Work Text:
The arena smelled like sweat, but the sound of the crowd echoed through his ears. Despite the heat within the boxing arena, outside proved even hotter, what with the hot summer weather leaving a hot sweat on his skin even before the match started.
In truth, Arlo never expected a change to his career plans, particularly when any change felt like he’d caved into Robin. While he conceded the woman gave birth to him, he never liked how she disproved of him following in his father’s career path in the Civil Corps and the Flying Pigs; he’d still not let her know the change of plans, let alone the fact he’d moved away from Portia to Zuzu City, something which remained a sore spot of sorts.
Sebastian hadn’t told her either, although that was far more likely out of fear she’d make him cut ties with his older brother despite the fact Sebastian was, in fact, a grown adult – a grown adult living in the basement of the house his mother built, something Sebastian didn’t let Arlo forget despite the fact Arlo wasn’t the son living with their mother. Thinking of the way Sebastian self-deprecated himself made Arlo want to punch a punching bag even more than usual.
His opponent remained on the other side of the ring, giving Arlo a look in an attempt to unsettle him, yet such things didn’t bother him. He’d grown up in a part of the world still considered a wild frontier, but the Civil Corps existed back in Portia to protect the citizens from unexpected trouble; instead, last summer trouble found him in a different manner, a manner which ended up taking him away from the place he was born entirely.
The bell went off indicating the start of the match and Arlo still didn’t think anything of the way his opponent looked at him – not until his opponent whispered, “I know what you did last summer.”
…
The hot summer sun beat down on the top of Arlo’s head, his eyes looking at the buildings of Zuzu city. The soaring structures stuck out as a stark comparison to the buildings back in Porta. One hand remained jammed into the pocket of his grey jeans while the other held onto the map, his eyes carefully taking in his destination before letting out a sigh. Pulling his hand from his pocket, he ran his fingers through his locks of hair, his eyes focused on the police station.
“Why?”
He let out a deep sigh, heading towards the front door, pushing it open. His presence within the police station definitely drew the eyes of individuals around him, yet he didn’t pay them any mind. Instead, he walked over to the counter, his blue eyes focused on the person at the front desk. He felt tired, having taken the boat from Portia and then a bus overnight, yet the adrenaline kept him going.
After all, Sebastian decided to call him instead of their mother, something he couldn’t ignore.
“So, I’m here for Sebastian.” The look the female officer gave him – she definitely looked at him in disbelief. In a way, he didn’t blame her, given the fact at first glance there didn’t seem to be any connection between him and the person he inquired about. He rubbed the back of his head, wondering why she waited to respond regarding his younger brother. “He’s here isn’t he?”
“Your relation to him is…”
“I’m his older brother.” Arlo watched the young woman continue looking at him in disbelief. His hands shoved into his pockets, a sigh escaping from his lips while he continued to smile at her. “I take after our mother; he takes after our father.”
“I see.”
“And anyway, that shouldn’t really matter, should it?” He of course knew the procedure even if there wasn’t much he found himself dealing with back in Portia regarding what the police in a large city might end up dealing with. Of course, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what kind of trouble Sebastian ended up getting into that he would end up calling him. After all, he was an older brother who’d always found himself protective of his younger brother, particularly since Sebastian was always different.
“I...” She looked at him, frowning, but still not allowing him access to his younger brother.
“Look. Is he here or not is my first question, and the second is do I need to bail him out or what?” Arlo’s smile faded, his eyes glaring at her, deciding he might as well drop the niceties’ and get to the point. “Well? He didn’t tell me what was going on when he called me, but I’ve also spent quite a bit of time traveling to get here, so, please. Can we not beat around the bush please?”
“I need to check with the higher-ups.” She reached for the phone, calling out one of the higher ranks. They headed out, looking at Arlo.
“If you’re wondering if we’re actually related, we are.”
“Do you even know why he’s here?”
“He didn’t tell me.”
“He’s been charged with drunken and disorderly conduct and breaking and entering.”
“He what?” Arlo found himself taken aback by the accusation, his mind wondering why Sebastian would get himself drunk in the first place; after all, Sebastian hated alcohol, so his younger brother actually getting drunk didn’t make sense. Then there was the charge of breaking and entering, the chance being that there was likely more to the story than the officer in front of him was telling him.
“Look. I don’t know why he did what he did. But he did what he did. You can go ahead and see him, not to mention bail him out. He’s not getting out of this.”
“You act like this wasn’t one-time behavior.”
“Well, I’m not sure if that is true, Just because he hasn’t been caught before doesn’t mean he’s not done it before. In fact, it’s likely that he has done it before.”
“Can I quote you on that?”
“Are you some kind of reporter?” The man glared at him.
“No. I’m thinking about how you’ve already decided what kind of person my brother is from one incident.” He glared at the man, his heart sinking knowing that as a member of the Civil Corps their jobs were the same. “What happened to you Sebby? What’s going on?”
Thankfully, the officer led him towards the jail cell Sebastian was sitting in. Arlo saw his younger brother sitting there, his knees pulled to his chest. The officer spoke in a rather cold manner which yet again unsettled Arlo. “Someone is here to pick you up. This doesn’t mean the charges are being dropped.”
The officer unlocked the jailcell while Arlo took a deep breath, waiting for Sebastian to say something first. What Sebastian said surprised him for some reason. “Are you going to chew me out for being a failure as well?”
“I…” Arlo rubbed the back of his head. “Why’d you call me and not mom?”
“The last thing I need is…” Sebastian paused. “Not that I really can go home, so worrying about getting kicked out of the house isn’t really that big of a problem. I really shouldn’t have called you.”
“Sebby…”
“I’m sorry for being such a bother. I should have…”
“You’re not a bother, though I do have to wonder what is going on. You hate alcohol. You’ve never been in trouble with the law before, so what’s going on.” Sebastian said nothing, simply looking up. Arlo let out a sigh. “Look. I’ve not yet gotten a motel room, but we can talk a bit later. Maybe after we’ve both eaten. What do you say?”
“Fine, I guess.”
Sebastian acting so distant honestly bothered him.
…
“So…” Arlo found himself sitting on one of the beds in the motel room, watching Sebastian carefully. He’d waited for a pizza to be delivered and set it on the other bed in front of his younger brother who refused to touch the food. “What happened?”
“Nothing happened.”
“Sebby…”
“Please don’t pry.”
“Sorry, but you called me instead of mom but I’m your older brother. I’m going to pry, so just be honest with me.” Arlo continued watching Sebastian not respond. “Please? It’s not like you to get drunk, let alone do something like breaking and entry.”
“You don’t know me.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You spend all your time in Portia, taking care of…” Sebastian’s mouth snapped shut, his eyes darting away so he wouldn’t have to look Arlo in the eye. “Sorry, but…”
“Don’t apologize. It is true I wasn’t able to be there for you, but I am in fact here for you now.” Arlo stood up and took a piece of pizza before sitting down and taking a bite. “And eat. I’m curious regarding what you were thinking.”
“I got drunk.”
“Why?”
“Because my life is shit.”
“You should be more specific than that.”
“You and Demetrius…”
“Sebby, you called me, so let me help you, alright.”
“Demetrius is pissed off because I dropped out of school.”
“You…” Arlo’s eyes blinked, his confusion growing, remembering how much Sebastian liked school, at least he did back in Portia. “You dropped out of school?”
“I did.”
“Why…”
“Don’t make me answer that. And anyway, that was years ago and too late to rectify”
“Well, isn’t the answer obvious?” Arlo watched Sebastian turning his head, seemingly surprised that Arlo said such a thing. “You liked school, so the only reason you would drop out is because you were being bullied, but you got drunk and did something to try and rectify what happened because it’s still eating you up, isn’t it?”
…
That’s how Arlo found himself outside of the boxing gym as he did. In the back of his mind, he honestly didn’t know what he was thinking let alone what he was getting to, but the first thing to make things right felt like having Sebastian apologize to the person whom he broke into the house of – who wasn’t actually the person who bullied Sebastian, but their parent.
This of course led to the two showed up at the gym with Sebastian obviously not looking forward to the idea.
The man who owned the gym was far from pleased at seeing Sebastian, not that Arlo could blame him. “What are you doing here?”
“Sebastian?” Arlo looked at his brother from the corner of his eye.
“I wish to apologize for breaking the window at your house.”
“That’s not going to get me to drop the charges you know.”
“I know. Arlo explained as much, but…”
“But what.”
“I won’t apologize to your son,” Sebastian blurted out which in turn made Arlo let out a sigh.
“Then this has something to do with you and my boy?” The man of course looked over at his son, who was in the ring. The man let out a whistle, which in turn brought his son over. “Hey. What’s going on between you and this guy? You said you didn’t know him.”
“I don’t. Plus, you shouldn’t listen to such a wimpy, spineless little…”
“Excuse me?” One of Arlo’s eyebrows shot up, his arms crossed, his jaw set firm.
“Oh, and my old man should believe him.”
“And I shouldn’t believe my younger brother that you bullied him.”
“Arlo…” Sebastian whispered under his breath, obviously becoming even more anxious regarding the situation.
“Why don’t we have the two of you settle this in the ring?” the gym owner stated.
“Of course.” Of course, Arlo let his fiery spirit get the better of him and stepped into the ring despite Sebastian’s protests. Winning wasn’t a difficult task, but then something unexpected happened.
“If you sign up under my gym, I’ll drop the charges.”
“Arlo, don’t.”
Arlo’s eyes of course drifted over to the nan’s son.
“And he’ll be dropped. He is dropped, regardless.”
“Dad. I didn’t…”
“Why should I believe you when you started calling the string bean a wimp and spineless? If he was a stranger like you said, that’s not something you would say?”
Sebastian of course didn’t like the idea; after all, it meant a different career path than Arlo originally intended for himself. Still, he felt he needed to do this to show he cared.
…
“I know what you did last summer,” his opponent whispered. “You got a good buddy of mine kicked out of his gym. His old man also got him blacklisted from other gyms.”
Of course, the words didn’t phase Arlo the way his opponent wanted. If there was one thing someone didn’t do in front of him, it was nothing involving his younger brother getting hurt. His movements were swift, accurate, and by the third round his opponent out cold on the ground.