I wandered over to Vic, wondering why he was holding his cheek, I reached out towards him but he cowered away. I furrowed my eyebrows, and reached out again, more forcefully this time I grabbed his hand and moved it away from his face, the red shadow of a hand print decorated his cheek. I gasped. His chocolate eyes pleaded with me to not overreact but I couldn't help it. Anger filled me almost instantly and I knew exactly who'd done this. I whirled around.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I screamed and my mother's face paled.

"Leda, you're still my daughter, remember that. You still need to treat me with respect!" Her tone was stern and authoritative, the same as always, she rarely shouted or screamed and I hated that she could be so calm and collected all of the time. Why didn't I inherit that from her?

"Treat you with respect," I laughed bitterly, "and what about the way you treated Vic? Wait let me guess, he slapped himself in the face." I retorted dryly and she pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest.

"How dare you!" Her tone grew angrier and I wondered if this would be one of the rare times my mom gets angry.

"How fucking dare you." I spat in reply and then I turned to Vic. "Vic, are you okay?" I asked, stroking his cheek gently, he closed his eyes and leaned his head into my palm.

"I'm fine," He reassured, "I should probably go and talk to Mike..." he didn't look too thrilled about the idea but he knew it was something he had to do, after all Mike was his Brother and he'd let him down.

All thanks to me.

I ruin everything.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked concerned, although I knew Mike valued his relationship with his brother I didn't know how he'd act with him. He nodded and I kissed him slowly, partly because it was something I wanted to do and partly because my mom was watching and I knew it'd bother her. She cleared her throat uncomfortably and I smirked through the kiss, holding his biceps and kissing harder, he squirmed a little nervous in my mom's presence but then soon relaxed.

-Vic's POV-

I knocked on his bedroom door, my knocks in time with the pounding of my heart. He hates me, I'm sure of it.

"What?" I heard him snap and it made me jump a little. He didn't know it was me on the other side of the door and I got the feeling he wouldn't want to know either. Guilt pooled in my stomach but I couldn't turn back now.

"It's me." I choked out, hoping he'd go easy on me, he had every right to be mad at me and I knew that, but I just couldn't lose my brother. I heard him grunt a reply so I turned the handle of his bedroom door and opened it slowly. He was laying on his bed, his arms crossed over his face, I opened the door further and stepped inside, the room was completely trashed. The chest of draws in the corner was upturned, the mirror that hung on the wall was smashed and its glass covered the floor, it crunched under my shoe as I stepped inside the room. There was a fair amount of blood on the glass too and I wondered who's blood it was. Mike's chest raised and lowered over and over again at a faster rate than normal and I wondered if that was to control his anger or because he was crying. That's when I noticed the blood on his knuckles, it was dry and had turned a dark red almost brown colour - he'd probably done all this damage before we got here. I still felt guilty though. This was all of my fault.

"Go away, Vic." Mike breathed, he didn't sound angry, he sounded exhausted, like he couldn't even find the energy to breathe never mind speak.

"Mike, please, I need to talk to you." I tried to sound confident but let's be honest, I've never been able to do the confident thing and I doubt I ever will be able to. My voice came out a little choked and I balled my hands into fists, commanding myself to get it together and be strong just for once.

"Okay," he replied quickly and I was taken back by how co-operative he was, he sat up and got off the bed, walking past me he opened the bedroom door that I'd closed post entering the room, then he walked back past me without looking at me once and got back onto his bed, laying back and crossing his arms over his face just like before, "say what you need to say and then get out." He mumbled. Oh. I stood there awkwardly for a few more seconds not sure whether to just leave him alone or not.

"I'm sorry, Mike." I mumbled, it sounded disingenuous but I meant it, I really meant it.

"Sorry?" He mumbled, "yeah, abracadabra you're forgiven. Now get out." His tone was sarcastic and I sighed heavily, I has me expected him to be warm towards me but I did want to make progress.

"It was my fault, all of it, I messed up. I'm stupid. I'm sorry." I wasn't saying it for sympathy, it was genuinely how I felt. He unfolded his arms from his face and pinned me with his gaze.

"Haven't I always looked after you?" He said lowly and I wondered where he was going with this.

"Yes," I replied because it was the truth. "But what does that have to do with-" he cut me off.

"Haven't I always stood up for you against dad?" He asked more loudly this time.

"Uh-huh" I answered, again because it was true.

"Haven't I always been patient with you? Even when you wouldn't talk at all, even when you wouldn't even look at me or acknowledge my existence. Wasn't I always patient and kind?" He asked his voice even louder and his words were starting to hit home. I was a burden, he hated me, I haven't only just ruined his life. I ruined it from the very start. I gulped, my breathing picking up and I nodded in response to his question.

He leapt off of the bed quickly and shouted, "then why for god sake?" He was shaking a little, due to sadness or anger I didn't know. Maybe both. "Why would you fuck me over like this?" I stood there, my mouth gaping open but no words tripping off of my tongue, a lump in my throat was almost cutting off my airways and I willed myself not to cry. That wouldn't help. I needed to be strong.

"I've always been there for you, sacrificed things for you..." his voice was decreasing in volume, showing his true feelings, showing just how deep the anguish ran, "I never thought I'd have to sacrifice my girl and therefore my happiness." He choked on the last word and I almost lost it completely. His gaze dropped to the floor and he shook his head, I think he was crying but I wasn't certain. Then I saw him swipe just under his left eye and I realized he was. My heart sank, I know men aren't supposed to cry, they're supposed to be tough and cruel and God forbid they cry over a girl, right? And at first that's what it seemed like he was doing. But my brother wasn't crying over a girl, he was crying over my betrayal.

He adored Leda in a special kind of way, she meant a lot to him, it was obvious; but he knew that girlfriends come and they go, and although it hurts he knew it'd eventually heal. Brotherhood on the other hand was a different story. What I'd broken maybe couldn't be fixed, ever. And that thought made me want to cry too.

"Just get out would you? I'm done talking." He whispered slowly and then he turned his back on me, a clear representation of what I'd obviously done to him. I headed for the door, he really didn't want me here and honestly I didn't blame him.

Before I left though, I felt like there were a few things I'd have to clear up, just so he knew.

"Mike," I said almost inaudible but I knew he'd heard me, he didn't turn back around though, "I am grateful for everything you've done for me, God knows where I'd be without you. I've always acted like the younger brother, never really fitting the role of the older one. But if you are to make this about scoring points against one another, 'who's done what for the other' and so on, I've done things for you too, you know that. I betrayed our own mother for you and I think that overrules everything." My voice was still low and broken. I turned for the door again and before I fully exited out of it I turned back around.

"How do you feel about your scoring system now?" I breathed before quickly rushing out of his room and into mine as the tears fell belated and powerfully.

God this is so messed up.

After about an hour of me being in my room I noticed footsteps on the stairs, and that's when I realized how quiet the whole house had been in the past hour. How strange. Before I could think too far into it though there was a light knock on my bedroom door.

"Vic?" It was Leda. I smiled as she entered hoping and praying she couldnt tell I'd been crying. "Everything okay?" she asked like she knew the answer already but i lied anyway.

"Yep, great. Could you please do me a favour?" I questioned shyly, feeling rude for asking. She nodded with a curious expression as if she was wondering what favour she could possibly do me.

"Would you come with me to see my mom?"

Notes

Muahaha.

I HAVE GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS.

Good news: I've thrown in some more curveballs so that this story goes on for longer. :) Theres a lot to be revealed before it ends :)

Second good news: THERE IS NO BAD NEWS.

yay:)

How do you feel about all of this? FEEDBACK FEEDBACK!:)

You guys are the greatest, thank you for existing. <3