(A/N: The old formatting I had is such a pain to redo I'm having to do shorter chapters otherwise nothing would get posted.)

"Where were you today?"

Huey rolled his eyes, not turning to face Dewey as he rummaged around in the chest at the end of his bed. He had failed miserably in his quest to find a place to buy more cigarettes and had been unable to retain his fake ID from the woman at the gas station. Already in a foul mood over the whole ordeal, he certainly didn't feel like being grilled by his brother about his whereabouts.

"Well?" Dewey demanded again, folding his arms in grim determination. He was sure this would end badly, but he kept hoping that one day he would break through his brother's stubbornness. Dewey had an idea that Huey smoked. He had never caught him in the act or found the cigarettes and, somehow, Huey was able to cover up the smell for the most part, but Dewey suspected it. He wished he could catch him in the act, because until now Huey had simply denied it every time his brother brought it up.

"Shouldn't you be off tutoring the less intelligent?" Huey asked, purposely trying to rile his brother up. Usually after a short fight, which they often had, they wouldn't speak for the rest of the evening, which was just fine with Huey especially considering the day he'd had. It was an odd relationship he and Dewey had developed; they could argue over the most meaningless thing and be fine the next day with each other. On the other hand, when he fought with Louie, he only fought over things that he felt mattered and they rarely spoke anymore, constantly dodging the other. Still, Huey wished his relationship with Dewey was better. In truth, he envied Dewey and Louie's relationship with each other; they hardly ever argued and seemed closer than ever, not at all fazed that Huey wasn't a more constant presence in their life. At least he and Dewey did speak to each other, even if it was basically only through arguments; it was better than rarely speaking, like him and Louie. Still, this is how the drift with Louie had initially started and it scared Huey on a very deep level, but he quashed that fear because he had pride and couldn't see past it at times.

"If you are referring to our brother, he won't be home for a couple more hours." Dewey emphasized 'brother' because sometimes he feared both Huey and Louie forgot they were brothers despite the identical features they all shared.

"Shouldn't our brother be using this time to study instead of off doing who knows what?" Huey scoffed, not at all affected by Dewey's demeanor.

Rolling his eyes, Dewey sighed, the sigh of one who was suffering the antics of a child and offered an explanation that he hoped would help Huey understand, "When he gets home he spends almost four straight hours studying. I think these extra activities are helping him keep a passing average."

Huey still didn't turn around and frowned, grunting, "I guess it's too bad they didn't have a rifle team in middle school. Maybe playing with guns then would have helped him get through it with us."

Dewey unfolded his arms and gaped at his brother for a moment before recovering and exclaiming, "Oh please! Give me a break, Hubert! You know that's not true and since when are you some anti-gun guy? What gives?" he demanded. He knew full well that Huey was never being honest with why he had sudden disdain for their younger brother and it aggravated Dewey that he just didn't come out and say what the problem was. Huey slammed his trunk shut, giving up on the fruitless search for some hidden cigarettes, and barely keeping his temper under control. The urge to throw and break things was becoming overwhelming and little alarm bells were telling him to vacate the premises as soon as possible. He knew what Dewey wanted; he wanted Huey to explain his feelings, but it was an impossible task. They all roiled up within him and threatened to consume him and only the violent ones seemed to break the surface despite his best efforts to control them.

"Forget it!" he snapped, pushing past his brother and quickly vanishing from the house. Dewey fell heavily on the bed and and sighed sadly. He didn't understand why Louie's extracurricular activities bothered Huey so much. Granted, the time could be spent studying, but Dewey himself encouraged the other activities. They already spent an insane amount of time studying and tutoring. He feared Louie might give up completely if he spent even more time studying and still making such bad grades. Louie was already depressed and on the brink of deep depression regarding his academics. Dewey figured the extracurricular activities kept him active and distracted and even encouraged him to do better on his studies since he wouldn't be able to participate if he wound up with a failing grade in any of his classes. He also suspected they helped his brother deal with depression. He had tried to explain this all before to Huey but Huey had seem to shut down and completely deny the idea that their brother could have any serious problems with depression. Watching his brother struggle and fail repeatedly was depressing to him; Dewey could hardly imagine how Louie must actually feel under his tight smiles.