TW: abuse

I got home panting, opening the door quietly to make sure I wouldn’t wake Eli up if he was asleep. Brooke was on her perch, meaning that Eli was home. He never went anywhere without her. I heard sounds from the living room, wondering, Is he still awake? I snuck in, seeing Aesop sitting in the dark living room with Eli. I stopped in my tracks when I heard crying. Oh no, is this one of their private sessions where Aesop comes crying? I thought, feeling guilty for unintentionally eavesdropping on them. “Don't cry Aesop, I’m here for you,” I heard Eli say, watching as his almost invisible shadow revealed he was hugging Aesop. “How am I supposed to not cry?! It hurt so much!” Aesop shouted, crying into his hands. Eli stroked his back gently, trying to comfort him.

“If only I could go beat them up,” Eli muttered angrily. Aesop seemed frightened. “No! You can’t! They’re still… well, they’re still the same people who cared for me,” Aesop said, getting quieter. “D**m it!” Eli shouted frustratingly, shocking Aesop a bit. “Now where did you learn that word young man?” I said sternly, striding over and turning on a light (what she didn’t know was that he learned that word when he was younger when he heard her saying it). Aesop blinked, not used to the sudden light. His eyes were red, and his face was red on one side. My eyes widened when I saw that mark on his face. “Aesop! Are you okay?! What happened to your face?!” I bent down, my hand gently touching his face. He flinched, like he was expecting something else. A growing anger welled up inside me as I slowly understood why he always came crying, why he was so suspiciously good at once hiding a bruise on Eli when he fell.

Aesop saw my angry expression, probably knowing that I figured it out. “Please don't beat my parents up,” he pleaded, tears still streaming down his face. I pulled him into a hug, feeling him stiffen and slowly relax, wrapping his arms around me. “You can come whenever you want, even if it’s the middle of the night. We’ll be here for you. We are your true family,” I said, taking note of my kimono getting wet. “So, um… am I still in trouble for swearing?” Eli asked, trying to lighten the mood. We ended up laughing, Aesop’s sadness gone as quick as a candle being blown out.

The next morning I woke up to find Aesop and Eli cuddled up in bed, sleeping soundly. I smiled at the sight, silently flowing down the stairs to prepare breakfast for three. Not too long later, Eli came downstairs, rubbing his eyes. “Good morning Eli,” I said, receiving a mumble that I assumed meant good morning as he plopped down on the sofa face first. Aesop came down too, Brooke being excited to see him here and flying to him. “Traitor,” I mumbled, setting down the plates on the table. Aesop seemed a bit surprised to see 3 plates. “Oh, did you make breakfast for me too? It’s ok, you didn’t have to-” I shushed him, responding, “I do. You are family. And plus, you are way too skinny, you need to eat more.” He smiled a bit, then went to go get Eli to come eat.

Outside, it was so cold that light snow was falling. Eli hugged Aesop to keep warm, causing Aesop’s face to become a human heat lamp. I remembered what happened last night and sighed, thoughts running through my head. Is Joseph alive? What does Yidhra mean by a plan? What is going on? And where in heck did Violetta get sent to that convinced her to stay so darn long? I sighed, a bit jealous that my friend was probably in a tropical and warm place while we were stuck in the cold that wasn’t even enough for proper snow. “Are you alright? You look stressed,” Eli asked sympathetically, arms still wrapped around a certain tomato’s waist. “...let’s talk,” I said.

When I told Eli what happened last night and my theories, I expected him to shout, “Joseph is alive?!” but instead, Aesop was being dragged across the room, clutching tightly on Eli’s leg. “Stop it! No beating up people!” I heard him shout, Eli soon following with, “I’m gonna show Yidhra a piece of my mind!!” I shadow dashed to them and held Eli in place, his legs kicking. “Aesop is right, no beating up people,” I said, carrying him back to the living room. While Aesop went upstairs to get his makeup, I busied myself with making snacks for the gray-haired stick upstairs. Eli finally stopped trying to run outside and go punch a certain woman, but apparently, “it doesn't mean I won’t punch her one day.” Eli hugged a pillow, watching something on the TV while Aesop came back downstairs, the makeup hiding the injury, along with other secrets nobody would ever see.

While I was talking to Eli about what we should do about the Joseph situation, Aesop munched quietly on a cookie. “Um, I’m gonna go buy some more food,” he said. “Oh, you don't have to do grocery shopping for me,” I said, but Aesop insisted on returning the favor. Eventually I let him go, then talked with Eli some more. We talked for so long I didn’t even realize how long it had been since Aesop came. When I finally took a short break from talking, it had been 30 minutes since he had come back. “Oh, look at the time! I’m gonna go-” “Thump!” I was interrupted by a thump upstairs. Aesop.

We ran upstairs to Eli’s bedroom and flung open the door. “Aesop!” He was on the floor, clutching his stomach, a hand over his mouth. Blood dripped down from his hand. “Oh my god!” I ran over to him to see him coughing up blood. “What happened?! Are you ok?!” I asked him. “...I think I’m allergic to something I ate,” he said, and told us that when he went shopping people kept giving him samples (he has a hard time saying no to people he doesn’t know). Eli clenched his fists. “Was one of the workers Yidhra?” he asked, trembling. Aesop thought a bit, then slowly nodded. Eli stormed out of the room, down the stairs, and violently slammed the front door shut.

Later at night, Eli finally came back. “Eli!” I hugged him, glad to hear no police sirens. “What did you do to her?” I asked, pulling away but keeping him in my hands. He smiled. “I told you I would punch her one day.” “Oh, thank goodness you aren’t hurt. To be honest, I was kinda hoping you would do that,” I winked, then called Aesop down to say hello to Eli. “No! There is no way I am coming down in this!” he shouted. I sighed, looking at Eli’s confused expression. I quickly explained how I washed the blood out of his clothes and made him wear one of his shirts. But unfortunately he doesn’t fit into any of the pants because they’re way too big (even though he’s older -w-). Eli blushed a bit. “Well, I would wanna see what he looks like wearing my… uh… shirt…” he mumbled, getting quieter and redder.