How Little Eddy realizes he needs to try harder to earn his brother's love. Trigger warning: emotional abuse.
I own nothing.
Eddy smiled proudly at the thing in his hands. After having saved up the money for weeks to buy the kit and then pouring hours of careful work into making it, he was finally finished! His Big Bro was going to love this! He hopped off of his chair at the desk in his room and ran to find his hero. He wasn't in the bathroom or the kitchen and Eddy knew that Bro's room was "off limits," so he stood in the kitchen, trying to think of where else his brother might be. Just then, he heard a car door slam, and he smiled, making a beeline to the front door.
"Big bro! Big bro! Wait!" Screen door slamming and bare feet slapping the concrete, little Eddy came running up to his brother as fast as his little legs could carry him. Bro turned from where he was about to get into a car with his friends and raised an eyebrow at the little boy.
"Whadya want, Squirt?"
"Look at what I made!" He held up his tiny hands, stretching on his tiptoes to try and give his brother a better view of what he had. "For you!"
His brother squinted at the thing. "What is that?"
"It's a plane model. I bought it at the store and made it for you! Do you like it?" he asked shyly. His friends chuckling, Bro smiled at Eddy and the boy was ecstatic.
"Sure, Squirt. Lemme put it somewhere safe."
Gently, Bro plucked the little model from Eddy's hands and set it on the ground. Eddy's happy face turned into one of confusion, then to horror and sadness as his beloved brother crushed his gift under his heel.
Tears brimming in his eyes, Eddy looked from the destroyed plane to his brother and then back to the plane.
"But… I made that for you…."
"The wings were crooked. Maybe this'll teach you not to waste my time on worthless garbage like that." He slammed the car door shut after climbing in and tore out of the driveway, leaving Eddy all alone. Tears dripped from Eddy's eyes as he looked at the mess all his hard work had become.
Maybe… maybe he hadn't tried hard enough. Some of the parts of the plane were crooked and the stickers had been a little off. Of course his brother didn't like it! Eddy had messed up! All his brother wanted from him was his best and Eddy wanted to give it. His Big Bro was just trying to help. Tiny hands clenched into fists and he picked up the broken pieces of the plane. Marching back into the house, he dumped them in the garbage can and made his way to his room. On the way there, he stopped at the entrance of his brother's room and said with all the steely determination a six-year-old could muster, "I will try harder, Bro. I'm going to give it my best, and then you'll be proud of me."