Patterns of Blues

Chapter 20

The rest of the week dredged by in relative boredom. Ms. Claire had stopped by with a load of their stuff from home, and it almost set Harry to tears when he opened a box and found Niall's grubby old teddy bear, which, Liam noted, had stayed on Harry's bed ever since. It had earned a small amount of teasing from the other boys, but the curly-haired one didn't pay them any mind.

Liam had noticed his brother's change of attitude over the past few days, and he reasoned that it was just the effects of Niall being away for so long. Harry was always the emotional type, easily saddened or discouraged, but this was at a level Liam had never seen before. When he heard about the visitation that was scheduled, he actually cried. For ten minutes. That was how relieved and happy he was, and Liam felt a bit bad for not having a similar reaction.

Thursday and Friday were the slowest days Liam had lived through, doing house chores and then staying as far away from Nate and Silvio as he could, desperate to keep out of their personal moments. Initially, the revelation had shocked him, but now that he knew, he was surprised at himself for not picking up on it sooner. Between the duo's secret glances, playful banter, and general protectiveness of one another, he was more perplexed at how no one else batted an eyelash over it. He even caught a glimpse of them holding hands under the dinner table! They weren't doing much to keep the chance suspicions away for something they made sound like a secret he needed to guard with his life.

"Liam, when are we leaving?" Harry asked for the fifth time that morning as he scooped a spoonful of cereal. As all of the others had been well aware of the situation, Silvio rolled his eyes,

"Three o'clock, kid. Asking every ten minutes isn't going to change it." Harry's face held a twinge of pink, and Liam shot him a quick smile to affirm that he wasn't bothered, but Nate's voice sounded before he could audibly say so,

"Leave him alone, idiot. You don't know what it's like being away from a brother; it sucks."

"Sorry," Silvio said quickly, not to Harry, but rather to Nate, who was taking a long sip of coffee from a mug with the words 'Choose happiness' written out in an elegant font, glaring at Silvio through narrow blue eyes, clearly not taking the cup's advice. "I wasn't thinking."

"Yeah, I know. You don't tend to," Nate grumbled, setting his mug on the table loudly to respond properly. Asher watched the interaction in silence, gaze jumping from one person to the next, very invested to see where it went. Sully wasn't paying attention, spinning his spoon around in his bowl as fast as physically possible without the contents spilling over, and Charlie had his head low, studying his breakfast wordlessly.

"Nate, you have a brother? I had no idea," Liam decided to say pleasantly in an attempt to ease the discomfort that had formed in the room. Nate's expression turned from annoyed to a stone-cold murder glare, and he pushed his chair out from the table, the legs of it loudly screeching on the wooden floor before stalking up the stairs.

"Nice work, meathead," Silvio hissed at Liam, "You better freaking apologize when he comes back down." He gave Silvio a weird look and had zero intentions of apologizing until he knew what that was about. So he stood up and made to interrogate the older boy, turning for the stairs, but Silvio jumped in front of him, holding a firm hand on his chest, blocking his path,

"Nuh-uh, I think you all have done enough. I'll talk to him."

"Yeah, say it like you weren't the reason the topic was brought up," Asher scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief, "Leave the guy alone, he needs some space." Silvio shot him a foul look, as though he was ready to start a fight,

"Excuse me, he's my best friend. I know what he needs."

"No you don't," Asher responded, and pointed from him back to the table, "Finish eating. Let him cool down. There's all day left to talk to him."