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When Aaron was small, he dreamed of adventure.
He’d devoured every book in the school library with even the smallest hint of it. On the rare occasions he could convince Maria to take him and Nicky to the public library, Aaron would sit for hours and read everything, anything.
He traded books for drugs in middle school, stealing from his mother’s stash and taking whatever her boyfriends would give him. It was adventure, the best he could get, and he savored it until the crash.
Then Andrew came.
Then Andrew came, and he was living in an adventure far more real. Lost lost twin, separated at birth-it sounded like a fairytale.
It felt like a nightmare.
Andrew came to live with them, and Aaron thought things would get better.
They did, for a while.
Andrew came home with a lock for their door and answered Tilda’s anger with blank intimidation. Aaron could lock the door, could shut himself away from his mother’s flailing fists and her boyfriend’s laughing taunts.
Then Andrew saw the bruises, and he stuck around Aaron when they were home. Tilda didn’t, for whatever reason, hit Aaron when Andrew was around. It was a wonderful reprieve, and Aaron made the most he could of it.
Then the deal. Protection, company, family and trade. Aaron loved the security of it, the itch of eyes always watching.
But Andrew was not everywhere, and bruises still appeared on Aaron’s arms.
Aaron doesn’t think about what happens next. Ever.
When he gets to college, all Aaron wants is a normal life. He has a girlfriend, and his classes, and practices and games. He has a routine, and he sticks to it.
He hasn’t read an adventure book in years.
And he’s fine. It’s not ideal, and the iron grip of their deal feels like a shackle, a curse, more than a promise.
But it’s normal.
Until Neil shows up with the fucking mafia on his heels.
Aaron stays out of it as much as he can. He half regrets reading all those fantasy adventure books, because he’s starting to dream it. He can’t stand Neil’s face when he’s awake, if he starts seeing it while he’s sleeping Aaron will kill him. Seriously injure, at the very least.
Aaron throws himself harder into his work, buries himself in school and exy, until he can’t anymore and then-
And then it’s over.
Neil is back with scars and a freshly legal identity. Kevin is okay. Andrew is okay.
He’s surprised when it’s that last thought that comforts him the most.
The year finishes out in relative peace.
Aaron’s finals go fine, and his trial date is set for August. They win finals, and he swears Nicky and Boyd don’t stop celebrating for a week.
He and Andrew have joint therapy sessions weekly. They don’t often go well-Aaron count count on one hand the times they haven’t ended in silence. Tense, angry, seething silence that makes his heart itch and his head hurt.
But it’s still more than before, when there weren’t sessions to count at all. Andrew is opening up, slowly, and Aaron is learning to recognize what ground he gives. Learning what he, himself, has to stand strong on and what he can sacrifice.
Aaron is sitting in one of the overpriced campus cafes with Katelyn’s hand tucked tight in his own and the iced-coffee brain freeze lingering on the edge of his tongue when he realizes it.
His adventure is over. He had one, with Andrew and the Foxes and Katelyn and college.
But.
He has another.
And he isn’t alone in it this time, stumbling through the dark.
He has Andrew beside him. Has his family.
His next adventure is only just starting.