Possessive (Completed)

What's the Plan?

Shea stumbled into his room and flopped onto his bed. He wanted to feel angry, he wanted to be upset, but all he really felt was a deep pit of despair. Shea was alone. Not alone like he'd been for the past few weeks, but really truly completely utterly alone. It was Garrett's fault too. For leaving him like that, and refusing to support him. Shea couldn't understand why people kept letting him down. Somehow he could see everything more clearly than everyone else, and they hated him for it. So what Asher had changed, so what he'd been alright when Shea had seen him last? That didn't make him any better of a person. Asher was still the scum of the earth. Followed by Simon and Liam and Garrett and everyone else who had wronged him. All Shea had wanted to do was tell Simon the truth.

Shea wanted to scream.

He wanted to curl up into a tiny little ball and just scream until the morning came, where he could scream some more. He had never been so upset in all his life.

The worst betrayal of the day had come from Garrett. He'd thought he could count on Garrett. He thought, unlike Simon who was weak, that Garrett could withstand Asher's charm and see through the act. He thought Garrett would always be there for him.

Of course that wasn't true.

Sure, Shea had screamed at him... but Garrett had been taking the other side. Yes, Garrett was entitled to his own opinion, but Shea was then entitled to dislike him for having the wrong opinion. Garrett was... Garrett was... perhaps trying to look out for him. There was no reason for Garrett to side with Asher. It wasn't like they were friends anymore, so why would Garrett do it? There just didn't seem to be a logical explanation... unless Shea really was wrong.

But that couldn't be it, could it? Asher had done so much to Simon.. and Liam too.. though Shea had yelled terrible things at Simon. Shea had also tried to blackmail his brother and upset him so terribly to get back into his life.

Okay, that was not Shea's shining moment. But Garrett should have been able to see that Shea's heart was in the right place. Simon.. Simon... well Shea wasn't really sure why he cared so much about Simon anymore. If what Liam said was true then Simon really hadn't wanted to see him again. Why should Shea bother trying to get Simon to like him if he never would? Maybe.. maybe Garrett saw that?

But that would mean Shea pushed Garrett away when he was trying to help.

A little voice inside Shea's head told him that it probably wasn't the first time he'd shoved a good intentioned Garrett away. Something old him he'd probably been doing that for months. It really would be fair to Garrett than.. and Shea liked Garrett. He worried about the boy. Garrett wasn't the smartest, and that could get him into trouble.

Though, he did seem to always know the right thing to say... and he was probably right when he was talking that day, and Shea couldn't see that, so maybe, just maybe Garrett was smarter than anyone gave him credit for.

Garrett had been Shea's best friend... and he'd kicked him to the curb over Simon too many times to count. Simon wasn't worth it anyway. He'd made up his mind and it'd been against Shea, so that was his loss. Garrett had come back that morning to help him too, and still he'd just left Garrett behind at the mall. Maybe Garrett was right to be angry. But that would make Shea wrong... and he supposed there was a possibility, however slight, that was the case.

"Shit." Shea mumbled face down on his bed. "I'm a shit-show."

....

"So... That was kinda a lot." Kit said as they got into the car. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Sometimes talking helps." Kit explained. Liam, in defiance, reached over and switched on the radio. Mr. Brightside came blaring through the speakers full volume, the whole car pumping to the beat of the song.

"THIS IS A GOOD SONG" Kit shouted over the music. "YOU'VE GOT GOOD TASTE IN MUSIC. I LIKE IT."

Reluctantly Liam reached over and lower the radio down again, "You're not going to stop talking are you?"

"Not likely."

"What's there even to say?" Liam sighed.

"We don't have to talk about the situation with Simon, we could talk about something else."

"Like what?" The song still played quietly in the background as the pulled through the streets of Boston.

"Well... you did a bad thing, but your intentions were good, so I don't think you need to worry too much. We could just talk about you instead.. like how you've kinda missed out on your college years.. what's your plan?"

"I don't really have a plan," Liam shrugged. "Maybe I'll go back to college, but Simon will need money once he's off to college, so I might have to keep working where I can."

"And once Simon's done with college?"

"I don't know," Liam's brows furrowed. "I guess I haven't really thought that far ahead."

"He'll probably move out. Don't you think you'd like a more fulfilling job until then?"

"I suppose. Dad was a mechanic... maybe I'll go to trade school or something."

"Won't it be a little late to start something like that? You could drop one of the jobs and start taking night classes now... A mechanic would be higher paying anyway..." Kit suggested.

"Yeah? And where would the extra money come from? Catholic schools have tuition." Liam rolled his eyes.

"Simon could get a job."

"No. That's out of the question. He's too young.. it's just... that not how it's supposed to be.. he should get to have a childhood.. he shouldn't have to start working because his mess of an older brother can't get it together," Liam explained.

"Hey!" Kit scolded. "You're not a mess."

"Look at me!" Liam shook his head. "Look at today."

"Today only happened because you were trying to take on too much. Besides you deserve a childhood just as much as Simon. You're in college.. or supposed to be.. you shouldn't have to be working your ass off like this."

"It has to be like this."

"It isn't your fault!" Kit pursed his lips. "What happened with your parents, none of it. I can't take it with you talking like this. It's nobody's fault. You need to stop blaming yourself."

"But-"

"If Simon proved anything today, it's that he's a strong adult, capable of handling the things you try to keep from him. He's mature enough to deal with this.. in fact he's dealing with it better than you are," Kit paused to take a breath and calm himself down. "It's okay to let yourself be the weaker one for once."

"That's deep, Kit." Liam's breath hitched in his throat.

"I'm the redheaded stepchild. I've been around the block."