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speedydestinydream · 25 days ago

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@everything-freakblr here's my freakblr secret santa for @sobeksewerrat !!! i did the drew and milly as siblings angst one cause i thought it could be good

EDIT: ao3 link here :3

i hope this is alright ! merry new years day 🎉🎉🎉

never the same (and never different)

“Come on, Drew. I'm not asking for much!” Milly said, standing in the doorframe to his room.

“Do it yourself,” Drew spat bitterly, rolling back into the blankets he's been curled up in for ages.

Milly sighed in annoyance. "Is it really so difficult to just help for once?"

Drew didn't even take the effort to respond, simply facing away from Milly, waiting for her to leave.

Their parents had called this morning from their trip to tell them to make some space in the attic today. Since they'd be coming home soon, they had a bunch of things they were bringing and no more room in the rest of their house to put it, and that left the attic as their best option. Suffering through another lecture over the phone didn't seem pleasant, so Milly reluctantly agreed.

Unfortunately for Milly, she had been blessed with the most stubborn brother ever.

She really thought that this time she could convince him to get up and help, but as all her feeble attempts were, it didn't work. Giving up completely, Milly rolled her eyes.

“...Drama queen...” Milly said quietly, taking the hint and exiting the room.

---------------------------------------------------

It had now been a couple hours since their parents had called. Safe to say, Milly had been putting it off for more than awhile. She knew everything that "mysteriously disappeared" in their household for the past decade was most likely up in their attic, and wanted to put off cleaning that nightmare for as long as physically possible.

But it was now late in the afternoon, and the responsibility nagged at her in the back of her head even if she tried to ignore it.

So, yanking herself out of her bed and grabbing a flashlight, she mentally prepared herself as she walked to reach their attic.

The hatch was at the end of one of their longer hallways, positioned so that pulling down the ladder wouldn't cut off access to any doors near it. Pulling down the hatch, Milly climbed up the wooden ladder and up into their attic.

...

"God... damnit—" Milly grumbled, struggling to even navigate with the amount of useless junk surrounding the attic.

She nearly coughed a lung out just by entering, having to wave endless dust out of her sight of vision.

It was just as she had expected.

Dozens—hell, maybe even hundreds—of cardboard boxes were stacked up upon each other, crammed in every corner, every space, even covering up the one small window they had in the attic. The insulation was ripped out, some of the floorboards were ripped out, and it seemed like the thin wooden support beams were probably only held up by dreams. It was dark in the attic, there was only a single light near in the corner. Milly immediately turned on her flashlight, it blinking a few times before shining a solid beam of light.

The rest of their household was perfectly polished and neat down to the finest details, but it seems their parents had put off taking care of the attic for a long time. She couldn't blame them for that, she didn't want to deal with this either. So for the longest time, it went out of sight, out of mind.

But it couldn't stay like that forever.

Her parents told her to take what she wanted out of the attic and get rid of the rest. She didn't want to open all of the boxes, but she felt as though there had to be at least at couple things she could give to her friends or keep for herself.

Ripping out the tape on the first cardboard box she found, Milly opened it up and shone her flashlight to see what it contained.

...Bummer.

The box in question had a bunch of spare mechanical parts of which she had no use for. Her parents wouldn't have a use for them, either, because if they needed parts they would always just buy new. She kicked the box off to the side, making a group of distinguish which boxes she did open and which parts she didn't.

After an hour or two, Milly hadn't bothered to open many of the boxes. She opened the first dozen or so, but she was getting tired of finding random broken things no one had any use for. Aside from a few ties she could give to Zander, a few nice hair clips for Hailey, surprisingly new notebook for Luke to write songs in, there really wasn't much.

She had been transporting most of the boxes out of the attic and into her room, which was getting cramped easily. Her parents said they'd just throw it all out or donate it once they got home, so Milly put most of them in trash bags for easy transport. This cycle went on for what felt like ages, and Milly felt like she was getting tired as she climbed back up into the attic again.

Just as she was about to kick one of the boxes into the group near the ladder, she noticed the "fragile" sticker imprinted on the side of it. It probably wasn't too important, she figured, but she didn't want to get in trouble if it was some kind of million dollar antique she ended up dropkicking. Milly kneeled down and opened up the box to see what was so fragile about it.

She shone the flashlight into the box and pulled out a singular picture frame. It was small, in a wooden rustic frame, and by the looks of it pretty old. Letting out a breath, most of the dust piled off the photo, and Milly swatted away the excess off the glass. She was quite curious to see what the picture was. The light of the flashlight went from the box over onto the newly found picture.

Oh.

Oh no.

The memory captured was one of hers.

Buried so deep in her mind she almost forgot a time it was real.

What was captured in the photo was the Christmas of 2015, back when she was 10 years old and Drew was 11. Her hair was longer at the time, in a ponytail, and much less vibrant as she hadn't been able to dye it yet. Drew's hair was brown and shorter, as he also was under the rule of no hair dye.

Milly had been sitting next to the Christmas tree, her eyes were wide with shock and excitement as the wrapping paper of her present was thrown off to the side. She held in her hands what is now her most prized possession in the entire world.

Her electric guitar.

At the time, she had to hold up the guitar with both hands. It was dark red with black accents and came with a hot pink guitar pick.

Her smile in the photo shined brighter than ever, like a shining star against a dark night.

And off to the side, sitting next to her, smiling with her, was Drew.

Drew was excited alongside her, his excitement nearly matching hers.

Milly, looking down at the old and outdated photo, knew why.

Drew was the one who had picked it out for her originally.

All year long, he had to listen to her endlessly babble on and on about how much she wanted to learn guitar, blasting guitar heavy songs on the speaker in her room loud enough for the whole house to hear, even learning sheet music before she had the guitar.

Their parents were mainly going off the Christmas lists the both of them made, but that year, the two of them were allowed an allowance to get gifts for each other.

And Drew's mind immediately darted to the most expensive guitar he could find.

She appreciated it at the time. She appreciated it today.

But...

Comparing the boy in picture to the boy she knew now felt nearly impossible.

It was almost like he was a different person.

The Drew she grew up with seemed to have withered a long time ago. For the life of her, Milly just couldn't pinpoint when.

Was it in the sixth grade, when he decided to start befriending a bunch of assholes?

Was it in freshmen year, when Milly joined the music club? Did she set herself up to fail then?

Was it this year? When his friendship collapsed around him?

Or did she never know who Drew was at all?

…No, that couldn't be right.

Milly held the framed photo in her hand for a few moments, not strong enough to gather the courage to put it down. It was held firmly in her hands, trying to hold onto the memory as if it was trapped inside the frame.

She sat it down shakily onto the wooden floor, looking back into the box she had just unsealed, and the memories coming with it.

She did not have the motivation to continue.

...cleaning the attic.

Milly did not have the motivation to continue cleaning the attic.

Sitting on her bed and staring at the wall of her now cramped room, Milly tried to push the dwelling misery out of her head.

But it wouldn't leave.

It was stuck with her, stuck with her mind, stuck with her forever.

Her own brother was someone she didn't even recognize.

Milly laid down on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

Who was he anymore?

Walking past Milly's room, Drew slightly cracked open the door.

He seemed to be in a bit of better mood than before, but he still looked completely miserable. Milly didn't have the hate to even blame him, he lost his best friend and girlfriend in the span of a week.

But she didn't have the will to forgive him, either.

"Did you finish cleaning out the attic already?" Drew asked, trying to make dull conversation.

Milly stilled.

"No. I mean, I started, I'm just..."

Milly looked down at the photo she held her hands.

"...I just got too tired. To finish up," she said dejectedly. She technically wasn't lying, but she really didn't want to spill the real reason why.

Drew silently nodded.

"I'll clean the rest, I guess."

Drew slowly closed the door, leaving Milly all alone in her pity.

Her conversations with Drew were barely conversations anymore. They only spoke a few words a day to one another that weren't hostile. The old Drew, the one she knew, she would talk to and annoy about whatever whenever.

But that wasn't real anymore.

Opening the bottom drawer to her nightstand table, Milly set down the framed photo and pushed it to the back of the drawer.

It would never be seen again, she would never be forced to look at it again, she would never be forced to look at what could've been ever again.

It would be forgotten like it deserved.

#tmf #the music freaks #the music freaks rosyclozy #freakblr #speedy speaks about tmf (and other stuff)#SORRY THIS IS ON THE LAST DAY OF THE DEADLINE i keep forgetting to format it to ao3 😭#Freakblr Secret Santa 2024

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