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annie-manga · 3 years ago

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“Brother In Arms”: A Chaos fanfiction

It’s almost eleven in the morning when Adam wakes up, and he feels well-rested, which comes as a surprise to him. He usually has a hard time sleeping at times since he came on this journey, but this was one of the few times he managed to have a restful slumber.

‘Must have been ‘cause of last night’, he thought to himself. Nick and Maria had the idea of doing a mini movie marathon yesterday, they invited Jackson, but he turned them down to focus on his work; they all picked one movie to watch and played rock-paper-scissors to determine which order they’d watch each movie in. Eventually when they finished watching those, they decided to watch some films from a superhero-themed franchise solely to roast them. The three of them began nodding off halfway through the fourth film and by the time it was over, they were snoozing on the couch.

‘I dunno how I got back to my bed, though’, he mulled as he made his way to the kitchen, ‘maybe Mr. Richman carried me back to my room…or maybe it was…’

“Nick, could you put the leftovers away?”

“Sure thing Abieyuwa!”

Nick made his way into the kitchen to put away the remains of breakfast in the fridge; as he did so, he turned and noticed Adam standing in the doorway.

“Hey buddy! I hope you slept well; your plate’s over on the table, but I can heat it up for you!”

As soon as he said that, his uncle called out from the dining room, “Nick, do not touch a single button on that microwave! I’ll reheat your breakfast for you, Adam!”

Nick sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, while Adam moved a bit closer to him.

“Sorry Nick, but I appreciate the thought.” he said with a yawn. “And I did sleep well, thank you for asking. I hope I didn’t keep you all waiting too long.”

“Oh no, we all got up, like, half an hour ago. Well, Maria, Jackson & I did anyway. Actually I think Jackson was awake before we were. Akira’s still asleep, though.”

“Yeah, that makes sense, and I don’t blame him.”

Amandus walked into the kitchen holding Adam’s plate and put it into the microwave to reheat it; he lovingly tousles his nephew’s hair as the two boys made their way into the dining table. Maria and Jackson are sitting across from each other, and Abieyuwa is sitting next to Maria near the end of the table. Maria is watching the older woman complete a word puzzle in a magazine she brought with her, while Jackson is writing notes down on a clipboard while also finishing up his meal, which currently consists of a couple clementine slices and whatever’s left of the tea Maria brewed for him today.

Adam takes a seat on the other side of Maria, and Nick sits across from him in the empty seat next to Jackson.

“So what’s the plan for today?” Adam asked everyone.

“Well, we can expect to be on the road in 2 hours or so once Akira is up and ready”, answers Abieyuwa as she finishes up her puzzle. “Luckily there’s a rest stop a couple miles ahead of where we are, so we will probably stay there for a little while.”

“Oh nice!” Adam says with a smile, and Amandus arrives from the kitchen and places Adam’s breakfast in front of him along with two glasses, a big one with water & a smaller one with orange juice.

“Thank you, Mr. Richman! Oh and thank you, Ms. Okoye, I really appreciate it!” “It’s no problem dear!”

“Hey, what about me? I helped!” Maria said teasingly.

“Thank you too, Maria!” Adam said as he turned to his plate of food, then closed his eyes, clasped his hands together and silently said grace. Though his relationship with his religion remained rocky, he still kept to doing certain rituals, though it was partially out of habit. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes and prepared to dig into his food; he briefly glanced at Nick as he did so; had he looked a few seconds later, he would not have noticed Nick staring at him, but the taller boy was trying to hide it(and badly). Adam’s face became warm and flushed, but made no further reaction to it as he focused on eating his delicious breakfast.

Soon Abieyuwa finished her puzzle, with some help from Maria and Amandus at certain points, then she got up to go do her daily errands. Amandus tells Nick and the others to clean up the table when they’re done, and he follows his girlfriend out the door.

Adam continues to eat his meal, and is nearly halfway through when he suddenly stops, as if he was jolted.

“Oh!”

“What? What is it?!” the others yelped, turning their attention to their small friend.

“I just remembered-no, I’m okay, it’s nothing bad- I remembered I had a really good dream last night. I was back at home and I haven’t dreamt of home in a while, and whenever I do, it’s usually not anything good…”

The other kids didn't say anything at first, the boy’s words had a heavy truth to them that they could unfortunately relate to.

“But you said you dreamt of home and it was good this time, right?” Maria said softly. “You wanna tell us what happened in it?”

“Well”, Adam said “I dreamt I was in my old home, from when I was younger. I was still the same age as I am now, but it was like nothing had changed. I was watching my favorite shows and playing games with Nathan; my parents weren’t there-though that’s not too unusual for my dreams- but I could hear their voices in the house, like they were in another room or something. But soon, Nathan was telling me it was time for bed, and he carried me to my room and told me to go to sleep. And I didn’t want to, cause I was afraid that I would wake up if I did, but I listened to him and did it anyway.”

Adam held back tears as he remembered the dream fondly, and Maria leaned over to hug him, and he hugged her back. “It’s funny though, normally if I had dreams like that, I’d be much more sad about it. But it was a nice dream, and I woke up feeling….okay. It was nice though, to dream of my brother again, even if I can’t see him or even call him right now.”

“I’m glad you were able to dream of him too, sweetie.” Maria said with a sigh she patted his head “And I’m glad it was a good dream. Lord knows we all could use that more often now.”

Her last statement made Jackson and Nick’s eyes widen and the dark-haired boy slightly shuddered as if remembering something horrible, but he quickly brushed it off and focused on the happiness of the boy in front of him. “I’m glad you had a nice dream, Adam. And I promise you, we’ll make sure you and Nathan are reunited once this is all over.”

Adam’s eyes welled as he heard those words, and he let go of Maria as he returned to eat his breakfast.

“So boys, what do you say we have another movie night? We still haven’t finished that one we last stopped at…what was the title again?”

She turned to Nick, because he had been the one who picked it out, but he had forgotten the name of it, too. Rather than admit that to her, he says “you know what? That film was boring anyway, I say we pick something different. But maybe we should also pick out some shows to watch, too.”

“Nick, we’ll be up all night again if we do that!”

“Then we get a head start on that early; we pick some titles & then queue it up after we get on the road! Simple!”

“Hmm, yeah that could work. You up for that, Adam?”

“Sure! Lemme just finish eating, and I’ll be good to go!”

“Great!” Nick exclaimed “Don’t think you’re being left out of this, Jacky! You still get to pick at least one thing to watch with us!”

Whatever daze Jackson was in was immediately broken when he felt Nick jostling his shoulder; he sat up with a start and stared at the others with confusion.

“What on earth are you-?! ....oh I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

“Were you tuning us out the whole time? That’s uncharacteristic of you. Am I rubbing off on you that much, dude?”

“Oh don’t give yourself too much credit for that one!”

“What we said, Jackson”, Maria chimed in, “is that we’re probably gonna do another movie marathon, well movie & TV series combo. We’re gonna pick at least one title per person and start up after we get on the road again.”

“Will you join us this time, Jackson?” Adam said to him, “I know we didn’t really plan the one for last night and you were kinda busy then, but maybe you’ll be able to join us for this one?”

Jackson momentarily meets the bright-eyed stare of the red-haired boy across from him, holding his gaze for a moment before lowering his head and muttering, “I...I dunno, maybe. I’ve still got some stuff to get done today, but I’ll probably come by later if I have the time.” And with that, he gets up to put his dishes away in the sink and his empty cup on the counter, and walks out the dining room without another word.

“What was that all about?” Nick said to Maria “I know he’s still kinda reserved, but that’s not usual for him, right?”

“I mean, he has always been busy with his projects”, Maria responded. “but….maybe…I’ll check on him later today. You finish your breakfast sweetie, and I’ll meet you both back here after we all get dressed.”

“Oh okay. Thanks Maria.” Adam replied.

Maria gives him a wide smile, then turned her attention back to where Jackson had sat earlier. Her smile lessened a bit as she wondered what might have made her dear friend rush out the room like that.

Back in his room, Jackson had changed out of his pj shirt to an equally comfortable long-sleeved sweater; he rolls up his sleeves, puts on his gear and a headband to keep his hair out of his eyes, and resumes his work on his previous projects. He sets a timer so it goes off at a certain point, at which point he’ll get up & stretch before resuming his research on the Maroons.

This would be a good way to spend his day, after all, there was still so much that they needed to find out and he’d spend as much time as he could figuring it out. He was the leader after all, and the others were counting on him. There were times where he’d forgotten that, but he would be reminded again why he’s doing this and who he’s doing it for; he started this for himself and Maria, but also for Nick & Adam, who left everything and everyone important behind to find out the truth about their parents. Parents who, for the brief period they were in their lives, loved them and cared for them. He couldn’t say the same about his own; he felt alone all his life, even when his mother and father were still present in his life. And though he had Maria, her friends, and the others to keep him company, there was still a part of him still alone, even when being amid other people. But it hardly bothered him much now, it didn’t hurt as much as it did before.

‘So why…?’ Jackson wondered to himself before the hum and whirs of the machines and gadgetry enveloped his thoughts.

‘Why does it hurt now?’

___________________________________________

In the late hour of the night, Jackson had been working in the dining room table for quite a while. He closes his laptop and stretches his arms upwards; he managed to finish his usual quota for the day and now he’s ready to head back to his room. As sees how dark it is outside, he decides to change his plans a little bit and grabs a nibble of something from the fridge. Some potato chips and ice water would easily sate his hunger, but remembers Maria’s constant reminders to him to eat more than just snack food, so he ends up making a tuna fish sandwich and eats it alongside the potato chips and a clementine.

“See, it’s not all snack food.” he says to himself as if Maria were here next to him.

He briefly wondered what she’s been up to today before remembering that she and the boys were watching movies on the couch; It was rather impulsively planned, but he had nearly gotten used to it by now. They did invite him to join in, but he got so into his work and research that he lost track of the time. He finishes his little meal and gets up to go check on them. He wonders if he’d be able to catch in to watch whatever they’re viewing now or at least see them before heading off to bed.

He’s halfway down the hall before he gets face to face with Akira, who’s carrying a sleeping Maria piggyback style, and Amandus, who’s leading a half-asleep Nick by the hand back to his room.

“Oh hey, Jackson”, Amandus whispers, “they fell asleep a little while ago, so we’re bringing them back to their rooms. I’d let them sleep on the couch, but they’d probably be achy in the morning.”

“Uncle Amand’s,” Nick slurred drowsily, “I c’n go in on my own…‘m not sleepy.”

“Sure nephew. Oh look, here we are.” Amandus said as he opened the door to Nick’s room and led him inside. Akira was about to head down the opposite side of the hall, but he turned towards Jackson.

“The only one still left is Adam.” they whispered “Would you mind bringing him to his room? And if you can, try not to wake him up.”

“Yeah Akira, I can go do that. You have a good night.”

And with that, Akira nodded as he went to bring the sleeping girl on his back into her chamber of slumber.

Jackson went into the room where the two caretakers emerged from, and saw the TV was off(most likely Amandus’ doing), empty bowls of popcorn on the floor and on the small table across from the screen near the couch. Laying on the couch was Adam, lightly snoring as he slept peacefully. Jackson quietly moved the bowls off the floor and stacked them on the table, making a mental note to put them away later, and gently lifted Adam in his arms so as not to wake him. He was surprised at how light he felt in his arms and how very small he was; Adam was already the shortest one of the group, but he felt so much smaller to him now. He carried Adam out of the room and down the hall to where his room was, he leaned down just a little to open the door handle and put his hand back on Adam’s shoulders.

As he did so, Adam suddenly shifted in his arms and leaned his head closer to Jackson's chest and grasped his shirt with one hand.

Before Jackson could say anything, he realized that the younger boy was still fast asleep and was doing this unconsciously. In the quiet, he could hear Adam murmuring in his sleep. And then he heard him say something more clearly, but still in a quiet, almost woeful tone.

“Nathan?”

Jackson was right outside the door, he could have easily walked, left Adam on his bed, then gone back to his own room and called it a night. But right now, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, his breath caught in his throat as he absorbed the words he just heard.

‘He’s asleep’, Jackson thought to himself, ‘he’s just talking in his sleep, that’s all. What the bloody hell is my deal? Why’d that throw me off?’

The sleeping boy loosened his grip on Jackson’s shirt, which brought Jackson out of his stupor and he remembered what he came here to do. He enters the doorway of Adam’s room, trying not to make a sound. He gently places Adam on his bed and grabs a blanket to cover him with. Before he can make his leave, he sees Adam moving in his sleep and reaches a hand out towards him. Instinctively, Jackson clasps it in his own hands and crouches down near Adam.

Trying to keep his voice as steady as he can, he leans in a little and whispers “Shh, go back to sleep now, Adam”.

Adam’s face scrunches up a bit, then his mouth shifts into a soft smile.

“Okay,” the boy says as he sighs in his sleep. “I will, Nathan.”

Jackson feels a lump in his throat as he hears those words, but he pushes it back so as not to wake him up. He would eventually get up to go back to his room, but for now, he keeps holding Adam’s hand and stays with him to make sure his dream remains uninterrupted.

_________________________________________

“Jackson! Jackson, Earth to Jackson?”

Jackson turned his attention to the voice calling him; Maria was standing in his room’s doorway, her arms crossed and wearing a stern, but concerned expression.

“Ah! Maria! Sorry I was paying attention to something else and didn’t hear you at first.”

“Yeah, I figured you didn’t. You tend to get so focused on your work that you forget everything else around you. And I admire that about you, but it also worries me sometimes.”

Jackson was about to reassure her that there’s nothing to worry about, but she continues, “Because sometimes, you tend to use your projects as a way to avoid things you don’t wanna think about. Or talk about.”

Jackson forgot how much she knew about him to the point where she could read him so well; he doesn’t say anything and hesitantly avoids meeting her gaze.

“I figured there was something bothering you today”, she says as she steps closer towards him, “but I know you’re not as open as the others, at least not yet.”

She knelt down in front of him, staring at him intently.

“The moonstones can read our emotions, but not our minds honey. No one’s gonna know how you feel till you tell them. And I know that there’s some things you aren’t ready to talk about yet, but when you are, I’ll be here. And so will everyone else. You may be a leader now, but you aren’t alone anymore.”

Jackson slowly met her gaze, his expression was vulnerable and his eyes were slightly squinted, as if he was trying not to cry.

But Maria understood anyway; she softly smiles at him and says “I won’t ask you anything more about this yet, but I will ask you this: do you want a hug?”

“...yes please.”

And with that Maria outstretched her arms and enveloped them around her dear friend, which Jackson returned. He buried his head in her shoulders, her long hair covering his face, and Maria added a loving squeeze to their embrace.

‘Where the hell do I even begin?’ Jackson thought to himself, ‘That I’m feeling a lot of pressure lately? That I’m sick of running into dead ends just as much as Nick is, but I’m supposed to keep it together so we don’t fall apart as a team? That I care about you, more than you’ll ever know, but I’m worried I’ll ruin things between us? That a part of me, a small sick part of me, feels jealous of the fact that you and the others came from homes that cared about you? That accepted you and loved you? That I feel lonely, even around people? That there’s a part of me that wishes that there was someone looking after me sooner, so that maybe I don’t have to feel this loneliness right now? That maybe I want to be protected, but I need to protect all of you too, especially Adam, who had to leave behind the only family he has left now?’

But he doesn’t say any of this out loud, he keeps all of those thoughts tucked away in his head and, after a while had passed, removed himself from Maria’s embrace.

“We’re still gonna do the movie TV watch thingy in a bit,” she says in a more lighthearted tone. “Nick and Adam already picked out what they wanna watch, I told them to wait for me before I picked out mine. I just wanted to let you know, in case you wanted to come by this time.”

With that, she gets up and walks towards the door. Before she leaves, she turns to him and says “By the way, make sure you get some lunch today. There’s still some of that soup left & whatever leftovers we got from two days ago; I made sure to mark it so you know it’s yours and you better have eaten it before this day is over. Got it mister?”

“Got it, Miss Flores.” he says in a half-joking tone.

“Good. I’ll see you later, then.”

And with that, she skips out the door and out of his field of vision. He doesn’t move for a bit, still feeling the warmth from the hug they shared. He almost wished she kissed him on the cheek as she sometimes does, but a part of him is grateful that she didn’t this time; if she had done that, it might’ve made him open the floodgates for sure, and that was the last thing he needed right now.

In the corner of his eye, he saw his timer and saw that there was still seven minutes left on it. There was a lot you could do in seven minutes, and with his skill, he could easily make additional adjustments to his work in less than three.

But he thought about what Maria had said, how much he had been trying to push aside lately. How he was using work and research as a distraction for the thoughts that had been buried for a while and the new ones that had formed after going on this journey. The annoyance and amity he felt when he was with Nick, the joy and the silliness he felt around Adam. These feelings of protectiveness he felt for the both of them, the brazen big-hearted boxer and the tiny but mighty archer.

“God. Is this what having siblings is like?” he griped while facepalming himself. “I can’t tell if this is best or the worst thing I’ve ever felt…maybe it’d hurt less if I didn’t care as much.”

But he did.

And he wished he could show it to them more. But what if it just made things worse? What if he was just fooling himself? What if he just needed to get used to relying on himself more? What if-

“You know what? Fuck it.” he muttered to himself as he got up from his makeshift workspace on the floor and went to turn the timer off before it could sound its alarm.

The boy removed his work gear and made his way out the room to where the others were.

As soon as he passed through the dining room, he bumped into Adam, who nearly dropped the bags of popcorn he just finished making.

“Oh Jackson! Sorry, I didn’t see you there!”

“It’s fine, mate. You good there?”

“Yeah, we’re just setting up the list and stuff; I’m just getting the snacks ready for when we start watching!”

“Hmm….you mind if I grab some?”

“Oh yeah sure, there’s still some unpopped bags left, but there’s some kettle corn, too if you wanna have that instead. It’s a bit louder than what I’m used to, so I don’t make it that often, but I’ve had it and it tastes the best when you add spices to it, like cinnamon and-”

“Um, Adam?”

“Huh…oh, I started rambling again. Sor-”

“Before you say anything else, let me just clarify something: I asked cause I wanted to try to join you guys. My bad, I probably should have been more clear.”

Adam looks at Jackson with an unreadable expression, and Jackson starts thinking that maybe that this was a bad idea and almost starts backtracking before the redhead’s face lights up with excitement.

“Y-you are? That’s great!! I’m glad you’re joining us this time!!”

The boy’s happiness seemed to be infectious, as Jackson smiled back at him and chuckled nervously. “Yeah well, I needed to take a break. Plus, I’m kinda curious what stuff passes for American entertainment these days. I have some ideas, but I’d like to see for myself.”

“Well, hopefully you’ll be impressed. Or confused, depending on the choices. But hey, if none of them are your speed, then you can something to watch and we’ll see how that goes. Dunno if it’ll be better than the others, cause I picked out a masterpiece, but we’ll see.”

“Heh, I guess we will.”, Jackson says as he went to the kitchen to grab some bowls for everyone, a bunch of napkins, and whatever was left in the bag of chips he raided from the night before.

With that, he went back to Adam, who was grinning up at him, and the two of them headed to the TV room where Maria and Nick were waiting for them.

At some point, he would try to say it out loud instead of keeping it to himself, but for now Jackson quietly thought to himself how grateful he was for his friends.

And how this duo of hopeful boys were able to be the brothers he never had, and he’s so glad they’re here with him now.

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