Author: Tinkerbella
Title: Tear Me Down
Rating: T for some language and more mature themes.
Summary: Why did Stavros hate the thought of Nikko being a rock-star so much? What happened to their parents? Nikko and Stavros have some pretty dark shadows in their pasts that they have been trying to escape them most of their lives. What happens when those shadows come back to haunt them? Will Nikko be able to explain his problems to Courtney? Or will he let the shadows tear him down?
Additional Author's Notes: This story was born on the first night that I watched Spectacular and I hope all of you enjoy it! It's pretty mature and has themes of spousal and child abuse, so if these things are triggering or especially uncomfortable for you, then I would suggest avoiding it. That said, this is also a sort of sweet romance type of thing, and that chemistry we see between Courtney and Nikko will still be there and the corny jokes won't be absent, so please read and review! ^_^
Prologue: Shadows
Lightning crashed outside and a young Nikko jumped and cuddled into his big brother's side, his small frame shaking from head to toe. Screaming echoed throughout the home, as Zoë Alexander told her husband, Elias, exactly what she thought of him and his destructive tendencies and his dead-end career.
Whether Nikko's fear was caused by the thunderstorm outside or the fighting going on in the home, even Nikko wasn't sure. Stavros just softly murmured soothing words in his baby brother's ear and tried to ignore their parents, tried to ignore the sound of flesh hitting flesh that followed his mother's outburst. Moments later, they heard a flurry of footsteps heading towards the small bedroom that the two boys shared.
"They're coming," Nikko whispered fearfully, his voice quivering. What if Daddy wanted to yell at them, too? Or hit them, like he hit mommy?
"Shh…Nothing's going to happen. It's probably just mom coming to take us away from him…she said we were going to be able to live happily ever after once he was gone," Stavros said; having been the older of the two by almost 6 years, Stavros was privy to more than his 5 year old brother. In fact, Zoë told him just about everything for lack of anyone else to vent to.
Moments later, their door burst open and their mother stumbled in; her blonde hair was a tangled mess upon her head and there was blood coming out of a split lip. Two large, dark purple bruises were forming over her eyes, which were the same brown, almost black, color as Stavros's own. Indeed, Stavros took after her in every aspect except for the color of his hair. Nikko had his father's green eyes and dark hair, but his smile was very similar to his mother's.
"Stavros, honey, your father's coming. I need you to pretend you didn't see me. Can you do that for me? Can you tell Daddy that I was never here?" Zoë said in a frantic voice, her frail arms shooting out as she took Stavros's shoulders in her small hands.
Unable to say anything else, Stavros just nodded and Zoë scrambled over to their window, which lead out to a fire escape. She smiled brightly at her boys. "I love you, and I promise, one day, I'll take you with me," Zoë said, and then she disappeared over the edge of the window and all they heard was the sound of her feet as she tore down the fire escape in record time.
"Where's mommy going? Is she coming back?" Nikko asked, confusion etched into his face.
As if on cue, their father crowded their doorway, the smell of alcohol permeating the air around him. He looked wild, his face a deep shade of red the suggested his huge amount of anger. He looked around the room before his glare landed on his children. "Where is she!? Where'd the bitch go!?" he growled, his voice a low rumble that probably helped him garner his bad-ass reputation in the local music district.
"She w---" Nikko began, tears streaming down his face as the confusion and fear lead to a large amount of frustration that was too much for the small child to deal with. Stavros's hand shot out and covered Nikko's mouth, preventing him from saying anything else.
"Nowhere. She's not here," he said, his voice just barely quivering in a way that Nikko thought very brave.
Elias's glare came to rest on the older of the two children, his face flushing an even deeper shade of purple. Without warning, he drunkenly lurched towards Stavros, his own muscular and tattooed arms mirroring what Zoë had done just moments before, but he did this in a much more violent manner. His large hands gripped Stavros's shoulders painfully and the smell of stale beer made Stavros want to vomit.
Perceiving that Nikko might get hurt, Stavros pushed his younger sibling off of the bed and Elias began shaking Stavros, shouting, "Where the hell is she!? If you're lyin' to me, boy, then you'd better say your prayers cuz I'll kill you!"
Stavros just glared up at him, his lips closed tightly both in anger and in refusal to tell his father anything. Even more angry than before, Elias released Stavros's shoulders and placed his hands around his eldest's neck. "Did you hear me, boy!? I'll kill you!"
Nikko began crying in earnest when he beheld this. "Stop it!" he protested weakly, pulling himself to his feet. "You're hurting him!"
Elias showed no sign of stopping; in fact, if anything, his hands tightened even more around the small neck, until Stavros couldn't breathe at all, his face turning red as he tried to pull in breath; he could no longer stop himself from letting a few tears out, and weakly put his hands up to push his father off of him in an attempt to get himself free.
Nikko reached for his father's big arm, pulling at it and yelling, over and over, for him to stop hurting Stavros. When this didn't help either, Nikko began pounding at the arm with his tiny fists. As if swatting at a particularly persistent insect, Elias flashed his arm out and lashed out at Nikko, sending the small child to the ground painfully. Elias suddenly loosened his grip on Stavros's throat, allowing the boy to pull in a painful breath, and stared down at the 5 year old who was sobbing, incoherent words spouting from him.
Elias then stumbled backwards, as if just realizing what he was doing and his back hit the wall. He was breathing hard and staring at his children, who were both crying, Nikko on the floor and Stavros on the bed, a look of shock, hurt and anger on his face as he held his throat.
Without a second glance, Elias lurched out of the room and thundered down the hall, slamming the room to his bedroom when he reached it. Stavros finally stopped holding his throat and stood up, walked over to his own bedroom door and closed it, turning the lock afterwards in case Elias came back for more. That done, Stavros then reached down and picked Nikko up, holding the sobbing child close to his chest as he sat back in the bed and pulled the cover over the two of them. Meanwhile, the storm raged on outside and the boys were left to wonder what would become of them, now that their mother had abandoned them to their drunken father.
~*****~
Author's Note: So, what did you think? Did you enjoy it? I really hope that more and more people come to post Spectacular fan fictions and as the number of fictions grow, readers shall grow also. Thank you and don't forget to review! ^_^
