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Hunter had a bad habit of walking into rooms without knocking.
To be fair, as he entered his brother’s bedroom, the worst he expected to see was Miles and Tristan making out. Usually, however, he just found them napping together. Miles usually had the decency to close the door when he and Tristan made out, so Hunter never walked in on them in compromising situations, which he was infinitely grateful for. After all, he didn’t need a repeat of walking in on Winston and Frankie.
However, Tristan wasn’t at the Hollingsworth household that afternoon, so Hunter found Miles sitting alone, seated on his bed and facing away from the door. His shirt was lying in his lap and he seemed to be scrolling through his phone, presumably having gotten distracted in the process of getting changed. That alone wasn’t remarkable in any way, but when Hunter’s eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the room, he noticed something on his older brother’s back.
Hunter was just about to bring the mark to Miles’ attention when he realized what the mark actually was: a bruise, stretching all the way from the boy’s right shoulder blade to his lower back. The bruise was alarmingly large and so dark that it literally made Hunter stop in his tracks.
He wasn’t sure how to react. Did Miles realize the bruise was there? Surely he had to; it was massive and had to be painful. Then there was the more important question: how did the bruise get there? Hunter’s mind immediately jumped to the most severe conclusions. He imagined it was somehow the result of the fact that Miles came out only a few weeks prior. He was pretty sure that he would have heard about someone being the crap out of his brother at school, but maybe Miles was intentionally hiding it. Hunter couldn’t imagine Miles staying quiet about homophobia at school, but he also couldn’t imagine anyone just accidentally getting such an intense bruise on their own.
“Dude.” Hunter said finally, attempting to sound only mildly concerned to maintain his uninterested younger brother façade.
Miles hadn’t noticed his brother up until that point, but as soon as he heard Hunter’s voice he immediately stood and turned to face the younger boy. He looked startled for a moment, but immediately painted a smile on face.
“Thanks for sneaking up on me.” Miles said, chuckling in a manner that was obviously forced.
Hunter frowned. He was both annoyed by Miles’ usual secretive demeanor and concerned that Miles clearly was attempting to hide the injury from him.
“Where’d that bruise come from?” the younger of the two asked, crossing his arms sternly.
“What bruise?” Miles responded. The response came quickly and effortlessly, probably due to years of practice in the art of lying.
“Don’t do this right now, man. I saw the bruise. You can’t just pretend it isn’t there.” Hunter paused, shifting awkwardly in place and avoiding prolonged eye contact with Miles. He wasn’t good at the whole confrontational thing, especially with his brother who didn’t take anyone seriously (except for Tristan and maybe Winston). “No one like, was giving you crap about the whole bi thing, right?” He spoke quieter this time, hoping that would evoke a serious response from Miles.
Miles was silent for what felt like an eternity to Hunter, but at least he hadn’t immediately responded sarcastically. That was progress, if only a little.
“No, nothing like that.” The older boy said finally. “Just an accident in gym class. I fell into the bleachers during basketball. It’s nothing.”
“Looks more like you were pushed into the bleachers.” Hunter replied. “Why are you lying to me? Did you get into a fight and now you’re trying to hide it from dad or something?”
Miles scoffed and leaned back against the wall. “Dad already knows, don’t worry about that.”
Hunter squinted in confusion. If Miles had gotten in a fight and their father knew about it, he wouldn’t let Miles live it down. It would be the topic of conversation at every meal and Mr. Hollingsworth and his eldest child would have constantly been arguing about it. As far as Hunter knew, the two were on good, or at least decent terms for about the past week, so there’s no way Miles could have been in a fight.
“What are you talking about?” Hunter asked, analyzing his brother’s face. Miles looked resentful, but not towards his brother. Someone else.
Then Hunter had a moment of realization.
“No.” He involuntarily shook his head in disbelief at the idea that came to him. “Dad… dad didn’t hit you, did he?”
Miles’ silence and numb expression was a clear enough answer, and Hunter immediately became overwhelmed with shock.
Noticing this, Miles crossed the room and roughly placed his hands on Hunter’s shoulders. “You can’t tell mom.” He whispered angrily. “He didn’t even hit me. He pushed me, and it was my fault. I was being my usual self and acting like an asshole.“
“Miles!” Hunter said loudly, grabbing his brother’s forearms and meeting his eyes. “He left a bruise. That’s abuse.” The younger boy was on the verge of something that resembled a panic attack, his breath short and mind racing. “Oh god, I- I told you that you were like him. Miles you’re not; you’re nothing like him.“
“Hunter!” Miles shook his brother out of the fit. ”Listen to me. You can’t say anything. Don’t break the peace. I’m trying so hard to make everything better.”
The younger boy stared at him in disbelief. This wasn’t the strong-willed Miles he had grown up with. He didn’t entirely realize it until that moment, but Miles had changed completely over the course of the past few months. Now that Hunter was getting a closer look, he realized how tired Miles looked. His expression was stern, but distant. Not to mention the fact that Miles spent virtually all of his free time napping, even if Tristan was around.
It all made sense now that he knew the truth: the fights, the distance, and the vague comments that didn’t make sense, everything. Miles was being abused, and both he and his father were attempting to hide it.
“Promise me you don’t tell mom.” Miles pleaded.
Hunter frowned. “Fine.”
“Say it.”
“I promise I won’t tell mom.”
Miles relaxed and let go of Hunter. Sighing, he sat back down on his bed. “It’s not going to happen again, so just... try to forget about it, okay?” The older boy said quietly while grabbing his abandoned shirt from earlier and pulling it over his head.
Hunter nodded. It certainly wasn’t going to happen again. He only promised that he wouldn’t tell his mother, but he never promised not to tell Frankie. Or Tristan. Miles didn’t deserve this, even if he thought he did. Hunter wasn’t just going to knowingly stand by while his brother was abused.