Magnum Opus

"...Can we go sleep in Mom's bed tonight? I mean, you don't have to, but I... I don't care if it's 'childish'. I know I said I wasn't gonna be childish anymore, but that's just... me! I'm not gonna change just 'cos some nasty people at school hate it. I wanna go sleep next to Mom 'cos I'm scared still and I'm hurting and you should too 'cos you're tired and... and Mom's great at comforting us. It'll be like we're little kids again!" He grinned, extending his hand and hoping that, even if the other didn't want to, he would still accept the offer. He might feel it was childish or silly or just downright weird, but Pearl was good at comforting the boys, and they were both in need of being pampered and loved for a little while.
 
"That sounds phenomenal," he admitted before taking his brother's hand in his. Anything to pretend that the last week or so didn't exist was fine, even if he saw it as a bit immature. Giving Gabriel's hand a squeeze, he lightly tugged him up with the blanket still wrapped tightly around himself, sniffling a tad. He needed a good cry - not even about anything in particular, just an ability to let out some well-needed tears. He wouldn't preoccupy his family with dealing with something so stupid like his need to vent since he knew his family would just swoop in and comfort him without any real need to.

Once taking a face-first plop in the bed. Cain let out a heavy sigh. He gripped the blanket tight and glanced over at Gabriel before offering a smile. "I'm glad you're back, you know? I mean, I love you, a-and I'm sorry that I came off as mean. I didn't mean that."
 
"You weren't mean! I was too sensitive, you know what I'm like. I'm... I'm like a big old baby sometimes," smiled the younger twin, flopping down into the large bed beside his brother. After everything he had been through, this was definitely enough to erase his bad memories for a night or two. Just being in the comfortable surrounding, with his mother singing in the shower nearby and the smell of her favourite rose and lavender shampoo drifting in was more than enough to have him fully relax.

"...You know we have crushes? Do you think Mom does too? I mean, she's always talking about that detective at the police station," he began quietly, rolling onto his side to inspect his brother for his reaction. "I don't want Mom dating. I like it being us three in the house. I don't want some guy coming into the picture and pretending that he's like our Dad or something."
 
"I dunno, I mean... I agree, but it isn't fair to her if we get to date people and she doesn't. I don't want a single man to be near her, I don't want a repeat of our real, uh, father, you know? At the same time, though, I love her and I want her happy... just like how she wants us happy. I dunno, I think we just got to deal with her dating someone, I guess," he replied in a whisper as he stared off in thought, only to be brought back with a sniffle.

"Maybe she'll find someone really nice who brings her to fancy restaurants? Or, maybe she could kill him and she could make some yummy burgers?"
 
"Either way, it's a win-win, right? Kinda. She'll either be happy with him and he could drive us to the beach and have fun, or she could kill him and we'd get a meal out of it. I'd love some burgers, actually. Mom makes the best burgers and homemade fries and... and it's making my mouth water," groaned the other brother as he clutched his stomach tightly, all the human food he'd recently been eating and the lack of proper nutrition meaning he was getting a wicked stomachache-- but he chose, again, not to complain. He was pretty sure his brother felt like this and he never complained once.

"What are you both chatting about, hm?" Murmured Pearl as she trailed in from the bathroom, tying her silk robe and, once removing the towel she'd wrapped around her head, smiled to both her sons as she quietly sat at the edge of the bed to join them. "...I'm not going to let either of you get hurt again, okay? Not by silly bullies or... or crazy cult members. You won't have to worry about anything--"

"Are you dating that detective from the station? The one with the black hair. He has a cappuccino at the diner every breakfast, I see him when I walk to school," began Gabriel, biting his lip in case this was a subject he shouldn't have mentioned. "He's... He's got a gun, that's pretty cool, I guess..."

"Where's all this coming from? Honestly, Gabe, I work with him. I'm the medical examiner, he's a detective. We meet up, we exchange notes, we're involved because of work," laughed Pearl as she slipped off the fur-rimmed slippers and moved to lay down, though knew her cheeks had flushed unsubtly. "...What do you think? Do you think he's nice? He's asked me out once or twice, I've always declined. He asked me to go to that seafood restaurant but... I don't know. He's a bit young for me. I'm 32 and he's... he's barely 24. I don't think it's really wise for me to date someone so young-- especially not when you both need me."
 
"Meow," Cain said simply, only to slowly grin. "Our Mom is a cougar, Gabe! That's crazy. L-Look, Gabe and I'll be fine if you go on a date - as long as you bring him home first, okay? After what happened, I don't want just some nobody strolling into our home only to have one of us get hurt. If he does hurt you, I will kill him."

While his words were previously relaxed, it wasn't until he mentioned the whole idea of killing the detective that the joking tone dropped from his voice. His happy smile faded as well as he traced his finger along the sheets slowly in thought. "... hey, would it be okay for Gabe and I to go on a road trip?"
 
"He's not going to hurt me, he's... he's not a bad man, Cain. And shush, I'm not a cougar! God, he's just a... a little younger than I am. Do you think people will call me that? A cougar? Because... I don't know, I feel like I'm 20 again, I haven't been this nervous about a guy before. I... I think I'll go out with him, if you're both alright with it. He's really nice, you'll like him," she promised, biting her lip to try and limit the strength of her smile, even though she was beyond elated. She wouldn't look twice at the young detective if her sons decided they didn't want her to go out with him, however much she wanted to, so to hear that both of them were okay with it? It made her blush bright in delight.

"Hm, what's this? A road trip-- oh, I don't think so, do you? I assume you mean without me and... I don't... you can't even drive, Cain, don't be silly. And why would I let you out of my sight after what happened to Gabriel--"

"It was my fault, I was dumb," mumbled Gabe, frowning the instant he heard his mother's expectedly stern tone. "Mom, please! Tyrone can come and I can apologise to him and... and Felix will drive 'cos he's, like, all over Cain right now and we'll have fun! We... We kinda have friends for the first time in forever."
 
"He is not all over me!" Squeaked Cain in response, his cheeks now matching his mother's as he nervously fiddled with the sleeves of his sweater. "He tolerates me, that's it. I-I mean, I just... it would be nice, ma. You could come, sure, but I was sort of excited to be able to go on a proper trip with some people who tolerate us, yeah... but if you're against it, we understand, right?"

Turning to Gabe, he raised an eyebrow as an unspoken sign to try and tell his brother to not relent. While Cain was often scolded, Gabriel was at the perfect situation to get their mother to listen to him. Gabriel could bat his eyes and sniffle, and she would be wrapped around his finger.
 
"I... We understand, course we do! And... And we won't go if you really don't want, but... but Tyrone's sorta... I really like him lots and I think he likes me, even after everything, and this is, like, the one chance I have to make a friend a-and it'd suck if I didn't get to. We'll phone you, like, every hour we're gone and we... we'll be safe, Mom," babbled Gabe, his urgency and downright desperation to get her to agree being incredibly unsubtle. He did see this as his one opportunity, after all - and given this trip was also intended to end his father's life, he felt it was vitally important his mother agreed. If he had to break into tears to convince her, he was prepared to.

"I don't... I don't know. Where would you be going? For how long? Don't you see why I don't think this is a good idea?" She grimaced, though her stern tone had faced considerably. She was teetering on the edge of agreeing, mostly because she saw how much it meant to them. And they were old enough to do something adventurous with their friends, weren't they? "Who's Felix, again? That bully who you punched? Since when were you and him friends?"
 
Felix helped me when Gabe was gone," Cain tried to explain, though spoke slowly as he struggled to come up with proper phrasing. "Just... I promise you that this will be good for us, all of us. I can't explain to you right now, but this'll be big for all of us. I... I want to stay in this town, Ma, I don't want to move. After what we'll do, we won't have to run anymore."

"I just want to do this, that's all I'm going to say," he declared weakly as he rolled to face away from his family, his lips pursed tight. "This is... all fine. Everything is fine. We'll call you whenever you want us, we'll keep knives on us if we need to, and we'll make sure that Felix and Tyrone don't do anything stupid."
 
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On one hand, Pearl wanted to stamp her authority down and listen to her instincts. She was intensely close to both her sons, so the prospect of letting them go off god knows where with two boys that had bullied them was insane, especially when Gabriel had just been through hell. She wanted nothing more than to hold them close, not let them drift away further.

On the other hand, she didn't want to risk upsetting them and having them start to rebel against her. She didn't know what she'd do if her sons just... left her, permanently. Giving them a slice of freedom might make them, ultimately, closer to her.

"Maybe... Maybe, okay? It's not a yes, not a no, it's a maybe. I'd need to speak to Felix and Tyrone, make sure they aren't planning to lay a finger on either of you first. And... And you both take weapons, just in case, and phones and... and where would you even go, Cain? Just for a drive?"
 
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"Yeah, just a drive," he lied easily as he glanced at his brother, his eyes sparkling hopefully. Sure, the whole outing would be far from fun, especially since the main mission was to kill their father, but it was nice to be able to convince their mother of something... no matter how manipulative it was. He kept his smile to a minimum in fear of her finding it suspicious, but he couldn't hold back a smirk.

"I promise we'll be safe, ma. I wouldn't let anything happen to Gabriel after this, I... I mean that," he admitted, his cheerful tone fading at the thought. He put a lot of pressure on himself after what happened, naturally, which caused him to purse his lips together. "This will be good for us, I promise. If anything happens, y-you... I dunno, you can ground me until I die, okay?"
 
After a full week dedicated to convincing Pearl that it would be a simple trip, the woman reluctantly gave her agreement... albeit with a physical list of conditions for both her sons to adhere to. They had to call her on the hour, every hour, they had to take pepper spray with them, she made them swear they wouldn't leave one another's side...

Though, no matter what his mother made him promise to do, Gabriel wasn't going to let it hinder how excited he was. He'd spent the whole of the previous night not just packing two backpacks full to the brim of blankets and random knick-knacks, but filling a third backpack full of various types of sandwiches for the four of them. Felix, after all, had agreed to join them on the trip. He thought it would benefit him in plenty of ways: he could escape his parents for a while, he could get out of town but, mostly, he could spent time with Cain. He wasn't sure how he felt but, now they were sort of friends, he wanted to at least see if his feelings went further than that. Spending hours with him in a car would be worthwhile.

That was mostly because he didn't believe any of the cannibalistic rubbish Tyrone's parents seemed to have believed in. Sure, it was weird that Gabriel had been eating raw deer meat, but that was hardly a cause to hate the kid, or make the leap that he and his brother were cannibals. He put that down to Tyrone's parents being fucking insane.

He had -somehow- managed to convince Tyrone to join, making the trip sound like a perfect getaway from the hell he'd been through recently. His father was in prison, his mother was dead and he was currently staying with Felix which was hardly a great place to be. The trip would, he said, be fun and help Tyrone relax and get over it all for a few hours.

Knowing that Tyrone would be on the trip was perhaps why Gabriel had been awake all night trying to find something to wear, eventually settling on his usual colourful ensemble of bright jeans and an equally bright jacket. He then proceeded to spend the morning pacing anxiously until Felix pulled up outside in his old -but trusty- car. Hell, the boy only really let his nerves disappear when in the backseat of the car and taking in how real this all was.

"...You look nice Tyrone-- you too, Felix! It'll be fun, okay? Super fun, really fun..."
 
In contrast to his brother's excitement, Cain had spent the week on the edge. He spent the entire week nearly fully focusing on both of their homework, since he knew Gabriel would be far too focused on being giddy about the whole thing, and had practically only ever shown up amongst his family for dinner. Unsurprisingly, he was utterly exhausted by Friday. He hadn't even said a single word to Felix or Tyrone the entire week and solely relied on Gabriel to relay the message...and his mother to properly help them pack. His eagerness to kill the man who had ruined their mother's life overruled his growing discouragement, though, as he persisted in pushing their mother to get them to go.

He knew he was having a better time than Tyrone, of course. Sure, Cain was exhausted and scared, but Tyrone had lost almost everything. To go from a relatively normal household to losing both of his parents and being forced to stay with his friend's terrible parents was a bit of a jump for him. Much like Cain, he had grown distant, even when with Felix. He refused any help or counseling, insisting he was fine and he could just keep going. To hear that there was an opportunity for him to just leave town for awhile and think about something else, he was willing to take it easy.

So, once patiently waiting outside of the twins' home, Tyrone was leaning against Felix's car with a cigarette between his lips, inhaling it hard. He didn't hate Gabriel or Cain, but that didn't mean he wasn't wary at the sight of the two boys. Taking in the overpacking, it contrasted to Tyrone's own light bag of a few clothes and the basics. Taking in the clearly exhausted form of Cain, he shot a glance over to Felix.

"Yeah, we better get going. Don't want to pay for a hotel room more than we have to," he explained as he tossed the cigarette to the ground and stubbed it out with his toe.
 
"...You can't leave cigarettes on the path, my mother won't be happy with that. She... She spends ages working on the garden, try not to make a mess," grimaced Gabriel, caring far too much about keeping the garden clean than getting back on a good track with Tyrone. The latter was incredibly important to him of course, but he'd spent hours and hours working in the garden with his mother and Cain, and seeing the cigarette be stubbed out like that with no intention to clean it up was grating.

Pocketing the cigarette after wrapping it in a tissue, he scrambled back into the car, hardly caring who got in beside him. If it was Cain, he'd be happy, but he'd be equally as happy if Tyrone did. That might suit both twins: Cain could sit up front with Felix and he could sit with Tyrone.

"...How long will it take to get there, anyway? Like, hours? We'll have to sleep in the car at some point, but Cain and I are kinda tiny, so it's fine. I mean, we're not that short, but compared to you guys, we're like titches, right Cain?"
 
Cringing at the comment, that quip immediately made him sit in front. Sure, the comment was simply out of respect for the twins' mother, but at the unstable emotional state was it, anything remotely critical only made him angrier. He was an orphan, and the kid who literally caused that to be was mad that he put a cigarette on the very edge of their property? He said nothing, though, and tossed his bag in the back as he slipped into the passenger seat. Once inside, he took no hesitance to light up another.

Meanwhile, Cain watched the scene and, even in his exhausted state, knew that the environment had grown uncomfortable. Slipping into the seat beside his brother, he wrapped the belt around him before rummaging through his bag and taking out his favorite pillow and a blanket. Like hell was he going to stay up for quiet conversation, he needed to rest himself up if he was going to kill a cult. That being said, he did peak an eye out from the blankets and offered a smile to his brother.

"Of course we'll have to stay a few nights. This is back in the states, Gabe, it took a few days to move here. I assume they're still in that old town, right?" He whispered quietly. "You're right, though. We could sleep in the wheel well if we needed to, right? You two could sleep up there and we could sleep on the floor.
 
"That's dumb. We'll all sleep comfortably in the car, it'll be fine. Hey, maybe we'll all have to snuggle up? It'll be cold, won't it? I don't mind, like, offering myself as a pillow to you, Cain. A pretty weird shaped pillow, but hey, the offer's there," grinned Felix over his shoulder, catching himself surprised by just how... different the atmosphere was between him and Cain. Just a month ago, he would rather stick hot pins in his eyes than be sat in a car for hours at a time with the boy, but now? He was openly... well, flirting.

There really was no other excuse for what he was doing. Maybe he could claim he was just being friendly, but then how would he justify the red beetroot-coloured cheeks he gained whilst talking like this with him? Regardless of whether it was flirtation of friendliness, he enjoyed the new atmosphere between him and Cain. It was... nice.

And Gabriel definitely approved, if the unsubtle grin he shot his brother was anything to go by. Sure, it made him feel sad that he didn't have that with Tyrone, but hell, he wasn't going to whine about it. It was just nice that Cain had it with Felix.

"He'll definitely accept the offer. He gets sick real easily if he's not kept warm," babbled Gabriel, nudging his brother with another beaming smile. "I'll just cuddle up with my pillow, I'll be alright."
 
"I-I mean, I... I'm not going to force you," he whispered in response, his brief moment of urgent babbling being cut short as he shyly sank further into the blanket, covering his own beetroot cheeks with it. "I'm pretty annoying when I sleep, though. I roll around a lot and stuff, and... a-and I do get sick with bad sleep. How I haven't had a full-on fever from this week is a miracle, aha..." he laughed stiffly, though only grew more embarrassed while explaining himself. Rolling away to face the seat rather than the three boys, he silently cursed his inability to properly flirt as he wiped his eyes.

"That would be nice, though, yeah..." he admitted eventually. He had already been someone who thought out every word he said critically, and there was nothing more terrifying than messing up in front of the guy he unashamedly liked.
 
"You two are, like, adorable. Honestly. It's lovely to see you both happy, I'm, like, your biggest fan," gushed Gabe, holding onto his pillow the moment the car began. There wasn't any turning back now they'd started and, while he really wasn't prepared to go back anyway, he still allowed his nervousness to show. He didn't want Felix and his brother to lose their growing friendship, and he didn't want Tyrone to hate him further... and that might happen when the two other teenagers realised that the whole purpose of this trip was to kill a few people.

"...Can I have a cigarette, Tyrone? I... I want to try, I think. We're the same age and you're smoking, so I can definitely try," admitted Gabriel. It was a desperate attempt to have something in common with Tyrone and bond with him and while it might fuck his lungs up for a little while, he decided it was worth it.

That said, he still appealed to his brother for his agreement.

"Can I? Mom won't know, it's fine, Cain. It's just one."
 
"Gabriel, ma would be so upset. She's already nervous about this whole trip, a-and you know I hate lying to her. This whole thing makes me feel really bad, you know? I don't think I can handle it," he grunted quietly as he let out a heavy yawn. "You don't need to do that, Cain. I... I-I mean, I think its a terrible idea," he explained quietly after a bit of a babble before covering his head with the blanket.

"Look, can we all just not talk for a bit?" Murmured Tyrone as he rolled down the window so the air could blow out of the car. "It's too fucking early and I just want to get some breakfast, okay? Let's listen to some shitty radio music and just... be quiet."
 
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