Thank you to those who reviewed and added this story to their favourites and alerts. I went through a few re-writes of Bobby's character, and I'm still unsure of whether I've presented him as characteristically alike as he is in the movie. Feel free to send me any suggestions. Feedback does help. (:
"Bobby?" Evelyn called, peering into the dim room. The lump of covers situated in the middle of the bed twitched in response as a muffled groan broke through the cocoon.
"… Ma?" Bobby's husky voice answered as he moved out from his barricade of blankets, focusing bleary-eyes onto the figure stood in his doorway.
"I'm so sorry to wake you up again so early, I bet you're regretting coming back now," Evelyn said with a weak laugh. Bobby sat up, leaning his arms on his knees and frowned at his mother's tone.
"Ma? S'everything alright?" Alertness seeping into his body at the shake of her head.
"What's wrong?" he demanded, numerous scenarios involving his brothers flitting through his head, each one equally as unpleasant and causing a knot of worry to form in the pit of his stomach. "Is everyone okay? Have you checked on them?
Evelyn couldn't help but smile at Bobby's over protective streak making itself known; in any situation he always thought of his family first, his loyalty unbreakable to his beloved mother and younger siblings. It was both a quality that Evelyn adored Bobby for, yet also scared her to death.
She held up a hand, "No, nothing bad has happened… Jack's downstairs, he must have snuck out again last night and been more reckless than usual, he didn't even make it to his room this time. He obviously thought the stairs would be more comfortable." She paused and let the silence filled the room as the information was slowly digested.
Bobby pinched the bridge of his nose, his worry being replaced by anger. That little shit. Jack was prone to being a self-destructive person, yet he was the type that liked to hide it and mope around with his awful CDs blaring out or go out with his friends to get wasted, then recover in the sanctuary of his bedroom. He must have been especially far-gone tonight to let himself be vulnerable for someone to find him, he'd always been a private person, preferring to blend into the background than be scrutinised. Well, too bad. Bobby had only been home a few days and he was already growing sick of it. Evelyn had admitted she was worried but when she had tried to breach the subject Jack had just shrugged and fled to his room. His mistake tonight was going to allow Bobby the ammunition to give him a firmer kick up the ass.
"Right," he muttered, throwing the covers off and swinging his legs over the side.
"I would have asked Angel instead seeing as you were woken up early yesterday but he spent the night at Sofi's," Evelyn filled in as she turned and led the way out of the room. "I'm sorry to do this to you again".
Bobby shook his head, 'It's fine ma, anything for you," he smiled. "Although I think we should just leave him there to suffer."
"Bobby", she lightly scolded, swatting him gently on the arm as they turned and descended towards the topic of their conversation.
"Jesus", Bobby grumbled, taking in Jack's prone form. "Seriously ma, let me just throw some water in his face and kick him out the door for school."
Evelyn gave him a levelled her gaze at him, "Bobby you know he can't go in this state, heaven forbid he pays attention on a normal day!" She replied, watching critically as he carefully scooped Jack up bridal style. Despite how many meals she had forced upon him in the last few years he was still underweight for his age. Pairing his weight with the fact that he hadn't had a growth spurt in awhile and his soft features and he barely looked fifteen. He was definitely her baby.
"Yeah, yeah", Bobby grumbled as he effortlessly climbed up the stairs with his brother, who despite the jostling and voices hadn't even stirred.
"Thank you, are you going back to bed or do you want me to get you some breakfast, too?
"Nah, I'll stay up and see you off. Gimme a minute and I'll be right down".
Five minutes later Bobby shuffled into the kitchen, pulling out a chair and ungracefully falling into it, gratefully accepting the steaming mug of coffee presented to him.
"Did you get him settled okay?"
"Yeah, he's dead to the world. I coulda left him on the floor and he wouldn't have noticed anything different." Noticing Evelyn's stare Bobby quickly rushed, "but I didn't, he's safe in bed… for now".
"Bobby," she sighed, "be careful with him. You know how defensive he is, I don't want you to scare him off."
"I know, ma, but waiting for him to spill why he's determined to fuck up his life isn't getting us anywhere. I mean at this rate he's guna get kicked out of school for not doing any work. The fairy actually has a brain to be able to do something, instead he's getting dumber by the day with all that shit he's doing." He blew on the top of the mug before taking a sip.
Evelyn munched on her toast, wiping her fingers together to get rid of the sticky crumbs. "I know. That boy must think I was born yesterday not to realise what he's doing. After living with his older brothers you'd think he'd realise I'd know when I was being played for a fool".
Bobby grinned, "Awh, Ma, we were angels!"
"I remember getting my first grey hair with you, Bobby Mercer, you were such a little hellion." Evelyn chuckled before smiling at him and resting her hand on top of his.
"Try to get through to him whilst I'm gone? He's probably sick of me trying to smother him. Maybe all he needs is a fresh face. I just want this sneaking out at all hours to stop, this is Detroit for heaven's sake and it's dangerous".
Bobby's face hardened. "It will," he replied seriously. "I'll sort it out. Jackie's a good boy, everything will be fine."
Evelyn smiled, patting his hand before standing up. "I'll only be gone for a few days. Try not to kill your brothers and please let the house still be here when I return".
"I might be able to guarantee at least one of those," Bobby smirked. Evelyn rolled her eyes before kissing him on the cheek and leaving the kitchen.
Bobby blew out a noisy breath, rolling his head towards the clock with a frown. Unbelievable, the goddamned thing must be broken because there was no way it'd been less than half an hour since he'd last checked. He tapped the remote against his thigh and tried to engross himself in the TV. At this rate he was seriously considering doing some housework he was that mind-numbingly bored, he was a man of action, and waiting for hungover baby brothers to wake up was seriously counter-productive.
If he was honest he was a little apprehensive in speaking to Jack, he wouldn't know if he'd remember passing out last night and if he did he was bound to be uncooperative. An uncooperative Jack always led to an angry Bobby, and ma was right, he couldn't afford to get angry. He'd would never hurt his brother, he'd die before he did, but his temper could be scary and he'd be the first to admit that so he needed to handle this with kid-gloves, because Jack being the moody shit he could be would probably overreact. That didn't mean he was going to let him off the hook for yesterday though.
He was broken out of his thoughts by the front door opening and he craned his head to see Angel appear into view.
"Hey man," he greeted.
"So you do remember where you live!" he called sarcastically, watching Angel cross into the kitchen.
"Yeah, and I missed you so damn much I decided to come back", he replied.
Bobby laughed and turned down the TV, lifting his foot onto the coffee table. "Nah, you heard those dishes calling to be washed up in there and thought you'd come back and do 'em."
"Man, just because ma's gone don't think me and Jack are gonna be your slaves, asshole", Angel replied, yesterday's left over pizza in his hand.
"We'll see", Bobby grinned wickedly, "have fun trading diseases with Loca last night?"
"I got more action yesterday than you've probably gotten in five years, big bro", Angel said.
Bobby recoiled, "For fuck's sake Angel, don't talk with your mouth full. What are you doing back anyway?"
Finishing off the slice he made his way up to the bottom of the stairs, "I have work soon, I needed a shower and a change of clothes."
Bobby nodded, feeling disappointed he'd be left alone again soon. "Hey feel free to make extra loud noise up there. Jackie boy's sleeping off last night's excursion. Little idiot was passed out on the stairs."
"Yeah?" Angel laughed, "Sounds like he had a good night, too. Maybe you should take a leaf outta one of our books, eh Bobby?"
Bobby's death glare and flexing of his hand with the remote in had him scurrying up the stairs towards the safety of the bathroom.
Angel had left nearly an hour ago and it was nearly noon. Bobby didn't think he could take another talk show of paternity tests. Flicking off the TV with determination he stood up and walked to the cupboard, opening it and easily locating what he was looking for. He grabbed the vacuum and marched up the stairs, stopping at the door of Jack's room and listening for any noise. It was dead silent and he slowly pushed the door open wide.
Jack laid pretty much how he'd been left, except now most of his head was underneath the covers and all that could be seen of him was the wild spikes of his hair. Diverting his eyes from the bed Bobby surveyed his brother's room. From his last few visits in here during Jack's impromptu removal and delivering to his bed, he couldn't help but notice the absolute shithole the place was in. Since being back he'd heard Evelyn ask him to tidy it at least twice. Jack was clearly lazy in that respect and in Bobby's opinion this room wasn't fit for a human to live in. He liked order and control himself, and he couldn't contain his disgust the first time he'd lain eyes on the place. The bed sheets were stained and only half on the bed, as though halfway through changing them Jack has decided to give up. Clothes and paper littered the floor, as well as scruffy school books, whilst the desk was covered in empty coke cans and a few plates that Bobby was pretty sure had mould growing in them. Worse still, there was a stale smell of smoke and the occasional pile of ash dotted along the windowsill. He didn't give a shit if Jack was just being a typical teenager, he was not going to let his brother sleep in this, regardless if Jack disagreed or not.
Growling Bobby grabbed the vacuum lead and plugged it into the socket before flicking the switch and watching with grim satisfaction as the figure in the bed jumped violently.
So, Jack's misery begins. Thoughts? Ideas for improvements?