My Brother
Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to Gilmore Girls. (I do own the characters of Robert, Rose and William, though not the idea of Rose and William, as complicated as that may seem.)
Setting: A few chapters away from Tristan being sent to Military School. Rory is dating Dean but isn't fiercely in love with him, Paris, Louise and Madeline all hate her.
A/N: Please please please please please please please please please please please review!
"…said that his name was Robert DuGrey! I mean, has Tristan told you he had a brother? He didn't tell me either!" The blonde girl walking past Tristan was chatting animatedly with the redhead walking next to her, both their eyes wide and their cheeks flushed. Tristan was feeling extremely annoyed; he'd been passed by three groups like this already. He didn't get it at all. He didn't even have a brother! He watched the blonde lean in to her friend and whisper, "You can have Tristan, Jessica, but I get the new hunk!" The girls continued past him, giggling and throwing him glances. Tristan was in a sour mood and wanted to yell after them, "I don't even have a brother!"
"Wow, this is so weird. I mean, I can't deny that he looks like him, but did you know Tristan had an older brother? I didn't. Why wouldn't he tell us? There's nothing to be ashamed of; the supposed Robert DuGrey is a hunk!"
"And a flirt," a dark-haired, blue eyed schoolgirl commented dryly, clearly finding this attribute a bad one. She rolled her eyes at the blonde, preppy girl next to her and then lengthened her strides so that she put some distance between herself and Louise. Then she saw Tristan.
"Hey Mary," he greeted her with no intentions of stopping. All he wanted, after having a bad day, was to get home, flop down on his bed, and listen to his iPod, while drinking lemonade maybe. He'd failed a test, gotten yelled at by a teacher and dissed by a girl. And now all these giggling schoolgirls were talking in hush-hush tones about some Robert DuGrey claiming to be his brother. He didn't have a brother.
Tristan wanted to kick a can. He wasn't feeling in the least bit romantic, not even after seeing Rory.
But Rory had other ideas. She stopped and grabbed onto his arm as he passed by her, forcing him stop and look at her. She dragged him over to a bench set against the wall, taking them away from the flow of students going out of the school. Then she said to him, her eyes making contact with his, "Tristan, did you know that there's a thirty-year old man in the gym claiming to be your older brother and looking for you?"
Tristan blinked at Rory, slightly shocked. Up till now he could have believed it was all a joke. But now Rory was telling him again the same thing he'd picked up from the passing girls, so it had to be true. He trusted Rory in a weird way. "Um…not really," he admitted, pulling away from her and realizing his heart was beating fast. He may have not been feeling romantic before…"I'll go take a look," he told her with a typical, cocky, Tristan-grin. He waved and called, "See you Mary," at a scowling Rory.
Now, time to look into this Robert-DuGrey thing. It was a bit of a puzzler, because, as far as he knew, he didn't have an older brother.
(…)
Tristan arrived at the doors to the gym and pushed them open with his right palm, his left hand dangling uselessly at his side. And as soon as his keen blue eyes roamed searchingly over the gym area, he realized that what those silly girls had been saying was, shockingly, true. There, near the middle of the gym, stood a boy – a man – who looked to be about thirty, with gray eyes that flashed with the same kind of wit that Tristan's contained and sandy blonde hair that refused to be perfect and so was, in its own way, perfect. Tristan stood there in the doorway, dumbstruck.
Until the large wooden doors, no one holding them back, swung toward him and he was forced to duck into the gym.
Tristan saw no reason not to, and so he approached this man who looked so remarkably like him. He was in deep conversation with a girl around seventeen who clutched her books to her chest tightly and looked very red in the cheeks, her eyes making her look like she was about to faint. Tristan was impressed; even he couldn't make a girl react like that. But as soon as Tristan's footsteps pounded hollowly on the floor of the gym, the man looked up, saw him, and didn't look back at the girl once. (She left soon after, disappointed.) He had clearly realized that this was the Tristan he was looking for.
"Um, hello," Tristan called out hesitantly, unsure of how to behave around this strange man. He was too shocked to say any more than that. But the man, who Tristan vaguely remembered the girls referred to as 'Robert', beamed at him and had no hesitations in his manner whatsoever.
Holding his arms out wide as though he wanted to hug him, Robert called out in a charming, flirtatious voice, "Ah, Tristan! It's been so long!"
Tristan looked at him utterly puzzled. He was sure he'd never seen this man in his life. And yet he looked like him and claimed he'd seen him before. "…um…" was all Tristan could manage.
Robert chuckled. "Of course you wouldn't remember! I saw you when you were one. A gurgling little baby then. After that our parents, William and Rose, bless their souls, banished me and told me never to interfere in your life again. They can be quite…extreme, those two." Robert said this as though it were a trivial matter and then made a motion with his hand that seemed to signify it was of no importance and moved on. "But here I am! This is a lovely school…with lovely girls." A chuckle. "Come give your older brother a hug, Tristan."
His ears were ringing. This couldn't be possible. Looked like him, kinda acted like him, and knew a few things about him and a lot about the manner of his parents. And yet it couldn't be possible that Robert was his brother: his parents had never so much as said his name. If Robert were his brother, surely they would have said something. But no, he just popped into his life out of the blue. Not. Possible. "Sorry, but you can't be my brother," Tristan was decisive, and he turned to leave the gym, leave this madness behind. But Robert's voice stopped him.
"Sure I am. I know it's hard to believe, as Rose and William, bless their souls, probably never so much as mentioned my name." True. "But that's because they hate me. I was a bit of a bad boy." A chuckle. "And they decided to send me off to…er…a different school. And to protect the new baby they gave birth to a year after I was banished, they never let me visit you." Possible. He would certainly believe that of his parents. But still…"And if you don't believe it, which is understandable, just let me drive you home and the reaction on our parents' faces when they see me will be proof."
He would be crazy to accept a ride home from this complete stranger who might just be loony, claiming to be his brother and all. This man could be out to kidnap him and ransom his family. He might have lots of practice and might have died his hair, might be wearing contacts, might be trying to act like him…all those 'might's were absurd, of course. And Tristan was no coward. "Alright, OK, I'll drive home with you. You do know how to get there, right?"
Robert seemed amused. "Of course. It is my house, isn't it?" He held out his right hand to Tristan. "I'm Robert."
"I know," Tristan told him, shaking his hand. "I'm Tristan."
"I know," Robert answered, imitating the way Tristan had said it, and then they both grinned frighteningly identical grins. "Alright then. Let's go shock the pants off Rose and William," Robert suggested merrily as he headed toward the gym doors.
Tristan gulped. 'Shocking the pants off Rose and William' was never a good idea. It usually resulted in groundings or punishments or…but Tristan was already moving, walking toward Robert. He wouldn't back out of this now. And besides, he was curious.
