Chapter Eleven – Brotherly Love
#4 of Malachai Backstory
Chapter Eleven - Brotherly Love
T he first rays of the morning peaked through the gap between the curtains. Noah woke slowly, easing away the grogginess of the night. As he gathered himself, he noticed something was missing. Where'd Nathan get to? He thought to himself, I'll have to punish him for not waking me. As he dressed himself and set off on his search, he contemplated the perfect punishment.
A s he rounded the corner, the hustle and bustle of the kitchen caught his attention. Peaking through the crack between the doors, he noticed that more of the cooking staff was at work than usual. Before he could get in and ask what was happening, Elliot the butler materialized in front of him. "You mustn't bother the staff whilst they are working, go find your brother and ask him to join us for breakfast." He said.
"..... O k, whatever you say." Noah replied. What the hell's going on around here? He thought, as he continued his search. After he had been through most of the mansion, he noticed a door to the west wing basement ajar. He must be down there, that door is always locked. As he tiptoed down the stairs, he noticed a curtain blocking most of the room from view. Fed up, Noah yelled,
"I know you're in here Nathan, and you better have an explanation for not waking me this morning"
Nathan replied, from afar, "I have a perfect one, but it will wait until later. Don't come back here, or I'll never forgive you."
"Fine, as long as I can punish you later. Now come on, breakfast is almost ready."
"Hehe, it's only a punishment if I don't like it. Anyway, tell Elliot I'll be there in a minute, I need to finish up."
"Alrighty, but you better hurry, or I won't leave you any frog legs!"
"Yeah yeah, that's what you always say."
W hen Noah got back to the dining room, most of the food was set out. As he was sitting down in his usual seat, Elliot approached, saying, "Where's Nathan, your parents will be here shortly." Noah replied, "He's finishing some super secret project in the west wing basement. I have no idea what it could be though..." Elliot merely nodded in reply, as if he was in on it. Before he could try to pry it out of him, Nathan appeared, followed shortly after by their parents.
O nce everyone was seated and gathered onto their plates portions of what caught their eyes, Noah asked his parents, "Do either of you know what Nathan's up to in the west wing basement? He has the room blocked, and won't tell me what he's doing." They both looked at each other, and after a silent conversation, George, Noah and Nathan's father, said, "That's nothing for you to be concerned about, so don't cause a fuss over it. Besides, you'll find out soon enough..."
A fter a hardy breakfast, chockfull of frog legs, Noah went about his usual routine. He started the day with some Xbox Live, equal amounts of winning and losing involved. When that got old, he went outside and wandered aimlessly through the woods on his families land. All he found out here were the guards patrolling the grounds, all of whom were keeping their eyes on him when he was around. After a couple hours of this, he went back inside for lunch.
L unch consisted mainly of exotic fish, all of which Noah loved, coincidentally. As he was finishing up, Nathan excused himself, probably to finish his secret project. Noah couldn't help but wonder what he was up to, condemned to it by his father's unspoken threat. Since his parents knew about it, there was no way it was sexual. That left only one possibility, and it made him quite excited; a new laboratory.
I t happened five years ago, back when he and Nathan were closeted even from each other. Noah was trying to come out to Nathan, but was being avoided. At the time he was unaware, but it turned out Nathan was doing this because he hadn't found the right words yet. This also caused him to be quite angry towards everyone, making him lash out verbally, and sometimes physically. One of these times happened to have an unexpected result.
B ack then, when the second floor of the east wing was still existent, Noah had a personal laboratory in it. He mainly experimented using his chemistry set, mixing different chemicals to record the results. Of course, his father had a friend from the local community college overlook these experiments, to keep things under control. Usually this supervision was required for Noah to mess with anything too dangerous. Unfortunately, he was too eager to play with some Hydrofluoric acid, and went up without any aid.
N athan chose this moment to approach Noah about a game he lent him. "Where's the copy of Halo I lent you at? You said you'd return it a million times already." He said huffily, as Noah nearly jumped out of his skin. Noah replied, "I thought I put that on your desk? Anyway, you almost killed me; can't you see I'm trying to concentrate?" Nathan laughed, "No such thing exists there. By the way, I thought you and dad agreed that you couldn't be up here alone?"
N oah answered, shakily. "P-p-please don't tell him, I was too inpatient, is all. Let's go back down, and try to find that game, shall we?" Saying the last words with a half-hearted smile, he tried to skirt past Nathan, but was abruptly shoved back into place, "No, we won't. I've got something else to say to you, so just sit still. This is hard as hell for me to admit, but it needs to be known, and this is the only time we'll be alone." Noah let out a slight gasp, for a moment wondering if they were both going through the same soul searching.
L aughing a little more confidently, Noah said, "I think I know what you mean, and I happen to have the same secret that I need to tell you." He then started to edge towards Nathan, reaching a hand out to set on his shoulder, "I'm so glad that we both feel the same way, it's such a load off. It's kind of a surprise that you'd be coming out to-," At these words, Nathan started, pushing Noah back hard, right into the table he was just working at. Slamming into it, the force knocked over the beaker of Acid that was sitting on the other side, sending it crashing onto the floor on the other side.
S haking violently, Nathan said, "I....didn't think you'd be gay too! I just needed to confide in someone, anyone, and you were the only person I thought would understand. Coming out of left field like that scared the shit out of me, throwing me completely off. F-f-forget the game, and I'm so sorry." He then ran off, slamming the door behind him. Startled, lost for words, Noah gathered himself, and did the only thing he could think of: put the acid away, and then go comfort his brother. As he got up, and went around the table, he saw the last thing he expected. A slowly expanding hole in the floor.
P anicking, he ran to the nearest sink, grabbed a cup, and after filling it, ran back. He then splashed the water on the hole, hoping to neutralize the acid. Fortunately, it worked on that much, but unfortunately, as was quickly known, the room below was still being damaged. Looking through the hole, panic soon became dread: the room immediately below was the game room, and the object directly below was the fifty-grand couch he got for his birthday the year before. Fearing the worst, he decided that he would deal with the punishment later, and proceeded to run after his brother.
A voiding the more heavily patrolled areas of the house, Noah snuck towards his and Nathan's wing, almost getting caught twice by guards. Once there, he checked he first place he could think of, Nathan's bedroom, and found he at his desk, practically in tears. Carefully closing the door, he cautiously approached him, trying not to chase him off again. Sitting down on his twin-size bed, he carefully thought out his first words,
"I didn't mean to scare you before, I just got so excited that I wasn't the only one trying to vent his frustrations. Is this why you've been on edge lately?"
Turning his chair around to face his, Nathan replied, "Yes, it was. I found it difficult to not only find the right words, but also to muster the courage to approach you. There's also more to it than that...." Lowering his gaze, his face turning bright red, he mumbled something indistinguishable. Leaning closer, Noah asked,
"Sorry, I didn't catch that. Don't worry, nothing you say will surprise me."
Stammering, Nathan said, "I-I-I.....I love you Noah, more than a brother should...."
Yipping and leaping forward, Noah embraced his brother in a fierce hug, and said to his back, "That was the last thing I thought you would say, but I'm infinitely glad you did. I feel the same, like we were soul mates or something."
A fter a minute, he eased off, sitting back on the bed. Feeling happier than he thought possible, he grabbed the sides of Nathan's chair, and pulled him as close as he could get. He then put his hands against the sides of his head, and stared lovingly into his eyes. Slowly, he pulled him closer, leaning forward at the same time. Nathan then put his hands on his Noah's head, the two closing in on each other, until their lips met, for the first time. Love filling them both, they sat like this, for what seemed like hours, just taking in each other's love, not wanting the moment to end.