14. ➝ "What makes you think I'll be any different this time?" -TRNC

Glafkos lifted Cemal onto the counter, first aid kit beside him. The young boy sniffle as he tried to control his tears, hating how easily he had begun to cry.

"Please don't cry, if Sadik hears you, he will come looking, and I really don't want to deal with the jerk." The teen whispered as he opened the kit. Sadik was upstairs sleeping, having had spent the past few days in Japan, discussing trading policies with Kiku, and probably other things, or at least, that's what Glafkos had thought. He had a low opinion of the Turkish man as it was, so his sudden disappearing was never helpful.

Cemal hiccuped as he tried to control himself. His head pounded, and it felt like hammers were banging his skull. Glafkos frowned and wiped at his tears. "I'm sorry küçük erkek kardeş." He said, before pulling out a bottle of
Headache medicine. "We are going to be taking you to doctor soon." He promised. The boy merely nodded. They had been telling them that for a long time now.

Glafkos pulled out a glass from above Cemal's head, and walked over to the sink, filling it with warm water. His promises might have been more meaningful, if he had actually told Sadik what was going on, but the teen was scared. He didn't want the Turkish man to kick them out because Cemal was sick.

The two brothers parent's had passed away when Glafkos was 16. They had no other family that they knew of, and even if they did, no one would have taken them in. Glafkos was a lesser intelligent individual, who struggled most of his life. He had even left school due to his struggles. And Cemal was just always sick. The boy had suffered illness most of his life, just like his mother, which is what had taken her.

Sadik had taken them in after discovering the death of their father, a good friend of his. He hadn't really known the kids, but he had felt sorry for course, he hadn't planned to keep them long. But here they were, going on five months.

And most nights had ended up like this. If Cemal did wake up in some sort of pain, either headaches or stomach pains or just overall hurt, then Glafkos was trying to study. He wanted to be a doctor to help his brother, but his mental health wasn't all there, the teen suffering from ADD, and just an internal self doubt that prevented him doing many things. He had even dropped out of highschool, now attending online school just to try and better himself. It was a strange situation, and neither of them enjoyed it.

Glafkos opened the bottle of pills and poured two out, smiling at his brother, whom merely looked back at him. The teen handed the young boy the medicine and the water. He took a small sip, before swallowing. He hated taking pills, sometimes they would get stick in his throat, or he would just simply taste them, and he would feel like being sick, but he understood it was important, and it eased his brother's fears a bit, even though it didn't always help.

Cemal smiled back when he was done, but it quickly disappeared when the light turned on. Glafkos whipped around, before being met with the face of Sadik. The man hardly seemed surprised, but the teen didn't notice.

"You two are up." Sadik said, crossing his arms. He wore his pj's still, but he had on shoes. Glafkos eyes fell towards them, before stiffening a bit.

"Cemal had a headache." He said. It wasn't common for children to get headaches, but Sadik couldn't blame them for that, right?

Sadik didn't budge. "You've done this before. In fact, you guys do this a lot." He said, which made both of them worried now. They had thought that Sadik didn't know. They were always so quiet, and they never left evidence behind. Both brother's looked at each other, fear in their eyes.

"P-please don't kick us out-" Glafkos started, his mind suddenly racing. "Cemal is sick!" He said, his heart beginning to race as fear too hold of him. Cemal grabbed his brother's arm, gripping him tightly as reality settled on both of them.

"You two should have told me." Sadik said, walking closer. "I wondered why I was losing medicine." He said. Glafkos shook his head.

"Don't make us leave, I can't take care of him. I'll...I'll leave…" He said. Cemal reacted immediately, yanking on his brother's arm.

"Can't leave me!" The youngest argued, anger and fear in his eyes. Glafkos shook his head. He would leave if it meant Sadik would keep him. Of course, Sadik would have no idea how to care for him, but it would be better if he had a house and a bed and food rather than what he could provide on his own, which was nothing.

"I'm not kicking you two out, salaklar." Sadik said, rolling his eyes. "What would even give ya the idea?"

The brother's blinked, before they both erupted into observations.

"You're always telling us how annoying we are!"

"You say you'd be better off without us!"

"You threaten to kick us out if we don't do the chores you ask!"

"You constantly tell us to have our stuff out when you go out for business-"

"Okay, I was joking about that one." Sadik intervened, but he took a the two kids. They honestly looked scared to death. All those months, they really had thought he meant those things. He hadn't, not really anyways.

"Look, did I think I was gonna be housing you for this long? No way." The Turkish man said, which didn't comfort either of them at all, but then he sighed and continued on.

"But, I'm not just going to kick ya out, especially not if the little one's sick." He said. Cemal looked away slightly embarrassed.

"You two should have told me sooner, I would have helped." He said. Glafkos looked away then too.

"We were afraid you wouldn't want to take care of us. We're already a burden as it is." He mumbled. Sadik rolled his eyes, before walking over.

"Jeez, you kids are a lot older than you look." The man said, resting an arm of Glafkos's shoulder. The boy looked up at the Turkish man, before closing his eyes.

"I can leave Sadik." The teen suggested. "I'll go get a job, and I can pay you to take care of Cemal." He suggested. Cemal immediately began to argue.

"You're too stupid to take care of yourself!" He said, grabbing his arm again.

"I'm not stupid, I've been doing really well!" He argued back, but the eldest began laughing.

"Damn, I couldn't kick you kids out at all, you'd murder each other before any real harm came to ya." He said, before slapping Glafkos on the back. He winced, but smiled sheepishly, not really wanting to argue.

"Look, the job thing ain't a bad idea, but no way would I make you guys leave. Ya'll don't need to suffer more than you do." He said with sincerity. Both boys fell silent, but it was true. Both of them had their own problems.

"Now look, no more of this sneaking around shit. I'm gonna take Cemal to a doctor, and get him looked at. And you are gonna go to bed, because we are gonna find you a job, and ya got your schooling to do."

"No wait, take me to the doctor with you-" Glafkos argued, but Sadik shook his head.

"You don't need to be a parent. Let me handle that for now." He said, before walking over to Cemal. He lifted the boy into his arms, who didn't object, finding it comforting to be held by someone again. Sadik turned to look back at Glafkos.

"Seriously, you don't need to worry. I know you don't like me, which I don't really understand, I'm awesome." The Turkish man said, making Glafkos roll his eyes.

"But I'll take care of you guys. You really mean a lot to me." And with that, Sadik headed towards the door, leaving the teen to wonder in the kitchen. He looked down at the floor a moment. He was suddenly reminded of his mother's last words to them.

'You're much too young to take care of me.'

It was times like this that he remembered, Sadik himself was only 23.