you in my voice (bxb)

quatorze

Quatorze - Fourteen

The silence in the room was thicker than anything else, Fay seemingly unable to swallow any air. He slowly stood up from his seat, keeping his palms splayed out to try to calm down the raging boy across the table. Maman tried to get up as well, but her movements were fast enough to further anger him.

"You don't understand!" Charlot screamed out, kicking his chair hard enough to knock it over. The slam of the wood against the floor echoed throughout the dining room and caused for Fay to flinch.

"Char, mon trésor." Maman attempted to speak, watching with wide brown eyes as Char gripped a plate in his hands. "Please calm down." Her accent was much richer than everyone else's in the room and her words had a lot more jurisdiction.

"Calm down! All I ever hear is to calm down." His face had a red tinge to it as emotions of all sorts passed through his body. Fay wanted to reach across the table and catch his hand in his. He wanted to soothe his little brother, but he simply didn't know how to. "No one gets what it's like!"

Just like that, the plate was tossed aside, shattering upon hitting the ground. Vivienne stood up as well, joining the rest of the family as they tried to come up with a way to calm him. "It's okay." Her voice was soft and smooth, but Charlot didn't like it.

"It's not okay!" He told her, stepping away from her as though he might be attacked any moment. "You always say that and yet it never gets better!"

"Please." Maman kept her voice low, her demeanor patient and understanding. She didn't scold him or yell at him, instead appearing as though nothing had gone wrong. "I know we don't understand, but we aren't lying. It may seem bad now, but-"

"Ugh!" Char shook his head, backing up even further with shaking hands. Fay could see the battle going on behind his eyes. He was scared of himself and his own actions. Fay knew that, but he still didn't know how to help. "I can't hear this shit anymore!"

"Language, mon canard." Maman didn't say anything more, seemingly unaffected by Char's words.

"I'm not your duck, or your treasure!" Charlot snapped. Fay knew that Char hated Maman's pet names, but she called them all pet names. It was just one of those things they were all used to. "I don't want to be called that shit anymore!"

Maman nodded slowly, her long brown hair pulled into a low ponytail that had begun to slip. The wrinkles on her face showed how much time she spent working and worrying for her children. It hurt Fay's heart to hear Charlot's cruel words, even if he didn't mean them.

Fay was the oldest and most responsible of the siblings, so he felt the need to take matters into his own hands. He didn't understand how Char could go through all of this and still not attempt to take his medications.

He took a large step forward, but a slow one, carefully approaching the nervous boy. "Char, can we talk a bit?"

"No!" Charlot said instantly, his whole posture going rigid as though the idea of that scared him. Fay took another step forward, reaching the end of the table. Char took another step back, ending up in the doorway leading to living room. "I don't want to talk!"

"Petit frère." Fay always used to call Char his little brother when they were younger, and Char used to love it, even though he would pout and pretend that it annoyed him. "Let's hang out or something, like we used to."

Despite Fay's efforts to appeal to him, Charlot looked almost more threatened by it. Fay took it upon himself to approach the broken boy. He kept his posture slumped to try to appear smaller, hoping that he didn't come across as threatening. However, that was when Charlot seemed to lose any ounce of control that he might have had left.