Chapter Text
The car journey back is tense.
Aaron risks glances at Andrew, but his brother is staring ahead, his split knuckles looking painful as they grip the steering wheel. Josten is looking at Andrew as well, trying to hide his outward concern. Nicky and Kevin are both looking out the windows, desperate to escape the thick, suffocating atmosphere.
He hadn’t asked Andrew to jump in and fight off the guy, but there had been no time to tell him to stop. Aaron hadn’t known the guy, but the guy seemed to want to know him - his hand had been bordering on uncomfortable, brushing past Aaron’s shoulder as he introduced himself as Fred.
“But it’s Freddie if we’re dating,” he added, eyes burning holes into the side of Aaron’s face.
Aaron had deadpanned, “Go away.”
But Fred wasn’t going anywhere. Eventually, when his fingers swept behind Aaron’s ear, playing with a strand of hair there, Aaron had stood up to his full height - which, admittedly, isn’t much - and sharply told him to fuck off.
For whatever reason, Fred seemed more encouraged by Aaron’s defiance. I like ‘em feisty , he had said and stepped forwards, leaning down, a hand skimming Aaron’s ass. Disgust rose in the back of his throat and Aaron was shoving the man backwards before he made the conscious decision to do anything.
“What the fuck ?”
His mind was ringing sharply - threat threat threat - and he wasn’t sure whether it was anger or panic brewing a storm in his chest. It was a mix of both, throwing him into a desperate state of mind, his only thought to get away before something bad happens -
“Wait! Aaron -” Nicky said, leaping up in front of Aaron to cool things down.
Kevin, who had reluctantly followed, came up on Aaron’s other side. He wouldn’t have been much help if it did escalate, anyway. Kevin was wobbling dangerously on his feet, already drunk to the point of stumbling over.
“Come on, baby,” the guy said, his breath reeking of vodka, “we’re just having fun, right?”
“Get off me and fuck off .” Aaron went in for another shove, but Nicky jumped in front of him. He pushed Nicky too, who collided with Kevin. Kevin grabbed onto Nicky to keep upright and they both stumbled together, grabbing each other’s elbows for support. Aaron didn’t care. At that moment, all he saw was the guy, a predator on his radar who he was going to fucking end .
Who even was this bastard? What right did he have to come up and start being all touchy? Nicky was a bit flirty with strangers, perhaps borderline annoying, but he would never be like this.
Things became louder and more people started to look. Eventually, once Fred deduced that nothing was going to happen with Aaron, his pervy smile melted into a glare.
“Fuck off, then, you prude.”
More shoving. More of Nicky’s voice saying, “ Stop it , Aaron, you’re going to get hurt.” More shouting. Louder shouting. Fred was saying all sorts of shit, slurring around curses and slurs and spit flying from his mouth -
When the guy started using fists, Aaron was frozen for a second. The first punch stuck him on the mouth, and he felt his lip split and hot blood dribble down his chin. He went to dodge the second one but no blow came - instead, Andrew seemed to appear from thin air, grabbing he guy’s wrist and twisting it. Aaron always knew Andrew was strong - he benches an insane amount. But he’d never expected Andrew have such lightning reflexes, twisting the guy’s wrist around and knocking his head back with one hard, perfectly aimed hit. Even when he was down, Andrew had hit again, harder, until his knuckles were split and the guy’s mouth was bloody and gross.
Aaron had done nothing but watch, half horrified and half relieved. But he couldn’t stop asking the same question over and over - why had Andrew done that? He didn’t need to.
Thankfully, the guy was kicked out. Being regulars at Eden’s Twilight has perks, but they didn’t stay long after it anyway. The mood was too sour and the napkins provided by the staff haven’t really done anything to stop the bleeding. Aaron needed an aspirin or something. Andrew’s knuckles are bleeding and bruised. Nicky is clutching his arm from where it must have gotten caught.
When they get back to the house, Josten and Andrew fuck off upstairs. Well, Andrew marches upstairs, and Josten trails behind him, looking like a kicked puppy but determined to fix things.
They get into the kitchen, and Kevin reaches for more drink.
“Why are you always fucking drinking?” Aaron snaps, irritation high. His throbbing lip isn’t helping his mood. “Haven’t you had enough?”
“We left early.”
“We usually leave around this time, anyway,” Aaron snaps. “Why have you got to be so pathetic?”
“Aaron,” chides Nicky.
“What? He can’t go fifteen minutes without a drink.”
“We’re out.”
“Not anymore.”
“That wasn’t my fault,” Kevin has the audacity to point out, pointing a finger at Aaron.
“It’s not my fault either! I didn’t ask for some asshole to come up and start molesting me, did I?”
“You didn’t have to be quite so - aggressive.” He enunciates every word strangely, and Aaron wants him to drink until he passes out so he won’t have to deal with him. God, Kevin’s such a dick .
“He wasn’t going to leave me alone. Thanks for the help, by the way,” he adds, shooting a filthy glare at Kevin.
“Guys, come on,” Nicky says, trying to smooth things out.
Kevin scowls, replying “He started it,” like the five year old he is at heart.
“No, that piece of shit started it.”
They exchange a few more barbed words, ones which increase in volume until Aaron knows they can be heard from upstairs. But Nicky effectively ends it by wetting a cloth, holding it out at Aaron and saying, “Let me wipe your face,” so Aaron’s attention switches from Kevin to Nicky, who comes at him a few times.
“Don’t, Nicky,” he warns. Nicky circles around the kitchen with it and Aaron dodges his attempts.
“Let me clean it.”
Aaron dodges his next lunge, pushing a chair in front of Nicky so he can’t approach him. “ I said don’t. Fuck off.”
“Come on, Aaron, the blood looks all gross on your chin.”
“ Don’t touch me with that. It’s dirty.”
“It’s not dirty -”
“You don’t know that.”
“But I got it wet.”
“That doesn’t stop it from being fucking dirty,” Aaron says, exasperated. He is safe from Nicky now, as he would have get round to chair in order to touch him with that gross ass cloth. But knowing Nicky, he could throw it, and Aaron would get hit by a wet, dirty cloth that has probably been used for all sorts of shit.
Seconds later, Josten appears in the doorway. Aaron hates him, but he hates the sad set of his shoulders more, as if he’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Hey, Neil,” Nicky says warmly.
“Hey,” he replies. He looks at Aaron, who is still keeping a watchful eye on Nicky with the wet cloth. He asks, “How’s your lip?” although it’s obvious he’s more curious than sympathetic. Josten is far too busy being worried about Andrew.
“Fine,” Aaron replies shortly.
“How’s Andrew’s hand?” Nicky asks. “It looked pretty bad.”
“It’s not broken, but it needs bandaging.” Aaron feels relief flutter in his chest. He wouldn’t want to be responsible, even though he would deny caring until he was blue in the face.
Josten asks for a first aid kit and Nicky hands him one. Josten stares at it for a second, contemplating something, before saying, “Thanks.” He still looks fucking miserable. It wasn’t him who got touched up at Edens. It wasn’t him who got punched on the lip.
Just as he’s about to turn and leave, Aaron blurts out, “He didn’t have to do that.”
Josten pauses and turns. “Do what?”
Aaron clears his throat, feeling sort of stupid for even talking. He can’t seem to look at Josten right now. He stares at the floor and grits out, “Protect me.”
The deal is over. Andrew chose Josten. Aaron got Katelyn. They can live their lives separate, not tied to an exhausting deal which only serves to hurt them more than it does them any good. Now, he feels almost in debt to Andrew, as if the deal hasn’t ever been broken after all. Andrew is still protecting him and Aaron isn’t doing anything in return - not that he ever was, but at least he was aware that he breaking it.
Maddeningly, Josten just says, “He’s your brother.”
As if that’s the answer. They aren’t ‘brothers’ - not like that. They are related, they share the same genetics, they shared parents and the same surname. But that doesn’t mean fucking anything.
Aaron pulls a face. “The deal is over.”
“You’re right. But I’m sure that you getting your jaw broken would have made the night much worse, so you could be grateful.”
“Fuck off. I am.” That part slips out. He doesn’t want to tell Josten this, because he’ll probably go upstairs and tell Andrew that Aaron is grateful and they’ll gossip about it together. Or whatever they do in their spare time apart from fuck.
“You’re what?”
What an asshole . Aaron decides, for the millionth time, that he still doesn’t like him. It’s less of a realisation and more of a confirmation.
Aaron glares at him. “Don’t make me fucking say it.”
“He’s grateful,” Nicky intervenes, who is holding an ice pack to his own injury. Kevin is in the corner, still drinking, oblivious to the conversation taking place.
Josten looks like he’s about to smile, but his expression slips back into something sad after a second. “See you tomorrow.”
“See you,” Nicky calls.
Once he’s disappeared, Nicky sighs and says, “At least Andrew’s got that.”
“Andrew doesn’t need taking care of.”
“Everybody needs taking care of, Aaron.”
“Not everyone.”
“You’ve got Katelyn, I’ve got Erik, Kevin’s got …” Nicky looks across at Kevin, who is staring at his vodka like it could solve all the issues of the world.
“Andrew doesn’t need taking care of,” Aaron repeats for a lack of anything else to say. “He doesn’t feel enough to be hurt.”
He can’t help but feel like the words burn his tongue.
He calls Katelyn that night. It’s late, but she still picks up, her honey sweet voice soothing his frayed edges almost instantly.
“It’s late, baby,” she says in lieu of hello. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he says. He can already feel the tight ball of tension in his chest unravelling. It's like releasing a breath he wasn't aware he's been holding all night. “Sorry for calling late.”
“It’s fine, honey, I was up late anyway. Rosa has her boyfriend over, and they were in the shower for - well, a while.” He can hear the smile in her voice. It’s a balm which soothes him, and Aaron would give anything to hold her close to his side right now, breathe in her perfume and kiss across her cheek. But he makes do with her voice. “Did something happen?”
“Nothing big,” he says. “Just - I got punched.”
Katelyn gasps. “What? Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Aaron says immediately, hating how her voice adopts that panicked tone. “Yeah, I’m fine. Honestly. It’s just a cut on my lip.”
“Oh, baby. I can still kiss you, right?”
Aaron smiles gently. “Yeah. Just not on the lips.”
“Oh, that’s fine. I can think of other places to kiss you.” Katelyn’s voice grows mischievous and Aaron’s chest aches. “But you’re seriously okay? I don’t need to fight anyone, do I?”
Aaron laughs a little. “No, I didn’t even know the guy. Anyway … Andrew fucked him up enough for me.”
He can hear Katelyn’s confusion. “Andrew? I thought that the whole thing was over.”
“Yeah,” he sighs, “I thought that too.”
“Aw,” Katelyn says, still a little hesitant. Aaron hates what Andrew has done to her. She simply existed, simply loved him, and yet that is enough for Andrew to want to hurt her. Aaron can’t ever imagine hurting Katelyn. It would hurt him more than her, in all honesty. She’s not at all fragile, but he still wants to shield her with his own body, take as many blows from Andrew as he needs in order to protect her.
But Andrew doesn’t want to hurt her anymore. The deal is over.
So Andrew doesn’t need to protect him, right? Yet tonight, he still did, jumping to Aaron’s defence and knocking some random stranger on his ass because he hit him. Aaron probably could have taken care of himself, at least managed to push the bastard away rather than break his face like Andrew did.
“It doesn’t make sense. I’m still trying to - figure it out.”
“Well, he is your brother.” It’s the same thing as Josten said, and it makes Aaron grit his teeth. “Maybe you guys haven’t had the best ... relationship. But maybe he cares about you?”
“Andrew never cared about me. He cared about the deal . A stupid agreement I made when I was younger and didn’t know what a fucking psycho he was.” Aaron sighs again, not wanting to get riled up about the same things he’s punched walls over before. “But it’s over now. I can have you.”
“And you’ve got me,” she says softly. “But maybe Andrew is protecting you because he wants to. No deal included.”
“That doesn’t sound like him.”
“You’re right. But if you told me last year that he would end up caring for Neil in the way he does … I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Aaron fights a scowl.
“Let him care, Aaron,” Katelyn says, almost a whisper. “Even if he doesn’t, I’m always here. I’ll always care about you.”
Aaron flops against the pillow, feeling light. “I wish you were here.” He wants nothing more than to curl up into her side, pillow his head against her chest. He would let her wipe his lip, tender and caring, fall asleep entangled with her.
The fact there’s an hour journey between them almost burns.
“I wish I was there, too. But you’ll see me tomorrow, okay?” She pauses, then adds, “I love you, Aaron Michael Minyard.”
“I love you, too,” Aaron says, whispering, as if it’s a secret which he doesn’t want anybody else to know, “Katelyn Elizabeth Chapman.”
With anybody else, he puts his walls up high. He shields himself from life and people and everybody. But Katelyn is different. She’s in his heart, and with every beat, it pushes warmth around his body. He lets her in.
It feels safer than anything else he’s ever done.
The next morning, Andrew looks calmer. Settled in a way which Aaron hasn’t ever seen him. He sips his coffee, perfectly okay despite the bruise blooming on his eye and the bandage around his knuckles.
Aaron offers him a nod. He isn’t sure whether it’s a thank you or a recognition that maybe, just maybe, Josten is good for him.
Whatever it is, Andrew returns it, a small jerk of the head which somehow means more than any words they could have shared.