My Overprotective Brothers

Chapter 44

"Ammmbbbi!"

"Princesssss!"

"AMBER!"

"Wha- what the heck Isaac?!"

"It woke you up didn't it?" Isaac said innocently whilst doing a big yawn, making Dylan's face scrunch up in disgust.

I rub the sleep from my eyes and sit up, viewing the scene in front of us. All our legs are tangled up, Dylan's colourful pink and grey socks are making my eyes go fuzzy and all our hair is a mess but of course, Dylan's looks flawless as always.

Jason is rubbing his tense forehead and scrunching his eyes shut, opening them and removing the blanket covering his naked chest.

"Damn those abs! I swear if we weren't brothers I definitely would..." Dylan trailed off whilst gazing at Jason's eight-pack glowing shamelessly, making Dylan almost drool with temptation.

We all look at each other weirdly and turn to an innocent looking Dylan, still mesmerised with Jason's naked chest.

"Dude that's wrong on so many levels," Grey said with a deep frown directed at Dylan. We all nod our heads in agreement, making Dylan look at us with confusion.

"How is that weird?"

"You basically said that if you weren't related to Jason, you would try and go out with him..." Isaac spat with pure disgust at the incestuous comment made by Dylan.

"Is it weird that I find Jason's body attractive?" Dylan asked innocently.

"YES!" We all shouted, knocking Dylan back with our forcefulness. Jason starts pulling the blanket up higher and grabbing his t-shirt slowly, looking very uncomfortable and weirded out by Dylan's confession.

"Oh well...sorry not sorry." Dylan said, grabbing his belongings and crawling out the fort, leaving all of us scared and worried for Dylan's sanity and Jason's safety.

***

"Someone get this boy some concealer his under-eye bags are bigger and bolder than my fashion sense!" Dylan exclaimed with his mouth full of fruit loops, examining Grey's dark under-eye bags. Grey looked suddenly self-conscious and slumped back on his stool, covering the dark skin under his eyes.

"You know Grey is self-conscious, don't make him feel any worse!" I shout at Dylan and his no-filter mind that can hurt a lot of people's feelings without knowing it. I give Grey a hug and whispered that he looked fine, he smiled at me then kissed the side of my head, thanking me and continuing eating his cereal.

For as long as I can remember, Grey has had body dysmorphia. I sometimes catch him looking in the mirror with tears in his eyes, looking at his stomach and the marks on it. As a kid, Grey was quite overweight and gained pounds very easily. He would be bullied daily and made fun of because of his weight. I remember times Jason would tell me that Grey would run home from school because of what the popular boys have said about him. I was too young to fully understand what he had been through, as he is seven years older than me and the bullying started in middle school.

This is why Grey is now really into cooking and becoming a chef, specialising in healthy foods and working towards opening a restaurant and selling tasty food that has minimal calories. Sounds great to me but I still worry about his feelings inside that he keeps locked away. I always try and encourage him to open up to me, but introverted people with a lot of self-hate, body dysmorphia various mental conditions know, that it isn't as easy as you think.

I remember the times I would walk into the kitchen to see my parents crying over what Grey has been through that day and how he has punished himself, cutting his stomach fat and carved words with a knife that spell vile things like "Worthless" "Fat" and "Ugly". He is getting much better now, but his mental and physical scars will never heal completely.