Borrowed (tidam)

1

Watch the video (from 2009) in case you're confused and maybe focus on Adam a bit (till the very end), while you're at it.

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"'Somebody' stole that diamond watch from Foust Senior," Chris said without so much as glancing up from his binoculars as he remembered the news he had heard earlier. "Do you think we'll be able to eat something fancy tonight?"

The problem for Chris was, that sometimes good people didn't get a job and without a job, paying the bills was always somehow hard, but he managed and survived even without proper meals every day mostly thanks to his brother. But Chris didn't mind waiting for answers of any kind, not just feedback from interviews but he also often had to wait for answers from the people around him. He didn't mind silence.

In fact, Chris Rupp was a very patient man in terms of observing, he had no problem sitting around outside in the freezing cold at night and watching birds all by himself (and his brother who had forgotten his keys again).
'Birds', in this case, described a single female bird, well, she was a woman actually, but to say that Chris was watching her at night would sound creepy if it weren't for the fact that he was just concerned about her well-being. 

This behavior, he liked to call 'showing his love', but his younger brother Adam never understood him or his motives and Chris was almost sure Adam had never been in love before. However, Chris was a normal man, maybe above average in height and maybe he had lost his hair too early, but he had a nice smile and personality to make up for that.
(If only Sandra could see that too.)

"Do you have a few dollars left?" Adam asked quietly after a few moments as he watched Chris stare through his binoculars.

Although Adam and Chris were related, the two were very different. Adam, for example, had hair.

Well, he really was nothing like Chris, seeing as Adam had a concept of sharing while Chris liked to have things (Sandra) to himself. Sharing, in Adam's case, described him 'borrowing' things from other people and everybody seemed to be fine with it. They were always searching for the borrowed things but never asked to have them back, so he figured everything was fine.

"Tiny bit left from the last deal," Chris murmured and reached around to drag his extremely thin wallet out of his back pocket. "I was hoping you had a few more bucks."

Adam shrugged and completely ignored that Chris wasn't looking at him before he pushed his hands into the pockets of his coat, feeling around for something that might be paper, but instead he found a few borrowed coins, a shoelace, a diamond watch and a can of beans.

"Tomorrow," he said to his older brother and his eyes shone brightly with an excitement Chris never understood. "Tomorrow we can eat properly, I promise."

"But I'm hungry today," Chris whined and let his binoculars sink as he leaned against the bough he was sitting on. He pushed a few branches out of his line of sight as he stared over at the now dark window and sighed before he drew his jacket closer around his body, forcing himself not to tremble because of the cold wind.

Blindly, Chris threw his wallet over to Adam and took the can of beans his brother had held up to him in return. "It's your turn to get us dinner," Chris mumbled, barely suppressing a yawn.

Chris looked around and ignored Adam for a few seconds while he mindlessly played with the can before he jumped down from the tree and walked over to the other one from where he could actually see her bed.

"Try to pay for our dinner this time," he told Adam over his shoulder as he was already climbing again, ignoring the cuts and bruises on his hands. They never hurt that much when Chris could look at Sandra's peaceful body and make sure she would wake up in the morning again. "And come fetch me afterward, I don't feel like giving you the keys when you go shopping."

Adam stayed silent, his new shoes extremely fascinating in the dim light, but he knew Chris was right. 

He just always preferred not to reply when his brother was talking about these habits they had instead he was already making a mental list of things they might be able to afford for dinner and noted that he had to put his new watch in their own mailbox just in case something might happen while he was out shopping.

Incidentally, Chris had started seeing a psychiatrist a few years ago because he wanted to be a role model for his younger brother so certain things wouldn't happen all too often anymore. Since then Chris sometimes was aware of what exactly he was doing to himself and Sandra. However Adam knew, tonight wasn't one of these rare days and well, Chris seemed happy that way and Adam didn't feel like spoiling his mood. 

But Adam was good, he didn't need help from a shrink and he was happy. Well, he could think of a few improvements, some changes here and there, but he wasn't exactly complaining.

With a sigh, Adam stuffed Chris' wallet into the deep, deep pockets of his coat and when he looked up to his brother, who was back staring through his binoculars and smiling again, Adam left without another word. 

In the distance, he heard police sirens approaching after a few minutes and knew his brother had probably done something stupid as soon as Adam left. On instinct, Adam quickened his pace and went through one of the darker alleys. He had to be fast, had to get rid of the watch before someone would search through his pockets, but in the back of his mind, he knew that wouldn't happen. 

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And yes, Austin and Tim will be part of this, I mean it's kinda a Tidam story and that wouldn't work without Tim...

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(Hi, ObsessedwithAvi.)