad kept saying lots of mean things to him when I was there, made fun of him being gay-- so maybe Tyrone will help us! Besides, I'm a cutie, he said that to me once. It made my year~! If I'm such a lil' cutie, he might put everything behind us and help us out-- and gosh, Felix will if you promised him a date or something," he shrugged, happily crossing his legs and, once pulling the blankets back around himself, found his own smile brightening at the thought. Perhaps not so much of Tyrone killing their father, but just going on some potentially long road trip with him.

Being in that enclosed space gave him plenty of opportunities to strike up some romance with him again.

"He has the hots for you, it's pretty cute. Like all those corny high school rom-coms! The bully falling for the 'nerd'-- not that you're a nerd! I mean, it isn't a bad thing. If you're a nerd, I'm just a loser-- but I don't mind that either."
 
"He does not have the hots for me, Gabe. He tolerates me, at the most. I'm okay, you know? I'm just average. I mean, I'm not average, but he thinks I am. If it was like the rom-coms, he'd answer the door with a bouquet of flowers exclaiming how he felt bad for us and, like, comfort me or something. Then he'd insist that he, like, hug me to make me feel better or something," he replied simply, knowing they both were well versed in the cheesy Hallmark movies, often watching them on the weekends with their mother.

Wandering to finally join his brother on the couch, he took a seat and decided to change the channel to just that, frowning at the copy-paste 'adorably awkward' interaction that two brand new coworkers have and rolled his eyes when the woman went home to gush to her notoriously token minority friend about how it was 'love at first sight'.
 
"He does so like you, you're just, like, insecure-- which is dumb. We're twins! Not identical, sure, but you still look like me, and I know I'm cute. Felix does like you, I could tell-- maybe he's a little shy about it, but one long road trip where he has to talk to you all that time is bound to make him like you more. I'm telling you, it'll be good for us! We could tell Mom that... that it's a school thing. A trip or something. I don't want to lie to her but... but this is something we just gotta do, so I guess I'm okay with a tiny white lie," he babbled, hunching his knees up to his chest to get as comfortable as he could, only briefly taking in the sight of the rom-com he'd seen a billion times already.

He was far more interested in chatting to his brother, having missed three days of talking to him. He had to catch up on that somehow.

"It's like that girl said on the TV, right? Love at first sight~? That's totally like me and Tyrone-- maybe just me. I think his first reaction was that I had a face he liked to punch, but... but he likes me now, kinda."
 
"You're better than this boring Mary Sue girl, Gabe. She's like cellophane with the personality of a piece of cardboard." He grunted, his agitation clear as he pointed to the cookie-cutter brunette with a 'charming' Southern accent, snorting as she just so happened to once again run into the man she had known for only the scene prior. Cain was no director, sure, but a chimp could produce something with more substance than that.

"Look, I... I dunno. You know it's hard to lie to mom, especially about something as major as leaving the country. Plus, what if one of us gets hurt? I-I mean, it's just - I don't want her to be alone, you know? If they find her, I don't know what they'd do... These people aren't normal, Gabriel. These people are monsters."
 
"...Monsters, sure, but we could probably, like, smash their brains out with one punch, we're really strong. Like, look what I did to Tyrone's locker! If he wasn't pissed at me, I know he'd be impressed. And you flat-out broke Felix's nose! It was rad! Pretty... naughty of you, I guess, but I was real proud of you," he admitted, licking the ice cream from his lips before offering as big a smile as he could across to him, before deciding to show his appreciation the best way he knew how - by cuddling in close and resting his head on his shoulder.

"We're, like, 16. Other kids our age to fun things like this. I think it's super fun to go on a road trip and spend time with guys we like and then kill our Dad. It's really fun~"
 
"Normal 16-year-olds don't kill their 'dad'," the older twin replied, though didn't turn to face his brother and show his concern. "Mom always says to not be violent, that'll just make us sick. I don't want to turn into some murderous thing, you know? I-I just want everything to be as normal as possible, and that wouldn't be it. Plus, we hardly know then, Gabe. They just started seeing us as more than punching bags, and... I dunno..."

Tugging his own legs up, Cain rested his head on his brother's shoulder with a frown, his eyes locked on the television without really caring. He almost passed out being in a simple diner with Felix, so to be on what would probably be a multi-day trip to America to have a chance to end their father made him visibly sweat as he swallowed hard.
 
"...I guess you're right-- I just, hearing what Mom went through and stuff, I just... I hate the idea he's out there and that horrible group of people are too, and... and maybe I was being silly, but still, keep it in mind," he pointed out, though had quietened down the moment he was reminded of the promise he'd made to his mother about never being violent, even if he wanted to be. He'd kept that promise all these years, and... well, upsetting his mother was the last thing he wanted to do.

"We could at least ask Felix to drive us somewhere, though. A day trip, instead. That'll be fun. And... And we could go camping, if Mom lets us. Or we could just camp in the backyard if she says no."
 
"Yeah, that would be nice," he admitted quietly as he closed his eyes, wincing at an oncoming headache. "I would love to be able to go to Toronto and just take pictures, but would it be safe to say that it would be dangerous. Who knows? Maybe the whole group of those cult guys know where we are now and'll follow us? That would really suck, Gabe. Plus, it would freak Alex out and... I-I mean, I don't want to do that any more than I've already done."
 
"...Fine. I'll go on my own, I-I'm not a child. I can do things by myself. Granted, I'd rather not and I'd rather go with you, but... but I can go by myself! I can go with Tyrone, maybe. He can drive, we can sing along to the Disney movie soundtracks and... and I can make us sandwiches, it'll be really cute. I bet he likes ham and cheese, o-or maybe cheese and onion, or just cheese, I... I dunno, I'll ask him," he grinned, holding his knees tighter to his chest in sudden excitement. Sure, going with his brother would trump it, but this was definitely the next best thing. Maybe one that wouldn't be realised, but he wasn't smart enough to recognise that.

Besides, stranger things had happened, right?

"I'd like you to come, obviously, but you could stay here and have a real cute day with Felix instead, without me bothering and pestering you~"
 
"I'm going." He immediately replied, his face red. "I'm not going to let you go off somewhere without me, okay? I love you too much to do that. If you're going somewhere, I... I have to come, too, even if I don't want to. I don't want ma to freak out about you leaving again, she'll have a heart attack and die or something. We should tell her properly instead of leaving her in the dark, a-and we need to explain why. I don't want to see her cry like that again." He grumbled, only to cringe at his sudden and reluctant break in resistance.
 
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"Yup, okay! She'll be okay with it-- and she could always come with us! I wouldn't mind Mom coming along, it'd be nice! But maybe that'd be awkward-- I think we should just go with Mom. She's more important than some silly boys, isn't she? I think I'd rather go with her," he decided, despite the very, very faint grimace on his lips. He had been incredibly excited about the possibility of being close to Tyrone and showing him why he was the perfect boyfriend, but within a few seconds, he'd somehow talked himself out of that and into their mother taking them for a day out.

While he would genuinely love that too, it wasn't going to further his romance with Tyrone at all. If anything, it was giving the human more time to decide he disliked Gabriel.

"I-I dunno, it's up to you. Mom or... or Felix and Tyrone, I don't mind who we go with!"
 
"If we're actually going to do this, we can't bring Mom. She's spent these last years actively avoiding those people to keep us safe, and to put her right in the middle of this all? It isn't her fight to fight, anyway. She didn't mean to have us, she's the victim. We're... We're not right, and we have to make everything right." He declared quietly, though his eyes locked on the stairs warily nonetheless.

"Let's sleep on this, okay? You just faced something intense, I don't want to put all this pressure on you."
 
"I don't really want to sleep-- I'm kinda too excited! I promise I'm not gonna let you down, okay? We're gonna have so much fun, Cain, it'll be ace," he grinned, already having set his mind on going. If he was honest, he wasn't so much excited for the actual killing of their so-called father, but more the trip itself. Spending hours in a car with his brother and possibly the two boys they had crushes on was potentially the most fun he could envision himself having.

Well, other than spending time with his mother and Cain cuddled up on the couch. That was his favourite thing to do, however simple and childish it was.

"Promise we can go? I'll make a tonne of sandwiches and we can just have fun, 'cos we haven't had fun in a while-- and I'll make sandwiches we like. Felix and Tyrone can have, like, cheese and ham, and we can have... I dunno... kidney and liver?"
 
"Sure, as long as you can be subtle," Cain replied simply as he closed his eyes, clearly exhausted from days of worrying about his brother. It was selfish, he knew that, but he had been on overload for the last three days. He had gotten about 6 hours of sleep in that time, and he was hit with a wall of exhaustion in that moment.

"Hey, let's get to bed, okay? We can plan this out tomorrow. I'll try and talk to mom so that she doesn't freak out, and we can probably head out tomorrow night. It would be fun, if we can manage this trip."
 
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