Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 44th cycle. Now cycle 45!

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** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 45 CHEAT SHEET ** Check it out to find out about shift days!

This is a shift day [see above]. There will be another upload this afternoon: A Dish Best Served Cold, chapter 12.

"Brotherhood"
(Beiste &) Ewan (OC; Damian McGinty) - Mitch (OC)
Beiste & Ewan series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

It hadn't been hard for them to understand what was behind their introduction. Ewan had his Aunt Shannon, who had taken him into her home, and Mitch had his father Rich, who had been divorced for over six years now. They may have been moving slow, but the boys saw through it. So the day Ewan had dropped by the football field to see his aunt – by her request – and she had called Mitch in from the sidelines, they knew they were expected to meet, get to know each other. That was fine by them. They knew it was coming, and as far as they knew the other guy was okay. They had met, it was fine, and after that they would say hello in the halls, exchange some words, but it wasn't as though they had become friends just yet.

Mitch Henley was on the football team, though lately it didn't feel like it. He'd attended a football camp over the summer, where everything had been going fine… until the day he had met an unfortunate tackle and ended up with his leg in a cast that rode just about to his hip. He'd had to miss the first few weeks of the school year, and by the time he was set to return, the season was under way, his spot had been taken by some new guy, and his leg just didn't seem to work the way it used to. The coach said it was just nerves, but so far his nerves had not cleared, because he was still having those same problems.

He had some friends on the team, though in his absence some had remained more loyal than others. He wasn't the bully type although, as much as he did hate it sometimes, he would follow when they told him to do something. He had thrown the odd Slushie or two… Since his return to McKinley though, they didn't really involve him anymore. He had to say he didn't miss it. The only thing he did miss was football. He did everything he could to get himself back there, but it wasn't working and he was growing frustrated.

This had led to one day where one of his teammates, messing with him about his inability to get back in the game, had pushed too far and they had gotten into a fight. He hadn't been suspended, though he'd be in detention for a month. He had been in it for two and a half weeks the day the Irish boy walked in and sat at the next table over. Mitch watched him go, surprised.

"How'd you get in here?" he had to ask.

"Teacher made a mistake, I tried to correct her."

"Mrs. Cox?" Mitch guessed, and Ewan nodded. "Yeah, she doesn't like that."

"I know that now… Wish I'd known it before I insisted… five times."

"Brave man," Mitch chuckled.

"So she sent me here."

"Just keep to yourself from now on or she'll double your next sentence," he warned.

"How does she still have a job?"

"One of McKinley's biggest mysteries. That, and the meat surprise." Ewan laughed, made to quiet again by the teacher keeping an eye on them. He looked back to Mitch after a minute or two.

"I think my aunt and your dad are getting closer." Mitch looked to him.

"Yeah, kind of noticed that. Like it wasn't enough that I can't play, now with my father dating my coach. Don't get me wrong, I mean she's great, and she makes him happy, it's just…"

"Bad timing?" Ewan provided.

"Bad timing," Mitch repeated. "Don't tell her I said that, okay? I don't want them to break up or anything."

"I swear," Ewan nodded. This was easily their longest conversation so far.

"You're in Glee Club, right?"

"Yeah. You're not going to… with the Slushie?" Ewan asked. Tina and Mike had told him about that after they had found out about the coach dating Mr. Henley. As things he wasn't looking forward to went, that was right up there.

"Not anymore," Mitch shook his head. "And if one of them comes after you with those, you let me know, I'll deal with them." Ewan was surprised by the offer. It wasn't that he had thought anything bad of Mitch before this, but they barely knew each other so… Maybe he felt had to, since his aunt and Mr. Henley were together.

"Thanks," he told him. The guys in Glee had basically extended the same promise, though he didn't go into that with Mitch.

A minute later, Ewan's attention was brought to look to the door when he heard some light clicks and he saw Sugar there, tapping against the window with her nails. She looked confused as to what he was doing there and not heading to Glee Club like she was. He hadn't had time to tell her about it. His friendship with her – that was what it was as far as he could tell – was something kind of separate from his friendship with Tina and Mike, the two generally not mixing unless it was in Glee Club. That was fine by him… he kind of liked spending time with her, just her…

She was nudged along away from the window by what they saw to be Santana's hand. As the cheerleader passed, her gaze fell first on Ewan with recognition and then on Mitch with a glare.

"What was that?" Ewan blinked back to him.

"Grudge match," Mitch smirked. "We went out… one week in sophomore year… Not my proudest week for how things ended up, but she hasn't let go."

"What'd you do?"

"All I can say is there was a party, there were drinks, and there was Brittany…" Ewan didn't press further. "We should hang out some time," Mitch offered. "I know we haven't yet, but I'm in if you are."

"Sure," Ewan agreed after a beat.

For the rest of the detention period and the time afterward – they had ended up going back to the Henley house to play video games – Ewan to know Mitch some more. What he was seeing was a guy who might not have been too proud of who he used to be, but who was trying to make up for that now. He could appreciate that, and after a while he could definitely see some of Rich in him.

Inevitably, and he wondered if Mitch thought about this too, he would end up wondering what would happen if his aunt and Mitch's father's relationship progressed on and they decided to move in together, decided to get married… Rich would not be a father for him, as nice as he was… He'd had a father, lost him, and he wasn't ready to consider anyone taking his place. But he could settle well on an uncle though. It would make the two of them boys family though, cousins, or kind of brothers. By the end of the day he had decided that wouldn't be a bad thing… a big brother.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!