Chapter Text
Ten years ago
Colt looked up at the beautiful farmhouse, which would have been a magnificent sight, surrounded by big, tall trees. A bed of flowers adorned the sides, their vibrant colours standing out from the green, lush landscape. Surrounding it was a sturdy, strong fence as if to wrap it up in a bow much like a present.
Next to it was a large area of land with various structures and fences, which Colt knew housed the many animals his aunt, Lynn, reared for the family farm—Grice Farmstead.
Indeed, it would have been a beautiful sight, as Colt had spent many happy summers there with his younger brother, Falco. Except this time, they won’t be there just for that summer… and under less happier circumstances.
Lynn parked the SUV in the garage next to her house. With a sigh and a sad smile, she looked at her nephew, and then at the back to the younger boy, who was fast asleep, all wrapped up in a blue blanket with yellow stars all over it while he was clinging on to a teddy bear that had seen better days.
“Colt, honey…” Lynn began, licking her lips as she tried to put on a brave face for her nephew. “I wish you were both here for the same reason, all those summers ago…”
The teenager nodded, his arms holding onto the urn containing the ashes of his mother, Zora. “I know, Aunt Lynn,” he said softly, his voice hoarse from crying. “I wish for that too.”
The woman reached to hold his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I know it’s going to take some getting used to—life on the farm and in the countryside. But I hope you will come to see this place as your home too. After all, it’s always been in the family.”
Colt nodded again, not in the mood to try and make the best of the situation, because why should he? His mother—with whom he was close with—had just died, and his father has been absent from their lives weeks after Falco was born.
With no other parent, Lynn was declared the Grice brothers' guardian, and before Colt knew it, he had to pack up and leave everything and everyone he knew behind in the city to move to the countryside.
He knew life had always dealt him a bad hand, but this was by far the worse.
Lynn nodded again, sympathetic to her nephew’s predicament. “Okay, honey. Let’s bring Falco and your bags in, then you can both clean up and we’ll have dinner together.”
Colt didn’t even reply as he unbuckled his seat belt and opened the car door, being careful to not drop the urn, while his aunt went to wake his brother up. He looked up at the big house, pursing his lips as he tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to overflow.
With a shaky sigh, Colt held the urn tighter and began to walk towards the front door.
Ten years later
Colt’s alarm rang, and the blond clumsily reached for his phone from which the horrendous sound was coming from. He found it by his bedside table, picking it up and squinting as he tried to look at the time—six in the morning.
He tapped the button to turn off the alarm and dropped his phone by his side, looking up at the ceiling of his bedroom in the same farmhouse. “Well, here’s to another day,” he said, sitting up and stretching his arms above his head.
Once he got up, he got ready for the day, and then came down the stairs. He passed by his mother's urn, which was sitting on a shelf over the fireplace, and he smiled softly as he brought his fingers to his lips and then placed them gently on the urn, as if to wish her good morning.
He then went to kitchen to see Lynn cooking breakfast while Falco, who was now fifteen, was helping her. Colt smiled at the sight, leaning against the counter with his arms folded across his chest as Falco attempted to make scrambled eggs under Lynn’s watchful gaze. It was summer break for Falco, which meant he would be helping out a lot at home and the farm.
“With eggs, you have to be fast,” Lynn said to the teenager. “And you have to keep stirring it, so it won’t get burned, but not too hard because we want them to still be light and fluffy, you see?”
“Uh huh,” Falco nodded, the spatula in his hand as he carefully moved the scrambled eggs around the pan. “And then I add some salt and pepper?”
“Yes,” Colt said, grinning as he came up to them. He leaned down to kiss his aunt on her cheek, and then reached to playfully ruffle Falco’s hair. “Morning, you two.”
“Colt!” Lynn giggled, looking at her nephew. “Oh my, I’ll never get over how tall you’ve gotten. You were such a scrawny little thing when you first came here, remember?”
Falco stifled his laugh, secretly enjoying how Lynn kept babying Colt even though he’s a fully-grown man at the age of twenty-five.
“It must have been all those fresh foods you’ve been eating—nothing better than drinking fresh milk or eating fresh eggs!” Lynn rambled on. “And helping out at the farm certainly helped with all those muscles!” she said, poking at his arm.
“It’s just a little muscle,” Colt chuckled. “I’m not like Reiner or Bert—now those are muscles,” he said, referring to his friends.
“Lizzie was definitely checking you out the other day when we went to town hall for those licenses,” Falco said with a playful grin as he turned off the stove to transfer the cooked eggs to a large plate, referring to the niece of the town’s mayor, Willy Tybur, who worked as a receptionist there. “She nearly mixed up our forms!”
“Well, when I have two handsome nephews, it’s no wonder,” Lynn said teasingly, causing both brothers to groan playfully. “Okay, okay—let’s have breakfast,” she chuckled, gesturing to the dining table. On it were, in addition to the scrambled eggs, baked beans, bacon, and sausages. “Falco, you can feed the animals while Colt grooms the horses. I’ll check the chickens and ducks to see if they’ve laid any eggs.”
“Okay,” the brothers said in unison, grinning as they dug into their food, eager to start the day.