Hey everyone! Sorry that I haven't posted in so long. I have been super busy and school is ending for me soon so it's been finals crunch time. I'll get back into the swing of things soon though! Thanks for reading!

*All intellectual property belongs to Andrew Hussie*

Dirk

Knock knock knock. Dirk's head flew up and he instantly pulled himself into a sitting position. Jake stopped moving around in the kitchen and looked at the door. They made eye contact and then Dirk got to his feet again.

"Your brother?" Jake asked, eyeing the door again. Knock knock knock knock. Dirk's stomach dropped.

"I don't know. He has a key." Dirk clenched his teeth, moving toward the door. If it wasn't Dave, it could be anyone. He didn't need another cop in there for a noise complaint and have them find the various drug stashes around his house. Dirk watched Jake run to the opposite side of the room where Dirk's futon was and went to the bathroom to hide the bong that sat on the table. Smart.

Dirk opened the door and was met with an unfamiliar face, with... What? Dave was being cradled by the other boy, carried with a small struggle and strain from the brunette that stood at the door. Instantly Dirk pushed the door wide open, allowing the boy to carry Dave inside.

Oh god, Dirk thought. He was worried that in his anger, Dave had done something stupid. He jumped off a building or something, or got too drunk. It was about 7 in the morning, and he and Jake had just gotten out of bed after a ridiculously hot make out session. Dave was supposed to head to school. But instead, he was in the arms of another boy, totally unconscious. His shades were missing from his face. Dirk gave the blue eyed boy that held his brother a look and then took Dave into his own arms, lying him down on the futon in the living room.

"Kid." Dirk commanded. "Get me a hand mirror from the bathroom." The boy stood awkwardly, hesitating with panic in his eyes. "NOW." Dirk shouted. The boy scrambled toward the bathroom, passing Jake who was on his way out. Jake saw Dirk hunched over Dave on the couch and his eyes widened.

"Dirk, what's wrong with him?" Jake asked, running to stand behind the couch that Dave lay on.

"Asthma. Dave has asthma. Really bad asthma." Dirk made eye contact with Jake. "It's my fault."

"Asthma usually is genetic, Dirk."

"Smoking makes it worse." Dirk reached behind him and grabbed the ashtray from the coffee table, chucking it across the room. It landed in the kitchen, shattering into a million tiny fragments of ceramic. The other boy returned with a mirror, handing it swiftly to Dirk as he was taking Dave's pulse. Dirk held the mirror up to Dave's mouth, knowing that if he were breathing, it would be hard to tell without the mirror.

The moment was silent, as if everyone around them were holding their breath. There was nothing on the mirror, nothing but the reflection of Dave's nose. Suddenly, Dirk saw it. The tiniest amount of fogging appeared on the mirror, hard to spot if he hadn't done so before.

"He's breathing." Dirk informed the boys next to him. He looked up at the boy that had brought Dave in. "Where's his inhaler?"

"He said he left it here." With that information, Dirk was on his feet, running to the bathroom to the exact spot that Dave always kept his inhaler. It wasn't there.

"You've done enough. You've called my mother a whore, you've insulted me, and you don't get to do that. Make sure you know your place, shithead. Now get the fuck out of the apartment that I fucking pay for and find your own." He took his hands back and suddenly he was gone, having left the room before Dave even got a chance to catch his bearings. He gasped as his lungs filled with air, sweet, sweet air. The blood rush caused him to become dizzy, but he shook it off as he dashed to his room. He shoved whatever clothes that were in his reach into a duffle bag, making sure to get his inhaler too. And with that, he was gone, running to the only place he knew to go to.

"Hey kid! Kid, what's your name?" Dirk called into the living room. The boy appeared next to him. He told Dirk that his name was John. "Yeah John. Dave's inhaler isn't here. He definitely brought it. They're expensive, he only has one. Where's his bag?"

"At my house." John said, his eyes widening.

"Fuck." Dirk gripped John's shoulder, making sure that he made eye contact with him. "John, call your parents, tell them you're not going to school today. Dave needs to go to the hospital." John's lip was trembling, but he nodded and left. Dirk heard the front door shut as John presumably went to the car where his phone was. Dirk returned to the main room and Jake stood from his job of watching Dave to meet Dirk in the middle.

"Dirk, are you alright?" Jake asked, uncurling Dirk's hands from the fists that they were making. Dirk shook his head at the beautiful man before him and clenched his teeth. Of course he wasn't okay. Dave was barely breathing and it was his fault. He knew about the dangers of secondhand smoke, or maybe it had been when he had practically choked his brother to death? Jake shook Dirk out of the stupor of self-hate that he had lost himself in. "Hey, Dave is in a lot of danger right now and you need to keep your head on dandy and help him, okay?"

"I'll call you." Dirk said, not looking at Jake. He could see Jake's sad smile from his peripheral vision. Jake dropped Dirk's hands, and Dirk watched him walk to the door. He knew it wasn't Jake's place but part of Dirk really needed someone to hold his hand through this. He couldn't even remember the last time Dave had an asthma attack. It was strange how the boy he had met yesterday was suddenly such a security net for him.

John reentered as Jake was leaving, his eyes immediately set on Dave on the couch.

"We can take my car." He offered. Dirk nodded. There wasn't anywhere in his truck for Dave to lie down, so he was thankful that John was here. He didn't know how John knew his brother, but he was glad Dave wasn't alone last night. Dirk went over to the couch to pick Dave up and began carrying him to the lot. John followed him, not walking next to him but not straying too far. As John unlocked his car and got the backseat ready for Dave, Dirk looked down at the boy he held in his arms. Dave looked so young, and even seeing him without his sunglasses was weird. He hadn't seen Dave without his shades in years.

Dave's lips were slightly parted; whatever air that was entering through them was invisible. His chest didn't rise and fall. His pale eyelids were thin, and Dirk could see every vein underneath. His brother was so fair, even the scatter of freckles across his cheeks looked pale in comparison. John gave Dirk the okay to go ahead and put Dave down, but Dirk suddenly felt overprotective. He instead sat himself down in the backseat, Dave draped across his lap still. Dirks long legs pressed against the passenger seat as he cradled his precious brother. John got into the car and started it, following Dirk's directions to the hospital.

Dirk couldn't keep himself from running his hands through Dave's fair hair, and he kept his legs from falling off the seat. Dirk may have been taller than him, but Dave wasn't small and it was a bit of a challenge fitting the both of them in the backseat. John drove quickly and with an air of uncertainly, like he usually didn't use his car that way. Dirk reminded him a few times that they had to get there quickly, and John would speed up willingly. As they pulled up to the hospital and Dirk started to get Dave out of the car, Dave let out a little cough, and started gasping for air. Dirk muttered a curse and used all of his strength to swing Dave into his arms, carrying him through the emergency room doors.

Dave

All Dave could hear when he woke up was a faint beeping and a mechanical whooshing. When his eyes opened, he was met with a harsh bright light that made him cringe. He tried to reach to where his shades usually sat on his bedside table while he slept, but he was caught by something stuck in his arm. Suddenly there was a hand on his arm, keeping it down. He felt his shades slide onto his face and then allowed his eyes to open.

It was Dirk holding his arm down, looking back at him with worried eyes. For once in his life, his brother didn't smell like cigarette smoke and alcohol, he just smelled like... Dirk. It was a comforting scent, and it reminded him of all the days that his brother used to be his protector against the scary things his mom did. He remembered when Dirk and he used to share a room, and on some of the nights that Dave could hear the thumping noises, he would crawl into Dirk's bottom bunk bed, curling up against the warmth of his big bro.

Now Dave sat in a hospital bed, the same kind that he saw his mother in before she passed away. Dave wanted to start hyperventilating or something but there was a medical mask placed over his mouth and nose, forcing slightly warm and medically scented air into his mouth and nose. He knew what was happening, he was under a nebulizer. Dave had used one of these before, when he was a little kid and his asthma was really bad. He would sit on the couch as Dirk set it up, pouring the liquid medicine into the little vessel before connecting it to the loud machine. Dave would sit with the mask wrapped around the back of his head and then Dirk would read to him, flipping through the pictures in a book and reading loud enough that he could hear over the sounds of the machine.

The memory hurt Dave as he looked at his brother, remembering how he used to care for him. Dirk must have sensed something, because he sat back down in the seat to the left of Dave's hospital bed. Dave looked the other way and saw John sitting on his other side, a textbook open as he scribbled in a notebook on his lap.

"Hey Egbert." Dave rasped, surprised to see him there. John's eyes flew up and he grinned, revealing the buckteeth. Dave's heartbeat increased a little at the smile and his eyes widened as he realized that everyone could hear his heartbeat in the beeping of the monitor. He felt warmth rise to his cheeks. Thankfully, neither Dirk nor John thought his heartbeat increased because of attraction, but instead they gave him worried looks. "What happened?" Dave said, his voice sounding foggy through the mask. Dave's throat was raw and sore and protested when he tried to talk.

"Try not to talk." Dirk said, going to a standing position. "You had an asthma attack. You also, did pack your inhaler. Idiot." Dirk reached into a bag that sat on the ground and flicked it over to Dave. Dave would have caught it, but he ended up almost causing the IV next to him to fall over as he situated himself to catch. When he reached up, his arm pulled it closer to him, causing a little bit of pain to Dave as the port where the needle sat moved. "Sorry, lil' man." Dirk said, taking the inhaler off Dave's lap and placing it directly in his hand. Dave smiled, leaning his head back. To avoid talking Dave pointed at the IV in his arm, trying to get someone to tell him what it was.

"Oh!" John was the one to respond. "Its steroids or something. It's supposed to keep your lungs open." John was looking at him with panicked blue eyes, showing the genuine worry that he felt. John looked like he had been through a lot. His dark brown hair was tousled and dirty, his eyes were bloodshot. He was wearing his pajama shirt still, along with those jeans.

Dirk, of course, looked untouched by the whole event. He had either taken the time to get dressed and gel his hair before going to the hospital, that or he was up beforehand. Dirk held a cup of coffee in a Styrofoam travel mug. Dave internally cringed at the thought of hospital coffee.

The room he sat in was small and clearly meant for children. There was an animal themed decal that ran around the room, halfway up the wall. The hospital bed sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by equipment and monitors. The heart monitor was connected to cables stuck to his chest. To his left was a large window, providing ample light and blinding Dave. Dirk sat on a chair to Dave's left, near the window, while John sat near the door on the other side. There was a TV mounted on the wall in front of him, but whatever was on was muted.

"I'm going to go find the doctor and tell him that you're awake." Dirk said, standing. He exited the room, closing the previously open door behind him. Ah. He was giving them time alone. As soon as the door closed, John jumped to his feet, running to hug Dave. He squeezed Dave a little bit too tight, hurting his weak lungs, but Dave didn't dare say a word.

"What's up Egbert, why are you still here?" Dave asked as soon as John had let go.

"I was worried about you, Dave!" John exclaimed, giving him an incredulous look. Suddenly, John's expression went cold and he looked down. "Do you uh... Want... To..." Dave was hanging on to his every word. "Talk about this morning?" The last bit left John's lips all at once.

"Nope."