Kidnapping the WRONG Brother [MAN X MAN]

Edge

C o l e

"Cole?" a young Noel had opened Cole's door, forgetting to knock as usual and found his brother by himself in the room.

"Father didn't want me to but I still came. Happy birthday" Noel said as he took a small step in.

"...go away" Cole muttered. He was sitting on his bed whilst hugging knees, staring at the wall with an expressionless look on his face.

He had just finished one of the typically brutal training sessions their father forced them to go through. As usual, Noel cried until the trainer decided to stop and give him a break but that didn't mean it applied to Cole as well.

"Come on, Cole! Don't be sad, it's your birthday" Noel said as he ventured further into his brother's room.

"Don't care" Cole said monotonously. Noel frowned at the cold act his brother was pushing forward.

"You're no fun" he said, a pout crossing his lips.

"..."

Seeing that Cole didn't seem to be in the mood to talk, Noel sighed.

"Will you at least look at the gift I got you?" He said, showing off the small poorly wrapped gift in his hands.

"..."

Cole continued to stare forward and stay silent, and having become fed up with his brother's unresponsive behavior, Noel huffed and tossed the gift on his bed.

"Whatever" he grumbled before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Cole continued to sit like that, even after an hour had passed. It was only then when his legs started to fall asleep on him, that he decided to move. As he moved to leave the bed, his leg had hit the gift Noel left for him and despite not really caring for it, he still picked it up.

It was poorly wrapped with tape randomly put everywhere and pieces of paper sticking out. Cole unwrapped it and inside it was a tiny box. He opened it and inside the box was a bracelet, seemingly handmade with his name on it.

Where did he even get the materials to make this? Probably at school, Cole figured but he just threw the gift in a random clothing drawer.

He didn't want to see it but he also felt like he shouldn't throw it away. Or maybe he should?  He wasn't really sure at the moment.

After closing the drawer, Cole got back in his bed and threw the covers over his head, ready to sleep off all the pain he was feeling.

~ present ~

I was sitting here trying to think back on any kind of memories I had of my birthday, in hopes that I'd remember the date. It was hard, since I typically didn't have good ones and I didn't always like to remember them.

The only thing I was sure of was that it was in the summer time, since I just remember how unbearably hot it was around the time. I don't remember it being near any specific holiday, so maybe not July. Perhaps June? Or maybe August? Who knows.

"Cole? You've been in here all morning, I'm getting lonely" Eros had poked his head into my room with a frown on his lips.

Well, it's our room now I guess. Eros hardly ever slept in his room anymore, every night he'd come and join me for sleep despite me constantly reminding him of his own bed. He didn't care for it either way and it's not as if I minded too much.

"I've just been thinking about some things" I said and Eros nodded.

"Like what?" He asked.

"When is your birthday?" I said and Eros' brow raised a bit, likely because my question was unexpected.