take it higher (Aidan)

[Deleted]

This was a rare occurrence. Matt was entirely alone in the hellhole his dad dared to call home. This wasn't home. Being with both parents, that was home. He felt weak. He felt helpless. And he hated the feeling. He had convinced her to go to the police! He had Jack nailed, he just knew it. And then Jack had to remind him that Megan wasn't the only one he could hurt. Matt had the rest of his siblings to think about. Suddenly, the weight of the world--or at least of nine other people. Not to mention his parents. They were a family of 12, and any one of them could be targeted. No matter what Matt did. It made him feel violated.

He was angry. He was angry with Jonathan for making him so damned vulnerable. He was angry with Ben for cheating. Angry with Marco for staying gone this long. Angry at Chance for frigging going back to Africa. He wanted Jack dead. The teenaged boy was mad at the whole world.

He held Buzzie, the caramel colored bear that Marco had given him when he was a baby. His mind started up a hit list for everyone he would love to kill right now. Jack, of course, was top on his list. Then Jonathan.....yeah. Jack and Jonathan. Such a long list! It wasn't like he could actually do anything. If he tried, one of his siblings could end up dead. Matt buried his face in his pillow, held the bear, and cried. He hated this. He hated everyone!

He was thrown off by the ringing of the doorbell. Wiping the tears from his eyes, He stood up, bear in hand, and went downstairs. He put his hand on the doorknob, but didn't open it. Not yet, anyways. "Who is it?" he called to whoever was on the other side of the door.

[Aidan Del Rossi]

Italy was okay.

It wasn't Toronto. It wasn't home, but it was all right. The accents were fun and he got to ride a vespa; that was fun. Although, clumsy, license-less Aidan shouldn't have been given that permission, because it ended up hitting the front gate of one of his extended family's homes. Eventually, though, he needed to come home. Before he left, it didn't seem to matter all that much. The family was pretty split and it bothered Aidan. He was probably one of the least likely to show it, because he'd much rather keep himself hyped up and happy than moping around and when someone else was upset, he couldn't afford to be upset too. When he initially left with Marco, that was how he saw it. Marco hadn't been in a good place. He was a wreck. And Aidan was there with him to try to cheer him up and pretend that it wasn't half bad. Because, he figured his dad would just work himself to death or ignore the problem until he finally exploded and shattered a phone all over the wall. Aidan always had the assumption that Marco's phone was going to be the first thing to break if he ever had a breakdown. Just because he was attached to that thing like a dog was attached to his bone. Marco would have been offended to hear that comparison. But good thing, he couldn't read minds!

...Actually, Aidan thought he could sometimes. The man was a master at reading people. He couldn't count the times he figured out exactly what was going through his head before he said a word. But, maybe Aidan was predictable. Because both of his parents could predict him scarily well. He tried to be surprising sometimes! But apparently nothing surprised him and he didn't know why. Once back in Toronto, he wanted to see his family and not just a portion of it. He wanted to see every one of them. He missed his parents and his siblings. And he kind of especially missed his big brother. So, when he heard Matt's voice on the other end of the door, he couldn't help but grin a little to himself. That was kind of who he wanted to hear. Aidan wasn't too sure about showing up, since he didn't actually live at that house and he didn't know if there were going to be kids he didn't know there and not the kids he wanted to see. But, he got lucky, he guessed.

"Matthew," he began in a deep, exaggerated voice, "This is God, open the door!" Of course, even pretending to use a deep voice, it was distinctly Aidan. He shoved his hands in his pockets, waiting patiently (ha!) for him to answer the door. There was no question that he was excited to be home. Even jet lag wasn't going to keep him down! But, there might have been an overdose of chocolate, coffee and the biggest energy drink he'd ever laid his eyes on in the last four hours since he'd been back. Oh, he might be a little wired and upbeat... But only a little, of course (again, ha!).

[Deleted]

No. God, no.

It wasn't that Matt didn't love his little brother. He would do anything for that kid. Despite having used the younger boy's naivety to his advantage when they were younger, he did love him. If he didn't, he would have never taken a bullet for him. But when Jack made his threats, Matt was glad that Aidan was in Italy. He was safe, out of the asshole's reach. Every night, Matt had prayed to God to keep his brother there. Obviously, God hadn't listened. Matt gripped the bear and hugged it before setting it down and opening the door.

As soon as he saw the dark-haired teenager, Matt's eyes filled with tears. His mind revolved around ways to keep him safe. At least he was on independent study. That was something. "Aidan" tears trickled down his face and he pulled his brother into a hug. "You shouldn't be here" he whispered. He didn't mean it in any bad way. But he wasn't safe. Sure, the house was technically safe for now. But Jonathan wouldn't be gone forever. And Matt would take a gun and shoot the bastard if he did to Aidan what he had done to Matt.

He looked at his brother and bit his lip. "Let's go somewhere. I don't wanna stay here. What do you say? Let's go somewhere safe" he said with a nod. He wanted away. His mind was reeling over locations. He didn't even have an exact one in mind. He had tried running away so many times before and Jonathan kept catching him. Which always made things worse. But he'd do it again, to keep his brother safe.