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Courtland enjoys his quiet nights in.
They are one of the few nights he doesn't have to answer to anyone, except for Claire. He can completely relax and ignore the rest of the world.
Claire has a movie on in the living room that Courtland barely remembers the plot of as Courtland moves around the kitchen. It's his night to clean up but he doesn't complain too much about that since he is not on call tonight.
He methodically washes the dishes and sets them lined up how he likes in the drying rack.
Most of the time Courtland doesn't really enjoy water, a remnant of the trauma he endured when his father was still alive, but the soft talking and song from the movie in the background is really grounding in a way Courtland needs.
There must be a funny line because he hears soft laughter from Claire.
Courtland takes a towel to the countertops one last time before making his way into the living room. Claire is sitting cross legged on the right side of the couch with her attention fully focused on the tv.
He sits back in the recliner with hum in approval as his head falls against the head rest.
Courtland picks up his phone that he has been neglecting all night to scroll through the notifications. It's nothing much, a few social media pop ups and a couple texts from Tangerine.
He is sending him pictures of Paris since he is there on a job with Lemon. Courtland won’t deny that he wishes that he was here but he knows that Tangerine can’t stay in one place for long in his line of work. He is looking forward to next week when he finally gets back home.
Courtland is going to set it down when it lights up with Colt's name and a picture of his brother flipping off the camera.
Courtland had wanted to change it considering the looks he got when Colt called him in public places but Colt has made a fuss so it stays that way much to Courtland's displeasure.
He answers the call and holds the phone to his ear, "Hello?"
"This is Courtland right?" A voice that is definitely not Colt asks him.
Courtland is immediately on high alert.
"Who is this? Where is Colt?" Court asks feeling a sense of dread fill him.
"This is Adrian- um- Rocky's partner." Adrian explains which helps a little bit that it’s not some random person that has his brother's phone.
"Is everything okay?" Courtland questions them a little softer this time.
There is a deep sigh on the other side of the line and Courtland can hear them moving somewhere then a burst of laughter and sound hits him.
"Colt suggested that we go to a party after finals and now he is a little too wasted and I can't find Ryland."
"I'm gonna-" Colt's voice is distant and slurred. "I'm gonna jump into the pool!"
"Give me a second-" Adrian says before the sound gets muffled, "for the love of god get down from there!"
Courtland closes his eyes and breathes out slowly through his nose.
"Where is the house, I can pick them up." Courtland stands up which gets Claire's attention.
Adrian rattles off an address of a house that Courtland thinks is on the other side of town, "I am so sorry for bothering you but all of us are too drunk to drive. Casey was susposed to be our DD but he had to cancel."
Courtland pinches the bridge of his nose and plans out the lecture the twins will be getting once they are home and safe.
"It's alright, thank you for calling me Adrian." Courtland says with another sigh.
He hangs up the phone once they have said their quick goodbye, probably rushing to get Colt off of a high ledge. Courtland really hates that Colt likes to climb when intoxicated.
"Is everything okay?" Claire has paused her movie and has a worried expression on her face.
"I have to go pick up your uncles." He doesn't divulge too much information.
"Can I come?" Claire asks, somehow excited to go retrieve her uncles who are undoubtedly wasted.
"No-" He shakes his head, "-you shouldn't be exposed to that."
"Please!" Claire pleads with him, "I will stay in the car!"
Courtland doesn't have time to argue with her while his brother's run amok across town so he accepts his defeat and nods. Claire cheers and gets up from the couch while Courtland fetches his keys from the key holder near the door.
"You will be staying in the car-" Courtland lays down the ground rules as he ushers her into the car's front seat. "-you will not talk to anyone and most importantly you will wait for me to get back."
Courtland gets into the car and shuts his door.
"Got it!" She agrees as she pulls the seat belt over and clicks it into place.
Courtland sighs for what feels like the hundredth time in the past few minutes.
He is going to kill his brothers.
☆
The music is so loud Courtland can hear it a street away. It didn't help his growing headache at his night in being ruined by his brothers' antics. The house is large, three stories with a long well kept front yard. People are crowding the house, some leaving and others pushing their way into the crowd of drunk college students.
"It's so loud!" Claire says with something like awe as he parks the car on the curb.
"Stay here." Courtland orders.
"Fine." She crosses her arms over her chest.
Courtland swiftly gets out of the car and locks it just in case. Drunk people make bad decisions and Courtland isn't going to let his daughter get hurt, none of the brothers would be able to forgive themselves if something happened to her.
He looks around hoping to find Adrian.
Rocky has been good friends with the Twins since the first day of high school and just recently in the past two years got with their partner so Courtland has caught glimpses of them so he hopes his limited information will help him.
In the end he hears them yelling Colt's name over the roar of the crowd. Courtland pushes through the people to the backyard where the pool is. Most of the people are in the house since the pool is a bit too cold to swim in this early in the year.
He sees Colt inching closer to railing of the third floor balcony. Adrian, he is pretty sure it's them, is holding him back by the arm.
"Colton Gentry!" Courtland yells up at him.
Colt looks startled but blinks down at him. A loopy grin over takes his face, he must not be sober enough to realize how bad of a situation he is in.
"Court!" He has the audacity to wave down to him. "Watch me jump in the pool!"
"Get down here!" Court crosses his arms.
Colt has a pout on his face, "But the pool-!"
"Do you I need to come up to get you?"
That gets Colt, albeit a little sluggishly, moving away from the edge.
Courtland is a little pleased that Colt still listens to him even after turning eighteen, it makes this a lot easier then if he didn't listen. That is really the only good thing to come out of their fucked up childhood.
Five minutes later Adrian is hauling Colt over to him. They look tired as they hand him over with a breath of relief. Courtland throws Colt's arm over his shoulder to support him.
One down, one to go.
"Where is Ryland?" He asks Adrian hoping they may have found him during the short time between the phone call and Courtland asking now.
"I last saw him talking to some black haired guy with a beard." They tell him with a shrug. "After that I lost him."
Courtland nods at the limited information they gave him. He is thankful to at least have a direction to go in.
"Thank you," He turns to go and Adrian gives him a wave before going back into the throng of people, probably to go find Rocky.
Getting Colt back to the car is an exercise in restraint. He always knew that Colt was the more sociable twin but every couple of minutes Colt stops to say hi to someone which means it takes them ten minutes to get out to the car.
"I could have landed in the pool!" Colt argues.
"Or you would have broken something Colt." Courtland rebukes his statement and unlocks the car.
He is just about to get Colt in the car when he realizes that he only has one shoe on.
"Where is your shoe!" Courtland demands.
Colt blinks at him like he just grew another head, "Um- Rocky had it last- I think."
Then, without any warning, Colt throws up in the grass next to Courtland’s car.
Claire cringes from the passenger seat and Courtland looks up at the sky in hopes for answers as to why this is happening to him specifically.
"Fine," Courtland opens up the back door and shoves Colt inside.
"Hey! I'm fragile Court!" He protests as Courtland swings his legs in, leaving his brother half sitting, half laying down in the back seat.
"Stay." Courtland orders him before shutting the door as he goes to argue.
Turning back he sees something on the roof.
He squints and sees Rocky on the roof. Rocky is laid out on his back with a shoe in hand. Courtland assumes that must be Colt's shoe and decides to get it back from him at a later date.
"My shoe!" Colt exclaims from the car as he presses his face to the glass of the window.
Courtland braces himself and heads back into the house to look for Ryland.
★
Ryland doesn't take pills from random people often but when he does it's always the best high he can get. He has been floating on air most of the night but none more then right now as a pretty guy pulls him up to a room.
He first noticed Simon in their organic chemistry class. He caught his eye since he was one of the only people who could match his test scores. Ryland isn't competitive but he felt a little thrill when their scores are in a back and forth race for the best grade in their class.
Simon has never really interacted with him before, Ryland wasn't shy but he didn't want to seem weird so he stayed away.
That was until tonight.
He found Simon leaning against a wall nursing a beer in one hand. The man looked a little bored with the party and Ryland was more than happy to help with that.
Ryland flirted, Simon flirted back and it wasn't long until he was pushed up against a door with Simon's mouth on his.
He sighs into Simon's mouth as his fingers slip under his shirt. Touching Simon's skin after imagining it for the past few months feels better then the drugs and alcohol in his system do.
"I need you on the bed now." Ryland whispers to Simon once they pull apart.
"You are bossy." Simon raises a brow.
Ryland laughs, "You don't even know the half of it."
They migrate to the big bed behind them. Simon is leaning back on his elbows looking up Ryland as he straddles his hips. His lips are slightly parted and flushed which has Ryland wanting to ruin him in the best way possible.
Ryland lets out a little sigh as Simon's hands settle on his hips, his finger tips just barely touching the bare skin under his T-shirt.
He is about to pull his shirt off when the door slams open.
Both of them look back at the loud noise and Ryland gapes in shock, and some horror considering he is currently on top of someone, at Court who is standing in the door way.
"Ryland! We're leaving." He says as he strides forward.
"Wait- Court- how-?" Ryland can't even get out a full sentence before his older brother grabs the back of his shirt and hauls him off of Simon.
"Colt is already in the car and I was supposed to have a peaceful night in." Court pulls him away as Ryland tries to reach for something to hold onto.
He just started talking to Simon!
All of this progress will be for nothing if he leaves now.
But in the end Court is far too strong so he is dragged out of the room while Simon holds back laughter at the whole situation.
"Call me!" Ryland yells as he is pulled past the door way and into the hallway.
☆
Courtland drags Ryland by the collar all the way to the car, which thankfully has been undisturbed while he was gone. Colt has sat up in his seat and is clutching something that Court can't see until he opens the door.
"God it smells in here." Ryland trips over his own feet as he climbs into the back seat.
"Shut up." Colt grumbles into the bag he has in his lap.
Courtland sighs into relief now that he has his brothers in the car. He shuts the door then goes around to the driver seat and gets into his car.
"Did you finally talk to Simon?" Claire turns around to ask Ryland, whose whole face gets even redder than before.
That must be who he was on top of earlier.
Also why does Claire know about Simon but Courtland doesn't? Court is a little hurt that Ryland didn’t confide in him about the guy he likes.
He will have to do a background check on the guy.
Just in case.
"Um- well-" Ryland seems to try and put together a sentence for a minute before just deciding to nod.
Colt throws up in the bag again.
Courtland decides that he is never doing this again but deep down he knows that he will always come when his brothers need it. He drives away from the house with his brothers far too drunk and most likely high in the back seat.
At least they are safe.