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Tommy was bored out of his fucking mind.
He had exhausted all the games he had. Endless scrolling through social media only served to bore him out even more. His friends were not answering his messages.
And there was only one solution to being bored out of his fucking mind: bugging the hell out of his brothers until they were out their minds.
It’s a win-win for Tommy Innit.
He crashed his way into his oldest brother’s room, who was… sharpening his sword?
“Listen,” he proclaimed. “You’re going to lend me your sword.”
His oldest brother gave him the flattest glare in the world and said, “no.”
“Wh- Why??”
“Because the last time you had my sword, you nearly gutted yourself with it and I’m not going to allow your stupidity to ruin my life.”
Tommy pouted. “Okay, not true-”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Tommy didn’t really remember it, honestly. He just didn’t want to lose the argument.
His oldest brother sighed. He tossed back his long, pink hair that totally didn’t make Tommy jealous. “Why are you bugging me, Tommy? Don’t you have games on your phone?”
“Because I’m bored, damn it, and I want to make it my brothers’ problem, not just mine-”
“Well I’m not your only brother, am I?” The pink-haired man got to his feet and pushed Tommy out of his room. Tommy struggled against him, but it was all for naught. He was way too strong. “Go bother the other guy, not me. He’s a freeloader, I have a competition to win.”
“Wait-”
“Bye!”
And he slammed the door in Tommy’s face. Fucker.
He heard the lock click soon afterwards.
Damn it. Well, he did have another brother to bother.
Said other brother was playing guitar by his window in his room, all scenic and aesthetic-like. He looked like an instagram post.
Tommy ruined that perfect instagram look by tossing himself onto the man, making him squeak as he nearly banged his own head against his guitar in an effort to get it out of Tommy’s way.
“What the fuck, man?!” He scowled. Tommy laughed in response. “You could’ve broken my fucking guitar!”
“Good. Pay attention to me.”
“Pay attention to you?” His brother ran a hand through his brown curls and sighed. “Tommy, what did I do to deserve this?”
“You’re my brother.”
“God, you are such a gremlin.” He said it sternly, but Tommy could see a lilt of amusement in his eyes. “Why are you here? Why aren’t you- I don’t know, on your phone in your room or something?”
“Because I’m bored!” Seriously, why couldn’t his brothers get it through their thick skulls that just scrolling through his phone got boring after a while? “I’m fucking bored, and I want it to be someone else’s problem, and that pink-haired bitch kicked me out of his room-”
“Maybe I should do the same.”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Tommy growled. “I’m going to- I’m going to make you regret it.”
“Oh yeah?” He gave Tommy his stupid, condenscending smirk. “What are you going to do that’s not going to get you into big trouble with dad, exactly?”
“I- Uh-”
“Exactly.” The brown-haired man patted down the spot next to him. “Lay down here, gremlin. Be my audience.”
Tommy wanted to complain, but also listening to his brother’s music sounded like a more long-lasting cure to boredom than getting to yet another shouting match. So he laid down, and listened to the tune of his brother’s guitar.
The song felt familiar, but he couldn't exactly place it. Its tune was bold, yet calming in a way that made Tommy want to doze off. Slowly, he let himself fall asleep to the music in his ears.
“Tommy! Wake up already!”
Tommy jumped awake at the sound of his mother’s voice ringing through the house. Fuck, what time was it already?
His eyes laid on the alarm clock next to him. Four in the afternoon. Shit.
Normally, he’d be more worried about the fact that he almost overslept his appointment with his friends. However, his eyes laid on the photo next to it instead.
It was a family photo, consisting of him and his mother on his middle school graduation day. His mother took him out for pizza afterwards, just the two of them.
And that's how it always had been.
Tommy could barely recall the soft tune that felt so familiar mere moments ago.