We're Okay

A stray sock fell from the basket, meaning Diabolic Esper had to bend down and pick it up. He groaned as he shoved it down the side, safely contained by the plastic. Laundry day was a pain. At least he only had one more person to get clothes from.

Speaking of which, instead of knocking, he just walked right in. Time Tracer was sitting at the work table of the bedroom with his dynamos on the table, along with a box of tools. His head perked up when he came in. "Way to walk in like you own the place," he said snidely.

"I do own the place," Esper said, "or at least a third of it." He shook the laundry basket in front of him. "Anyway, give me your clothes."

Time had gone back to what he was doing, distracted by his work. "Later, I'm busy," he brushed him off, waving him away.

But he was caught off guard when Esper shouted, "Insubordination!" and pounced on him. He ripped off his jacket and eye patch as the boy wriggled underneath him.

"H-hey!" he protested. "Get off of me!" He had gotten off one boot when Time said, "At least let me do it myself!"

With that, Esper happily got off him with an, "Okay!"

Time sighed and stood up. "I swear, you have no patience," he muttered.

"I guess that's why I'm a time traveler." The man smirked at him.

He pulled his necklace over his head and dropped it on the table among his dynamos, then proceeded to take his shirt off.

Frankly, Esper shouldn't have been surprised. He must've seen Time's naked butt a thousand times by now, but he couldn't help but stare at his chest.

On the left side of his chest where his heart should be was a scar. It was probably the length of his hand and only so thick. It looked so old and dull compared to his other scars. And he didn't remember seeing it before.

When Time dropped his shirt on his chair, he noticed Esper staring. "Is there something wrong?" he asked tentatively. He was creeping him out.

Now it just felt awkward. "I, uh," he said, "never noticed that scar before."

The boy seemed to realize what he was staring at then. "Oh, yeah," he said, "I guess that would be pretty unsettling."

As he took off his belt, Esper coughed. "May, uh, may I ask where it came from?" he asked awkwardly. "You don't have to answer, I was just—"

"No, it's fine," Time said as he rubbed the blemish in question. "Mmmm ... I don't really remember myself, but I think Arc said something about ... Bone marrow or my heart or something."

He almost dropped the laundry basket on his feet. Even his jaw nearly came unhinged from his face. "... What?"

He took off his remaining boot and started taking off his pants. "Yeah, I think the scientists were collecting DNA samples and looking for defections," He said. But when he looked at his older brother, he didn't look pleased. His grip tightened on the basket so much, he nearly broke it. "But it's fine," he reassured. "We were still little at the time, and it's not like they caused permanent damage."

Time gathered his clothes and dropped it in the laundry basket. Esper still looked like he was straining a smile and still had a death grip. "Need anything else?" he asked.

"No, that's it," Esper gritted his teeth. "I'll see you later."

He kept a smile on his face until he shut the door behind him. Then he grimaced. Those disgusting psychos.

He stomped down the hallway, and the ruckus he made caused socks and gloves to fall out of the basket, but he didn't care. He was beyond pissed off.

As he walked by the living room, Lusa took notice and tried to talk to him, but Esper didn't acknowledge him. He was too irritated.

When he reached the laundry room, he slammed the basket onto the floor and nearly broke the washing machine from hitting it so hard.

Those sick sociopaths, he thought. All of them had been filled with disgust when the tracers told them what had happened while they were in the laboratory. The things those scientists did were atrocious, and they did it to children, no less.

Now, he was filled with unbridled fury. His knuckles were turning white from clenching his fists, and his palms were undoubtedly red from digging his fingernails into them. A vein was popping out of his forehead and he was breathing hard.

He was blinded by his rage, so much so that he didn't notice anyone walk in. It wasn't until that someone touched his side that he realized Time Tracer had followed him in.

His head whipped around, and he saw him. He was wearing a sweater now with jeans, and he had grazed his side with his fingertips. "What'cha doing there?" Esper asked, making Time jump and retract his hand.

"I was just ... Making sure you were you," he said, his face slightly pink. Ordinarily, the senior would laugh and tease him, but today he didn't even smile. It was just another reminder of what the scientists did.

Time Tracer had been born with poor eye sight. He barely knew what his brothers looked like or himself and didn't even know what Velder looked like. But those scientists ... Their experiments only made it worse. By the time they left the laboratory, he was completely blind in his left eye and legally blind in his right.

Esper gritted his teeth and he could feel his blood pounding, until Time touched him again. It was on his shoulder this time, but he didn't look embarrassed. "You know it's okay, right?" he asked.

The man didn't say anything, he only looked away. His younger brother put his other hand on him, on his bicep. "We're fine, Esper," he reiterated. "All three of us are okay."

Finally, he glanced over and saw the boy had a shred of concern. The eyes that were usually glaring and threatening were now round and worried.

"I told you, it happened a long time ago," he repeated, "We were unconscious when it happened, so we barely remember it."

Esper turned around to face him. He had to angle his head down to look him in the eye.

"There's nothing you can do about it now," he went on. "The lab burned down already and no one knows where the nerds went."

He began to turn to leave, but he paused. "Just ... Don't do anything stupid, okay?" Before he could leave, Esper grabbed him. He wrapped his arms around his small frame and pressed his face into his hair. This wasn't like before when he assaulted him; he was hugging him now.

Unsure what to do, Time embraced him and rested his head on his shoulder. Quite frankly, it was weird. He had only shown his softer side and intimacy with the other tracers. While Psych and Arc openly loved their mentors and were more than happy to hug them, Time had barely touched his. They were both weird about interaction with each other.

"Are you okay?" he finally asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Esper said, lifting his head up. "I was just admiring how small and huggable you are and how nice your hair is."

The color from before returned to Time's face and it was worse, transcending into a light shade of red. His older brother had his usual sick, teasing grin.

The boy shoved him, but he only started petting his head. "I mean, it's so soft and smells like roses!" he complimented.

"Oh, shut up!" Time snapped. "Aren't you supposed to be doing something?"

Esper wrapped an arm around him and squeezed his shoulder. "I'm fine," he repeated, but he seemed genuine this time. "Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything I'll regret later."

His little brother gave a sigh of relief. "Well, good," he said.

"Do you want to help me load the clothes in?" he asked.

After a moment of mental debate, he consented. Together they started separating out the clothes, with Esper trying to make Time laugh and the latter trying to suppress his giggles.

Yep, everything was okay now, and Esper wished it could last forever.