WARNING: Some bad language

Yeahhhhh... pretty self explanitory HUHU

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The first day was indeed the hardest. Before Yurick awoke, Skelter untied his hands from the bedposts, and tied them together instead. He rolled his brother onto his side. Now he was safe. Skelter stayed up all night preparing to help Yurick the next day. His addiction was strong. The withdrawal would be stronger. Skelter anxiously waited for his brother to wake up, but surprisingly, he slept for a long time.

So the younger one took this opportunity to orient himself in this house. He went into the kitchen and looked through the cabinets and refrigerator. There was barely any food in the whole house. Most of it was littered on the floor. Skelter wasn't surprised. Yurick wouldn't care about eating, he would care about getting high. That had to be fixed, he wasn't the only one living here now.

He looked in the bathroom next. The shower hadn't been used in days. Skelter ran a hand through his gray hair. His brother was a mess. In the basement was a washer and a dryer, a clothes line, and several boxes that had yet to be unpacked. He didn't know when his brother moved here, these boxes could have been here for years. The washer and dryer were unused and covered in clothes. No detergent.

He sighed. He needed to get some shopping done in order to clean some of this house. But he didn't know if he could trust Yurick all by himself. Especially now that he was about to go through hell. Even if he was tied up, he could still somehow weasel his way around getting to his stash. This gave Skelter a conundrum. He couldn't stay here if there was no food. He couldn't stay in such a filthy place anyway. It had to be cleaned immediately.

Skelter went back upstairs, checked on his brother again, then went into the kitchen. He could at least clean some of it now. Before he could begin to plan about it, the phone rang. Skelter picked it up, “Hello?”

“Is this Yurick Grimmwall's residence?” The voice answered.

The man turned out to be Yurick's boss. Skelter was entirely surprised that his brother even had a job, apparently he worked from home. But they eventually found out about the drug abuse and the drinking. It wasn't hard to ignore. Yurick was fired, and unless Skelter was doing something with him, they were going to send him to prison without hesitation.

“If I were you, I'd get that straightened out.”

“Actually I'm doing that right now...” Skelter paused. “Uh, thank you, I'll tell him soon.”

He hung up the phone. That explains how Yurick could afford this house, a car, and still have enough left over for bartering heroine. Skelter put his hands against the counter, locking his elbows and leaning against them. So now his brother was jobless. He couldn't afford anything anymore until he was clean. It just added to Skelter's list of things to worry about.

He took his weight off the counter and stared up at the ceiling. “Why. Why are we so fucked up...”

***

Skelter did decide to leave for a while to go shopping. He needed to anyway. Luckily, when he got home, Yurick was still asleep. It was already 10 AM. He was bound to wake up at some point. But Skelter just sighed, knowing that one thing was finally out of the way. He set the bags down onto the counter in the kitchen and started to unload them. It was mostly food, but there were also some cleaning supplies. He looked at the supplies almost angrily. He shook his head and started to put the food away.

When he was done, he looked at a clock on the wall. 10:30 AM. Still no noise from Yurick. He started to worry if Yurick overdosed or something. He had been asleep for sixteen hours. He came into the bedroom, touching his brother's throat to feel for his pulse. It was normal enough. His breathing was fine. He was just asleep. Maybe he sleeps this much every day, he thought. I wouldn't put it past him.

Once again, Skelter found himself in the kitchen thinking of how to go about this cleaning business. He decided to focus on one room at a time until he was sure it was clean. It would take days. He stood there, kicking around some garbage on the floor, but he heard a moan. Skelter went over to the bedroom and went inside. Yurick was finally awake.

Skelter didn't have much time to say anything because, almost immediately, Yurick vomited. Skelter rolled his eyes and went to clean it up. While he was doing so, he gave his brother a good morning. “I see you're off to a good start.”

“Piss off...” Yurick said, in a daze.

Skelter stood there, looking at his brother. He didn't want to be cruel, but he had to know. “How do you feel?”

“Like a piece of dog shit run over by a dump truck, that's how I fucking feel.” Yurick rolled over to his other side so he wouldn't face his brother.

“That's what I expected to hear.” He scratched his head, taking a breath. “I'm gonna clean your house. If you need anything, just shout. I know how loud you can be.”

Yurick didn't reply.

Skelter shrugged and left the room. He grabbed a few garbage bags and went into the kitchen. This room first. He thought to himself. I like Yurick better this way. He sounds more like a brother now. Skelter snorted half-heartedly and began to pick the garbage off the floor. This is disgusting, he thought. He was at a loss as to how anyone could live like this.

It took all day, but by the time the sky was dark, the kitchen was just about spotless. All the dishes were cleaned, every piece of garbage was gone. The floor was swept and mopped. Even the fridge was clean. All he had to do now was put the dishes in the cupboards. He went over to one and opened the door.

“Oh my GOD!” He jumped back.

The thing was infested with mice. Some stared at him, others scurried into holes in the wall. Skelter trembled out of sheer surprise, but soon calmed himself. How was he supposed to deal with this? Bugs are simple enough, you just spray them, but there had to be hundreds of these things living in the walls. He had no idea of how to get rid of mice.

Skelter was still slightly panicked. He put both his hands on his head, tugging gently at his hair. This was ridiculous, but he should have at least expected it. He figured the only thing he could do would be to ignore them until the rest of the house was clean, then get someone to kill them off. He worried about the food, however. Maybe he should just move Yurick to his house and forget this one altogether. It was insane.

Skelter couldn't take this. He decided to act on his second thought. This place was too much for him to take care of. He called and asked around, finding out how to do this. And when he finally got all the information he needed, he called the right people and told them the situation. It was final. Yurick would be moved to Skelter's house and this house would be out of their hands. It seemed to lift some weight from his shoulders. But now he had to deal with moving his irritable, sick brother.

“I heard you shouting,” Yurick said quietly.

“Yeah, uh...” Skelter cleared his throat. “Look. This house is ridiculous. I found mice in your cupboards. It's only likely that the whole place is infested. So...”

“Yeah?”

“I'm moving you to my house. Nobody can live here anymore.”

Yurick stared at his brother through his hazy vision. He didn't want to focus on anything, especially moving. He shut his eyes tight, trying to ignore his throbbing head. “Fine...”

“One more thing.” Skelter's face had no expression. “I need to know where all your heroine is.”

“What?” Yurick rolled onto his back. “Why?”

“I'm not letting anyone find it. I'll be damned if I see you go to prison.”

Yurick opened his eyes, taking in the words. “In that drawer. Over there.” He pointed to a dresser with is foot.

Skelter rummaged through the drawer and found a bag. It was almost empty. He turned to his brother, holding the bag up, “This is it?”

“Yes.”

“All of it?”

“All of it.”

“You're not lying.”

“No!”

Skelter paused, looking at the bag, then his brother, then the bag again. He finally nodded, “Alright. Come on, we're getting out of here.”

He helped his brother out of the bed, loosening the rope around his wrists but not completely untying them. He wrapped a coat around his shoulders and slowly led him to the car. Yurick said something about his own car, but Skelter shushed him and put the seat belt around him. Soon they were away from the house for good.

***

Lucky for Skelter, he had a guest bedroom. He put Yurick there. The black haired man almost instantly fell asleep. It won't last long, Skelter thought. He'll be too sick to even sleep. He untied the rope around his brother's wrists completely. He didn't have to worry about that anymore.

The bag of heroine was burned, then dumped into an unused well nearby. Skelter lived way out in the country, those wells were almost everywhere. He went back into the warm house. Yurick was awake again, groaning loudly. It sounded too much like the other noises he's heard from his brother. Noises he didn't want to hear. It caused memories to flood back to Skelter's head.

Skelter put his hands to his forehead, shaking away the memories. As soon as he started to forget, he listened once more. Now all he heard was someone in pain. He went into the room where Yurick was. Yurick was curled up in a ball, holding his head and moaning. Skelter went over to the side of the bed. Yurick sat up, grabbing the collar of his brother's shirt.

“Give it back!” He pleaded.

Skelter remained calm. “No.”

“Please, give it back!”

“It's gone, Yurick. I burned it.”

“No!” He opted to throw Skelter into the wall, but instead leaned into his chest. “P-Please... Skelter, please... It hurts...”

Skelter embraced his brother, supporting his weight as well. “I know it hurts...”

Yurick cried into Skelter's shirt. Was this what it was like to be the stronger man? His brother was so weak, so... small. Skelter always feared him, but now here he was, crying like a baby. It felt so strange to him. The man who always brought him pain was now being tortured. Part of him wanted to enjoy seeing Yurick in pain in return for everything he did. But Skelter had a bigger heart than people would like to think. Yurick was still his brother. He was the only family he had left. It was almost worth the abuse.

...

Almost.

Yurick fell into a light sleep once more. Skelter slowly set him back down on the bed and left the room. His head swam with confusion. Why did he still love his brother? After being treated like that for most of his life, he still wants the best for him? In Skelter's opinion, he had every right to hate him and watch him kill himself with heroine. It just confused him to no end. He put a hand on his shirt, the one spot was wet with tears. Yes, he should hate Yurick. But he doesn't. He feels sorry for him. The tears were as genuine as if he had cried them himself.

It was late now. Skelter needed to sleep. He brushed his teeth, then went into his room, taking off his shirt and putting on his pajama pants. He stood for a second, holding his bare arms, almost expecting something, but nothing happened. Sighing in some kind of unknown relief, he slipped into his bed, tightly tucking himself into the blankets. It was cold tonight.

It was about 1:30 AM when he woke up to the sound of... something. He wasn't sure what it was. He listened for a second, then figured out that Yurick was calling for him. Looking drowsily at the clock, he sighed, and got up. His bare chest bristled in the cold of the night, but he managed to make it to the other bedroom. He went over to Yurick.

“Yeah?...” He spoke quietly, his eyes drooping a little.

“I can't sleep...”

Skelter paused, then took a breath, “What can I do?”

“Just... I just need someone right now...”

No, no, no, no, Skelter thought. I'm not sleeping in the same bed with you. “Uh...”

“Please?...”

Skelter found that even when Yurick was weak, he still held dominance. Skelter forced himself to crawl into the bed. Yurick made room, and when his brother finally lay down, he wrapped his arms around him. Skelter blushed, but he couldn't figure out if it was frustration or something else. He knew Yurick was smiling. He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to minimize contact, with one hand around the ring that still dangled from his throat.

He couldn't sleep like this. He only drifted off out of pure exhaustion. The day finally caught up with him.

Or maybe it was Yurick's steady heartbeat that lulled him to sleep.