Possessive (Completed)

Calm Before the Storm

Shout out to oxidux <3 Comment, and if you're first you'll get a shout out next time!

     Simon sat on the couch of the small house he shared with his brother, and played lazily on his phone. Summer had come as he'd wanted, but Simon had hoped to get a part time job to fill his time, but Liam insisted he spend his summer 'as a child' or doing nothing at all. Simon appreciated the sentiment, but was beginning to feel a bit stir-crazy, though he'd never tell Liam of this. They'd never been in a better place in their relationships, and Simon knew a little boredom was worth keeping that going. 

     They hadn't talked about what happened with Shea... since it happened, and Simon wasn't going to bring it up if Liam wasn't. Still, it felt as if they were running through some kind of temporary happy fog before it would lift and the rain would pour. Liam's actions were justified, in Simon's opinion, and to worry about who Simon was with seemed only natural. Only Liam wouldn't let him grow up and be more of an adult. If he really wanted Simon to learn who was good or bad, he ought to just let him make a few mistakes. Perhaps Simon needed to get hurt to learn who he shouldn't be around.

     Or maybe not. 

     Liam came home from work a few hours later and Simon was excited to see him. He'd become dependent on his brother to fill all his social desires, as he hadn't the time to establish strong friendships at St. Anne's. Liam was tired, but happy as always to see his younger brother. 

      "Hey." Liam called as he entered the house. Simon sat up from the couch with a bright smile, and walked over to greet him.

     "Hi." Simon grinned, "How was training?" 

     "Good. I'm super sore. Any ideas for dinner?" Liam asked rubbing his stomach. He really had been at the gym, and we was positively starving. 

     "Um.. wherever." Simon shrugged. 

     "Tacos?" Liam suggested, making his way over to sit on the couch, gesturing for Simon to follow him. 

     "We had tacos yesterday." Simon's brow furrowed. 

     "Right." Liam looked defeated. "Burgers?"

     "Sure. There's that little place on 5th next to the laundromat-"

     "NO!" Liam stated strongly. "I mean... I really want tacos. I love tacos."

     "Since when?" Simon arched a brow. 

     "Since always. You got the tortilla, the meat, the guac. What's not to love?" Liam insisted. "Please Simon, please?" 

     "Fine. If it means that much to you, we can get tacos again." Simon shrugged. Liam was being strange, but he didn't want to rock their perfect boat just yet, so he figured he'd let it go. He'd been doing that a lot lately. 

      "Yeah.." Liam turned his head slightly to the side. "Do you want to invite anyone from school?"

      "Um.. no?" Simon looked up at Liam in confusion. 

     "I just feel like it's been a long time since you've seen your friends..." Liam stated, and Simon grimaced. He wanted to say 'that's because you've chased them all away,' but he held his tongue. 

     "Did you.. did you have someone in mind?" Simon was genuinely interested to see what exactly Liam was getting at. 

     "You haven't seen Kit in a while, have you?" Liam asked suddenly. 

     "No?" 

     "And are you still friends with him?" Liam prodded. 

     "I guess." Simon shrugged. He loved Kit, but their conversations had been brief, as Kit was going through something difficult at home. "Do you want me to invite Kit?"

      Liam flushed bright red. "No.. I mean if you wanted to you could.. you just haven't seen him a while and I figured you might like to.. damn.. I mean.."

     "I'll message him." Simon smiled to himself, pulling out his phone to text Kit. 

....

     "Explain to me again what you did, Asher." The therapist sat in his chair with his stupid pad writing his stupid notes and making his stupid judgments. Asher knew the man was helping him, but he felt so ashamed whenever he had to speak on his action. 

      "I asked my friends to leave him alone." Asher stated, trying to keep his meager voice calm. 

      "And they listened to you?" The man asked. 

     "Yes. Everyone listened to me." Asher flinched at the sound of his own words. 

      "Why?" 

     "They knew I'd be upset if they didn't."

     "Hmm." The man began scribbling something on his pad, and Asher wanted to stand up and punch the pad out of the little man's hands. This wasn't going to help him with anything. "And why did you do it?"

     "Um.. there were people bullying him..."

      "How very noble. Is that the only reason? This took place over an extended period of time?" 

     "Yes it did." Asher admitted. "I think... well.. another part of it was that it used to anger me even when he would sit with his friends.. cause I should be.. it should be me."

      "Why?"

     "Because he didn't have the right to be messing around with other people.. didn't he.. the others.. didn't they know he was... he was..." Asher trailed off.

      "Yours?" The man asked, and Asher grunted in agreement. 

     "That sounds really bad, doesn't it?"

     "Not at all." The man said in an emotionless tone. "You're a child of abuse?"

     "Yes."

     "And you have an adopted sibling?" The man asked.

     "Yes, Kit." 

     "Asher, it isn't bad at all that a person in your situation might grow to be a bit territorial. It's only natural. Nothing that can't be worked on and changed."

     "Okay," Asher lied. It wasn't okay. Nothing about his life was okay, and he wished his therapist would just tell him the truth; his life was bad. It did suck. He left the office that day feeling worse than when he came in. Even if he worked really hard, he didn't deserve to get better. He didn't deserve a better situation. He had torn a family apart. He'd ruined Kit's life. He'd ruined Simon's life. He'd ruined his own life. Nobody who did that deserved a second chance, he thought. He was sure out of chances, and rock bottom was where he was going to stay. 

     It's what he deserved.

....

      "Why are you so touchy lately?" Garrett asked a bewildered Shea.

      "Not now, Garrett." Shea rolled his eye. It had been a long day, and he didn't want to deal with it anymore. Garrett had gotten awfully self righteous lately. 

    "I'm just worried about you man, you haven't been the same since-" 

     "Stop it." Shea shushed. "I don't want to talk about that. That's not why I asked you over."

     "Well if you don't care what I think, why did you invite me?" Garrett scolded. 

     "Because... I don't know, I missed you." 

     "Keep missing me. Call me when you're ready to be an adult." Garrett was gathering his things to leave, and Shea felt a pang of regret. He supposed he hadn't been very fair to Garrett over the past couple of weeks. 

      "Wait Garrett!" Shea rushed over to stop him from leaving. "I.. I don't have any friends left."

     "You should have thought about that before being rude to me." Garrett pushed by him and got into his car, slamming the door behind him.

     "Wait Garrett!" Shea ran out the door after him.