With a Hand around Your Throat
He ran down the hallway, crying, and turned the corner – and found his brother waiting there. Without any hesitation, his older brother grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against the wall. The none-too-gentle impact rattled him, sending bolts of pain shooting from his skull. He gagged and coughed, even though his brother's hold on his neck was loose enough to let him breathe.
Great. Interrogation time.
Other people knuckled their younger siblings' head, held them in a headlock, or punched them, but his brother always aimed for the throat. Like a predator.
He glared up indignantly into cold, mercury eyes, face flushed from anger, but he didn't dare to push his brother's hand away.
It was an unspoken rule; to break it was to bring the sky crashing down on their heads.
"What now?" He asked through gritted teeth. He could feel his own pulse thumping like a metronome gone wild under his brother's fingertips, and knew very well his brother could feel it too.
"Where are you going?" Emotionless, unconcerned, indifferent, that was how his brother was going to be.
"Out! I'm getting out of here! I 'm not staying in this place—" he choked back words as tears blurred his vision once more.
"You can't escape."
Those words, was his brother trying to crush him down? Anger surged up in him.
"I WILL!" He yelled and grabbed his brother's wrist, ready to throw the hold on his neck off. But… he couldn't.
They stayed frozen like that, sensing each other's heartbeats; he could feel his brother's calm pulse against his viscous grip on his sibling's wrist, and his brother could feel the fast throbbing of his jugular veins. He glowered up at him, but his sibling didn't meet his gaze, instead he stared down at his hand, just DARING him to do it.
But still, he couldn't. He trembled violently, his entire being filled with overwhelming, conflicting emotions.
Finally, his brother let go of his throat in a slow movement, letting his arm drop to his side and staring at him intensely with metallic orbs.
He took the chance to rub his tears away and stride off, away, out of here, into a future in which he could be himself.
Anywhere but here.
His brother said something as he left, never looking back, but in his desperate haste, he didn't catch it.
Now he remembered.
"I'll hunt you down."
And his brother always did what he said he would do.
Always.
Jinx: I don't think Rookie/Rueben's past was much of a happy one with a brother like Exper...