Try Being the Only One
Author's Note: The first person view changes a few times during this story. While I have written it in a way that should make it easy to tell where it changes, I have also used a visual marker _________ to show where the view changes. Hopefully that helps. Enjoy!
__________
The truck sloshed its way through the darkened rain clogged streets of the city. Imposingly high buildings illuminated the clouds, giving off a strange orange yellow glow as it was reflected back. Few cars roamed the streets, piloted by those brave enough to pilot the heavy downfall. All this gave off the impression of a unfriendly city, heartless and cold.
"Vancouver sure knows how to give a warm welcome to strangers," I said as I watched the lights pass by.
My driving companion grunted in agreement. "I know it looks bad, but it really is a nice place when the sun is shining. Besides we don't live here. We live in West Vancouver, it's a better neighborhood."
I looked over my shoulder, to see my new step-brother, an Orca-morph named Leo, hunched over the wheel, his green eyes intensely focused on seeing the road ahead. It had been only ten minutes since we had left the train station where Leo had picked me up, and we were just exiting the West End on the 1A. Slowly the brighter lights of downtown faded as we passed through Stanley Park.
Leo spoke up. "Maybe when the weather is better I'll take you here sometime. They have a nice aquarium and plenty of space to just chill out and relax."
I groaned inwardly. I could tell just how hard Leo was trying to make me feel comfortable and it was nearly breaking him.
Turning my body so I faced him (Or as much as I could face being restrained by a seatbelt) I nudged his shoulder saying, "That would be very nice Leo. I would like that very much."
He turned his head and gave me a quick smile before returning his attention to the road, the slight tension in the air dispersing.
Soon we had passed through Stanley Park and making our way across Lion's Gate Bridge. The way the city looked from there, it appeared to have a golden glow from the way lights shined off the buildings, making it look beautiful, instead of the dark scary place it looked like minutes ago.
"Leo is right. The place can't be that bad." I thought.
We drove on, entering West Vancouver, and to my relief, the rain began to slow down. We passed a shopping center that Leo called "Park Royal" and said it had quite a few nice stores. I memorized everything he pointed out, after all, I would soon need to find my own way around. And what better way than getting a tour from your new stepbrother right?
Leo turned the truck down a street into a residential area. I saw houses of all sorts as we drove by, but what caught my eye the most was the house that Leo pulled the truck up to and stopped. As I looked through my window I could scarcely believe what I was seeing. The house was huge, almost like a mini mansion. The feeling it gave off was one of strength and invulnerability. The lawn and grounds showed signs of being cared for diligently and lovingly. It was such a nice place, anyone living there must be lucky.
So imagine my surprise as Leo got out of the truck and walked right up to the door of that house and opened it.
"Could this place... No... Can it," I wondered, awestruck.
Sure enough, another Orca, slightly shorter than Leo appeared at the door. Leo gave the other Orca a hug, before gesturing towards the truck and its occupant inside. Seeing the unknown Orca peer at the vehicle with curiosity, I took that as my cue to make my appearance. Grabbing my bag from the back seat, I opened my door of the truck and making sure the door shut firmly behind me, shyly made my way up to the waiting pair.
As I drew close the Orca standing next to Leo suddenly grabbed me a pulled me into a huge hug. Now in grasp of the Orca woman (And Boy! could I tell it was a woman. She had a big chest!), I sent a pleading look to Leo, who had a look of amusement on his face. The bastard was enjoying seeing me like this! I promised myself to kick his butt later, but first I had to get out of this woman's tight grasp.
Sensing my discomfort, the older Orca woman released me, allowing me to breath, before she began to apologize. "Oh honey I'm so sorry we weren't there to meet you when your train came in. We had just come back from a trip ourselves, and when we checked our messages, there was the one about you coming. We had no warning"
I raised my eyes to meet hers, which were a soft brown color. "It's alright," I said trying to make it sound like it was the smallest thing ever, "I didn't even know if you knew I was coming. Besides Leo came and picked me up so its all okay now."
She didn't seem to be calmed by this and was about to go on about it when Leo put his hand on her shoulder to sooth her.
"Tristyn, I am please to present my mother, Amelia Carver. This little old lady raised me from when I was small."
Amelia turned on her son. "Little old lady?!" she said in mock anger, "Don't forget who I am mister! Wait until I get my cane! Then you'll get a whack!" Then she playfully punched Leo in the gut, who pretended to double over in pain as the two burst out into laughter, as though this was a daily occurrence.
When they had calmed down, Amelia turned her gaze back to me, her face showing motherly concern.
"Now now then Tristyn, come inside and get warm. You must be soaked from all that rain." and she ushered me inside. Leo picked up my bag and brought it inside while I stood dumbstruck. The interior of the house was even more amazing than the exterior! While the furniture and decoration wasn't like something that you would find in some millionaires home, it still had that quality that showed that these guys didn't have financial problems in the slightest. Everything was new and organized in a way that made each piece of furniture look better. A fireplace surrounded by beautifully crafted stones stood off proudly in the corner, a fire blazing inside. Pictures of family and of random scenery hung upon the walls, not crowded, but evenly spaced out showing a high level of organization in the house.
Leo nudged me forward, "So what do you think?
I stared blankly, my mind completely blown. "That.." I said slowly as my brain tried to process this new place, "Is.. a very... big... TV." I pointed to the large 90'' flat screen TV over by the wall to further my point.
Leo just rolled his eyes and slinging his arm over my shoulder he whispered in my ear, "If you think that TV is big, wait until you see the one in the entertainment room downstairs."
As my brain tried to contemplate a TV even larger than the one before me, Amelia turned around and pinched Leo's cheek. As Leo gave a squeak of pain as his mother said, "Now Leo, don't go showing him around all at once. Tristyn needs some time to adjust, and besides, he's probably tired from that long trip on a stuffy train." She looked to me for some sort of evidence for her statement, before releasing her son, who rubbed his now sore cheek gently.
Her mention of the train brought back into my head my circumstances and all the past events that led to this moment, and I could feel the well of emotion starting to build. I managed to dam the rising tide, but I knew I couldn't last long. I needed to escape.
"I guess I am a little tired," I said, "Maybe you could tell me where my room is so I can put my stuff in and change out of these wet clothes."
As if sensing my suddenly being downcast, Amelia put her hand on my head and messed with my hair. In her motherly tone she said, "Sure honey. It's up the stairs to the right, last door in the hall. Now go freshen up." Turning to her son she commanded, "And you, come with me to the kitchen for a moment."
The two Orcas left me alone in the hall. Grabbing my bag, I followed Amelia's directions, taking in the more of my new home. The word 'home' struck a cord in my heart, and reminded me to hurry lest I break down into tears in the hallway. I reached my door, which had a Beautiful carving of an Iceberg on it. I quickly opened and entered and quietly shut the door. I put my bag on the bed in the room and withdrew some fresh clothes. I was halfway through putting on the fresh pair when my gaze fell onto my leather jacket, my name clearly visible on the front.
Everything stopped right then. I picked up the jacket and brought it to my face.
Jim's words ran through my head, "This is for you Tristyn. With this you'll always have a reminder that we will always be with you and you with us in our hearts."
Images of smiling people and familiar ran through my head. My mom and dad. My Sister. My Friends. My School and Town. The Otter that found me and held me after the disaster. Jim, Elsa and Reggie who took care of me like I was their own. All the morphs I made friends with in the camp. Marcus, Thomas and their Aunt Karla who gave kindness to me, a complete stranger. People I cared for, but would never see again.
I could hold out no longer and succumbed to my sadness. My grief and pained came out in near cough like cries. I clutched the jacket Jim gave me to my chest tightly as tears flowed like rivers from my eyes. Alone. I was alone again. Again that week, I let my tears lead me to sleep.
_______
I followed my mom through the dining room into the kitchen, and I noticed that the house was unusually quiet.
"Hey Mom, where's T.K. and M.K. They were here before I left?" I asked.
She looked at me before turning away and opened the fridge door. "Your brother got invited over to a friends for a sleepover. As for your sister, she's out with that Lion she's got that crush on." she told as she started to hand me things.
I took the items and set them on the island behind me. "Wow. That happened fast..."
"Yeah, it did. I wish they would have stayed around to meet their new brother," she sighed and shut the fridge door and started to slowly cut up some vegetables.
"Hey Mom, are you alright," I was worried, she was never down. Never. Cept when she had to leave town for work.
"Yeah... just," she stopped cutting to look at me, "How much do you know about Tristyn Leo?"
I paused. I didn't really know much about him. "I know he's a human and has an interesting hairstyle," I offered, quite embarrassed that I knew so little about my new brother.
Mom sighed again, "I guess that's mine and your father's fault you don't know. Tristyn is an orphan, you know that right?"
I nodded and she continued, "Do you know how he became an orphan?"
"No" I was wondering where this conversation was going.
"He lost his family during the toxin disaster. Not just that, he was the only survivor in his entire town. 1 person out of 800 people"
"Oh..."
"Oh... is right. Relief Workers found him two weeks later, wandering all alone miles from his home."
I unconsciously looked upwards towards Tristyn's room, in disbelief that Tristyn had gone through something like that.
"What happened then?"
Mom looked downwards. "That's where the information becomes scarce. All that I was given about him was that he lived in a relief camp for the months until he boarded the train that brought him here."
I looked to my mother in shock. "That's it?! They didn't give you any more information than that?! Surely something happened while Tristyn lived in that camp!"
Mom looked sadly to me and shook her head, "I have nothing more." She stopped cutting and looked at me. "I guess that's a question you'll have to ask Tristyn in order to find out."
She put her hand on my arm, "Do you know why I'm telling you this Leo?"
"Because I need to understand my brother," I said.
Mom smiled at me and said, "Well yes, but also to make sure you realize something. Tristyn hasn't had a stable family for months now. I just needed to be sure that you will look after and treat him just like you would your other siblings. He's going to need help adjusting. Can you promise me you'll take care of him?" She looked at me, her brown eyes full of tears.
I knew that look. "Again?" I asked expectingly.
She nodded, "I can't say no, you know that. You'll need to look after everyone." Guilt spread over her face.
"When?"
"At four in the morning." The guilt sound got deeper.
"For how long?"
"At least a month this time"
"Mooom" I groaned.
Mom turned away, "You think I wanted to do this? I can't change it, so until I get back you'll be in charge." She cupped my cheek, "I know you'll do a good job Leo. You always do."
I gave her a hug which she returned fully. We let each other go, and mom took something out from the fridge and stuck it in the microwave.
"When that's done could you take it to Tristyn. I'm sure that he's hungry. I have to start getting packed." and so she left, leaving me alone with the whirring microwave.
My mind slowly digested everything I was told. I couldn't believe Tristyn had gone through something that horrible. Imagine waking up and finding everyone you care about dead. It was quite a shock when I woke up to find myself turned into a orca, but waking to find everyone I know dead, I don't think I could have handled it. Tristyn is certainly more stronger than I had thought.
The 'ding' as the microwave finished brought me out of my thoughts. I took the plate out and took a whiff. Leftover linguine with chicken. Yum!
I nearly took a bite before I remembered who the dish was for. My mood went dark for a minute. Picking up the plate I slowly made my way up the stairs towards Tristyn's room. I noticed that his door was slightly ajar and, as I approached I thought I could hear soft sniffling sounds.
"Is he.." I wondered. I opened his door slowly. The storm had since cleared, and the clouds had gone, leaving only the light from a full moon to shine through the window into Tristyn's room. There on the bed moonlight shining on him, was Tristyn, holding his jacket close, as he cried in his sleep. I almost backed away, but then my mom's words came through my head,
"Tristyn hasn't had a stable family for months now. I just needed to be sure that you will look after and treat him just like you would your other siblings."
Dammit, Tristyn is my brother and I was going to help him. Putting the plate down on a table in the hallway, I slowly made my way into Tristyn's room. I moved silently, not wanting to wake him up. I made it to his bed. He was definitely crying. I debated what I should do exactly as I got closer. Should I wake him? Would he want to talk?
Instead I decided to slowly climb into the bed next to him. Tristyn shifted but didn't wake. I slowly put my arm around his body and drew him onto my lap. As I did so , the jacket fell from his arms onto the bed. He started to move fretfully in his sleep before his arm wrapped around my arm, and he calmed down. I laughed inwardly at this. He just wanted to hold onto something. It was so endearing and cute.
I put my other arm around Tristyn and pulled him so his back was against my chest and rested my head on top of his, while curling my tail around him protectively. He needed to know someone was there for him. And it worked! It took awhile but the sleepy cries and tear stopped, and Tristyn seemed to enter a more peaceful sleep. His breathing normal, I watched as his chest rose and fell. As it did it rubbed against my arm. It felt so weird! I had never thought about the feeling of human skin, but now it felt so alien against my skin. It tickled too.
Feeling that my job of comforting my brother was finished I made to get up but my brother tightened his grip on me and whimpered, "Please... don't... go..."
I gave a glance down to Tristyn to see if he had awaken, but he was still asleep. I thought about it and shrugged my shoulders. I could survive one night not in my own bed. Snuggling closer to my brother I pulled the blankets up so we wouldn't get cold. I grinned again as I felt the strange sensation of his skin against mine. I knew I would never get used to that feeling. Matching Tristyn's rhythm of breathing, I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep, the moonlight shining on us both. But one thought wormed its way into my head before I fell totally asleep. I liked being next to my brother.
_________
When I woke up the next morning, I felt very warm, near unbearably so. I opened my eyes to see the roof above me.
"Why is it so hot in here," I asked aloud.
A sudden sleepy grunt and snore brought my attention to something behind me. Sitting up and turning around I saw that that something was a someone. Specifically my step-brother Leo, sprawled out across my bed snoring softly.
"Why is he here.. in my bed... with me?" I asked in my head. Not really willing to wake Leo up to ask him for the answers I wanted, I instead grabbed a shirt from my bag since I was only wearing pants and rushed out of the room quietly, so as not to wake him.
This was the second time I had awoken to be in someone's arms, and frankly, it was not helping my already confused feelings. Gods above! What the hell was happening to me?! Never had I been so confused with myself about matters like these. Thoughts like this never happened back when I was with Jim and the others.
As I walked down the stairs, I thought some more about it. Leo was my brother so obviously nothing bad could have happened last night. He didn't appear to the sort to pull something like that anyway. He was too responsible, too kind, too respectful of others to do anything stupid. I even was disturbed with myself for thinking of Leo doing something to me while I was asleep.
"Leo kinda reminds me of Marcus," I thought. The mere thought of Marcus sent a kinda warm fuzzy feeling through my body, which made my thoughts turn worse. I was falling for another person, a guy who was a dragon. That was like, blowing through both barriers of liking guys and inter-species relationships, but personally I couldn't care less. I probably wasn't going to see him ever again so why not let my mind fantasize a little. Besides it wasn't like I didn't like girls. I did have girls who were friends in my old town but never an actual girlfriend, but that didn't stop me from giving the girls in school slightly dreamy looks. Maybe I was bi? I really needed someone to talk to about these feelings.
My head ached. It was too early to think about questions this big. I wandered the house until I found the kitchen, still in disbelief at the luxury of the place. And the kitchen was awesome looking. It looked like one of those prize wining designer kitchens you see on those TV shows. Everything was shiny and new. I continued to find it difficult to wrap my mind around that I would be living here. My head throbbed again, angry at the heavy thinking so early in the morning.
I searched the cupboards and finding a glass, I filled it up with water from the sink tap. I drank slowly as it was cold, but it managed to drown the warmth inside me slightly. I was feeling better now, than I had been for a while.
As I was filling my cup for the second time, a loud thump, like something heavy had hit the floor, came from upstairs, making me jump. Doing the calculations I estimated that it was my room that was above the kitchen. Leo must have fallen out of bed. A series of quick heavy footsteps followed the thump, until I heard a door upstairs slam.
"Must have had to go to the bathroom real bad" I chuckled to myself.
20 minutes passed after the door slamming before a red face Leo came walking into the kitchen.
"Morning Leo" I said cheerily, before frowning slightly. Leo jumped slightly when I spoke to him.
"M-m-morning Tristyn" he said guiltily, as if he had been caught red-handed or something as he sat down to the table.
A bit confused by Leo's demeanor, I managed to continue the conversation with a "How did you sleep?"
At the mention of sleep his face turned redder, "I-I slept fine. Yo-You?"
Now I was really confused. Was he really that embarrassed about it?
I was about to continue when I heard a door open and slam, followed by a loud, "Anybody home?!"
Leo's face turned to a more normal shade, well normal for a Orca that is and shouted back, "In the kitchen T.K."
A few moments passed before a smaller version of Leo came into the room. He was slightly shorter than me, and while having the same type of pattern that all Leo, he had one defining difference. Unlike Leo, his white patch curved over his eye, looking like a white wave curling around his eye. Unlike Leo's more muscular build, this guy had a body suited to that of a person on a swim team. He had a pair of light brown eyes. Eyes that were focused on me with curiosity.
"Hey bro, why you back so early," Leo asked, the nervousness from before completely gone.
"Parker got in trouble when he got into his brother's truck stash, so he got grounded and I got sent home," T.K. said, never taking his gaze off me.
Leo laughed, "When is Parker gonna learn not to get into his brother's stuff?"
"Dunno, but it better be soon. I heard his folks are thinking of sending him to military school." He walked up to me and offered his hand, "Hey there. If you didn't hear the big lard bucket over there say my name, I'm T.K. his brother"
I perked up at this. I had another brother. I took the offered hand, "Hi. I'm Tristyn. It's nice to meet you T.K."
He looked me up and down and must have seen my own curiosity. "You find my name interesting, don't you? Like that kid from that old TV show?" he asked me.
I kinda blushed in embarrassment. "Yeah... I does kinda reminded me of that show," I said shuffling my foot on the tiled floor.
T.K. just laughed and said, "Don't worry man. My first name is Terrance. Lame right? One of my friends made up T.K. as a joke and it just kinda stuck. It takes my first and last initials and puts them together."
"But isn't you last name Carver with a C?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Yeah but T.K. sounds a lot better than T.C. right?"
When I nodded, T.K. turned to Leo and said, "So you got a human this time bro. Nice!"
Leo looked at his brother not understanding, "Huh?"
"Oh come on man. Isn't he like, your boyfriend or something?" he asked confidently.
I had chose a bad moment to take a drink of my water, and I swallowed hard, sending me into a coughing fit. It would have been funny to me if I hadn't been having so many conflicting thoughts about the subject. Leo stood dumbfounded before swiftly moving over to T.K. and smacking him over the head, his face in a red hued rage.
"You idiot!! Didn't mom tell you last night before you left that I was picking up the brother we had adopted! This," he said pointing to me, "Is the guy."
T.K. rubbed the back of his head as his face started to turn a bit red. "What! This human is our brother?! Cool!!" He curled his tail around his front as he looked to me, "Sorry about that man... I didn't know."
My coughing had died down enough to speak. "Its okay T.K. We're cool. Don't Worry about it." I put a hand on his shoulder to let him know I was being sincere.
Leo wasn't so easily turned to calmness, as he berated his brother about 'always having those damn headphones on with the music turned way up' and who he'd be deaf before he turned 20.
I stepped between Leo and T.K. and gently prodded Leo away saying, "Relax man, he said he was sorry. Chill!"
Leo gave an angry glare to T.K. before muttering something unintelligible under his breath, before storming out of the kitchen. Moments later I heard a door upstairs slam.
Looking to T.K. I asked, "Is he always like that?"
T.K. shrugged, "Not usually. Only when he is mad at something or really embarrassed about someone finding out he's gay."
"Leo's... gay?" I asked.
"Yep, and he hates having people finding out about it unless he tells them."
Now the pieces were falling into place. That's why Leo was blushing earlier. He was embarrassed about last night because he's gay. Talk about awkward. But now I knew I had someone to talk to about my jumbled up feelings.
"Hey"
"Huh?"
"I asked if you wanted to go to swimming down at the Aquatic Center?" he looked at me expectingly.
"I would like to bro, but I don't have a swimsuit." I said embarrased about not having something as simple as a swimsuit.
T.K. just laughed. "Don't worry about that. We can get you a set at the mall, and then we can go for a swim."
"Sounds like a plan T.K.," I said giving him a high-five, "Just give me a sec to grab my wallet."
I rushed upstairs to my room and searched through my things until I found my wallet. Hurrying out of my room, I passed by a door that said, "Leo's Room Stay Out!". I stopped and considered inviting him along, but decided against it. He needed to cool down for a bit. But I did write a note and slip it under the door before running out after T.K. who was already outside. With it being just the two of us was kinda a bonus. It would allow me to learn more about my family and this new place I'd be calling home.
_________
I watched as the two of them made their way down the street in the sunshine from my window. Sitting back I took another look at the note Tristyn had left me:
_Hey Leo, _
_Me and T.K. are going to be out for a bit. Do some shopping and then go for a swim. Probably won't be back until way past lunch. I'll look after T.K. till then K. Hope you're feeling better when we get home. _
_P.S. _
Don't worry about the whole you know what thing. I don't hate you because of that just to let you know. I actually need someone to talk to about that stuff, so maybe we could chat later. I gotta go Bye
- Your new bro, Tristyn
I groaned. If Tristyn would have seen the thoughts I had when I woke up, he would not have thought of me as being a good person. If he knew what I did, he would hate me so much. It was wrong on so many levels, yet I did it anyway.
Why did having a new brother cause me to feel this way?
_______
Authors note: I ask you now fair readers. What do you think Leo did that made himself so nervous and feel so bad?
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