Safety Net
"Joseph!" Frank woke to the sound of their father, private investigator, Fenton Hardy yelling at his younger brother.
Frank was eighteen years old, while Joe his younger brother was seventeen. The younger one had a way of attracting trouble sometimes.
He lay in bed groaning for a moment trying to block out the noise, and return to sleep.
The older Hardy was overprotective of his younger brother, and had doted on him all his life. He loved the kid more than his own life sometimes. But there were times where he really felt like strangling him, like right now.
Something stopped him in his tracks as he made his way to Joe's room through their connected bathroom.
The sound coming from the other side made his heart twist painfully.
Joe was crying.
He stopped midway as his mind raced with worry for the younger brother.
Without a second thought, Frank made his way into Joe's room, and instantly his big brother side kicked in, and he crouched in front of Joe, and spoke softly.
"Joe? Are you okay kiddo?"
For a few seconds there was nothing but the sound of Joe trying to stifle his tears.
Gently he reached up, brushed the tears away from Joe's face, and smoothed some loose strands of hair from his little brother's eyes.
He glanced into those teary eyes, and instantly his expression softened.
"Oh Joey. What's the matter hm? Talk to me Joe come on."
Then realizing all he was receiving in response was sniffles from his brother, he knew he needed to calm him down before asking him anything.
Frank sat down next to him and soothingly ran a soft hand over Joe's back slowly, feeling every shudder every shaking breath Joe took that broke his heart.
"Sssssshhh it's okay Joe you're okay now. Whatever it is you can tell me. Come on Joey calm down now it's okay. I'm right here sssshhhh."
After a few moments, he felt Joe's muscles begin to relax, as his baby brother leaned against him.
Taking this as a cue, he wrapped his arms around Joe protectively, and rested his back against the headboard of the bed.
The older boy continued running a hand on Joe's back to reassure him he was not going anywhere.
He felt Joe settle back against him, and instinctively tightened his grip.
Not wanting to push his little brother into explaining what was bothering him, he just lay back with Joe and waited patiently.
Realizing he would be unable to get much out of Joe tonight, he just lay watching him with a soft concerned look in his eyes.
Slowly to settle Joe down for the night cradled in his big brother's embrace, he began to hum a tune softly that had put Joe to sleep as a kid.
Gently he stroked his younger brother's hair watching as his eyes began to slide closed.
The last thought that came to Frank was Joe's inability to maintain a good grade in one of his classes, and wondered if that was what the fight was about.
He began to wonder if this was truly Joe's fault, and the boy resolved to talk to his father the next day about this, and that he needed to keep a better eye on what was really going on in Joe's class.