The switch

Bad news

The thumping in his ears felt like an elephant racing across the jungle. It was almost loud enough to drown out the insane ringing that threatened to make his head explode. He suddenly felt strong arms holding him and a soft voice managed to break through the pain in his ears.

"Hey.. it's okay.. breath.. shhh.."

Air returned to his lungs like a punch from reality. He was laying on the floor. His boyfriend's arms tightly wrapped around him and his brother holding his head up on his lap.

"It's okay, Len. We'll figure something out. We won't let this happen." Barry murmured in his ear, like a safe and reassuring beacon of hope in this nightmare.

He was being shipped off to be married to a man he'd never even met. All because of some deal his father had made. He was going to have to leave his home, his brother, Lisa, Barry... his entire life..

Len focused on his breathing and on the sweet voice talking to him. This couldn't be happening. He had worked so hard to get to where he was and all of it was going to be ripped away.

Their father had sent someone to inform him, not bothered enough to come himself, about the arrangement made and lucky for Len, Leo and Barry had been there to stop him from hitting the floor as he collapsed.

Leo looked away as Barry cradled Len's head to his chest and started crying silently. Len stared into an imaginary void in front of him and let his mind escape this horrible reality. Leo tipped his head back to stop the tears of rage from spilling out of his eyes. This wasn't fair. Len didn't deserve this.

Leo slowly stood up and looked around him. Time seemed to have stilled. The only indication that it hadn't being Barry's muffled sobs. Before he realized it, he had opened the door and was storming down the hall. His brain was no longer thinking with logic and calm as it usually did. All of his usual kindness and love now gone and replaced with boiling hatred and hunger for vengeance just waiting to be unleashed on their target. The blood running in his ears was deafening and was probably also drowning out all logic trying to reach his brain.

He kicked the door open with such brutal strength that he wasn't sure it was still intact. "How.. dare you!" His body no longer obeyed him. Only anger and grief controlled his actions. He realized only after it happened that he had grabbed his father from the chair where he was sitting and slammed him against the wall.

Lewis smirked but didn't make any movement to push Leo away from him. "I see your brother's told you the news." He drawled as if speaking of the weather and not the fact he had quite literally sold his son out.

"You chose him on purpose!" Leo spat. "You could have whored me or Lisa out! But you chose him on purpose. You knew it was to him that this would cause the most damage! You're ripping him away from Barry on purpose!!!" His rage was uncontrollable. All his emotions blended together to form on immense mix of pain and fury.

Lewis' smile only grew bigger. "And they say he got all the brains.. That's quite an impressive little deduction you made there, son. But, as usual, you're wrong. Your brother's nauseating little romance has nothing, well.. almost nothing, to do with this. Your brother is like a toxic plant. Always chasing after more power. It'd only be a matter of years before he tried to take my place. Be happy I'm sending him away. If this opportunity hadn't presented itself, it would only have been a few months before I decided to put him down."

Leo stumbled back. His heart shattering in a million more pieces. He felt absolutely sick. He inhaled sharply and tried to calm the ringing in his ears. Lewis stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder with way more force than necessary. "But you and your sister.. you ain't got a strong bone in your body. You wouldn't do what's necessary to take my place. That's why I'm not obligated to get rid of you." Leo tried to pull away from his grip but his mind was still spinning and threatened to make him pass out if he lost the grounding weight of his father's hand.