A/N: Hey everyone. This is my first HI fic, which I decided to write after reading most of the other HI fics in the course of two days. I just wrote this randomly, but I do know what going to happen, basically. Reviews would be appreciated as I'm trying to improve my writing. Any criticism would be taken happily. So enjoy. Also please remember I am from England not America so I may get some things wrong.
Chapter One- It all started so right.
Life had changed a lot in the last few years. Brad left for college in Chicago and once he graduated he had decided to stay there. Mark moved in with his girlfriend after being with he for only a year, and Randy had returned home from Costa Rica. Tim and Jill were happy with the way things were even though they missed their oldest and youngest sons very much, they still had Randy living with them.
"Mom, Brad's on the phone." Randy yelled upstairs. This was a very regular occurrence. Jill took the receiver from him and prepared herself to instruct her eldest in some new life skill.
"Hey mom, how do you clean a soccer kit?" Brad was finding it hard coping alone in his new apartment. He phoned his mom at least once a week to ask some kind of question. But he wasn't worried. In just over a month he would be back at home, and he could learn more skills without having to pay for a call. Of course his parents didn't know he was coming home, but he would tell them when he felt he had to.
Jill wet through the instructions one-by-one as Brad wrote them down carefully.
"Okay Brad that's it, see simple. Now hunni, when are you coming to visit? We haven't seen you in so long." Brad decided now was as good a time as any.
"Actually mom, I'm coming home in about a month, at the end of my season. I hope that's alright."
"Of course, well I'll see you then, and don't forget to spin your kit twice." And with that she replaced the phone on its hook and turned her attention to the television. Randy was sat there watching 'Tool Time' so Jill decided to join him. They watched as Tim managed to solder his finger to a metal nail. She had told him not to do a salute to soldering irons. But as always he hadn't listened.
The credits rolled and Randy went down to his basement room. He still had the same room he had when he was younger.
Jill was just about to get back to work on her latest thesis when the door opened.
"Mom?" Jill turned her head and saw her youngest son standing at the door holding two suitcases. She ran and enveloped him in a tight hug. Mark had given up on being a Goth and now looked just like a regular 21 year old.
"Mark hunni. What are you doing here?" Jill asked finally releasing Mark.
"Me and Sadie, we split up. She kept the house so I guess, I'm back?" He said in the cheeriest voice he could muster. Inside he felt awful, and the pain in his stomach hurt like hell, but he wasn't going to let on.
"Hey dork." Randy quipped in a nonchalant voice while walking past to get a soda. Suddenly he stopped. What was Mark doing here? Randy hadn't seen his little brother since Mark moved in with his girlfriend. Things kept seeming to get in the way. But in the back of his mind Randy knew exactly why they hadn't gotten together. They had been avoiding each other. They had never been the closest of brothers, when Mark was younger Randy would tease him, but Mark knew that it was only a joke. Randy didn't really mean to hurt mark. That is, until Randy crossed the boundary a year ago. Mark only found out when he had moved in with his ex girlfriend Sadie. She revealed that when she and Randy first met, they shared a kiss. She had insisted that Randy pulled away and it was all her fault. Mark believed that, but he couldn't get over it and it put an even thicker wall between him and his older brother.
Slowly Randy turned to face Mark. He looked so different from the last time Randy had seen him, but it was definitely him.
"Hey" Randy said slowly, " Its great to see you. Look, about what happened last year…"
"Forget it" Mark interrupted, "I know it wasn't your fault"
"Anyway" Jill decided this was not a conversation that she wanted to start right now, "Randy, could you take Mark's bags up to his room? Mark hunni, how about something to eat?" She slowly led her youngest sun into the living room. Randy lifted his brother's suitcases. They were heavy. He lugged them all the way up the stairs and dumped them into his brother's room. He hadn't been in here in a while, and he left as soon a he could. He slowly wandered back downstairs and found Mark sitting on the couch, crying.
"Where's mom?" Randy asked. Mark quickly wiped away his tears with the back of his hand.
"She went to get some groceries, she said she'd be back in a bit." Mark replied in between sobs. Randy sat down on the couch a little way from Mark and looked at his brother. He knew something more than breaking up with his girlfriend was up with him.
"Mark, what's wrong? I mean, I know you and Sadie broke up but is there something more, cause I've never seen you this broken up about a girl. Is it just that, or is there something else. I mean I know I'm probably the last person you want to talk to, but I also know it can be kinda hard to talk to mom and dad. I'm here if you need to talk." Randy got up and headed to the kitchen, grabbed a plate and a bag of cookies and poured two glasses of milk. It always cheered them up when they were kids.
Mark shifted in his seat, making some more room on the couch and winching at the pain which stuck his lower abdomen.
"Randy, you're the one person I know I can talk to about this, excluding Brad." Mark said taking a cookie, and then changing his mind at the thought of eating it. " Would it be possible to go to your room tho, I don't want mom coming back and eavesdropping, you know how she is." Randy was confused, but understood his brother really wanted to talk in private so he led him down to the basement, confusion filling him all the time. They sat on Randy's bed in silence for about ten minutes when Mark finally said
"Randy, I broke it off with Sadie, not the other way round. But that's not why I'm upset" He stopped to take a deep breath, and Randy noticed he was in pain. "I… I have to have surgery tomorrow morning" Randy felt a great amount of worry suddenly rush over his body. What was wrong, he wondered. "Don't worry," Mark continued, "it's not that serious. I've just got to have my appendix out." Randy was really relived, it explained why Mark didn't eat much and kept wincing slightly whenever he moved. "I'm scared Randy." Randy heard the fear in his little brother's voice. He gently placed his hand on Mark's shoulder.
"Why don't you want mom and dad to know?" Randy asked.
"You know how they worry, I didn't want to put them through it." This wasn't the real reason, but he didn't want to tell his older brother the real reason. "Randy? Could you possibly come with me? You now, drive me there, be there when I come out of surgery?"
"Sure, but Mark your going to have to tell mom at some point. She'll start to wonder where you've gone."
"You can tell her when I'm out of surgery, I'm fine with that, I don't want her to worry beforehand that's all" Mark was getting better at lying, Randy was believing all that he said.
