“Yay! Jack’s here!” Daren exclaims as soon as he hears the knock on the door.
Devon chuckles at how close his brother has gotten to Jack before heading over to the door and opening it. There stood Jack with one arm behind his back. Devon raises his eyebrow because Jack has never brought anything over to hang with his brother, and he especially has never had a reason to hide something. There is only one reason why he would on this day. Devon almost forgot that Jack was even coming over to celebrate.
“What’s behind your back?” he questions.
“I got a little present for the birthday boy,” Jack answers as he enters with the big bag that he’s holding.
“That doesn’t look small at all.”
Daren giggles from his brothers rhyme before going over to the bag that contains his present. When he looks inside, he just stares at it. Devon scrunches up his eyebrows and goes over to look inside to find out what is making his brother speechless.
Jack got them a PS3.
A fucking PS3.
And games.
Holy shit.
“You really didn’t have to get my brother something so expensive,” Devon tells Jack as he lifts the box out of the bag. “You could have just gotten him some CDs or something. You’re going to make my presents look like crap. Hell, the cake is going to look like crap compared to this, and the pie too.”
“I know that you only have the PS2, and that means that there are a ton of fighting games that you can’t play, including Soulcalibur IV and V. I was told that IV sucks compared to III, so I just got Daren V. I heard that it’s amazing, and Maxi is in this game. There are some characters that aren’t in this one because it’s a time skip. Kilik can be unlocked, but if you want to play with someone with a staff you have to play as Xiba, who is this really funny guy that loves steam buns.”
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Daren exclaims as he gives Jack a hug.
“Wow,” Devon starts. “You did your research.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to get a game for him if it sucked. Plus, I need to make sure that I can still beat him.” Daren starts to grab some other games out of the bag. “I heard that you’ve been getting into anime, mostly Naruto, so I got you a couple Naruto games too. There are some others like Mortal Combat and Tekken in there as well.”
“That’s a lot Jack,” Devon says.
Jack shrugs. “He just has to make sure that I get to play too, so it’s almost like half of them are presents if you want to think of it like that. Plus, I know that you can’t afford to spoil your brother like this, and every kid needs to be spoiled. I know that you’re trying your best to make sure that he has the most normal childhood that he can get. I want to help. Daren is a nice kid.”
“Thanks Jack.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Can we play now?” Daren questions.
“Sure, you guys can play while I order the pizza.”
“Yay!”
Devon orders the pizza as Jack helps Daren set up the game system and start up Soulcalibur V. Devon watches the time and also Jack and his little brother. He still can’t believe how Jack is with his brother. He treats him almost like he’s his son or little brother. Part of Devon is jealous that Jack can afford to do all the things his brother wishes that he could, but he just remembers that that is life, and he lucky that he actually met Jack.
Of course, there is that other part in him that starts to get butterflies whenever he thinks about the lanky man. The more Jack is over at his apartment, the more he gets the feeling. Devon almost wants to believe that Jack is feeling it too and that’s why he always comes over. It takes Devon a lot of his willpower to not just get up and kiss the man. He can’t have a relationship right now. He’s busy with work and watching his brother. Plus, there is still that part of him that doesn’t want to love anything else because he’ll just end up losing it too. The only person that he needs to care and love is his brother.
“Dang it!” Daren yells when Jack beats him yet again.
Jack just laughs. “Maybe you should try other characters and not just Maxi.”
“I could say the same thing about you.”
“How about we use the randomizer?”
“Ok. Dang it! How did you get Xiba?!”
“Your character is Patroklos. You have to play him mostly in the story mode since the story mode is different than the other games. It will be good practice. Plus, his stats says he’s easy to use.”
“Well, ok.”
Devon smiles at the sight of them before getting up to go get the pizza. “I have to go get dinner. I’ll be back in a few.”
“Ok,” Jack says. “I’ll make sure that he behaves.”
“Daren, watch Jack.”
“Hey!”
“What? Your as childish as my kid brother.” Devon laughs before leaving.
“So,” Daren says to Jack as they fight, “do you like my brother?”
“Wait. What?” Jack looks away from the screen, and Daren takes this opportunity to finish him off.
“Yay! I win!” Jack is still looking at him though. “I asked if you like my brother, and no lying.”
“Um, I’m not sure.”
“Why?”
“I don’t really know. I mean, I get that feeling in my stomach whenever I look at him. I think that it’s just because I’m scared.”
“Why are you scared?”
“You ask a lot of question.”
“It’s part of being a kid. Anyway, why?”
“I think it’s because I’ve never felt this way about a guy before. I mean, I’ve known for a little bit of time that I like guys, but this is the first guy that I’ve had feelings for. He’s the first guy that I’ve taken interest in. My friends don’t even know about any of this, and they’re always asking where I’m going. I know that they’ll except me, but there is that voice in the back of my head that just keeps saying ‘what if they don’t?’ I’m scared that I’m going to ruin everything.”
“Well, I think you should go for it.”
“Huh?”
“Just because I’m a kid doesn’t mean that I don’t know anything. I can see how Devon looks at you when you’re not looking and he thinks that I’m not looking. He smiles when he sees you. The only time that my brother has smiled since what happened is because of me.”
“What did happen?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I understand. I’m not going to force you to tell me.”
“If you ever find out, it will be from Devon, and I don’t know when that will happen. Ever since it happened, my brother has been different. He’s not happy, and that’s why I know that he likes you. Just give it some time.”
“Ok.”
When Devon came back, neither of them mentioned what they had been talking about. They just talked about how Daren actually beat Jack at a game. The trio ate with laughs from Jack’s jokes. After they ate the pizza, it was time for Daren to blow out the candles. When he did, he made a wish...
A wish that his brother will finally open up and let Jack in.

Notes

Sorry this is so late. I'm slowly starting to get out of my writer's block. I wonder, can anyone guess what happened. I think it's funny that there has been this huge clue since day one, and no one gets it until I tell it to them (them being my friends and sister).