"Goddamn. How have we ended up with this much crap in out house is beyond me!" James Daniel or 'JD' Scott laughed with his two older brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott as they waded though boxes, only to put more down. "I never even /knew/ we had this much stuff in the attic of this place!"
"Yeah, well, it's not /all/ ours." Jonathan groused from above, sneezing thanks to the dust up there before continuing. "Some of it is Mom and Dad's, you know. For safekeeping."
"Yeah, well, luckily they're visiting soon to take most of it back and Drew's moving out with Linda, which means more space for us." JD joked, making a kissy face at Drew who just rolled his eyes. Twice.
"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Laugh it up." Jonathan pulled himself down from the ceiling and attic, ladder somehow able to hold the 6 foot 5 giant as he landed firmly on solid ground.
Both brothers already on the ground however, suddenly burst out laughing, making him frown crossly. "What?"
"Oh dude, that white stripe look is /so/ not cool on you." Drew snorted, making JD laugh even harder as Jonathan turned to squint in the mirror.
They were right. The dust had settled on his face and especially in his hair, making it looked streaked, terrible trainee hairdresser type.
"Looks like someone needs a bath!" JD chortle though his laughter, Jonathan pretending to pull a gun out on him and shoot him in the head before he stomped off towards the back of the house, most likely to the bathroom to face his new cosmetic error.
"Did you get a photo of that?" JD turned to Drew, who immediately held up his phone with a thumbs up, both sharing a laugh afterwards, shaking their heads.\
"Man, all this old stuff just keeps reminding /me/ I'm gettin' old." JD groaned, looking over the grayed brown cardboard biting his lip. "Hard to believe I'm going to be 43 in a few months."
He turned to Drew, who didn't say anything, but his eyes looked suspiciously emotional, drying quickly when he cleared his throat and looked back up. "Oh, oh yeah, definitely. Makes you wonder." He responded awkwardly, making JD frown.
"Dude, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me old man." Drew joked, causing JD to roll his own eyes this time, out of fondness instead of irritation. "Whatever."
"Anyway, we should get a move on with these boxes." Drew snorted, surveying the work in front of them. "God knows that going through them will be a pain, but if we can clear them out, we can put all the stuff I can't fit at the new place upstairs."
"You just need to stop collecting nick-knacks is all." JD laughed as an empty box flew towards him, him catching it easily with a laugh, seeing Drew glaring at him. "I'm kidding, man."
"You'd better be." Drew grumbled, seeing Jonathan toweling off his hair as he was walking back into the room, who looked between them. "And just what are you ladies fighting about now?"
"Oh, you know John. Just Drew's apparent hoarding." JD gloated, causing Drew's cheeks to go a bright red and Jonathan to laugh.
"I'm in agreement there with you on that, brother."
"Hey, you are supposed to be on my side. I'm your twin for god sakes!" Drew protested.
"Hey, don't get pouty pretty boy." Jonathan laughed at him, trying to JD. "Why don't we take a break and rustle up some grub before we start cutting tape away?"
"Meh, I'm not hungry." JD shook his head while Drew cried out "I'm starving." over the top of him, making Jonathan shake his head in exasperation.
"Geez, alright, alright. Who about me and Drew go fill our stomachs and you can laze about for an hour or two? Sound good?"
"Perfect." Both JD and Drew nodded in agreement before Drew waded though boxes to get to Jonathan, laughing about something John was telling him as they turned the corner and left, leaving JD on his own, shaking his head. He honestly could never figure those two out sometimes, but he guessed that it was a twin thing.
Not really that content with lazing around or watching TV, JD just decided to get a headstart on the boxes littering the floor, letter opener already in hand as he sliced open the first box carefully, opening it to reveal family photos from when they were kids.
"Oh man, Drew and John will get a /kick/ out of these."He chuckled to himself as he started sorting them, laughing at them as he looked though them one by one. Birthdays, special events, when the twins were born. He shook his head as he started to put them away, frowning as he came across a folder of photos he hadn't seen before.
Turning over the small photo folder, he observed the name "James" written on the front in Drew's handwriting, a piece of old sticking tape holding the flap down. Curious, he took it off and flipped it over, revealing a set of sonograms, making his frown much deeper.
Pulling out a few of them, clearly at different stages of pregnancy, he could see Drew's name in the upper corner and froze, confused out of his mind. Drew had a kid? Since when!?
He couldn't have a kid.
Flipping though the photos quite fast now, he came across one that stopped him again, face pale as he stared at it, trying to process what he was seeing in front of him.
The picture was of a teenage Drew and John, at a beach somewhere on a gray day, but in the picture, John was the one holding the camera taking a selfie and Drew was curled against him, a young dark haired toddler in his arms with a drooling, two toothed smile.
A toddler that looked like /him/.
