Hold your Breath

Chapter Eight - Dead to Me

It was a tough week avoiding Offender, but it was for the best. His disappointed pout only broke you whenever you saw him; especially when he were around you. The brothers had suspected something was wrong, but didn't know what it was or understand why, so they stayed out of it, assuming Offender was having one of those 'why did I kill her?' mood swings again, they wouldn't be surprised if it was too, it started happening a lot ever since his older brother's wedding, it was strange at first, but everyone agreed that he just needed someone to hold at night rather than another human body to use and discard when pleased.

Everything was different for you however, you were trying to figure out what your feelings were for your husband's brother, but at the same time, you were wondering why you felt that way. Perhaps it was the fact that he was a rebel, someone who grins at the sight of pain, yet he was so soft and gentle. Perhaps it was how he could easily use you and leave you as if you were a nobody, but chooses to try to make things work. Perhaps you didn't even love him, perhaps it was just a feeling of oust and absence of excitement in your life, but all of those 'reasonable' excuses didn't sit well for you.

With a heavy sigh, you rest your head in your hands. Not only was it a terrible feeling to have cheated on your husband, but you also had to deal with the feeling of loneliness. Not only were you going to be left alone that day, but it was also your thirty-second birthday, the age where you feel like you're about to have a midlife crisis and a teenage mental breakdown all at once, or so you have been told. You didn't want to spend your birthday alone again, you had assumed by this age you would have your life in order, but, here you were, thinking of your husband's brother once again.

"It's not your fault," you whisper to yourself and look at your reflection in the mirror, pouting slightly. "You just need some time to think. And maybe need to tell Slender..."

"Tell me what, my love?" your lover coos as he walks into the bathroom, blushing slightly at the sight of you being in nothing else than a towel wrapped around your chest, hardly even making it down to half of your thighs. You like that he blushes whenever seeing you like this, it's adorable to think that he still gets shy when seeing someone like you in such attire. You sigh again, contemplating whether or not to tell him or to keep it all to yourself, and Offender of course. "Is something wrong? You have been awfully.. distant lately..."

"I know, I know..." you look away and hug yourself a little, taking in a deep breath. "I know I have been, I'm sorry. I just.. I don't know..."

"But, darling," he slowly approaches you and turns you around as he takes your hands in his, you could definitely feel his gentle gaze licked on your guilty self. "you may tell me anything, I doubt it would be as bad as a murder, though it would not matter to me if it were, you and I are both serial killers after all!" he chuckles softly, almost instantly dropping his enthusiasm when seeing how torn your expression was, how lost you seemed. "Honey, you may tell me anything, as I promised at our wedding, 'until death do us part', I do not care for anything else, I shall not leave your side, (y/n)."

Slowly, you look up at him with hopeful eyes, gulping softly. "You r-really mean that?"

"Of course I do, my love. Now, please, tell me what has been bothering you so much this past while..."

"Yeah, just take the entire couch." Offender shrugs, in his robes half tied to reveal his chest, but hide half of his grey sweatpants, of course a glass of whiskey was in his hand. The movers, frightened by him, were trying to lift his sofa to take to the buyers, but all three of them get startled when the front doors get knocked down. "Oh, hey, brother-"

"YOU TRAITOR!!"

"Ah, shit-!" before Offender could run away from his spot, he gets ripped off of the ground and tossed into a self portrait, the glass from the frame shattering and slicing into his pale skin as the glass in his hand gets dropped onto the ground, spilling alcohol onto the floor. Spooked, the two workers run out of the open doors as Slender makes his way towards his brother, his blood boiling with rage, fists clenched tightly and his tendrils swaying behind him.

"HOW COULD YOU?!" Slender screeches and grabs Offender's gown, lifting him up to be face to face with his reddened frown.

"How could I wha-?"

"DON'T ACT STUPID! YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID! WITH MY WIFE!" Offender shivers and bows his head, tearing up out of fear.

"I know! I'm sorry! I couldn't help myself-!" Slender shoves him onto the ground and slowly, very slowly and menacingly, walks towards him, Offender trying to crawl away.

"Why did you do it?"

"I-I-"

"SPEAK UP, YOU DISGRACE!" Offender wipes some blood off of his lips and collapses to the ground once Slender wraps his tendrils around him, dragging him back and slamming him onto the wall. He wraps another around his neck and tightens his grip, on most occasions Offender would be aroused by this, but he was too traumatized to feel any sort of thing. "I ask again, WHY WOULD YOU DO IT?!"

"..I-..I just-.." he grunts, looking at Slender in shock; he had never seen this side of his brother, he had only seen a part of him, but that was when you had passed... "I love her, okay?!" he sobs out as he grabs a hold of Slender's tendrils, crying harder. Slender scoffs before dropping his brother, frowning harder.

"Pathetic."

"I just.." Offender breathes heavily and curls into a ball, stroking his new neck bruises. "I love her and.. and it hurts seeing you two so happy together."

"So you attempted to break us apart?!"

"N-no! I don't even know what I was thinking! She'd pick you over me any day, you saw how she's been around me, like I don't even exist to her anymore..." he moves his hand down to his chest, as if his heart were breaking further in front of his brother. "I'm not even a second choice, I'm just your brother. The one fucking time I love someone, I can't be with her."

"I found her first, I married her. What else do you need in order to comprehend you cannot just waltz into everything assuming you are the boss?" Slender asks in a much more calmer tone, seemingly having calmed down when seeing his brother's hurt face.

"I don't know... I've loved her for so long, it feels like I-"

"Fell in love?" Slender asks and scoffs once again when seeing the man nod. "I have known her for much longer than you have-"

"Then you would know she liked it." Offender sits up against the door, and interrupts Slender with a cough, continuing to speak afterwards, "I bet she told you a different story, we didn't even go all the way..." Slender calmed down much more and sighs, taking in everything that had happened in the past few minutes... "When I look at you," he says weakly, looking up at his ceiling as his blood and tears slowly slide down his skin. "I get so jealous, you're so much better than me and have everything you could have ever wanted..."

"You have sex almost every night." Slender frowns again, but out of frustration, curiosity peaking in his voice.

"It's all meaningless. What Cry Baby and me did meant a lot, even if it was basically just kissing and a bit of touching." Offender hums, sounding groggy from being choked. "If I had my way, I would have taken her away, taken her to a better place; I know she's not really happy here."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you not notice how sad she is? She literally named herself 'Cry Baby', and looks like she's gonna have a breakdown at any moment." Offender sighs and picks out some glass shards. "Not only that, but when I told her what I felt, she actually teared up, like she's never been told 'I love you' before."

"I tell her all the time," Slender chimes in, offended.

"Yeah, I know, I mean by another person. It's sad..." Slender sighs and turns away from his little brother, feeling the hurt and betrayal slowly sink in. "Look, brother, I'm really sorry, I-"

"Do not talk to me nor my family ever again." he threatens in a sinister voice, growling. "You are not my brother, to me, you are merely blood."